comes from a broken heart Psa. 51. 17. The Sacrifices of God are a broken spirit The Incense was to be beaten to typifie the breaking of the heart in Prayer 'T is not the voluble tongue but the melting heart God accepts Oh saith a Christian I cannot pray as others as Moses said to the Lord I am not eloquent But canst thou weep and sigh Doth thy soul melt out at thy eyes God accepts broken expressions when they come from broken hearts I have read of a Plant that bears no fruit but it weeps forth a kind of Gum which is very costly So though thou dost not flourish with those gifts and expressions as others yet if thou canst weep forth tears from a contrite heart these are exceeding precious to God and he will put them in his bottle Iacob wept in prayer and had power ever the Angel Hos. 12. 4. 5. A spiritual Prayer is a believing Prayer Mat. 21. 22. Whatever ye shall ask in prayer believing ye shall receive The reason why so many Prayers suffer shipwrack is because they split against the Rock of unbelief Praying without Faith is shooting without bullets When Faith takes Prayer by the hand then we draw neer to God we should come to God in Prayer as the Leper Mat. 8. 2. Lord if thou wilt thou canst heal me 'T is a disparagement to Deity to have such a whisper in the heart that Gods ear is heavy and cannot hear What is said of the people of Israel may be applyed to Prayer It could not enter in because of unbelief 6. A Spiritual Prayer is an holy Prayer 1 Tim. 2. 8. Wherefore lift up pure hands Prayer must be offered upon the Altar of a pure heart sin lived in makes the heart hard and Gods ear deaf sin stops the mouth of Prayer it doth as the Thief to the Traveller puts a Gagg in his mouth that he cannot speak sin poysons and infects prayer A wicked mans prayer is sick of the Plague and will God come neer him The Loadstone loseth its virtue when it is bespread with Garlick so doth prayer when it is polluted with sin Psa 66. 18. If I regard iniquity in my heart the Lord will not hear me 'T is foolish to pray against sin and then to sin against prayer a spiritual prayer like the spirits of Wine must be refined and taken off the Lees and dregs of sin Mal. 3. 3. That they may offer to the Lord an offering in righteousness If the heart be holy this Altar will sanctifie the gift 7. A spiritual prayer is an humble prayer Psa. 10. 17. Lord thou hast heard the desire of the humble Prayer is the asking of an Alms which requires humility Luke 18. 13. The Publican standing afar off would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven but smote upon his breast saying God be merciful to me a sinner Gods incomprehensible glory may even amaze us and strike an holy consternation into us when we approach nigh to him Ezra 9. 6. O my God I blush to lift up my face to thee 'T is comely to see a poor nothing lye prostrate at the feet of its Maker Gen. 18. 27. Behold I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord which am but dust and ashes The lower the heart descends the higher the prayer ascends 8. A spiritual prayer is when we pray in the name of Christ To pray in the name of Christ is not only to name Christ in prayer but to pray in the hope and confidence of Christs mediation as a Childe claims his Estate in the right of his Father who purchased it so we come for mercy in Christs Name who hath purchased it for us in his bloud unless we pray thus we do not pray at all nay we rather provoke God as it was with Uzziah when he would offer Incense without a Priest God was angry and struck him with Leprosie 2 Chron. 26. 16. So when we do not come in Christs Name in prayer we offer up Incense without a Priest and what can we expect but to meet with wrath 9. A spiritual prayer is when we pray out of love to prayer A wicked man may pray but he doth not love prayer Iob 27. 10. Will he delight himself in the Almighty A godly man is carried upon the wings of delight he is never so well as when he is praying he is not forced with fear but fired with love Isa. 56. 7. I will make them joyful in my house of prayer 10. A spiritual prayer is when we have spiritual ends in prayer There is a vast difference between a spiritual prayer and a carnal desire the ends of an Hypocrite are secular and carnal he looks asquint in prayer it is not the sense of his spiritual wants that moves him but rather lust Iam. 4. 3. Ye ask amiss that ye may consume it upon your lusts The sinner prays more for food than Grace this God doth not interpret praying but howling Hosea 7. 14. They howled upon their beds they assemble for corn and wine Da modo lucra mihi Prayers which want a good aim want a good answer A godly man hath spiritual ends in prayer he sends out his prayer as a Merchant sends out his Ship that he may have large returns of spiritual blessings his design in prayer is that his heart may be more holy and that he may have more communion with God A godly man drives the Trade of prayer that he may encrease the stock of Grace 11. A spiritual prayer is accompanied with the use of means there must be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as well as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 When Hezekiah was sick he did not only pray for recovery but he laid a lump of figs to the boyl Isa. 38. 21. Thus it is in case of the soul when we pray against sin and avoid temptations when we pray for Grace and improve opportunities this is the laying a fig to the boil which wil make us recover To pray for holiness and neglect the means is like winding up the Clock and pulling off the weights 12. A spiritual prayer is that which leaves a spiritual frame behind upon the heart a Christian is better after prayer he hath gotten more strength over sin as a man by exercise gets strength The heart after prayer keeps a tincture of holiness as the Vessel savours and relisheth of the Wine that is put into it Moses having been with God on the Mount his face shined so having been on the Mount of prayer our Graces shine and our lives shine This is the sign of a godly man he prays in the spirit This is the right kind of praying the gift of prayer is ordinary like Culinary fire but spiritual prayer is more rare and excellent like Elementary fire which comes from heaven Use 1. Is a godly man of a praying spirit then this excludes them from being godly 1. Who pray not at all
in it Love one another how unworthy is it when Christians are suffering together to be then striving together 4 Not to love is very Sinful 1 For Saints not to love is to live in a contradiction to Scripture the Apostle is continually beating upon this string of love as if it made the sweetest musick in Religion Rom. 13. 8. Col. 3. 14. 1 Pet. 1. 22. 1 Ioh. 3. 11. 1 Iohn 4. 21. This Commandement we have from him that hee who loveth God love his Brother also not to love is to walk Antipodes to the word can he be a good Physician who goes against the rules of Physick can he be a good Christian who goes against the rules of Religion 2 Want of love among Christians doth much silence the spirit of prayer hot passions make cold prayers where animosities and contentions prevail instead of praying one for another Christians will be ready to pray one against another like the Disciples who prayed for fire from heaven upon the Samaritans Luke 9. 54. and will God think you hear such prayers as come from a wrathful heart will hee eat of our leavened bread will hee accept of those duties which are sowered with bitterness of spirit shall that prayer ever go up as incense which is offered with the strange fire of our sinful passions 3 These heart-burnings hinder the progress of piety in our own souls the flower of grace will not grow in a wrathful heart the body may as well thrive while it hath the Plague as a soul can that is infected with malice while Christians are debating grace is abating as the spleen grows health decaies and as hatred increaseth holiness declines 5 Not to love is very fatal the differences among Gods people portend ruine all mischiefs come in at this gap of division Mat. 12. 25. Animosities among Saints may make God leave his Temple Ezek. 10. 4. The glory of the Lord went up from the Cherub and stood upon the threshold Doth not God seem to stand upon the threshold of his house as if he were taking his wings to â—lye and wo to us if God depart from us If the Master leave the ship it is near sinkâ—ng indeed if God leave a land it must needs â—ink in ruine Quest. How shall wee attain this excellent grace of love Answ. 1 Beware of the Devils Footâ—osts I mean such as run on his errand and make it their work to blow the coals of contention among Christians and render one party odious to another 2 Keep up friendly meetings Christians should not be shy one of another as if they had the Plague 3 Let us plead that promise Ier. 32. 39. I will give them one heart and one way Let us pray that there may bee no strife among Christians but who shall love most let us â—ray that God will divide Babylon and unite â—ion Use 3 Is this a mark of a godly man to â—ove the Saints then they must stand inlighted for ungodly who hate the Saints the wicked have an implacable malice against Gods people and how can antipathies be reconciled To hate Saint-ship is a brand of a reprobate they that maligne the godly are the curse of the creation if all the scalding drops in Gods Vial will make them miserable they shall bee so Never did anyâ— who were the haters and persecuters of Saints thrive upon that Trade What became of Iulian Dioclesian Maximinus Valerian Cardinal Crescentius and others some of them their bowels came out others choked with their own blood that they might be set up as standing monuments of Gods vengeance Psa. 34. 21. They that hate the righteous shall be desolate SECT XIX 19 A godly man doth not indulge himself in any sin Though sin lives in him yet he doth not live in sin Every man that hath wine in him is not in wine A godly man may step into sin through infirmity but hee 〈◊〉 not keep the road Psal. 139. 24. See if there bee any way of wickedness in mee Quest. What is it to indulge sin Answ. 1 To give the breast to it and feed it as a fond Parent humours his childe and lets him have what he will so to indulge sin is to humour sin 2 To indulge sin is to commit it with delight 1 Thess. 2. 12. They have pleasure in unrighteousness In this sense a godly man doth not indulge sin though sin be in him hee is troubled at it and would fain get rid of it there is as much difference between sin in the wicked and the godly as between poyson being in a Serpent and in a Man Poyson in a Serpent is in its natural place and is delightful But poyson in a mans body is offensive and hee useth Antidotes to expel it So sin in a wicked man is delightful being in its natural place but sin in a childe of God is burdensome and he useth all means to expell it This pares off from the sin the will is against it A godly man enters his protest against sin Rom. 7. 15. What I do I allow not A childe of God while he commits sin hates the sin he commits Rom. 7. in particular there are four sorts of sins which a godly man will not allow himself in 1 Secret sins Some are more modest than to commit gross sin that would be a stain to their reputation but they will sit brooding upon sin in a corner 1 Sam. 23. 9. Saul secretâ—y practised mischief All will not sin in a Belcony but perhaps they will sin behind the curtain Rachel did not carry her fathers Images as a Sumpter-cloath to be exposed to publick view but she put them under her and sate upon them Gen. 31. 34. many carry their sins secretly as a candle in a dark lantâ—orn But a godly man dares not sin secretly 1 he knows that God sees in secret Psal. 44. 21. as God cannot be deceived by our subtilty so he cannot be excluded by our secresy 2 A godly man knows that secret sins are in some sense worse than others they discover more guile and Atheism The Curtain-sinner makes himself beleeve God doth not see Ezek. 8. 12. Son of man hast thou seen what the Antients of the house of Israel have done in the dark for they say the Lord seeth us not They that have bad eyes think the Sun is dim how doth this provoke God that mens Atheisme should give the lye to his Omnisciency Psal. 94. 9. He that formed the eye shall he not see 3 A godly man knows that secret sins shal not escape Gods Justice a Judge on the Bench can punish no offence but what is proved by Witness he cannot punish the Treason of the heart but the sins of the heart are as visible to God as if they were written upon the fore-head As God will reward secret duties so he will revenge secret sins 2 A godly man will not allow himself in gainful sins Gain is the golden
have his approbation who was the Judge and Umpire of the Race There is a time shortly coming when a smile from Gods face will be infinitely better than all the applauses of men How sweet will that word be Euge bone serve Well done thou good and faithful servant Mat. 25. 21. A godly man is ambitious of Gods Letters-Testimonial the hypocrite desires to carry it fair with men Saul was for the vogue of the people 1 Sam. 15. 30. A godly man approves his heart to God who is both the Spectator and the Judge 3. The godly man is ingenuous in laying open of his sins Psa. 32. 5. 1 confessed my sin to thee and my iniquity have I not hid The hypocrite doth vail and smother his sin he doth not abscindere peccatum but abscondere like a Patient that hath some loathsome disease in his body he will rather die than confess his disease But a godly mans sincerity is seen in this he will confess and shame himself for sin 2 Sam. 24. 17. Lo I have sinned and I have done wickedly Nay a Childe of God will confess sin in particular an unsound Christian will confess sin by wholesale he will acknowledge he is a sinner in general whereas David doth as it were point with his finger to the sore Psal. 51. 4. I have done this evil He doth not say I have done evil but this evil he points at his bloud-guiltiness 4. The godly man hath blessed designs in all he doth he propounds this end in every Ordinance that he may have more acquaintance with God and bring more glory to God as the herb Heliotropium turns about according to the motion of the Sun so a godly mans actions do all move towards the glory of God It is an axiom in Phylosophy The means are in order to the end A godly mans praying and worshipping is that he may honor God though he shoots short yet he takes a right aim the hypocrite minds nothing but self-interest the sails of his Mill move not but when the wind of preferment blows he never dives into the waters of the Sanctuary but to fetch up a piece of gold at the bottom 5. The godly man abhors dissimulation towards men his heart goes along with his tongue he cannot flatter and hate commend and censure Rom. 12. 9. Let love be without dissimulation Dissembled love is worse than hatred counterfeiting of friendship is no better than a lye for there is a pretence of that which is not Many are like Ioab 2 Sam. 20. 9. He took Amasa by the beard to kiss him and smote him with his sword in the fifth rib and he died Impia sub dulci melle venena latent There is a River in Spain where the fish seem to be of a golden colour but take them out of the water and they are like other fish All is not gold that glisters there are some pretend much kindness but they are like great veins which have little bloud if you lean upon them they are as a Leg out of joynt For my part I much question his truth towards God that will flatter and lie to his friend Pro. 10. 18. He that hideth hatred with lying lips is a fool By all that hath been said we may try whether we have this note of a godly man to be sincere Sincerity as I conceive is not properly â— grace but rather the ingredient into every grace Sincerity is that which doth qualifie grace and without which grace is not true Eph. 6. ult Grace be with them which love our Lord Iesus Christ in sincerity Sincerity qualifies our love sincerity is to grace as the bloud and spirits are to the body there can be no life without the bloud so no grace without sincerity Use. As we would be reputed godly let us labour for this Character of sincerity 1. Sincerity renders us lovely in Gods eyes God saith of the sincere soul as of Sion Psal. 132. 14. This is my rest for ever here will I dwell for I have desired it A sincere heart is Gods Paradise of delight Noah found grace in Gods eyes Why what did God see in Noah he was girt with the girdle of sincerity Gen. 6. 9. Noah was perfect in his Generation Truth resembles God and when God sees a sincere heart he sees his own Image and he cannot chuse but fall in love with it Pro. 11. 20. He that is upright in his way is Gods delight 2. Sincerity makes our services find acceptance with God the Church of Philadelphia had but a little strength her grace was weak her services slender yet of all the Churches Christ wrote to he found the least fault with her What was the reason because she was most sincere Rev. 3. 8. Thou hast kept fast my word and hast not denied my Name Though we cannot pay God all we owe yet a little in currant Coyn is accepted God takes sincerity for full payment A little gold though rusty is better than Alchimy be it never so bright a little sincerity though rusted over with many infirmities is of more value with God than all the glorious flourishes of hypocrites 3. Sincerity is our safety false hearts that will step out of Gods way and use carnal policy when they think to be most safe they are least secure he that walketh purely walketh surely Pro. 10. 9. A sincere Christian will do nothing but what the word warrants and that is safe as to the Conscience Nay oftentimes such as are upright in their way the Lord takes care of their outward safety Psal. 4. I laid me down and slept David was now beleaguer'd with Enemies yet God did so incamp about him by his Providence that he could sleep securely as in a Garrison Ver. 5. The Lord sustained me The only way to be safe is to be sincere 4. Sincerity is Gospel perfection Iob 1. 8. Hast thou considered my servant Job that there is none like him in the earth a perfect and an upright man Though a Christian be full of infirmities and like a Childe that is put out to Nurse weak and feeble yet God looks upon him as if he were compleatly righteous Every true Saint hath the Thummim of perfection upon his breast-plate 5. Sincerity is that which the Devil strikes most at Satans spite was not so much at Iobs Estate as his integrity he would have wrested the Shield of Sincerity from him but Iob held that fast Iob 27. 6. A Thief doth not fight for an empty purse but for money The devil would have robbed Iob of the Jewel of a good Conscience and then he had been poor Iob indeed Satan doth not oppose Profession but Sincerity Let men go to Church and make glorious pretences of holiness Satan doth not oppose this this doth him no hurt nor them no good but if men will be sincerely pious then Satan musters up all his forces against them Now that which
idle person is the Devils Tennis-ball which he bandies up and down with temptation and at last the Ball falls into the Hazzard 4 A godly man sets bounds to himself in things lawful he abates in matters of recreation and diet hee takes only so much for the recruits of nature as may the better dispose him for Gods service Hierom lived abstemiously his diet was a few dried Figs and cold water And Austin in his Confessions saith thus Lord thou hast taught me to go to my meat as to a medicine If the snaffle of reason much more should the curbing-bit of grace check the appetite the life of a Sinner is bruitish the glutton feeds without fear Iude 2. and the drunkard drinks without reason Too much oyle choaks the Lamp whereas a lesser quantity makes it burn brighter a godly man holds the golden bridle of temperance and will not suffer his Table to be a snare 5 A godly man is careful about moral righteousness he makes conscience of equity as well as piety the Scripture hath linked both together Luk. 1. 75. That wee might serve him in righteousness and true holiness Holiness there is the first Table Righteousness there is the second Table Though a man may be morally righteous and not godly yet no man can be godly but hee must be morally righteous This moral righeousness is seen in our dealings with men a good man observes that golden maxim Mat. 7. 12. Whatsoever ye would that men should do to you do ye even so to them There is a threefold injustice in matters of dealing 1 Using of false weights Hos. 12. 7. The ballances of deceit are in his hands men by making their weights lighter make their sin heavier Amos 5. 8. They make the Ephah small the Ephah was a measure they used in selling they made the Ephah small they gave but scant measure a godly man who takes the Bible in one hand dares not use false weights in the other 2 Imbasing a commodity Amos 8. 6. They sell the refuse of the wheat they would pick out the best grains of the wheat and sell the worst at the same price as they did the best Isa. 1. 22. Thy wine is mixed with water they did adulterate their wine yet make their customers beleeve it came from the pure grape 3 Taking a great deal more than the commodity is worth Lev. 25. 14. If thou sell ought to thy neighbour ye shall not oppress one another a godly man deals exactly but not exactingly he will sell so as to help himself but not damnifie another His motto is A conscience void of offence towards God and towards men Act. 23. 16. The Hypocrite separates these two which God hath joyned together Righteousness and Holiness he pretends to be pure but is not just This brings religion into contempt when men hang forth Christs colours yet will use fraudulent circumvention and under a mask of piety neglect morality a godly man makes conscience of the second Table as well as the first 6 A godly man will forgive them that have wronged him revenge is sweet to nature 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A gracious spirit passeth by affronts forgets injuries and counts it a greater victory to conquer an enemy by patience than by power This is truly heroical To overcome evil with good Though I would not trust an Enemy yet I would endeavour to love him though I would exclude him out of my Creed yet not out of my prayer Mat. 5. 4. Quest. But doth every godly man arrive at this to forgive yea love his Enemies Answ. He doth it in a Gospel-sense that is 1. Quoad assensum he subscribes to it in his judgement as a thing which ought to be done Rom. 7. 18. With my mind I serve the Law of God 2. Quoad dolorem A godly man mourns that he can love his Enemies no more Rom. 7. 24. O wretched man that I am O this base canker'd heart of mine that have received so much mercy and can show so little I have had Talents forgiven me yet I can hardly forgive Pence 3. Quoad votum A godly man prays that God will give him an heart to love his Enemies Lord pluck this root of bitterness out of me perfume my soul with love make me a Dove without gall 4. Quoad conatum A godly man doth in the strength of Christ resolve and strive against all rancour and virulency of spirit This is in a Gospel-sense to love our Enemies a wicked man cannot do this his malice boils up to revenge 7. A godly man lays to heart the miseries of the Church Psal. 137. 1. We wept when we remembred Sion I have read of certain Trees whose leaves if cut or touched the other leaves begin to contract and shrink up themselves and for a space hang down their heads Such a spiritual sympathy is there among Christians when other parts of Gods Church suffer they feel themselves as it were touched in their own persons Ambrose reports that when Theodosius was sick unto death he was more troubled about the Church of God than about his own sickness When Aeneas would have saved Anchises his life saith he Absit ut excisa possim supervivere Troiâ Far be it from me that I should desire to live when Troy is buried in its ruines there are in Musick two Unisons if you strike one you shall perceive the other to stir as if it were affected When the Lord strikes others a godly heart is deeply affected Isa. 16. 11. My bowels shall sound like an Harp Though it be well with a Childe of God in his own particular he dwells in an house of Cedar yet he grieves to see it go ill with the publick Queen Esther enjoyed the Kings favour and all the delights of the Court yet when a bloudy Warrant was signed for the death of the Jews she mourns and fasts and ventures her own life to save theirs 8. A godly man is contented with his present condition if provisions grow low his heart is tempered to his condition Many saith Cato blame me because I want and I blame them because they cannot want A godly man puts a candid interpretation upon Providence when God brews him a bitter Cup this saith he is my diet-drink it is to purge me and do my soul good therefore he is well content 9. A godly man is fruitful in good works Titus 2. 7. The Hebrew word for godly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies merciful implying that to be godly and charitable are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 one and the same A good man feeds the hungry cloathes the naked he is ever merciful Psal. 37. 6. The more devout sort of the Jews at this day distribute the tenth part of their Estate to the poor and they have a Proverb among them give the tenth and you will grow rich The hypocrite is all for Faith