greater and more excellent thaâ— either faith or hope because it is more necessary to the life of man and also inâ—iuturnity because it never dieth nor hath any end and so extendeth further Walker and keepeth a man from doing hurt unto his neighbour Charity seeketh not those things which are her owne because that shee loveth her neighbour and preferreth his good before her owne Charity is not provoked to anger Charity imagines no mischiefe Charity rejoyceth not in anothers iniquity but Charity condoles anothers griefe and maketh anothers misery to be her owne Charity suffers all things believes all things endures all things and hopes of good issue in all things Charity refuseth not to doe unto others as she desires that others should doe unto her for Charity is not partiall in her owne cause tongues shall cease prophesies shall cease Sciences shall be destroyed but Charity shall never cease but remaine for ever the perfection and fruition thereof shall be compleate in the life to come Thinke upon these things O devout soule Note to study and endevor godly charity the maine ground of Christian amity Whatsoever thy neighbour be Eph. 4.31 32. yet he is one for whom Christ dyed why dost thou then deny to shew thy charity unto thy neighbour whom God hath commanded thee to love Christ laid downe his life for him why shouldest thou then deny thy love unto him If thou truly lovest God thou must also love his Image Wee are all one spirituall body let us therefore have all one spirituall minde Why should those soules live at variance here upon earth which one day must live together in heaven Whilest our minds agree in Christ Eph. 4.5 6 7. let our wills also be conjoyned in one wee are all members of one body let us not live at variance but cherish one another that member of the body is dead which hath not a feeling sense of anothers griefe neither let him judge himselfe a member of Christs mysticall body who doth not grieve at the misery of another which suffereth we have all one Father that is God whom Christ hath taught us to call upon daily Matth. 6.9 saying Our Father and how shall hee acknowledge thee to be his Sonne Hatred stirreth up strifes but loue covereth a multitude of sinnes Matth. 6.14.15 Eccl. 28.1 c. unlesse thou againe owne his sonnes to be thy brethren love thy brethren which God hath commanded thee to love if he be worthy doe it because he is worthy if he be not worthy yet for his sake who hath commanded thee and whom thou oughtest to obey if thou lovest him that is thine enemy thou shewest thy selfe to be a friend to God and in his favour doe not marke what man doth against thee but what thou hast done against God whom by thy sinnes thou hast offended in a farre more grievous manner observe not the injuries offered thee by thine enemies but observe the infinite benefits God hath conferred upon thee in Christ Ephes 5.2 who commandeth thee to love thine enemies by the condition of our earthly nativity we are neighours and by the hope our celestiall inheritance wee are brethren Marke what Christ saith Matth. 5.44 Love your enemies blesse them that curse you doe good to them that hate you and pray for them that hurt and persecute you therefore let us love one another in a brotherly love Psal 133.1 kindle in us O God the fire of true love and charity by the operation of thy holy Spirit Of Gods eternall Election and Predestination OF the eternall decree of God concerning Predestination surely no man of Christian beliefe doth make doubt thereof The consideration whereof doth commend unto us Ephes 1.3 the wonderfull power and purpose of God wherein hee determined with himselfe upon our salvation before the world was made Esa 43.11.13 For what else is it to choose and elect men that be not but to fore-see and appoint unto them their salvation before they were borne and it is an incredible matter how great an assurance of salvation there riseth in the hearts of the faithfull to understand and believe Rom. 4.16 c. that God had a care of them before the world was made and that they were chosen by him unto salvation before they had being hereupon the faithfull Christian may gather confidently and most assuredly that God cannot forsake them after they be made and are existant whom he choose and appointed unto salvation before they were existant and before the world was made God elects the faithfull unto salvation before they had being No man will deny that God hath not liberty to doe with his owne what he listeth for seeing that hee is the Maker Creator preserver and conserver of all things and Lord of heaven and earth it followeâ—h Rom 9.18 Esay 45.8 9. that he hath power upon all things for he hath mercy on whom he will and whom he will he hardeneth when he made the world hee made it after his owne will when hee dissevered those things that he had made he disserved them as hee would the heavens from earth fire from water darknesse from light beasts from beasts plants from plants times from times seasons from seasons and man from man therefore we may assure our selves and stand in this that God hath power to determine at his owne will of the salvation of man either else wee must utterly deny him to be God and say that hee hath not power over all his creature O man Esay 43.13 Rom. 20.21 Reade the whole Chapter what art thou that thus disputest with God shall the worke say to the worke-man why hast thou made me on this fashion Hath not the Potter power over his clay even of one lumpe to make one vessell to honour and another to dishonour who is able to resist his will Joh. 36.23 albeit hee did know before what we should be yet for all that hee found nothing in us whereby hee should be moved to choose us wee are all by nature borne the children of wrath hee knew before wee should be such wherfore he had cause to refuse us rather then to choose us The free election of God is the efficient cause of our salvation the materiall cause is Christs obedience the formall cause is our effectuall calling and the finall cause is our sanctification neither can wee boast that hee chose us in respect of our godlinesse and justice that was to come for if there be any godlinesse and justice in us it is in us not as a cause but as the fruit of election and grace of God for as is said hee chose whom hee would of his free mercy not because they would be faithfull but because they should be faithfull and he gave them grace not because they were faithfull but to the intent and end they might be made faithfull wherefore it appeareth that the choyce or election of us
part thereof essentially and vertually but more especially in the Memorie Will They are the faculties of the soule and Understanding so every man by his contemplative and imaginarie presence is every where as when wee doe set before us as present Ephes 1.18 those things which by considering we doe see within our mind in diligent contemplation and imagination and by this we doe present unto our minds both things farre off past and to come 1 Cor. 5.3 and this spirituall presence is that whereby we be present in spirit though farre off absent in body Againe God is present every where in his might power and working For as an earthly king is royally present in every place of his kingdome and dominions by his Officers Magistrates and Ministers though not in his corporall presence and this kinde of presence is more fit and convenient for the majestie of a king Eccles 17. then if hee were every where present in his person so it is with God for though he is and dwelleth in heaven principally in his majestie and glorie 1 Cor. 12.6 yet by his might Ephes 4.6 power and working he is every where present on earth and worketh all in all and through all for it is not in mans power to order his own waies or to rule and governe himselfe Jerem. 10.23 his steps and goings It is not here meant nor determined that the qualitie of Gods nature be that wherein consisteth the habite disposition naturall power or lacke of power affection God is three waies to be considered and distinguished that is to say of what quality he is in his Essence what in Person and what in Nature forme fashion and the like which the Logicians consider in qualitie but the same which hath his greatest propertie to distinct the nature of God which distinction is made from all others which be made of him according to the which God is of that qualitie as agreeth onely to himselfe which passeth all things else not onely in excellencie worthinesse and majestie but also that by his wisedome might power and great goodnesse hee maketh governeth preserveth and nourisheth all things for looke of what qualitie the works of God and the holy Scriptures doe set forth and declare him to be of such qualitie wee may well say is his nature for hee is such in the qualitie of his nature as hee is tried and found to be in his working Eccles 8.17 It is neither necessarie or possible to finde and search out exactly the qualitie of his majestie and worthinesse Job 11.7 8. much lesse of his Essence but it is sufficient for the godly man to adore the Unitie of his Essence and the exceeding and incomprehensible highnesse of his Majestie and worthinesse in spirit Wisd 12. and to seeke the qualitie of his nature in his workes and in the holy Scriptures and so content himselfe with the testimonie of them both And thereby and therein let him learne understand and know that the nature of God in it selfe is to it selfe all-sufficient in all points and that it is everlasting infinite unsearchable incomprehensible and Almightie towards those things which hee hath made Jer. 32.20 21. and that hee hath might power and authoritie over all things and ruleth preserveth and governeth all things that be in heaven earth and waters and that hee is good favourable and loving towards men gentle Wisd 11. and mercifull fore-seeing and fore-knowing all things present every where slow unto anger true wise just judging every man rightly according to their deserts which is reported and set forth of him in holy Scriptures and thereby wee may be assured of what qualitie Gods nature is And seeing these things be peculiar and naturall unto him and in him it followeth that they are perpetuall voluntarie accustomable and very readie in him without any moving cause in us therefore when we doe consider that universall providence and sufficiencie of God whereby he provideth for the necessitie of all his creatures generally that be in heaven earth and waters that thereby they may live increase and continue that one and the same God is the bottomlesse fountaine of all things that be created by him hee his alone sufficient to all and whatsoever is in heaven earth or waters is of him Jam. 1.17 both whatsoever hath or be without life heavenly or earthly creatures and living in the waters reasonable Colos 1. Jerem. 32.17 19 20 17. or unreasonable having soule or without soule is of him all matter substance essence nature life sustentation of life food powers qualities both of spirit soule or body all-sight hearing understanding 1 Cor. 12.4.11 Wisd 13. wisedome knowledge fore-sight all strength of imagining reason judging remembring loving hating desiring refusing strength and motion is of him yea whatsoever things else which doe outwardly happen or come either by Angells men or beasts or otherwise is of him For as Saint Paul saith That of him through him Rom. 11.36 and for him are all things The holy Scriptures doe manifestly teach Who can magnifie him so greatly as he is to be magnified and almost point out unto us as it were before our eyes not onely what and of what qualitie Gods workes be but also what his Spirit intent and purpose is towards man-kind wherein no doubt the nature of God is sufficiently declared unto us wherefore it is needfull and to great purpose to joyne the lessons of the holy Scriptures unto the workes of God for as much as in them both we are instructed of the nature of God but the knowledge of his workes is more generall unto us For as much as the visible points of Gods nature his everlasting vertue and God-head may be seene in them in the understanding of mans reason if diligently wee consider and ponder them in our hearts by those things which have beene done and be daily done by him universally Psal 107.43 That God through the brightnesse of his workes doth rebound upon the mindes of wise men and so doth open and manifest himselfe unto them by the daily experience which the long and continuall order of Gods workes doth yeeld and set forth unto them of understanding Wisd 13 but the knowledge which is obtained and gotten out of holy Scriptures must have faith whereby to credite and believe the testimonies of the holy Spirit Thus by experience and faith the Elect and faithfull may to their salvation attaine to the knowledge of Gods nature Rom. 1.18 c. which the Reprobates pervert to their owne judgement God cannot worke but according to the quality of his Nature But he cannot worke but according to the quality of his nature for as one said as each man is such is his saying and doing which though it bee verified of men yet it may be better verified of God and applied to him then to man for mans wit is so perverse that by
with envie overcharged with gluttony surquedred with drunkennesse John 8.44 boyling with revenge transported with rage and the glorious Image of God transformed to the ugly shape of divell Genes 6.6 so farre forth that once it repented the Lord that ever hee made man After that the aged man hath conflicted with long sicknesse and having endured the brunt of paine should now expect some ease in comes death natures slaughter man Gods curse and hells purvey or and lookes the old man grim in the face and neither pittying his age nor regarding his long endured dolours will not be hired to forbeare either for silver or gold but batters all the principall parts of the body summons him to appeare before the terrible Judge of heaven and earth Now the miserable soule perceiveth her earthly body to begin to dye for as towards the dissolution of the universall frame of the great world Mark 13.24 25 26. the Sunne shall be turned into darkenesse the Moone into blood and the Staâ—res shall fall from heaven the aire shall be full of stormes Luk. 21.25 26. and flashing meteors the earth shall tremble and the sea shall rage and roare and mens hearts shall faile and tremble for feare so towards the dissolution of man which is the little world his eyes which are as the Sunne and Moone lose their light and see nothing but bloodguiltinesse of sin the rest of the senses as little starres doe one after another faile and fall his minde reason and memory as heavenly powers of the soule are shaken with fearefull stormes of despaire and first flashing of hell fire his earthly body begins to shake and tremble and the humours like an overflowing sea roare and rattle in his throat still expecting the wofull end of his dreadfull beginning Whilest hee is thus The soule summoned to appeare at the tribunall Zach. 5.2 c. summoned to appeare at the great assises of Gods generall Judgement behold a quarter sessions and goale delivery is held within himselfe where Reason sits as Judge the Divell puts in a bill of inditement as large as that booke of Zachary wherein is alledged all thy evill deeds that ever thou hast committed and all the good deeds that ever thou hast omitted wherein is written lamentations and mourning and woe Ezech. 2.10 and all the curses and judgements thar are due to every sinne thine owne conscience shall accuse thee and thy memory shall give bitter evidence against thee and death stands at the barre ready 1 John 3.20 as a cruell executioner to dispatch thee If thou shalt thus justly condemne thy selfe how shalt thou escape the just condemnation of God who knowes all thy misdeeds better than thy selfe Faine wouldst thou put out of thy minde the remembrance of thy wicked deeds that trouble thee but they flow faster into thy remembrance and they will not be put away but cry unto thee Wee are thy workes and wee will follow thee and whilest thy soule within thee is thus out of peace and order thy children wife and friends trouble thee as fast to have thee put thy goods in order some crying some craving some pittying some cheering all like flesh flies helping to make thy sorrowes more sorrowfull Now the divells who are come from hell to fetch away thy soule begin to appeare to her and wait as soone as shee comes forth to take her and carry her away stay shee would within but that shee feeles the body begin by degrees to dye and ready like a ruinous house to house to fall upon her head fearefull shee is to come forth because of those hell-hounds which wait for her comming Oh shee that spent so many daies and nights in vaine and idle pastimes would now give the whole world if shee had it for one houres delay that shee may have space to repent and reconcile her selfe unto God but it cannot be because her body which joyned with her in the actions of sin is altogether now unfit to joyne with her in the exercise of repentance and repentance must be of the whole man The dolour of the soule The soule now seeth that all her pleasures are gone as if they had never beene and that but onely torments remaine which never shall have end of being who can sufficiently expresse her remorse for her sins past her anguish for her present misery and her terror for her torments to come In this extremity she lookes about every where for helpe and finds her selfe every way helpelesse thus in her greatest miseries desirous to heare the least word of comfort shee directs this or the like speech unto her eyes saying O eyes who in times past were so quicke sighted to behold the vanities of the world can yee spie no comfort for mee nor any way how I might escape this dreadfull danger but the eye-strings are broken they cannot see the candle that burnes before them nor discerne whether it be day or night the distressed soule finding no comfort in the eyes speakes to the eares O eares who were wont to recreate your selves with hearing new pleasant discourses and musicks sweetest harmony can yee heare any newes or tidings of the least comfort for mee to escape this dreadfull danger the eares are so deafe that either they cannot heare at all or the sense of hearing growne so weake that they cannot endure to heare his dearest friends to speake and why should the eares heare any glad tydings of joy in death who could never abide to heare the glad tydings of the Gospell in his life the eares cannot minister no comfort Then she intimates her griefe to the tongue O tongue The reprobate soule can finde no comfort in her extremity who was wont to make bold challenges with the best and bragge it out with the bravest Where are now thy big and daring words now in my greatest need canst thou speake nothing in my defence Canst thou neither daunt these enemies with threatning words nor intreat them with faire speeches Alasse the tongue two daies agoe lay speechlesse that it cannot in his greatest extremity either call for a little drinke or desire a friend to take away with his finger the flegme that is ready to choak him Finding here no hope of helpe she speakes unto the feet where are ye O feet which sometimes were so swift and nimble in running to all manner of leudnesse All places are penall unto the reprobate which doe alwaies carry torments and vexation about them can yee carry me no where out of this dangerous place The feete are stone dead already that if they be not stirred they cannot stirre Then she directs her speech unto her hands O hands who have so often beene approved for manhood in peace and in warre and wherewith I have so often defended my selfe and offended my foes never had I more need then now death lookes me grim in the face and kills mee hellish fiends wait about my bed to devoure
so forthwith shee is carryed by the evill angels who came to fetch her with violence into hell where shee is kept as in a prison 1 Pet. 3.19 in everlasting paines and chaines under darknesse untill the Judgement of the great day Luk. 16.23 Matth. 13.42 but not in that extremity of torment which shee shall receive at the last day The generall fulnesse of cursednesse is in a greater measure of fulnesse Joh. 5.28.29 Luk. 16.24 Luk. 1.31 32. Apoc. 11.18 which shall be inflicted upon both the soule and body when by the mighty power of Christ the supreme Judge of heaven and earth the one shall be brought out of hell the other out of the grave Dan. 12.1.2 Apoc. 20.13.14 as prisoners to receive their dreadfull doomes according to their evill deeds how shall the Reprobate by the roaring of the Sea the quaking of the earth Mat. 24.29 c. Luk. 21.25 26. the trembling of the powers of heaven and terrors of heavenly signes be driven at the worlds end to their wits end O what a wofull salutation will there be betwixt the damned soule and body at their re-uniting at that terrible day O sinke of sin O lump of filthinesse will the soule say unto the body how am I compelled to re-enter into thee The damned soules apostrophe to her body at the second meeting not as into an habitation to rest but as into a prison to be tormented together with thee would God thou hadst perpetually rotted in the grave that I might never have seene thee againe Oh how shall wee be confounded together to heare before God Angels and men laid open all those secret sins which we committed together Oh earth would thou wouldst open thy mouth and swallow us up Numb 16. as thou didst Corah Dathan and Abiram that I might be seene no more O damned furies would yee might without delay teare mee apieces on condition that yee would teare me unto nothing but whilest thou art in vaine bewailing thy misery within thee thine owne conscience more then a thousand witnesses shall accuse thee and the divell who tempted thee to all thy lewdnesses shall with thy conscience testifie against thee and on the other side shall stand the holy Angels and Saints approving Christs Justice and detesting so filthy a creature behinde thee an hideous noise of innumerable fellow damned Reprobates tarrying for thy company before thee all the world burning in flaming fire above thee an irefull Judge of deserved vengeance ready to pronounce his sentence against thee beneath thee â—he firie and sulphurous mouth of the bottomlesse pit gaping to receive thee in this wofull estate to hide thy selfe will be impossible to appeare will be intollerable and yet thou must stand forth to receive with thy fellow Reprobates this thy deserved sentence Depart from mee yee cursed into everlasting fire Matth. 13.42 and 25.41 c. prepared for the divell and his angels Depart from me there is a separation from all joy and happinesse yee cursed there is a blacke and direfull excommunication into fire there is the cruelty of paine everlasting there is the perpetuity of punishment prepared for the divell and his angels here are thy infernall tormenting and tormented companions O terrible sentence from which the condemned cannot escape which being pronounced cannot possibly be withstood against which a man cannot except and from which a man can no where appeale so that to the damned nothing remaines but hellish torments which knowes neither ease of paine nor end of time from this Judgement-seat thou must be thrust by Angels together with all the damned divels and Reprobates into the bottomlesse lake of utter darknesse that perpetually burneth with fire and brimstone Apoc. 21.8 where there shall be such weeping woes and wailing that the cries of Corah Dathan and Abiram when the earth swallowed them up wap nothing comparable to this howling nay it will seeme unto thee a hell before thou enterest into hell into which bottomlesse lake after that thou art once plunged thou shalt ever be falling downe and never finde a bottome in it thou ever shalt lament and none shall pitty thee Apoc. 14.10 Matth. 22.13 thou shalt alwaies weepe with paine of the fire and yet gnash thy teeth with the extremity of cold thou shalt weepe to thinke that thy miseries are past remedy thou shalt weepe to thinke that to repent is to no purpose thou shalt weepe to thinke that for the shadow of short pleasures thou hast incurred these hellish sorrowes of eternall paines thou shalt weepe to see how that weeping it selfe can nothing prevaile yea in weeping thou shalt weepe more teares than there is water in the Sea for the water the Sea is finite but the weeping of the damned shall be infinite Of the grievousnesse of the torments of Hell THinke O devout soule upon the grievousnesse of hell torments and it will draw thy affections from wicked pleasures and thou shalt thereby easily get the mastery of thy sins in hell there shall be the presence of all evill and the absence of all good there shall be the heat of fire to burne thee Matth. 22.13 and the freezing of cold to pinch thee perpetuall darknesse continuall teares terrible fights lamentable howlings and cryings for ever Hells cloudy darknesse is marvellous the bitternesse of paine unmeasurable and infinite everlastingnesse of all miseries there shall be drinesse thirst and stinke of brimstone there shall be the worme of conscience which shall sting worse than an Adder for sins made manifest to all there shall be envie hatred and sorrow and want of the vision of the divine Essence and the beatificall glory and losse of all hope of good and goodnesse and by the power of God the light of the fire shall be separated from the burning quality the light shall serve to rejoyce the Saints and the burning quality to torment the damned And not as an object of comfort to see it and rejoyce but to the increasing of their misery that they may see it and grieve the more Mat. 13.42 there shall be weeping for griefe and gnashing of teeth for madnesse they shall be by the worme of conscience tormented in the flesh every fin there shall have its proper torment for if in this life by Gods permission the divell doth so grievously afflict the Saints how muchmore grievously shall hee then afflict and torment the damned which are given up to his power for ever There thy lascivious eyes shall be afflicted with the fight of gastly spirits thy curious eares shall be affrighted with hideous noise of howling divels and gnashing teeth of damned Reprobates thy dainty nose shall be cloyed with the noysome stench of sulphur thy delicate taste shall be pained with intollerable hunger thy drunken throat shall be parched with unquenchable thirst thy mind shall be tormented to thinke how for the love of abortive pleasures which perished ere they budded
government of his creatures the creatures not being ordained for the service of them but man for whom all things were made and from whom was to be derived a world of people when he sinned God himselfe punished him and his posterity and the creatures he had made and had given him For as the sin of man had infected the whole world mans house so the curse of God and the worke of his displeasure was seated on that house the world all things then being subject to alteration and evill change from this curse is the inecessity of regeneration all things being now in their owne nature in the state of corruption and death therefore Saint Peter saith When Christ shall come to â—udgement 2 Pet. 3.10.7 the heavens shall passe away with noyse and the elements shall melt with heat and the earth with the workes therein shall be utterly burned up and there shall be a new heaven and a new earth according to the promise of God Verse 13. wherein dwelleth righteousnesse What manner of persons ought wee then to be in holy conversation and godlinesse of life Verse 11. seeing that all these things shall perish so that nothing shall be able to abide the glory of Gods presence but that which is reformed and regenerate not the elements nor earth no nor heaven it selfe but as all have endured for sinne the bad alteration so must they endure by grace the good alteration all were transformed by the sin of one man Adam all must be reformed againe by grace in Christ or else remaine still in their deformity Saint Paul is peremptory in this opinion Gal. 6.15 for he saith in Christ Jesus neither circumcition availeth any thing nor uncircumcision but a new creature that is a regeneration by a lively faith in Christ is onely necessary at many â—n walke according to this rule peace be upon them and meâ—â—y upon them that be of God Verse 16. all ceremonies being insufficient and not effectuall and our Saviour Christ preached to Nichodemus the necessity of regeneration and affirmeth his doctrine with a double asseveration saying Verily verily I say unto thee John 3.3 except a man be borne againe hee cannot see the kingdome of God if not to see the kingdome of God we cannot inherit it This may suffice to perswade the necessary knowledge and the necessary care of regeneration being that without which it is impossible to be saved now to know what regeneration is it is an act of the holy Ghost in Gods elect whereby they are admitted and entred into a constant and faithfull exercise of godly life for as it is said before all grace is the gift of God Iam. 1.17 18. and every motion to good is caused onely by the spirit of God of his owne good will hee begat us by the Spirit of truth our selves being meerely passive in the first action of grace God himselfe being the actor and principall mover thereof for the holy Ghost by whose directions we learne the use of all spirituall exercise doth move both our capacity and power to understand the knowledge and use of necessary and Christian performance without which wee should never be able to comprehend the rudiments and first elements of divine learning regeneration being then a Christian office of most necessary performance it must needs then be caused in us by the inspiration of the holy Ghost who is the first mover of every grace This Doctrine Saint Peter concludeth in expresse words saying Blessed be God 1 Pet. 1.3 even the Father of our Lord Iesus Christ which according to his bâ—â—â—den mercy hath begotten us againe unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Iesus Christ from the dead so that wee are regenerate and new begotten by God in Jesus Christ at the motion and instance of his abundant mercy cowards us Regeneration or sanctification is the gift of God whereby our corrupt nature is renewed to the Image of God by the operation of the holy Ghost or it is an inward change of man justified Hippocates whereby the Image of God is restored in him for as one saith that physicke is an adjection and a substraction an adjection of things wanting and a substraction of things redounding in the bodies of men Even so is sanctification a removing of the corrupt humours of our soules and adjection or infusion of spirituall graces which are wanting in us Greenham for in every generation there is a corruption and we see that the seed sowne is much changed before it grow up and beare fruit then it is needfull in generation that there be a corruption of sinne so that as the seed in the ground so sinne in our mortall bodies must decay that the new man may be raised up by the Spirit of God taking possession of our soules Heb. 12.14 This transformation of man is very requisite to salvation for without holinesse no man shall see God Therefore if wee will not live to God by grace upon earth Ezech. 18.30 31 32. Rom. 6.23 we shall not live with him in glory in the Heavens if we will not die to sin in this world we shall not escape death the wages of sin in the world to come if we do not live to God in holinesse in this life wee shall not live in happinesse with God in the life to come it is not onely necessary to him that is to be saved that sinne bee abolished by remission but that it bee likewise mortified by regeneration our regeneration must then of necessity be wrought in the whole man according to both soule and body Albeit our sanctification be the worke of the whole Trinity yet it is immediately performed by the holy Ghost yea and like also This act of regeneration is caused by the holy Ghost in the hearts of the Elect and Gods labour is never fruitlesse but what he willeth to attempt is finished there being no resistance of his power nor any greater then himselfe to countermand him as holy David saith The Lord hath done whatsoever pleased him By this act of grace they are entred and admitted into the exercise of godlinesse which doth promise us an extraordinary degree of hope that wee are in Gods favour yet have we then our best assurance when we are adopted his children by regeneration for then wee bring our holy purpose of reformation into act and faithfully endeavour those duties which before wee had onely determined we are then made fruitfull and the Sonnes of God and not before for wee are then Gods first fruits because we are then first made fruitfull we must therefore bee constant and faithfull in the exercise of good workes because that not those that faint in the race of godlinesse but those that goe on with hope and alacrity shall obtaine to the ends of their progresse and have the garland for so saith Saint Iohn Revel 2.26 Hee that overcommeth and keepeth my workes to the end
good King Hezekiah 2 King 20.5 6. whose successe of his faith was such as it effected what he desired namely in his sicknesse hee recovered health and had fifteene yeares added to his life after the Lord sayd by his Prophet that he should dye This is a comfortable example to bee applyed to the case of him that is deeply diseased within with sin and without with crosses and calamities wherein if he seeke the Lord in this lively and working faith hee will offer himselfe unto him The efficacy of faith and make him see the issue of his hope even delivery out of all his troubles The prayers of the faythfull are of wonderfull effect for thereby God sheweth himselfe to bee a God of great compassion and exceeding in mercy towards all believers and at an instant hee heareth and in his good time for Christ his sake hee granteth our desires as is seene in this example of Hezekiah whose prayer no sooner issued out of his mouth but his petition was granted and the Lords mercy came to meete as it were the Kings miseries whereby we may learne that the faythfull soule being in distresse hath God as present as if Heaven and earth were conjoyned together No distance of place or processe of time can prevent God to performe his will in a moment of time but where prayer is and fayth the ground of it there is the presence of God Esay 49. who giveth presently or delayeth for a time according to his will alwayes for the best and good of the faythfull petitioner God delayed to grant Davids request a long time suffering him to live in banishment and in the wildernesse crying yet at the last in an acceptable time hee delivered him and made him King over Israel Gen. 41.1 c. so Ioseph made long suite and prayed unto the Lord being in prison and no doubt the Lord heard him yet in two yeeres he gave him not his liberty but when the time was come wherein occasion was administred for his advancement hee then not only gave him freedome but also made him viceroy as it were over all Egypt thus doth God often try our faith whether it be sound or not and after proofe thereof by patience then it hath the reward Infinite examples might be shewen of the force of faith Hebr. 11. how it stopped the Lyons mouthes how it qualified the heat of the fire and how faith gave David the victory over Goliah but let these suffice And sith that faith and humble prayer are so effectuall 1 Sam. 17.46 c. let us not rest dissolute and carelesse to seeke it but with all diligence and carefulnesse let us aske it of the Lord and hee will give it us abundantly so shall wee be able to performe and bring mighty things to passe beyond humane expectation the examples in the Scriptures are common they are infinite which may confirme our faith seeke therefore the Scriptures the sweet Manna of our soules they will shew us the admirable things which have beene wrought by lively faith let us therefore assure our selves that this God who hath done for us wonderfull things will be present also at our prayers and if wee aske faithfully he will bring such things to passe for us as shall seeme marvellous to the eyes of men Now sith this excellent sweet and surpassing jewell is the gift of God and that he giveth all his rich blessings freely and for nought let us not feare to frame our prayers unto him in all humble obedience and goe freely to the throne of Grace and he will give us at large what wee shall desire in faith In briefe faith is the hand of the soule which layeth hold of the promises of Christ in the mercy of the Almighty she hath a bright eye that pierceth heaven a holy eare a cleare heart and a sure foot standing upon a rocke she is the strength of hope the trust of truth the honour of amity and the joy of love she is rare among the sonnes of men and hardly found among the children of women but to the sonnes of God she is the assurance of their inheritance and in the children of grace she is the promise of their portions shee lookes toward heaven but lives in the world in the soules of the elect to the glory of the Electour shee was wounded in Paradise by a dart of the Divell and healed of her hurt by the death of Christ Jesus faith is Gods blessing and mans blisse reasons comfort and the glory of vertue Of Hope AFter the knowledge of God which is by faith there followeth hope love patience invocation and feare of God obedience and such other like which doe belong unto true godlinesse wherefore like as before is noted those things which a godly person ought to consider of God and to conceive by the knowledge of him and his Sonne Christ So it is meet to speake of those things which doe follow in the knowledge of God in us without the which true godlinesse can take no place for those things which be recited before of God cannot doe us any good unlesse wee doe depend upon him in sincere faith hope charity patience invocation reverence and obedience for as of true faith is said sufficiently before What is the hope of Christian men Rom. 1.24 25. it is not amisse likewise to note something touching hope for the definition of hope it is an expectation of things to come for the Apostle saith that we are saved by hope but hope which is seene is no hope but if we hope for that we see not then doe wee with patience abide for it looking and hoping to be adopted the children of God and to looke for the delivery of our bodies which is to come by the resurrection and glorifying of the children of God therefore the hope of true Christians is the assured and unmoveable expectation of those things which be promised unto us in Christ Jesus 1 Pet. 1.13 Hebr. 6.17 18 19 20. whereof nothing doth appeare to us in this life but wee shall have the full fruition of our constant hope in the world to come at the comming of our Saviour to deliver us and to bring us out of the middest of evill the rising againe of our bodies to glory and life everlasting salvation and felicity the fellowship of Angels yea of Christ himselfe and the perfect sight and knowledge of God besides that which neither eye hath seene nor eare hath heard nor the heart of man conceived which is provided for the elect of God Christian hope is bred of faith and commeth of the knowledge of God because wee doe know that God is in creating Almighty in governing wise in preserving just in helping good and in his promises true and sure and wee doe credit his promises and the same which wee doe credit and believe in faith that wee doe looke for also with a fast and a firme hope for
that their glory multitude and wealth with such as rejoyce in her shall descend into it Thus hath a man a fall and is brought low and the high lookes of the proud shall be cast downe Vers 15. Psal 36.12 there are they fallen all that worke wickednesse they are cast downe and shall not be able to stand To the Reader IF thou wouldst understand the Deity Behold the mystery of the holy Trinity An Essence divine eternall infinite is hee Spirituall and of wonderfull magnanimity Of power of might and majesty Of goodnesse greatnesse and excellency Of glory continuance and quality And is perfectly good unchangeably From everlasting and perpetually And is every where present repletively Essentially potentially and vertually Which is seene by his admirable works apparantly With our eyes and minde continually From age to age universally This Almighty God incomprehensible Omnipotent invisible and incomparable Immortall incorruptible and unspeakeable Dwelleth in light inaccessible And is coequall coessentiall and coeternall Of one substance immutable and unsearchable This high blessed Heavens Creatour Is the earths creatures Conserver Increaser nourisher repairer and governour By his omnipresent power Although he dwels in Heaven principally Yet hee is and dwels on earth effectually In the faithfull his elect especially In his wisedome grace and mercy Therefore be praised evermore the Trinity Father Sonne and holy Ghost in unity This to believe is godly charity Saving faith and holy piety For speaking of Gods simple verity Nought more beseemes then true simplicity If further thou wouldst understand his Majesty Goe in behold and see his excellency For what I know of his all-knowing worth With single heart I have simply here set forth Thus wishing that my labours may To heavens rest thy soule convey No attributes can sufficiently expresse the essence of God but the attributes which be given unto God be taken out of the usage of mens speech and so applyed unto the nature of God to the end that those things which cannot be properly expressed by any toung nor language may yet at the least wise be by the figures of mens speeches in some sort shadowed whatsoever therefore is spoken of God is so in God as it serveth to helpe our weake understanding to conceive in our reason and to utter in our speech the majesty of his divine nature quality and essence for of himselfe he is infinite and ineffable in his essence might power and working THE SOVLES PROGRESSE TO THE Celestiall CANAAN Of the Essence of God and how he is to be understood in his holy Attributes so farre as hee hath revealed himselfe in holy Scriptures for otherwise no man is able to define what God is ALL men are by a certaine instinct of nature desirous of knowledge and account ignorance evill and unseemely like a defective body or lightlesse house for knowledge is the eye of the mind the light of the soule the ornament of grace and nature and is a collection of understanding gathered in the grounds of learning by the instruction of wisedome Eccles 1. shee is the exercise of memory in the actions of the mind and the imployer of the senses in the will of the Spirit and such Riches as will swimme with the master when he suffers shipwracke and sees his whole estate sinke before his eyes Now the more excellent a thing is the more worthy it is of our knowledge for it is discommendable and uncomely for anyman to bee ignorant of himselfe especially of the causes the meanes and manner of his eternall Salvation and Redemption from horrible and intolerable Misery To further this knowledge my purpose is out of the Scriptures and by the helpe of sundry learned and orthodoxall Writers briefly to shew and set forth how God is to be understood and so we shall as in a glasse behold what course the Lord hath in his wisedome taken to manifest his grace unto us and to make us partakers of his glory 3 Meanes to know that there is a God Touching this matter there are three waies whereby God doth manifest and open himselfe to the knowledge of man the first way and most generall consisteth in his working where the Majesty of God setteth himselfe to be seene in all his workes throughout the compasse of all the world in Heaven as well as in the earth Rom. 1.20 this way is most generall because it is so set forth to all people of all Nations that no man can excuse himselfe for not knowing God Vers 19. It cannot be denied but that there is in us a certaine quicknesse of understanding and strength of reason Wisd 13. as might be the eye of our minde whereby we may know in Gods Workes God himselfe the worker thereof but unlesse the brightnesse for the workes of God were so great that they did set forth the Majesty of the worker to bee seene throughout all the earth our reason should have had no cause or meanes to have knowne that there had beene a God Therefore the first cause of our knowledge of God is attributed to the light and brightnesse of the Workes of God whereby the Philosophers did acknowledge the Majesty of the invisible God Rom. 1 c. How the Philosophers knew God by his Workes as the Apostle witnesseth For first they did observe in the Workes of God an exceeding great Majesty an infinite multitude a wonderfull variety a most constant order a seemely agreement an endlesse continuance a pleasant vicissitude or entercourse of things comming and going briefly Wisd 13. such wisedome in creating governing and bestowing of things and in conserving of them such power and might that they could ascribe the whole workemanship of all things Heavenly and earthly to no other nature but to the Nature of God Besides this they tasted indeed of the wonderfull goodnesse of God by the infinite number of commodities growing unto them both from Heaven and earth which the Apostle rehearseth saying Acts 14.17 Verely hee left not himselfe without witnesse doing good and helping them from Heaven giving raine and fruitfull seasons filling their hearts with food and gladnesse Thirdly they felt a marvellous terrour of lightning earthquakes Math. 24. pestilences gapings of the ground strange sights and apparitions from Heaven in the Sunne Moone Starres and Comets the fore-shewers of great mischiefes and slaughters and withall that the prophesies of things to come such as were Sibyls Iob. 37. Iob 38. and of the Prophets were so certaine and true that they plainly passe the limits of mans fore-knowledge and proved the power of the God-head to governe all things in the world They that bee so unfaithfull and grosse Some believe nothing but what they see with their eyes as the Stoicks and Epicures that they cannot apply their understanding and credite to things invisible be so affected for the most part that they believe nothing neither of the life felicity and glory of Heaven neither of the
like as in the day of resurrection when wee shall be all raised up out of the dust of the earth and the corruptible put on incorruptible and the mortall put on immortality and the vertue of the power of God shall be declared much better than if we had still lived and continued in this life without corruption and death And further whereas by the sinne committed man-kind perished and fell into so great corruption It was not Gods fault that man sinned and lost his innocency depravation and death it is not such that it ought to be imputed unto God but rather such as the justice of God may appeare therein therefore it was meet and needfull that Christ should not be conceived and borne in the wombe of the Virgin of the seed of man lest he should be borne partaker of sin but only by the working of the Holy Ghost Lastly seeing the sinne of Adam by the intisement of the woman did so deface the excellence and innocence of our nature as that the corruption thereof did descend from him to all posterities this ought to abate the pride of man that no man dignifie or exalt himselfe in the pride of his nature for all men are of one and the same nature and all men in one and the same condemnation there being no power in mans nature to raise himselfe to the dignity of Gods favour that being onely in the power of him that first created us holy and innocent who againe will restore us if we faithfully spend our indeavours in holy actions Againe it ought to move all men to beare indifferent favour to all the children of God and not to despise any either for the defect of nature or fortun but to pitty and commiserate the common calamities because there is no judgement or punishment inflicted upon any man How to judge calamities but it is generally caused by all men all men having offended God with Adam and all men for that sin of Adam being subject to all misery for those calamities and greater are due to us though other men indure them and those benefits which some injoy Gods favour is not by desert but by benevolence and others want they have them not of desert but of benevolence from the favour of God who giveth them according to the pleasure of his will without respect of persons Seeing that Adam who had such extraordinary indowments of grace and whose nature God had so adorned with excellence that hee delighted in his company and seeing he was innocent and his nature unstained with corruption or infirmity We farre more easie to be tempted then Adam did notwithstanding run in contempt of Gods Commandement and thereby did purchase Gods indignation Let us therefore be extraordinary carefull to withstand all provocations that may tempt us to any sinne for our nature is much more easie to be tempted than Adams was his being innocent and holy ours in corruption stained he having power in himselfe to withstand his tempter we having no power in our nature to resist but rather an appetite and affectation to evill naturally inclined to neglect that grace which should make us able to resist temptation and to withstand the assaults of the divell The depravednesse of nature and because our nature is thus depraved and that our owne blind directions would but leade us to condemnation let us therefore with humble confidence implore the favour of God How to prevent the power of temptation that by his spirit hee would give us directions and that by his mighty hand hee may support us against the power of all temptations for we know our strength is but weaknesse and if God take his hand of favour from us If we will affy in God we must deny our selves wee shall fall into the hands of our tempters and remaine their spoile for if Adam in his innocence was vanquished we in our sinne cannot bee able to withstand them therefore let us not trust in our owne strength but deny our selves and repose our whole confidence in the strength of his arme for it is thou O God that savest and defendest us from and out of the hands of our enemies and puttest them to confusion that hate us Thus let us practise against our spirituall tempters and thus we shall prevaile Againe seeing God hath not spared Adam nor the Angels that sinned who in their natures were much more excellent then we but for their sinne gave them over to condemnation 2 Pet. 2.4 how much lesse will he spare us if wee continue in the committing of sinne and not endeavour our selves with all diligence in godly exercise Assuredly this should make us fearefull to commit any sinne with consent or knowledge Let us therefore flie all sinne The wages of sin in death as we would death because the earnest of sinne is certainely rewarded with death sinne and death being inseparable in fellowship for the soule that sinneth must die the death and no soule dieth but the sinfull Therefore let us resort our prayers to the holy presence of God Resolution let us earnestly intreat that his providence may direct us in an holy course to an holy end let us avoyd all acquaintance with sinne let us hate it in our selves Charity will pitty misery let us hate it in others pity their misery and pray for their amendment let up prove our selves vowed enemies to sinne and practise in that profession thus let us perswade thus let us resolve Againe seeing Adam and his posterity were not cast into condemnation Man was not condemned without hope as the angels were without hope without mercy as the angels that sinned were but had hope given him to be againe restored to the favour and blessed presence of God by the righteousnesse of Jesus Christ the Sonne of God this admirable degree of love and favour of God to mankind should keepe all our actions in awe and make us carefully feare to offend our God who hath so farre exceeded to us in the favours of his love therefore let us not onely feare him because hee hath power to destroy us but let us feare him for the reverence of his love and preferre his love even before our soules our meditations cannot present to our soules a greater Heaven of joy To meditate God and his favours then to understand our selves to be beloved of God neither can wee have more delightfull action then to meditate his love and to love him againe for his love to us for to love him for the safety of our owne soules is most necessary but to love him for his love only is more commendable and declareth a notable degree of Christian zeale Thus did Moses love the Israelits Exod. 32.30.31 32. thus did St. Paul the Iewes and thus will I my God by whom I was created by whom I am restored and in whom I will alwaies trust Amen Of the Divels trecheries and how to
that thou so foolishly lost heavens joyes and incurred hellish paines which last beyond eternity how shall the understanding be racked to consider how for momentany riches thou hast lost the eternall treasure and changed heavens felicity for hels misery where every part of the body without any intermission of paine shall be alike tormented continually In these hellish torments thou shalt be deprived of the beatificall sight of God wherein consists the soveraigne good Math. 25 10. and life of the soule for when the Virgins that are prepared are entred in with the Bridegroom the gate shal be presently shut against the reprobate and damned that is the gate of indulgence the gate of mercy the gate of consolation the gate of hope and the gate of holy conversation the damned shall hate all the creatures of God they shall hate one another they shall hate the holy Angels and the Elect of God and even God himselfe but not properly in his owne nature but in the effects of his justice All the evils present in this life are single and by degrees one is troubled with poverty another is tormented with sicknesse another is oppressed with grievous wrongs another with hard servitude another over-burthened with calamities and another contaminated with reproches but there all at once shall be tormented with all evils the paines there shall be universall Every member for his sinnes shall have his proper punishment in all the sences members of both body and soule in this life hope of release mitigateth all troubles but there is left no hope of deliverance there is no hope of mitigation or ease not so much as for one moment but the punishment of hell is eternall there shall be no order but horror no voice but blasphemers and houlers no noise but of tortures and of the tortured no society but of the divel and his angels who being tormented themselves shall have no other ease but to wreak their fury in tormenting their fellowes damned there shall be punishment without pity misery without mercy sorrow without succour crying without comfort mischiefe without measure torment without ease where the worme never dieth nor the fire never quenched Mark 9.44 Esay 66.24 in which flame thou shalt be ever burning and never consumed ever dying and never dead ever rowing in the paines of death never rid nor knowing no end of those pangs So that after thou hast endured them so many 1000 yeeres as there is grasse on the earth or sands on the sea shore thou art no neerer to have an end of thy torments then thou wast the first day that thou wast cast into them yea so farre are they from ending that they are ever but beginning but if after a thousand times so many thousand yeeres the damned soule could but conceive a hope that those her torments should have an end this would be some comfort to thinke that at length an end will come but as oft as the mind thinketh of this word never it is another hell in the midst of hell Therfore O devout soul think upon the eternity of hell torments thou shalt the more truly understand the grievousnes thereof Oh! eternity not to be termed O eternity not to be measured by any space of time O eternity not to be conceived by any humane understaÌ„ding how much dost thou augment the punishment of he damned after innumerable thousands of yeeres they shall be compelled to thinke that then is but the beginning of their torments Oh eternity eternity it is thou alone beyond all measure that dost encrease the punishment of the damned grievous is the punishment of the damned for the cruelty of the paine yet it is more grievous for the diversity of the punishment Math. 21.13 but it is most grievous for the eternity of the punishments that life shall be mortiferous The damned shall seeke death and shall not finde it because they had life and lost it and that death shall be immortall if it be life why doth it kill if it be death why doth it alwaies endure What eternity is is not perfectly knowne and it is no wonder for what created mind can comprehend that which cannot be measured by any time but if thou wilt guesse what the space of eternity is think upon the time that was before the world was created if thou canst finde Gods beginning then mayst thou finde when the punishments of the damned shall have end not before hence shall arise their dolefull wo and alasse for evermore Oh Lord Jesus which by thy passion hast made satisfaction for our sins deliver us from eternall damnation This is the second death the generall perfect fulnesse of all cursednesse and misery which every damned reprobate must suffer so long as God and his Saints shall enjoy blisse and felicity in heaven for evermore Thus farre of the misery of man in his state of corruption unlesse he be renewed by grace in Christ This is the portion this is the state of the evill disposed wicked wise men of this world and are here adverrised of their greedy groping after the sweet temptations of the divell wherein such doe rejoyce and take their pleasure till death comming suddenly upon them then fall they into the horrible pit of desolate darknesse due unto their sinnes and wicked deserts Thus farre I have proceeded in the first part of this tractate of the divine essence of God and how hee is to be understood in his holy attributes and of the state death and misery of man put for the whole passage of the old Testament from the creation of man to the incarnation of the Son of God which doth humble us with the knowledge of our own unworâ—hines therby doth prepare us and make us fit for the mercy of the Gospell and to apprehend and apply the righteousnes of Jesus Christ to our Salvation Thus endeth the first part of this tractat Now let us see how blessed and happy a godly man is in his state of renovation being reconciled to God in Christ Esay 40.1 2. COmfort my people O ye Prophets comfort my people saith your God Comfort Ierusalem at the heart and tell her that her trauell is at an end and that her offence is pardoned Esay 43.1 3 11 Now the Lord that made thee O Jacob and hee that fashioned thee O Israel saith thus Feare not for I have redeemed thee for I am the Lord thy God the holy one of Israel thy Saviour I am even I am the onely Lord and besides me there is no Saviour Esay 54.8 When I was angry I hid my face from thee for a little season but through my everlasting goodnesse have I pardoned thee saith the Lord thy Redeemer Vers 10. The Mountaines shall remove and the Hils shall fall downe but my loving kindnesse shall not move and the bond of my peace shall not fall from thee saith the Lord thy mercifull lover Esay 55.6 7.
willingnes of Christ to bee apprehended of the faithfull who is alwaies willing and ready to bee apprehended and applyed to our soules by whom wee onely enjoy the peace of conscience and the hope of Heaven therefore no man ought to affy and have any confidence in the pardons of Popes dispensations indulgences and such trash and merchandise whereby the besotted and blinded people of this world is wonderfully delighted for such dangerous pedling stuffe Note must not bee thought to have equall vertue with the blood of Christ or that they have any power in the cure of soules but on the contrary they surfeit the conscience and poyson the soules of them that trust in them inlarging the wounds both in number and griefe Dangerous Physicke and maketh the soule incapable of cure and most unfit to have the precious blood of Christ Jesus applyed unto it Lastly seeing there is no meanes to apprehend and apply this Christ the physicke and Physitian of our soules but onely by a true and lively justifying faith Christ cannot be apprehended but by a true faith only therefore it most necessarily concerneth all men to have this meanes of apprehending Christ because as it is said The salve though most soveraine cannot profit the sore unlesse it bee applyed by faith that being the maine act of our spirituall health all other offices and duties being but circumstances to assist and forward this act Moreover the faith by which wee apprehend Christ must be more then a generall faith for it profiteth not to our health and salvation to know onely that Jesus Christ is the present cure of our soules unlesse we also by a confident and a lively faith apprehend and apply him to the sore of our soules Againe seeing Christ is our only salvation and seeing faith is the only meanes of apprehending him we ought not to seeke or appoint any other meanes or matter of salvation neither any other manner of applying it and therefore no man ought to ascribe righteousnesse to himselfe or his workes or to the supererogating workes of his friends but onely to Jesus Christ and that this Christ is onely apprehended by a saving faith for by faith we live Note by faith we walke by faith wee are justified and our hearts purified by it we vanquish the world and without it it is impossible to please God Let us therefore often meditate this doctrine of repentance what feare what care what affliction is in the soule at such occasion let us practise it in our selves and pity it in others let us condemne sinne to bee the greatest cause of such misery and let us condemne our selves to be the greatest cause of that sinne When wee exercise this spirituall office of repentance let us bee carefully busie in the duties thereof A necessary resolution let us search the wounds of our soules expell and empty the rottennesse and putrefaction thereof search and dresse them search them by a serious examination of our sins and dresse them by an humble and hearty acknowledgement How to dresse the wounds of our soules let us also examine the actions and particulars of our lives let us compare them with our duties and those that proportion not thereto let us call them our errors and our sinnes and the wounds of our soules let us by meanes of faith and prayer referre our defects to bee supplyed to the most absolute satisfactory righteousnesse of our Saviour Jesus Christ The righteousnesse of Christ must supply all our defects what we finde sin let us call it sin let us not flatter our errors nor smooth our deformities and defects in our selves let us not pretend health when wee are dangerously sicke nor safety when wee are mortally wounded We must not foster nor favour no sinnes let us not favour our sins be it a sin of profit or a sin of pleasure in this cause let us despise both let us be sorry for all acknowledge all and earnestly pray for the remission of all if we have gained possessions and wealth by theft extortion or forged cavillation let us restore as our present estate shall enable us let us be ashamed that Zacheus the Publicane shall restore his extortions foure-fold and we not to restore the principall Shun all such sin as the plague or leprosie because we know that salvation will not come to the house that is so infected but as of necessity all sin must bee cured All sinne of necessity must be cured otherwise there is no cure in our repentance let us hate all sin without dispensation of any otherwise we repent not but flatter our selves in presumption and vaine confidence and because nothing can apprehend and apply salvation to our soules but onely by the hands of saving faith let us therefore bee sure that our faith bee lively and stedfast faith let us trie it by the evidence of our workes they will beare us witnesse and testifie what it is and of what nature Workes must try our faith for as our faith in Christ doth justifie us before God so the workes of our faith doe justifie us in the sight of men If the fruit of our faith be good our faith it selfe then must needs be good and availeable to apprehend and apply Jesus Christ our salvation Let us therefore be plentifull in the exercise of good actions that our conscience may testifie our faith and that our faith may bee able to execute the holy office assigned it We must be plentifull in good workes and why when wee have the assurance of this faith let us then with stedfast confidence looke up to Heaven let us seeke him whom our soule loveth and when we have found him let us expose before him the calamity of our soules and our present condition wee are in let us lay open our sins discover our wounds declare our endeavour and report our faith when we have thus done wee may assure our selves that our Saviour will rejoyce at our recovery be glad of our conversion and returne and will shew us his righteousnesse and will also willingly yeeld himselfe unto our faith and give us free liberty in the use of his righteousnesse Apprehension of Christ Let us busily apply our cares to apprehend him in his righteousnesse and stretch our hands of faith to the altar of his Crosse and with a wonderfull degree of comfort apply his sufferings his wounds and his death to heale the wounds which sin hath made in our soules Note and infuse his most precious blood into them and with that blood shall enter the spirit of health and everlasting safety Thus in an instant shall wee finde the happy alteration of our soules and wee that but then were in spirituall griefe The happy alteration of our soules anguish and tribulation shall now finde joy and strength in our soules and our soules that were before wounded deformed and full of the markes of sinne shall now
unto as many as shall receive the same according to Christs institution Joh. 1.16 that hee will according to his promise by the vertue of his crucified body and blood as verily feed our soules to eternall life as our bodies are by bread and wine nourished to this temporall life and to this end Christ in the action of the Sacrament really giveth his body and blood to every faithfull receiver 1 Cor. 11.24 2.5 Christ is verily present in the Sacrament by a double union whereof the first is spirituall twixt Christ and the worthy receiver the second is sacramentall twixt the body and blood of Christ and the outward signes in the sacrament if you looke to the things that are united this union is essentiall if to the truth of this union it is reall if to the manner how it is wrought it is spirituall it is not our faith that makes the body and blood of Christ to be present in the Sacrament but the spirit of Christ dwelling in him and us Note our faith doth but receive and apply unto our soules those heavenly graces which are offered in the Sacrament the other being the sacramentall union is not a physicall or locall The Word and the Sacrament are the two briefly wherewith our Mother the Church doth nourish us but a spirituall conjunction of the earthly signes which are bread and wine with the heavenly grace which is the body and blood of Christ in the act of receiving as if by a mutuall relation they were but one and the same thing hence it is that in the same instant of time that the worthy receiver eateth with his mouth the bread and wine of the Lord hee eateth also with the mouth of faith the very body and blood of Christ not that Christ is brought downe from heaven to the Sacrament but that the holy Spirit by the Sacrament lifts up his minde unto Christ not by any locall mutation but by a devout affection so that in the holy contemplation of faith hee is at that present with Christ and Christ with him and thus believing and meditating how Christ his body was crucified and his pretious blood shed for the remission of his sins and the reconciliation of his soule unto God his soule is hereby more effectually fed in the assurance of eternall life than bread and wine can nourish his body to this temporall life There must be therefore of necessity in the Sacrament both the outward signes to be visibly seene with the eye of the body and the body and blood of Christ to be spiritually discerned with the eye of faith But the forme how the holy Ghost makes the body of Christ being absent from us in place to be present with us by union Ephes 5.32 Saint Paul termes a great mystery such as indeed our understanding cannot worthily comprehend The sacramentall bread and wine therefore are not bare signifying signes but such as therewith Christ doth indeed exhibit and give to every worthy receiver not onely his divine vertue and efficacy but also his very body and blood as verily as hee gave to his Disciples the holy Ghost by the signe of his sacred breath Joh. 20.22 or health to the diseased by the Word of his mouth Mar. 6.56 or touch of his hand or garment and the apprehension by faith is more forcible than the exquisite comprehension of sense or reason To conclude this point this holy Sacrament is that blessed bread which being eaten Luk. 24.30.31 opened the eyes of the Emmauites that they knew Christ 1 Cor. 12.13 this is that Lordly cup by which wee are made to drinke into one spirit this is that rocke flowing with hony 1 Sam. 14.27 that reviveth the fainting spirits of every true Jonathan that tasts it with the mouth of faith Judg. 7.13 this is that barly loafe which tumbling from above strikes downe the tents of the Midianits of infernall darknesse Eliahs angelicall Cake and water 1 King 1â— 7 8. Psal 78.25 26. preserved him forty daies in Mount Horeb and Manna Angels food fed the Israelites forty yeeres in the wildernesse Exod. 16.15 Joh. 6.32 35.49.50 51.58 but this is that true bread of life and heavenly Manna which if wee shall duely eate will nourish our soules to eternall life and doth binde all Christians as it were by an oath of fidelity to serve the one onely true God Deut. 8.19 and to admit no other propitiatory sacrifice for sins but that one reall sacrifice which by his death Christ once offered up for all true believers Hebr. 9. and by which hee finished the sacrifices of the Law and effected eternall redemption and righteousnesse for all them that faithfully believe in him and so to remaine for ever a publike marke of profession to distinguish Christians from all sects and false Religions and seeing that in the Masse there is a strange christ adored not he that was born of the Virgin Mary but one that is made of a waâ—er cake and that the offering up of this breaden God is thrust upon the Church as a propitiatory sacrifice for the quicke and the dead therefore all true Christians that have sufficient information and have means to escape invincible ignorance are to account the pretensed sacrifice of the masse Note as derogatory to the al-sufficient world saving merits of Christs death and passion for by receiving the Sacrament of the Lords Supper we all sweare that all reall sacrifices are ended by our Lords death and that his body blood crucified and shed for us is the perpetuall food and nourishment of our soule The bread of the Lord is given by the Minister but the bread which is the Lord is given by Christ himselfe Therefore when thou takest the bread at the Ministers hand to eate it then ronze up thy soule to apprehend Christ by a lively faith and to apply his merits to heale thy miseries Note and as thou eatest the bread imagine that thou seest Christ hanging upon the Crosse and by his unspeakeable torments fully satisfying Gods Justice for thy sinnes Iohn 19. and strive as verily to be partaker of the spirituall grace as of the Elementall signes for the truth is not absent from the signe Neither doth Christ deceive when he saith this is my body but hee giveth himselfe truely and indeed to every soule that spiritually receives him by faith For as ours is the same supper which Christ administred to his Disciples so is the same Christ verily present at his owne Supper not by any papall transubstantiation but by a Sacramentall participation whereby he doth truely feed the faithfull unto eternall life not by comming downe from heaven unto thee but by lifting thy heart unto Heaven The duty of the redeemer where hee sitteth at the right hand of God And when thou seest the wine brought unto thee apart from the bread then remember that the blood of
Christ was as verily separated from his body upon the Crosse for the remission of thy sinnes and that this is a seale of the new covenant which God hath made to forgive the sinnes of all penitent sinners that faithfully believe in the merits of his bloud-shedding Iohn 6.54 He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood saith our Saviour Christ shall live forever Exceeding great was the bounty and goodnesse of our Saviour in that hee did not onely assume our flesh and exalt it to the Throne of celestiall glory The saving participation of the body and blood of Christ Vers 56. but also feedeth us with his body and blood unto eternall life Oh the saving delicates of the soule Oh the Heavenly and Angelicall food to bee desired above all the delicates upon earth for He that eateth the flesh and drinketh the blood of Christ dwelleth in Christ and Christ in him This is meate indeed when wee eate it wee are changed not into the nature of our body but into the nature of it wee are the members of Christ By it we are sanctâ—fied and are united by his Spirit and fed with his body and blood This is the bread which came downe from Heaven and giveth life unto the world hee that eateth thereof shall never hunger this is the bread of grace Psal 34.10 Iohn 6.58 this is the bread of Life whosoever shall eate thereof shall live for ever neither is it onely heavenly but thou that eatest thereof art heavenly that is they that eate it savingly in the Spirit shall become heavenly This is the true Fountaine of life be that shall drinke of this water Iohn 4.14 shall never thirst but it shall become in him a fountaine of water springing up unto eternall life Esay 55.1 2 3 All yee thaâ— thirst come unto these waters and yee that have no silver make haste come buy without money let them that thirst come and come thou soule thâ—t â—rt vexed with the raging heate of sinne and if thou wantest the silver of thy merits make haste the rather if thou hast no merits of thine owne make haste the more ardently to the merits of Christ Vers 1. Make haste therefore and buy without money or money-worth here is Christ the habitation of the soule from which let not thy sinnes deterre thee and into which let not thy merits enter for what can be our merits our labours doe not â—â—tiate neither is the grace of God bought with the silver of our merits Therefore heare O ye devout soules and eate that which is good and thou shalt be delighted with fatnesse John 6.63 These words are spirit and truth and the word of eternall life the cup of benediction 1 Cor. 10.16 is the communion of the blood of Christ 1 Cor. 6.17 and the bread which we breake is the participation of the Lords body wee cleave unto the Lord therefore we are one Spirit with him For wee are united unto him not onely by the communion of nature but also by the participation of his body and blood John 6. â— let us not therefore with the Jewes say How can this man give us his flesh to eate let us not pry into his power but let us admire his benevolence let us not examine his Majesty but reverence his goodnesse the manner of his presence I know not but his presence I believe and am certainely perswaded that it is inward and neere unto us for we are members of his body Eph. 5.30 John 6.56 flesh of his flesh and bone of his bones he dwelleth in us and wee in him My soule desireth to dive by cogitation into the secrets of this most profound abysse but cannot finde with what words to set forth and declare that infinite goodnesse and therefore am altogether amazed at the sight of the greatnesse of the grace of the Lord and the glory of his Majesty In this Supper of the Lord there is set before us a mystery to be trembled at and by all meanes to be adored of us there is the treasury and treasure of divine grace Gen. 2. â— We know in Paradise there was a tree of Life planted by God whose fruit might have conserved our first parents and their posterity by the fertility and felicity thereof There was also placed in Paradise a Tree of knowledge of good and evill but even that which was appointed by God for their life and salvation and for to exercise their obedience became unto them an occasion of death and condemnation Ezech. 47.12 while they obeyed their owne desires and the divels allurements Here is also prepared a Tree of Life whose wood is sweete whose leaves are for medicine and whose fruit for meate Revel 22.1 2. the sweetnesse thereof doth take away the bitternesse of all evill yea of death it selfe Unto the Israelites was given Manna that they might be fed with heavenly food here is that â—râ—e manna of our soules which came downe from Heaven to give life unto the world Iohn 6.51 this is the heavenly bread and Angelicall meate of which whosoever eateth shall never hunger Col. 2.3 5. here is the true Arke of the Covenant that is the most sacred body of Christ wherein the treasures of all science knowledge and wisedome are layd up in store for all penitent soules that faithfully believe in his merits here is the true Mercie-seat in the bloud of Christ Rom. 3.25 which makes us happy and beloved in the most deare and beloved Christ Gen. 28.15 17 12. here is the gate of heaven indeed here is the Angell sladder Can heaven be greater than God can heaven be more united unto God than the flesh of humane nature which he hath assumed unto himselfe Heaven indeed is the throne of God but in the humane nature assumed by Christ resteth the holy Spirit Esay 11.2 God is in heaven but in Christ dwelleth the fulnesse of divinity Col. 2.9 Certainly this is a great and infallible pledge of our salvation by assuming our humane nature into the fellowship of the most holy and blessed Trinity in which all heavenly good is layd up in store for us how can hee forget those unto whom hee hath given the pledge of his owne body We are deere unto Christ how then can Satan be able to overcome us because Christ bought us at so deare a price we are deare unto Christ because he feeds us with his most deere and precious body and blood wee are deere unto Christ because wee are flesh of his flesh Ephes 5.2 3. and members of his body this is the only soveraine and precious Balmesome of all spirituall diseases this is the onely soveraigne medicine of immortality for what sin so great that Gods sacred flesh cannot expiate What sin so great that the quickning flesh of Christ cannot heale What sin so mortall that is not taken away by the death of the Sonne of
God What fiery darts of the divell can be so mortiferous that they cannot be quenched in the fountaine of divine grace What so great a staine of the conscience that his blood cannot purge Here is not felt the fire of Gods fury but the heat of his love here is the Sonne of righteousnesse Malac. 4.2 the present light of our soules our first Parents were brought into Paradise that most sweet and fragrant garden Gen. 2.8 the type of eternall beatitude behold the penitent conscience is here cleansed by the blood of the Sonne of God and by the body of Christ are nourished the members of Christ the head the faithfull soule is fed with divine and heavenly dainties the sacred flesh of God which the Angels adore in the unity of person which the Arch-angels reverence Psalm 18. at which the powers doe tremble and which the vertuous admire is the spirituall food of our soules Let the heavens rejoyce Psal 96.11 let the earth be glad but much more the faithfull soule upon whom such and so great benefits are bestowed Our most bountifull God Matth. 22.4 hath prepared a great feast hearts that be hungry must be brought unto it he that tasteth not thereof feeleth not the sweetnesse of this heavenly feast to believe in Christ is this heavenly feast but no man believeth Note unlesse he confesse his sins with contrition and repent him of the same Contrition is the spirituall hunger of the soule and faith is the spirituall feeding God gave Manna Exod. 16.4 the bread of Angels to the Israelites in the wildernesse In this feast of the new testament God giveth us the heavenly Manna that is his grace and forgivenesse of sins yea his Sonne Christ Jesus The Lord of the Angels is that spirituall bread which came downe from heaven to give light and life unto the world The desire is the food of the soule and the soule comes not to this mysticall feast unlesse it desires to come thereto Matth 25.8 Verse 10. and it cannot desire the heavenly sweetnesse if it be full of this worlds comforts at the comming of the Bridegroome the Virgins that had no oyle in their lampes staying too long were shut out so they whose hearts in this world are not filled with the oyle of the holy Spirit shall not be admitted by Christ to the participation of the joy of this holy feast but shall have the gate of indulgence the gate of mercy the gate of consolation the gate of hope Rom. 5.20 the gate of grace and the gate of good workes shut against them Our Saviour Christ hath yet another kinde of calling and happy is hee that heares and obey it Christ often knocks at the gates of our heart by holy desires Note devout sighes and pious cogitations and happy is hee that openeth unto him as soone therefore as thou feelest in thy heart any holy desire of the heavenly grace assure thy selfe that Christ knockes at thy heart make haste let him in lest hee passe by and presently shut the gate of his mercy against thee as soone as thou feelest in thy heart any sparke of holy motions or godly meditations perswade thy selfe that it is kindled by the heat of divine grace and love that is of the holy Spirit cherish and nourish it 1 Thes 5.19 that it may grow to be a fire of love in thee and take heed that thou quench not the Spirit 1 Cor. 3.17 and hinder the worke of the Lord our heart is the Temple of the Lord hee that destroyeth the Temple of the Lord shall feele his severe judgement and he destroyeth it whosoever refuseth to give place to the holy Spirit inwardly calling him by the Word In the old Testament the Prophets could heare the Lord speaking inwardly in them and so all the true godly doe feele those inward motions of the holy Spirit drawing them unto goodnesse Ephes 4.3 therefore all men must endeavour to keepe the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace A preparation to the receiving of the holy Communion of the Body and Blood of Iesus Christ THere is a hearing and a preparation before hearing there is a praying and there is a preparation before praying and there is a receiving and there is a preparation before receiving which if it be wanting the receiver receiveth uncomfortably the prayer prayeth vainly and the hearer heareth unfruitfully like those which doe eate before hunger or drinke before thirst this preparative before hearing praying and receiving for the health of our soules doth signifie the rules of physicke for preparatives are ministred alwaies before physicke Note and as the preparative which goes before maketh way to the physicke or else it would doe no good but hurt so unlesse examination goe before the Sacrament 1 Cor. 11.27 29. wee seale up the threatnings which are pronounced against us in stead of the promises which are made unto us for the Sacrament is a seale and sealeth good or evill as every other seale doth therefore all men ought carefully to examine themselves but they that are suspected of a crime doe not examine themselves but are examined of others lest they should be partiall in their owne cause but a faithfull Christian should examine himselfe of his crime Verse 31.32 Note and be his owne judge his owne accuser and his owne condemner for no man knowes the spirit of man but the spirit which is in man which will condemne him if he be guilty and tell him all that he hath done and with what minde he did it and what punishment he deserveth for the same this is the close sessions or private arraignement when Conscience sits in her chaire to examine accuse judge and condemne her selfe Eccles 18.19 because she will escape the just condemnation of God Thus have holy men kept their sessions at home and made their hearts the fore-man of the Jury and examine themselves Note as wee examine others The feare of the Lord stood at the doore of their soules to examine every thought before it went in and at the doore of their lips to examine every word before it went out so shouldest thou sit in judgement of thy selfe and call thy thoughts words and actions to give in evidence against thee whether thou be a Christian or an Infidell a sonne or a bastard a servant or a rebell a sincere believer or an hypocrite if upon examination thou find not faith nor feare nor love nor zeale in thy selfe let no man make thee believe thou art holy that thou art godly Note that thou art sanctified that thou art a Christian that thou art a believer because thou art worse then thou seemest to thy selfe to be therefore if my heart tell mee that I love God whom shall I believe before my selfe 1 Cor. 2.11 No man can search the heart of another man so Paul saith No man knoweth the spirit of any man
and the direction of the holy Ghost should keepe the holy day upon that Lords day or Sunday Apoc 1.9.10.11 agreeable to the practise of the ancient Church and worthily solemnize it on the first day of the weeke in memoriall of the worlds redemption to the honour and praise of the Lord Jesus who rose from death to life upon that day This should stirre up all Christians to a thankfull remembrance of their redemption by Christ his resurrection from the dead Hebr. 2.5 2.11 5.9 And note that with the day the blessing of the day is likewise translated to the Lords day because all the sanctification belonging to this new world is in Christ and from and by him conveyed to Christians and because there cannot come a greater motive or cause then the new creation of the world therefore the worship of God is fitler solemnized on this day then on any other The holy Sunday is the Lords market day for the weeks provision Esa 55.1 2 3. wherein he will have us to come unto him and buy of him without gold or silver the bread of Angels and water of life the wine of the Sacraments and the milk of the Word to feed our soules tried gold to inrich our faith Apoc. 3.18 Gen. 2.2 3. Exo. 20.10 11. precious eye salve to heale our spirituall blindnesse and the white rayment of Christs righteousnesse to cover our filthy nakednesse Of Christs Ascension MEditate upon thy Saviours ascension by a holy contemplation Joh. 20.29 thou faithfull soule for Christ withdrew his visible presence from the faithfull to exercise their faith by holy contemplation and blessed are they that see not Mat. 6.21 Act. 8.21 Colos 3.2 and yet believe where our treasure is there let our heart be also Christ our treasure is in heaven let our hearts therefore be set upon those things that are heavenly and meditate upon those things that be above let us put our confidence in the pledge of the holy Spirit which the Lord left unto us at his departure let us put our confidence in the body and blood of Christ which wee receive in the mysterie of the holy Sacrament and let us believe that our bodies which are filled with this incorruptible food shall at length be raised up againe and that which we now believe in faith wee shall then see with our eyes and our hope wee have now in Christ shall then be reall fruition to our soules the Lord is present unto us here but in part Colos 3.4 but in the mansion of his heavenly kingdome Act. 1.9.10.11 12. we shall behold him in his glory and know him as hee is which is our life our Saviour ascended up from the Mount of Olives the Olive is the signe of peace and joy therefore not without great cause hee ascended up from Mount Olivet because by his passion and holy sufferings he hath purchased peace and tranquillity for amazed and terrified consciences not without cause did hee ascend up from the Mount Olivet for the court of heaven exceedingly rejoyce to receive him the Mount doth not onely put us in minde but doth also call and invite us to heavenly things and seeing we cannot follow him with the feete of our body let us follow him with the feete of our holy desires The disciples stood lifting up their eyes Vers 11. and looking towards Heaven so let all the true Disciples of Christ lift up the eyes of their heart to behold and desire heavenly things Sweet Jesus what a blessed and glorious alteration followed thy passion Oh happy and sodaine change how didst thou suffer on Mount Calvary for our sinnes and how doe I now behold thee in the Mount of Olives there thou wast alone here thou art accompanied with many thousands of Angels there thou didst ascend up to the Crosse in disgrace Luke 24.52 here thou didst ascend up into Heaven in a cloud and in glory there wast thou crucified betweene thieves here thou dost rejoyce amongst the company of Angels and Saints there thou wast nayled to the Crosse as a condemned man here thou art at liberty and dost deliver those that were condemned Eph. 5.23 30 there suffering and dying here rejoycing and triumphing Christ is our head and the Saviour of the body we are his members Rejoyce therefore and bee glad thou faithfull soule for though our sinnes doe hinder us yet the communion of nature doth not repell us where the head is there shall the members be also our head is in heaven therefore the members have just and great cause to hope for entrance there not onely so but they are assured already that they have possession there Christ descended from Heaven to redeeme us and againe hee ascended up into heaven to glorifie us unto us was he borne Note for us did he suffer and for us did he ascend our charity is confirmed by Christs passion our faith by Christs resurrection and our hope by Christ ascension Let us strive to follow Christ our Bride-groome not onely with our ardent desire but also with our good workes Acts 21.27 Acts 1.10 for nothing that is defiled shall enter into this heavenly City The Angels that came from heavenly Ierusalem appeared in white robes by purity and innocency is figured that no pride can ascend with the Doctour of humility nor no malice with the Authour of goodnesse with the lover of peace there ascends no discord and with the sonne of the Virgin there ascends no uncleannesse after the parent of vertue there ascend no vices and after the just person there ascends no sinnes Therefore he that desires to see God face to face let him so live here in this world as in his sight and hee that hope for celestiall things let him contemne terrestriall things Our Saviour Christ promised unto his Apostles that after his departure he will send unto them from his father a comforter John 14.26 15.26 Luke 24.47 Vers 47. John 24.17 the holy Ghost the Spirit of truth to testifie of him and to teach them all things and to endue them with power to preach repentance and remission of sinnes in his name among all Nations saying Peace I leave with you my peace I give unto you Therefore let not our hearts be troubled neither let us feare but that our Saviour which redeemed us will also through his merits and mediation glorifie us in Heaven O sweet Jesus draw our hearts unto thee whether thou art gone before and that in the meane time wee may immitate thy goodnesse mercy truth and patience and follow thee in the same Amen Of the holy Ghost OUr Lord Jesus ascending up into the Heavens and entring into his glory Acts 2.4 Vers 1. Exod. 10.11 sent the holy Ghost upon the Apostles on the day of Penticost as in the old Testament when God proclaimed the Law in Mount Sinai he came downe unto Moses So when the Gospell was
by the Apostles to be propagated throughout the world the Holy Ghost came downe upon them there was thundring and lightning and the lowd sound of the trumpet so that all the people were afraid Vers 16. because the Law doth thunder terrible things against our disobedience and makes us subject to Gods indignation But here is the sound of a gentle wind where the Lord from heaven doth powre out his Spirit upon all flesh Acts 2.2.17 for the preaching of the Gospell doth lift up the soules that are cast downe with dispaire by reason of their sinnes there was feare and trembling of the people because the Law bringeth wrath Rom. 4.15 but here the whole multitude doe flocke together to heare the wonderfull things of God for by the Gospell we have accesse unto God their God descended in fire but it was in the fire of his wrath therefore was the mountaine moved and did smoke but here the holy Ghost descended in the fire of his love so that the house is not shaken by the wrath of God but rather replenished Exod. 19.18 Acts 2.3 with the glory of the holy Ghost What wonder is it that the holy Ghost bee sent from the Court of Heaven to sanctifie us seeing the Sonne of God was sent from Heaven to redeeme us But the holy Ghost came upon the Apostles when they were assembled together in prayer with one minde for he is the Spirit of prayer which moveth us to pray and is obtained by prayer Wherefore John 20.19 22. Zach 12.10 because hee is that bond by which our hearts are knit and united unto God as he doth unite the Father with the Sonne and the Sonne with the Father for hee is the mutuall love of the Father and the Sonne This our spirituall conjunction with God is wrought by faith in Christ but faith is the gift of the Spirit and is obtained by prayer but true prayer is made in the Spirit In the Temple of Salomon when Incense was offered unto God 1 King 8.10 11. the Temple was filled with the glory of the Lord so if thou offerest unto God the sweet odours of prayers the holy Ghost shall fill the temple of thy heart with glory Let us here admire the grace and mercy of God Psal 50.15 Rom. 8.34 35. Gal. 4 6. the Father promiseth to heare our prayers the Sonne intercedeth for us and the holy Ghost prayeth within us the Angels of Heaven carry our prayers unto God and the Court of Heaven is open to receive them God of his mercy doth give unto us the effect of prayer because he giveth unto us the Spirit of grace and prayer and doth alwaies heare our prayers if not according to our desire yet according to that which is most profitable for us The holy Ghost came when they were all met together with one accord in one place Acts 2.1 for hee is the Spirit of love and concord Note that joyneth us unto Christ by faith and unto God by love and to our neighbour by charity because he is the Authour of all goodnesse and the fountaine of all grace and mercy Now the Spirit of God effects in man such motions as himselfe is for as the soule giveth unto the body life sense and motion so the holy spirit maketh man spirituall seasons his minde with divine saltnesse Note and directs all his members to the performance of all good duties towards God and towards his neighbours and proceedeth from all eternity he came in the type of breath and affordeth unto the afflicted conscience quickening consolation because wee live according to the flesh by the reciprocall breathing out and sucking in of the aeriall spirit he came under the type of spirit and breath because he giveth us to live according to the better part The winde bloweth where it lusteth Iohn 3.8 and thou hearest the sound thereof but thou knowest not whence it commeth nor whither it goeth So is every one that is borne of the Spirit it was meete that he should come in the type of breath because hee proceedeth from both the Father and the Sonne by one incomprehensible breathing from eternity it was a powerfull breath because the grace of the holy Ghost comes with power and moveth the godly in whom he dwelleth to all that is good and so effectually moveth and strengtheneth them that they neither regard the threats of tyrants nor feare the trecheries of the Divell nor the hatred of the world Psal 19.3.4 hee conferreth upon the Apostles the gift of tongues because their sound was to goe into all lands and so the confusion of tongues which was the punishment of pride and rashnesse in the building of the tower of Babel was taken away and the dispersed nations Gen. 11 7 8 9. by the gift of the holy Ghost through the diversity of tongues were gathered together into the unity of faith Againe it was meet that he should come in the figure of tongues because holy men of God did speake as they were inspired by him For hee spake by the Prophets and Apostles and putteth the Words of God into the mouthes of the Ministers of the Church therefore the Prophets in the old time came not by the will of man 2 Pet. 1.21 but were moved by the holy Ghost for these great gifts blessed and praised be the holy Ghost together with the Father and the Sonne now and for ever Of the Love of God THis love of God is commanded by God to the Israelites by the mouth of Moses being then the select and peculiar people of God saying Deut. 6.5 Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soule and with all thy might and Christ himselfe in the Gospel doth alledge this Precept to the Doctor of the Law which tempted him saying Master which is the greatest Commandement in the Law He answering Matth. 22.36 37 38 39. said unto him Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart with all thy soule and with all thy mind and thy neighbour as thy selfe this doth teach all Christians that without the knowledge of this love of God they can never attaine to the saving knowledge of God and without the love of God all knowledge is unprofitable For love is the life of Nature and the joy of Reason in the Spirit of grace where Vertue draweth affection the concord of sense makes an union unseparable in the divine apprehension of the joy of election it is a ravishment of the soule in the delight of the spirit which being caryed above it selfe into inexplicable comfort feeles that heavenly sickenesse that is better then the worlds health When the godliest of men in the swounding delight of his sacred inspiration could thus utter the sweetnesse of his passion my soule is sicke of love for love is a healthfull sicknesse of the soule it is a pleasing passion in the heart a contentive
labour in the minde and a peaceable trouble in the senses Wherefore love exceedeth all the knowledge of all other mysteries and cannot be but in the godly The reason why our love of God is not perfect in this life because the measure of our love is according to the measure of our knowledge 1 Cor. 13.12 13. now in this life we know God but in part as in a glasse but then shall we know him face to face and then shall wee be perfectly blessed and because wee shall then perfectly know him therefore we shall then perfectly love him but no man can hope to have the perfect love of God in the world to come Note which beginneth not first to love God in this world The kingdome of God must begin in the heart of man in this life or else it cannot be consummated in the life to come without the love of God in this life there is no desire of eternall life How then can that man be partaker of the chiefest good which seeketh it not which desireth it not which loveth it not such as thy love is such art thou because thy love transformeth thee into it selfe for love is the chiefest couple because the lover and the thing beloved becommeth one What hath conjoyned the most just God and wretched sinners being infinitely distant in worth Note one from the other but the infinite love of God And because the infinite justice of God might not be weakned the infinite price and love of Christ interceded betwixt sinfull man and the infinite justice of God Againe what hath joyned together God the Creator and the faithfull soule created things infinitely distant but love In the life which is eternall wee shall be joyned to God in the chiefest degree because wee shall then love him in the chiefest degree love uniteth and transformeth therefore he that loveth carnall things shall be carnall if thou lovest the world thou shalt become worldly 1 Cor. 48.49 50 c. but flesh and blood cannot inherite the kingdome of God neither doth corruption inherite incorruption but if thou lovest God and celestiall things thou shalt become celestiall Note The love of God is the Chariot of Elias ascending up into heaven the love of God is the joy of the mind the Paradise of the soule it excludeth the world it overcometh the Divell it shutteth hell it openeth heaven unto us and pleadeth mercy in the justice of the Almighty the love of God is that seale with which God sealeth his servants the elect Rev. 7.3 4. Ephes 4.30 At the last judgement God will acknowledge none to be his but those that are sealed with this seale For faith it selfe the onely instrument of our Justification and Salvation is not true faith unlesse it doe demonstrate it selfe by true love for there is no true faith unlesse there be a firme confidence and there is no firme confidence without the love of God and that benefit received is not acknowledged for which wee doe not give thankes and we doe not give thankes to him which wee doe not love If therefore thy faith be true it will acknowledge the benefit of our redemption wrought by Christ Jesus it will acknowledge and give thanks Note it wil give thanks and love that gracious God who hath bestowed all these saving benefits upon us the love of God is the life and rest of the soule when the soule by death departs from the body then the life of the body departeth but when God departeth out of the soule by reason of sins then the life of the soule departeth Againe God dwels in our hearts by faith Ephes 5.17 Rom. 5.5 God dwels in the soule by love because the love of God is infused into the hearts of the elect by the inspiration of the holy Spirit there is no tranquillity of the soule without the love of God the world the flesh and the divell doe much disquiet it but God is the true rest of the soule Ephes 3.19 and the fulnesse of the knowledge of Christ is the fulnesse of the knowledge and love of God there is no peace of conscience but to those that are justified by faith in Christ there is no love of God but in them that have a filiall confidence in God To conclude in the praise of this peerelesse vertue love is the grace of nature and the glory of reason the blessing of God and the comfort of the world therefore let the love of the world the love of our soules and the love of the creatures die in us that the love of God may live and abound in us which God of his grace beginne in us in this world and perfect in the world to come This love of God is wrought by the meanes of the same spirit dwelling in Christ and the faithfull and incorporateth the faithfull as members unto Christ their head Rom. 8. and so makes them one with Christ and partakers of all the graces holinesse and eternall glory which is in him as sure and as verily as they heare the Word of promise and are partakers of the outward signes of the holy Sacrament Verse 39. What then can be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord The properties of Charity and true Love to our Christian brethren CHrist Jesus our Saviour gave himselfe for us to redeeme us from all our sinnes and wickednesse Titus 2.14 and to purge us a peculiar people followers of good workes To this purpose wee are admonished of the Lord Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good workes Math. 5.16 c. and glorifie your Father which is in Heaven Therefore whilst wee have time let us doe good towards all men and especially towards them of the household of faith To this use the holy Scriptures were given unto us for all Scripture inspired from God 2 Tim. 3.16 17 is profitable to teach to reprove to correct to instruct in righteousnesse that the man of God bee perfect and instructed to all good workes It is cleare then that we be not so justified by faith that wee should bee unprofitable barren and unfruitfull of good workes but rather that giving our selves continually unto good workes wee should advance the glory of Gods grace and shew it before the eyes of all men as the light of our new creation for we are regenerated in Christ Eph. 4.23 24. and thereby wee doe declare our selves to bee justified before men Therefore let us not onely shew our selves to be Christians in name but to become good of evill and to declare that goodnesse received of Christ by good workes for they be as certaine fruits of our life witnessing the goodnesse of our mind and declaring the nature of our heavenly Father Good workes bee the workes of faith which worketh by love they be the workes of God which hee worketh in us and by
infinite of himselfe yet all creatures being his owne it doth please him to force the obedience of every creature to give some proofe and testimony of his justice or mercy whereby God may receive glory in their acknowledgements God then is glorified in all his workes but in a double manner hee is principally glorified in the workes of his mercy he is also glorified in his judgements but the riches of Gods glory Rom. 9. â—5 Osee 1.10 Deut. 26.18 19 consisteth principally in the vessels of his mercy because thier glory is his glory and hee doth dignifie himselfe in their advancement Therefore did God choose the Israelites for his peculiar people that by his most powerfull delivering them and by their demonstrations of duty and service God might bee honoured in the memory of his greatnesse over all the world and receive glory in the report of his admirable protection God is also glorified in his judgements for though the reprobate and damned in their lives they rather care to dishonour God their Creatour yet will God be honoured in the punishment of their lives and force them to give demonstration of his justice and holinesse for God can turne their ends and purposes to his owne end and glory and make that set forth his glory which was intended to his dishonour and those that will not give him glory for his mercy his justice will in despight of ungodlinesse compell them to give him glory for judgement though God esteeme it the greater honour to be glorified in the witnesses of his mercy because in Gods nature mercy is preheminent and doth triumph yet it is much to the glory of God that the witnesses of his judgements shall be prompted by their lamentable experience to acknowledge that God is infinite both in power and justice therefore we ought both to glorifie God Iob 36.24 and to glory in God for if we glory in any thing but in God godlinesse we are condemned if we glorifie in any thing but God we are likewise condemned of him for he is our strength and light of our countenance he hath ordayned us for an holy end to his glory and if we glorifie him here on earth he will glorifie us with himselfe in Heaven but if we neglect to glorifie him that is our glory hee will glorifie himselfe in our destruction and make us in the feeling torments of our damnation glorifie him with this acknowledgement that he is God of most excellent soveraigne Majesty and that hee is most gracious in his mercy Vers 22 23 Psal 18. but most terrible in his judgements and with this acknowledgement will God bee honoured of the divels and damned creatures whose intollerable and unsufferable torments in their condemnation shall bee arguments of proofe to conclude Gods glory Seeing God hath created all things for his owne glory and seeing that hee will be glorified in the severall executions of his justice and mercy in the salvation or damnation of his creatures Job 37. 38. for in all sensible things there is a speciall nature in which they are obedient whereby they glorifie God in finishing the end of their creation for which they were ordayned God hath commanded the motion of the Heavens The purpose of Gods providence proceedeth without stay to the determinate end and effect which he had before ordained should come to passe the influence of the Starres the nature of the Elements and the severall nature of every severall thing to keepe their course all these continuing their course and nature give most notable demonstrations of Gods glory by whom they were created and thus disposed in nature if these things which are subject to time and must perish doe notwithstanding discharge the duties of their nature and so by consequence approve themselves to be the instruments of Gods glory shall men then whom God hath created for the like end of his glory and to whom hee hath given a soule divine and of most excellent understanding and for whom hee hath created the world the most admirable worke of his owne hands shall these bee carelesse in this high duty and shall the elements and unreasonable creatures be carefull shall men be exceeded of beasts in the execution of their reasonable service God hath not threatned their neglects with hell and the torments thereof nor promised to reward their diligence with Heaven and the joyes thereof but God doth both promise and threaten men yet are men lesse carefull then beasts This may worthily remember those men or rather those beasts who make a God of themselves and their unlawfull pleasures and then dedicate themselves their labours and the glory of their actions to a godlesse prophane and licencious trade of life those that will not glorifie God of choice must not doe it by force for the time will come when God will whip them for their prophane ungodly and licentious living with the roddes of his judgements and make them in despight of ungodlinesse to glorifie God in suffering of the torments of hell and their owne conscience and with horrour without profit or pitty to acknowledge God and the terrible justice of so great a Majesty This should remember all the children of God that in all the cares of this Christian life they have their maine respect to Gods glory and that God have the first place in their hearts even before the desire of their owne salvation and that their salvation be desired rather that God may be glorified thereby then to desire to glorifie God for their owne salvation that so God may bee first in all our cares that wee love him more then owne soules and preferre his honour before our owne salvation Therefore let all men love and honour God for his owne sake love him for his goodnesse love him for his truth love him for his mercy love him for his justice and let this love be so respectlesse of all by considerations as that neither heaven hell nor our owne soules perswade us so much as the reverence and zealous affection we have to the love of God for he that thus loveth God doth glorifie him and shall bee sure to be glorified of him eternally in the Heavens Let us therefore discharge the summe of all our actions into this Ocean of Gods glory let us propose and pursue that end onely let us not respect the vaine shews and purposes of men let us esteeme them light and value them lesse let us remember that they are transitory deceiving and destroying vanities and will leave vs flatter us and will deceive us let us reduce to memory the mighty Monarches of the world the most admirable in naturall enduments and the most fortunate in earthly prosperities Jerem. 2.3 when wee examine their worth wee shall find nothing but a bare remembrance of their names Eccles 9.5 6. and those neglected by the power of time themselves and their regards are vanished their acts are perished and all these
of men still and in death it selfe living hee regards not the threats of the tyrants because hee feeles within himselfe the riches of divine consolation hee is not sorrowfull in adversity because the holy Spirit within doth comfort him effectually hee is not vexed in poverty because the goodnesse of God doth continually succour him the reproches of men doe not trouble him because hee enjoyeth the delight of divine honour he regards not the pleasure of the flesh because the sweetnesse of the spirit is more acceptable unto him 〈…〉 â—ot the friendship of the world because he seeketh the love of God who is a mercifull father gracious and a friend unto him hee feareth no death because in God he alwaies liveth hee feareth not Lightening Tempests Fire Water-flouds the sorrowfull aspects of the Planets nor the obscuration of the light of Heaven because hee is carried up above the Sphere of Nature and by faith he resteth and liveth in Christ he feareth no mortall nor evill power because he that liveth and overcomes in him is farre more stronger then the Divell that in vaine labours to overcome him hee followeth not the inticements of the Flesh because living in the Spirit hee â—eeles the riches of the Spirit and by the vivification of the Spirit Gal. 5.24 mortifies and crucifies the lusts of the Flesh hee feares not the Divell his accuser 1 Ioh. 2.1 because he knowes Christ to be his Intercessour the true rest of the Soule hee grants unto us who is the onely Author thereof O Christ with-draw our hearts from the love of this world and stirre up in as a desire to thirst after the Kingdome of Heaven to thy eternall glory and the unspeakable comfort of our Soules Of temporary Death and of the severall estates of Salvation and Damnation DEath is an ordinance of God for the subjecting of the World which is limited his time for the correction of Pride it is a separation and absence of the Soule from the Body whereby the Body is reduced to his first matter earth and the Soule brought to a sense of either justice or mercie To understand this better wee must consider Death in his originall and first being also in his powerfull and generall continuance and the end or dea◠〈◊〉 â—atâ— the originall cause that gave Death life was sinne therefore when Adam had eaten the forbidden fruit and thereby committed sinne then had Death his first beginning for though Adam did not at the instant of the act die yet at the very instant of the sinne he was made mortall and subject to the power of death so God fore-told him Gen. 2.17 that whensoever hee did eate thereof he should surely die and from this bad beginning was Death first derived So did the woman of Zareptha acknowledge that her sinne was the cause of her childs death 1 King 17.18 so have all the Children of God understood of Death and the cause thereof and Saint Paul saith Rom. 6.16 that Death is the wages of sinne as if it were a necessary care in the justice of God that all that committeth sinne should have the reward and wages thereof Death Now the cause of this cause of Death was the Divell Gen. 3. who envying the prosperitie of our nature suggested his temptations to our first Parents by whose disobedience we are all made mortall so saith Salomon Through the envie of the Divell came death into the World and they doe prove it that doe hold of his side and so from these two Parents the Divell and Sinne was Death first derived from whence hee had his being and first beginning Wee must consider Death also in the passage of his life or in his powerfull continuance which is evident in this respect that Death hath a generall power over all Flesh the which hee doth execute upon all without respect had either to the greatnesse or goodnesse of any Ios 23.14 therefore Death is called the way of all the World Gen. 15.15 and the way to our Fathers because as our Fathers are gone the way of Death before us so must wee after them and our posterity after us for ever for though Death be but one his office the cutting off the lives of all the world yet it is to him but an easie taske having the diseases of our flesh and infinite other occasions to attend him to the performance of the execution of his deadly office His power then is generall over all being limited by God and time only who though hee bring all Flesh to corruption yet no Flesh can corrupt him or procure favour in the strict execution of his Office The end or the death of Death is the living righteousnesse of Jesus Christ which he wrought by his owne death in his owne person therefore saith the holy Prophet that Death is swallowed up in Victory Hos 13.14 and Saint Paul saith 1 Cor. 15.25.26 that Christ Iesus must reigne till he hath put all his enemies under his feet and that the last enemie that shall be destroyed is Death therefore the Apostle insulting over Death saith O death verses 55.56.57 where is thy sting O Hell where is thy victory the sting of Death is sinne and the strength of sinne is the law but thanks bee unto God that giveth us victory through our Lord Iesus Christ Whereby it is evident that God by his sonne Christ hath given us victory over Sinne Death and Hell if wee doe faithfully beleeve in him and whereas before wee were all servants of sinne and the slaves of Death wee are now made Conquerors and despise them that did command us This happie alteration doth reach benefit to all the faithfull but not to all men therefore it is limited by God and doth extend to such particulars onely as are in his election for though God cast the beames of his Sonne upon every mans face alike and distribute his temporall blessings scatteringly as it were without any heedfull respect where they fall yet those favours that are eternall and import perpetuity of happinesse hee giveth them onely to his beloved Elect barring all the reprobates from spirituall grace and eternall happinesse and therefore though the death of Christ hath disarmed Death and blunted his weapons that have wounded holy men yet are those weapons still sharpe and that Death is still living and made immortall against them that have not received the image of the Lambe of God for though all men enter their graves alike yet with different condition holy and good men enter their graves Mat. 9.25 as their houses of rest where they quietly sleepe and for a time repose in rest and safetie but the wicked enter their graves as fellons doe their Prisons to be reserved to a more terrible day of judgement Eccles 41.1.2 Therefore the Wiseman saith Philip. 1.20.21 the remembrance of Death is bitter to some and acceptable to other for the godly make it their
day of hope but to the wicked their day of feare Death then in these divers respects of good and bad men hath a sting and yet cannot hurt is dead and yet living and by opening the gate of temporary death doth admit the entrance either into eternall life or eternall death the one is the most happie condition of Gods chosen the other the most miserable state of the Reprobate and damned for as this life wherein we breathe is but a sacrament or little resemblance of that which is to come so the terrour of a temporary Death hath no proportion with the torments of everlasting Death wherein both the body and the soule shall suffer such affliction as is beyond the power of imagination infinite in measure infinite in manner infinite in time To undertake to report of Heaven and Hell Salvation and Damnation otherwise then is set forth in this Booke is not in my purpose or power to describe them but this we may know that both are infinite Heaven is infinite in time and happinesse and Hell is infinite in time and torment the one as Gods resemblance is infinite good the other as the Divels is infinite evill the one is hoped for the other feared to which all Mankinde must make their resort and by the gate of Death passe their temporall life to one of these to eternitie Seeing our sinne was the cause of death and from our selves had his first originall it ought to humble all men in their own estimation and to acknowledge the great corruption of our nature which makes us powerfull onely in doing evill and in producing such bad effects as cause our owne destruction and the consideration of this may correct their proud opinion that vainely arrogate such power unto themselves as to be the meanes in cause of their owne salvation fondly and falsely thinking that their eyes of nature are not blind in spirituall judgement but imagine to have in themselves that vertue and power which they only have by imagination for if Adam by his sinne did produce and give life to such a monster by birth as death is what expectation then can bee had of our weake ability who are in all respects but sinne Adam's farre inferiours and by much lesse able in the performance of any spirituall duty Secondly seeing death hath universall power over all flesh and seeing that there is no partiality in the execution of this office no dispensing of favour no lengthening of time but commeth certainly but not certainely when this may advise all men to godly action and to live to day as if they were to die to morrow lest otherwise death commeth unexpected and so prevent their good determinations which being onely determined and not done availe us to no other end but griefe and unprofitable repentance Againe seeing all must die and bee reduced againe to earth Iere. 13.18 this should controll the proud ambitious natures of men who in this life insult over men of inferiour state and dignifie themselves in their owne estimations as if God had not made them of earth or that the grave would not humble them and make them earth againe These men that value themselves rich by having the beggarly gifts of fortune and despise the most rich treasure of Grace Iere. 4.2 where it liveth in the banishment of poore fortune these that despise death most when they live P. l. 34.20 Note and feare him most when they die are here admonished to reforme this insolent behaviour and to remember themselves that how proud soever they be yet they must be humbled in the grave and that the wormes and corruption will destroy their pride and in despight of greatnesse make them inferiour to the meanest beggar on earth and yet can death heape a greater calamity upon them and open unto them the passage to everlasting death and afflict them with the damned in torments perpetuall and infinite thirdly seeing that Christ by death hath slaine death and hath taken his hurtfull sting from him whereby he might be hurtfull to Gods Elect it doth admonish a zealous duty of thankfulnesse in them in the merit of the Lord Jesus Christ their Saviour By whose meanes death is no death to them but rather life and advantage by whom they have the doore opened to everlasting salvation for so ought all men to understand of death Note as the common Jaylor of all flesh the world is the prison wherein we are shut death when he openeth the doore delivereth from prison leadeth the parties delivered either to liberty or judgement for so are all that die transported from earth either to heaven which is their liberty or to hell the place of execution Death then is that one key that openeth the double passage the one to heaven the other to hell the one leadeth to salvation the other to damnation Lastly seeing that death is a repose and rest from earthly labours it ought to sweeten the sorrowes of this life with hopefull confidence alacrity and spirituall comfort notwithstanding most men doe repute the professours of holinesse but base and abject people and deride their simplicity in wicked worldly policies making holinesse a note of folly and their owne audacious impudence the onely marke of wisedome and deepe discretion yet should not this discountenance a good cause but rather confirme a Christian resolution and give boldnesse and Christian courage to beare off with patience the contempts and disgraces of evill and wicked men and secretly scorne at their base estimations having their eyes of faith still fixed on the end of all things death with a settled confidence that death will not onely give them rest from all their troubles and adversities but admit them also into the blessed fellowship of God the holy Angels and Saints from whence they shall see their proud enemies cast into utter darkenesse and obloquie and with miserable desperation acknowledge their wilfull neglects in Christian duties thus the meditation of death may give disgraced and afflicted Christians a life of hope in the height of their extremities Therefore let not the faithfull doe as the wicked doe feare to die but hope to die intending the spirituall passage and course of their lives Acts 12. so as that their end may give them comfort without terrour let us reduce to memory what the holy Prophets Apostles and Martyrs have done in this cause how carefull they have beene to preserve their lives in the memory of honest and godly reputation how carelesse also have they esteemed their lives for the defence and reputation of the Gospel Acts 7. being content nay carefull not onely to give up their lives but to give them up with torment for the testimony of Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour To these men let us frame our imitation let us care for our lives as they cared let us also care to die as they cared in every work of our life let us remember our end and at our end
without lust wisedome without wilinesse simplicity without simulation perpetuall solace and solatious perpetuity prosperous security and secure prosperity There is no malady no crosse no curse no vexation nor calamity no defect nor deformities Rev. 22.3 no tumults nor troubles no paine nor penury Rev. 21.4 all teares shall be done away all evills removed all sinne abolished all wants supplied There shall be a perfect plenary and perpetuall possession of all good things even of God himselfe vers 3. who is Goodnesse it selfe There shall be perfection of knowledge 1 Cor. 13.12 1 Ioh. 3.2 1 Cor. 13.10 Phil. 3.21 no defect in love happy immortality certaine security constant amity and secure tranquility The Soule shall have perfection of Vertues the Body shall be full of beauty strength and agility the whole man shall enjoy fellowship with God fellowship with the Lambe fellowship with the Angells a happy society 1 Thess 4.17 a sweet communion all holinesse all happinesse all joyes shall be enjoyed The King is verity the Law Charity the Possession eternity yea the full fruition of Eternall God who will be All in all unto us 1 Cor. 25.28 Indeed God is now All in all unto us but by meanes and in a small measure But in heaven God Himselfe Immediately in fulnesse of measure without all meanes will bee unto us All in all the good things that our Soules and Bodies can wish or desire Hee himselfe will bee salvation and joy to our Soules life and health to our Bodies Wisd 13.16 beauty to our Eyes musicke to our Eares honey to our Mouthes perfume to our Nostrills meate to our Bellies light to our Vnderstanding contentment to our Mindes delight to our Hearts pleasure to our Wills And what can be lacking where God Himselfe will be the the Soule of our soules To conclude we shal raigne like kings with the King of kings for ever with fulnesse of Grace in our Hearts and a Diadem of Glory on our Heads celebrating an everlasting Sabboth and singing an Allelu-jah to the Lord for ever where there is that unspeakeable splendour and that most excellent order and well ordered excellencie of that happy condition and heavenly company O what joy will it bee to thy Soule which was wont to see but misery woe afflictions calamities and sinfull sinning and sinners now to behold the glory of the face of God and to see Christ welcomming thee with an Euge bone serve Well done and wellcome thou good and faithfull servant Col. 1.16 Eph. 1.21 eneer into thy Masters joy And what joy will this be to behold so many thousand thousands of Cherubins Seraphins Angels Thrones Dominions Principalities Powers all the holy Patriarchs Prophets Apostles Martyrs Priests Professors and all the soules of thy Friends Parents Husbands Wives Children and the rest of Gods Saints who departed before thee in the true faith of Christ standing before the Throne of Gods Majestie in perpetuall blisse and glory How shall thy Soule be ravished to see her selfe by grace admitted to stand with this glorious Company to behold the blessed face of Christ and to heare the treasures of his Divine wisedome How shalt thou rejoyce to see so many thousand thousands welcomming thee into their heavenly societie for as they all rejoyced at thy conversion so will they now be much more joyfull at thy Coronation Luk. 15.1 c. Who can sufficiently expresse the rejoycing of this heavenly Company to see thee thus crowned with glory Revel 7.9 arrayed with the bright shining Robe of Christs righteousnesse and to have the Palme of victory put into thy hand Oh what gratulations will there bee that thou hast escaped all the miseries and afflictions of the world the snares of the Divell the paines of Hell and obtained with them thy eternall rest and happinesse For there every one joyeth as much in anothers happinesse as in his owne because hee shall see him as much beloved of God as himselfe yea they have as many distinct joyes as they have Co-partners of their joy and in this joyfull and blessed state the soule resteth and remaineth with Christ in Heaven for ever the holy Angels together with this blessed and heavenly Society there keepe without any labour to distract them a perpetuall Sabbath to the glory honour and praise of the aye-blessed Trinitie for the creating redeeming preserving and sanctifying of the Church and the members thereof and for his might power wisedome justice mercy and goodnesse in the government of Heaven and Earth Therfore when thou hearest a sweet consort of Musicke meditate how happie thou shalt be when with the Quire of heavenly Angels and Saints thou shalt sing a part in that spirituall Hallelujah on that eternall blessed Sabbath where there shall be such varietie of pleasures and saciety of joyes as never know tediousnesse of time or doing nor end of delight and happinesse 1 Cor. 13.12 Oh life to be desired Oh blessed felicitie in which the most holy Trinitie shall be the perfection of all our desires which we shall see without end love without end and praise without being weary to see God will surpasse all ioyes to see Christ to live with Christ to heare Christ will surpasse all the desires of our hearts What can there be wanting what can be there beside to be desired or expected more 1 Cor. 15.28 Where God is all in all and shall distribute to every one all good things according to the measure of his owne heart If thou desirest life if health if peace if honour God shall bee there all in all the blessed humanitie of Christ shall bee there present unto us and shall entertaine us with a most sweet voice Cant. 2.14 His voice is sweet and his face is comly full of grace are his lips and is crowned with glory and honor There shall he be fulnesse of light to the understanding Psal 45.3 Ps 68.32 c. plenty of peace to the will and continuance of eternity to the memory The Sonne will satisfie the understanding with perfect knowledge the Holy Ghost will satisfie the will with most sweet love and the Father will satisfie the memory with the remembrance of both Let the faithfull Soule be heere astonished and adore the mercie of her Saviour for hee doth not onely receive us his enemies into favour but hee doth also forgive us our sinnes and bestow upon us righteousnesse and receive us into our heavenly inheritance and makes us like unto the Angels yea like unto himselfe blessed for ever Oh most blessed City Revel 21.23 celestiall Canaan Oh heavenly Ierusalem O the most holy seate of the most holy and blessed Trinitie When will that Sunne rise upon mee which inlighteneth that holy Citie We are yet banished from our Countrey but there we shall enjoy an ample inheritance Ioh. 1.12 To those that beleeve power is given to be made sonnes of God and if we be sonnes then
are wee also Heires of God Psal 16.1 and coheires with Christ Lift up thy selfe O devout soule and long to come to the Lord the portion of thine inheritance and thy exceeding great reward Gen 15.1 What could the most ample mercie and bountie of God bestow more upon us He gives us life he bestowes his Son Act. 27.27.28 and bestowes himselfe if he had any thing greater in heaven or earth he would bestow even that also upon us In God we live Gods Temple we are 1 Cor. 3.16 God we possesse indeed here in the spirit and in a Mistery but in heaven in truth and indeed our hope there shall become our full fruition and dwell with him for ever Psal 42.1.2 Come Lord Iesus Come quickly and make us partakers of that heavenly glory Esteeme not thou faithfull soule the trifling pleasures of this life to bee the way to this everlasting worlds wealth nor the ignominious estate heere nor troubles and afflictions to be any barre to prevent thee from the injoying of the full use and joyfull fruition of the glory there prepared for thee bee assured that though thou want heere thou shalt have riches there though thou hunger heere thou shalt have fulnesse there though thou beest ready to faint heere thou shalt be refreshed there and though thou be heere abjected and cast downe and accounted as a dead man yet shalt thou there live in perpetuall glory and though thou hast run this comfortlesse race through this miserable earthly vaile yet there shalt thou raigne for ever the honour on this earth in comparison of that is basenesse the riches of this world is povertie the fulnesse of this life is want the joyes of this worlds Kingdome are sorrow woe misery sadnesse griefe and calamitie Psal 53.1 and yet the Foole saith in his heart that there is no other Heaven but this harmefull deceiving worlds happinesse no other Hell but this Worlds bitternesse no bitter torment then this worlds cares no further helpe then this worlds wealth thus is the wisedome of man become foolishnesse his glory turned into shame mans power made of no force and the faithfull poore that are heere despised are there advanced the sorrowfull are comforted and the cast-awayes of this world are received to that blessed being that cannot be expressed with the tongue described with the Pen nor conceived with the heart of man Psal 55.6 O that I had wings saith heavenly hearted David that I might flye away from this worlds vanities and to possesse Heavens eternall happinesse Phâ—lip 1.23 Oh that I were dissolved saith blessed Paul that I might bee with Christ Oh that I were in this place of such wished happinesse where I might rest from this Worlds labours earthly miseries and transitorie vanities Let us daily meditate of the greatnesse and Majestie of this high Heavens glorious and blessed estate where we shall one day blesse our God with the blessed Company of that most excellent Vnitie where wee shall one day sit secure and free from the dangers perils troubles crosses and afflictions which doe in this world assaile us on every side both within and without that wee are never free from one calamitie or other 2 Cor. 1.3.4.5.6.7 Oh blessed are all they that are thus assured blessed are the poore that shall have this Heavens riches blessed are the base that shall be thus exalted blessed are the low and cast downe that shall bee thus raised and advanced and blessed are the World 's despised that shall have this Heavens happinesse yea happy is this worlds unhappy man for he shall be happy for ever Now therefore O devout Soule stand up feare not faint not but give glory to this great God praise this high and helping God seeke him in time while it is to day drive not off to pray to this God notwithstanding any hope thou hast in mortall men pray for and reject not his gracious meanes who in favour infinite and mercie endlesse moveth the hearts of men in this life to doe good unto such as hee seeth distressed hee can finde out and afford infinite meanes to succour them that are his and will not leave them forsaken in danger 1 Cor. 10.13 for hee even here giveth his blessings as pledges of his never-failing love that being visited in his mercy with timely comforts here we may assure our selves of greater blessings in Heaven where they are prepared for his faithfull Elect beyond all that humane nature can aske or thinke Therefore O devout Soule sigh no more sorrow no more bee no more pensive at outward poverty fret no more at the worlds crosses grieve no more at the worlds miseries dismay no more for thy many sinnes but strive alwayes to stand in the favour of this high and helping God and hee will set thee free and banish thy feare and fill thy cup and feed thee with the hidden treasures of his never-failing love Vnto whom be given all Glory Praise Honour Power Might Majestie and Dominion now and evermore Amen Thus endeth our PROGRESSE The Conclusion NOw hast thou seene how glorious and perfect God is and how that all thy chiefe blisse and happines consisteth in having an eternall Communion with his Majestie therefore O impenitent Sinner in the bowels of Christ Iesus I intreat thee as thou tenderest thy owne Salvation seriously to consider with mee how false how vaine how vile are those things which still retaine and chaine thee in thy wretched and cursed estate wherein thou livest The vanitie and wretchednesse of this present life and doe hinder thee from the favour of God and the hope of eternall life and happinesse and seeing that likewise thou seest how great is thy happinesse in Christ and how vaine are the hinderances that debarre thee from the same Beware as the Apostle exhorteth of the deceitfulnesse of sinne Heb. 3.13 for that sinne which seemeth now to bee so pleasing to thy corrupt nature will one day prove the bitterest enemie to thy distressed soule and in the meane while harden unawares thine impenitent heart Sinne as a Serpent seemes beautifull to the eye but take heed of the sting behind whose venomous effects if thou knewst thou wouldst as carefully flye from sinne as from a Serpent To conclude all forasmuch as thou seest that without Christ thou art but a slave of sin deaths vassall and wormes meat whose thoughts are vaine whose deeds are vile whose pleasures have scarce beginning whose miseries never know end what wise man would incurre these Hellish torments though hee might by living in sinne purchase to himselfe for a time the Empire of Augustus the Riches of Croessus the Pleasures of Salomon the Policy of Achitophel 2 Sam. 17. the voluptuous Fare and fine Apparell of Dives Mat. 16.26 Mark 8.36 for What should it availe a man as our Saviour saith to win the whole World for a tiâ—â— and then to lose his Soule in Hell for ever FINIS Jmprimatur THO WYKES Septemb. 1. 1638.
devotion of the heart in the turning unto God by godly and humble affection and bewayling of an afflicted heart whereby the aid of God is most humbly besought When prayer is in season whether wee doe the same by words or by wayling or sighes wee are to pray in due season with regard of minde upon reasonable cause correspondent and proportionable to the present necessitie and case James 1.5 and therefore Saint James saith James 5.13 If any man want wisedome let him aske it of God againe If there be any among you afflicted let him pray is any merry let him sing Psalmes if we consider the parts of prayer which be to aske to request and to beseech to lament and to make more to craâ—e aid to make intercession for others or our selves 1 Tim. 2.1 to praise and give thankes wee shall easily understand when the time serveth to pray our wants shall declare unto us what is to be desired and demanded at Gods hand the conscience for our sin doth enforce us unto prayer to obtaine forgivenesse for our sins and to turne away the wrath of God from us the slaunders and rebukes offered of the reprobate and ungodly doe make the afflicted and miserable to burst out into wailing and lamenting trouble and affliction doth instruct us when wee ought to crave and desire ayd and helpe from God Psal 34.14 1 Tim. 2. Charity and pity doe move us to make intercession for our neighbours and brethren that be falne into adversity or otherwise subject unto temptation and the anger of God the perseverance and continuall supply of the benefits of God and the zeale of his glory doe stirre us unto praise and thankesgiving and where there is no feeling of these things in the heart and minde of man Without feeling of these things our prayers will not be heard of God there is prayer in vaine and out of season at what time soever it bee made The Christian man is both Lord and master of times and seasons so that he may pray freely at all times and in all places where and when he lift at his owne liberty uâ—â—o his commodity and necessity levelling his prayers in all things unto the right marke which is to worke and proceed religiously faithfully and truely with his Lord God having regard of his owne and his neighbours necessities and good he ceaseth not to pray in his heart which ceaseth not to doe good The necessity of prayer is either spirituall or temporall the spirituall necessity Two kinds of necessities in praying Note is of things which doe concerne a godly mind soundnesse of religion and desire of salvation By this wee bee compelled to aske of God a good and right spirit the gift of faith trust in hope forgivenesse of our sinnes patience in adversity continuance of true godlinesse and the like without which wee cannot be saved Our corporall necessity is the same which concerneth the sustentation of our life as the nourishment of our body ayd succour and releife in all our wants and necessities Therefore we doe say in the Lords Prayer Give us this day our daily bread and when wee doe desire the health of the sicke and diseased and the ease and delivery of the afflicted and persecuted and the preservation of them which are in perill and danger In Prayer there be requisite certaine outward behaviours and gestures which doe declare a lowlinesse and an humble submission unto God as that of Daniel who fell upon his knees three times a day and made his petition Dan. 6.10 Luke 22.41 and praised his God And our Saviour Christ prayed upon his knees in the Garden Ephes 3.14 and Saint Paul fell upon his knees when hee prayed for the Churches of the Gentiles Others doe lift up their hands toward Heaven 1 King 8.22 as wee read of Salomon that prayed unto God before the Arke Others doe cast up their face unto Heaven Mat. 26.27.39 and others doe lie groveling upon their face as Christ also did Others doe pray and humble themselves in haire and sackcloth as David did Psalm 35.13 Ionas 3.6 and as the King of the Ninevites and some prayed â—nto God sitting as Elias did sitting under the Juniper tree 1 King 19.4 and David prayed also sitting before the Lord. The Publican whose prayer God heard 1 Sam. 17. Luke 18.13 2 King 20 2.3 hee prayed standing and smote his hand upon his brest and said God be mercifull unto me a sinner and Ezechias prayed lying in his bed Therefore whether we doe fall upon our knees or lie groveling upon our face or in ashes haire or sackecloth either sitting standing or lying or walking so that we doe pray earnestly Jam. 5.15 16 17. faithfully and substantially with humble and contrite heart and mind no question it will be acceptable and well pleasing unto God Acts 10.31 Almes-deeds no doubt doth commend and set forth our prayers well unto God as wee may perceive by Cornelius unto whom the Angell said Thy prayer is heard and thine Almes-deeds are had in remembrance in the sight of God Note The manner of praying For that godly disposition is acceptable unto God which hath both mercy and well-doing joyned withall The manner of praying peculiar to Christians is when wee doe offer our prayers unto God the Father by our Lord Jesus Christ our onely Saviour and Mediatour and faithfully deo desire to be heard for his sake thereunto serveth the promise of Christ in Iohn saying Verily verily I say unto you John 16.23 24. whatsoever ye aske the Father in my Name he shall give it you Hitherto ye have asked nothing in my Name aske and ye shall have it that your joy may be full Iohn 14.13.14 And whatsoever ye shall aske in my Name that will I accomplish that the Father may bee glorified in his Sonne Then if thou callest Esay 58.9 the Lord shall answere thee if thou cryest he shall say Here I am It is an exceeding great benefit of God towards us in that he requireth us to conferre with him familiarly by pious prayer hee bestoweth upon us the gift and the fruit of prayer great is the force of prayer which is poured forth on earth but hath its working in Heaven the prayer of the just is the key of Heaven prayer ascendeth up from us to Heaven and deliverance descends from God to us prayer is the shield and buckler of the faithfull by which they repell all the fiery darts of their adversaries the anger of God is also repelled by the prayers of the faithfull Our Saviour himselfe prayed not that hee had need to pray Eph. 6.16 17. but to commend unto us the dignity thereof prayer is the tribute of our subjection because God hath commanded that wee should every day offer unto him our prayers as a spirituall tribute Prayer is the ladder of our ascension unto Heaven for it is
nothing else but the soules travelling unto God It is the sword of our defence Eccles 35.17 18. for the soule of him that continueth in prayer is secure and safe from all the assaults of the divell for God doth alwaies heare the prayers of the faithfull if not according to their desire yet to their salvation and profit and we may assuredly hope that either he will give us that which we aske or else that which he in his wisdome knoweth to be more profitable for us for God gave us his onely begotten Sonne that infinite and most excellent gift wee being not worthy of it nor hee being not intreated thereunto what will he then deny us if hee be intreated by earnest and faithfull prayer We cannot doubt of the Fathers hearing or the Sons interceding upon all occasions wee may with Moses by prayer enter into the Tabernacle Numb 7.89 and consult with the Lord our God and we shall speedily heare his divine answere Luke 9.29 Our Saviour Christ was transfigured when hee prayed so are there many changes wrought in the soules of the faithfull in the time of prayer for prayer is the light of the soule and oftentimes leaves him in joy whom shee found in despaire With what face canst thou behold his Majesty unlesse thou dost first worship him Eccle. 53.1 2. who sends that glorious light for thee to looke upon how canst thou at thy table fall to thy meate unlesse thou doest first worship and give praise unto him who in his bounty bestowes those good creatures upon thee with what hope darest thou commit thy selfe to the darknesse of the night and bee safe from the dangers of the day unlesse thou dost first fore-arme thy selfe by faithfull prayer what fruit canst thou expect of thy labours and successe in thy travels unlesse thou dost first worship him and commit thy selfe to his gracious care and providence by prayer Math. 7.7 without whose blessing all labour is unprofitable and vaine If therefore thou wantest temporall blessings aske in faith and it shall bee given you if thou desirest Christ seeke him by prayer and thou shalt finde him if thou desirest that the gate of divine grace and eternall salvation should be opened unto thee knocke and it shall be opened and if in the desert of this world the thirst of tentations the penury and want of temporall things afflict thee come with devotion unto the spirituall rocke 1 Cor. 10.4 which is Christ and strike it with the rod of prayer and thou shalt feele the streames of divine grace to coole the thirst of thy penury Gen. 8.21 offer the sweet smelling and acceptable sacrifice of prayer unto God and his wrath shall cease from thee converse with him every day by faithfull prayer which is the spirituall conference betweene God and the devout soule prayer pleaseth God therefore invite the Lord to the house of thy heart by earnest prayer and he will be thy guest and not forsake thee Psal 29.2 Whosoever desireth to be heard let him pray with wisdome with fervency with humility with faith with perseverance and with confidence let him pray with wisdome for such things as tend to the glory of God the good of his neighbour and the salvation of himselfe God is omnipotent therfore do not thou in thy prayers tie him to means God is most wise doe not thou in thy prayers ascribe him an order let not thy prayers breake forth rashly but let the conduct of faith guide thee which hath respect unto the Word therefore such things as God hath absolutely promised in his Word pray for absolutely and such things as he hath promised with condition as temporall things To the reprobate and ungodly person pray for with condition and such things as hee hath not promised in his Word in no wise pray for God doth often give in his wrath that which in his mercy hee doth deny therefore follow the example of Christ who resigned his will wholly unto God pray with fervency for how canst thou desire that God should heare thee when thou hearest not thy selfe but the tongue out-runneth the minde Wouldst thou have God mindfull of thee when thou art not mindfull of thy selfe God will not heare thy prayers without the affection of the heart John 4.23 Luke 6.12 John 17.1 the minde must be so inflamed with the heat of cogitation that it may farre surpasse what the tongue expresseth and this is to worship in spirit and truth for such worship the Lord requireth Christ prayed in the mount and lifted up his eyes toward heaven So must wee turne away our minde from the creatures and turne them unto God for otherwise thou dost injury unto God to pray unto him to attend unto thee when thou art not attentive unto thy selfe And seeing God dwelleth in the hearts of the faithfull and godly there needeth not alwaies words because hee is present even with the thoughts Luther oftentimes one sigh moved by the holy Ghost and offered in the spirit is more acceptable to God then long repetitions of prayers where the tongue prayeth and the heart is plainly dumbe let him pray with humility and place no confidence in his owne merits but onely in the grace and mercy of God Christ being the Temple of the divinity at his passion he cast himselfe to the ground Marke 14 35. and prayed behold how that most holy soule humbled it selfe before the divine Majesty let us pray with faith the sooner one prayeth the more profitable the oftener the better the more fervently 2 Cor. 6. the more acceptable with God let us pray with perseverance for if God delay his benefits and doth not presently give them he commends them unto us and doth not deny them the longer things are desired Matth. 21.22 The efficacy of faithfull prayer the sweeter and the more acceptable they are being obtained let us pray with confidence of heart that is aske in faith without doubting and thou shalt have what thou desirest either ease reliefe redresse or comfort the examples are many they are infinite set forth in Scripture of our godly Fathers Prophets and Apostles amongst which is declared the wonderfull effect of prayer Josh 10.12 13. that at the instant request of Joshua made unto God the Sunne stood still in the middest of the sky the space of one whole day untill the people of God had revenged themselves upon their enemies and Elias prayed unto the Lord that it might not raine upon the earth 1 King 17 1. 18.1 Jam 5.17 18. 1 King 17.22 and it rained not for the space of three yeeres and sixe moneths and againe he prayed and the sky gave raine and the earth yeelded her fruit Againe Elias by prayer unto God 1 King 18.37 38. raised up the dead child of the widow of Sarepta and at his prayer fire falleth from heaven and consumed the burnt offering the wood