this when we men lay a foundation so the Father goes on we digge deepe and if we meet with water in our way we goe yet deeper till we see the spring dryed up else we will lay no foundation for a foundation upon water makes a building unstable and tottering it cannot be a fixt dwelling It is against the nature of water to beare up so heavy a body It was not the stick no nor the work of nature though put to the extent thereof which caused so much as the yron p 2 King 6. 6. to swim And it is against the nature of the earth to have its seat or basis upon such a foundation But Gods wayes are not as mans wayes which may be found out and comprehended by reason And yet saith the same Father Why dost thou wonder ô man If thou wilt wonder thou shalt never cease wondring for into whatsoever creature thou wilt pry into thou wilt finde an unlimited and boundlesse power much more then in the bearing up of this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 massive body And to this power thou must be brought else thy understanding can never fix but be as unstable as the waters We must be brought to this even to the power of God for hitherto all the answer that the sacred Scripture makes to this great and grave question tendeth He hangeth the earth upon nothing saith Iob q 26. 7. upon nothing nothing can beare up nothing yea but the earth hath pillars so we reade also The r 1 Sam. 2. 8. Cardines Poli. pillars of the earth are the Lords and He hath set the world upon them The meaning thereof is this though some bend the interpretation otherwise to their own end according to the sicknesse of their fansie That these pillars are our North and South poles amidst whereof the earth is s Reade Pol. Virg. lib. 4. ca. 9. Where they would make us beleeve that Anna prophesied of Cardinall Pole or others the Popes Cardinals so making them elder then the Moon placed which confirmes unto us the singular power providence of God saith Trem. and it is as much as is implyed from that text I meane the singular power of God therein for that is intimated by those words past all question Another sacred Scripture saith thus t Fundavit terram super bases ejus Trem. Psal 104. 5. Terrae in se locus est Plin. Hist 2. 65. He hath founded the earth upon her own Basis that it should not be moved for ever That is till there be a new heaven and a new earth And this answer comes neerest to our sense and is most sutable to our understanding though farre exceeding both sense and reason That the Lord hath given such an occult and hidden propertie to the earth that it should beare up and poyse it self with his own weight that it should be as the Philosopher said a place u to it self and it is as impossible that it should leave its place as for a stone to tend upward But still in our search and enquiry here our reason leaves us in the darke we must referre this to the head of that boundlesse power before mentioned and there leave it amongst the wonders x Inter Arcana naturae Alsted de Terra and secrets of nature or rather of His Art which is beyond our skill to finde out Only this every childe knows and he it is whom we would instruct That every building must have some pillars whereon to depend and beare it self up this the childe knows If then the childe be asked what or where are those pillars that beare up the earth It must needs answer That pillars it hath none as other buildings have to support the same and support it self it cannot an invisible hand there is made bare of flesh that gave the earth at first a being and ever since a subsistance poysing it with his own weight and so as the Prophet of himself bearing up the pillars x Psal 75. 3. thereof so the childe will answer and from thence he learnes that that is of the greatest force and strength which is least exposed to the eye In earthly things we finde it so we heare how the thunder Gods voice roareth we see it not we heare how the wind renteth our houses and stocks up trees we see it not we heare our y Lact. lib. 7. cap. 9. M. Faelix p. 23. in sol See Hist of the world lib. 1. cap. 10. sect 10. Lactant 2. 2. voice and a sound that which poseth all the naturalists in the world we see it not The more remote from the senses any thing is the more divine and admirable Nay if a naturall eye could perceive it there were no divinitie in it at all That is best seene which is not seene z Magis videtur quod non videtur B. Juel Artic 8. pag. 402. That is as our Iewel interprets it we see more certainly with our faith then we can see with the eyes of our body they may deceive the eye of the soul cannot But I am too high if as children in knowledge we understand not earthly things how can we heavenly The arme of flesh is too short here nature is at a stand I give but an hint only to helpt it out for here nature will ever stick till an invisible hand I meane an Almightie power helps it out and raiseth nature above it self For by faith we understand c. Heb. 11. 3. I would aske one question more and it is according to a childish supposition but best agreeing with his understanding and conceit Suppose the earth did hang like as our deceived sense presents the Sun at its setting popping down behinde the nexthill or like a stone still dropping into the water suppose it so I would then aske whether should the earth fall It must needs be answered according to the same conceipt That it must fall into the lap and armes of Chap 7 § 3.1 heaven And this is as if we should say That the creature falls into the armes of Him who holds it up which secureth the stabilitie of the same That there are as the sacred Scripture saith everlasting hills and perpetuall mountaines Habb 3. 6. It secureth also and it is a principall thing The stabilitie and firme foundation of the Church and the true members thereof They are an everlasting foundation also they stand fast like Mount Sion fast for evermore The gates of hell power and policie shall not prevaile to remove and unbottom them so fast they stand for how should they fall or which way which way soever they fall they fall into the armes of Him who supports them They may be turned by the gyants of the world as Mr. Dearing calls them from post to pillar as the proverbe is and from the pillar separated to the foure winds and yet they are upon their basis and bottom still All their shocks cannot put them off thence
How so They are in the same hand that holds up the earth in Gods hand He loveth His people All His Israels Saints are in thy hand a Deut. 33. 3. Trem. And we must all grant That what is in Gods hand cannot by force or fraud be throwne out Oh how sure how secure that building which God beares up and the Corner stone whereof the Lord Christ is how sure and certaine is their dependance who having nothing can yet root themselves upon Him who hangs the earth upon nothing So much to the second enquiry and the use there-from 3. The third is touching the magnitude thereof And this our sense reports to be a massive body according to all demensions but therein exceeding both sense and our finite understanding And yet we must needs conceive also That this is as it is absolutely considered and in it self for if we take the earth comparatively with respect to the heaven it is and our sense reports it so but as that center or point where the foot of the compasle stands to the compasse or circumference round about the same point So as if the earth could be beheld down ward from the highest starre which may be supposed though it cannot be through a double impossibilitie the opacitie of the earth and the contrarietie to sense it would seeme as little and lesse unto us there above then the starre doth seeme to us below The scoffing b Lucian Icaro Mâ—nippus Ridentem dicere verum c. Philosopher makes this consideration very usefull for what hinders but that a scoffer may in some things speake the truth and make the same truth usefull But this is certain They who are risen with Christ whose affections are upon their treasure which can be no where but in the heavens for there Christ sitteth they are filled with the beautie and glory thereof filled I say as we read the house was The priests could not stand to minister for the glory c 2 Chron. 5. 13 14. of the Lord filled the house of God so is their house filled their soul I meane with the glory of the things of Christ that the world can finde no roome within their house so filled with glory The world is indeed as it is but See Chrys Ad Pop Ant. Hom. 15. as a point to them and they are at a point for it heaven is before them and the great and durable mansions there no matter for the stuffe of the earth let her keep her gifts her pleasures and profits for as the brother said they have enough they have the pearle for they bid to the price of it they have it and they have enough And so much to the three demands or enquiries touching the earth the resolves thereunto and instructions therefrom 2. It followes that we take a generall view of the things on the earth And behold variety of objâ—cts all to refresh and comfort to instruct and humble me I have no sooner set my foot abroad but presently I see There an hill here a dale There a barren ground here a fruitfull There good fruit here weeds d 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrysost in Gen. cap â— Hom. 17. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Bas in Hex Hom. 2. There the sheep seeding here the horse and oxe ploughing There the sheep giving us her lambes and her wool here the cow giving her calf and her milk so we have from both first an increase and then their flesh cloth for our backs and food for our hunger There I see herbs flowers trees leaves seeds fruits perhaps now in their winter and withered quarter or in their Spring-time and new dresse receiving a new life again whether so or so they give cleare evidence that what is quite rotten now shall revive again e In resurrectionem futuram omnis natura meditatur Expectandum etiam corporis ver est Minut. Faelix p. 24. in sol l. 19 The Spring is the resurrection of the year And consonant to reason it is That man for whom all things spring and rise again should have his spring and rising too Tertul. Here I see an hedge and as much care to keep it strong as there was to plant the field with any of all these There I see the Behemoth beasts so called for her greatnesse here the little worm retiring into its hold and earthing it self in case it feeles the least touch I cannot reckon up what I see but if I do no more but see the mule and the horse and the oxe do as much as I. If we see nothing in the heavens they are Mr Dearings f Heb. lect 5. c. 1. vers 10. words but that they are light and above our reach the horse and mule see this as well as we If we see nothing in the earth but a place to walk in or to take our rest upon it the beasts and fowls see this as well as we If we see nothing in our gorgeous apparell but the pride of a goodly colour the peacock seeth that in her feathers And if in all our refreshment from the creatures we know nothing but the pleasure and sweetnesse of our sense the hogge and swine have here as great a portion as we To be short if hearing seeing smelling tasting feeling be all the comfort we can finde in the works of God we have given our preeminence to the dumbe Creatures which have these senses more exquisite then we and we have turned the hearts of men into the hearts of beasts who with wisdome prudence understanding knowledge reason can do nothing And the words of the Prophet are fulfilled in us Man when he was in honour had no understanding he was compared to Reade Isid Pelusiot lib. 2. ep 135. the bruit beasts and was made like unto them Therefore the beholding the works of God must affect us more then so else we shall be but as the beasts and below them We must learn according as the works of God are thus before us so to behold them and take the pleasure of them that we give glory to God in all that He hath done When we see the heavens we must see His greatnesse who was able to set such a covering over the earth When we behold the earth we must behold His providence who hath ordained such a place of nourishment for all creatures When we look upon the unchangeable course in which all things are established We must look upon His constant wisdome and goodnesse who in a stedfast purpose hath extended His mercies over all His works In the least of all the Creatures of God when we see wisdome power glory more then all the world can reach their hands unto we must humble our selves under His high Majesty before whom no King nor Prince no power of the world hath any account So farre Mr Dearings words I adde for further illustration of the beauty of the Creation That the beholding the works therein do serve to instruct
y Nos sumus qui nullis annis vacationem damus canitiem galea premimus c. Senec. de otio sapientis cap. 29. said and it may instruct Christians We allow no vacation to our long tearme of yeares we can put an head-piece upon our hoary-scalp We will rest when we are dead life is for action Keep then thy body in breath and in ure with exercise else it will quickly grow unprofitable and a Burden Vse strength and have it it is a sure proverbe and if ever we will use expedition it is then seasonable when gray haires are upon us It is dangerous to burne the Day-light and to trifle out this pretious time The putting off this day and the next and halfe a day cost the poore Levite and his Concubine very deare as we may read Iudges 19. The evening hasteth on a pace and the Sun is neare the setting now put on the more earnestly because night is comming and thou must to Bed in the darke now gather twice as much I meane now pray heare read twice as much For the great Sabbath is comming when thou lookest for ever to Rest for ever to be with the Lord. This Sabbath Day is comming which shall never have night Now gather spirituall Manna thy Homer full twice as much as formerly If in thy youth thou didst by hearing reading conference c. gaine thirty-fold now gaine sixty Now bestirre thy selfe and put to all thy strength for the laying in store of provision in this thy day that thou mayst rejoyce in that great Day the Day of the Lord or the particular Day of thy Death Let it appeare thou art going out by the clearnesse of thy light and that the night is comming by the hasting of thy pace It is strange to consider what old men have done and how fit they have been for the best actions I meane of the minde I know outwards must decay because they kept their minde like a bow so they said alwayes bent I forbeare to put them down here The holy Scripture Heathen Authors our own observation doth reckon up not a few But remember still that there are none recorded in the sacred Register after the terme of life was shortened for old men but their old age was a crown unto them being found in the way of righteousnes z Senibus vita productior à deo tributa est in eum finem ut insiginum aliquorum operum in Ecclesiaesuae emolumentum organa essent Mardochaeus ad liberaudam Ecclesiam sub Artaxerxe vixit annos 198. Jehoshua ut pâ—pulum è Babylone cum Esdra Zorobabele reduceret vixit annos 130. Philo Ammiâ—nus in breviario temporum Tobit senior ut populi calamitas sub Salmanasare levaret vixit annos 158. Eâ ipsâ causa Tobit junior vixit annos 127. Judith ad liberandum patrium sub Holoferne vixit annos 105. Sixâ—us Senensis Bibliothec. lib. 8. They that are planted in Gods house bring forth much fruit in their age He that is fruitlesse in his latter yeares may be much suspected how he spent the former But I am sure there can be little comfort in it It is a sad thing to be an old man in yeares and a childe in understanding To grow like a Leeke greene fresh and lively towards the earth flag and saplesse upwards towards heaven To have the eye of the body dim and the eye of the soule as dim To have the body bending towards its earth and the spirit no more elevated To have one foot in the grave and the other tending to the place of utter darknesse To have the outward man quite decayed and the inward dead or fainting To be hasting toward the pit and to have the heart within like a stone A dying spirit in a dying body what a woefull conjunction is this I consider thy sex childe and thy charge but whatever it be thou wast never so fit as now thou shouldest be to serve it Now admonition correction instruction counsell all are in season before they might be suspected Now thou hast the advantage of all thy former past dayes and every following day is the disciple of the preceeding day a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Pind. ol od 1 Here is Master after Master and lesson upon lesson thou art a very bad proficient if thou art not now an old Disciple b Acts 21. 16. I shall never examine thee upon this point but be assured He that numbers out thy yeares unto thee will take an account of thee how thou hast spent them what provision thou hast laid up for their coming what store thou hast treasured up against a deare yeare against a time of spending Old-age is like our winter a time of expence we must get and lay up in youth what we must use and lay out in age c Juveni parandum Seni utendum Senec. And here we must use the more diligence because it is not with man in his winter as with the earth the trees and fruits thereon in theirs If they look dead and saplesse in their winter the Sunne will return unto them and renew their face they will spring out again but man decayeth and reneweth not he must not look in a naturall way to renew his youth like an eagle If the Lord hath lengthned out thy span and thread of life unto old-age thou must needs say the Lord hath been gracious and full of patience to thee ward and then thy heart must needs answer Render again praise and obedience to Him that is so good unto thee So thou wouldest expect from thy childe from thy servant so a Prince from his Subject Great favours are great engagements between man and man betwixt God and man much more for He is the fountain and well-head of mercies The mercie which man sheweth is but as a drop derived to us from that fountain Gods mercies are all strong cords to binde unto obedience which ever is the fruit of true thankfulnesse David said very much in a few words against Nabals churlishnesse Surely in vain have I kept all that this fellow had in the wildernesse d 1. Sam. 25. 21 So David argued or rather reproved Nabals churlishnesse And had not Abigail seasonably stopped David in his way Nabal had heard more touching his churlish dealing and answer This instructs us to sobrietie and watchfulnesse that the Lord may not have the same controversie against us when we come to our declining age Surely in vain have I kept this man this woman and all that they have so as nothing is missing of all that pertained unto them In vain have I lengthened out their dayes in vain have I fed them all their life and redeemed them from evill in vain have I preserved their inward and outward faculties both of soul and body all sound and entire for all this have they so and so churlishly requited me for all they have returned evill for good This is a
from the best part of his estate and then which was the fall Indeed from himselfe very ominous this to younger Brothers saith a Noble a Verul Essay Schollar who are commonly fortunate but seldome or never when the Elder are disinherited Your hand was put forth to uphold this pillar that was not Substantive enough to stand of himselfe nor had so much wisdome as to cleave to a Nother so though he had your hand yet he stood not he is falne So it must needs be sooner or later with every man who hath not a single eye to that invisible Hand who is the Great Supporter of a Man and onely makes the house a Blessing The low Cottage as well as the high Throne is established by Righteousnesse b Prov. Chap. 16. vers 12. 20. vers 28. 25. vers 5. 29. vers 14. it is spoken more then once nay Twice doubled as the c Gen. 41. 32. Dreame for the thing is certain Since he fell we have been in our Ruines and in them some of us having recourse to your selfe found you as ready and active as you were able you said you would doe it and what you said was done your word was your deed This and more whereof none can speake more then can my selfe renders you honoured I think of all that in a faire and cleare way else you will not heare of it have had occasion to use you And my intendment here is but to tender my acknowledgement thereof and you cannot be offended that I shew my selfe thankfull I could give you Titles of respect c. and not flatter neither as the manner is and as some doe who feare not their Maker d Job 32. But what are Mans eulogies in a wise Mans esteeme Nothing They whom the King of Kings will honour are honoured indeed and they who honour Him shall be so honoured that 's certain You will give me leave then to leave the common way of complements a way I could never comply with and to be your Remembrancer in two things they are very grave and weighty both 1. God hath given you a rich portion in things below It is a point of your excellent wisdome not to think these The portion It was and is the Righteous Mans Sinne e He received his good things not as he should as a pledge of Gods further favour but as a full and compleate reward as a propriatory not as a Steward and an Accountant he accounted his life as his and as if there had been no other Bish Andr. pag. 316. either during or satisfying not During of such portions it will be said as once it was In the Time-past Thou had st them pleasures profits honours They were now they are not And when they were and thou had'st them They were not satisfying They filled They wearied thee They did not satisfie no more then the East winde doth satisfie an hungry stomack There are three markes upon the Rich-mans folly which makes it very remarkable 1. He said to his soule Thou hast much goods That was a great mistake They were the goods of the Body not of the soule Barnes full and Coffers full and yet the soule not the fuller not the richer perhaps the poorer the leaner The more emptinesse the more of that fulnesse 2. Laid up for many yeers A cleere mistake that too for that Night the soule was pluckt away But grant a continuance for many yeers a thousand twice told yet an end comes at last They must be eternall good-things which an eternall soule can relish and enjoy being sutable and proportionable thereunto 3. Take thy ease That was a third deceit exceeding all for suppose The soule continue with the Body and the Body with the Goods Soule with Body Body with Goods wife children riches health honours all continued together there were no parting suppose it so yet we know for so we read that the Mountaine it contains all the fore-mentioned may be strong yet the Man weake upon it The Mountaine may continue yet the Man may be troubled It was Davids case All is in Gods face towards us if that shine upon a Man all is well and Lightsome it that be clouded or hid all is nothing The Man will be troubled God can without Taking the soule away or goods away He can put the Spirit of a Man into such a condition of darknesse as that all those comforts shall be to a Man but as the white of an egge no more relishing As there be joyes the world gives not so are there afflictions the world inflicts not saith a Learned Divine f Mr. G. Childe of Light 6. There is a breaking of the bones whereof David complained when there is not a bone in the body out of joynt The soule may be broke with sorrows vvhen there is a confluence of vvorldly comforts round about us And this requires our Marke for mighty reasons for it is as difficult a thing to goe-out of our selves to God a-alone for comfort as to goe-out of our selves to Christ alone for Righteousnes The Rich mans Tower is as strong now as ever it was in his coneeit g Prov. 18. 11. and he is as firmely bottomed upon his Mountain and he speaks as confidently novv to his soule Take Thy Ease as ever he did for though the History be old the practice is new But this is our wisedome and for this we shall be counted understanding Men if looking for ease and Comfort we look up to God with a single eye and trust perfectly on Him for enquire from one end of the heaven to the other Aske of the Barnes and Winepresses they are the fullest and fattest places under the Sunne aske them or any Creature else whether they can give ease to the soule They will answer no it is not in them though yet they can contribute a great deale But then the light of Gods countenance must shine through them if not they contribute Nothing That He may be known and acknowledged to be the God of all comfort and the Father not of some but of all consolations What ever outward comforts we have the comfort of our spirits is from God So then we are driven to this conclusion God onely makes the soule to Rest and gives it ease and that is never till He deales bountifully with it h Psal 117. 7. till He satisfies it with Himselfe a sutable and proportionable-good both During and Satisfying The soule is scattered and lost when it is parcelled-out to variety of things It cannot fixe now It doth but roule like a Ship at Anchor in a Tempest It must be brought to the Vnity of one Desire and one love Till then it will be as unstable as the water as restlesse as a Meteor still tossed and in doubtfull suspence So Truth it selfe Assureth by that very Metaphor i 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Luk. 12. 29. Psal 9. 112. But ô the peace the securitie of that person
whose heart is fixed trusting in the Lord he hath left Cisterns Creature-comforts and is gone to the Fountaine where he shall be satisfied he is got to the Rock of his salvation where is an abiding and now he shall stand fixed and firme upon his foundation like the Rock against which the raging waves may beat but shall be broken Nay more fixed is he then so faster he stands then the hills or mountaines yet because of their setled standing are they called perpetuall hills everlasting Mountaines k Hab. 3. 6. So fixed is this person and it must needs be so for he findes underneath the everlasting Armes l Deut. 33. 27. I know I have transgressed my Rule at this point for I have been too long upon it Yet I pray you doe not think so because it is an high point and I should say yet more unto it because it is so high and of such mightie concernment for this is it which being well observed will hold-up a mans Spirits when the body must fall asunder from it selfe and make the heart rejoyce when the eie-strings must break But I consider your person and place therefore I wil winde up all and your thoughts together in one word which you often meet with I will onely annex Selah here a word which sounds high and gives an elevation to the minde answerable to the matter so your thoughts are raised now reaching after good-things which shall endure as long as Eternitie is long for ever And this is to be Truely exalted This in a True sense to be high-minded II. God hath given you a Name upon earth He hath given you to know too and you blesse His Name for it that herein is the least degree of your glorie A Name upon earth is nothing though it should endure while the earth endures Nothing that to eternity after which the soule is Biased You may reade of one who had a Crown set upon his head consisting of many Crowns for he was an Emperour m Aug. de Civ dei lib. 5. 26. yet he would not make that the Crowne of his rejoycing but this was it That the Name of Christ was called upon him that he accounted his honour An honour indeed which reacheth from earth to heaven there to be perpetuated and such honour have all His Saints And this Name you account your chiefe honour also for it is called upon you And you must count it your chiefe work too For I must tell you this with it and then I have told you all It is the hardest thing in the world To be a Christian indeed and Indeed to answer that Name for it is an hard thing for selfe to crucifie selfe To offer a holy violence to ones selfe even to the plucking out or cutting off that which is most pleasing to Nature yet so we must doe saith one n 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Clem. Alex. Stro. li. 7. pag. 500. if we wil be Christians Indeed And we must believe him for he assureth us so from the mouth of Truth it selfe The violent take it by force We must labour here if we look to rest hereafter if any think other wise he is deceived We cannot think to goe-in at a narrow gate and finde no straitnesse A harder matter it is to tread the way of vertue then to keep a narrow path in the darkest night o Book of providence chap. 4. 5. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. The flesh must not live now that it may live hereafter It must die now that it may not die Chrys on Rom 8. Hom. 13. These are Chrysostomes words englished and they make cleare demonstration That though it be a matter of ease and no labour to be a Christian In Name yet it is a point of difficultie requiring labour and strife both to be such an one Indeed Herein then is your strife and work wherein you will be Abundant because of the Abundant reward to answer this worthy Name worthily And I pray heartily to the God of power to lead you by the hand and strengthen you in the work for it is a Mighty work But if He put forth His hand and your eye be upon the recompence of reward you will breake through all difficulties as is said of Abraham p Chrys upon Gen. Chap. 12. Hom. 31. like Spiders web's for you are called not as was he from one Land to another but from earth to heaven yet he plucked up his feet and so ranne That you may doe so even so runne that you may obtaine the end of your race your Crown is the prayer of him whom you have engaged Sr. to print my selfe Your much obleiged kinsman EZEKIAS WOODVVARD To the Reader THis Treatise tendeth to the erecting of faire Edifices to the Lord which are the children of children of men The Auâ—hor sheweth himself herein a skilfull builder in that he first layeth a sure solid foundation and then reareth thereupon his goodly edifice This the Lord Himselfe noted to be the part of a prudent builder Luk. 6. vers 48. He wisely sheweth when and by whom especially this foundation is to be laid even by Parents so soone as their children attaine any competent capacitie Young and tender yeares are flexible and may easily be bowed this way or that way They are like a Aâ—gillâ quidvis imitabâ—ris udâ Hor. the moist potters clay which may readily be fashioned into any shape and like soft waxe which soone receives any print Nor so only but also long retains what it first receiveth like b Quo semel est imbuta recens servabit odorem Testa diu Idem a vessell which long holds the savour which it first tooke while it was new Old men are said to remember in their elder yeares what they learned in their younger I shall not need to presse this further it being so plentifully and pithily pressed by the Author himself who layes his foundation very deep even in the mothers wombe and goeth along from infancy to childhood thence to youth and so on till he bring his childe to a growne yea an old man full of dayes going to the grave in a full age like as a sheafe of corne cometh in in his season c Job 9. 26. In every estate and degree of these Ages even from the wombe to the grave he prescribeth pertinent and profitable directions not to children only but also to Parents Guardians Schoole-masters Tutors Governours of all sorts of Societies yea and to Ministers too whom he fitly styleth Instructors of Instructors So full he is as he hath passed nothing over in this long journey without a due observation whether it concerns the mothers care of the childe in her wombe or after in the infancy or both Parents care about a new birth or initiating it in pietie good manners good literature at home at schoole at Vniversity or any other good Seminary Yea also about calling marriage carryage to Parents
the Childe yet to Faith it is well for God hath done it and he doth all things well And if parents and children can waite in silence and expect with patience they shall say it is very well and now they shall say as the Mother said it shall be well I speake not this as if verse 23. so I had done so depended so waited it is my shame that I have profited so little by so fit a correction But therefore I speake it that we may learne under any affliction whatsoever To waite without wearinesse And the more weary and weake we are the faster to cling to The Almighty For weaknesse with such a support shall doe and suffer great things things beyond expression or imagination l 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Abimelech said well to Isaac Thou art much mightier then we he was indeed and needs he must be so for an Almighty Hand went along with Isaac hand in hand in all things in all places Nothing is of more power then he is who is assisted from above as Nothing is weaker then is he who is forsaken of that Almighty helpe Chrysost in Gen. 26. 16. Hom. 52. Cant. 8. 5. Of such consequence it is To be Nothing in our selves All in God To feele our owne weaknesse and in sense thereof to leane the more strongly upon the Beloved The instructions I would give from hence seasonable for a parent and as usefull for a Childe are these First Let the parent give the Childe his breeding what ever imperfection lyeth upon it yet let the Childe be taught what it is any way Capable of Capable will the Parent say what can a poore weake stammering child be taught or what can he doe with his teaching This is the common Accent which Parents put upon their childrens defects The childe is wanting the parent will make him more wanting and he will busie and vexe himselfe about Gods charge and in the meane time neglect his owne Let the Parent doe the work of the day upon the day and leave the morrow to God And let him doe it cheerefully and in hope Camerarius m cap. 37. tels of one who did write with his feete very exactly and made his Pen without his hands for he had no Armes He tels us also in the same Chapter of two a brother and a sister both deafe and dumbe but strange things of both They could heare with their eyes and speake with their hands So solicitous saith my Authour n Adeo Natura veluti fidelis mater compensando solicita c. quod enim in aliquibus sensibus adimit in aliis restituit Ibid. Nature is to recompence and make up what is wanting restoring that to one sense which it took away from the other And we know many who have learned without their eyes and have proved no ordinary Proficients not in the Arts onely but in the tongues also wherein the least jot or tittle must be taken notice of The eare is that great Instrument of knowledge A Parent knows not whither that qualitie which is easily taught may bring the Childe Davids Harpe set him before his King And we know of what use ordinary qualities have beene to great Schollars they have supplied their necessities when the Book could not So Ramus tels us so Alsted I have heard a Parent say upon observation of some defects in his Childe whereof many times the Parent is the worst judge that his Childe is fit for nothing for nothing Then make him a Parson or a Vicar he is not so wāting but you may make him either the one or both This was the old conceit and I doubt it is not old enough to die But we must be serious speaking the words of truth and sobrietie If the Childe be so deficient as the Parent thinks him fit for nothing then the rather give him Instruction Certainly that will make it good for something If the Childe be not monstrously deficient and Gods Image doubly defaced in it whereat and in which glasse the Parent may behold himselfe and be greatly humbled at the sight some instruction may fit its capacitie and fit it for some imployment in afterwards I know well there are some whom nature and parts have fixed in a lower Sphere as uncapable of rising higher or being greater as the earth is of becoming a Star in Heaven But o Nemo reperitur qui sit studio nihil consecutus Quint. 1. 1. yet where a Parent sees all this wanting he must not be so farre wanting to the Childe that he suffers Breeding to be wanting to it also For if so this will fall out That the Childe who could not for the lownesse of Parts be framed to doe much good service will frame it selfe to doe none at all but the contrary much hurt as we see in experience Suppose then for so we may that a Childe be framed by nature and for Parts but to drive the Cart or hold the Plough p Natura servus ad stivam natus why yet if he be fit for either of these two imployments Servill we call them before he had strength for that labour in that emptie space of Time before for so the Parent makes it which lyeth betwixt 6. yeers and 13. which runs forth like water whereof is no use to waste the Childe might have been fitted by good culture and Tillage to have known the nature of the worke he should afterwards be set about which yeelds many excellent instructions no profession more then Husbandry doth this working in the Earth It is an ancient it was an honourable q Plin. nat Hist lib. 18. 3. Dr. Hack. Apol. B. 3. sect 3. profession also though now Cooks are in more esteeme 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Clem. Alex. poed 2. 1 p. 106. and the Lord condescended to the capacitie of none more then to the capacitie of the Husbandmen which sets much upon their score But for want not of nature or parts but of this culture ſ Manifestum est non naturam sed curam defecisse Quint. 1. 1. of the minde which should fill up the empty space of time before mentioned and the minde too your Husbandmen many or the most of them understand no more concerning the lessons which the holding of the Plough the tearing up of the ground the casting in of the seed the dying in the earth the growing of the same the cutting the gathering the housing and threshing thereof no more doe they understand of all these things or of the lessons there-from then their Oxe or Horse doth whom they follow And all this for want of this culture of the minde the season being neglected because the Childe was designed for the field For my part had I a Childe to designe thither to the Plough I meane or to the Sea or to some lesse stirring trade in all these cases or courses of life learning is neglected as a thing of no use I
that upon whom he hath bestowed so many hard blows both from hand and foot too I tell but my own observation who is it he hath used so disgracefully with such contumelious words It is no other then the image and glory of God A strong consideration to cause the 1. Cor. 11. 7. parent to carry himself comely and reverently before the childe which he may do and yet make the childe both to know and keep its distance else it cannot know its dutie A Parent cannot conceive the childs condition to be more Maxima dâ—betur pueris Reverentia Iav Major è longinquo Reverentia Tacit. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. de prosper Adver Hom 5. ω. deplorable then was the Rich-mans in the Parable yet saith Chrysost and he makes it very useful Abraham called him Sonne a compellation still be fitting a Father so also words and actions well becoming that sweet name Jud. 9. α. and most likely to winne upon and to convince the childe whereas bitter and vilifying words become not though we did contend with the Devill a Kinde words make rough actions plausible The bitternesse of reprehension is answered with the pleasingnesse of compellations Sonne let that be the name for so he is though never so bad And as a childe hath no greater argument to prevail with a Father then by that very name of love so nor hath a parent any stronger argument whereby to prevail with his childe then by that very name of dutie whether we respect his Father on earth whose childe he is or in heaven whose image and impresse he beares though now much defaced This is the first †2. And it is his own image too that 's the second consideration his very picture even that childe whom in the rage and rore of his anger he hath thrown and battered so He is a mad man that will kick and throw about his picture specially if the picture doth fully and lively shew forth his proportion This childe is the parents picture right and never so fully the parents image as now that it is in a stubborn fit It is a certain truth a parent never sees his own revolting and stubborn heart more expressed to the life then he may do in a stubborn childe then he may see it as plainly as face in water answers face this is a weighty consideration if it be put home A Parent must consider whence had the childe this who put this in which the parent would now in all haste fetch out Sinfull peremptory nature runnes in a bloud it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1. Pet. 1. 18. by tradition the childe received it of the father This the Parent must not forget and then his carriage will not be such as may lose the childes heart and alienate his affections such an effect harshnesse and roughnesse may work it may make the childe think that the parent hates his own flesh a In â—mendando ne accrbus c qâ—idam sic objurgant quasi oderint Quint. 2. 2. 3. Is the childe thus stiffe and stubborn thus confirmed in evill Doth it stand against all the parents knocks and threats like a rock immoveable Consider then he must whence was that Rock hewen The parent is the quarry or pit whence it was taken and whence it contracted this Tanquam dura silâ—x aut stet Viâ—g rockinesse It cannot be too often considered but it was the former consideration the parent must consider this here and it sufficeth to calme and quiet him to take off from his eagernesse that the time was when the childe was not so stiffe and so tough it was tender like a twig so as a twig or the sight of it would have moved and stirred it but then the parent would not it was too soon the time was not yet afterwards would be soon enough Now if it be too late he must thank himself the parent might but would not he would now but cannot b Aegrè reprehendas quod sinis consuescere Hieron ad Gaudent de Pacat. l. 2. ep 16. Difficulter eraditur quod rudes animi perbiberunt Ad Laetam l. 2. ep 15. Through the parents fault and connivence it is that the childe is become as stiffe as a stake as unmoveable as a rock If a parent can thus consider of himself and his childe his instructions will be more then his stripes so they should be alwayes and then they may save that labour c Quò saepiùs monuerit hoc rarius castigabit Quint. l. 2. c. 2. pain his teares will fall faster then his hands his passion will be turned into compassion and his prayers before and after will exceed all for this peremptory nature is a crookednesse which man cannot make straight Oh how good and how comely is it for a parent to water his plants by help of a metaphor I mean his children not as one did those in his garden and as too many do those in their house with wine but in imitation of the Prophet with teares I will water thee with my teares O Hesbon An Hortens vino irrigavit Macrob. Isa 16. 9. excellent water to make fruitfull for a childe of many prayers and teares cannot perish if we may beleeve the Fathers words to Aug. Mother This may teach us how to Aug. vita carry our selves in the unrooting of evill Other considerations there are which may instruct the parent when he is implanting good Parents commonly teach their children the book and the needle at least the beginnings in both But they will say They are the unfittest of many for they have not the patience to heare the childe reade three words So I have heard some say and those not of the worst The inconvenience here-from is great therefore to cool their heat and to arrest their hands while they are instructing let them take upon trust these considerations till they can suggest better The first is 1 That the beginning in any kinde of learning seemes strange and hard to all young and old but specially to young folk The Father must expect to see an aukwardnesse an unaptnesse in the childe at his first entrance The Arcadia tels us it is a pretty fiction that a Prince the better to mask himself that he might not be known took upon him a Shepheards weed and the Shepheards hook he takes into his hand also The right Shepheard who will hold his thumbe under his girdle and lying along upon the ground will point you out this way with his legge this Shepheard indeed observing his instrument the hook nothing well managed came to this Prince whom he knew not and gave him some directions touching the managing of his hook but finding his instructions did not take he went away in a fume telling him he was the aukwardest fellow at the hook that ever he met withall A shepheards hook was a strange instrument in a Princes hand he could have held a Scepter better
in beholding His face in that Day when we shall know Him as He is the Lord of glory But for the wicked it is not so with them for the morning is now unto them as the shadow t Job 24. 17. of death what then will be the morning of their resurrection when the hidden works of darknesse shall be brought to light and the secrets of all hearts opened and made cleare before all Israel and before the Sunne 4. We learne againe how sinne and sorrow can sower our blessings and make us disrelish the greatest earthly comforts Amongst them the chiefest is the light yet to him that is hurried or oppressed with his sinne this light is grievous And to him that is in paine the day is dolesome as he is wearyed with tossings in the night so is he tyred in the day complaining thereof for In the u Deut. 28. 67. morning he shall say would God it were evening God can cause the Sunne to go down at noon and darkens the earth in a cleare day Amos 8. 9. That is as the x Chrysost Ad Pop. Ant. Hom. 2 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ibid. Father expounds the place He can so cloud the spirit of a man with sorrow that it cannot see the light or if he see it it shall not be lightsome to him Our cisternes of comfort are below but they are filled above All my springs of my life saith David Psal 87. 7. are in Thee Some fruits of comfort we gather from the earth but the root of our comfort is in heaven And this That our heart may have no dependance but on Him and that we may feare before Him Who can turn our y Amos 8. 10. feasts into mourning and our songs into lamentations A pleasant morning into a bitter day And a day of mirth into a night of sorrow as He can also turne the shadow of death into the morning 5. The Sunne though it be in an infinite distance from us to our finite understanding yet doth it send its influence downward cleane contrary to the nature of light or fire unto the lowest of creatures Thus This great light doth as if the Great Creator thereof had charged it thus to do Send forth thy light against the nature of the same cast thy beames down towards Man to guide and direct him there do so for for him thou wast made His candle z Ad Popul Antioch Hom. 9. cannot do so it is against its nature whose flame tends upward but so shalt Thou do that Thou maist serve man for whom Thou wast made thy light shall tend downward so Chrysostome It teacheth those that are highest in place and gifts to have an eye as the eye of the body hath to the foot to those that are lowest in regard of both and to be the more servant unto all we see That the Sunne riseth not for it selfe but to be the common candle of the world that we may see by it and worke by it It teacheth as before that whether we labour in our callings or to fit us for a calling we should in all intend the publique rather then our private interest This selfe is a poore and an unworthy Center for our actions to tend to or rest in yet is it the great Idoll a Self-love builds the citie of the Divell c. Aug. de Civit. lib. 14. cap. 28. ω. of the world as self pleasing so self seeking the measuring the publick good by private interest And this sinne is clearely evinced and reproved by the language of the Sunne and all those creatures that in their ranks obey their Maker and serve us They serve man not themselves to teach man not to serve himself onely or principally but in subordination to God and in due reference to his brother The Sun as the great eye of the world is so divided by the Lord of the same that all parts partake of it in their season Nay the eye of our little world hath sight not to enjoy but to lighten the members so the wise man hath wisdome not for himself but for those of simple and shallow conceit The Clarke hath wisdome but for the ignorant The rich man wealth for the poore mans sake that there may be no lack All teacheth man That he must carry himself as a Citizen of the world and as if his heart were a continent joyned to other Lands that as many as may be may receive fruit and comfort from him and not to live as turned in upon himself or as if his heart were an Iland cut off from others so one phraseth it b L. Verul Essayes 13. p. 70. Quam bonum est orbes mentis habere concentricos universo De Aug. 6. 25. I remember an elegant conviction of this self-seeking which is in these words If ever you saw either an hand or a foot or an head lying by it self in some place or other cut off from the rest of the body which were but a gastly fight such must thou count him to make himself who onely regards his own intrest neglecting the publick and deviding himself from the common societie and generall unitie so said one c M. Aur. Ant. Med. lib. 8 sect 32. p. 122. who did and spake many excellent things but yet below what a Christian should in both That man who brings forth fruit to himself is as an emptie vine d Hosea 10. 1. Nemini fructuosa Trem. which is good for nothing he thrives but as some overgrown member depriving the other of their proportion of growth Nay he that seeks himself making himself his end is the greatest Idolater in the world For we must note There is one thing and but one which we must seeke above our salvation and that is the glory of God the ultimate the highest end Now he that makes himself his end he that onely seeks himself as many do yea the most for its the idol of the world he doth in so doing what he thinks not he knows not what but this he doth he makes a God of himself and that 's the way to make himself an abomination in the end So monstrous a thing it is so dangerous also for a man to make himself the end of his actions 6. The Sunne which distributeth his light to all nations hath not the lesse light in it self The more communicative we are of our gifts the more they are increased We are like e 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Al. cl Str. 1. pag. 201. wells the fuller the more drained whereas if we lay up our talent in what kinde soever like the Manna it corrupteth 7. God maketh f Matt. 5. 45. Clem. Alex. 7. 543. His Sun it is His Sun to rise on the evill and on the good To teach us to shew the kindnesse of God to our brother that is to doe good for evill which is the kindnesse of God And that which David would g 2 Sam. 9.
very probable then that the same man will strain at the cup of sorrow as at a cup of trembling it will no more down with him by his will then will a Camel but if down it must it is because it must be so there is no remedie for God hath put the cup into his hand and he must drink thereof The lesson then is At our tables we must begin this deniall so we shall frame unto it the better in other things of greater importance We may note here that naturally we are very short spirited all for the present we are impatient of waiting soon tired there even almost before we begin though the Lord hath said The waiting of the meek shall not be forgotten And though the Lords manner is to make His children wait putting a long date to the performance of His promises when yet His deferring is no empty space for in that space much good is done even a fitting for the promise as while the seed lieth in the earth the time is not lost for the hard winter fitteth for the more hopefull Spring But I say so the Lords manner is to inure unto a patient waiting to stay as in the case of Lazarus k John 5. 6. and with those He most loveth two dayes longer when the extremity seems greatest so long as we may think with Martha that the season for help is quite past We may take notice how short our spirits are by that we reade of the two sisters but especially of the three disciples l Luke 24. 21. The third day was come and not fully over and yet but so long deferring their hopes weakened their trust And to day is the third day By them we may learn how short our spirits are and how impatient in waiting But the shortnesse and eagernesse of our spirits appeares in nothing more then in those things which presse upon the necessities of nature We see ordinarily the bread and the cup are put to the mouth before so much as a thought the quickest thing that is is conceived of Him who hath ordained both for our comforts And we may remember how hard it pressed upon Esau yea and upon the good old Prophet m 1. Kings 13. 15. who was easily seduced upon the mention of bread which sheweth us the eagernesse of our appetites and how peremptory the demands of an hungry stomack are which a man can no more rule then he can his tongue but He who restrained the ravenous lion from tearing the asse and the Carkeise mark it can restrain our eagernesse this way and give us the command of our selves for the better performing His command in cases extraordinary and in suffering great matters when He shall call us unto it I think now of the extremities which famine drives unto and they are scarce utterable by them that never felt them I think also how soon our very necessaries which we have riotously abused and carelessely cast at our feet may be taken from us But then I think withall that in these extremities wherewith Gods dearest children may be exercised and pressed they do so look up to Gods hand and so rest upon it that they certainly finde the same hand as gracious towards them in sustaining them as it was powerfull in holding the mouth of the lion in the forementioned case So as though the extremitie be great yet they do not put forth their hand to wickednesse not to such horrid and bloody dishes as we reade and heare that some in their extremities have done If God take away the meat He can take away the stomach also as the Martyr said or restrain the rage of it so as it shall not touch the carkeise or such unclean things But we cannot tell what delicate wanton persons may do in their straits nor how far our unmortified lusts may carry us If we are in no part crucified to the world and have the world in no sort crucified to us the extremitie may prove unsupportable want of necessaries will presse sore upon those who alwayes have lived at the full and fed themselves without feare and could never part with so much as any of their superfluities They who feed themselves like beasts saith Clem. Alex very likely will walk and do like beasts n 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 paed 2. 11. wants to such are more disrellishing then dead beer after the sweetest banket They that live in pleasure and lie at ease cannot endure a change o We are hardly brought to change from soft beds to hard boards Hist of the World 4. 2. 11. p. 158. And therefore as we expect the support of the Almighties Hand in our fainting time when we have nothing to support us from without we must look up humbly and thankfully to the same Hand now that we have plenty And we must accustome our selves now that our tables are spread to a sober temperate use of the creatures and to all fitting abstinence holding command over our spirits in His strength we are able to do it who over powered the lion that we be not brought under the power of the Creature The body hath some preparatives before a purge and when we would come out of a sweat kindely we cast off first one cloth then another so should we do in the ranknesse and sweat of our prosperity p Vitia longae pacis opulentae securitatis Salv. And now the time calls upon us famine and the extremities thereof we have q Chap. 4. § 14. read and heard of and what hath it taught us Our tables are as full of excesse as before and fuller of surfeit So the fool goes on and is punished he cannot lay things to heart but they that are wise do heare the voice of the rod and do fear before it walking humbly with the Lord They have got command over their spirits and are got from under the power of the Creature by denying themselves a little in this and a little in that Now in this lesser thing so making way for greater so as when the rod of their affliction shall bud out again which they expect nay when the Lord shall turn the former rod which wrought no reformation into a serpent so that it stings like a scorpion they may feel the smart thereof but the poyson thereof shall not be deadly And so much to teach us abstinence and to get command over our selves that we be not brought under the power of the creature which will help us much to possesse our souls in patience in the day of trouble They that have not learnt to wait are not fitted to receive the fruits from the r James 5. 7. earth or the accomplishment of the promise from heaven Now touching our children the lesson is this we must not give them alwayes when they aske nor so much as they would have let them feele sometimes the want of it and the biting of an hungry stomack It sweeteneth the
from the discredit and disgraces that ignorance and misinterpretation have put upon the same 2. And this leads us to the second for it will point out the way to the parent how to make this walke profitable to himself I meane how he may receive benefit by perusing the book of the creatures And then which is the maine end of the walk 3. How to teach the childe to spell nature and by degrees to reade the volume of Gods works which will better be done in the fourth place when 4. I shall give some Essayes herein beginning at the foot-stoole the lowermost of Gods creatures and so rising higher c. For the first then The objections I finde cited by our noble and learned Advancer n Advancement pag. 6. and his answers unto them there 1. That the aspiring to over-much knowledge was the originall temptation and sinne Object 1 2. That it hath somewhat of the serpent for when it entreth into a man it makes him swell nature being easily blowne up for nature and the pride of nature are neere 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of kin 3. That Salomon gives a censure That in spacious knowledge there is much contristation 4. And Paul gives a caveat That men be not spoyled through vaine Philosophy as some have been who poring upon the second causes have lost the light of the first and dependance on God who is the first cause To these he answers That it was not the pure knowledge of nature and universality Answ 1 a knowledge whereby man gave names to other creatures in Paradise which gave the occasion to the fall but it was the proud knowledge of good and evill with an intent in man to give law to himself It was saith the learned Author in another place o Pag. 56. not the naturall knowledge of the creatures which induced the fall but the morall knowledge of Good and Evill wherein the supposition was that Gods Commandements or prohibitions were not the originalls of good and evill but that they had other beginnings which man aspired to know to the end to make a totall defection from God and to depend wholly upon himself So he answers the first objection 2. Neither is it any quantitie of knowledge how great so ever that can make the minde of man to swell for nothing can fill much lesse extend the soule of man but God and the contemplation of God c. for he goes on very usefully There is such a capacitie and receipt in the minde of man so as there is no danger at all in the proportion or quantitie of knowledge that it should make it swell or out-compasse it selfe no but it is meerely the qualitie of knowledge which be it in quantitie more or lesse if it be taken without the true corrective thereof hath in it some nature of venome or malignitie and some effects of that venome which is ventositie or swelling This corrective spice the mixture whereof maketh knowledge Haec Antidotus sive aroma c. so soveraigne is charitie and so he goes on in answer to the second objection 3. And as for the censure of Salomon concerning the anxietie of spirit which redounds from knowledge It is certaine That there is no vexation of minde which resulteth thence otherwise then meerely accidentall when men fall to framing conclusions out of their knowledge so ministring to themselves weake feares or vast desires whence groweth that carefulnesse and trouble of minde for then knowledge is not a dry light but steeped and infused in the humours of the affections This is the sum of the answer to the third objection 4. For the Apostles caveat it must not lightly be passed over for if any man shall think by view and inquiry into these sensible and materiall thinges to attaine that light whereby he may reveale unto himself the nature or will of God then indeed is he spoiled by p The soul hath no more nourishment from this kinde of philosophy then the body hath from nuts transl out of Clem. Alex. Strom. lib. 1. p. 199. vain Philosophy For the contemplation of Gods creatures and works produce having regard to the works and creatures themselves knowledge but having regard to God no perfect knowledge but wonder which is broken knowledge And therefore it was most aptly said by one of Platoes School That the sense of man carrieth a resemblance of the Sun which as we see openeth and revealeth all the terrestriall Globe but then again it obscureth and concealeth the Starres and celestiall Globe So doth the sense discover naturall things but it darkeneth and shutteth up Divine And hence it is true that it hath proceeded that divers great learned men have been Hereticall whilest they have sought to fly up to the secrets of the Deitie by the waxen wing of the senses So he goes on in his answer and thus concludeth Let no man upon a weak conceit of sobriety or an ill applied moderation think or maintain that a man can search too farre or be too well studied in the book of Gods word or in the book of Gods works Divinitie or Philosophie But rather let men endeavour an endlesse progresse or proficience in both onely let men beware that they apply both to charitie and not to swelling to use and not to ostentation and again that they do not unwisely mingle or confound these learnings together So farre the answers which serve to deliver this kinde of knowledge we call naturall from the misconceits and exceptions against the same This pointeth us the way to the second thing How we may make our walk profitable and subservient to higher matters That though we walk low and upon the ground yet we may be raised in our thoughts to heaven like the wise and skilfull pilot whose hand is upon the rudder but his eye upon the starre to apply this then to our present purpose thus 2. There are in this our walk I mean in the view of the creatures two extremes and two sorts there are who fall foule and stumble at them The one sort are they who think to rise higher by the sight of the creatures then the creatures can carry them and so by prying too farre with their own light they make their philosophy vain and become vain in their imaginations and their foolish heart is darkened nature cannot rise above nature it cannot elevate herself above herself Though yet if we track and eye her well if we q Advancement 106. hound her as the noble Scholler phraseth it she can leade us and must needs do so from the foot-stool on earth to the Chaire in heaven but when she hath done so and when in our curious pursuit and disquisition our understanding is wound up so high yet is it but a naturall understanding still so as we do in this search and enquiry tumble up and down like a ship at anchor in the waves of our own reason and conceits for it is not possible as the
same Noble scholler saith for us to make a perfect discovery of the more remote and deeper parts of knowledge standing the while but upon the flat or levell of this naturall knowledge There is another sort and they are the most who stumble at the other extreame They behold the creatures the works of nature of God rather but do no more but behold them they stay and dwell upon the superficies or out-side of the work further they passe not either to what is within or to what it tends unto There are two most simple and primitive trades of life ancient and once honourable trades both though now as was said * Preface pag. 21. Cooks are of more esteem because the old simplicitie of life and livelihood are out of fashion Two trades I say and they maintain the state of the world The one of shepheardie the other of husbandrie They who are versed herein should be if they are not truants well instructed men for their books which are full of instruction are still in their eye and they are still poring upon them They live still in the view of heaven and of the earth the one tending his sheep the other driving his oxe and horse and yet though thus they do yet have they gained no more true understanding from their observations in either then the sheep or oxe have which they tend and drive Experience tells us that the shepheard and the husbandman are the most ignorant persons in the world Though yet I know very well that both these do know what sheep and which ground yeelds them most profit and the way they know how to make them most serviceable that way and all this they may know and yet remain most ignorant notwithstanding as for the most part they are no more understanding have they in those chief things and lessons which the beholding the earth and the heaven might yeeld them then the oxe or the horse have which they follow which was Mr Dearings complaint long since And whence this stupiditie or grosse ignorance There can be no other reason hereof but this that they do behold the creature and no more as so saith the proverb An oxe looketh on a gilded gate Their senses report no more to the minde but that they have seen it no more A fault carefully to be avoided for he that is unfaithfull in earthly things shall never have greater matters committed unto him and he who carrieth a negligent eye or eare towards the works and voice of nature gathering no instructions thence though the characters are most legible there and her voice cleare and audible shall finde no more capacity in himself for higher truths There is a place in the Apocrypha which is worth our taking notice of it will help to lead us the way betwixt those extreames it meets also with that stupiditie even now mentioned and corrects the same The wise man in the 38 chapter of his book verse 26. I Eccles. 38. vers 26. â—â— Eng. 25. reade after Iunius his translation for our English verse 25. may deceive us puts a grave and weighty question and it is concerning him who holds the plough and such persons who maintain the state of the world the question is Whereby shall a man be made wise At the last verse of the chapter in the Latine Translation he answers By nothing unlesse Vers 39. nisi qui adjâ—cerit animum suum c. he be such an one who will apply his minde and meditation on the Law of the most High It is a place not lightly to be passed over The husbandman in that place may seem to have as he reades and so pleades his ease a dispensation for his grosse ignorance but it is nothing so That Scripture tells us thus much and it is worth the noting that though he holds the plough which sheweth him the r Luke 9. 62. constancy of an holy profession for he looks straight before him he doth not look back much lesse take off his hand though he ploweth up the ground which sheweth him as in a glasse the sorenesse of afflictions how the wicked plow upon the Å¿ Psal 129. Micah 3. 12. backs of the righteous and what pains he should take with his own t Jer. 4. 3. heart also So preparing it for the true seed the word of life though he casteth in the seed still in the season and that he might understand his own season lookes to see again the very same seed which he sowes the very same u Job 4. 8. Hosea 8. 7. chap. 10. vers 12. 13. Galat. 67. 8. and with a large encrease but it rots and dies in the earth x 1. Cor. 15. 36. John 12. 24. Chrysost in locum Hom. 41. α. first which answers the great objection and cuts the knot as I may say with its own sword The body cannot rise again because it dies and rots in the earth nay because it dies and rots therefore it shall rise and he is a fool in the Apostles sense who seeth not so much in the sowing and reaping his grain Though this husbandman seeth all this yet he seeth not he understandeth nothing thereby he is not made the wiser by it By what he speaks we may know what his heart doth indite no songs of praise unto his God He will notwithstanding glory in his goad all his talk will be of bullocks for he giveth his minde to make furrows and all his diligence is to give the kine fodder all is for the earth there on he layeth out the pretious stock of time and strength thither to he bends himself he entertaineth not a thought whereby to raise himself higher and it must needs be so unlesse he shall apply his minde another way and meditate on the law of his God when he shall do so then every thing shall instruct him and make him wise and not before Here now we have our lesson and the way to make our walk profitable we must apply our minde to that we see and we must meditate on the Law of our God That is the man who will learn by every thing that hath inured and accustomed his heart to compare earthly things with heavenly to trade his spirit to heavnely things by earthly occasions He shall be made wise who hath a gift it must be given from above to be heavenly that is to make every creature which is the work of a sanctified fancy a ladder to heaven to turn ordinary properties of the creature or common occasions to heavenly meditations This I say is the man who will profit by his walk being now in the open view of the heaven and the earth and observing Gods great works in both To conclude and to instance so making the thing plain that man shall gain much by his observations who hath but so much understanding as seeing a sheep before the shearer to see also the meek-abiding and patience of the Saints seeing an
if we look downward upon the convex surface of the same for the curvature or bending thereof appeares not to the eye nor is it possible it should being but a foot or there abouts in fifteen miles yet something it is But the Globe representing the same which with the earth and sea makes but one tells us what the figure of the earth is so do the waters in compassing the same and the Sun or the Heavens rouling round about But more clearely the fabrick of the heavens declares the figure of the earth whose concave we behold and see it like an Arch or Furnace over us which plainly sheweth the Fornace flammeo same figure to be of the earth And that which is demonstrated in a little circle no part of the surface thereof is uppermost and lowermost in respect of it self but lyeth in a full aspect to heaven though it seemes otherwise to us who live on this side of the Globe as it doth likewise to them who are on the other side in the South Which also clearly concludes That there are e Antipodes though they tread not See Plin. nat Hist lib. 2. c 65. Aug. de Civit. Dei lib. 16. cap. 9. Lact. lib. 3. cap. 23. in a direct opposition to us which so posed the Ancients I meane a people for the word is improper who inhabite that other side of the Globe so clearly I say concludeth this truth and so universally that now to phrase it as one doth it scornes defence This is wonderfull to sense It is so and it must be granted to be so both to young and old for it leaves us all to wonder and no more It leaves us with our light in the darke Note it There is enough in the greatest portion of knowledge to humble us very low And enough in the least portion thereof for there is the greatest danger to puffe us up and make us swell so needfull it is to know the imperfection and shallownesse of our knowledge but more especially to know our selves to be but men And if we conceive so small a part of God here about the earth how little little is that we conceive of Him when we go higher If He be wonderfull in His foot-stoole thinke we and thinke seriously How glorious is He in His Throne This meditation should not be passed over untill it hath wrought us from wonderment to an holy trembling before Him and a godly feare There is one thing more touching the figure of the earth which offers it self and I cannot passe it by though it is very ordinary and familiar and the sense can make report thereof to the understanding It is this A circular or round figure cannot fill up that which hath corners there will be still an emptinesse It tells us this ordinary lesson That the earth and all the stuffe and lumber there cannot fill up the heart of man no more then wind or ashes can satisfie the hungry stomack We may weary out our selves and lay out our stock of time and parts about the encompassing of Capacem Dei non implet minus Deo Tu Deus diligenti Te quantum praecipis oslendes Te sussicis ei Aug. Cons 12. 15. some portion here below but it will not be a portion proportionable unto the nature of the soul it will not profit nor give satisfaction That very seale which made the impression will fill up and answer the same impression and no other for it It is only heaven and the great things thereof which give rest and peace which fills up the heart and makes it stable removed there-from the heart is like a needle shaken off from the pole starre in an unquiet trembling posture when it feeles it self like a Meteor tossed with every motion and still in doubtfull suspence f 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Luk. 12. 29. Behold then The heaven is before us and Christ in our nature hath opened the way thither and There appeares for us And thither-ward must the soul tend if it looks for rest The Lord Christ seemes to speake to every soul as Ioseph to his brethren g Gen. 45. 20. Regard not stuffe for the good of all the land of Egypt is yours Regard not the stuffe and baggage lumber here below ye are borne for higher things Behold the heavens Behold all the good in those spacious mansions is yours This meditation must be followed till it hath set us loose from our spirit of infirmitie bending us down-ward and hath wrought our affections off from things below and raised them upward where the treasure is which only satisfieth thereon to fasten even upon the Lord Christ as the portion to the soul every way proportionable And woe unto us if this meditation doth not work upon us even thus farre for how shall we answer our coveting an evill covetousnesse to our house our increasing that which is not ours h Hab. 26. 9. our heaping up riches or rather as one saith sins i 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Isid Pelus lib. 2. ep 135. but all this while contemning the blessing our minding earth and earthly things wherein is such varietie of changes and neglecting house or kingdome rather which cannot be shaken How shall we answer this It is not possible saith the Father k 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrysost in Psal 4. w. to expect pardon for so great a neglect for our eager pursuit after and care about the earth and our neglect of heaven and of our right precious souls which live to all eternitie This will besaid of us if our care be so preposterous which was said of him l Isid Pel. lib. 2. ep 156. who had built him a sumptuous house which he enjoyed a short time but neglected the chiefe and principall thing which leades to those everlasting doores whereat the King of glory is entred in In the one he proclaimes his covetousnesse in that other his great neglect his extreame folly rather So much in way of resolution to the first enquiry What figure the earth hath and what use there-from 2. Whence its dependance or how born up It is Gods question So He demands of Iob m Job 38. 45. 6. Where wast thou when I layed the foundation of the earth who hath layed the measures thereof whereupon are the foundations fastned c. And as it was the Lords question so must it be His answer for there is not a man upon earth nor ever was clothed with sinfull flesh that can shew the Kings matter What then is the Lords answer If we know the Scriptures we know what it is for thus they say He hath founded the earth upon the Seas and established it upon the floods n Psal 24. 2. Vpon the seas and upon the floods what finite understanding saith the Father o Chrysost in Gen. Hom. 12. Neere the middle Ad Pop. Ant. Hom. 9. Lege Hom. primum S. Basil in Hex can understand or comprehend
into drops but in one body with a resistlesse violence as sometimes our countrey-men have observed it when the violence of the waters fall hath laid the ridges of their land equall with the furrows But more ordinary the rain falls so amongst the Indians who call the falling thereof in that resistlesse manner The spoutes n Hist lib. 1. c. 7. § 6. So writeth Sr Walter Raleigh but the Scripture calleth it I think the great rain of His strength o Job 38. 6. And if it fall with such violence who then can abide the viols of Gods wrath Who can stand under the spoutes of His displeasure The wicked shall be driven before the tempest as the chaffe before the winde But to the matter in hand certain it is This clotheing the heavens with blacknesse and making sackcloth their covering p Esay 50. 3. This ballancing the clouds and binding the waters within them as within a garment thence making the water distill by drops all this must be taken notice of as the wonderous work of Him Who is perfect in knowledge q Job 37. 16. And upon the power of this Mighty Hand doth the faithfull soul stay it self Faith can never be at a stand for whether the Lord gives rain or restraineth it because of our back-slideing r Jer. 14. yet behold a glorious dependance faith limits not the holy One of Israel nor bindes Him to naturall meanes Å¿ Lege Basil Hex Hom. 5. p. 47. Who did make the earth to bring forth before He set the Sunne in the firmament or made it to rain and filled the valleys with water when there was neither winde nor cloud t 2. Kings 3. 3. Hence it is that the thunder is heard whereat the heart trembleth and is moved out of its place u Job 37. 1. but the heart soon setleth again when the noise ceaseth for it hath learnt the reason thereof And yet it posed the heathen and almost made him cease from his own wisdome when he heard it thunder but saw no cloud x Har. car l. 1. od 34. then it was the voice of the Lord sure and is it not the same voice though the cloud appeare and appeares never so thick and dark His voice it is and acknowledged so to be when it hath astonied the mighty Potentates of the earth as His lightenings have made their hearts to tremble like a needle removed from the loadstone or leafe in the forrest tossed with the winde For God thundereth wonderfully with the voice of His excellency great things doth He which we cannot comprehend Out of the midst of water the Lord fetcheth fire and scatters it into all the parts of the earth astonishing the world with the fearfull noise of that eruption And hard stones out of the midst of thin vapours y Dâ— Hall contemp creat I can say no more to it but some have trembled at the roaring of this voice and some have mocked but the mockers have been strook down dead in the place to teach us That with God is terrible Majestie and touching the Allmighty we cannot finde Him out But let us heare attentively the noise of His voice and the sound that goeth out of His mouth He directeth it under the whole heaven and His lightning unto the ends of the earth after it a voice roareth z Job 37. 23. 4. And here we may take notice of snow the a Voâ—a communia sunt nâ—ves diutinas sedere tellus illo modo semâ—ntâ—scit Plin. nat Hyst lib. 7. cap. 2. muck of the Chap. 7 § 3.4 earth and of the hail which pruneth without a knife b Job 38. 22. but we cannot enter into their treasures even that is a knowledge too high for us c Du Bart. 2 day but this we know for the Lord hath spoken it He hath reserved these against the day of battell and warre d Verse 23. For more have been consumed by the fall of hailstones then by the dint of the sword e Josh 10. 11. that we may acknowledge touching the Almighty He is excellent in power and in judgement and in plenty of justice f Job 37 23. All these the lightning and the thunder the snow and the hail do what soever He commandeth them upon the face of the world in the earth g Verse 12. Fire and hail snow and vapour stormy windes fulfilling His word h Psal 148. 8. And now our eyes are in this ascending line as the minde of a truly wise-man who delighteth himself in the Lord rideth on the high places of the earth is fed with the Heritage of Iacob i Esay 58. 14 His minde is above the windes and stormes and clouds where all things are calme serene and quiet And I know not how high our eyes discerne but this is not the least wonder That our visive facultie can ascend so high and not be tyred is the wonder indeed The foot is quickly tyred not so the eye Good reason for that saith the Father k Chrysost Hom. ad Pep Ant. but a gracious providence in it too because of all our members or servants none so necessary upon all occasions as is the eye And therefore that must not feel a wearinesse as doth the other faculties that it may be quick and expedite upon all services The eye can through this large perspective of the aire by which medium I can shew a childe and make it understand what is a diaphan or transparent body the eye can behold the highest starres and in the twinckling of an eye that short moment of time the eye can do it And this is an height that cannot be measured For for ought I can learn the highest starres are as high above the Sun as the Sun is above us and how high that is we may judge by what the Sun and starres seem to us below It is a mathematicall conclusion that hath the certainest grounds of any art that the Sun for quantitie and bignesse thereof would make an hundred sixty earths being so many degrees bigger and yet it seems to us at this vast distance l If that ascending line could be drawn right forwards some that have calculated curiously have found it five hundred yeares journey unto the starrie heaven Dr Hall contemp no larger then a sieves bottom and the least of those starres is fifteen times bigger then the earth yet by reason of that great gulf betwixt the starre and our eye it seems but like the apple in our eye or the pearl and diamond in our ring Thus high can our eye ascend and in a moment of time how then can I think any thing unpassable or impossible to the eye of faith It findes a way or as it was said of one it makes a way through all difficulties If God hath given such a power or quicknesse of elevation to our bodily eye this little candle of the body that it shall
hast received So God hath exalted thee so shouldst thou exalt the Lord and all this from thy outward frame the site and posture thereof And so farre we are gone and before we go further we must take fuller notice of things we have passed briefly over for they are observable § 1. We are Gods workmanship His building wonderfully were we made by b Isa 45. 11. Him accordingly should we strive to live unto Him if we ask more grace He will not deny us it A strong argument it is c Psal 138. 8. We are the workmanship of thy hands and as strong is this Created in Christ Iesus unto good d Ephes 2 10. works †1. 2. He brought us forth thence where many miscarried because there was no power that our praise might be alwayes of Him And He gave our parents charge over us and them a strong affection to discharge that trust though we were froward and like perverse children which engageth mightily to honour the parents to obey them in the Lord. And to do what possibly we can and all too little for their good if they shall need it and for the promoting their comfort in the childes well-doing the very garland of their hope and sore travell under the Sunne and a very cordiall to their drouping spirits § 2. His exceeding patience to us ward in sparing us so long and His good providence over us all this time but specially then when we could have none for our selves when we foresaw nothing not not a pit before us For mark I pray you that little thing such an one I was so wast thou and let us not carelesly behold him If now he be out of the cradle and the armes and can do more then creep by the wall we shall see it still in harmes-way now puâ—dering in the fire then in the pot of seething liquour then up the stairs it will creep and down again it tumbles with little or no harm And if it can break the mother prison we shall see it marching in the streets presently in the Carts way or under the horses heels perhaps as his strength is upon their backs or upon some Ladder or some Tree where he ventreth his necke for an apple or a lesse matter Like a Lapwing it is Squerill headed still skipping into danger not so quicke to get from it Such like and many more dangers attend that silly age So that this is a sure thing which I shall tell you It was not the care of the earthly Father though he was carefull with all his care nor the tender hand and eye of the Mother though both still helpfull and wakefull neither this nor that was it which provided for the childe and secured its safety but the providence of the Almighties eye 2. Kin. 4. 13. His good hand upon the childe that kept it That that was it and to that we must sacrifice that we have been preserved where so many have fallen and escaped those snares and dangers wherein so many have been taken Make this use we must of the casualties And forget we must not the many diseases this vile body is subject to which we have been kept from or delivered in Plinie reckons no fewer then 300. from top to toe I mention but two and they be capitall ones the Evill and the Falling sicknesse very incident to children and makes their life but a death to themselves and friends That we have been preserved and delivered thus and thus what a mercie herein what praise therefore 3. He hath ranked us in His highest form amidst His chiefest creatures that our thoughts should be on high and our wayes on high Noble creatures we are of an heavenly stamp impresse and superscription that our carriage and deportment should be answerable Oh then how is it that the horse and the mule which have no understanding should teach their Lord and this Lord so brutish that he will not be taught by them We put bits in our horses mouths and they obey us The dogge follows our foot and will be struck by our hand the d Jer. 8. 7. Storke the Crane the Swallow know their season The e Isai 1. 3. Ox knoweth his Master and the Asse his Crib but man is become brutish he considers not Every f Jam. 3. 7. kinde of beasts and of birds and of Serpents and things in the Sea is tamed and have been tamed of mankinde But man is the unruly creature the ungoverned person yet hath he reason to guide him Reason I say the crown and dignitie of a person when the naturall powers and noble faculties are entire and sound a great good mercy go to Bedlam else and enquire we there but that we need not do we need but go sit down and hearken there and then we must needs say Oh what a blessing is it what a mercy that we have the use of reason that our understanding part is sound and perfect He hath reason I say to guide him the fear of the Lord to awe him His word to instruct him and if he be not guided reclaimed taught he will have no excuse no pretext for himself for saith g In Gen. Hom. 9 p. 85. Chrysostome man tameth the Lion and he leads the Beare and he frays the Serpent that he hurts him not thou art unexcusable then O man if thou art an uâ—â—overned creature so the Father reproves man made in 〈◊〉 image And Elihu to h Job 35. 10. 11. Iob gives us as full a reproofe and concludes the use saying But none saith where is God my Maker who giveth songs in the night Who teacheth us more then the Beasts of the earth and maketh us wiser then the fowls of heaven 4. Lastly he hath given us our parts proportion and comelinesse in all nothing wanting what praise therefore we have the candle of the body whereby we escape the pit under us and the rock before us a great mercy ask him else who at noon-tide gropes his way as in the night We have tongues whereby we may make our thoughts known and eares we have whereby we understand what others say to us The nose beautifies the face we must not forget that for a great ornament it is as the want thereof defaceth and disfigureth nothing more the Virgins thought so who saith the i Barthol Anat. li 3. c. 10. p. 143. ω. Anatomist and out of our Chronicles too cut off their noses that they might prevent both love and lust from their amorous but bloudy conquerours This organ we have a great comelinesse to the face and the stomacks taster it is of as great use also We have hands both the instrument k Putean Epi. 17 of instruments an excellent instrument We have feet two whereby we can walk and go and as occasions are run all these instruments we have and exceeding great mercies all these Ask him else who hath eyes but sees not a nose but smels not a
that though we cannot comprehend we may be comprehended The Lord knoweth who are his and it is a great secret yet His secret is with them that fear Him I mean not alwaies and with all that fear Him they know that they are His though yet all know it not nor some at all times and this they know as not by extraordinarie revelation so nor by prying into his secret Decree how there He hath disposed of them This will as by fixing our weake eye upon a strong object blinde us with light It is a ventrous and a bold coming unto God and most dangerous also for if we climbe up unto His Decree we shall fall into the gulfe of despair because we come unto Him without a Mediatour f Hic sine mâ—diatorâ—â—es agitur disputatur de Dei beneplacito ac voluntale in quam sese Christus resert Luther Psal 22. P. 337. In doubts of Predestination begin from the wounds of Christ that is from the sense of Gods love in Christ we should rise to the grace of election in Him before the world was It was Luthers counsell and he found it of force against the devises of Satan g De praedestinatione disputaturus incipe à Christi vulneribus statim Diabolus cum suis tentationibus recedet Mel. Ad. in Staupicii vita p. 20. The way to melt our hearts into a kinde repentance for sinne is to begin from the love of righteousnesse and of God all figured out in Baptisme as well as in the Supper And this also was Staupitius counsell to Luther whereby he made the practise of repentance ever sweet to him whereas before nothing in all the Scripture seemed so bitter h Vera est ea poenitentia quae ab amore justitiae Dei incipit dixit Staupitius Quae vox ita aliè in animo Lutheri insedit ut nihil dulcius suerit deinceps eâ— poenitentia cum aâ—tea eidem in totâ Scripturâ nihil â—sset amarius Mel. Ad. ibid. vita Staup. But now suppose our case to be this and it is most likely to be so that we finde no work of the Spirit upon us no change wrought by His renewing grace we are as we were not cleansed from our old sinnes we have passed over this Iordaâ— we have gone into this water and we are come out as unclean as before our hearts are not sprinkled We see a price paid for us and no lesse then the price of the blood of God yet we have not consecrated our selves to Him who hath so dearly bought us yet we have not accepted Him for our Lord though we are His purchase i Rom. 14. 9. and for this end He died and rose again but other Lords rule over us And though we be called by His name yet we walk in our own wayes serving divers lusts as if we were our own and not peculiarly His who bought us with a price If I say this be our case then Luthers counsell is observeable which is this To enter into our closet there to spread our selves before the Lord in humble confessions as followeth k Oportet nos esse tales scilicet verè poenitâ—ntes non possumus esse tales Quid hic faciemus Oportet ut cognito te tali non neges te talem sed in angulum vadas juxta consilium Christi in abscondito ores patrem tuum in coelis dicens sine fictione ecce optime Deus poenitendum mihi praecipis sed talâ—s sum ego miser quod sentio me nolle neque posse quaâ—â— tuis prostratus pedibus c. Concione de poenitentiâ An. 1518. Lord thou hast set a fountain open but to us it is sealed Thou hast bid us wash and be cleane we cannot we are no more able to wash our selves then we can take out the seeming spots in the Moon Thou hast said When will it be c. we say it will never be no not when the Rocks flie in pieces and the earth shall be no more but then it shall be when thou giving that thou commandest art pleased to make us as thou wilt the heavens and the earth all new Thou hast commanded us to come unto Christ that we might live we cannot come no more then Lazarus could by his own power cast off his grave-clothes and turn up the mould from over his head and stand up from the dead We are bound up in unbelief as within gates of brasse and barres of iron Thou hast said Turn ye every one from his evill way we say we cannot turn r Lay down thy heart under the Word yeeld it to the Spirit who is as it were the Artificer can frame it to a vessell of honour Mr. Reynolds on Psal 110. pa. 42. no more then we can turn that glorious creature which like a Gyant runnes his course so gyant-like we are and so furiously marching on in our own wayes of sinne and death This is but part of our confession 2. We must acknowledge also that righteous is the Lord in commanding what is impossible for man to do Because the Lord did not make things so at first He gave us a great stock to deale and trade with but like unfaithfull stewards we have wasted the same and so have disinabled our selves Our inability was not primitive and created but consequent and contracted our strength was not taken from us but thrown from us This is the principall point of confession our inabilitie comes out of our own will Å¿ Read and observe with all diligence Mr. Dearings words on the third Chapter to the Hebrews ve 8. Lect. 15. Sentio me nolle neque posse I finde that I neither will nor can before D'S S. p. 215. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. To be feverish is not voluntary but my intemperance which causeth a fever is voluntary and for that I am deservedly blamed pained No man chuseth evill as evill Transl out of Clem. Alex. Stro. l. 1. p. â—28 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sin is my voluntary act Loco laâ—d l. 2 p. 294. Câ—sset volunâ—â—s propria non erit infâ—â—nus originally we will not be cleansed as Tho * Joh. 20. 25. so say we in effect not we cannot but we will not we will deny the Lord that bought us we will not come unto Him that we may live so stiffe are our necks and so hard our hearts that we will not turn for though out of the very principles of Nature we cannot but desire happinesse and abhorre miserie yet such a deordination and disorder lieth upon our Nature that we are in love with eternall miserie in the causes and abhorre happinesse in the wayes that lead unto it our will is the next immediate cause of sinne it puts it self voluntarily into the fetters thereof Necessity is no plea when the will is the immediate cause of any action Mens hearts tell them they might rule their desires if they would For
lesse noise it makes Hence it is That the rich mans wealth is his g Prov. 18. 11. Strong Citie and as an high wall for all this is but in his own conceit Hence it is That men in eminency of gifts and place are so taken up with the person for a time put upon them That they both in look and speech and gesture shew that they forget their naturall condition That they must lay aside their persons and dye like men and give account as stewards what they have gained Lastly hence it is That our owne Righteousnesse seemes so lovely in our eyes when as it is but like filthy rags and dung such things we may not otherwise name so filthy they are And were it considered it would help much to cast a spewing upon our glory h Hab. 2. 16. 1. Act. 8. 9. Thus we have seene what it is and whence it is that blows up the vaine heart of man making it think of it selfe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 above what is meet i And thence we may fetch helps and remedies against its pride for if it is but a vaine opinion a flattering conceit a false valuation of things that doth deceave us we must labour to rectifie our judgements and to understand the truth and realitie of things that we may not be deceived Secondly if it be the want of the right knowledge and true understanding of our selves that makes us over-value our selves we must learn to understand and read our selves a great and an hard lesson k An hard thing to know ourselves Not only the eye of the body but of the minde too wants this noble facultie of looking inward c. Translated out of St. Basi Hex Hom. 9. p. 103 and our own principles so as we may know our selves to be but men poore weake men deceitfull upon the ballance and very wanting The summe is we must study how to rectifie reason and to take a true scale and a right estimate of our selves and things not as they seeme and appeare to bee but as they are indeed at first †1. Is it my apparell that would puffe me up because my cloth is of a finer threed then some others is This is a false valuation for the sheepe had it on its backe before my selfe yet was it but a sheep then and the same now so Sr. Thomas More would prick the bladder and let out that windy conceit l Hanc ovis olim gestavit nec aliud tamen interim quà m ovis suit Vtop lib. 2. pag. 166. †2. Is it the gorgiousnesse of my apparell the pompe of the same which would puffe me up That were but a m Act. 25. 23. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrysost Tom. 6. Religi 601. α. Mirantur quenquam esse quem exiguaegemmulae aut lapilli dubius oblectet fulgor cui quidem stellam aliquam atque ipsum denique solem liceat intueri Ibid. fancy and a windy conceit also A poore ornament it is which is put on and off And a windy conceit it is and most unworthy of a man to be taken with the shining or glittering of some Gold-lace or Iewell who can point to the earth below him to the Lilly there And to the heaven above him to the Sun and Starres n Prov. 18. 11. there so the same Author would let out that wind also †3. Is it the portion a man hath in the world above his brethren which bloweth up the bubble What is all that more then in conceit neither a strong citie nor an high wall they cannot deliver in the day of trouble It is but a meere conceit we thinke they can And what is a fat and ful possession of these outward transitory things if there be leannesse in the soule if that be blown up with these vanities As certainly it must be so and can be no otherwise when these outward things have stuffed and cram'd our hearts so that they are made fat and blown up with them An heart filled with this winde o 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Nazianz ep 18. 52. pag. 781. You may better trust the wind or letters written in water then mans prosperitie And so uncertain it is that we may with a speedier course hasten to God where is certaintie and no shadow of change is as barren of true grace pride and grace are incompatible as the surface of that earth is where these treasures are which is as barren the naturalists as the parched places of the desart They are great snares and intanglements and impossible they should be otherwise without a great measure of grace from God with whom all things are possible and watchfulnesse over our selves which consideration should rather humble us Better they cannot make a man therefore the Heathen would not have them called Good Things But worse ordinarily they make him more proud against God more insolent and oppressing over those that are below and inferiour unto him And very unsatisfiable they are and therefore disquieting also like thorns to the head we may as well undertake to fill a bag with wisdome a chest with vertue as our hearts with gold silver riches high room with any earthly things no reason those things should puff us up or if there be reason in it it is from our wisdome which must be ceased from p Pro. 23. 4 5. for why should we let our eyes fly upon that which is not so uncertain and fleeting it is and being grasped after and enjoyed doth presse us below our selves even lower then the place whence it was digged †4. Is it an hairy bush of vanitie let out to spread beyond its reasonable and due proportion that would blow me up That were a monstrous conceit How can that adorne me which hath proved an halter or how can that commend me which the Spirit hath concluded to be my q 1 Cor. 11. 14. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hom. 26. shame A point of great impudency it is to fight with or go against and contrary not onely to our selves but to nature also saith Chrysostome upon those words Is it my pleated curled or cut haire that makes me think of my self above what is meet That is a very affrighting conceit for the Lord can make our head of haire to take the form sometimes of a great Snake sometimes of many little Serpents as some in Poland and Germanie have found and felt witnesse the bloudy drops their haire yeelded being pricked and the losse of their eyes if they cut it saith the learned professour of physick in Padua And methinks saith r Mr Bolton's foure last things p. 40. Mr Bolton from his hand I have it our monstrous fashionists both male and female the one for nourishing their horrid bushes of vanitie the other for their most unnaturall and cursed cutting their hair should every houre fear and tremble lest they should bring that same noisome horrible disease in the haire called the plica
D. G. But if we gaine not some leisure and time here for our better proceeding we shall for our repentance k The end of passion is the beginning of repentance Felth. Res 8. Plut. Mor. de Ira. Phocion advised well to hinder the Athenians from a present resolution upon the hearing of Alexanders death News came that Alexander was dead And the Athenians would the same night meet in Counsell and determine things Forbeare till next morning said he if Alexander be dead to day he will be dead to morrow Be not so hasty this businesse will admit some houres delay and we shall proceed much more warrantably It is very applicable here we must not proceed hastily in any thing for that is to proceed in a passion if it be a fault we are about to punish it will be a fault anon and teo morrow and we shall be better able to discerne it and to helpe it We may do nothing while we are angry for then we will thinke we may doe any thing He must not loose the power of himself who hath an other under his He had need have all his wits about him that comes to drive out folly and to understand himselfe very well that would direct another It is the wife mans lesson The discretion of a man deferreth Anger It is a point of wisedome to subdue betimes Prov. 19. 11. the first beginnings of unruly passions which else like an ill nurtur'd childe will grow head-strong here we should meet with the tongue again And this is by giving a check and stop to our selves so giving time for reason to enterpose and to aske this question only What do I For want hereof we observe men dealing unreasonably with senselesse things falling foule upon them misusing the poore beast also that doth better service in his kinde and sheweth more obedience then man doth But very Imperious and domineering over children and servants for our spirits as was said stir as intemperately and raise as great stormes in our little ponds as great persons do in their great seas l Vide dominum saevientem in servos c. Fluctus cosdem c. Lips de cons lib. 2. pag. 25. I passe by them who are so furious upon the Oxe the Horse and the Asse the poore Sheep also all which do after their kinde but he that misuseth them doth against nature I have nothing to say to such their folly may correct them But when a parent is correcting his childe in a passion this may check him if he take so much time as to consider That he is a childe and his own so is its fault also This will stop his eagernesse but of this in the first part So also when I am angry with my servant this may check me That though I may be bold with him or her being my servant yet not so bold as to shame my selfe or hurt them Did not he that made them make me Have we not both the same masters over us on earth and would we not be used kindely and gently by them And have we not all one Master in heaven See the first Part. chap. 4. sect 12. and would we not all finde mercy there Yea but he is thus and thus and doth so and so and so often he hath provoked me I must check my selfe now with this and it will surely calme and coole my spirit how m Chrysost in ep ad Rom. cap. 8. Hom. 14. pag. 206. 2 Pet. 3. 15. Rom. 2. 4. much and how long God hath borne and forborn me And can I be impatient now The long suffering of the Lord is salvation It was salvation to Saul waiting till he became a Paul so was it to Peter waiting till he went out To us else we had been before this consumed Marke this and enlarge thy meditation upon it I it will be a meanes to frame upon thee that ornament of a meeke and quiet spirit which in the sight of God is of great price for if I can say to my selfe but thus much how long suffering hath the Lord been to me ward I cannot be short and eager spirited toward my brother I cannot say more which is more pressing and availeable to subdue my passionate spirit and to gaine that constant and comfortable temper which resembles the highest region of the ayre where there is still a perpetuall serenitie and peace Lastly are they the wrongs and unworthy usage from others hands and tongues that have put me out of the possession of my selfe or are they crosses in my estate that trouble and disquiet me Then thus I must check my selfe By looking narrowly into my selfe and up to an higher hand as the children of wisdome have done I must remember the ten thousand talents There is nothing that can be thought of of more force to win upon a passionate spirit and to frame it to lowlinesse lovelinesse calmenesse and unpassionatenesse which is the cement of societie and sweet converse nothing I say of such force as these considerations First of Gods all disposing over-ruling hand who is so good that He would suffer no evill to be were He not so powerfull that out of the greatest evill He can extract the greatest good Secondly The riches of His mercy that forgave ten thousand talents And should I flye at the throat of my fellow servant for a few pence Thoughts hereof will frame us to a setled reposed estate and an unpassionate spirit But the remedy of remedies the most certain and excellent remedy whereby to shoare-up and underprop the soule against the shakings and impetuous blustering of this weake but impotent distemper which bloweth hard and boasteth great things The best remedy I say is To addresse our spirits before the Lord To look to Him who rebuked the winds and Seas and they were still We may say of this fiery exhalation as is said of the tongue n James 3. 8. a fire too and angers first o Prima semper irarū tela maledicta sunt quicquid non possumus imbecilli optamus irati Salv. De Gub. lib. 3. pag. 81. weapon But this unruly evill can no man tame we must then pray and in our prayer p 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Iam. 5. 17. pray that is we must pray earnestly we must wrestle and weep in our prayer before the Lord That He would hold in our spirits calme and meeken the same We are taught of God to love one another saith the Apostle we are so indeed saith the Father For no man can teach it and if God teach not we shall flye off and all to pieces like an unserviceable piece of Ordnance before we are discharged We shall bite and devoure on another Vpon every occasion we shall flye out into sparkles of heat like the sonnes of the coale as one speaketh which if you blow it will sparkle in your face behold then how great a matter a little fire kindleth q Jam. 3. 5.
a feather in the one it may be as heavy as a stone in the other it was Nabals m 1 Sam. 25. case Let me ever finde out something even in the midst of my mirth Christian-like to leaven it so I may more likely finde something in my sorrow to sweeten that also The maine and principall lesson is That we sawce our earthly joyes with godly sorrow so should all our worldly sorrow be mixed with spirituall joy We must not let earthly contentments take up all the roome in the heart for then sorrow when it comes will look for the like freedome commanding there and stopping up the least cranny for comfort to enter in at So much to temper and moderate our mindes in the sudden flushes of joy There is a more constant running out of our affections in a more constant tenour of earthly things which some at sometimes may finde if so and our affections are enlarged beyond their bounds such like sad and sober thoughts as these may call them in if they take place Is my estate prosperous And do I over greedily seeke or highly esteeme or intemperately joy in the comforts which prosperitie affords Let me think now that the wicked have these things too and more abundantly and Gods dearest children often want them And what are they that my heart would close withall Nothing for nothing they avayle in the day of wrath n Prov. 23. and Prov. 10. 10. Trem. when we most need them they stand farre from our help Are they pleasures my heart would relish let me consider they are but for a moment but the torment of sinne is everlasting o Breve momentaneum quod delectat aeternum quod cruciat Have I contentments on every side peace round about all things as my heart can wish Then I must stirre up and quicken my self the more standing waters gather mud and dirt wines not racked gather Lees. I must suspect my way that it is not right for in the world ye shall have afflictions we have our Masters word for it and that is as much as the earth and heavens have for their continuance Can I expect two heavens all contentments here and pleasures for ever more hereafter can I expect to triumph in heaven and yet not to performe any worthy service in the Lords Battell upon earth against His and our enemies Can I expect a weight p 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tom. 5. Ser. 33. of glory when I go hence and no weight from the crosse here Can I think it reasonable that the Captain should beare all the brunt and endure all the hardnesse and the Common souldier endure nothing These considerations and such like may give some sharp taste to allay the lushiousnesse of our contentments that we may not over-joy our comforts § Discontent 7. We are as prone sometimes to overlook our blessings also and overgrieve our crosses when our minde is overshadowed with discontent that great disturber of our peace and quiet It is an unreasonable passion what else to call it in proprietie of speech I know not but this know it makes a man complain he knows not for what and to quarrell with his estate be it never so good Like a thorn in the foot or an arrow in the side it makes all places and conditions uncomfortable It puts a man out of conceit with his own estate which a wise man thinks the best and into a good opinion of an others condition be it farre meaner for what matters it what my condition be if to me it seems bad q Si cui sua non videÌ„tur amplissi ma licèt totius mundi Dominus su tamen miser est sen ep 9. Sapiens neminem videt cum quo se commutatatum velit Stulâ—ilia laborat sastidio sui Quid resert qualis fit status tuus si tibi videtur malusi Sen. ep 9. if so I must needs walk most unquietly with my self and most unthankfully towards God Those sonnes of Eliab enjoyed no small priviledge but yet that seemed nothing unto them Aegypt where they served in clay and brick was now esteemed farre beyond all when their present discontent like dust cast into the eye had taken from them the sight of all their good things r Numb 16. They are a sad example to us that we murmure not as they did and it tels us also how unreasonably a discontented minde will reason It was an answer worthy our marking which a servant gave touching his master he was asked What he left his Master doing I left him said he seeking out cause of complaint many blessings standing round about him the while Å¿ Plut. De tranquil Hor. lib. 2. ep 3. it is the case and manner of many and it is saith the same Authour as if a man should seale up his hogshead of good liquour and drink that which is sowre and hurtfull Thus disquieting an humour discontent is the remedies against it are First that we suffer not our minde too much to fix upon our grievance for this were like a foolish patient to chew the pill and then we shall so much taste the bitternesse of one crosse that we shall disrelish the comfort of twenty blessings 2. It is good to look to those below us It is certain no mans estate is so happy but if his discretion be not so much the more he may finde something in it which would sowre all nor is any mans condition so low but he may finde something which will sweeten the meanesse of it Thus then I may reason I live not so high as others do nor am I acquainted with others temptations Great gates give room enough for great cares to enter in at I am sure great temptations I am not so rich as others nor am I disquieted with their cares and feares As the rich have advantage of the poore in possessing so have the poore advantage over the rich in parting I carry not that pomp and state which he or she do who ride in their coach nor perhaps am I in so mean a condition as he that drives it I have not so much ease as he or she who sit in their Sedan and yet that you cannot tell for some bodies sit there that have little ease but this I am sure of that in respect of bodily toyl I go at more ease then they who sweat at so unbecoming and beast-like a burden t 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Luc. Cynicus p. 8â—3 Legâ— Clem. Alex. paed 3. 11. p. 185. I have not anothers velvet nor their fare nor their ease nor have I their stone or their gout I must set one thing against another u 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Chrys de Lazaro conc 1. lege Diod Sicul. bib lib. 12. α. it may much quiet me And thus farre the Heathen have carried us by their false light for to this purpose they have reasoned the case and so satisfied themselves in their present
refreshments 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. for our hell here and our Fatherly punishments as for our Heaven hence and our hope of rest He puts afflictions c. into the Catalogue or register of Gods mercies and in the first place Indeed it is no hard matter to open the mouth in way of thankfulnesse for the good things of this life as we call them but to be thankfull for the evills that is an hard task but yet the dayly work of a true Christian The Heathen Philosopher could say g Mar. Aur. Aut. medit 12. B. sect 2. p 197. A wise man should be fitted for all estates and conditions like Empedocles his Allegoricall Spheare or like a square body Throw it you cannot overthrow it cast it down if you can it will stand as upright as before losing nothing at all of its height h Lege ep 168. Basilâ—i And such a man saith he hath gained unto himself great rest and ease for he hath get his minde loose from outward intanglements and that manifold luggage wherewith we are round about incumbred We may discern our selves as we do our metalls best by our falls or casting down if when we are thrown our sound is flat and dull murmuring-wise it argues a leaden spirit * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nazâ—anz which sinks under trouble like lead into the waters But if our sound be silver-like cleare and pleasing it argues we are of better orat 18. When there is a storm withâ—ut he keeps his minde cleare within pag. 302. metall That is not silver which comes not clearer out of the fining pot nor is that gold which doth not shine in the fire i Prosperitie doth best discover vice but adversitie doth best discover vertue A good eye is for any colour though all colours are not equally lightsome A good care for every sound though every sound hath not the same gratefulnesse Good teeth are for all meats that are wholesome though all be not alike toothsome so a sound understanding is fit for whatsoever shall happen though every thing which happens is not alike pleasing He that cannot receive evill as we call it from Gods hand as well as good shews that he is of a crazed temper in the Inward man as an eye that seeks after green colours or as teeth after that which is tender which argueth saith the same Philosopher Sore eyes and unsound teeth k Mar. Aur. lib. 10. sect 37. p. 177 I have been long upon the point the longer that I might perswade to a contentednesse in every condition and that we might finde use and pick good out of all But it is the Lord who perswades the heart and He doth it else no condition will please seem it to others never so pleasing To possesse our souls in patience we lose them else is the readiest way to be eased and in time to be exalted The Lord teach thee the wisdome of His people and give thee content in present things understanding in all He subdue thy spirit He meeken thy heart He fashion and mould thy will to a patient submission unto His that it may be as conformable there unto as the wax unto the seal All this God can do He onely And when He hath thus humbled the heart and thus meekned the spirit when he hath thus fashioned it then the work is done and nothing will be grievous It is a remarkable speech from Mr Bradford l â—ox p. 1503. he hath many such but with that one I will conclude and shut up this Though my body be in an house out of which I cannot come when I will for he was in prison yet in that I have conformed my will to Gods will I finde herein libertie enough and for my lodging bedding feeding c. all above my worthinesse worthinesse quoth I alasse I am worthy of nothing but damnation So he wrote to his mother I must tell you also what he said to his friend He was in a strong hold neare the time of his enlargement when he was to passe to his crown but through the fire His friend told him that he would if it pleased intercede with the Queen for his life Do if you will said he if her Majestie will be pleased to give me my life I will thank her if my libertie I will thank her for that if neither of both I will thank her still If she will keep me here I can thank her here if she will send me hence to the stake I can thank Chap. 5 § 1 her there also See what an humble man can do he can smart patiently he can suffer silently he can receive blows and return thanks No murmuring no repining no complaining in his mouth He hath committed his cause to God Learn how contented this man is and observe the patience of the Saints so I have done CHAP. V. The Sacrament of the Lords Supper The mysterie thereof Graces required in those who come to this Table In case these Graces be wanting what is to be done Of Mans worthinesse AND now Childe having made some discoverie unto thee of those our master-sinnes and corruptions which most dishonour our outward man and disturb our inward peace And having supplied unto thee some provision for the better subduing thereof I shall now for thy better provision and preparation also put thee in minde of two extraordinary and solemne approaches both before the Lord and both in the face of the Lords congregation In the one the Sacrament of the Lords Supper we professe by faith to be one with Christ and by union with Him to partake of all His honour and glory In the other falsly by some called a Sacrament also they who were two are made one joyned together in so straight a band that nothing but death or that which is worse and more destroying then death can dissolve We must be well advised before we approach to either of these ordinances for it is for life It was well answered by one who was asked why he took so much pains and was so curious about his work it is said he because I work to eternitie m Pingo aetoâ—â—â—tati Much fitter might the same be said in these cases we must walk warily here we must take pains here for we work to eternitie we receive to eternitie and so we marry too to our eternitie it is for life both and beyond it as farre as the heaven is above the earth A glorious life depends upon the right receiving of the one so do all the comforts of our temporary life depend upon our advised entrance into the other I shall give thee some instructions for this better provision for both And first of the first The Sacrament of the Lords Supper therein we see the Cost of our Redemption and the matter and substance of our Righteousnesse before God which doth consist principally in His body broken upon the crosse and His bloud
A sorrow to repentance is not a work of a day or two the hanging down the head like a bulrush for a day or an houre as the custome is Where there is a breaking the bands of our yoke there is a making to go upright z Levit. 26. 13. a constant walking with God as those that have now communion and fellowship with the Father and the Sonne And though this godly sorrow is more secret in the heart and there the work also of a true penitent is most in the well ordering thereof and in watching over the issues there-from yet is it not altogether undiscernable to the outward sense for as Mr. Dearing a Heb. 2. 11. noteth well There is no affection in us according to to the flesh but if it be great it will appeare in its work much more this which is of the Spirit of God If thou be sorrowfull it will make thy face sad b Deprendas animi tormenta latentis in aegro Corpore Juven Salyr 9. if joy be within it maketh thy countenance merry if thou have a flattering heart all the members of thy body will streight serve so vile a thing if hatred be within thee thy body will shew it forth in all manner of cursed doing and there is nothing that can possesse the minde but it leadeth the members in obedience of it How much more if the Spirit of God have replenished our mindes with these affections of godly sorrow and spirituall joy And so much to the first requisite 2. The second is Faith the hand of the soul which the Lord createth and strengthneth to lay hold on eternall life by Iesus Christ In the Sacrament of the Lords Supper we see a full Redemption wrought and a full price paid in His body broken and bloud poured forth In the bread and wine he that Qui dividit perdit devides destroyes the Sacrament we have a full and compleat nourishment all that the soul can desire But now as the mouth is opened so are we filled As the heart is enlarged so do we receive If the mouth be shut and the principle of life be wanting no matter what dainties are set before us or what put in Therefore we must consider our Interest in the Covenant and whether we can lay hold on a promise for life reconciliation and peace For the bloud of Christ and His Body serve not for the nourishment of any in whom they have not been as the seed of regeneration both in pardon of sin and change of the heart in which conversion standeth we must remember Sacraments convert none but strengthen the converted To the fainting spirit they are meanes to convey power they encrease strength c Isa 40. 29. The Sacraments are as the breasts of the Church from which the living childe doth suck and is satisfied with consolations from which the thirsty soul doth milke out and is delighted with the abundance of her glory d Isa 66. But it is the living childe that draweth comfort here and the instrument by which he draweth is Faith which is Gods gift as is Repentance He gives both So then we must examine how provided we come hither else we come to a well of living water but having nothing to draw or we are like a vessell cast into the Ocean which hath no mouth or if any it is stopt The outward man can do its part it discerneth tasteth digesteth the outward signes But now what inward principle hath my inward man and what help hath it from all this in the beholding tasting enjoying the spirituall part Christ and the influence of His Grace issuing therefrom This is all the Question and point to be examined what Faith I have whose work is the same about the spirituall part as is the work of the outward man about the outward And yet had we all Faith I mean justifying faith we could not receive all that is offered here and though we have a weake faith if true we shall receive sufficient Our hearts as one noteth cannot comprehend all the wisdome of God in the wind that bloweth Mr. Dearing Ibid. how He raiseth it up or maketh it fall again how can we understand this wisdome of our uniting unto Iesus Christ only this we true members can say God hath given us faith in which we may believe it and out of which such joy shineth in our mindes as crucifieth the world unto us how farre our reason is from seeing it it skilleth not it is sufficient if we can beleeve it We beleeve in the Lord our God yet we know not what is his countenance we beleeve and apprehend by hope His glory yet neither eye can see it nor eare can heare it We beleeve and see immortalitie yet our heart cannot comprehend the heighth the breadth the length the depth We beleeve the resurrection of the dead yet we cannot understand such excellent wisdome how life is renewed in the dispersed and scattered bones and ashes We beleeve our Saviour Christ is man and we have seen Him and felt Him yet how He was man born of a virgin all men in the world have no wisdome to declare Even so we beleeve that our Saviour Christ and we be one He of us and we of Him He the head we the body really substantially truly joyned together not by joynts and sinewes but by His spirit of which we have all received And this unitie I cannot conceive nor utter till I know God even as He is and His holy spirit which hath wrought this blessing But yet though thus secret and undiscernable this work of faith is we may take some evidence of the life and operation thereof by those things that our understanding part doth here in matters below and of another and much inferiour nature As thus My minde by the velocitie and speed of my apprehension can be many miles off upon the naming of the things I love Then surely my heart is dull and slow and wants the principle of a new creature if by so lively representations of the Lord Iesus Christ under these signes to nourish and cheere me if I cannot Eagle-like flye up to heaven unto Him and on that carcasse fasten and fixe my faith thence to draw strength and refreshing The soul can presently be one with that it delights in be it profit be it pleasure and it should much convince and ashame us of our flatnesse herein a matter of such concernment And in case we finde no such working then to withdraw our foot being Tremenda mysteria now approaching towards those high and awfull mysteries For if our hearts can open towards the earth and unite with things there but are flat and heavy towards Heaven no working that way where the Treasure is the Lord of Glory then surely we are no fit guests for this table For certain it is That whensoever our soul shall feele its union with God in Christ all things below will seeme
thing And that is sin It hath so much malignitie in it that it can put a sting and set an edge upon crosses That it can make our good things evill to us can turn our blessings into curses can make our table our bed c. all snares to us It will leaven our rest and peace whereby others are edified walking in the feare of God and in the comforts of the holy Ghost r Act. 7. 31. This rest and peace a comprehension of all blessings through sinne will slay our soules and be our ruine which was as we heard the building up of others so malignant so destroying sinne is more malignant more destroying this sinne is this evill work then is the mouth of a Lion as the Apostle intimateth very usefully 2 Tim. 4. 17 18. Therefore more to be avoyded therefore we should more desire to be delivered from it then from that devourer For as there is but one thing properly evill so but one thing to be feared as evill Feare not wants nor disgrace by wants turn thy feare the right way feare sinne and avoid an evill work So Isid Pelus writeth to his friend f Lib. 3. ep 101. And it is but the conclusion or a case long since resolved by Chrysostome t 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrysost Tom. 4. epist limp See Hom. 5. ad Pop. Ant. Sinne is the onely thing to be feared whereof he makes a full and cleare demonstration thus Suppose saith he they are those three great and sore evills famine sword and pestilence which threaten us he names them and many more why these are but temporary and but the fruit and effects of sinne they continue but their time and shall have their end nay suppose they are those two great winding-sheets u L. Ver. Essaies 58. 330. of the world as one calleth them and Lege Sen. nat quaest lib. 6. c. 1. as the floud of ungodlinesse doth threaten an inundation of water or an earthquake plagues threatned and inflicted to wash away sinne and as a punishment thereof Then yet still sinne is to be feared not those It is foolish to feare the effect and to allow the cause Consider also so the Father reasons the case or to that purpose will x See Chrysost de terrae motu Tom. 5. ser 6. Lege Sen. Ibid. it be terrible to see the earth totter like a drunken man and threatning confusion in an instant and men flying before it but they know not whither how dreadfull then will be the wrath of God which will be heavier then the heaviest mountain and shall be manifested from Heaven as the just portion of sinners sinking the soul under the same to all eternitie how dreadfull will that be and sinne makes it so if it were not for sinne though the earth shake we could not be moved what ever evill come upon the face of it yet would it be good to us it could not hurt therefore fear not the earthquake that is most terrible and affrighting but feare sinne the cause that makes the earth to reel I adde and flie from it as Moses before the Serpent and as they fled before the earthquake y Zach. 14. 5. and flie to Him who is the propitiation for sinne if we so do as we must needs do if we apprehend sinne to be so evill for we will avoid poyson when we know it to be so This will take away the trouble and sting of feare and prevent the shaking fit thereof I have told thee a great lesson now and to make it yet plainer I will reade it over again Sinne onely is to be feared I mean that sinne I am not humbled for I have not repented of that onely is to be feared for it makes every thing fearfull Death they say is terrible of all things most terrible It is not so to him who hath repented of his sinne and is at peace with God he can die as willingly as we can fall asleep when we are weary The prison sword fire fearfull things all an earthquake very terrible not so to them who have made God their rock and refuge to whom they can continually resort feare nothing but sinne and the hiding of Gods loving countenance from thee for the lightsomenesse thereof is better then life Feare the least eclipse of His light and every thing that may cause it for it is more refreshing to the soul then the Sun beames to the earth Mark this still when sinne sheweth its full face we see but the half now and in a false glasse too and when God hideth His face there will be to say no more a fainting The servants of the Lord have been under heavy pressures yet then they fainted not they have been in prisons and there they fainted not thence they have been brought to the stake there they fainted not fire was put to and flaming about their eares and then they fainted not but when sinne shews it self and God hides Himself then the next news is ever The spirit faileth Zophars counsell is the close hereof If iniquitie c. Iob 11. Verse 14. 15. c. Now touching our present grievances incumbent and upon us These are either imaginary or reall and the imaginary as one saith are more then the reall we make some grievances to our selves and we feel them so because we fancy them so we call for them before they come because our imagination a wilde and ungovernd'd thing leades us and misleades he was led with a conceit and troubled with it who complained of a thornie way when it was not so but he had one in his foot The way to help this is to take a right scale of things and to weigh them by judgement which interposing thus resolveth and assureth 1. As thou shalt shorten thy desires thou shalt lengthen thy content the poorer thou art in the one the richer in the other 2. Bridle thy appetite not accounting superfluous things necessary 3. Feed thy body and clothe it z Cultus magna cura magna virtutis incuria ex Catone Cal. Inst lib. 3. cap. 10. ser 4. but serve it not that must serve thee If thou shalt pamper or pride it the order will be inverted and all out of order that which should obey will rule 4. Measure all things by the compasse of right reason Sinne never wanted a reason yet we call it unreasonable by reason I say not by opinion a Opinioni insitum tum variare poenitere ut Chamaeleon c. Lips cont 1. ep 12. or conceit a fluttering ranging thing it can finde no bottom to settle on it is as changeable as the winde it feeds as they say one doth upon the aire therefore is still gaping but never content Lastly and chiefly for it is the summe of all be assured hereof that outward things cannot inwardly satisfie b Capacem Dei non implet minus Deo This finite requires an infinite He that filleth the
earth with His mercies must fill the soul with His goodnesse else there will be an emptinesse Expect then a satisfaction a filling from that hand who alone can give it O farre be it if God shall enlarge thy earthly portion and cast thy lot in a pleasant place to say as an unwise and unthankfull people once did We are Lords that is we have a full portion in a fruitfull land whereof we are Lords and wherein we take contentment we will come no more unto thee c Jer. 2. 31. Look upon outwards as cysterns which cannot fill but from the well-head and being filled empty again How pleasant soever thy lot be in respect of them yet say still But it is good for me to draw neare d Psal 73. 28. unto God and to continue with Him too e 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Acts 11. 23. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Acts 13. 43. And be restlesse in thy desire untill thou canst say thou art the portion of my soul Thus judgement interposing resolveth and it helpeth much to cure the imaginary grievances of our life for if we be poore we are not the further from Christ nor if rich are we the nearer The like we may say of health and sicknesse of honour and dishonour even the very same which the Aoostle speaks of that wherein the Church of old much gloried in and doted upon They are nothing f 1. Cor. 7. 19. Prov. 23. 4. Things that are not in the wise mans account for indeed he had an eye that could look into and through them And therefore as God made all things by His power of nothing so he having wisdome from God made nothing of all things nothing in reference to that one thing necessary or nothing in reference to heaven our putting forward or backward in our race thither-ward to our crown g He that boasteth in his riches c. is as as if a fellow servant fed from the same Master at the same table should glory over his fellows because his hairs are longer then his fellows so are his nails Crys 1. Tim. Hom. 1. And to the same purpose Calvine speaks upon the forenamed Scripture For outward things saith he be not over-carefull or over-troubled look that thy heart be turned and thy life changed then care not for other changes and turnings of things below come wants come sicknesse dishonour disgrace reproach and so forth come what will or can come they make some change or alteration with us on earth below they alter not our state at all they make no change at all with us above in heaven Health is nothing sicknesse nothing riches nothing povertie nothing honour nothing dishonour nothing What then may wee properly call something That the Apostle sheweth in the following words The keeping the commandments of God For in Christ Iesus neither this nor that availeth any thing but A new Creature or Faith which worketh by love Gal. 6. 15. 5. 6. So much to remedie our imaginary grievances that proceed from the sicknesse and distemper of our fancy which calls things that are not or are nothing as if they were or were something and that which indeed is and is All as if it were not or nothing at all This is the fruit of our distemper And this which thou hast heard may with a blessing from Above give some cure and remedie unto the same A chief remedie also it is against those we call reall grievances whereunto notwithstanding I must say something which now follows There are reall grievances in a married estate not such which we fancy to be so but we know to be so as we know worm-wood is bitter and honey sweet being of the nature of the thing And here I come to the bottom and finde the root of these also it is our foolishnesse our sinne that is it which sowres all and brings a curse upon our blessings As the Father saith i 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Châ—ys Tom. 5. ser 32. Where Christ is there is heaven so truly we may say where sinne is there is hell for so we finde it to be even from thence our vexation and pain And therefore if I should speak in a word the way to help these grievances is to pluck out the core of our wound which puts us to all the smart and pain That core is sinne Sinne is it which causeth our sorrowing even sorrow upon sorrow Therefore if we look for an healing-up pluck that core out And then set grace against these grievances so we may be as grieving as sorrowing and yet even then and alwayes rejoycing If Nature teach bees not onely to gather honey out of sweet flowers but out of bitter Shall not grace teach us to draw even out of the bitterest condition something to better our souls Man hath learned to tame other creatures even the wildest Grace will teach a man how to subdue the greatest troubles but this is too generall more particularly thus Learne then sith troubles will meet with thee do thou sit down counting thy cost as was said and go forth to meet with k 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c Before the storm come be we humbled as in a storm so when it comes we shall finde a calm peace Chrys Tom. 6. vet Test 7. ω p. 99. them then thou wilt be better provided and fore armed It is no point of wisdome to let an enemie to surprize us on our own ground in our own home Troubles will come prepare for them leave some room to entertain them as was also said And when they are come there is an art to bear them as there is to poise a burden and well to fit it to the back that it may be carried if not without burden yet with more ease But now this Christian likt bearing of troubles this carrying our burdens patiently and as we say lightly and merrily away it supposeth two main things 1. That through his strength by whom we are able to do all things we have made a through work in the great and necessary businesse of mortification delicate and dainty flesh will startle more at the scratching of a pin then mortified flesh upon the gridiron They that have hungred and thirsted after righteousnesse can endure to be shortned in matters of a much lower nature and they that dwell in heaven while they sojourne on earth cannot be much disquieted in their change they that know they deserve nothing can be glad of any thing And the way to come to a through mortification I speak of an ordinary way is to begin to deny thy self in small matters thou shalt the easier do it in great If we cannot forsake a cup of wine m See first part p. 84. or beere which is not needfull for us we shall never be able to forsake husband childe house land for Christs sake If we have not the command of our selves in a trifle in a toy we may never hope
But hereof in the first part which I will not recall here The same we may say of riches If thou wouldst keepe them forsake them deny them Get thine heart from off them then they can be no snare It is notable which Augustine saith y De Civit. lib. No man holdeth Christ but by confessing Him no man keepeth his Gold but by denying the same If I lay up 1. cap. 10. money as a Treasure I shut out Christ and in so doing I cause a rent in my soule as wide as Heaven a breach like the Sea z Lam. 2 23. The World stands in a Diametrall a direct opposition to Christ as two contrary Masters we cannot leane to the One but we must turne from the other We cannot imbrace the One but we must hate the other the heart cannot hang betwixt heaven and earth in an Equilibrium like two scales equally poysed if the world be at our foote and under it then Christ is exalted and so on the contrary With all thy care then keep the earth and the things of the earth in their place under foote Bee in the world but embrace it not hug it not Vse the world as travellers and pilgrimes such are we they use things in their passage as they may further them towards their journeys end They see many goodly houses and much good land but they fixe not on them they suffer them to passe because their minde is on their countrey the place where they would be I remember what is storyed of a People whose countrey we only read of as we do of Platoes common-wealth It is a fiction but I intend the use They had of gold and silver good store to make their necessary provision with all but none for ostentation or shew to adorn their cubbords what could be spared from their very necessaries they must make thereof vessells of dishonour such as we set at our foot in plain English Chamber-pots or the like And there was this good in it said the merry Knight * Vâ—opiae Th. Mori lib. 2. pag. 160. when their silver and gold should be required they could not be unwilling to part with that which before they had set so low as their foot This gives us the very reason whence it is That some are so well contented when they are disposessed of their possessions when they had them they had them as if they had them not They kept them at their foot farre enough from their heart And being taken from them they loose but what before they counted losse a Phil. 3. 7. and so are able to take joyfully the spoyling of their goods b Heb. 10. But this is but halfe the reason the other necessarily followes For if we would not have our riches a snare unto us then as they must be set at the foot so Christ must be embraced as the onely Treasure and so laid to heart And this will be if we consider this to purpose which followes He made himselfe poore to make us rich he emptyed himselfe to fill us he stript himself to cloath us he was wounded that by his stripes we might be healed He was made a curse that we might be made a blessing He died that we might live If we think on this nothing can seeme too much to do nor too heavy to suffer for Him I remember a lovely answer of a Wife to her Husband And because a story depends upon it I will set down the whole relation which is this c Xenephon de Iustâ—tut Cyri. l. 3. pag. 203. Tigranes and Armenias the husband and the wife the father in law also All lay at Cyrus his mercy and when he might have taken away their libertie and their lives he dismissed them with honour granting them both So home they went well apaid When they were returned they began to commend Cyrus one for this and another for that what doest thou think said Tigranes to his wife Was not Cyrus a goodly person Truly Sir said she I cannot tell that for I looked not upon him No where were thy eyes woman on whom were they fixed On thee my deare husband said she who in my hearing didst offer thine own life a ransome for mine This gives us the reason why a good man and his goods are so easily parted whence it is that he breaks so easily through those snares his affections are more endeared to Christ Then hers were to her husband and the cause wherefore much more binding Aske then those who may properly be called the Spouse of Christ and demand of them What think ye of your possessions your livings your libertie your life They will answer They are lovely things for they are Gods blessings they came from His hand they must not be slighted in ours and they have made many wise men look backe as our Ieuell d Apol. 2. pag. 227. saith even as many as had not their faces stedfastly set toward Christ e Luk. â— 51. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But now that their eyes are fixed upon Him they see no beautie in them at all The strength of his love who poured forth His soul unto death and the brightnesse of that glory wherein Through Him they are sharers so holdeth their eye and so stedfastly that it cannot look downward to those things though otherwise very lovely with an adulteresse eye And so much to prevent snares from plentie the briefe of what was said therein is this If we deny not our riches they will cause us to deny the Lord and to say Who is Hee f Prov 30. 9. If then we would prevent a taking in that snare keep we earth and things thereon in their proper place at the foot g Psal 8. 6. If we exalt it it will presse us downeward lower then the place is where we dig it If we thinke of outwards above what is meet we shall thinke of our selves above what is comely And then our riches will be a strong Tower in our conceit h Prov. 18. 11. and we shall be so conceited of them so bottomed upon them so earthed in them that we shall say as before mentioned We are Lords we will come no more unto thee i Iere. 2. 31. And then we shall so pride our selves that we will contemne disdaine and scorne others better then our selves and so bring not our selves onely into a snare but the whole City nay we shall be as those who set a City on fire who blow it up as with Gun-powder k Prov. 28. 9. Inflammant sufflant Trem. So much for prevention of snares from Riches in a generall way now somwhat more particularly Riches have many snares where there is fulnesse and plenty there is plenty of them But one daughter there is of plenty and fulnesse which like the horseleach still cryeth give give but is never satisfied This a great snare and fitly called the great inchantresse of mankinde we commonly call it
King 3. 17. It is good and safe to depend here Infinite power and goodnesse can never bee at a losse nor faith which lookes thereunto can be at stand Faith makes up a life without the creature It cheeres the countenance without oy le b Famem vera sides non time◠Hier. lib. 2. ep 18. p. 221. refresheth the spirit without wine glads the heart strengthens it without the bread of men It is certain a soul that hath such a dependance is never fatter better liking then when his pasture is shortest like a wildernesse It is fattest in the winter as some creatures are when there is no greene thing but ground trees and all are all covered Then this soul can pick meat when the heaven is brasse and the earth iron Then even in such a time the soul can live rejoyce and joy in the Lord the God of Salvation Habb 3. 18. This is the onely way which will lead thee through the snares which are in wants that thou shalt not be intangled with them not put forth thy hand unto wickednesse If thou canst finde no way God can make a way only thy part is if meanes be short to trust the more And to lengthen thy hope Hope we say is an inheritance for a King and this God will provide makes Gods children confident It is good to be in a depending condition then we roule our selves upon God The depending soul can best track the wayes of Gods providence and seeth how wise and admirable they are whereas the fulnesse of outward means obscureth the lustre of that track and draweth the heart unto them from a providence And now I need not bid thee use all lawfull means for dependance on a providence doth establish the means and us in the use of them It is unreasonable to think that God will feed us from Heaven when we may gather our meat from the earth He worketh not extraordinary in a fruitfull land where the plough can go I mean in that place and time when our hands can work As we must not trouble our selves about Gods charge as it is usuall so to do So we must not neither neglect our own charge which is to give all faithfull endeavour and having done it then stand still rest and wait for His blessings who hath said I will not leave thee nor forsake thee And now we are upon thy duty and charge heare some lessons which may be of use for thy better discharge thereof Therefore the chief lesson follows for it makes all easy Let the law of the Lord be never out of thy minde nor His word when houshold employments admit vacation for she that is married careth for the things of the world how she may please her husband be out of thy hand That 's an holy word saith Clemens d 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 protrept p. 41. which makes holy as He is and like Him Tongues there are but one is enough for a woman and work enough to use that one well Other learning there is too but like nuts e 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Clem. Alex. Strom. 1. 199. I referre to thy sex it nourisheth not This word makes f 2 Tim. 3. ω Lactan. lib. 3. cap. 25. perfect and throughly furnisheth All necessary truths are plain there and nothing dark g 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Protrept p. 42. to him or her that will come to the light by earnest h 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrys in Matt. Hom. 25. prayer asking of Him who is the Father of lights who leades into all truth And if He joyn himself to our charriot we shall go on and encrease mightily for it is in the strength and with the encrease of God I can but point at what I would say For thy instruction this is the chief Take counsell from this word and from this Great counsellour then thou shalt be taught indeed to answer thy worthy name worthily and all those relations thou standest in as becometh first to children The chief burden of our charge as they are the chief of our possessions The rules are what was mentioned before I shall not recall 1. Thou must not set thy heart upon them as was said but keep a watchfull eye over them thereby keeping them in awe and begin betimes sit close here children are like a wilde asse colt if thou dost not over-rule them they will overthrow thee and themselves It is a pretty observation I know not how true That great mens children learn nothing by order and rule but to mannage their horse well and the reason why they are so carefull therein is because they know their horse is neither flatterer nor Courtier he will not stick to cast First part p. 253. them as soon as a meaner person if they hold him not strait in and themselves close to his back It is so here if thou doest not sit close upon them upon servants also holding a strait hand neither slacked nor strained if not they will runne headlong What ever honour is due none will be payed unlesse it be honourably commanded I mean with authoritie and with a countenance commanding a respect and a reverence Let this bridle loose once and they will let loose the bridle before thee i Job 30. 11. Essrenatè in me invecti sunt quasi immissis vel excussis habenis Trem. first part that is they will speak unreverently and scornfully as if they were not children nor thou their Mother and the order will be inverted the childe will be above and the parent shall be below And therefore hold fast here Thus much or this little rather for I have spoken to it before that thou mayest maintain thy authoritie over them if thou loosest that thou wilt adventure thy comfort in them Covet after the best callings but be not ambitious to make them great here below It had been a good ambition in the Mother if it had been spirituall to be an earnest sutour for the preferment of her children to Christs's kingdome k Hoc praecipuum est uti piè sancteque vivant dixit uxor Calv. epist 101. No preferment in the world comparable Do thy best here Grace is a sure commoditie and however the world go the trade of godlinesse cannot fail Make sure of that for thy self and thine what thou canst trade heaven-ward the world and trading here will fail l Reade Chrysost in Gen. Hom. 66. w. Put up thy prayers for them be not wanting at the Throne of Grace thy prayers may return when thou thinkest not and with much more advantage then thy cares Mark that We suppose thou hast servants too a great part of thy care and charge and then there is work enough for thy tongue thy eye and thy hand thou being a leading hand in All. 1. Work enough for thy tongue I mean not therewith to trouble thy house as some do filling it with winde as with smoak which is the
borne blind So it was that the workes of God Iohn 3. 9. should be made manifest in him So we may say we have our eyes eares tongues hands which others have not That we might the more ptaise the Lord for His goodnesse and declare His workes toward the children of men These are the questions but upon the point it is but this single question and the very same and to the same purpose which the King makes to that I doe allude touching Mordecay What honour and dignity hath been done to Mordecay x Esther 6. 3. for this So let this be the question What honour what service hath been done to the Lord He hath so honoured thee he hath so served thee be hath so and so preserved thee from the Paw of the Lyon and jaw of the beare so delivered thee Through his strength thou didst leap over such a wall He brought thee out of such a strait He supported thee in such weaknesses He supplyed thee in such a Wildernesse He gave successe to thee in such businesses What shall I say for we are confounded here He is the God not of some but of all consolations the Father of mercies And we can no more number them then we can the drops of the raine or of the dew or the Treasures of the snow and baile but we know who is the Father of them and out of whose Bowels these mercies come whereby thou hast been fed all thy life long and redeemed from evill we know the price of them too the very least of them is the price of bloud What honour hath been done for all this What peculiar Service that 's the single question If now thy heart make answer as we read in the foregoing place There is nothing done no peculiar service at all instead of being the Temple of His praise thou hast been the grave of His mercies They have been buried in thee they have brought forth no fruits if this be the answer of thy heart and so it condemne thee the Lord is greater then our hearts He will condemn much more And therefore it is high time to look into the Register of Gods mercies into the books of record And if these mercies have laine as things cast aside and of no account as dead things out of minde if so long and to this day forgot then now it is high time that thy rest should be troubled and sleep should not come into thy eye till thou hast looked over this Register and recorded the mercies of the Lord and so pressed them on thy conscience That it may answer out of a pure heart that something at the length is done some sacrifice of praise and thanks is returned to the Lord for all this This is the first thing to be done now and it is high time to do it Considering the season It is supposed that gray haires are upon thee here and there they are sugared now and like the hoary frost The Almond tree flourisheth thou art in the winter of thine age It is high time now to look about thee and to consider That is the first ground of consideration 2. That time is hasting whose portion and burden from the Lord is but labour and sorrow And then though we have time for our day lasteth while life lasteth yet no time to do any thing in it to purpose for then the Grasse-hopper is a burden So I make two periods of this age And each a ground to presse on unto a timely consideration The one I call declining age when we have lived almost to threescore yeares The other when we are drawing onward to fourescore c. extreame old age of both in their order 1. Both the one as well as the other is an age not more desired then complained of They knew best why that feele the burden of it I have not lived unto it It is likely that person complained not without cause who being willed to hasten her pace told them who were so quick with her That so she could not do for she carryed a great burden on her back And whereas no burden at all appeared to the eye she replyed again that threescore years were passed over her head and that was the burden Plaut And so it may well be with those whose spirits are much spent and strength wasted even at those yeares And then age it self alone is a burden I can speake little here out of experience But this I can say If God be pleased to stretch out my day so long I shall know no cause to complain of the length for that is a blessing Length of dayes is from the right hand Prov. 3. 16. Riches and honour from the left Only we must note here That if the Lord be pleased to shorten the day of this life to any person as sometimes He doth to His dearest and most obedient children their dayes are not long upon earth why yet if He eek out this short day here with an eternitie of dayes and pleasures at His right hand when they are taken hence if so that partie shall have no cause to complaine of a short day on earth so abundantly recompensed in heaven This is a note by the way If I say God be pleased to stretch forth my dayes so long I know no cause why I should complaine of a blessing I may complaine and just cause why I should and that bitterly but not for the accession of yeares If any thing sower them it is of mine owne Leaven and of my owne putting in Complaine of my selfe I may of them I may not Old age is a calme quiet and easie time if youth have done it no disservice in filling its bones before hand Nor no intemperance hath weakned its head or feete If so Old age hath just cause to complaine of the Man not the man of Old Age. There is no Guest in the world that is more desired and expected and yet when it comes worse welcomed and entertained then Old Age is still with sighes and complaints which we know argues bad welcome I would have my Child make good provision for it against it come and when it is come to give it good welcome Welcome I say I doe not say ease Good welcome doth consist we say in shewing a good and chearefull countenance to our guest not in giving him too much ease or feeding him too daintily Let it appeare thou hast laid up store against thy yeares come and now they are come thou canst welcome them and art glad they are come but doe not make too-much of them in giving them too much ease I may warne thee of it againe for Old Age is very craving very importunate that way though they may be importunate If thou yeeldest to a lithernesse and a listnesses whereto Old Age inclineth us very much and so to spare thy body thy activenesse will decay more in one moneth then otherwise it would in twelve It s observable what the Heathen
but it is beyond expression and this is the portion of them that feare Him not nor in their season and Day of Visitation call upon His Name even this is their Portion from the Lord saith the Lord Almightie But there is a sweet peace in Death to all such as painfully serve the Lord in life they are the words of him who relateth the last words of that excellent servant of the Lord Mr. Dearing And they were these It is not to begin for a moment but to continue in the A comfortable death ever followes a conscionable life Dr. Ayeries Lectur p. 715. feare of God all our dayes for in the twinckling of an eye we shall be taken away dally not with the Word of God blessed are they that use their tongues so every other faculty well while they have it So he spake lying upon his Death bed neare the time of His dissolution and having spoken somewhat touching His Hope and Crowne of rejoycing He fell asleepe This instructs us in this high point of Wisdome more then once pointed at before but can never be sufficiently pressed till it be thoroughly learnt which is to make use of the ptesent Time to know the Day of our visitation o Iob 22. 21. to acquaint our selves now with the Lord to number our Dayes God only teacheth the heart that Arithmeticke that is to consider how short how transitory how full of trouble our dayes are And yet such though they are but as a span yet thereon dependeth Eternity The thought whereof might stirre up to the well improovement of them The Hebrewes have a proverbe which they deliver in way of Counsaile Good friend remember to repent one Day before thy Death By one Day they meant the present Time the Day of Salvation So the words tend but to this to perswade to a wise and Christian improovement of that which is our Time the present There is no mans Will but when he comes to that point he bequeatheth his Soule to God But let him see to it that hee set his house in order while there was a fit season that Hee committed His Soule to God when He had perfect memory and strength of minde and well understood what He did which in time of distresse a man doth not q Few men pinched with the Messengers of Death have a dâ—sposing memory saith a great sage of the Law the L. Coke in his tenth epistle where he adviseth to set our house in order while we are in perfect health weighty counsell every way else all is in vaine for we know all is voyde if the Will be forced or if the minde and understanding part be wanting and out of frame The Lord will be as strict in examining our Will upon this point as man is what strength there was of understanding what freedome of Will And therefore the sure and certaine way is to evidence our Will in our health by double diligence as by two sure witnesses else the Lord may answer us as Iepthah to the Elders of Gilead r Iudg. 11. 7. Thou despisest me all thy life why committest thou thy Soule unto mee now in thy distresse at thy Death It is not to begin for a moment but a continuance in the feare of God all our dayes It is not to use our tongue well at the point of death but to use it well while we have it and strength to use it We must not think to leap from Earth to Heaven not think at the point of Death to live for ever with the Lord when all our life time we cared not to be made conformable to Christ in His Death We cannot thinke to Raigne with Christ who when we were living men did not Crucifie one Lust for His sake We cannot think to Rest with Him for ever in Glory who never sanctifyed one Sabbath to Him on Earth We cannot think to shine after Death as the Sunne in his strength yea to be like Him who never tooke paines to purifie our hearts nor to rub off the sully and filth of a vaine Conversation We cannot look for pleasures at Gods Right Hand forevermore who in our life and strength preferred a vaine perishing and now a tormenting pleasure before them But great peace have they that keep thy Law and nothing shall offend them Psal 119. verse 165. Great peace have they in death who painfully served God in life Their hope shall not make them ashamed for they commit their spirit into His hand Who hath redeemed them the Lord God of Truth they go to Him whose salvation their eyes have seen and whose they are and whom they served What can dismay them now can death can the grave No they are both swallowed up in victory They put death on the one side and immortalitie on the other worms on the one side and Angells on the other rottennesse on the one side and Christ Iesus on the other and now they are bold and love rather to remove out of the body and to dwell with the Lord Christ with Him together with the Father and the Holy Ghost to have continuall fellowship and everlasting communion Such honour have all the Saints Death is no other thing to them now then as the flame to the Angell Å¿ Judges 13. 20. for thereby though clean contrary to the nature thereof they ascend to their everlasting mansions there to see the good of His chosen to rejoyce in the gladnesse of His Nation and glory in His inheritance There to take possession of that crown of Righteousnesse which the Lord the Righteous Iudge shall give them at that day when with all the Patriarchs t Patriarcharum consortium Prophetarum societatem Apostolorum germanitatem Martyrum dignitatem c. Calv. Ad eccles cath lib. 2. p. 398. Prophets Apostles all the Antipasses those faithfull witnesses not yet made perfect u 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Chrysost in ep ad Heb. cap. 11. hom 28. α. they shall be made perfect There to make up that tribute of praise wherein while they lived on earth they were wanting bearing part for ever in that heavenly quire saying Blessing and glory and wisdome and thanksgiving and honour and power and might be unto our God for ever and ever Amen Revel 7. 12. Thus my deare Children I thought it meet while I was in this tabernacle to stirre up your mindes by putting you in remembrance knowing that I and you must put off this walking tabernacle we must lay down this piece of breathing clay I know my self must before long and we all know not how soon and the good Lord grant that ye may be able after my departure to have these things alwayes x 1. Pet. 1. 13. in remembrance It is my charge unto you my last will look unto it and be acquainted with it for it is agreeable to Gods will My hearts desire concerning you is that ye would acquaint your selves with God for that is the
light us through this vast gulfe and void space unto such a distance and with such speed what then is the power of the souls eye when it hath received an anointing from above How much beyond those starres can that eye pierce The Saints shall stand and wonder with admiration m 2. Thes 1. 10. but they can never be at a stand they know whom they have trusted and that to Him nothing is impossible Nay He that did make the eye was He who gave a greater power yet to the eye of flesh even to see as farre above the starrie heaven as it is for ought I know to that heaven even to the heaven of heavens and to see them opened and the crown of our glory there n Acts 7. 55. This the Lord can do to show the might of His power and to assure His o Bright Revel 2. 13 p. 33. Antipasses all His faithfull Martyrs by the first that they shall not look to Him or wait for Him in vain their expectation shall be satisfied to the full and beyond For though that was an extraordinary case yet this is ordinary and secured unto the faithfull that whosoever is full of the Holy Ghost who looks up stedfastly into heaven who sets his face thither-ward p Luke 9. 51. he that girds q 1. Pet. 1. 13. up the loines of his minde they are the strength and Basis of the body r Chrysost in cap. 6. ad Eph. Hom. 23. and do imply the strong resolution and activitie of the soul I mean then He who is strong in his God and hath his hope and his heart fixed on Him He shall see though his outward eye have not the same ſ Chrysol serm 24. de servo vigili pag. 81. clearenesse of vision he shall see as great things as Stephen did he shall see heaven opened the glory of God and the great things that Christ hath done for him for which he shall be admired of all the Saints in that day So much to that which seemeth not the least wonder that God hath given our outward eye such an elevation of sight And now that our eye is thus elevated what and how great are the things which we do see We cannot give answer nor make report thereof I do not wonder that Paul whom the Father elegantly calls an earthly Angel ſ Chrysost Tom. 1 de poenit continent and an heavenly man that he being caught up into the third Heaven could not utter what he heard there for it was unutterable He whose eye is but upon the outside of that paradise beholds such great things there that we cannot utter nor comprehend what we see There I see the heavens stretched over me like a curtain thence it hath its name in Hebrew but in Greek and English a firmament because it is firme and fast This I see because it seems to terminate my sight but I know not what I see nor know I how He buildeth His stories spheres in the heaven t Amos 9 6. but I know it is fully called the firmament of His power u Psal 150. 1. And that is all I can say of it for the out-spreading of that Canopie is unutterable and unconceiveable There I see those fierie Globes each of them many degrees bigger then the earth yet in comparison with that out-spreading firmament each of them but as a diamond on the ring or point in a circle If I think upon the the glory of the Creator as I should do for if these be so wonderfull how much more wonderfull is the Creator hereof This thought thereof swallows me up as a drop in the ocean How farre beyond the scant compasse of mans understanding is it then to conceive of the glory of His Saints for it is said They that be wise shall shine as the brightnesse of the firmament and they that turn many to righteousnesse as the starres for ever and ever x Dan. 12. 3. nay it is said They shall shine forth as the Sun y Matt. 13. 43. nay more They shall be like unto Him at His appearance z 1. John 3. 2. And surely though this glory be incomprehensible yet our understanding may conceive and comprehend that so it is for if the Lord hath beautified the outside of their palace or heavenly mansions with so much glory what is the inside and the glory there within a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Basil Hex Hom. 2 α. I cannot think that strange which followeth that he who hath this hope purifieth b 1. John 3 3. himselfe for certainly none but the the pure in heart can enter in there I see now how necessary it was and that so it must needs be That Christ should give Himselfe for His Church that He might sanctifie and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word That he might present it to Himselfe a glorious Church not having spot nor wrinckle or any such thing But that it should be holy without blemish c Ephes 5. 26. 27. For the conclusion is peremptory and certain There shall in no wise d Rev. 21. 27. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 enter into the heavenly Jerusalem any thing that defileth c. And me thinks when I reade that Elias e 2. Kings 2. was carried up into heaven in a fierie charriot it shews me in a figure that in the act of dissolution f 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrys Tom. 5. de resur serm 33. in that moment of time when the soul is departing out of the body sanctification is compleate and perfected and all remainder of corruption is as by fire purged away for none but the pure and the clean and undefiled can enter in here into this Holy of Holies whose out-court or out-covering or pavement of that Court is so glorious And do I see all this and do I beleeve it too What and yet go I on in an evil course and yet do I take the Name of God in vain If so I do but as the devil doth he beleeves and yet continues as he is g Esse Deum credunt lamen in perversitate perdurant Sal. de Prov. 4. p. 100. subjungit ad pudorem c. Sal. Ibid. But if I do not feare before this power and tremble too I am short of the devil for he doth both We may think hereon when we behold the firmament of His power and the glory thereof which is as we have heard though we have not heard the half thereof And yet though thus outwardly glorious this out-court is it must be dissolved and by fire What confidence can we then put in any thing we call flesh or in these vile bodies of ours If the firmament that firme and fast thing shall not still continue of how small continuance is man and the things of this earth which we dote upon But to leave that and to raise our thoughts higher where they
should fix we should make the same use of the glory of the third heaven which is the Saints city and countrey where they shall be glorious and crowned with life and for ever with the Lord of life whose Majestie shall shine in perfect beauty before them the same use I say we should make hereof which the holy Apostle makes touching the dissolution of this out-court or firmament seeing we look for such an heaven wherein dwelleth righteousnesse what manner of persons h 2. Pet. 3. 11. ought we to be in all holy conversation and godlinesse Chrysostome maks a larger use of this contemplation and it is of use indeed His eyes were fixt upon that out-court beholding the excellent beauty thereof upon which contemplation thus he speaks and this the philosophy he gives If these parts of the heaven turned toward us are so bright and glorious what are those upward and inward parts How exceeding glorious that heaven of heavens i 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ad illud coelum coeli etiam terrae nostrae coelum terra est Aug. Conf. l. 12. cap. 2. And yet as if this glory were not worth the seeking after we stand greedily k 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 gaping and catching at the shadow of things and let go great things of a durable substance So he goes on and that which follows is yet more notable When I think on the beauty clarity glory of this heaven I finde my thoughts can fetch a wide compas yet I have not a thought to measure this glory withall my thoughts are infinitely too short here but this effect I finde they cause not more wonderment then mourning In the thoughts hereof I must needs weep bitterly and my spirit must mourn within me l 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For when I rise to that height I am presently as low again in the thought of my fall When I behold that Glory with the same eye I must reflect upon my miserie O from what excellent things are we fallen from what happinesse are we estranged m 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I say well estranged for we carry our selves as strangers to that city of rest and happinesse We exceedingly busy our selves and unnecessarily in our Thorough fare as if there were our abiding and our place of rest and no countrey above no glory there Yet such a Glory it is as no tongue can expresse it no thought can reach unto it Tell not me now so the Father goes on of hell and what the damned feel there n 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. tell me of heaven if thou wilt move me and the exceeding glory there For I tell thee that the pain of sense as the learned call them the pain the body shall feel in hell will not be so keene sharpe and fretting though sharp and fretting they will be past all expression yet not so fretting as will be the pain of losse losse of heaven and the exceeding glory there This losse this will be most tormenting Thoughts thereof will sinke the soul into that pit like a stone or lead in the great waters This I say will be the fretting worm the tormenting thought what I have lost what happinesse I have falne from More tormenting it will be then the lowermost hell and the utmost wrath there o 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And this thought will adde much to our torment For what a toy a trifle a thing of naught we have forfeited this exceeding weight of glory so small a thing it was that it will be justly said of us we despised our birth-right For this great deceiver be it Satan or our own heart deceivers both he gives us small things p 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a puffe of honour short pleasure transitory riches poore base emptie shrunken things he takes from us great things q 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a weight of glory it contains all an exceeding excesse of glory it cannot be exprest but all this he takes from us He gives us dyrt he depriveth us of the pearle he presents us with a shadow he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 robs us of the substance And here we are without excuse for hereof we cannot plead ignorance it being the daily voice of all the creatures under the Sun sounding lowder then the loudest trumpet r 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That they are as grasse and the beautie of them as the fading flower vanitie or lighter then so if ought can be and such things are the very best this deceiver can give us but he takes away such things as we heard and as we must conceive them to be if we behold the out-court or pavement of that Holy of Holies This large use the Father makes upon this contemplation as we may better understand and more enlarge it if we peruse his 14 Homily upon the Epistle to the Romanes towards the end And so much in a generall way and view of the firmament and the great works of God there which He hath set out unto open view to shew us what is within and what manner of persons we ought to be who look to enter into that Holy place And withall which is the chiefest of all to stirre us up to presse towards the mark And forgetting things behinde in our earnest pursuite thither ward and expectation thereof to reach out as with necks-stretched forth after those high and great things such they are as the eye hath not seene nor the eare heard nor the heart can conceive But such they are unutterable and glorious which the righteous Lord will give to all that feare Him and waite for his appearance Onely shew we our selves men not children who for an apple will part with a pearle and thinke they have no losse by that exchange So much to the contemplation of the firmament of His power the height and glory thereof I descend now unto that creature which the Lord hath divided unto all nations and with which our sense is more acqâ—ainted but deceives our sense exceedingly for though it discover unto us things below yet it locks up with the clearnesse of its light and lustre the things above Our eye if we marke it will discerne much higher in a cleare night then it can in the clearest day In the night we see as high above the Sun as the Sun is above us but in the day we have no cleare discerning of any thing that is above the Sun because of the clearnesse of that mightie Body which dazleth the eye if we look upon it and puts it out if we stand and gaze And thus the heathen did and so that light darkened u Leg. Clem. Alex ad Gentes pag. 31. them that they could not rise to a glory above the creature but where they terminated their sight their they terminated their worship Therein like the countreyman who looking for the King at his Court thinks that he must need be the King who first