world offereth him great treasures high honours c. may through the subtlety of his flesh have a mind to embrace them onely seeing by Faith Ierusalem where are greater treasures higher honours he slights and rejects them By faith Moses refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter esteeming the reproaches of Christ greater riches then the treasures of Egypt for he had an eye to the recompence of reward Faith makes things future present it looketh intoâ—Heaven and saith as David before he had conquered those places Gilead is mine Manasseh is mine Heaven is mine Eternal Life is mine fulness of joy is mine that Kingdom in comparison of which this whole world is a dunghil is mine because God hath sworn by his holiness that he will not lye unto his David and whilst the soul by faith seeth and is assured of these felicities for their sake it can trample under foot the worlds largest offers 2. Faith enableth the Christian to conquer Satan Though the wicked one be full of power and policy yet Faith makes him flee like a Coward It s said of the Crocodile that he flyeth if resisted but followeth those that fear and flee from him Truly so doth Satan Iam. 4. 8. Resist the Devil and he will flee from you But how must he be resisted the Apostle Peter answers that question whom resist stedfastly in the Faith 1 Pet. 5. 9. The Crocodile cannot endure the sight or smell of saffron therefore in Egypt they sow saffron to keep him away Faith is this saffron Cant. 4. 14. which drives away the Devil Faith like little David wounds the great Goliah of Hell They overcame him meaning the Devil by the blood of the Lamb. The Wild Bull say Naturalists cannot endure a red colour therefore the Hunter putteth on red garments and standeth before a Tree which the Bull runneth against with all his might and the Hunter stepping aside his hornes stick fast in the tree whereby he is taken The Christian by Faith in the blood of Christ overcometh those infernal spirits who thought to overcome him This is the onely holy water that will fright away the Devil Our blessed Saviour in his speech to Peter acquaints us how to subdue Satan Peter Peter Satan hath desired to winnow thee as Wheat is winnowed but I have prayed for thee that thy Faith fail not Which words imply that whilst Peters Faith stood firm he should not forsake Christ whilst that was up he could not be down His Faith flagged before his courage failed or he himself fell so fouly A Tree is soon felled when the Root is once loosened Faith roots the soul in Christ and therein his safety consists but as his Faith fails so he is loosened from Christ and thereby in danger of falling The Christians strength lieth in his Faith as Sampsons in his Hair if the uncircumcised one can deprive us of this he may make sport enough with us Hence it is that Satans chiefest Guns are shot against the Royal Fort of Faith knowing that that commandeth all and if â—e can make a breach there he fears not but to enter with success The first mine which he ever sprang to blow up the first Adam and his Wife and in them the whole race of mankind was by weakning their faith Hath God said In the day ye eat thereof ye shall dye When he came to the second Adam he endeavoured to slay him with the same sword If thou be the Son of God command that these stones c. And without question his aim was more at Iobs Faith then his Cattel or Servants or Children he had a greater intent to have blown down that house of Iobs conscience then that wherein his Sons and Daughters were feasting Therefore Reader Above all take the shield of Faith whereby thou mayst quench the fiery darts of the wicked one Ephes. 6. 16. Goats in the Island of Creet when they are stricken with a dart do seek for the Hearb Dittany which will cause the dart to fall out Truly such juice hath Faith that it makes all the darts which Satan shoots at the Christian ineffectual 3. Faith enableth to conquer the flesh The great Apostle who lived by Faith brought under his body and crucified the flesh Faith seeth the safety of the body to consist in its subordination to the soul and that the onely way to save the life is at Gods call to lose it By faith Abraham left his Kindred and Country and obeyed and went out not knowing whither he went Heb. 11. 8. Indeed the flesh is the worst enemy of the three partly in that it is so near us always about us so that we can as well flye from our selves as from it A Traytour in the Bed chamber is much more dangerous then one in open armes against us in the Field A Snake in the bosome is like to do more hurt then one under the grass partly in that it knoweth our minds exactly and so can temper its poison sutable to our Pallats but Faith can discover its secret conspiracies and prevent their execution Though it dig its mines never so closely and covertly and craftily Faith will find them out and countermine them 2. Faith enableth as to dye to sin so to live to God The life of holiness doth so much depend on Faith that it s said to consist wholly in it The just shall live by his Faith Though he cannot live by sense that upon which he lives being invisible nor by reason because his food is supernatural yet he can live by faith and make a good living of it too As the body lives by the soul so Religion lives by Faith A mortal wound in faith le ts out the heart blood of all holiness T is faith that actuates and animates the new creature Faith puts him upon high designs and holy enterprises for God and his own soul. David saith I beleive therefore have I spoken It may be said of a Christian He beleiveth therefore he speaks so much of God for God and to God He beleiveth the unquestionable certainty incomparable excellency and eternity of that reward which is set before him and therefore he prayeth and watcheth and readeth and heareth and denyeth himself and worketh night and day that he may attain it Ferdinando of Arragon beleiving the report of Columbus concerning the richness of the Indian Mines and the likelyhood of his possessing them was at great cost and charge in sending out men in Ships and made them venture their lives and labour hard to get those Golden and Silver veins Faith beleiveth the report which the Gospel makes of the glory to be revealed and the unsearchable riches in Christ and the likelyhood nay certainty of his enjoying them if he will but strive and labour and use those means which God hath appointed and this puts the soul upon its greatest industry and integrity in the performance of what the word requireth in order thereunto and a resolution to
days in the Kalender of their lives for Festivals and make them all Play-days as if there were never a working day among them that are as busie and tedious in dressing their worm-eaten bodies as Children in dressing Babies and are more troubled at the smallest disorder in their hairs then the greatest disorder in Church and State would give up all and much more if they had it for a little time Then the Nobles and Kings and Emperours of the world will disesteem their honours and height and trample upon their Robes and Scepters and â—rowns for a little time Then they who dally with their days of grace and delay the preparation of their souls for death and judgement as if time were at their command and they could force it to attend their leasure that live as if Death were their servant and must wait on them till they thought fit to come to their graves will find that time was time indeed O my soul of what worth will time be at that day and wilt thou waâ—te it at this day Alas how little is that time which thou hast to improve for thine unchangeable estate My life is but a shadow that is gone when the Sun hides his head A Bubble that vanisheth when a small breath of wind appeareth A day that is soon overtaken by a night a span nothing Thou hast made my days as an hand-breadth mine age is nothing unto thee Wert thou able to secure a long life though thou hâ—sâ— work enough of infinite weight to imploy it all yet thou mightest have more colour of reason for being lavish but when thy time is little and thy business of such consequence what unspeakable madness is it to be wasteful of it He that hath thousands of acres of Land will spare some for a Park some for a bowling-green some for a court-yard some for pleasure and pastimes but he that hath but a little land upon which himself and his family must live and by which they must be maintained can spare none at all for vain pleasures but must improve all to real profit Man that is born of a woman is but of few days He comes up as a Flower fleeth as a shadow and continueth not and wilt thou O my soul revel and riot away this poor pittance in which thou shouldst work out thy salvation O that I could value this jewel in some measure answerable to its worth and do the work of the day in the day allotted me for work Time rightly husbanded is acceptable time a day well imployed is a day of salvation Lord though my journey be great my time is little Nay how much of that little time have I lost A considerable part of it hath been taken up with my Infancy and Child-hood wherein I did little above a Beast My youth hath been squandred away in trifles and vanity and too much of it in lust and iniquity Much of what remains if thou shouldst add a few more days to my life must be spent in eating and drinking and sleeping and necessary natural actions and shall I not redeem it to my power for the service of my Saviour O affect my soul throughly how Eternity rides upon the back of time that I may prize time highly redeem it carefully and improve it so faithfully that eternity may be my friend and when time shall have an end I may enjoy that joy which hath no end I Wish that I may every day so cast up my accounts that I maybe always ready for the great Audit-day Wise Stewards do not write down great sums in gross which they have disbursed for their Lords at several times but set down the particulars whereby they are prepared for a general reckonning and enabled to justifie their accounts My trust is more weighty then of any Princes Steward on earth my Master will be more exact then the severest humane Lord and am I not then concerned so to number my days as to reckon every day what I receiâ—e from my Lord what I disburse for my Lord and at the foot of every day to write the total sum How foolish is he that rejects his books till his bookâ— reject him 〈◊〉 is it not better for me to look over the book of my conscience and observe what blots and errors are there whilst I have licence and liberty to correct them then to neglect them till those eyes which are purer then to behold iniquity come to look it over and leave be denyed of ever amending what he finds amiss O my soul this evening now I am writing this page I must send to thee Amaziah's challenge of Joash Come let us see one another in the face Why should we that are so near together be such strangers to each other I must ask thee as Elisha did Gehezi Whence comest thou Where hast thou been What hast thou done this day for God and thy self Hast thou lived or onely been in the world this day Doth thy soul work thine eternity work go forward or backward Hast thou lived as if thou wâ—rt going to die and walked in the fear of the Lord all the day long Hath the awe and dread of the divine Majesty all along possessed thee Dost thou consider that thou hast one day less to live and one day more to account for Suppose God should come to thee this night as he did to Belshazer with a Mene Mene It is numbred It is numbred Thy days are told God hath counted them up and finished them thou shalt not live to see a morrow Thy days are extinct the grave is ready for thee Art thou ready for thy grave If God should say to thee as that Lord to his Servant Give an account of thy Stewardship for thou shalt be no longer Steward Are thy accounts and Gods even Dost thou reckon as he doth What do all the actions of this day stand for in thine account Figures or Ciphers somthing or nothing What were thy first thoughts in the morning Was he who came first to thee with his morning mercies first served by thee How didst thou pray in thy Closet and Family What sorrow accompanied thy confessions Was thy heart broken that thou hast broken his holy laws What faith and fervency did accompany thy requests Was the heat of thy affections answerable to the weight of thy petitions Didst thou present thy petition to the Master of Requests the Lord Iesus Christ by him to be delivered to the Father What spiritual joy and delight didst thou find in Thankesgiving Didst thou wonder at that infinite cost which the glorious God is at with such an unworthy wretch How didst thou râ—ad the word this day Did it come with power and authority to thy conscience was it mingled with faith Didst thou hide it in thy heart Hadst thou any resolution to make it thy rule and Counseller and Comforter and to order thy conversation according to it How didst thou eat and drink this day Didst thou feed
in my dealing and discourse with such men Lord thou knowest the poor silly children of men are unable to judge of eternal affairs according to their weight they are quickly lost when in their thoughts they begin to launch into that boundless Sea The ponderousness of the subject is ready to affright and press them down being so much beyond and above their shallow understandings But wouldst thou please to enable them though it were but to peep into the other world and to behold through some Crevice what is doing and enjoyed there both by thy friends and thine enemies they would soon have other thoughts of thee and thy service and other carriages when they are about thy work the greatest seriousness would then be too little the greatest ardour would not be thought enough for thy worship they would then indeed be fervent in spirit when they are serving the Lord. O teach thy servant though he cannot see into the other world with the eye of sense yet so to look into it with an eye of faith that he may transact the concerns thereof with that diligence faithfulness and fervency which thou acceptest and whilst he liveth be zealous of good works I Wish that my heart may be so affected with pity towards sick and afflicted persons that I may often and earnestly remember them in my prayers A little Captive considering the Leprosie of her Master was instrumental for his cure by crying out Would God my Lord were with the Prophet that is in Samaria for he would recover him of his Leprosie I have more reason when I behold a Leprous soul near its last gasp to look up to Heaven with Would to God that poor creature were with Jesus Christ that great prophet of his Church who is able and willing to enliven and pardon and sanctifie and save Would to God he would be perswaded to come to Christ to cling to Christ to close with Christ for he would recover him And what do I know but my prayers may be prevalent on his behalf Christ when dying prayed for his enemies for them that imbrued their hands in his blood and shall not I pray for my friends when they are dying and possibly ignorant whether they are going My Prayers are a cheap courtesie and diminish nothing of my estate either spiritual or temporal Their misery is an awakening motive to the duty Never did they stand in such need of help from others and wrastling with God on their behalves as now that they are taking their journey into a far Country and entring upon an unchangeable condition They may say to me as Nehemiah to Geshem I am doing a great work c. I am going to die to bid adieu to all the folly and vanity and comforts of this world to take possession of my long home of the place wherein I must abide for ever O pray for us that we may be pardoned and saved that we may repent and believe that we may die in the faith and obtain the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto life eternal They have many distractions upon their own spirits by reason of pains and bodily distempers and the loss and lamentation of their Kindred and Relations that they cannot poure out their hearts to God with that freeness and seriousness and earnestness which probably they desire Their enemies and assaults and temptations at such a time are more quick and strong and violent and full of rage having but a short time I must now pray for them or never pray for them Now beg mercy for them or never beg mercy for them When their life is gone all tears and cries and groans for them are in vain Davids greatest passions for dead Absolon were to no purpose They are then gone the way they shall not return and fixed in that place whence they shall never remove Lord I confess that my narrow heart hath not pity enough for afflicted and sick and dying souls and my weak hands have not power enough to supply or support them in their sad estates but thou hast both O be pleased to look down from Heaven the habitation where thine holiness dwelleth Behold their miseries hide thy face from all their iniquities out of thine infinite fulness releive their necessities Let the eyes of their souls be opened to see their sins and their Saviour before the eyes of their bodies be closed Give them patience and strength answerable to the burden thou layest on their backs Enable them to do their last works well and let them be better then their first Open thou their lips and let their mouths shew forth thy praise before they go to the place of silence Stand by them in their last conflict with their enemies Death and Devils that they may over come both be more then conquerours through him that loves them and pass through the jaws of death to the joys of a blessed eternal life I Wish that my soul may be the more sound for every visit I bestow on sick bodies There is not so much danger of catching their outward diseases as there is hope of increasing my spiritual health if I am not wanting to my self The sick and dying bed is a Pulpit out of which I may be instructed more fully in many serious truths though the sick or dying man be speechless King Joash obtained three famous victories over the Syrians by visiting sick Elisha and might have gotten a compleat conquest over them if it had not been his own fault The sight of sick and dying men may assist me in my conflicts with the three great enemies of my present purity and future comfort and bliss It teacheth â—e how vain it is to make provision for that flesh which will it self ere long be provision for wormes Ah how foolish am I to pamper and please that which instead of releiving or refreshing will in my extremity pierce and pain me It teacheth me that the world it self is the greatest Cheat and Impostour in the world That though it laughs and smiles on men dandling them on her knees and hugging them in her armes whilst they are in health and promising all sorts of comforts and pleasures yet in their sickness and misery she turns them off and leaves them as Absolons Mule did him to be â—hot through with the heart-cutting arrows of eternal death By discovering the emptiness and falseness of these two seeming ends the flesh and the world it helpeth me to overcome my third enemy and to repel the fiery darts of the Devil The cup of temptation which hath so often bewitched me to drink down his deadly poison had its prevalency from the worldly profit with which the out-side was guilded or the fleshly pleasure with which the in-side was sweetned Ah! could I but bid an hearty defiance to the World and the Flesh and conquer them I need not fear the wicked one They are the powerful Advocates by which Satan pleads and too often prevails with
militant Calvin was heard before his death often to sigh out How long Lord How long will it be ere thou avenge the blood of thy Servantsâ— The people of God are the purchase of Christ and of the same family and body with the dying Christian and therefore must needs be dear to him 4. For his Benefactours and those that have done good to him and his Paul had received some kindness from Onesimus he refreshed him in his bonds and in the 2 Tim. 1. 8. which was the last of his Epistles and thought to be written but a little before his death for he tells us in it I am ready to be offered and the time of my departure is at hand how pathetically doth he pray for him The Lord grant that he may finde mercy at that day 5. For our enemies This is to follow Gods pattern who doth good for evil and to obey his Precept who commandeth us to pray for them that despitefully use us Stephen when departing out of the World intreats mercy for them who were cruel to him Lord lay not this sin to their charge Act. 7. 60. Our blessed Saviour dying begs hard for their eternal lives who were the instruments and authors of his bloody death Father forgive them they know not what they do Luk. 23. 34. Thirdly In an holy exercise of Faith Courage Repentance Charity and Patience 1. Faith It s the Character of Gods Children that they live by Faith and they dye in the Faith Hab. 2. 6. Heb. 11. 31. The waters say some of the Pool of Bethesda wherein the Priest washed the sacrifices before he offered them was of a reddish colour to note that men must be washed by faith in the blood of Christ before they are ready to be offered a Peace-offering to God by death The dying Christian must expect strong assaults against the bulwark of his faith but what-ever he let go he must keep his hold on Christ. I know no grace that the Devil is such a sworn enemy to as Faith and I know no season that he is more diligent in to overthrow their faith then when they are under some dangerous sickness therefore it s the observation of a good man that he seldom seeth a sick Saint followed close with temptations to recover of that sickness for Satan knowing he hath but a little time useth all his craft and strength to separate the soul from the Rock of his salvation Upon a dying bed reflect upon former experienes of Gods love to thy soul and recollect the former evidences of of thy title to Christ and thereby to Heaven I must tell thee though the certainty of thy salvation depend upon the truth of thy Faith the comfort of thy dissolution will depend on the strength of thy Faith Faith is the shield of the soul and therefore above all in thy encounter with thy great enemy Satan and thy last enemy death take the Shield of Faith Eph. 6. 14. Epaminondas after his victory at Loâ—ctrum wherein he was mortally wounded understanding that his Buckler was safe bid his Chirurgion boldly to pluck out the Dart that stuck in his side and died cheerfully The Saint the Souldier of Christ who is wounded even to death and keepeth his Shield of Faith safe may leave the world with courage The Apostle Paul who knew whom he had beleived 2 Tim. 1. 12. rings a challenge in the ears of death O death where is thy sting and sings a triumphant ditty at the approach of death The time of my departure is at hand I have fought a good fight I have finished my course I have kept the Faith Henceforth is laid up for me a crown of righteousness 2 Tim. 4. 7 8. When Iacob had beleived the report of Iosephs life his heart was revived Is Joseph yet alive saith he I will go down and see him before I dye When the true Israelite can firmely credit the testimony which God hath given of Iesus the Son of Ioseph how he being an enemy was reconciled to God by the death of his Son and shall much more being reconciled be saved by his life and by faith can cling on him his heart though dying is then enlivened O with what comfort can he take his journey into the other world When Philip viewed his young Son Alexander Now saith he I am content to dye Old Simeon springs young again at a sight of Christ and having embraced his Saviour in the armes of faith as well as in the armes of his body he begs a dismission out of this valley of tears being assured thereby of an admission into fulness of joy Lord now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace according to thy word for mine eyes have seen thy salvation Having with an eye of faith beheld Christ he counts his life but a bondage and desires to depart or be loosed from fetters as the word signifieth and is taken Mat. 27. 17. We read of the Lords worthies that by faith they stopped the mouths of Lions Death is a fierce and cruel Lion but faith will pull out its teeth that it cannot hurt us or stop its mouth that it shall not devour us This grace like the Angel sent from Heaven when Daniel was cast into the Lions Den will save the Christian from being torn in peices O Friend The Robes of Christs righteousness is the onely Coat of Male which can defend thy soul against the shot of death If thou canst with Moses go up to Pisgah and take a view by faith of the Land of promise thou wilt comfortably with him lay down thine earthly Tabernacle Iob desired death as eagerly as the Labourer in an hot summers day desires the shadow Paul longed for it as vehemently as the Apprentice for the expiration of his Indentures and all because they had first beheld Christ by faith It s no wonder that many of Gods Children have called earnestly to be laid to bed knowing that it would prove their everlasting happy rest and when their bodies are carried by mortal men to their Mother Earth their souls should be conveyed by glorious Angels to their Father in Heaven 2. Courage A Christian should be a Voluntier in death Many of the Martyrs were as willing to dye as to dine went to the sire as chearfully as to a Feast and courted its pale and gastly countenance as if it had bee a beautiful Bride When King Lysimachus threatned Cyrenaeus Theodorus with Hanging Istis quaeso inquit ista horribilia minitare purpuratis tuis Thedori quidem nihil interest humine an sublime putrescat Threaten these terrible things to thy brave Courtiers Theodorus cares not whether he rot in the Air or on the Earth Cyprian said Amen to his own Sentence of Martyrdom Hierom reports of Nepotianus that he gave up his life so chearfully that one would have thought he rather walked forth then died When Ignatius was led from Syria to Rome to be torn in peices of wild
God Alsufficient or the Almighty God Walk before me and be thou perfect Gen. 17. 1. knowing that unless his faith were firm his steps could never be even If he had not beleived Gods power he could not be evangelically perfect And hence that father of the faithful became so eminent in obedience from the strength of his faith It s said of him Isa. 41. 2. that he came to the foot of God That Child was dutiful indeed that when his Father did but stamp with his foot left what ever he was about though it were never so delightful or gainful to him and ran to his Father to know and obey his commands Thus truly did Abraham when God called him to turn his back upon his relations and the place of his nativity nay to sacrifice his Isaac the child of the promise as well as of his love he did not question Gods pleasure nor quarrel with his precepts but obeyed them presently and all from his faith His strong faith caused strong obedience Heb. 11. It s observable that all the noble and heroick acts of obedience of the Lords Worthies mentioned in that little book of Martyrs were performed under the conduct and command of faith Faith is one of the best Antidotes against the poison of prophaness and one of the greatest helpes to holiness None are more faithful to God then they who have most faith in God They who beleive will be careful to maintain good works Tit. 3. 8. As the natural heat is the life of the body and as that increaseth with the radical moysture strength and health abound So Faith is the life of the soul as that is strong or weak his godliness is more or less He that is highest in affiance is highest in obedience This is the strength of the soul According to a Mans strength such is his walk either straight or stumbling According to a mans Faith such is his life either even or crooked 1. Faith destroyeth sin 2. It enableth to live to God 1. It killeth sin If the Pulse of a Christianâ— hand or life beat uneven it is because his Faith which is his heart doth faulter This is the shield of the soul which secures it against all assaults and dangers Other peices of the Christians Armour are serviceable to defend particular parts of the new man as the Girdle of truth the loyns rightâ—ousness the brest the Gospel of peace the feet but Faith is a Shield moveable at pleasure and surroundeth and guardeth the whole man With favour wilt thou compass him as with a Shield Psa. 5. ult Faith secureth the head from evilâ—principles What sense denieth and reason understandeth not Faith beleiveth Aristotle reading Moses concerning the Creation is reported to say Egregie dicis domine Moses sed quomodo probas Thou speakest nobly but how dost thou prove it The answer to him is easie By Faith we believe that the world were made of God Heb. 11. 2. Faith clears up the understanding and scattereth the mists of error The pesence of this Sun disperseth those Clouds Faith secureth the heart from evil purposes It s the besome that sweepeth out such dust and keeps the heart clean Having their hearts purified by Faith Act. 15. 9. Faith entertaineth the King of Saints into the heart it sets him on the throne and these traytours flye before him His presence makes these Rebels to hide their heads Who ever could find in his heart to hug sin whilst he was viewing by faith his bleeding Saviour Faith secureth the hand from evil practices The Martyrs chose the flames rather then the denial of their Master and all because of their Faith Those Worthies of the Lord of whom the World was not worthy through Faith stopped the mouths of Lyon-like lusts quenched the violence of hellish fires were tortured not accepting deliverance that they might obtain a better resurrection Heb. 11. 33 34 35. By Faith we stand 2 Cor. 1. 24. As a Souldier under the protection of his Shield stands his ground and doth his duty notwithstanding the shot that are made against him So a Christian under the protection of Faith keeps his place and mindeth his work whatsoever opposition he meets with Faith like Ioab stabbeth this Abner under the fifth rib it wounds fin mortally Hope like Saul hath slain its thousands but Faith like David it s ten thousands Whole Armies of Lusts have turned their backs at the sight of this Warriour By Faith the walls of Ierico fall down Whilst unbeleif liveth no sin will dye All iniquity sheltereth it self under the Banner of infidelity If once the banks of Faith be broken down a flood of wickedness will rush and flow in What made Abraham deny his Wife and expose her to such temptations and wickedness but unbeleif What made Isaac tread in his Fathers steps and leave Rebecah to the Heathens luste but unbeleif What made David dishonour his God by his uncomely carriage before Achish and injure his soul by his unholy language that he should one day perish by the hand of Saul but unbeleif What made Peter deny and forswear his Master but unbeleif These tares were sown by the enemy when the husbandman Faith was asleep had they believed the power and faithfulness of God to defend them in their dangers and distresses without their lyes and his grace and bounty to reward them largely for all their sufferings for his sake had they believed that God when he called them to straights would without any sinful means have brought them off safe on earth or safe to Heaven they would never have used such sinful shifts for their own safety Faith would secure the soul against all those temptations and prevent such sinister and sinful doings He that beleiveth maketh not haste He will patiently wait Gods leasure and submit to his pleasure and not venture upon forbidden courses and unlawful ways to deliver himself out of distress Vnbeleif is the dung which makes the soyl of corrupt nature so fruitful in the unfruitful works of darkness Whence cometh such immoderate love of a perishing world but from want of Faith and Beleif of that transcendent glory that is to be revealed Whence cometh such dulness and deadness in holy duties but from unbelief either of the holiness and jealousie of that God with whom we have to do or of his goodness and mercy that his reward will pay the charge of diligence in his work Whence comes such cozening and cheating and over-reaching in dealings with men that from distrust of Gods power and providence as if he could not or would not spread a Table for his Children in the most barren Wilderness Whence comes that impatience and murmuring in adversity but from want of Faith which would encourage the heart in the Lord his God in the saddest estate and when the Fig-tree doth not blossom nor the Vine yeild its fruit enable the soul to rejoyce in the Lord and be glad in the Rock of his salvation Whence
they passed by the great Luminaries of Heaven without admiration So these beholding the poor mean treasures and fleeting honours of this world bow down the knees of their souls to them and worship them but pass by the beautiful Image of the blessed God the unsearchable riches in Christ and the glory to be revealed without any respect or regard So reasonable and righteous is mans devoting himself to the worship of the blessed and most high God that he cannot without manifest injustice as well as ingratitude and folly deny the exercising himself to godliness Unless man were his own Makerâ— he cannot have any title to become his own Master Psa. 119. 73. The Redeemers title to us is certain and clear and unquestionable whether we own it or no and all the while we keep any thing from him or deny subjection to him we rob him of his right Ye are not your own but â—ought with a price therefore glorifie God in your bodies and spirits which are Gods 1 Cor. 6. ult The Slave is not his own man but his who redeemed him though his proud and stubborn spirit may refuse to acknowledge it Man is not in the condition of those persons who are servants by compact and agreement for a year or so long as they think fit and upon their own terms but like those whom the Romans took in War over whose persons and estates they had an absolute dominion as well as a right to their works and service Though the Commands of Christ are all holy just and good as profitable for man as honourable for himself yet he hath absolute authority over man and all that he hath and may command him what he pleaseth As Laban said to Iacob These daughters are my daughters these sons are my sons these cattel are my cattel and all thou seest is mine So the Redeemer by vertue of the price he laid down his most precious blood may say to every man This soul is my soul this body is my body this estate is my estate these children and friends are my children and friends this name and credit and interest is mine and all thou haste is mine Yet alas men â—â—o will give their Relations their due strangers their due enemies their due nay according to their Proverb the very Devil his due and far more then his due will not give Iesus Christ his due but against all justice and righteousness rob and wrong him of that which is his own and dearly bought too Rom. 14.7 8. For whether we live we live unto the Lord and whether we dye we dye unto the Lord whether therefore we live or dye we are the Lords For to this end Christ both dyed and rose and revived that he might be Lord both of the dead and living So absolute is the necessity of mans making Religion his business that upon his diligence or negligence herein his eternal salvation or damnation doth depend If any man will be Christs Disciple he must deny himself disclaim all title and disown all right to himself have nothing more to do with himself as upon his own account and make an unfaigned unreserved dedication of himself and all that he hath to the honour and interest of his Redeemer Sanctification is a separation from all common to sacred uses and this must be done with all the heart and soul and strength in the whole course of the life by all that will escape the wrath to come God commandeth men to strive to enter in at the straight gate to work out their salvations with fear and trembling to be holy as he is holy in all manner of conversation and his word is like the Law of the Medes and Persians which cannot be altered He hath enjoyned nothing but what his infinite wisdom saw fit and he is resolved not to vary the least tittle not to abate the least farthing of the price he hath set Foolish men are so besotted by their deceitful hearts and befooled by the Devil that they complement with Religion and onely give it an outside formal salute instead of cordial embraces and real entertainment They deal with religion as Anacharsis saith the Athenians dealt with money using it for no other end but to number and cast up accounts with whereas it might have served them for excellent purposes So they use Religion onely for a shew for fashion for custom and are satisfied with an hypocritical way of Worshipping God and think to put God off therewith whereas it would serve them for high and honourable ends it would if entertained in the power and life of it elevate the Christian above this beggarly world enable him to combat with and conquer his sturdy stubborn lusts and the power and policy of Hell help him to a conversation in Heaven to converse and communion with the Father and Jesus Christ his Son and dress his soul for a blessed eternity Reader If thou art unacquainted with this high and honourable this worthy and noble Calling of Christianity I shall appeal to thy reason and conscience in the tender of some questions possibly one or other of them may prevail with thee to bind thy self Apprentice to it As a Fowler according to the different nature of his game contrives and appropriates his stratagems that some he catcheth with light as Larks with a glass and day nets some with baits as Pigeons with pease some with frights as Blackbirds with a low-bell some with company as Ducks with decoy fowl So I shall endeavour to suit my questions to thy temper whatever it be that if either the light of reason or the bait of unconceiveable and infinite profit or the frights of dreadful threatnings and comminations or the company of Christ the captain of our salvation and all his followers and Souldiers who marched to Heaven in this way will win upon thee I may perswade thee to make Religion thy business O that being crafty I might catch thee with holy guile To this end I beseech thee to weigh the questions again and again as thou readest them and to dart up thy prayers to Heaven for a blessing on them that thou mayst not reject the counsel of God against thy own soul but hearken to counsel receive instruction and be wise for thy latter end 1. Is not that worthy to be made thy business upon which the true comfort and joy of thy life during thy whole pilgrimage doth depend Comfort is the cream the top of life joy is the flower the honey the life of life Life without comfort without delight is a living death If the body be disquieted with diseases and aches and pains the soul as a tender Husband sympathizing with his bride though the patient be heir of a Kingdom and commander of large dominions yet all creatures to him are unsavoury morsels and as an aguish pallat he can taste can rellish nothing Iob in distress speaks in such a mans dilect Why is light given to him that is in misery
as in his Gods presence and in all aimeth at his praise As the Sap of a Tree riseth up from the root not onely to the body but also to the branches of the smallest twigs so grace in a Saint springeth up from his heart and floweth out not only in his spiritual and higher but also in his civil and lower actions How the Saint may make godliness his business in Religious Actions as in praying hearing receiving the Lords Supper and Sanctification of the Lords day in natural Actions in his recreations in his particular calling and in the government of his family I have largely discovered in the First Part of The Christian-Mans Calling The Second Part will help believers in the Relations of Husbands and Wives Parents and Children Masters and Servants and in the Conditions of Prosperity and Adversity Reader The design of this Treatise is to direct thee further in this continual exercise of Piety it divideth it self into these particulars I shall herein First Endeavour to discover wherein the nature of Godliness consisteth 1. In thy Dealings with all men 2. In all Companies whether Good or Bad and therein I shall speak both to thy Choice of Companions and Carriage in Company 3. In Solitariness 4. On a Week-day from morning to night 5. In Visiting the sick 6. On a Dying Bed Secondly I shall offer thee some Means which will be helpful to thee in this business Thirdly I shall annex some Motives to stir thee up to this high and gainful Calling I begin with the first CHAP. I. How a Christian may exercise himself to Godliness in his Dealings with all men As also a Good Wish about that Particular FIrst Thy duty is to make Religion thy business in thy Dealings with all men True Godliness payeth its dues to men as well as its duty to God nay it cannot do the latter without the former Upon these two poles all Religion turnes and upon these two feet it walketh That Mans holiness is lame which always keeps home and doth not walk abroad and visit his Neighbours It s a sign of a sickly temper for a man to sit always brooding in a Chimney-Corner and not to dare to stir out of doors Sure I am thy Religion is of a sad distempered constitution whatsoever hopes it may give of healthiness in Family duties if it goeth no farther and doth not appear in the open air of thy converses with strangers Religion bindeth the Christian to his good behaviour towards all men True holiness will provide things honest not onely in the sight of God but also in the sight of all men 2 Cor. 8. 21. The Kings Coin hath his superscription without the ring as well as his Image within it The Saints civil as well as his spiritual actions have divine impression stamped on them and he is walking with God in his trading with men As thy heart must be pure so thy hands must be clean or thou canst never reach heaven Psa. 24. 3 4. Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord and who shall stand in his holy place He that hath clean hands and a pure heart To be voyd of conscience in thy civil actions speaks thee to have no right to the beatifical vision he that comes short of Heathens must needs come short of Heaven And truly to be careless in making Godliness thy business in them will very much hinder thy progress in holiness If all the passages of the body be not open there is no thriving in health The Ostrich is very swift and said to outrun the horse He mocketh the Horse and the Rider but what is the reason truly this he hath two helps of speed his Wings and his Feet whereas other creatures have but one the Hawk hath wings the Hare and Horse have feet but he hath and useth both Wings and Feet and hence is so nimble in his flight The right Christian maketh haste and runneth the way of Gods commandments because he doth use not only the wings of Religious performances for that end but also the feet of his ordinary actions When some are only for holy duties and others onely for honest dealings he outstrips them all marrying them both together and making them like Husband and Wife serviceable each to other T is true his piety is the Husband which hath the command and dominion but his dealings with men as a dutiful wife further his weal by their obedience and subjection No Christian ever made more haste in Heavens way then Paul I laboured more abundantly then they all saith he but how came it about VVhy through divine assistance he exercised himself to keep a conscience void of offence both towards God and towards all men The stream must needs be the swifter for the meeting and uniting of the waters of grace out of both those channels The bark which covereth the tree seemeth to be of little worth compared with the body of the tree yet if that be peeled off the tree dyeth Though righteous dealings seem to be but the bark and outside of Religion yet if once thou castest them off thy Religion as thriving as thou thoughtst it to be will quickly wither and come to nothing the heart-blood of thy godliness may be let out by a wound in thy hand I shall lay down a Motive or two to quicken thee to conscienciousness in thy dealings with all men and then acquaint thee wherein it consisteth SECT I. FIrst Consider It s a sure sign of Hypocrisie to be unrighteous and careless in civil dealings how consciencious soever thou mayst seem to be in sacred duties He that seems righteous towards men and is irreligious towards God is but an honest Heathen and he that seems religious towards God and unrighteous towards men is but a dissembling Christian To make Conscience of one duty and not of another is to make true conscience of neither The soul that ever had Communion with God above comes down like Moses out of the Mount with both Tables in his hands the second as well as the first and the first as well as the second One stone in a Mill one oare in a Boat will do little good there must be two or no work can be done A perfect man consisteth of two essential parts a Soul and a body though the soulâ— be the principal and doth specificate the compound yet the body is so necessary that without it none can be a compleat man A Christian that is evangelically perfect is also made up of these two parts Holiness and Righteousness though holiness be the chief as that which doth difference the Saint yet righteousness is so requisite that there can be no true Christian without it The holy Apostle argueth the purity of his conscience from the honesty of his conversation We trust that we have a good conscience in all things willing to live honestly The goodness of the Fruit will commend the Tree 1. Their honesty was visible
Precepts diligently O that my ways were directed to keep all thy Commandements Though I abound and am never so strict in thine Ordinances if I be careless and loose in my Contracts with men thou canst espie the evil constitution of my soul notwithstanding such painting Thou canst see the rottenness of my heart in the rottenness of my wares under the false gloss I put upon them And if thy moral precept find not obedience with me my spiritual performances will never find acceptance with thee The Pie a speckled Bird whose Feathers were white and black was unclean Should I seem pious in those duties which concern thy worship and yet be perverse in my dealings with men I am in thy judgement a wicked person Thou hast said of such Shall I count them pure with the wicked ballances and with the bag of deceitful weights Micah 6. 11. If there be iniquity in my hands there is hypocrisie in my heart How clearly doth a person that picketh and chooseth his food liking this and loathing that though neâ—er so wholsom prove a foul stomach and how fully do I demonstrate secret filth in my inward parts if I pick and choose amongst the food of my soul the precepts When the soul is clean and sound every command will be sweet if my heart be sincere all my dealings will be square O let me never be like those Pharises who made long prayers for a cover that they might prey the more closely upon their Neighbours but let thy spirit in my heart send up the sap of grace into every branch of my life that all the passages thereof may abound in the fruits of righteousness and I may esteem all thy precepts concerning all things to be right I Wish that the glory of Religion may be so dear to my heart that I may render it amiable to the eyes of others by walking every way sutable to my profession The name of my God is holy and reverend and shall I offer it to reproach Some write that the Iews would not foul their mouths with that unclean word of blaspeming God but always expressed it by a contrary word of blessing God If it were so execrable that they hated to speak it shall I be so vile as to act it It were a sin to wrong a man of his good name what is it then to rob my God If I dress my self in the livery of Christ and in that habit wallow in the mire of unrighteous dealings I give up the blessed Redeemer to the scorn and derision of the world Every one that nameth the name of Christ should depart from iniquity The colours of Christ which I wear cause many to look upon me Every professor is like a City on an Hill visible to all Spots are sooner seen in scarlet then in sackcloth Blots appear fouler in a strict professour then in a loose and prophane person None wonders to see swine dirty but to see the Ermins beautiful skin bemired is prodigious How watchful are the wicked to observe my wandrings All my familiars watch for my halting they mark my steps when they watch for my soul If they can sinde the least tincture of falseness in my words or colour of unfaithfulness in my works they soon make it much greater looking on it through the Spectacles of malice How quick do they post it abroad and publish it amongst their companions I hear the defaming of many fear on every side Report say they and we will report it What a shame was it that the Great Turk should take the violated Covenant of the Hungarian King out of his bosoâ—e and present it to the blessed God as the act of those that wore his livery and prosest them selves his servants When those that should be the beauty of Israel are slain in the high places and those that by their profession are the mighty fall in the streets they soon tell it in Gath and publish it in Askelon the Daughters of the Philistines rejoyce the Sons of the uncircumcised triumph then the banks of blasphemy are broken down and the floods of scoffs and scorns come pouring in And when they went among the Heathen they prophaned my holy name when they said to them These are the people of the Lord. How doth the World conclude Surely the Parents are very bad whom their own Children discommend so much Certainly there is little love or power or faithfulness in their Father when his own Sons dare not trust him for a little food but go up and down to steal and filch from others O how ordinary is it for the prophane to throw the dirt of professours sins on the face of their profession None give such wounds to the credit of the blessed God as some who pretend to be his own children The higher the place is whence a stone fals the deeper it piercethâ— No blows more mortal then those of a Thunder-bolt My profession is high if my practices be vile and base I strike religion to the very heart O let me never be so vile a Traytor as by my sordid courses like Judas to betray the holy Iesus to the buffetings and mockings of his adversaries Why should I harden the bad by my sinful shifts in their wickedness Shall I be the Divels broker to put off those rotten wares for him of cozening and cheating which otherwise might lie upon his hands Why should I sadden the good Shall I cause them to hang down their heads with sorrow as the Patriarchs did theirs when the cup was found in Benjamins sack Lord thou art tender of the Reputation of thy chosen and hast many a time wrought wonderfully for their renown and credit When the wicked world hath blown upon their names endeavouring to blast them and make them unsavoury thou hast magnified thy power to vindicate their honour And shall I make thy glorious name contemptible when thou makest my vile name honourable Can I be so void of love to thy Majesty as to tread upon that name of thine that is more worth then Heaven and Earth Besides Many a season I have pleaded thy name in prayer and that with success My voice hath been in the behalf of my own soul For thy names sake pardon mine iniquity for it is great Thou art my Rock and my Fortress therefore for thy names sake lead me and guide me When thou haste answered me Behold I even I am he that blotteth out thine iniquities for my names sake I will defer my anger for mine names sake and for my praise will I refrain for thee that I cut thee not off O how many a blessing hath thy name been both the Oratour to procure and the Messenger to bring when many others have treated to little purpose that that hath been the undeniable Ambassadour to prevail for peace and pardon Thy name hath been by shelter in many a storm and my supply in many a straight and shall I be an enemy to that
with incest Revenge is a Thief that steals away a mans estate for the Lawyers It is of the nature of the Viper and eats out the bowels of that wealth which gave it birth What a fool am I to defame my self That rancour and spleen which I spit at others is like his that spits against the wind driven back into my own face to the besmearing of my credit amongst all that are judicious What a fool am I to destroy my own grace my own peace What flowers of holiness will grow where such locusts abound What fruits of righteousness can thrive in such a scorching Climate What good work can be done within doors if the house be in a flame How unfit is a man in a passion to go to God in prayer surely no more then a person that comes reaking and sooted from a kell is for the presence of his Prince I must not expect to meet God in a duty if my spirit be in a fury A righteous man falling down before the wicked is like a troubled Fountain Prov. 25. 26. I seldom fall down more fouly before wicked men then when I render reviling for reviling and revenge for revenge but then how unfit am I to fall down in holy duties before my God! for I am as a troubled fountain and if men will not drink of the water of a fountain though in it self pure and wholsom when it is troubled and muddy can I think that my God will drink of that vessel that runs thick O that I might never because others are my enemies in defaming me become my own enemy in defiling my own soul and hindering it of that comfort which it might have in divine communion Lord who art the God of peace let me be known to be one of thine by being a Son of peace Enable me to pass on like a wise Travailer in the way of thy Commandements and not to be stirred at the barking of those Dogs that pursue me with open mouth My confident neglect will soonest make them quiet let me never break the peace but in the quarrel of truth Give me for peace sake sometimes to part with my right but never with my righteousness Let the same mind be in me which was in Christ Jesus Teach me from him to be meek and lowly in heart and yet to be eaten up with the zeal of thy house Make me willing to suffer but not to have thy name suffer Grant me to follow peace with all men and holiness O bestow on me that wisdom from above which is first Pure then Peaceable Gentle and though hardly provoked yet easie to be intreated I Wish that those beautiful children of righteousness courtesie and meekness in my carriage may have the Spirit of God for their Parent I mean that the fear of my God may be the principle from which they flow I shall lose the race how well soever I run if I do not set out at the right place Men look onely to my practices and accordingly judge of my principle if my life be without fault their charity tells them that my heart is without fraud but Gods eye is on my principle and accordingly he judgeth of my practices if my affections be not gracious he knoweth that my actions cannot be righteous My God knoweth me thorough and thorough He spieth the rottenness and crawling vermine that are in the bowels of a painted Sepulchre If I be like a Peach with a craggy stone in my heart under the cover of a velvet Coat he understandeth it altogether I may cozen the dark eyes of men who when they behold the inoffensiveness of my life and the height of my profession are ready to cry out of me as Samuel of Eliab when he saw the comeliness of his countenance and the height of his stature Surely the Lords annointed is before him but I cannot deceive God he seeth not as man seeth for man looketh on the outward appearance but the Lord looketh on the heart Alas if I have no more to shew for my title to Heaven then a fair outside what have I more then an Hypocrite nay then some Heathen A few flourishes in a Paper or Parchment is but a poor evidence for an inheritance How many be there in the World who as some revelling Gallants by their gay cloaths and gaudy attire speak that they are worth thousands when they have not a penny in their pockets who by their outward conversations seem to be rich in grace when indeed like Laodicea they are poor and miserable and blind and naked O that all my fruits of righteousness might grow upon the root of holiness and spring from a renewed nature then and not till then they will be acceptable to my Saviour then my beloved will come into his Garden and eat his pleasant fruits I would be mindful of these moral duties because my God commandeth them and as knowing that I caâ—not be religious if I be not righteous Though the sensitive soul may be without the rational as in Beasts yet the rational soul is never without the sensitive Though righteousness towards men may be without holiness yet holiness before God is never without righteousness before men Lord thou expectest and commandest that I should act both for thee and from thee Thou valuest the Vessel not by the ballast of a few good actions which an Heathen may gather up at any Port but by the fraught of a sanctified heart which is peculiar to thy chosen Let my obedience to the second Table arise from my Conscience of the first table that whilst the righteous friendly and meek carriage of others that runneth along amongst those with whom they converse is little better then puddle water in thine esteem because it proceedeth from the sinks of their natural and defiled hearts justice may not onely in my actions run down like water and meekness in my conversation like a mighty stream but be so fed with and flow from the Spring of thy holy Spirit dwelling in my heart that it may be delightful and of worth in thy sight I Wish that I may design somewhat for my God in all my dealings with men and carry my self the more sweetly and circumspectly that I may gain their affections and thereby win them to the greater love and liking of Religion Christianity is my calling and where-ever I go my duty bindeth me to be always furthering it It was one Article which I sealed to when I first entred my self Christs servant to endeavour the making others Proselytes to his service and if I neglect it I am unfaithful to my Master and forfeit my Indenture My Pattern may with some be very prevalent If I shine with a vertuous life I am as a light-house set by the Sea-side whereby Mariners sail aright and avoid dangers but if I pretend high and walk loosely as a false Lanthorn I shipwrack those that trust me My holy life is a good Lecture of holiness to
words of our Saviour Mark 8. 38. he acknowledged it openly It is very dangerous to walk in the dark Saints are children of the light and should have their light shining before others Lewis the eleventh of France was better at carnal politicks then real piety who desired his Son might learn no more then this He who cannot counterfeit must not wear a Crown SECT IV. FOurthly Labour to get some good by such as are evil The precious stone Amyanthon being cast into the fire is made the more clear and pure A skilful Naturalist will make some use of the most venemous Hearbs and Serpents A gracious person may improve the vilest sinners company to his own spiritual profit As wicked men are helpful to the temporal good so often to the eternal good of Gods people Like Leaves though they are nothing worth in themselves yet they keep the good fruit from blasting and hereby are instrumental to its further Growth and Ripening Ismenias the Theban Musitian taught his Scholars not onely by shewing them such as struck a clean stroak with Do so but also by shewing them such as bungled at it with Do not so Antigenidas thought men would like better and contend the more for skil if they heard untuneable notes Satan intendeth wicked men as dirt and earth onely to besmear and defile them but God outshoots him in his own bow and makes them as Fullers-earth to purge and purifie them As poisonous as they are in their own nature through the Correctives of the Spirit they become not only not hurtful but helpful to the beleiver Ungodly men are compared to dung and filth which we know being applied to the good Trees makes them more fruitful That slime and mudde which the overflowing of Nilus carrieâ—h along with it in the Summer Solftice causeth Egypt to bring forth abundantly The Graces of Saints have increased even by the abominations and oppositions of sinners Lots hatred of sin was the greater by viewing the unclean conversations of the Sodomites The Serpent Tyrus saith Brittenbacchus is so venemous that there is no remedy against its bitings but by cutting off the member yet even of this there is a Treacle made which serveth for excellent purposes Though the flesh of the Vulture saith Pliny be unwholsom and unmeet for meat yet it is most medicinable an Oyntment made of the fat of it is specially strengthning to the sinews Though ungodly men are ill food and not fit to be our ordinary constant diet yet they may be good Physick and profitable when necessity compelleth us to use them A deboice lewd Master may teach a Scholar many good lessons If God send us to School to the Beasts of the field Job 12. 7. Ask the Beasts and they shall teach thee I know no reason but much good may be learned from these brutes in the shape of men Some tell us that gold was extracted out of Ennius his dung Thou mayst Reader through the help of the Spirit get that which is better then Gold out of these noysom and loathsom persons The smell of Trefoil is often stronger in a moist and cloudy dark season then in fair weather So should the savour of a Saints graces be most fragrant amongst evil Companions 1. Let thy zeal be the more inflamed zeal is the heat or intention of the afâ—ections It is an holy warmth whereby our love and anger are drawn out to the utmost for God and his glory Now our love to God and his ways and our hatred of wickedness should be encreased because of ungodly men cloudy and dark colours in a table make those that are fresh and lively to appear more beautiful others sins should make God and Godliness more amiable in thine eyes Thy heart should take fire by striking on such cold flints David by an holy Antiperistasis did kindle from others coldness Psal. 119. 39. My zeal hath consumed me because mine enemies have forgotten thy word Cold blasts make a fire to flame the higher and burn â—he hotter A true child hearing others speak faintly is the more fervent in the commendation of his Father Because the wicked forsake thy law therefore I love thy commandments above gold yea above much â—ine gold Psa. 119. 127. Do others in thy presence declare their loathing of Gods preâ—cepts do thou love them the more Do they trample them under their feet do thou prize them at the greater rate Truly the more they dishonouâ— God by their swearing and scoffing at Godliness the more reason thou hast to honour him Phineas is Sainted in Gods Calendar for being zealous in Gods Cause as Varnish addeth a lustre to all colours and makes them amiable so zeal addeth a beauty to all our services and makes them the more acceptable The Spirit of God works like fire and if it dwell in thee t will make thee fervent in Spirit How little sign have they of their Saintships who can hear sinners belch out their blasphemies against God and tear the precious body of Christ in peices with Oaths and yet are as sensless as stocks and stones as if they had no relation to God and Christ The redeemed of the Lord are a zealous people Tit. 2. 14. Thou art but false in thy profession of friendship if thou canst behold others abusing thy friend and sit still Ah what true Christian can see hellish lusts embraced publiquely and the glorious Lord disowned openly and not loath the former and love the latter the more for it The Grecians would bring their children to hate drunkenness by shewing them Drunkards wallowing in their vomits what loathsom persons they were in such conditions Good examples are provocations to holiness Mal. 3. 8. Bad examples may work a detestation of vice Deut. 18. 9. Ephes. 4. 17. Wise men have more to learn of fools then fools of wise men said Cato That Trumpet which is filled only with wind may encourage and awaken a living man to the battle That person who is dead in sin may rouse up a sleepy yet living Christian and raise his affections more towards God 2. Let thy heart be the more inlarged in thankfulness Dost thou behold the prophane glorying in their pollutions Dost thou see sinners abusing Gods creatures Dost thou discern ungodly ones making a mock of sin jearing at holiness and riding post to Hell how should thy heart be raised in thankefulness to thy dearest Redeemer that thou dost not run with them to the same excess of riot and in the same road of eternal ruine Every time thou comest into such company and observest their wicked courses thou mayst well pity such deluded souls and praise thy gracious Saviour Mayst thou not think thus with thy self Lo here are those that play with the eternal fire and sport with the Almighties fury that dance merrily over the bottomless pit and take pleasure in the way to endless pains that are wholly regardless of God and Christ and Heaven and their unchangeable estates
enough to check the greatest for their crimes How plain was Seneca in reproving Nero Diogenes in reproving Alexander and Zeno Nearchus It s said of Suetonius that in writing the lives of the twelve Caesars he took the same liberty in declaring their vices which they took to commit them and shall not Christians be as bold to check sin as others are to act it Reader what love dost thou show to thy Neighbour if thou seest him wounding and piercing his inestimable soul and thou dost not endeavour though against his will to hold his hand If thou shouldst see him take a Knife to stab himself at the heart thou wouldst not stay to ask his leave or fear his anger but do thy utmost to hinder him and canst thou see him destroying his soul and not seek to prevent him That pity without question is the best which relateth to the better part There was a barbarous Law among the Lacedemonians That no man should tell his Neighbour any ill news that befel him but every one should be left in process of time to find it out himself Alas what will become of poor sinners if none should tell them what they are doing whither they are going till they come to find it in the place of torments Were love burning in our hearts as fire was in the Temple or were our faces towards one another like those Cherubims which covered the Mercy Seat with their wings we should not onely not lie in sin our selves but also endeavour that others should not die in their sins That person who refused to smite his Neighbour when commanded in the name of the Lord was slain by a Lion 1 King 20. 35. If we refuse to smite sin Gods wrath will smite us Because this duty is of such concernment I shall give thee some few brief directions 1. Be sure that which thou reprovest be a sin and not a lawful or indifferent thing Some shew much heat but little holiness in keeping a great stir about nothing The Israelites raised a great Army to fight against their Brethren upon a supposition that they had built an Altar for sacrifice Iosh. 22. 16. Eli was mistaken in chiding Hannah for drunkenness and thinking she was not sober because she was almost overwhelmed with sorrow 1 Sam. 2. T is dangerous to apply corroding medicines upon supposition that the person hath a festered sore or to cut a man for the stone who is not troubled with that distemper It were better by much to be silent then to cry out against that which we cannot by Scripture prove to be sin He that reproves the deed will do more hurt then good if he be not able to convince the doer Tit. 1. 9. To some it may be said as Iob to his friends who accused him of Hypocrisie because of his calamity as if the stick could not be straight because t was brought to the fire How forcible are right words but what doth your arguing reprove Job 6. 25. Right words have great weight naked truth will be too hard for armed error but what power have mistaken or misapplied arguments what doth such arguing reprove Such arguings seldom reprove any but the arguer and him they always reprove 2. Reprove seriously Reproof is an edged tool and must not be jested wiâ—h Cold Reproofs are like the noise of Cannons a great way off nothing affrighting us He that reproves sin merrily as one that takes a pride to shew his wit and make the company laugh will destroy the sinner instead of the sin There are those that spit out their friends with their tongues and laugh them into enemies Sharpness and acuteness doth ill in sportful festivals but it becomes purging potions Lightness is commendable is nothing but worst in things that are weighty A vain jesting admonition is like rubbing a person with a poisoned Oyl which spreads the more for being put into such a fleeting suppleness The Areopagites banished Stilpo for proving by his Sophistry that Minerva was no Goddess alledging this for their reason that it was not safe for any to dally with things that were Divine Reproof is strong Physick and worketh many times to purpose and therefore is not to be given in jest Sin which is the object of it is not to be played with nor Hell its consequent a jesting matter Titus 1. 13. The Apostle enjoynes Titus to reprove sharply the word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cuttingly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that they may be sound in the faith He that mindeth his Patients health will not toy or trifle or play with his mortal diseases the flesh must feel the plaister or it will never eat up the corruption in it Shouldst thou apply an healing plaister to skin the wound aloft when there is need of a corrosive to take away the dead flesh thou wouldst be false and unfaithful to thy friend When the water was bitter and the ground barren Elisha cast a cruse of Salt into it and it healed both Reproof like Salt must have in it both sharpness and savouriness Alas how fierce is that wrath how hot is that fire to which poor sinners are liable and wilt thou sport with their souls and joyn with them in making a mock of sin Saints must be zealous not onely in good works but also in reproving evil workers The Command is Cry aloud spare not lift up thy voice like a Trumpet and shew my people their trangression and the house of Jacob their sin Isa. 58. 1. This belongs in some sense to every member as well as to the Minister They must reprove sin powerfully cry aloud lift up thy voice as a trumpet particularly shew my people their transgression and the house of Jacob their sin Admonition without serious Application is like an Arrow with too many Feathers which though we level at the Mark is taken by the Wind and carried quite from it Some men shoot their Reprehensions like Pellets through a Trunk with no more strength then will kill a Sparrow those make sinners beleive that sin is no such dreadful evil and the wrath of God no such frightful end He that would hit the mark and recover the sinner must draw his arrow of Reproof home Reproof must be powerful the hammer of the word breaks not the heart if it be lightly layd on If the flesh doth not feel the plaister it will hardly be healed by it It must also be so particular that the offendor may think himself concerned Some in reproof will seem to aim at the sinner but so order it that their arrows shall be sure to miss him As Domitian when a Boy held for a mark afar off his hand spread with his fingers severed he shot his arrows so that all hit the empty spaces between his fingers Be the reproof never so gracious the Plaister never so good it will be ineffectual if not applied to the Patient 2 Sam. 12. 7. Act. 2. 36 37. 3.
who would give as great a blow to kill a Flie as to kill an Ox Old festered sores must be handled in a rougher manner then green wounds Phil. 3. 15. Tit. 3. 10. Ordinary Physick will serve for a distemper newly begun but a chronical disease must have harsher and stronger Purges Some offend ignorantly others out of contumacy Some offend out of weakness being overborn by a sudden passion others of premeditated contrived wickedness and perverseness some sins are of a lower nature of lesser moment and influence upon others other sins overthrow the foundations of Christianity and devour the vitals of Religion Now according to the nature of the disease and constitution of the Patients must the prescription be for their cure Though all sins have one price for their satisfaction yet not one way for their reprehension If the Linnen be but a little foul ordinary rubbing may serve but if it be died with dirt it must have the more Our Saviour called Herod Fox the Master of the Synagogue Hypocrite the Scribes and Pharises Vipers St. Stephen calls the Iews Traytours and Murtherers cutting reproofs are for notorious offenders a weak dose will but stir up not purge away their noxious humours 5. Reprove compassionately Soft words and hard arguments do well together Passion will heat the sinners blood but compassion heal his conscience our reprehension may be sharp but our spirits must be meek The Probe that searcheth the wound will put the Patient to less pain and do the more good if covered with soft lint Those who oppose themselves are to be instructed in meekness 2 Tim. 2. 25. There is a rigid austerity which is apt to creep into and corrupt our reproofs Mollifying Oyntments are oft instrumental to abate great swellings The Iron of Napthalies shooes were dipt in Oyl Reproof should be as Oyls or Ointments gently rub'd in by the warm fire of love The Chirurgion that setteth the bone stroketh the part If love do not play its part in this Scene we do but act a Tragedy The more thou canst perswade him of thy affection the better will he take thy reprehension The sweetest kisses of an enemy are rejected with disdain but even the wounds of a friend are received with applause Prov. 27. 6. Such as in reproving shew their anger more then their love rather exasperate then heal Of all seasons the Chirurgion had need to be sober and farthest from being drunk with passion when he is to cut off a gangren'd member The Reprover should have a Lions stout heart or he will not be faithful and a Ladies soft hand or he is not like to be successeful Holy Paul speaking of his coming to reprove some delinquents amongst the Corinthians tells them And lest when I come again my God will humble me among you and that I shall bewail many who have sinned 2 Cor. 6. ult He that would gather fruit must pluck the Bough gently towards him if too hard he may break it A Reprover is like one that is taking a mote out of his brothers eye now this must be done very tenderly For this purpose it would be convenient where it may be that reproofs be given privately We administer Physick to persons in their Chamber He that proclaims anothers crimes up and down the Country wrongs his own soul in walking contrary to the command first tell him his fault between him and thee Mat. 18. 15 16. and he wrongs his Neighbour in hardning him hereby in his sin for this man thinks the sinner designeth to reproach not to reform therefore he throweth the reproof with indignation back in his face Socrates at a Banquet falling out with one of his friends twitted him with his faults How much better had this been done in private said Plato And had you not done better to have told me so privately said Socrates Qui peccant coram omnibus coram omnibus corripiendi sunt ut omnes timeant Qui secreto pecavit in te secreto corripe Nam si soluâ— nosti eum vis coram aliis arguere non es corrector sed Proditor Aug. de verb domini If thy brother offend thee saith Christ tell him of it between thee and him Mat. 5. Others crimes are not to be cried at a Market Private reproof is the best grave to bury private faults in The Plaister should not be larger then the sore Our Saviour did not tell the woman of Samaria of her wickedness whilst the Disciples were with him but when he had sent them away Ioh. 4. For this end it is also fit that reproof be given with as little reflection as may be on the person reproved If there be any thing in him worthy of praise do not pass it by We take Pills the better when they are well guilt Children lick up their medicines the more freely when they are sprinkled with a little sugar A faithful Historian will relate mens vertues as well as their vices They are of a dunghil brood that fasten onely upon galled backs and ulcerous sores and take no notice of the sound flesh Wise Commanders when their Souldiers are making a dishonourable Retreat do not presently upbraid them with cowardise but often by mentioning their former heroick courage or their Ancestors noble carriage inflame them with a desire to continue their repute and credit Good Nurses when children fall first help them up and speak them fair and then chide them This were an excellent art to draw them to God whom thou couldst not drive shame will not let such be angry with those that deal so equally the rod and crown Sometimes indirect reprehension hath wrought much good A man may by a Parable or an History pertinent to the purpose convince a sinners conscience and not openly injure his credit Paul in his Sermon to Felix seemed to shoot at random not naming any but his Arrow pierced that unrighteous Prince to the quick The Sun keeps the world in good temperature by moving in an oblique circle not directly with the highest heavens nor directly contrary but fetching a compass a little over-thwart The Saint may keep the Sinner from that heat and rage which is apt to boil under reproof by fetching a little compass about The reproof may sometimes be given in our own persons and declaring how ill it would have been for us to have run into such riotous courses So the Apostle Paul reprehended the Sectmakers in Corinth by transferring it to himself and Apollo 2 Cor. 4. 6. A wise Reprover in this is like a good Fencer who though he strike one part yet none that stand by could perceive by his eye or the carriage of his arm that he aimed at that more then the rest We esteem it a singular commendation in a Chirurgion when he can cure a wound in the face and leave no scar behind Indeed some wounds are so great that this cannot be done yet a good Chirurgion will always
3. Think he did it ignorantly that had he known the consequence he would not have been guilty of such a crime Surely the man thought no hurt he spake on a sudden such words came out of his mouth before he was aware or he would never have spoken them I my self in an heat might have been as harsh When high winds blow storms will follow 4. If thou canst not be perswaded but the injury was wittingly offered then think He was overcome with some great temptation There were extraordinary fumes at that instant flying up into his head which made him talk idly and of which now he may be repenting before the Lord. The strong man was too hard for the weak Christian. Flesh and blood was easily conquered by Principalities Powers I may well forgive him his sin will cost him sorrow enough before his Father smile on him III. The Natural burthen as I may call it though it hath a relation to spiritual but not fully in the former sense of their infirmities Some by reason of bad instruments are but bunglars at their work They have naturally understandings very dull to receive and memories very slow to retain spiritual things They have ill constitutions of body and thereby the worse frames of soul and the more apt to be peevish and fretful Now we exhort you brethren that ye support the weak and be patient towards all men 1 Thes. 5. 14. All the persons in Gods family are not of the same height and strength though some are Old Men and Fathers and others are Young and strong yet some are little Children Babes in Christ some can go alone or with a little help if you hold them but by their leading-strings but others must be carried in arms and will require much love and patience to overcome their childish frowardness Christ winks at their weaknesses who hath most reason to be moved with them though his disciples were raw and dull and slow to believe and understand yet he bears with them Nay though when he was watching for them and in his bloody sweat his whole body being in a goar blood under the weight of their and others sins on his back and they lay sleeping and snoring and could not watch with him one hour he doth not fall fiercely upon them but calmly asketh them Could ye not watch with me one hour and afterwards excuseth it for them First From the natural cause There heads were full at that time ofâ— fumes Their eyes were heavy with sorrow They were full of grief for their dear Master and their sorrow hindring the digestion of their food filled them with vapours which ascending to their brains inclined them to sleep Secondly From the Moral cause they would but they could not The Spirit indeed is willing but the flesh is weak there better part would move more swiftly and do any thing at my call and command but their flesh draweth back and makes them drive heavily It s no wonder that their pace is so slow when like the snail they have such an house such an hinderance upon their backs The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak Who can think of this infinite grace of the blessed Redeemer in making such an Apologie for them whom he had such cause to be full of fury against and not be incited to imitate so admirable a pattern There is another famous instance in the Old Testament and that is Gods patience towards peevish Ionah by which all may see how much he bears with his froward children First Ionah runs from his business God sends him to Niniveh he will go to Tarshish here was plain rebellion against his Soveraign One would have expected that the jealous God should have given him a Traytors wages and when he was at Sea have suffered the Ocean of waters to have swallowed up his body and the Ocean of fire and wrath his soul but loe he cannot permit his Ionah to perish he will rather whip him to his work then let him wander to his ruine But how gentle is the rod God cannot forget the love of a Father though Ionah forget the duty of a childe but will rather work a miracle and make the devourer his Saviour then Ionah shall miscarry T is true he was tossed with a violent tempest and thrown over-board but God provided him a shelter before the storm and prepared a Whale to swallow him down not for his destruction but his deliverance And the Lord spake to the fish and it vomited up Jonah upon the dry land Well now the childe is brought home you will look that he should make some recompence for his former disobedience by his faithfulness and diligence for the future that the danger he had been in the death he had so narrowly escaped the miracle which had been wrought for him and the extraordinary mercy he had so lately received should have melted him wholly into Gods mould and have made him like Abraham to have come up wholly to Gods foot But alas he addeth sin to sin and neither mercy nor misery prevail with him to know himself Indeed he undertakes the journey and message he was called to upon a second command but as unwillingly as the Bear goeth to the stake After he had pronounced a sentence of death upon the Ninivites and shewed them a warrant under the high Gods hand and seal for their speedy execution how ill doth he take it that upon their humble petition a Reprieve should be granted them he frets inwardly against God and through the exceeding heat of his heart his tongue blisters with casting Gods mercy in his teeth He was wrath for that in which he had cause to rejoyce His love to his brethren might have made him glad of their escape and his love to his God should have quieted him in all his wise and holy proceedings But it displeased Jonah exceedingly and he was very angry and he prayed unto the Lord O Lord was not this my saying in my Country for I knew that thou art a gracions God c. Therefore O Lord take away my life He quarrels with Gods providence and he doth as it were twit God with that which is the glory of all his Attributes and actions and the best friend the poor children of men have his Grace and Pity desiring rather the destruction of above sixscore thousand persons then that himself by the blind ignorant world should be reckoned a false Prophet Behold impatience in its largest dimensions Ionah will dye because so many thousands are allowed out of infinite kindness to live O what a nest of vermine was in the womb of this disobedience Here is pride both in preferring his own will before Gods and in his unwillingness to suffer a little in his repute in the eye of the people Here was passion to the height and that against God himself Here was murmuring against sparing mercy and the Divine pleasure Here was unbelief as if God could not repair his
good Companions will advise and direct my feet in the ways of peace If I fit in darkness and see no light by their counsel and comfort I may learn the way out of the mist. If I am perplexed in any labyrinths they may help me to unty that knot of which I have been labouring long in vâ—in to find an end If I be falling they will be props to support me if I wander they will be guides to reduce me if I be dull they will be whet-stones to quicken me if I do well they will be fathers to encourage me whatever my want be they will endeavour to supply me and whatever my condition be they will be like-minded both weeping with me in my sorrows and rejoycing with me in my joys Besides if I expect the presence of my God who is rich in mercy and the God of all consolations where can I find him sooner then in his Temple they are the Temple of God and I will dwell in them His Saints on Earth are his lesser Heaven wherein he takes up his abode O my soul what an Argument is here to perswade thee to fellowship with the Saints Theirs is the onely good fellowship Their Communion is a Conjunction in the service of thy God and tendeth abundantly to thy spiritual advantage and edification Thy Redeemer calls them the light of the world and they will guide thee in the way which he hath cast up The salt of the earth and they will preserve thee from corruption Their conversations are living Commentaries upon that word which is thy rule and so will both plainly teach thee thy duty and powerfully provoke thee to do it Their expressions will by savoury and help thee to learn the language of Canaan The tongue of the just is a tree of life and beareth excellent fruit The lips of the righteous feed many Besides amongst these Children thou mayst be sure to meet with the everlasting Father Where two or three are gathered together in my name I will be in the midst of them Though but two or three that the wicked despise them for their paucity though two or three never so low and mean that the world scorns them for their poverty yet if gathered together in his name they shall not fail of his presence Surely nothing will prevail more with a faithful Spouse to joyn with any company then this She shall meet with her beloved Husband amongst them O of what great price is this one promise I will be in the midst of them His presence like the nearer approaches of the Sun in the Spring will refresh their hearts with the warm beams of his love when they are chill and almost dead with the cold of frights and fears and cause in their souls a new shooting of grace that notwithstanding any foregoing winter of barrenness they shall now abound in the fruits of righteousness What can they or thou O my soul want which his presence will not supply Art thou laden with sin he can give thee rest art thou full of sorrows he is the conâ—olation of Israel art thou poor in grace with him is durable riches and righteousness art thou dull and dead in spirituals he is the Lord of life and can quicken thee He hath power enough to subdue all thy lusts he hath wisdom enough to resolve all thy doubts he hath grace enough to pity all thy weaknesses and mercy enough to pardon all thy unworthiness He is able to save to the uttermost Nay thou hast not only his Promise to meet thee in his Garden amongst his people but thou hast also his Performance of it for thine encouragement Then the same day at evening being the first day of the week when the doors were shut where the Disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews came Jesus and stood in the midst and saith unto them Peace be unto you And when he had so said he shewd unto them his hands and his side then were the Disciples glad when they had seen the Lord Then said Iesus unto them again Peace be unto you As my Father hath sent me so send I you And he breathed on them and said Receive ye the Holy Ghost O the value of those Jewels which are lockt up in this Cabinet All the Crowns and Scepters of the world had they been thrown in amongst the Disciples could not have caused the thousandth part of that comfort nor have brought any degree of that profit which the Disciples had by the presence of the holy Jesus Consider his words Peace be unto you peace be unto you Never did sweeter words or more melodious musick ever sound in humane ears What tidings could be more welcom to them that had known the terrors of an angry God and felt the curses of his righteous Law Didst thou never see a poor debtor arrested by severe Serjeants and hailed to the Goal in which nasty miserable place he was like to continue whilst he lived with wringing of hands and watering of cheeks and doleful screeches and afterwards upon the payment of his debts by some loving Surety with what clapping of hands and gladness of heart he was enlarged If so thou hadst some poor resemblâ—nce of that exuberancy of joy which the Disciples felt when they saw the Lord and heard those blessed words Peace be unto you They were all liable every moment to the arrest of divine justice for those vast sums which they owed to the Holy and Jealous God and in continual danger to be hurried by Divels his Officers to the Prison of Hell whence they could never have come out Now his appearance to them did evidence that the Law was satisfied that all their debts were discharged in that the Surety who took upon him the payment of them was by order of the Iudge released What news could find more acceptance with those that dreaded the fury of the Lord more then death and esteemed his favour far before life then that which did speak him reconciled to them And farther observe the work of the blessed Redeemer And he breathed on them Receive ye the Holy Ghost As if he had said I know your unbeleiving hearts will think the news of a reconciled God and of peace with him too good to be true behold therefore his love-token Receive the earnest of his favour his holy Spirit who knoweth his mind fully and was at the Council-Table of Heaven when all your names were engrost in the book of life and all the methods of grace and good-will towards poor sinners were debated and concluded and is sent to you on purpose to reveal them to you and assure you of them and therefore is an unquestionable evidence that he is at one with you This O my soul was the blessed Heavenly Banquet which the Redeemer entertained his Disciples with when they met together and wouldst thou miss such a feast for all the World Lord thou lovest the Assemblies of thy Saints they are the habitations
bold as to dare God why should I be so bashful as to fear him Love that he may discern my affection to his soul in my detestation of his sin If he suspect me to bear ill-will in my heart he will throw my potion in my face What man will take Physick from an enemy Lord shouldst thou suffer me to go on in sin and not call me back though by a severe admonition it were a sign thou didst hate me Thou didst never strike Ephraim worse then when thou didst forbear to strike at all but saidst Ephraim is joyned to Idols let him alone Should I not seek to pluck my brother out of the fire of sin into which he is fallen but suffer him to lye there I hate him and am in thine esteem a murderer O deliver me from such blood-guiltiness thou God of my salvation Let thy good Spirit so strengthen and direct me when ever thou callest me to this duty that I may do it with zeal to thine honour not daring to jest with such an edged tool as sin is and with love and wisdom that if by any means I may bring back a wandring sheep to thy fold I Wish that I may receive as well as do good by all my converses with those that are good Christians are trees of righteousness planted in Gods Vineyard and it s my own fault if I gather not some good fruit from them My God tells me The lips of the righteous feed many if then I rise hungry from the Table it s a sign I am sullen and will not eat My Father delights to see his Children distributing their spiritual food as the Disciples the Loaves and Fish to the multitude amongst their brethren till they all are filled He hath acquainted me that its an argument of wisdom to receive and folly to refuse counsel Give instruction to a wise man and he will be yet wiser teach a just man and he will increase in learning Prov. 9. 9. The holy Apostle though high in the School of Christ and in the uppermost Form yet hoped to learn somwhat from those that were far meaner Scholars He writes to the Romans that he hopes to be filled with their Company They that are Dwarfes in Religion may do service to the tallest if they be willing to accept it A Rush Candle may give me some light if I do not wilfully shut mine eyes A brazen Bell may call me to prayer as well as one of silver if I do not stop mine ears The smallest and meanest creatures were serviceable to the Great God against the Egyptians and shall my proud heart refuse the help of mean Christians against the enemies of my salvation Did a Damsel possessed with a Devil bring her Master much temporal gain and may not a poor servant filled with the holy Spirit bring me much spiritual gain What or who am I that none must teach me but those that are eminent in grace and gifts I am sure I have nothing that good is but what I have received and this pride of my heart is too great an evidence that I am but poor in holiness Those branches that are fullest laden bend most downward Those trees that abound in clusters of fruit do not disdain to receive sap from the mean earth which every Beast trampleth on It s no wonder if a soul decline in strength that refuseth its food because it s not brought by the Steward but by some inferiour person of the Family If Satan can keep me in this proud humour he doth not doubt but to keep me in a starving condition and to hinder the efficacy of all means for my growth in grace When this Dropsie once seiseth upon my vitals I may expect a Consumption of my whole body Lord it were my duty to hear thy voice though it were through the mouth of a Balaam thou hast sometimes conveyed the water of life through these Pipes of Lead and sent considerable presents to thy chosen by contemptible messengers O suffer me not to be wise iâ— mine own eyes and thereby to turn away mine ears from the words of them that are endued with spiritual wisdom but cause me to hear counsel and receive instruction that I may be wise for my latter end I Wish that I may be so much my own friend as to esteem a bitter admonition better then the sweetest flattery and never quarrel at any for waking me out of my spiritual Lethargy The World indeed is full of them that rage at such as would prevent their ruine choosing rather to have their wounds fester though they kill them then be searched throughly to recover them Their words to their Neighbours are like the Jews to the Prophets Prophesie not unto us right things Prophesie unto us smooth things Prophesie deceits Isa. 30. 10. And their works are like theirs too If a Stephen deal but faithfully with them and tell them of their faults they are presently cut to the heart and gnash at him with their teeth Their bones are so out of order that the smallest disturbance makes them fret and fume Like Owles if any offer to lay hold on them they soon make him feel their claws Rebuke a scorner and he will hate thee But I have not so learned Christ Though Toads are no sooner toucht but they swell and are ready to spit out their poison in the face of him that hindleth them yet Sheep will be felt and shorn and suffer their sores to be drest with patience Though fools hate him that reproveth in the gate yet rebuke a wise man and he will love thee saith God Prov. 9. 8. O that I might never be so void of love to my fallen brother as not to give him a serious reproof nor so void of love to my self as not to receive a serious reproof The nipping frosts though not so pleasant are as profitable as the Summer sunshine I deceive my self if I judge no liquor wholsom but what is toothsom There is no probable way of curing some diseases but by Blisters and â—â—pping-glasses and painful medicines Is it not better for me to accept an admonition and amend then to walk on in a wicked way to my destruction Will it not be much easier for me to bear a rebuke given in love and with meekness from my fellow-creature then to provoke the Iealous God with eyes full of fury to take me by the throat and ask me what I am doing How I dare thus slight his Laws and contradict his Will O how can my heart endure or my hands be strong in the day that he shall deal with me Well might my God say He that hateth reproof is brutish Lord let me never be so much a beast as to lye snoring in a nasty kennel of filth and when any come to wake me flie in their faces but let me prefer a sharp admonition before the smoothest deceits When any praise me for the good in me cause me to suspect
my self when any reprove me for the evil in me let me accept it with thanks Make me able to say with that sweet singer of Israel Let the righteous smite me it shall be a kindness and let him reprove me and it shall be an excellent oyl it shall not break my head I Wish that I may by no means repine but always rejoyce at the gifts and graces of others If the other members of the body thrive the heart doth not grieve but is glad at it It s ordinary for younger brothers to boast and glory in the large estate and great possessions which their elder brothers have left them by their Fathers Why should not my soul be joyful at the great share of spiritual riches which the onely wise God hath given some of my brethren If a man love sweet smels the greater degree of them he observeth in any place the moâ—e he is refreshed with them He that delights in Pictures if he see one in a room exactly and exquisitely drawn above all the rest that shall have more of his eye and his heart Is not grace compared to sweet Oynments and shall not I be comforted the more for the greatness of its savour Is not the Image of my God amiable in mine eye and ought I not to delight most in that Copy which is nearest the Original Surely if I envy any their spiritual excellencies I shew my self too like a Child of the Devil There is hardly any worm that gnaweth that unclean spirit more painfully then the grace which God gives his Children Their sins are his utmost joy their graces are his extream greif Would I be found in Satans livery at the last O that I might be so far from murmuring at that double portion of the Spirit which my God bestoweth upon some of his people that I might bless God heartily for it and beg of God to add to it an hundred fold how great soever it is The pretty Birds sing the more merrily the higher the Sun mounteth in the Heavens I have cause to be the more chearful the nearer any ascend to Heaven and the higher they mount in holiness My love to my God to my Brother nay to my self all command me to it My love to my God He that loves his Soverain will rejoyce that he hath any Subjects eminent above others for duty and loyalty They that have much spiritual strength will do my God much spiritual service The more grace they have the more glory they bring to God It s an honour to the Father of Spirits when his Children keep open house according to their estates cloathing the naked feeding the hungry soul and relieving liberally such as are in want I am no Christian if I be not tender of my Gods honour and joyful when that is exalted in the World Besides Love to my brother should quicken me to this duty If I love him as my self I shall both grieve at his soul-losses and rejoyce at his spiritual gains Love delighteth in the welfare of the party loved The hotter the beames of grace are in the party beloved the more they rejoyce the heart of the lover Why should any mans eye be evil towards his Brother because Gods is good to him Have others the less because some have so much Or is it not my own fault that I am not as holy and gracious as he God is a Fountain of grace always running over but he derives it to us according to our capacities If I go to the Well of Salvation and receive but little of the water of life I may know the cause my Vessel was no bigger Nay Love to my self may make me glad at others gifts and graces The greater the Saints estate is the more he will relievâ— others As the Earth though it sucketh in so much water as will give her self a competent refreshment conveyeth many springs through her veins for the cherishing and refreshment of others So the Saints do not onely advantage their own but also others souls Lord though in Hell there be little else but murmuring and repining at the good of thy chosen yet in Heaven there is no emptiness in themselves no envying at others every Saint there hath his joy doubled for anothers joy and is glorified in anothers glory Suffer not thy Servant to make his heart a little Hell by filling it with grief at the good of thy chosen But O make it thy lesser Heaven be thou pleased to dwell in it and then I shall begin the work of eternity in time magnifie and bless thee for thy love to them and praise and bless them for their likeness to thee Finally I Wish that I may so carry my self in all my converses with the Children of God here that I may meet them in the Fathers house and sit down with them at the Supper of the Lamb. Lord if Communion with thy Saints be so pleasant and delightful on earth how pleasant and delightful will it be in Heaven Here my communion with them is imperfect my flesh will not suffer me to receive the good I might from them nor their flesh allow them to do the good they might to me But there shall be no evil no occasion of evil no appearance of evil no sin shall clog the chariots of our souls no flesh shall fetter us from running to embrace and delight in each other but all shall be free to rejoyce and refresh one another Every Saint shall be as it were a fountain of Communion in the sweetest mannerâ— and fullest measure from every one shall flow Riâ—ers of water of life and every one enlarged to rellish and receive If Jonathan beholding a little grace in David on earth loved him as his own soul how doth he love him in Heaven Here our Communion is much lamed by the defects in our bodily organs we cannot impart our minds without our members which being defective make our Communion so but there we shall be as Angels seeing each other without eyes hearing each other without ears and embracing each other without hands Here our Communion is interrupted our particular callings our eating our drinking our sleeping our many occasions call us from it But there is no calling but our general calling of worshipping and enjoying our God no feeding but on the tree of life that groweth in the midst of Paradise no drinking but of the Rivers of Gods own pleasures and no night no sleeping but that rest which remaineth for the people of God O what darkness what night can be there where all the righteous shall shine infinitely brighter then the Sun in his noon day lustâ—e Here our Communion is hindered by the differences that frequently arise â— like Children of the same Father we quarrel and wrangle but there they will all be like-minded having the same love being of one accord and one judgement There indeed Jerusalem is a City compact together and at unity within it self There Pauls desire is granted
through thy strength ponder all thy sayings in my heart and make them the rule of my life I will delight inâ—thy law and meditate therein day and night I will give diligence to reading be frequent in hearing and uniform and coustant in obedience to it I will teach it diligently my children and talk of it when I sit in mine house and when I walk by the way when I lye down and when I rise up I will bind it for a sign upon my hand it shall be as a frontlet between mine eyes I will make thy statutes my songs in the house of my pilgrimage I will rejoyce in thy testimonies more then they that find great spoils I will chuse thy statutes as my heritage for ever for they are the joy of my heart I will delight in the law of God after the inner man I will incline my heart to keep thy statutes always unto the end I have sworn and I will perform that I will keep thy righteous judgements But ah Lord what do I say I have even cast thy law behind my back I have broken thy bands asunder and cast thy cords from me My carnal mind is not subject to the law of God neither indeed can be I can of my self break thy law but onely through thy strength keep it I have gone astray like a lost sheep O seek thy servant and I will keep thy statutes Be surety for thy servant for good that I may observe thy precepts I am a stranger in this earth hide not thy commandments from me Incline my heart unto thy testimonies and not unto covetousness Make me to go in the path of thy commandments for therein do I delight Teach me O Lord the way of thy statutes and I will keep it unto the end Giâ—e me understanding and I shall keep thy law yea I shall keep it with my whole heart Thou art good and dost good O teach me thy statutes Thy hands have made me and fashioned me O give me understanding that I may keep thy commandments I will run the way of thy commandments when thou shalt inlarge my heart O send out thy light and thy truth let them lead me let them bring me unto thy holy hill unto thy heavenly habitation Then will I go into the presence of God even of God my exceeding joy Yea upon the harp will I praise thee O God my God for ever Fourthly If thou woulst exercise thy self to godliness in Solitude Accustom thy self to soliloquies I mean to conference with thy self He needs never be idle that hath so much business to do with his own soul. It was a famous answer which Antistenes gave when he was asked what fruit he reaped by all his studies By them saith he I have learned both to live and talk with my self Soliloquies are the best disputes every good man is best company for himself of all the creatures Holy David enjoyneth this to others Commune with your own hearts upon your bed and be still Selah Psal. 4.4 Commune with your own hearts when ye have none to speak with talk to your selves Ask your selves for what end ye were made what lives ye have lead what times ye have lost what love ye have abused what wrath ye have deserved Call your selves to a reckoning how ye have improved your talents how true or false ye have been to your â—rust what provision ye have laid in for an hour of death what preparation ye have made for a great day of account Vpon your beds Secresie is the best opportunity for this duty The silent night is a good time for this speech When we have no outward objects to disturb us and to call our eyes as the fools eyes are always to the ends of the earth then our eyes as the eyes of the wise may be in our heads and then our minds like the windows in Solomons Temple may be broad inwards The most successful searches have been made in the night season the soul is then wholly shut up in the earthly house of the body and hath no visits from strangers to disquiet its thoughts Physicians have judged dreams a probable sign whereby they might find out the distempers of the body Surely then the bed is no bad place â—o examine and search into the state of the soul. And be still Self-communion will much help to curb your head-strong ungodly passions Serious consideration like the casting up of earth amongst Bees will allay inordinate affections when they are full of fury and make such an hideous noise Though sensual appetites and unruly desires are as the people of Ephesus in an uproar pleading for their former priviledge and expecting their wonted provision as in the days of their predominancy if conscience use its authority commanding them in Gods name whose officer it is to keep the Kings peace and argue it with them as the Town-Clark of Ephesus We are in danger to be called in question for this days uproar there being no cause whereby we may give an account of this days concourse all is frequently by this means husht and the tumult appeased without any further mischief Selah This signifieth elevation or lifting up either the mind or voyce or both For the matter of it it importeth 1. An Asseveration of a thing so to be Hence the Chaldee Paraphrast and some other Hebrews have turned it For ever The foregoing assertions are true and shall be so for ever 2. An Admiration at it Such truths call both for our assent and wonder Selah is affixed by way of Emphasis to note the excellency of the thing asserted and the impression it should make upon our spirits As David enjoyned this duty to others so he practised it himself Psa. 77. 6. I call to remembrance my song in the night I commune with mine own heart and my spirit made diligent search He communed with his own heart was not a stranger at home Indeed an Hypocrite as the Philosopher speaks of a vicious person is not friends with himself but endeavours more to avoid himself then any others and is never in so bad company as when he is alone for then he is forced to keep company with himself Where conscience is an abused and incensed Judge t is no wonder that a guilty malefactour would flie from its presence The servant that hath rioted all day is unwilling his Master should reckon with him at night The Heathen persecutors would not hear the Christians because their cause would have appeared so just that nature it self would have justified them The ungodly will not for a contrary reason hear the indictments which conscience prefers against them because their cause will appear so bad that they cannot avoid condemning themselves It may be said of whorish hearts as of the Harlot Her feet abide not within her house But the sincere Christian that allows himself in no sin delights to commune with his own soul and when he is debating things with his own conscience
conscienciousness of my behaviour in secret The lineaments and features of the body are beâ—t discovered in the night when it s stripped naked of those garments which in the day time covered it and were not wholly answerable to the proportion of its several parts The shape and countenance of the soul is much better revealed when it retires from the world and is freed from these objects and businesses which hurried it hither and thither possibly much differing from its own inclination There is no right judging of the Patient by his water till it is setled nor true discovery of the state of a Christian by his heart till it be quiet and composed When men are busie upon the stage of the world surrounded with spectators they put on habitsâ— and act not their own but the parts of others and so are not easily known who or what they are but he that followeth them into the retiring room where they undress themselves may soon discover them The frame and bent of my heart in private to sin or holiness will speak its temper whether good or bad The soul is not at such liberty to vent it self and to manifest its genius and disposition in its outward actions as in its inward motions and meditations External acts may flow from external principles which as a Team of Horse draw the Cart after it by force but internal thoughts ever flow from an internal principle which as the natural and proper off-spring of the mind discover what its parent is The Laws of men the fear of punishment the hope of reward may tye my hands in company but it s nothing but the fear of my God can bind my heart to its good behaviour in secret My thoughts are not liable to an arraignment at any earthy Bar nor my person to any arrest from men â—or any tumult or disorder in them because the Law of the Magistrate can take no cognizance of them they being locked up from all humane eyes in the privy cabinet of my heart Though I am limited in my words not to speak what I will and also in my works not to do what I will by reason of that shame or penalty or ill-will from friends or superiours which dishonest actions and unseemly expressions may bring upon me yet my thoughts in this sense are free I may think what I will notwithstanding any of these considerations Again outward actions both good and bad materially considered are common both to Sinners and Saints What good duties are there but as to the matter of them wicked men may perform them as well as the godly Abstinence from gross sins praying fasting hearing reading almes-giving have been practised by some Hypocrites in a larger measure then by some sincere Christians On the other side There are â—ew sins so great but some of the Children of God have at some time or other been guilty of them Gluttony Drunkenness Fornication Incest Murder c. have been committed by them that were truly sanctified where then lieth the difference between them so much as in their usual and predominant thoughts Once more my God judgeth of my actions by my thoughts and therefore by them I may well judge of my spiritual condition Isa. 10. 7. Gen. 22. 16 17. Lord I have often heard out of thy word Where the treasure is there will the heart be also I know every man will be frequent in thinking of that which he esteems his happiness and treasure The Covetous wretch hugs and embraceth his wealth in his heart and thoughts when it is out of his sight and in other mens hands the Adulterer pleaseth himself in the meditation of his wanton dalliances with his foolish Minion when he hath no opportunity for the execution of his lust the Proud man fancieth himself in a fools Paradise whilst he imagineth multitudes waiting upon him in the Presence Chamber of his crazie brain with their bare heads their bended knees admiring and applauding the worth of his person the vastness of his parts and himself as the only epitome of all perfections O give me that character of thy children to meditate in thy Law day and night Let my thoughts be conversant about those riches that are not liable to rust those pleasures which satisfie a rational soul and that honour which is from God give me to know that my treasure is in Heaven with thy self in thy Son by having my heart and my conversation there also I Wish that when ever I sequester my self from worldly business I might leave all my finful and worldly thoughts behind me There can no work of concernment be done in secret unless these disturbers be absent Should I entertain such guests I forbid Christ my Company Vicious thoughts are his sworn enemies and he will not dwel in the same heart in the same house with them If I desire him to sit upon the throne of my heart I must give him leave to cast down every imagination and to bring every thought to the obedience of himself Places that are full of vermine are not fit for a Princes presence Vain and unnecessary thoughts about lawful objects are strangers though not sworn enemies and will give my best friend distast Though a noble person should come to give me a visit if he should hear me debasing my self to converse needlesly with inconsiderable impertinent fellows I may look that he should passe by without calling in Christ loves not to be entertained in a room full of dust-heaps and cobwebs If vain thoughts lodge within the blessed Jesus will stand without Gold and Clay will not mingle If these mists arise and these clouds interpose they will hinder my sight of the true Sun Besides My works will be answerable to my thoughts if my thoughts be wicked or fruitless so will my actions be My hands are but the Midwife to bring my thoughts the conception of my heart into the world My thoughts are the seed that lyeth in the ground out of sight my works are the crop which is visible to others according to the seed whether good or bad such will the crop be If men be so careful to get the purest the cleanest and the best seed for their fields that their harvest may be the more to their advantage how much doth it concern me that my heart be sown with pure and holy thoughts that my crop may tend both to my credit and comfort Lord there is no good seed but what comes out of thy garner I confess the piercing thorns of vicious thoughts and the fruitless weeds of vain thoughts are all the natural product of my heart O let thy good spirit plow up the fallow ground of my soul and scatter in it such seeds of grace and holiness that my life may be answerable to thy Gospel and at my death I may be translated to thy glory I Wish that I may in solitude when I have no men to discourse with converse with other
prudent questions to the sick concerning the condition of their souls The ignorance of a Physitian may occasion the death of the Patient Some practitioners in Physick who intend much good do much hurt for want of judgement to find out the tempers and distempers of the sick A mistake in soul-cases is of more hazard then in body-sickness If I undertake to humble a person who is already cast down sufficiently and wants a Cordial or to comfort one who is full of presumption already and needs a Corrosive how good soever my meaning may be my acting is evil and instead of releiving I may destroy my Brother The Eastern Churches did not without cause enjoyn the Minister or such as were appointed to visit the sick to continue with them seven days together that in that space they might discover the man before they applied themselves to him either in a way of Admonition or Counsel or Consolation Iobs friends when they came to visit him spake not a word either reproving or advising him till they heard him open his mouth and curse the tongue that told the news of his birth The knowledge of the sick mans spiritual condition is as it were the foundation upon which we must build all our discourse with him and prayers to God for him or at least it is the rule by which we must build and therefore it s very dangerous to mistake in it If the Foundation be laid ill the superstructure will never stand well If the rule be crooked the building cannot be strait A blind Archer may as soon hit the Mark as one ignorant of his Neighbours state advantage his soul. SECT IV. 2. APply thy self to him sutably to his condition As the conditions of men are several so must the Application be that which cures one may kill another One medicine will as soon cure all diseased bodies as one way all sick souls Indeed the Physick to be prescribed every Patient is the same for substance The blood of Christ By his stripes we are healed but there are several ways of tendering this to sinners that they may be prepared for it and give it all acceptation that Physick which is given to one in a Potion is given to another in a powder to a third in an electuary to a fourth in a pill according as it will be most prositable and most acceptable to them It s not easie so to write the bill that the sick may receive what is prescribed to his greatest content and advantage For as many perish errore medici as vi morbi by the error of the Physitian as by the power of the disease Though I judge it next to impossible for me to set down exactly and fully directions answerable to the difference of sick persons condition disposition education calling guilt c. yet I shall speak to the most ordinary cases and be careful not to omit the main work namely that which concerneth the conversion of graceless and Christless persons if on a sick bed God peradventure will give them repentance If the sick person be judged carnal and unregenerate for the Tree is known by its Fruits Besides it s no breach of charity to fear the worst of them whose lives do not speak a positive holiness especially whilst we are endeavouring their good then in general I would advise thee to speak 1. To the depravation of mans nature and the transgressions of life with the sad aggravations thereof How holy man was by creation how universally and desperately vicious he is by his fall from God and what horrid unthankfulness he is guilty of in continuing in sin notwithstanding the grace that is offered to him in the Gospel It s fit to speak to the purity and equity of the Law of God and to the difference and contrariety of his heart and life to it to the sinfulness of sin in its offensiveness and opposition to the nature and word of an infinitely Holy Glorious and Gracious Majesty in its destructiveness to the present peace and future perfection of his own precious and immortal soul and in that the stain of it is so deep and the venome of it so great that nothing beneath the blood of God could wash out its spots or be a sufficient Antidote for its poison Tell him of the folly of sinners in refusing Heaven for Earth Angelical Delights for brutish Pleasures the blessed God for a base lust and of his own madness likewise in running on so eagerly upon his own ruine against the counsels of men the commands threatnings and intreaties of God the convictions of his conscience the calls and invitations of a loving Redeemer and the motions of the holy Spirit 2. Speak to the merit of sin how it being committed against an infinite Majesty deserveth infinite wrath and severity Tell him that the Wages of Sin is death temporal spiritual eternal Acquaint him with the justice holiness and jealousie of God how he will by no means clear the guilty but hath threatned all manner of plagues and judgements on the workers of iniquity and cannot fail in the least of accomplishing his word how he is resolved to make all the Children of Men feel sin to be an evil and bitter thing either in broken bones on earth or broken backs and endless torments in hell Let him know his own obnoxiousness by reason of his many and greivous sins to the curse of the Law the wrath of the Lord and the vengeance of the eternal fire Tell him that he is by nature a Child of Wrath an Enemy to God and an Heir of Hell that it had been just to have cast him out of the Womb into Hell that Gods patience in bearing with him thus long will but increase his condemnation and endless misery unless he prevent it by sincere conversion This is the first thing requisite in order to the recovery of his soul. Till sin be discovered in its hainous nature and bloody colours it will never be lamented nor the Saviour esteemed according to the duty of the Sinner The first thing usually which the Spirit doth in the change of a sinner is to convince him of sin Joh. 16. 8. And this is also first in the Ministers commission Acts 26. 18. The great neglect of this in Ministers and others is one reason that so few Sinners are awakened the needful work of humiliation is so dangerously slighted that poor souls go sleeping and dreaming all is well till they come to be undeceived in Hell 3. Speak to his own inability to help himself that no less then infinite power can recover him out of his miserable condition Men are prone to act like Brutes when they are wounded to undertake the licking themselves whole as if it were an easie thing to renew a carnal creature and heal vitiated nature but alas the work is not so soon done It s another manner of work to open the blind eyes and â—â—liven the dead soul then the secure careless worldling
for vengeance what will the blood of a murdered soul do Why should I to humour any mans lust injure his soul hinder my own peace and incur the anger of the Lord. O that no foolish pretences whatsoever may keep me off from acquainting sinners with thâ—â—â—â—il and end the nature and danger of their sins It s Gods order first to cast the soul down and then to lift it up The ground must feel the Plow before it receive the Seed Sorrow must precede comfort and they must sow in tears who would reap in joy God must shake all Nations before the desired of all Nations will come to him We come to Sinai the Mount that burneth with fire and to blackness and darkness and a tempest which makes even a Moses to fear and quake exceedingly before we come to Mount Sion the City of the living God the Heavenly Ierusalem and to Jesus the Mediatour of the new Covenant and to the blood of sprinkling that speaketh better things then the blood of Abel The Law is a School-Master to drive us to Christ. Austere Iohn with his Ax laid to the root of the Tree threatning the fire to those that bring not forth fruit prepareth the way for the sweet alluring Iesus Mourning and Grief is the Midwife of true mirth Penitential tears are the streams that lead to the Rivers of Pleasures Even the doleful sound of the Trumpet attendeth the Iudge when he is going to acquit a Prisoner by publique Proclamation Violence must be offered to corruption or there will be no acceptance of the Lord Christ. The building of holiness is the more strong for having its foundation of humiliation laid deep The safety of the soul doth depend like Jonahs upon his being cast over-boord and utterly lost in his own apprehension The blessed Iesus himself is brought into a desolate Wilderness before Angels are sent from Heaven to comfort him O that I might follow my God in his usual way and never prophesie smooth things to rugged and â—â—â—â—ed men but endeavour to break their hearts on â—â—th who have persisted in the breach of his holy Laws that their backs may not be broken in Hell Yet I would not instead of beating down the rotten Paper walls of presumption drive any into the Dungeon of desperation but as the good Nurse have the breast of consolation as well as the rod of correction in readiness for such Children Moses and Christ met together upon Mount Tabor The Gospel must be Preached to heal those wounds which are opened and discovered by the Law The Lord sendeth me to proclaim liberty to the Captives and the opening of the Prison to them that are bound Lord thou killest and makest alive bringest down to the grave and bringest up It s easie and ordinary with thee to break those bones which thou intendest to rejoyce and to perplex those Rams in Briars and Thorns which thou intendest to accept of as a sacrifice Teach thy Servant to know how to speak a word in season both to the wicked and to the godly how to divide thy word aright both in its minatory and consolatory parts that as occasion shall â—e I may awaken the wicked out of their deadly slumbers and quicken the godly to their spiritual watchfulness and help to sweeten that bitter cup which thou hast put into their hands O that thy blessing might water my labours for both their welfares Alas poor sick unregenerate ones are dropping into boundless and endless sorrows and yet are without sense Though they are dying they know not what they are doing nor whither they are going Their eyes are shut by the god of this World that they see not that unspeakable misery to which they are liable every moment their hearts are hardened through custom in sin that neithâ—â—â—â—reatnings nor promises prevail with them to feel their wounds and sores O thou great Physitian thou Lord of life thou God of health open their eyes send some Ananias to them that they may receive their sight and be filled with the Holy Ghost enable them so to mourn now that they may be comforted when the time of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord and help thy servant to deal so faithfully with those whom thou callest me to visit that I may never give thy Majesty cause to say of me as once of the Prophets of Israel They have healed the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly saying Peace Peace when there is no peace I Wish that I may be close and home in my Applications to sick persons and speak what is proper to their estates with ardency and affection to their very hearts It s ill dallying with edged tools O how sad is it to toy and trifle to be formal or customary in counsel or reproof or comfort to immortal souls that are launching into the Ocean of eternity Death is a serious thing and that which they never did before nor shall ever do again Sin is a serious thing as the damned find in Hell by woful experience Though there they are in blackness of darkness yet they have light enough to see sin to be the evil of evils and altogether sinful Christ was serious when he took upon him my nature and therein did offer up himselfâ— a sacrifice for sin God is serious in commanding faith and repentance and in promising Heaven to the faithful and holy and Hell to unbeleivers and atheists And shall not I be serious and in earnest when I am dealing about matters of eternal life and death and about the concernments of God and Christ and souls and eternity O with what earnestness should I perswade the wicked to turn from their wickedness and live If ever their souls would draw near to the Lord of life it concerns them to do it when their bodies are drawing nigh to the Chambers of death It is but a very few hours and their condition will be past all amendment all alteration In this poor pittance of time all must be done upon which the Scales must turn for their salvation or damnation They are going to make that change which will admit them into endless joy or torment and render their estates unchangeable Their time is hastening that they must struggle with dreadful pains and strong distempers and death the King of terrors and must review that life which is ending and look back upon all that they have done and judge their persons and actions impartially whether they will or no that they must take their leave of all their friends and food and sleep and lands and houses and honours and pleasures and riches and step into eternity and appear before God without their Relations or Possessions or any worldly comforts to help or encourage them that they must be tried by an holy Law and an holy Judge for their everlasting lives or deaths and can my expressions be too full of weight and reason or my affections too full of bowels and pity
evil thoughts Matth. 15.19 that is the nest in which those Hornets breed The heart is the original of sinful words as well as sinful thoughts Out of the heart proceed false witness blasphemies Matth. 15.19 They were in the heart before ever they were in the tongue It s faid of the Weasel that it conceives at the ear and brings forth at the mouth Every sinner conceiveth at the heart what he brings forth at the mouth Such stinking breath comes from rotten inwards The heart is the â—â—â—sel of poisonous liquor the tongue is but the tap to broach it Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh The heart is the Forge also where all our evil works as well as words are hammered out Out of the heart proceed murthers and thefts and adulteries and fornicaâ—ions Matth. 15.19 You will say that murthers and thefts are hand-sins and that adulteries and fornication belong to the eye and outward parts of the body but alas the heart is the womb wherein they are conceived and bred the outward parts are but the Midwives to deliver the mother of those monsters and to bring them into the world An evil man out of the evil treasure in his heart bringeth forth evil things There is no sin but is drest in the withdrawing room of the heart before it appear on the stage of the life Apollidorus dreamed one night that the Scythians had taken him and flea'd off his skin with an intent to boil him and as he was lifting into the Cauldron his heart said unto him It s I that have brought thee to all this There is a real truth in this that the heart brings men both to all their sins and all their sufferings As the Chaos had the seed of all creatures and wanted nothing but the motion of the good Spirit to produce them so the heart hath the seed of all evil and wanteth nothing but the motion of the evil spirit and a fit opportunity to bring it forth It is in vain to go about an holy life till the heart be made holy The Pulse of the hand beats well or ill according to the sâ—ate of the heart and the inward vital parts Our earthly members can never be mortified unless the body of sin and death be destroyed The foul bird of sin must be killed in the nest the heart or it can never be thrown on the dunghil die in the life Therefore the Holy Ghost calls on men to take away the cause if they would have the effect to cease O Ierusalem wash thy heart from wickedness Cleanse your hearts ye sinners and purifie your hands ye double-minded first the heart cleansed then the hands Ier. 4.14 Iames 4.7,8 If the chinks of the ship are unstopt t will be to no purpose to labour at the Pump It is not rubbing or scratching will cure the itch but the blood whose corruption is the cause of it must be purified When the water is foul at the bottom no wonder that scum and filth appear at the top There is no way to stop the issue of sin but by drying up the matter that feeds it As Moses cast the tree into the bitter waters and sweetned the Springs And as Elijah cast salt into the fountain and thereby healed the waters so the salt of grace must be cast into the Spring the fountain of the heart or the streams of the life will never be sweet Till trees are grafted and their nature altered all the fruit they bring forth is wilde and harsh and little worth Till the Christian is grafted into Christ and a new and another nature be infused into him all his fruit is unsavoury and unacceptable to God vain and unprofitable to himself Such a one is like a Cypress tree fair to look on but barren Like a Painter he may make a great stir about the colours and shadows of things the form of Godliness and shew all his wit and art and skill in expressing the outside but wholly neglecteth the substance and contemneth the inward parts the power thereof There be several things which may help to make the life fair in the eyes of men but nothing will make it amiable in the eyes of God unless the heart be changed and renewed Indeed all the medicines which can be applied without the sanctifying work of the Spirit though they may cover they can never cure the corruption and diseases of the soul. The best man without this is like a Serpent painted as it were without but poysonous within As the herb Biscort he may have smooth and plain leaves but a croked root Or as a Pill be guilded on the outside when the whole mass and body of it is bitterness It is one thing to be angry with sin upon a sudden discontent as a Man may be with his Wife whom he loves dearly and another thing to hate sin as that which we abhor to behold and endeavour to destroy A filthy heart like a foul body may seem for a while to be in good plight but when the heats and colds of temptations appear t will bewray it self Some Insects lye in a deep sleep all the Winter stir not make no noise that one would think them dead but when the weather alters and the Sun shines they revive and shew themselves So though lusts may seem dead in an unregenerate man they are only laid asleep and when opportunity is will revive Shame may hide sin but it will not heal â—â—n Corruption often lyeth secret in the heart when shame hindereth it from breaking out in sâ—abs and boâ—ches in the life Some court holiness as hard in shew as Saul did Samuel to be honoured before the people when like him they hate it in their hearts Fear may do somewhat to curb a vitiated nature but it cannot cure it The Bear dares hardly touch his desired honey for fear of the stinging of the Bees The Dog forbears the meat on the Table not because he doth not love it but because he is afraid of the Cudgel Many leave some sin in their outward actions as Iacob parted with Benjamin for fear they should starve if they kept it who are as fond of it as the Patriarch of his Child This inward love of sin is indeed its life and that which is most dangerous and deadly to the soul. As an imposthume is most perillous for being inward and private Rocks under water split more vessels then those that appear above water so sin raigning onely in the heart is oftentimes more hurtful then when it rageth in the life Such civil persons go to Hell without much disturbance being asleep in sin yet not snoring to the diâ—quieting of others they are so far from being jogged or awaked that they are many times praised and commended Example Custom and Education may also help a man to make a fair shew in the flesh but not to walk after the spirit They may Prune and Lop sin but never stubb it up
course will be hindered Indeed as God could preserve our bodies without food or any sustenance by his omnipotent power as he did Moses and Elijah forty days together but he will not where he affordeth ordinary means So he could preserve our souls in life without ordinances but he will not where his providence giveth us opportunity to enjoy them Reader I must say to thee as Iacob to the Patriarchs Behold I have heard that there is Corn in Egypt get you down thither and buy for us that we may live and not dye Behold thou hast heard there is spiritual food in Heaven the Son of Ioseph hath his granaries full of Corn go thou thither daily by sacred duties that thy soul may live and not dye There is a sensible decay of the strength in Husbandmen whose work is great upon one days abstinence If tradesmen grow careless of their business and neglect their Shops they quickly decay in their estates When Christians grow careless of duties and neglect their Closets t is no wonder that they decline in their spiritual stocks When the Moon hath her open side downward she decreaseth but when her open side is upwards towards Heaven she increaseth in light There is no growing in grace and holiness but by conversing with Heaven Grace like Armour may easily be kept bright if it be daily used but if it hang by the wall it will quickly rust and cost much time and pains to scoure Much fasting takes away the stomach and omission of Closet duties at one time makes a man more backward to them and dead about them another time When a Scholar hath plaid the Truant one day its difficult to bring him to School the next day Fear and Shame both keep him back when he comes thither he is the more untoward about his book Our deceitful hearts after they have discontinued holy exercises and are broken loose are like horses gotten out of their bounds not found or brought back without much trouble When an instrument is daily plaid on it s kept in order but if it be but a while neglected and cast into a corner the strings are apt to break the frets to crack the bridge to flye off and no small trouble and stir is requisite to bring it into order again We read of the Iews daily sacrifice which was Morning and Evening Exod. 29. 38. and 30. 7 8. David was for Morning and Eveningâ— and Noon-tide Psa. 55. 17. Daniel was three times a day upon his knees Dan. 6. 10. In the Morning the Saints were at their devotion which is thought to be the third hour when the Holy Ghost descended on the Apostles Act. 2. 15. This is deemed to be our ninth hour The midle or mid day prayer was termed the sixth hour which is our twelfth Ioh. 4. 6. At this time Peter went up to the house top to pray Act. 10. 9. The evening Prayer was at the ninth hour which is our three a clock in the After-noon Now Peter and John went up together into the Temple at the hour of prayer being the ninth hour Act. 3. 1. So Cornelius Act. 10. 30. At the ninth hour I prayed in my house Some think the Primitive Christians had these three hours in such regard and use that thence they were termed Canonical hours David tells us Seven times a day do I praise thee because of thy righteous judgements Psa. 119. 164. The more frequent a Christian is at holy duties supposing he doth not make the commands of God to interfere and neglect his calling and family when his presence is required in them the more thriving he shall be in his spiritual trade The oftener we go to the Fountain or River the more water we bring thence As Runners in a Race do daily diet their bodies and use exercise to keep themselves in breath that they may be more able and active when they run for the wager whereas if they should neglect it they would grow pursie and shortwinded and unlikely to hold out when they run for the Garland So Christians who would hold out to the end and so run as to obtain must be daily feeding and dieting their souls and renewing their strength by these means which God hath appointed As the Sun is the cause of life and groweth in vegetables so is the Son of God the efficient cause of motion and growth in Christians where the Son is present in any soul there is spiritual moâ—ion and growth budding and blossoming and bearing fruit but when the Sun with-holds and with-draws when this Sun departs the soul is at a stand Now Ordinances are the means whereby the Mediatour conveys heat and life and growth to men CHAP. XI Means whereby Christians may exercise themselves to Godliness Frequent Meditation of the day of judgement A daily Examination of our hearts Avoiding the Occasions and Suppressing the beginnings of Sin SEvently If thou wouldst exercise thy self to Godliness Meditate much upon the day of Iudgement They will prepare themselves best to the battel who always hear the sound of the last trump in their ears Zisea that valiant Captain of the Bohemians commanded his Country-men to flea off his skin when he was dead and to make a Drum of it Which use saith he when ye go to battel and the sound of it will drive away the Hungarians or any of your enemies Could the Christian but with Ierom hear the sound of the last trumpet in his ears at all times it would encourage him in his spiritual warfare and enable him to fight manfully and to cause the enemies of his salvation to flee before him He who can frequently by faith view the Judge sitting on his Throne of Glory hear the last trumpet sounding behold the dead raised the books opened the godly examined by the Covenant of grace all their duties graces services sufferings publiquely declared approved and rewarded the wicked tried by the Law of works all their natural defilements actual transgressions in thought word and deed which ever they were guilty of with their crimson bloody circumstances openly revealed their persons righteously sentenced to the vengeance of the eternal fire and that sentence speedily without the least favour or delay executed on them will surely loath sin as that which brings him certain shame and torment and follow after holiness which will be his undoubted credit and comfort at that day The Apostle writing to the Iews concerning the terror of that day how the Heavens must pass away with a great noise and the Elements melt with fervent heat the earth also and the works therein burnt up makes this use of it Seeing then that all those things shall be dissolved What manner of persons ought we to be in all holy conversation and godliness And again Wherefore beloved seeing ye look for these things be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace without spot and blameness He had need to be exact in his conversation who must
he denied the Faith but siting at the Court Gate when Simeon an old Bishop and holy person was leading to prison he rose up to salute him but the good Bishop frowning on him turn'd away his head with indignation upon which Vsthazanes fell a weeping went into his chamber put off his Courtly attire and burst out into this speech Ah how shall I appear before the great God of heaven whom I have denied when Simeon but a man will not endure to look upon me If he frown how will God frown when I come to appear at his Tribunal Upon these considerations he repented of his Apostacy assumed courage and be-became a glorious Martyr for Christ. If Felix an Heathen trembled when Paul reasoned of judgement to come nay if the very Devils so far believe that day as to tremble at the thoughts of it well may the consideration of that day make Christians tremble at the thoughts of sin and not dare thereby to treasure up wrath upon their heads against that day of wrath and the declaration of the righteous judgement of God Reader At this day think much of that day of judgement hereby thou wilt be stirred up to judge thy self to repent of sin to ensure an interest in Christ the Judge to keep a good conscience and so to think speak and act as one that must be judged by the Law of liberty 1 Cor. 11.31 Act. 3.19 and 17. 31. 2 Pet. 3. 11. Eccles. 12. ult Iam. 2. 12. Act. 24. 16. Eighthly If thou wouldst exercise thy self to Godliness Call thy self often to account This is a special help to holiness I considered my ways and turned my feet to thy testimonies saith David Psa. 119.5 A man that goeth out of his way will continue wandering if his mind be occupied about other things and he consider not what he is doing and whither he is going The Christian that is careless of his carriage and seldom compareth his heart and life with the divine commands to observe how they agree or disagree will never order his conversation aright When a clock is out of order we take it to peices and search where the fault lyeth knowing that one wheel amiss may hinder the going of the whole Clock Our hearts are every day out of order our work must be to take them to peices by Examination and to see where the great fault is Seneca's sober young man Ita laborat ita ludit ita caenat ita potat ita loquitur ita vivit ut qui ephemerides Patri est approbaturâ—â—â— so labours so playeth so eateth so drinketh so speakâ— and so lives as one that is daily to be accountable for all to his Father He that would keep his spiritual estate must keep his Account-books well The neglect of this hath been the breaking of many Tradesmen When Shop-keepers live high far above their incomes and for want of searching into their Books are ignorant whether their gains will allow such large expences it is no wonder if they prove worse then naught They who expect the coming of great and severe strangers who will observe narrowly how their house lyeth and how their vessels are kept and publish it either to their credit or discredit according as they find will keep their houses in order sweep them clean have their pewter bright and clear and all things exactly in their places When the Christian looks every night for the coming of Gods Deputy his conscience to spy and search into his heart and life how clean and holy both have been kept all the day it will be a special means to make him watchful over his ways and exact in his carriage and conversation Bee-Masters tell us that they are the best hives which make the greatest noise So that conscience is the best which makes the greatest noise in daily reasonings and debates before its own bar Examination is the quickest way to bring the erring sheep home to the fold Honest men will examine their weights and measures by the standard that if they be defective they may be mended The honest heart will examine its thoughts its words its actions by the Royal Law that their unsutableness to its strictness and latitude may be repented of and to the utmost of its power reformed Let us search and try our ways For what cause What will be the issue of such a scrutiny And turn again to the Lord Lam. 3.39 What man will seek to a Physitian or accept his advice or take his prescriptions who doth not know himself distempered and feel his disease T is examination of our hearts and lives by the holy and pure Law of God that gives thee knowledge of our spiritual sickness and helpeth us to feel it to prize our Physitian and thankfully and heartily to accept his directions for our cure It s observed of the Dutch-men that they keep their banks notwithstanding the threats of the insulting Ocean with little cost and labour because they look narrowly to them and stop them up in time If there be but a small breach they stop it presently and hereby save much charge and trouble Frequent examination will do this courtesie for the Christian it will maintain his peace with little charge and trouble comparatively As soon as any breach is made by sin that Arch-make-bate between God and the soul it will help the Christian to run presently to Christ to heal and make it up in Heaven by his merits and in the soul by his purifying and pacifying spirit The counsel which the Philosopher gave the young men at Athens may sutably and profitably be applied to Christians That they should often view themselves in a glass that if they were fair and well featured they should do such things as were beseeming their amiable shape but if soul and ill-favoured that then they should labour to salve the bodies blemishes by the beauties of a mind accoutred with the ornaments of vertue and good literature Examination is a special preservative against sin No Children are more bold to defile themselves and to play with dirt or rake in kennels then those who know their Parents are so foolishly fond like David of Adonijah that they never displease them at any time in saying Why hast thou done so The Child that expecteth to be reckoned with at night will be careful how he dirtieth his cloaths in the day Examination will help the Christian if not to hinder a coming disease yet to prevent its growing and increase The Ship that leaketh is more easily emptied at the beginning then afterwards The Bird is easily killed in the Egge but when once hatcht and fledged we may kill it when we can catch it A frequent reckoning with our selves will pluck sin up before it is rooted in the soul. Examination will help the Christian that hath fallen and bruised himself to heal the wound whilst it is fresh before it is festered This one advantage if there were no more is extraordinary As the sting of
have done any thing that is good that will be my monument but if otherwise all the statues you can make will not keep my name alive The Egyptians in their funeral orations never commended any for his riches because they thought them the goods of fortune but for his righteousness and justice Piety is a lasting pillar that causeth the righteous to be had in everlasting remembrance Time shall not out-live the Saints honour grace renders him more illustrious then ever the Mausolean mountan did that Carian As the hairs of Tarandrus are not to be pierced with any weapon so the name of a Saint cannot be hurt by all the slanders and calumnies of the wicked They who are Sainted in Heavens Calendar and whose names are enrolled in the Lambs book of life are truly honourable and eternally glorious maugre the malice of Men and Devils The disgrace which the wicked cast on the righteous is at worst but like the noise of some loud tongu'd gun ceased as soon as heard but the honour which God and Scripture put upon the godly is a pillar which endureth to all eternity such a monument as neither age nor time nor envy can waste or wear out Demetrius under all the obloqâ—y and contempt which his countrymen cast upon him could comfort himself in this that Though the Athenians demolished his statues yet they could not extinguish his vertues the cause of raising them Sin is so base and beggarly so loathsome and shameful a thing that not onely the children of God but even wicked men have been unwilling to own it and ashamed to be taxed with it or found out at the commission of it When Godliness is so high and honourable so noble and excellent a Mistress that those who deny the power of it will take upon them the form of it they who hate its work will wear its livery There are hardly any jewels of grace but for each of them vice hath counterfeit stones O! how noble a Mistris how honourable a Lady is that whom all pretend relation to and even those that hate her would not be thought her enemies but blush to be taxed as strangers to her 2. It is the most Callingâ— Satan would represent Christians under ugly viâ—zards and Christianity frightful to make men loath both the one and the other As he transforms himself the Prince of darkness and his ways which are darkness into an Angel of light and seeming light so he endeavours to transform Christians who are children of light and their holy ways which are paths of light into children of darkness and paths of darkness He endeavours to make men think the power of godliness Antipodes to all chearfulness but holineâ—s is far from such a crabbed face and austere countenance as he would have us fancy No trade hath so much mirth with it and in iâ— Ioy is one essential part of this Calling The kingdom of God consisteth not in meats and drinks but in righteousness and peace and joy in the holy Ghost Rom. 14. 17. The servants of God do not onely rejoyce in the fore-thoughts of their reward to think of the time when their Indentures shall expire and they shall enjoy the glorious liberty of the sons of God We rejoyce in hope of glory but also in their work they are joyful in the house of prayer they sing at their work Thy statutes are my songs in the house of my pilgrimage nay at the hardest and most tiresome of their work We rejoyce in tribulation My brethren count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations Joy is the beam which is darted from the Sâ—n the stream which floweth from the fountain of godliness It is observable that the beginning the lest degrâ—e of grace causeth joy great joy what then will its growth and perfection do When Christ did but call to Zacheus he came down hastily and received him joyfully Luk. 19. 6. When the Eunuch was converted he went home rejoycing Act. 8. 39. When the Samaritans had received Christ into their hearts at Phillips preaching there was great joy in that City Act. 8. 6 7 8. The Jaylor after his heart-quake rejoyced believing in God with all his house Act. 16. 34. The joy of the Saints as it is invisible so it is unutterable In whom believing ye rejoyce with joy unspeakable and full of glory 1 Peâ— 1. 7. For the measure of it it s compared to the joy of harvest to the joy of the bridegroom and bride on their Wedding day Isa 9. 3. Hosea 2. 19. Hence it is that Grace and Godliness are compared to and set forth by those things which are pleasant and delightful and bring joy with them As Musick the joy and delight of the ears a feast the joy and delight of the taste to light the joy and delight of the eyes life wine which rejoyceth the heart perfumes which delight the sent good the joy of the will truth the joy of the understanding godliness hath joy proper and sutable for every sense whether outward or inward As the higher the Sun is the greater its light is so the holier the Christian the greater his joy is The more clear the fire burns the more comfortable it is smoak fetcheth tears from our eyes When grace burns clear its refreshing indeed t is the smoak of sin that turns our houses into Bochims places of weeping when good men step awry not pondering their goings then they wrench their feet or put their bones out of joynt and so put themselves to much pain Indeed wicked men who are ignorant of the mystery of godliness becuase they see no sun-shine in the faces of godly men judge it to be foul weather in their hearts As the Roman Souldiers when they entered into the Sanctum Sanctorum and saw no Images presently reported the Jews to worship the Clouds but a Christians joy is as far out of wicked mens sight to discern it as out of their power to remove it A stranger intermedleth not with his joy your hearts shall rejoyce and your joy shall no man take from you A wicked mans joy is most in his face As a Black-a-more he is white no where but in his Teeth Seneca compares him to a Commander in a desperate battel who least his Souldieâ—s should run away sets a good face on it when he is inwardly terrified and full of fear he is like one in an high desperate fever having a good colour when his heart is heavy and he is at the gate of death The Godly mans joy is most in his heart he is like that fâ—sh which hath a rough outside but a pearl within When there are storms without there is musick within peace of conscience which passeth all understanding A wicked man is as a book of Tragedies bound extraordinary gay and guilt on the out-side but full of doleful dreadful stories within or as Alexander said of Antipater he was white without but purple within his face may be white
Justice Vide Righteousness K THe Knowledge of God a special means of godliness 802 Subjects should pay tribute to their King 38 39 L LIfe is uncertain 490 Life is short 838 Love should be among Christians 2â—5 Why the Commandment of Love is called a new Commandment 236 The fervency of Christs prayer for love 237 Sad effects of want of love among Christians 239 M MEans whereby Christians may exercise themselves to godliness 695 A good Foundation 696 Living by Faith 746 Setting God before our eyes 729 A constant watchfulness 734 Meditation of our dying day 745 Dayly solemn performance of holy duties 756 Frequent thoughts of the day of judgement 765 Calling our selves often to account 780 Avoiding occasions of sin 787 Walking humbly 793 Suppressing sin in the beginning 799 The knowledge of God 801 A contented frame of spirit 809 Avoiding those things that hinder godliness 819 Meditation useful 388 What set Meditation is 389 to 396 An example of set Meditation on the Word of God 398 Another example on the patience of God 466 It s a christians duty to be meek 42 The excellency of meekness 43 Meekness a sign of a wise man 44 The Christians meekness should not hinder his zeal for God 46,47 A meek man a good Neighbour in what respects 48 49. N NAture is corrupted and must be renewed 571 O OCcasions of sin must be avoided 787 Obedience must be universal 8 9 P PAtience of God wonderful 467 Gods Patience amplified in twelve considerations 467 to 476 The causes of Gods patience 476,477 The Application of Gods patience 485 The vanity of Pride 795,796 Christians must look to the Principles of their ordinary actions 50 51 Men must pay what they owe. 20 Payments must be in good money 21 Q ITs good for Christians sometimes to put Questions to their own souls 524 The manner how they should do it 546 547 The benefit of it in four particulars 525 526 R REgeneration necessary 695 Christians should rejoyce in others graces 308 The credit of Religion much engaged in a Christians publique dealings 11 to 61 It s the duty of Saints to reprove them that sin 165 188 285 286 Reproof must be given seriously seasonably prudently compassionately 191 to 204 It s a Christians duty to take a reproof kindly 302 to 306 Christians ought to be righteous in their dealings with all men 15 In their works 16,64,65 In buying 17 18 19 Wherein Righteousness in buying consisteth 20 21,65 Christians ought to be righteous in selling 22 Wherein it consisteth 23 24,25,66,67 The general rule of righteousness 27,69 Christianâ— ought to be righteous in their words 34,70 S SAtan a strong crafty industrious and cruel enemy 336 to 339 Sinful shame what 174 Christians must be righteous in selling 22 It s a sin to work upon the ignorance or poverty of the Seller 18 19 Its a duty to visit the sick 554 557 Great caution about it 555 It s a special season of doing and receiving good 559 560 It may be the last opportunity 565 We must be acquainted with the state of sick persons souls 568 Sutable application must be made to the sick 570 Five things cheifly to be insisted on to the carnal sick 571 to 576 How to apply our selves to civil men in sickness 577 Three great lessons all should learn by sickness 579 How to apply our selves to Saints in their sickness 578 We must deal faithfully with the sick 581 It s a duty to pray with and for the sick 582 Much good may be gotten by visiting the sick 584 We may learn our own frailty the worth of health the price of time the excellency of grace 585 to 588 Sinful silence what 165 What it is to be silent in evil times 168 Sin to be suppressed in the beginning 799 Open sins worse then secret in a threefold respect 13 God hates sin 467 How many ways we may partake of other mens sins by provocation complyance Silence 164 165 186 No true friendship betwixt Saints and Sinners 104 108 141 142 Christians should be careful of their carriage amongst sinners 155 Christians should not needlesly accompany with sinners 111. Vide company In what respect Sinners are said to be without 155 Sinners joyn hand in hand to oppose the interest and Kingdom of Christ. 153 What it is to sit with vain persons 112 Slothful Christians must be quickened 282 Soliloquies a duty 432 It s a Christians duty to be holy in Solitude 354,355 The danger of neglecting our watch in Solitude 362 The great benefit of seasonable Solitude 357 To make conscience of our carriage in Solitude is a good sign of sincerity 365. Wherein it consisteth 369 c. In guarding the heart against vain thoughts 369 In spiritualizing earthly objects 372 In solemn Meditations 388 In Soliloquies 432 Secret Ejaculations 435 The evil of needless Solitude 257 The sorrowful must be comforted 283 T CHristians must be thankful for restraining grace 180 181 Vain thoughts must be watcht against 369 Time is precious and must be redeemed 263,264,578 Trees teach men ten lessons 460 to 464 V VAin thoughts what 370 Unrighteousness a sign of Hypocrisie 7,8 58 The folly of unrighteous men 25 28 to 34 W THe life of man compared to a Walk 1 The life of a Christian to a walk with God 2 In what respects a Christians life is said to be a walking in the light 2,3 Christians must watch 514 Watchfulness requisite in evil company 155 160 161 Watchfulness a great help to Godliness 734 Great reason for watchfulness 741 We must watch against sin 741. for doing good ibid. in duties 742. after duties ibid. our senses ibid. our tongues 743. our heart especially 744 Every Week-day to be devoted to God 488 Motives to it 490 to 496. Wherein it consisteth In beginning the day with God 496 Diligence in our callings 511 Redeeming time 518 Constant watchfulness 514 Self Examination 523 Evening duties 527 Our words should be the language of our hearts 34 The excellency of the Word of God largely described in its four causes 398 c. The Word of God is true 412. holy 408. perfect 411. powerful 410 Why the Word of God is compared to light 416 Why to rain 419 World not to be loved 821 The vanity of worldly things 824 Worldly things unsutable to our souls 8. 8. unsatisfying 830. deceitful 828. vexatious 832. Z ZEal what it is 179 Christians should be Zealous ibid. FINIS These Books following are Printed for and sold by Thomas Park-hurst as the three Crowns at the lower end of Cheap-side over-against the great Conduit Folio's THe History of the Evangelical Churches of the Valleys of Piedmont By Sam. Mâ—rland A Commentary upon Iob Psalms Proverbs Ecclâ—siâ—stes and the Song of Songs By Iohn Mayâ—r Exemplary Novels a famous Romance An Exposition upon the first Epistle of Iohn By Iohn Cotton An Exposition upon the second Epistle to the Corinthians By Rich. Sibs The bowels of tender mercy sealed
hands of the living God for our God is a consuming fire They know his fury is terrible intolerable none can abide it no sinner can avoid it therefore they hate sin the object of it and flie to Christ who delivereth from it O what a work a gracious sanctifying work doth the knowledge of God make in the soul It makes the understanding to esteem him above all the will to chose him before all the affections to desire him to delight in him more then all the whole man to seek him to serve him to honour and praise him beyond all in Heaven and earth What is the reason that God is so much loved admired and worshipped and glorified in his Church when all the World besides despise him but this In Judah is God known his name is great in Israel Psa. 76. 1. O Reader be confident of this the more thou knowest of the excellencies of God the more thou wilt prize his Son submit to his spirit crucifie the flesh contemn the world fear to offend him study to please him the more holy thou wilt be in all manner of conversation Hence the main work of Christs prophetical office was to reveal God to the world And the Devils great work is to keep men from this knowledge of God knowing that it will tend so exceedingly to their sanctification and holiness and to the overthrow of his interest The Miller mufleth and blindeth his Horse that draweth his Mill and thereby keeps him at his round deceiving him in making him to think he goeth forward The first work of the Philistines was to put out Sampsons eyes and then they made him grind at their Mill and make them sport The Eagle saith Pliny Nat. Hist. lib. 10. cap. 20. before he setteth upon the Hart rolleth himself in the Sand and then flyeth at the Staggs head and by fluttering his wings so dustieth his eyes that he can see nothing and then striketh him with his Talons where he listeth Satan darkneth mens understandings and thereby commandeth their wills and affections and destroyeth the whole man If our Gospel be hid it is hid to them that perish whom the God of this world hath blinded their minds lest the light of the glorious Gospel of Christ who is the Image of God should shine unto them 2 Cor. 4. 4 5. When men are spoken in Scripture to be vicious and prophane they are onely said not to know the Lord and there is no knowledge of God in the land Ier 4 22. Hos. 4â— 1. and when God undertakes in his Covenant of Grace to sanctifie and make men holy he is said to put his knowledge in their hearts and his promise is They shall all know me from the least to the greatest Heb. 10. Ier. 31.34 And they that would grow in grace are commanded in order thereunto to grow in knowledge 2 Pet. 3. 18. Ignorance is the mother of all irreligion of all atheism Ephes. 4. 18. They are alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them because of the blindness of their hearts As Owles sinners may see in the night of this world have some knowledge in worldly affairs but they cannot see in the day are ignorant of spiritual of heavenly things Sin like the pestilence David speaks of walketh in the dark Psa. 91.5 And Satan is the enemy that soweth his tares by night This is one cause why sin is called a work of darkness It is from that darkness which is in mens understandings that they turn their backs upon God and run upon their own eternal ruines It were impossible for the rational creature to be so desperately mad as to play with the wrath of God and slight the love of God to neglect his mercy and despise his justice if they did but know God When Princes go incognitâ—s in a disguise and aâ—e unknown then they are disesteemed Hence they who are obstinately prophane and resolved on wickedness say unto God Depart from us we desire not the knowledge of thy ways Job 21. 14. The hooded Hawk that seeth not the Partridge will never flye after it The Israelites pitched in Mithkah which signifieth sweetness before they removed to Cashmonah which signifieth swiftness They onely who know the sweetness of God will flye to him with swiftness Ignoti nulla cupido He who knoweth the Allsufficiency of God will never turn to the Creature even as the Bee if it did not find honey enough in one flower would never hasten to another Those that are ignorant of God abound in all manner of Atheism and wickedness The Families which know not God will not call on his name There is no truth no mercy but lying and stealing and swearing and killing where there is no knowledge of God Hos. 4. 1 2. 'T is no wonder to see blind men stumble and fall and break their limbs I do not marvail to see ignorant men who know not God to live without him to turn him out of their hearts and houses as if they had no dependance on him or ingagements to him Whence is it that men are regardless of their souls and eternal estates that they dance over the unquenchable lake and are merry and jovial at the very brink of destruction that they despise the God that made them preserveth them bought them and hath them in his hands and at his mercy every moment that they slight his Son his Spirit his Law his Love his wrath his promises of eternal life as if they were things of no value and rather fit to be trampled on then esteemed that they can lye down and sleep and rise up and eat and dâ—ink and follow their sports and pleasures and laugh and sing under the guilt of sin and curse of the Law and infinite wrath of the Lord but their ignorance of God Ah did they but know his holiness his Jealousie his Power his Justice they they would sâ—oner undergo any misery that men could inflict on them then incur his anger or provoke him to jealousie they would never neglect â—is Worship or put him off with a few heartless prayers Ludentes cum Deo ut pueri cum suis puppis as Calvin hath it Playing with him as children with their babies when they come immediately to his presence and pretend to seek his face The holy times under the Gospel wherein the people of God shoâ—ld be of one heaâ—t are spoken of as proceeding from this cause The earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as waters cover the sea Isa. 11.9 The perfection of grace and holiness in heaven will be the effect in part of this knowledge of God When we shall see him perfectly we shall be perfectly like him 1 Ioh. 3.2 Reader be perswaded therefore to study this knowledge of God think no labour too much for itâ— pray and read and hear and confer and mourn that thou mayst know God Beleive it it is a jewel that will pay thee well for all
thy pains Encline thine ear unto wisdome and apply thy heart unto understanding Yea if thou cryest after knowledge and liftest up thy voice for understanding If thou seekest her as silver and searchest for her as for hid treasures Then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God For the Lord giveth wisdom and out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding Prov. 2. ver 2 3 4 5 6. Did men but spend that time and strength about the knowledge of God which they spend in endeavouring to raise their families and advance their parties and interest and to suppress them that in their apprehensions stand in their way we should quickly have a Nation as famous for peace and love and holiness as now it is notorious for divisions and prophaness CHAP. XIII Means whereby Christians may exercise themselves to Godliness A contented Spirit Avoiding those things that hinder Godliness THirteenthly If thou woulst exercise thy self to Godliness Labour to get a contented frame of heart A setled fixed frâ—m of heart as to all outward occurrences is like Ballast to a Ship which will help it to sail trim in all waters whereas a discontented spirit is as a light smal boat in the Ocean tossed about with every blast and always in danger of drowning I doubt not but the great Apostles diligence to learn this lesson perfectly I have learned in what state soever I am to be contented I know how to be abasâ—d and how to abound Philip. 4. 12. was a special means of his extraordinary growth and proficiency in grace It is generally observed that peevish persons whom nothing pleaseth are usually lean and thin in their bodies but those who are of chearful tempers and not overmuch troubled with any disasters are thriving and healthful The discontented soul whom eveâ—y heat or cold above ordinary puts into a fright or fever will rather decline then increase in his spiritual health but the Christian who is ever chearful in his God and Saviour and lives about these lower things as one indifferent about them will never be hindered by them in his work of holiness As a sickly man is hindered in his journey by every storm and ready to run to an House or stand under an Hedge at every shower so is a discontented person ready to turn aside or stand still at every unexpected providence when a contented man like a lusty resolved travellar keeps on his course whatsoever weather comes Godliness requires a contented mind to grow in 1 Tim. 6. 6. It is said of the Pelican that she is caught by the Shephards in this manner They lay fire not far from her nest which she finding and fearing the danger of her young seeks to blow out with her wings so long till she burns her self and makes her self a prey out of foolish pity to her young So many men out of unwise pity to their relations and possessions when they are at any time in danger for want of this contented spirit and qâ—iet submission to infinite wisdom trouble themselves so much and so long about them till they make themselves a prey to Satan and no whit preserve or secure those persons or things about which they are so immoderately anxious and sollicitous Whilst we are in this world we must expect various winds some sharp some warm some nipping some refreshing some with us some against us and unless we are prepared for all by an holy pliableness we shall be injured by every one Every strong wind whether with us or against us will be ready to overturn us if we want this ballast There is no condition in this life so blessed as to afford the perfection of content and yet there is no estate in this life so wretched but a Christian may be contented with it If thou hast as much as thou wantest thou hast as much as in reason thou desirest and therefore hast cause to be contented The way to true Riches saith Plato is not to increase our heaps but to diminish the covetousness of our hearts It were well for the world saith another if there were no Gold in it but since its the Fountain whence all things flow it s to be desired but onely as a pass to travail to our journeys end without begging Every man is rich or may be so if he will equal his mind to his estate and be but poor in his desires He that hath most wants somthing as Haman when he had the commander of one hundred and twenty Provinces at command He that hath least wants nothing if he want not a contented spirit He that can bring his heart to an even poize in all providences will avoid many temptations and escape many snares in which others are entangled The want of this renders many a mans life as unserviceable to God as uncomfortable to himself The discontented person like the Sea is seldom seen without storms and tempests A small mattâ—r puts him out of order and joynt and so unfits him for spiritual actions As hot Iron the smallest drop sets him a hissing like a rufled skein of silk every way taken to compose him entangleth him Discontent like Ink poured into a Bottle of Water turns all into blackness O Frind beware of it It hinders from praying A discontented man will rather poure out his passions then any sober prayers before the Lord. It hinders examining our selves Though quiet and calm waters will like a glass if we look into it shew us the image and likeness of our selves yet troubled and muddy waters will make no such representation Though the heart when calm and contented may shew us the face and features of our souls yet if muddied by discontent they cannot do it It hinders from hearing The noise of passion drowns the voice of the Preacher Men must with meekness receive the ingrafted word if they desire it should save their souls Iam. 1. When a Fountain is troubled there can no Water be drawn out of it but what is filthy and unsavoury When a person is discontented all his duties are distasâ—eful and unacceptable to God Therefore Christ more then once diswads his Disciples from it Let not your hearts be troubled Let not your heart be troubled neither let it be afraid Joh. 14. 1 27. Diogenes resolved since many evils would befal him to keep himself steady in all he would oppose Resolution to Fortune Nature to the Law his Reason to his Affections But the Christian hath a better guide and better grounds for contentedness There be several thoughts which may quiet and compose the heart in all occurents 1. That Infinite wisdom ordaineth whatsoever befalleth me and the present condition that I am in is ever best for me If a greater portion of outward good things had been good for me I had had it my Father is not so careless of his Children as to deny them any thing that is good for them and if it be not good for me why