sweeps away by hundreds on our right hand and on our left and we remain untouched this certainly is never to be forgotten so the red Sea deliverance the pillar of Cloud by day and of Fire by night together with the dividing of the Waters of Jordan are Parables doubtless in Gospel dayes and we under as gracious Obligations to remember with thankfulness Gods loving kindness David that good man makes observation in this case of old Israel and hath left their stain for Generations to come to read and take warning by Psal 106. 9 10 11 12 13. God rebuked the red Sea and it was dryed up and redeemed them from the hand of their enemies yet they soon forgot his works and waited not for his counsel so 2 Chron. 32. 24. Hezekiah was sick to death and he prayed to God and he gave him a sign but Hezekiah rendred not again according to the benefit done him mark that his return was not as signal as his favour therefore God suffers wrath to come upon him by all which it is clear that more than ordiâ—ary favours cals for more than ordinary returns and where it s a wanting God is provoked to suffer such to fall I pray God make this hint as acceptable as it is seasonable to those that shall meet with it Fourthly A fourth Mark how persons may know when God will suffer them to fall into Sin When under great straits you are not much with God for wisdome and counsel Neglect here must needs be dangerous for it is a kind of tempting God a daring as it were the holy One of Israel When under great straits that for good ends he brings upon them they are careless to request his help for their escaping and answerable gaining No man that trades in the way to heaven but at times is exercised with great straits of one kind or another the very entrance into it promiseth nothing less Mark 8. 34. Whosoever will come after me let him take up his Cross dayly and follow me So that Jesus Christ would have persons count upon meeting with hard things that will be his Disciples For man is born to trouble as the sparks flie upward Job 5. 7. Now that none may sinck under them Jesus Christ hath made provision which if they neglect they are like to perish Mat. 26 4. The Shepheard shall be smitten and the Sheep all scattered now the best preservative against such a danger is Watch and pray that ye enter not into temptation Luke 21. 26. Mens hearts failing them for fear and for looking after what shall come to pass for the Powers of heaven shall be shaken Therfore watch ye and pray alwayes that ye may be accounted worthy to escape By these Texts together with Phil. 4. 6. Be careful for nothing but in every thing by prayer and supplication let your requests be made known unto God Clearly noting that persons under straits are not in Gods security out of the way of prayer well therefore may this prove an acceptable caution to every Christian when he undergoeth his share in the Cross of Jesus to make his complaint and earnest cries to him by prayer with supplication No doubt but such will find Christ seasonably helping him but if you find a secure drowsiness attend the heart then conclude your misery is not yet at the height The Disciples are found asleep three times together and cannot watch with their Lord one hour before their misery will be greater by his being taken from them but I shall end this Mark leaving for our gracious pattern the example of Jesus Christ Who being in an Agony and swet as it were great drops of blood he at that time prayed the more earnestly Luke 22. 44. Fifthly When you readily close with occasions to sin this tempts the Devil to tempt you and tempts God to leave you Sampson in Judges 14. seeks to take a Wife among the Uncircumcised that he might seek an occasion against them Even so doth not the Devil make his attempts whereby he may give an occasion to Gods People to sin The ready closing wherewith tempteth him further to tempt them and indeed tempteth God to leave them Now occasions to sin comes many wayes and from different objects that may have but little beginning and yet tall conclusions sometimes the ear heareth that which sets the heart on fire sometimes the eye seeth that which brings wo to the mind witness David who at the top of his roof as he was walking seeth Bathsheba washing her self and her beauty passing through the casement of his eyes this small occasion took possession and made him a prisoner to his great overthrow so Joshua 7. 21. Achan saw among the spoils a goodly Babylonish Garment and a Wedge of Gold his eye looked and his heart lusted till he was ruined Now every man that knoweth any thing of sins way knows that it seeks and takes occasion from very small beginnings Behold how great a fire a little spark kindleth it begins by little taking its degrees and is carried through the eyes to the thoughts then to conception then to affection then to consent then to action Now the provision the holy Scripture makes in this kind is positively engaged by way of Precept To astain from all appear ances of evil 1 Thes 5. 22. Clearly noting that in order to persons certain security from the commission of all evil they must abstain from its Appearance Very observable is Gods care to Israel of old no sooner were they out of Egypt but he seeks to take all occasions of sin out of their way Exod. 13. 17. And it came to pass that when Pharaoh had let the People go that God led them not through the Land of the Philistines although it was near note that lest peradventure the people see War and return to Egypt again So Exod. 23. 13 33. Also Deut. 7. 25. Prov. 22. 24 25. They must cut down their graven Images and burn them with fire and desire none of the silver that 's on them lest they be a snare unto them So the Wise-man counsels to make no friendship with an angry man and with a furious man no not to go lest we learn his wayes and get a snare to our souls Sixthly When you are not pittiful to the tempted but in your prosperity forget their calamity God is pleased many times to suffer Satan to be let loose upon some Christians and to try them sorely yea to engage them deep in actual War whilest other Christians as it were are lookers on to let the one see how weak he is in the hands of this spiritual Adversary if left to himself and to try the other what frame of heart he carries towards his brother in distress and this if wisely improved turns to the great advantage of both The personal sufferer if he endure becomes heir to the promise annexed to the condition of the tempted Jam. 1. 12. And the looker on if he by beholding
would be by way of change your hearts were wonderfully taken up with admiring this choyce that were not only of Gods preparing to Redeem you from the highest Wrath but to Redeem you to the highest Glory I fear your hearts now this change is not so new is unable to express what once though in the time you had less Knowledge you could have reported of this matter the sense of Wrath then at Gods unfolding your condition being so apparent and the necessity of a Saviour without which you must perish being so urgent put you upon that thoughtfulness of heart what to do that you might not Perish but be Saved and filled your hearts and hands so full of better Business that Husband Wife Children House Land Trade and whatsoever else till then had been dear to you now became strange in your esteem thus did you run well and of Christ Jesus were known well your fruit being sweet to his taste and love in each answered love with such delight that you could say with David Whom have I in Heaven but thee and whom in Earth in comparison of thee Was not then the light of his countenance life to you and his withdrawings your death none but Christ could satisfie you to be talking with him and walking with him and whether he is in the Garden or Wilderness or any Solitary place you must be with him nay rather could you not bleed with him than feast without him thus in nothing more happy than with your Beloved wondering greatly at this great Grace that in such a condition should find you and to such a condition bring you look back call to remembrance dayes past was it not thus with you and a thousand times more But how is it now you have seen some of the depth of Christs love and born the heat of the day in some measure Do you love him yet more and more Is Prayer Hearing Reading Weeping Watching Fasting Doing Suffering welcome still Doth the pulse of your Soul run this way stronger and stronger The path of the just is as a shining light that shineth more and more to the perfect day Are ye able to speak in truth this to be your condition Or do you grow weary and faint in your mind thinking now Christs way too strait his work too great If it be come to this then it is a piece of the saddest news that ever came to thy Soul Yet God knows it is no new thing but an evil too too common among Professors who like Israel of old thought Manna while new most welcome yet in its continuance though Gods own Institution which was a reason sufficient why it still should be welcome they loath and term it light Bread thus were their goodness like a morning cloud or early dew that passeth away In like manner New Testament Churches that had fair and flourishing beginnings yet in time comes to hang down their heads and grow feeble and faint in their minds How were the Corinth Church that had been their Apostles glory and crown become his sorrow and grief what bitter messages doth God send to most of the Churches in Asia complaining that they had fallen from their first love threatning them with no less than to Unchurch and spew them out of his mouth such wild Grapes in time did this once flourishing Church bring forth and the very complaint of Jeremiah concerning Israel in them verified Chap 2. 21. Yet had I planted thee a noble Vine wholly a right Seed how then art thou turned into a degenerate Plant of a strange Vine to me My dear Brethren these are not the tyth of the sad instances that might be alledged of such as once were fair and flourishing yet in continuance of time to a sad degree left their standing and so incurred Gods sore displeasure and severity upon them all which premised proves it so far from being any of our happiness to begin well though at the rate here mentioned in our Espousal dayes that truly it will but prove an addition to our unhappiness if we shall not end well for better is the end of a thing than the beginning All which notes a Christians true good to consist as in a fair beginning so both to hold on well and above all to end well What Christian is he that will not tremble then to consider both old and new Testament Churches what fair beginnings they made and yet what dismal ends they came to as Jude complains Trees without fruit twice dead plucked up by the roots The good Lord help you my Brethren and my self to lay this thing to heart that with fear and trembling we may work through our Salvation and from first to last avoyd that damning sin of carnal security that God knows doth too too much rock many Professors in our dayes into a deadly sleep who being once green and flourishing still retain a strong opinion of hereafter Glory though grown as dry and barren as the Fig-tree that Christ Jesus would not suffer to stand Thus considering with my self and musing in my mind what a fearful thing it would be for me and you that have had such like beginnings and have made as great promise of a good conclusion to fall into the hands of the living God who will strip us as naked of his Glory if here we are found wanting as ever we were born unless the falling of former Churches prove so our admonition as he that standeth takes heed lest he fall for which cause I have both for your benefit and mine own gathered together Thirty Symptomes of Growing and Thirty more of Decaying to Godliness in the first you may for present only read the Signs of Growth in the second you may read both the Signs of Decay to Godliness with the Causes and Remedies which with Gods blessing I humbly pray and hope may tend to your strengthening if Growing or to your speedy reducement if Declining Read therefore what now by the help of the Lord is brought to your eye with much seriousness and while you look upon the Book be still reflecting both upon the heart and life with this kind of searching language Is my case thus or is it thus However your own opinions may be of Growth or Decay they are your Highest Concernment Entertain therefore with all love my poor yet affectionate Dedication remembring the Marriage of the Lambe draweth nigh and his Bride must make her self ready Be sure then you be not found without your Wedding Garment but imagine your selves the very next door to Being compassed with the majesty of that day let the thoughts of it keep you company in Buying Selling Eating Drinking yea in the whole course of your Pilgrimage and follow God with incessant Prayers to fill your Souls brim full of the living Worth of hereafter Glory and the unsupportable weight of its contrary That to this great end these my poor Labours and such as these in the glory of their perfection may
prepare you upon the most acceptable terms for future Glory is the true desire of Your unworthy Brother in the dear Concernments of the Gospel Francis Smith A TABLE OF THE CONTENTS Chap. 1. COntaining in it a Sign of Dying to Christ with three causes of its coming which being avoyded may serve as remedies against its ruin with profitable Objections answered 1 Chap. 2. Containing three Causes of weariness to spiritual Worship and the principal Reasons thereof 19 Chap. 3. Briefly shewing the cause of weariness to hear any truth often 23 Chap. 4. Briefly shewing how want of Charity in hearers causeth them dislike what is preached 27 Chap. 5. Containing five Causes of deceitfully thinking we know enough with four marks to know when we are under that deceit 31 Chap. 6. Containing in it Christians aptness through weakness to neglect coming to Christs Table with a short discription of offences that seemingly may hinder three Causes of this Decay 38 Chap. 7. Shewing the great decay to Christianity when mindless to prayer with a plâ—â—â— discovery of the Necessity Excellency Let Helps to prayer in sixteen particulars 46 Chap 8. Shewing the great Decay to Christianity when mindless to Reading and meditation in the holy Scriptures with six calamities very observable which Scripture Ignorance brings 54 Chap. 9. Shewing that an itching ear in Christians after Novelties bespeak them decaying to godliness with four Remedies against it 65 Chap. 10. Proving us dying to Christ when others sinnings are not our sorrowings with two Remedies against this Decay 69 Chap. 11. Shewing that unsavoury talking among Christians when they meet proves them earthly-minded with three Causes of this Decay 74 Chap. 12. Proving unpreparedness to hear the word of God a Sign of Dying to Christ with three sorts of hindrances which must be laid aside what must be our work before Hearing in Hearing and after Hearing 81 Chap. 13. Proving the state of such to be sad who assemble together more for fear of mans eye than Gods with four Discriptions how such may be known or know themselves with two Causes of this decay 89 Chap. 14. Shewing our state dying when we are more troubled at the decayes in our House than in Christs House with four marks to know when we are so dying 89 Chap. 15. Shewing that want of weeping in some when others of Christs Children with grief are stooping declares such to him a dying shewing also in four respects how we are to pitty with four Remedies against this decay 94 Cap. 16. Shewing that when the name of Christ credit to his Gospel is not so dear to us as personal sufferings wâ— are then surely on the dying hand that in estate body and life we ought to submit if called to suffering with four Causes of Decay here 99 Chap. 17. Shewing that sinning through impatience under Offences is a certain mark of deep decay with Objections Answers proving the degrees of anger and three Causes why Christians are impatient unto sin 104 Chap. 18. Proving those Christians to be almost dead that make it more their business to get the Form than the Power of Religion with its Causes and Remedies 111 Chap. 19. Containing in it a description of a decaying Christian by his light trouble at Miscarriages though known to Gods eye while kept from mans eye with two special Causes of this Decay 115 Chap. 20. Shewing the heart very bad when under faults it cannot bear plain dealing with three Causes of this badness 120 Chap. 21. Proving the condition of the rich as well as the poor to be a condition of trouble that whether it be common or more than ordinary to be answerable in prayer with a description of the different kinds of trouble with profitable Objections answered 125 Chap. 22. Containing in it an Assertion of the Causes of Affliction and that without great provocation God is not wont to afflict his people though provoked very unwilling to extremity With four Objections that seem to complain against this Doctrine Answered 132 Chap. 23. Proving those Christians under great Decay that pray more in Affliction to have it removed than sanctified with three Causes of this Decay 143 Chap. 24. Containing in it six Seasons in which Christians ought to humble themselves by fasting proving those under great decay that in times of calamity can find no necessity for fasting 152 Chap. 25. Containing in it the evil of Ignorance in not knowing wherefore Gods Rod is come nor what good it hath done with three Directions how to know when persons are under this Decay and three Remedies against it 159 Chap. 26. Shewing where sin takes its beginning and how by degrees if hearkned to it works ruin with six special marks how persons though pardoned may know when God will suffer them to fall into sin anew 164 Chap. 27. Shewing Satans way by which he gets in our day most advantage upon Churches and a plain discovery of the first rise of the Quakers shewing also the great Law of Edification to be preferred in all Doctrine with Cautions to such as live out of all Church way 177 Chap. 28. Shewing the necessity of humble waiting and confident depending upon the holy Spirit to help in the great work of mortification the necessity whereof is shewed in seven particulars with six directions how to get and keep this holy Spirit 189 Chap. 29. Treating of Spiritual Ignorance of our everlasting condition and five Scriptures tending to reducement from carnal security and three special Causes of such a damning Decay 205 Chap. 30. Shewing the miserable estate of such as after longer acquaintance with Christ are less in love to him with six Causes of this Decay 218 SIGNS OF A Living and Growing CHRISTIAN SIGN I. VVHen thy chief Delight is with the Saints epecially them that excel in virtue SIGN II. When the smites of the Righteous are not a burthen to thee thou canst hear of thy faults with affected attention SIGN III. When Jesus Christ in the midst of temptation is more to thee than all the World SIGN IV. When thou matterest not how dear it cost thee so thou make Corruption weary SIGN V. When increase of time in the use of Gods Ordinances works increase of affection to them SIGN VI. When length of time in Christs House works in thy heart increase of hatred to all sin SIGN VII When thou carriest about with thee a constant jealousie over thy heart proving its affectedness to God and goodness SIGN VIII When every known new mercy begets new thankfulness and that with delight SIGN IX When known calamitie in Gods House begets deep sorrow in thy heart SIGN X. When Gods afflicting thee for thy sin makes thee love God the better SIGN XI When the same care and travail thou labourest once in to get Christ thou as much if not more labours in to keep Christ SIGN XII When by thy labouring in Gods Vineyard thou art little grieved though outwardly
The necessity of believing this is evidenced by the sad consequence of the contrary for denying Christ Jesus to be a fleshly substance and converting him into a Spirit any Spirit or every Spirit and so in truth deny the Christ of God And then blind injudicious men may form to themselves and world what they will fancy to call their Christ This premised I shall now speak of offences what they are and what offences are not to hinder There are three sorts of Offences First Offences given and taken Secondly Offences given and not taken Thirdly Offences taken and not given First Offences given and taken are such as when Nations or Persons when not provoked by invasion to defend yet by invadeing others will offend now they that defend defending here Offences are given and taken Secondly Offences given and not taken when we bless them that curse us do good to them that do hurt to us pray for them that despightfully use us Thridly Ofâ—â—nces taken and not given are when at a seeming and no real cause persons are moved and disquieted Christ Jesus coming in the dayes of his humiliation not as he will come after the dayes of his exaltation or at his second coming proved a seeming cause was no real cause for the Jews to stumble at him his visage was marred more than any mans when they looked for him to come and presently restore Israel Now such Offences taken and not given is the intent of this sixt Sign under the terme Small so that when persons give way to their passions and are so moved at something which seems to be a just Offence to them from brethren or any other without or before they had duly weighed not suspending all kind of dislike till in the ballance they have tryed whether it be really an Offence or but seemingly so is a sign of great weakness proving that such are under some spiritual decay marked out though upon another account by Christ Jesus Mat. 13. 20 21. But he that received the seed into stony places the same is he that heareth the word and anon with joy receiveth it but when tribulation and persecution ariseth because of the word by and by be is offended Now persecution and tribulation is no real cause of Offences but rather an encouragement to hold fast the word being one common mark such are in the truth the Apostle Paul makes it an argument of this kind 1 Thes 3. 5. For this cause when I could no longer forbear I sent to know your faith least by some means the tempter have tempted you and our labour be in vain We would have no man moved by these afflictions for your selves know we are appointed thereto and instead of being offended we are commanded to glory in tribulation this may teach us to bemoan such and beg them be warn'd not to keep themselves from Christs Table because of this or that seeming or real miscarriage in others if in order to their reducement from it we have done our duty For any therefore to estrange themselves from Christs Table it being no less than a refusing the food he hath prepared because things go not just as they would have them doth greatly argue the stop to be in themseves though not by such heeded they being great wanderers abroad into the wayes of others perhaps more busying themselves than they ought and yet as great strangers at home to self-examination and due personal preparation which where ever it is is that indeed that so warrantably cals persons to come to Christ Jesus Feast of Bread and Wine purchased with his blood that negligence therein will prove no less than their great sin What is it therefore that should keep us from that service wherein by faith we are to feed as it were upon the flesh of the Son of God Whose flesh is meat indeed and whose blood is drink indeed Truly nothing but self-unworthiness or unpreparedness Surely surely the spiritual growing Christian whose hungrings and thirstings are after hourly communion with Jesus Christ can better forgo his natural food a thousand times than yeild to a stop from this performance Let us therefore examine our selves that we are meet subjects discerning the Lords Body and so let us eat that Bread and drink that Cup. Now the Causes of this decay or yeilding upon small Offences to absent from Christs Table may be these three First Too great Ignorance who are the Subjects Christ calls to this Service Secondly Too too great aptness to be easily provoked Thirdly Want of Love to Jesus Christ the Author of this Service First Too great Ignorance who are the Subjects Christ calls to this Service which consists in a misconstruing his general invitation to all penitent believing baptized Disciples who have had an orderly admittance thus far and by way of Precept are injoyned both to come to this Service and continue in it The same day were added to the Church three thousand souls and they continued stedfast in the Apostles doctrine fellowship breaking of Bread and prayer it is peculiarly unto such appointed and sanctified that they may keep in remembrance their Lord and Saviour So often as ye eat this Bread and drink this Cup ye do shew forth the Lords death till he come But I would not be mistaken here as that I mean the outward badge of these only makes right Subjects for Christs Call yet this outward must be but wo to it when it is alone The Kings daughter is to be all glorious within as well as her garment of pure gold The hungerer and thirster after his supply that sensibly sees all his springs to be in him and as the Hart panteth after the brooks of water hath his foul crying Oh when shall I come and appear before him negligence to be thus fitted causeth ignorance of Christs Call But Secondly Too too great aptness to be easily provoked Some Christians are so weak that they will be still forming discontent to themselves ill interpreting others actions and straining at every Gnat which generally comes through weakness in judgment and unaptness to be busying themselves with their high Calling the worth of Gods gracious priviledges afforded them by which means the inward man is too much raked or made raw and so apt to smart at every little touch as special care therefore must be had in Churches that none give just offence so that none upon too light account take offence for it doth but argue such Children or Babes in Christianity and greatly robs themselves of that spiritual refreshing strength that otherwise might be their present portion and fills their heart with disquieting thoughts to the hindring their spiritual appetite from taking in that rich refreshment Christ Jesus Table is furnisht with for every prepared guest But Thirdly Want of love to Jesus Christ the Author of this Service All those motives that provokes the heart to love Jesus Christ should be active now viz. The greatness of his love to purchase
this Service for us with no less price than his precious blood the smalness of our desert to procure this together with the high priviledges it signifies us heirs unto Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed on as that we should be called or accounted the Sons of God who was before without Christ c. But now made nigh through the blood of Christ How should this provoke our fervent love to him to be crying out with the Spouse in the Canticles My beloved is fair and ruddy the chiefest among ten thousand Certainly my friends were our hearts truly spiritual we could not chuse but see singular desert in Jesus Christ calling for the greatest of our love in a holy affection to the in joying of him and making us prefer our communion with him in this service before all things that in this world may challenge our dearest respect It must needs therefore follow that want of love makes way for small offences to keep us from Christs Table I shall leave this to consideration and pass to the Seventh Sign of a dying Christian CHAP. VII Shewing the great decay to Christianity when mindless to Prayer with a plain discovery of the Necessity Excellency Le ts and Helps to Prayer in sixteen particulars SIGN VII VVHen you have no great mind to Prayer When a Christian is mindless of this bosome blessed intimate service of Prayer which is a drawing nigh to and talking with the great Lord God Almighty here is then ground enough to conclude his state and his decay very great Now in Prayer there is considerable First The Necessity of Prayer Secondly The Excellency of Prayer Thirdly Le ts to Prayer Fourthly Helps to Prayer First The necessity of Prayer appears from the command of God 1 Thes 5. 7. Pray without ceasing Col. 4. 21. Continue in prayer and watch in the same with thanksgiving 1 Phil. 4. 6. Be careful for nothing but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God Secondly It appears from example 1 Sam. 12. 23. God forbid that I should sin in ceasing to pray for you Psal 55. 27. Evening and morning and at noon will I pray Dan. 6. 10. Now when Daniel knew that the writing was sign'd he went into his house and kneeled upon his knees three times a day and prayed and gave thanks before his God as he did at other times Thirdly The Necessity appears from the importunity that goeth along with prayer Luke 22. 44. And being in an Agony he prayed more earnestly Luke 6. 12. And it came to pass in those dayes that he went into a mountain to pray and continued all night in prayer to God Acts 12. 5. Peter therefore was kept in Prison but prayer was made without ceasing of the Church to God for him Luke 11. 8 9. I say to you though he will not rise and give him because he is his friend yet because of his importunity he will rise and give him as many as he needeth Secondly The Excellency of Prayer appears in this First It ingageth Gods strength Secondly It holds with holy reverence Gods hands Thirdly In no condition we can be barred from it For the first Exod. 17. 11. And it came to pass when Moses held up his hands Israel prevailed and when he let down his hands the Amalekites prevailed Josh 10. 12 13 14. Then spake Joshua or prayed to the Lord in the day when the Lord delivered up the Amorites before the Children of Israel and he said in the sight of Israel Sun stand thou still upon Gibeon and thou Moon upon the Valley of Jaalon and the Sun stood still and the Moon stayed until the people had avenged themselves upon their enemies and there was no day like that before it or after it that the Lord hearkned to the prayer of a man for the Lord fought for Israel Secondly Prayers Excellency appears in this it holds with holy reverence Gods hands Exod. 32. 9 10 11 12. And the Lord said to Moses I have seen this people and behold it is a stiff-necked people Now therefore let me alone that I may destroy them and I will make of thee a great Nation And Moses besought the Lord saying Lord why doth thy wrath wax hot turn I pray thee and repent of this evil against them Numb 14. 11 22. And the Lord said to Moses how long will this people provoke me and how long will it be ere they believe me now therefore let me alone that I may destroy them Thirdly Prayers Excellency appears in that in no condition we can be barred from it Daniel in the Lyons Den Chap. 6. Jonah in the Whales Belly Chap. 1. 2. Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God out of the Fishes Belly and said I cryed by reason of my affliction unto the Lord and he heard me out of the belly of Hell cryed I and thou heardest my voyce so Paul and Silas in prison prayed and sang praises to God and the prisoners heard them Now we come to Le ts to prayer i. e. what hinders Prayer from prevailing with God First presumption in an unreverent adventuring before the Lord 2 Chron. 14. and 20. 33. c. For as yet the people had not prepared their heart unto the God of their Fathers therefore thus will I do unto thee O Israel and because I will do this unto thee prepare to meet thy God O Israel Amos 4. 12. A second Let or hinderence to Prayer is wandering thoughts Jer. 4. 14. O Jerusalem wash thine heart from wickedness that thou maist be saved how long shall thy vain thoughts lodge within thee Therefore take no thought saying what shall we eat or what shall we drink or wherewith shall we be cloathed but seek ye first the Kingdome of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you Mat. 6. 32 33. The third Let to Prayer is bosome sin or pleasant delight in some secret lust Psal 66. 8. If I regard iniquity in my heart God will not hear me Josh 7. 8 9 10 11. The Lord saith to Joshua get thee up wherefore lyest thou thus upon thy face Israel hath sinned they have also transgressed my covenant which I have commanded them for they have taken of the accursed thing and have also stolen and dissembled and they have put it also among their own stuff therefore they could not stand before their Enemies but turned their backs This good man Joshua in Chap. 10. 12. at another time is so prevalent at Prayer that the Sun and Moon stands still yet now in his seventh Chapter because there is some bosome sin in the Camp he cannot prevail till this is removed A fourth Let is want of reconciliation to brethren Mat. 23. 23 24. Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the Altar and there remembrest that thy brother hath ought against thee leave there thy gift before the Altar and first go and be
by all that are about him Secondly You must hear as Gods Word Isa 66 2. 1 Thes 2. 11. Thirdly You must hear with attention and godly fear Isa 55. 2. Nehem. 8. 3. Luke 29. 48. And all the people were very attentive to hear him Fourthly In Hearing you must mix what you hear with faith Heb. 4. 1 2. But the word preached did not profit it being not mixt with faith in them that heard it 2 Chron. 20. 26. Fifthly You must receive what you hear in the love of God 2 Thes 2. 10. Psal 119 97. Sixthly and lastly You must hear with resolution to obey Deut 5. 27. Josh 1. 16. Now what must you do after Hearing First You must remember what ye have heard 2 Pet. 3. 1 2. Secondly That you may remember you must meditate upon it Josh 1. 8. Psal 1. 2. Thirdly of all the Sermons you hear pick out something most profitable and confer about it Mark 4. 10. Fourthly You must put into practise what you hear Eccles 9. 10. Jam. 2. 25. Luke 11. 2. I shall now hint three Reasons of this great Care thus to Assemble and hear Gods word and then proceed to the Thirteenth Sign First Because it is the great Ordinance of Conversion Secondly The means of a Christians growth and Sanctification Thirdly Negligence in it a great aggravation of Condemnaton CHAP. XIII Proving the state of such to be sad who assemble together more for fear of mans eye than Gods with four Discriptions how such may be known or know themselves with two Causes of this decay SIGN XIII VVHen you come to the Assembly more for fear of brethrens eye than Christs eye That is you are so indifferent as to coming that would none miss you nor question you for it you could well dispence with absence and that without any material hinderance 't is much to be feared that this decay prevails strongly with many professors who have neither hungring or thirstingat least at that early rate they once had and still doubtless ought to have were they not losing their relish to Ordinances and the fellowship that they have had with God through them for now they begin to cease looking at things with an eye of faith and have all or most of their recourse to things after an eye of carnal sense and so no fear holds them to the outward order of Gods House but what is taught by the precept of men and were they not lyable to censures both from the assembly and others who have taken notice of their being professors could as to the eye censure of Jesus Christ quit all wherefore the Lord said Isa 39. 4 13. For as much as this people draw near me with their mouth and with their lips do honour me but have removed their heart far from me note that it is far to many degrees alienated and their fear towards me is taught by the precept of men it is from hence very evident that they though they did come together yet it was not from aright principle their person and their heart was asunder and God is pleased to note them out as people fearing him only with an outside fear therefore he will proceed to do a marvellous work upon them the Prophet Ezek. 33. 30 31. meets with such a people as are still a quarelling with the Prophets words and talking against him in the doors of their houses yet would say Come I pray and hear what is the word that cometh forth from the Lord coming as his people come sit before him as his people do hear his word and with their mouth shew much love but their heart runs after covetousness So in the time of the Prophet Mal. 4. 3. there you have a description of a decaying and growing professor one is so weary that they are ready to throw all profession off crying It is in vain to serve the Lord and what profit is it that we keep his Ordinances at the same time those truly spiritual that feared Gods eye more than mans they spake the oftner one to another fearing him and thinking upon his name I shall give two or three descriptions how such may know themselves or be known and so pass to the next Sign First Such when by more or less weighty occasions they are hindered from the assembly you will not find them troubled whereas a truly growing Christian though hindered even by God yet he is thirsting hungering and thinks it long saying with David O when shall I come and appear before thee Psal 42. 1 2. Secondly Such may be known and know themselves by this they are of all others most apt to be discontented it is seldome but one thing or other troubles them and goes not as they would have it whereas the more spiritual dwells so much in charity with every one that they are ready to construe every thing to the best so neither much troubling nor much troubled Thirdly If any Schisme or faction rise you 〈…〉 these more apt than any other to close with it and so zealous for a while as passes but it holds not long Fourthly you shall find such very forward at propagating some lesser matters of Gods Law while the more weighty they themselves live strangers to a chief cause of all this is First large zeal but shallow judgment Secondly a too much prying into the wayes of others and too little into their own CHAP. XIV Shewing our state dying when we are more troubled at the decayes in our House than in Christs House with four marks to know when we are so dying SIGN XIV VVHen the decay in Christs House less troubles you than the decay in your own House This decay wherever found notes a man very far gone on the dying hand If trade decayes then nothing but complaining if loss by fire or sickness or death then all is out of order it breaketh their rest they cannot sleep by night disturbs their worships they cannot pray read or meditate by day It is evident with such the affaires of their own house lyeth nearer their heart than the affairs of Christs House far from a truly growing Chrian who is all out of order when it goeth not well with the Church of God Now by decay here in the Sign I would be understood of persons in Christ Jesus profession who dye in their zeal love and fear c. that begin to walk faintly after Christ Jesus flat to prayer to reading to hearing cold and careless to spiritual visitings one another seldome and little in spiritual talk when they meet together not now as once make it their trade business to be making the name of Christ great wherever they come but either say nothing or that that comes to nothing having no spirit or savour in it yet once was early at the Ordinances quickly troubled if things went amiss much joyed when all werein a holy Harmony but now being discovered to have lost most of their spiritual relish to those
What indeed can harm you if God be for you and God will not be against you if you are followers of that which is good For he doth not afflict willingly nor grieve the children of men to crush under his feet the prisoners of the earth Lam. 3. 33 34. Wherefore then may it be said Doth the living man complain the holy Spirit gives the answer For the punishment of his sin The joy of our heart is ceased our dance is turned into mourning the Crown is fallen from off our head Wo unto us for we have sinned Lam. 15. 16. A multitude of Scriptures might be urged further to prove both unwillingness in God to afflict and that the very Cause of all our Wo both temporal and eternal is our misdoing O that my people had hearkened to my voyce and walked in my wayes I should soon have subdued their enemies and turned my hand against their adversaries Psal 81. 13 14. Now in reason were the Cause of Affliction considered to be only from our selves procured by our misdoing and sent with tendency to our mending we should surely pray more to have it sanctified than removed Secondly Ignorance of the Necessity of Affliction is a Cause of this Decay the very unwillingness of God to bring it and the creature to indure it fully proves that there is Necessity for it there cannot be more undelightfulness in the creature to undergo languishing than there is in God to put him under languishing How shall I give thee up O Ephraim How shall I deliver thee Israel How shall I make thee as Idma How shall I set thee as Zeboim My heart is turned within me my repentings are kindled together Hos 11. 8. When he was come near and beheld the City he wept over it Luke 19. 41. Now Gods unwillingness proves the creature cannot live at any spiritual rate without it and indeed Experience proves the same Before I was afflicted I went astray but now I have kept thy word Psal 119. 67. David wandred from the Fould and were like to continue till Affliction spoke to him he forgot himself and what he was a doing The wicked saith the Psalmist are not in trouble as other men neither are they plagued like other men therefore pride compasseth them about as a Chain violence covereth them as a garment and what use do they make of it they say how doth God know and is there knowledge in the most High This clearly notes that a condition freest from trouble or affliction generally is attended with carnallest behaviour God-ward When I had fed them to the full they then committed Adultery and assembled by troops into Harlots houses Jer. 5. 7. By all this it appears that it is from ignorance of Afflictions necessity if we pray more to have it removed than sanctified Thirdly Ignorance of the End of Affliction is a Cause of this Decay now the Cause being Sin and the Necessity being to humble the End is to save Now all Gods dealings are mercy whatsoever he doth to the creature is like himself and in it self is mercy if he give us all we desire and would have it is Mercy if he keep us without it it is Mercy Health from him is Mercy so is Sickness Plenty from him is Mercy so is Poverty Health Life Strength and such like Favours temporal every body will acknowledge to be Mercy but their contrary few or none will account Mercy yet this is Mercy also for this Checquer work the World is made of some at the same time are wringing their hands for sorrow while others are clapping their hands for joy some with straitâ— through Sickness and Poverty are Weeping others through Health and Plenty rejoycing Now the great difficulty is how to bring the heart to look upon the state of Weeping as truly Mercy as the state of Rejoycing For which end consider why we do account Health Plenty and such like Injoyments Mercy but because they have in them an esteeming and desirable good a seasonable and sutable good it is the same with the contrary they are as seasonable and as sutable could our frail hearts so receive them for they are as truly from the Lord as the other and as truly have the same end in them There are two great Ends in all God doth one is his Honour the other is our Salvation now if God give us what we would have his End is the same and if he give us the contrary his End is the same and Christians certainly misconstruing his End to be Mercy is the Cause they misconstrue his Actions to be Mercy That both are Mercy read Exod. 13 17. There God led them through the wilderness an unbeaten way where they wanted both bread and water and yet both End and Action Mercy to bring them to Canaan and deliver them from harm by the Philistines Remember all the way which the Lord thy God led thee these forty years through that great and terrible wilderness wherein was fiery Serpents and Scorpions and Drought and no Water that he might humble thee and prove thee to the good at thy latter end It is too evident that Israel construed this hard dealing from God but it was great Mercy as the text fully proves Ignorance therefore of the End of Affliction is a Cause why we pray more to have it Removed than Sanctified CHAP. XXIV Containing in it six Seasons in which Christians ought to humble themselves by fasting proving those under great decay that in times of calamity can find no necessity for fasting SIGN XIV WHen under Gods Calamity you can neither find necessity nor excellency to humble your selves by fasting As prayer rightly put up to God is a way and means by which he many times is prevailed with both to remove judgments and sanctifie them even so fasting is Gods way in which he hath often been found and it is the more prevailing with him in so much as it hath in it a gratious tendency to abase and humble the soul and make it more fit to receive the kind impression of his precepts in opening of his promises together with the reverencing him because of his threatnings it being a season not only of laying the soul low in its own eyes at the sensible sight of his own vileness but a marvellous exalting the gratious and long-forbearance of God forcing the heart to cry out what manner of love is this that we should be called the Children of God who was before wallowers in the works of darkness that leads to the Chambers of death but now by his grace though once far off made nigh of an Alien made a home dweller All these things are brought to remembrance very fresh in fasting Seasons that being a time of calling to mind things past and though calamity be as truly Gods mercy as the contrary having in it the same design of Salvation good yet it is more properly sent in order to reducing from those straings it finds such persons
into sin anew SIGN XXVI VVHen the thoughts of thy dearest Lust or any other sin is pleasing to thee Thoughâ— is the first door of the mind inwardly as the eye and ear are of the body outwardly here sin takes first place and if here it be not first slain it will increase to conception and from thence to action the eye and ear carry things to the thought and the thought carries things to the conception and conception to affection and affection to consent and consent to action and thus you may behold how great a fire a little spark kindles Now every good man hath had a dearest lust and every wicked man hath a dearest lust that he most hugs loves and serves though evil men do obey fance to any sin that suits with their liking yet there is some particular sin to which they have most single regard and the best of Gods people are under more particular inclination to some one particular sin than other and in danger to fall and be overcome thereby 1 King 8. 38. there the Scripture notes this under the name of heart-plague also Psal 18. 23. Ah mine iniquity Now this comes to the thoughts for entertainment and there is greatest possibility of finding entertainment for which cause Gods word so much inveighs against thoughts when they are about evil exercises Gen. 6. 5. Every imagination of the thought of his heart was evil and only evil Jer. 4. 14. How long shall thy vain thoughts lodge within thee Prov. 24. 9. The thoughts of foolishness is sin Thought is the least motion of the mind and whether it be wicked or good is not hid from God nor from Gods Vice-gerent even Conscience No thought can be with-held from thee Job 42. 2. No secret design though in the very heart of man can be so carried on as that God cannot be privy to it Amos 4. 13. That declareth to man what is his thought Now thought though the least motion of the mind yet being imployed with continual good objects as the Resurrection and Judgement to come thinking still what shall be the estate of the saved and damned hath blessed force both upon the heart and conversation to regulate things there and by all possible means labours to work such up to Gods likeness that they may have boldness in judgment even so and let conscience how speak letting the thoughts have to do so as to like of those vain shady delights that the hearts of men are apt to set up to themselves as Uncleanness Covetousness c. hath as great force on the conversation to carry it Hell-ward It highly concerns Christians therefore to be upon the examination of their state as to thriving or decaying and to see to the Thought what branch it bears the beginnings of sin inwardly being there and be certain to pass this judgment upon your selves that if to your thoughts your former dearest lust in any branch of it or any other sin be pleasant to you that is tall lovely comely or desirable and not rather hateful frightful burthensome black and hellish you are a dying or decaying to heaven and heavenly things and very seasonable to such may the counsel of Peter be Repent of this thy wickedness and pray God the thought of thy heart may be forgiven thee I shall from hence take occasion to give you six Marks by which you may know when God will suffer your Return back to your old dearest lust or some other sin and they may by Gods blessing and your caâ—e slay iniquity in its first motion First The first Mark may be this when after God hath pardoned the sins you once lived in you are not so abased in your own eyes so as to walk humbler with God all your dayes Now this is Gods great end in forgiving all sin Ezek. 16. 62 63. I will establish my Covenant with thee and thou shalt know that I am the Lord that thou maist remember mark that and be confounded and never open thy mouth more because of thy shame when I am pacified towards thee So Ezek. 36. 29 30 31. I also will save you from all your uncleannesses both guilt and filth then shall you remember your own evil wayes and shall loath your selves in your own sight for your iniquities and for your abominations So that you see God expects to receive fruit from the pardoned But Secondly When because of your graces you are in any measure lifted up to admire grace more than giver By grace here I mean the Graces of Gifts as ability to pray or preach c. distinct from the Graces of Humility Meekness and Charity for a man may be rich in the one and yet poor in the other Now Gods usual measure of bestowing the Graces of Gifts at such times and to such persons as have been very rebellious yet are returned to the Shepheard of their souls Now again you must distinguish between Graces and Gifts with what allowance the Scripture gives otherwise ye will confound hoth by mixing them together for though Graces be Gifts and Gifts be Graces yet are they not such as prove that of necessity where the Gifts or Graces of Preaching or Praying or Knowledge or Tongues are there will be the Graces of Humility and Thankfulness though it will prove there should be such Graces the reason I conceive lyeth here and it may be worthy our noting thus The Graces of Gifts in the sense we distinguish are more properly given of God for the benefit of others as he gave his Spirit to Saul for the benefit of Israel Now other Graces are most properly given for the profit of our selves because with the one we may perish without the other we cannot be saved Now both this dying Sign and the distinction may be of use if considered among Churches for experience tells us while the humble in heart have stood with their low and mean parts in the mean time those tall in Gifts have fallen like Dagon before the Ark and it is good none here be secure for though Gifts be Graces and that from God the giver yet may a person fall in love with the Gift and himself for the Gift as to be lifted up to the forgetting God the Giver 2 Chron. 26. 15 16. compared with Chap. 32. 25. Thirdly A third sign of Gods suffering persons to fall into sin may be this When signal favours from God given you are not minded but forgotten There is none that lives but are more or less tryed by God in this very kind some time or other of their life for they are not only sharers in Gods common favors that he dayly bestows upon all as Rain fruitful seasons food rayment health strength and the like but also signal and special favors as Redemption from the Grave when at the very brinck to visible view even favours of such like kind as Israel had when the first-born in Egypt dyed not a Dog barks against Israel when Plague or Sword
world and lose his soul Or what shall a man give in Exchange for his soul When such Texts as this is brought home to the conscience it doth so awaken where not willingly withstood that sins hold must needs fall Fifthly The Spirit furnisheth the Christian with spiritual Arguments bearing such force upon his heart as makes him able to break out with such replies as these First All the Devil hath to make an argument of is but present things and they suit not with my person for my person is made up of soul and body and all he offereth doth but respect and serve that body that shortly must be worms-meat and therefore it will not profit me to lose my soul for present things Secondly As all he hath to make an Argument of suits not with my person in like manner it suits not with my condition for if I have all that heart can wish it carries me but to the grave and there leaves me and wo be to me if such works follow me for alas I must be raised again and he that soweth to the flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption Sixthly The holy Spirit helps in lending the immediate supplies of new strength proportionable to our straits and will not suffer those that wait on him to be tempted above what they are able to bear but will with the temptation make way to escape that they may be able 1 Cor. 10. 13. Seventhly The holy Spirit helps by striving with the heart to draw it after holy performances following the soul up and down with sweet visits and secret whispers prompting and inclining it God-ward preparing a season for the heart to draw nigh God and then preparing the heart for that season The Spirit helpeth our infirmities for we know not what to pray for as we ought but the Spirit it self maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered Rom. 8. 26. May not all this teach us to put a high value upon the holy Spirits Help to the great work of Mortification by all means striving to please and not grieve this holy Spirit by which we are sealed to the day of Redemption Having now spoken of the holy Spirits help may not some from hence inquire what may be done to the obtaining not only its visits now and then as a wafaring man that tarrieth for a night but its constant company to abide with the soul Answ There may be three Directions laid down briefly for its obtaining with three Directions for its keeping First for its obtaining Get a deep sense of its want and worth Secondly Get longings of heart after its supply Thirdly Make humble supplications to the Father for it First Get a deep sense of its want and worth it s Jesus Christs own argument that the world cannot receive this Spirit because it seeth him not neither knoweth him John 14. 17. Now by personal examination of that souls barrenness where the holy Spirit either comes but seldome or stayes not long may some considerable sense of its want be discerned and consequently of its worth all those black sinful works acted by the sons of men are the effects of the holy Spirits absence and indeed to what degree a good man is a stranger here to that degree he is weak an unable either to make right judgment of the best things or to withstand the temptations and vexatious assaults of the evil one and although a man be thus destitute where the holy Spirit is wanting yet can there be no expectation of his company till a deep sense both of its want and worth affect the heart to the rendring the soul capable of setting a valuable estimation of its company Secondly for its obtaining Get longings of heart after its supply breathings and pantings from a sense of its want bastens its coming a foul that goeth sadly up and down all the day long sick as it were of love for its frequent visits to revive comfort and strength and to discover its own wants and the tempters wiles making the soul taller by head and shoulders than those temptations that frequently attend it saying with David As the Hart panteth after the water brooks so panteth my soul after thee O God My soul thirsteth for the living God when shall I come and appear before thee Or be filled with supplies from thee Psal 42. 1 2. Thirdly for its obtaining Make humble supplications to the Father for it not only sick of love with the Spouse but also panting and thirsting with David yet rests not here but is again and again upon its knees with humble hearty supplications to God even the Father like the thirsty traveller that going from Fountain to Fountain from means to means till he get what his soul travelleth after when Jesus Christ were about to leave the Disciples this was one of the last Legasies he gave them And I will pray the Father and he shall give you another Comforter that he may abide with you for ever John 14. 16. If ye being evil know how to give good gifts to your children how much more shall your heavenly Father give the holy Spirit to them that ask him Luke 11. 13. In the second place we may offer three Directions in order to the sure keeping the holy Spirits company or holding constant fellowship and dear inward intimate familiarity with so happy a companion First A constant withstanding the beginnings of all evil Secondly A ready complyance with new motions to all good Thirdly A retaining in the heart a high value of its company First A constant withstanding the beginnings of all evil is that which will wonderfully engage the Spirits company when you crush sin in its least and first motion Now the dearest of Gods Children are lyable to temptation and it is not their sin to be tempted to sin Jesus Christ was tempted to sin their sin lyeth in closing with the temptation but if instead of closing with it you do in the Spirits strength constantly oppose it mistake me not here I pray you a constant opposing sin doth not intend less than these three things First A firm withstanding the very first least motion even a glance as it were at the eye ear or thought to sin Abstain from all appearance of evil 1 Thes 5. 22. Secondly As the first least motion so in all cases and conditions whether the temptation set upon you when ye are full or hungry sick or well strong or weak rich or poor in affliction or out of affliction it will be coming with new assaults in all conditions waiting to kill you by a Goliah or Bathshebah temptations more piercing or more pleasing Constant intends a withstanding here Thirdly Constant intends continual Blessed is the man that endureth temptation Be thou faithful unto death and I will give thee a Crown of life James 1. 12. Revel 2. 10. Secondly A second Help to retain the holy Spirit may be this A ready complyance with new motions to all good it
said unto thee when thou wast in thy blood live then washed I thee with water yea I throughly washed away thy blood and anointed thee with oyl Eccles 16. 6 9. compared with Chap. 36. 11. Then shall ye remember your own evil wayes and your doings that were not good and shall loath your selves in your own sight for your iniquities and abominations Here by comparing our estate with Israels estate we may read our danger with Israels danger who being apt to forget the condition God found them in and redeemed them from are charged to remember their own evil wayes This Remembrance was that that wrought such high admiration in St. Paul 1 Tim. 1. 12 13. And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord who hath enabled me that he counted me faithful putting me into the Ministry who was before a blasphemer and a persecutor and injurious Clearly noting that Pauls remembrance of Christs goodness to him in misery encreased his esteem of Christs mercy Secondly A second Cause may be this Actual withdrawing from that wonted familiarity we use to have with Christ once if it were well with us he must know it and be praised for it if it were evil with us he must be told of it and at the least absence you could cry with the Spouse Tell me O thou whom my soul loveth where thou feedest and causest thy flock to rest at noon for why should I be as one that turneth aside from the flocks of thy companions Cant. 1. 17. Thus in a holy friendly intimacy claims his company if now such discover strangeness to him in being strangers to his Fould in a word at every Christians service now seldome though once often thus neglecting the means of encrease must needs cause decrease Thirdly The third Cause may be this Deep declinings to heart acquaintance The watch now over the heart is not so strict as once it was so tender in times past that every comer in and goer out must be under strict examination who they were for whether or no they went Christ Jesus earand but now the door of the heart is set open too too often at hours too unseasonable for reasons too slender to the entertaining many a strange face that never was wont to come there since the King of Glory had taken his possession for this Jeremiah complains against Jerusalem How long shall thy vain thoughts lodge within thee They kept not their heart with all diligence knowing that out of it are the issues of life But trusting it too much were deceived and turned aside thereby Fourthly A fourth Cause may be this Decaying in love to Christs Children once your chief delight was with the Saints and especially those that excelled in vertue now dayly decaying in your love to them and acquaintance with them This Christ Jesus maketh an unerring reason He that loveth his Brother abideth in the light and there is no occasion of stumbling in him 1 John 2. 10. If any man say I love God and hates his Brother he is a lyer for he that loveth not his Brother whom he hath seen how can be love God whom he hath not seen Chap. 4. 20. Plainly asserting the impossibility of loving the greater if we love not the lesser so that to what degree there is decay in one there is the same in the other Fifthly The fifth Cause may be this Encrease of affection to perishing things At your first acquaintance with Christ the world and its offers was contemned by you now it is esteemed you had once a holy carelesness for the things of this life now an unholy carefulness for them then you sate at Jesus feet hearing his word but now cumbered with much serving Love not the world nor the things of the world if any man love the world the love of the Father is not in him Meaning whosoever loves the world at such a rate as to be more thoughtful after its vanities than Heavens excellencies 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 1 Tim. 6. 10. Lastly A sixth Cause may be this The withdrawings of the holy Spirit that was once pleased and did then visit you often but now is grieved and visits you seldome that once helped you much against temptations laying for dead the deeds of the body now lets you alone to be beaten and baffled with every evil motion and this as the effect of the Spirits withdrawing whose work where ever it is being to greaten the esteem of Jesus Christ and foil temptations of every kind if not discouraged grieved and hindred for fear of which are those high Christian Precepts given not to vex it quench it or grieve it and that because as our natural body without life is voyd of action so without the holy Spirit is a Christian man dry and barren at best but like the Fig-tree something only in shew yet cursed by Jesus Christ for want of fruit When the Apostle Jude comes to speak of some that in the last dayes should turn Mockers walking after their own ungodly lusts mark how they are charactrized out These be they who separate themselves sensual Having not the Spirit Jude reckons them among the Sodomites for filthiness calls them Raging Waves Wandring Stars Murmurers Complainers worse than natural Bruit-beasts and the sum of all As being destitute of the Spirit In the midst of all Davids languishings for fear of so high a loss is not this one of his most bitter cries Cast me not away from thy presence and Take not thy holy Spirit from me Psal 51. 11. I have now done having cast my poor Mite into Gods publick Treasury as one Lift if God will to encourage the growing Christian and reduce the decaying Christian if any be bettered by it I have my end let God have the Honour To whom through Jesus Christ by the help of the Holy Spirit be all due Praises ascribed in Heart with Tongue and Conversation for ever and ever Amen ERRATA EPistle Dedicatory Page 6. Line 25. read your heart p. 9. l 1. r. Isa 55 p. 25. l. 23. for a Sign r. assigned p. 34. l. 4. f. ye r. we p. 72. l. 15. f. Reprobate r. Reproach p. 48. r. Ajâ—lon p. 51. r. Mat. 5 p. 53. r. Zech. p. 58 midle r thou wast p. 61. l. 3. 71. l 8. f. was is r. were are p. 82 l 5. f. even r noon p 92. l. 1â— f. now is r. now are p â—1 l. 14. r. observe and f Eâ—hes 2. 12. r. 2 Cor. 12. 21. p. 93. l. 6. r. of it p. 94. l 5. r. Sign p. 1,6 l. 27. f. shin r. skin