necessary before a man can have interest to Gods favour and much more before he can know his interest The eye that is full of dust can never see well till it be cleansed The soul that is full of sin can never discerne it own condition till repentance empty it A man cannot beleeve in Christ for remission of his sins unlesse he repent of them Much lesse can he perswade himself that he doth beleeve When we endeavour to assure our election we combat with Satan for eternall happinesse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Isid Pelus lib. 2. Epist 161. The beginning of the Olympian combates was the putting off of their garments If we goe to strive with Satan and put not off the rags of our sins we shall be derided by others foyled by Satan and not only lose the crown we strive for but also be led away to eternall torments Justification differs from sanctification yet is it a work of our sanctification to discerne our justification The unregenerate man is not justifyed and therefore cannot see that that is not The more full then our sanctification is the plainer is the sense and more comfortable the apprehension of our justification Neither is this to be done at first only when we turn from wicked wayes to Godlinesse but continually in the whole course of our lives The true reason why the consciences of many men are not clear is because they are foul they are not peaceable Psal 51.1 because they are not pure Davids pangs of conscience are after he had gone into Bathsheba The love of some principall corruption keeps many from the sweet fruition of Gods favourable coutenance Ransacke thy soul dayly and cleanse away the filth of sinne throughly by repentance and the guilt of it will not look so grimly upon thee to affright thy conscience 4. Faith or full confidence in Jesus Christ alone is needfull to be had without which there can be no assurance of our election Between the top and bottom of the Ladder there are certain steps to clime Between election and justification there must come faith in Jesus Christ If the sick man forsake all the world and leave the counsail of all his friends and cast himself into the hands of some one Physitian he will not fail him if he have any spark of humanity in him because his life lies in his hands Neither will our Saviour fail them that being soul-sick forsake their own merits and all mediations of Saints and Angels despaire of salvation by any other and trust in him only for it He knows not their life but their soul lies in his hands alone to save it or condemn it He that came to seek the lost sheep will not refuse the returning one Two blind men by the way side cry out to our Saviour for help The people rebuke them They cry out the more Our Saviour is so pleased with these loud echoes of two confident souls that he cals them gives them their choise offers them any curtesie Mat. 20.32 What will ye that I shall do unto you Much more will he be affected with a troubled soul that rests on him alone for eternall life Our father 's trusted in thee Psal 22.4.5 they trusted and thou didst deliver them They cryed unto thee and were delivered they trusted in thee and were not confounded The house built upon the rock is free from fall no storm can overthrow it Mat. 7.24 but sandy foundations are easily overturned Mat. 16.18 Souls built by confidence upon Christ the gates of hell cannot overcome but the light foundations of the power and merits of mere though excellent creatures uphold no soul in the time of an heavy temptation Christ is the surest anchor that upholds the souls of men in the sea of this world against all waves of temptations whatsoever Rom. 5.1 5. This faith never sailes him that hath it for it hath that hope at command that maketh not ashamed Thus have I shewed you the way to the title Now for the assurance of the title The title is gotten by action the knowledge of this title is gotten by examination The principall notes of Gods elect must be known And by them must we search out our own condition Because I will not be so long I will insist but on a few 1. The love of God in us is a sure token of the love of God to us God scornes to be endebted to any man for his love His affection ever goes before ours 1 Joh. 4.19 We love him because he first loved us I cannot certainly and infallibly tell whether another love me but I can certainly tell whether I love another or no. His love to me is in his heart which I know not My love to him is in my heart which I know and no creature else Then may I know that God loves me if I know that I love him But it may be objected My heart is deceitfull and I may be deceived by it I may think I love God when I do not Who lives and thinks not he loves God if he hear of God Tell me therefore some sure notes of the love of God in me I answer The best way to know our love to God is by the properties of love First those whom we love we often think upon our thoughts fasten on them when we are awake our dreams run on them when we are asleep How precious are the thoughts of thee unto me O God how great is the summe of them Ps 139.17 18. If I should count them they are more in number then the sand when I am awake I am still with thee Behold Davids love to God sleeping and waking his minde runs upon him There needs no arguments to bring them to our remembance whom we love We neglect our selves to think upon them A man in love wasts his spirits Animus ubi amat non ubi animat vexes his minde neglects his meat regards not his businesse his minde still feeds on that he loves When men love that they should not there is more need of a bridle to keep them from thinking of it then of spurres to urge them to it Try thy love of God by this If thou thinke not often of God thou lovest him not If thou canst not satisfie thy self with profits pleasures friends and other worldly objects but thou must turn other businesses aside that thou mayest dayly think of God then thou lovest him Secondly those whom we love we wil by no means be perswaded to offend No bands are so strong as love Sooner will the servant offend his Master the son his father the wife her husband the subiect his prince then a friend him whom he truely loves Friendship binds faster then any authority 1 Sam 20. Gen. 39. Jonathan will offend his father rather then his David Joseph will offend his Mistris that dotes on him rather then his God Try thy love to God by this If
13.22 These are the thornes in the parable that choak the good seed and make it unfruitfull Whereupon Ludolphus elegantly Divitiae spinae sunt quia sicut spinae suis punctionibus corpus laniant et cruentant ac saedum in oculis hâ—minum red duntâ—sic divitiae curis suis vulnus animae infligunt et miseram â—coram oculis Dei faciunt Ludolph de vita Christ Part. 1. c. 64. Riches are thornes because as thornes with their prickles tear the body and wound it and make it bloudy and filthy in the eyes of men so riches with their cares wound the soul and make it filthy in the sight of God Yet many count it a pleasure to be under these thornes and as soon as they begin to think of spirituall affaires by and by thrust themselves into worldly cares again So great impediments are worldly riches to heavenly happinesse 4. Neglect Riches make men neglect and slight the meanes of salvation What cares he for prayer or for hearing Gods word that hath his God in his purse What care takes he for his soul that hath his body so pampered that he knows not what belongs to inward or outward necessities Or if some slight thought of another world run through his mind yet it passeth away like a travailer So many accounts are to be taken so many reckonings to be cast up so many servants to be lookt after so many businesses to be ordered that the Preacher may speak to poor folkes Sicut ovis conversans inter spinas semper ibi de lana dimittit sic vacans curis temporalibus et mundo multa bona spiritualia amittit Lud. de vit Châ— p. 1. c. â—4 that have little else to do they are otherwise imployed As the sheep rubbing against the thornes leaves alwayes some of his wooll behind so be that attends upon worldly cares loseth many spirituall comforts Thus grow men rich in state by trading in the world and poor in soul by neglecting to drive a more profitable trade which tends to a better world 5. 5 Wickednesse Riches provoke the heart to many unlawfull things Without these sin wants her wings Drunkennesse Gluttony Wantonnesse Pride require a stocke to maintain them for vices are more costly then virtues Virtue observes a mean but vice knows none They do enlarge our skore and make our reckoning the greater at the day of judgment Seldome do servants run in arrears with their Masters Pierce Plowmans Vision Pass 10. but Stewards often The former is betrusted only with their work the latter with their goods So rich men run further into Gods books then poor Thus strangely do we alter the nature of things and make goods evills We know not how to enjoy the comfort of a plentifull estate Facimus rem bonorum operum materiam tantum esse vitiorum Mutamus naturas rerum iniquitatibus nostris Salv. de gub Dei l. 6. without overflowing and running into wickednesse We make saith Salvian the substance of good things to be only matter of vices By our iniquities we alter the very nature of the things themselves So those things that are good in themselves prove hurtfull to us as the same Father gravely elsewhere admonisheth saying Impediment a sunt haec non adjumenta onera non subsidia Bona appellantur cum sint causae malorum aeternorum contra avar l. 2 These things are hinderers not helpers burdens they are not aides They are called goods but indeed they prove the causes of eternall evills Too many may lament this in themselves which this good man compassionately bewailes in others The luxury and prodigality of rich men gives too plain an evidence of this truth So that we may boldly affirme with Clemens 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Câ—m Alâ—x liv 2. cap. 3. Riches ill administed are the magazine of mischief The heathen man could informe us that Riches are even as the minde of him that possesseth them To him that knows how to use them they are good to him that useth them amisse Haec per inde sant ut Illius animus qut ea pâ—ssi let Qui uâ—t seâ—t ci honaâ— illi qut non uti tur â—ecâ—e mala Ter. Heaut Act. 1. Sc. 2. they are evill And how hard a thing it is to use them a right appears by the dayly abuse of them which ariseth out of naturall corruption and carelesnesse So are we judiciously informed by I eo There compasse us about on every side dangers of innumerable sinnes and we passe through the lawfull use of things to immoderate excesse Circumstant undique puricula innumerabiliâ—um dâ—liâ—â—â—rum et per licitâ—â— usus ad immoderâ—atos transiâ—ur excessus dum per curam salatis obrepitdelâ—ctatio voluntâ—â—is et non sufficit câ—nâ—upâ—sâ—emiae qued pâ—teâ—t satis esse naturae Leo de quadrag ser 11. for delights and pleasures creep into us under the title of care of our health neither can those things suffice concupiscence that might give nature comentment So easie a thing is it to passe from use to abuse So hard a thing to moderate the sailes of our affections when the winds of riches drive us to the quick-sands of unlawfull pleasures 6. 6 Hardnesse of heart Wealth hardens the heart in unlawfull courses and keeps it in impenitency Luk. 15. Poor men are with the prodigall child brought home sometimes by want Sometimes the shame of the world affrights them because they want means to hide their offences Sometimes the execution of good laws drives them from evill But rich men know how to prevent all these means of reclaiming They can for coyne make other men father their Bastards and stop the wheel of execution that good laws may not bruise them The threatnings of Gods law that breake poor mens hearts do but harden rich mens as the sun-beams which soften the wax do neverthelesse make the clay harder We threaten death and they live We threaten poverty and they are rich We threaten want and they abound Long enough may we threaten ere they amend If we seek by fair means to reclaime them what care they for promised happinesse who think they have attained present selicity All these things considered we must needs conclude that the wealth of the world however it be in great request here and of speciall use to command such worldly comforts as time and place afford yet is it oftentimes a great impediment to the serious seeking of the kingdome of heaven Now for the third member of our division The damage of Honour Nobility and honours are no little lets and pul-backs in the paths of piety First it layes them open to much flattery As the Crowes flutter about carrion where there is hope of food so flatterers prove good trenchermen at great mens tables Carneades in Plut. Com. de adulat et amico discern The Philosopher being demanded the reason why great mens sons learne nothing so well as to
ride answered because the horse would not flatter If they cannot ride well they must fall Other things they cannot learn so well because their friends and servants flatter them being either affraid to offend them or hoping to get by them Secondly it makes them lyable to luxury They do not conceive themselves subject to laws so much as other men Their inbred corruption is the fire Their wealth is the fuel that â—akes it burn more fiercely Their atâ—ndants are the bellowes that blow the â—re Salvian complaines Servilibus vitiis etiam nobiles polluuntur Illa quae in servis peccata puniunt ipsi quasi licita committunt Quotus n. quisque est connubii sacramentum conservans cui non demus ac familia sua scor tum sit Salv. de gub Dei l. 4. that Noble â—r sonages were polluted with servile vices â—nd that Those vices which they punished 〈◊〉 their servants themselves committed as â—wfull things Who is there among them â—ith he that keeps his promise in marriage Who is there whose house serves not for a â—rumpet to him Thirdly it makes them impatient They are greater then other men and â—herefore know not how to bear crosses â—hat come from God They consider what men owe them but they consider not what they owe to God And much lesse can they bear rebukes from men no not from Gods Miniâ—ters Their greatnesse makes them so â—lind that they cannot see their own â—rrours and so deaf that they cannot â—ear others with patience reveal them although they seek not to disgrace nor destroy them but to amend and save their souls They think that infericurs should be silent and suffer their superiours quietly to goe to hell and say nothing to the contrary Fourthly honour and greatnesse often breeds oppression of meaner persons For great men look not upon a superiour law of God or Man nor upon a future account but upon their present power and the weaknesse of their neighbours This we may see in warres in robberies in covetous persons that have power over others how forgetfull they are of law and right how far they stretch their own power and greatnesse Too much honour or greatnesse put upon one man proves often hurtfull to a whole nation as in the body the overflowing of one humour endangers the life it self and threatens the ruine of the whole He that is on the top of an hill forgets how he came up and overlooks all the countrey about him so great men easily forget their common originall and trample inferiours under their feet For fear of this Moses enjoynes the future King of Israel whosoever he should be to write him out a copy of the law and to read therein dayly Dent. 17.20 That his heart be not not lifted up above his brethren Great men that are Covetous or Luxurious no bands of nature can keep them from oppression as Basil of Seleucia comments upon the story of Herod O the â—â—â—e fetches saith he of Satans fury 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Bas Seleuc. in Heroâ—aden He â—akes the King his executioner upon John â—â—e saw indeed that Herod was a Lord of â—â—en but a slave of passions He saw the â—â—ing a servant of intemperance and a Ruler â—â—deed in the shew of his power but overâ—â—led by the weaknesse of his soul Look â—â—ell upon the sleight of the Devill how he â—â—aws him from slighter errours to impiety â—irst he makes him a violatour of his Broâ—ers bed that he may from the pit of adulâ—â—y make him venture upon the slaughter of â—ohn the Baptist Now this mischief in time â—eing bred up grew into all licentiousnesse He â—akes his brothers wife his own while the broâ—er lives and looks on using the authority â—f his royal power for an helper to his intempeâ—ency while he couples his lawlesse purpose â—ith his inbred boldnesse This hurt doth honour and greatâ—nesse often bring to a man it makes â—his skore of oppression to be much the â—onger For honours saith Ludolphus are as certain logges which increase the fire iâ— the torments of hell Honores n. sunt quasi quaedam ligna ad augmentandum ignem in futura poâ—na Lud. de vit Chr. p. 1. â— 68 f. 5. So that althougâ— wit honour and riches be Gods gooâ— gifts and might be so used that they might further our salvation yet such iâ— the strength of corruption within us that they prove great impediments to grace and often shut up the gates oâ— heaven against us and increase our otherwise deserved condemnation To bring home all that hath beeâ— spoken in this point I must divide the sonnes of men into severall stations as God hath divided them in their means I may ranke them all in the three degrees of Comparison In the Positive I may put the poor in the Comparative the mean sort of men in the Superlative the rich Some lessons oâ— profit I may hence read to them all and as the order of the division requireth I will begin with the poor because as they have least so I have least to say to them The mouths of the poor are ever open against the rich The consideraon of their own wants and comparing them with the aboundance of other men makes them foul-mouthed because they want grace as well as money Let these envious complaints cease What if rich men have the wind always prosperous yet have they it so violent withall that it oftner overturnes them in the sea then brings them safe into the haven Envy them not then but labour to be richer in grace then they are in wealth So mayest thou be happyer Lazarus envied not the rich man for he was happyer himself Sine domo non sine Domino sine veste non sine fide sine cibo non sine Christo canibus expositus sed Angelorum socius Fulg. Ep. 2. He was bouse-lesse saith Fulgentius but not Lordâ—esse without apparell not without faith â—e wanted food but wanted not Christ to feed upon he was exposed to the dogs while he lived but received for a companion of Angels when he dyed Consider well their troubles and dangers with their riches and the happinesse that thou mayest have without them and then Fret not thy self because of evill doers Ps 37.1 2 3 4. neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity For they shall soon be cut down like the grasse and wither as the green herbe But do thou trust in the Lord and do good so shalt thou dwell in the Land and verily thou shalt be fed Delight thy self also in the Lord and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart Secondly as poor mens thoughts are often envious so their defires are for the most part boundlesse They think none happy but richmen and great men and the more rich the more happy This conceit makes them swallow an ocean of riches in their wishes Let them learn for time to come to moderate their desires of those things that