and that womans company Embraces Solaces and I must be a little wanton lascivious and extravagant this time solacing my self with Loves so that this lascivious and luxuriant Flesh of ours must be curbed overcome and mastered Quest You will say But how Answ By Chastity and Sobriety For Contraries are expelled by Contraries Contraria contrariis expelluntur Be saber therefore I say with the Apostle Peter 1 Pet. 5.8 The like may be said of Chastity Be chaste according to that of Paul 1 Thes 4.3 4 5. But I desire to insist on Sobriety most for he that is sober will be * Sobrietas est mentis sensus membrorum omnium corporis quo tutelâ—… castitatis pudicitiaeque mun mentum Aug. chaste also because Sobriety is nothing else but a †Sobrietas virtus est appeteâ—tâ—s per quam praâ—â—e voluptates ne appetuntur quidem Aristot de viâ—t et vit Divis. Vertue whereby corrupt and depraved Pleasures are not so much as desired but rather restrained And therefore O blessed Soberness how my soul is enamoured with it O I love thee with my very heart dear Soberness for thou hast ravished me with one Chain about thy neck and that Chain is a Concatenation of all manner of rare and ravishing Excellencies which are all linked together in love and make thee so exceeding lovely O thine is freedom and with thee is contentment and by thee comes a most sweet immunity from great offences offences else will come if thou do not come come I mean to keep them off Come then my Brethren and become as sober as ever were any Saints and sober in dyet sober in marriage and sober out of marriage and sober in apparel apparelling your selves with Humbleness for that is well-pleasing to God God grant that my speech may take so as that Heaven at last you may take 4. You must strive with Courage and Patience to pass through fiery Tryals and great Afflictions for We must through much Tribulation enter into the Kingdom of God Acts 14.22 And of the Saints in Heaven clothed with white Robes saith one of the heavenly Elders These are they which came out of great Tribulation Rev. 7.14 And when blessed Bradford was to go to the stake to sacrifice his life to God by Fire he took a Fagot in his arms and embracing it said Strait is the Gate and narrow is the Way which leadeth to Life meaning fiery Tryals and great Tribulations It is not so with the Wicked which offer no Violence to Heaven for their way is broad which leads to Perdition Mat. 7.13 God deals with them as men with * Gregor in Job Oxen as the Oxen appointed to the slaughter are by them let run a fatting at their pleasure when others are kept hard to dayly labour In like manner the Tree that bears no fruit is not beaten as we see but only the fruitful and yet the other as Christ tells Mat. 3.7 is reserved for fire The sick man that is past all hope of life is suffered by the Physician to have whatsoever he listeth after but he whose death is not despaired cannot have that liberty granted To conclude The stones that must serve for the glorious Temple of Solomon were he wed beaten polished without the Temple at the Quarry side 1 Kings 6.7 that no stroak nor hammer might be heard within the Temple Now S. Peter saith 1 Pet. 2.5 that good Men are chosen Stones to be placed in the glorious Building of God in Heaven where there is no beating no sorrow nor crying nor cross Rev. 21.4 Here then we must be beaten and he wed and squared in the Quarry of this World here we must be fined here polished here we must feel the hammer and pass through great Tribulations and that requireth our Courage and Patience upon the consideration of Heaven which will make amends for all Be patient saith St. James Jam. 5.7 and Be not dismayed saith God Isa 41.10 * Which the Lord addeth for our encouragement When thou passeth thorow the Waters namely of Affliction I will be with thee and thorow the Rivers they shall not overflow thee when thou walkest thorow the Fire thou shalt not be burnt nether shall the flame kindle upon thee For I am the Lord thy God the Holy One of Israel thy Saviour Isa 43. Which for our encouragement was even litterally fulfilled in the three Children upon whose Bodies the Fire had no power nor was an hair of their head singed neither were their Coats changed nor the smell of fire had passed on them Dan. 3.27 And in * Euseb l. 4. c. 14. Clerk in his Life p. 7.8 Polycarpus who was so patient and couragious and whose body would not burn when he was to be burnt with fire the Lord having caused him to hear a Voice from Heaven saying Be of good cheere O Polycarp and play the Man which Voice his hearers heard who write this of him The Speaker no man saw but the Voice many of us heard say they Let us be patient therefore and couragious also in all our Afflictions which we suffer And the Lord give us patience courage that we may run through all these fiery Tryals which are to try us and after we have been tryed as Gold is tryed in the fire we may obtain the Crown of Heaven which is set before us and which otherwise than by Fire and Violence cannot be had by us 3. You must force the King thereof himself Quest If you ask me How Answ By uncessantly violent Intreaties This Answer consists of two Branches 1. By Violent Intreaties 2. By uncessantly Violent Intreaties 1. By Violent Intreaties for the Effâ—ctual Fervent Prayer of a righteous Man availes much Jam. 5.17 O it presseth into the Presence of God it breaks through whole Hosts of hostile Powers it chargeth through the thickest Troups of Oppositions it mounts up beyond the Stars it penetrates the Heavens nay it towrs up beyond all aspectable Heavens and never ceases towring till it enters the very Heaven of Heavens where it wrestles with the God of Heaven for Heaven and never gives him over till by Force it hath won Heaven And therefore let this mighty Champion which we call Wrestling enter the Lists with God for you that Heaven may be taken by you Which God in mercy grant unto you 2. With Uncessantly Violent Intreaties For Pray continually saith Christ Luke 18.1 and With all Perseverance saith the Apostle Ephes 6.18 which is much more For in this Direction is a Climax or Gradation from much to much more For to pray Uncessantly is as much beyond Violent Intreaties as the Sun is beyond the Moon in that as the Moon can have no light without the Sun so we without Perseverance in Prayer can see no light of God's Countenance beaming upon us no help to assist us no strength to enable us for high things to be attempted by us there we may cry
and roar in prayer and yet in vain unless we continue in prayer and though we contend never so much yet is it to no end unless we contend so long by our violent Intreaties with God till we have our errands end O my Brethren this is the very Life the Soul the Art the Master-peice of right Praying by it we must needs carry Heaven nay with it we shall win the very God of Heaven even by Force Force your selves therefore my Brethren so to invocate the Name of God and to draw near to the Throne of Grace for Grace even Grace to help in a time of need Heb. 4.16 nay go and strive by many Prostrations before the Throne of Grace and mighty and uncessant Encountrings with God to become Overcomers of God saying to God as once Jacob said I will not let thee go tili thou bless me Gen. 1. By Violent Intreaties for the Effectual Fervent Prayer of a righteous Man availes much Jam. 5.17 O it presseth into the Presence of God it breaks through whole Hosts of hostile Powers it chargeth through the thickest Troups of Oppositions it mounts up beyond the Stars it penetrates the Heavens nay it towrs up beyond all aspectable Heavens and never ceases towring till it enters the very Heaven of Heavens where it wrestles with the God of Heaven for Heaven and never gives him over till by Force it hath won Heaven And therefore let this mighty Champion which we call Wrestling enter the Lists with God for you that Heaven may be taken by you Which God in mercy grant unto you 2. With uncessantly Violent Intreaties For Pray continually saith Christ Luke 18. 1. and With all Perseverance saith the Apostle Ephes 6.18 which is much more For in this Direction is a Climax or Gradation from much to much more For to pray uncessantly is as much beyond Violent Intreaties as the Sun is beyond the Moon in that as the Moon can have no light without the Sun so we without Perseverance in Prayer can see no light of God's Countenance beaming upon us no help to assist us no strength to enable us for high things to be attempted by us there we may cry and roar in prayer and yet in vain unless we continue in prayer and though we contend never so much yet is it to no end unless we contend so long by our violent Intreaties with God till we have our errands end O my Brethren this is the very Life the Soul the Art the Master-peice of right Praying by it we must needs carry Heaven nay with it we shall win the very God of Heaven even by Force Force your selves therefore my Brethren so to invocate the Name of God and to draw near to the Throne of Grace for Grace even Grace to help in a time of need Heb. 4.16 nay go and strive by many Prostrations before the Throne of Grace and mighty and uncessant Encountrings with God to become Overcomers of God saying to God as once Jacob said I will not let thee go tili thou bless me Gen. 32.26 When a City or Citadel is beleagured the great Guns go off often and when they cease the Country concludes that it is taken And so must our Prayers which are our Canons as * Bombardae Christianorum Luther Luther was wont to call them go off often when we go to win Heaven that is even indesinently the same time when we are about it crying as the little Children did once Mat. 21.9 Hosanna Hosanna that is Now save now save even again and again first here in this Temple from your very hearts and when ye are come home from your Closets your doors being shut and never give over crying so and discharging your great Canons so till you have won Heaven that is never come out of your Chambers after they have been shut till you have gotten some assurances from Heaven that you shall have Heaven concluding so because God hath heard them and as it were told them that Heaven is taken by them But here I must resolve two Cases of Conscience 1. Case The first is Sir we have heard all this and yet there is no stirring after all this some will say and therefore what shall we do in this Case To this I answer in four Conclusions 1. There may be no stirring with some of you because you are not yet effectually called and spoken to nor yet blown upon by the Spirit of God John 6.44 like those dry bones in Ezek. 37.2 even very dry so as that there was no stirring among them at all till after when the Prophet prophesied to them and the Wind that is the Spirit of God which is like Wind did breath upon them 2. Conclusion There may be no stirring with some of you as yet because your time is not come yet some are called the third some the sixth hour some the ninth some the eleventh hour Mat. 20.3 5 6. 3. Conclus If there be no stirring with you because you are not yet effectually called nor have been blown upon by the Spirit of God then you must pray to the Lord that this my preaching now at last may work upon you and there may be a stirring among you as thus O our God say Let this man's preaching to us belike Ezekiels prophesying For Lord hast not thou sent him saying Go and prophesie to these dead dry bones which are in that Town of T that they may live and wilt not thou bless his prophesying to our souls O that there were a shaking among us as there was among those bones O most mighty God let there be such a shaking and such a stirring among us now at last after all this prophesying that we may stand upon our feet as a great and terrible Army with Banners Cant. 6.11 and take Heaven by Force Or thus As Moses prayed Numb 14.17 And now I beseech thee let the Power of my Lord be great according as thou hast spoken So let every one of you now cry and say to Lord And now I beseech thee let the Power of my Lord be great according as thou hast spoken So let every one of you now cry and say to the Lord And now I beseech thee let the Power of my Lord be great according as thou hast spoken saying I will cause breath to enter into you and ye shall live Ezek. 37.5 and Verily verily I say unto you the hour is coming and now is when the dead shall hear the Voice of the Son of God and they that hear shall live John 5.24 Lord I am dead cause me to hear his Voice this hour this time that I may stir and live O this stirring it is that which must work must move our hearts must remove our affections must elevate our spirits must collocate our souls in a capacity and ability to attain to high atchivements and therefore I advise you so much and perswade you so earnestly to beg it 4. Conclus But if your time
Heaven won by Violence OR A TREATISE Upon MAT. 11.12 Compendiously containing very nigh The Whole BODY OF Practical DIVINITY And shewing VVhat a Sacred Violence is and how it must be used and offered in Believing Repenting and all the Duties of your High Calling Together with A New and Living Way of Dying upon Heb. 11.1 added thereunto By Christopher Jelinger And Published with the Dedications thereof by some Christian Friends London Printed in the Year 1665. To the Right Worshipful ANTHONY REEVE The Mayor And his Brethren The MAGISTRATES And to all the Inhabitants of the populous Town of TOTNES Mercy and Peace from God the Father and from our Lord Saviour Jesus Christ I Have been much sollicited earnestly written to to communicate these my Labours because when I preached them first at your Town it pleased God of his infinite Mercy thereby to convert a poor soul then present and one more elsewhere from Darkness to Light and from the power of Satan to God which hath occasioned the coming forth of this Treatise unto the publick view of the VVorld by a Friend whose desire it was to publish the same For who can tell whether it may not be the Beneplacit and will of God that more souls be thereby won to God The subject matter thereof you see is as apt as any by the good blessing of God to subject souls to the mighty Power of that VVord which here I hold forth and press to make you press toward the Mark for the Price of the High Calling of God in Christ Jesus to strive that you may enter into the narrow Way which leads to Life to offer a Sacred Violence to Heaven to your selves nay to God himself blessed for ever to take to win to get that great that glorious that spacious Kingdom of Heaven by Force forcing your selves to leave the VVorld to abandon Sin to fight against Satan and to lay hold on eternal Life O Sirs here is work for all your Town for all this Country for all England for all your dayes The Ancient of dayes so diffuse his holy Spirit into your hearts that you may all become men of another spirit labouring for Heaven Heaven is worth the striving the strugling the pains-taking which in this Treatise is required that you may be saved Townsmen commonly are more at leisure to listen to such a discourse as this is because they are not under such a pressure of worldly work as those are which mansion in the Country therefore I hope you wil afford some of your spare hours to read that Lecture which here is read from so precious a Scripture and that you will not put off these tenders of my Love and such a Theam as this is like that unwise King of Macedon who when one tendred unto him a Treatise tending to Immortality said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is I am not at leisure I beseech you Sirs by the Mercies of God in the Bowels of Christ Jesus that you will be serious once and set your selves in earnest to that great VVork which is here proposed working out your Salvation with fear trembling for your time runs out apace in the Glass of time and I have this confidence in you all 2 Cor. 2.3 that you would not willingly have the silver Cords of your lives broken before your hearts with sorrow for sin be broken nor would depart this evil world before ye depart from sin and have left the vanities of the world and gotten a sound assurance of an other better world nor yet cease to be retainers to the Sun created before ye be retainers to the Sun of Righteousness nor take your farewel of the Elements before you have bid farewel to this present life's Allurements And therefore why do ye linger why do ye not break away from Satan by force why do ye not once begin to have a low and abject esteem of this common way of existence this retaining to the Elements and become the Servants of Holiness why do ye not strive to be the Children of Light before ye cease to be maintained by the usury of light Usura Lucis why do ye not set all things apart to have your part in that holy taking of that great glorious Kingdom of Heaven by Violence I for my part when I take a full veiw and circle of my self do conceive that without this I am nothing my life nothing my performing of duties nothing Do you conceive so too and then be doing as wel as reading the things in this Book contained Nay my Beloved do this especially before ever you take this Treatise in hand to peruse it resolve to be Assaulters urgers Pressers Forcers of your selves and of Heaven by it but withal beg and pray before you read one line that upon your bended knees seriously and ardently that the great God of Heaven himself will write these lines in your hearts which I have written in this Book that you may do them O that you would hear me in this For how many Books have been read in vain without this This this must make this my labour of love auspicious your reading prosperous and your laudable endeavours salutiferous But I also my self will pray for you O my God bedew theresore these silent lines with thy Benediction so as that this populous Town of T may consider in this her day the things which belong to her peace and tend to immortality as they are tendered to it in this Book for all eternity So prayeth Your most humble Orator to the Throne of Grace Christopher Jelinger ORATIO SIVE POEMA Authoris 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ad Jesum Christum Regem Coeli ac Terrae Potentissimum Dominum suum Clementissimum MAgno Nate Deo Magni Dominator Olympi Verbum subsistens et Patris ore potens Summum Sanctorum Caput Illustrissime Regum Qui Mundum fulcis Numine perpetuo Irrecitabiliter manans de Corde Parentis Quo Mundus sumpsit Principe Principium Ut Philomela suis attemperat Organa Cannis Fitque repercusso dulcior aura melo Sic mea Musa cupit te decantare per Orbem Terrarum totum Divitiasque tuas Non me linque ergo Rex Prestantissime Regnam Qui praesto es Sanctis dasque Salutis opem Sed me sustenta dextrae virtute potenti Quae fulcit Sanctos angelicosque Viros Et mihi Dux esto Cortus Cursumque per auras Dirigito in Caelos Christe beate Tuos Ut ceu constructura favos apis omnia linquens Floribus Instrepitans poplite mella rapit Sic rapere ipse queam Coelestia mella beatis Promissa in Coelis Optime Christe tuis Pierides Christo nune vestras dicite laudes Qui Sermo est Magni Progeniesque Dei Christo Cujus amor suavis mihi Crescit in horas Dicite sit semper Gratia Magnatibi Sit lans excellens celebris sit fama per Orbem Atque in perpetuum Gloria summa tibi
Aliud ejusdem Authoris POEMA Ad Lectores Benivolos Eruditosque O Fratres Chari Coelestia quaerite Regna 〈◊〉 Sedes Coelicolumque domos Sufficianâ— Menses atque irreparabile tempus Quod male praeterit sufficiant que dies Tempus quod vestat Vrbis vivatur in altis Cum Christo Coelis angolicisque locis Morbus ubi est nullus nec egestas obsita pannis Nec Mors Crudelis nec violenta fames Nec scelus infandum aut languens maerensque Senectas Aut Mars aut ardens caedis amore furor Nec tristis Metus aut nummûm Vesana Cupido Nec gelido terram rore pruina tegens Sed fons in Medio quem vinum nomine dicunt Perspicuus lems dulcibus uber aquis Osratres Sancti huc spectent sitientia Corda Atque oculi vestri nocte dieque simul Huc tendant cunctae vires vestrae at que labores Ut vobis dentur Gaudia magna Poli Vi rapitur Coeli Regnum vi vincimur ipsi Vi magnâ ipse Deus Vincitur Omnipotens Propterea ingenti vi vim depellite vestras Cogentes animas ne pereant miserae Sed potius penetrare que ant in Gaudia Coeli Quoe Sanctis tribuet Filius ipse Dei Heaven won by a Sacred Violence MAT. 11.12 And from the dayes of John the Baptist until now the Kingdom of Heaven suffereth Violence and the Violent take it by force THe Field which at present I desire to walk in is this precious Scripture chosen for the carrying on of the Work of the Lord among you The Lord of Life put life into the handling of it that we may all thrive by it abundantly So be it The Coherence In the words foregoing these we may see what Care what Diligence what Means Divine Providence did adhibit and use to notifie the Messias of the World to the World by Prophets first in old time and then by the Baptist in Christ's time whose powerful piercing Ministry what effects it produced is here by my Text opened and most clearly evinced In a word these words are a special Commendation ushered in by a suspensive Conjunction And which connects the words here used with those which are premised and adds Light to Light Lustre to Lustre for in the words preceding these the Greatness of the Baptist is generally only asserted ver 10. In these more especially and that from the Power and Prevalency of his Minâ—stry which comes next to be viewed in the special Commendation it self comprized in the words following From the dayes of John the Baptist until now c. Where 1. We have Circumstances of Time and of a Person 2. A Substance to be considered First Circumstances of Time both from which and to which 1. A Circumstance of Time from which From the Dayes not Years for it was not long nor many years but some few only and so but some dayes as it were rather than years during which the Baptist preached this wicked World not being worthy nor willing of his Ministry Briefly thus From the Beginning of his preaching For from that time there was more labouring for Heaven than ever †Some did strive to enter Heaven before too but not so generally as you may see Luk. 16.16 before 2. The Time to which Until now Not for a little while only but for some continuance even till that very time wherein these words by Christ were spoken Secondly A Circumstance of a Person of John the Baptist 1. Of John which signifieth Grace and therefore a name well becoming him that bare it his Person as well as Preaching being so full of Grace all favouring of Christ savouring of Heaven 2. The Baptist so called because of his * Baptista a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 made facere lavare aqua See Mark 7.4 dipping in and baptizing with * water water being the element for which was destinated and about which was most imployed this glorious Instrument Thirdly A Substance even the Substance of the said Baptists great Commendation which as you see is a most rare and singular setting forth of the most powerful effect of his Ministry in these words The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth Violence c. Where we have 1. A Passion 2. An Action I. A Passion The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth Violence Where we have again 1. A Patient 2. The Passion it self to consider 1st A Patient The Kingdom of Heaven 1. The Kingdom A Kingdom properly is an * Langius in sua Polyanth ampliated Commonwealth on Earth but here no such thing is meant as is earthy but an heavenly even a Kingdom whose King is Verity whose Law is Equity whose Life is Felicity whose Age is Eternity for so it follows 2 Of Heaven or Heavens 1. Heaven in the singular because a Heaven * Clem. Alex. Strom. l. 5 p. 157 Aug. Conf. l. 8. c. 1. Lyra in Loc. Musc in Loc. Rich. Baxter in Saints Rest p. 19. is meant which indeed is singular it being a body all made of Glory Glory made of Brightness Brightness streaming from Happiness Happiness destinated for Holiness Holiness I mean elevated to that heighth of Splendor which is over all the surface of that huge and shining place which from every point doth pour forth whole Rivers of purest Light for the Children of Light * Cyril Alex. Thes l. 2. c. 4. Cyril by Heaven here understands Regeneration But I do not see how he can make his Exposition hold 2. Of the Heavens in the plural as it is in the †〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Original where note that there are two sorts of Heavens 1. Visible 2. Invisible First Visible as 1. The airy Heaven where the Fowles flee which therefore are called Mat. 6.26 * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Fowles of Heaven 2. The starry Heaven where the Stars are Gen. 15.5 a Body which is so clothed with shining Light so beautified with a Canopy of gayest Colours so embossed with glorious Jewels so bespangled with sparkling Diamonds the Stars I mean whose Pulchritude is so admirable Altitude so unmeasurable Magnitude so unimagnible and which is properly called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I see because it is to be seen and so eminently to be seen Secondly Invisible namely to us now I mean that highest Empyraean Heaven with all its glorious Mansions and their Dimensions which also may be called Heavens as part of the whole by a Rule which we have in †Keckerm in suo Syst Log. Logick That which is competent to the Homogeneous whole is also competent to the Homogeneous parts So we call the parts of the great Sea Seas as the Balthick Sea the British Sea and so every arm of that Sea of Happiness every branch of that endless Bliss every beam of that Lustre which is in that Mass of shining Light every Mansion in that heavenly Fathers House and every part of that infinite Glory which is over all that Kingdom of Glory
is a Heaven And so Heaven above here * Ut supra meant or the Empyraean Heaven is a Kingdom of Heavens Secondly The Passion it self suffereth Violence 1. Suffereth Strange can Heaven suffer I answer Not properly but as it were 2. Violence And what is that It is a motion {inverted †} Tho. Aqu. in 5 Met. l. 6. proceeding from an exterior agent tending to that which by its own nature it hath no aptitude unto as here what Aptitude hath any of us naturally to win Heaven by force II. An Action And the Violent take it by force Where we have 1. Actors 2. The Action it self to be viewed 1. Actors And the Violent In the †〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Original the Violent so called in the English are also invaders endeavourers urgers and such as press hard as these do who are bent for Heaven pressing and urging with the strongest arguments and with all their might and utmost endeavours the God of Heaven 2. The Action it self Take it by force 1. Take it The word in the * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Original properly is spoken of wild Beasts which take their prey which here is applyed to Men who take Heaven as a prey which they pursue till they have it 2. By Force To take a thing by force properly and commonly is take it by wrong Whence in the †〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hebrew Force is called by a name which also signifies wrong and injury and yet here is no wrong done to any when Heaven is taken by the Saints forcibly for it is their proper portion by Adoption that glorious Habitation and therefore when they seize on it by might they do what they do in it in their own * Understand a right derived from Jesus Christ who hath a double right to it Author vit Bern. l. 1. cap. 12. right 1 Pet. 1.3 But I desire now after all these Divisions and Subdivisions to come to some Compositions or Conclusions And 1. Let this be one 1. Doct. A powerful right Teaching and Christ-preaching-Ministry doth very much advance the winning of Heaven by a sacred Violence 2. Then take an other Heaven must be taken by an holy Violence For the first I shall raise and resolve about it these two Queries 1. What such a Ministry is 2. Why such a Ministry doth so advance the winning of Heaven by an holy Violence To the first I answer It is a Ministry which poureth out it self in torrents of affection lists up its voice like a trumpet comes to the heart in the demonstration of the Spirit thunders out the Judgements of God against all that is called flesh and not spirit strikes at the very root of every tree which brings not forth fruit to God labours mightily to desponsate souls to Christ and therefore holds forth none and nothing so much as Christ To the second Query I answer thus in seven Grounds 1. Such a Ministry will cry down sin 2. Will cry up Heaven 3. Will cry up Zeal 4. Will take away the Vail which is over all mens faces 5. Will take away all excuses and vain conceits 6. Will acquaint men with the absolute necessity of believing 7. Will inform them of that strictness of living which Christ requireth of all that will enter into Life everlasting 1. Ground It will cry down Sin according to that of Isa 58.1 and Mat. 3.10 as thus it will tell men that they which do such things as they do commit adultery and whoredom and all manner of uncleanness and lasciviousness with greediness do lie steal pour in strong drink and will be drunk and glut themselves with excessive eating live in usury in the sin of covetousness of anger of envy of pride without fear without remorse without repentance are worthy of death worthy of damnation and shall never inherit the Kingdom of God according to that dreadful Scripture Gal. 5.19 20 21. Thus such a Ministry cryeth out against all sorts of Sins and Sinners who when they hear them cry out so what sins will they not rather miss that eternal Life they may not miss And what evils will they not forsake that Heaven they may take When a man understands that either he must lose his life or his leg or arm or right hand or right eye though his leg be dear to him his arm dear his right hand dear his right eye dear yet will he lose any of these dear things or all rather than life because his Chyrurgion tells him that else he must die So poor Sinners when they are told by the Chyrurgions of their souls that either they must lose their best beloved Sins which are as dear to them as their legs their arms their right eyes right hands or lose Heaven if they will keep them they will with God's blessing do any thing rather than die forgoe any sin rather than go to Hell lose any profit rather than Heaven Heaven being infinitely absolutely indisputably better than both their eyes both hands both legs both arms in a word than all that is near or dear to them in all this worlds circumference 2. Ground It will cry up Heaven as the Baptist came crying and saying Repent the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand Mat. 3.2 and as Christ himself came preaching and saying in my Text The Kingdom of Heaven suffers Violence and Rev. 21.17 which when poor souls hear how they will be startled with Gods Blessing how they will come as those Mat. 3.6 confessing their sins and acknowledging their former of citances and neglectings of Life and Salvation and being ready to do any thing to do well hereafter and to be saved as those Luke 3.12 Beloved if this were a Sea-town and a Vessel should arrive here from beyond the Seas and a Cryer should be sent up and down to cry That if any will buy take estates worth thousands in a goodly Country for a small matter yea for nothing upon the matter he may now be carried over in that Vessel and buy and take as much Land as he will and as cheap as he can desire O! how would those of your Town who have but little or no estates and are in want and have but little or no money with both hands imbrace such an opportunity take such a proffer and advantage and embark themselves to be gone and to take such estates in so goodly a Country and to inhabit such stately Seats This now is the case of poor souls we Ministers arrive with our Vessels I should say our Gospel-preaching which we carry in earthen-vessels at your Towns at your Parishes at your Temples we turn Cryers being for that end sent Isa 58.1 and bid to cry and cry up and down in your Towns and solemn Assemblies Isa 55.1 Ho if any man will buy cheap and take Heaven cheap or an estate in Heaven worth not only thousands but whole worlds and desires to have a goodly seat indeed let him come with
your corruptions and O that you would throw them all into the midst of this Fire to be rid of them for ever O for ever and would never rake them up more O happy day that this day would then be for and to your souls O souls souls now stir now struggle now strive to be saved though it be with the loss of your dearest and best-beloved sins better a thousand times better will it be to suffer such a loss now than to sustain a far greater even the loss of your immortal souls hereafter and infinitely better it is not to go home with your darling-Lusts and bosome-Corruptions now than to go to Hell for your sins hereafter for ever But I must hasten to a second Exhortation 2. Exhortation Esteem powerful and Christ-preaching-Ministers very highly then for their works sake and love them dearly We have a notable place for this 1 Thes 1.12 And we beseech you Brethren to know them which labour among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you and to esteem them very highly in love for their works sake Catherina Senensis did so prize so estimate and so affect such Ministers as that she would kiss their very Vestigiaes and the ground whereupon they did go as they passed thorow the streets I do not say that you must do so too but only that you may do well to afford them the embraces of your love and the honour of your high esteem according to the aforementioned Apostolical Speech which may command the obedience and submission of you all thereunto 3. Exhortation Let them do nothing else then or but little else than preach and do you free them from all worldly cares and distractions by a sufficient maintenance afforded unto them and by taking care for them that they may take the more care for you and that without distraction it is pitty a thousand pitties that that Pilot which hath carried many Ships to Sea and over the Sea safely securely successfully should do any thing else but carry Ships to and fro from Port to Port from Countrey to Country from Land to Land so it is great pitty that that Minister which powerfully and successfully preacheth Christ and thereby advanceth much the taking of Heaven by a Sacred Violence filling his Sails I mean his Sermons with the choicest Matter that he can possibly sind out by the reach of his invention and bringing many souls to Glory should do any other thing than preach and teach that so doing he may carry many a Vessel of Mercy and many a Vassal of Sin and Misery over those Seas of Duties which they must sail over to that Haven of Happiness which is called Heaven Into which God of his infinite Mercy bring us all To himself alone be all Praise and Glory The second Doctrine followeth 2. Doct. Heaven must be won by an Holy Violence For the illustration whereof I shall propose and resolve these two Problemes 1. Prob. What an Holy Violence used for Heaven is 2. Why Heaven must be won by an Holy Violence To the first I answer That it is a forcing of Nature against Nature a laying hold on God a pressing into the Presence of God for God it is praying with all our might grapling with Satan to overthrow all his might militating with Heaven for Heaven that we may towre up into Heaven and win Heaven there to sing there to rejoyce and there to triumph for our there-enjoyed Felicity to all Eternity we being taken up when we have taken it into that glorious KINGDOM which surpasseth all the Kingdoms of the world for its Puissance Grandeur Magnificence Splendor and Glory it being the very Kingdom of Glory 2. Prob. To the second I answer That it must needs be so 1. Answer or Reason Because Heaven lyeth so far away from us and the King thereof is as a Man of War Exod. 15.3 The Lord is a Man of War Now were a little Army to march as far as China which is Fifteen times as big as all France and is part of the East-Indies which is a great way off and whose King never takes the field as they * Speed reports this of him write of him under Five hundred thousand men at his heels I say were this little Army to take that great Kingdom what need would there be of forcing the men of that little Army to make them go scarce any would go unless he be pressed and forced to go and again how would those that go be forced to force themselves and to force that King and to force his Kingdom to win it This is our case Heaven is much like that Kingdom of China for it is a great Kingdom also nay far greater it lyeth a great way from us it hath a King which is called The Lord of Hosts it is wholly at his command and it cannot be overcome unless he be overcome nor won unless he be won and we that are to take it are but a little Army called a * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 little little Flock Luke 12.32 and therefore you may well imagine what striving what forcing what urging what presling what contending there is required of all us that will be saved and what a Violence we must offer to Heaven before we can win Heaven and how we must be forced to go before we will go to Heaven O Sirs do not you find it so by your own experience do ye not see how ye must constrain your selves to Duties and in Duties many times do not ye take notice of it how you must even frequently and most earnestly wrestle with the King of Heaven for Heaven 2. Answer By reason of the many Enemies that lye betwixt us and it as namely 1. High soaring and self-exalting imagination are betwixt us and it 2 Cor. 10.5 which will keep us low unless we bring them low and will not suffer us to ascend unless we make them to deseend 2. Powers and Principalities Ephes 6.12 Mark Powers not weak ones but strong and mighty Adversaries again not petty ones but Princely ones and Proud ones as standing upon their Greatness even Principalities which is more than if the Apostle had said Princes and those must be vanquished by such weak silly simple creatures as we are O the striving then and O the stirring that will be required of us if Heaven shall ever be taken and conquered by us 3. Rulers of the Darkness of this World in Ephes 6.12 which will absolutely keep us out of that other World unless we put and keep them down in this World and will rule us so as to mke us lose Heaven for ever unless we over-rule them and so take Heaven by force 4. * Ephes 6.12 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Spiritual wickedness in High places The Original is Wicked Spirits in Heavenlies which some understand of our Heavenlies that is in our heavenly Duties of Prayer of Fasting of Meditating and the like for in and about
that day and wipe away our tears from our eyes as it is written Blessed are they that mourn for they shall be comforted Mat. 5.4 and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes Rev. 7.17 Now our tears may do us good being shed for sin but if we forbear weeping till we come to the place of weeping Mat. 24.51 what will that weeping then avail us O nothing nothing When that great sinner Mary Magdalen wept it was here and it was for her great offences and that made her so famous as she is Luke 7.38 50. O let her fame inflame us therefore that we may weep so likewise and that our end may be like hers though she was a sinner Luke 7.37 When * Amphilochius apud Vossium de vita Ephr. p. 16. St. Basil asked Ephreem why he relused to be a Preacher he said Because he was a sinner unto whom St. Basil replied I would to God I were such a sinner And so well were it for we if we were such sinners as she and others were who so wept and so repented Again Now force your selves to leave what formerly ye did love your sins I mean which were as dear to you as your lives and to confess them according to these noted Scriptures Jer. 3.12 Only acknowledge thine Iniquities and Isa 1.10 Cease to do evil I joyn both Confessing and Leaving together for so doth God himself Prov. 28.13 and therefore do not you put them assunder but confess and forsake Among Men he that confesseth dyeth but here and before God he that confesseth liveth So he that forsaketh Prov. 28.13 He that covers his sins shall not prosper but he that confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy Now when I say confess I desire to be understood thus confess with †A Corollarie for Deprecations to be added to our Confessions Deprecations added to your Confessions as a Corollary like Daniel who so confessed Dan. 9.4 19. As thus Go and spread a Catalogue of all your main and known sins having one in readiness before the Lord and say thus and thus we have done Here descend to Particulars and when you have so done cry and say with Daniel O Lord hear O God forgive And it shall come to pass that if you shall so confess your Iniquities and the Iniquities of your fore-fathers and your uncircumcised hearts shall be humbled that the Lord will remember his Covenant made with and Promise made to his People that he will forgive their Iniquity and remember their Sin no more Lev. 26.40 Jer. 31.31 34. 1 John 1.9 Your fleshly hearts will be drawing back as being very unwilling to confess so even so much and all that they know for that is tedious to them but do ye make them stand to it and to hold out to the end of this great and mighty Work and so labour to take Heaven by Force And when that is done according to your minds then forsake what you have confessed according to that fore-alleadged passage in Pro. 28.13 and do even with much indignation and detestation cast off the works of darkness and walk for the future honestly as in the day not in Ryotting and Drunkenness not in Chambering and Wantonness not in Strife and Envying for it is high time to awake out of sleep the night is far spent the day is at hand according to that of the Apostle Rom. 13.11 12. O precious O blessed O wonder-working Scripture for this Scripture it was which so much advanced blessed * Aug. Confes 1.8 c. 1 2 3 c. Austin's to-be-admired Conversion when in his Hoast's Garden he heard a Voice saying Turn and read and he had turned to that place and read it and wept and cryed and was fallen all along under a Fig-tree and had said Why not now Lord why not now O my Brethren as he did then being moved by that Voice so do you turn to this Scripture read it and having read it deliberately either in a Garden or in your Closets and Chambers fall all along upon your faces I have done so my self in the like case and in the beginning of my Conversion and cry and weep and say How long Lord how long Why not now why not now O let this be the last day of our shame O now let us be converted now changed now metamorphosed now altered Here be extraordinarily earnest for the Conversion of a Sinner is a greater work than that of the Creation as * August apud vegam in Jer. 31.18 Divines affirm and no less than a miracle even a stranger miracle than it was in the beginning to make the World for there was nothing to hinder God in creating the great World but in renewing this our little World besides our own natural corruption all things on earth all Devils in Hell are ready to withstand him Therefore cry again and say with Ephraim every one of you Lord turn me and I shall be turned Jer. 31.18 And if your sluggish hearts would have you to make an end before you have your errands end and would be gone force them to stay and make them to make an end that is do not give over crying and praying for your Conversion till you be converted nor let your hearts depart from the place till you can and do depart from sin and so cast off sin which else will cast off you and put off the works of darkness which else will throw you into utter darkness where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth for evermore O Sirs I have put you upon a hard task but †For it is like necessity which 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Thales Force will go far with it and therefore force your selves to it O my God work upon this Peoples hearts and take them into thine own hand like a Potters vessel and break them in pieces and when thou hast so done new-make them and new-create them effigiating them after thy own Likeness and turning them from Darkness to Light and from the Power of Satan unto God I humbly intreat thee Acts 26.18 III. All the Duties or Discharges of your High Calling 1. In Resolving * Of this Resolution depends all our whole Service of God Edm. Bunny p. 1. Resolution is a mighty thing and puts us upon action and brings mighty things to pass and without it little or nothing will be done Beloved What is the reason why so many men do not travel so far as others do nor go to wars as thousands do is it not because they are not resolved as others are So that so many thousands do not travel to Heaven nor will war for Heaven it is because they are not yet resolved For he that never resolves himself to do well and to leave the dangerous state of sin wherein he liveth is far off from doing the same but he that sometimes resolves to do it although by frailty he performeth it not at that time yet is that
Resolution much accepted with God and his mind the readier to return to the like Resolution again to put it manfully in execution Wherefore as the Lord by the Prophet Hosea bids Israel to say We will not ride upon Horses nor will we say any more to the work of our hands Ye are our gods Hos 2.3 As if they should say we will never more be so swift and hasty as to rush into sin like a Horse into the battle nor will we have any more to do with Idols So do I bid you to say and to resolve now here before the Lord after all your former endeavours used and forementioned in the preceding Uses and Directions We will never more by the Grace of God be so wild so fierce so hasty so eager in the pursuit of sin and lust as we have been nor will we have any more to do with those sensual delights those filthy lascivious courses those unlawful sports those inordinate passions of anger and revenge those vile thoughts those vain and unclean communications those covetous desires and practices those bloody Oaths those impure touches those wanton gestures those monstruous fashions those scarlet and crimson abominations which were our Idols hitherto and to whom we said upon the matter Ye are our God's I add neither will we walk one day or hour longer in that broad way which is as it were between the two posts of delight and ease and leads to destruction I spake but now of two posts for so some †Jun. Tremel Expositors and Translators render and expound that place in Mat. 7.14 Enter ye at the strait Gate for wide is the Gate and broad 〈◊〉 Way which leads to destruction and many gâ—… in thereat or * In Syr. Translation per medium ejus thorow the midst thereof that is say they thorow that space which is betwixt two posts In which sence the Hebrew word wch the Syriack Translation here answers is * 〈◊〉 apprimitur a Rab. Davide Kimchi Hebraorum doctissimo read Zach 4.12 Again Resolve and say here in the presence of God and of his holy Angels every one of you as Joshua once As for me and my house we will serve the Lord Josh 24.16 Or thus Let all this People say in their hearts as God's People once with their lips We also will serve the Lord for he is our God Josh 24.18 Nay but we will serve the Lord Josh 24.21 As if they should say Nay we will stand to it O my Brethren such Promises and Resolutions will put a mighty tye upon your consciences for when a man makes a promise he is bound and his promise becomes a debt which must be paid So that though in my former direction I perswaded you to leave Sin yet now again I fall upon Sin but in an other manner shewing how by the help of Resolution you may be rid of it and the same design I have for that which I shall speak hereafter concerning all those Duties which I shall press upon your Consciences to tye you thereunto by such a Promise and Resolution as here I perswade you to The Lord direct ye and the Lord assist you in the making of it that ye may not only make it but also keep it Amen So be it 2. In Resisting For though you do cry against Sin and cry to be converted and resolve against sin never to commit it more yet will it like an †Improbitas Muscae improbous and impudent Flie return again and therefore must be still resisted as well as Satan 1 Pet. 5.9 O dear Christians do not you find by experience how since you took that great work of Resolution in hand which I formerly spake of and since you began to take Heaven by Violence you met with open war as it were within your selves Sin warring against you in your members as Paul also found it in himself Rom. 7.25 and as most of the †Cypr. l. 1. c. 1. Aug. l. 1. doctr Chr. c. 23. Greg. Mor. 4. c. 23. Cyril l. de orat Orighom 30. in Exo. Hilar. in Psa 118. Bern. in Psal 90. Ancient Worthies can and do speak of it in their Books and the reason of it is this for that the Devil possessing quietly your souls before lay still and sought only means to content the same by putting in new and new delights and pleasures of the flesh but when he seeth that ye offer to go from him he begins strait to rage and to stir up your selves against your selves and to move sedition within your selves This in figure was shewn by the Example of Laban Gen. 31. who never so persecuted his Son-in-Law Jacob untill he would depart from him And therefore I must needs put you upon resisting O Sirs as the Apostle said once to the Hebrews Heb. 12.4 Ye have not yet resisted unto blood striving against sin so may I say to most of you with a little alteration Ye have not yet resisted to the utmost and as ye ought striving against sin and therefore I may well stir ye up as I do even most earnestly to resisting saying O strive O stir as for Life against Sin I mean against Pride and against Lust and against Passion and against Worldliness for all these sins will trouble you again and again and again and therefore you must resist them again and again If you ask me How I answer as the Apostle in the Faith 1 Pet. 5.9 Believing verily that God for Christ's sake will subdue them in you and for you for ye have a precious Promise for it Rom. 6.14 Sin shall not have dominion over you 3. In Reading Search the Scriptures saith Christ John 5.39 and that requireth labour for so much the Original emphatically doth imply 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and that our sluggish flesh doth not like and therefore Reading Searching is so much neglected by us for where be the men that will not only read but search the Scriptures dayly Acts 17.11 It is well if we read dayly many will not do that Again where be the Christians that will read the Scriptures in their journies as the Enuch Acts 8. who was but a Jew in his Chariot it is well if we read them at home And therefore I must needs stir you up as much as I am able to this most excellent Duty perswading you all that after you have set up your Resolution for Heaven and Eternal Life you will also reade as for Life for therein is to be had Eternal Life John 5.39 If the flesh draw back do ye prick it forward if it will not follow you do ye follow it if your eyes be heavy and will not look into God's Book as you would have them force them and by that make them lively by compulsion to reade and to peruse the Book of Life and of Salvation O this kind of Reading and Searching and Forcing How will it * Like the men of Berea who so became Nobles
Acts 17.11 enoble then your blood and enable your minds to mind heavenly things for such are the things comprized in this Book called the great things of the Law Hos 8.12 Put your selves to it therefore and force your minds to this most noble exercise which will so enoble your souls 4. In Relieving And Relieving 1. The Bodies of others 2. The Souls of others First Their Bodies with Food and Rayment and such other necessaries as they do want according to that noted Scripture Heb. 13.16 But to do good and to communicate forget not for with such Sacrifices God is well pleased And that of our Saviour Sell that ye have and give Atms provide your selves bags which wax not old a Treasure in the Heavens which faileth not where no Thief approacheth neither Moth corrupteth Luke 12.33 Where note that in the †〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a nomine 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quod ab altero nomine 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 misericordia derivatur Original there is a word for Almes which by a Metonymie declares the Benefactors and Almes-givers merciful Disposition shewn by his Donation and that he gives his Almes as he ought who by his giving ostends and sheweth that he is affected with the misery of the Relieved and therefore how few give Almes and relieve the Needy as they ought Again Note here that the Chaldeans and Syrians and Hebrews call Almes Righteousness Which * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 name is also retained in the Greek Testament 2 Cor. 9.9 as it is written He hath dispersed abroad he hath given to the poor his Righteousness remains for ever to shew that Almes-giving is a piece of Justice and that he who gives Almes is to observe the Rules of Justice and to distribute to every one according to his need as it is written Acts 4.35 And Distribution was made to every man according as he had Need. And who do so not one of an hundred A little will serve with many for many Few will do as †Clerk in his Life p. 251. Luther who when a poor Student came to his door begging an Almes and his Wife pleaded Penury gave him a Silver Bowl and as * Idem in his Life pag. 760. Bernard Gilpin who when he saw naked People would pull of his Cloaths and cloth them Ministers had need therefore to call upon men frequently Give Almes gives Almes and give to every man as he hath need And you had need to call upon your own souls for it for O how backward are they and how unwilling to be drawn to it With many every penny of money which they give when pressed to it is as a drop of their blood and they are as loath to spare the one as the other But I pray you consider this you that are so backward to this That mans Estate consists of three parts 1. Necessaries 2. Decency 3. Superfluity God allowes you the two former but requires the third for the poor If a man refuse to part with it he forfeits the former too and God oft-times takes the forfeit But I cannot yet so leave Charity for it is so lovely so comely so exceeding goodly O it ravishes with its Beauty replenishes with its Bounty and cherishes with its Benignity all that need it and come near it where it is in truth for it is just like fire for so it warms the naked makes lightsome the sadded and with its comfortableness cherishes the destituted and therefore make much of this Fire O let it not by any means go out but rather go and kindle it go and feed it go and keep it in and let many be fed be filled be refreshed by it nay let it set your selves on fire that your hearts may burn with it like fire which else will be as cold as a Key and had need therefore to be heated with it and inflamed by it Secondly Their Souls you must feed with your lips according to that in Prov. 10.21 The Lips of the Righteous feed many namely with wholesome admonitions seasonable instructions profitable reprehensions and comfortable communications O Beloved what cause have we to inculcate this such a time as this wherein so many who profess much yet express little of that Goodness that Sweetness that Delightfulness that Riches that Happiness which is in God in Christ in his Word in Heaven So as that I may well and seasonably here take up that sad complaint which Isidore made in his time speaking of Heaven Though this Kingdom be Eternal not a word of that for what man is there that spends the least part of a day in meditating upon that that once makes mention of that that instructs his Wife and Children of that all our talk is but vain But let this be mended and because our bashful natures are utterly averse from such talk let us oppose Grace against Nature and force Nature let us offer an holy Violence to our selves and constrain our selves to talk better and to talk more of Heaven * Evagrius 1.4 c. 14. One Writes of some Martys that though their Tongues were cut out yet they did speak and shall not we that have our Tongues and the use thereof lest us speak Oh speak speak one to another and that often as those in Mal. 3.16 and when you do speak speak the wonderful Works of God as the Apostles did Acts 2.11 or as †Nil nisi castum vel Sermo Dei ex ejus ore processi◠Author vitae Hieronymi Jerome of things chaste and of God's Word and begin so to do this very day and after this very Sermon as they at that day O do not defer it any longer the sooner the better the Matter in hand will furnish you with Matter for it is of the great Kingdom of Heaven which must be taken by Force and therefore stir up one another talking of it with your Wives Children Servants Neighbours Fellow-Hearers saying one to another as †Aug. Confess 1.8 c. 1. Austin once said to Alipius his friend after he had heard much of some mens taking of Heaven by Violence What is this What suffer we under the Tyranny of Sin Unlearned men such as Authony and others in Egypt and Milan do take Heaven by Violence and we with all our Learning without Hearts behold how we lie groveling in flesh and blood so what do we suffer say Heaven suffers and suffers Violence and we suffer it to be taken by others and will not take it our selves O! come come let us also offer Violence to it that by force we may take it Heaven is high but not too high for Forcers Forcers will carry it Thesore let us force our selves and do our utmost to win it Thus talk and speak one to another 5. In Fasting For turn to me with Fasting saith God Joel 2.12 And what eminent Fasters have most of the Lords most Renowned Saints and Servants been David that man after God's own
Heart how did he chasten his flesh with Fasting though it was to his reproach Psal 69.10 So Jehosaphat 2 Chron. 20.3 how did he seek the Lord with Fasting So Daniel Dan. 9.3 how did he set himself to call upon his God with Fasting So that great King of Nineveh how did he humble himself before the King of Kings in Sackcloth and Ashes and with Fasting Jona 3.6 7. And what shall I more say For the time would fail me to tell of Joshua Josh 7.6 of Samuel and all Israel 1 Sam. 7.6 and of Esther and of Anna which being a Widdow of four-score and four years to shame many of our young and lusty people that will not fast a day unless it be by constraint and by a command from the Higher-Powers departed not from the Temple but served God with Fastings and Prayers night and day Luke 2.37 The like instances could be given in many others who lived since Christ and flourished in his Church like the Trees of Eden but †Clerk in his life p. 932. Calvin only shall serve who for ten years togegether fasted daily and made but one meal a day at night spending all his time in and about the Things of God and in Prayer insomuch as that a very †Rivetus reports it Papist writing of him calls him in Frend Un grand jeuneur that is a great Faster and shall we spend our time in eating and drinking and neglect so famous a Duty Is that the way to Heaven Is that to offer Violence to the Kingdom of Heaven Because fasting is unsavory to the flesh as making the Belly to suffer therefore forsooth we will not fast but had we that sweet and gracious appetite which the prementioned Saints had then fasting would be as pleasant to us as feasting For it is the Souls feasting because it brings gracious Souls to the greatest dainties and they to a tast with which no savouriness of Meats no variety of Dishes no sweetness of Wine or Women can be parallel'd O sweet feasting then that comes by fasting Fast therefore and thereby feast your Souls often O Beloved and if the flesh draw backward force it forward and make it to suffer for Heaven suffers and suffereth Violence and why shall not our sluggish flesh 6. In Considering or Consideration which differs from Meditation thus Meditation is an Agitation and repetition of things * Langius in sua Polyanth p. 296. Aquin. 2 2. q. 18. a. 3. proceeding from reason and piece by piece and tending to happiness to be injoyed in the enjoyment of the everlasting Verity Consideration is a more †Omnis operatio intellectus Langius p. 257. general operation of the Intellect whereby she looks and dives into things deliberately to find out what she desireth and ought to know Now this consideration how needful it is you may perceive partly by God's express Command in Psal 45.10 Hearken O Daughter and consider and partly by her Operations and Properties for she is the Key which opens the Door to the Closet of our Heart where all our Books of Account do lie she is the Looking-Glass or rather the very eye of our Soul whereby she seeth her self and looketh into all her whole estate her riches her good gifts her defects her safety her danger her way she walks in her pace she holdeth and finally the place and end she draweth to and without which in short she runs on blindly into a thousand brakes and briers stumbling at every step into some one inconvenience or other and is continually in peril of some great and grievous sin and a thing much to be admired it is that whereas in all things else men confess and see that nothing can be either begun prosecuted or well ended without consideration yet in this great business of the Kingdom of Heaven * E. B. p. 12. no man almost thinks the same necessaty Were a Mariner to make a Voyage from England to Jerusalem albeit he had made the same once or twice before yet would he not now take such a great Voyage in hand again without consideration whether he were in the right or no what peace he held how near he were to Rocks and Sands which he must shun and how near to his Voyages end and think you dear Friends to pass from hence to the Heavenly Jerusalem from men to God from this miserable world into that other blessed and pleasant world and that by so many Hills and Hells so many Gulphs and quick-Sands so many Rocks and dangers never passed before and this without consideration at all ye are utterly deluded if you conceive so for this passage hath far more need of consideration then that being much more subject to miscarriages every sinful pleasure every sensual delight every vain thought every idle word every wanton look every inticing sound every provoking and unclean touch and every temptation of men or Devils being a Pyrate lying ready to surprize ready to spoil your poor Souls in their Voyage towards Heaven wherefore let me perswade every one of you that would take Heaven by force to force his Soul to consideration for the Soul is and will be as unwilling to it as some Debtors who are deeply indebted are to cast up their Accounts to avoid trouble for so men count it great trouble to enter into a serious consideration of their estates and of such like things which is one of their greatest Follies for as in things of this Life he were but a foolish Factor who would never look into his own Account-book whether he were before-hand or behind and as the Mariner were very much to be blamed for his follie that for shunning of care and trouble would go into his Cabin and be merry eat drink play not caring for his Ship which way it did run and letting it go whither she would So it is madness and folly in the highest degree to shun consideration because of trouble and to make good chear instead of making Heaven by consideration sure and to be negligent when you should be diligent to get all things by consideration ready against the day of your account which you must give to God that you may give it up with joy and mansion for ever with God O good God stir up this peoples Hearts that they may stir within them yea boil as it were and boil over so as to make them considerate and be you O my Brethren now like a good Factor who when he is sent by his Master beyond the Seas to a place of Traffick there to trade for his Masters benefit doth not spend his time in eating drinking gaming dancing and such like things but rather goeth and considers wherefore am I here am I not here to do my Masters service And so goeth about his Masters business so you being sent by your great Master in Heaven into this World to Traffick for him as you may see Mat. 25.14 15 c. do not spend
your time idlely or doing worse do not drink your selves drunk with the Drunken do no glut your selves with the Glutton do not dilapidate and mis-spend your precious time with Carding Dicing courting of Wanton Women do not give up your selves to Chambering and Lasciviousness but rather retire your selves and consider every one of you with himself Wherefore am I here here in this place here in this Town hath not my great Master in Heaven sent me hither to look after his business and to do him service in this place and shall I do the Devils business and serve him O God forbid Or thus as * Author vitae Bernardi St. Bernard was wont oft-times to call upon himself saying to himself Adquid Bernarde venisti that is Bernard for what art thou come hither menning to Claravall is where his business lay So say thou that hearest me this day to thy self every day calling thy self by thy name John or Peter Wherefore art thou come hither to this Town or Parish Camest thou not hither to serve thy God in this place and in this Generation that having dore the Will of God here thou mayest life with God hereafter and so go about thy business and his business thine in the second place and his in the first and with all earnestness eagerness labouring as for life to obtain by Force that ever-during Happiness and ever-blessed Life 7. In Meditating Meditation is with a man as he that smells the Violets the Roses and the Orange-Flowers in a bundle which is elegantly set forth in the Canticles where the Spouse plaits up her Hair trussing it up into a knot to shew that we should not diffuse our thoughts into variety of conceptions nor yet consider of divers things only but should recollect our conceptions rather into a Knot the Knot I mean of Meditation which I am now to speak of and which is so much commanded and commended to us in sacred writ as Josh 1.8 This Book of the Law shall not depart out of thy Mouth but thou shalt meditate therein day and night and 1 Tim. 4.6 Meditate upon these things And you know what the blessed Man's Commendation is Psal 1. That he Meditates in the Law of the Lord day and night Which because it is a most difficult thing so to do both day and night makes Meditation so rare as it is For we Ministers can perswade ten twenty nay hundreds to pray to read to give Almes before we can make one to Meditate but one hour of the day So rare is Meditation and so rare Meditators David tells us that the Law of the Lord was his Meditation all the day long Psal 119.97 And Mathias Prideaux in his Introduction one writes of one of the ancient Kings of England that he spent Eight hours in Meditation every day But where are such Davids such Meditators now Where shall we find them where So that we Ministers had need to press this also upon our People very much and you had need to urge to force and to reinforce your dead and backward souls to this very much and often saying every one of you to his own soul O my soul Why art thou so averse from so high and heavenly a Duty Is this to labour for Heaven all the day long not so much as to mind or mention Heaven Is this to take it by Force to let day pass after day week after week opportunity after opportunity and yet never once to lay hold on any or to redeem any part or portion of so much precious time for any serious thoughts to be bestowed upon Eternity O my Brethren will ye therefore be discouraged from meditating because it is difficult work and because few there are that do it O far be it from such as some of ye be Pretenders I mean to the taking of Heaven by Violence The more difficult the work is the greater will be your glory if ye set your selves in good earnest to it and the greater your reward for by it we turn Eagles and like Eagles towr up and draw night to the very Sun it self the Sun I mean of Righteousness the Lord Jesus nay by it we are even clothed with the Sun I mean that Sun like that Mystical Woman in Rev. 12.1 to whom were given two wings as of a great Eagle having about us the unspotted Righteousness of the Lord Jesus to cover our nakedness and unrighteousness and by it we out-soar all humane blandishments overlook all earthly contentments transcend all sublunary Paradises and emparadise our selves in the Paradise of God Where Fulness of Joy is and Pleasures are for evermore Psal 16.11 Betake therefore your selves to your wings of Meditation and Contemplation which some say is somewhat more higher than Meditation and fly aloft like so many great Eagles even beyond the Moon and beyond the Clouds nay beyond the Sun it self which is higher than the Moon yea sar above all Heavens I mean inferiour Heavens as Christ did Ephes 4.8 and strive to be there even by force where he now is having your minds your hearts your conversations in that highest Empyrean Heaven Heaven your selves thus as dear Saints and as other Saints have done before you whose Conversation was in Heaven Phil. 3.20 8. In Fimshing or Persevering Be thou faithful unto Death saith Christ and I will give thee the Crown of Life Rev. 2.10 and I have fought a good sight saith Paul I have finished my course 2 Tim. 4.7 Which therefore puts me upon Finishing for it is not enough for a General to go into the field and to charge an enemy no but he must overcome him to win a Crown So we to overcome and so to win the Crown of Heaven must persevere and hold out to the end of our Militia for he that shall endure to the End the same shall be saved Mat. 24.13 Hence Victory in the Hebrew is called Netsach 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from Nuseach signifying he hath insisted eagerly urged vehemently and continued indesinently to the very end of his undertaking for Perseverance is needful in wars Persevere therefore most dear Saints to the end if you will have your errands end It is confessed that ye will meet with many lets many discouragements many taunts many reproaches many enemies especially at parting For as a Pyrate will set upon a ship then most and soonest when it is richly laden and near its Haven so will Satan set upon us most busily and eagerly then when we being fraighted and filled with the Fruits of Righteousness are near our end but all this must not emasculate nor dismay us no but we must keep on our pace hold up our heads pursue our intentions be instant in our prayers be constant in all our Christian Duties and maintain our holy and pious Resolutions in despite of all and be retarded by none of them all Our own lazie souls will draw back most and soon grow weary in every one of the
several duties which I have mentioned formerly but we must not cease to put them forward stil and that by Force imitating in this that eminent Convert mentioned formerly blessed Austin I mean whose words are these after he had heard so much of those Worthies which one Potitian a Courtier and a Captain had spoken of to him how they did take Heaven by Violence leading constantly a most strict austere and vertuous Life and had withdrawn himself a little what did I not say against my self in this conflict for he was put thereby into a grievous strait How did I beat and whip mine own soul to make her follow thee O Lord namely constantly for many were her fits but she held back she refused and excused her self and when all her arguments were convicted she remained trembling and fearing as death to be restrained from her loose custom of sinning whereby she consumed her self even unto death As he thus whipt and forced his own soul so let us ours for have not ours their many sits and shists too drawing back when we are almost perswaded and make us give over in our several Performances of the Duties of Prayer and Meditation and such-like when we are almost over but hold them to it as he did his though they be never so averse nay though they do even tremble at it and pine at it and would rather not be than lose then loâ—se courses O Christians our Constancy will coronate all our labours and remunerate all our good Endeavours used for Heaven Heaven at last will pay for all Wherefore let us neither faint nor fail though never so much either discouraged or opposed For a farther manifestation and prosecution of all this that I have spoken I 'll use this familiar Comparison There is a Rock in the midst of the vast and boysterous Ocean Sea the proud Waves of which beat upon it the fierce Winds beat against it those immeasurable Seas of water which are in it encompass it but do either Winds or Waves or Waters move it or are they able to remove it or to break it No no they cannot they cannot Now a true Christian is such a Rock like Peter whose Name signifies a Rock and therefore no Winds of Persecution no Waves of Temptation no Seas of Affliction should turn him aside from his Stedfastness nor from his holy Conversation nor from his going to take Heaven by Violence but he ought to be as stedfast and unmoveable as others be unstable vain light and variable We have a notable place for this 1 Cor. 15.58 Therefore my beloved Brethren Be ye stedfast unmovable alwayes abounding in the work of the Lord for as much as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord. Do ye hear this Sirs what is required of you do ye see what ye must be I believe you do and therefore let every man here present prove a constant man and hold out firmly and strongly till he be unmann'd by death that he may be saved and heavened after death everlastingly which God in mercy grant 2. Be perswaded to force the Kingdom of Heaven it self Q. If you ask me How I answer By a forcible Entry striving 1. To enter in at that strait Gate which is called Christ 2. To press thorow that narrow Way of the difficultest and strictest of all good Works 3. To break thorow the Ranks Files of your great and mighty Enemies which are betwixt you and it 4. To pass with Courage and Patience through great Tribulations 1. Striving to enter in at that strait Gate which is called Christ Mat. 7.13 compared with John 9.10 where Christ himself saith I am the Door Many think that it is the easiest thing in the world to come to Christ and by him to Heaven but they are utterly deceived for so strait and strict is Christ as that he will not allow us so much as a look cast upon a woman to lust aster her in our hearts Mat. 5.28 nor any thing more in our ordinary communications to bind them than Yea or Nay saying Whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil that is as Expositors say of an evil Conscience or of the Devil ver 37. nor any private resistance to be made against evil for * That is resist not out of revenge any evil offered to you resist not Evil saith he ver 39. nor any miscalling of any man by the name of Fool or the like nor yet any passionate sit of anger or the like ver 22. nor any one sin else whatsoever it be for Sin no more saith he John 9.11 and if thy right eye offend thee that is cause thee to sin for the Original is Scandalise thee and sins are Scandals that is †Jun. in loc Stones at which we stumble pluck it out and cast it from thee and if thy right-hand offend thee cut it off and cast it from thee Mat. 5.29 30. to shew that * Christus hyperbolice docet resecandum quicquid nos impedit ne obsequium Deo praestemus Idem in loc any sin though it be as dear or near as ones right eye or hand must be cast away from us if we would not be Cast-awayes our selves nor have the doom and sentence of Damnation past upon us And besides O! what a hard thing it is by Faith to go into Christ and to lay hold on Christ to believe Christ or a Christ is nothing to that That poor man in the Gospel Mark 9.24 how he wept and cryed when he was to Believe in Christ Take one Comparison more from a Rock A man is Ship-wrackt at Sea but seeth a fair great Rock in the midst of the Sea and strives to get upon it but the Rock is high and he can sind nothing to hold by and besides when he comes very near it the winds and waves of the Sea beat him from it and if with much ado he get upon it one wave of the Sea raketh over his head and another and another and is like to wash him clean away and to cast him back again into the midst of the Sea This man is every man that goeth by Faith to lay hold on Christ for he is one that hath suffered Ship-wrack as well as others in our Father Adam and Christ is like a Rock in the midst of the Sea 1 Cor. 10.4 which this poor Ship-wrackt-man espies and whom to he draws and swims and makes to lie hold on by Faith to save himself in him and by him but Christ is high in his terms upon which he will be taken as ye were told just now and besides when this poor man comes to fasten himself upon him and to hold him he can find no Faith to hold by and so cries out and saith O I have no Faith not so much as a grain of mustard seed and therefore how can I lay hold on Christ O I must needs be cast away and be suffocated and drowned in those
merciless waters of woe and misery which are about me and are even ready to swallow me ready to drown me O woe woe is me because of Unbelief for I cannot believe that ever Christ gave himself for me If this man be told by one of a thousand that he hopes better things of him and that his striving to come to Christ is an argument that there is Faith in him though it be so little as that he seeth it not he saith and replieth again Yes I cannot but acknowledge that some Faith there is in me but I fear that it is but a dogmatical or historical or temporary Faith and so will by no means own any other true and Saving-Faith which he saith still he wants and if at any time he come somewhat near that great Rock Christ and begins to have some hopes and some confidence that Christ dyed for him and that he shall be saved by him he is beaten off again by and by either by Satans suggestions or his own doubting hearts tumultuations so as that he is where he was again and denyeth again all that ever he spake and thought be oâ—â— concerning his Faith and Christ crying out and saying That he hath no paâ—… 〈◊〉 Christ because he cannot believe in Christ and if afterwards he get with much ado â—â—on that Rock and begin to relie upon him by Faith and think himself sure there comes upon him within a short time such trouble of mind and such a variety of new temptations and doubts which like the waves of the Sea are like to take him clear off and to cast him back again into the Abyss and depth of that Sea of misery which he was in before and that makes 〈◊〉 cry out again O I shall never be saved for whereas I thought verily I had Faith true Saving-Faith I now see clearly that I have none and therefore must die and be damned and perish and be engulphed in an Ocean of trouble and tribulation anguish and affliction to an endless duration This hath been my very case once and therefore I know all this to be so by mine own experience and I do appeal for it to your experiences also whether some of ye do not find it so in like manner that it went with you when first you believed as with that poor man in the Gospel whose doubtings were such and so many as made him cry out with tears Lord help thou mine unbelief Mark 9.24 So that it is one of the hardest things in the world to come to Christ by Faith and at and thorow Christ to Life Salvation because strait is the Gate which leads to Life Mat. 7.13 Strive therefore O strive to enter in at the strait Gate strive to lay hold on Christ strive to get Faith saying as that poor man said Lord help our Unbelief nay with tears in your eyes with sorrow in your hearts with zeal as hot as fire in your prayers approach to the Throne of Grace for this Grace and never let God go till by Faith you can go and go to Christ and by Christ to Heaven Heaven is large that is certain and a man shall have room enough when he is in it but the Gate to it I mean Christ is so strait so strict so hard to be entred as that without much striving much stirring much strugling no flesh can be saved Wherefore gird up the loins of your minds elevate the thoughts of your hearts and bestir your selves at this Gate to enter for there is no other Name under Heaven given among men whereby we must be saved Acts 4.12 As for Works and Duties and Performances formerly spoken of they must all say Salvation is not in us so Resisting must say It is not in me so Reading It is not in me so Fasting It is not in me the like may be spoken of all the rest Neither is there Salvation in any other Acts 4.12 Object You will say to me Did ye not tell us of Believing and Christ already in a former direction and therefore why do ye tell us of the same now again Sol. I answer When I spake of Believing and of Christ formerly my design was to let you see the Necessity of Believing and so to perswade you to it but now my purpose is to make you see the Difficulty of it especially that seeing what a hard thing it is to come to Christ and by Faith to enter into Christ and by Him into Heaven you may strive the more both first to lay hold on Christ if never yet ye entered into Christ and also afterward and alwaies even after all the duties premised that you may not be deceived thinking that thereby you may be saved which is more than was yet declared by all that which hath been said of Faith and Christ in the direction formerly mentioned 2. To pass through the narrowest way of the difficultest and strictest of all good Works for narrow is the Way which leads to Life saith Christ Mat. 7.13 And do not ye find it so What a hard thing it is to pray continually and without distraction and to lift up holy hands and without wrath and doubting 1 Tim. 2.8 we being so apt to defile our hands with unclean touches and to be at variance and to fall out and to be angry one with another and so full of doubts Again What a difficult thing is it to love our Enemies and our Neighbours as our selves Mat. 5.44 12.39 and to be perfect as our Heavenly Father is perfect Mat. 5.48 O Sirs all this goeth against the stream and against nature and against flesh and blood flesh and blood cannot endure it say carnal men nay even good men say as those Disciples of Christ John 6.60 This is an hard Saying who can hear it So these are hard Sayings who can do them But let them be never so hard ye must do them and do as they do in a certain Country where with Horses they draw their Ships against the streams and against that great River of Rhine So I say ye must carry on these great Works against Nature and against all objected and pretended Difficulties with Resolutions and Endeavours suitable thereunto I speak the less here because this doth somewhat border upon that which hath been spoken already though it be not altogether the same because I aim at Difficulty most in this place 3. You must strive to break through the Ranks and Files of your great and mighty Enemies which are betwixt you Heaven Q. What Enemies A. The Devil The World The Flesh 1. The Devil with all his Powers Eph. 6.12 whom you must oppose and overcome 1. By the Word of Promise Rom. 16.20 And the God of Peace shall bruise or as the Original hath it tread down Satan under your feet shortly Mark 1. The God of Peace and yet here is War but the God of Peace makes peace and therefore is called so Again Shall bruise Satan according to that
by his infinite and by us undeserved Mercy Tit. 3.5 4. If you relyed on your sayings go farther hereafter and do not only say that you do believe but labour to believe indeed that is never be satisfied in that point nor think that yo do believe till you see Faith to be in you by its effects wrought in you I mean 1. Love 2. Holiness And 3. Pureness For it is like Sarah it will have out Hagar that is slavish and servile Fears and all the Lusts of the Flesh with the Affections thereof and like Solomon it will overlay the Temple of the holy Ghost all with Gold that is it will make us all glorious within nay throughout both within and without even glorious in Holiness Acts 26.18 and glorious in Love Gal. 5.6 Need you Incentives after all my Directions and Solutions given you then take these Consider that that Kingdom of Heaven which I perswade you so much to take by Force is a Kingdom which is 1. Very High 2. Very Great 3. Very Rich. 4. Very Pleasant 5. Very Glorious 6. Very Durable 1. Very High 1. For its Distance from us 2. For its Terms upon which it must be taken by us First For its Distance from us For how sar is it think you from the Center of the World to the Sun onely * Minima solis distantia a centro mundi continet semidiametrum terrae millies septuagies Lambert Dan. in Phys Chrys p. 2. tract 4. c. 18. p. 160. Astronomers tell us that the Distance which is between them contains the Semidiameter of the Earth One thousand seventy times And how far it is from thence to the Empyrean Heaven who can tell no man living The Scripture therefore calls Heaven Heights Psal 148.1 and saith further that Heaven for Height is unsearchable Prov. 25.3 So that no Thieves can approach it no Enemies assault it no Wars reach it There may be another reason given for this why Heaven is above the reach of all its opposites because it is not to be seen being far above all aspectable Heavens Ephes 4.8 The †Fratres Roseae Crucis Brethren of the Red Cross as they call themselves give out as I have read it in one of their own printed Books that the house of their meeting is not to be seen which I question whether they speak true in it though they say that they are of the purest Protestants But this is undoubtedly true that the Heaven of Heavens is a place which by us here cannot be seen for the eye hath not seen the things whereof this Heaven is one prepared for those that love him 1 Cor. 2.9 If then ye will be a in safe secure place indeed which may not be lyable to surprizals then labour for this Kingdom to take it by force Secondly For its Terms upon which it must be taken by us For what are the Terms upon which it stands think ye the Terms of it are such as these They that will enter me saith this Kingdom must exceed in Righteousness even the strictest Pharisees that ever lived For except your Righteousness exceed the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees ye shall in no case enter into the Kingdom of Heaven saith Christ Mat. 5.20 and ye must be perfect as God is perfect saith this Kingdom according to Mat. 5.48 Now if some men were to serve as Souldiers under a Captain or General who promises them that they shall have for their Service whatsoever they take though it be a Kingdom but that they must do more work than all other ordinary Souldiers must wake when others sleep must fast when others feast they would all say O what high and hard terms be these And yet to win a Kingdom be perswaded to serve such a General and even force themselves to it and take extraordinary pains for it because the Terms proposed are so high as that otherwise they cannot have it And so should we force our selves to win the Kingdom of Heaven and take extraordinary pains for it because of the high Terms of it and because else we shall never enter it unless we do more work than all other common Sonldiers among men and keep our selves waking when other men are sleeping and abstain from all manner of meat many times and from all excessive eating and drinking at all times and that even then when others at their feasts are inebriciting themselves with strong drink and glutting themselves with creature-delights and varieties of dishes and dainties 2. A very great Kingdom The World with the Kingdoms of it is an extraordinary great thing They write that the * Mr. Bolton in his direct for a comf walk p. 13. So Speed Ambitum ejus quidam esse volunt Leucarum Gallicarum novem millium et amplius Lamb. Danaeus in sua Phys Christ p. 2. tract 3. c. 23. compass of it is about one twenty thousand English miles and somewhat more but Heaven is infinitely greater for Behold Heaven and the Heaven of Heavens cannot contain Thee as if he should say though it be so extraordinary great how much less this House which I have built saith Solomon 2 Chron. 6.18 Now there is a time when we may not seek great things for our selves Jer. 45.5 but at all times we may and should seek after the great Kingdom of Heaven and now more especially having been so much perswaded to it and therefore go forth O my Brethren in the greatness of your spirits and heighth of your hearts to win to take to force this great Kingdom of Heaven which I have so much extolled and which cannot be otherwise taken but only by Force The Lord help you in the doing of it 3. A very rich Kingdom for in it are Streets of Gold and Gates of Pearls Rev. 21.21 So as that that * Mr. Fox in his Acts and Mon. blessed Woman-Martyr of Exceter might well say when one offered her Money and she refused it I am going to a place where Money bears no mastery all the Wealth of England all the Gold of both Indies all the Pearls in the Erythean Seas are not to be compared with the Riches of it Now if Riches be any thing esteemed by you and ye desire to be rich indeed then strive to win this Kingdom by Violence for then you are made rich for ever by it unutterably rich for all the Riches of Solomon all the Treasures of Hezekiah nay all the Treasures of Egypt were as nothing to the Riches of it 1 Kings 10.23 Isa 39.2 Heb. 11.26 4. Very Pleasant for there the Sun shineth alwayes I mean the Sun of Righteousness which is the Light thereof Rev. 21.23 and besides there are Pleasures for evermore Psal 16.11 Mark For evermore and therefore far better Pleasures than here for the Pleasures of Sin and of this life are but for a season Heb. 11.25 like Jonas's Gourd soon come soon gone Jonas 4.10 yea like Lightning which is gone sooner
do thou work upon this peoples hearts and let the Spirit of Life come into the wheels of their souls let him so move their affections as that they may be lifted up like those Wheels in Ezekiel Ezek. 1.20 21. because the Spirit of Life is in them O let not all these my labours be utterly lost but let some poor souls be now won to the Shepherd of souls O Souls Souls are ye nothing moved yet with all this I hope you are nay methinks you are by your attention if ye be then move and move indeed I mean so strongly so vigorously so effectually towards Heaven to take it by Force as that the world may see your change your zeal your forwardness your labouring for Heaven Heaven ye see is even at hand as the Baptist said once The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand when he so preached it up Mat. 3.2 it was so and so it is now and divers enter into it nay take it by Force O do you so likewise and so live for ever So be it To God alone be all Honour and Glory A New and Living Way OF DYING OR A TREATISE Shewing how Saints after they have comfortably overcome Sin the World by Faith and after a New and Living Manner have lived an Holy and Heavenly Life by Faith may die at last after a New and Living Way by in and according to Faith Upon that Famous Scripture HEBREWS 11.13 These all dyed in Faith And provided especially for Preparation to be made by all men against the Approach of Death in these Sickly Times By Christopher Jelinger And Published by some Christian Friends London Printed in the Year 1664. To The Vertuous Lady The Lady ANNE SEYMOUR Grace and Mercy be multiplied MADAM MY great Respect and thankful Mind which I bear to your Worthy-Self and to your Noble Family for many Favours received hath caused and compelled me to Dedicate this Tract to your much-honoured Name and if it may but find entertainment and acceptance I shall count my labour well bestowed Only give me leave Much Honoured Lady to give you a short Account of this my present Undertaking These late Times are and have been very sickly and many every where are fallen asleep and when the time of our departure will be the Lord only knoweth and we our selves also know this that it cannot be long before we likewise shal go to our long home and be no more seen at our present homes because our life is but a vapour Jam. 4.14 and we flie away Psal 90.10 which not with standing how few are there which prepare themselves for that time Cogitantes de fine infinito ut vivant in infinitum VVhence it cometh to pass that most men when after they have lived a careless life they come to be unmanned by Death they go Imparati in locum paratum Unprepared to a place prepared idque in aeternum and that for ever for that which ends All is without end And their nearest friends are much the cause of it for the common fashion of Friends is to put their friends in mind of Death when they doubt that they can live no longer Zenas the Lawyer and Luke the Physician must have given them over before they will send for Barnabas to give them good Counsel and solid Consolation against their dissolution But I for my part will not deal so with my Christian Friends My design in this Tract is this To tell men plainly that shortly they must put off their caribly Tabernacles shew them evidently How they must die whilst they live that they may live when they die dying in by and according to Faith This this I aimed at when I penned this Treatise which if it be acted by Faith will so work upon mens and womens precious souls and do them so much good as that they will even long to enjoy the chiefest good and when their work here is done will shew them Heaven open for them where there is health only and no sickness living and no dying incorruption and no corruption ease and no pain singing and no sorrowing For the former things are passed away Rev. 21.4 Many I confess have written on this subject of Death but you will find that I have left the common road as much as I might for my principal aim in this Tract is To put men upon that New and Living Way which the Apostle speaks of Heb. 10.20 and which must be taken by Faith according to which we must die to live for ever That Great God and Saviour who can do whatsoever he will in Heaven and on Earth so bless these my Labours to you Madam and to al that shal read them as that both you and they may fare the better for them here and hereafter for ever So prayeth Your Ladiships Most humble Servants CHRISTOPHER JELINGER A New and Living Way of Dying HEB. 11.13 These all Dyed in Faith ALmighty God as one saith well hath given to men three Mansions of a diverse Quality 1. The World wherein they live 2. The Grave wherein they corrupt 3. Either Heaven wherein they are crowned or Hell wherein they are tormented In the World their Companion is Vanity In the Grave the Worms In Heaven the blessed Angels and in Hell cursed Devils I add For like and like sute best one with an other Good Men I mean with good Angels and evil Men with Angels-Transgressors and yet such is the folly of most men that they would have perpetual habitations and an ever-during happiness in this vain World where neither such felicity nor perpetuity is to be expected for as all have sinned so all for Sin must be by Death dissolved even the best not excepted as by those Worthies which my Text speaketh of it appeareth So that men should rather forecast what course it were best for them to take that being thrust out of those earthly Tabernacles in which now they mansion they might mount up into that most blessed and blissful House of God which is not made with hands Eternal in the Heavens 2 Cor. 5.1 What this Course is which men should take you will understand by my future Discourse wherewith I shall God willing entertain your Christian Patience declaring FAITH to be that most happy Instrument which must bring you to such a firm durable and glorious settlement This ushered and conveyed those gracious Saints which my Text speaks of out of their earthly and unstable habitations into those heavenly Mansions above and places of unexpressable Delights for they all dyed in Faith and the end of Faith is as St. Peter tells us the salvation of our Souls 1 Pet. 1.9 I shall therefore call the whole ensuing Discourse A New and Living Way of Dying and shew therein how we may in a most sweet comfortable manner after an holy and heavenly walking die at last by in and according to Faith Faith I mean unfeigned lively and saving In which the antient Patriarchs dyed according