zealous flaming Grace of holy anger add light to light and glory to the glory of a Saint O my Soul is holy anger a saving and gracious affection a part of the glorious Image of God in a Saint Do the holy and blessed Angels as the Scriptures witness in their zeal to Gods glory and hatred of Sin express it in their constant oppositions and inflictions of Gods Judgments upon wicked Men and Devils Yea is it an Apostolical Precept and Duty to be angry and sin not Shall this grace have even in Heaven continual objects and occasions to exercise it self to Gods glory and thy own O write after this Copy and endeavour that this grace may not be seldome and casually but habitually in thee here upon Earth Let it be one of the Mortifiers and Crucifiers of thy lusts as they were the Murderers of thy Saviour Let it dash out the brains of all these Babell Beasts against the Stones of holy reproofs even the accursed issue of thy sinfull thought words and actions Let this God-like passion resist the Devil in all his subtle and powerfull temptations and he shall undoubtedly flye from thee Yea let this grace imitate and second the holy Spirit in reproving and convincing the ungodly World of Sin So shalt thou be preserved from the Commission of all evil triumph over all thy worldly and spiritual Enemies and be prepared by thy more full extent and acting of this grace here to be of an higher form in the blessed exercise thereof in Glory O All-mighty Creator who hast made my heart the seat of my affections and plac'd it in the Centre of my Body that it might affect and influence every part alike Let it not I humbly beseech thee be any longer like the middle Region of the Aire the coldest part of this Micro-cosme and void of this Heavenly heat of holy anger But let this sanctified affection flash forth like thunder and lightning and burn up and destroy every crude and evil thought word and action as soon as they appear and purge this Element of my Heart and Soul from all the infectious noxious and sinfull vapours of vain and sinfull thoughts that arise from this Earth this Body of Death and Sin that incompasses me about that they may never come to the maturity of wicked actions or if they do they may be as it were Thunder strucken and torne up by the Roots and not able to stand before this flaming grace so shall I be like thee who art as a flaming Fire consuming all Iniquity That so being renewed and fashioned according to thy Image in this World by such holy affections I may be assured of theirs and my greater perfection in the World to come when I shall be made like thee iâ— thy Image of Glory Amen As the light of the Sun to the World so is the affection of joy to the Soul when it arises there is day when it sets an uncomfortable night Man in his innocency enjoyed a polar day a continued presence thereof but having lost God its cause and object the effect ceased not that the Soul is disrob'd of the affection but of the true use of it hence the distinction of a spiritual and carnal joy The first is the true only found and beginning afresh to bud in the renewed Saints and favourites of God for a stranger shall not intermeddle with their joy but the other is momentary and illegitimate as being begotten in the Soul by false objects and is as it were the Moon-light of the wicked The object then of true joy is God and that in this consideration as he is inclusively and exclusively the compleat happiness of the Creature Whereby it comes to pass that the godly and reprobate may both rejoyce in the same things as Wifes Children Honours Estates c. And yet the joy of the one be holy and spiritual of the other carnal and wicked Leaving then the sensual mirth which is deceivable sinfull and temporary my thoughts pitch upon the Solace of the Elect which the Scripture stiles the joy of the Holy Ghost unspeakable and glorious the first-fruits and earnest of their future happiness By these glimpse O ye Saints of God's may yee judge of that full light you shall there enjoy Which if unspeakable here shall surely be there unconceivable Alas what can I then think and meditate of it chiefly negatively thus that there shall be no cloudings nor intermissions there no measure of our joy for we shall continually behold God and in him see all the grounds of rejoycing If here excesses have proved mortal their exceedings shall make us more immortal this being an increasing and reviving not a surfeiting fulness The capacity of the affection being gradually and continually augmented according to the plentifull infusion our joyes multiplying there even to Eternity The growth of our graces here although God be seen of us through the cleft of the Rock as to Moses teaching discovering and evincing a continued and far greater augmentation in glory hereafter O blessed and happy estate which is not diminished by Eternity but is as unlimitable as lasting O happy place wherein all joyes meet their objects in one Centre There shall we possess and enjoy not guttatim but according to the fulness of each Vessel God our gracious Father Christ our mercifull Saviour the Holy Spirit our everlasting Comforter the glorious Angels and Arch-Angels our fellow-Servants the Holy Patriarchs and Prophets our Tryumphant Leaders the pious Apostles and valiant Martyrs our victorious Champions together with the many millions successively of religious Professors There shall we meet and rejoyce in the like felicity of all our vertuous Parents Brothers Sisters Wifes Children Kindred and Friends There shall we inherit unvaluable and incorruptible riches Be install'd in Thrones of unchangeable and incorruptible honours and be filled with all unspeakable and Soul-ravishing delights To conclude whatsoever things either in conception or possibility can affect or rejoice the glorified Soul are there not interchangeably but contemporarily and continuedly obvious and present And on the contrary all things whatsoever that may lessen or offend in the least degree this divine extasie have an impossibility of subsistence in this Eternal Paradise And that not only in regard of the presence but of the decree of God himself Therefore needs must this joy be ineffably compleat to which all things concur for its perfection O Divine condition which shall thus sweetly impe and restore these mouldring and broken Wings of my Soul O blissfull Paradise and Chrystaline Sea upon which these now maimed Feet of my affections shall walk or rather evenly slide free from all rubs thorns and sinfull interruptions O how melodious will the harmony of these Strings be when mounted to the highest Key not to Ela but to Eli Methinks the very Contemplation of this life should so ravish my Soul and actuate these Wings these Feet that
with thy Neighbours Wife to defile thy self with her The Adulterer and Adulteress shall surely be put to death Be not deceived neither Fornicators nor Idolaters nor Adulterers nor Effeminate nor abusers of themselves with Man-kind shall inherit the Kingdome of God Mortifie your Members which are upon the Earth fornication uncleanness inordinate affection evil concupiscence For which things sake the wrath of God cometh on the Children of disobedience And commit not Fornication as some of the Israelites committed and fell in one Day three and twenty thousand Without the new Jerusalem are Whoremongers who shall have their part in the Lake which burneth with Fire which is the second Death Out of the heart proceeds evil thoughts which are an abomination to the Lord. Wherefore hate all vain thoughts Let them not lodg within you for the thought of foolishness is sin I understand your thoughts afar off and am a discerner of the thoughts and intents of your hearts Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouths but that which is good to the use of edifying that it may minister grace to the hearers But fornication and all uncleanness let it not be once named amongst you as becometh Saints Neither filthiness nor foolish talking nor jesting which are not convenient but rather giving of thanks For because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the Children of disobedience Be not therefore partakers with them I say unto you every idle word that Men shall speak they shall give account thereof at the Day of Judgment For by thy words thou shalt be justified and by thy words thou shalt be condemned Whosoever looketh upon a Woman to lust after her hath committed Adultery with her already in his heart Wherefore with holy Job make a Covenant with thine Eyes that thou think not upon a Maid to lust after her For when thy Eye is evil thy Body also is full of darkness The Eyes of the wicked shall faile But chiefly them that walk after the Flesh in the lust of uncleanness Having Eyes full of Adultery and that cannot cease from sin and are reserved to the Day of Judgment to be punished and to whom the mist of darkness is reserved for ever The Night is far spent the Day is at hand therefore cast ye off the works of Darkness and put on the Armour of Light walking honestly as in the Day not in rioting and drunkenness not in Chambering and wantonness But put ye on me the Lord Jesus Christ and make not provision for the flesh to fulfill the lusts thereof For if ye live after the flesh ye shall die but if ye through the Spirit do mortifie the deeds of the body ye shall live Let not Sathan who is a lyar from the beginning and the Father of lyes fill your hearts to sin against the Holy Ghost who is the Spirit of truth that ye be not strucken with sudden Death as was Ananias and Saphira Ye shall not lye one unto another but every one speak the truth with his Neighbour For ye are Members one of another For I will destroy them that speak leasing and the mouth that speaketh lies shall be stopped The Earth mourneth and fadeth away the World languisheth and fadeth away the haughty People of the Earth do languish the Earth also is defiled under the Inhabitants thereof because they have transgressed the Laws changed the Ordinance broken the everlasting Covenant I am the Mediator of the new Covenant sealed unto you in my Sacraments of Baptisme and my Supper Tread not then under foot the Son of God nor count the blood of my Covenant wherewith ye are sanctified an unholy thing nor do despight unto my Spirit of grace For vengeance is mine I will recompence yea I will judge my people It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God When thou vowest a vow unto God defer not to pay it for he hath no pleasure in fools Pay that which thou hast vowed The Lord thy God will surely require it of thee and it would be sin in thee That which is gone out of thy Lips thou shalt keep and perform to God and to Men lest thou be excluded my holy Hill and suffer alike Judgement with King Zedekiah for shall he escape that doth such things Or shalâ— he break the Covenant and be delivered Surely where the King dwelleth that made him King whose Oath he despised and whosâ— Covenant he break even with him in the midest of Babilon shall he die Thou shalt not desire thy Neighbours Wife neither shalt thou covet thy Neighbours House his Field or his Man servant or his Maid-servant his Oxe or his Ass or any thing that iâ— thy Neighbours Woe unto him that covered an evil covetousness to his House that he maâ— set his Nest on high that he may be delivereâ— from the power of evil He that maketh haâ— to be rich shall not be innocent No covetouâ— Man who is an Idolater hath any inheritance in the Kingdom of Christ and of God Take heed and beware of Covetousness For woe unto him that buildeth his House by unrighteousness and his Chambers by wrong Beware of Ahab's sin and his punishment No Man can serve two Masters for either he will hate the one and love the other or else he will hold to the one and despise the other Ye cannot serve God and Mammon Therefore I say unto you take no thought for your Life what ye shall eat or what ye shall drink nor yet for your body what ye shall put on Is not the life more than meat and the body than rayment For after all these things the Gentiles seek for your Heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things Wherefore having food and rayment be therewith content for I have said I will never leave thee nor forsake thee They that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare and into many foolish and hurtful lusts which drown Men in destruction and perdition for the love of money is the root of all evil which while some coveted after they have erred from the faith and pierced themselves through with many sorrows Wherefore love not the World nor the things that are in the World if any Man love the World the love of the Father is not in him There is that scattereth and yet increaseth and there is that with-holdeth more than is meet and yet tendeth to poverty The liberal Soul shall be made fat and he that watereth shall be watered also himself There is an evil which I have seen under the Sun and
it shall be corrected and repelled and at the worst be but as a dead Spider a mortified Lust. Blessed and praised be thou O Lord who only art the all-curing Physician and hast given to me thy sick Patient For thou comes to heal such Antidotes both for Body and Soul against both kinds of poisons for both which experimental Receipts and merciful Recoveries and Deliverances I praise thy Name with my whole Man and here declare thy gracious goodness to me and my dear Yoke-fellow in this and other thy Preservations to all that fear thee in and to all Ages Amen The PRESERVATIVE A Thankful Poem upon the same Subject AS Sathan is the Father of all Sin So Sin the Mother is of dangers and of death Both which he acts as he did first begin Vnder the specious shew of good on Earth Which though he hates yet under that disguise This Jugling Cheator ushers in his Lies Thus his deluded Agents falsly stile To save more than is meet a virtuous thrift And to be prodigal in things most vile A gentle spending and a liberal Gift Heresie they call new Light Idolatry A Medium of Worship and true Piety Pride neatness Swine-like drunkenness And beastly Gluttony good fellowship Deceit Trades mystery Voluptuousness Christian Refreshment Ruining suertiship A friendly Office murderous Duelling True Valour Justice right determining Lust and Lasciviousness his Factors name Love-Courting Amorousness Affection Hell's Patches Beauties spots Painting no stain But a good Art to help Complection Legends of Lies a pious fraud base Guile Good Language and a Complemental Stile As moral Crimes so often poenal ill Dangers and mischiefs like the Crocodile Lie cover'd under sensual Pleasures still As under Water till they Vs begâ—ile And ceize upon Thus Tomaris rich Tent Was Cyrus Sepulchre and Monument And Jael's Lordly Dish of cooling Drink Lull'd Sisera into a deadly sleep Thus Ammon Haman when they least did think Of danger Death did their own Funerals keep And the Whores Vassailes drink her filthy Wine Out of her Golden Cup of Jus Divine Sweet Lord thus also in the lawful Tast Of thy good Creature in a silver Cup I and my dearest might have drunk our last Had'st thou not seasoned our poisonousâ—Sup Elisha-like cast out by thy Command Its Venome as the Viper from Paul's hand In both fulfilling what thou promised At thy Ascention as of Faith a sigue That such of thine should not be poisoned Nor hurt by Serpents or by deadly Wine Blest be thy Name who by one act of Love Both strengthened Faith and thus preserv'd thy Dove Sin Lord of all things here 's most venomous As swell'd and badg'd with deadly poisonous Lusts. Lies in my Heart not dead but vigorous As was that Spider ready for to burst O let thy Grace by Oyle prefigured Preserve my Soul as that my Body did So shall I live here blest with sprit'all health And cast out from the bottome of my heart All spider-like vil'd thoughts dead which by stealth Creep in and poison would my better part Yea ever live to praise thee in that place Where sin shall be no more nor want of Grace Amen ARGUMENT Vpon God's merciful preservation of some of our Family from being kill'd or hurt by a Fowling-Piece full laden and unawares discharg'd by an unskilful Person carelesly medling with the Cock thereof in the Room wherein they were diversly Imployed Soliloquium or Discourse NO Person time place or Company upon Earth is free from danger not Julius Caesar who was stab'd and slain in the Senate-House of Rome although a Person as fortunate as great in a time of Peace and in a Place that was the richest and strongest Piece of the Worlds head therefore called the Capitol and in the mid'st of an Assembly of the justest gravest wisest greatest richest and valiantest Men of the whole Earth But it may be Objected that although civil Persons times places and Senates may be unsecure yet Ecclesiastical are not so and therefore they their times of Worship and Assemblies are at the least by the papal Cannon-Laws stiled and made spiritual and priviledged their Synods and Counsels sacred and their Churches and Monasteries Sanctuaries not only for themselves but for the most flagitious Persons such as Traitors and Murderers I answer that as I deny that De Jure they have any such security or priviledge so De Facto they and others have found it otherwise to their cost instance in the three Cerberus-like Heads of the Roman Catholick Church as they falsly and nonsensically call it Gregory the XII Benedict the XIII and John the XXIV all Three Elected and acknowledged Popes at one time and deposed by the Council of Constance called by the Emperor Sigismund who there chose Martin the V. Pope in their Room which Election is the present Foundation of all the succeeding Popes and their actings which if the Papists and their Champions the Jesuits deny to be legal where will they finde a Pope Papacy and Succession ever since Peter or since John the XXIV yea all actings by and since Pope Martin the V. are illegal and therefore Null If they affirm it legal then they confess their Church had three Heads or Popes at once that the Emperor of Germany hath a right to call together when he pleases a General Council that such a General Counsel hath a right to Depose Pope or Popes And lastly that he and they did lawfully then Elect their Pope without his Concave of Cardinals But leaving them this Bone to pick I proceed in my Meditations and instance together with this as a clear proof and Example besides many others like as to the Popes the sad fate of others Jewes and Pagans slain in their holy places as of Senacherib slain by his Sons in the Temple of Niscoch his God Of Queen Athaliath attached in the Temple and afterwards slain Of Joab slain by Benajath at the Horns of the Altar I might here add many more but I conceive these are sufficient to prove my assertion and to answer the Popish objection That no Ecclesiastical Persons holy times or places are free and priviledged from danger If it be lawful that is fit according to the Proverb to compare small things with great This truth and observation that all Persons times places and Companies are subject to danger was verified to our Family where Persons of the better rank and Servants being together in the Kitchin upon several employments a Fowling-piece laden with great shot Bullets or Slugs was involuntarily discharged without the hurt of any Person it 's deadly burden being by the great force of the Powder buried as in a Grave in a large Hole in the Wall That it might be a Daily remembrancer of God's gracious providence and our deliverance and excite continually our thankfulness Lord thy Word likens Mens Mouthes to Bowes or Quivers of Arrowes which many times unwarily
answ 86 In particular respect of her Sences Tongue and Body 88 Christ answ 89 Of Christs Kingly Office Christs present Kingly Office 93. viz. His Government 99 His excellent person 99 His Laws 101 commended from the Author God 102 Antiquity 102 Holiness 103 His Protection 106 particularly from Satan 107 Sin 108 viz. Adams sin 109 Original 110 Actual 112 World 116 from Its 1 Dart-lust 117 2. Riches 118 3. Honours 119 4. Persecution 120 His conduct encouragement against Coveteousness 123 Sensual pleasures 124 Honour 126 Persecution 128 Death 130 Fear of Death 132 The pain and separation of soul and body 133 Comfort in the Resurrection 135 Christs Kingly Office at the last Judgment 139 Of Eternal life and Glorified state of Man in general 143 149 In particular 1. In Soul The Understanding glorified 148 The Will glorified 149 The Memory glorified 150 The Affections in general 151 In particular Love glorified 151 Fear glorified 153 Zeal glorified 156 Anger glorified 160 Joy glorified 169 2. In Body In general 164. In special Its Spiritualness 169 Its Swiftness 169 Its Splendor 171 Its Incorruptibleness Immortality 175 3. In the Senses In general 188. In particular The Sight glorified 195 The Hearing glorified 199 The Taste glorified 205 The Smelling glorified 210 Touching glorified 215 Of the Tongue the Organ of several senses 222 Twelve wonderful Actings or Works of God to be fulfilled 239 Namely 1. The raising of the Witnesses 239 2. The ruine of Rome 239 3. The ruine of the Papacy 240 4. Israels Conversion 240 5. The destruction of the great Turk 241 6. The binding of the Devil for a thousand years 241 7. The Conversion of the World 241 8. The destruction of all Christs enemies 242 9. The Saints peaceable raign for a thousand years 243 10. The destruction of Gog and Magog and of the World by fire 243 11. The day of Judgment begun with reward to Saints ends with judging the wicked 244 12. Christs Mediatory-Kingdom ends the Saints are translated to Heaven for ever 246 Errata IN the Titles of the Fourth and Fifth Pages for Death Read Faith Page 17. Line 25. f. Nebuchadonazzer Read Nebuchadnezzar p. 26. in the mergine for James r. Lamentations p. 27. l. 29. f. thus r. this p. 29. l. 6. f. affliction r. affection p. 33. l. 34. f. brawl r. crawl p. 39. l. 38. after the word Stephen add â—ye p 40 l. 28. leave out which p. 42. l. 32. f. Lunary r. Lunacy and l. 40 f. are r. were p. 48. l. 33. f. pleasure r. play sure p 49. l. 8. f. Philosophers r. Philosophies p 53. l. 12. for those excess r. whose excess p 54. l. 30 f. inordinate r. inordinacie p. 64. l. 30. f. Nature r. Natures p. 66. l 28. f. halt r. half p 85. l. 30 f. Joshua r. Josiah p. 87. l 31. f. be thy r. be to thy p. 89. l. 4. f. peculiarly r. in part p. 90. l. 17. f. exhautasting r. exhausting p. 92. l. 11. f. England r. Israel p. 105. l. 1. f. of my mind r. of mind p. 116. l. 26. add iâ— before descends p 119. l. 33. f aâ—centing â— accepting p. 130. l. 5. f. their r. these l. 40. f meat r. meal p. 134. l. 19 f. â—â—nding r. bending l. 40. f. yellowed r. Gellied p. 153. l 19. f. lights r. light p. 155. l. 15. f. eye r. eyes p. 157 l. 6. f. preservd r. preserd p. 159 l. 31. f. a spring r. aspâ—ring p. 161. l. 4. f. but its lip r. but in that life l. 22 f. Beasts r. Bâ—ats l. 24 f. thought r. thoughts p. 169 l. 20 f. Locamotion r. Locomotion l 28 f. Port r. Part p. 173 l. 12 f. immund r. immur'd p. 181 l. 9 f. the r. their p. 189 l. 3 f. substraction r. substratum l. 8 f. Elixa r. Elixar p. 193 l. 15 f. so what use r. what use p. 210 l. 17 f. Naâ—al r. Nadab p. 214 l. 26 f. with r. which p. 235 l. 30 f. to r. so p. 249 l. 13 f. I can proceed r. I cannot proceed DIVINE MEDITATIONS ON FAITH OR The Vision Exercise and Triumph of FAITH WHere the Treasure is there 's the Heart the thoughts the affections also A judicious mind is vertuously ambitious only being inamored with that whose true worth invites most its Contemplation glaneing over inferiour things with a superficial and general surview The Soul of Man is never un-imployed though often mis-imployed resembling in the perpetuity though not in the quality of its motion the ever and all-moving Creator who as he ever was so was he never idle as being a most pure act Is this true Is the mind of Man never vacant Art thou never idle O my Soul Strive then not to be idely employed that both in acting and in acting well thou maist be more like thy Maker And let the riches on which thou placest thy love be Heaven and heavenly things Where neither Moth nor rust corrupt nor Thieves break through and steal so shall such Treasure be not the Prison but the Paradise of thy heart Amongst all those precious Graces heapt up in the boundless Store-house of Gods mercy though each particular is to be admired yet are there degrees of preheminence For like as the beautiful Stones set in Aaron's Vestments the Planets amongst the lesser Stars So these three Divine Graces Faith Hope and Charity out-shine the rest attracting the eye of my Soul and as much invite my Contemplation as they necessitate my fruition These these are the Fundamental Graces Superiour to all other both in respect of the Excellency of their Object Christ Jesus and of their Subject wherein they reside a true Christian. The other viz. Temperance Fortitude c. being often-times bestowed by God on many natural Men in whom they shine with a dim Light never with a Sun-like splendor They like the Indians possessing those Treasures which Christians know best the right use of Such Diamonds being then only truly placed when set within a foile of Humility Thus my Soul through the free Grace of thy Heavenly Father hast thou exhibited to thy view and enjoying a Mine of Treasure a Heaven of Happiness Riches which exclude not but command thee to covet O follow thy Saviours Counsel be a joyful Man and industrious Merchant Part with all thy sinful Lusts Sell all thy worldly Vanities purchase this Field and Trade for these Pearls Thy affections are the price which that thou mightest disburse without delay look more seriously into their worth so shalt thou at once affect and possess them As the optick faculty is both weak and useless to us in the Discovery of things that are either too neer or too far distant and so out of the command of its Power so also if we suffer it at once distractedly to wander over several species though within the strength of its speculation it cannot give a true judgment or description of any
and shall be ever with the Lord. But this glorified fear is the most bright reflection in and from us of Gods glorious Soveraignty according to that of the Prophet If I be a Master where is my fear a fruit and an effect of Gods ravishing and transporting excellency and therefore this heavenly affection being so necessary a requisite in our heavenly condition is so far from lessening our perfection in glory as that without it it cannot be perfectly glorious O my Soul shall thy affections of love and fear be thus glorious in thy Heavenly state Let them not have a lesser or lower object than the most high let not such High-Born Princesses be enamoured with their Slaves Vse the World as not abusing it and as though thou used it not Neither fear any but him that only can cast both Soul and Body into Hell-fire Let these two graces be as Jethro to Moses eye in the Wilderness of this World to admonish and to keep thee from losing thy way when thou art turning to the right or to the left And like the Lords Pillar of a Cloud by Day and of Fire by Night to direct thee according to his holy will in thy Journey towards thy Heavenly Canaan Converse with these two Royal Virgins continually So shalt thou have Communion and fellowship with the Father and the Son in the Spirit be partaker of the Divine nature and begin to enjoy Heaven here upon Earth Prepare and so enlarge these Divine Vessels by a pious use and continued Exercise that they may be the more capacious of Glory For according to the measures and proportions of graces in this life shall be their repletion in the life to come where of Apprehensors the Saints shall be made Comprehensors according to their several enlargements For as one Star differs from another in glory so shall it be at the Resurrection of the Just when we shall see God face to face and know him as we are known and be made like him in Glory O my God my Father are these two sanctified affections of love and fear the two Eyes the two Armes of the Soul with which the Saints behold imbrace and enjoy thee in all thy glorious excellencies Are they the two Centinels and Guards by which every true Christian discovers and repells all sinfull thoughts looks words and actions Doth that root of all saving Graces Faith work by love in the application of what the Father Son and Holy Ghost hath done for us Turning our Hearts of Stone into Hearts of Flesh and melting them into teares of Gospel-Repentance Doth love oile the wheeles of our universal obedience so that they run swiftly in the pathes of thy Commandements when thou thus enlargest the heart And is fillial fear the whip in the hand of zeal the holy Chariteer to drive and carry us manger all stops of Sin Sathan and the World to the end of our race Is this divine love to thee and thy Saints the summe and the fulfilling of thy Law The more excellent way The compleating continuing and the greatest grace as most like unto thee For God is love and who so dwelleth in love dwelleth in God and God in him Shall these twin-like graces of love and fear not leave the Soul when it leaves the Body and accompany both Soul and Body at the Resurrection to the Marriage-Supper of the Lamb and to the Marriage-Bed of Glory yea shall they be the measures and compleating of our Glory O holy Father who art the essential love my fear and my dread be thou pleased to sanctify inlarge and inflame these my affections that of sinfull passions in the old Adam they may be changed and Heavenized into active and holy graces in me thy new Creature Let them I beseech thee be effectual and usefull to all the aforementioned ends And since it is no sin but a duty to be ambitious of and to covet spiritual things let them be enlarged and heightned like Heaven even to the utmost of a created capacity that I may be as thou hast promised thy dwelling place upon Earth and thou mayest be my inheritance and my Heaven in Heaven Even so Amen Lord Jesus come quickly The sanctified affection of holy zeal in the glorified Saints deserves our next Meditation This to speak properly is not a simple grace but the highest and intense degree of every grace and holy action which if so famous and resplendent in the Saints upon Earth as in Moses in his exemplary Justice upon the false worshippers of the Golden Calf In Phineas his executing judgment upon that Idolatrous and adulterous payre Zimry and Cosby in David who declares that the zeal of Gods House had eaten him up In Elijah when he put to death four hundred of Baals Prophets in one Evening In Paul who preserved the glory of God in the Redemption of his Country-men the Jews before his own salvation and in that highest example of our dear Lord and Saviour in his purging of his Temple Then this Heavenly grace shall undoubtedly not only continue and have then a Beeing in each glorified Saint but shine forth and act in them much more gloriously Is that only infinite and pure Essence our Omnipotent God who is happiness blessedness and life it self so often declared in the Scripture to be zealous for his name and glory And shall not his Saints his Image be like him Is this grace exercised by glorious Angels as when one Angel destroyed all the first-born of Egypt in one Night Another destroyed a hundred fourscore and five thousand Assyrians at the command and in zeal for the glory of God Yea did an whole Host of Angels descend from Heaven and with a holy zeal Celebrate our Lords Nativity and Man-kindes Redemption in an holy Hymne And shall not the glorified Saints overflow and express upon all occasions to Gods glory the like zealous and inflam'd affections assuredly they shall For though Sin Sathan and the wicked World which by a kinde of spiritual Antiperistasis made their zeal here burn the hotter shall be cast out and banisht thence Yet the glorified Saints shall not want nor be without constant objects and continual occasions according to every ones measure to exercise this grace To instance only some successive ones Gods unparallel'd flaming Justice upon Gog and Magog and all wicked Men at our Saviours second coming with ten thousand of his Saints Christs Crowning and rewarding every Elect Member in righteousness according to their works together with all his glorious Administrations in that his holy righteous and personal Reign in the new Heaven and new Earth for a thousand years His powerfull raising of the wicked after the thousand years and curious Inquisition into and perfect discovery and bringing to Judgment of all their evil thoughts words and actions and his
World to come If they shall fall away to renew them again unto Repentance seeing they crucifie unto themselves Me the Son of God afresh and put Me to an open shame For the Earth which drinketh in the Rain which cometh often upon it and bringeth forth Herbs meet for them by whom it is dressed receiveth blessing from God But that which beareth Thorns and Briars is rejected and is nigh unto Cursing whose end is to be burned If then ye sin wilfully after that ye have received the knowledge of the truth there remains no more Sacrifice for Sin but a certain fearful looking for of Judgment and Fiery indignation which shall devour the Adversaries He that despised Moses Law died without mercy under two or three witnesses Of how much soarer punishment suppose ye shall be thought worthy who hath trodden under foot Me the Son of God and hath counted the blood of the Covenant wherewith he was sanctified an unholy thing and hath done despight unto my spirit of grace Wherefore I say unto you that all manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men But the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto Men. And whosoever speaketh a word against Me the Son of Man it shall be forgiven him but whosoever sinneth against the Holy Ghost it shall not be forgiven him neither in this World nor in the World to come But beloved I am perswaded better things of you and things that accompany Salvation though I thus speak Pray therefore that you may be kept back from presumptuous sins and that they may not have dominion over you So shall you be innocent from the great transgression My Children forget not my Law but let your hearts keep my Commandements For length of Days and long life and peace shall they add unto you Be not slothfull in business but fervent in Spirit serving the Lord. As Enoch and Noah walked with God and Moses seeing him who is invisible So walk you as Children of the Light and by the same Rule since your fellowship is with the Father and the Son And you are made partakers of the Divine nature and being joyned unto me are one Spirit My Children attend to my words incline your Eares unto my sayings let them not depart from your Eyes keep them in the midest of your hearts These things write I unto you that ye sin not and that your joy may be full And if any of you sin I am your Advocate with the Father and the Propitiation for your sins Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin for his Seed remaineth in him Have respect therefore to all my Commandements And keep your selves from your Iniquity Repent and turn from all your transgressions with a godly sorrow not to be repented of So iniquity shall not be your ruine Yea let Rivers of Waters run down your Eyes because Men keep not my Law Watch and pray always lest you run into temptation through Me that strengthens you you shall be able to do all things And be more than Conquerors and saved from your Enemies and from the hand of all that hate you Have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness nor go in the way of evil Men but rather reprove them Set me always before you And whether you sleep or wake be together with me Lay hold on Eternal Life since the things that are seen are temporal but the things that are not seen are eternal For you know that if your Earthly House of this Tabernacle was dissolved you have a building of God an House not made with Hands Eternal in the Heavens Hate evil thoughts and let not vain thoughts lod within you Keep your heart with all diligence for out of it are the issues of life Yea out of your hearts proceed evil thoughts Murders Adulteries Fornications Thefts False-witness Blasphemies Be not high-minded but fear For God resisteth the proud but giveth grace to the humble Be angry but sin not Let not the Sun go down up on your wrath Let your Conversation be without Covetousness and be content with such things as ye have For I have said I will never leave thee nor forsake thee A meek and quiet Spirit is in the sight of God of much Price Exercise your selves to have always a conscience void of offence towards God and towards Men. Speak not lies in Hypocrisie not have your understandings darkned nor your Consciences feared with an hot Iron Happy are you if you condemn not your selves in those things which you allow since he that doubteth is condemned For whatsoever is not of faith is sin Have your Hearts sprinkled from an evil Conscience And follow after the things which make for peace and things wherewith one may edifie one another It is good neither to eat Flesh nor to drink Wine nor any thing whereby your Brother stumbleth or is offended or is made weak Speak evil of no Man Take heed to your ways that you offend not with your Tongues Let not wasting and destruction be in your Paths nor wast your substance among Harlots Wherefore do ye spend Money for that which is not Bread And set your Eyes upon that which is not If riches increase set not your Hearts on them For riches certainly make themselves Wings and flie away as an Eagle towards Heaven Vanity of Vanities all is Vanity Therefore honour the Lord with your substance and with the first-fruits of your increase Cast your Bread upon the Waters for after many Days you shall finde it Give a portion to seven and also to eight He that hath pitty on the poor lendeth unto the Lord And that which ye have given will he repay you again Make to your selves friends of the Mammon of unrighteousness that when ye faile they may receive you into everlasting habitations Give Almes of those things you have and lend looking for nothing again Say not to your Neighbour Go and come again to morrow I will give when you have it by you Nor shut your hands from your poor Brethren Lest I say unto you Depart from me ye cursed into everlasting Fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels For I was an hungry and ye gave me no Meat I was thirsty and ye gave me no Drink I was a stranger and ye took me not in Sick and in Prison and ye Visited me not For inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these my poor Members ye did it not to me See then that ye walk circumspectly
how to walk holily righteously circumspectly and unblameably in your life and conversation together with the holy means and Ordinances ordained by him for the obtaining and strengthning his graces in you which is concluded with his Prayer and mine to our Heavenly Father for a blessing O let not then much beloved Child This Letter should you neglect the counsel given you therein after my decease bear witness against you But let it be a Record and lasting Legacy read and practised by you and your Childrens Children which is the fervent Prayer of your Most affectioned Father J. H. Antwerpe this first of January 1665. An INDEX of the CONTENTS of this EPISTLE And of the Scripture-Catechisme materially contained in it THe Salutation and Exhortation of the Father to his Wife and Children Page 259. The Praise and Commendation of the Lord Jesus Christ under the Name and Title of Wisdome as being and that essentially the Wisdome of God Eadem The danger of neglecting to hear and obey the Voice and Counsel of Christ. P. 260. B. An Exhortation of the Father to his Wife and Children to hearken to the Word and Counsel of Christ. Ead. C. The Speech of the Lord Jesus Christ as speaking in his own Person to those to whom this Epistle is directed and is applicable to all other Christians P. 261. A. The Danger of Rejecting Christ. Ead. B. The Confession of Faith commonly called the Apostles Creed held forth by Christ in Scripture Expressions Ead. C. 1. Article The Doctrine of the Trinity Eadem 2. Article That Jesus Christ is the Eternal Son of God and our Lord. 3. Article As to the Incarnation of the Lord Jesus Christ who was conceived by the Holy Ghost and born of the Virgin Mary P. 262. A 4. Article Concerning Christ's Condemnation by Pontius Pilate his Crucifixion Death and Burial and all other Sufferings in Soul and Body Eadem 5. Article Of Christ's Resurrection 6. Article Of Christ's Ascention 7. Article Of Christ's coming to Judgment 8. Art Concerning the Holy Ghost is proved in the first Article concerning the Trinity Pag. 263. 9. Article Concerning the Catholick Church and the Communion of Saints Ead. C. 10. Article Concerning forgiveness of Sins 11. Article Concerning the Resurrection of the Body Ead. 12. Article Concerning Life everlasting P. 264. A. Ead. C. The Preface to the Decalogue or Ten Commandments Ead. B. C. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10. Commandments The Conclusion of the Ten Commandments Note That the Promises c. are omitted for brevity 265 A The Exhortation of the Lord Jesus to the use of Gospel-Ordinances Viz. 1. To Baptism 2. To the Lord's Supper Ead. C Page 266 A B C 3. To the reading of the Scriptures 4. To the hearing of the Word of God preached 5. To Meditation of the Word of God and of his works 6. To Prayer in publick and private 7. To Obedience to Church-Governors and Discipline P 267 B C The Exhortation of the Lord Jesus to Gospel-saving Graces Viz. 1. To Repentance 2. To Faith P 268 C Page 270 A B C 3. To Hope 4. To Charity 5. To holy Courage or Fortitude 6. To Christian Temperance 7. To holy Patience 8. To Divine Wisdome Page 271 A B Ead. C 9. To Christian Humility 10. The Exhortation of the Lord Jesus to several saving Graces commonly called the Beatitudes 11. To Religious Chastity P 272 C P 273 A 12. To Christian Justice and Righteousness 13. To Gospel sincerity uprightness and truth P. Ead. C. 14. To godly thankfulness and praising of God Ead. C. P. 274 The Exhortation of the Lord Jesus to Divine affections Viz. 1. To holy joy and delight 2. To filial fear of God 3. To holy zeal and anger 4. To holy hatred P 275 A The Preface to the Dehortations of the Lord Jesus from several principal vices Ead. 275 276 The Dehortation 1. From Vnbelief 2. From Atheisme 3. From Polutheisme 4. From Idolatry 5. From Blasphemy 6. From Prophaness 7. From Sacriledge 8. From Hypocrisie 9. From Sabbath-breaking 10. From Superstition 11. From Lukewarmness Page 277 A B 12. From hard-heartedness 13. From presumptuous sinning 14. From sinful swearing 15. From incorrigibleness A Preface to the Dehortation against despair 16. From Despair A Dehortation from Vncharitableness P 278 A B 1. General Branch of Vncharitableness as to the Souls of others 1. By tempting 2. By evil example Ead. B 3. By not reproving 4. By Flattering 5. By not Instructing 6. By persecuting for Conscience Ead. C P 279 A 2d General Branch of Vncharitableness as to the Persons of others 1. By Murder 2. By Maiming 3. By unjust Imprisonment 4. By not relieving Ead. B P 180 A 3d. General Branch of Vncharitableness as to the estates of others 1. By oppression 2. By stealing 3. By defrauding 4. By contentiousness 5. By usury or extortion Ead. A. B 6. By Depopulation 7. By false witnessing 8. By cursing or evil Imprecations 4. General Branch of Vncharitableness as to the good name of others 1. By slandering and back-biting and tale-bearing Ead. C A Dehortation from Intemperance 1. From Drunkenness 2. From Gluttony 3. Fâ—om Insobriety P 281 B C A Dehortation from sinful fear A Dehortation from Ignorance 1. Affected 2. Natural 3. Wilful P 282 A B A Dehortation from Injustice 1 In Magistrates 2 In private Persons 3 By not giving obedience justly due to Superiors 1 As Magistrates 2 As Ministers of the Gospel 3 As natural Parents Ead. C. A General Dehortation from fleshly uncleanness 1 From Buggery 2 From Sodomy 3 From Whoredome 4 From Incest 5 From Polygamy 6 From Adultery 7 From Fornication P 283 C P 284 A B A Dehortation from Lasciviousness 1 In wanton thoughts 2 In wanton words 3 In wanton looks 4 In wanton actions Ead. C. P 285 C A Dehortation from Lying 1 By denying the truth 2 By breach of Covenant to God 2 Of vows to God 3 Of promises and Covenants to Men. Ead. B C and P 286 A Dehortation from Covetousness 1 In the heart 2 In action 3 From worldliness and carking cares 4. From Nigardliness P 286 C P 287 A A Dehortation from Idleness 1 By having no Calling or by neglecting a Calling P 287 C 288 A 2. Idleness in private Persons 3 Idleness in publick Persons Ead. B. The Dehortation of the Lord Jesus from sinful passions 1. From rash anger 2 From causless anger Ead. C. Ead. C A Dehortation from sinful hatred 1 Of Persons 2 Of good things Eadem C A Dehortation from Malice Ead. C A Dehortation from strife and contention P 289 A A Dehortation from envy A Dehortation from revenge Ead. C A Dehortation from Pride 1 Branch from spiritual Pride 2 Branch from Worldly pride 3 Branch from Ambition Ead. C Ead. C P 290 A Dehortation from Ingratitude 1 Towards God 2 Towards Men. Ead. C. A Dehortation from sensuality or voluptuousness P 291 A A Dehortation from inconstancy 1 Branch
and other such like Is it so O my Soul And hath the Lord so extraordinarily and abundantly blessed this Ordinance and condition unto thee as thou hast declared in thy foregoing Memorial and thankful Acknowledgment Let upon this occasion thy Meditation be further stirred up and inlarged and from this great temporal blessing and mystery behold declare and point out the far greater and excelling blessings which are and shall be enjoyed by thee and the Church the Spouse of Christ by our spiritual Marriage and Union unto Him As Marriage in the Institution and in the particular Application is the Holy Ordinance of God and the blessed effect of his gracious Providence and Eternal Decree All Marriages according to the Proverb being made in Heaven so is that great Architype thereof the Marriage of the Church and in it of every true believer unto Christ. The Father bringing every one of us to him as he did Eve to Adam For none comes to me but whom the Father draws saith our Saviour Christ yea our Election effectual Calling and Regeneration together with our Union by Faith and spiritual Espousal to Christ our Heavenly Husband is of and from the Eternal Decree Love and Election of God our Father As the Woman was of the Man and not the Man of the Woman and the Woman was Created for the Man and not the Man for the Woman so was the Church typified by Eve taken out of the side of the second Adam the Lord Jesus Christ that she might be made as being his Rib Beloved and neer to his heart Flesh of his flesh and bone of his bone his only Spouse and one with him as the Apostle Paul asserts Eph. the 5. ver 30. This was effectually done when being asleep in Death upon the Cross the Beeing and Redemption of his Church arose and sprung forth of his side in a Flood of infinite precious and Cordial Blood and Water To conclude this our spiritual Union and Marriage is by the Apostle called a great Mystery as being the blessed effect of the free grace of God who is assentially love and therefore it is as to the heighth and depth length and breadth thereof Incomprehensible and passing all understanding By vertue of this Espousal in Baptisme we as Wives amongst us change our names into his and instead of Adamites are called Christians And on our part promise to forsake Father and Mother and all things else for him and to honour love and obey him On the other part the Lord Jesus Christ thus betroth'd to us in holiness and everlasting righteousness becomes thereby our Lord Law-giver and Spouse our Pattern Protector and Saviour as in the Type Husbands amongst us are or ought to be unto their Wives and as they so he endowes us here not only with all temporal blesings so far as shall be for our good For Godliness hath the promises of this Life and of that Life which is to come But with the rich dowry of all the saving Graces of his holy Spirit Cloathing us with the white Robes of his perfect and immaculat righteousness As being made of God unto us righteousness wisdom sanctification and redemption Yea the Lord our righteousness And as for hereafter he gives us the earnest and assurance of being Co-heirs with him of Eternal Life and Glory Amen EPITHELAMIVM Ejaculation or Hymn upon the former Subject BReath not this Aire Men of unchast desires No Fewels here for your unhallow'd Fires Lord I adore thy wisdome and thy love That shadow'st in blest Wedlock things above Teaching Vs that this Vnions Mystical And sets forth thine with Vs Before the Fall A crooked Kib thou streightnest gav'st it Life Mad'st it a Virgin pure first Adam's Wife That she of thy dear Spouse the Type might be Once crookt by sin but now made streight in Thee Yea in the chast delights of Marriage-Bed Her union thou holdst forth with thee her Head In which thou giv'st to her thy loves that she Be'ng first belov'd might flame in love to Thee Kissing her with the kisses of thy Mouth Quickned with sp'rit and life thy sacred Truth Thou also her incirclest in the Armes Of thy protection And her frees from harmes For why thy right hand-power doth her o're-spread And left hand-care supports her graceful head Her sp'rit'al senses ear tast smell touch sight Thou satisfi'st with ravishing delight Her piercing eye of Faith sees and applies Thy excellency hid from Worldly eyes Her eares be'ng fill'd with Musick of thy Voice Doth in thy Word and promises rejoyce Thou altogether lovely art unto Her inward touch whence mutual love doth flow She tasts thy Spice Myrrh Hony Milk and Wine Of Hope Joy Peace Delight all sweets Divine Thy Spicknard Camphire fills her smelling sence Also thy Cassida Aloes Frankinsence And fragrant Oyntments All which well express Thy love truth mercy wisdome holiness Thy power and goodness grace and righteousness Sweet Oders which her cherish and refresh In fine thy Nuptial-Bed is covered o're And pav'd with love and fill'd with Graces store Here in her thou shed'st incorrupted Seed Begets in her a Christ-like forme indeed Whence follows that which joyes both Heaven and Earth Divine Conception and thy Saints new-birth So that one Christ one Sp'rit one flesh and bone One Body is thy Church thus 't was made one Hence as of Faith and mutual love the effects Thou rul'st and in her dwell'st and her protects Cloaths her with Golden Robes thy righteousness Mak'st her within glorious through holiness Giv'st her the promises of this World's life And of that life to come and as thy Wife Crown'st her with Glory sets her on thy Throne With thee on Earth as thy beloved One Next to thy Fathers Kingdome her translates To live with God Thy Churches highest State Another Hymn upon the same blessed Subject being Meditations upon my Marriage-Day The TYPE BLest Miracle of Love whose sacred Rights Restores to Man his own and re-unites Natures Division Two Bodies were combin'd In Adam once Loe here two Souls I find Knit in a purer union How doth the smile of one Attend the others joy her sighs my groane If absence parts us like as though one breath Did fan two hearts both seem to suffer Death If distance Clouds our view the strength of Love Doth make our thoughts as well as Bodies move In visits to each other So though two parts We seem to be we still are one in Heart The Anti Type or Application MY Love my Spouse my Sav'our Can the Fires Sprung from weak Natures notions and desires Produce such Sympathies O let thy flame Spir'd by a purer spirit effect the same In my unworthy Soul The Loves of all Compar'd with that of thine the Original Are but as shades to substances the Ray Vnto its Globe of light as Night to Day Lord in my Baptisme
toward Zoar that Type of Heaven But no sooner did the Angel leave her but her eyes reversion discover her minds aversion Which her self would have seconded had not the Almighty in Favour to her Husband and in Mercy to Us made her an examplary Monument in a Pillar of Salt Next under the Law behold Saul not only a Member but chosen of God to be the Captain over his Church A man every way well qualified first for his Body his Proportion was so excellent that there was none like him amongst all the people And for his Mind it was endowed it seem'd both with Divine and Moral Vertues witness his joyning in Prophesie his performance of many Pious Duties as his Sacrifices at his Coronation his asking Counsel of God and inquiry after Sin confession and humiliation after Samuels Reproof his humility at his Election his patience and mercy at his Rejection and Defamation his Fortitude against the general and open Enemies of the Church the Ammonite his Zeal against the private and secret Enemies of Religion viz. all Witches and Wizzards Here then is a spring of Piety a profession and expression of Religion a Gourd whose glory may not only serve as a Canopy of state to Saul but as a shade to one of the Prophets A gourd indeed and so it faded For the eave of his last day ruined that frontispiece of Vertue which his whole lifes best Actions had raised towards Heaven For had he been with the Prophets and joyn'd with them in Prophesie His ignorance and wants now send him to enquire of the Devil Did he Sacrifice before to God Now behold the reward of Divination and Witchcraft are in his hand He whose custom was to ask counsel of God now seeks after a Witch and he whose seeming Zeal condemns his Righteous Son for tasting of an Honey-comb although ignorant of any restraint now contrary to his Oath and Covenant made with God without humiliation and judging of himself or confession of his fault willingly and wilfully swallows down the very gall of Sin His Humility did not more grace him when he lay buried in the peoples Stuff than his Pride did debase him when he presumed to be one of Gods Council That patience fortitude and mercy which abounded yea was extended towards others is now deficient to himself For he falls all along upon the Earth becomes sore afraid no strength is left in him and yet he refuses to Eat For having no conscience towards God no wonder if his Body wants the charity of Nature When the Creature abuses the Mercy of the Creator he must expect to taste of his Justice And when he ceases to know Himself he shall be made to know his Punishment Saul hath forgotten both his God and himself and therefore justly is he now forgotten and hears his Funeral censure pronunced by him who never spoke nor wished better to man To morrow shalt thou be with me Forewarning fore-armes not Sinners he that doubted of his Choise though from the mouth of Gods Prophet credits his refusal and death from the Devils Oracle Extraordinary Blessings are the free and voluntary gift of God and not believed of Sinners before enjoyed But his punishments are the due Burden of sins desert and therefore are expected before divulged The Soul being often-times aforehand sensible of that which the Body afterwards endures None but a false or temporary Faith hath a final cessation but such is this of Saul he now beleeves onely that he might dispair The first degree of a true Faith being usually the false ones last step God lifting up the one from the sense of judgement to the faith and sight of Mercy Sin dragging the other from the belief of punishment into the gulf of Despairation Though Saul hath his last day marked out even the morrow yet neither the love towards his Sons whose Lives bore the same date with his nor care for himself begets the least endeavour by delay or otherwise to out-live the fore-going Prophesie inevitable are the Judgements of God nay rather he hastens it shortning his flight that he might shorten his life And that sin according to its nature might have a companion he moves his Armour-bearer to be a traitour to his own Soul by example whom his precept could not force to be a traitour to his Prince For he falls upon his Sword which instead of Defence becomes a weapon of Offence So often-times God deals with the Wicked who as in life themselves are their worst Enemies so in death they prove their own Executioners Thus the Sacred Annals before and since Moses hath by the Deads example given most lively arguments to prove this falshood of the deadness of this seeming life of faith O admire here the infinite extent of the Mercy of God! who out of the carcase of this Lyon Sin this Eater Death brings forth both meat and sweetness for his Sampsons his Nazarites making the Downfal of the Fathers the Rises of the Children their Ignorance our Knowledge their faults and blindness apt spectacles to help the weakness of our sight It now remains that the holy Records of the faithful and powerful Gospel as the Eccho of the Old Testament consort in the like precedents that by so consonant an Harmony the dissonant and ungrounded judgement of the most hypocritical and temporary Believer may be convinced if not converted The purest Gold hath its Dross the best Wheat its Tares Yea the Moon is then most full of Spots when least empty of Light The Church of God in the Primitive times in its Infant Age had many who although they were deemed Members of Christ had not yet put off the Old man The Old Adam Many whose Image and outward Superscription seemed to be our Cesars yet proved to be false and unvaluable Coyn when they came to their test or exchange Witness Ananias and Sapphira a pair doubly united by Sin and Wedlock who before their trial were esteemed as Members of the True Church as Beleevers of the Apostles Doctrine and no doubt baptised in that Faith the effects of which seemed to lead them on to forsake the world for they sold their possessions to works of Charity and Piety And laid it at the Apostles feet Who would not here have parallel'd these with sincere Joses since both parties did the same duty though not with the same heart the one acting truly that Christians part which the other only play'd Mans natural light is comparatively darkness and the height of his Knowledge advantageth him only with a larger prospect of his ignorance he knowing most that confesses to know nothing The conscience of our want being the perfection of our science Only thou O Lord art the Fountain of Knowledge and Wisdom thou triest the Heart and the Reins and seest not as man seeth Shalt not thou who planted the Ear hear Thou that formed the Eye see Thou that teachest man Knowledge know Thou O
Lord knowest the thoughts of man For what end therefore O Ananias tends the subtil compact with thy Wife The strength and ripeness of Sin hastens the harvest of Judgment wherefore then this bare notion of Religion This worst Sin hath Hells worst Punishment What serves for O Sapphira the impudent defence of this act which is as lightning before the thunder-clap of Justice since the spirit searches all things yea the secret things of God He knew thy untruth thy lie and therefore at once pronounced and executed the truth of thy Judgement Behold the feet of them that have buried thy Husband are at the dore and shall carry thee out Whereupon she fell down at the Apostles feet and yeilded up the Ghost Justice depriving those of life Gods gift which any way detain mans gift to God to wit their Offerings or whatsoever else is set apart for an Holy employment The indulgent Parent fears that the life story of that child will prove but a compendium whose Infant years are an Abridgment of Mans stature The like observation will be proved true if doubted in many preposterously forward Christians who are like to Childrens Bubbles which while they last are but Topographies to the Beholders Or like Lightning which though it invelop Heaven hath nought remaining yea scarcely time and place to bear witness of its glory So these hypocritical and temporary Professors seem a perfect Map of Christianity the splendor of Religion Yet at the appointed time they vanish becoming so much further off by how much nearer they seemed to Heaven View the experiment of this truth in the Scribes and Pharisees from the opinion of whose Righteousness the Jews drews this Maxim That if any two on Earth should be glorified in Heaven the one must be a Scribe the other a Pharisee That their Purity was but a Blaze this vulgar conceit a Falsehood Hear and believe the Word yea the Word of Truth concluding these Wise men Fools these Guides Misleaders these Patrons of the Common-wealth unnatural Vipers sealing them up with a seven fold Woe for manifest an hypocrisie to eternal Damnation Our Saviour was many times guarded with troops and multitudes of Disciples whose momentary affections proffered Him an Earthly Crown Yet he which knew all Hearts knew the unconstancy of theirs and therefore committed not himself to them For had they been as Powerful as Willing had their affections been as sincere and durable as they were fervent yet could not any earthly Monarchy allure him to Reign who lest his Heavenly Throne to Suffer exchanging a crown of Glory for a Crown of Thornes that his Humiliation might be be mans Exaltation O here behold the Unchangeableness of Gods Love the Vanity and Unsteadfastness of Mans best Resolution Those Disciples which even now would have Crowned him those which traced him through Sea and Land and having found him said What should we do that we might work the Works of God yea those who as it were filled with a passionate desire of possession prayed Lord evermore give us this Bread these now instead of honouring him with a Diadem deny his Regal descent saying Is not this Jesus the son of Joseph These whose appetites desired evermore to enjoy this Bread of Life think there is now no living with this Food as being too hard for their digestion their tongues testifying their distate saying This is an hard saying who can hear it To conclude they that so fast followed him now as fast depart from him Witness our Saviours question to his Chosen ones Will ye also go away O blessed Saviour Let my Soul be a follow respondent with Peter and say Lord to whom shall I go Thou hast the Words of Eternal Life My Meditations have spent much time in the discovery of this out-side of Faith I should now proceed did not the hateful example of Apostating Demas stand branded in Holy-Writ for my observation and conclusion of this Point Knowledge is the foundation of Faith but God only is the Master builder of it Christians are Priests imputatively and derivatively from our Saviour as offering up the Evangelical sacrifices of Prayer and Praise but the Ministers of the Gospel in a more especial manner Demas was a Priest because a Christian Learned as being without doubt a Teacher Pauls scholler and companion one whose eyes were daily witnesses of Signes and Miracles whose ears were frequent auditours of Gods Word yet this man wanted the witness of the Spirit in his Conscience Therefore no marvail if his actions were destitute of its power The Wisdom of this world is Foolishness with God and proves at length so to Man Demas's worldliness discovers his Folly and his second choice shews the Hypocrisie of the first That affection which towards Christ hath an end had never a beginning The Love of God is Lasting And though our weak understanding through the interposition of some great Afflictions may conceive it to be extinct yet that eclipse past this overture of falling out proves the renewing of Love He that perseveres to the end shall endlesly be Beloved But he that grants God the Major his youth and strength and of his full age the Minor the lesser part of that time and yet at last doth in fact deny the conclusion is as little a Christian as a Logician The Word of God as it is the great luminary of Divinity so likewise the Sun of our Souls which discovers unto us those glittering counterfeits which the false and weak lights of our depraved understandings would present as blameless This is that Star which guides all Wise men to Christ. A Pole Star directing only all Heavenly Observers being either unknown or else not useful to worldly Stargazers This Word as it makes us know our selves which is the principal of wisdom so it makes us discern in some sort others which is the Divinity of Knowledge Which of the Devout Jewes would have thought the Scribes and Pharisees hypocrites had not the Word of that All-creating Word Christ Jesus anatomised their shameful Corruption Who amongst us would have judged a Miraculous Faith less than a Saving had not the same Verity assured us That many which have Prophesied cast out Devils and done many wonderful Works in his Name should be excluded Heaven with a Nunquam novi vos Depart from me ye workers of Iniquity That a man may be a Conduit-pipe to convey Water of Life to others and yet prove a vessel of Dishonour the Religious care of Paul witnesseth who subjected his body lest when he had Preached to others be himself should become a Reprobate But that they whose Word aided by the power of Faith was mighty to cast Sathan out of others should be possessed themselves is both Lamentable and Wonderful These indeed have cropt the Leaves of Faith leaving the Fruit and Root behind seeking therewith like Adam presumptuously to hide their Nakedness and want both of