Selected quad for the lemma: fire_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
fire_n	great_a	set_v	tongue_n	2,890	5	8.5275	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A10010	The saints qualification: or A treatise I. Of humiliation, in tenne sermons. II. Of sanctification, in nine sermons whereunto is added a treatise of communion with Christ in the sacrament, in three sermons. Preached, by the late faithfull and worthy minister of Iesus Christ, Iohn Preston, Doctor in Divinitie, chaplaine in ordinary to his Majestie, Master of Emmanuel Colledge in Cambridge, and sometime preacher of Lincolnes Inne.	Preston, John, 1587-1628.; Sibbes, Richard, 1577-1635.; Davenport, John, 1597-1670.	1633 (1633)	STC 20262; ESTC S115180	353,805	720

finde in us abundance of idle Thoughts and wicked thoughts which like a shower of raine you cannot number for multitude If a man should write down all the Thoughts that passe thorow his minde in one day and observe their little dependence one up another so vaine are they and so foolish when he comes to reade them at night he will thinke he was half out of his wits and be amazed at himselfe And thinke not this a small matter for Thoughts are the first contrivers the first plotters of good and evill and therefore are of more moment than that which immediately acts it Againe are not they things which we should entertaine God with Hee comes and dwels with us he sups with us we are Temples where God inhabits Now if we are to entertaine a great Prince if we never speak to him but spend our time with idle Companions will not hee thinke himselfe much injuried And will not God thinke so when we bestow the Thoughts in vaine things which should be occupied about him Againe consider Thoughts are other things than men reckon them for it may be said of every Christian he is a Garden wherein God walks wherein he eats his honey with his milk God would have fruit of the Trees which he hath planted in us now our Thoughts are the fruit of the best Tree even of the Vnderstanding You know Christ was angry with the Tree that bare no fruit And when he comes to the understanding of a man that should be full of good thoughts and finding nothing b● loose nothing but empty and frothie thoughts what will he thinke of it Wee doe not give a due esteeme to Thoughts and that 's the reason we give such liberty to them that we are not more humbled for them for Thoughts are the water wherwith is driven the wheele of businesses and why doe we let so much water run beside the Mill that is they are the things we should occupy in every thing we doe they are precious And as Esay saith of a cluster of Grapes Destroy it not for there is a blessing in it So your Thoughts which you so little account of have a blessing in them then why doe you make such waste of them as if they were of little worth Consider it is no small thing to anger God with your Thoughts they being the same to God that words and actions the interpreters of Thoughts are to men God sees them without any Interpreter as men heare and see words and actions Therefore it was said to Simon Magus Pray to God if perhaps the Thought of thy heart may be forgiven thee If thou seest a Christian in poverty and despisest him for it God sees it and it is a sinne in Thought The second actuall sinne is our words And here likewise you shall finde the Truth of this that our natures are full of impiety and wickednesse and exceeding proane to evill The tongue of man is very slippery nothing being so cheape as breath it is ready at hand to doe any evill If a thing be to be acted there is time required to prepare for it but a word is quickly out So the frequencie of offending with our tongue should humble us And againe as our offences herein are frequent so it is a matter of much moment which we haue cause to marke because we do esteeme not so of them Iam. chap. 2 3. vers 4. you shall finde three Similitudes by which the Tongue is expressed and there you shall finde what it is to offend in words It is compared to a Bit which will keep in the wildest horse and to a Rudder which though it be exceeding great will turne the Ship And thirdly to a fire what a great matter will a little fire kindle Men thinke it a small thing to offend in speeches but God will have them know it is another kinde of matter Therefore consider this you that suffer your tongues to walke up and downe at randome from morning till night and thinke it a small thing I will aske you these questions out of these Similitudes Is it a small matter to neglect the Rudder of the Ship will it not quickely runne to the Sands Suppose a man ride on an unruly horse Is it a small thing not to keepe the hand on the bridle to neglect it To have a tongue without a bridle is as an unruly horse in a dangerous place or on a narrow bridge the neglect is not small Therefore consider it and if you have not yet learned the meaning of that place learne now to understand it Secondly you shall give account for every idle word It will be thought that to speake a few words is not so much but a few sparks will set a great City on fire you see what the tongue did in Arrius for evill and in Luther for good There is no Element so active as fire and nothing so efficacious as your tongue which you so lightly esteeme of Againe fire flies about so doth the tongue it hath wings Fire likewise assimulates turning things quickly into its own nature so the tongue assimulates the hearts of men to whom we speake it changes them and now consider if it be a light thing to neglect it You are wont to say Take heed to the fire for you know not what a sparke may doe and is it a small matter to neglect your tongues specially where there be thatched-houses and combustible matter neare And are not the hearts of men to whom we speake as Tinder ready to take fire at the least sparke if you heed it not And is it then so small a matter to neglect words Gather this out of all these Similitudes to humble you If the tongue be as a Bridle as the Rudder and as Fire then it is of much efficacie that cannot be denied for to prove that it is the only end of these Similitudes And if it be so then learne hence to know what the illnesse of your speech is for the more efficacious any thing is if it lye idle the greater is the sin looke what good you have done with your tongues the more that is the more is on your reckoning Againe if you have imployed them amisse a little rudder turnes the whole ship the meaning is it is very effectuall and therefore I say if there be such efficacie in them consider of how great moment they are when you use your tongues amisse to corrupt speaking to lying dissembling slandering back-biting thinke it not a matter of small moment it is a fire and if the State provides death for them that set barnes and houses on fire what punishment shall they be worthy of that set the soules of men on fire the Temples where God dwels And this the tongues of men doe Ignem in ore gestamus we carry fire in our mouthes Take heed lest we kindle such a fire in the brests of others as we shall never live to quench

wise to purifie to himselfe a peculiar people zealous of good workes If men might runne out their age in sinne and Christ forgive them in the end when they please to give over sinning then he might have one of his ends made good which is to take away thy sinnes but thou couldst not be a people zealous of good workes neither could he have any service of thee But thou must know Christ hath hired thee for the whole day that is all the Time of thy life When he went out in the morning to call in labourers into his Vineyard they did not make answer Well we will come at noone but when his pleasure is to call whether at one or two a clocke that is his call but if he call thee in the morning that is if thou have the Word preached if he knocke at the doore of thy heart and by his Spirit suggest many good motions in thee to come home if his will be revealed to thee it may bee thou mayest not have such an opportunity againe that is his call take heed that thou defer it not lest so his wrath should be kindled against thee and woe unto thee if his wrath be kindled but a little this is a thing not considered In Ezek. 24.13 Thou remainest in thy wickednesse And why is that He gives this reason for it I would have purged thee and thou wouldst not be purged therefore thou shalt never be purged till my wrath light on thee That is when God makes an offer when the powerfull Word sounds in our eares when he cals and wee cannot deny his knocking at our doores and yet wee will not come in because then and there at that time thou wouldest not be purged therefore thou shalt never be purged till Gods wrath light on thee therefore deferre it not But you will say and that is a thing that keepes men off I have done it already and what need you to presse this I hope I am not now to practise these principles and rudiments I hope I have done this dutie of Humiliation long agoe It is well if thou hast but take heed thou deceive not thy selfe in this case than which there is not a greater evill in the world even to thinke thou hast done it when thou hast not I will give thee one note of it Is it such an humiliation as hath brought thee to Christ To count him the chiefest good to over-goe any thing rather than him to stand out against all persecutions rather than to forsake him canst thou forsake all Syrens all lusts and pleasures which allure thee Art thou thus brought home to Christ to esteeme him above all things that come what will come hadst thou an hundred lives to part with for him all were nothing Art thou thus brought home with Humiliation that thou wilt not let Christ goe for any thing neither losses nor pleasures for Temptations on the right and left hand then thou art come home indeed otherwise thou hast not taken him truely neither art humble for thou must know there is much counterfeit Humiliation there be many light wounds that may trouble thee but not bring thee to the Physitian God awakens sinners but what kinde of awakening is it With such awakning that they fall asleepe againe God may send many messengers of wrath to knocke at the doore of their hearts which perhaps disquiets and troubles them a little but they returne to their rest againe And this God may not only doe outwardly but he may cast many sparkes of his displeasure into their hearts which may there lye glowing for a time but they last not they goe out in the end And this is the condition of most men therefore they make many profers as if they would be saved and come to Christ and this they take for Humiliation But this is not the Humiliation that is required When God means to save a man hee will goe thorow with the worke and never give over till he hath brought him home causing sorrow to abide on his heart As it is Christs office to give repentance to men and remission of sinnes so it is his office Luke 1.79 To guide mens feet into the way of Peace Now when he will save a man he will set it on so that his heart shall never bee quiet till his feet be guided into the way of peace Others may have much Humiliation at time of a Sacrament or under some great sicknesse or crosse or in a good mood or for apprehension of some Iudgement and wrath to come but it is like a flash of lightning that quickly vanishes but when Christ will humble a man he sets a Pillar of fire before him that leads him along from time to time till he be brought home to Christ. A small thing when God hath the setting of it on shall worke and never give over working till our hearts be qualified aright till we beleeve in Christ and embrace the Gospell And such an Humiliation you must have else it is nothing If it be a right Humiliation I say it will bring you home for you must know this is the condition of every man they cannot abide the net no man will come in if he can chuse Now the Gospell is a Net that catches men and as in the taking of fishes if they will take the Fish they beat the sides of the River and will not suffer them to rest in any corner for if they can finde any place to rest in they will not come into the Net So man hath many starting holes and faine would be quiet God humbles him a little but hee gets in a nooke and there hides himselfe that if God beat not the River thorow-out that is if God doe not pursue a man he will not be brought in As it was with them that fled to the Citie of refuge you know if one man killed another at unawares if he could get into the City of Refuge he were safe but were not he pursued by the Avenger of bloud he would not fly thither if God ever give over pursuing a man till he be just at the City he wil step aside and not regard it but when God shal charge sin upon the conscience and pursue him never giving him rest this brings him to the City of Refuge This is exemplified in the Prodigall sonne so long as he had any thing to restraine him while his goods lasted hee never thought of going home to his Father When he had spent his goods so long as he could get worke or had any thing to doe though he hired himselfe in a very meane condition to keepe the Swine yet he was well content but in the end when he came to have Huskes his utmost shift and yet if he could have had huskes he would not have come home when he had no sustenance but must needs perish then he goes home And indeed a man will never goe home till he have no bottome

than stockes and stones Now the scope of all this being to bring us to Christ. I will run over a few things which may from hence be observed I say There is a revelation of wrath from heaven against all unrighteousnesse Wherein marke two things First the certainety of this wrath It shall come on all that are unrighteous And secondly what this wrath is I will but briefly name the heads and dispatch the point First I say there is a certainty in it for God hath revealed it from heaven Rom. 2.15 They had Thoughts accusing and excusing them the light of Nature told them that they deserved wrath Iudgement strucke them with feare Secondly It appears by experience there bee many steppes many prints and Vestigia of the wrath of GOD in the world continually Lastly by the Scriptures Cursed bee every one that continues not in the whole Law to doe it And as the Law so the Gospell reveales it CHRIST shall come to judge the secrets of mens hearts according to my Gospell Nay it is an old Truth delivered before the Scriptures As in Iudes Epistle Enoch preached Behold the Lord shall come with ten thousands of Angels c. And if this will not perswade wee will reason with you a little for it is not needlesse to strengthen these common truths with reason because we are not convinced of them enough which is the cause men live without God in the world Therefore consider if there be a God he is not a negligent an idle or unactive God for should hee be such a God hee must either be dead or asleepe But God is a living God and if so then the administration of the things of this world is in his hands now in that the maine businesse is to punish and restraine them that bee evill and to reward them that bee good Againe if there be a God he will be feared and worshipped by men but if hee would not punish men for sinne if his wrath could not bee kindled against them for their provocations of him he should doe neither good nor hurt and it is naturall to men to condemne that that can neither hurt nor profit them and so hee should not be feared Againe if there be any God hee must needs be delighted in goodnesse he must needs have a certaine inclination to that which is holy and right and if so then he must needs hate that that is evill If he love light he must needs hate darknesse if he loves life he must needs hate death and indeed love of goodnesse proceeds from hatred of evill and hatred of evill arises from love of goodnesse and if it be so why should not hatred be active as well as love Therefore it is certaine there shall wrath come against all ungodlinesse and unrighteousnesse of men Secondly what kinde of wrath is this In this Wrath you shall observe three things First there is a treasure of this Wrath Rom. 2.5 Thou according to the hardnesse of thy heart that cannot repent treasurest up wrath Now in a Treasure you shall finde three things First it is an heape and there is still an addition thereto a man growes richer and richer saving shillings and pence and they still adde to the heape So GOD addes to the heape of his wrath as men adde sins he addes drops to his Violl and when the measure of our sins is full then the Violl of his wrath is full it is still increasing Let not a man thinke that when he is over the shooes he can goe no further for wrath receives addition Secondly Treasures are close and covered there being no use of them for the present It is therefore said Wrath is ●owne for the wicked as joy is sowen for the righteous it lyes under the ground for a time Therefore doe not say God is slacke because you finde not his wrath presently powred forth It is not slacknesse but patience And if you doe of negligence sin and God markes it not but is patient towards you and suffers you know that hee will not suffer that patience of his to be abused but for every houre that you spend after the commission of a sin without returning to God you shall fare the worse Revel 2.20 I gave her space to repent and shee did not What then Therefore I will cast her into great Tribulation So that as God is angry and as his wrath encreases so it lyes hid for a time Thirdly there is an expence of Treasures in time of need they bring them forth and use them so doth God partly in this life when he shall smite a man with destruction that shall quite sweepe him away as he did Saul and Iudas partly and specially in the life to come which is called the declaration of the just judgement of God that shall then be declared which is now for a time hid Secondly as there is a Treasure of his wrath so there is a power of his wrath Psal. 90.11 Who knowes the power of thine anger That is it is not a wrath like the wrath of men but a wrath that hath much power it it so that looke how much God is stronger than man so much doth his wrath exceed the wrath of men God shewes all his power in executing his Iustice on the wicked Therefore it is said Rom. 9.22 What if God willing to shew his wrath and to make his power knowne endure with much long-suffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction That is he will shew his mighty power in punishing them as he shewes the great riches of the glory of his mercy on the Saints God is knowne by executing Iudgement and the greatnesse of God is knowne by the greatnesse of the punishment inflicted and you shall know him to be an Almighty God aswell in punishment as in mercy there is a transcendent power exercised in one aswell as in the other Therefore it is said Who knowes the power of his wrath You know the wrath of a King is great because hee is powerfull and how much the power of God exceeds the power of a King so much his wrath exceeds the wrath of a King It is therefore compared to a consuming fire that devoures all to the wind that breakes the rock in sunder and to an over-flowing River that carries all away with it Consider God therefore in the greatnesse of his power for such is hee in his wrath Thirdly consider the suddennesse of it it comes suddenly on men and that makes it the more fearefull If God gave warning it were another case but he surprizes men before they be aware It is true that Damnation sleepes not but travels as fast as thy selfe and will meet with thee at thy journeyes end but men know it not Therefore when you see this to be your case What makes you secure you feele it not you have no sense of evill you live by sense and not by faith But consider wrath comes

therefore since the wrath of God shall in such a manner be revealed against such as with-hold the Truth in unrighteousnesse You need no other Argument to shew that the sin is great Againe One Evidence more is in this very Chapter that is from the kinde of punishment for punishments you know where the Iudge is just are according to the measure of the sinne Now marke God punishes this with giving them up to a reprobate sense For this cause saith the Apostle Rom. 1.26 God gave them up unto vile affections And afterwards in the eight and twentieth verse As they regarded not to know God even so or therefore God delivered them up to a reprobate minde that is a minde without knowledge an injudicious minde that cannot judge of things And looke in all the booke of God among all the Armies of sorrow there is not any like this to be given up to vile affections to lusts to an injudicious mind in matters of God and things belonging to their Salvation This punishment shewes the greatnesse of the sin but men slight this as it is the greatest judgement so it is the least felt men lye at rest they are cast into a dead sleepe but it is like the sleepe of them that have crazie braines they wake in a frenzie so these shall wake in an horrible astonishment their sleepe is such a calme as will end in a tempest and such a tempest as shall never be blowne over Therefore let no man blesse himselfe in this I feele none of these things for thou hast the greatest judgement on thee when thou feelest it least And so much for the three things I propounded to you what this Truth is how it is with-holden and the greatnesse of the sin now wee will come to make use of it And the first use we are to make of it is that which is the maine scope of the Apostle here and that for which we pitched on these words and that is to humble us to learne to know our selves to know in what Condition we are for the Truth is revealed to us but we with-hold it in unrighteousnesse This Truth that should rule in the hearts of men that should be as the supreme governour in the soule of which it may be said as it is said of the Peace of God let it rule in your soules that where by men should be acted is by men imprisoned Therefore Rom. 2.9 the Apostle denounceth Tribulation and anguish upon every one that disobeyes the Truth Intimating that Truth is our King that should governe and rule in our hearts now when men disobey it nay goe further imprison this Truth it is as when men imprison their lawfull King or servants their Master and they run riot and at liberty in the meane time And this is our case we doe with it as children doe with their Masters we desire to be rid of it because it watches over us and so we grow enemies to it And this is no small sinne for if we consider whence this comes who puts it into our hearts it will appeare hainous by the Law of man it is death to kill children that are begot by man but this Truth is begot by the Holy Ghost it is put in by the Spirit of God and to extinguish this Truth not to suffer it to live not to nourish it not to bring it forth is the great sin of all Even the Heathen shall rise in judgement against Christians for this who maintained the Vestall fire because they conceived it to come from heaven they for that cause never suffered it to go out But this Truth is a fire which came from heaven a sparke put into the brests of men to guide their feet into the way of Peace when men shall extinguish this Truth let it goe out and not maintaine it the Heathen shall rise against them in judgement as the men of Niniveh should rise up against the men of that Generation among whom Christ lived We were wont to take care of precious things consider the preciousnesse of this Truth what is precious we wil not be willing to destroy as the Prophet said of the bunch of Grapes Destroy it not for there is a blessing in it And what doe you thinke of this Truth is it not a precious thing Yea it is the chiefe thing in a man In a ship a wise man will have an eye to the rudder for that turnes all the rest of the body of the ship Of all things in our selves wee looke to our eye the guide of the body so we should learne to watch and be tender over this Truth as over our eye for the one is the light but of this life the other is the light of the soule to eternall life In Micah 3.5 It is threatned as a great Iudgement when God shal turne their Visions into night and their Divinations into darknesse when the Sunne shall goe downe on their Prophets and the day shall be darke on them and will you bring this Iudgement on your selves They that are guilty of this that have not used this Truth but imprisoned it and laboured as much as they can to cause the Sun to goe downe and rise no more to turne the day into night let them consider what the sin is when you reade the story of the Kings and heare them saying to the Prophets prophesie not imprisoning them as Ahab did Micaiah and slaying them as Ioash did Zecharial you will little thinke you are guilty of the same sinne but when this Truth comes as a Prophet from God and tels you such and such things ought to be done and such and such evils ought to be abstained from and you shall desire it to be silent and shall say Prophesie not when you shall not suffer it to speake freely I say your sins shall be as great as theirs therefore learne to consider of it and be humbled for it men are wont to thinke their Condition better because they know more than others but it is quite contrary for nothing aggravates sin more than that It is an extreme folly in men when they cannot deny the fact they slight the fault and will not acknowledge it It was Adams fault when God came towards him he fled and hides his sinne and it is the fault of all Adams posterity But let men know that the quite contrary way is the way to Salvation It is not with God as it is with men among whom confession makes way for condemnation for with God confession is the way to salvation Therefore be not unwilling to examine your selves consider how much you have knowne what truths have been revealed to you Do this with one eye with another eye looke on your lives and see how short your practise hath beene of your knowledge come willingly and if you confesse you shal be forgiven This wil drive you out of your selves it will be your Schoole-master to bring you to Christ. They that carry this

the Prophets prophecie not but is willing to be informed to the full yet when he hath it he acts it not he doth not exercise nor practice this Truth That is another degree of with-holding it And this is a frequent Case for a man may know and be informed in all Truths yet they may lye there unused and unacted they may lye there idle Now when a man is not willing to practice the meanes by which these Truths are used he doth properly with-hold the Truth in unrighteousnesse As for example the way to act the Truths we have to stirre them up to blow up these coales to bring them to present memory so as they may be brought to present practise is the Communion of Saints the company of holy men that when a man hath forgot godly company may bring to minde againe so frequent reading and hearing these doe act the Truth for the end of our ministery is not onely to make you to know these things but to bring those things to minde which you have forgot if we will not use but neglect the meanes of acting the Truth then we with-hold it So for private prayer whereas a man should bring his heart to God every day should doe it throughly should call himselfe to a reckoning for every sin for all sorts of Omissions or of Commissions this is a meanes to act this Truth this good purpose and inclination this sparke which God hath kindled were it not for this they would be raked up in the ashes againe now performing prayer in a devout and fervent manner doth liven them whereas to doe things for fashion or to satisfie naturall conscience and not throughly is to neglect them so that when a man doth not practice not exercise the Truths hee hath as the very exercise quickens them againe when he doth neglect any of the means by which these coales are blowne up by which these Truths are to be stirred up he properly imprisons the Truth Let no man say But when a man imprisons a thing he barres the doore but to let the Truth lye is a matter of negligence how is it then an imprisoning Yes it is an imprisoning a surprising of it as it is with fire if it have not a vent though you cast no water upon it yet you put it out as on the contrary side if you give it vent you encrease it so you are guilty in this Case of murdering the Truth of putting it out As in any Art that a man learnes if he let his Art or Trade lye still and unused he forgets it so these Truths are extinguished when a man is not diligent in using all meanes of grace The receiving of the Sacrament is a meanes to quicken and Act these Truths fasting and prayer when God cals for it is a meanes to quicken them goe through all meanes which God hath ordained to put us in minde of these Truths and so farre as you neglect the meanes so farre you detaine these Truths in unrighteousnesse The end of the Seventh Sermon CERTAINE SERMONS VPON HVMILIATION The Eighth SERMON ROMANS 1.19 20. Forasmuch as that which may be knowne of God is manifest in them for God hath shewed it unto them For the invisible things of him that is his eternall power and God-head are clearly seene by the creation of the world being considered in his workes to the intent that they should be without excuse THe fourth Case wherein we withhold this truth in unrighteousnesse and imprison it is when we directly suppresse it when we doe indeed suffocate it when we doe this of purpose this is an evident Case when a man not only withdrawes fewell when he doth not only not act it neglecting the meanes but doth purposely suppresse it As for example when God shall kindle a good sparke in any mans heart and put in a good motion not only reveales but stirres up some Truths which concerne his salvation and hee doth endeavour to put it out to quench it and labours to lay that truth asleepe and is glad when by any meanes he can forget it lest it should trouble him this is a great suppessing of the Truth and by this we not only suppresse this Truth but we doe harden our owne hearts exceedingly as in iron when we quench it we doe not only put out the fire but harden the Iron so when God stirs up many Truths as it is in hearing the Word in apprehension of death in suffering some calamity in a good mood the putting out of these doth harden the heart Therefore when a man shall have good purposes and thinke with himselfe I will now begin to be another man and to change my courses and yet shall goe into ill company such as it may be he hath kept before this is an evident suffocating of the Truth a thing often spoken of and blame me not that I speake of it againe for it is the great quench-coale of Religion a man cannot prosper therein if he looke not to his company because it is as a continuall dropping on a fire-brand which will be sure to put out the light and life and grace which one hath Chrysostome compares ill company to putting in of swine when a man hath planted an Orchard with tender Plants when he hath sowed it and the corne or whatsoever it is appeares leave the hedge open and let the swine come in and they will overturne all by the roots So when we Ministers have sowed the Seed and it begins to grow a little to put forth when ill company come in they spoile all they marre all they pull up all by the roots so that we have lost our labour it is indeed so effectuall to keepe downe the Seed and to make us imprison the Truth Againe custome in sin giving your selves liberty in any sin that keepes downe the Truth and nothing more Therefore of all other things you must know nothing suppresses that Truth that knowledge those beginnings of Grace those good motions in us so much as actuall sin because it is quite contrary to it Fire is not quenched so much with any thing as with water being quite contrary thereto and light is not hid so much in any thing as in darknesse Take heed then that you be not led away with the deceitfulnesse of sin you may thinke you shall be able to leave this sin afterwards but it is not in your power to do so for sin takes away the sense and a great sinne weakens the faculty that should resist it puts out the Truth because it is so directly contrary unto it And herein you must observe a notable difference betweene men that live godly and others the godly when they fall into sin it is so farre from putting out this Truth that it helps it forward for their fals doe but discover such sins and so it causes them to search themselves by which meanes they finde out that to be in them which they never

men see it not that keepes them in their old condition if we could hit on it And it is either Inconsideration men consider not what they have to doe they look not about them according to that in Deut. 29. You have seene all what the Lord did to Pharaoh but the Lord hath not given you hearts to consider it to this day Now if you aske what Consideration is I answer Consideration is nothing else but an Act superadded to Knowledge when a man not only knowes but returnes and reflects on what he knowes when he stayes and abides on it when he lookes round about a businesse not on a corner of it but fully and weighes every circumstance Therefore we are said to ponder our wayes when wee doe not onely looke to that which is present but to the time past and to come when all things are taken in Now when a man shall lay all together when he shall consider that is thinke seriously and remember that he hath but a little time to live here and that there is another place where he shall live for all eternity that he hath an immortall soule and that his state is dangerous that his sins are great and the wrath of God is as a consuming fire when these are laid together when he considers them and stayes on them by these means he comes to see with his eyes and understand with his heart and to be converted and healed but because men doe consider thence it is that they grow on their roote still and are not brought to this inexcusablenesse nor have all Arguments taken away Or another reason is some Lust there is world credit riches pleasures or something which they are loath to part with the rich man will not part with his possessions they in the twelfth of Iohn will not part with their credit with the Pharisees Ieroboam will not part with his Kingdome till these Arguments shall be answered and God shall cut off those snares for so they are termed 2 Tim. 2.25 Waiting if God will give them repentance to know the truth and to come out of the snare of the Devill who taketh them at his will The meaning is every man before he be regenerate is holden by some snare the snare is some lust the root of it is some false reasoning now when men come to know the truth and to be delivered out of the snare of the Devill when God convinceth a man and opens that truth undoes that false reasoning on which that lust is founded he cuts the snare asunder and then they are set at liberty Every man saith I cannot live without credit without my state without my kingdome as every man hath a kingdom of his owne when God teacheth that this is vanity and if we will be happy the best way is to serve God with a perfect heart when God teacheth the contrary Truth then he is out of the snare of the Devill when he hath awaked his conscience that he is sicke of sin that he feeles his rebellions then the thing he magnified before is nothing now As when a man is sicke the houses and orchards he magnified before are now not regarded his dainty fare and gorgeous apparell he hath no pleasure in them for he is sicke So it is with the Soule when God chargeth sin on the Conscience Againe when God shewes better things than these as Heb. 10.34 They had in heaven a better and an enduring substance and therefore cared for nothing They cared not for parting with their goods when they had another righteousnesse to trust to So when God opened the heavens and shewed himselfe to Paul He reckons all as dung and drosse he doth not magnifie what he did before And thus are men freed from the snare of the Devill Therefore when a man shall deferre and thinke I am ready to come but I will not yet I say these must be taken away for they are false reasonings by which we are built on our root Now when a man shall be perswaded of the danger of putting the evill day farre from him when the Holy Ghost shall give him wisdome to number his dayes then he will take to himselfe new thoughts Every man naturally feares death but because it is farre off no man regards it and so because we put the evill day farre from us we turne not to God now when God shall convince a man of the Truth and teach him to number his dayes Wel thou art now in healt● and strength but when thou commest to num●ber the dayes that remain they are very small Put case a man had an hundred dishes of meat before him if one come and sayes Take heed what you doe for one of these dishes is poison he will not taste of any of them except he have taken an Antidote before So when the Holy Ghost teacheth it is true In one of these dayes is death thou shalt finde poison that shall take away thy life whether first or last it is uncertaine if thou were wise to consider thy latter end that is if thou hadst the wisdome which God must teach thou wouldst see little reason why to venture thy soule on one of these daies if thou hast not made thy Election sure for this is as to eat of one of those dishes when there is poison in it Therefore consider beloved what uncertainty of life there is what it is to venture the soule and what eternity is When God shall each this and stirre up present affections of feare and apprehension of wrath it will teach a man not to deferre but to come home speedily Againe when this place of Scripture and the like shall be seriously considered That if the Good-man of the house knew at what time the Theefe would come he would have an eye to him That Christ hath threatned all before hand that doe not watch And I will come at a time thou thinkest not of me If thou didst consider this when thou art most secure and furthest off from God in the midst of thy jollity and fast asleepe I will come at a time when thou lookest not for me And didst thou thinke this threatning in vaine Didst thou beleeve this Scripture and lay it to heart thou wouldest not deferre thy Turning to God Againe consider put case thou hast liberty if sicknesse come and give thee warning alas how farre art thou from being able to repent Are the times in thine hand Must not the Holy Ghost change thine heart If thou dost now take resolution to amend hast not thou cause to suspect that it proceeds from selfe-love For if it had beene not of love to God wouldest thou not have turned sooner And if it be out of selfe-love God accepts it not All this while wee have spent in shewing the Disease and now wee must shew the Remedy FINIS A SERMON PREACHED AT A GENERALL FAST BEFORE THE COMmons-House of Parliament the second of Iuly 1625. In the time of

conditions Take all other things that please thy nature it is but when thou hast such a lust such an humour in such a time it is not so at all times it is not a continuall feast But you will say I find it not so I find that since I began this new course I have more trouble and perplexity of mind than I had before I was quiet before and all at rest I answer it may be so but stay a while till the Sonne of Grace hath got higher till it hath got more strength and thou shalt find it able to disperse those vapours and to scatter all those clouds It is true at the beginning there is but strength enough to move them to raise them a little but when it hath more strength they are scattered and dispersed therefore though there be a little hardnesse at the first yet goe on and thou shalt finde it pleasant The Heathen man could say Elige vitam optimam consuetudo faciet jucundam Chuse the good way and though it be hard at the first afterwards it will be the more easie If we appointed you a new worke without a new heart it were another case but you must know what we said before you shall have a new Nature and being so it will be pleasant because the wayes of God will be sutable to it So much likewise for this Last of all if we must be made New Creatures then give God the praise of that great worke of changing old men into new men I say give him the praise of it for he lookes for that at your hands Will you magnifie him for healing a lame man a blind man for they were true maladies and he was worthy of praise for them and is he not worthy to be magnified for changing the whole Nature for altering the whole frame of it Are the cures of the soule lesse than the cures of the body What if Christ should now make the lame to walke the blinde to see to take away the blindnesse of the mind to heale the sicknesse of the soule to make a man a New Creature Is not this a worke of an higher Nature When the Centurion saw the Veile of the Temple rent he said Surely this was the Sonne of God So when thou shalt see the Course of Nature turned that old Nature of thine rent to peeces be ready to say Surely this was the Sonne of God Shall we say Christ was God for turning water into w●ne and shall we not give him the praise of his power when we see him turne one Creature into another making Lions Lambes making you New Creatures This is a turning of the course of Nature is not your Nature carried as violently to sinne as the Sunne in his course And to turne it is as much as to stay the Sunne in his course It is no lesse to make you New Creatures No man considers it therefore let me put you in minde what it is for this is a thing you should marke Therefore Iohn Baptist gives this signe of Christ by which he might be distinguished from himselfe and all men I baptize you with water but when he comes he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire that is when that is done be assured that the Sonne of God is come in the flesh This is the great miracle that Iohn will have them attend unto and is not this daily done Doth not Christ baptize us with fire and with the Holy Ghost Therefore you shall see what answer he gives to Iohn Bapt. when he would know Art thou he or looke we for another Goe and tell Iohn the blinde see the lame walke and the poore receive the Gospell that is I have made them New Creatures This is put with the other miracles of healing the blinde and lame It is true we that live see not this done the blind to see or the lame to goe yet we see men receive the Gospell that is are regenerate by the Gospell are made New Creatures This is a thing we should hearken to as it was a great sinne in them in Christs time to neglect the miracles he did so it is with us when wee neglect this Therefore Christ takes up Nichodemus when he tells him that men must be made New Creatures he wondering at it saith what dost thou meane by that Christ saith what wilt thou doe when I tell thee of things in heaven if thou wilt not beleeve when I tell thee of earthly things The meaning is this Regeneration is a thing done on earth that is the meaning of the place this you see before your eyes this you have experience of if you will not beleeve this how will you beleeve things that are remote from your eyes that are shut up from you which you have no experience of but only that I tell you and therefore you ought to beleeve me Therefore when you see New Creatures argue thus with your selves Certainly there is a renewing God and a renewing Spirit that is there is a Redeemer for as by the common creatures which you see you know there is a Creator as opus monstrat efficientem if you see a creature then you know there is a Creator then why should not that renewing of Christ his exercising that act of renewing among the sonnes of men put you in minde of glorifying Go● and of giving you the praise of it When C●●●t wrought miracles you shall finde what different successe they had saith the Text in more places than one therefore I need not quote it some of the people glorified God when they saw such a thing done others envied some glorified God others went and told the Pharisies You shall see when Lazarus was raised from the dead some beleeved and glorified God others went to the Pharisies Now I say when you see this done for this is the greatest miracle and all the miracles that is now left that men are made New Creatures and it is done before your eyes if you will see it as Christ said Hee that hath eares let him heare Take heed how you looke on it consider with what eye God never makes a New Creature but when men looke on it there is a different judgement some there are that magnifie it and desire to be made so likewise that make this use of it and so you ought to doe surely there is vertue in the Spirit a vertue in Grace an efficacie in the Word surely these be the ministers and servants of the most high God This you ought to doe but on the other side how many hundreds and thousands are there that doe as they did when they saw the miracles they envied Yea as they did with Lazarus When the Iewes saw that for Lazarus sake many went away and beleeved on him they consulted how to put Lazarus to death That is the fashion of the world when they see New Creatures men regenerate that holinesse and purity of godlinesse shines forth