it by thy providence water it with the showres of thy grace and so quicken it with the beams of thy favour that it may bring forth much fruit to thy glory I Wish that I may like Enoch walk so with my God in all my actions whilst I walk amongst men that in thy good time my soul may be translated and I may not see death either as the wicked in this World do with terrour or as the damned in the other World do in torment to their everlasting woe Lord thou art Jehovah Tsidkenu the Lord my righteousness be pleased to cloath my person with the robe of thy Sons imputed righteousness that my nakedness may not appear before Men and Angels to my eternal shame let all my actions be covered with the garment of thy Spirits imparted righteousness that they may be acceptable and amiable in thine eye Let thy grace so fill my heart that godliness may be visible in my hands and I may thereby draw others towards Heaven Thou hast said Behold I make all things new what wilt thou then do with this old corrupt nature of mine O Renew that or nothing will be new to my comfort O God create a clean heart and renew a right Spirit within me I know the time will come that thou wilt create new Heavens and new Earth wherein shall dwell righteousness My body is the Earth and my soul is the Heaven which thou hast already made but might thy servant prevail with thy Majesty to create my soul thy new Heavens and my body thy new Earth wherein may dwell righteousness how infinitely should I be bound tâ— thy distinguishing mercy Thy hands have made me and fashioned me O give me understanding that I may keep thy Commandements Were my soul bespangled with the glorious stars of thy graces and my body embroydered and curiously wrought so as to be the Temple of thy Spirit then indeed thou mightest reâ—lect upon what thou hadst made with complacency for behold it would be very good Hast thou not made the great World for man and the little World Man for thy self When shall I be so pure as to invite thy presence and so sanctified as to be set apart from all others and to be only for thy service O make it appear that I am thy workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works which thoâ— hast before ordained that I should walk in them If thou pleasest to set forth this Heaven and Earth this little Epitome of the creation in a new edition I know it would be done in so fair a Character as to delight thine eyes and to raviâ—h the hearts of all that behold it T is confest the Copy was perfect when it came out of thy hands there was no unrighteousness or impatience not the least blot or blemish in it but my Parents who transmitted the book to the world through their unfaithfulness filled it from the beginning to the end with errors Adam begat a Son in his own likeness after his Image The first sheet went off the press through his cursed falseness and negligence imperfect and full of faults and the many millions that followed have still retained the same defects Yet Lord since thy Son was at the cost of a new impression Let it please thee for his sake to be at the pains of correctâ—ing this volume so effectually that those who look into it may read righteousness courtesie meekness faith humility patience heavenly-mindedness printed in so large a Letter free from the former errors that they may so like it as to embrace and imitate it O then I shall be assured that at the general Resurrection when thy last hand shall pass on me and I shall be published in the newest and last edition none of those blots and blurs wherewith I have defiled it shall be found in it but thy Image shall be printed on me in such a lovely Character and in so perfect a manner that thou wilt delight in me and I in thee for ever and ever Amen CHAP. II. How Christians may exercise themselves to Godliness in the Choice of their Companions SEcondly Thy duty is to make Religion thy business and to exercise thy self to Godliness in relation to thy Company Man saith the Great Philosoper is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 natures good-fellow as one Englisheth it a creature in love with Company Cosmographers observe that the farthest Islands of the World are so seated that there is none so remote but that from some shore of it another Island or Continent may be discovered as if nature hereby invited Countries to mutual commerce God never intended that the World should be a wilderness nor the chief inhabitants thereof as barbarous Beasts to live alone lurking in their Monksâ— and Nuns and Hermits who under pretence of Sanctity sequester themselves from all society are so far from more holiness and being better Christians then others that they seem to have put off the very humane nature and not to be so much as Men. Vnclean nasty persons love to be always private and by their good will would neither seeâ— nor be seen of others Birds of Prey flye always alone and Ravenous Brutes come not abroad till others are retired Psa. 104. 23. Our very senses speak that God would have us sociable nay it s the natural voice of our tongues for our speech and hearing and sight would be in a great degree lost and our Makers end in giving us those Organs and Instruments for converse much frustrated if every man should immure himself in his own Cell The graces and spiritual riches of Saints would in some measure be useless if they did not deal with some to whom they might distribute them The Law of man condemneth ingrossers of external goods and the Law of God condemneth ingrossers of spiritual good things They who study to Monopolize all to themselves undo others As the World shall never want poor men that the wealthy may always have objects of Charity and opportunities of laying out and improving those talents which are committed to their trust so the world shall never be without needy Christians that those who are rich in grace may have fit objects and occasions of imploying their gifts The Moralists axiom is right Omne bonum quo communius eo melius Every good thing is so much the better as it hath many sharers in it In this sense there is a truth in that It is not good for man to be alone Not that it was a formal evil but inconvenient Infinite wisdom hath so dispenced his gifts and graces that no man is so sterile but he hath something wherewith to profit others nor any man so furnished and fruitful but he standeth in need of others help The Head cannot say to the Foot much-less the Foot to the Head I have no need of thee The King himself who seemeth to have least want cannot subsist without the meanest workmen even them that grind
jealous God to call him to an account Secondly Consider Gods eye is all the day long upon thee and therefore thou hadst need to be all the day long in his aâ—e It was a frequent speech of Seneca Vbicunque eo quodcunque ago Demetrium circumfero Wheresoever I go whatsoever I do I carry Demetrius along with me Thou mayst upon better grounds say Whatsoever I think or speak or act wheresoever I go whither to my Closet or Shop or Field or Neighbours Houses I have an holy jealous God along with me Thou mayst write over every room which thou enterest into Thou God seest me and call it by the like name which Hagar did the Well Beerâ—la-haroi The Well of him that liveth and seeth me Thou hast in all the passages of the day that God with thee who takes notice of and will reckon with thee for every passage Thou mayst call every place thou comest into Bethel or Penuel I have seen God in this house or God is in this place He is not like Iupiter of Creet whom some pictured without ears and publish never to be at leasure to take notice of small matters He is all eye all ear He observeth the greatest the smallest things and actions As the Optick vertue in the eye he seeth all and is seen of none Cicero tells us the King of Lydaea had a ring which when he turned the head of it to the palm of his hand he was invisible to others and yet others were visible to him The eyes of the Lord are in every place beholding the evil and the good though none hath seen God at any time nor can see him As a well-drawn picture which way soever you turn your self it seems to have its eye still upon you and to follow you God doth that really which the Picture doth seemingly he beholds every person and every action with so direct a face as if he beheld none or nothing else Reader It concerns thee to be every day pious who art all the day long in so holy a Gods presence I have kept thy precepts saith David for all my ways are before thee Psa. 119. 68. The Scholar will ply his Book when his Master is present though he play and prate in his absence The Thief will not steal when the Iudge looketh on He that was accused to force the Queen before the Kings face had a Gallows for his end If the eye of good or great men will prevail with us to be handsom and comely in our behaviour and carriage how holy should they always be that are ever in the presence of the infinite God who is cloathed with Majesty as with a garment and who is so holy that the Heavens are unclean in his sight If a King sitting upon his throne sâ—attereth evil with his eye how much more should the eye of a God! Prov. 15. The Sun locally in Heaven is virtually on Earth its light heat influence over-spreadeth the face of Sea and Land He that shuts his eyes and will not see the light of it doth feel its heat and influence Its presence scattereth Clouds and Mists and Fogs Though Gods glorious and most joyful presence be in Heaven his real essential and gratious presence is on earth they who put out the eyes of their reason and conscience and will not see him do yet feel him in their beings and blesâ—ings for in him they live and move and have their beings Shall not his presence disperse those clouds of sin which would obscure his glory and hinder the light of his countenance from shining on us SECT II. AS to the exercising thy self to Godliness on a week-day though what I have write in former Chapters in this and the two former Parts hath much prevented me yet I shall commend to the Reader six particulars First Begin the day with God Never expect a good day unless you begin with a good duty He hath the best good-morrow who meets Ged first in the morning Though some sunshiny mornings are overcast before night yet the Heavens are usually all day clear to him that sets out early in the way of Gods commandements The mind retains a tincture all day of its first serious exercise in the morning When the right Watch or Clock is wound up well in the morning it will be regularly going and moving all day after He that loseth his heart in the morning in a throng of worldly affairs seldom finds it to purpose in any part of the day It was the honoâ—r of Rusticuâ— that though Letters were brought him from Caesar he refused to open them till the Philosopher had done his lecture Surely the worship of the blessed God is of more worth in it self and of more concernment to us then any moral Philosophical Doctrines to him or any affairs whatsoever and therefore ought to be first minded and performed As soon as thou awakest lift up thine heart to Heaven Great and Noble persons are usually first served Though others that are our inferiours wait out leisure our Superiours have the precedency of our time Let the first Messenger thou sendest forth be sent to the Lord of thy life to present thy humble service and thanks to him for his providence over thee and the rest and refreshment he hath afforded thee the last night Thou mayst say with the Psalmiâ—t I laid me down and slept I awaked for the Lord sustained me For except the Lord keepeth the City the watchman waketh but in vain He giveth his beloved sleep Psa. 3. 5. and 127. 1 2. Be mindful also in some short ejaculation to beg his guidance protection and blessing all the ensuing day For 't is he that can make an hedge about thee thine house and all that thou hast If he bless the work of thine hands thy substance will increase in the Land Iob 1. 10. This small taste of ejaculatory prayer will quicken thine appetite after a full meal of â—et and solemn devotion If thou canst after this keep thy mind intent whilst thou art dressing thy self on some divine subject thou wilt be much the more fit for thy secret duties and in a fair way to walk with thy God all the day The next thing I would advise thee to or rather Câ—rist enjoyneth Enter into thy Closet and when thou hast shut thy Door pray to thy Father which is in secret and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly Here is 1. A Precept to secret prayer Pray to thy Father in secret The Priest was every morning to renew the Fire on the Altar and to offer Sacrifice And they offered burnt-offerings unto the Lord even burnt-offerings morning and Evening And they offered the daily burnt-offerings offerings by number according to the custome as the duty of every day required Ezra 3. 3 4. So also in Davids time Asaph and his Brethren ministred before the Ark continually as every days work required 1 Chron. 16. 33. Solomon took after his Father 2 Chron.
strong This Sampson of death can fetch meat out of the eater and out of the strong sweetness Deaths harbinger sickness which prepareth its way before it will make me melt like Wax before the Sun though my strength were the strength of stones and my flesh as brass Fresh Flowers are cropt in their pride and greatest beauty The Autumn of death comes ordinarily before the winter of old age Besides I am liable every day to many sudden accidents and unexpected surprisals How many die in their Shops or Fields or in the Church or Streets as well as others in their beds All men do not go out of the world at the fore door of sickness many at the back-door of a violent death When my blood frisketh merrily in my veins and light sparkleth gloriously in mine eyes when my countenance is most fresh and lovely and my senses are most quick and lively even then aâ— my best estate I am altogether vanity I may draw a long line of life because nature may afford radical moysture enough for it when death lieth in ambush like a theif in the candle and wasteth all on a sudden Should I as the rich fool reckon falsly to a million when I cannot count truly to one and promise my self many days when my soul may be required of me this night how gross is my delusion Ah how sad how fatal is that error that can never be mended The time past is gone and never never to be called back All my prayers and tears all the revenues of the world cannot regain the last moment The time to come is Gods not mine own It is not in my hands therefore I have no reason to reckon upon it I am both foolish and dishonest if I dispose of anothers goods Reversions are uncertain and he may well be poor that hath no estate but what he hath in hope or rather presumption Lord thou reckonest my life not by ages no not by years but by days thou hast told me that my days are few my time is little though my work be great I acknowledge my proneness to put far from me my dying day whereby I gratifie my grand enemy in drawing nigh to the seat of iniquity O help thy servant to live every day as if it were his last day Grant that I may live well and much though my life be little and short because there is no day of my life in which I can promise my self security from the arrest of Death let me expect it every day and every hour of every day that when ever my Lord shall come I may be found well-doing I Wish that since the eye of my God is ever on me my eye may be ever on him and I may be so pious as to carry my self all the day long as in his presence What ever I do my God observeth whatever I speak my God heareth whatever I think he knoweth I may call every place I come into Mizpeh The Lord watcheth and observeth Ah how holy should he be who hath always to do with so pure and jealous a Majesty The Iews were to dig and cover the natural excrements of their bodies because the Lord their God walked in the midst of their camp Sin is the spiritual excrement of my soul and infinitely more odious and loathsom to my God O how watchful should I be against it who walk ever in his company The Sun is said by some to be all eye because it hath a thousand beams in every place it filleth the largest windows and peepeth in at the smallest key-hole it shineth on the Princes Pallace and the Poor mans Cottage the Heavens above the Earth beneath and Air between it looks on every person with so direct a countenance as if it beheld none beside The natural Sun is darkness to the Sun of righteousness the whole world to him is a sea of glass he seeth it thorough and thorough The Watch-maker knoweth all the wheels and pins and motions in the Watch He that made me cannot be ignorant of me nor of any thing in me or done by me Whether I be in my Shop or Closet Abroad or at Home in Company or Alone the Hand of my God is with me and the Eye of my God upon me O that I could set him ever before me and set my self ever before him that I could always see him who always seeth me and like a Sun-dyal so receive this Sun in the morning as to go along with him all the day Lord thou searchest and knowest me thou knowest my down-sitting and uprising thou understandest my thoughs afar off Thou compassest my paths and lying down and art acquainted with all my ways For there is not a word in my tongue but O Lord thou knowest it altogether Whither shall I go from thy Spirit and whither shall I flee from thy presence If I ascend up to Heaven thoâ— art there If I make my bed in Hell behold thou art there If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the utmost parts of the Sea even there shall thy hand lead me and thy right hand shall hold me If I say surely the darkness shall cover me even the night shall be light about me Yea the darkness hideth not from thee but the night shineth as the day The darkness and the light are both alike to thee O teach me to walk before thee and to be upright I Wish that the end of all my days may be the beginning of every day that my first thoughts in the morning may be of him by whom alone I think The Firstling under the Law was to be the Lords and why not the first fruits of every day under the Gospel Surely the worthiness of the person deserves precedency of dispatch It is no mean incivility to let an honourable man wait our leasure what impiety is it then to let the great God stay till the dreggy flesh or world be served Ah how unworthy as well as wicked is it to put that God off who deserves all I am and have with the leavings of his slaves Besides the soul usually walks up and down all day in the same habit in which it is dressed in the morning The day is usually spent well or ill according to the morning employment If Satan get possession in the morning t will be many to one but he keeps his hold all day What youth is to age that is the morning to the day if youth be not tainted with vice age is imployed in vertue He that loves chastity will not marry her that spent her youth in whordom A man may give a shrewd guess in the morning when second causes are in working what weather will be most part of the day If I set out early in my heavenly journey I am the more likely to persevere in it all the day As some sweet Oyls poured into a Vessel first will cause whatsoever is put into it afterwards to taste and
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
of Christ do all give thee daily occasion to mingle thy bread with ashes and thy drink with weeping What is this world that thou art so fond of it Thy God calls it a Sea of glass mingled with fire Rev. 15. 2. A Sea for its turbulency it s never at rest but ebbs and flows continually though sometimes more sometimes less Its work is to bubble up mire and dirt especially on them who are chosen out of the world A Sea of glass for its fragility All its pomp and pride on a sudden vanisheth Glass is both easily and irrecoverably broken in peices A Sea of glass mingled with fire for the fiery and dreadful miseries that befal men in it All its apparent comforts are mingled with real crosses In Heaven there is solace without the least grain of sorrow In Hell there is mourning without the smallest dram of mirth but on Earth there is no estate without mixture The Saints have joy in God but if need be they are in heaviness through manifold tribulations 1 Pet. 1. 6. The merry sinners in the midst of their pleasures have their hearts heavy Some of the wiser Heathen were so sensible of humane miseries that one of them when Ancient told his Scholar that if it were offered him to be young again he would not accept if Saints of all men must expect a large draught of sufferings The world is their enemy and raiseth all its forces against them If I be a Disciple I must look to follow my Master in bearing his Cross O my soul why shouldst thou hug that which hates thee and doat on this world which is neither a fit match for thee as being unsutable to thy nature nor if she were can be faithful to thee being made up of wavering and inconstancy Or secondly Is it the pain of death that thou art so frighted at Surely the fear of it is the greatest torment How many have felt greater pain in divers diseases as in the Stone or Strangury or Collick then in a dying hour Some of Gods Children have felt very little pain in the judgement of those that have seen them dying The waters of Jordan though rough to others have stood still when the Ark was to pass over But though I were sure my pain should be sharp yet I am as sure it shall be short In a moment in the twinckling of an eye I shall be transported over the gulp of misery into endless glory My pangs will be almost as soon gone as come Sorrow will endure but for a short night joy will come in the morning If I were assured of a great purchase made for me in Spain or Turky which upon my first comming over I should enjoy would I not adventure a passage through the boistrous Ocean to take possession My Saviour hath made a larger a better purchase for me in Heaven He is gone before to prepare a place for me My passage thither though it may be more painful is less perillous It s impossible for me to miscarry in it O why am I so slothful to go in and possess the good Land Surely the pleasures of the end may well sweeten the ways to it were they never so bitter With what chearfulness do some women undergo their sharp throws and hard labours supported with this cordial that a child shall thereby be born to them O how infinitely inferiour is the joy of a man child brought forth into this world to the joy of a sanctified soul brought out of this world into Heaven Again I have a tender Father who knoweth my frame and will lay no more upon me living or dying then he will enable me to bear He hath said it I will never leave thee nor forsake thee O my soul thou hast little reason to dread a contest with this enemy for this cause Thou mayst contentedly undergo a little pain to go to thy dearest Lord when many a sinner hath suffered greater to satisfie his hellish lust Thirdly Is it thy future condition that makes thee unwilling to dye Dost thou not know that death is thy portal through which thou shalt pass into the true Paradise It s the straight gate through which thou shalt enter into life Though its the wicked mans shipwrack which swalloweth him up in an Ocean of wrath and torment yet it s the Saints putting into harbour where he is received with the greatest acclamation and richest welcom imaginable Travellers who have met with many dangers and troubles in their journeys rejoyce when they come near their own Country I am a Pilgrim here and used or rather abused as a stranger shall I not be glad when I come near my blessed home my eternal happy habitation Children in some parts when they first behold the Stork the messenger of the Spring testifie their joy with pleasant and loud shoutings O why shouldst not thou lift up thy head with joy when sickness the fore-runner of death is come to bring thee tidings that the Winter of thy misery and cold and hardships is past and the Summer of thine eternal light and joy and pleasure is at hand Thy death may well be a Free-will-offering considering that though the ashes of the sacrifice thy body fall to the earth yet that divine flame thy immortal spirit shall ascend to Heaven In death nothing dyeth of thee but what thou mayst well spare thy sin and sorrows When the house is pulled to peices all those Ivy roots in the wall shall be destroyed The Egg-shell must be broken that the little chick may slip out Thy body must be dissolved that thy â—oul may be delivered Yet thy body doth not dye but sleep in the bed of the grave till the morning of the resurrection That outward apparel shall not be utterly consumed by the moth of time but lockt up safe as in a chest to be new trimmed and gloriously adorned above the Sun in his greatest lustre and put on again when thou shalt awake in the morning never never to put off more O that I could so live that I might not only be always ready but also when God calls me desirous to dye If I borrow any thing of my Neighbour I pay it back with thanks My life is Gods he lends it me for a time Why should I not when he calls for it restore it with thanks that he hath been pleased to lend it me so long Lord thy Children love thee dearly and believe that when they come home to thee thou wilt entertain them kindly yet their flesh like Lots Wife is still â—ankering after the Sodom of this World and loath they are to leave it though it be for their exceeding gain Give thy servant such true faith in thy Son that I may neither love life nor fear death immoderately but as the heart of Jacob revived when he saw the Wagons which Joseph sent to fetch him to Egypt so my heart may leap for joy to behold the heavenly Chariot which the Son of
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
with Mithridates they were so eager after their prey that thereby they missed taking the King who could not otherwise have escaped their hands Ah! how foolish art thou if through thy violent pursuit of a perishing world thou shouldst lose an eternal kingdom As Constantinople was lost through the covetousness of the Citizens so is the crown of life and glory the City that hath a foundation through mens eager endeavours after earthly things The beloved Disciple doth not unfitly represent all the beauties and glories and excellencies of this lower world under the name and notion of the Moon which is ever in changes and never looks upon us twice with the same face and when it is at the fullest is blemished with a dark spot and next door to declining Rev. 12. 1. An old man of Brasil discoursing with the Merchants of France and Portugal and perceiving the long and dangerous voyages which they took to get riches asked them If men did not dye with them as well as in other Countries They told him Yea. He asked them who should possess their riches after their deaths They said their Children if they had any if not their next kindred Now saith the old man I perceive ye are fools for what necessity is there for you to pass the troublesome Seas wherein so many perish and to run so many hazards Is not the earth that brought you up sufficient to bring up your children and kindred also We have children and kindred that are likewise dear to us but when we consider that the earth which nourisheth us is sufficient to nourish them we rest satisfied That busie Bee and great trouble-world Alexander had a tart yet wise reproof from Diogenes when being taken with the Philosophers witty answers he bade him ask what he would and he would give it him The Philosopher desired him to grant him the smallest portiou of immortality Alexander said that is not in my power to give Then saith the Philosopher Why doth Alexander take such pains and make such sâ—ir to conquer the world when he cannot assure himself of one moment to enjoy it Ah! why should thou neglect thy God and Christ and soul and eternal good and tyre and weary thy self night and day for these unsatisfying comforts which may leave thee to morrow and of which thou canst not secure the enjoyment of one moment If God complain of wicked men and threatens them with fierce wrath and fiery indignation for selling the righteous for silver and the poor for a pair of shoes and would make them know that he valued his people at an higher price and would not suffer them to be sold at such a rate What will become of thee if thou shouldst sell thy soul thy salvation thy God thy Christ for silver for vain unsatisfying corruptible silver when their value is above millions of worlds O take heed that thou dost not cast away thy self for such transitory trifles Let not the Worlds venison cause thee to lose thy Fathers blessing T was a poor change of Glaucus to exchange gold for copper but O what a sad exchange wilt thou make to exchange heaven for earth the endless fruition of the blessed God for a moments enjoyment of creatures Thou wouldst condemn that Mariner of folly who seeing a Fish in the water should leap into the Sea to caâ—ch it which together with his life he loseth What a fool art thou for mortal comforts to lose an immortal crown The women of Corinth saith an ancient Father did set up Tapers at the birth of every child with proper names upon each of them and that Taper which lasted longest in burning had its proper name transferred to the Child God himself gives the highest and richest though conceited worldling his name Thou fool this night c. Nabal is his name and folly is with him The plain truth is the world is the ruine and destruction of men Its pleasures and honours make the sinner merry and jolly as the hearb Sardonia the eater who eating dyeth They that will be rich fall into temptations and snares and many hurtful lusts which drown men in perdition 1 Tim. 6. 9. The world serveth its darlings as that tyrannous Emperor did his servants let them through a sliding floor into a Chamber â—ull of Roses that being smothered in them they might meet the bitterness of death in sweetness O do not spend thy strength for that which is not bread but hearken to Christ and thou shalt eat that which is good and thy soul shall delight it self in fatness Isa. 55.3,4 Secondly Consider the brevity of thy life He who hath but a little time and a great task must work hard or his work will not be done The Birds know their time and improve it in some Countries the shorter the days are the faster they flye Heathen have been sensible of this Theophrastus cryed out on his dying bed Ars longa vita brevis Time was short and not sufficient for humane arts and sciences Seneca saith of himself Nullus mihi per otium exiit dies partem noctis studiis devovi I lose no day through idleness but even devote part of the night to my studies The very Devils follow their cursed trade with the greater diligence knowing that their time is short Rev. 12. 12. Now Reader Consider how few thy days are What is your life even a vapour a coming and a going a flood and an ebbe and then thou art in the Ocean of eternity I have read of one that being asked What life was was answered answerless for the party of whom the question was demanded onely turned his back and went away We come into the world and take a turn or two about in it and God saith Return ye Children of men A little child may number the days of the oldest man We project high things and lay foundations for an earthly eternity but the longest life is less then a drop to that Ocean Yet alas the most are blown off in the spring and few continue to fall off in Autumn Plutarch compareth Galba Otho and Vitellius in regard of their short reign to Kings in Tragedies which last no longer then the time in which they are represented on the Stage The River Hypanis in Scythia bringeth forth every day little bladders out of which come certain Flies which are bred in the morning fledg'd at noon and dye at night Man cometh up like a flower and is cut down he fleeth as a shadow and continueth not Job 14. 2. This short time posteth away with speed How soon do our days vanish Iob tells us that his little time made great haste to be gone My days are swifter then a Weavers shuttle Job 7. 6. The Weavers shuttle is an instrument of very swift motion and so swift that it is used for a Proverb for all things that are swift and speedy Radius Textoris dictum Proverbiale Radio velocius The Latines express it by a beam of the
Christians a prey Neither men nor devils which God hath used as his Officers and Constables to punish them had ever had such power over them had they but kept the King of Heavens peace Surely for the divisions of Sion there ought to be great searchings of heart O when shall we see the day that those glorious Gospel-promises and Prophesies shall be accomplished The Wolf also shall dwell with the Lamb and the Leopard shall lie down with the Kid the Calf and the young Lion and the fatling together and a little child shall lead them And the Cow and the Bear shall feed their young ones shall lie down together and the lion shall eat straw with the Ox And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the Asp and the weaned child shall put his hand to the Cockatrice den They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain saith the Lord Isa. 11.6,7,8,9 Isa. 65. ult One would think that heart-sprung pathetical exhortation of the Apostle should sound a retreat and call Christians off from their violent and virulent pursuit of each other If there be therâ—fore any consolation in Christ if â—ny comfort of love if any fellowship of the Spirit if any bowels and mercies Fulfill ye my joy that ye be like minded having the same love being of one accord of one minde Phil. 3. 1. 2. Reader I shall give thee two or three Motives to quicken thee to mind and frequent the Company of good men then acquaint thee wherein the exercising thy self to godliness in such Company consisteth SECT I. FIrst Consider the extraordinary good of Christian society The Children of God are like Ambergreece sweetest in composition When Flower is added to Flower and many tyed together the Posie is the more pleasant Company is in it self eligible Banishment is esteemed a civil death and counted a punishment but one remove from a natural death Hence how much hath it been bewailed not onely by a Cain Thou hast driven me this day from the face of the earth Gen. 4. 14. but even by a David I am like a Pellican of the Wilderness I am like an Owl of the Desart I watch and am as a Sparrow alone upon the house top Psa. 102. 6 7. But how much worth is the society of the Saints Christian society is like an Arch-building wherein every stone upholds its fellow which if it should not the whole would suddenly fall One hand saith Euripides can make but weak defence but as our Latine Proverb is Multorum manibus grande levatur onus Many hands make light work Several Horses may draw that weight with ease which one is not able to stir Saints help each other as the several parts of the building the Foundation bears up the Walls the Walls bear up the Roof the Rafters bear up the Laths the Laths bear up the Tiles Hence it is esteemed a priviledge to a Town or City to be made a Corporation And Merchants manage their callings not onely more orderly but also more successfully when they are once made a company Surely Paul would never have sent some hundred miles for Timothy if his company had not been of great value Dr. Taylor blessed God that ever he came into Prison to be acquainted with that Angel of God John Bradford One sinner is a Devil to another tempting and provoking each other to wickedness Therefore the Philosopher seeing two vicious persons together cryed out See how the Viper is borrowing poison of the Asp But one Saint is an Angel to another perswading and encouraging one another to holiness They take sweet counsel together and go to the house of God in company The Patriarchs removed their Habitations for the benefit of water-springs Every Saint is in some sense a Well of living water and did men but know their worth they would delight more to be with them Sure I am he that hath such a good Neighbour shall never want a Good-morrow As a Pomander Ball cast into a Censer will fill the whole house with its pleasant savour so a Christian will endeavour to perfume all that come near him How pleasant then is the favour arising from many Christians in company together The society of the Prophets is able to make even a Saul to prophesie The Pleiades which are the seven stars joyned in one constellation Canst thou bind the sweet influences of the Pleiades Job 38. 31. help one another in their work which is to bring on the Spring the best season of the year Christians in consort are an abridgement of Heaven shining like a Firmament of bright Stars not one malevolent aspect among them and they all conspire together to further a spring and new shoot of grace the best of blessings in each others hearts As Sincerity is the heart of Religion so society is the breath of Religion it helps to preserve it alive The spiritual life of the Philippians did upon their first quickening appear by this and t was also very helpful for their continuance and increase Phil. 1. 5. No Christians are so full but they stand in need of their fellows He that had as large a stock of grace as any since Christ yet could not live without commerce with others Rom. 15. 24. The goodliest house may want a shoar The Shunamite though she told the Prophet she dwelt among her own people and therefore needed not any to speak for her to the King was glad to receive that kindness by the hands of the Servant which she denyed to accept from his Master I shall mention the advantage of good Company in five particulars First By good Company sinful souls have been converted A crooked Bough joyned to a strait one groweth strait Latimer was converted from Popery by the good Company and Conference of Master Bilney The Daughters of Ierusalem came to be in love with the Bridegroom by being in company with his Bride by being acquainted with the Church they became enamoured with Christ. At first they wondered at her fondness of him that she was so impatient till she had found him Cant. 5. 8 9. but they had not been long with her before the heat of her love had warmed them with the same earnest desire and longings Whither is thy beloved gone O thou fairest among women whither is thy beloved turned aside that we may seek him with thee Cant. 6.1 They that come where oyntments and sweet spices are stirring carry away some of the savour One live coal may set a whole stack on fire Evil Company like the River Melas in Baeotia makes all the sheep that drink of it black but Good Company rather like Clitumnus in Italy makes them that drink of it white Saul by being in Company with a wise Servant was brought to hear of a Kingdom He that walketh with wise men shall be wise Prov. 13. 20. This made Algerius the Italian Martyr say I had rather be in Prison with Cato a wise man of whom I might
not to judge presently of the Plague of Leprosie but to shut the person suspected up seven days and then to view him and if the case were not clear to shut him up seven days more and after that seven days more before he was condemned and what is the Gospel of this but to condemn rash censuring of any much more of the godly Hath not my God told me He that answereth a matter before he heareth it it is a folly and shame to him Prov. 18. 13. Lord thou understandeth what an unruly member my tongue is how hard to be kept within the bounds of sobriety towards my self or charity towards others O be pleased to undertake for me and keep thou the door of my lips It is not good to speak evil of those whom I know bad but it s much worse to speak evil of those who may prove good Should I declare others failings upon certain knowledge it sheweth some want of charity but should I publish their faults upon a bare supposition it would argue a want of honesty O let me rather erre on the right hand in my charitable thoughts of those that are bad then on the left in my censorious opinion of those that are good For though he may be evil that speaks good of others upon knowledge yet he can never be good himself that speaks evil of others upon suspicion I Wish that I may be so far from speaking ill of them that are good that I may rather be silent then without a just cause and call speak ill of them that are evil Though the wicked like Dogs fall upon the Sheep of Christ with open mouth and strive to bury their good names in the open Sepulchre of their wide throats yet the Sheep of Christ do rather suffer their rage with patience then render reviling for reviling My God hath commanded me to bless them that curse me and to pray for them that despitefully use me and how contrary am I to his Precept if I pay them in their own coin and open my mouth in backbiting them because they are forward to slander me It is enough for them that have not a God to undertake their cause and revenge their quarrels to do it themselves If I be one of Christs members he reckoneth all the wrongs offered to me as done to himself and he will one day vindicate his own honour and mine to the full when the sinner shall answer for all his treasonable expressions with Hell flames about his ears The tongue that now is blistered with blasphemies against God and his people at that day will be in a light flame and beg in vain with Dives for a little water to cool it I may therefore be quiet in all such cases and commit my cause to him that judgeth righteously He that is robbed may not seek for reparation from the Country if the Felon at the Assizes be Convicted and Executed I need not fear but the Iudge of the whole earth will at the general Assize do justice upon those Thieves that steal away my credit and good name and so in the mean time may well be contented He that is sure of double interest hereafter may with the more comfort forbear his money at present Besides by declaring his faults onely to fill up a void space of time I injure both him and my self whether my report be true or false if my report be false I wrong him by slandering and murdering his name undeservedly and I wrong my self by contracting the guilt of so great a sin If the report be true I walk contrary to Gods comâ—mand speak evil of no man and so deâ—ile my own soul and set him at a further distance from Religion hardening his heart against any future reproof as judging it to proceed from malice and so I do what lyeth in my power to destroy his soul. Besides all this I may injure my hearers and make them accessary to my sin Lord thou hast given me my tongue that it might be a trumpet to sound thine honour and that therewith I might speak good of thy name and not to speak evil of others O let my glory sing of thee and not be silent open thou my lips and my mouth shall shew forth thy praise but let me prefer an unprofitable silence before sinful speaking Help me to take heed to my ways that I offend not with my tongue and to keep my mouth with a bridle that I may not wander from thy Commandments I Wish that I may to the utmost of my power be serviceable to the souls of my fellow-members The members of the natural body are not idle or unprofitable but give and receive nourishment for the increase of the whole body They do not seek themselves or their particular interests apart but the good of the whole and their own profit in relation thereunto Nay the eye watcheth for all the members and helpeth to adorn them and not it self the hands work to maintain and cover the whole remaining themselves naked Why should it not be thus in my Saviours mystical body My God hath given me and others graces and gifts for that purpose and commanded me Occupy till I come and should I suffer them to rust for want of use I should be found at last but an unprofitable servant The several creatures whether superiour or inferiour do all instruct me by their patterns in this lesson of improving my talents and forbid me to bury them in the grave of idleness If I look up to the highest heavens I may see with an eye of faith those Sons of God Angels his diligent Servants and putting forth those abilities which they have received both for the glory of their Creatour and the good of their fellow-creatures Though they are the eldest house and compared with us the first born of the creation yet they do not as the eldest sons of some men plead that priviledge to patronage and cloak sloth and idleness but as they have higher and more noble natures so they are more active and industrious then others as appears both by bearing their parts in the celestial quire and in being ministring spirits for the good of them that are heirs of salvation If I look to the natural Heavens there with an eye of sense I may see the great Candle and Luminary of the World not folding up those rayes and cherishing vertues which he hath received but communicating them freely for the warming and refreshing terrestrial bodies though he gains nothing by it but is many times requited with the darkning his glory by earthly vapours If I look lower I may observe the earth even wasting and wearing out her self to nourish and inrich others She hath received a power of fructifying and giving sap to that which groweth upon her and loe like a tender Nurse how liberally doth she give that milk to all that hang on her breasts though it tend to her own weakening The various inanimate and
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
ever with Ierusalem they shall be born upon her sides and dandled upon her knees they shall suck and be satisfied with the breasts of her consolation they shall milk out and be delighted with the abundance of her glory Amen CHAP. V. How a Christian should exercise himself to Godliness in Solitariness As also a Good Wish about that Particular THirdly Thy duty is to exercise thy self to Godliness in Solitude A gracious person is not onely consciencious in company but also when he is alone His whole life is nothing else but a walking with his God When I awake I am still with thee saith David Psa. 139. 18. He no sooner opened the eyes of his body in the morning but he was lifting up the eyes of his mind to Heaven When he was alone in his bed he was in company with his God As God was still with him so he was still with God Nevertheless I am continually with thee Psa. 73. True sanctity is visible in secresie to him that is Omniscient The Saint is many times most busie when he hath nothing to do and may say more truly then Scipio the African Nunquam minus solus quam cum solus I am never less alone then when alone The pulse of the body beats as well in solitariness as in company and so doth the pulse of the gracious soul towards his God and Saviour It s said of Domitian that he did one hour in a day sequester himself from all persons to no purpose for it was to catch flies which was the original of that answer to one that asked Whether any body were with the Emperour Ne musâ—a quidem No not so much as a flie A Believer hath business of great weight when he withdraweth from the press of the world it is that he might draw nearer to the Lord. Isaac goeth into the Fields to meditate of God Christ goeth into the Mountain apart to pray to God Daniel to the Rivers side Peter to the house top The Church to the secret place of the stairs and all to enjoy communion with their God Gen. 26. Mark 1. 35. Cant. 2. 4. Dan. 8. 2. and 10. 4. Act. 10. A Saint therefore sequestreth himself from the noise and clamour of company and worldly businesses that he might have the more free and intimate converse with his Redeemer A forced banishment from Men to dwell among Beasts hath been bewailed as a great misery but a free retirement from creatures to enjoy more of the blessed God is a great felicity Woodrow an hearb of an extraordinary pleasant smell delighteth in dark and shadowy places So the Christian who in company refresheth others with the fragrancy of his graces loveth sometimes to be obscure and in secret Many of the Heathen were so affected with the vanity and vexation of the world that they wilâ—lingly left their pleasures and preferments in Courts to live privately in the Country Sylla Felix laid aside his dictatourship to lead a retired life Dioclesians two and twenty years raigne could not make him out of love with a solitary life but he voluntarily left the Empire and could not be prevailed with to reassume it though he was threatned to it Demosthenes would shave his beard half off and all his hair from his head to necessitate his stay within doors and his abode amongst his Books Thales left the affairs of state that he might have time for Contemplation Cato in his old age wiâ—hdrew from Rome to live as he used to say out of the crowd of the world And the Romans were so much convinced of his prudence herein that as they passed by his house to which he retired they would ordinarily cry out Iste solus scit vivere This man alone knoweth how to live Old Similis having lived long in the Wars and afterwards for seven years devoting himself to solitariness when he died left this Epitaph behind Here lieth old Similis yet one that lived but seven years Hiero the Tyrant of Syracuse gave over his Kingdom to live a solitary life Others out of a deep melancholly have avoided all society and delighted onely like the Shrick Owl and Bittern in desolate places and Monuments of the dead Zeph. 2. 14. Socrates in his Ecclesiastical History Lib. 4. Cap. 18. speaks of some so strangely averse to all correspondence with men that they have immuted themselves in Cels and Silence for sixty and ninety years together even as long as they lived But Reader I would not advise thee to such continued retirement nor to any at all upon such low mean grounds Those voluntary sequestrations of deluded Votaries amongst the Papists from humane society are I dare say as unacceptable to God as uncomfortable to themselves Such solitary persons bring little comfort to their own souls little honour to God and do no good at all to others By how much as doing God great service is better then doing him little as doing good to many is better then doing good onely to my self so much is Company before solitariness But the most publique Christians have their times for privacy It s no mean misery to be either always alone or never alone He that is always crowded with Company can neither enjoy himself nor his God as he ought SECT I. I Shall first lay down some Motives and then shew wherein we should exercise our selves to Godliness when we are alone 1. To quicken thee to exercise thy self to godliness in solitude Consider The benefit of solitude well improved solitude is a good opportunity for godliness Seneca was wont to say that he seldom went into company that he came not home worse then he went out Society as it hath much gain so much perplexity Solitude is a release to the soul that was imprisoned in Company To be much in Company tires and wearies us We are prone to count it a bondage and the persons we associate with our fetters Retiring seasonably from them sets us at liberty and giveth us freedom to mount up to Heaven at our pleasure Scipio would tell his friends I have never better company then when I have no company for then can I freely entertain my own thoughts and converse with all the learned that have been in former ages Hierom speaks better Sapiens nunquam solus esse potest â—abet enim secum omnes qui sunt qui fuerunt boni si bominum sit inopia loquitur cum Deo A wise man can never be alone for he hath ever with him all the good men that are or have been and if he find any want of men he can converse with God It was a custome among the Indians when their King went to bed to pray with piping acclamations that he might have happy dreams and withal consult well for the good of his Subjects As ifâ— the silent secret night had been a friend to wisdom One of the best Kings that ever the world had tells us My reins instruct me in the night season
better to receive the greatest Theives into our houses then vain thoughts into our hearts Iohn Husse seeking to reclaim a very prophane wretch was told by him that his giving way to wicked wanton thoughts was the original of all those hideous births of impiety which he was guilty of in his life Husse answered him That though he could not keep evil thoughts from courting him yet he might keep them from marrying him as saith he though I cannot keep the Birds from flying over my head yet I can keep them from building their nests in my hair Christian be careful when thou art out of Company as well as in it for these guests will visit thee as soon ever as thou art alone and if thou shouldst not frown upon them they will turn thy solitude into a crowd as Hierom found Rome in a Wilderness The Heathen Cicero employed his solitude to better purpose then most seeming Christians I being weary saith he of living amongst wicked men with whom all places in a manner swarm betake my self to solitariness as much as I can yet that none may think I trifle away my time idly to say no more let my Books speak how I employ my self Yet alas when many Christians are retired out of the crowd and throng of worldly men they suffer worldly things to crowd and throng so abundantly in their hearts that as it was said of Ephraim strangers devour their strength earthly things though tending to no profit waste their time and devour their thoughts which as Reuben are the excellency of dignity and the excellency of strength SECT IV. SEcondly If thou wouldst exercise thy self to godliness in solitude labour to spiritualize earthly things I must say this is one of the most excellent and enriching arts in Christianity Though these occasional thoughts resemble lightning as well in the suddenness of their journey as the vastness of their way being able to reach from one end of Heaven unto the other yet such light gains with quick returnes make an heavy purse He that hath learned this mystery is the true Chymist he leaves the dregs and lees of things and extracts the substance and quintessence of them He hath better then Midas Wish he turns all he toucheth into better then gold Many a great Scholar begs with rare notions of the nature of silver and gold and pearls when some Merchants who never saw Mine or Furnance or read Book concerning them hath his Coffers full of them The Rabbies of the world were they able like Solomon to speak of all plants from the Cedar to the Hysope and of all Beasts and Fish and Fowl nay and of all creatures in a Physical and Philosophical way are not comparable to the illiterate Countryman who can read his God in them and improve them for his spiritual advantage Luther relates a story of two Cardinals riding to the Council at Constance how by the way they heard a shepherd weeping and crying out sadly upon which they turned aside to know what was the matter and found the shepherd looking upon an ugly Toad They asked him the ground of his lamentation He answered I cannot but weep to consider the goodness of God that he did not make me such a loathsom creature and my own unthankefulness that I should be no more sensible of it At which one of the Cardinals was so affected that he fell from his horse in a swoon and coming again afterwards to himself told his Brother Well said St. Austin Indocti rapiunt coelum c. The unlearned take heaven by violence whilst we with all our parts and learning wallow in the mire of the earth and flesh Natural beings are as spades wherewith we may open the mines and dig out spiritual riches He that hath a gracious fancy may like the Bee suck honey from every flower in the garden of the creation and climb up by the stairs of the meanest creature to the Supream and Infinite Creator All objects to a wise Christian may be wings to mount him up to heaven As the old Romans when they saw the blew stones thought of Olympus so the holy person by every work is elevated to admire some excellency in the workman There is a threefold aspect which men cast upon the Works of God according to the difference of their eyes or the degrees of their understandings 1. Ordinary and vulgar persons who differ little from Brutes and behold the face of nature as beasts do a picture onely viewing the outside and surface of it rudely and superficially never considering any art or curiosity in it As the Horse and Mule which have no understanding they view and drink of the streams but mind not the purity or clarity of the water or the fountain whence it floweth these look on Gods works at best but as passengers on a clock to know the time of the day but take no notice of the wheels and poises and their several motions and contrivances 2. Schollars and Philosophers who go a step higher and view this picture somewhat exactly as Artists contemplating its curious wormanship its proper colours comely features and rare composure of the whole with admiration As Nicotratus that told the Country man who wondred at his wondring at the exact piece of Helena drawn by Zeuxis If thou hadst my eyes thou wouldst be affected as I am 3. Christians and spiritual men who move above the Philosopher and most skilful Naturalists in their own sphere these look on the face of nature with a spiritual eye as a lover on the Picture of her beloved delighting more in the resemblance then the table contemplating the matchless Power embroidered Wisdom and infinite Goodness of their God which appear in his creatures These are the men that can turn the stones and dirt of the streets yea the snakes and serpents of the earth into bread for their souls if they should be denied the Scripture which God forbid they can fetch spiritual food out of the creature The Heron findeth her food in lakes and rivers and picks it out with her long bill where other birds can get none So saith Hesychius the Christian by meditation can get food for his soul where others that understand not this duty starve Our blessed Saviour teacheth us to see the face of heavenly things in earthly glasses and to make a ladder of the creatures whereby we may ascend to heaven in our thoughts He hath set us a pattern that we should follow his steps What honey of profit and pleasure doth he tâ—ach us to draw from all the flowers and weeds too that grow in the garden of the Creation He instructeth his Disciples by Lillies growing and seed sown in the field by trees and vines in the Orchard and Vineyard by pearls treasure tares leven mustardseed water bread nets fish salt oyl lamps and as at Cana in Galilee turns all this water into wine as well for their imitation as information A mean
Satan for the advancement of Christ and holiness but thou hast excelled them all Thou hast changed Lions into Lambs Ravens into Doves Beasts into Men and Men into Angels thou hast subdued head-strong passions mortified natural and riveted corruptions tore up old and sturdy lusts by the roots conquered Principalities and Powers led captivity captive and turned the world upside down By thee wonders are wrought the blind restored to their sight the dead raised the deaf hear the dumb speak the Lepers are cleansed and the poor have the Gospel preached to them and are changed into the nature of it where thou ridest conquering and to conquer the whole world runneth after thee Thy neck is like the Tower of David builded for an Armoury wherein there hang a thousand bucklers all shields of mighty men Thy weapons are not carnal but spiritual and mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalteth it self against the knowledge of God and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. By thee poor weak and contemptible men have subdued Kingdoms wrought righteousness obtained the promises stopped the mouths of roaring lions quenched the violence of hellish fire escaped the edge of Hereticks and persecutors sword out of weakness were made strong waxed valiant in sight turned to flight Armies of the Aliens Thou hast not onely like Saul slain thy thousands but with David thy ten thousands thou hast broken the serpents head destroyed the great Leviathan tramplest on Scorpions and Vipers and nothing can hurt thee Thou bringeth heaven down to earth and carriest earth up to heaven Thou are the joyful message from a far country the river whose streams make glad the City of God Infinite Wisdom contrived thee Infinite Truth proclaimed thee and infinite Goodness discovered thee The Father indited thee the Son confirmed thee and the Spirit revealed thee to the children of men The Countries and Kingdoms of the earth were overwhelmed with worse then Egyptian darkness till thou didst arise upon them and with thy glorious beams enlighten and enliven them by thee fools have been made wise sinners made Saints ignorant men have been instructed wandring men reduced weak ones confirmed and lost ones saved By thee the heavens were established the foundations of the earth formed the sorrowful are comforted the scandalous reformed the needy relieved and the righteousness of God revealed Thou art eyes to the blind and â—eet to the lame and food to the hungry and rest to the weary and physick to the sick and life to the dying The ablest Historian will infinitely fall short in describing thy heroick deeds None can declare thy noble acts or display half thy praise Angels may well pry into thee with admiration and astonishment and make the contents of thy Chapters the subject of their songs and substance of their Halelujahâ— to all eternity When that heavenly host preached on earth thou wert their Text be thou their triumph in heaven for ever O thou savour of life thou living water thou well of salvation thou tidings of great joy to all Nations thou ministration of righteousness thou mystery of godliness thou mine of unsearchable riches thou way of holiness thou word of the kingdom that thou wert written on the tables of my heart and graven with a pen of iron and the point of a diamond on that rock for ever Thou wast once written on tables of stone with the hand of God himself how precious was that book wherein every leaf was immediately of Gods making and every line in it of Gods writing My heart is an heart of stone I find it by too much experience but if thou wert engraven on it 't would be a precious stone its price would be far above Rubies the Onyx and the Saphire should not be valued with it the Gold and the Chrystal should not equal it neither should it be exchanged for Coral or Pearls O that I were manifestly declared to be the Epistle of Christ written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God known and read of all men O that my soul were the house and thou the inhabitant for ever O that the word of Christ might dwell richly within me that I were able to say with holy David I delight to do thy will O God thy law is within my heart or in the midst of my bowels Thou art the Oracles of God all thy sayings are faithful and true and worthy of all acceptation when O when shall I give it them Thou art worthy of the eye Blessed is he that readeth the words of this Prophesie Rev. 1. 3. Thou art worthy of the ear Blessed are they that hear the word of God and keep it Thou art worthy of the heart O that I could hide thee in mine heart that I might not sin against the Lord Thou art a counsellor to the doubting a comforter to the distressed Thou art health to the navel and marrow to the bones an ornament of grace unto the head and a chain of gold about the neck They that walk in thy ways are safe and their feet do not stumble Thou teachest in the ways of wisdom and thou leadest in right paths O that my ways were directed to keep all thy commandements for thy steps tend to holiness and thy Paths take hold of Heaven O my soul is it possible for thee to hear the excellency of Scripture thus opened to thee and not to burn in love to it Hast thou been all this while in such an hot bath and still cold and shivering Hast thou felt its power tasted its savour seen its beauty often heard its awakening voice and known its universal vertue and dost thou yet doubt its divinity or question its excellency Surely if ever thou shouldst again through unbelief belief ask it the same question which the Scribes did Christ when they beheld his miraculous actions By what authority dost thou these things or who gave thee this authority thou mayst answer thy self in the words of the man born blind and then seeing to the Jews Is it not strange or This is a marvellous thing that thou knowest not whence it is yet it hath opened thine eyes Joh. 9. 30. Was there not a night of dread and horror with thee when thou didst sit in darkness and in the shadow of death till this sun did arise with light and life under its wings O cry out with the Psalmist I will never forget thy precepts for by them thou hast quickened me I was wallowing in my filth weltring in my blood rotting in the grave of corruption till thou didst say unto me Live yea till thou didst say unto me Live Thy voice is powerful overcoming all opposition The love revealed in thee is wonderful far surpassing the love of woman Thy promises are exceeding great and precious more to be desired then gold yea then much fine gold Thy Maker may well prevail for thine acceptance Who
to them Faith is a Christians guide and good Works his garment As the Fish by the Fins are raised from the mud to the top of the water so faith lifteth the soul from earth to heaven It is the evidence of things not seen Good works are as Scales a shield to a Christian and are not unfitly called the Breast plate of righteousness Thus O my soul though thou couldst not read a line in any Printed book thou mightest read many good lessons in this natural book Even things without mouths can Preach and speak thy Makers praise and pleasure Their voices are heard in every language and their words go to the end of the world Psa. 19. 4. Wheresoever O my soul thou goest thou mayst by meditation get some steps nearer thine eternal weal Art thou walking Consider thou art but a sojourner and traveller in this world thy life is a continued moâ—ion thy way is the Son of God thy home is the Fathers House thy motion is painful thy way is perfect and thy home will be full of pleasure Why shouldst thou wander and come wide or loyter and come short of Heaven O be sure to walk in the right way and be content to travail hard that thy saâ—e way may find its end in solace and thy painful walk make thy home more welcome Art thou walking in thine Orchyard thou mayst from every tree as a Text gather many profitable doctrines and inferences Take a turn or two among the Trees and thou mayst find much wholsom fruit on them 1. Some Trees are profitable for one purpose some for another some to quench thirst some to comfort and refresh the inward parts c. so the Children of God are diversly serviceable according to the different gifts bestowed on them by the Holy Ghost 2. Every living fruit tree is in some measure fruitâ—ul though some bring forth more fruit some less yet all bring forth some All living Christians are thriving and bearing fruit though some are more eminent for growth and proficiency in grace yet all bring forth fruits worthy of repentance The Hypocrite like a dead stake in an Hedge continueth at a stay is without good fruit nay groweth more rotten every moneth then other but the true Saint like the living Tree the longer he continueth rooted in Christ the more abundant he is in the work of the Lord. 3. The best Trees have a winter wherein they seem to be dead and barren yet they have their life and sap at that time remaining in the root Christians under desertions and temptations may be judged by themselves and others to be dead and undone but even at such seasons their life is hid with Christ in God Though they may fall fouly they cannot fall finally 4. Fruit-trees are tossed and shaken by the wind but there is no danger of their overturning or death whilst their root remains firm in the earth Saints may be stirred and tossed by the high winds of Satans and the worlds temptations but can never be overthrown because they are rooted in Christ. Grace may be shaken in but never out of their souls 5. The winter which the Trees suffer in frosts and snow and the continuance of their sapunder ground is profitable for them and helpful to their greater growth in Spring So the various and severest providences of God towards his people are serviceable to their good and their seeming declensions in order to their greater growth As Children under a fit of an Ague they may at present be weakened and stand at a stay but afterward they shoot up the more 6. The fruits of trees are harsh and little worth till they are grafted so the fruits of all by nature are wild and unpleasant to God till they are grafted into Christ. 7. Those trees that stand most in the Sun bring forth the sweetest and the largest fruit So those believers that live nearest God by an holy communion do the more abound in the fruits of righteousness and their fruits are the more acceptable springing from a principle of love to God 8. The more the boughs are laden the more they bow down to the earth so the more abundant any are in holiness the more humble and lowly they will be 9. The Husbandman chuseth what plants he pleaseth to bring into his Orchyard and his grafting of them and care about them makes the difference between them and others So God chuseth whom he pleaseth out of the wilderness and waste of the world and his grafting them by regeneration and conduct of them by his Spirit distinguisheth them from all the rest of the earth 10. The Leaves drop from the Trees in the beginning of Autumn Such is the friendship of this world whilst the sap of wealth and honour lasteth with me and whilst I enjoy a summer of prosperity my friends swarm in abundance but in the winter of adversity they will leave me naked O how miserable is that person who hath no friends but of this world How happy is he that hath the sap of grace which will remain with him in the coldest winter Thus O my soul whilst thou art walking with regenerate creatures thou mayst better thy spiritual senses and walk with thy Creator O how may thy thoughts be raised to the trees that are planted in the house of the Lord and flourish in the Courts of thy God that are planted by the Rivers of waters and bring forth their fruit in due season Lord I confess thy goodness in giving me so many ushers yet alas my dull and blockish heart to this day hath not learnt those lessons which thou hast set me by them Vnless thou who art the chief Master of the Assemblies undertake the work all will be in vain Thy creatures are as burning glasses they cannot make the Sun to shine but when it doth vouchsafe its heavenly beams they help to increase both light and heat It s thine own promise that all Sions Children shall be taught of God Let it please thee to undertake the tuition and instruction of thine untoward Scholar O do thou spiritualize my heart and then I shall spiritualize all the works of thine hand do thou enlighten me so powerfully by thy blessed Spirit that I may turn every spark into a candle and every candle into a star and every star into a Sun and by the light of all be enabled to see more of thy beautiful face and blessed perfections I Wish that I may not onely taste by occasional but make a full meal by set and serious meditation of that food which may God provideth for my soul If a drop a little be reviving and strengthening surely a good draught will yeild me more comfort and profit If ever it be true it s here the best is at the bottom That rare object which upon a transient view gives me some delight upon a permanent vision will afford more pleasure If my meat abide in my body it will afford me the better
Motives to stir up the Reader to this work and then direct him about it SECT I. FIrst It is a duty commanded thee by God Men are apt to think the visitation of the sick to be onely an act of Courtesie and Civility which they may omit or perform at their pleasure when it is an act of Charity and Christianity which every Christian is bound to by a divine Precept The Ministers of Christ are especially enjoyned this task but every member of Christ also when God gives him opportunity oweth this debt to his Neighbour Iam. 5. 14 15. If any be sick let him send for the Elders of the Church and let them pray over him The same word which commandeth the sick man to send commandeth the Elder to go Indeed it s a gross fault in many sick persons and therein they are exceedingly their own enemies that they either send not at all for the Minister or if they do not till they have done with the Physitian when their bodies are past all hope then they look after some hope for their souls But without question it is a duty for the Elder sometimes to go uncalled It s good manners to be an unbidden guest at a house of mourning Our Master was found of them that asked not for him and so should his servants There are those that can invite themselves to their Neighbours Tables who withdraw themselves from their Chambers Some are drunk so often with their Parishioners whilst they are in health that they are afraid or ashamed to discourse seriously with them when they are sick God may speak to many as to the Shepherds of Israel Wo be to the Shepherds of England that do feed themselves should not the Shepherds feed the Flock ye eat the fat and ye cloth you with the Wool ye kill them that are fed but ye feed not the Flock The diseased have ye not strengthened neither have ye healed that which was sick neither have ye bound up that which was broken but with force and with cruelty have ye ruled them Ezek. 34. 3 4. None are more cruel to the Flock then those that are most covetous of the Fleece Oleaster on Lev. 14. 44. Then the Priest shall come and look and behold if the Plague be spread c. that being the third time the Priest was to visit the infected house hath this useful observation Si Saecerdos toties invisat leprosam domum cur tu non aegrum If the Priest were commanded so often to visit the leprous house why dost not thou visit the sick person The Plague in the heart calls for more pity and help then the Plague in the House This duty also belongs to private members as well as to publique Officers Every Christian should love his Neighbour as himself which he cannot do unless he have a sense of his sickness and endeavour to improve such an opportunity for his Neighbours Salvation True love like fire burns hottest when the weather is coldest Histories make mention of one Vrâ—iâ—us a Physitian that being to die for the Gospel and beginning to waver Vitalis a godly man stept to him and though he knew it would cost him his life encouraged him saying What have you been so industrious heretofore to preserve mens bodies and will you now shrink at the saving your own soul Be couragious For which faithful counsel he was condemned and suffered accordingly It s our duty to assist them that die natural as well as those that die violent deaths To visit persons in their affliction is one testimony of the truth of our Religion at this day Holiness and Charity are like Father and Child Pure Religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this to visit the Fatherless and the Widows in their afflictions c. Jam. 1. ult The fatherless and widows are expressed but the sick and strangers and captives are included because these are usually most afflicted and most neglected Those that have received mercy cannot but shew mercy As visiting the distressed is a sign of it now so it will be the test of Christianity at the great day Mat. 25. 34 35 36. Come ye blessed c. I was hungry and ye fed me naked and ye cloathed me sick and ye visited me c. Works of mercy fill up the whole bill as the evidence of the Saints right to heaven Whereof Luther gives this reason because the consciences of the wicked shall justifie Christ as well in the absolution of the godly as in their own condemnation Though Christians do not give their almes or visit the sick to be seen of men yet in doing many offices of love and acts of charity they are seen of men So they who can witness the truth of Christians mercy will be forced to acknowledge the equity of Christs sentence SECT II. SEcondly It is a special opportunity of doing and receiving good 1. Of doing good I think it the more necessary to speak to this Motive because many are apt to judge all pains with sick persons to be to no purpose They are discouraged from endeavouring the conversion of prophane men upon sick beds supposing that such mens repentance will be as unsound as their bodies even when they are sick unto death Though I would not give the least encouragement to any men to defer their turning to God beleiving him worse then mad who puts off the weighty business of his soul because peradventure God may grant him repentance hereafter yet I must obviate this suggestion of the Divel which hinders men from doing their duty God may shew mercy to a soul at last There is one example in Scripture that none might despair Sickness is with some men the tide-time of devotion They who scorned godly men and made a mock of godliness in their health will prize the Saint and desire his sanctity above all the world when they lye upon sick beds and consider what an holy God they are going to appear before Sickness as one saith is Officina virtutis morum disciplina The shop of vertue and the school of manners Therefore King Alfred was wont to say I ever find my self best when worst best in soul when worst in body the sickness of my body is physick to my soul Experience daily informeth us that the Swaggerers and Gallants of the world whose consciences are not seared with an hot Iron though they gave themselves up to Drunkenness and Gluttony and Gaming and Whoredom and all manner of wickedness in their youth and strength yet when they are weakened much with a disease and have no hopes of continuing longer on earth begin to wish that they had spent their time to more purpose and are sensible of their neglect of God and Christ and their Souls and Eternity then many of them will desire the company of those that fear God and beg their prayers and hearken to their counsels and would give all they are worth for a little of their grace and
discern and discover the secret lusts which are hugd in their hearts Besides their consciences being defiled as well as other faculties are not so true to them as to convince them powerfully of that pride hypocrisie unbelief impenitency atheism and ungodliness which they are guilty of And Satan hath a strict watch over them to keep them asleep in sin not caring so men go to hell whether they go thither in the dirty road of scandalous and crying crimes or in the cleanly path and through the fair Meadows of Civility Whether the person be scandalous or civil it will be needful to let in light at some crevice and not to leave the sinner wholly in the darkness of despair The good Samaritan poured Oyl as well as Wine into the wounds of him that fell among Theives A little hope may melt that heart which despair would harden Sturdy Theives have wept at the news of a Reprieve that have stormed and raged at the sentence of Condemnation But this is wisely to be done lest the sinner be encouraged to presume Lenity is to be joyned with Severity Let there be love but not emboldening them to sloth let there be terror but not driving them into a fury saith Gregory If the sick person be one that is judged a true member of Christ then speak to the excellency of Grace and Christ and Heaven to the certainty and worth of those promises that are entailed on beleivers to make his passage into the other world as comfortable as thou canst It will be fit also to speak to those graces of Faith Patience Love Heavenly-mindedness and Ioy in God which should be minded and exercised in a time of sickness how the time of affliction is the spring the special time wherein those graces should shoot up and shew themselves that God expecteth some service from him under his fickness and that his last works should be better then his first If he be under doubts and fears for Satan will take the advantage of his sickness to assault him with his fiery darts and Saints are too apt to Question Gods love when they feel his hand the weakness of the body discomposing the mind and denying it the free exercise of spiritual judgement then advise him to review his former experiences of divine goodness and trials of divine grace within him to hold fast on Jesus Christ and to consider that sickness is common to men good as well as bad that though they differ vastly in the other world yet not at all in their passage thither Singular Saints have been afflicted with the sorest sickness Iob was a none-such for sanctity yet full of sores It s a question whether he were more eminent for corporal distempers or spiritual health Hezekiah David Asah Paul Epaphroditus were all thus chastened of the Lord but not condemned with the world Whatsoever the sick person be whether gracious or graceless it will not be amiss to mention the three great lessons which God would teach every one by affliction 1. The emptiness of the world appearing in its inability to afford the least ease to the body or comfort to the soul of the sick how little worth is that which fails a man in his greatest need 2. The preciousness of Christ and Grace and the Promises of the Gospel which can enliven and encourage a dying person that can cause light in darkness joy in sorrow and life in death that can enable a Christian to rejoyce in tribulation and to welcome pain and sickness nay and the very King of terrors and to look into the other world with comfort and confidence 3. The sinfulness of sin which is the original of all diseases and aches and greif and separation of friends and losses and miseries whatsoever The Rabbies say that when Adam tasted the forbidden fruit his head aked T is clear sin is the original of sickness The body is the instrument of unrighteousness therefore the subject of diseases For this cause many are weak and sick 1 Cor. 11. 30. All the evil in this and the other world are the issue and off-spring of sin Ah! what a root of bitterness is that which brings forth such bitter fruit Be sure to take the thoughts of the sick off from resting in Physitians or any means used for their cure Thâ—s was the fault of good Asah 2 Chron. 16. 12. Let them know that it is God that wounds and he onely that can heal and therefore he must not be tempted either by despiâ—ing those helps which his providence giveth or by relying on them Hippocrates gave this counsel to all Physitians that when they went upon any occâ—sion to visit their Patients they should consider first of all whether there was not divinum aliquod in morbo something of God in the disease if so he held the Patient to be desperate and his recovery impossible Cujus contrarium verum est If it were the hand of God that smote them the same hand can help them for with him nothing is impossible Let them understand that sickness hath a supernatural as well as a natural cause That all diseases are like the Centurions Servants at the command of God He saith to one Go and it goeth to another Come and it cometh to a third Do this and it doeth it God would have the Israelites know that not onely Sword and Famine and Captivity but also Pestilence Consumptions Feavers and Burning Agues are sent from Heaven Deut. 28. 21 22. He causeth those stormes and tempests and quarrels and contentions that are between the humours in our bodies to their disturbance and destruction therefore Moses beholding the whole body of the Jews except two renowned members corrupted for he lived to see all that came out of Egypt besides to die cryed out Thou turnest man to destruction and â—ayst Return ye children of men SECT V. 3. DEal closely and faithfully with him Let not fear of giving distaste or hope of some advantage to thy self make thee false to the soul of the sick Do not play the part of a Mountebank in using palliating medicines to allay the distemper or Anodynes to stupifie the patient and neglect the root of the malady Alas carnal wretches are prone enough of themselves to deceive and flatter their own souls till it be too late for second thoughts and the wicked one will be at their beds side to hinder if it be possible all means from awakening and undeceiving them be careful therefore lest thou shouldst be any way accessary to Satans design Sin is like the little Serpent Aspis which stings men whereby they fall into a pleasant sleep and in that sleep die sinners need all the rouzing and affrighting considerations that may be He that gives a potion which instead of furthering health procureth death is a Murderer The Flatterer is like the worm Terendo mentioned by Pliny in Nat. Hist. as soft as Silk in the feeling of the hand but it biteth so hard with the
teeth that it eateth out the heart of the strongest timber Flattery is to sin what Oyl to Fire it makes it flame the more O t is dangerous to speak peace where God speaks war shouldst thou do so the blood of such a soul would be required at thy hands Ezek. 33.8 Jer. 23. Faithful dealing will bring thee in most comfort at present and most credit hereafter as also be most advantagious to the sick person When the great day comes the man that hated flattery and scorned for a little profit or favour to disown his duty or prove false to the soul of his Neighbour will hold up his head with courage but the cowardly and fearful wil hang down their heads with shame Rev. 21. 8. 4. Pray with him and for him Sick persons are often full of pain and grief and are more then usually assaulted by Satan whereby they are the less able to pray for themselves and have the more need of the prayers of others It s observable that though the Holy Ghost commandeth men in other afflictions to pray themselves Is any afflicted let him Pray yet when he mentioneth sickness he saith not Is any sick let him Pray But Is any sick let him send for the Elders of the Church and let them pray over him Jam. 5. 13 14. i. e. A sick man is not so fit to pray himself he wanteth others to pray for him and with him The soul sympathizeth in the sufferings of the body and the inner man is seldom at rest if the outward man be distempered and disquieted The mind is unfitted for duties by the diseases of the flesh Paul calls his bodily weaknesses a temptation Gal. 4. 13 14. Afflictions on the flesh are temptations to the spirit and sickness is a piercing Arrow in Satans Quiver of temptations If the person be carnal what Motives hast thou from his misery to quicken thee to the duty The poor creature is going to Hell and knoweth it not His destruction is near and he is not aware How should the thoughts of that extremity and eternity of torments which he is every moment liable to stir thee up to be earnest and instant with God on his behalf It may be thou wouldst sit up a whole night to watch with him for the comfort of his body Dost thou not know that the soul is infinitely more worth O watch and pray that he enter not into eternal condemnation Thou art not ignorant that God hath made promises of grace as well as promises to grace and canst not tell but that grace waiteth in heaven for the â—ick person onely thy prayer must be the messenger to fetch it thence God hath shewn mercy at the last he can do it to this man therefore thou mayst have the more hopes Besides it may be his sickness shall not be unto death but onely to heal his diseased soul and so to give him a new life both natural and spiritual The Question before thee is whether that poor sick creatures soul shall be Christs or the Devils for ever and wilt thou not plead hard with God that it may be thrown in to Christ whose title is unquestionable and that the Grand and Arch-enemy of Christ and Men may be frustrated and disappointed in his expectation Zeal to the advancement of thy Redeemers interest and love to the soul of thy Neighbour should actuate and animate thy requests and put life and fervency into thy Petitions If the sick man be godly thou hast the more encouragement to pray God hath promised as much to him as thou canst rationally desire for him He hath hopes to speed that goeth to an honest able man and sheweth him his Bond for what he demands God is infinite both in righteousness and power so that there is no fear of a repulse if you can shew his hand for your request He delights to hear his promises pleaded in prayer and to see his Children so full of affection as to be fervent in their petitions for each other Thou mayst send the same message by prayer to Jesus that the Sister of Lazarus did Lord behold he whom thou lovest is sick and mayst be confident of the like gracious answer This sickness is not unto death eternal but for the glory of God that the Son of God might be glorified thereby Next to thy endeavours for the good of thy sick Neighbours spiritual estate it will be fit to advise him about his temporal estate that he may dispose of his worldly affairs and his wealth if God have given him any with wisdom and settle things so firmly that his Relations may not be wrangling for his goods when his body is at rest in his grave Secondly The exercising our selves to Godliness in visiting the sick consisteth in getting good to our own souls by it Though it be forbidden us to enquire of the dead and ask their counsel yet it s commanded us to enquire of the dying and to learn of them Sick men may teach them that are in health many excellent lessons Some say that ground covered with Ashes is made thereby the more fruitful The Dust of the dead falling upon a right soil an honest heart will make it the more abundant in holiness A Christian findeth walking in Hospitals or Church-yards among the sick or dying much conducing to the health and life of his soul. He that was cast dead into his Grave by touching the bones of dead Elisha he was ravished to life That which Elias said to Elisha when he begged a double portion of his spirit If thou seest me when I am taken from thee it shall be so unto thee may fitly be alluded to in this place The sight of others sickness and death and their departures from us is a great means to increase the spirit in us and to double our care and diligence in preparing for such an hour 1. In laying to heart thine own frailty He is but a cold clod of clay and dead already who doth not see his own death in the death of others Sickness is but one remove from death the sick bed is the way to the coffin therefore when thou visitest the sick or dying reflect upon thy self and consider This will be my case or a worse a violent stroak The same enemy that encountred my Neighbour is upon his march towards me and will certainly overtake me The feet of them that carry my friend to his grave are ready to carry me also what need have I to be always in a dying frame and ready for death The very next arrow that death shoots may be levelled at me and shall not I stand always upon my guard in expectation of it and armed for it O how deep will the head of that Arrow pierce me if it find me naked 2. In considering Gods mercy to thee and blessing him for the health thou enjoyest The pain of others will tell thee that ease is a mercy the racking sickness and restless nights
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
cometh such pride and carnal confidence in prosperity but because men beleive not the meanness and vanity and emptiness of riches and that divine mercy not the merits of men are the original of them There is no sin so monstrous but unbeleif will venture upon it He that beleiveth not will never be allured by divine promises nor affrighted at divine threatnings nor obey divine precepts nor submit to divine providences As Cicero said of Parricide I may say of Unbeleif It s a teeâ—ing vice a well of wickedness many sins are bound up in it No wonder the Apostle gives such a serious warning and so strict a charge against Infidelity as the mother and nurse of all Apostacy Take heed lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbeleif whereby ye depart away from the living God Heb. 3. 12. The superstitious Pagans thought that their Idol Vibilia kept them from erring out of their way The religious Christian knoweth by experience that his faith keeps him within the limits of his duty Faith ingrafts the soul into Christ and into the fellowship of his death by which the old man is crucified and the body of sin destroyed that henceforth we should not serve sin Rom. 6. 5,6,7,8 For therefore did Christ bear ouâ— sins in his body on the tree that we might become dead to sin 1 Pet. 1. 24. Faith enableth the soul to conquer sin by enabling it to overcome the three grand provocations to sin The World the Flesh and the Wicked one There is neither of these enemies but Faith hath wounded mortally 1. Faith enableth to overcome the World the World indeed hath conquered millions the greatest Souldiers have been slain by it Alexander could subdue the Nations in it but could not subdue his Affections to it As great a conqueror as he was over it he was its slave and vassal for his ambition was still larger then his Dominions But faith cloathing the Christian with the Sun helps him to trample this Moon under his feet This is your victory over the world even your Faith 1 Joh. 6.4 The World hath two faces the oneâ— ugly and deformed toâ—affright the Saint the other comely and painted to allure him to sin but Faith seeth how pittiful onely touching the body her threatnings are and how poor onely skin-deep her promises are and makes the soul to disdain both It was by Faith that Luther could say Contemptus a me Romanus favor furor I scorn both Romes favour and Romes fury The worlds Furnace and Musickâ— are much alike to a Beleiver he is blind and deaf nay dead to both The special object of Faith is the Cross of Christ whereby saith the Apostle I am crucified to the world and the world to me Tickle a dead man or lance him it s all one he is sensible of neither As Fabricius the Noble Roman told Pyrrhus who one day tempted him with Gold and the next day sought to terrifie him with Elephants I was not yesterday moved with your money nor to day with your beasts So Basil when first offered preferment and afterward threatened with imprisonment if he would not deny Christ and turn Arrian to this purpose answered the Messenger Such babies of preferment are fit to catch Children with and such bug-bears of bonds and imprisonment may fright your tender Gallants and Courtiers Faith enableth the Christian to mount up to heaven and thereby secures him from the baits and shots the snares and lime-twigs which attend him on earth Homer saith Vlisses caused himself to be bound to the Mast of the Ship and every one of his fellows ears to be stopped with Wax that they might not hearken to the Songs of the Syrens and so be drowned in the Sea Faith fastens the soul to Christ and so ravisheth iâ—s ears with the glad tidings of pardon and peace and eternal life that it is deaf to the worlds musick 1. Faith enableth the soul to overcome the affrightments of the world Faith like blown bladders keepeth the soul from sinking in deep waters It s a Target under which a soul is free from the hurt though not from the smart of evil It s the Ark wherein he rides triumphing when the windows from above are opened and poure down and the floods from beneath are broken up In this strong Tower the soul finds shelter Faith like Ioseph layeth up in a time of plenty against a time of scarcity in a day of prosperityâ— against a day of adversity and so feareth it the less Faith sheweth the Christian a place of refuge in the time of trouble He shall hide thee saith Faith in the secret of his presence i. e. cover thee with the warm wings of his providence he shall keep thee secret in his Pavilion An allusion to Princes retiring rooms which are sacred and secure places for their Favourites Nature teacheth all creatures to run in distress to that which they count their defence The Conies run to the Rocks the Goats to the Hills the Ravenous Beasts to their Deâ—s the Child to his Mothers Armes This grace discovereth to the soul a Rock a Refuge a Fort a Fortress an High Tower which makes him fearless of the worlds threatnings and bugbears The lame and the blind those most shiftless creatures when they had got the strong hold of Sion over their heads scorned the Host of David 2 Sam. 5. 6 7. The Egyptians that dwell in the fens are much troubled with Gnats therefore they sleep in High Towers whither those Insects cannot flye The Name of the Lord is a strong Tower the righteous run unto it and are safe Prov. 15. Such a soul is like a strong Tree which no wind can shake or like Mount Sion which cannot be moved Therefore he can sing when unbeleivers quake and tremble Though the Earth be troubled though the Mountains be carried into the midst of the Sea though the Waters roar and the Mountains shake yet we will not fear The Lord of Hosts is with us the God of Jacob is our refuge Psa. 46. 56. and 91. 2 3. Faith is like the Cork in the Net when the Lead wound sink the Net the Cork keeps it above water This Faith is the Anchor of the soul both sure and stedfact entering into that within the vail and so stayeth the Saint against all the winds and waves of affliction Faith or beleif of the resurrection and that happiness which then should be enjoyed was that which enabled Paul to dye daily and to fight with Beasts at Ephesus 1 Cor. 15. 30. In the greatest distress Faith can see deliverance and when it is at the greatest distance salute it as Abraham did Christs day afar off When the weather is cloudy it can see the Heaven begin to clear and notwithstanding his present pain and poverty cause the Christian to rejoyce in his hope of bliss and glory The eye of Faith looking to the recompence of reward seeth afflictions with the Israel of
God much more eligible then the pleasures of sin Symphorianus a Christian young man after he was almost scourged to death being draged to Execution at Augustodunum met his Mother not crying or tearing her hair but like an Holy Lady thus comforting him Son my Son I say Remember life eternal look up to Heaven Life is not taken from thee but exchanged for a better At which words of his Mother he went on willingly to the Block and exposed his Throat to the fatal Ax One of the Dutch Martyrs feeling the flame coming to him said O what a small pain is this to Heaven Our blessed Saviour had an eye to the joy set before him and thereby was encouraged to endure the Cross and despise the shame Indeed if Faith spring a leak then the waters break in and the Christian sinks apace as we see in Peters denial of his Master As Faith in the Promises so also Faith in the Threatnings makes the Christian a Conquerour over the worlds affrightments where the World threatens Bonds and Whips and Dungeoâ—s and Death if the Christian will not sin against God and begins to stagger the soul. Take heed what thou dost saith Faith for God threateneth Fire and Brimstone and Chains and Blackness of Darkness for ever as the wages of all sin Is the Wrath of an Infinite God not more to be feared then of weak dying Men Is the pains of a violent death which will quickly be over and the most the World can do against thee comparable to the pains of eternal death And thus Faith by the terror of this great Ordinance drowns the noise of those small peices that the soul is deaf to their report 2. Faith enableth the soul to overcome the allurements of the world If the world cannot terrifie the Saint with its fiery Furnace to disown and deny his Saviour it will seek to inchant him with its Musick and thereby to make him deaf to the Call and Commands of Christ. Thus it served Ioseph When it could not prevail on the left hand by selling him for a slave it tryeth him on the right hand by setting a Dalilah to tickle him with pleasure but by Faith he saw the Hook under the Bait and durst not nibble at it much less swallow it Though the world like Iezabel painteth her face and tireth her hair to render her amiable and lovely and as a Srumpet sheweth her naked Breasts of pleasure and profit to entice the beleiver to go a Whoring after her yet he vieweth by Faith the deformity of her person under all her dawbery and the dregginess and deceitfulness of her pleasures notwithstanding their shew of clearness and so rejects them with scorn and disdain Pliny saith of Cato that he took as much pleasure in the Honours he denied as in those that he enjoyed The beleiver can glory more in his refusal of glory for Christ then unbeleivers in all their preferments Indeed if the Christian did consult with sense or carnal reason he would take the worlds present money but the beleiver doth not consult with flesh and blood like wise Abigal knowing how much it will conduce to his advantage he can part with his estaâ—e for God and never make those Nabals privy to the design lest they should hinder it Besides Faith discovers pure Rivers of pleasures more noble and excellent delights to be the portion of those that refuse to grate their teeth with such kennel water As man is a rational creature he would sell his wares to them that will give most Now Faith sheweth how infinitely God out-bids the world Sense saith The world offereth fair it offereth comforts sutable to thy flesh such as they desire and it offereth ready money present possession But saith Faith God offereth thee better The comforts he offereth are more excellent being sutable not as the Worlds to a carnal brutish nature but to an heavenly divine soul and more durable being eternal when the pleasures of sin are but for a season He that hopes for no better market will take the present money offered him But he that is assured of greater gains will refuse the lesser An unbeleiver who expects no better bargain then what this life affords him may well take up with present pay what ever it be but the Beleiver who seeth the glory to be revealed and fulness of joy in Heaven and is assured that if he be faithful unto death he shall receive that eternal crown of life turns his eyes off the honours and comforts of this beggarly world Those stars of creature joys do all disappear in the presence of this Sun Gold bears little sway with the soul that knoweth his title to the new Ierusalem that is paved with Gold in which gold is trampled under foot Those birds that flie aloft in the Firmament are not so easily snared by the Fowlers Gins Though the things of this world were glorious in his eyes during his estate of unbeleif yet now he hath discerned a world beyond the Moon and sent Faith as a spie to search and coast that Country which hath brought word back that its a good land flowing with Milk and Honey and in it there is want of nothing they have no glory by reason of that glory that doth so infinitely exceed When a man is below things above seem small the great Stars that are bigger then the Earth seem not so big as a bushel and things below seem great but when a man is above as upon the top of a Steeple then things below seem little he beholdeth men like Grashoppers Were he conveyed to the highest hill in the World men would not be discerned great Kingdoms would be but small Cottages Unbeleif sets a man below here on earth and so the things of Heaven are little in his eye but Faith soars aloft it carrieth the Christian up to Heaven and then the whole earth is but a small spot in his eye Ioseph bids the Patriarchs Regard not your stuff for the good of all the Land of Egypt is yours So saith Faith to the Christian Regard not the lumber and rubbish of this world for all the great and good things of the other world are thine Faith gives the soul a taste the first fruits of Heaven And as no man having drunk old wine desireth new for he saith the old is better So no man having tasted the wine of Heavens pleasures desires carnal delights A Pilgrim travelling to Ierusalem saith one came to a City where he saw a goodly Training and Mustering there he had a mind to stay but that he remembred that was not Ierusalem He came to another City where he saw gallant sports and pastimes there he had some good will to abide but that he remembred it was not Ierusalem He came to a third where were goodly buildings Fair Ladies curious Musick c. where also he had some thoughts of setling but still he remembred it was not Ierusalem So the beleiver when the
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
a Bee though the Bee be fled works it self into the flesh deeper and diffuseth its venome more strongly causing the greater pain that every man unless foolish will speedily pull it out lest he encrease his own anguish Truly so doth sin though the honey the pleasure of it be gone yet the sting remains and the longer it is before it is pulled out by Faith and Repentance the deeper it works it self into the soul and the more sorrow it will put us to in this or the other world T is examination at night that brings the soul to mourn for and repent of its failings in the day T is like the tree which Câ—esias speaks of in describing India that besides fruit distilleth certain tears of which are made Precious Amber or as the drops of the Vine its excellent against the leprousie of sin Ephesus would never repent till they examined and considered whence they had fallen When sin is admitted into the soul and as a Theif in the night stole in at unawares when the eye of the souls watchfulness was fallen asleep Examination will light the Candle of the word and search the house narrowly and find out this ill guest and before it hath done so much mischief as it intended apprehended it indict condemn and execute it Examination every day is like purging the body at the beginning of a distemper which takes it before it hath habituated it self and so is much the more easily repelled An enemy may much sooner be forced out of his holds when he hath newly taken possession then when he hath continued so long as to cast up his banks make his ditches placed his Guns and fortified them After we have been foiled by our spiritual enemies and by examination find out the cause it will make us more watchful at that gate at which they enter'd and careful of that particular wherein they got the advantage of us As when David had received intelligence that the Amonites had given his Army some small defeat he sends Ioab word of the reason they went too near the City and wisheth him to make the battel more strong against the place 2 Sam. 11. So examination finds out the reason of a Christians defeat by Satan either it was through self-confidence or want of spiritual watchfulness or love to some known sin and helpeth the Saint to bewail the cause of his defeat and directeâ—h him how to provide better against the next onset Frequent examination keepeth the conscience raw and tender that the least touch of sin will be offensive and troublesom to it When the heart is used to yeild at a small Willow it will never be quiet under a great Oak Searching into our souls makes sin more loathsom to us Whilst these filthy sinks are unstir'd they do but little disturb us or annoy us with their filthy savour but when by examination we rake into them their noysom stench offendeth us extremely and shews us what need we have of cleansing Examination every night will help the Christian to a good nights rest How comfortably may he lye down who hath made all even with his Maker and heard his everlasting Father bidding him Good-night How quietly may he sleep who hath his pardon under his Pillow he needs not fear any Officer to call him up at midnight and attach him for any treasons or misdemeanours It s said of Cato that constantly at evening he would call to mind what ever he had seen read or done that day It was Pythagoras rule to his Scholars That they should no night suffer sleep to seise their senses till they had three times recalled the accidents and passages of the day O what a shame is it that Moralists who had no true sense of the benefit of such a duty should out-go the Christian in the performance of it That many persons should know the Chronicles of other Countries or Kingdoms some ages past and yet not know the passages of their own souls one day past Reader If thou wouldst walk closely with God and keep even with him reckon daily with him Call thy self to a strict scrutiny What do I how live I where am I is the work I do warrantable by the word or no is my life the life of Faith of Holiness or no am I in Gods way under his protection or no Have I truth of grace the power of godliness or do I please my self with the form of it Do I thrive and increase in grace or do I decay and decline Suppose I were to dye this night what ground have I to hope for Heaven what assurance that I shall escape the power and rage of frightful Devils What evidences have I that I am a new creature engrafted into Christ and thereby entitled to life and bliss Thus feel the pulse of thy soul enquire into its state visit it often and see how it doth Call thy self to an account for thy sins Let heart and life sins open and private sins omissions commissions personal relative be all reckoned for Ask thy soul as Rebecah Why am I thus Why am I so false to my God so unfaithful to my Covenants The heart is like a Ditch into which filth is continually running and therefore it behoveth thee by examination to be always emptying it The Stable that is daily fowled must be daily cleansed The hands that are daily contracting dirt must be daily washed Our souls are more polluted and diseased then our bodies we have always a filthy issue of sin running which we must be daily searching into and dressing or our stench will make us loathsom to and unfit for any communion with God or his people Call thy self to an account daily for thy mercies Ask thy self How much am I indebted to my God what privative what positive mercies do I partake of what old what new what night what day mercies what mercies at home what abroad what personal what domestical what national mercies do I enjoy or am a sharer in what bodily what spiritual mercies do I receive what time what talents have I to trade with and reckon for This will help the soul to be speedy and hearty in thankfulness and force it to Davids Interrogation What shall I render to the Lord for all his benefits What hot love should I return what an holy life should I lead Do this daily It is much better to pay sums when they are little then when they are large Wise men that are able find it the best way to pay ready money for their wares Neglect herein causeth many mistakes and inconveniencies and many times differences amongst friends Having spoken to this particular in the sixth Chapter I shall say no more to it here though indeed I judge it next to a new nature not inferiour to any means of godliness Ninthly If thou wouldst exercise thy self to godliness Avoid the occasions of sin he that would avoid the commission of sin must avoid the occasions of sin If we
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
Conclusion of the Treatise FOurthly Consider the excellency of this Calling As it is said of God in respect of beings Who is like thee O God! Among all the Gods none is to be compared to thee So I may say of godliness in respect of Callings What is like thee O Godliness amongst all callings none is comparable to thee 1. It is the most honourable Calling The Master that thou are bound to is King of Kings and Lord of Lords the Fountain of honour and Lord of glory One of whom the greatest Princes and Potentates of the world hold their Crowns and Scepters to whom they must kneel and do their homage One to whom the whole creation is lesse then nothing The work that thou art imployed in is not servile and mean but high and noble the worship of the great God walking and conversing with his blessed Majesty subduing brutish lusts living above this beggarly earth a conversation in heaven a conflict with and conquest over this dreggy flesh and drossy world and powers of hell to which the greatest battels and victories of the most valiant warriours that ever drew the sword are worse then childrens play To conquer our passions is more then to conquer kingdomes Thâ—mistocles is renowned by Cicero for telling some who disparaged him for his ignorance in playing on the Lute That he knew not how to play on the Lute yet he knew how to take a City To subdue one lust is more then to subdue a thousand Cities Thy fellow servants are the elect of God glorious Angels and Saints who are higher then the Kings of the earth Princes in all lands a crown of glory a royal diadem a chosen generation the excellent of the earth vessels of Gold the Children of the most high of whom the world is not worthy The Priviledges of this calling and company are eminent Adoption remission growth in grace divine love perseverance â—n holiness an eternal kingdom are all contained in the Charter granted to thiâ— Corporation The covenant of grace that hive of sweetness that mine of gold that cabinet of jewels to which all the world is but an heap of dust is their part and portion and contains more in iâ— for their comfort then heaven and earth is able to contain To serve God is one of the fairest flowers in the Saints garland of honour hence the Lords kinsman glorieth in being the Lords servant and the Lords Mother calleth her self his handmaid Iude ver 1. Luk. 1. 38. If the meanest offices about earthly Princes are esteemed honourable what an honour is it to wait on the King of heaven The Saints duty is their preferment and that service which is commanded them a priviledge The great Apostle boasteth of his Chain for God as his glory and credit and holdeth it up as a mark and badge of honour For the hope of Israel I am bound with this chain Act. 28. 20. and begins one of his Epistles with this honourary Title Paul a prisoner of Iesus Christ Philem. 1. It is not earthly riches that make a man honourable we mistake in calling and counting rich men the best men in the Parish Riches without godliness are but a gold ring in a swines snout for which the brute is nothing the better It is not aiery applause or worldly preferments that will make a man honourable Titles are but like feathers in the hat or glistering scarfes under the armes which adde not the least worth to the man that wears them A great letter makes no more to the sense of the word then a small one Worship Honourâ— Grace Highness Majesty make nothing to the real intrinsick value of any person The ungodly Monarchs of the world are but beasts in Gods account Antiâ—chus Epiphanes whose name signifieth Illustrious whom the Samaritans stiled the Mighty God is called by the Holy Ghost because of his ungodliness a vile person Dan. 11. 21. In his days shall stand up a vile person All honour without holiness is fading as well as fancied rather then real External nobility though it glister in the face of the world is but as Seneca saith vitrea brittle as glass and compounded of earth The Potentates of the world are often like Tennis-balls tossed up on high to fall down low Hence some of the wiser Heathen have called them Ludibria fortunae the scorn of fortune Haman honoured one day the next day hanged Gelimer the Puissant Prince of the Vandals Bellisarius Charles the fifth and Henry the fourth Emperours and many others experienced the brittleness of worldly glory But that honour which is from above is true and eternal Plutarch tells us the Roman nobles as a badge of their nobility wore the picture of the Moon upon their shoes signifying as their nobility did increase so it would decrease All priviledges all prerogatives all titles all dignities without godliness are vanishing shadows T is the new creation that rendreth the children of Abraham like the glorious stars in heaven The world looks on the Saint possibly he is poor and mean in the world as the Jews lookt on Christ As a root out of a dry ground and so saw no form nor comliness in him but they who could pierce into the inside of Christ could see that in him dwelt thee fullness of the godhead bodily and they who can see into the inside of Christians behold the Kings daughter all glorious within As the precious stone Sandastra hath nothing in outward appearance but that which seemeth black bâ—t being broken poureth forth beams like the Sun So the Church of Christ is outwardly black with affliction but inwardly more bright and glorious then the Sun with thriving vertues and celestial graces The power of godliness in a mean Christian is a rich treasure in a mean Cabinet but vice in robes in scarlet is poison in wine the more deadly and dangerous Tamberlain tomb was rifled by the Turks and his bones worn by them for Iewels though their enemy and one that had conquered them in divers combates and captivated their Emperour and carried him up and down in an Iron Cage for his foot-stool God makes his people honourable in the eyes of the wicked Since thou wast precious in my sight thou art honourable and I have loved thee therefore will I give men for thee and people for thy life The sons of them that afflicted thee shall bow before thee and thine enemies shall lick the dust Isa. 43. 4. A wicked King Iohoram honoreth and waiteth on a Servant of God Elisha Herod reverenceth the Baptist. Grace is a powerful though silent Oratour to perswade all that see it to love and honour it What Diogenes spake of learning is truly applicable to grace or the knowledge of God in Christ It makes young men sober old men happy poor men rich and rich men honourable When Agesilaus was ready to dye he charged his friends that they should not make any picture or statue of him for saith he If I
wife and children and flesh and heart faile thee and forsake thee godliness would say to thee and stand to it also as Peterâ—o â—o Christ though all forsake thee yet will not I. Wâ—en the worlds Trinity Credit Profit and Pleasure serve their lovers and worshippers as Rats and Mice do an house leave it when it is on fire flye from them in their need and extremity godliness would stick to thee as close as fast as Ruth to Naomi where thou goest it would go where thou lodgest it would lodge nay it would follow thee into the other world and abide with thee a cordial a comfort for ever It would give thee cause to say to it as she to her daughter in law thou hast shewed more kindness to me at the latter end then at the beginning What canst thou have to object against godliness that sets thee at such a distance from it Wilt thou believe a lying world a deceitful flesh a destroying Devil or the God of truth Who is thy greatest enemy God or they Who will do thee most good God or they If thou wilt be tryed by the confessions of the greatest enemies that godliness hath even they in their hours of extremity will tell thee grace is of infinite worth godliness is the best of all Ah how happy had we been at this hour had we been as faithful servants to Religion as we have been slaves to foolish lusts and pleasures If Reason may be heard thou wilt not defer one moment the entering thy name in this society and binding thy self Apprentice to thy Saviour thou mayst see plainly that it is thine interest as well as thy duty and all thy happiness for this and the other world dependeth on it If Scripture may be heard thou wilt quickly set about thy general calling and make Religion thy business it calleth loudly to thee to turn thy back upon earth and face about for heaven to forsake the flesh before the flesh forsake thee It telleth thee plainly under the hand of thy Maker that if thou livest after the flesh and sowest to the flesh thou shalt dye eternally If the Conscience within thee may be heard thou wilt presently give a bill of divorce to thy carnal bruish delights and strike an hearty Covenant wit Jesus Christ It often warneth thee of thy duty and danger and terrifieth thee with the forethoâ—ghts of that fire and fury which thou art hastening to â—eel If thy friends and relations who have any sense of a jealous God and eternal estate may be heard then thou wilt immediately hearken to the counsel I commend to thee from God and exercise thy self unto godliness They advise and perswade and intreat thee to turn over a new leaf and lead a new life and to mind in thy day the things of thy peace If the God upon whom thou livest by whom thou movest from whom thou hast thy being may be heard thou wilt now wink on the world crucifie the flesh loath thy self for thy filth and folly and devote thy heart and soul to his fear He commandeth thee by his dominion over thee and thy obligations to him he threatneth promiseth affrighteth allureth and all to make thee mind thy allegiance to him and the work he hath given thee to do in this world If thy Saviour who humbled himself for thy sake and took upon him the form of a servant and in thy nature was buffeted scourged and crucified may be heard then thou wilt immedately take the counsel that is given thee and turn to the Lord with all thy heart and loath thy self for all thine abominations He pleads with thee most pathetically presenteth to thee the stripes and wounds which sin caused in his blessed body the blood which he shed the ignominy he endured the agony the death he suffered and all to satisfie for sin to make himself Lord both of the dead and living he tells thee he gave himself for thee to redeem thee from all iniquity and to purifie thee to himself a peculiar child zealous of good works If the daily and nightly and hourly mercies that thou injoyest if the sickness or pain or loss or disgrace or afflictions which sometimes thou sufferest may be heard there would not be so much ado to perswade a wretched creature to be blessed and an ungodly person to be holy and happy If the inanimate and irrational creatures the earth beneath thee the heavens above thee the beasts and birds about thee might be heard thou wouldst whilst it s called to day now after so long a time attend to the call and command of him in whose hand is thy life and breath and follow after holiness without which thou shalt never see the Lord. Shall a Centurions servant go when he bids him go and come when he bids him come and wilt not thou go and come at the voice of God Did Balaams Ass speak at Gods command and reprove the madness of the Prophet Did Ravens at Gods command feed Élijah Did Cater-pillars and Locusts and Frogs and Lice execute Gods judgements upon Pharaoh Do fire and hail and snow and vapours and stormy winds fulfil his word Doth the earth open the rocks rend the stars fight in their courses waters stand up in heaps as a wall the Moon stand still the Sun go backward wildernesses tremble things cross the course of nature to obey his pleasure and wilt not thou obey him O man bethink thy self wilt thou be worse then these irrational and inanimate creatures are not thy engagements to God infinitely above theirs what wilt thou have to say for thy self when every stone in the street as well as star in the heavens when every biâ—d and beast and fowl will condemn thee O where wilt thou appear I must tell thee that a perillous time a day of extremity an hour of trouble and anguish is hastning upon thee which thou canst no more escape or avoid then thou canst flye from thy self when the pleasures and delights and honey and beautiful countenances of those Scorpions thy fleshly lusts will all be past and gone but the sting remain to pierce and torment thee when those dreggy waters in which thou bathest thy self now will all be dried up when all thy possessions and preferments and friends and relations will serve thee as women their flowers when they are dead and withered who throw them away or as sinking floores that will fail men when their weight is on them And then O then what wilt thou do Thou wilt wish that religion had been thy business and call and cry to it as the Elders of Gilead to Iephthah when the children of Ammon made war with them Come thou and be our Captain and save us from our enemies Come thou and be my Captain to save me from the curse of the law the terrors of my guilty conscience the wrath of the Infinite God and the torments of the eternal fire But godliness will answer thee as Iephthah did them
in the everlasting Covenant wherein is set forth the Nature Conditions and Excellencies of it and how a sinner should do to enter into it and the danger of refusing this Covenant Reâ—ation Also the Treasures of Grace Blessings Comforts Promises and Priviledges that are comprised in the covenant of Gods free and rich mercy made in Jesus Christ with Beleivers By Obadiaâ— Sedgwick B. D. The Parly of Beasts or Morphandra Queen of the inchanted Island with Reflexes upon the present state of most Countries in Christendom By Iames Howel Esq The dead Saint speaking to Saints and Sinners livingâ— in several Treatises viz. The fulness and greatest evil that is in sin on 2 Sam. 24. 10. The love of Christ to his Spouse on Cant. 4. 9. Nature and Royalties of Faith on Iohn 1. 15. The slowness of heart to believe on Iohn 1. 50. The causes signs and cure of Hypocrisie with motives and helps to sincerity on Isa. 58â— 2. The wonderful workings of God for his Church and his people on Exod. 15â— 11. Never before published By Boltâ—â—â— D D. Quarto's AN Expositâ—on upon the nineteen last Chapters of Ezekiel By Will. Gâ—eenhil An Exposition on the first eighteen verses of Iohn By I. Arrowsmith An exposition on the book of Canticles By R. Robotham A Treatise shâ—wing the right ordering of the Bee By Sam. Purchas An Exposition on the 15 16 17. Chap. of Iob By I. Caryll An Exhortation from the Churches of Bohemia to the Church of England By Iohn Amos Comenius The Plain Doctrine of the Justification of a sinner in the sight of God justified by the God of truth in his holy Word and the Cloud of Witneâ—â—es in all ages By Charles Chauncy of New England The whole Tryal of the Marquiss of Arguile An Exposition upon the 4. Chap. of the 2. Epist. to the Corâ—nthians By R. Sâ—bbs Comfortable Sermons on Psalm 24â— Preached before the Lady Elizabeth her Grace By Daniel Dyke B. D. God save the King in a Sermon preached the day after his Majesty came into Londonâ— by Anth. Walker Preacher of the Gospel An Antidote against Anabaptism wherein the baptizing Infants taking Tythes c are fâ—lly vindicated by Aylmor Haughton The Conversation as heavenly and as natural in two Treatises by D. Stoughton Jesus Christ the mystical or Gospel Sun sometimes seemingly Eclipsed yet never going gown from his people opened in a Sermon at Pauls Church before the Right Honourable the Lord Mayor Aldermenâ— c. March 28. 1652. the day before the lâ—â—e Solar Eclipse by Fulk Beller M. A. A Sermon Preached before the Honourable House of Commons at their late Monethly Fast being on Wednesday Iune 30. 1647. by Nath. Ward A Declaration of the Faith and Order owned and practised in the Congregational Churches in England agreed upon consented unto by their Elders Messengers in their meeting at the Savoy Oct. 12. 1658. Mesolabium Architectonicum that is a most rare and singular Instrument for the easie speedy and most certain measuring of Plaâ—ns and Solids by the foot invented long since by Mr. Tho. Bedwel Esq A Changlâ—ng no company for lovers of Loyalty or the Subjects Lesson in point of sacred submission to and humble compliance with God and the King The beauty of Magistracy in an Expositioo of the 82. Psalm where is set forth the Necessity Utility Dignity Duty and Morâ—lity of Magistrates by the labours of Tho Hall B. D. and Pastor of Kings Norton and George Swinock M. A. and Pastor of Great Kimbel Large Octavo's FOur profitable Treatises very useful for Christian practice viz. The killing power of the Law the spirâ—tual watch the New Birth of the Sabbath by the reverenâ— Fenneâ—â— late Minister of Rotchford in Essex Enchirid on Iudlâ—um or Iehoshaphats charge to his Judges together with the Catastrophe Magnatum or King Davids lamentâ—tâ—on at Prince Abners Incinerationâ— by Iames Livesey Minister of the Gospel at Atherton The greatest loss upon Mat. 15 26 by the same â—uthor Meditations Divine and Moral by Henry Tabb M. A. The Psalms of K. Davâ—d translated by K. Iames. Willâ—ul impenitency the greatest Self-murther by that able faithful and laborious Minister of Jesus Christ Mr. W. Fenner 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Almost Christian discovered or the False professor tryed and cast by Matthew Mead. Spiritual Wisdom improved against Temptation by the same Author Pharonnida an Heroick Poem by VVill. Chamberlain The good old way of Perkins improved in a plain Exposition of Perkins Catechism by C. Broxholme A Treatise of Self-denial with the Necessity and Excellency of it by Thâ—â—philuâ— Polwheele The Hippocrâ—tes Ladder by John Sheffield The Christian compleatly armed by R. Robinson A practical discourse of prayer wherein is handled the nature and duty of prayer by T. Câ—bbet The Righteoâ—s mans tower by Ier. Dike Mount Ebal levelled or a redemption from the â—urse by El. Wales with Mr. Calamies Epistle Tentations their nature danger cure to which is added his Remains by R. Capel A Wedding-Ring fit for the finger â—ogether with the Non-such Professor by W. Secker The History of the Turkish Wars in Hungary Transilvania Austria Silesia and other Provinces of the German Empire from the first invasion of Amurath the second Anno. 1432. to this present year 1664. to which is prefixed a shorâ— discourse of the state and government of the said Provinces The spiritual taste described and a glimpse of Christ discovered in two parts grounded on Psalm 34. 8. and Mal. 4. 2. by Râ—b Dingley M. A. Small Octavo's CAtechizing Gods Ordinance in sundry Sermons by Mr. Zach. Crosâ—on A bridle for the tongue or a â—â—eatise of ten sins of the tongue viz. Cursing Swearing Slandering Scoffing Filthy Speaking Flattering Censuring Murmuring Lying and Boasting on Iam. â— 26. by W. Gearing The Pastor and the Clerk or a debate real concerning Infant Baptism by Iohn Ellis Habakkâ—k's prayer applied to the Churches present occasions on Hab. 3. 2. and Christs counsel to the Church of Philadelphia on Rev. 3. 11. by Sam. Balmford The Rudiments of Grammar The Rules composed in English verse for the great benefit and delight of young beginners by Iames Shirley The Ladies Dispensatory containing the Natures Vertues and Qualities of Herbs and Simples useful in Physick reduced into a methodical order for their more ready use in any sickness or other accident of the body The godly mans Ark in the day of his distress discovered in divers Sermons the first of which was preached at the Funeral of Mrs. Elizabeth Moor. Whereunto is annexed Mrs. Elizabeth Moors Evidences for Heaven composed and collected by her in the time of her health â—or her comfort in the â—ime of sickness by E. Calamy B. D. The Gale of Opportunity and the beloved Disciple by Thomas Froysal Sion in the house of mourning because of sin and suffering being an Exposition on the 5. Chap. of the Lamentations by D. S. Moses unvailed or those figures which served unto the pattern and shadow of