Lord shall enter into the kingdom of heaven but he that doth the will of my father which is in heaven Mat. 7. 21. Divine knowledge is not like the light of the moon to sleep by but it s like the light of the sun to work by It s not a Loyterer in the market place but a laborer in the vineyard A man may be a great Schollar and yet be a great sinner Judas the Traytor was Judas the Preacher The Toad hath a pearl in its head and poyson in its bowels The tree of knowledge may be planted where the tree of life never grew A man may be acquainted with the grace of truth who never knew the truth of grace Parts and gifts without grace and holiness are but like Vriah's letters that cut the throat of him that carried them You are never the better for your light if you be never the better by your light The sun that whitens the cloth tanns the Blackamoor Shall that be the brand of Christians which was the bane of Heathens Because when they knew God they glorified him not as God Rom. 1. 21. The flint strikes the steel in vain that propagates no sparks You had as good let the Devil put out your eyes that you should not see the truth as let him cut off your legs that you should not walk in the truth Naked knowledg it may make the head giddy but it will not make the heart holy Who would fraught his ship with such drossy ore or stay for such a gale as cannot waft him to his harbor shall we hold a candle in one hand and draw a sword with the other How many Professors are there Isti omnes similes illis sunt qui pro bonae valitudine sacrificant in ipso sacro epulis se ingurgitant quae bone valetudini sunt contrariae Stamp prompt Mor. p. 120. that know what is to be done but never do what is to be known they carry a bright candle in a dark lanthorn Give me the Christian that perfectly fees the way that he goes and readily goes the way that he sees That 's bad ground that brings forth nothing except it be forced To him that knoweth to do good and doth it not to him it is sin Jam. 4. 17. Though sins of ignorance are more numerous yet sins of knowledge are more dangerous Your darkness will be the blacker because your light hath been the clearer Pharnaces sends a Crown to Caesar at the same time that he rebelled against him to whom Caesar makes this return Faceret imperata prius Let him first lay down his rebellion and then I will accept of his crown There is many that set a crown of glory upon the head of Christ by a good profession that plat a crown of thorns upon the head of Christ by an evil conversation By the words of our lips we may adore Religion but it s by the works of our lives that we adorn Religion It was the saying of one That in the best reformed Churches there was the most deformed Christians Look to it for all will be pulled down without you if there be nothing raised up within you But we all with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord are changed from glory to glory by the spirit of the Lord 2 Cor. 3. 18. As trees without fruits are unprofitable so knowledge without works is abominable Those two sisters Leah and Rachel are fit Emblems of knowledge and obedience Knowledg like Rachel is beautiful but Obedience like Leah is fruitful He that will not do what he knows shall not know what to do Be wise as Serpents and innocent as Doves The Serpents eye is an ornament when it s placed in the Doves head O how unanswerable are the lives of Professors to the lights of Professors They have the light of the sun for wisdom and knowledge but want the heat of a candle for grace and holiness I have read a story of a Painter that being blamed by a Cardinal for putting too much red in the faces of St. Paul and St. Peter answered It was to show how much they blushed at their behaviours that stiled themselves their Successors Were Abraham now on earth who is in heaven how would the Father of the Faithful blush to see their actions that stile themselves his off-spring The Saints of old though there was less grace discovered to them yet there was more grace discovered by them They knew little but did much we know much but do little He was a burning and shining light To shine is not enough a glo-worm will do so To burn is not enough a fire-brand will do so Light without heat doth little good and heat without light doth much hurt Give me those Christians that are burning lamps as well as they are shining lights The Sun is as vigorous in its moving as it is luminous in its shining I know the light of nature wants force to repel the lusts of nature But will any say the day is dawning when the skie puts on her sable cloathing And how monsterous is it to see that Christians tongues should be larger then their hands That they should speak so much of God to others and act so little for God themselves That is the second 3. Singular action that should be done by a singular Christian is to prefer the duty that he ows above the danger that he fears Christians should prize their services above their safeties The wicked flies when no man pursues but the righteous are as bold as a Lion Prov. 28. 1. The fearful Hare squats at every noyse when the stout lion is unmoved at the greatest clamors Should Believers for every cross wind that blows shrink back on earth they would never keep their road to heaven My righteousness I hold fast and will not let it go Job 27. 6. He kept his righteousness in his heart when he could not keep his riches in his hands uprightness is such a complexion as is not subject to alteration The lawrel keeps its greenness in the winter season Times of trouble have ever been times of trial It s the suffering season that is the sifting season Now dangers makes the world leave their duties The sithe of persecution cuts down the tender grass of their devotion They that carry not the yoke of Christ upon their necks will never carry the cross of Christ upon their backs It s the doing of what is good that supports in the suffering of what is evil The flesh it is an enemy unto sufferings because sufferings is an enemy to the flesh It may make a man an earthly Courtier but it will never make a man an heavenly Martyr Wicked men they stumble at straws in the way of salvation that can leap over blocks in the rode of destruction Lay heavy weights upon rotten boughs and they will quickly break in sunder if they take up Religion in a fair day they will lay it down in a
perfectissime certissime et distâ—nctissime 〈◊〉 Polâ—and Dsp Theol p. 73. we see not what God doth in Heaven for earth we think that God sees not what we do on earth against Heaven Men care not what they do when they beleeve that God sees not what is done They slay the widdow and the stranger and murder the fatherless Psâ—l 94. 6. They say the Lord shall not see neither shall the God of Jacob regard it The Adulterer he waits for the twi-light his sin gets up when the Sun goes down The time of darknesse payes most tribute to the Prince of darknesse There are many that blush to confesse their faults that did never blush to commit their faults though we gain by confessing what we loose by transgressing Poor Adam when he had sinned he sought not the fairest fruits to fill his emptinesse but the broadest leaves to cover his nakednesse Its Gods eyeing of us that makes us prosperous but it s our eyeing of God that makes us vertuous What servant is there that would be a sleeper under the view of his Master Or what Souldier will be a Coward in the presence of his General 2. Principle that you should walk by is this That after all your present receivings you must be brought to your future reckonings Give an account of thy Steward-ship for thou mayest be no longer a Steward Luke 16. 2. Mans enjoyment of outward blessings is not a Lord-ship but a Steward-ship When we Haecbona Deus hominibus communicat non ut ipsieorum sint Domini sed dispensatores ad alios Cherm Har. Evang. cap. 122. take our leave of the earth the earth takes its leave of us The rich man had as poor a beginning as the meanest and the poor man shall have as rich an ending as the greatest Austin Ideo latet ultimus dies ut observantur omnes dies We should every day be expecting our last dayes approaching Persons of the greatest eminence have anciently had their Moniters The Sicilian Prince Agathocles Is Rex et Dominus factus Siciliae fictilia pocula interserere solebataureis Plut. Apoth Sect. 26. had his earthen Plate to tell him that he was but a Potters son The Roman Triumphers in the Meridian of all their splendor had a servant behind them crying to each of them Memento te esse hominem Men that are Gods in Office are apt to think themselves Gods in Essence As they say of the Pope at his installment Mutatio nominis is mutatio hominis The change of the name makes the change of the man I have said ye are Gods but ye shall dye like men Psalm 82. 2. This Divinity it s shrouded up in Mortality and they that are Gods before men are but men before God Death levels Palidamors aeguo pulsat pede pauperum tabernas Regumque turres Horat Od. 4. the highest Mountains with the lowest Valleys and mows down the Lillies of the world as well as the grasse of the field The Robes of Princes and the rags of Peasants are both laid up together in the Wardrobe of the grave That Star that led Israel from Aegypt went out of sight before they came to their journeys end For we must all appear before the Omnes nos generaliter sine excaptione manifestari evidentèr sine absconsione oportet inexcusabiliter sine evasâ—one â—nte Tribunal praesentialiter sine procuratore Gor. in loc Judgment Seat of Christ that every one may receive the things done in his body according to that he hath done whither it be good or whither it be evil 2 Cor. 5. 10. They who refused to come before his Mercy-seat shall be forced to come before his Judgment-seat At the shril voice of the last Trumpet the greatest Jailors shall surrender up 〈◊〉 their prisoners Now we see living men begin to dye but then we shall see deaâ— men begin to live The scattered dust of Adams seed shall ride upon windy wings till it meet together in a collected body Thy dead men shall live together with my dead body shall they arise awake and sing ye that dwell in dust Isa 26. 19. All the creatures in the world that have made their meals of mans flesh shall find that they have eaten morsels too hard for the digestion of their weak stomacks Now he that comes to raise the dead he shall come to Judge the dead In the day that God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my Gospel 2 Rom. 16. The same Rule that God hath given the creature to act by the same Rule he hath taken himselfe to judge by If you obey not the truth of God revealed from Heaven unto you you shall suffer the wrath of God revealed from Heaven against you Though you may resist the judgments that he layes before you yet you can never resist the judgments that he layes upon you O shake the Vipers of lust off of your hands lest they pull you into unquenchable flames Let nothing be acted in one world which cannot be answered in another Because he hath appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousnesse by that man whom he hath ordained Acts 17. 31. It s the Son of man by whom the world was redeemed and its the Son of man before whom the world is arraigned He who was guarded to the Crosse with a band of Souldiers shall be attended to the Bench with a guard of Angels The Thebanes pictured their Judges without eyes that they might not respect persons and without hands that they might not receive bribes Shall not the Judg of all the world do right The wills of other Judges are regulated by righteousnesse but righteousness it self is regulated by this Judges will As all his works are great and marvelous so all his wayes are true and righteous Then there will be no standing before Christ but by standing within Christ What hopes shall he have at the general Assises whose conscience condemns him before he appears Rejoyce O young man in the dayes of thy youth and walke in the wayes of thy heart and in the sight of thine eys Eccl 11. 9. You will say this is brave indeed if it Fruere ut libet hujus mundi voluptatibus quòd si rebus hujus seculi insolescas et abutaris haud dubiè acerrimas aliquando lues paenas et extremo occurres judicio in quo vitae tuae redditurus es rationem Arboreus in loc would alwayes last O but after the flash of Lightning comes the clap of Thunder But know that for all these things God will bring thee to judgement As if he had said well run down the hill as fast as you please you will be sure to break your necks at the last This is the day of Gods long-suffering but that shall be the day of mans long-suffering Here the cords of patience doth as it were tye the hands of vengeance Sinners they have forbearing mercy though they want forgiving mercy
more hurt in our hearts by loving it then it doth us good in our hands by having it Labor not for the meat that perisheth but for the meat that endureth to everlasting life John 6. 27. Who would loose a Crown above for a Crum below Birds the higher they are in their flights the sweeter they are in their notes The higher a Christian is raised above the things of the earth the more he is ravished with the joys of Heaven Surely every man walketh in a vain shew surely they are disquieted in vain he heapeth up riches and knoweth not who shall gather them Psal 39. 6. He that views an Ox grazing in a fat Pasture Ampla ac locuples facultas perditionem infeâ—r dicitur refugienda est ampla possessio ne consequatur profunda perditio Salv. ad Eccles Cath. l. 2. p. 404. concludes he is but preparing for the slaughter Worldly enjoyments they are but like hot water which when cold weather comes are the soonest frozen The greatest happinesse of the creature is not to have the creature for its happinesse Better not to have the world at all then to have our all to be the world The Raven when it had found a Câ—rrion to feed upon cared not for returning home to the Arke The world its like a Looking-glass there is a face presented by it but there 's no face seated in it When you have sifted out its finest flower it turns to Bran. Labour not to be rich Proverbs 23. 4. A strange paradox if it were not for labour who would be rich and if it were not for riches who would labour But see vers 5. Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not whilest they are they are not They are not that they look like they have not that we look for But what are they not They are not durables but moveables For In hederâ qua delectabatur Jonas parabat Deus vermem ut exarescet ita in rebus mundanis quibus amore multi adhaerescunt nihil est stabile sed vermes corruptionis in illis nascuntur Gerhard Medit. 38. riches certainely make themselves wings and flye away as an Eagle towards Heaven The Cup that now overflows with Wine may be filled up to the brim with Water When the Sun of earthly happinesse is in its Miridian Rayes it may be eclipsed A man rejoyces in health and an Ague shakes him In honour and a Cloud shadows him In riches and a Thief robs him In peace and a rumor disturbs him In life and death disappoints him The Heavens at first had their Dropsie and then the old world was drowned the Heavens at last shall have their Feavor and then the new world shall be burned The earth its big in our hopes but little in our hands It s like Sodoms Apples beautiful Nascuntur pomacirca regionem Sodomae quae delectant exteriori pulchritudine sed contacta in pulverem abeunt Pelicitas hujus vitae exteriús delectat quid si pressiori considerations eam tangas fumo et pulveri similis apparebit Gerhard ubi prius to the eye at a distance but when you touch them they crumble into ashes Riches availe not in the day of wrath not in the day of mans wrath to keep him from plundering not in the day of Gods wrath to keep him from punishing They are but a shield of wax against a Sword of power They can no more keep an evil conscience from tormenting then a Velvet sleeve can keep a broken arme from akeing Fire say some came down from Heaven therefore restlessely works it selfe through all combustibles till it returns thither again Every spiritual soul is Heavens free-born flame raked up in the Embers of flesh and blood therefore restlessely works it selfe through all combustibles till it returns thither again He that comes from above is above all John 3. 31. Shall they who are so Nobly descended be ignobly minded Do but see how the men of the world are upon their knees for the things of the world There be many that say Who will shew us Carnales homines vaga et incerto cursu huc illuc feruntur ad bonum optatuÌ„ adipiscendum qualibet inani specie boni capiuntur quod in communi tantùm et incerto petunt Ames in loc any good Psal 4. 6. As if they could find a Heaven on Earth that should seek an Earth from Heaven It was a wretched expression of a worldly disposition Let but God give me enough of earth and I will never complain of the want of Heaven Thus is the curse of the Serpent intailed upon the seed of the Serpent there 's more of earth in them then there is of them in earth All these things will I give thee if thou wilt fall down and worship me Matth. 4. 9. If a covetous man had been there O how would he have catcht the promise out of the Devils lips for fear he should have gone back from his word Some are so in love with their golden Baggs that they will ride post to Hell if they be well payed for their pains Covetousnesse smothers Holinesse as the damp of the earth puts out the Candle This world it is a stinking Dunghil wherein the Rich are like Cocks crowing upon it and the poor like Chickings scraping about it These hungry souls for want of better fare falls aboard upon such course cheare Tha't 's the Fifth 6. Principle that you should walke by is this That dutyes can never have too much care bestowed upon them nor too little confidence placed in them Therefore Brethren we are debtors not to the flesh to live after the flesh Rom. 8. 12. We owe nothing to our corruption but it 's crucifixian But when God becomes a Donor man becomes a debtor The debt of sin is discharged for us that the debt of service might be discharged by us Every thing hath it's bounds but grace hath none in sollid godlinesse there can be no excesse Those wells that are of Gods digging can never be too full of water He loves to see the plants of righteousnesse laden with the fruits of righteousnesse Though faith justifies separatim a bonis operibus yet not seperata a bonis operibus Though faith justifies alone yet that faith is Sola particula exclusiva additur non ad seperandas alias virtutes a fide aut ab homine justificato a quibus seperari non possunt magis quam lux a sole aut calor ab igne sed a causando justificationem vel ut praeparationes vel merito aut dignitate sua Scharp de just controvers 7. Consule etiam Davent de just act cap. 32. prope finem not alone that justifies Look what Trees are without their fruits that faith is without it's workes In poynt of Sanctification good workes cannot be sufficiently magnified in poynt of Justification good works cannot be sufficiently nullified The most famous Pilots of the Roman Sea when they came
he carries with him The Disciples of Christ as they are more then others so they should do more then others A Heathen may move beyond a Sodomite but a Christian must move beyond an Hypocrite Though the naturally dead can do nothing yet the spiritually dead may do something Though they can do nothing as to the obtaining of the grace of life yet they may do something as to the using of the means of life Cicero complains of Homer that he taught the gods to live like men but grace teaches men to live like gods Great persons they are like bells which whilst they are rising strike apace but when they are up are set and strike no more or like flowers which by change of soil degenerate into weeds Thus the highest mountains are the barrenest grounds It s sad that we should live so long in the world and do so little good or that we should live so little in the world and do so much evil All creatures have their several essences according to the creatures essence is the creatures actings Trees are in their bearing as they are in their being Other creatures are not more below a sinner then a Saint is above a sinner Man is the excellency of the creature the Saint is the excellency of the man Grace is the excellency of the Saint Glory is the excellency of Grace Believers are among others as Saul among the Israelites higher by the head and shoulders They are but base-born to them that are twice born What is the lowest shrubs in the bottom of the valleys to the highest cedars on the tops of the mountain Stars that are placed in the highest orbes give the clearest lights Trees planted by the rivers of water yield the choycest fruits They who look for a heaven made ready should live as though they were in heaven already Grace doth not only make a man more a man but it makes him more then a man The primitive Christians were the best of men though they were but men at the best None were more lowly in their dispositions and none more lovely in their conversations Noah was a just man and perfect in his generation Gen. 6. 9. He was not a sinner amongst those that were Saints but he was a Saint amongst those that were sinners Who would ever have looked for so fair a bird in so foul a nest In a field of wheat there may spring up tares A Saint is not free from sin that 's his burthen a Saint is not free to sin that 's his blessing Sin is in his soul that 's his lamentation his soul is not in sin that 's his consolation And the Lord said unto Satan Hast thou considered my servant Job Job 1. 8. Why what was there in Job that was so considerable there is none like him in all the earth Though there was none so bad as Job in heaven yet there was none so good as Job on earth He was a man so like unto God that there was never another man like unto him Beleivers in the world they are the Non-such's of the world It was the saying of a gracious soul hearing of the far goings of Hypocrites Let Hypocrites go as far as they can in that which is good I will follow them and where they can go no further I will go beyond them A Christian is not only to do more then all other men will do but he is to do more then all other men can do Whatsoever is not above the top of Nature is below the bottom of grace Some there are that believe and work not others there are that work and believe not but a Saint must do both He must so obey the Law as if there were no Gospel to be beleived and so believe the Gospel as if there were no Law to be obeyed It s by faith that our works are justified but it s by works that our faith is testified A Christians work doth not lie in beleeving or in doing but in beleiving and in doing There are Four sorts of things First Some things that are neither good nor pleasant as envy and detraction The eclipsing of anothers sun will never make our own to shine with brighter beams O pare off those envious nails that are ever scratching those faces that are fairer then your own Why do you wound your selves with those plaisters that are laid upon your brethrens sores Or weep at every showre of rain that falls besides your own corn Who would grudge an Ox its fat pasture which doth but fit it for the slaughter Or the Malefactors progress through the meadows which conducts him to the gallows Thou hast never the less for others having of the more and others have never the more for thy having of the less Leahs fruitfulness was not the spring of Rachels barrenness Secondly Some things are pleasant but not good as sin and transgression This Bee carries honey in its mouth but a sting in its tail When Jael brings forth her milk and her butter then beware of the nail and the hammer Death is in the pot whilst you are tasting of the broth The fish by leaping at the bait is catcht upon the hook If the cup be sinful we must not taste it if the cup be lawful we must not carouze it Reason forbids either the tasting of known poyson or the being drunk with pleasant wine Sin it is like a river that begins in a quiet spring but ends in a tumultuous sea Thirdly Some things are good but not pleasant as sorrow and affliction Sin that 's pleasant but unprofitable sorrow that profitable but unpleasant God by affliction separates the sin that he hates so deadly from the soul that he loves so dearly They are not to take our spirits out of our flesh but to take our flesh out of our spirits They are not to pull down the tabernacle of Nature without us but to rear up the temple of Grace within us Waters are purest when they are in their motion and Saints are holiest when they are in affliction A foul feskue may point us to a fair lesson Some children never learn their books but when the rod is on their backs By the greatest affliction God doth give the sweetest instruction Though you may resist the Judgements that are laid before you in the word yet you cannot resist the Judgements that are laid upon you by the rod. The purest gold is the most ductible that 's a good blade that bends well without retaining its crooked figure Fourthly Some things that are both good and pleasant and they are gracious operations A Beleivers bed of graces is more fragrant then a bed of spices He that gives his Image to us he loves his Image in us Finally my brethren whatsoever things are true whatsoever things are honest whatsoever things are just whatsoever things are lovely whatsoever things are of good report if there be any vertue if there be any praise think on these things Phil. 4. 8.
Conduit is walled in how shall we judge of the Spring but by the water that runs out of the pipes A Sinner may shew the good he wants but a Saint cannot hide the good he hath When Saul was made a Soveraign he had another spirit poured out upon him a spirit of Government for a place of Government When a sinner is made a Saint he hath another spirit poured out upon him As he is what he was not so he does what he did not It s reported of a Harlot when she saw one with whom she had formerly committed folly she renewed her inticements to whom he answered Ego non sum ego though she was the same woman she was yet he was not the same man he was For him that is more then a man to do no more then a man where is the Christian Are ye not carnal and walk as men 1 Cor. 3. 3. If men act like beasts God will call them beasts and if Christians act like men he will stile them men There is no passing for currant coyn on earth without having of the stamp of heaven That 's the sixth 7. The Disciples of Christ are to do more then others because they are to be judges of others If you consult sacred Records you shall find that both God and Christ and the Saints are said to judge the world the ordination is Gods the execution is Christs the approbation is the Saints When the Apostle would stop the sinful suits among the Corinthian brethren that did not want men of Eminency to put a period unto controversie Do ye not know that the Saints shall judge the world and if the world shall be judged by you are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters 1 Cor. 6. 2. If you shall judge in causes between God and man how much more in causes between man and man if about matters that are eternal then about matters that are external fellons may be jovial in the prison but they tremble at the Bar. When wicked men come like miserable captives out of their holes how shall the Saints rise out of their graves like morning suns Enoch the seventh from Adam prophesied saying Behold the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his Saints to execute judgement upon all Jude 14 15. This shall no more derogate from Christs Office then the Session of the Justices doth from the authority of the Judge they are Co-operators though not Coadjutators in that peculiar act When the Son of Man shall sit in the throne of his glory ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones judging the twelve Tribes of Israel Matth. 19. 28. Now the world judges the Saints but then the Saints shall judge the world the act of the head is imputed to the members and the act of the members is acknowledged by the head Now shall there be no difference between him that sits on the Bench and him that stands at the Bar How will you be able to pass a righteous sentence upon others for those evils you are guilty of your selves In maxima fortuna minima licentia In the greatest majesty there is the smallest liberty As he said to Caesar Caesari cum omnia licent propter hoc minus liceat Seeing all things are lawful for Caesar to do it is therefore the less lawful for Caesar to do them By faith Noah built an Ark by which he condemned the world Heb. 11. 7. The Saints judge the world not only by their faith but by their facts In the innocency of your lives you should shew the world the filthiness of theirs Thou art more righteous then I. What is the usual prejudice that the world hath against Religion but this that it makes no man better though it makes some men stricter Do not we see that they who profess against pride more then others are themselves as as proud as others These people they often meet together to be better but they are never the better for their often meeting together do but take away their profession and you take away their Religion They have nothing of the sheep but the skin Do but see how the God of Israel doth upbraid the Israel of God Hath a Nation changed their gods which are yet no gods but my people hath changed their glory for that which doth not profit Jer. 2. 11. Here is a professing people out-gone by a people that made no profession The Heathens if they take up their gods they will keep up their gods They were true to their false gods when these were false to the true God Hear O heavens and be astonished O earth Isa 1. 2. Why what is the matter the ox knoweth his own and the Ass his Masters crib but my people doth not know and Israel doth not consider God did not call down a Jury of Angels to condemn them but empannels a jury of Oxes and Asses to pass sentence upon them O that Oxes and Asses should be more religious then those who do profess Religion In their kind they are more kind for if the owner feeds them the owner rides them That is the seventh 8. Reason why the Disciples of Christ should do more then others because they expect more then others And every man that hath this hope purifies himself as he is pure 1 Joh. 3. 3. Hope its too pure a plant to grow in an impure soil You must not look to dance with the Devil all day and sup with Chrâ—â—â— at night or to go from Dalilahs lap to Abrahams bosom If falvation were easily come by it would be slightly set by It s the not raigning of sin in our mortal bodies which makes way for the raigning of our immortal souls Grace is such a pilot as without its stearage you will suffer shipwrack in your voyage Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God Matth. 5. 8. A dusty glass will not represent the face We do not look for a Turkish Paradise but for a sinless state nor to bathe our selves in carnal pleasures but to be consorts of the Immaculate Lamb. Giving thanks to the Father who hath made us meet partakers of the inheritance of the Saints in light Col. 1. 12. You season the vessel with water before you trust it with wine God will season the vessel with the water of grace before he pours into it the wine of glory It s hard to say whether God discovers more love in preparing of glory for Saints or in the preparing of Saints for glory Beleevers let youâ— present deportment be suitable to your future preferment There is no living a life that is vicious and then dying a death that is righteous As Justice crushes none before they are corrupted so Mercy crowns none before they are converted Follow peace with all men and holiness without which no man shall see the Lord Heb. 12. 14. Holiness though it be that which a sinner scorns yet it s that which a Saviour crowns The soul of man that is the cabinet
foul one God likes no such bargains Lord I am willing to serve thee but unwilling to suffer for thee I will go to sea but on condition I shall meet with no storms I will enter the war but on condition I shall have no blows They would fain be wafted to the point of felicity in such vessels as might not be tossed on the waters of calamity Such think much to borrow a thorn though it be taken from their Saviours Crown Some there are that will sacrifice a stout heart to a stubborn will And will rather dye as Martyrs for errors then bow as servants to truth How shall they ever stand for Christ who did never stand in Christ But beleevers study more how to adorn the cross then how to avoid the cross as deeming it better to be saved in rough waters then drowned in a calm ocean Temporary Professors are like Hedge-hogs that have two holes one to the North the other to the South when the South wind suns them they open to the North and when the North wind chills them they go to the South They will lose their activity to finde their security It was the saying of the King of Navar to Beza That he would in the cause of Christ sail no further then he might retreat safe to the shore Man is a life-loving creature he is afaid to follow truth too near at the heels lest it should lift up his foot and dash out his brains Weak grace will do for God but it must be strong grace that will dye for God A true Christians will lay down his lusts at the command of Christ and he will lay down his life for the cause of Christ The trees of righteousness the more they are shaken by the wind the faster they are rooted in the ground What art thou a member of Christ and yet afraid to be a Martyr for Christ Si beati sunt qui moriuntur in Domino quam beati sunt illi qui moriuntur pro Domino If they be blessed that die in the Lord how blessed are they that die for the Lord What though the flesh do return to dust so the spirit do return to rest what is the body of Adam for a soul to live in to the bosom of Abraham for a Saint to lye in Righteous Abel the first Soldier in the Church Militant was the first Saint in the Church Triumphant He offered up a Sacrifice when the Altar was sprinkled with his own blood But as his body was the first that ever took possession of earth so his soul was the first that ever had a translation to heaven Should such a man as I flie saith Nehemiah A man that hath been so much honoured and a man that hath been so much used It is better to dye a Conqueror then to live a Coward They who will be no less then combatants they shall be more then conquerors None are so couragious as those who are religious A Christian if he lives he knows by whose might he stands and if he dies he knows for whose sake he falls Where there is no confidence in God there will be no continuance with God When the wind ceases to fill the sails the ship ceases to plough the seas The taints of Ishmael shall never make an Isaac out of love with his inheritance If a righteous cause brings you into sufferings a righteous God will bring you out of sufferings Christ is beholden to his enemies as well as to his friends Their malicious opposition wrought out his glorious exaltation The worst that men can do against Beleevers is the best that men can do for Beleivers The worst that they can act against them is to send them out of earth and the best they can do for them is to send them up to heaven It was the expression of one of the Martyrs to his Persecutors You take a life from me that I cannot keep and bestow a life upon me that I cannot lose which is as if you should rob a man of counters and furnish him with gold He that is assured of a life that hath no end cares not how soon this life is at an end All this is come upon us yet have we not forgotten thee neither have we dealt falsely in thy covenant Our heart is not turned back neither have our steps declined from thy way Though thou hast sore broken us in the place of Dragons and covered us with the shadow of death Psal 44. 17 18 19. Beleevers are like the moon that wades out of her shadows by keeping her motion and leaves not her shining for the barking of dogs Shall we cease to be Professors because others will not cease to be Persecutors by the seed of the serpent the heel of the woman may be bruised but by the seed of the woman the Serpents head shall be broken Christians see you good times prepare for bad times there is no spring without its fall no Summer but hath its Winter he never reaped comfort in the night of adversity that did not sow it in the day of prosperity Many waters cannot queneh love neither can the floods drown it Cant. 8. 6. The fire of affection is not quenched by the water of affliction But if the trade of piety cannot be peaceably driven Formalists will shut up their shop-windows They will rather tarry out of the land of Canaan then swim to it through the red sea But a beleever never falls asleep for Jesus till he falls asleep in Jesus If it be thou bid me come to thee on the water Matth. 14. 18. Love can walk on the water without drowning and lie in the fire without burning It s said of the Serpent that he cares not to what danger he exposes his body so he secures his head Thus it is with a Christian he cares not to what hazard he exposes his substance so he may but enjoy his Saviour None of these things move me neither count I my life dear to my self so I may finish my course with joy Act. 20. 24. A Saint is inwardly pious when he is not outwardly prosperous The sharper such Physick is in its taking the sounder the Patient is for its working The higher the floods swell on earth the nearer the Ark mounts up to heaven God can strike strait strokes with crooked sticks and make the Devils dross to fetch off the rust that cleaves to his gold Christians are crucified by the world that they might be crucified to the world God makes it to be an enemy to you that he might make you an enmy to it Remember Christians that Religion is that Phoenix that hath always flourished in her own ashes Magistrates they defend the truth with their swords but Martyrs they defend the truth with their bloods And the losing of their heads makes way for the receiving of their crowns How should we land at the haven of rest if we vvere not tossed upon the seas of trouble If Joseph had not
living There is no condemnation belongs to those Christians who do belong to Christ That is the sixth 7. Singular thing is this To be a father to all in charity and yet a servant to all in humility First To be a father to all in charity That crop that is sown in mercy shall be reaped in glory In heaven there is riches enough but no poor to receive them In hell Thesauros in orbe illo supero struit qui pauperibus eos in hoc infero distribuit Drex ubi infra there is poor enough but no rich to relieve them Others they are deaf to the requests of mercy They will do no good in Those that forget benefits bestowed are not more to blame in a very heathens account then those that forget to bestow them Qui beneficium non redit uon magis peccat quam qui non dat Sen. de Bon. l. 1. the world with the goods of the world They are like spunges that greedily sucks up the waters but yields it not forth again till they be squeezed Necessity is not like to be undrest of misery whilst those that would help cannot for want of ability and they which may help will not for want of charity There is not a drop of water for such Diveses in hell that have not a crum of bread for such Lazerusses upon earth Every act of charity is but an act of equity It s not the bestowing of your gifts but the paying of your debts The riches superfluity was ordained to releive the poors necessity A Lady giving six pence to a beggar told him That she had given him more then ever God had given her To whom he replied No Madam God hath given you all your abundance No saith she He hath but lent that to such as me that we should give it to such as you Whosoever beleiveth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God And every one that loveth him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of him 1 Joh. 5. 1. Holiness as it works a likeness to him that begets it so it works a likeing of them that enjoys it It is impossible that he should love the person of Christ who doth not love the picture of Christ He that loves himself will not hate his brother for whilst he is out of charity with his brother God is out of charity with him And we lose more for want of Gods love then our brethren lose for want of our love Make to your selves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness that when they fail they may receive you into everlasting habitations Luk. 16. 9. He is not a covetous man that lays up some thing providently but he is a Audite O divites novam è coelo artem novas colligendi thesaurimodus SPARGERE Errastis hactenus nam dando ditescimus non corradendo servando Drex Christian Zod. Sig 7. p. 63. covetous man that gives out nothing willingly The Sun of charity though it rises at home yet it should set abroad The hopes of life should not make you covetous but the thoughts of death should make you T was a Divi e saying of the heathen Nihilmagis possidereme credam quam bened onata Sen. de viâ— beaâ— c 20. bounteous Without your mercy the poor cannot live on earth and without Gods mercy you shall not live in heaven Others their churlishness doth swallow up their charitableness Instead of praying one for another they are making a prey one of another When I consider that our hearts are not softer I wonder that the times are no harder That God should give the rich so much and the rich give the poor so little Some observe that the barrenest grounds are nearest to the goldenest mines It is too often true in a spiritual sence that they whom God hath made the most fruitful with Estates are most barren of good works The rich they spend their goods more wantonly but the poor they give their Almes more willingly A penny comes more hardly out of a bag that 's full crammed then a shilling out of a purse that 's half empty Wherefore Parùm potes sufficit multum voluisse multum potes cave velis parùm dare Drex ubi priu p. 65. doth the Lord make your cups run over but that others lips might tast of your liquor The showers that fall upon the highest Mountains they glide inthe lowest valleys give and it shall be given you It s infidelity that is the spring of cruelty Therefore where you have â— precept for the one you have a promise of the other If thou deniest to those that are vertuous thou killest bees if thou bestowest on those that are vitious thou supportest drones But it s better to favour a bastard then to Murder a child God looks not so much on the merits of the beggar as upon the mercy of the giver He hath shewed the O man what is good and what doth the Lord require of thee but to do Justice to love mercy and to walk humbly with thy God! Micah 6. 8. Here is a trinity of precepts from a trinity of persons If all were rich no Alms need be received if all were poor no almes could be bestowed But he that could have made all men wealthy hath made some men empty that the poor might have Christ for an example of patience and the rich for an example of goodness Cruelty is one of the highest scandals of piety which makes lambs of Lyons and tames the feircest tempers Be ye merciful as your heavenly Father is merciful Luke 6. 36. Clemency is one of the brightest Diamonds in the Crown of Majesty Mat. 5. 48. Be ye perfect as your heavenly father is perfect what the one calls merciful the other stiles perfect as if Vna misericordia omnes perfectiones this one perfection of mercy included all He that sheweth mercy when it may best be spared will receive mercy when it shall most be needed It s storyed of one of the Dukes of Savoy that being askt what hounds he kept by certayne Embassadors that came to his Court he shewed them a company of poor people sitting at his Table these saith he are all the hounds I have on earth with which I hunt after the Kingdom of heaven It s counted an honour to live like Princes but 't is a greater honour to give like Princes Pure Religion and undefiled before God and the father is this to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction and to keep himself unspoted from the world James 1. 27. The flames of piety towards God should be perfumed with the Incense of charity towards man mercy is so good a servant that it will never let its Mr. dye a beggar Quantos avaritia ad incitas redegit eleemosyna nullos its pitty that those Dâ—ek ubi prius who have drained their own wels dry should perish for want of water to quench their thirst Then shall the King say unto
have done cast them away into corners these make not gain to stoop to godliness but godliness to stoop to gain which is as if a man should fit the foot to the shoo when they should fit the shoo to the foot That Tradesman is poor and needy in what he deales that must have ready money for all he sels Man in the good he doth for God seeks himself more then God The clock of his heart will stand still unless its wheels be oyled If the Virgin should yeild her consent only for her Bridegrooms riches she would not espouse her self unto his person but unto his portion As Seneca saith of friendship begotten upon a sinister account negotiatio est Sen. ep â— non amicitia quae ad commodum accedit quae quid consecutura sit spectat so may I say of this it were not properly to make a Marriage with him but to make a Merchandize of him St. Austin hath an excellent saying Non amat Christum qui amat aliquid plus quam Christum he love not Christ at all that loves not Christ above all You seek me not because Quam multi non quaerunt Jesum nisi ut illis benefaciat 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 officium non pro augendiâ—vi tutibus sed pro requirendis subsidiis inhiare solent Aqâ—i in loc ye saw the miracles but because ye did eat of the loaves and were filled John 6. 26. Christ was the object of their actions but self was the end of their actions They came to Christ to serve their turn and when their turns were served they turned away their service they were cubbord disciples more then men at their meat but less then women at there work when the loaves were gone the disciples were gone when he left feeding of them they left following of him Your weakest building needs the most under propings that 's but Kitchin fire that burns no longer then the grosse fewel of profit feeds it Till you can love the naked truth you will never love to go naked for the truth most persons are mercenary and servile in those works wherein they should be Son-like and free They look more after the streams then upon the spring from whence they are issued and after the beams then upon the Sun from whence they are darted The want of mercy is the onely spring of duty they ply their prayers as Saylors do their pumps only in a storm and for fear of sinking And now O Father glorifie thy Son that thy son may glorifie thee John 17. 1. He prayes for glory more for the Fathers sake that bestowes it then for his own sake that receives it a true Christian doth not desire grace only for this end that God may glorifie him but he desires grace for this end that he may glorifie God Others could they but find the mercyes of God they would never seek the God of Mercyes could they tell how to be well well without him they would never come at him God hath but little of many mens society but when they can find no other company Instead of looking upon godliness as their greatest gain they look upon gain as their greatest godliness They love Religion not for the beauty inhering in it but for the dowry attending on it like the Fox that follows the Lyon for the prey that is falling from him if there be no honey in the pot such Waspes will hover no longer about it When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh month even those seventy years did ye at all fast unto me and when ye did eat and when ye did drink did not ye eat for your selves and drinck for your selves Zach. 7. 5 6. In fasting and in feasting they cast not their eyes upon God but upon themselves they forget not to eat when they were hungry but they forgat to praise God when they were full Their greediness did swallow up their thankefulness Remember God will shut those duties out of heaven that shut him out on earth I have heard a story of a woman that being met with fire in one hand and water in another was askt what she would do with them She answered With this fire I would burn up all the joyes of heaven and with this water I would quench all the flames of hell that I might neither serve God for fear of punishment nor for hopes of reward The less you make these things the end of your working the more will God make them the end of your work God hath three sorts of servants in the world some are slaves and serve him for fear other are hirelings and serves him for wages others are sons and serve him for love Now a hireling will be a changling he that will serve God for something will serve the Divel for more he shall have his works if he will but augment his wages he had an eye to the recompence of reward Heb. 11. 26. This is a good Inn for our desires baiting but a bad home for our desires dwelling the Poets tell us of many who at first were Sutors to Penelope the Mistriss but at last were marryed to the Maids that attended her The ass which carryed the Egyptian goddess had many bare heads and bended knees but none to the beast but all to the burden Demetrius he crys up the goddess Diana but it was not her Temple that he admired but her silver shrines that he adored He was more in love with her wealth then he was in love with her worship Sirs ye know that by this craft we have our wealth Acts 19. 25. If her Temple had been demolished their trade had been destroyed Doth Job serve God for naught yea for Job served God when he had naught He was as good in his poverty as he was in his plenty In this sence that man that serves not God for naught that man is naught in serving God Love it trades not for returns here it payes it self in serving its beloved It s storied of one that being askt for whom he laboured most answered for his friends And being askt for whom he laboured least answered for his friends love it doth most and yet thinks least of what it does Hypocrites they are more in love with the gold of the Altar then they are with the God of the Altar Wo to your scribes and pharisees Vae vobis quia avaritiam vestram Colore Religionis depingitis Diabolo Christi arma praestatis ut iniquitas ametur dum pietas aestimatur Gor. in loc for they devour widows houses and for a pretence make long prayers therefore ye shall receivce the greater damnation Mat. 23. 14. They fasted all the day but to feed upon the widows cost at night they hatcht the birds of oppression in the nests of devotion These Spiders they weaved the webb of their works to catch the fly of their wealth thus true is Augustines observation Saepe aliter se habet species facti aliter facientis animus
Ring of a gracious heart Riches have made many good men worser but they never made any bad man better Hence it is that if we observe but a little sparke of piety in great persons we are ready to behold it as a blazing Commet and to cry it up in the Superlative degree Though a Christian be made happy in the world yet a Christian is not made happy by the world Give me those judgements that are the births of mercy rather then those mercies that are the births of judgement There are many that are temporally miserable that are eternally happy and there are many that are temporally happy that shall be eternally miserable If want could bring a man to Heaven how many poor men would then be saved And if wealth could free a man from Hell how few rich men would then be damned Beleevers they are the common Buts at which the world doth shoot its poysoned Arrowes They that go about to pull the Cross out of the Regnum Christi estregnum crucis ipsius subditi insignes sunt duobus coloribus rubrâ— et candido in scutis suis oftentant crucem rubâ—am conspicuam in areâ candidâ hoc est laeta puraque conscientia Sibel Conc 25. in cap 16. Matth. p. 324. Christians Arms spoyl the whole Court if I have any discovery of Scripture Heraldry He makes his sun to shine upon the evil and upon the good and his rain to fall on the just and upon the unjust Matth. 5. 45. The Sun of prosperity shines upon the Dunghil as well as upon the Bed of Spices and the rain of adversity falls upon the fruitful garden as well as upon the barren wildernesse The mercies of the one are but golden chains to bind them on earth and the miseries of the other are but fiery Chariots to carry them to Heaven Ye have called the proud happy yea they that work wickedness are set up yea they that tempt God are delivered Malacha 3. 15. Gods Jewels are here trampled under feet If you look for a Saint you may sooner find him cast on a heap of dust then lapt in a bed of Down Poor Lazarus gets to Heaven when rich Dives goes to Hell For outward blessings whilest wise men beat the Bush fools catch the Bird and whilest valiant minds crack the Nuts Cowards eat the Kirnels Benjamin was not less regarded by Joseph because the silver Cup was found in the mouth of his Sack We must not infer the absence of Gods affections from the presence of our afflictions When the cold wind blows the Sun beams shines Those stones which are designed for building are hewn and squared whilest others lye in neglected heaps A Saint is as glorious in his greatest Attende duos de divite et Lazaro loquitur unum in divitiis et sanitate misorum alterum in agestate et vulnere multùm beatum Fulgent Epist 2. ad Galla p. 642. misery as a sinner is miserable in his greatest glory The curiousest pearls are here inclosed in the ruggedst shels You may see a Joseph in Prison whilest Pharoah keeps the Court and a Julian on the Throne swaying the Scepter when a Job is on a Dunghil bewayling his Ulcers Judge not according to appearance but judge righteous judgement They who judge according to appearance do not judge according to righteousness How apt is the Candle of God shining upon a sinners Tabernacle to offend a Saints eyes as if we envied them a little light that are to be shrouded up in everlasting darkness every man can find sticks to cast at laden boughs Will you read a peice of Davids Letany Psal 17. 14. From men which are thy hand O Lord from men of the world which have their portion in this life whose belly thou sillest with thy hid treasure The things of the world are all the happinesse of the men of the world all their flowers grows out of Paradice They live not without those creatures by which their bodies are succoured but they dye without that Christ by whom their souls should be saved Sirs A mans condition in this life may be honourable and yet his state as to another life may be damnable For this purpose have I raised thee up that I might shew my power upon thee The Sun of outward splendor cast its Rayes upon him only to warm his head against a storm The stalled Ox would not set so high a rate upon his Pasture did he know that it was but to fit him for the Butcher The same hand that now powres out his mercies on wicked men like Oyle will pouâ— down his wrath upon them like Water Under all their wealth their hearts are sinful and after all their wealth their states are doleful It 's better through the valley of Baca to go to Zion then to pitch our Tents in the Plains of Sodom It 's an expression of Luther That Mica quam Pater familias canibus projicit the great Turkish Empire was but a Crust that God throws unto the Dogs It was a sweet saying of a holy man I had rather have St. Pauls Coat with his Heavenly graces then the Purple Robes of Princes with all their Kingdoms God sometimes least riches should be counted evil in themselves Per se nec miseros homines possunt facere nec beatos Fulg ubi priús gives them to thosâ— that are good and sometimes least they should be counted the chiefest good gives them to 〈◊〉 that are evil They are oftner the portion of his enemies then they â—re of his friends What is it to receive and not to be received To have no other dews of blessing but such as may be followed with showers of Brimstone They may fleet the Cream of earthly enjoyment that did never taste of the Milk of Heavenly refreshment I have heard that there is in Scotland a floating Island which if the Sea man cast Anchor there the Land will probably carry away the Ship this is true of this world it 's a floating Island and never any cast Anchor here but it carryed away their soules God and all that he hath made is not more then God without all that he hath made and he can never want treasure that hath such a golden Mine God is enough to us without the creature but the creature is not enough to us without God It 's better to be a Wooden Vessel filled with Wine then a Golden Vessel filled with Water That 's the Sixteenth 17. Principle that Saints should walk by is this That we should cleave the closest to that good which is the choicest Do they beleeve it 's worth the while to sell all for the Pearl of price who when they have done think themselves miserable after the bargain Then said Jesus to the twelve will ye also go away John 6. 67. Peter as the mouth of all the rest speaks the mind of all the rest Lord to whom shall we go thou hast the words of eternal life
A soule that 's changed is not for changing there cannot be a better being for us then for us to be with thee What we that have left all to follow thee should we follow all to leave thee You cannot tread in the steps of Christ but you will taste of the Cups of Christ The nearer you are to such a spring the clearer will be your streams yea when every Gourd is withered here 's a shaddow that will yeeld you shelter How precious are thy thoughts unto me O God how great is the sum of them If I should count them they are more in number then the sand when I awake I am still with thee Psal 139. 18. As soon as ever he crept out of his warm Bed he crept into Gods warm bosome Beleevers are wont to leave their hearts with God in the evening that they may find them with him in the morning David he was least alone when he was most alone his heart was like the Needle in the Compasse that still points to the Northern Totus in te Deus optime transit affectus cordis mei ad eo ut nihil prorsus sit in universâ Coelorum amplitudine quod ipsum possit oblectare vel â—â— reficere nisâ— tù c. Titelmâ— in locum Pole Whom have I in heaven but thee and there is none upon earth which I desire besides thee Psal 73. 25. Let a Beleever search Heaven and Earth yet he will find nothing comparable with God as Judah said of Jacob His life is bound up in the life of the Lad so may I say of a Christian His life is bound up in the life of God To be neer to him is our happinesse and to draw neere to him is our holinesse I cannot but sadly reflect on the unstableness of rotten Professors An applauded Christ shall have many Hosanahs when a condemned Christ hath many Crucifiges but a true Christian can as well go with Christ to the Cross where he is to be crucified as he can go with Christ to the Throne where he is to be glorified He will not turn like a shadow from him in whom there is no shaddow of turning Tell me soul was there nothing within thee that could draw thee to him and is there any thing without thee that shall draw thee from him Who would leave a substance to court a shaddow Or prize the Picture to the disdain of the person Can any thing do you so much good as his presence or so much hurt as his absence What a dreadfull darkness must needs be expected when the beams of so bright a Sun are eclipsed It 's better to part with a thousand worlds were there so many for one Christ then it 's to part with one Christ for a thousand worlds Every step that you take to him is a step to Heaven and every step that you take from him is a step to Hell And he was sad at that saying and went away grieved for he had great possessions Mark 10. 22. This poor rich man or this rich poor man which you will call him for both you may call him As he came hastily to Christ so he goes heavily from Christ why what 's the matter Goe sell all that thou hast and give it to the poor and thou shalt have treasure in Heaven Christ was for the selling of all and he was for the saving of all If he may not have God and Mammon he will leave God for Mammon Thus will such as make a God of nothing make nothing of a God When he cast his weights into the carnal Scales his corruptible silver did weigh down an incorruptible Saviour Observe the policy of Diabolus quando decipere quenquam quaerit in varias sese transmutat formas jam in leoninam jam in vulpinam aliquando saevit ut terreat Nonnunquam blanditur ut fallat Sibel in cap. 16. Matt. conc 20. p. 256. the Prince of darkness that makes use of the men of the world as instruments to drive us from God and of the things of the world as inticements to draw us from God The Lord is with you whilest you are are with him and if you seek him he will be found of you but if you forsake him he will forsake you Never was man forsaken of God till God was forsaken of man he sticks close to us whilest we stick close to him Truly that good was never worth the getting which was never worth the keeping Thus saith the Lord what iniquity have your fathers found in me that they are gone far from me Jeremy 2. 5. Corruption is a good ground for declension if we saw iniquity in him we might make an apostacy from him for its ill being where sin hath a being but if you can find no fault in God why will you commit such a fault as to depart from God Can any rational man deem it good to shake hands with goodnesse Let me say to such sinners as Saul said unto his servants Hear now ye Benjamites will the son of Jesse give every one of you fields and vineyards and make you all Captains of thousands and Captains in of hundreds 1 Sam. 22. 7. Thus say I to you Can sin Satan or the world doe that for you that God can It 's only the best of beings that can bestow the best of blessings He that hath the Keyes of Heaven can only open the doors of Heaven it s through him that we have an admittance into our choicest inheritance What 's our life but a war-fare and what 's the world but a thorow-fare can the world do more for you without God then God can do for you without the world If that be most potent then leave God for the worlds sake but if he be more potent then leave the world for Gods sake Know it sinner in forsaking of a Saviour thou loosest grace which is the brightest Star on earth and glory which is the fairest Sun in Heaven No men are in more danger of loosing what they have then those men who are contented with what they have A drop is easier dried up then a River and a spark sooner extinct then the fire I will never leave you nor forsake you Heb. 13. 6. Better our goods should goe and leave God behind them then that our God should goe and leave our goods behind him It 's not the brightest Stars that can make it day when the Sun is setting nor the thickest clouds that can make it night whilest the Sun is shining That 's the seventeenth 18. Principle that you should walk by is this That it is our present businesse to make sure of our future blessednesse It 's the Wisemans expression Eccle 6. 7. That all the labour of a man is for his mouth This is not for Heathens to turn Christians but for Christians to turn Heathens That Hawke that flies after the worlds prey will hardly stoop to Gods lure Why should I lay out that for a
Pibble with the price of which I can purchase a Jewell That which the bountious hand of God gives for a Pension that the covetous heart of man takes for a Portion These foolish Travellers are so taken with their Inn that they forget their home Well you sow the seeds of industry to reap the Harvest of vanity I confesse God hath not made all the Trees in his Garden forbidden fruit Doe you thinke he would spread a Table before us and bind us up with a touch not tast not handle not Godlinesse will allow us to taste of the world as sawce but not to feed on the world as meat Outward mercies are not so low as to be peremptorily deserted nor so high as to be primarily desired If they be seducements from the Mercy-seat they will be indictments at the Judgement-seat I may say of the earth as the Philosopher said of the City of Athens that it was a City Ad peregrinandum jucunda but ad in habitandum non tuta Pleasant for journying but not safe for dwelling Outward plenty it may be a comfortable Ship for indigence to sail in but a dangerous Rock for confidence to trust in Many so they may have but something of earth in their hands care for nothing of Heaven in their hearts Ah what fools are they that are so diligent about what is temporal and so negligent about what is spiritual so careful about decaying vanities and so sloathful about enduring excellencies When Crates threw his Gold into the Sea he cryed out Egoâ—perdam te ne tu perdas me I will destroy thee that thou mayst not destroy me If men do not put the love of the world to death the love of the world will put men to death Then thou wilt say as Cardinal Woolsey when he was cast out of his Princes favour and left to his enemies fury If I had served my God as faithfully as I have served my King he would not have left me thus O how many men are there that drops into perdition meerly for a Posy to smell on in their Road to Execution It was a notable speech of Erasmus That he desired wealth and honour no more then a feeble beast desired a heavy burden How are cares bound to crowns anxiety disfigures the face of prosperity and makes it like a Christall glasse blown on by an impure breath that retains little or nothing of its native lustre How far may a man goe before he can see the silver picture of a comely body set into the Golden frame of a gracious soul Work out your salvation with fear and trembling or else you will both fear and tremble for not working out of your salvation Most men are like that silly woman that when her house was on fire so minded the saving of her goods that she left her child rosting in the flames at last being put in remembrance of it she cryes out O my child my child Thus sottish sinners whilest they are scraping for a little substance their soules are consumed in flames and being in Hell they cry out O my soul my soul What got Sisera by his Milk and his Butter when he tasted of the Nail and the Hammer O how curious are men of their Out-wards and how carelesse are they of their In-wards What pains do they take to cover their flesh from nakednesse when their Spirits are not cloathed with the Robes of righteousnesse In a vigorous well complexioned flourishing body there 's a feeble languishing and consuming soul The evil disposition of the latter spoils the good composition of the former For a man to be true to that part that is without him and false to that part that is within him what 's this but as if a Husband-man should gather in his stubble and leave out his corn or as if a Gold-smith should weigh his drosse and disregard his gold Wilt thou trim up the Scabbard and let the Blade of admirable Mettal to gather Rust this is Jacob like to lay the right hand upon the younger and the left hand upon his elder child If there be nothing done by your souls on earth there will be nothing done for your souls in Heaven There 's such an eagernesse in contending for the wealth that 's given to the sons of men that there is no earnestnesse in contending for the faith that 's delivered to the Saints of God Ah what pity is it to see those spirits that came down from Heaven to loose their way up to heaven that ever that should go down to misery that came down from glory That 's the Eighteenth 19. Principle that beleevers should walk by is this That integrity is the best security Dogs that have no teeth may bark but cannot bite and Serpents that have no stings may hiss but they cannot hurt A naked man with innocency is Integer vitae scelerisque purus Non eget Mauri jaculis nec arcu Nec venenatis gravida sagittis fusce pharetrâ c. Hor. lib. 1. Ode 22. better armed then Goliah in brasse and Iron And who is he that will harme you if ye be followers of that which is good 1 Pet. 3. 13. As no flattery can heale a bad conscience so no cruelty can hurt a good conscience As steps in the wayes of righteousness are the most gracious so stripes for the works of righteousnesse are the most glorious A pious Martyr is more renowned then a bloody persecutor Righteousnesse is a brest plate to a man in doing and it 's a Crowne to a man in suffering Our integrity will not secure us Falsa crimina piis objectat et impingit Diabolus eosque suspicione et infamiâ aspergit Abel ubi prius pag 259. from infamy the choicest professors have had black markes in the worlds Calenders but though it do not keep us from being shot yet it will keep us from being hurt The Lord taketh my part with them that help me therefore shall I see my desire upon them that hate me Psal 118. 7. God will either find a hand to hold off suffering or an arme to uphold in suffering Though you be as sheep amongst wolves he will keep you from rending and though you be as Ships amongst waves he will keep you from drowning be not too quick to bury Christus quidem rex ille gloriae magnificum palatium scil Ecclesiam in pâ—trâ firmissimâ aedificavit et circuit muro divinae protectionis Idem pag. 252. a church before she be dead it 's time enough to dresse your selves in sables when you are invited to her funeralls Consult that saying Isa 43. 3. For I am the Lord thy God the holy one of Israel thy Saviour I gave Aegypt for thy ransome Aethiopia and Seba for thee God will pluck up the tares to preserve the wheat as he ript up the womb of Egypt to secure the fruit of Israel as Constantine impoverished all his Empire to enrich Constantinople Noah was sound alone when the
of his draught are much defac't yet there are such reliques and remainders left behind that as in fullyed Maps we may guesse at former lines Spiritual acts they require spiritual eyes and the brighter we see them the better we do them We cannot come to God with fiducial or justifying faith before we have attained a historical or dogmatical faith What the Papists say of Images we may justly say of the creatures that they are Lay-mens books in which there 's no Errata's The Heavens declares the glory of God and the Firmament sheweth his handy work Psal 19. 1. They who could not unclapse the book of Scripture have laid before them the volume of nature The invisible things of God from the creation of the world are clearly seen being understood by the things that are made Rom. 1. 20. From the second causes we may easily arrive at the first as you may pursue a River as it runs to the Fountains head from which it flows If we should see a Ship upon the Sea sailing directly to the Harbor we might conclude a Pilot in her to steer her course They have but a narrow inspection into the works of nature that cannot in them discover the God of nature which is Commentum Dei mirabile as Lactantius calls it That 's the first 2. If you would do more then others you must love more then others The love of Christ constrains us 2 Cor. 5. 14. There 's no sin so sweet but the love of Christ restrains them from it there 's no service so great but the love of Christ constrains them to it If once this affection takes fire the room becomes too hot for any sin to stay in The heart is a chamber for Christ but not a harbour for lust The Mandrakes give a smell and at our Gates are all manner of pleasant fruits new and old which I have laid up for thee O my beloved Cant. 7. 13. Love never shakes the Boughs but for Christ to eat the fruits Many pay the performance of duties as oppressed Subjects doe heavy taxes with sad complaints But the Spouse of Christ Amor onus non sentit labores non reputat plus affectat quâ valet Kempis looks upon what she is as not great enough for his remembrance and what she does as not good enough for his acceptance had she any thing a thousand times better then her self or were her self a thousand times better it should be bestowed upon him What is that little that he desires to that much that he deserves When Achilles was demanded what enterprizes he found the most easie he answered Those which he undertook for his friends Seaven years service seemed nothing to Jacob because of the love he did bear to Rachel Omnia facilia habenti charitatem saith Austin Love as it acts the most excellently so it acts the most easily If you love me keep my commandements John 14. 15. The Christal streams of divine actions they bubble from the pure spring of divine affection I have heard of a wife that grudged obedience to her husband because she thought him unworthy to receive it to whom it was answered Though he that married her was unworthy of her observance yet he that made her was worthy of her obedience and whatsoever she had to say against her husband she had nothing to say against the command of God In Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing nor uncircumsion but faith which worketh by love Gal. 5. 6. The Christians love advances by equal paces with the Christians faith as the heat of the day with the shining of the Sun Faith like Mary sits at the feet of Christ to hear his Sermons and love like Martha compasses him about with services Faith is the great receiver and love is the great disburser We take in all by beleeving and we lay out all by loving Faith it first works love and then it works by love as the workman sets an edge upon his tooles and then carves and cuts with them The Scripture hath exceeding high expressions of this affection Nihil dulcius est amore nihil fortius nihil jucundius nec melius in Caelo et in terrâ quia natus est ex Dâ—o c. Id lib. 3 cap. 5. de Imit Christi Christ he brings the ten Commandements into two Commandements Matth. 22. 37 38. Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul and with all thy mind this is the first and great Commandement and the second is like unto it thou shalt love thy neighbour as thy self Christ he brings ten words into two words but Paul he folds them all up in one word For all the law is fulfilled in one word Gal. 5. 14. What 's that surely it is too big for any mouth to utter Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thy self He that is not wanting in this duty is wanting in no duty Love it s called an old Commandement and a new Commandement 1 John 2. 7 8. It 's as old as the Law of Moses and yet as new as the Gospel of Jesus Christ Faith is the grace that at first seals the conveyance and love is the grace that at last possesses the inheritance Faith that unites Christ and sanctified souls together on earth but love that unites God and glorified souls together in Heaven As the spleen groweth the body decayeth and as hatred increaseth so holinesse abateth Die aliquid ut duo simus was the Motto of a Heathen and therefore doth not belong to a Christian It 's best that dissention should never be born among brethren and next that it should dye presently after it's birth When any leak springs in the ship of Christian society we should use our indeavours to stop it speedily The nearer the union is the more dangerous is the breach Bodies that are glewed together may if severed be set together as beautifully as ever but members rent and torne cannot be healed without a scar The love in a hypocrites bosome is just like the fire in the Israelites bush which was not burning all the while it was blazing His estate and relations hath the top and strength of his affections they admit the world not only into the Suburbs of their sences but into the City of their souls But the love of a Saviour in the soul of a beleever is as Oyl put into a Vial with water in which though both be never so much shaken together the oyl will be uppermost Or if you please as one rising Sun which drowns the light of numberless Starres Should God give his substance to him and yet keep himself from him Absalom's expression would be his What doth all avail me so long as I see not the Kings face Take a Christian and his Heaven upon earth is in Gods dwelling with him yea and his Heaven in Heaven is in his dwelling with God He is like a stone of which some report that if it
THE Nonsuch PROFESSOR IN His Meridian Splendor OR THE Singular Actions OF Sanctified Christians Laid open in Seaven Sermons at Allhallows Church in the Wall London By WILLIAM SECKER Preacher of the Gospel For Isay unto you Except your righteousnesse shall exceed the righteousnesse of the Scribes and Pharisees you shall in no case enter into the Kingdome of Heaven Math. 5. 20. Non magna loquimur sed vivimus Arnob. London Printed by M. S. for Thomas Parkhurst to be sold at his shop at the three Crowns over against the great Conduit in Cheapside 1660. TO THE HONOURABLE And truly Noble Patriots Sr Edward Barkham Knight and Baronet and his Religious consort Dame Francis Barkham of Tottenham in the County of Middlesex Honoured Worthies THis Piece reflects on no Interest but what is Eternall You have tide me in so many silken cords of your constant favours that I must live and dye bound in those pleasant fetters the only returne I am able to make you is in Ink and Paper to acknowledge my self your Debtor Your Noble minds are like that of Artaxerxes King of Persia who thought it as well becoming him to accept of small things from others as to give great things himself Let rotten posts be guilded and decayed beauties painted vertue like a precious Diamond needs no varnish Your own graces will spring you Rivers of praises without the tide of others tongues flowing in to brim the banks Reall honour is not built on the glittering foundation of refined clay the flourishing Lawrell of durable excellency doth not alwayes grow in the smooth field of a brave Geneallogy That blood which runs in vertues veins is of a more orient colour then that which swims in other channels The fairest flowers of humanity are those that spring up in the garden of sincerity piety is a more noble thing then parentage it is better to be new borne then it is to be high borne I beleeve you count that the sweetest honey which you suck out of Christs hive and take more pleasure in your inward goodnesse then in your outward greatnesse I am sensible what prejudices are taken against Epistles commendatory letters are too often like multiplying glasses which makes the smallest mole-hills appeare like the greatest Mountains But yet I dare shew your unspotted faces without borrowing the suspitious reflection of any false glasses You have too cleare a knowledge of God to take any thing into your hands before him and too deare a love to God to set any thing in your hearts above him you cast more propicious aspects upon Religion then ever to think it a friend unto Rebellion lookt upon Fear God and honour the King as a couple that God had joyned tâ—gether and that no man might put asunder and such as have shaken these Pillars with their own hands have pulled the house upon their own heads Providence having laid on them the hands of vengeance that laid on us the hands of violence and brought them under the sword of the Law that kept us under the Law of the sword You rejoyced in the first dawnings of the Morning of our Redemption from Aegyptian slavery and oppression deem the superstruction of prosperity is firmliest laid upon the foundation of Monarchy When others have sparkled like Stars in their Orbes you have shined like a Sun in yours having neither been like Crabs going backwards nor like snails creeping forwards When others have sailed with every wind of Doctrine you have steered your course according to the Compasse of Scripture and have carried the lamp of Truth in one hand and the beauty of holiness in the other It is said of the Families of some great Personages That there is more oathes heard in a day then there are prayers made in a yeare But I may say of yours there is more prayers made in a day then there are oathes heard in a yeare The oyle of grace that is poured on your heads runs down to the skirts of your garments O how comely a Vision is it to see the Tabernacles of great men to be the Temples of the great God! Honoured Worthies Many jewells God hath hung upon your terrestriall Crown he hath given you the fatnesse of the earth as well as the dew of Heaven Esau's Venison as well as Jacob's Blessing the nether springs of common bounty as well as the upper springs of speciall mercy There are four showers that have watred your Garden First a fruitfull Posterity Secondly a peaceful Tranquillity Thirdly a faithfull Society Fourthly a gratefull Memory As there is nothing wanting to you so let there be nothing wanting in you you cannot complain of God for want of mercy let not God complain of you for want of Duty as he hath opened his hands to blesse you so do you open your mouths to blesse him In the highest flood and spring-tides of outward mercies its hard to keep our hearts within the channell Respected Sirs You have a large roome in the bosomes of many that are godly but alas the best mens confidences on earth are insufficient evidences for heaven A house well compacted is able to bear out a storme but a dis-joynted building every push will throw it down The best Patrimony is that above us the best Testimony is that within us give me such hopes as will not only goe with me to my bed of rest but will lye with me in my bed of dust as will not only bear me up in the Calme of Life but will shoare me up in the Tempest of Death Sirs You are like Beacons upon a hill which are visible unto all A small star may be darkned and yet passe unobserved but the eclipsing of the suns splendor is a part of the worlds wonder a crack in the greatest pebble is not so bad as a flaw in the smallest jewell O how amiably should you live with men who look to live eternally with God! The highest preheminence calls for the exactest obedience he is unworthy to be the chiefest in a family that is unwilling to be the choycest of a family yea he puts a sword into the hand of Vice that snatches the scepter out of the hand of grace None can challenge an interest in the love of God but such as are indued with the life of God Deare Sirs I know you have affections to desire the truth as well as apprehensions to discerne the truth and read Books as Bees to fill your Combes and not as Butterflies to paint your wings and therefore I have presented you with a Piece that is not notionall but practicall A great shooe fits not a small foot nor a large Saile a little Boat the subject is fitter for a Christian to live upon then for a Critick to look upon They are as cruell Parents that murder the issue of their brains as those that murder the issue of their loynes I hope the dreggs doth not lye so thick in it but you may draw out some cleer
liquor from it though the Author be contemptible yet the matter is considerable God lookes not for what he gives not As well as I am able I have from this Scripture drawn you a Beleevers Picture and according to this Glass doubt not but your selves will dress If these bellowes keep the vestall fire alwayes burning upon the Altar and your graces have their advancement I shall have my contentment I have here laid the Rods of correction on the backs of offenders and given the words of Instruction to the hearts of believers Worthy Sirs Compare what is spoken in the books of men with what is written in the Book of God that the Bristoll stone may not passe for the sparkling Diamond noâ— Brasse and Copper goe as currant as Gold and Silver I would lay no other burdens upon your backs then I would carry upon my own shoulders nor would I have you make any brick but with Gods straw Mans fault cannot prejudice Gods right though we have lost our abillity of obeying yet he hath not lost his Authority in commanding By how much the greater you are then others by so much the better you should be then others where Divine Providence advances to honourable dignity there Divine precepts ingages to proportionable duty on earth it 's your businesse to serve God in Heaven it will be your blessedness to see God Many by feeding upon one dish grow to maturity when they that sit down to a multitude are surfited with variety When others grumble to look upon rich mens estates doe you tremble to think upon rich mens accounts and as the earth will doe you no good when you dye so let it do you no hurt whilst you live They that are in the right way to Paradise should greeve at every thing that hinders their progresse There are many are the Pictures of piety but I wish you may be the patterns of piety Alas what 's the reflection in the glass to the complexion in the face or the form of godlinesse upon us to the power of godlinesse within us such Jonah's in the lading of our Vessells doth but fill the Seas with stormes and tempests You Worthies have almost stretcht your lives to Davids standard and who knowes how soon such may meet with the death of the body that are incompassed with the body of death Whilst you are descending to the bottom of the hill of nature I wish you may be ascending to the top of the hill of grace that the nearer your bodies draw to the pit of corruption the nearer your souls may draw to the place of perfection that your declining Sun may not set under a cloud that hath so long shined in a clear sky Vsually their durations are the shortest whose possessions are the greatest But you have had as larg a share of being as you have had of blessing My hearts desire and prayer to God for both you and yours is that you may be as glorious in Heaven as you have been prosperous on earth that you may be such jewels of grace as may be lockt up in the Cabinet of glory that such silver Cups may be found in the mouths of all your sacks that the word which hath brought salvation to your souls may bring your souls unto salvation that as your children sit like Olive plants about your Table so you and your children may sit like Olive plants about his Table that your little family below may make up that great family above that when others as chaffe are thrown into the fire you as wheat may be gathered into the Garner That you may live long on earth profitably and for ever in Heaven joyfully is the Prayer of Your Humble Servant William Secker The Author to the Reader CHRISTIAN READER WE live in age that is most censorious and yet in age that is least religious where there are any faults men are more skilful to find them then careful to mend them But shall we turn the Sun into darknesse because of its moats or the Moon into blood because of her spots It s in vain to look for clear light where God himself will have a shaddow Good meats displease none but distempered palats and must wholesome dishes be barr'd the Table because they offend aguish stomacks To serve mens necessity is charitable to serve mens conveniency is warrantable to serve mens iniquity is damnable but to serve mens purity is honourable Grace needs a Spur to prick it on as well as Vice needs a Bridle to hold it in The design of this Peece is not the ostentation of the Author but the edification of the Reader I hope none will blow out such a Candle upon earth by the light of which themselves may see the way to Heaven The face of none is so comely in a Saints eyes as the face of Christ and the voyce of none is so pleasant in a Saints ears as the voyce of Christ The Manna of spiritual influences doth usually fall in the Dew of spiritual Ordinances To set them up was a work of mercy in God to us and to keep them up is a work of justice in us to God Whilest we suck at these Breasts they will stream warm Milk into our mouths Dear Christian In this Subject I have given thee a breviary of Religion The works injoyned in it are weighty and ponderous and the wages annexed to it are mighty and glorious Christianity is here cloathed in its white Linnen of purity Wouldst thou obtaine that happinesse which the promise confirms thou must espouse that holiness which the precept injoynes The best way to greaten your felicity is to heighten your activity Grace as it makes our comforts sweeter so it makes our Crowns greater And as it begins in the love of God to us so it ends in our love to God Those children that are found moving in the Orbes of obedience shall have the beautiest Sunshine of their Fathers countenance Christians Be sure to lay your superstruction upon an unmoveable foundation and propagate such a businesse as hath an immediat tendency to blessednesse It 's an unparalel'd mercy to be kept free from corruption in a time of infection It 's better to be innocent then it is to be penitent To prevent the malady then to invent the remedy Christians As you have not a Lease of your lives so you have not a Brace of your lives That that which is corrupted in the former may be corrected in the latter Had we not need to take heed how we shoot that have but a single Arrow to direct to the mark No time is ours but what is present and that 's as soon past as present We had need improve that with the greatest diligence that glides away with the speediest nimblenesse Shall our rests steal away one half of our time and our lusts the other O Sirs The more you have of good in you the more you shall have of God with you yea spiritual actions they will make
you look fresh and orient in the eyes of spiritual Christians that judge of the trees of righteousnesse by the fruits of righteousnesse The enjoyment of this world is neither an argument of Divine anger nor an evidence of Divine favour Therefore do not judge your selves by your wealth but by your works not by the Bags of Gold you have in your hands but by the Seeds of Grace you have in your hearts The ambitious man shall leave all his greatnesse behind him when the religious man shall carry all his goodnesse with him Let Christianity be your shop to trade in and Eternity shall be your bed to rest in Every grace that is here exercised shall there be glorified The Lord Jesus Christ shall not only see the travels of his soul but you shall see the travels of yours Christians Either let your works be according to your profession or else let your profession be according to your works Never put on the fair suit of profession to do the fowl work of corruption God will cut down those degenerate Vines that bear nothing but sowr Grapes The lusts of the flesh are pleasurable where the works of the flesh are visible Sirs The Gospel doth not only require that you should be diligent Christians but that you should be excellent Christians By the singularity of your actions you may prove the sincerity of your persons The Race is short in which you run but the Prize is great for which you run Let not us sow such barren Lands in which we loose our time and pains I wish that this gail of Divinity may speed your Vessel to the Haven of Felicity And when God gives in more of himself to me I shall give out more of him to you in the mean time it shall be my highest ambition to be instrumentall to others conversion Who am and ever desire to be a Lover of him that is a Saviour to us Yours in the Lord Jesus William Secker A Table of the chief Contents of this Treatise THe Text opened The Doctrine raised viz. That singular Christians must perform singular actions First Why it is that Christians must doe more then others 1. Because more is done for beleevers then is done for others Page 14. 2. Because they stand in a nearer relation to God then others p. 17. 3. Because they profess more then others p. 21. 4. Because every beleever is to be conformed to his Redeemer p. 25. 5. Because they are more lookt upon then others p. 28. 6. Because if you do no more then others it will appear that you are no more then others p. 31. 7. Because they are to be judges of others p. 33. 8. Because they expect more then others p. 37. Secondly What it is that Christians must dâ— more then others 1. To do much good make but little noise p. 41. 2. To bring up the bottom of our lives to the top of ouâ— lights p. 49. 3. To prefer the duty he owes above the danger that he fears p. 55. 4. To seek the publick good of others above the private good of our selves p. 64. 5. To have the beautifullest conversations amongst the blackest persons p. 75. 6. To choose the worst of sorrows before you commit the least of sins p. 82. 7. To be a father to all in charity and a servant to all in humility p. 93. 8. To mourn most before God for those lusts that appear least before men p. 105. 9. To keep our hearts lowest when God raises our estates highest p. 117. 10. To be better inwardly in substance then outwardly in appearance p. 125. 11. To be more afflicted at the Churches heavinesse then we are affected with our own happinesse p. 132. 12. To render the greatest good for the receit of the greatest evill p. 139. 13. To take those reproofs best which we need most p. 149. 14. To take up all duties in point of performance and to lay them down in point of dependance p. 159. 15. To take up our contentment in Gods appointment p. 167. 16. To be more in love with the employment of holinesse then with the enjoyment of happinesse p. 178. 17. To be more in searching our own hearts then we are in censuring others states p. 187. 18. To set out for God at our beginning and to hold on with God untill our ending p. 193. 19. To take all the shame of our sins to our selves and to give all the glory of our services unto Christ p. 207. 20. To value a Heavenly reversion above an earthly possession p. 215. The Application 1. For the erection of singular Principles 2. For the direction of singular Practices First For the erection of singular Principles The first Principle That whatsoever is acted by men on earth is eyed by God in Heaven p. 225. 2. That after all your present receivings you must be brought to your future reckonings p. 230. 3. That God bears a greater respect to your hearts then he doth to your works p. 242. 4. There 's more bitternesse following upon sins ending then ever there was sweetnesse flowing from sins acting p. 248. 5. That there is the greatest vanity in all created excellency p. 254. 6. That duties can never have too much care bestowed upon them nor too little considence placod in them p. 265. 7. That there 's no obtaining what is promised but by fulfilling what 's commanded p. 273. 8. That its ill dressing our selves for another world by the Looking-glasse of this world p. 282. 9. That where man is so diligent as to do his best there God is so indulgent as to forgive his worst p. 290. 10. That inward purity is the ready road to outward plenty p. 296. 11. That all the time God allows us is little enough to fulfill the task that he allots us p. 307. 12. That there can never be too great an estrangenâ—ent from defilement p. 317. 13. That whatsoever is temporally injoyed should be spiritually improved p. 344. 14. That we are to speak well of God whatsoever ill we bear from God p. 354. 15. That the longer God forbears not finding amendment the soarer he strikes when he comes to judgement p. 360. 16. That there 's no measuring of the inward conditions of men by the outward dispensations of God p. 366. 17. That we should cleave the closest to that good which is the choicest p. 374. 18. That it is our present businesse to make sure of our future blessednesse p. 380. 19. That integrity is the best security p. 385. 20. That the sweetnesse of the Crown that shall be received will make amends for the bitternesse of the Crosse that may be endured p. 390. Secondly For the direction of singular Practices 1. If you would doe more then others then you must know more then others p. 399. 2. Would you do more then others then love morethen others p. 407. 3. Would you doe more then others then pray more then others p. 413. 4. Would you do more then
That ye may approve things that are excellent Phil. 1. 10. But because you cannot see so well by a candle inclosed in a lanthorn as by a taper burning in the candlestick I shall crack the shell that you may tast the kernel There are two channels that I shall cut out for these Chrystal streams to run in First I shall speak to the Explication of what is Doctrinal Secondly To the Application of what is Practical The former is like the cutting out of the suit the latter is like the putting it upon the back First I shall speak to the Explication of what is Doctrinal And that I may not sluce in a sea of water into a little river I shall make a double banck First Why it is that the Disciples of Christ must do more then others Secondly What it is that the Disciples of Christ must do more then others I begin with the first why it is that the Disciples of Christ must do more then others Now that these nails may stick the faster I shall drive them home with an eight fold hammer 1. Because more is done for Beleevers then is done for others therefore more must be done by Beleivers then is done by others God gives favours not for their sakes that receive them but for his sake that bestows them Now where there is a superaddition to our priviledges there must be a superaddition to our practices You do not look for so much splendor from the burnings of a candle as from the beamings of the Sun Nor for so much moisture from the dropings of a bucket as from the disolving of a cloud The Philosophers rule is true Quicquid recipitur recipitur ad modum recipientis The heat which melts the wax hardens the clay The juyce that goes into the Rose makes it sweet but that which goes into the Nettle makes it stink The mercies of God if they be not loadstones to draw us to salvation they will be milstones to drown us in perdition To whom much is given of Quò plura accepisti gratias eò majores gloriamque daâ—ori referre obligaris Rous inter reg Dei p. 153. them much shall be required God doth not exact much where little is bestowed nor except little where much is received A drop of praises is not commensurate to a sea of favours Hear ye the word of the Lord O children of Israel you only have I known of all the families of the earth Amos 3. 2. They were more known to God then others therefore they must more acknowledge God then others They can never speak good enough of God who have tasted the goodness of God It s but reason that they should bless most who are the most blessed Nature hath made other Creatures but Grace hath made you Christians In Creation God hath given us to our selves but in Redemption he hath given himself to us It s a greater favor to be converted then it is to be created yea better have no being then not to have a new being Now differencing mercy calls for differencing duty They who hold the largest farms they should pay the greatest rents Where he sows the preciousest seeds there he looks for the fruitfulest harvest When we were full of blood then he was full of bowels When thou wert setting sail to the Devil God blew with a contrary wind and altered thy course Now will I sing to my beloved a song of my beloved touching his vineyard My wel-beloved had a vineyard in a very fruitful hill and he fenced it and gathered out the stones thereof and planted it with the choycest vine and built a tower in the midst of it and also made a wine press therein Isa 5. 1 2. Here is an Inventory of the goodness of God to his vineyard now what follows He looked that it should bring forth grapes and it brought forth wilde grapes He looked that they should be better to him then others because he had been better to them then he had been to others The flowers of Paradise are seated in a better soil then the weeds of the wilderness When others are the Devils throughfare these are Gods enclosure God hath kissed you that are believers over many shoulders You are like Dyals in the sun on which the beams of the sun of Righteousness do shine How is it that thou wilt shew thy self to us and not to the world who mightst have shewn thy self to the world and not to us Joh. 14. 22. He hath exalted you above others who are of the same mould with others Hath God shewn himself to you and not to the world and will not you shew your selves for God and not for the world It lies as a great blemish upon Hezekiah that his returning was not answerable to his receiving If God do great things for beleivers he will not accept of small things from believers 2. Christians they should do more then others because they stand in a nearer relation to God then others The nearer the relation the greater the obligation In this respect believers on earth have a greater honor then the Angels in heaven Christ is related to them as a Lord to his Servants but he is united to these as a head to the members There is no glased eyes that is set in our Redeemers head there is no wooden legs that are united to his body there is no barren branches that grows upon the Tree of Life The Lord Jesus is as far from being the head of a body that 's ulcerous as he is from being the head of a body that 's monstrous The everlasting Father Isa 9. 6. Others they are made of God but these are born of God A son honoreth his father and a servant his Master If then I be a father where is my honor if a master where is my fear Mal. 1. 6. As a Father so he will be reverenced for his goodness as a Master he will be feared for his greatness Give unto Caesar the things that are Caesars and unto God the things that are Gods If honor be not due to him let it not be bestowed if it be due to him let it not be denied We are all born to serve God and better we had never been born then that we should not serve him As A. Fulvius said to his Son when he found him in the conspiracy of Cataline Non ego te Catilinae genui sed patriae This is the speech of God to every man I gave thee not a body and a soul to serve sin withal but to serve me withal Do but see the great out-cry that God makes against his own sons Isa 1. 2 3. Hear O heavens and be astonished O earth for I have nourished and brought up children and they have rebelled against me Where the relation is nearest there the provocation is greatest It s a more pleasing spectacle to see Rebels becoming children then it s to see children becoming rebels When Caesar was wounded by the Senators
Brutus also gave him a stab with that he looks upon him and saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 What thou my son Brutus Sueâ—onius juxta finâ— vitae Iuâ— Caes What mother can endure to see those lips that drew her brests suck her blood The unkindness of a friend hath the most in it of an enemy When others appear before God as prisoners appear before a Judge Beleevers appear before him as children do before a Father The Roman Censors took such a distaste at the son of Africanus that they pluckt the ring from off his figner in which his fathers image was engraven They would not suffer him to wear his Fathers picture who was so unlike his Quin familiaribus quaeren tibus vellet n Olympiae in stadio decurrere eraâ— enim pedibus velor soquidem respondit reges sunt meum dâ—certaturi Plut. in ini â—vit A. lex Q. Curt. â— 1. fathers person God will not suffer any man to wear the livery of Christ upon him who wants the likeness of Christ within him When his companions would have Alexander that was swift on foot to run in the Olympick games I would saith he so there were but Kings and Princes to run with me Give me such a Saint as will do nothing upon earth that is unsuitable to his birth from heaven What shall he walk in darkness whose father is light Shall that tongue be found lying so constantly to men that was found praying so earnestly to God or those eyes be found gazing on sinful objects that were found reading of sacred Oracles The remembrance of our dignity should engage us to the performance of our duty It is not for Kings O Lemuel it is not for Kings to drink wine nor for Princes strong drink Prov. 31. 4. Such a sin is bad in a Subject but worse in a Soveraign As a spot in scarlet is worse then a stain in russet That 's the second 3. Christians should do more then others because they profess more then others As plants are known by their fruits so Saints are known by their works Shall such as have received Christs press-money fight under Satans colours Though there be many Professors that are no Beleevers yet there are no Beleevers but are Professors They profess that they know God but in works they deny him being abominable and disobedient and to every good work reprobate Tit. 1. 16. A man is not what he says but he is what he does To say what we do and not to do what we say is to be like trees that are full of leaves but empty of fruits Or like a barn wherein there is much chaff but little corn It s better never to shine then not to be gold What is it to put off your old manners and to keep on the old man A snake may change her coat and yet keep her sting The Gospel professed that lifts a man unto heaven but it s the Gospel practised that leads a man into heaven To be a Professor of piety and a Practiser of iniquity it s so far from advancing your commendation that its an encreasing of your condemnation Why call ye me Lord Lord and do not the word that I say Either obey my commands more or else call me Lord no more Either take me into your lives or cast me out of your lips Our Lord Jesus disdains to have his name seen on as Princes scorn to have their Effigies stampt on base mettals Let every one that names the name of the Lord depart from iniquity If godliness be evil why is it so much professed if goodliness be good why is it so litle practised Who hath saved us and called us with an holy calling 2 Tim. 1. 10. A holy calling should be attended with a holy carriage It s a greater glory to us that we serve God then it is to God that we serve him It is not he that 's made happy by us but it s we that are made happy by him He needs not such servants as we are upon earth but we need such a Master as he is in heaven A man may finde many that talks of grace but he shall find but a few that tastes of grace Every one doth no live like a Christian that looks like a Christian Thou that makest thy boast of the Law through breaking the Law dishonorest thou God! Rom. 2. 23. It s monstrous to see that Christians tongues should be larger then their hands That they should carry a lanthorn before others and yet tread in the dark themselves A vicious patern more infects then a vertuous doctrine instructs he that gives good precepts and then sets bad paterns is like a man that first blows the fire to kindle it and after casts water to quench it again These Physitians whilest they give cordials to others they faint themselves I may say of such Professors as he said of a vicious Preacher That when in the Pulpit it was pity he should ever come out he was so good in his instructions but when out of the pulpit that it was pity he should ever come in again he was so bad in his conversation We must not be offended at the profession of Religion because all are not religious that make a profession The sheep doth not despise his fleece because the Woolf hath worn it Who blames a chrystial river because some melancholly men have drowned themselves in its streams The best Drugs have their adulterate What though you have been cheated with false colours yet disestimate not them that are dyed in grain He is a bad husband that having a spot in his coat will cut off the cloath when he should wash out the dirt But when you make a good profession be sure to make your profession good 4. The Disciples of Christ are to do more then others because every Beleever is to be conformed to his Redeemer Jesus Christ as he is the principle of excellency to which all must come so he is the patern of excellency to which all must conform As he is the root on which a Saint grows so he is the rule by which a Saint squares God hath made one Son like unto all that he might make all his sons like unto one He 〈◊〉 to teach us how to live and he died to teach us how to die Yea as he lived and died for our good so he lived and died in our stead It s a rule Primum unoquoque genere est mensura reliquorum That which is the first in any kind c. Learn of me for I am meek and lowly Matth. 11. 29. Never was Nature better graced and never was Grace better natured Well may the Stars be obscured when the Sun was eclipsed For I have given you an example that you should do as I have done to you Joh. 13. 5. If the life of Christ be not your patern the death of Christ will not be your pardon The Lord Jesus though he was a man of sorrows
yet he was not a man of sins Though we cannot equalize his holiness yet we should imitate his holiness As it is the same light which shines from the body of the sun in its meridian and which breaks forth in the dawnings of the morning There 's the same water in the streams that bubbles up at the spring-head Summa religionis est 〈◊〉 eum quem colis Lactant. There should be such a conformity between the life of Christ and the life of a Christian as there is between the Counterpain and its Original As face answers to face in the water so should life answer to life in the Scripture What he was by nature that we should be by grace He that was a way to others never went out of the way himself A holy life is a chrystal glass wherein Jesus Christ beholds his own face In our Sacramental participations we shew forth the death of Christ but in our evangelical conversations we shew forth the life of Christ An excellent Christ calls for excellent Christians And why should we â—ay his yoke is heavy when he says his yoke is easie He went about doing good Acts 10. 38. As he was never ill imployed so he was never unimployed Jesus Christ submits his person to be judged by his actions If I do not the works beleeve me not If I act not like a Saviour do not take me for a Saviour Thus should it be with a Saint Never take me for a Christian if I act not like a Christian If men finde no more among Saints then they find among men they will say Here is a man and a man and not a man and a Christian Man naturally is an aspiring piece and loves to be nearest to those that are highest Now a Christ that did more then others calls on Christians to do more then others Methinks you should take as much delight in those precepts that enjoyn holiness as in those promises that assures happiness and be as willing to be ruled by Christ as you are willing to be saved by Christ To the Saints that are in the earth and to the excellent in whom is all my delight Psa 16. 3. Was it so in his time and shall iâ— not be so in our time The New Testament out-shines the Old as much as the splendor of the sun doth the brightness of the stars If you live under more glorious dispensations you should have more gracious conversations As he is so are we in this world 1 Joh. 4. 17. As he was so should we be on earth and as he is so shall we be in heaven If there be no congruity between Christ and you in holiness there will be no society between Christ and you in happiness That 's the fourth 5. The Disciples of Christ must do more then others because they are more lookt upon then others If once a man be a Professor the eyes of the whole world are placed upon him Because our profession in the world is a separation from the world Beleevers should condemn those by their lives who condemn them with their lips Teach me thy way O Lord and lead me in a plain path because of mine enemies Psal 27. 11. Heb. Because of my observers or propter insidiatores meos because of those that lye in wait for me If you walk in the unpaved road of licentious loosness the world will not go backwards like Shem and Japhet to cover your nakedness but they will march forward like cursed Cham to uncover your nakedness They make use of your weakness as a shield to defend their own wickedness Men are merciless in their censures though God hath more equitable scales and wil give grains of allowance to his own gold A true Christian though he be a Dove in Gods eyes yet he is a Raveâ— in theirs An unholy conversation pâ—lls off the jewels from the beautiful Queen of Religion Sin allowed of in a Saint it s like a slit in a piece of cloth of gold or like a crack in a silver bell The foulest spots are soonest seen in the fairest cloaths The world will sooner allow its own enormities then of your infirmities The loose walkings of Christians are the reproaches of Christ Si Christus sancta dâ—â—uisset sancta à Christianis fierent qualis secta talis sectatores Quomodo bonus magistor eujus tam pravos videmus Discipulos as Lactantius brings in the Heathens ubraiding the Nations So much malice is there lodged in sinners as to reproach the rectitude of the rule for the obliquity of their lives who swerve and vary from it Now your pure lives should hang a padlock upon their impure lips who throw the dirt of Professors upon the face of Profession One hour of the suns eclipsing attracts more eyes to view it then all its illustrious shinings Dr. Whitaker reading that fifth of Matthew breaks forth into these words Aut hoc non est Evangelium aut nos non sumus Evangelici Either this is not Gospel that we Christians profess or else we are not Christians that profess the Gospel The curelty of the Spaniards to the Indians made them cry out Quam malus Deus iste qui habet tam malos servos What an evil God is this that hath such evil servants Gods Jewels should cast a sparkling lustre in the eyes of others One scar may stain the beauty of the fairest face It was a glorious Encomium given of Zachary and Elizabeth They were both righteous before God walking in all the commandmâ—nts and ordinances of the Lord blam â—â—ss Luk. 1. 6. As they were harmless in their actings so they were blameless in their walkings Pure Religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction and to keep himself unspotted from the world Jam. 1. 2. If you would keep your selves unspotted from the world you must keep your selves unspotted in the world Christians such even threads should be spun by you as none might fasten a snarl upon you That 's the fifth 6. Ground is Because if you do no more then others it will appear that you are no more then others Vna actio non denominat fidelem It is not one action that makes a Beleever no more then its one Swallow that makes a Summer As there is none so evil but may do some good so there is none so good but may do some evil Every being nath its proper acting and where we do not finde the working we may deny the being You would be thought to be more then Publicans and Sinners what and yet act no more then Publicans and Sinners Ye shall know them by their fruits Mat. 7. 20. By the leaves the tree is seen but by the fruit the tree is known The hand of the Dyal is without in going as the wheels of the clock are within in moving Where the heart is of a good constitution the life will be of a fair complexion When the
and grace that is the jewel and Christ will throw away the cabinet where he doth not find the jewel Though the wheat be for the Garner yet the chaff is for the fire The Scripture presents us not only with what God will do for man but with what man must do for God So run that ye may obtain The neglecting of the race of holiness will be the obstructing of the prize of blessedness He that made thee without thy assistance will not save thee without thy obedience Every tree that beareth not good fruit is hewen down and cast into the fire Mat. 7. 19. If you be not plants for bearing you will be sticks for burning If you be not for fruits you are for flames Men are sentenced not only for their sinfulness but for their slothfulness Men may perish for being servants that are unprofitable as well as for sinners that are abominable There is no making out of your salvation but by working out of your salvation God binds up none in the bundle of life but such as are the heirs of life Therefore my beloved brethren be ye stedfast and unmovable ever abounding in the work of the Lord for asmuch as ye know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord 1 Cor. 15. 58. How abundant should they be in the work of the Lord that know their labor shall not be in vain in the Lord How chearfully should we cast in the net when we are sure to make such an excellent draught If you do no more then others you shall enjoy no more then others If you love them that love you what reward have you Matth. 5. 46. All this is but nature that love should be returned from whence it hath been received Now natural works shall have but natural wages Common graces shall have but common favours If you would not have God to put you off with a Pharisees recompence do not you put off God with a Pharisees performance God he baits the hook to catch the fish and spreads the net to inclose the bird He hangs the promises of the Gospel upon the precepts of the Law A Merchant will run through the intemperate Zones of heat and cold for a little treasure And the Souldier undergo a bloody seeds time to enjoy a happy harvest Shall they take pains for earthly Mammon and we take none for heavenly Mansions Thus have I dispatched the first General Why it is that the Disciples of Christ should do more then others I come now to the second General What it is that the Disciples of Christ must do more then others And here I shall make a golden chain of twenty links for Beleivers to wear about their necks 1. To do much good and make but little noise that 's a singular thing Others they say much but do nothing but Christians they should do much but say nothing To deserve praise where none is obtained is better then to obtain praise where none is deserved Qui honorem desiderat non est dignus honore Abulens Take heed that Nè propter humanam gloriam boni essent Christiani docuit enim illos Magister illorum dicens Cavete sacere justitiam vestram c. Aug. de Civ Dei l. 5. c 14 you do not your alms before men to be seen of men otherwise you have no reward of your Father which is in heaven Matth. 6. 18. A Saint may be seen doing more works then any and yet a Saint must not do any of his works to be seen Non est ingrata Deo eleemosyna quae videtur sed quae ideo fit ut videatur Though good ends makes not bad actions lawful yet bad ends makes good actions sinful The harp sounds sweetly though it hears not its own melody Moses had more glory by his vail then he had by his face We should lay our selves in the dust by our humility when we raise the poor from the dust by our charity Therefore when They did them in Synagogis ut videantur à sâ—pientibus in vicis ut videantur à turhis hoc non ut denâ— honum exemplum videntibus sed ut honorificentur ab hominibus Gâ—rran in loc thou dost thine alms do not sound a trumpet before thee as the hypocrites do in the Synagogues and in the streets that they may have glory from men Matth. 6. 2. What the first verse calls a doing to be seen of men this calls a doing to receive glory from men Hypocrites would never care that men should see them but that by seeing them men should praise them The indigent was more beholden to their vanity then they were beholden to their charity They gave alms more for the rich to look upon then the poor to live upon This is the using of the masters coyn for the servants gain Hypocrites are more for the market then they are for the closet and for the corners of the streets then for corners of the house It s meat and drink for a formalist to fast if others see it The Nightingale never sings so sweetly as when others stand by to hear her melody Come see my zeal for the Lord of hosts when there was no zeal for the Lord of hosts to be seen Religion did but hold the stirrup to mount him into the saddle your sounding souls are seldom souls that are sound A Jehu's vote is always linked to a Judas heart Some persons are like hens that after laying must be cackling If they bestow a little money on a Churches repairs they will set it down in glased windows But under the praises of Nature lurks the enemies of Grace Dum laudatur hypocrita laeditur gratia Look how much we arrogate to our own applause we derogate from Gods praises Vain-glory is like Naamans Leprosie a foul character upon a fair paper What is the acclamations of men to the approbation of God To be cried up on earth by them that are about us and cried down in heaven by him that is above us As one flaw robs the diamond of the oriency of its splendor so one flye spoils the Apothecaries box of the fragrancy of its odor Therefore when thou dost thine alms let Vid. Chem. Harm Evang cap. 5â— p. 772. 773. not thy left hand know what thy right hand doth Matth. 6. 3. Acts of mercy they are right hand acts and so singular but the left hand must not know them because the left hand will make them known It is a rare thing for a Christian to do much in secret and to keep it secret when it s done God is nearer to us then we are unto our selves You need not sound a trumpet for any thing that is bestowed for when the trumpet shall sound every thing shall be revealed Where the river is the deepest there the water glides the smoothest Empty casks sound most when the well fraught vessel silences its own fulness The shadow of the Sun is largest when his beams are weakest Honor
me before Quid aliud amant hypocritae quam gloriam quâ volebantetiam post mortem tanquam vivere in ore laudantium Aug. ubi prius the people 1 Sam. 15. 30. There is little worth in outward splendor if vertue yield it not an inward lustre When this sun is in its meridian it may be masked with a cloud By climbing of too high a bough you may hang your selves upon the tree Some had rather suffer the agony of the cross then the infamy of the cross It s more to them to be dispraised then it is to be destroyed And a certain woman cast a peice of a milstone upon Abimelecks head and brake his scull then he called hastily unto the young man his Armor-bearer and said nnto him Draw thy sword and slay me that men may not say A woman slew me Judg. 9. 53 54. Behold saith one Homo moritur at superbia non moritur The man dyes but his pride dies not God may reject those as copper whom men do adore as silveâ— He is a Jew which is one inwardly and circumcision is that of the heart in the spirit whose praise is not of men but of God Rom. 2. 29. The praise of an Hypocrite is not of God but of man the praise of an Israelite is not of man but of God The one desires to seem good that he may be praised the other to be good that God may be pleased The Saints on earth are to imitate the Angels in heaven and they had the hands of a man under their wings Ezek. 1. 8. They had not their wings under their hands but their hands under their wings Their hands note their activity their wings their celerity Their having their hands under their wings the obscurity of their motions They will not have others to fall down to worship them about the Throne but fall down themselves to worship him upon the Throne Our Lord Jesus Christ that did the most excellent works that ever were done He shall not cry nor lift up nor suffer his voyce to be heard in the streets Isa 42. 2. He shall not cry that is he shall not be contentious He shall not lift up his voyce in the streets he shall not be vain-glorious The Pharisee stood and prayed with himself God I thank thee I am not as other men are extortioners unjust adulterers or even as this publican Luk. 18. 11. Hypocrites are better in O quot babet isle in saeculo imitatores qui festucam in oculo fratris vident trabeÌ„ autem in oculo suo non considerant Stel. in loc Nec quicquam jam ferre potest Caesarâ—â— priorem Pompeiusve parem Lucan shewing forth their own worth then they are in shewing forth of their wants at the displaying the banners of their perfections then at the discovering of the baseness of their transgressions I am not as other men are as if he had been such a fellow as had no fellow Ambition is so great a planet that it must have a whole orbe to itself and its impatient of a consort Because he was not so bad as the most he thought himself as good as the best A Sun-burnt-face seems fair when compared with a Blackamoor But can cyphers compleat a sum This Pharisee was as far from being religious as he was from being scandalous But upon what foundation Celavit hic Pharisaeus peccata quae confiteri debuerat bona siquae feverat patefecit Stella loc jam citato did he rear this superstruction vers 12. I fast twice aweek I give tithes of all I possess He proclaims all without doors that is done within They say of the sea it loses as much in one part of the land as it gains in another Thus what victory formalists seemingly get over one lust they lose it again by being imprisoned to another They trade not for Gods glory but for their own glory If a tear be shed or a prayer be made whatever is performed by them shall be divulged by them He that trafficks in Gods services to fraught himself with mans praises suffers shipwrack in the haven and loses his wages when he comes to receive pay for his works It s storied of Alexanders Footman that he ran so swift upon the sand that the print of his footsteps were not seen Thus should it be with Christians nothing is more pleasing unto God then a hand that is largely opened and a mouth that is straitly closed Most persons are like Themistocles that never found himself so much contented as when he heard himself praised I will not say a gracious heart never lifts up it self but I will say that grace in the heart never lifts up it self Grace in the heart ever acts like it self but a gracious heart doth not always so A Saint should be like a spire steeple minimus in summo that is smallest where it is highest or like those orient stars the higher they are seated the lesser they are viewed Usually your greatest boasters are your smallest workers Your deep rivers pay larger tribute to the sea then shallow brooks and yet empty themselves without a murmuring noise I have read a story of a harlot that offered to build up the walls of a City that Alexander had thrown down so she might set her own arms upon them O what will not an Hypocrite do so he may set his own arms upon it when it is done That is the first 2. To bring up the bottom of our lives to the top of our lights Look how far our lives are from Gods precepts to do them so far his ears are from our prayers to hear them Since the tree of knowledge hath been tasted the key of knowledge hath been rusted Man sinned away his light when he sinned against his light Adams candle aspiring to be a sun hath burnt the dimmer ever since The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God for they are foolishness to him neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned I Cor. 2. 14. Spiritual truths they oppose the wickedness of reason because they are against it therefore a natural man cannot relish them They exceed the weakness of Reason because they are above it therefore a natural man cannot perceive them It s better to be a toe in the foot and to be sound then to be an eye in the head and to be blind But grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ 2 Pet. 3. 18. Without grace there may be a knowledge that is seeming but without grace there cannot be a knowledge that is saving As the water engenders the ice and the ice the water so by knowledge is grace produced and by grace is knowledge increased If ye know these things happy are ye if you do them To obey the truth and not to know is impossible to know the truth and not to obey it is unprofitable Not every one that saith unto me Lord
For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ that though he was rich yet for your sakes he became poor that ye through his poverty might be rich 2 Cor. 8. 9. A drop of his blood is worth a sea of ours and yet he died our death that we might live his life and suffered our hell to bring us to his heaven He was conceived in the bowels of his mother that we might be received into the bosom of his Father His love began in his eternal purposes of grace and ends in our eternal possessions of glory Why was the Bread of life an hungry but to feed the hungry with the bread of life why was Rest it self weary but to give the weary rest why did he hang upon the cross in mount Calvary but that we might sit upon the throne in mount Sion His face was covered with spittle that ours might be enamelled with glory Why did this Jonah cast himself into the sea of his fathers wrath but to save the ship of his Church from drowning Christians you are not vessels in which the waters of life are lodged but pipes through which it is to be conveyed If the mountains overflow with moysture the valleys are the richer but if the head be full of ill humors the whole body is the worser Happy are those persons that God will use as besoms to sweep out the dust from his Temple that shall tug at an oar in that boat where Christ and his Church are carried For David after he had served his own Generation by the will of God fell asleep Act. 13. 36. Davids service was not swallowed up in the narrow gulf of self He did not Advertite aâ—iâ— um popusi capâ—ta atque à â—avid distite quid cor vestrum a peâ—ere deâ—eat Mâ—ndâ—â—uâ—us fallaci uâ— oâ—iâ—us inâ—iaâ—e â—â—◠〈◊〉 decet Sibel ubi supra draw al his lines to the ignoble center of his own ends Such birds are bad in the nest but worse when winged to fly abroad He served his own generation not the generation that was before him for they were dead before he was living nor the generation that was behinde him for they were living after he was dead Every gracious spirit is publick though every publick spirit is not gracious God may use the Midwifery of the Egyptians to bring forth the children of the Israelties An Iron key may open a golden treasury and leaden pipes convey pleasant waters I saw a great wonder in heaven a woman cloathed with the sun and the moon was under her feet Rev. 12. 1. Though carnal blessings may be communicated to a man that is spiritual yet spiritual blessings shall not be communicated to a man that is carnal When the Moon is waxing she hath her shut end towards the earth and her open end towards heaven but when the moon is waining she hath her open end towards earth and her shut ends toward heaven They that live most downwards they dye most upwards Meteors whilst they keep above in the firmament yield a glorious lustre but if they decline they fall to the earth and come to nothing If I do not remember thee let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth if I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy Psalm 137. 6. Old Ely mourned more for the loss of his Religion then for the loss of his relation his heart was broken before his neck was broken If the Church be lost we cannot be saved if the Church be saved we cannot be lost Augustus Caesar carried such an intire love to his Country that he called it Filiam suam his own daughter therefore refused And this he had with the consent of all Patris patriae cognomen universi repentino maximoque consensu detulerunt ei Suet. p. 101. to be called its Master but would be called its Father because he ruled it non per timorem sed per amorem Not by fear but by love The people at his expiration used this bitter lamentation Vtinam aut non nasceretur aut non moreretur Macrob. O would to God that either he had never lived or else that he had never died The worth of good Rulers is best seen in the want of good Rulers As we see more in the discomposure of a Watch then when its wheels are set together Such whose lives deserve no prayers their deaths deserve no tears A self-seeker he breaths unrespected and he dies unlamented When once a man becomes a God to himself he then becomes a devil to others and cares not who sinks in the sea so he arrive but safe at the shore Those wretches in the Acts rather then a few shrine-makers should lose their gains cared not though a whole City lost their souls It s reported of Agrippina the mother of Nero who being told that if ever her son came to be an Emperor she would find him to be her murderer she answered Peream ego modo ille imperet Let me perish so he may be Emperor There is many such who though they do not utter it with their tongues yet harbour it in their breasts Pereat Religio modo ego imperem Let Religion perish so I may flourish Now therefore let me alone that my wrath may wax hot against them and that I may consume them and I will make of thee a great Nation Exod. 32. 10. But the affection of Moses as a Ruler quencht the affections of Moses as a Father And such was the noble disposition of Joshua that he first divided Canaan into several parts and portions for the Tribes of Israel before any provision was made for his own family Give me such carvers as lay not all the meat upon their own trenchers That 's the fourth 5. Singular thing is to have the beautifullest conversations among the blackest persons A wicked man as he poysons the air in which he breaths so he pollutes the age in which he lives The putrid grape corrupts the Principis mores mirâ vi in populuÌ„ transsunduntur Stapl. pro. mor. p. 57â— sound cluster Joseph by living in the Court of Pharoah had learnt to swear by the life of Pharoah A High Priests hall will instruct a Peter how to disclaim his Master The sweet streams lose their freshness by gliding into the salt seas They which sail amongst such rocks may quickly split their own ships When vice runs in a single stream it s then a passable shallow but when many of these meet together they swell a deeper channel I will put enmity between thee and the woman and between thy seed and her seed Gen. 3. 15. There must be no harmony where the chief Musician will have a jar It s better to have the enmity of wicked men then it is to have the society of wicked men By the former they are most hateful but by the latter they are most hurtful A good man in bad company is like a green stick amongst dry ones They may sooner kindle him
them of Venite benedicti fragmen panis samelico dedistis en mensam paratissimam venit aeternum â—â—ulaturi peregrinos tecto non exclusistis angelorum civis ves esse jâ—bâ—o c. Drex Libro jam citato p. 68. his right hand Come ye blessed of my Father inherite the Kingdome prepared for you from the foundation of the world for I was an hungry and you gave me meat I was thirsty and ye gave me drink c. Mercy is the Queen of beauty that is espoused to the King of glory Charity though it make Vix ulla virtus majorem intota scriptura mercedem repromissam habet quam eleemosyna Stap. prom mor. par aest p. 62. your coyne lighter yet it will make your crown greater he that would have his name registred in the book of eternity let him write it himself with the pen of charity I know no better way to preserve your dough then by parting with your cake Methinks full brests should milk themselves without drawning and larg springs should issue forth their waters without pumping Your charity should seek the poor before the poor seek your charity Put on as the elect of Gods bowels of mercy Colos 3. 12. he that hath put off the bowels of compassion he hath put of the badge of election others can love at their tongues end but you should love at your fingers end If a man be naked they can bid him be cloathed if a man be empty they can bid him be filled as if poor Christians were like Camelians that could live upon the air liberality doth not lye in good words but it lyes in good works The doubtful are to be resolved by our counsels but the needful are to be releived with onr morsells methinks its exceeding lovely to see the pictures of purity though they be hung in the frames of poverty If you be coveteous of any thing let it be of this rather to lay out on necessity then to lay up for posterity Charity is seed and Stapl. ubi priùs Sicunt semen surgit cum multo faenore sie eleemosyna cum multa mercede the Husbandman doth not grow rich by the saving of his seed but by the sowing of his seed Secondly A Servant to Dâ—scendiâ—e ut ascendatis ad Deum â—ccidistis enim ascendendo contra eum Aug. conf l. 4. cap. 12. all in humility our first fall was by rising but our best rise is by falling The acknowledgment of our own impotence is the onely stock for the ingrafting of divine asistance An humble Saint on earth looks likest to a Citizen of heaven and whosoever will be chief among you let him be your servant Matth. 20. 27. That is the most lovely professor who is the most lowly professor as incense smells the sweetest when its beaten smallest Pride in the soul is like the spleen in the body that growes most when other parts decay God will not suffer such a weed to grow in his garden without taking some course to root it up A beleiver is like a vessel cast into the Sea the more it fills the more it sincks Pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall Prov. 16. 18. The flowing river quickly turns to an ebbing water It s not all the world that can pull a humble man down because God will exalt him nor is it all the world that can keep a proud man up because God will debase him Do but see how one of the best of Verae humlitasis â—oâ— proprium est ut quo quis caeloteste sanctior eo se judice villor censeatur Drex Châ—istian Zod. p. 74. Saints looks upon himself as one of the least of Saints For I am the least of the Apostles not worthy to be called an Apostle 1 Cor. 15. 9. In the highest heavens the beams of Majesty are displaied but to the lowest hearts the bowels of mercy are dispenced Be ye cloathed with humility Pride is a sinners excrement but humility is a Saints ornament The cloth of humility should always be worn on the back of Christianity God doth many times stick a thorne in the flesh to prick the bladder of pride in the spirit Missa fuit Interdum subâ—rahitur gratia non pro superbiá quae jam est sed quae futura est nisi subtrahatur Bron. in cant Ier. 54. miseria ut dimissa fiat creatura The first Adam was for self-advancement but the second is for self-debasement the former was to have self deified the latter was to have self crucified Though there may be some thing left by self denial yet there is nothing lost by self denial nay a man can never enjoy himself till he deny himself We live by dying to our selves and die by living in our selves There is no proud man but he is foolish and almost no foolish man but he is proud It s the owle of ignorance that broods and hatches the Peacock of pride God abhors them worst that adore themselves most Pride it s not a Bethel for Gods dwelling but a Babel of the devils building It is not only a thing that is sinful but it is a thing that is seminal All other Rarum aiunt esse generosum pharmacum cui non insit veneni aliquid nullum certe vitium est in quo non aliquid superbiae Drex châ—ist Zod. p. 71. lusts as they are found lodging in it so they are found flowing from it Wherefore he saith God resisteth the proud 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he setteth himself in battel array against them Instructa acie atque Fontes flumina non per acclivia decurrunt nec monâ—es petunt sed per declivia valles labuntur Stapl. in Dom. 10. â—ost Pent. veluti ex adverso praelio obsistit Lorinus but he gives grace to the humble Jam. 4. 6. Specialiter propter majorem sui exinanitionem Gor. in loc Where humility is the corner stone there piety is as the top stone It s good to have true thoughts of our selves but bad to have high thoughts of our selves Though all men forsake thee yet will not I. Poor Peter he was the most impotent when he was the most arogant He that thought to stand whilst others were falling he fell whilst others were standing It was an excellent saying of one Where grace sits below me I Humilitas virtus est ut in se praestantissima ita deo gratissima Sâ—aâ— in Dom. 10. post Pent. will acknowledge its dignity but where vice crawls above me I will abhor its vanity An humble heart may meet with opposition from man but it shall meet with acceptation from God That is the seventh 8. Singular thing is this To mourn most for those lusts before God that appear least before men Others they cannot mourn in secret for their publick sins but we should mourn in publick for our secret sins That must be gained by repentance that hath been lost by disobedience Outward acts
6. 21. him as one that is in bitterness for his first born Zach. 12. 10. The nailes that pierced his hands shall now pierce their hearts they shall wound themselves with their sorrows which have wounded him with their sins That they have grieved his spirit it shall grieve their spirits A beleiver puts on his mourning garment for puting off his wedding garment As the Suger-loaf is disolved and weeps it self away when it s dipt in wine so do our hearts disolve and melt themselves away in the sweet sence of Divine love and our refusals of it O that ever I should be so bad a child to him that hath been so good a Father Of sin because they beliive not in me John 16. 9. Unbelief it s a sin that least visible and yet a sin that 's most damnable Not to fetch our lives from Christ is to bring the greatest death upon Christ Insidelity is the greatest robbery it frustrates not onely all the actions of Christ in doing but all the passions of Christ in dying Other persons are like Lapwings that flutter most at the greatest remoteness from the nests if they have teares for their outward losses but none for their inward lusts they can mourn for the evil that sin brings but not for the sin which brings the evil As Pharoah more lamented the hard strokes that was upon him then the hard heart that was within him Esau mourned not because he sold the Birthright which was his sin but because he lost the blessing which was his punishment This is like weeping with an Onion the eye sheds tears because it smarts A Marriner casts over those goods in a Tempestuous season that he courts a return off when the winds are silenced many complain more of the sorrows to which they are born then of the sins in which they are born The venome of sin is not ever distastful when the vengeance of sin is affrightful The sinners in Sion are affraid fearfulness hath surprised the Hypocrites Why what 's the matter Who amongst us shall dwell with the devouring fire who amongsts us shall dwell with everlasting burnings Isai 33. 14. They fear corruption not as it is a cole that is blacking but as it is a fire that is burning A stroke from Justice brake Judases heart into despaire but a look from mercy melted Peters hearts into teares There are two things in our sins There 's the devillishness of them and the dangerousnes of them Now take a Saint and a sinner Quid feci quò me praecipitaveram nisi mihi Dei misericordia subveniret Cal. inst l. 3. c. 3. sec 15. the one saith what have I done the other what must I suffer the one mourns for the active evil that hath been committed by him the other mourns for the passive evil that shall be inflicted on him The former grieves because his soul is defiled The latter grieves because his soul is condemned Water may gush from a Rock when is smitten by a rod But such heartless humiliations are hearty dissimulations Did sin bring sorrow into the world O let sorrow carry sin out of the world Whilst the vessel is leaking the Pump is going it s too early to wipe Tota vita vestra poenitentia sit haec enim vita locus est poenitentia Stel. in Luc. 3. 3. away tears from your eyes till God sweep away dust from your hearts It s better to go to heaven sadly then to go to hell securely Give me a melancholy Saint rather then a merry devil nothing can quench Magni igitur constat poenitentiae Ferrar. the fire that sin hath kindled but the water which repentance hath caused Did the rocks rend when Christ dyed for our sins and shall not our hearts rend that have lived in our sins If we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to clense us from all unrighteousness 1 John 1. 9. Do but you acknowledg the debt and he will cansel the bond Is it not better to be savedby Divine mercy then to be sued by Divine Justice do you open the Offensum se Deus obliviscitur si nos offensi cum dolore recordemur Drex Christi Zod. p. 115. ulcer that is paining and he will apply the plaister that is healing till we are opressed with our own burdens we shall never be eased by Christs Shoulders Where misery passes undiscerned there mercy passes undesired behold I stand at the door and knock if any man hear my voice and open the door I will come in to him and sup with him and he with me Rev. 3. 20. Christ doth many times come unto the door when he doth not come into the house but how willing is he to be received who is unwilling to be denied as you knock at his doors for audience so he knocks at your doors for entrance if you shut out his person he will shut out your Prayers the onely way to have our will of God is to do the will of God A Saints tears are better then a sinners triumps Lachrymae poenitentium Bern. serm 30. super Cant. sunt vinum Angelorum A sinners repenting is the Angels rejoycing and give me such a mourning on earth as creates Musick in heaven if you would not sin in your griefs then grieve for your sins Why should God shew him mercy that doth not acknowledge himself guilty how many are there that are battered as lead by the hammer that were never bettered as gold by the fire Look to it least your repentance of dead works be not it self a work that 's dead that you shed such tears as need no tears for the sheding of them Usually that repentance that begins in the fears of hell ends in the flames of hell that 's the eighth 9. Singular thing is to keep our hearts lowest when God raises our estates highest charge them that are rich in this world that they be not high-minded nor trust in uncertain riches 1 Tim. 6. 17. Sinful arrogance doth usually attend sinful considence Worldly wealthyness is a great quill to blow up the bladder of high-mindedness when mens estates are lifted up then mens hearts are pussed up Oh how proud is thin dust of thick clay Pride breeds Thus Romulus secundis rebus elatus tumidus m nime serendam superbiam contumaciam sumebat Pâ—â—t in vita Rom. in great estates as wormes do in sweet fruits but Christians if you be poor in the world you should be rich in faith but if you be rich in the world you should be poor in spirit the way to ascend is to descend the deeper a tree is in its rooting the larger a tree is in its spreading The face of prosperity shines brightest through the Mask of humility As none have so little but they have matter for blessing so none have so much that they have matter for bosting shall the stage-player be proud of his borowed robes or the
mud-wall rise and swell because the beames of a beautiful sun shine upon it Gold in your bags may make you greater but its grace in your brests that will make you better Goodness without greatness shall be esteemed when greatness without goodness shall be confounded Proud sinners are fit companions for none but proud devils The more prosperity man enjoys the more humility God enjoyns Nature teaches us that those trees bend the most freely which bear the most fully A proud heart as it loves none but it self so it is beloved by none but by it self Consider in adversity as thou art a man thou art no less then him that is greatest and in prosperity as thou art a man thou art no more then him that is meanest Who would climb those pinacles that never any went up without They are like the inhâ—bitants of Asia who as Agesilaus affirmes si libertate fruerentur mali si servirent boni essent Plut. Apoth sec 84. fears or got down without falls Carnal persons they are never good but when they are under the rod and then not because God is displeased with their disilements but because they are overawed by his judgments It s written of Timotheus the Athenian when he had given an account to the State of his Government he often interlaced this speech In this Fortune had no hand After which he never prospered in any thing which he attempted When men disown God and cast off him God disowns men and casts off men It s storied of Philip of Macedon that after an unexpected victory he looked very sadly more like a mourner then like a triumpher He knew that what was got by the sword was subject to be lost by the sword God will not indure that any man should think well of himself but himself and when they are glorying in all their pride he is staining the pride of all their glory It is hard for any to be great in others eyes and little in their own Most Christians they are like Chamelions that when they take in the air they presently swell As that is a naughty heart which the world can soil so that is an empty heart that the world can fill Prosperous winds soon fill the sails but blowing too strongly overturn the ship Give me that brave person that in the midst of all his honours is rather pressed down with the weight of them then puffed up with the blasts of them You see your calling brethren how that not many wise men after the flesh not many mighty not many We may say of such as Luther said of Elizabeth Q. of Denmark a pious Princess Christus aliquando voluit Reginam incaelum vebere noble are called 1 Cor. 1. 26. You Nobles I call you to see how few Nobles are called He doth not say not any such are called but he saith Not many such are called A rich man is a rare dish at Gods table It s observed by those that are experienced in the sport of angling that the little fishes bite more then the great ones Oh how few great fish do we finde so much as nibling at the Gospels book When King James's Tutor lay upon his expiring pillow his Majesty sent to see how he did Go saith he and tell him that I am a going to a place where few Kings are coming Under the Law the Lamb and the Dove were offered when the Lion and the Eagle were rejected In Heraldry they say that the plainest coats are the richest arms Usually the poorest on earth are the richest in heaven The tree of life is seldom planted in a terrestrial Paradise The shining diamond of a great estate is often found upon the stinking dunghil of a wicked heart St. Bernard saith of riches Non tam bona quam minora mala They are not so much good things as they are Sapiùs ventis agitatur ingenis Pinus celsae graviore casu decidunt turres feriuntque summos Fulmina montes Hor. Lib. 2. Ode 10. lesser evil things Where there is the most prosperity there is the least security The tallest Cedars are more subject unto boysterous blasts then the lowest shrubs The little Pinnace rides safe by the shore when the gallant ship advancing with its top-sails is cast away Sheep that have the most wool upon their backs are soonest robbed of their suits The worlds fawning is worse then the worlds frowning Poverty is its own defence from robery Who will disturb those nests in which there are hatcht no birds In our days Malignants could not make estates but yet estates could make Malignants If they took away their lives it was but to get away their lands These Hounds though they could finde nothing against them worth the barking yet they found something amongst them worth the taking But I shall leave them in their dregs that are left in the sudds hoping that the hands of Justice will restore what the hands of Violence did impair Others when their estates are low their hearts are high but Believers when their estates are high their hearts are low Then went King David in and sate before the Lord and said Who am I O Lord God and what is my house that thou hast brought me hitherto 2 Sam. 7. 18. The weighty clusters humbled the branches of this royal vine He doth not quarrel with God for mercies denied but adores God for mercies bestowed Humility it looks with one eye on grace to keep it thankeful and with another eye on vice to keep it mournful As the Peacock by viewing of its black feet puls down its plumed feathers Theodosius thought it more honour to be a member of the Church then to be a Monarch of the world Wilt thou set thy heart upon that which is not Every thing will come to nothing but he that made every thing on t of nothing Many think it shall go well with them hereafter because it is so well with them here As if silver and gold which came out of the bowels of the earth had wings to carry a soul into the bosom of heaven The gates of the new Jerusalem though they stand open to gracious hearts yet they are not got open by golden keys A man may lie Perunt illa congregata sed pejus perit congregator eonum si non in Deo dives suerit Id. 1 bid in the bosom of the creatures for a time and yet lye in the bosom of the Devil for ever The worm of pride is such a gnawing vice that it crops the sweetest flowers of grace Either shut this sin out on earth or else this sin will shut you out of heaven The bowing reed is preserved whole when the stirdy oke is broke to pieces A proud person thinks every thing too much that is done by him and every thing too little that is done for him God is as far from pleasing him with his mercies as he is from pleasing of God in his duties Behold his soul which is
Others they live more on their cushions then they do upon Christ more upon the prayers they make to God then upon the God to whom they make their prayers which is as if a redeemed captive should reverence the sword but not the man that hath wrought his rescue The name of God with a sling and a stone will do more then Goliah with all his armour Duties they are but dry pits in themselves though never so curiously cut out till Christ fills them I would have you neither be idle in the means nor to make an Idol of the means If a Mariner will have the help of the winds he must weigh the anchor and spread the sails The pipes can make no conveyance unless the spring yields its concurrence What 's hearing without Christ but like a cabinet without a jewel or receiving without Christ but like an empty glass without a cordial It s only that ladder whose bottom stood on earth on the staves of which we climb to heaven And be found in him not having on mine own righteousness which is of the Law but that which is through the faith of Christ the righteousness which is of God through faith Phil. 3. 9. If you be found in your own righteousness you wil be lost by your own righteousness That garment was worn to pieces on Adams back and lasted but for a days covering Duties they are good crutches to go upon but they are bad Christs to lean upon when Augustus Caesar desired the Senate of Rome to joyn some with him in the Consulship they replied They held it a great dishonor to him to have any joyned with him It s the greatest disparagement that Christians can do to Christ to put their services in equipage with his sufferings You must put off the rotten rags of the first Adam if you would put on the royal robes of the Second To mix the Virgins milk with a Redeemers blood Though the voyce may be humble Jacobs yet the hands are proud Esaus Man is a creature that 's apt to warm himself by the sparks of his own fire though he lie down in eternal flames for the kindling of them Noahs dove made use of her wings but she did rest in the Ark. Duties can never have too much of our diligence nor too little of our confidence For he that is entred into rest hath ceased from his works as God did from his Heb. 4. 10. A Beleever doth not do good works to live but a beleever he lives to do good works It was a proud saying of him Coelum gratis non accipiam He would not accept of heaven gratis But he shall have hell as a debt that Non in carnabâ— bus 〈◊〉 sâ—d in solo Chrâ—sto fiduciam â—alutâ—â— noâ—â—rae omnem â—â—llâ— aâ—iââ—m re collocaâ—â—â— Zanc in loc will not take heaven as a gift For we are the circumcision which worship God in the spirit and rejoyce in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh Phil. 3. 3. A Christian stands at as great a distance from the best of his services as he doth from the worst of his sins And makes not the greatest part of his holiness to be the smallest part of his righteousness When you have done all then say we are unprofitable servants Luk. 17. 10. When you have obeyed all the commandments from above there is one commandment above them all to be obeyed that is to rest from your obedience A bridge is made to give us a passage over a dangerous river but he that stumbles on the bridge is in danger of falling into the river In the most of our works we are abominable sinners but in the best of our works we are unprofitable servants Our duties are not like the chrystal streams of a living fountain but like the impure overflowings of an unruly torrent I will go out in Omnis alia fiducia quae in quâvis aliâ re colocari potest è cordibus nostris prorsus amputetur omnino necesse est Zanc. ubi prius the strength of the Lord and make mention of his righteousness and of his only Psal 71. 16. The righteousness of Christ is to be magnified but the righteousness of a Christian is not to be mentioned It s a hard thing for us to be nothing in our selves in the midst of our worthiness and to be all in Christ in the midst of our weakness To undertake all our duties and yet to overlook all our duties Our services they are like good wine that relishes of a bad cask The Law will not take Ninety nine for an Hundred it will neither accept of counterfeit coyn nor of clipped money The duty it exacts is as impossible to be performed as the penalty it inflicts is intolerable to be indured We sail to glory not in the salt seas of our own tears but in the red sea of Christs blood Crux Christi clavis Paradisi The gates of heaven were closly shut till the cross of Christ beat them open We owe the life of our souls to the death of our Saviour It was his going into the furnace that hath kept us from coming into the flame T is the ruddiness of his blood that takes away the redness of our guilt Man lives by death his natural life is preserved by the death of the creature his spiritual life is preserved by the death of his Redeemer Moses must lead the children of Israel through the wilderness but Joshua must bring them into Canaan Whilst we are in the wilderness of this world we must walk under the conduct of Moses but when we enter into the spiritual Canaan it must be by the merit of Jesus The same hand that hath shut the doors of hell to keep us out of perdition hath opened the gates of heaven to let us into salvation They that carry the bucket to the puddle of their own merit will never draw water out of the clear fountain of Gods mercy Luther compares the Law and the Gospel to Heaven and Earth we should walk in the earth of the Law in respect of obeying but in the heaven of the Gospel in respect of believing It was the saying of one That he would swim through a sea of brimstone so he might come to heaven at the last What would not natural men do for heaven if they might have heaven for their doings But the heat of the Sun beams wil melt such weak and waxen wings He that hath no better righteousness Omnis anima eget oleo divinae misericordiae then what is of his own providing shall meet with no higher happiness then what is of his own deserving For they being ignorant of the righteousness of God and going about to establish their own righteousness have not submitted themselves to the righteousness of God Rom. 11. 3. Others if they rest not from their duties then they rest in their duties They will sail in their own bottoms though they sink in the Ocean
there is oft a vast distance and difference between the face of the work and heart of the worker But a soul acted by God in service though he may have self at the hither end he will have God at the higher end A Christian is more in love with his present duty then he is in love with his future glory St. Paul was contented to stay a while out of heaven that he might bring other souls into heaven To me to live is Christ and to dye is gain Phil. 1. 21. His life to them was most useful but his death to him was most gainful by dying he had injoyed his recompence sooner but by living he made his recompence larger Were it possible to divorce those things asunder which God himself hath linked together a Christian had rather be holy without any happiness then be happy without any holiness Luther hath this expression Mallem in inferne esse cum Christo quam in coelo sine Christo I had rather be in hell with Christ then in heaven without Christ And indeed hell it self would be a heaven if God were in it and heaven would be a hell if God were from it A gracious man makes this the request of his soul Lord let me rather have a good heart then a great estate Let me rather be pious without prosperity then prosperous without piety Though you may love many things beside Religion yet you may not love any thing above religion The earth that is our work-house but heaven that is our storehouse This is a place to run in and that is a place to rest in Yet a Beleever on his dying pillow being asked how he did O saith he sorry for nothing but that I am going to that Country where wages are received and no works performed That is the sixteenth 17. Singular thing is To be more in searching our own hearts then we are in censuring others states They are too busie Bishops that lord it over others Diócesses We are to allow beleevers for their failings though we are not to allow beleevers in their failings Be thou diligent to know the state of thy flocks and look well to thy heards Prov. 21. 23. It s of greater concernment to know the state of our hearts then to know the state of our flocks It s the expression of Seneca Vtimur perspicillis magis quam speculis Men are more apt to use spectacles to see other mens faults then looking-glasses to view their own Plato entertaining some friends at a neatly spread table Diogenes coming in tramples upon it saying Calco fastum Platonis I trample upon the pride of Plato to whom he answered Yea At cum majori fastu but with a greater pride He that is without sin let him throw the first stone They are fittest to finde fault in whom no fault is to be found and to blame others who are blameless themselves There is no removing of blots from the paper by laying upon it a blurred finger Thou hypocrite first cast out the beam out of thine own eye and then shalt thou see clearly to cast the moat out of Illud quasi cacoethes penitimmè inssium est ut cum in gravissimis nobis ipsis nimium facilè indulgentur ignoscimus aliorum tamen judices inclementissimi censores rigidissimi sumus Chem. Evan. Har. cap. 51. thy brrthers eye Mat. 7. 5. What dost thou get by throwing of stones in at thy enemies windows whilst thy own Children look out at the casements He that blows in a heap of dust is in danger to put out his own eyes Is not the worst mens practices a comment on the best mens principles Are there not the same lusts lodging in your hearts that are reigning in their lives The reason why there is so little self-manifestation is because there is so little self-examination For want of this men are like Travellers skilled in other Countries but ignorant of their own It is a sign they are sunk in their estates who are afraid to look into their books The trial of our selves is the ready road to the knowledge of our selves He that buys a jewel in a case deserves to be couzened with a Bristol stone Many think themselves as surely going to heaven as if they were already dwelling in heaven Christians would you see God then cast your eyes upwards would you see your selves then cast your eyes inward Contemplation that is a perspective glass to see our Saviour in but examination that is a looking-glass to see our selves in Bring your selves to the standard and see whether you be in the narrow way that leads to life or in the broad way that leads to death whether your spirits be chairs for vice to sit in or thrones for grace to rule in whether you be one of Christ Spouses or one of the Devils harlots Nero thought no person chast because Nero impurissimus neminem à libidine purum judâ—cabat himself was unchast Such as are troubled with the Jaundise see all things yellow But such as are more religious are less censorious Why dost Temerarium â—st judâ—cium cum in illo nâ—l lam jurisdictionem habeas Gor. in loc thou judge another mans servant Rom. 14. 4. They that are fellow-creatures with men should not be fellow-judges with God What will it advantage you to search anothers wounds and let your own bleed to death Take heed your own cloaths be not full of dust when you are brushing others garments or complaining of dirty streets when heaps lie at your own doors Many are never well longer then they are holding their fingers upon others sores such are no better then crows that fasten only upon carrion Let every man prove his own works so shall he have rejoycing in himself not in another Gal. 6. 4. For want of this men have their accounts to cast up when they should have their accounts to give up They have their evidences of grace to seek when they should have their evidences of grace to shew They lye down with such hopes in their beds of rest which they dare not lye down withall in their beds of dust Because he considereth and turneth away from all his transgressions Ezek. 18. 28. Conversion begins in consideration The hasty showr falls fastest but the soft snow sinks deepest The Mariner that is running his ship against a rock if he considers it and stears another course prevents a desperate shipwrack Examine your selves Integritatis tuae curiosus explorator vitam tuam in quotidianâ discussione examina attende diligenter quantum proficias vel quantum deficias Bern med 5. in lim whether ye be in the faith or no or whether the faith be in you or no prove your own selves know ye not your own selves that Jesus Christ is in you except you be reprobates 2 Cor. 13. 5. See whether your hearts be the cabinets of such a jewel A true Subject dares not deny any coyn which bears the image of
the bark of a tree whist it is young grow up with it till it comes to be old though a standing pool is soon dryed up yet a fountain is always running Its trees that are unsound at their roots that soon cease from the putting forth of their fruits they who for the present are inwardly corrupt will for the future be openly prophane That 's a crazy peece of building that must be cramped with Iron bars to keep its standing false grace is always declining till it be wholy lost but true grace goes from a mornings dawning unto a Meridian shining the vvool on the sheeps back if it be shorn vvill grovv again but the vvoll on the shee skin clip that and there comes no more in its room Philosophy playes vvith this Nullum violentum est perpetuum There is nothing permanent that is violent as a stone that 's mounted upvvards vvhen it loses its impress sinks dovvnvvards but its dreadful to be cast off from God for casting off the vvays and vvork of God A finger divorced from the hand receives no influence from the head He that deserts his Colours deserves to be cashered the Camp Ah beloved it would have bin well if we had made as much conscience in our liberty as we have had liberty for our conscience but we have gone from one Religion unto all till at last we are come from all Religions unto none Every varition from unity is but a progression towards nullity be thou faithful unto death and I will give thee a crown of life Rev. 2. 10. He hath a Crown for runners but a curse for run aways God accounts not himself served at all if he be not always served Non tantum facite sed perficite t is not enough to begin our course well unless we Crown it with perseverance We live in the fall of the leaf divers Sibi ipsis indulgent ex fervidis repidi ex repidis fergidi fiunt Stapl. in Dom. 2. post Epip â—ex â— trees which did put forth fair blossoms their spring is turned into an Autumn and their fair mornings have been overcast with cloudings The Corn that promised a large harvest in the blade is blasted in the eare The light remaines no longer then the sun shines When God ceases to be gracious man ceases to be righteous The flowers of Paradise would quickly wither on earth if they were not watered with drops from heaven How have the mighty faln when the Almighty hath not stood by them The Divel would soon put out our candles if Christ did not carry them in his Lanthorn be not weary in well doing for in due season you shall reap if you faint not Gal. 6. 9. To see a ship sink in the harbor is more grievous then if it had perisht in the open Sea There goes the same power to a Saints strengthening that there goes to a sinners quickening he that doth set us up and make us holy must keep us up and make us steady How easily is a ship sailing to the shore carryed back again by a storme to the Sea O Ephraim what shall I do unto thee and Judah what shall I do unto thee why what 's the matter your goodness is as the morning cloud and as the early dew it goeth away Hosea 6. 4. Their bowls began to slug before they came to the end of the Alley Some have beat Jehues March they have driven furiously in Religion but within a few years they have knockt off there Chariot wheels After they have lifted up their hands to God they have lift up their heels against him that mans beginning was in Hypocrisie whose ending is in apostacy You look for happiness as long as God hath a being in heaven God looks for holiness as long as you have a being on earth he that endures to the end shall be saved Vestis Aaronica expraescripto Dei deorsum ad pedes habuit in circuitu quasi mala punica et tintinnabula aurea Mala punica inter omnes alios sructus sola coronae cujusdam spociem habent illa coront est virtutum perfectio consummatio finis enim coronat opus Hanc idcirco coronam Deus necia principio nec in medio sed ad pedes posuit tunicae sacerdioalis Id. ibid. He shall never be glorious in the end that is not gracious to the end That man must carry his grace within him to the dust that would have his grace carry him with it to Christ if any man draw back my soul shall have no pleasure in him Heb. 10. 38. He that draws back from profession shall be kept back from Salvation he that departs in the Faith shall be Saved but he that departs from the Faith shall be damned We praise the Mariner when he is arived at his harbour and commend the Souldiers valour when he hath obtained the victory the Chrysolite which is of a golden colour in the morning loses its splendor before the evening such are the glittering shews of Hypocrites But though blazing commets fall to the earth yet fixed stars remain in heaven That fire which is lade on Gods Altar when once it s kindled shall no more be quenched Grace may be shaken in the soul but it cannot be shaken out of the soul it may be a brused reed but it shall never be a broken reed Christ is more tender of his body mysticall then he was of his body natural A beleiver though he may fall fowly yet he shall never fall finally The gates of hell shall not prevail against the Saints of Heaven The fiery darts of the Devil that in themselves are intentionally mortal shall be to such Eventually medcinal These bees may startle thee to keep thee wakeful but they shall not sting thee to make thee woful Thy light may be Eclipsed for a time but the Sun will break forth again Under the law God had his Evening as well as his Morning Sacrifice Ther 's as much sweetness in the Sugar at the bottom of the cup as in the cream on the top of the Milk No man that puts his hand to the plough and looks back is fit for the Kingdome of God Our labours are never fulfilled till our lives are expired Religion if it be a thing that is troublesom it will be a thing that tyresome there is no thing constant but what is pleasant though a Saint may some times be weary in doing the work of the Lord yet a Saint is no time weary of doing the Lords work Habitus non amittitur licet actus intermittitur theâ—e may be an omission of grace but there cannot be an amission of grace this babe may lye upon a sick bed but it shall never lye upon a Death bed Christ is stiled the finisher of our faith as well as he is stiled the Author of our faith We have as much need of the spirit to bring up our graces as we have need of the spirit to bring forth our graces
Indifferency in Religion is the next step to apostacy from Religion But though Christians be not kept altogether from falling yet they are kept from falling altogether they may part with Christ for a time but they shall not depart from Christ for ever The trees of righteousness may have their autumne but they shall have their spring There is never so low an ebb but there 's as high a tyde Christians are like crocodiles that are growing till they are dying or like the Moon that increases in her beauty till she arrives at the full of her glory take heed of putting off the robes of piety whilst you are on this side eternity You must hold the Scepter of grace in your hands till God set the Crown of glory upon your heads If the service of God be bad why do you set forth in it if the service of God be good why do you shrinck back from it usually they who ride fastest at their first setting forth are soonest tired in their journies it s the sparkling Diamond that is set in the Apostiles Crown 2 Tim. 4. 7. I have fought a Absque perseverantid nec qui pugnat victoriam nec palmam victor consequitur Bern. Ep. 12 good fight I have finisht my course I have kept the faith his work was done before his life was done henceforth their is laid up for me a crown of glory There 's many persons that layes a foundation that never raises up a super structure But Jesus Christ is never a Father to abortive children where he gives strength to conceive he gives strength to bring forth he turnes the bruised reed into a brazen pillar and the smoaking flax into a Triumphant flame that is the 18th 19. Singular action that must be done by singular Christians is To take all the shame of their sins unto their selves and to give all the glory of their services unto Christ Others they take all the glory of their services to themselves and lay all the shame of their sins on him as if he that dyed on earth to redeem us from them should live in heaven to confirm us in them The Devil may flatter us but he canot force us he may tempt us unto sin but he cannot tempt us into sin He is but the Father begeting the evil heart is the Mother conceiving and in this sence the Father can do nothing without the Mother the fire is his bvt the tinder is ours he could never enter into our houses if we did not set open our doors Many complain for want of liberty who thrust their feet in Satans fetters the woman thou gavest me she gave me of the tree and I did eat Gen. 3. 12. I took that as a gift from her whom thou gavest as a gift to me its ill putting of sins brats to suck at Gods brest they may receive their punishment from him but they shall never receive their nourishment from him He cannot be the unrighteous upholder of what he is the righteous avenger O Blasphemy canst thou charge the Sun with darkness by whom the heavens are inlightned or the Sea with dryness by whom the earth is moistened Our Impiety is as truly the off-spring of our souls as our posterity is the off spring of our bodys Every good and perfect gift comes from above from the father of light with whom is no varyableness or shadow of turning Jam. 18. 17. Whatsoever is truly good hath its emanation from God Now the same spring cannot send forth both sweet and bitter waters T is a known rule contraria multuose tollunt contraries destroy each other Many have more leaves to cover the naughtiness of their works then they have cloths to cover the nakedness of their backs How many lay the bastards of Heresie at the door of the Sanctuary calling diabolical soductions Evangelical revelations as if the father of light could bring forth the issues of darkness What 's this but to set a crown of Lead upon a head of gold We can defile our selves but we cannot cleanse our selves The sheep can go astray alone but can never return to the fold without the asistance of the Shepherd till we tast the bitterness of our own misery we shall never relish the sweetness of Gods mercy till you see how foul your faces are you will never pay tribute to Christ for washing of them He that creates us in his image he restores us his Image If we were left to our selves but a moment we should destroy our selves in that moment We are like glasses without a bottom that as soon as ever they are out of the hand are broken Others they greaten themselves to make Christ little but we should lessen our selves to make Christ great Nevertheless I live yet not I but Christ lives in me Gal. 2. 20. A beleiver is willing to stand for a Cypher so Christ may go for a figure well may we abase our selves for his exaltment that abased himself for our establishment Prorsus Sathan est Lutherus sed vivat regnet Christus Let Luther be accounted a Devil so Christ may be exalted as a God said that flaming Seraphim of himself Without me ye can do nothing Nisi tanquam palmites in me qui vera sum vitis insâ—ramini nec multum nec parùm sed nihâ—l potestis in spiritualibus Dav. deter 9. p. 48. Joh. 15. 5. The pen may as soon write without the hand that holds it as grace can work without the Spirit that moves it Not onely the enjoyment of our talents is from God but the improvement of our talents is from God Luk. 19. 16. Lord thy pound hath gained me tenpounds It s not my pains that hath done it but it s thy pound that hath done it Men should not glory in what they have received but they should give glory for what they have received The grace of God without the God of grace it s but like a clock that stands still when all its weights are down Did not our hearts burn within us Luk. 24. 32. But how long did that flame last all the time he talked with us When his bellows gave over blowing their fuel gave over burning Graces in our hearts are like stars in the heavens that shine not by their own splendor but by borrowed beams from the Sun of Righteousness He that takes the brick must give the straw that makes it There is no water except he smites the rock nor fire except he beat the flint If he call us to the work of Angels he will supply us with the strength of Angels For when we were without strength in due time Christ dyed for the ungodly A Soul that is Christless is a Soul that is strengthless Man is beholden to God for what he hath but God is not beholden to man for what he doth But of him and through him and to him are all things to whom be glory for ever Amen Rom. 11. 36. The humble heart knows no fountain
but Gods grace and the upright man knows no end but Gods glory Waters will rise as high as they fall whatsoever action hath God for its author hath God for its center as a circular line makes its last ending where it had its first beginning Take heed of turning a sacred priviledge into a privy sacriledge If he give the grace that is not due to us shall we deny the praise that is due to him Others they make their end their God but we must make God our end The firmament is made more glorious by one sun then by all the stars that are seated in their several orbs And Jesus Christ from one Saint hath more glory given to him then he receives from all the world besides him The silver shrines of divine praises they ard passively pared off from the beings of other creatures but they are actively given up from the beings of the New creature Whether you eat or drink or whatsoever you do do all to the glory of God 1 Cor. 10. 31. From the lowest act of nature to the highest act of grace there is no plea for the pride of man but for the praise of God Not unto us not unto us but unto Varâ—s vos Deus cum â—at bonis quidni in laudes ejus erumpamus Sibel conc 3. in lim thy name be the glory If he make our natures gracious we should make his name glorious God sets many dishes upon our table but we must set this dish upon his table He that would be fingering the honor of a God is not fitting for the honor of a man As he said Aut Caesar aut Nullus Either I will be Caesar or nobody So the Lord saith Aut Deus optimus Maximus aut nullus Either I will a great God or else I will be no God That man disparages the beauty of the Sun that lays it level with the lesser stars The glory of God must be the golden Butt at which all the arrows of duty are shot or else they fall short of their mark Go forth O ye daughters of Sion and behold King Solomon with the crown wherewith his mother crowned him in the day of his Espousals Cant 3. 11. The body it hath two eyes but the soul must have but one and that so firmly fixt on Christ as it must never glance beside him A single eye is fittest for a single object When the people saw what Paul had done they lifted up their voyces saying The Gods are come down to us in the likeness of men Act. 14. 11. But do they take that glory to themselves that 's given to them from others No v. 1. Why do you these things we also are men of like passions with you We are so far from the perfections of God that we are cloathed with the passions of men But do others so The people gave a shout saying It is the voyce of God and not of men Act. 12. 22. What the people gave foolishly he took fearlesly vers 23. And immediately the Angel of the Lord smote him because he gave not God the glory and this same worm-eaten wretch was a wretch eaten up of worms Every little river pays its tribute to the great sea The blessings of God are to be magnified but the being of God is it I may so speak to be omnified Magnus gratiae oceanus est Deus ad quem per canalem gratitudinis beneficia quae ex ipso manarunt refluere atque reverti debent We have no way to turn the streams unto God the ocean of bounty but through the channel or conduitpipe of gratitude Giving thanks to the Father who Sibel con 9. juâ—â— med hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the Saints in light Col. 1. 12. It s very meet that he should be magnified by us that Aeqâ—itâ—tem om nâ—m abâ—â—â—e runt qui tot tantisqueâ—eneficiis ornati graâ—os se bene factori non praebent Id. concâ—â— in miâ— makes us meet to be glorified with him The whisperings of the voyce are ecchoed back in an exact concave The body of man if it be sound can stoop for a pin as well as for a pound As the best of means should make us fruitful so the least of mercies should make us thankeful The four and twenty Elders fall down before him that sate on the Throne and worshipt him that lives for ever and ever and east their crowns before the throne Rev. 4. 10. A divine soul knows that whatsoever oyntment is poured out upon Christs head runs down to the skirts of his garment What he gives to him in copper shall be returned to him in silver yea the onely way of keeping our Crowns on our heads is the casting our Crown at his feet Joseph of Arimathea he builds a sepulchre for Christ and he makes use of it for three days and returns it again perfumed Well may we give all our glory unto him who hath given all his glory unto us A Christian as he lays up himself in God so he lays out himself for God and is wllling to dedicate to God that perfume of prayses which ariseth from his beds of spices 20. Singular thing is To value a heavenly reversion above an earthly possession Others say that a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush but we say that such a bird in the bush is worth two in the hand They that adore the streams its an argument that they are ignorant of the spring Socrates being askt what Countryman he was answered Civis sum mundi The whole world is my Country But a Christian being askt what Countryman he is answered Civis cum coeli Heaven is the region that I am free of Beleevers build their tombs where others build their Tabernacles The men of the world fix upon the things of the world that is the shrine and cabinet wherein they lock up all their jewels Though God hath given the earth to beasts yet such beasts are they as to give themselves to the earth It was the saying of a cursed Quis non illius vitae desiderio praesentem vitam despiciat Quis non illius aâ—undantiae deâ—ectamento divitâ—as teâ—poris labentis exhor reat c. Fulg. in Epist 6. ad Theodor. Cardinal That he preferred his part in Paris before his part in Paradice That is but a cock of the worlds dunghil that prises a barly corn before a jewel What is the glimering of a candle to the shining of the sun or the value of brass and copper to the worth of gold and silver Yet children are taken more with present counters then with future Crowns Thus whilst the shadow is imbraced the substance is neglected and men court the vail when they should kifs the face That man that is a labouring Bee for earthly prosperity will be but an idle drone for heavenly felicity If you be risen with Christ seek those things which are above where Christ
sitteth on the right hand of God Col. 3. 1. The same pen writes fair or blots as his skill or rudeness is that handles it The same strings make a pleasant musick or a jarring discord as they are set and fingured So our affections according to their objects about which they are conversant become either like fiery chariots to carry us to perfection or like Pharoahs chariots to hurry us to perdition There is no need of blotting out these Characters but of writing of them in fair papers nor of drying up of these waters but of diverting them into their proper channels nor of plucking up of these plants but of setting them in a right soil Solum dispicit qui coelum aspicit He that looks upon heaven with desire will look upon earth with disdain Our affections were made for the things that are above us and not for the things that are a out us What is your earthly Manors to your heavenly Mansions As carnal things seem small to a man that is spiritual so spiritual things seem small to a man that is carnal Ignoti nulla cupido there are no movings after things beyond the sphear of our knowledge Heaven is to them as a mine of gold covered with earth and rubbish or as a bed of pearl inclosed in a heap of sand If they had the eyes of an eagl to see it they would wish for the wings of an eagle to flie unto it How little would the great world seem to us if the great God was not little in us Either men have no thoughts of a future state or else they have low thoughts of a future state If we had souls without any bodies then there would be no need of earth to keep us if we had bodies without any souls then there would be no need of heaven to crown us But such as have no present holiness are for a present happiness There be many that say Who will shew us any good Psal 4. 6. any good will serve the turns of those that know not the chiefest good But Lord lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us O how sordid is it to prefer the garlick and onyons of Egypt before the milk and honey of Canaan Visible things to them is better then invisible They mind the world that is come so much as if it would never have an ending and the world to come so little as if it would never have a beginning Why should you be so taken with your riches that shall be taken from your riches or dote upon a flower which a day may wither They that are travelling beyond the world they shoulst be trading above the world but such are not easily awakened that fall so fast asleep on the worlds pillow But now they desire a better Country that is a Tunc ut fama est primum gustantes vinum ex â—taliâ delatum sic illius admiratione amentes facti sunt omnes ut collectis armis c. quaesicrint eam terram in quá hujusmodi fructus oriratur Plut. in vit Camil. heavenly Heb. 11. 16. The Gauls when they had tasted the sweet wine of Italy asked where the grapes grew and would never be quiet till they came there O that I had the wings of a Dove that I might fly above and be at rest A beleiver is willing to lose the world for the reception of grace and he is willing to leave the world for the fruition of glory As the worst on this side hell compared with that is mercy so the best on this side heaven compared with that is misery There is no more comparison to be made between heaven and earth then there is between a peice of rusty iron and a peice of refined gold St. Austin saith Spes vitae immortalis est vita vitae mortalis The hope of life immortal is the life of our lives mortal It s the expectation of their future heritage which is the Saints Jacobs staff to walk through this dark pilgrimage If in this life only we have hope in Christ we were of all men the most miserable but because we have hope in Christ after this life we may be of all men the most comfortable for in this we groan earnestly desiring to be cloathed upon with our house which is from heaven 2 Cor. 5. 2. A beleever longs to be there most of all where he shall be best of all He is not only one that grows in what is gracious but he is one that groans for what is glorious Perfection is the boundary of expectation as it likes no other so it looks no further every thing in Eternity is wound up to its highest capciaty Behold I see the heavens opened and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God Act. 7. 56. A beleiver can sweetly see with an eye that is purified what he shall shortly see with an eye that is glorified Here it is that mercy is received unmixed and majesty is viewed unvailed What 's a Pebble that is worthless to a Pearl that is matchless Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord O what joy enters into the beleever when he enters into the joy of his Redeemer The vessels of mercy shall then swim in the ocean of glory Come ye blessed of my father inherit the kingdom prepared for you before the foundation of the world Mat. 25. 34. That which makes hell so full of horror is that it s below all hopes That which makes heaven so full of splendor is that it s above all fears The one is a Ibi erit verè maximum Sabbatum non habens vesperem Aug. de civ deil 22. c. 30. night that shall never see any day appearing the other is a day that shall never have any night aproaching Who would not work for glory with the greatest diligence and wait for glory with the greatest patience seeing we advance the interest whilst we stay for the principal There are some deluded Professors that aspire after earthly scepters as if the place where Saints are to be crucified were the place where Sts. are to be glorified then certainly the Church here should rather be in a state triumphant then in a state militant In heaven the crown is made for them and in heaven the crown shall be worn by them St. Austin presents us with two parts of the Church Vna in tempore perigrinationis altera in aeternitate mansionis We are not speaking of that part which is established above temptations but of that part which is encompassed about with temptations and its hard finding of this ark without moving on a tumultuous deluge In my fathers house are many mansions I go to prepare a place for you Joh. 14. 2. Our Redeemer is our Forerunner he that takes possession of us on earth takes possession for us of heaven As they are not long here without him so he will not be long there without them Here all the earth is not enough
for one man but there one heaven is enough for all men here there 's a showr of tears in the Saints eyes but there 's a sunshine of joy in the Saints hearts A soul once landed at that heavenly shoar is past all tempestuous storms Many temptations may stand against a heavenly Christian but no temptations can stand before a heavenly Christian Flying birds are never taken in fowling snares What 's all that you enjoy here but as dying sparks of that living flame or as languishing raies of that shining sun or as small drops of that overflowing spring Whom though now ye see him not yet beleeving ye rejoyce with joy unspeakable and full of glory 1 Pet. 1. 8. If there be so much delight in beleiving Tam magna sunt illius viâ—ae bona ut non possiâ—t mensurari tà m muâ—â—a ut non possint numerari tam â—reâ—iosa ut ro◠〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ger. 〈◊〉 46. oh how much delight is there in beholding what 's the woing day to the wedding day or the sealing of the Conveyance to the enjoying of the inheritance or the fore tastes of glory to the full draughts of glory Solomon saith The spirit of a man is as the candle of the Lord. When the candle of the soul shal be taken out of the dark lanthorn of the body how gloriously shall it shine if the picture of holiness be so comely in its rough draught how lovely a peice will it be in all its perfections when every grace that is but here in its minority shall be there in its maturity Thus have I dispatcht the first General the Doctrinal Explication I now put off to the practicall Application which I shall spread but into two Branches First For the erection of singular Principles Secondly For the direction of singular practises First For the erection of singular Principles Natural men they obey natural principles and spiritual men they obey spiritual principles No man can expect that bitter roots should produce sweet fruits though civil principles may be lighted at the Torch of nature yet Sacred principles are lighted at the Lamp of Scripture Now there are twenty singular principles that are the rise and spring of singular practises The first Principle for Saints to walk by is this That whatsoever is acted by men on earth is eyed by God in Heaven A man may hide God from himself but a man cannot hide himself from God Their idols are silver and gold the work of mens hands They have mouths but they speak not for our direction eyes but they see not our conditions ears but they hear not our supplications hands but they work not our redemption Psal 115. 5 6. These were not the Gods that made men but the Gods that men had made Ejus divinitas intima est omni rei et verè nulla creatura est ei invisibilis Gor. in loc All things are naked and open unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do Hebrews 4. 12. We cannot see his will in his works but he can see our works in our wills To him the undermost roots are as visible as the uppermost boughs Though the place where you sin to men be as dark as Aegypt yet to God it is as light as Goshan It was good counsel that one gave to his friend So live with men as if God saw thee and so pray to God as if men heard thee He is a bold Thief that will cut our Purse whilest we stare him in the face All the wayes of a man are clean in his own eyes but the Lord weigheth the spirits Prov 16. 2. He sees faults where we see none Atomes that are invisible by the light of a Candle are made to dance naked in the beams of the Sun Cato was so grave and so good a man that none would sin in his presence whence it grew to a Proverbial Caveat Cave tibi spect at Cato Take heed what you do for Cato sees you Magna vobis est necessuas indicta probitatis cum omniaagitiâ— ante oculos judcicis cunctacernentis Boet. in fine de Cons If the eyes of a man will keep many sins out of our hands the eyes of a God should cast all sins out of our hearts To Gods omnipotence there 's nothing impossible to Gods omniscience there 's nothing invisible Momus complain'd of Vulcan that he had not set a Grate at every mans breast but God hath a glazed Window into our dark houses of clay and sees what is done in them I never look that such should straine at Gnats as will swallow down Camels But what 's the reason that men doe the works of darknesse but that they think they do their works in darknesse they think no eye sees them no not his eye that doth nothing but see And thou sayest how doth God know can he judge thorow the dark cloud Thick clouds are a covering to him that he seeth not Job 22. 13 14. How fain would the heart of man draw a vaile over the face of God An unsound creature would be an unseen creature Vnderstand O ye brutish among the people O ye fools when will you Est Deus totus oculus totus intellectus imd totus sapientia et intâ—lligentla Quomodo igitur non omnia videt et paucis interjectis Qui praesto aliisut omnia vide ant et intelligant ego non videbo Zanch de Nat Dei Lib. 3. Cap. 2. Quest 3. be wise He that planted the eare shall he not hear He that formed the eye shall he not see Psal 94. 8 9. What will you make him deaf that gives you ears and him blind that gives you eyes These instead of being men amongst beasts they are beasts amongst men See what follows The Lord knows the thoughts of men that they are vanity and this is the vainest thought of them all that he knows not the vanity of all their thoughts You cannot write your lusts in such smal Characters but the eyes of God can read their Letters As he can save from the deadliest extremity so he can see in the deepest obscurity Plato saith of the King of Lydaea Cum palam ejus annuli ad palmam converterat a nullo videbatur ipse autem omnia videbat Cicer de Offic. l. 3. p. 113. that he had a Ring which when he turned the head to the Palme of his hand he could see every one and himselfe walk invisible Though we cannot see God whilest we live in his Essence yet God can see us how we live in our Actions His eyes are upon the wayes of man and he pondereth his doings Men may gild over the leaves of a blurred life with the profession of holmesse but God can unmask the painted Jezabel of hypocrisie and lay her naked to her own infamy Because sin hath put out our eyes we think it hath put out his eyes Because Deus tum seipsum tum caetera oâ—mia unico simul actu atq intuitu
your consciences the black hand must then part with the white glove That Day will be too criticall for the Hypocriticall You that are now coloured for show shall ere long be showne in your colours 3. Principle that you should walke by is this That God beares a greater respect to your hearts then he doth to your workes God lookes most where man looks lest My Son give me thy heart Prov. 23. 26. We cannot trust God with too much nor our selves with too little The first is our keeper the last is our Traitor Here you have the dignity with which a beleever is invested and the Duty to which a beleever is invited The God of Heaven and Earth sues from Heaven to Earth He that is all in all to us would have that which is all in all in us We commit our estates into the hands of men but we must commit our hearts into the hands of God There 's none of our spirits so good but he deserves them there 's none of our spirits so bad but he desires them On whom do parents bestow their hearts but upon their children and on whom should children bestow their hearts but upon their parents but man hath no mind to give what God hath a mind to have This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth and honoureth me with their lips but their heart is farre from me Matthew 15. 8. Heartlesse operations are but hearty dissimulations You may keepe your works to your selves if you doe not give your hearts to him He that regards the heart without any thing he regards not any thing without the heart I beseech you therefore Brethren by the mercies of God that you present your bodies a living sacrifice holy and acceptable to God Rom. 12. 1. He that makes 〈◊〉 hath must have all he makes The Formalist he is all for outward activity the sensualist he is all for inward sincerity The one hath nothing within therefore he is for what is outward the other hath nothing without therefore he is for what is inward But it is not the pretence of inward sincerity that can justifie outward impiety nor a shew of outward piety that will excuse inward hypocrisie Though the braine be the spring of sensitive motion yet the heart is the Originall of vitall motion The heart its Primum vivens ultimum moriens it s the first that lives and the last that dyes O Jerusalem wash thy heart from wickedness how long shall vain thoughts lodge within thee Jer. 4. 14. Vaine thoughts defile the heart as well as vile thoughts as snails leave their slime behind them as well as Serpents If the Leprosie takes a single thred it spreads over the whole peece Though you cannot keep sinfull thoughts from rising yet you should keep sinfull thoughts from reigning Though these birds may hover over your houses yet let them not build their nest in its heaves The Devill knows if there be any good treasure it is in our hearts and he would faine have the key of this Cabinet to rob us of our Jewells A heart that is sanctified is better then a tongue that 's silvered he that gives but the skin of worship receives but the shell of comfort It is not the bare touching of the strings that is the making of the musick A spirituall man may pray carnally but a carnall man cannot pray spiritually If our duties doe not eat out the heart of our sins our sins will eat out the heart of our duties A worke that is heartlesse is Quando ea quae per se quidem et suo genere bona sunt fiant si non recte nec bene fiant non placent Dep. Chem. Evan Har. cap. 51. a worke that is fruitlesse God cares not for the crazy Cabinet but for the precious Jewell It 's said of Haniball that prime Captaine that he was Primus ingressus ultimus egressus The first that went into the Field and the last that came out of the Field Thus should it be in all the operations of a Christian The heart should be the first that comes into Duty and the last that goes out of Duty In prayer the heart should first speak the words and then the words should speake the heart All the inferiour Orbes they follow the motion of the superiour ones If the heart be inditing of a good matter the tongue will be as the pen of a ready writer It 's observed of the spider that in the morning before she seeks her prey she mends her broken webb and in the doing of it she alwayes begins in the middle Christians before you pursue the profits and the pleasures of the world you should mend the broken webbs of your lives and in the doing of it you should alwayes begin at the heart If you would have the Cocks to run wholsome water you must looke well to the springs that feeds them The heart is the presence Chamber where the King of glory takes up his lodgings That which is most worthy in us should be given to him that is most worthy of it Good words without the heart are but flattery and good works without the heart are but hypocrisie Though God pities stumbling Israelites yet he punishes halting hypocrites It 's reported of Cranmer that after his flesh and bones were consumed in the flames his heart was found whole A gracious soule is cloathed with sincerity in the midst of it's infirmities God is a Spirit and they that worship him must worship Indicat quod Deus incorporeus est oportet igitur et incorpoream ejus culturam esse hoc est per animam et intellectus puritatem nos es offere Aquin. in loc him in spirit and in truth John 4. 24. You can never give him the heart of your services unlesse you give him your heart in your services It 's his heart that speaks a mercy saving and it is our hearts that makes a duty pleasing It 's said of the Lacedamonians that were a poor people and of the Athenians that were a rich people the former offered up leane sacrifices to Apollo the latter fat ones Yet in their warres the Lacedamonians were alwayes conquerours and the Athenians were alwayes conquered whereupon they went to the Oracle to know the reason why they should speed worst that gave most The Oracle gave them this returne The Lacedamonians were a people that gave their hearts to their Gods but the Athenians did only give their gifts to their Gods Thus a heart without a gift is better then a gift without a heart Religion that 's a sacrifice but the heart that 's the Altar upon which it must be offered As the body is at the command of the soule that rules it so should the soule be at the command of God that gives it For a man to send his body to the service of God and leave his soul behind him it 's as if a man should send his cloath's stuff't with straw instead of a
when sown again yeelds more increase or like a stream that hath met with a dam that runs with greater violence when the sluce is opened that 's the fourth The 5. Principle that beleevers should walk by is this That there is the greatest vanity in all created excellency If this truth were more beleeved this world would be lesse beloved A Lady being told that the world in all its glory was but vanity true saith she Solomon said so but he tryed it before he said it and so will I. Thus many beleeve not a Toad to be poysonous till themselves are envenomed with it He that knocks at the creatures door will find but an empty house kept there All the rivers run into the Sea yet the Sea is not full Eccles. 1. 7. All the golden streams of worldly profits though they may run into the hearts of men yet they cannot fill up the hearts of men Did you never heare a rich man complain of the want of riches though he hath enough to support him yet he hath not enough to content him The eye is not satisfied with seeing If there be not enough in the world to satisfie the sences of men how should there be enough in the world to satisfie the souls of men The earth it s not a substance that is filling but a shadow that is flying The fashion of this world passes away 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Cor. 7. 31. The most excellent and flourishing Tamen ista divites nihil movent quia aureus fulgor ecce cavit eos Bzovius Conc. 28. p. 272. peeces of the whole creation are continually posting to dissolution We are commanded to use the world as though we used it not because whilest we use the world it is not The tide that so floatingly brings in the ship suddenly leaves her in the mud The higher the Sun of prosperity is in its shining the nearer it is to its setting Have you not seen some who have begun their lives in a Palace to end their lives in a Prison The golden Chains about their necks have been turned into iron fetters about their Nondescen det tecum in puteum interni aurum splendidum non lapides coruscantes non servorum caterva non agrorum latitudo Bzov. loco citato feet The substance of this life is but for the season of this life All creature felicity will become a prize to mortality You who feed upon golden dust will have all your gold turned to dust and the short Summer of your prosperity will usher in the long Winter of your adversity You who doe rejoyce in the world ere long will have no world wherein to rejoyce Arise ye and depart for this is not your rest because it is poluted it shall destroy you even with a sore destruction Micah 2. 10. Hearts ease is a flower that grows not in the worlds garden Where doth that fish swim that will not nible at that hook on which there hangs a golden bait How many perish for the having of that which doth perish in the using Why dost thou seek for wealth seeing the greatest Rulers are laid as naked on their dusty pillow as the poorest beggars The faster you grasp the world in your hands the sooner it slides between your fingers What is a man prosited if he shall gain the whole world and Hoc loco notantur duo 1. Inutilitas temporalis lucri 2. Irrecuperabilitas spiritualis Damni Gorr in Loc. Quid expedit concervar◠aurum lapides et gemmas et cum his in interitum pute◠inferior is demorgi Bzovius ubi priu◠lose his own soul Matth. 16. 26. He that bought this ware knows its worth The World if it be gained may be lost againe but the soul if it be lost can never be gained again There is a way to keep a man out of hell but no way to get a man out of hell It s as easie for a stone to lodge in the aire as it s for a man to rest in the earth The glory of this world its like a rotten post that never shews bright but when it is in the dark How few are there that clime the Staves of honor but they leave a good conscience at the bottom of the Ladder Beleevers themselves would surfeit of the worlds sweet-meat if God should not call them away from the banquet Creature comforts they are like sweet dews when they water the branches of the Tree they leave the root dry Why should Christians be found magnifying what * Diogenes et Abdolonymus de quibus loquitur Curtius l. 4. inenis et lib. 2. juxta finem Heathens have been found vilifying The world its rather a sharp Bryar to prick us then a sweet flower to delight us Poyson works more furiously in wine then it doth in water and corruption betrays it self more in a state of plenty then it doth in a state of poverty Gerhard compares this Praeciosa nux apparet haec vita exteriús sed sicultro veritatis aperias videbis quod nil nisivermes et putredo sintinterius Gerhard Medit. 38. life to a beautiful Nut which how fair soever it seems is full of nothing but wormes and rottennesse The earth it is for a Saints passage but heaven is for a Saints portion the former is for a beleevers use the latter is for a beleevers choice Every thing below is too base for the soule Nobility and too brittle for the souls Eternity Who would set that vessel under the droppings of a Cistern that 's able to drink in the waters of the Ocean A Professor stuffed with the world is but like a Bladder filled with the wind They that put on at the first for the world are put off at last with the world Son remember thou in thy life time receivedst thy good things These Blossomes will fall off from our Trees when death shakes the boughs The world it s got with cares and kept with fears and lost with groans We see the outside of a great estate but not the inside of it You behold the field of Corn Mundi honores divitiae et voluptates sunt tanquam uxae acerbae etpoma viridia atque immatura sed specaem anium et viriditatem Diabolus ostendit acerbitatem tacet Stapl in Dom. 1. Quadr Tex 8. but not the Tares that are mixed with it you see not their clouds and nights but their day and Sun The world pretends to be a Nurse but if you draw her breasts in the one you will find the water of vanity in the other the wind of vexation of spirit It s counted miraculous to find a Diamond in a Vein of Gold but it s more miraculous to find a Heavenly Christ in the bosome of an earthly Christian When we have the least of creature enjoyments we should then bless God for them When we have the most of creature injoyments we should not then bless our selves in them Thē world it doth us
within the fight of the shoare have quitted the bottome of merit to saile in the bark of mercy crying out Tutissimum est in sola Dei misericordia acquiescere Most that perish it is not their disease that kills them but their physitian they think to cure themselves and that leaves themselves incurable Good works are so indigent as no man can be saved Bona opera sunt necessaria ad salutem ratione praesentiae at non efficientiae Id. in Cont. 11. De hâc re vid Davent de just act cap. 31. conclus 4 5 7. pag. 402. c. by them and yet they are so excellent as no man can be saved without them It should be with Christs members as it is with the skilfull Mariners Oculus ad Coelum manus ad clavum we should have our eyes on the Stars but our hands on the sterne Man is a creature apt to hug himselfe in his Religious dutyes but he will run himself into new debts that thinks thus to pay off old scores Now we know that whatsoever things the Law saith it saith to them that are under the Law that every mouth may be stopped Rom. 3. 19. How shall any Nolo meritum quod gratiam excludat horreo quicquid de meo est ut sim meus c. Bern. in Cant. Ser. 67. mouth be opened when every mouth is stopped wilt thou plead innocency to him who sees thy black flesh under thy white feathers and your fowle hearts under your faire acts Good works they are our Jacob's staffe to walke Per scalam meritorum nemo potest ascendere in caeâ—um nisi ea servetur integra et ab imo ad summum minimè intercisa aut interruptâ— Davent ubi prius with upon earth but not our Jacobs ladder to clime with to heaven To lay the salve of our services upon the sore of our sinnes is as if a man that is stung with a wasp should wipe his face with a Nettle or as if one should goe about to support a tottering fabrick with a fire-brand When the river failes us in it's water we then look up to the clouds for moysture Duties if Christ breaths not in them a Christian growes not under them Pure Elements yields no pure nourishments It was not the clay and the spittle that cured the blind man but Christs Lutum solet magis excaecare Aquin. in loc anoynting his eyes with them that was more likely to make a seeing man blind then to make a blind man see It was not the troubling of the water in the Pool of Bethesda that made them healing but the coming down of the Angell That stomack will remain unsatisfied that feeds on the dish instead of the meat If the Sun shine the Dial may direct us but if the Sun be downe the Diall cannot instruct us When the lightnings of Divine fury flashes in our eys and the Cannons of the Laws curses thunders in our eares as fast as you lay on your own plaisters a convinced conscience will rub them off againe Man may spread the net of duty but it 's God must make the draught of mercy Others they walk by this principle That much is too little for themselves but a little is too much for God But as you can never see him according to the greatnesse of his Majesty so you can never serve him according to the goodnesse of his mercy St. Paul when he writes about the reception of a runaway servant Phillemon 19. Thou owest to me thine own self We do not only owe our services to God but we owe our selves to God Good workes though they be Adjudicat caelum devs ut operuÌ„ mercedem piis et fide libus non tamen virtute meriti humani sed promissi divini Dav. cap. 33. temporal in their performing yet they are eternall in their rewarding The body may as well live without any diet as the soul can live without any duty But none of those things move me neither count I my life dear to my self so that I may finish my course with joy Acts 20. 24. Did Christ lay downe his life to obtaine the purchase of Heaven and shall not we lay out our lives to obtaine the possession of Heaven Is it worth his passion and is it not worth our action Alass what 's our sweat to his blood What could he do more then dye for us and what can we do less then live to him To whom much is given of them much shall be required You that are Christians can you find me out that good that is not given to you or that evill that is not forgiven in you God he deserves more from every Christian then he demands from any Christian And as duties can never have too much conscience used about them so they can never have too little confidence placed on them So likewise ye when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you say we are unprofitable servants we have done that which was our duty to doe Luk. 17. 10. Not only when all is to be done but when all hath been done God hath no need of us for he is from everlasting without us blessed but we have need of God for we are to everlasting without him cursed We must live in obedience but we must not live on obedience Duties they are via ad regnum Opera bona haereditatem nobis in caelis paratam tantummodo ut via ac conditio in haeredibus requisita praecedunt Synop. par Theol in disp de bon oper Vide etiam Rivet in Ps 32. vers 1. juxta fin not causa regnandi Feare not little flock it 's your Fathers good pleasure to give you a Kingdome Luke 12. 32. Heaven is not the product of mans labour but it 's the product of Gods pleasure The Marriners will row hard in a storme to get to the shoare by their own power before they will awake him with a save us Master or we perish He becomes a Malefactor Dignitas bonorum operum non ex illorum merito sed ex sola dei gratiâ aestimanda est nam si Deus illa secundum legis suae rigorem examinaret censurâ potius ob imperfectionem suam digna essent quam favore ac beneficio ipsius that comes not to a Mediator All our operations are cloath'd with imperfections there 's aliquid infectivum and aliquid defectivum Our most sublime and spiritual duties are not wound up to the height of a Command They are all tainted with a disproportion to the Golden Rule as the Moon shines in a lower and inferiour Chamber to the Sun If you lay too much weight upon the pillars raised by your own hands you will pull the whole building upon your own heads So then it s not of him that willeth nor of him that runneth but of God that sheweth mercy Romans 9. 16. It s not of him that wils though it be never so heartily
nor of him that runs though it be never so hastily Our Crown of Glory is made by mercy Our working is not the cause of Gods grace but Ipsa salut hominis non debetur alicui per aliquam ejus voluntatem vel exteriorem operationem quae dicitur cursus sed procedit ex solâ Dei misericordiâ Aquin. in loc but Gods grace is the cause of our working Man may doe something against it but man can doe nothing without it It s ill hanging the great weight of Eternity upon the small Wiers of Activity The boundless life of felicity flowes from the bottomless love of the Deity That 's the sixth 7. Principle that you should walk by is this That there 's no obtaining what is promised but by fulfilling what 's commanded As those which were under the Law were not without a Gospel to save them so those that are under the Gospel are not without a Law to rule Lex moral is non minus ad Christianos pertinet sub novo quum ad Judae nos subvetere Testando Synops. Pur. Theol. disp 18. them What God hath put asunder let no man joyn together but what God hath joyned together let no man put asunder It 's as ill divorcing what 's united as it is uniting what 's divorced Ask and it shall be given you seek and ye shall Quasi dixisset id quo vobu opus est petite Non conceditur quod petitis Quaerite Negatur quod quaerites â— Pulsate Deus vult cogi Arrowsin Tact. sacr l. 3. cap. 1. sect 11. find knock and it shall be opened unto you Matthew 7. 7. Continued Importunity is the most learned Oratory repeated knocks soonest opens heavengates Man cannot blame God for not giving but God can blame man for not asking He that inables us to find him he enjoyns us to seek him He that hath promised us to open that we might not be doubtful hath enjoyned us to knock that we might not be sloathful He that will not heare Debet se ei viâ morum conformare in viâ justitiae charitatis et patientiae c. et haec est via Coeli non seculi Dei non Mundi Gorram in loc the voice of Christ shall never see the face of Christ He that saith He abideth in him ought to walk even as he also walk 1 John 2. 6. Then only doth the Watch of our lives move with uprightnesse when it is set by the beams of the Sun of Righteousnesse As he hath made his glory to be the pattern of our happinesse so he hath made his grace to be the pattern of our holinesse The Law condemns those persons as criminal that pretends to the Royal blood but are not of it because there 's a dependance between the blood Royal and the Crown Royal. I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews and are not but are the Synagogue of Satan Revel 2. 9. Many would be made like Christ in Blisse who would not be made like Christ in Grace They would have a promise to corroberate their assurance but would not have a precept to regulate their performance Observe the connexion The Lord is our Judge the Lord is our Law-giver the Lord is our King he will save us Isa 33. 22. Where ever Christ is a Priest for Redemption he is a Prince for Dominion Wherever he Non rebellibus sed meum credentibus et ei obedientibus est causa sufficiens salutis aeternae Gor. in loc is a Saviour there he is a Ruler And being made perfect he became the Author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him Heb. 5. 9. Jesus Christ where he is a fountain of happinesse there he is a fountain of holinesse If he be not your Refiner he will not be your Redeemer And those mine enemies which would not that I should reign over them bring hither and slay before me Luke 19. 27. It s here the voice of rebelious sinners we will not have this man to reign over us and it will hereafter be the voice of a righteous Saviour I will not have these men to reign with me As many as walk according to this rule peace be upon them Gala. 6. 16. To tread in any other path on Earth is but to mistake your way to Heaven If the Golden Chains of duty will not hold you Jussasme culsâ non negligâ—ntur sine crimine non coâ—temnanâ—ur ubique enim et neglectus culstâ—biâ—e et contemptus dâ—mnabiâ—is est Bern de praec dispens the Iron Chains of darkness shall bind you If you abuse your liberty in one world you will loose your liberty in another Blessed are they that do his Commandemenâ—s that they may have right to the tree of life Revel 22. 4. To look upon a promise without a prâ—cept is the Road way to presumption To look upon a precept without a promise is the Road way to desparation the one is like the Lead to the Net to keep it from floating the other is like the Cork to the Net to keep it from sinking Beleevers should be like the point in the compasse that 's governed not by the various winds but by the constant Heavens An obedient person when hisbody is translated from life to death his soul is translated from death to life O doe not make him to be a Quà m miserum est ex eò flore veneâ—um colligere equo alii remedium sugunt stone for stumbling that God hath made to be a stone for building The force of the fire is manifested as much in consuming the dross as in refining the Gold The strength of a Rock is seen not onely in upholding the house that 's built upon it but in breaking the ships that dashes against it The pillar of a Cloud was as wonderful in the darknesse that it cast upon the Aegyptians as in the brightnesse that it gave to the Israelites Thus doth the Lord Jesus display the greatnesse of his owne power in putting off the living to death as well as in raising of the dead to life Come unto me all ye thatlabour and are heavy laden and I will give you rest Matthew 11. 28. But what follows vers 29. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me Wherever he takes a burden from off the creatures back there he layes a yoke upon the creatures neck The Gospel it gives a pardon to the greatest sin but it doth not give a patronage to the smallest sin To be lascivious because God is gracious what 's this but to split that ship in the Sea which should Land us at the Shore To live in a holy obedience to a Heavenly Father is the liberty of Gods sons but to give lust the swinge is the licentious bondage of the Devils slaves That soule was never related to Christ that was never devoted to Christ Not every Observa quomodo Christus ponit discrimen inter judicium Dei et hominum
Emperours might be engraven in a little Ring I will not say there are not any good men that are great but I will say that there are not many great men that are good The Trees of righteousnesse are thinly planted in the worlds Orchard As in one righteous man there are many sins so for one righteous man there are many sinners Our fathers have eaten sowre grapes and the childrens teeth are set on edge The generallity of persons they will rather walke in the way that the most goe then they will walke in the way that the best goe They are like dead fish that swims downe the streame whither soever it runs or like water that takes the figure of the Vessell in which it is contained But Vox populi is somtimes Vox Diaboli what 's ingraven upon the seale is imprinted upon the wax If we will not have the world to be our leaders we shall be sure to have them to be our troublers if they cannot seduce us into an evill way they will oppose us in a good one If they cannot scorch us with their fire they will black us with their smoake speaking evill of you because you run not to the same excesse of riot because they will not doe evill with them therefore they will say evil of them We must not walke in the way that hath been gone but in the way that should be gone Be ye followers of those who through faith and patience have inherited the promises What 's the reason that there are so many scribling professors in the world but that they write after such imperfect Copies The best of men are but men at the best It 's better imitating of an evill man in what is good then it 's imitating of a good man in what is evill Be ye followers of me 1. Cor. Exempla sanctorum non sunt nobis imitanda nisi quatâ—nus consentanea sunt cum lege Dei et cum Christi exemplis ideo neque Apostolus simpliciter dixit imitatores mei estote sed adjecit sicut ago Christi Zanch. de nat Dei l. 3. c. 3. ult fere verb. 11. 1. But this Exhortation hath its limitation as I am of Christ Where he follows Christ we must follow him but if Paul forsake Christ we may forsake Paul It was a good saying of Sir Thomas More I will not pin my faith upon any mans sleeve because I know not whither he will carry it Beleevers have not only infirmities that are naturall but they have infirmities that are sinfull When they begin to be spirit they do not cease to be flesh Noah was no sooner delivered from a deluge of water but he was drown'd in a deluge of wine Their failings flow not from a want of grace but from a want in grace not from a nullity in holiness but from an impotency in holiness As they are not so bad as they have been so they are not so good as they shall be those Roses that are now in Gratia est adhùc in augmento at posteà erit in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 seu complemento Davent de just act cap. 34. their blossome shall be fully blown and the Starres that are yet imprisoned under a cloud shall be set in a cleare sky They are but slovenly Christians that will swallow all that beleevers doe without pairing their actions The Comment must be followed no further then it agrees with the Text. Say not in your hearts Multi sua peccata tegere volunt et defendere exemplo Davidis et aliorum quorum paenitentiam imitaâ—â— opoâ—â—ebat non corum peccata utere exemplis bonorum illosque in bonis actibus imitare Stella in Luc. c. 4. vers 27. why may not I be drunk as well as Noah and commit Adultery as well as David Did you ever hear of any that put out their eyes because others were smitten with blindnesse or that cut off their leggs because others went on Crutches If you have sinned as they have sinned you should mourn as they have mourned These acts are not for our imitation but for our caution they are not Land-marks for Travellers but Sea-marks for Mariners If a man find a piece of gold covered with dirt will he possesse himselfe with the dirt and throw away the gold You have heard of the patience of Job James 5. 11. We have not Apostolus commondat Job cum tamen Coeco impetu abreptus multa impatientiae signa edidit at etiamsi carnis infirmitate labascit vol secum tumultuatur huâ— tamen semper redibat ut seâ—otum Deo permitteretea Calvin Loc. only heard of Jobs patience but we have heard of Jobs impatience instead of cursing the sin in which he was born he curses the season in which he was born You have heard of the meekness of Moses and yet this even thred was not without its snarles whilest he is striking water out of the Rock he is fetching fire out of his heart And Peter not only forsakes his Lord but forswears his Lord. Who would ever have suspected that he who had his name from a Rock should have proved such a Reed Holy men they may be good Witnesses at the Bar but they are bad Judges on the Bench. If you will not turn your backs on Aegypt you may fall short of the Land of Canaan It was the complaint of one in his time That the greater theeves did execution upon the lesser But when God comes to passe Sentence he will bring the biggest to the Bar his Laws are not like Cob-webs which holds the little flies prisoners but the great ones break with small resistance He will set the Saddle upon the back of the right Horse Though you may have many under you upon Earth yet you have one over you which is in Heaven The Lord called to Adam and said unto him where art thou Gen. 3. 9. Not where wert thou but where art thou Oh how quickly hast thou morgaged that inheritance which I so lately setled on thee in Paradice The woman that thou gavest me she gave me of the Tree and I did eat Gen. 3. 12. Because she put it into his hands therefore he put it into his mouth The brats of sin are so ugly when they are brought forth that we are loth to own them our selves therefore lay them at the doores of others The stable Mountains are not so firme but they may be removed by Non igitur imitandi sunt fideles quatenus homines sed quatenus in eis resplendet imago Dei Bzov Conc 12. Page 119. fearefull Earthquakes Those Saints that have been as the greatest Stars have left behind them their twinklings and sad Eclipses 9. Principle that you are to walk by is this That where man is so dilligent as to do his best there God is so indulgent as to forgive his worst What an apology doth a waking Saviour make for his sleeping Saints The Spirit is willing but the flesh is weak Take a
carnal man and what he can do that he will not take a Christian man what he would do that he cannot Now impotency shall be pityed when obstinacy shall be punished God hath mercy for cannots but none for will nots Adams want was rather will then power but our want is rather power then will Psal 119. 5. O that my wayes were directed Emitto vocem cupientis et antrelantis Donec liberati simus semper clamabimus utinam Suspirabimus ex sensu imbecilitatis nostrae Donec gaudium plenum sit infruitione Rivet in loc that I might keep thy statutes A Saints will begins where his work ends Lord I beleeve help my unbeliefe Lord I see enlighten my darkness I hear but cure my deafness I move but quicken my dulness I desire but help my unwillingness I remember but remove my forgetfulness In the playing of a Lesson a single string may jarr and slip and yet the main be musicall It were a folly indeed to think our fields had no corn because there is chaff or that the pile had no Gold because there is Dross In Heaven there 's service alone without any sin In hell there 's sin alone without any service but on earth there 's sin and service in the same heart as there is Wine and Water in the same Cup. To condemn thy evil is good but to condemn thy good is evil Here beleevers are like the Israelites that in their darkest night had a pillar of fire and in their clearest day had a pillar of a cloud Above us there 's light without any darkness below us there 's darknesse without any light but here it s neither day nor night but in the evening it shall be light Though the lowest beleever be above the power of sin yet the highest beleever is not above the presence of sin It s in a living man that lust is mortified but it s in a dying man that lust is nullified When the body and the soul are separated by mortality sin the soul are separated to eternity though a forced compulsion is sufficient to testifie a Tyrant yet its ready obedience that proves homage to a King Sin never ruins but where it reigns It s not destroying where it is disturbing Lust its least hurtful where it is most hateful The more evil it receives from us the lesse evil it doth to us it s only a murderer where it is a Governour But the Rose is a fragrant flower though it be surrounded with prickles The Passover was a feast though it was eaten with sowre Hearbs There 's much of the wild Olive in him that 's ingrafted into the true Olive Our graces are our best Jewels but they do not here yeild their full lustre The Moon when it shines brightest hath its spots and the fire when it burns hottest hath its smoak I said in my hast I am cut off from before thine eyes nevertheless Intalem stupori excessum adductus fui ut mihi viderer projectus a conspectu praesentiae tuae tu verò exaudita mea oratione quanto ejus ad fuisti per subventionem et consolationem misericordiae tuae Titelman in Locum thou heardest the voice of my supplication Psal 31. 22. Who would have thought that ever those prayers should have had any prevalency that were mixed with so much infidelity Sin is an enemy at our backs but not a friend in our bosomes Although beleevers should be mournful because they have infirmities yet they should be thankful because they are but infirmities It is not the Interposition of a cloud that makes a night but the departing of the Sun Take the best beleever that breaths and he is fuller of his sins then he is of his prayers There is too much of earth in our imployments for Heaven But as he that drew Alexanders picture when there was a scar on his facedrew him with his finger upon the scar so Jesus Christ when he draws the picture of the Saints excellencyes layes his finger upon the scars of the Saints infirmities He looks over what is his and overlooks what is theirs Where there is no sins of allowance in them there shall be grains of allowance to them he will not throw away his Pearls for every speck of dirt Christ honours grace in its maturity yet he owns it in its minority O thou of little faith wherefore didst thou doubt They had faith enough to keep them from damning but they had not faith enough to keep them from doubting The least buds draw sap from the root as well as the greatest branches Though one Star exceed another in magnitude yet both are alike seated in the Heavenly Orbe Though one member of the body be larger then another yet each hath an equal conjunction with the head The Rind of good actions is tainted by infirmities but their Core is rotted by hypocrisie Jacob halted and yet was blessed as his blessing did not take away his halting so his halting did not keep away his blessing Hagar will have a room in Sarahs house till death turne her out of doors Death as it leaves the body soul-lesse so it leaves the soul sinlesse For if there be first a willing mind it is accepted according to that a man hath and not according to that he hath not 2 Cor. 8. 12. He doth not look that the Cock should run water when there 's none put into the Cistern Jesus Christ doth not put out a beleevers Vae nobis si secundum firmitatem fidei Deus nobiscum agere vellâ—â— Chem Har Evan cap. 83. p. 15. 85. Candle because of the dimness of its burning nor overshadow a beleevers Sun because of the watriness of its shining Though that Vice may be found in us for which he might justly damn us yet he hath not lost that grace by which he can as easily save us He comes not with water to put out the fire but with wind to drive away the smoak The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord Pro 15. 8. because the Incense stinks of the hand that offers it Not only the wickeds plotting against the Godly is sinful but also the wickeds praying unto God is sinful but what follows The prayer of the upright is his delight If the vessel of the heart be clean he will taste of the liquor that 's drawn from it O my Dove that art in the clefts of the Rocke in the secret places of the Stareâ— lee me see thy countenance let me hear thy voice for sweet is thy voice and thy countenance is comely 2 Canticles 14. That 's the ninth 10. Principle you should walk by is this That inward purity is the ready road to outward plenty That 's but a Hell-bred Proverb â—lain dealing is a Jewel but he that uses it shall dye a beggar Religion though it be against our ease yet it s not against our interest O what clusters of Grapes hang all along our way to
Canaan It s a true expression of Tertullian Major esset authoritas imperantis quamutiliâ—as servientis That Divine authority should be of greater force then humane utility But Religion is so bountiful a Master that none need be afraid of becoming its servants But seek ye first the Kingdome of God and his righteousnesse and all these things shall be added unto you Matthew 6. 33. Our work below is the best done when our work above is the first done Do you make Heaven your Throne to serve it and God will make the earth your footstool to serve you The young Lyons lack and suffer hunger Psal 34. 10. The young Lyons that have old ones to provide for them that will have it if it be to be had but they that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing As you would have no evil things so you shall want no good things He that opens the upper will never close the lower springs There shall be no silver lacking in Benjamins Sack whilest Joseph hath it to throw in grace is no such beggarly blaze as will not pay for its owne blowing when the best of beings is adored the best of blessings are convayed Whilest the rough Esau's of the time hunt after the Venison the smooth Jacobs carry away the blessing For the Lord God is a Sun and Eum qui tam pretiosa largitur qualiter pigebit erga voselementiam exercere Aquin in 8. ad Rom. v. 32. a Shield the Lord will give grace and glory and no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly Psal 84. 11. What need he fear darknesse that hath a Sun to guid him Or they dread dangers that have a shield to guard them O Christian the God whom thou servest is so excellent that no good can be added to him and so infinite that no good can be diminisht in him he makes happy and yet is not the less happy he shews mercy to the full and yet remains full of mercy Did a man beleeve that the Lord would not fail his body how chearfully would he look after his soule Sinners they look upon times of obedience as upon times of hindrance they trust to their own unutterable toylings and not to his unalterable undertakings they drive such a trade on earth as makes them break in their merchandize for Heaven But what the Philospher said Solus sapiens dives That only the wise man is the rich man That may I say Solus sanctus dives Though every rich man be not one that 's truly godly yet every Godly man is one that 's truly rich The Sun can as easily display its Beams over the whole world as shed its Rayes upon a single field What God receives from man makes him never the richer and what man receives from God makes him never the poorer his goodnesse is capable of imparting but his goodnesse is not capable of impairing If the fountain be still running why shouldst thou fear the want of filling The Lord is my sheepheard I shall not want Psal 23. 1. The sheep of Christ may change their pasture but they shall never want their pasture Is not the life more then meat and the body then rayment Matthew 6. 25. If he trust us with the greater shall we distrust him for the lesser He that hath given us our beings will give us our blessings the great husband-man never over-stocked his owne Commons Jehu had an external Kingdom that served God but in hypocrisie but they shall have a heavenly Kingdome that serve God in sincerity if he valued counterfeit coyne at so great a rate how highly will he esteeme of true gold If he drops so much into a vessell of wrath what will he do into a vessell of mercy If he doe so much for a slave of hell what will he do for a son of Heaven O Generation see the word of the Lord Have I been a wildernesse unto Israel a land of darknesse Wherefore say my people we are Lords we will come no more unto thee Jer. 2. 31. God was not a wilderness to Israel when Israel was in the wildernesse when they wanted bread he gave them Manna from Heaven to satisfie their hunger when they wanted water he broacht a Rock to quench their thirst and though they had no new cloaths provided for them yet their old cloaths did not weare out upon them but as some think as their backs grew so their cloaths grew yea when they were put to their hardest pinch he made a dry lane with watery walls through the deepe channells of the Red Sea They were never better liking then when they were at his immediate finding O how good is a beleevers God! that doth not only shorten his pilgrimage for him but sweetens his pilgrimage to him Christians if they had too much in temporalls might then have too little in spiritualls The three children Daniel 1. 15. did thrive better with their pulse then the rest with the royall allowance O how safely have some men rowed in a narrow river that have been cast away in the large Ocean Little is sufficiency to him who with it enjoyes Alsufficiency Christian get a holy heart and thy estate in Heaven shall be transcendent yea thy estate on earth shall be sufficient Naked piety is a good commodity but Religion is a cloud that will water our gardens Let the people praise thee O God yea let all the people praise thee What then Then shall the earth yield her increase and God even our God shall blesse us Psal 67. 5 6. It 's our unthankfullnesse that is the cause Gratiarum aâ—â—io ampliora a Deo beneficia impetrat Stapl. in Dom. 3. post Epip tex 5. of the earths unfruitfullnesse Whilst man is blessing of God for his mercies God is blessing of man with his mercies Trumpeters repeat their sounding where an eccho is returning What 's the reason that men are so afraid of godlinesse but because they thinke that when they seek for heavenly Manna they shall loose their earthly Mammon That piety is the only enemy of prosperity Could they but reap profit by praying they would take pleasure in praying What is the Almighty that we should serve him and what profit should we have if we pray unto him Job 21. 15. Alas Who would set those plants about him that will yield no fruits unto him The world they look upon gain as the highest godlinesse and not upon godlinesse as the highest gaine As if a worldly substance would make amends for a wounded conscience I am afraid that this worme that is gnawing will bring you to a flame that 's everlasting But godlinesse is profitable unto all things having the promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come 1 Tim. 4. 8. Who knows how many sweet productions are in the wombe of this morning Sun So that men shall say verily there is a reward for the righteous verily there is a God that
judgeth the earth Psal 58. ult There 's no work that is done in vaine but that work that is vainly done Wealth and riches shall be in his house and his righteousnesse indures for ever Psal 112. 2 3. Doe but you take care of all that belongs to God and God will take care of all that belongs to you For all other gaines whilst we live we lose them or when we dye we leave them to whom we know not but it may be to them we would not Inkeeping of thy Commandements there is great reward Psal 19. 11. There is not only a reward for keeping of them but there 's a reward in keeping of them In other services the Master hath all the profit and the servant none but in this the servant hath all the profit and the Master none 2 Sam. 6. 11. And the Arke of the Lord continued in the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite for three months and the Lord blessed Obed-Edom and all his houshold The Ark was not blessed for the sake of the houshold but the houshould was blessed for the sake of the Arke The Arke of God payes for its entertainment wheresoever it comes We say that those have decayed limbes that must be helped on with crutches Such are they that will side with resigion when they may live upon it but will shrink from Religion when it must live upon them But that maxime is still ture that Godliness with contentment is great gain 1 Tim. 6. 6. It 's only the Christian man that is the contented man and what is our enjoyments without contentment what 's abundance of possessions if linked to abundance of vexations Wicked men make this world their treasure and God makes this Fiunt instrumenta paenarum quae scilicet divitiae fuerant oblectament◠culparum Innocent world their torment When they want estates they are troubled for them when they have estates they are troubled with them when they should drink of the river God disturbs the water Sinner remember when thou diest thou wilt find godlinesse needfull and whilst thou livest thou wilt find godlinesse gainfull The purest honey is ever gathered out of the hive of holiness O that my people had hearkened unto me and Israel had walked in my wayes Psal 81. 13. But what had they got by it vers 16. He should have fed them also with the finest of the wheat and with honey out of the rock should I have satisfied thee The wayes of iniquity are the wayes of beggery It 's but equal that God should fall out with them in the course of his providence that falls off from him in the course of their obedience that they should have nothing from him in a way of bounty that will doe nothing for him in a way of duty If you make your Tabernacles leprous God will make your Tabernacles ruinous Length of dayes is in her right hand and in her left hand riches and honour Prov. 3. 16. Look to which hand you will and yet you shall find that both are full It 's storied of Synesius a Minister that living near Evagrius a philosopher This story you may read larger just after Mr. Baxter's Preface to his book called the Crucifying of the world and had often perswaded him to be a Christian O but saith the Philosopher if I become a christian either I must lose all for Christ or else I may lose all for Christ to whom the Minister replyed what you lose for him he will pay you againe O but saith the philosopher will you be bound for Christ that if he do not pay me you will Yes saith he and so became a surety for his surety and the philosopher became a Christian When this person came to lye upon his dying pillow he sent for this Minister saying here 's your bond Christ hath paid me all he hath left nothing for you to pay It was a vaine conceite of that potentate who refusing the name of Pius would be called Faelix Inward piety is the best friend to outward felicity though outward felicity be many times the worst enemy to inward piety That 's the tenth The eleventh Principle that you should walk by is this That all the time that God allows us is little enough to fulfill the task that he allots us Man that is borne of a woman is few of dayes and full of troubles Job 14. 1. The creatures life and existence is of a very short and small continuance Natures womb somtimes proves natures tombe and swallows up her own Vitae hujus principium mortis exordium est nec priùs incipit augeri aetas nostra quam minui Prosp de vocat Gen. lib. 2. c. 20 issue With many it's ebb water before the tide be at the full the lamp of their lives is wasted even as soon as it is lighted the sands of their hour-glasse are quite run out when they think it is but newly turned When men feele sicknesse arresting then they feare deaths approaching But we begin our dying as soon as ever we begin our living and how much the longer our time hath been so much the shorter our time shall be Every mans passing-bell hangs in his own steeple Take him in his four elements of Earth and Aire Fire and Water In the Earth he is like dust that 's scattering in the Aire he is like a vapour that 's vanishing in the water he is like a bubble that 's breaking in the Fire he is like smoak that 's consuming Seneca said truly Maximum vivendi Sen. de brevit vitae cap. 9. impedimentum est expectatio quae pendet in crastino the greatest hinderance of well living is the expectation of long life Therefore men so little prepare for death because they so little think on death they think not of living any better till they think not of living any longer Did you but walke by this principle though much of your time be past yet would no more of your time be lost you would this moment make sure of God because the next moment you are not sure of your selves One to-day is worth two to-morrows you know not how soone the sails of your lives may be rowled up or how nigh you are to your eternall haven O ply your Oares dilligently lest the vessell doe miscarry everlastingly What will you doe if you begin to dye naturally before you begin to live spiritually if the Tabernacle of nature be taken down before the Temple of grace be raised up if your paradise be laid wast before the Tree of life be set in it if you give up the Ghost before ever you have received the Holy Ghost if the Sun of your lives set within you before the Sun of righteousness shine upon you if the body be sit to be turned into the earth before the soul be fit to be taken into Heaven If the second birth have no place in you the second Death shall have a power over you One excellently compares
our life to a day Infancy is as it were the day breake youth is the Sun rising full growth is as the Sun in it's Meridian and old age is as the Sun setting by the light of the day let us doe the worke of the day O that thou hadst known in this thy day the things that doe belong to thy peace but now they are hid from thine eyes Luk. 19. 42. The dews of grace is falling whilst the day of grace is dawning O how just is it that they should misse of heaven at the last that never seek for Heaven till the last That God should deny them his grace to repent that abuse his grace to sin It 's a Maxime Omne principiatum sequitur naturam principiorum every thing hath an aptitude of returning into the Principle of its beginning as the Rivers that have their eflux from the Sea have their reflux to the Sea Out of the dust man was formed and therefore into the dust man is turned Sirs How much of your lives is gone and yet how little of your works are done You tender plants will you spend your youthfull lives in following of your youthfull lusts will you hang the most sparkling Jewells of your yeares as pendents in the Devils ears The Aegyptians sold their funerall balms in the Temple of Venus to shew that where they prayed for their nativity they might not forget their mortallity O you fresh pictures will you not be hung in Heavens gallery do you not know that the blossome is as subject to nipping as the flower to withering and the spark to extinguishing as the flame to expiring Veins brimmed full with blood may be emptied by an accident as soon as those that are leakish with old age As there 's none too old for eternity so there 's none too young for mortallity In Golgotha there are sculls of all sizes You are but green enough for reformation that are gray enough for dissolution tell me how wilt thou live when thou diest that art dead whilst thou livest every step that your bodies take it 's towards the earth O that euery step your souls take might be towards Heaven We sin as well in not doing the good commanded as in doing the evil prohibited The Vine that bringeth forth no Grapes shall be cut down as well as the Vine that bringeth forth wild Grapes There 's no countermining against the death of the body without us but by undermining of the body of death within us O how sad is it to be taken out of the world before we are taken off from the world To day if you will hear his voice harden not your hearts Heb. 3. 7. We have but a day wherein we are called to repent and therefore should repent whilest it is called to day None sings so sweetly as the Turtle upon the Churches Walls and all that he may even constram sinners unto himself He is the deafest Adder that stops his ears to the voice of the sweetest Charmer The Lord hath made a promise to late repentance but he hath not made a promise of late repentance If the Tap be not now thawed it may be for ever frozen A pardon is sometimes given to a Thief on the Gallows but he that Quòspectas quò te extendu Omnia quae ventura sunt in incertojacent Seneca ubi prius trusts to that sometimes hath a Rope for his wages Boast not of to morrow for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth Prov. 27. Man is such a pur-blind creature that he cannot unerringly see a day before him O see the ending of one day before thou gloriest in the beginning of another Many a mans dayes deceives him they passe away like a shadow by Moon-shine that then appears longest when it s nearest to an end Thou mayest not have halfe a day to live Dum floret aetas dum viget animus operemur bonum cùm enim vita ista transierit auferetur tempus operandi Arbor in cap. 6. ad Gal. ver 10. who thinks thou hast not lived out halfe thy dayes up and be doing least you be for ever undone The night cometh wherein no man can work The Grave is a Bed to rest in but not a Shop to trade in There 's no setting up under ground for those that have lost their time above ground When the soul in death takes its flight from its loving maite they shall meet no more till the general Assises 2 Cor. 6. 2. Behold now is the acceptable Vide Gor. Arboreum in loc time behold now is the day of salvation Now is the time for grace to accept of you and now is the time for you to accept of grace Opportunities they are for eternity but opportunities they are not to eternity Mercies Clock doth not strike at the sinners beck Where the means of grace is greatest there the day of grace is shortest Thou mayest be unhappy all thy dayes for the neglect of this dayes happinesse It was the sad cry of one My life is done but my work is undone O that you would imploy the small remnant you have of opportunity for the obtaining of the whole peece of felicity Make Hay whilest the Sun is shining and hoyse up Sails whilest the wind is serving Let this be thy living day the next may be thy dying day Seek the Lord whilest he may be found call upon him whilest he is near Isa 55. 6. Sirs The sufferings of eternal death are but the Issue of the slightings of eternal life Methinks the worth of such Pearls of price should sparkle in your eyes Will you let such a Sun set on earth by the beams of which you should walke to Heaven No disease is more fatal then that which doth reject Cordials What asad thing is it that such rich Mines should be opened and not a penny of this treasure fall to your share Some are gone so far in the way of sinning that there 's small hopes of their returning How much time did God bestow upon you before ever you returned any of that time to him It 's good to have an Ark prepared before a Deluge come in which you may be overwhelmed Man must do what he can and leave God to do what he will Though you cannot create the breath of the Spirit yet hang out your Sails to entertain it Though you cannot make the Pool of Bethesda healing yet lye at its mouth and wait for its stirring The longer a building goes to ruin the more cost it requires for reparation Remember that God can as easily turn you into the dust as he could take you out of the dust Delayes are numerous O but delayes are dangerous Who will look for water from a drained River Or that wealthy Grapes should grow upon a withered Vine For a man to make his best work to be his last work what 's this but as if an Husbandman should be putting in of his Plough for the sowing of his
seed when he should be thrusting in of his Sickle for the reaping of his Harvest Know that there is but one Heaven miss of that and where wilt thou take up thylodging but in Hell A vicious man expires and goes out like a Tallow Candle leaving a stench behind him A gracious man expires and goes out like a Wax Candle that leaves a sweet perfume behind him That 's the Eleventh 12. Principle that you should walk by is this That there can never be too great an estrangement Naufragium sanè paté meretur qui valido spirante vento et toto aequore acerbâ tempestate jactato Marē se tamen vult committere e◠vel expandere c. Sic à Deo deteri et vel in peccatum cadere vel peccato insistere et immergi meretur qui ventos et tempestates tentationum et occasionum peccati vitare cùm potest non contendit c. Stapl in Dom 11. Post Pent. Text. 5. from defilement He who now gives way to sin ere long may be given up to sin We are never far enough from lust whilest we are on earth nor near enough to Christ till we be in Heaven A sound eye cannot endure the least Moat nor a sound heart the least spot O stand off from the Devils mark unlesse you would be hit by the Devils Arrows Abstaine from all appearance of evil 1 Thes 5. 22. The closing with the appearance of evil is the next way to the accomplishing of apparent evil A spark of fire will easily catch in a box of Tinder The Picture in the glasse may as well inflame as the picture in the face Little streams will find a passage to the great Sea Restriction is a good chain to transgression Why shouldest thou venture on slippery places that canst Quantum possumus a lubrico recedamus in sicco quoque parum firmiter stamus Sen Epist 116. hardly stand upon the firmest ground As faith is a grace that feeds all the rest so fear is a grace that guards all the rest That man who is the most watehful that man is the least sinful He may quickly be cast down by a sinful temptation that is already prepared for it by a sinful occasion And who will pity him whose house is blown up with Powder that keeps his Barrels in the Chimney corner Yet so much monstrous wickednesse is there lodged in the hearts of men that they adde spurs and whips to that Horse that of himself rushes too fast into the Battel When the stream and current of their own lusts do carry them too swiftly before yet they hoyse up Sails to entertain the Devils winds as if they had not a Title strong enough to Hel except they bargained for it a new and bound themselves by solemn Obligations never to part with it again The Fowler spreads his Net but it s the wings of the bird that carryes her to it The way to keep temptations from entring into our souls is to Instrantibus tentationibus resistamus quia facilius non recipiuntur quam exeunt et paulò post nobis quia non est regredi facile optimum est omnino non progredi Idem Ibid. keep our souls from venturing upon temptations Dost thou murmur for want of liberty and yet surrender up thy self to flavery They who wil play with wantonness will quickly learne to play the wantons If you will not step into the Harlots house you must not go by the Harlots door If you would not gather the forbidden fruit you must not look on the Tree on which it grows To pray against temptations and yet to rush into occasions is to thrust our fingers into the flaming fire and then pray they might not be burned with its heat The Fable saith That the Butterfiye aske the Owle how she should do with the Candle that had singed her Wings who counselled her not so much as to behold its smoak If you hold the Stirrup no wonder if Satan get into the Saddle Temptation is a Tap to give vent to corruption Whilest a mans cloaths are on the scars of his body remain unseen If you would keep the Fort Royal of your souls look well to the Out-works of your sences Preserve your eyes that they be not windows to let in lusts that should be flood-gates to powr out tears a carelesse eye doth oft declare a gracelesse heart Remember the whole world dyed by a wound in the eye Who knows what defilements are conveyed through these Casements O the eys of a Christian should be like Sun-flowers that should not open to every blaze but to the beams of the Sun of righteousnesse Preserve your ears To keep our eyes and not to regard our ears is as if a man should shut the casements of his house and leave the doors open The ear is an instrument that the Devilloves to play on Your ears as they are joyned to your head on earth so let them be fastned to him who is your Head in Heaven Preserve your tongues least that which should be tuned for Gods glory be not turned into your own shame By the striking of these Clappers we guesse the mettle of the Bell Thou art a Galilean thy speech bewrays thee As every idle word shall be arraigned so every evil word shall be condemned A soul without its watch is like a City without its wals exposed to the in-road of all its enemies We need a Sun to dispel our darknesse we are so ignorant and we need a Shield to repel our dangers we are so impotent The earth is not so apt to be over-run with Thorns as the heart is apt to be overgrown with sins If you would not fall into the bottom of the River take heed of walking on the Brink thereof The Note that comes into the Margent will soon skip into the Text it selfe T is storied of Alexander that when Darius his wife a beautiful Lady was taken by his Army he refrained from often visiting of her least he should be insnared by her Those matches can never be compleated where all treaties are rejected He that crushes the Egg need never fear the flight of the Bird. He that would not drink of the wine must not taste of the grape And he that would not hear the Bell must not finger the Rope A man that carries Gun-powder about him can never stand too far from Sparkles If we go with sin one Mile it will compel us to go with it twain It will swell like the Cloud Eliah saw from the bigness of a mans hand to such an expansion as to cover the sky If thou canst not step over the narrow Brook why dost thou imagine it so easie to stride over the swelling Ocean Let him that thinks he stands take heed least he fall 1 Cor. 10. 12. You will quickly loose your standing if you do not fear your falling He that will abstaine from nothing that is lawful will soon be brought to something that is
sinfull Many a man hath been thrown out of the Saddle of profession by â—iding with too slack a Rain of circumspection Little sins are not like an inch of Candle that goes off in an absolute period but they are like a Train of Powder which takes fire from corn to corn till at last the Barrel is burst in sunder Or as a little sicknesse which is an humor disposing to a strong distemper As those persons that are way-layed by a Consumption they loose first their vigour and then their colour An honest Matron will blush to be found in the dresse of an whorish wanton What will you lay that in the Chamber which laid Christ in the Manger Is your house so largely built that you can afford that a harbour which you know to be a Traytor Hating the very garment spotted with the flesh Jude 23. If you would keep your cloaths from burning be sure you keep your skirts from singing A sick man abhors the Cup out of which he took his loathsome physick A beleever he disbands those Auxiliaries that have yielded strength to his Adversaries If Achan handle the golden Wedg his next work will be to steal it away If Ruth will lye at the feet of Boaz her next remove is into the bed of Boaz If you take the Devils Cup into your hands you will quickly lift it to your heads 13. Principle that beleevers should walk by is this That whatsoever is temporally enjoyed should be spiritually improved What we receive from the hand of Divine bounty we should imploy to the height of Divine Glory Others they make an earthly use of things that are heavenly but we should make a heavenly use of things that are earthly we should put a golden Bias into a Leaden Bowl that it may run true to him that made it The more your Wheels are oyled on earth the swifter should your Chariots move to Heaven I say unto you make to your selves friends of the Mammon of unrighteousnesse that when ye faile they may receive you into everlasting habitation Luke 16. 9. There is a way to plume the wings of riches and to lay up that treasure in Heaven which came out of the bowels of the Earth There is a Divine Chymestry that can extract the purest spirits out of the most grosse and fecculent matter That can advance Flints and Pibbles into a neer resemblance to precious stones The beast on the Altar differed not in kind from the beast at the Slaughter There is a lawful craft of coyning your money over again and adding the Image and Superscription of God to what is Caesars They say of the Philosophers stone that it turns what ever it touches into Gold Whatever Mill a Saint hath going in the world he should spread the Sailes of it for Gods glory when he doth set up us then we should lift up him How unequal is it to be hot in our prayers and cold in our praises to cry aloud Give us this day our daily bread and then to whisper out Hallowed be thy name What 's this but to open our Windows to let in the light and then to close them again to keep out the Sun or to lay a Pipe to convey the water into the Cistern and then turn the Cock against the Spring To remember God in our necessities and to forget Omnes qui aquâ indigent praecipites in fontem vadunt in eum oculos et animum dirigentes sed jam benè potati revertuntur terga fonti animumque vertentes sic multi in suâ siti et tribulatione Divinae bonitatis fontem inclamant liberati obliviscuntur Stapl Prom Mor Dom 3. Post Epip Tex 5. God in our superfluities as if his kindness were not as proper a ground for praising of him as his goodnesse is for praying to him If under miseries we can seek out God with tears under mercies we should set forth God with praise Mercies they are such gifts as advance our debts 'T is as sad a Spectacle to see a Saint in an ungrateful posture as it was to see Pharoahs lean Kine in a fat Pasture Shall man find God a Master that is bountiful and shall not God find man a servant that is dutiful If he gives us any enjoyments it is but for his own entertainments And well may that hand reap the fruits that sets the Plants Shall not he be found feeding at a Table of his own spreading Where former blessings have been improved there future blessings shall be conveyed He shall never want mercy that doth not play the wanton with mercy but if the child crumbles away the meat on his Trencher no wonder if there come a Voyder When we fight against God with his own mercies we doe but beat our selves with our own sins In vain have I kept all that this fellow hath in the Wildernesse so that nothing was missed of all that pertained unto him and he hath requited me evil for good 1 Sam. 25. 1. There was nothing wanting to him but there was something wanting in him Take a wicked man and Sicut nubes virtute radii solaris o terrâ exaltatur et attollitur sublatâ autem ipsu aerem obnubicat radios solares obscurat sic homo ingratus Dei favori exaltatus Deum posteà spernit et mandata ejus violat Stapl ubi priùs he is not led to God by that which comes from God He is like the Sea that turns the sweetest showers into the saltest waters God hath the least of service when he hath the most of substance That which should be a Bolt to keep sin out is but a Latch to let it in The Moon when its fullest of light with which it is adorned is farthest from the Sun from whence it was derived They send that River laden out with injuries that came flowing in with commodities The more a dunghil has the Sun beams shining on it the more noisome is the savour proceeding from it Sinners instead of having Viols full of Odors they have Vessels full of evils The flames of wrath will be hottest in their burnings where the beams of love have been sweetest in their shinings How often do we see those who are above others in outward greatnesse to be below others in inward goodnesse The weaker vessels by nature are many times the stronger vessels in grace To turn from God when he blesses us is a greater evil then to turn from God when he smites us Jesus answered many good works have I shewn you from the Father for which of these good workes doe you stone me John 10. 32. He crowned them with his goodness and they stoned him for his goodness Many are like the high-way side that returns no Crop though you scatter on it never so much seed They are like Aesops Snake that lay still in the Frost but stung him who warmed it in his bosome If it be a sin to return to man evil for evil what is it to
return to God evil for good When we gather the fruit we should cast our eyes upon the root when we are refreshed by the flowing stream we should reflect upon the springing fountain A load of earth hath sunk many a man down to hell and the richer he hath been without doors the poorer he hath been within Your estates if they be not wings to mount you up to Heaven they will be weights to sink you down to Hell That 's a serious observation of a great Traveller that notwithstanding all the Religious pretences of the Conclave of Rome that the Indians have brought more of the Spaniards to worship their gold then ever the Spaniards have brought of the Indians to worship their gods The former have made more infidels then ever the latter made Christians The mercies that God gives to our bodies are but baits that are laid to catch our souls He tries the vessel with water that he may fill it with wine Every stream leads a beleever Fideles singuli beneficio aliquo accepto oculos mox animosque sursium ferunt ac benefactori gratias agunt Sibel con 8. in to the fountains head The more Gods hand is enlarged in blessing of him the more his heart is enlivened in the blessing of God Where the sun of mercy shines hottest there the fruits of grace grow fastest In the book of nature we may view the God of nature The creatures are like an Instrument ready tuned to praise God but it 's a beleevers hand that must make Musicke upon them A Saint as he hath a heart to seek God for what he promiseth so he hath a hand to serve God with what he possesseth The greater wages he receives the better work he performs The more a Merchant adventures at Sea the greater returns he expects at Land They that hold the largest Farms they should pay the greatest Rents the tallest Vines should ever yield the sweetest grapes and it is sad that ever that should prove a true prediction Qui majores terras possident minores sensus solvunt that they who have the largest crops should send into Gods house the fewest Tythes There is a retaliation of good for evill this is admirable of evill for good this is abominable of good for good this is laudible of evill for evill this is blameable The Aprill showers that makes the grasse grow and the flowers sweet do likewise cause many croaking frogs to come forth Those Rivers that receive their rise from the Sea return their waters back again into the lap of the Ocean All you have is derived from God let all you have be returned to God Gen. 38. 28 29. And it came to passe when she travelled that the one put out his hand and the midwife took and bound upon his hand a scarlet thread saying this came out first and it came to passe as he drew back his hand that behold his brother came out Beloved we have not longer enjoyed our blessings then we have abused our blessings which gives us cause to fear though the child of mercy hath put out his hand yet it will goe back into the womb again and the child of judgment will come Ingratitudo est ventus urenssiccans fontem pietatis rorem misericordiae fluema gratiae Ber. Ser. 51 super Cont. forth in its stead 'T is a divine saying of devout Bernard That ingratitude is a parching wind which dries up the spring of bounty the dew of mercy and the current of clemency Man he was made the last of all the Creatures that he might contemplate the rest of all the creatures When you lift up your eyes towards the heavens and see them hung with lights O think if there be so much beauty in the Suburbs what is there in the City what 's the footstoole which he makes to the Throne on which he sits when you see the evening starres that are in the skies think of that morning Star that is in your hearts When you sit down to your dishes let this be the first of your messes how happy are all the kindred of Christ that shall eat bread in the kingdome of Christ Those are the rarest feasts where there are the Royallest guests When you see the fowls of the aire how swiftly they glide through the yielding elements and the waters in the river hasting to their Originall Ocean O then think with how much speed the little rivers of opportunity are posting to the great Sea of eternity When thou art cloathing of thy body with variety reflect how the eternall word put on the suit of thy humanity how mercy undrest it self to cover thee with its garments When you are casting off your cloaths think of the putting off your Tabernacles be going to your beds as if you were going to your graves and so close your eyes in one world as you would open them in another when you are creeping between the sheets then think of your winding sheet When you view the plants that are in your orchards then think of the plants that are in Christs Orchard It 's not more delightsome to see plants bearing of fruits to us then it is to see Saints bearing of fruits to him When thou beholdest the stately buildings the shady groves the Cristal brooks the pleasant meddows of wicked men then think with thy self if sinners goes away with such large messes what shall be the Benjamin's portion If the children of the concubines have so great a gift what shall be the inheritance of the children of promise if the dogs fair so well under the Table how are the children feasted that sit at the Table Give me that eye that can see God in all and that hand that can serve God with all That 's the thirteenth 14. Principle that we are to walk by is this That we are to speak well of God whatsoever ill we bear from God The mud whilst the water is quiet lyes at the bottome but when it is stirred creeps up to the top Every Cock-boate can swim in a shallow River but it must be a strong Vessel that ploughs the curled ocean Job nihil attendens proprium solam domini respicit et commemorat voluntatem talem suae gratiarum actioni terminum ponens sit nomen domin benedictum Titeiman in loc The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away and blessed be the name of the Lord Job 1. 21. He gives before he takes and he takes but what he gives The hourglasse of outward happiness is soon run out to day Job is the richest man in all the east to morrow Job is the poorest man in all the world yet his heart was like a fruitfull Paradise when his estate was like a barren wildernesse though God burnt up his out-house yet he left him his pallace standing Outward mercies they are like the Sea that have their flowing tides and their ebbing waters or like the skie that sometimes is full of clearness and at another time is
overcast with cloudings or like a budding flower in the spring which a warm day opens a little and a cold day shuts again if God blesses us in taking as well as in giving let us blesse him for taking as well as for giving That is a rare Artist that can play well upon a broken instrument Ah soule view the sin for which thou art lashed and thou wilt never complain of the rod with which thou art lashed To be impatient with thy affliction and patient with thy corruption what 's this but to be angry with the medicine which should heal thee and in love with the poyson which will kill thee There are two things very hard to flesh and blood One is the foregoing of sinful pleasures And another the undergoing of sorrowful pains Beloved Avibus alas praesecamus ne altiùs longiusvè evolent et Deus opes vires imminuit et nobis aufert ne insolenter nos propter dona ejus efferamus Sibel Conc 6. p. 118. it is in mercy to us that God removes mercy from us He doth not wound a Saint to kill him but he wounds a Saint to heal him 'T was the Commendation of a gracious person that though he was sometimes full of pains yet he was at all times full of patience he was often found mourning under his corruption but never found murmuring under his affliction some can rejoyce in any thing but in Christ and grieve for any thing but for lust Misprision is that which heightens affliction O doe not think that God is a plucking up of the tree by the roots when he is but lopping off its lu xuriant bowes that he is demollishing of the superstruction when he is but laying of a right foundation Deus in ardentem calamitatum fornacem nos mittit ut peccatorum nostrorum sordes expurget Id. in limine ejusdem Conc. that he is nipping of the flowers when he is but plucking up the weeds that he is laying fallow of the land when he is plowing of the field that he is putting out the light when he is but snuffing of the candle Providence hath a beautifull face when it puts on a black mask God hath the fairest ends in the fowlest wayes The bottle may be dipped in the water when it is not drowned in the water though the earth be dirty under your feet yet the heavens are not cloudy over your heads You may read the marks of a father in the stripes of his children Every twig of the black rod is but to draw his Image upon you Could we but bury our friends alive we should not mourn so much for them when they are dead did not the having of riches take our hearts the losing of riches could not break our hearts Son of man behold I take away the desire of thine eyes with a stroak What though he take a wife out of your bosom so he take her into his bosom You may hug a creature with so much hardness as to kill it with kindnesle and wither your sweetest flowers by smelling too often at them God doth but take that out of the hands of his people that keepes him out of the hearts of his people He that mingles his passions with his afflictions is like a foolish patient that chews the pills he should swallow down He that carnally disturbs his soul for the losse of his substance casts away the kernell because God hath taken away the shell If the tree stand and yield us fruits let the wind blow away it's leaves To blesse God for mercies is the way to increase them to blesse God for miseries is the way to remove them No good lives so long as that which is thankfully improved no evill dyes so soone as that which is patiently indured He that praises God under prosperity hath paid his debt but he that praises him under adversity hath made him a debtor God can make a plaister of a disease and bring soundness to the inward man by the sicknesse of the outward man If he stops up all your light it is but to make you fairer windows When the starrs shine not the Sun appeares repairing the loss of lesser lights with brighter beams In the losse of a withered nosegay you may smell at flowers fresh on the stalke Beleevers when their candles are put out they can fetch their light from the Sun and when their streames are cut off they can drink their waters at the spring Animus vari is coarctatus aerumnis subtilissimè ad altissumum Deum alâ invocationis ardenti◠elevatur Id. Ibid. The birds of Paradise make the swiftest flights when they have the smallest feathers These Nightingals warble out their pleasantest tunes when they set their breast against the thornes It 's said of Ruben that he went up to his fathers bed How many times doth the creature intercept the respects which we do owe to our Creator and then no wonder if he break the Cisterne to bring us unto the fountain Under all your losses be you found blessing of God and after all your losses God will be found blessing of you 15. Principle that you should walk by is this The longer God for bears not finding amendment the soarer he strikes when he comes to judgment Divine patience is a thing that is to be adored but divine patience is not a thing that is to be abused We usually take his forbearance for our acquittance because we sin unpunished we think there is no punishment for sin it is one thing to for bear a debt but it 's another thing to forgive a debt Because sentence against Homines plerumque in sceleratiora proruunt vitia et impudentiùs assuescunt malis quòd non subitò contra illos divina proferatur sententia tardiusque illorum flagitiis irascatur Deus Arbor in loc an evill worke is not executed speedily therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evill Eccl. 8. 11. Because he goes on to spare them they go on to provoke him As he adds to their lives they adde to their lusts What 's this but for a man to break his bones because he thinks to have them set by a skilful Chyrurgion You are in debt to Justice but mercy stops the Arrest of vengeance Many other have been taken from the earth by a sudden Arrow darted from Heaven as Zimry and Cosby unloaded their lusts and their lives together Because Justice winks men think it's blind because it is delayed they imagine it is denied because he doth not reprove them for their sins therefore they think he doth approve them in theirsins But know that the silent Arrow doth more mischief then the roaring Cannon The patience of God though it be lasting yet it is not everlasting The Sword of Justice it s dipt in the Oyle of Mercy but it s better some parts should be dismembred then that the whole body should be destroyed He that being often
world was polluted and Noah was saved alone when the world was destroyed Vpon all the glory there shall be a defence Isa 4. 5. There 's nothing but the glory that 's worthy to be kept and there 's nothing of the glory but it shall be kept The shields of salvation they hang not in the paths of transgression Kept by the power of God by faith unto salvation All the wiles of the Devill cannot conquer a single Souldier in Christs Camp much lesse shall he rout the whole Army The name of the Lord is a strong Tower the righteous fly to it and are safe The name of the Lord is a Tower for its sublimity and it 's a strong Tower for its security Thy ship O Christian may put as boldly into such a harbour as a man may step into a house that is overtaken with a shower A Garden inclosed is my Sister my Spouse a spring shut up and a Fountain sealed Cant. 4. 12. God as he hath a hedge of affliction to keepe his people from wandring so he hath a hedge of protection to keep his people from wasting he that numbers their hairs secures their heads Sincerity is the only Sanctuary Psal 84. 11. The Lord God is a Sun and a Shield What darkness can obscure them who have a Sun above them or what dangers can injure them who have a Shield about them When thou passest thorow the waters I will be with thee and thorow the rivers they shall not overflow thee when thou walkest thorow the fire thou shalt not be burnt neither shall the flame kindle upon thee Isa 43. 2. Here is a dangerous voyage but a safe convoy God doth not deale with his friends as we doe with ours We do with our friends as we do with Dialls only looke upon them when the Sun of prosperity shines upon them or as women doe with flowers whilst they are flourishing stick them in their bosomes but when once they wither cast them to the Dunghill But when our want is greatest his help is nearest the more grievous our oppressions the more gracious his redemptions When the night is at the darkest it's Tyranni premunt sed non opprimunt oppugnant sed non expugnant Id. conc 21. pag. 269. nearest morning and when the tide is at the lowest it is nearest turning A man that hath been for many yeares in a dark dungeon will rejoyce exceedingly at the lest appearance of light though it shine thorow a prison-grate When mans misery is most dolefull Gods mercy is most helpfull When our calamity is most indured his benignity is most admired Behold he that keeps Israel neither slumbers nor sleeps though Israel so kept doe both sleep and slumber Psal 121. 4. It was the saying of Alexander Tuto dormirinam Antipater vigilavit I slept securely whilst Antipater watcht Our safety sleepes when our Keeper sleepes when our Keeper sleeps Sometimes God doth house his Corn before a storme but however he keeps it in the storme If God be for us who can be against us Rom. 8. 31. Against us they may be to hate us but against us they cannot be to hurt us Noah rides safely in a well pitched Ark when the old world was covered with the waters of the Deluge when Israel was led into captivity then was Jeremy set at liberty The Prophet found more favour from the Princes of Babel then he found from the people of Israel Gideons Fleece was dry when all the earth was wet When the shaddows of the Evening were stretched over Asia the day dawned to us in Europe That 's the Nineteenth 20. Principle that beleevers are to walk by is this That the sweetness of the Crown which shall be received will make amends for the bitternesse of the Crosse that may be endured The last Wine that Christ draws is the best Wine that a Christian drinks When the waters cover the earth whither should such a Dove-like spirit flye but to the Ark He that came on earth to make us righteous will come from Heaven to make us glorious For ye had compassion on me in my bonds and took joyfully the spoiling of your goods knowing in your selves Haec est omnium verè in Christo fideliū vera et solida et efficacissima consolatio contra omnia hujus mundi adversa Stap in Dom 2. Quadr text 2. that ye have in Heaven a better and a more enduring substance Heb. 10. 34. Who would look for so fair a Jewel to lye upon so foul a Dunghil But the gain of these Heavenly Mansions drowned the losse of their earthly Mammon Christians you are now on a storming Sea do not say you shall never arrive at a quiet Harbour What hath he pluckt thee out of the fire of damnation and will he leave thee in the water of affliction It is not long before you shall Trumpet out that saying For lo the Winter is past the rain is over and gone the flowers appear on the earth and the time of singing of Birds is come Cant. 2. 11 12. O how clear will the Sun of righteousnesse shine when such dark clouds are blown over If there be so much Liquor in a single Grape what is there in the whole Cluster The waters of Life glide the smoothest when the wind blows the highest Take a beleever whilest he lives and God hath a servant the more on earth for him take a beleever when he dyes and God hath a Saint the more in Heaven with him If there be a fiery exhalation wrapt up in a cloud we must look for Thunder and Lightning to follow it Never look for an end of your sorrows till there be an end of your sins As sufferings came not a day before them so they stay not a day behind them God had one Son without corruption but he had never a Son without affliction As many as I love I rebuke and chasten Well may we bear the Rod when love makes the Rod a beleever when he lyes under that hand that doth afflict him he lyes in that heart that doth affect him Dunghils when they are raked up send forth a filthy steame but oyntment when it s powred forth yeilds a sweet perfume It 's reported of Tiberius that passing by a place where he saw a Cross lying on the ground upon a Marble stone he caused it to be digged up and found a great deale of Treasure under it Christians should you but dig up the stones where lyes your crosses under your greatest torments you might find your greatest treasures I have read of a fountain that 's cold at Mid-day and Amonis nemus in medio habet fontem aquam solis vecant sub lucis ortum tepidier manat medio diei cùm vehementissimu◠est calor frigida eadem fluit inclinato in vesperam calescit mediâ nocte fervida exaestuat Quint. Curt Lib. 4. Sect 7 hot at Mid-night thus are many Christians cooled in the mid-day of prosperity that are
heated in the Mid-night of adversity Afflictions are not a fire that 's consuming but a flame that 's refining they are like the prick at the Nightingales breast that awaken her and put her upon her delightful singing Many Saints are like Topps that goes best when they are lasht most For Ireckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us Romans 8. 18. These fall as far short of glory as the smallest fraction of the greatest number or as the least filings of Gold of the riches of the whole Indies If the early glimmerings of our Lord Jesus Christ shroud so much joy and strength within their own beams as over-powers the cross what will his Meridian Rayes of glory doe when they are revealed Will you cast them both into the scales of the Sanctuary 2 Cor. 4. 17. For our light affliction which is but for a moment worketh for us a more exceeding and eternal weight of glory How light is a dram of reproach to a weight of glory and how short a Minute of pains to an Eternity of pleasures He said excellently Bene fertur Calumina cúm acquiritur Corona He need not be weary of the Crosse that 's sure of the Crown After the Cup of affliction comes the cup of salvation The Wine-presse prepares for the Wine-cellar After the pangs and throws comes the child birth O clear up your interest in God A pardon may be past the Princes Seale that is not put into the Prisoners hand Things that are exceeding sharp calls for much Sugar to make them sweet Death is a thing that hath the most ungrateful taste to the creatures pallate Now Grace is baptized with a double name It 's called The first-fruits of the spirit Romans 8. 28. It 's called The earnest of the spirit 2 Cor. 1. 22. It 's a tast to shew us the sweetnesse of eternal life and it 's a pledge to shew us the sureness of eternal life Our Heavenly Physitian will keep us no longer in Physick but till we are thorowly purged Our merciful refiner will detain us no longer in the Furnace but till we are sufficiently purified Patience for sowing the seeds of sorrow on earth shall reap a golden crop of joy in Heaven We may talk of the greatnesse of our future recompence but we shall never know the weight of our Crowns till they be set on our heads nor the worth of our Robes till they be worn on our backs then the pricking Thorn shall be turned into a precious Gem. As darknesse is the absence of light when the Sun is removed from its Horizon so is death the privation of life when the soul is removed from its Prison we have here but jus ad rem there we shall have jus in re Here we have an expectation of our fruitions there we shall have the fruition of our expectations Chear up brave spirits your Wildernesse Nunc deprimuntur et calcantur electi ut olim assurgant et extollantur ad instar palmarum Drex Christian Zod. Sig. 5. p. 42. journeys will soon be periodized The cloth must be cut in peeces before it can be made up in garments The hewing of the timber is for the erecting of the structure The new corn that lives in Summer is produced from the old corn that dyed in the Winter We should willingly embrace death though we should not desperately rush upon it you will be like Civet that 's when it 's taken out of the Box leaves a sweet savour behind it Shall Christ willingly come down from Heaven to earth to dye for us and shall not we willingly go up from earth to Heaven to live with him A Saints loathnesse to expire doth not spring from this root because they judge that death is not good enough for them but it 's a sprig that grows upon this root because they judge thēselves not good enough for death But remember the edg of this keen sword is blunted since the sides of Christ was the scabbard in which it was sheathed When the Ship is in the Haven its Erras mi Christiane erras sicogitas te integrum et non bene contusum perventurum ad coelum Drex loc citat past all storms but by induring storms it at last arriveth at the Haven When we come to Glory there will be no temptations to endure but it s by enduring of temptations that we come to glory When the body and the soul shall part asunder the soul and God shall meet together The sharper your sorrows are here the sweeter will be your joyes hereafter let me allude to that Psal 68. 13. Though ye have lien among the Pots yet shall ye be as the wings of a Dove covered with silver and her feathers with yellow gold All the Grapes in Christs Vineyard must passe thorow the Wine-presse Health is most acceptable after the sharpest sicknesse and liberty most sweet after a rigorous bondage and the harbour most welcome after turbulent storms How pleasant soever a sinners beginning is his ending is dolorous how troublesome soever a Saints beginning is his ending is joyous The fresh Rivers of carnal pleasure run into a salt Sea of despairing tears when the wet seeds-time of a pious life ushers in the Sun-shiny Harvest of a peacefull death When Craesus askt Solon who he Dicique beatus ant◠obitum nemo supremaque funera debet Horat. thought happy he told him one Tellus a man that was dead Happinesse doth not goe before death but death goes before happinesse It 's storied of Adrianus that seeing many Christians put to such cruel and bitter deaths he askt some of them what it was that they suffered such cruel torments for to whom they answered Speramus illa bona quae oculus non videt auras non audivit in cor hominis non ascenderunt We hope for those things which eye hath not seen nor ear heard nor ever entred into the heart of man to conceive They who are born blind are unable to judg of that glory that dazles the very eyes of the Angels One smile in Gods face will dry up all the tears in their eyes When beleevers change earth for Heaven they do not loose their blessednesse but compleat their blessednesse as fishes dropping out of the narrow Brook into the wide Ocean do not leave their Element but are more in it then they were before A beleevers dying is resembled to a burnt-offering now in a burnt-offering when the ashes falls to the earth the flame ascends to Heaven Thus have I set twenty Diamonds in your Golden Ring And so much for the first thing Namely The erection of singular Principles I come now to the last stage for the direction of singular practises Here I shall spread but six Sails and make to the shoar 1. Would you do more then others then you must know more then others I may say of Divine
wisdome as they did of that Graecian Lady No man ever loved her that never saw her and no man ever saw her that never loved her We do not first come to God that we may be taught but we are first taught that we may come to God A Christian that is most intelligent is a Christian that is most excellent Wisdom makes the face to shine Eccl. 8. 1. What the Papists cry up as the Mother of Devotion we cry down as the Father of Superstition Satan that cruel Jaylor secures all his Captives in the dark Dungeons of Ignorance He deals with them as Faulkners do with their Hawks that put Diabolus coecâ cupiditate et falsis consiliis ita peccatorem excaecavit ut quietissimè cum suis compedibus ligatus stet necse ullo prorsus in periculo constitutum putet Stapl in Dom Quinque Tex 5. Hoods upon their heads that they may carry them more quietly upon their hands Having the understanding darkned being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them because of the blindness of their hearts Eph 4. 18. The Father of light takes no pleasure in the children of darknesse he doth not use to waft souls to Heaven like passengers in a Ship who are shut under the Hatches and see nothing all the way they are sailing to their Port If thou knewest the gift of God and who it is that asks thou wouldst have askt of him and he would have given thee living water John 4. 10. Christ doth therefore goe undesired in the world because he goes undiscerned by the world Did they see all in this Pearl of price they would sell all for this Pearl of price An ignorant man he is Satans treasury for corruption and he is Gods Armory for indignation An understanding without understanding it 's but the soul of a beast imprisoned in the body of a man If ye know these things happy are ye if you doe them The will of God must be known on earth as it is known in Heaven or else the will of God will never be done on earth as it 's done in Heaven Utter darkness is the just recompence of inner darkness It 's storied of a deformed person that he set curious pictures before his wife that seeing of them she might have beautiful children And Labans sheep by looking on the Rods which were laid in the Troughes their Lambs which they produced were party coloured Shall fancy work so strongly in them and shall not faith work as strongly in us O walk in the face of the Sun of righteousnesse and you will be coloured by the shinings of his beams The patient Christian is the best for waiting but the prudent Christian is best for working Where there is a vail cast before the eys of knowledg there is a bar set before the hands of practice An ignorant person neither knows what he is doing nor doth he know whither he is going The dark corners of the earth are full of the inhabitants of cruelty Psal 74. 20. The Prince of darkness sits upon a Throne of darkness now God hath no birth-rights for such prophane Esaues Though the earth may keep an ignorant man living yet Heaven will not take an ignorant man dying as no man can shun the evil he fears not so no man can imbrace the good he knows not A man may as soon draw running streams from burning flames as he can tast a drop of mercy from irreconciled Majesty Where ever there is a trade driven for Heaven the Spirit of Christ doth first open the Shop windows I must work the works of him that sent me whilest it is day the night cometh wherein no man can work John 9. 4. Est quidem maxima faelicitas a Christo cognosci sed est maâ—ima necessitas ut nos quoque ChristuÌ„ cognoscamus Idem in Dom 2. postpaschâ— Tex 5. You cannot do the work of the day unlesse you have the light of the day A dim eye may be serviceable for the prevention of falls but a blind eye exposes to continual hazards Darkness as it is Satans Element so it is a sinners punishment My people perish for want of knowledge Hosea 4. 6. Men in the mist of ignorance are like Ships that sail desperately against those Rocks that splits them eternally He shall come in flaming fire taking vengance on them that know not God and obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ 2 Thess 1. 8. Your want of judgement is a sin against which Christ will come to judgement You that here take no knowledge of him he will there take no knowledge of you When the Candle of the soul is put out needs must it sit in the dark Reason though it be the noblest Tree in natures garden yet since the fall it hath rotten fruits upon its boughs It will not receive the Gold of the Sanctuary unlesse it be weighed in its own Scales as if the guilt of blind obedience did lye upon them who have the Sun of righteousnesse to go before them Ah how do Owl-eyed sinners take that for Devotion which is but Superstition and that for a Bethel which is but a Babel The weaker light we have of truth the more easily may we be cheated with error in the stead of truth To keep the understanding free Quanquam multa sint peccata fragilitatis multa malitiae tamen verissimuÌ„ est ignorantiaÌ„ omnium malorum et flagitiorum esse fundamentum et principium Stella in Luc. cap. 15. vers 12. from ignorance is the way to keep it free from error To preserve it as a Goshen from the darknesse of Aegypt is the way to rid it of the Frogs and Locusts of Aegypt An arrogant mans will is not more rebellious then an ignorant mans wit is erronious He that desires to see the face of holinesse in its native lustre must not let his carnal judgement draw its picture To open their eyes and to turn them from darkness to light and from the power of Satan unto God that they may receive forgiveness of sins and inheritance amongst them that are sanctified by faith in me Acts 26. 18. The strength of the Sun-beams can scatter the darkest Clouds as well as consume the thinest Vapors In nature there 's some sparkles of light but so rak't under the ashes of disolute thoughts and practises that though it be not quite smother'd yet it 's scarce discerned The notions of God implanted in innocency do not shine in their genuine and primogenial radiancy Therefore Nebuchadnezzar is turned a grazing to the beasts of the field that he might come to the acknowledging of the God of the world It 's reported of a famous Carver who making a curious picture of Minerva did secretly ingrave his own upon it So the Lord of Heaven hath inter-woven his owne Image in us which remains as a mark whereby we may be known to be his workmanship and although the glorious lineaments
be thrown into the water whole it swims if broke it sinks Or like the Mary-gold that opens with the shining and shuts with the setting of the Sun of righteousnesse Love it puts not off its pursuits of Certe amor Dei tam efficax est ut effectus potius quam affectus dici debeat plus enim facit quam afficit Stapl in Dom. Pen. Tex 1. duty till it attains the possessions of glory There 's no rocking this child to sleep till it be laid in the Cradle of the Grave A soul that loves much is a soul that works much The commands of the Gospel are not grievous to them but precious to them The highest graces are fit for the hardest duties As God is not so much displeased at our having of sin as he is displeased at our loving of sin so he is not so well pleased at our doing of service as at our loving of service Different movings express different beings When a Christian yields obedience to Christ out of a principle of love he so serves Christ as none but a Saint can serve Christ When thou saidst seek ye my face my heart answered thy face I will seeke Psal 27. 8. The heart of obedience is the obedience of the heart That 's the second 3. Would you do more then others then pray more then others Our daily bread calls for daily prayers because new wants are created when old wants are supplyed The Garden of the Church is watred by the River of Prayer Are you called by the name of Christ and will you not call upon the name of Christ Take away spiritual breathing and you take away spirituall living a child that 's still born was never a childe that 's new borne Who would not stretch forth a Beggars hand to receive a Jewel of greater vallew then the world With what boldnesse may they appear at the Court that are assured of the ear of the King We shall soon give up the Ghost if God doe not give in the Holy Ghost to stop our breath is the way to loose our life You may pray alwayes and yet not allwayes be at prayer Thou allowest thy body daily sustentation O allow thy soule daily supplication Prayer it s like Noahs Dove though it goe forth of the Arke yet it will return againe with an Olive-branch of peace in its mouth In Gods injoyning our supplications there 's the shewing forth of his greatnesse in Gods fulfilling our supplications there 's the shining forth of his goodnesse Prayer never did man rightly make it but God did quickly grant it It 's no more a duty for Saints on earth to give over praying then it is a duty for Saints in Heaven to give over praising If you would speed in the injoying of mercy you must speak for the obtaining of mercy If man lets God goe without any begging God will let man goe without any blessing I am sadly sensible how many there are that cast off this duty But it is not because the lameness of their leggs is cured but because they are ashamed to make use of crutches Christians let not your want of accomplishments create in you any discouragements Dumbe beggars have got almes at Christs gates by making of signes The waters of life are sweet O what pity it is that God should turne the cock for want of pails to set under Take a dry spunge and throw it into the river and it will suck it self full of water As he prayed the forme of his countenance Christus cum oraret transfigurabatur ita in oratione magnae fiunt in anima mutationes quia lumen animae est oratio quae saepiuâ— eum quem invenit desperantem relinquit exultanter Ger. med 25. was altered and his rayment was white and glistering Luk. 9. 28 29. Christ had the brightest Sunshine of his fathers affection when he was moving in the Orbe of supplication Tell me Sirs is not that mercy worth the breath of a sinner which was worth the blood of a Saviour then to pray we can do no more to the removing of our own miseries and we can do no less for the obtaining of Gods mercies methinks man should never cease asking till God cease granting Lord what wilt thou give me seeing I goe childless So say you Lord what wilt thou give me seeing I goe gracelesse Prayer is the souls trading to Heaven Oratio justi clavis est caeli ascendit precatio et descendit Dei liberatio Id ibid. for such commodities as are only locked up in Gods Treasuries By fasting the body learns to obey the soul but by praying the soule learns to command the body Dumbness should never seize on the lips of man till deafnesse seize on the ears of God Shall God in Heaven want a man that is praying whilst man on earth wants not a God that is hearing Christians though your relations are excellent yet your conditions are indigent No Christian hath so little of Christ but he hath matter for praise and no Christian hath so much from Christ but he hath matter of prayer every day we find it a great worke to accomplish a little work every new act of obedience calls for new strength and assistance as our receits are greater then our desarts so our wants are larger then our receits Ask and ye shall receive that your joy may be full Spirituall supplication is the channell of spirituall consolation you must be full of prayers if you would be full of joyes now none are more fruitfull in divine labour then those who are most joyfull in divine favour Death that shortens our way on earth and makes it nearer but delight that sweetens our way to heaven and makes it fairer The neglect of the flowers will but administer advantage unto the growth of the weeds a little Ship with a strong wind moves faster then a greater Vessell with slacker gailes I never expect that a branch which receives no sap from the Vine should beare any fruit in the Vine Si ascendat oratio descendet gratia when prayer mounts upon the wing to God then favours come upon the spur to Non verbe de precantis deus intendit sed orantis cor aspicit Bern. de inter domo cap. 48. man The gift of prayer may have praise from men but it is the grace of prayer that hath power with God a few grapes prove the plant to be a Vine and not a thorne Prayer is Gods due as a Creator though truly performed to him as a Father None can pray aright but those that are new Creatures but all ought to pray because they are creatures Christians can never want a praying time if they do not want a praying frame in the morning this is a golden key to open the heart for servise and in the evening it is an iron lock to shut the heart from sin As the raine comes down from Heaven fruitfully so let prayer go up to Heaven fervently Peter
was kept in prison but prayer was made without ceasing for him Act. 12. 5. And prayer fetcht an Angel out of Heaven to fetch Peter out of prison If the oven be quite cold it requires more wood to heat it again there 's more strength exercised in the raising of a Bell then in the ringing of a Bell it 's not the dog that cryes the loudest that catches the haire but he that follows the Chase Beleevers should not only pray one with another but they should pray one for another next to the breach of piety in Religion we should abominate the breach of charity in communion that 's a sad spectacle to see men upholding an abominable oftentation by a more abominable separation It 's weak conceptions that are the Parents of strong delusions that 's true they who cannot know our hearts should not judge them and they who should not judge our hearts cannot know them but when such Vessells gives over sailing we may conclude that divine gails hath given over blowing Christians He that is omniscient to see your wants is omnipotent to grant your suits there 's no mercies so little as to be gotten without prayer there 's no mercies so great as not to be given unto prayer Are you made spirituall Priests and will you not offer up spirituall sacrifices Si fidelis humilis et fervens oratio fuerit caelum sine dubio penetrabit unde certum est quòd vacu◠redire non poterit Ber Ser. 4. de Quadrag ult verb. Our affections should fly like an Eagle when our expressions creep like a snaile What 's the reason there are so many empty Casks in Gods Cellar but for want of prayer Pray continually though you be not continually at prayer 1 Thes 5. 17. If the lesson be not alwayes playing yet the instrument must be kept in tune They should never be dying Petitioners that have an everliving Intercessor It matters not how often you carry an empty pitcher to so full a River And this is the confidence that we have in him that if we ask any thing according to his will he hears us 1 Joh. 5. 18. That soul shall have its will of God that desires nothing but what God wills The intercession of Christ is a golden Censor and can we desire him to offer up our drossy prayer for incense It was an expression of Luthers Fiat voluntas mea Domine quia tua let my will be done mine Lord because it is thine because it fixed in the same Center he was bold to call for the fulfilling of it The Covenant of grace without us turns precepts into promises but the spirit of grace within us turns promises into prayers Take with you words and turn unto the Lord say unto him take away all our iniquity and receive us graciously Hosea 14. 2. O how willing is God that we should hit the mark when he teaches us how to direct our arrowes What desires are there in him that we should prevail when he shews us how we should wrestle Spirituall breathings are more potent then carnal roarings none but such desires as want good aimes doe want good issues nothing will get up to Heaven but that which doth come down from Heaven Deny not God faith in prayer and God will not deny a faithfull prayer That is the Third 4. Would you do more than others then beleeve more then others It 's the Lamp of fidelity that 's filled with the oyl of activity This is a grace that is the most needful and this is a grace Vt sol radios suos longè lareque per totum terrarum orbem diffundit sic fides in hominecredente vires sua efficacitèr exerit Sibel in Mat. 16. 16. conc 13. in mi◠that is the most fruitful If there be life in the body the pulse will be beating and if there be faith in the soul the man will be working all other graces thrives in the soul as this grace thrives in the soul as the watering of the roots makes the flourishing of the Trees What doth it profit my Brethren if a man say he hath faith and hath no works can faith save him Jam. 2. 14. An idle faith is an evill faith yea a faith that works not is a faith that saves not This is a faithfull saying and this I will that thou affirme constantly that they which have beleeved in God might be carefull to maintaine good works Titus 3. 8. It 's reported of the Christall that there 's such a vertue in it that it will quicken all other stones and put a beauty and lustre upon them I am sure it 's true here there 's such a divine virtue and power in faith that it quickens and casts a lustre upon all our other graces Perceiving of Christ speaks a Christians knowledge but it 's a receiving of Christ that speaks a christians faith To as many as received him to them he gave power to become the Sons of God even to as many as believed on his name Joh. 1. 12. Faith doth not only looke upon Christ as a fountain of living water but layes pipes to convey it to its own Cisterne The Window irradiates the house not by any light of its own but as a medium to let in the beams of the Sun without Christ faith can doe nothing and against Christ faith will do nothing A true and Scripturall affiance is as the spring in the watch that moves all the golden wheels of obedience The father of the child cryed out with tears I beleeve help my unbelief Mark 9. 24. Though his tears dropt down to the earth yet his faith reacht up to Heaven Faith is able to swim upon those deep seas with delight which the line of reason could never fathom He that is highest in his diffidence is lowest in his obedience he could not do many mighty works there because of their unbelief that which hinders Christ from working for Christians that will hinder Christians from working for Christ It is as naturall for a beleeving man to be a working man as it is for the Sun to shine or the fire to burne The people of Israel stood in the outer Court but the High Priest entered within the Vaile Thus other graces Sic fides inter virtutes sure suo pri matum obtinet stand but in the outer court it 's faith that enters within the Vaile The Devill if he can but undermine the foundation he will soone overthrow the building as take away the corner stone and yon indanger all the other stones Bernard hath an excellent saying Increduli timent diabolum quasi leonem at qui in side fortes despiciunt eum quasi vermiculum whilst unbeleevers fear the Devill as a Lion the faithfull contemne him as a worme Christians he that here lives by faith which doth admit of doubting shall hereafter live by sight which doth not admit of clouding There 's no landing at the shoare of felicity without sailing in
artificiall Engines Some never take up any resolutions but when they are under sharp afflictions these are like those Goates that never give any milke till they are stung Like children under the rod they make fair promises but all these blossomes falls from the Tree without bearing of any fruits when they are raised from their sick-bed pains they fall from their sick-bed vowes These are like Ice that thaws in the Sun but freezes in the shade They hang their lusts on the Cross for a time that they may be curbed but take them down again that they may not be crucified what is this but to put a Lion in chains and then let him loose again There must be a harmony between your resolutions and your conversations What shall we vow against our sins and then sin against our vowes This were to take the wages of one Master to do the work of another to make our promises unto God and our performances to the Devill Sacred vowes bind us to obedience but sinfull vowes bind us to repentance Christians say not that you have noble blood running in your veins except you can prove your pedigrees by heroick spirits That 's the Fifth 6. Would you do more then others then deny your selves more then others Either we must lay self aside or else God will lay us aside What can any true Israelite see in this Dagan of the Philistins that the Ark of God should fall before it Self seeking saith one was born in heaven but forgetting by what way she fell from thence she could never find the road thither again If any man will come after me let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me This is the basis or foundation on which we must build the whole fabrick of our profession Sinfull selfe is to be destroyed and naturall self is to be denyed A little will serve a man that is strong in grace much will but serve a man that is weak in grace but nothing will serve a man that is voyd of grace As we must lay out all in the Cause of God so we must lay down all at the call of God But to close up all The Elder Israelites they mourned to see how short the glory of the second Temple was of the glory of the first I fear that we have cause to mourn to see how far short our professors come in purity of their fore fathers Behold I come quickly my reward is with me to give every man according as his works shall be Revel 22. 12. This very expression may much excite to eminency in Religion He that doth most shall receive most the more glory you bring to God the more glory you shall have from God The clearer the lamp of grace burns on earth the brighter the Sun of glory shall shine in Heaven Though your pilgrimage may be full of bitternesse yet your heritage will be full of blessednesse Let such golden spurs put you upon your full careers Mans excellency is to be measured by the standard of his usefullnesse The Sun and Moon those fountains of light and guids of time fulfill their courses in a shorter season when the dimmer planets are longer wheeling O that it might be said of you as it was said of her Prov. 31. 29. Many daughters have done vertuously but thou hast excelled them all FINIS Books Printed for and sold by Thomas Parkhurst at the three Crowns over against the great Conduit at the lower end of Cheapside Folio's A Commentary upon the holy writings of Job David and Solomon That is these five Job Psalms Proverbs Ecclesiastes and the Song of Songs being part of those which by the Ancient were called Hagiographa Wherein the diverse Translations and Expositions both litterall and mysticall of all the most famous Commentators both Ancient and moderne are propounded examined and censured And the Texts from the Originall much illustrated By John Mayer Doctor in Divinity A practicall commentary or an Exposition with Observations Reasons and Uses upou the first Epistle generall of John By that pious and worthy Divine Master John Cotton Pastor of Boston in New-England A learned Commentary or an Exposition upon the first Chapter of the second Epistle of St. Paul to the Corinthians being the substance of many Sermons formerly preached at Grayes-Inn London by that Reverend and judicious Divine Richard Sibbs D. D. sometimes Master of Katherine-Hall in Cambridge and Preacher to that honourable Society 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Divine Characters in two parts acutely distinguishing the more secret and undiscerned differences between 1. The Hypocrite in his best dresse of seeming vertue and formall duties and the true Christian in his reall graces and sincere obedience As also between the blackest weeds of daily infirmities of the truly godly eclipsing saving grace and the reigning sins of the unregenerate that pretend unto that godlinesse they never had By that late burning and shining Lamp Mr. Samuell Crook B. D. late Pastor of Wrington in Summerset Quarto's TWo excellent Treatises of Mr. Jeremiah Burrough's one of the fifth of Matthew being many Sermons preached at Cripplegate upon all the Beatitudes And Gospel-Revelation in three Treatises viz. 1. The Nature of God 2. The Excellency of Christ And 3. The excellency of mans Immortall Soul Both published by William Greenhill Will. Bridge Philip Nye John Yates Matthew Mead William Adderly An Exposition on the whole Book of Solomons Song commonly called the Canticles By John Robotham A Theatre of flying Insects wherein especially the manner of right ordering the Bee is excellently described with discourses Historicall and Physicall concerning them with a Second part of Meditations and Observations Theological and Morall in three Centuries upon the same subject by Samuell Purchas M. A. Peoples need of a living Pastor at the funerall of Mr. John Frost M. A. by Mr. Zach. Crofton Holy things for holy men or the Lawyers Plea non-suited c. In some Christian reproof and pitty expressed towards Mr. Prynn's book intituled The Lords Supper briefly vindicated By S. S. Minister of the Gospell A Vindication of the Christians Messia that Jesus is the true Messia prophesied and foretold by all the holy men of God who were writers of the Old Testament as also proved out of their own Talmud The souls progresse to the Celestiall Canaan By way of godly Meditations and holy contemplations by John Welles Preacher of the Gospell Comfortable Sermons on the 24 Psalme Preached before the Lady Elizabeth her Grace by Daniell Dyke B. D. Plenary possession makes a lawfull Subjection to Powers that are in Being proved to be lawfull and necessary in a Sermon before the Judges in Exeter By Rich Saunders Preacher of the Gospell The new World or the new Reformed Church discovered out of the 2 Epist of Pet. By Nath. Homes D. D. God save the King in a Sermon Preached the day after his Majesty came into London By Anthony Walker Preacher of the Gospell The Judgment