suffered much in sundry parts of the Realm At Senlis At Senlis he caused many of the true Godly Christians to suffer much some were Beheaded some Murthered in a popular Tumult some were Whipt some Imprisoned some Fined and others sent to the Gallies not sparing the simple Women Yet through Gods Mercy some escaped amongst whom was one John Gardens and his Wife who lived with his Wife and Child in the Fields at length determined to go back into the City casting themselves upon Gods Providence but when they came into the Suburbs they met some who bad the Soldiers to put them to the Sword The Woman kneeling down begged of the Soldiers that if they must needs die they would kill her Child first A special Providence saying That so she should die with the more Comfort which speech of hers so wrought upon the Soldiers that they spared all their Lives I thank thee for they seasonable Counsell Dear Brother Ioine hand in hand A Presbiterian minister Let there be no strif between thee and me for we are bretheren A Romish Prelat an English Iesuite Alas we are utterly undone our 〈◊〉 is spoyled for they are both agreed A Friendly DIALOGUE between a moderate Conformist and one of his Parishioners concerning several Points of great Moment DIALOGUE I. Concerning God Conformist FOrtunately met Neighbour I am glad to see you look so well again after your long fit of Sickness Parishioner Sir I most humbly thank you but I must likewise tell you that though I am again arrived to a competent measure of Health yet I have those Doubts now upon my Spirit which if not timely resolv'd will I fear in a little time be very prejudicial to my Peace and Quiet And I do therefore Sir now humbly beg that you would give me a Resolution to every Query that I shall now propose unto you for the easement of my mind Conform If I may be instrumental any ways in advancing the Glory of God by instructing of you I shall reckon my time well spent Parish Well then Sir pray give me an Answer to this Query viz. If God be unchangable how can he be said to repent Conf. It is spoken according to our Capacity for though God do never repent that is change his Counsel yet he doth as if he did repent when he undoeth what he had before done Nor may God be charged with changeableness though the course of his Providence be turned but the change is in us You know the Sun by the same quality and in the same season will soften Wax and harden Clay yea will soften the earth when it is frozen and harden it at other times and yet the Sun never altereth his quality but is still the same So though God be gracious to some and severe to others yea severe and gracious to the same person at divers times and in different respects yet he is one and the same for ever Parish If God be a Spirit how is he said to have hands eyes wings c Conf. This is only spoken as the former according to our Capacity that by the hand of God we may note his power by his eye wisdom by his wings protection Parish If God be indivisible and simple how can the sacred Essence be distinguished into three Persons Conf. I see your skill in Logick is small or else it were easie to know how to distinguish betwixt things that cannot be divided I can distinguish between the Essence and existence of the same thing betwixt inseparable accidents and their subjects or to speak common-rode language between a body and its substance form figure c. and yet not divide them So it is no repugnancy in reason it self that the Godhead be one entire entity and yet considered in a personal respect may be distinguished into the Father Son and Holy Ghost Par. I find in the 45. of Isaiah verse 21. that Christ saith There is no God but himself notwithstanding we hear him saying as much by his Father John 17.3 how can both be the only true God Conf. God and Christ differ not essentially but only personally the Father is God so is the Son yet they are not two Gods but one There is no other God but that God which the Father is nor any God but that which Christ is and this word only is not exclusive of any person of the Trinity for every Person is the only God but of all others whether reputed Gods or Creatures DIALOGUE II. Concerning Gods Decrees and Creation Parish TO what purpose should I seek the good of my Soul If I be elected I shall be saved if not I cannot Conf. It is not for you to search the Cabinet of Gods Counsel but to believe and repent which if you do you are not to question your salvation Saving Faith tho' it be not a cause is a fruit of Election for God hath respect to the means as well as the end and conjoyneth them in his Decree And therefore we may conclude that believing we are justified which is an assured Argument we were predestinated and shall be saved But on the other hand they that are hardened by sin are rejected of God and shall be damned Par. If God predestinate the means as well as the end seeing sin is the means tending to damnation whom he predestinates to damnation doth not he predestinate them to sin And if so how can he be freed from it Conf. In Predestination two things are to be considered 1. Gods Preterition passing by or non-electing of a person 2. Predamnation or fore-condemning a person to Perdition The former is of the meer pleasure of God for there can be no other Reason given why this man is chosen and that refused Now those whom God thus passeth by through want of that assistance which he is not bound to give fall finally from God and so considered are pre-damned or fore-ordained to Destruction God doth not force or cause men to sin but leave them to it For sin being no positive thing but a privation of what should be viz. of obedience ariseth from the insufficiency of the Creature left to it self If a King by his Wisdom could foresee that divers of his subjects would prove Traytors and be hanged unless he prefer them and doth forbear to gratifie them so far only because it is not his pleasure so to do can he be justly accused of the Treason which after they commit I believe no Politition will affirm it Must we then be so bold as to charge him who is of purer Eyes than to behold iniquity to be in any sort the cause thereof because he doth not uphold us against it Par. If God do not only pass by men but predamn them to Hell also by this Decree as you shewed in the Resolution of the last Doubt how can his Justice be cleared seeing man had then not actually sinned Conf. Men sin in time not from Eternity yet are their sins from Eternity
Slave When I despised the Liberal Provisions of his Family did I or could I have thought I should come to want Bread to feed upon Husks How sad is the changel how severe is my Fate which I know no more how to bear than how to avoid But this is not the worst yet For He fore-thinks what is like to be the Issue of this it is not only feeding upon Husks but I perish for Hunger I have a prospect of nothing but Death before me in the case I am in I am lost undone undone in most dreadful Circumstances for I perish and it is with Hunger Death makes its sure approaches and that in the most ghastly shape Vivens vidensque pereo I see and feel my self dying But yet in the last place he looks about him to see if there be not some escape I am dying saith he but not quite dead whilst there is Life there is Hope Who will not catch hold of any thing rather than perish And it agrees not with my Condition to stick at any thing that can minister the least probability of safety Am not I a Son though I am here a Slave Have not I a Father and hath not he pity Why then do I stand still and die and not rather make the utmost Experiment And here we may fancy the Prodigal thus Arguing with himself Woe and alas is me this miserable Life cannot last always Death will Arrest me shortly and present me before a just Tribunal the Grave will ere long cover me but not be able to conceal me for I must come to Judgment methinks I hear already the sound of the last Trump Let the Dead arise let them come to Judgment I see the Angels as Apparitions gathering all the World together and presenting them before that dreadful Tribunal How shall I be able with my guilty Conscience to appear upon that huge Theatre before God Angels and Men Methinks I see the Devil standing at my Right hand to aggravate those faults which he prompted me to the commission of I behold the Books opened and all the Debaucheries Extravagancies and Follies of my whole Life laid open Christ the Judge of all the World coming in flaming Fire to take Vengeance upon them that have not known him nor obeyed his Gospel how shall I endure his presence How shall I escape his Eye I cannot delude his Judgment nor evade his Sentence Come then ye Rocks and fall upon me and ye Mountains cover me from the face of the Lamb and from him that sitteth upon the Throne But the Rocks rend in sunder the Sea and the Earth disclose their Dead the Earth dissolves the Heavens vanish as a scroll and I hear the dreadful Sentence Depart ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels Methinks I hear Christ Jesus thus upbraiding me You have listened to the Devil and not to me I would have saved you but you would not be ruled by me you have chosen the way of Death now therefore you shall be filled with your own ways I fore-warned you what would be the Issue of your Courses but you would have your full swing of Pleasure for the present whatever came of it hereafter You laughed at Judgment and it is come in earnest you have had your time of Jollity and sensual transports and now your Portion is weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth But is there no hope left Must I lie down thus in sorrow and dispair These things I may justly expect but they are not yet incumbent upon me I am yet alive and they say there is hopes in the Land of the Living the Door is not yet shut against me Hell hath not yet closed her mouth upon me I have heard God is a Merciful God and thereupon I presumed hitherto and abused his goodness but sure his Mercies are above the measure of a Man if they be infinite like himself he hath more Goodness than I have Ingratitude Possibly there may be some hope left in the bottom of this Pandora's Box of Calamities If there be none it is in vain to Repent fruitless to Weep endless to Bewail madness to add to my own Infelicities If there be a rigid Fate upon me I will curse God and dye But sure whilst there is a God there must be goodness his Name speaks his Nature will he break a bruised Reed Will he contend with Dust and Ashes It is true he hath no need of me but for the same Reason he cannot delight in my Misery He cannot Repent and change his mind because his Wisdom fore-saw from the beginning all possible contingencies but if I Repent and change my mind the same unchangeableness of his will oblige him as well then to save me as before to destroy me How far he will extend Mercy and what instances he will make of it I cannot define but who knows but he may yet admit of my submission however I cannot be worse than I am and it is possible my condition may be better here I perish certainly if I cast my self upon his goodness I can but perish therefore I will try I will arise and go to my Father c. And thus his deliberation brings him to resolution which is the second Stage of Repentance But here I think it proper in the next place for the benefit of all that shall read this Book but especially for the sake of incogitant Youth here again to give the same Paraphrase formerly given upon the whole Parable of the Prodigal Son that so all may more fully see the deplorable effects of Rashness and Folly Pride and Curiosity Insolence and Disobedience how they work joyntly and severally together and by turns till by degrees they have trained poor inconsiderate Man to his utter Ruine And in the following Paraphrase you may see lively Pourtrayed the beginning the Progress the up-shot the Causes and the Effects of a sinful Course Well then take the Paraphrase upon the whole as follows Viz. A certain Man had two Sons one whereof and he the Eldest continued always in his Family content with his Provision subject to his Government and in diligent Obedience to all his Commands But the other viz. the Younger full of Juvenile heat and confidence considers himself at the Age of Discretion grows impatient of Restraint and desirous of Liberty especially fancying that he could Live better to his own content and every whit as well provide for himself if he were at his own disposal Therefore he desires his Father to set him out his share and to put his Portion into his own Hands and leave him to his own conduct The Father gratifies him in all his desires gives him his Portion and his Liberty which done the Son as if his Fathers Presence or vicinage would put too great a restraint upon him and give check to his Freedom he betakes himself to another Countrey where being in the height of his Jollity amongst his Harlots and lewd
Companions methinks I hear him speak to his own Heart after this manner following viz. Oh! sweet what rare Felicity is here Where nought offends where all things sit appear Where Natures shop full furnish'd with supply Stands always open to the Passers-by My thoughts what think you of these Streams so clear My Senses can you not suck Honey here Affections can you here not feed desire And with contentment to the Heart retire Here are the Beds where sweetest Roses grow Here are the Banks where purest streams do flow Here are the only Instruments of Mirth Here are the only Jewels upon Earth My stragling thoughts then here set up your stay My striving Senses seek no Richer Prey Affect'ons here your Fancies may be quieted My pleased Heart then rest thou here delighted But to proceed This Prodigal being now out of his Fathers Eye Reach and Controul he indulges himself in the highest surfeit of Licentiousness by which means in a short time whilst he enjoying the present took no care for the suture the stock his Father allotted him was utterly exhausted and with that his pleasures also fail the Roots that ministred to them being thus dryed up and where his Pleasures end his Cares begin For now he hath leisure to look a little about him and finds himself in a bad case having no course left but either to return to his Father and confessing his Folly implore his Compassion or to put himself a Servant to a Stranger thereby to get a mean lively-hood the former of these he was yet loath to come to having not as he thought tryed sufficiently the folly of his own counsel and to take to himself the shame of his own ill conduct by so plain a retreat was thought a sharper calamity than any he yet felt therefore he resolves upon the latter as if the severities of a stranger were more tolerable than the Reproaches of a Father For he concluded a man was not perfectly Miserable that had no body to upbraid his Folly And now being in a strange Countrey he comforted himself with this that if he should find none to pity him he was sure there would be none could torture him with the grating remembrance of what he was and might have been Well he becomes a Servant and he that could not brook the grave restraint of paternal Authority now feels the heavy yoke of servile obedience for he is put to the base drudgery of feeding Swine and hath the coursest fare for his maintenance the Swine and the Servant feed alike upon Husks only with this difference some body cares for the Hogs but no body for the Slave and the former have enough of that which agrees with them but the latter is pinched with hunger having not allowance of that sordid diet answerable to the importunity of his needs Being sorely afflicted with this he that formerly dreamed of nothing but the sweets of liberty and the surfeits of voluptuousness and never once thought of those hungry Wolves Want and Necessity which now stand at his door after many a sad sigh discourses thus with himself Ah fool that I was who knew not when I was well that understood not contentment without satisfaction nor could take up with the substance but must grasp at shadows till I lost both that knew not what it was to be happy but by the sad experiment of becoming miserable that could not distinguish between the chastisements of a Father and the wounds of an enemy nor believe but all yokes were equal until I was convinced by tryal that could not brook the Government and restraints of my Fathers Family though indeared by the reverence of my relation and sweetned by the benignity of his countenance and liberal provision for all necessity and delight nor be satisfied of my Fathers wisdom but by the effects of my own rashness and folly Time was when I had the respect and dignity of a Son at home who now find the contempt of a Servant abroad I was then put to no drudgery nor had other task than to serve the honour and interest of my Father and in so doing I consulted also my own for my duty and my happiness were then united but I am now put to the basest office to the vilest employment as if my drudgery were not so much imposed in order to my Master's profit as to my own contumely But that which comes nearer to me yet and pinches me very sore is that whereas in my Fathers House I could neither feel nor fear want I can now hope for nothing else there the meanest servant had bread not only to the full but to superfluity much less was any thing wanting to me then a Son now the case is sadly altered I that seldom had so much hunger as might serve for sauce to the plenty of my Fathers Table feel now the difference between the liberal hand of a Father and the evil and nigardly eye of a hard Master Oh the difference between the sweet fumes of Plenty and the gnawing pains of Wind and Emptiness And here methinks I hear him speaking to Extravigant and head-strong Youth in the following manner viz. Ah! wanton Youth take warning by my woes And see in me the summ of vain repose Which like a Bud Frost-bitten e're it bloomes Appears but unto no perfection comes All Earthly pleasures are but like a bubble Straight turn to nothing which were rais'd with trouble The fairest faces soonest change their dye The sweetest Charmers are most apt to lye Thus mov'd with sorrows I may tell the same And make the World take notice of my shame But till I had experience of this woe No means could make me think it would be so But now I think upon my Father here Whose Fore-sight now I find exceeding clear He often told me and with many a Tear What would befal but then I would not hear Ah fellow Companions what would I give now for what I have formerly wasted or despised then I loathed wholsom food and now feed upon Husks how do I now envy the meanest servant in my Father's House they have enough of all things and I the want of all things they surfeit I starve But alas it is to no purpose to complain here the Swine I feed cannot pity me and the Master I serve will not There is no other choice left me now but I must return to my Father or perish little did I think what would come of it when I forsook him and perhaps little does he think what I have suffered since If my sufferings have brought down my proud Heart and taught me submission it may be my deplorable condition may move his Bowels it is true he cast me not out but I forsook and abandoned him My Youthful heat and folly precipitated me upon my own Ruine but as he hath more Wisdom than I so perhaps the Affections of a Father are more strong than those of a Child and the more he sees my
Foolishness the more Arguments he will find to shew me Mercy at least I will make tryal of his Clemency I will humbly prostrate my self before him I 'le embrace those Knees that Educated me I 'le lick the dust of that Threshold which I contemptuously forsook I 'le own my fault and take shame to my self and so both magnifie his Mercy if he receive me and justifie his proceedings if he reject me I know my Father is subject or obnoxious to no body who shall blame him for Pardoning or set limits to his Mercy nay who can tell the measure of a Fathers Bowels It may be too there is irresistible Eloquence in Misery and the spectacle of a Sons Adversity may have Rhetorick enough in it to carry the cause where a Father is Judge Or if he provoked by my Folly at first and Extravagancies since will no more own me as a Son perhaps he may receive me as a Servant for if my Rebellion hath extinguished in him the peculiar Affections of a Father yet it hath not destroyed the common Passions of Humanity Mercy and Pity if he will receive me in that lower quality I am now broken to the condition of a Servant and shall think his Yoke easie hereafter having been inured to so sharp and heavy an one I will chearfully submit my Ear to be boared to his Door-post and be his Servant for ever Or Lastly if he will not trust a Runnagate nor believe that he will ever prove a constant and perpetual Servant that hath once deserted his station let him be pleased to take me as an Hired Servant whom he may turn off at pleasure make tryal of me and admit me only upon good Behaviour But if all fail and he should utterly cast me off which yet I hope he will not I can but perish and that I do however Well this being resolved he casts a longing look towards his Fathers House and puts himself on his way thither But no sooner was he on his way though yet a great way off but his Father spies him Those lean and wan Cheeks and the hollow sunken Eyes his Extremity had reduced him to had not so disfigured him nor those Rags unable to cover his Nakedness so disguised him but his Father knew him and the memory of his former Disobedience had not so Cancelled the Interests of a Son or shut up the Bowels of a Father but that the sight of his present Misery kindled his Compassion And whilst the Son partly through that weakness which his Vices and his Sufferings had conspired to bring upon him and partly through a combination of shame and just fear of his Fathers Indignation with difficulty makes towards him the Father prompted by Paternal Affection and transported between Joy and Pity runs to meet him falls on his Neck and kisses him And now see what Entertainment his Father gives him being come into his Presence He calls for a Robe yea the best Robe and so Cloaths him for a Ring to adorn and beautifie him for Shoes for his Feet that stones might not annoy nor hurt them for the fat Calf to feed and refresh him and whatsoever is wanting he bestows upon him Now had the Father fit time and his Sons sins deserved it that he should rip up unto him his former faults and call to remembrance the Offences of his Youth and welcom him home after this manner Ah Sirra are you now come is all spent amongst your Whores and Harlots Return unto them let them provide for you come you no more within my Doors But behold the love of this his Father he useth no such thundring speeches he threatneth not to cast him off nor yet doth he cast him in the teeth with his former Courses he remembreth not any old Reckonings the Offences of his Youth are not spoken of But he seeing this his Riotous and unthrifty Son return home with an humble Heart presently offers himself to his Child and before he had made an end of his Confession or could beg a supply of things needful his Father intercepts him by his hasty calling to his Servants Bring hither the best Robe the Shoes the Ring let the fat Calf be killed make a Feast send for Musick let all be forgotten that is past let my Sons old Courses no more be remembred And here further we may fancy the Joyful Father thus bespeaking his returning Child Viz. Welcom my Son thrice welcom is' t not meet Thou shouldst be welcom'd with embraces sweet Thou who wert lost and now art found again Thou who wert dead dost now alive remain Long have I long'd for this thy safe return Whereat my bowels of Compassion yearn Why shak'st thou then why blushest being poor Thy fear is past thou shalt have Rags no more Revive my Son be chearful then my Child And cease thy sorrows I am Reconcil'd Oh! let those Tears be taken from thine Eyes They stir the Fountain where Compassion lies Come taste my Dainties I have choicest Fare And sweetest Musick to delight thy Ear This is my Pleasure I will have it done In spight of Envy for thou art my SON The Son though astonished at this condescention and surprized with the unexpected benignity of such a Reception yet could not but remember what his Fathers Joy made him forget namely his former Dis-ingenuity and Rebellion And therefore humbly falls on his knees again and with shame and remorse makes his contrite acknowledgment after this manner Father for so this admirable goodness of yours gives me encouragement to call you more than the Blood and Life which I derived from you I have I confess forfeited all the Interest the Priviledges of my Birth might have afforded me in your Affection having become a Rebel both towards God and you had I not first neglected him I am sure I had never grieved you and having forsaken you I have not only violated the greatest Obligation I had upon me save that to his Divine Majesty but also despised and affronted a goodness like to his whatsoever therefore I have suffered was but the just demerit of my folly and contumacy and whatsoever Sentence you shall pass upon me further I will willingly submit to and here expect my doom from you I condemn my self as no more worthy to be called your Son be pleased to admit me but into the condition of your meanest Servant and I have more than my miscarriages give me reason to hope for Whilst the Son was going on at this rate the Fathers Bowels yearned too earnestly to admit of the delay of long Apologies and therefore chuses rather to interrupt him in his Discourse than to adjourn his own Joys or the others comfort And because he thought words not sufficient in this case he makes deeds the Interpreters of his mind commanding his Servants forthwith to bring out the best Robe and to put it upon his Son together with a Ring on his Hand and Shoes on his Feet i.e. in all points to
Habit him as his Son and as a Son of such a Father by all which he maketh the full demonstration of a perfect Reconciliation and not content herewith to give vent to his Joy that it might not overpower him whilst he confined it to his own bosom and perhaps also that those who had shared with him in his sorrows for the loss of a beloved Son might participate also in the joy of his Recovery he goes on bring out also the fatted Calf and kill it and let us eat and be merry for this my Son was dead and is alive again was lost and is found and they began to be merry In the midst of this extraordinary Jollity it happens the Elder Son who had always continued in his Duty towards his Father comes out of the Fields where he had been Negotiating his Fathers Affairs and wonders at the unusual Jubilee And when demanding the occasion they of the Family had made him acquainted with the whole matter he takes it ill and interpreting this marvellous transport of Joy at his Brothers return to be in derogation from himself as if his Father was too easie and inclinable towards him but severe to himself and unmind ful of the long and faithful Service he had done him begins to Expostulate the matter somewhat warmly with his Father but the good Old Man mildly replies Son I am very sensible of and set a just value upon the long course of your Obedience and I have it both in my Power and in my Will to Reward you 'T is true I have not hitherto made such Solemn expressions of my Love to you as I have now done upon this Occasion for the case did not require it you as you have been always Dutiful to me so you have had my House and all I have constantly to accommodate you as you have never Rebelled against me so you have never felt the hardships your Poor Brother hath undergone by his Foolishness and as you that have never offended me never could distrust my Favour nor need not such demonstrations of my Reconciliation which this former Guilt and Extravagancies of your now Penitent Brother renders necessary in his case so also was I never over-whelmed with Grief for you who were never lost but forasmuch as we have beyond all expectation received your Brother again whom we long since despaired of and had given up for lost you cannot wonder and you must allow me this unusual transport for I say again This your Brother was lost and is found was dead and is alive again But I will now Paraphrase no longer upon the Parable it self but proceed to the next Verse in my Text which containeth in it the purpose and resolution which the Prodigal Son had in his Heart upon the consideration of his sad and desperate Condition I will arise and go to my Father and will say unto him Father I have sinned against Heaven and before thee And am no more worthy to be called thy Son make me as one of thy hired Servants In the former Verse we have this Prodigal in his deep Meditations comparing things together and weighing them in the Balance But behold whilst he mused the fire kindled in his bosom and now he speaketh I will arise and go to my Father and will say unto him Father I have sinned c. In the words these three specials are observed First What he resolves to do I will arise Secondly To whom he will go viz. to my Father Thirdly What he will say Father I have sinned It was high time for the Prodigal to think of returning to his Father when he was perishing by his Disobedience and had no further refuge but in his Fathers Clemency and sure it is time for the sinner to Repent and return to God when if he be sensible of any thing he cannot but be apprehensive that in the course he is in the danger of his Eternal Ruine is as certainly impendent as it is more intolerable But now to come to the particulars And first we are to consider what he resolves to do I will saith he arise and go c. There is a three-fold Resurrection of a Christian The first is Sacramental and thus we rise again in Baptism The second is Corporal and so we shall rise again in the day of the Lord Jesus in our Bodies from the Grave The third is Spiritual which is his Resurrection in this Life in Soul from the death of sin Thus did this Prodigal arise and thus doth every true Penitent arise while he here liveth on the Earth The point may be this That Repentance from sin is as a Resurrection from death this is plain by the Apostles words Awake thou that sleepest stand up from the dead and Christ shall give thee light Vse 1. Is this so then Repentance is no such easie a matter as the World takes it to be the work of Repentance is no less Miraculous than the raising of the dead it is a work that cannot be wrought by the power of Nature but such a work as must be wrought by the mighty Power of God Vse 2. And that shall be to stir us all up thus to arise for if the Soul while it is in the Body arise not out of the Grave of sin sure it is the Body shall never rise out of the Earth but to shame and confusion use all good means therefore that thou mayest have thy part in this that so the second death may have no power on thee for otherwise it is impossible to escape the power of it by no means canst thou escape the pains of Hell Torments if thou dost not here awake stand up from the dead and with Lazarus come forth And goe It was a good and Holy motion which he had of arising this he doth not quench but cherisheth and nourisheth it he adds more fewel to this fire begun though but a spark to the good motion of arising he adds the second of going I will arise and go First then learn The good motions of Gods Blessed Spirit at any time in any measure though never so weak begun are not to be choaked but to be cherished When the Lord shall put any good motion into our Hearts we are to nourish and cherish the same to one good motion we must add a second and to that a third and to them many more and so fall to blowing and give not over until at length they break forth into a comfortable flame of Godly Practise He brings a forcible Reason Whereby you are sealed unto the day of Redemption This is the only Evidence we have of freedom from Condemnation this is Gods Mark and Character set on us and seizing us for his own This is like the Blood that was stricken upon the door-posts which shall make the Lord to pass over us and not to suffer the Destroyer to come near us when he goeth to smite the Egyptians By this we are assured that the day of
which causeth us to walk in newness of Life and live unto the Lord. Secondly the same spirit that doth cause us to leave sin doth bring us to the Lord enabling us to cry Abba Father as the Apostle speaketh Vse To Reprove many who will indeed confess there must be a turning and will also practice a change but it shall be from bad to worse from one sin to another As for Example how many do turn from Prodigality to Covetousness From Swearing to Cousening From Atheism to Popery From Profaneness to Hypocrisie And if these are to be Reproved then much more are such to be Condemned who turn from God to Sin from a Protestant to a Papist from a Professor to an Atheist How far are these from true Repentance What hope can they have who come short of those that come short of Heaven Take good notice of this you that have been forward and zealous but now are become Apostates and Back-sliders and hearken to the Councel given to the Church of Ephesus Remember whence thou art fallen and Repent and do thy first works or else I will come against thee quickly except thou Repent In the last place let this Admonish us to look that our turning be a true turning And as by sin we have departed with this Prodigal from our Fathers House so let us also arise with him and set forwards towards Heaven So or And After this Prodigal had resolved to go and humble himself unto his Father he did not debate any longer about the matter but forthwith rose up and went his way Repentance is not to be deferred but presently to be set upon so soon as God shall put the motion into our Hearts There may not be deferring or procrastinating but a speedy practice and execution First God is to be served before all God ever required in his Service the First Fruits and the First-born The firstlings are his Darlings Secondly we ought not to defer in respect of the shortness and uncertainty of Life Our Lives they are compared to a Pilgrimage to the flower of Grass to Wind to Smoak to a Vapour to a Dream and the like All which sheweth the shortness of our time and therefore our whole Life is little enough to spend in Gods Service But farther as it is short so also it is uncertain We have no assurance to live one hour we are here but Tenants at will and know not how soon our great Landlord will turn us out of this earthly Tabernacle We may be cropt off like an ear of Corn for what is this life but as a nest of straw and clay soon shaken a pieces Many have seen a fair bright morning who never beheld the evening as the Sodomites And upon many the Sun hath set in the evening to whom it never appeared rising in the morning So was it with the rich Glutton in the Gospel Seeing this is so we have great cause speedily to repent Fourthly because for the present thy estate is fearful the wrath of God hangs over thy head by a twined thred if thou hadst Eyes to see it thou eatest in danger of thy life thou drinkest in danger walkest in danger sleepest in danger lying between death and the Devil as Peter did between the two Soldiers bound with two Chains Now who would be in such a danger one hour for the gaining of a World But we hasten to the Uses And first This reproveth that wonderful madness and exceeding great folly of such as procrastinate and defer their Conversion to the Lord and put off their Repentnace though the Lord call them thereunto and offer them never so fit an opportunity But I have time enough to repent in say some what tell you me of Repentance as yet Is not God merciful Did he not shew mercy to the Thief at the last gasp I doubt not but to be saved as well as the precisest of you all But thou who thus goest on head-long to Damnation come hither and let me shew thee thy monstrous folly that if it be possible thou mayst be recovered out of the snare of the Devil who art thus taken by him at his will First thou blessest thy self with hope of long life thou wilt repent when thou art old but how knowest thou that thou shalt live till thou comest to be old Dost not thou see how upon the Stage of this World some have longer parts and some have shorter And as we enter into the Lords Vineyard do we not so go out that is in such a manner and at such an hour some in the morning some at noon some at night some die in the dawning of their lives passing from one grave to another being no sooner come out of the womb of one Mother but another Mother receives them into hers Some die in Youth as in the third hour others die at thirty forty or fifty as in the sixth and ninth hour and othersome very old as in the last hour of the day Now tell me how many die before fifty for one that live till they be past that age What hope hast thou to live till thou beest so old Doest not thou daily see and hear of many that go well out at night and are found dead in the morning and of many other that are suddenly slain or come to some untimely death why may it not be thus with thee how vain then and false is thy hope of long life seeing none can tell what a day what an hour may bring forth And Secondly But say thou dost live till thou beest old and art freed from much of this trouble having understanding memory sight and sense c. yet who can tell whether God will hear thee at the last gasp For what can be more righteous than that the Lord should contemn thee at the hour of death who hast contemned him in thy whole life Thirdly let this admonish every one of us to defer no time but speedily to repent Abraham rose up betimes to sacrifice his Son so do thou make hast to sacrifice thy sin Zacheus came down hastily when he was called why then do we defer coming to our Saviour Hearken not to that Crow-crying cras cras to morrow to morrow the voice is dismal But now we will proceed to the next words in the Parable But when he was yet afar off his Father saw him and had compassion and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him The readiness of the Father to receive his Son is here noted First by his looking on him afar off For when he was yet a great way off his Father saw him Secondly by running to him while he was afar off He had compassion and ran Thirdly by his kind imbracing of him He fell on his neck and kissed him To begin with the first But when he was yet a great way he saw him Albeit this be put here in the last place yet it is referred by most of our Expositors to the first time of
mercy to the Thief at the last gasp I doubt not but to be saved as well as the precisest of you all But thou who thus goest on head-long to Damnation come hither and let me shew thee thy monstrous folly that if it be possible thou mayst be recovered out of the snare of the Devil who art thus taken by him at his will First thou blessest thy self with hope of long life thou wilt repent when thou art old but how knowest thou that thou shalt live till thou comest to be old Dost not thou see how upon the Stage of this World some have longer parts and some have shorter And as we enter into the Lords Vineyard do we not so go out that is in such a manner and at such an hour some in the morning some at noon some at night some die in the dawning of their lives passing from one grave to another being no sooner come out of the womb of one Mother but another Mother receives them into hers Some die in Youth as in the third hour others die at thirty forty or fifty as in the sixth and ninth hour and othersome very old as in the last hour of the day Now tell me how many die before fifty for one that live till they be past that age What hope hast thou to live till thou beest so old Doest not thou daily see and hear of many that go well out at night and are found dead in the morning and of many other that are suddenly slain or come to some untimely death why may it not be thus with thee how vain then and false is thy hope of long life seeing none can tell what a day what an hour may bring forth And Secondly But say thou dost live till thou beest old and art freed from much of this trouble having understanding memory sight and sense c. yet who can tell whether God will hear thee at the last gasp For what can be more righteous than that the Lord should contemn thee at the hour of death who hast contemned him in thy whole life Thirdly let this admonish every one of us to defer no time but speedily to repent Abraham rose up betimes to sacrifice his Son so do thou make hast to sacrifice thy sin Zacheus came down hastily when he was called why then do we defer coming to our Saviour Hearken not to that Crow-crying cras cras to morrow to morrow the voice is dismal But now we will proceed to the next words in the Parable But when he was yet afar off his Father saw him and had compassion and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him The readiness of the Father to receive his Son is here noted First by his looking on him afar off For when he was yet a great way off his Father saw him Secondly by running to him while he was afar off He had compassion and ran Thirdly by his kind imbracing of him He fell on his neck and kissed him To begin with the first But when he was yet a great way he saw him Albeit this be put here in the last place yet it is referred by most of our Expositors to the first time of his Conversion for it was this look that brought home this Prodigal He saw him and looked on him with the eyes of pity and by looking upon him infused into him the secret efficacy of his spirit and pierced his heart with the beams of his grace which so prevailed with him that it brought him to repentance as it did with Peter which made him to go out and weep bitterly for his sins after he had thrice denied his Master Thus they make it as a cause of his Conversion And taking it thus this point will follow The Conversion of a sinner is from Gods free Grace Gods Grace is the cause of it Many pregnant Examples might be brought both of the unregenerate before their Conversion as also of the Regenerate in their falls after their Conversion for the further confirming this point in hand What disposition was there in the Apostle Paul to further his Conversion was he not breathing out threatnings and slaughters against the Disciples of Christ Jesus and had he not procured a Commission from the High-Priests to bind all that were of that way Did not God behold him a far off Did he not look upon him from the habitation of his dwelling And did he not thus behold Matthew the Customer Zacheus the Usurer Mary the sinner and us Gentiles When we were as the Apostle saith without hope and God in the World being strangers from the Covenant of promise and aliens from the Common-wealth of Israel I could bring variety of Examples that would serve to strengthen the point but I will remember you but of one more and so hasten to the Uses and that is of Peter was not God fain to look on him afar off before he repented He had denied his Master once and wept not yea twice yet shed not a tear though the Cock had crowed And the third time he denies him yet weeps not until Christ beholds him and then as the Text saith he wept bitterly Assuredly if Christ had not cast an eye on him and beheld him with a gracious aspect had a thousand several persons questioned with him about his Master he would have denied him a thousand times Thus a sinner is like an Eccho he cannot speak first to God but must answer a voice from God The Reasons And needs must this be so because we are dead in trespasses and sins as the Apostle saith and as the Father of this Prodigal avoucheth of him dead not in a swoon but dead stone-dead as we say and therefore have no more power to stir hand or foot for the furthering of our own Conversion then Lazarus had power to come out of the grave before Christ called him A second Reason why Gods Grace is all in all in the work of our Conversion may be this That all matter of boasting might be taken away for we are very ready to ascribe unto our selves that which of Right belongs unto the Lord. Thus have we seen the Reasons now let us hear the Uses And in the first place this may serve for Confutation first of the Pellagians who affirm that our good Actions and Cogitations proceed only from from free-will and not from Gods special Grace The second Use is for our Humiliation There is no goodness nor aptness in thee to that which is good why then shouldest thou be lift up with any conceit of thy self Oh beware of this boasting for whereof hast thou to boast Surely of nothing but sin and misery Thirdly Let it be for Exhortation to all such as have any tokens and signs of their Conversion to ascribe all the Praise and glory thereof unto the Lord. Say with David Not unto us O Lord not unto us but to thy name be the glory For it is of his mercy not of thy deserving Is there
any difference betwixt thee and a Reprobate God found it not in thee but did put it into thee thou art of the same nature with them thou hadst no more ability to work out thy own Salvation than they had Thou seest many commit lewd pranks some Murder others Whoredom c. Thou leavest yea hatest these things What is the cause surely Gods Grace and only Gods Grace Give Glory therefore unto God praise his name yea let all that is within thee praise him And ran Behold the readiness of this Father to receive this his penitent child the one is not so willing to return as the other is joyful to receive The Father seeing of him coming doth not stay until he cometh but ariseth to meet him yea and when he was a great way off so far as he could see him he goeth to meet him and stayeth not for his coming nigher Hence learn God is very ready to shew mercy to everytrie Penitent So saith the Prophet Esay He is very ready to forgive Those Titles given him for his name testifie as much The Lord the Lord Strong Merciful and Gracious c. The Reasons are these First because man is the Workmanship of Gods own hands and therefore he is the more ready and willing to save him A third Reason may be this because none might despair of his mercy he is ready to shew mercy that by the example of such as have found mercy others also might resort and repair unto him for mercy in the time of need Is this so that God is ready to forgive every true Penitent then let none lay the fault upon God if they perish in their sins for God is ready and desirous to forgive and doth often call upon us to turn from our evil ways that so we might not perish Secondly seeing this is so that God is ready to shew mercy to every one that seeks it let this be as a spur and goad in our sides to make us turn unto him and seek for Mercy at his hands He will not be wanting to thee if thou beest not wanting to thy self The last Use may serve for Imitation Let us be like to our Heavenly Father and be as ready to forgive others who have offended us as God is to forgive us who have and do daily offend him It may be fome have offered thee wrong yea great wrong yet must thou forgive and that readily Why is there then so much suing and intreating and begging for Reconciliation before Pardon be obtained Remember God is more gracious unto thee and oughtest not thou to be so unto thy Brother Further in that we here find the Son coming to confess and the Father running to forgive Hence learn we God is more ready to shew Mercy than Penitent Sinners are to sue for Mercy the one comes softly the other swiftly the Father was the forwarder of the two Vse Take notice then of Gods wonderful Love who albeit he be the Party that is offended yet is more ready to forgive than we to seek or to beg Pardon Secondly let this serve to increase our boldness in coming to the Lord thou canst not be so forward to come as God is to meet So ready to crave Pardon as he is to forgive He fell on his neck and kissed him Here is a joyful meeting betwixt so good a Father and so bad a Son Mercy and Truth are met and each of them kiss the other Here is Truth in the Prodigal for he dissembled not and Mercy in the Father He fell on his neck c. By these Circumstances the heat and fire of his Affections is declared and his entire Love unto his Son expressed for a kiss hath ever been as a pledge and pawn of kindness which is possessed by it By this Ceremony or Rite they did express their Love in the time of the Primitive Church one to another which Ceremony continued till the days of Justin Martyr in customary use before their approaching to the Lords Table thereby to testifie their hearty Reconcilement each to other this was called a Holy Kiss It is a Ceremony also of Civility and hath been and is still in use Thus Joseph Blessed his Brethren and fell upon their neeks and kissed them c. When Judas the Traitor studied with himself what course might be the best to bring Christ to his death he could devise not a more subtil shift than under a shift a pretence of kindness to cover his Villany When the Church in the Canticles sueth to her Spouse to shew his Love unto her she intreateth him to kiss her with the kisses of his mouth viz. that he would manifest his Love and Affection unto her by manifest and good tokens Thus the Father kisseth his Penitent Child thereby to seal and confirm his love and good will towards him that he might make no doubt thereof So then in that the Father doth thus manifest and declare his love and good will to his Son after his coming into his Presence hence let us learn this Lesson God will manifest and make known his love unto his Children by evident signs and tokens upon their Conversion and turning to him And were it not so how could we be affected with it What is it for a blind man to know that the Sun is a most glorious bright Greature when he himself doth not see it So what is it for a Man to know there is much love hid in God except he have some sense and feeling of it Now to the Vses And first is this so that God doth not only love and inwardly affect his Children but doth also manifest the same by signs and tokens that they may be out of doubt thereof Then this may serve to confute that Doctrine of the Church of Rome who hold that no man can be certainly assured of the love and favour of God he may hope well and so forth But no man can have any assured Confidence What is this but a Rack and Torment to weak Consciences What doth this but extinguish the truth and sincerity both of faith and love towards God What Fruit bringeth this but impatiency in time of trouble and Persecution and indeed maketh a way for desparation of Gods Mercy Secondly let this stir up every one of us to a diligent examination of our selves whether God hath as yet kissed us with the kisses of his mouth whether he hath as yet manifested his love unto us by signs and tokens For till we have assurance hereof what comfort can we have And in the last place this may serve for the great comfort of all such as have Gods love manifested unto them by the former signs For as the terrors are great which that Man hath in his Conscience who is in doubt of the love of the Almighty towards him so is the comfort as great which that Man hath who is hereof perswaded For come tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril
or sword or life or death yet the certainty of Gods love will support him And the Son said unto him Father I have sinned against Heaven and in thy sight and am no more worthy to be called thy Son Now we come more particularly unto the words which are a Confession of sins made by this Prodigal unto his Father Wherein observe First the Matter of his Confession I have sinned Secondly the Circumstances as First to whom viz. to his Father Secondly the manner how And that was with Exaggeration Against Heaven c. Humiliation And am no more worthy c. The Reasons of this point are these First God cannot in Justice forgive except we make our Confession unto him If we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins saith St. John But if there be no Confession then there is no promise How can God then without violating his Truth shew Mercy unto such And therefore saith Solomon He that hideth his sins shall not prosper but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have Mercy Such a one then as doth thus confess may look for Mercy and none else A Second Reason is Because there is no sound Repentance for sin where there is no true Confession of sin For the inward sight of sin would open our mouths and cause us to confess it When the Heart is pricked words will break forth the Tongue cannot forbear As we see in David who so soon as his heart smote him for numbring of the People cryed out I have sinned exceedingly in that which I have done Thus out of the abundance of the heart will the tongue speak as Christ saith These may be the Reasons The Uses follow And First seeing this is so That whosoever would have Pardon of sin must confess the same This serveth to Reprove such as look for Pardon on Gods part but will bring no Confession for their part Is this so that there is no Remission where there is no Confession Then let this Admonish every one that desires to have their sins remitted to see that they be truly and unfainedly confessed Conceal them not hide them not excuse them not defend them not and above all take heed of glorying in them Seek not with Achan to hide that cursed thing it will prove thy overthrow Be not Secretary to the Devil it is no good Office conceal not that which God commands thee to make known Sins that are smoothered will in the end fester unto Death Remember Remission is promised but upon condition of Confession suffer then no sin to go unconfessed which thou wouldst not have to go unpardoned And so I pass from this to a third Use which is for our direction For must Confession go before Remission then let every one look that as they confess so they make an upright confession Many have confessed yet found small comfort as Pharaoh Saul and Judas with many more if therefore we would speed better than they did we must look that our confession be better than theirs was Father Here we see to whom he makes confession It is not to the Servants nor to his Brother but to his Father Hence learn Confession of sin must be made unto the Lord. I acknowledged saith David my sin unto the Lord. The Reasons are these First All sin is committed against God True it is we may hurt and wrong men by our sins and bring much damage both to the Body and Goods of others by the committing of them as David to Vriah but the chiefest dishonour is against God whose Law is broken and transgressed Secondly God only can forgive sins and none but he It pertaineth only unto God to say I have Pardoned I will not destroy And Lastly Confession of sin is a special part of Divine Worship Now God will not give his glory to another he will not have any part stakes with him Thou shalt Worship the Lord thy God and him only shalt thou serve Now for Uses And first for that Auricular Confession held and maintained by that man of sin which upon pain of Damnation must be made in the Ear of a Priest by every one immediately before the receiving of the Sacrament of the Lords Supper A cunning invention for the discovering of all states and for the upholding and enriching of that Covetous and Ambitious See Hereby they come to know the Hearts and Affections of Men and knowing them they can quickly tell what course to take for themselves either for bringing good or preventing mischief for the enriching themselves and impoverishing of others Is this so that confession of sin is to be made unto the Lord Then see thou fly unto him when thou hast offended and make known thy faults to him whom thou hast much dishonoured Against Heaven and in thy sight He doth not mince and extenuate the matter he saith not Father I have sinned but I had no bad meaning I knew not what I did Neither doth he plead the instability of his Youth to extenuate his fault but he aggravateth and enlargeth the grievousness of his sin and sets it out to the uttermost 1. I have sinned 2. Against Heaven 3. In thy sight All tend to the aggravation of his fault To break a Lawful command enjoyned by the Magistrate though of Ignorance is a fault wilfully to break it is a greater but to do it in his sight and presence argueth great Rebellion From the Prodigal his Practice let us learn Doct. That it is the property of a true Penitent not to mince or extenuate his sin but to aggravate and set it out in the worst and vilest manner that he can The Reason may be this Because the Eyes of a Penitent are in some measure opened so that he now seeth sin in its own colours and apprehendeth it as a deadly Enemy to Gods glory and his own Souls Health Now we know how ready we are to speak the worst we can of those who are Enemies unto us and to set forth their vile Practises to the uttermost Thus the hatred he beareth unto sin causeth him to think that he can never sufficiently display it and maketh him so disposed as that no malicious wicked man can so set forth the faults of his Enemy whom he deadly hates as he desires to set forth the loathsomness of his own sin Thus we have seen the Reason The Vses follow And is a Penitent thus qualified Is there such a disposition in him as that he will lay to his own charge as much as possibly he can Then what shall we say of such as study this Art of mincing and extenuating sin The sins of others they can enlarge they have both will and skill in setting open to the view of the whole World in every branch and circumstance the faults of others so that many times they appear to be greater than indeed they are But in confessing of their own sins they have no such gift nor faculty than they have not done
it or if done it yet it is not evil or if it be evil yet not very evil or if very evil yet not with an evil mind or if so yet by others perswasions they do so mince the matter that Mountains seem Mole-hills and Mole-hills Motes Secondly Wouldst thou have Pardon at the hands of God Then enlarge thy sins and lessen them not stretch them out to the utmost pin and set them forth at full with their parts and circumstances At what time in what place after what manner with what company they were committed let no circumstance of aggravation be wanting by which they may appear the more foul and filthy And am no more worthy to be called thy Son See how he humbleth and abaseth himself unto his Father I am unworthy to be thy Son yea I am unworthy the very name of Son so many have been my sins so lewd hath been my course The Instruction hence may be this Doct. The only way to obtain Pardon for sin and procure Gods favour is with an humble heart and lowly Soul to come before him The only way to be exalted by him is to come unto him in Humility of Soul and lowliness of Spirit The Practice of this Prodigal is a President for us The Reasons may be these First Such only hath God promised to look upon and shew Mercy to To this man will I look even to him that is Poor and of a contrite spirit And again Thus saith the high and lofty one that inhabiteth Eternity whose Name is Holy I dwell in the high and holy place With him also that is of a contrite and humbled spirit to revive the spirit of the humble and to revive the heart of the contrite ones As for the other they have no promise of Favour or of Mercy And Secondly such only are capable of Grace and Mercy Full Vessels can receive no Liquor and haughty Hearts no Favour for they despise it As therefore the Vessel must be emptied and the Air and Wind removed before any solid Liquor can be received so must thou first cast out haughtiness and pride out of thy heart before Mercy can be obtained Let the Use of this be for Exhortation Come before the Lord with humbled Souls and contrite Spirits for this is of him much set by And to stir us up to the putting on of this grace as the Apostle doth exhort us consider of these Motives First Pride it is the Devils first-born and the Devils first Poyson which Satan poured into our Nature and this as Bernard speaks is the Devils Character For as the Servants of Christ and Children of God are known by Charity and Humility so the Servants of Sin and Sons of Satan are known by Pride and Cruelty and therefore let this move us to embrace the one and abhor the other Secondly God exalts such as are humble but such as are Proud doth his Soul hate Thirdly Humility is the keeper of all graces but Pride is the spoyler of them No Box better to keep those Jewels in than a Heart well lined with Humility Fourthly Humility makes us like Christ himself and therefore must needs be an excellent Vertue This Grace he willeth us to learn of him for he was meek and lowly in Heart He disdained not to wash his Disciples Feet to teach them Humility He made himself of no Reputation and took upon him the form of a Servant that we might learn of him to be humble Let the same mind therefore be in you saith the Apostle that was in Christ Jesus He was Humble be thou then ashamed to be Proud THE Author's Farewel-Sermon OR Last Legacy to his Friends and Parishioners of St. Maries Parish in Bedford Dearly Beloved Being now come to Preach my Farewel-Sermon which shall serve as my last Legacy to you my Dear Friends and Parishioners I think no Subject more proper for me to insist upon for this occasion then that which may excite you all to Love and Vnite as Brethren when I am absent from you And therefore I shall ground this my Farewel-Sermon upon those words which you find written In Genesis xiii Ver. 8. And Abraham said unto Lot Let there be no strife I pray thee between me and thee neither between my Herdsmen and thy Herdsmen for we are Brethren Dear Friends GOD hath joyned us together as we are Men we are not Dogs nor Wolves let us not be so one to another Acts 7.26 Moses speaks thus to those who strove one with another Sirs ye are Brethren why do ye maliciously asperse one another The words in the Greek are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Men ye are Brethren There is a consideration in this that ye are Men if you were no more yet ye should not strive one with another but much more considering ye are Brethren If we are Men let us be Humane what is the meaning of Humanity but Courteousness Gentleness Pleasantness in our Carriages one towards another But still the consideration grows higher as we are the same Countrey-men of Old Acquaintance in the same Employment of the same Family and Kindred but above all joyned in such a blessed Root the Foundation of all Love and Peace Surely these things should have a great force over us to make us all that are true Protestants be we of what perswasion we will to Vnite and Love as Brethren I have read of two Rivers in the East Sava and Danuby that run along in one Channel Threescore Miles together without any noise or bubling and yet they both keep themselves distinct and the colour of the Waters remain distinct all along why should we not think it possible for us to go along close together in Love and Peace though in some indifferent things our Judgments and Practices be apparently different one from another And here I will give you who are for Brotherly love and the healing of our Breaches a Sentence to write upon your Chamber or Closet doors it is this Opinionum varietas opinantium unitas non sunt 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Variety of Opinions and unity of those that hold them may stand together But I 'le make no longer Preface but proceeed to the Parts of my Text which Text is a Treaty of Peace between Abraham and Lot wherein we have First a Supposition and secondly a Proposition that which is supposed is this That there may be an Unbrotherly strife between godly Brethren there was so you see between Abraham and Lot That which is proposed is that which should follow upon this That where such Unbrotherly strife is all speedy and possible means must be used for a Reconciliation That there may be an unbrotherly strife between godly Brethren is certain I would the point were to prove Alas it is too manifest that there is an Unbrotherly strife between godly Brethren London England yea all England will give us in a test to this truth What County what City what Congregation yea the Lord be merciful unto us
my soul a zealous Holocaust to the flame of thy Altar 11. Of Chastity This single Grace of Chastity will admit of no Cor-rival but God himself in her Virgin-heart in which she erects a Temple of Love for the Lords delight scourging out all uncleanness with the rod of Sorrow dedicating it wholly to the Service and Honour of the Lord where Love and Beauty God and the Soul are espoused together in holy affection and sweet communion Give me O Lord what wilt thou give a clean heart truly devoted to thy service Though the stains of impure Cogitations and verbal Transgressions may unwillingly and unwarily break in to defile thy Temple O may the rod of Repentance drive them out but shield it I pray thee from that great abomination of desolation those deathful wounds of actual pollution to make it a stink of all iniquity but deck and adorn it with the graces of thy spirit that it may be made a beautiful habitation for thy honours reception 12. Temperance Temperance is as a comly Matron which walks soberly and warily in the wholesom path of Mediocrity between excess and defect her actings are to the health both of Body and Soul avoiding in order to Food and Raiment Superfluity and Sordidness being fed with Frugality and clothed with Decency as to the Soul her Religion very Orthodox running a most even course between blind Zeal and open Profaneness like the Sun in its Aequinox between the Winter and the Summer Solstice hating Enthusiasm Papism and Atheism with other giddy opinions coyned out of the Mint of inconsiderate Brains which begetteth nothing but Division Contention and Disaffection Most holy Lord who art holiness it self and delightest in the beauty of holiness pious hearts as mansions where thy honour will please to dwell square my Religion to the straight rule of thy word and so fashion my Devotion as may be most agreeable to thy own mind neither ceremoniously superstitious or irreverently rude but zealously affected in a decent and orderly manner as may be most sutable to piety and the honour of thy Majesty 13. Of Obedience and Disobedience A good natured Child will grieve that he hath offended his indulgent Father whereas a more rugged disposition will not come into the School of Obedience without much swinging Make me O Lord a child of Obedience by the smiles of thy mercy rather than by the frowns of thy Justice draw me by the silken twines of thy Affections and not by the ruff Cords of thy Corrections but if I be so ill-natured that the rays of thy love will not mollifie my hard heart let the awful stripes of thy fear make it tender so shall thy rod and thy staff comfort me 14. Of Gratitude and Ingratitude Thankfulness is the tribute of our Affections which we pay as a Rent-charge to the great Lord of Heaven and Earth by which we acknowledge his property in us and our Loyalty to him for all his blessings both for Soul and Body and nothing can out us of Possession discard us of our freedom or cancel the obligation of his love to us but Ingratitude that monster in nature which was one of the grand sins which ejected Adam out of his Garden of Paradice into a wilderness of Sin transformed Nebuchadnezar from a man to a Beast till he returned better manner'd and smote Herod in his Judgment-seat because he gave not God the glory Great God! in whose hands are all the Corners of the earth and the fulness thereof in whatsoever possession of thy blessings thy goodness please to place me as Tenant for life O may I esteem it far beyond my deservings that I may learn to be thankful And suffer not I pray thee my nature so ill to degenerate into Ingratitude as to alienate thy affections from me to out me of the Eden of thy favour and let me not be so blockishly dull as not to acknowledge thy property or so arrogantly peccant to rob thee of thy honour lest deservedly I incur thy righteous displeasure but ingratiate my heart I beseech thee with so good a nature as I may render my self a more perfect Creature to give thee thy dues belonging to thy honour and my self the comfort of thy gracious dispensations towards me 15. Of Mercy and Justice Mercy and Justice are the righteous Ballances of Heaven poized by the Hand of Truth which weighs to every one the Rewards of Life and death Mercy is filled with promises of life Justice with wages of death Faith lays hold on the Scale of Mercy through the merits of a Saviour Infidelity draws down Justice as a Recompence for Iniquity So righteous art thou O Lord in thy ways and just in thy Judgments who dispensest to every one after their deservings Merciful Father though the magnitude and multitude of my Transgressions be so heavy to draw down the Ballance of thy Indignation upon me yet being Counterpoized with thy Sons merits in the Ballance of Mercy they shall be found too light to condemn me and my Faith of sufficient weight to save me 16. Of Faith Faith is the Souls Optick which discovereth things afar off as if near at hand though darkly as in a Glass yet far surpassing all the Opticks of Astrology which takes the dimensions of the Orbs according to the sense whereas Faith maketh search into Heaven seeth God Almighty with all his Attributes in the beauty of Holiness Jesus Christ his Son sitting at his right hand interceeding for us the Holy Ghost proceeding coming down like fire to baptize the Saints with all the Heavenly Quires of Saints and Angels singing Allelujah to the King of Glory yea it discovereth Hell afar off with all its monstrosity the reward of our Iniquity seeth Satan compassing the Earth in persuite of the Mother and her Child to devour them but overcome by the blood of the Lamb. Thus O my Soul with this Optick of Faith thou mayest survey all the wonders of God making things invisible to the eye of sense visible to the eye of Reason Thus beholding thee O my God in thy glorious perfections in thy marvelous works in thy gracious Attributes let me experiment thy spirit of grace quickning thy wisdom teaching thy power supporting thy love comforting thy Justice tenderly chastising and thy mercy saving me let the light of thy countenance the splendor of thy Majesty so dart upon my soul through this Glass of Faith that thou mayest be in love with thy own beauty Faith again may be said to be the compass of the Soul which centers one part upon God the other upon the heart of man rounding a Sphear of a new Creation with circles of love through which she draws a Diameter by the Rule of the word which is as a Jacobs Ladder by the hand of an Angel to convey the Graces of God to man and the Prayers of man unto God Scale O my soul by this Ladder of Faith the Battlements of Heaven contend with thy Maker and
only Ephesus but all Asia gave their Worship How much greater is the World 's Diana vanity that not only Asia but the World it self prostitutes its Devotions She is Attended with three Golden Idols as vain as her self Pride Concupiscence and Lust the Worlds Trinity which entertains all Suitors with variety of Honours Pleasures and Profits To this Lady of Honour the Ambitious spirit makes his acquist esteeming himself as nothing without a bended Knee a popular Applause and a turgent Title which his Fancy feeds upon as the Camelion upon Air but if crost in his designs by any opposite to his assention he grows as lean as Envy can make him like the Birds that fed upon Zeuxis Grapes with pecking at shadows Hither also resorts to this glaring shrine the Idolatrous Miser whose Hydropick thirst after Gold like the Horse-leach after Blood cries Give Give his Heart is always digging with the Mold in this Earthy Mine never satisfied till Death Robs his soul from his silver Mountain and his Mouth is bunged with courser Earth Finally the Luxurious Gallant makes Court to this Goddess of Beauty who prodigallizeth upon her Wanton all her sinful Favours which may indulge the Flesh and please desire with her deeds of Darkness Enter not my Soul into these their secrets which lead down to the Chambers of Death but skip like a Hart over these Mountains of Vanity Soar with the Wing of Contemplation into a higher glory let thy aspiring thoughts transcend this Airy Arrogance as far as Light surpasseth Darkness Heaven surmounteth Hell where thou maist Tribute thy Devotions to a more Beautiful shrine the Blessed Trinity from whence thou maist derive everlasting Comforts eternal Honours which flie not away upon the Wings of Time durable Riches where neither Rust doth canker or Thieves break through and steal torrents of Divine pleasure which shall continually chear and refresh thy spirits where thou maist behold with perpetual contentment the loveliness of Beauty the splendour of Saints and the glory of Kingly Majesty 24. Of Infidelity The Fool hath said in his Heart there is no God so consequently neither Heaven nor Hell which Atheistical Opinion is too rife in the Hearts of many who live as without God in the World without hope of Heaven or fear of Hell so willingly incredulous are they of their own safety or Ruine that though they have the two Testaments Nature and Grace the Light of Reason and the Word of God to inform them the one convincing their Consciences the other to enlighten their Understandings yet are they such Passionate Zealots over their Lusts that they violently court the embraces of Hell like Pliny the re-search of his scorning Vesuvius they will doubtfully experiment their own destruction As in Mercy O Lord thou hast given me a Rational being capable of Divine Light as a true born Christian let not I pray thee the Powers of Darkness or my indulgency over sin muffle my Soul in unbelief to make me an Atheist but impress upon my Heart with the Seal of thy Spirit the true cognizance of thy self that I may know thee who Created me to be my Almighty Father thy Son who Redeemed me my Blessed Saviour the Holy Ghost who Sanctifies me my gracious Preserver That I may know Heaven a place of Honour a Kingdom of incomparable Love Hell a place of Horror a Lake of intolerable dolour let the beauty of the one invite my Affections the danger of the other fright me from sin and both be objects of my Souls safety 25. Of Pride Pride is a gaudy Brat of a Monstrous Nature begot by the Father of Lies upon a Presumptuous Heart whose Towring thoughts and Devil-like Disposition could not soar higher or center lower than God himself It was the Serpents suggestion to the Woman Ye shall be as Gods knowing good and evil A Temptation no sooner offered then embraced which brought a Curse upon her self her Husband and Posterity In sorrow shalt thou bring forth by the sweat of thy brows shalt thou eat Bread The Serpent not exempted Dust shalt thou eat upon thy belly shalt thou creep So that the Serpent was punished for Lying Adam and Eve for aspiring and eating Strangle O Lord in Love to our Souls such spurious Conceptions of the Serpents Pride in our Lustful hearts that they may not come to the perfection of Birth which will bring forth death But if we will not keep within the bounds of thy Commands but will through too much Curiosity peep into thy secreet Decrees and intrench upon thy Negative Precepts thou wilt make us acknowledge thee Righteous in thy waies and Just in thy Judgments 26. Of Hypocrisie Hypocrisie is similata sanctitas Vertue in appearance when Vested in her Saint-like Habit under which sin and Satan doth shrowd themselves to deceive the Innocent not unlike the Earth in the midst of Winter when Cloathed in her white Raiment spurious Broods of Toads Nettles and Adders lie mantled under her snowy Breasts but when the Sun ariseth in its vigour her Nakedness is uncovered and her Deformity appears So is it with our Earthy Hearts which Naturally brings forth mishapen Brats of Lusts veiled through the Devils Policy under the Garment of Hypocrisie transforming them as himself into Angels of Light Discover O my God to the Eye of my Soul such dangerous Impostors as sin and Satan that I may behold them in their Monstrous shape with detestation as the great Enemies of my Salvation and arise thou Sun of Glory with thy beams of Love upon my Soul and thaw away this rimy Robe from my frozen Heart that I may appear what in truth I am the greater Object of thy Compassions 27. Of Envy This Torturing Passion is like Prometheus his Vulture which continually Tyrannizes upon the Heart where it takes possession it soveraignizeth over the rest of the Passions not enduring any Competitor in the Common-wealth of Prosperity subjecting all the Lusts to be subservient to it if Covetousness come in competition with it for greatness of Reward Envy will be thankful to the Angel for one Eye to make the Miser stark blind If graceful Vertue sit in the seat of Dignity Envy will endeavour by Ambition to pull her down If Love cannot win Lady Beauty by fair Treatment Envy stirs up Raging Lust to deflower her If Thrift grow up in the Garden of Prosperity Envy presently sendeth forth Extortion to crop it If true Valour bear away the Prize of Honour Cowardise and Vain-glory are employed to asperse it by detraction This Envy is Attended with two sullen Passions Hatred and Malice the one is a sad sedement of continued Anger which settles upon the spleen causing it to swell upon every occasion in opposition to its object of discontent The other is ever hatching Mischievous designs for Envy's Practice Envious detractor Malicious sinner Hateful maligner who not only Robs thy self of quiet but also Thieves away from thy Neighbour his Goods and good Name If
Life like beautiful Flowers in the Garden of the World making a Rape up the beholders Eye courting all the senses to gather them which fades away in the space of a day Let not then O Lord the Magick of these outward Prosperities so charm my Senses as to idolize such fleeting objects which glide away as a water-brook but arrest thou my Thoughts upon a more permanent beauty the injoyment of thy self that when Death shall gloom me the light of this life thou mayst beam my Soul with eternal Glory 45. Of uncertain Friends Solomon tells us That Riches take wings and fly away so doth uncertain Friends follow after leaving their quondam Cor-rival a pitiful object of Misery and Poverty whose Affections doth ebb and flow according to the turning Tides of Prosperity and Adversity as if Nature created a new Metamorphosis in their souls But happily O forsaken man mayst thou find some sure Friend some faithful Achilles who will cleave unto thee in thy necessity whose love is grounded upon some better Principles than upon such afleeting Foundation of inconsistancy Sanctifie O Lord every Condition with Contentment unto me If in thy righteous Judgment thou take from me all outward support 〈◊〉 is that I may lean more surely upon thy self though the Gusts of Adversity storm the out-work of my Body let my Soul through thy Grace retreat unto thee as a stronger Fort. And be thou O Lord a faithful Jonathan to chear my Spirit in my extremity with thy oyl of Charity 46. Of Poverty There is no greater Tryal to a Child of God than to bring him to the Touchstone of Poverty which will discover him Christian proof or not whether his Graces be true or false Gold or Brass so was the Patience of Job proved by that grand Artist Satan whose Arguments to God was Doth Job fear God for naught wherefore God suffered him to touch Job in his Estate in his Children in his Body and all to try this Saints Patience and to defeat the Policy of the Liar If in wisdom O Lord for my Souls good thou take from me what I have it is but what thou freely gavest me at first If thou strippest my body of outward raiment clothe my Soul I pray thee with thy righteous garment If thou nippest my outward man with Winter Poverty Summer my inward man with the grace of integrity that so I may appear in thy gracious Eye a right-begotten Child and not a Bastard 47. Of Prosperity and Adversity Prosperity and Adversity are two great Engines with which the Devil useth to batter the heart of man to make it malleable to his designs If the scorching rays of Prosperity will not make man forsake his garment of Integrity he will endeavour by the boisterous blasts of Adversity to drive it from him both was experimented upon Job but in a different manner God gave Job Riches for his Uprightness but the Devil made him Poor by taking them away but not his righteousness to his sorrow leaving him an Addition of Boils and Botches which made his body as sore as his soul which was grieved with uncomfortable Friends So able art thou O Lord to preserve man in every Condition manger all the malice of Satan but since there is such danger in these extreams fix I beseech thee my unstable Soul in a middle Sphere that Prosperity may not make me forget thee nor Adversity forsake thee but feed me with Food convenient for me 48. Of Afflictions Some men are so licentiously wicked that having rioted away their Fathers blessing they make themselves miserable by demerit even to feed upon sharp and short Commons till by the scourge of Affliction they are made to retreat to their Fathers house for better Provision So God oftimes deals with his rebellious Children as a loving Father with his extravagant Son who will not give him according to his lavish Appetite to make him worse but with the Prodigals Father sends him abroad to feed upon the Husks of Misery till he return better qualified happily appointing him a Garden to relieve him from starving O merciful Father since my Exorbitances hath made me uncapable of a more immediate blessing from thy own hand yet bless me O my Father in that providential way thou appointest for me so I may have Food and Raiment I will thankfully be content not repining at the Prosperity of others whose better Ingenuity hath made them capable of a greater Portion but shall account it a happiness that thy offended Clemency doth place me in the lowest forme above my deservings and if thou shalt think it needful for me to feed upon the Wormwood of Adversity to quell my luxurious Appetite Oh! may it be as wholesome diet to prepare my stomach for the bread of Life As the waters of Marah could not be drunk by the thirsty Israelites they were so bitter till sweetned with a bough cut from a Tree so are the Waters of Affliction when seasoned with the Branch of Christ Jesus to comfort the Vitals of a sin-sick soul and is as a Julip to cool the fevorish distemper of our Concupiscence If thou Lord still please to hold forth a bitter Portion to me let me receive it by the hand of Faith and drink it as the Cup of my Salvation Some things in appearance seem Instruments of much Cruelty as the Caustick Saw and knife which being put into the hands of a wise Chirurgeon are of excellent use for the preservation of life in the cutting off a putrid member so are Afflictions in the hand of God to pare away the proud flesh from our sin-swoln hearts and to dismember us of our sinew-corruptions Wise God which knowest a Remedy for every Disease where my soul is festred with the Gangreen of sin let the Caustick of thy word be my Cure that so I may come to thee though halting with the loss of a right eye or right hand Experience teacheth That the nature of Thunder and Lightning is to purge the Air of hurtful Vapours which infests our Bodies Such are the Judgments of God to clear away the foggy Meteors from our clouded souls raised by the fiery suggestions of Satan Since thou the great Commander of Heaven and Earth directest the Intelligences for the health of our bodies how much more good art thou unto our souls the images of thee our Creator If the Lightning of thy Grace will not tender our obdurate hearts it is requisite that the Thunder of thy displeasure should fright us into obedience rather than that our souls should perish so shall it be good for us that we have been afflicted He that goeth out of the path of Gods Commandments forsaketh his own safety runs out of life into the shadow of death out of the Protection of the Almighty into the Liberties of Satan where his life is in hazard every hour through the wounds of sin without the mercy of a gracious Samaritan Lord if my unwary soul chance to stray
to Destruction the other in a filial Affection invite me to grace which leads to Salvation 52. Of Heaven Heaven is such a glorious structure that it flags the Plumes of Contemplation to soar up unto it and that only by the way of Gods Footsteps in the frame of the inferior Orbs and the speech of his word The heavens declare the Glory of God and the Earth sheweth his handy work which indeed surpasseth Admiration that two such heavy Elements being conglomerated into one spherecal body in meditullioa eris in haerentem should as it were hang by Geometry only supported by the Pillars of the Air in its triple Regions of several tempers over which is the Fire qualifying and correcting the Airs coldness so that by the Temperatures of all the Elements living Creatures are composed and the Universe preserved Ascend we now unto the Spheres of the Sun and Moon the great Luminaries of day and night with the rest of the fixed Stars whose influences gives a quickning vigor of life and motion to all Vegetable Beings From thence view we that glittering Vault that Azure Canopy inamel'd with so many sparkling Diamonds that Galaxia as is feigned the White Rode to Heaven Climb we from thence to the primum mobile that great Wheel of the World whirled about by the hand of Heaven which gives motion to the lower Spheres Now the Eye of Contemplation begins to dazel laying aside the Opticks of Sense and Reason take we the prospective of Gods word which commits to the Eye of Faith and discovers unto us in part the superexcelling Beauty of the Heaven of Heavens that great City the new Jerusalem whose walls are of Jasper the Foundation of several pretious stones which the holy Ghost illustrates according to our Capacities the twelve gates twelve Pearls and the street of the City of pure Gold as it were transparent Glass In the middle of it the River of life as clear as Chrystal and on each side a Tree of Life which bare twelve manner of Fruits every month and the leaves of the Trees were for the healing of the Nations This City needs no light of the Sun or Moon for the Glory of God doth lighten it and the Lamb is the light thereof Such glorious things are spoken of thee thou City of God whose Citizens are Saints and Angels God the Father the Temple God the Son the Beauty God the Holy Ghost the Love In this City we shall receive high Dignity conceive mutual amity flourish in Eternity shine in Charity rejoyce in Piety by knowing God we shall see him by seeing God we shall love him and by enjoying God we shall praise him we shall see God with Affection possess him with Consolation enjoy him with delectation Here the mind is filled with the Torrent of Divine Pleasure the heart satiate with Divine Love here are living Fountains pleasant Valleys delitious Gardens the height of Felicity is superexcelling Glory this Bride-chamber of festivity superabounding jollity From this Mountain of Spices from this Watch-tower of heavenly things we shall see the Comliness of Honour the splendor of Saints and the grace of Kingly Majesty In this bosom of security there is Rest from Labour Peace from Enemies Pleasantness of novelty security of Eternity and sweetness of the Vision of God How sweet then is it to meditate on this City but much sweeter will it be to be refreshed in it to be possessed of it to behold him who is the Bridegroom of the Soul the Prince of Glory O most Glorious Creator who art the perfection of Glory and thy habitation is in Glory who art clothed with Majesty and Honour and deckest thy self with light as with a Garment and stretchest out the Heavens like a Curtain how insearchable art thou in thy wisdom and thy ways past finding out how shall dust and ashes praise thee how can I magnifie thy Name in thy wonderful works which are unutterable unconceivable unexpressable what I cannot comprehend I will admire and what I cannot sufficienly admire I will rest content with thy favour here in hope of injoyment of thy Honour hereafter To thee O Lord be Glory Eternity Immortality Praise and Thanks-giving for ever and ever Amen A Looking-glass for our English LADIES OR Daily Directions for their Dress and APPAREL Vertuous Ladies I Shall here give Directions to you for your Dress and Apparel that so you may walk in this degenerate Age as Women professing Godliness and not as those that by their naked Breasts and Fantastick Garbs are and alas there is too many such amongst us an Abomination to the Lord. First then for the Time Your Clothes may not be used every day alike Times and Seasons are to be observed There is a time of Fasting and Mourning when they must be laid aside according to the Practise of Gods Servants who have clothed themselves with Sackcloth upon such Occasions to signifie that they were unworthy of the worst Attire And this did God give in charge to his people Israel that they should put off their ornaments from them that he might know what to do unto them In times of Mourning then they are not fitting courser Attire is then best beseeming neither may be for every ordinary days wearing In the days of Rejoycing and Publick Solemnity these are fittest to be worn For this was the Rich man in the Gospel taxed he was cloathed in purple and fine linnen every day He is not simply condemned for wearing these but for a daily using of those costly Ornaments making them as it were his Working-days Attire Secondly for the Manner we have the Apostles Rule Adorn your selves in Modest Apparel with shamefacedness and sobriety c. which becometh Women professing Godliness So then in Ornament as in every thing else our Godliness Modesty and Sobriety must appear It may not then be strange or garish which argues neither Modesty nor Honesty but Levity and Inconstancy but according to the sober Custom of our Countrey from which we should not vary for how monstrous and ugly is that part which agreeth not with the whole Body Neither may it be differing from our Sex but according thereunto The Woman shall not wear that which pertaineth to the Man neither shall a Man put on a Womans Garment for all that do so are abomination to the Lord. The Law of Nature and common Honesty condemns to have Women Mannish and Men Womanish in their Attire Oh then our sin Nor may it be above our Places Callings and Degrees As God hath placed some Men above others so ought Men to fit their Attire and Habit according to the quality of the places wherein they are So Joseph's Ornaments were to put a difference between him and the Inferiour Princes of Pharaoh's Court. Neither may it be beyond our Means or Maintenance but according to our Ability in our places wherein we are For to go as fine and costly as the foremost in our Rank is not sobriety Our change