some in another respect and therefore we are 1. To love God because he is the fiâ—st good and chief good and onely good for there is nothing good but by him and therefore God is to be loved in respect he is good and after the same manner as he is good so is he to be beloved Now he is the first good and therefore first to be loved He is the chief good and therefore chiefly to be loved He is the purest good and therefore most purely to be loved He is an infinite good and therefore infinitely to be loved And because nothing is good but thorough and in him therefore nothing is to be beloved but in him 2. God is to be feared because he is omnipotent and because he is chiefly and onely Almighty therefore is he chiefly and onely to be feared And because he is eternally Almighty therefore he is eternally to be feared And because he is the onely Almighty therefore to him onely belongeth fear And because he is most truly Almighty therefore is he most truly to be feared 3. In respect he is our Lord he is to be honoured And whereas he is the chief Lord therefore he is chiefly to be honoured And because he is infinitely chief therefore is he infinitely and chiefly to be honoured And because he is the first beginning of man therefore he is the first to be honoured of man 4. Obedience belongeth to God because he is above all things and because he is onely chiefly and eternally above all therefore he is onely chiefly and eternally above all to be obeyed And because he is only superiour unto man therefore he is chiefly to be obeyed of man 5. He is to be glorified and praised in respect he is the Worker Maker and Creator of all things And because he is the chiefest the wisest the first and onely Creator and maker of all things therefore he is chiefly principally wisely and onely to be glorified magnified and praised And because he is the maker of man therefore he is to be loved and glorified of man 6. God is to be beloved because he is true and truth it self and no lyar And because he is the first truth and most perfect truth therefore he is first to be beloved most perfectly to be beloved because he is the chief truth and chiefly faithfull therefore he is chiefly and most faithfully to be beloved To conclude to God belongeth Hope because he is powerfull and willing and onely knoweth how to help and to save and because he is the first power the onely powerfull chiefly powerfull wise and willing therefore he is chiefly principally onely wisely and willingly to be hoped in Thus we ow all duty to him who is Lord of all and that particularly for particular causes Sparke 4. O Lord we are thy creatures and thou art our Creator create in us a new heart to love thee above all c Gen. 1. Deut. 11. who art most good and d Joel 13. loving And as thou art the first good so grant we may first love thee and seek thy kingdome e Mat. 6. And for as much as all things do fear f Amos 6. thee which art most fearful let us fear thee first and fear thee most let us neither love fear or reverence any thing above thee nor any thing before thee nor any thing equal with thee nor any thing but for thy sake And because thou art onely praise-worthy g Psal 145 therefore Lord let all the world praise thee and especially man O Lord let our tongues be the Pen h Psal 45. of a ready Writer to paint thy praise Let us not onely praise thee with the best members that we have but with all the members that we have through Jesus Christ our Lord Amen Sect. V. The love of God the best Gift OF all the gifts and blessings which the Lord bestowed upon man The Debters discharge there is none so great so good so sweet and so pleasant as his love because whatsoever other blessings he hath bestowed upon us thâ—y were and are bestowed upon us for his loves sake For he first gave his love unto us with himself and then all things for his sake Yet if we would desire to requite Gods kindnesse and to be thankfull unto him for his blessings there is nothing wherein we may answer him so easily as in his love For if God be angry with us we must not answer him in his anger and be angry again If God doth judge us we must not judge him again If he doth teach us we must not teach him again or if he doth correct us and rebuke us we must not think to doe so with him again But when God doth love us we may love him again For God did never finde fault with such as did seek to imitate him in his love Adam aspiring to be like God in knowledge was cast out of Paradise Lucifer aspiring to be like God in Majesty was cast out of heaven The Sorcerers of Aegypt seeking to imitate God in his Miracles and wonders were drowned in the Sea But for coveting to be like God in love none neither man nor Angel was punished For seeing God doth love us in the highest degree and above all degrees of affection we may love him again with the highest strain of our love even with all our heart soul strength and might For God loveth us to the intent he may be beloved of us Sparke 5. O Blessed Lord the true loade-stone of love as thou hast made me after thine own image Gen. 1. so repair it in me that by loving thee again for thy love I may be the more like unto thee which art love it self Let the beams of thy love so warm me and so beat upon my cold heart that it may reflect unto thee again And as thou hast loved me above all the works of thy hands 1 John 3 so grant I may love thee again above Father Mother Wife or children and be ready to forsake all and follow thee k Mat. 10. Yea let me love nothing in comparison of thee nor any thing but in thee and for thy sake Therefore Lord let nothing seem sweet or worthy of love in my sight besides thee for such as love thy name l Psal 5. shall be joyfull in thee Therefore as thou art love everlasting so grant I may love thee with an everlasting love and as thou art all love so grant I may love thee with all my love And as thou lovest all the works of thy hands and hatest nothing which thou hast made but especially man above all so grant that for thy sake I may love all the works of thy hands as they are thy works but thee above all through Jesus Christ our Lord Amen Sect. VI. Of the glory of Heaven The Saints Freedome VVEll might the sweet Singer and Psalmist of Israel say of that glorious habitation of Saints very
hast a favour unto us it is thou that savest us from our enemies and puttest them to confusion that hate us Sect. XXXIII Christ onely a fit Mediator because God and man The Onely Man NOne but Christ could be a fit Mediator between us and the Majesty of God For whosoever would be a Mediator t' is requisit that he be God man Man to be born under the Law God to performe the Law Man to serve God to set free Man to humble himself under all God to exalt himself above all Man to suffer God to overcome Man to dye God to triumph over death Man to be born of a woman God to overcom the Devill So that now we may see Jesus in the Stable there behold the man Jesus In the Temple disputing with the Doctors there behold the Lord Jesus in Simon 's house washing the Disciples feet there behold the man Jesus walking on the Sea there behold the Lord Jesus calling for meat when he was hungry there behold the man Jesus feeding five thousand with five loines and two fishes there behold the Lord Jesus weeping over Lazarus behold the man Jesus but calling Lazarus out of his grave behold the Lord Jesus riding on an Ass behold the man Jesus but riding on the clouds behold the Lord Jesus If therefore sweet Jesus we may not with Moses behold thy face yet we may behold with him thy hinder parts If thy Godhead be too terrible to behold yet we see the terrour thereof mitigated with thy manhood If thy humanity seem too humble we see it again exalted by thy Godhead So that now sweet Jesus we find no cause we should too much fear thee because of thy glory nor at all despise thee because of thy humility but both and for both to love and reverence thee to believe and trust in thee as in a most wonderfull Saviour whose name is wonderfull for ever Spark 33. O blessed Jesus let thy Majesty teach us true fear and thy manhood true humility In thy manhood thou hast made thy self lower than thy Father saying my Father is b John 20. greater than I lower than the Angells r Psal 8. For which of the Angells did wash the feet of sinners Lower than men for thou wast counted a l Ps 22.6 worm and no man yea the very scorne of men Lower than all thy creatures by dying and descending intâ— hell And therefore thou art exalted to be equal with the Father above Angells above men above all creatures For thou hast a name above all names for at the name of Jesus all knees shall bow of things in heaven of things in earth and of things under the earth d Phil. 2.10 Good Lord grant we may follow the steps of thy humiliation that we may be exalted through thy mercy and merits Amen Sect. XXXIV O Humility The Lesson of Lowliness GOod Lord thou hast commanded us to learne of thee that thou art meek and humble Sweet Jesus thou hast not said learne of me to make the world to raise the dead to cast out Devills to turne water into wine but to be lowely of heart and this lesson thou hast often commanded unto us by thine own examples For thou hast chosen a lowly woman to be thy mother and a poor Carpenter to be thy reputed father a lowly place to be thy bed of rest which was the manger a lowly house which was but a stable in an In a lowly brast to carry thy blessed body which was but an Ass lowly men to be thy disciples and followers being for the most part but poor fishers a lowly exercise which was to wâ—sh thy disciples feet and a lowly and base dâ—ath which was the detah of the cross Sparke 34. Good Lord seeing thy precept is that I should imitate thy pattern o Mat. 11.29 so far as I can in my fraile nature grant me grace to endeavour and desire to become like unto thee not in thy power knowledge or miracles but in thy moralls especially in true humility which is the first lesson to be learned in thy schoole Lord when I think upon the poor Carpenter grant I brag not of my birth When I think of the stable and mâ—nger wherein thou didst lye grant I vaunt not of my buildings or be too desirous of beds of downe for my ease When I think that thy disciples were poor fishers l Mat. 4. Luke 5. grant I may learn not to despise any poor brethren a Mat. 18. O Saviour of soules Let Mount Calvary be my Schoole thy Crosse my Pulpit thy Passion my Meditation thy Wounds my Letters thy Lashes my Comma's thy Nailes my Ful points thy open Side my Book and to know thee Crucified my whole lesson Let me learn by thy nakednesse how to adorne me by thy vineger and gall how to diet me by thy prayer for thy Murtherers how to revenge me by thy cry on the Crosse how to bewaile my sins and by thy bloody sweâ—t to weepe for my wickednesse Sect. XXXV Of the fall of Adam The Sinners Preferment VVHen the Serpent had deceived our parents God said cursed art thou above all beasts upon thy belly shalt thou goe and dust shalt thou eat And presently unto man that sinned God said dust thou art and into dust thou shalt returne If by the Serpent the devil be meant and if dust must be the Serpent's meat and if a sinfull man be but dust and must returne to dust then a wicked sinner is but that old Serpent the devill 's meat Sparke 35. O Lord that hast made us for thine own glory r Ephes 1.6 redeemed us with thine own bloud Å¿ 1 Pet. 1. Apoc. 5. sanctified us with thine own spirit f 2 Thes 2. save us by thy own mercy challenge what is thine in us If our sins displease thee wash them away g Psal 51. and let satan feed upon sin which is his own and not upon us miserable sinners being the works of thy hand let it be meat and drink unto us to do thy will c Joh. 4.34 and to feed our souls with that blessed Manna b John 6. that came down from Heaven Amen Sect. XXXVI We must imitate God in his goodness c. SEeing the Lord hath created heaven and earth and brought such a glorious world out of his secret and hidden treasure The godly Ape and bestowed it upon the sons of men desiring to make others partakers of his goodness he doth teach us that if we have either riches knowledge or counsell in store we should most freely let it out for the good and profit of our neighbours But why are we so covetous that we can part with nothing Is it not a wonder to see so bountifull a master as God is to have so miserable a servant as man is What hath God bestowed on us gold or silver or precious stones yea and a greater matter heaven and
let us ever be delighted with this salve let us by thy grace prescribe it unto others O Lord poure the oyl of thy mercy into our festred wounds thy blood hath helped many of thy Saints Luk. 10.34 and it is not yet dry but fresh and powerfull to heal mee Sect. XLI God is Mercy it self O Lord The wofull mans joy 2 Tim. 2.13 thou hast caugh us by thy Apostle Paul that thou art most faithfull and canst not deny thy self If we desire wealth thou mayest deny us for it is not thy self If we desire revenge thou mayest deny us for it is not thy self If we desire worldly pompe and preferments thou mayest deny us for it is not thy self If we desire gold and silver thou mayest deny us for it is not thy self But if we desire mercy thou canst not deny us for it is thy selfe for thou canst not deny thy self Thou art not onely mercifull but mercy it self For thou did'st pray for thine enemies give thy life for thy friends and never did'st deny their just petitions unto thy Servants Sparke 41. O Lord I want nothing but thy mercy Rom. 8. â—2 1 Cor. 15. Psal 67. 109. 51. which is thy self For having thee I have all because thou art all in all shew us therefore the light of thy Countenance and be mercifull unto us O Lord I am poor and needy but thy mercy may lift me up Therefore in the multitude of thy mercies do away my Offences O Lord thy mercy being thy self is above all thy works much more above the workes of Satan which are my sins mercy therefore good Lord mercy I crave it is the total Sum for mercy Lord is all my suite Lord let thy mercy come through Jesus Christ our Lord Amen Sect XLII Of Prayer O Eternall and Infinite Power The Saints post-messenger seeing thou art the King of Glory the Lord strong and mighty even the Lord might in battell whose Palace is in the highest heaven and we thy poor creatures being thy foes by our own follies therefore in thy sight more base than the vilest worm on earth seeing I say there is such distance of place betwen us as is between heaven earth such difference in qualities thou so glorious in Majesty and we so grievous in misery such odds in quantity we as it were nothing thou all things and all in all When thou art offended with us or when need compells us what messenger shall we presume to send unto thee either for peace pardon or to informe thee of our necessities or rather to entreat thee for to supply our wants for thou needest no informer If we send our merits unto thee they are in too base a habit being like a menstruous and stained clout The starres in heaven will disdain it that we which dwell at the foot-stool of God should presume so farre when the purest creatures in heaven are impure in his sight If we send up our fear distrustfulnesse the length of the way will tire and weary them out for being as heavy as lead they will sink to the ground before they come half the way to the seat of Salvation and the throne of Grace If we send up Blasphemies and Curses all the creatures betwixt heaven and earth will band themselves against us The Sun and Moon will rain down burning Coals upon us The Ayre will throw thunderbolts upon our heads If we send up pride then we and our messenger shall be thrown down to the Dungeon of the deepest Hell For thou resistest the proud what messenger then shall we presume to send up unto thee thou King of Glory Even that which thou hast commanded us to send which thou acceptest being sent servent prayer from a faithfull and unfained heart which neither the tediousness of the way nor the difficulty of the passage can hinder from passing unto thee Who being quick of speed faithfull for trustiness happy for success is able to peirce the Clouds and to mount above the Eagles of the Skie into the heaven of heavens and there to enter boldly into the Chamber of Presence and to â—he Throne of Grace before thee the great King of Glory Sparke 42. O Lord give us grace to send up our prayers unto thee and to call upon thee in the dayes of our necessities and trouble Hear the voice of our prayers betimes in the morning Let us cry out of the deep of our miseries unto the bottomless depth of thy mercies And because our nature is such as we know not how to aske as we should Rom. 8.26 Eph. 3.20 and thou alone both wisely doest know and effectually canst grant not onely what we desire but a great deale more than we can think upon Pour upon us the spirit of grace prayer which may with unspeakeable groanings make intercession for us Give us grace good Father Math. 11.24 Math. 6. to perswade our selves that whatsoever we shall aske at thy hand through faith we shall obtaine the same And grant that in all places we may pray lifting up pure hands without wrath or doubting making with deep fighs and zealous minds continuall supplications prayers intercessions and giving of thanks for all men through Jesus Christ our Lord 1 Tim. 2.1 Amen Sect. XLIII Of the Authority of Gods Word c. THough faith be the eye of the soule and the hand that apphehends the soul's Saviour yet if faith should tell me that God is three and one together or if faith should say believe that the son of God is the son of a Virgin that Christ is risen again the third day from the dead to die no more that I should believe all this to be true because Peter Paul John Isay Ieremy and Ezekiel have said so I would doubt and not believe such matters difficult fo far above reason and beyond the reach of man's apprehension and seing they were spoken but of men as I am I durst not believe them because it is written every man 's a lyars which makes us require so many oathes Psal 11.5 and so many witnesses before we can credite the report of men in many things But when faith tells me that God hath revealed these things and that neither Peter Paul nor John nor the rest of the Apostles and Prophets have taught these things of themselves but were first taught of God and that they have preached not their own word but the word of God then my heart yieldeth is ready to believe it especially seeing the same God that spake by the Prophets and Apostles confirmed his sayings with so many fignes and wonders Therefore as Paul says How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation which at the first began to be preached of the Lord and was confirmed unto us by them that heard it Mark 16.20 God bearing witness thereto both with signes and wonders also and with divers powers and gifts of the
might and majesty both now for evermore Amen Sect. LVII Trust not unto a rotten stick HE that trusteth to his own strength leaneth on a rotten stick For we see the skilfullest Wrastler sometimes have a fall the cunningest Fencer to have the foyle the stoutest Cantain killed the best Rider under his horses feet the nimblest Swimmer sunk under the water the best wits perish and the wisest men erre Sparke 57. O Lord God let me acknowledge my weaknesse and not presume on my strength For it is better to trust in thee than to put any confidence in Princes O Lord in thee have I trusted let me never be confounded Amen Sect. LVIII The best increase THe Husbandman's field doth bring him for every grain sometimes thirty sometimes forty sometimes sixty and sometimes an hundred sold If God so blesse our bodily labour How much more will he bless the labor of our souls If therefore we sow in tears we shall reap in joy If we sow in the Spirit we shall reap of the Spirit life everlasting For he that first seeketh the Kingdome of God and the righteousness thereof shall have all other things added unto it Sparke 58. O Lord give me grace to labour in the Spiâ—it to seek thy Kingdome to lay up treasure in Heaven that when the generall harvest shall come my eyes may be waking my lamp light and my self as a sheaf of wheat gathered into thy farne through Jesus Christ Amen Sect. LIX The Servant's access to his Lord. MAny a man is sain to travell farre to see a great man and to suffer many dangers and perhaps when he comes to his journeys end he shall find either his Lord from home or not at leasure perhaps dead or if alive not willing to pleasure him It is not so with God For if I come once to Heaven to see my Lord and Master my dear Father and best Friend as Mary and Joseph after their journey found him in the Temple amongst the Doctors so shall I be sure to finde him in his holy Temple amongst the Angells yea I shall be sure of such kinde entertainment that I shall never think of my paines and labour in coming or once dream to returne Sparke 59. Lord give me grace to be stedfast unmovable always abounding in the work of the Lord for as much as I know that my labour is not in vain in the Lord. Lord I will come unto thee and seek thee whilest thou mayest be found I will knock and â—â—ll at midnight at thy mercy and though I have no friends either to plead my cause or to preferre my petition unto earthly Lords yet dear Father I have an advocate in thy Court that will both plead my cause and pitty my case even thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Sect. LX. Soon ripe soon rotten THere is no flower that will not fade no fruit that will not corrupt no garment that will not wear no beauty which will not wither no strength which will not weaken and no time so long but at last will pass I cannot see these vanish and not say that my self must pass The flower of my youth is gone already my best fruits are corrupt my time passeth while I speak of it Sparke 60. Lord teach me to number my dayes that I may apply my heart to wisedom and have understanding in the way of godliness For the longer time thou givest me the more I have to answer Lord make me ready at thy call and sweet Jesus pay my debts for me Sect. LXI The best Pattern O Lord I need no better Master to teach me than he that is my Saviour For by his nakedness on the Cross I may learn to clothe me By his Crown of thorns how to adorne me By his Vineger and Gall how to diet me By his prayer for his Murtherers how to revenge me and by his whole passion for me how to suffer for him Spark 61. Lord give me grace in all my actions to learn of thee to be mercifull as thou art mercifull meek as thou art meek holy as thou art holy true as thou art true and faithfull as thou art faithfull Let me honour thee as a Creator love thee as a Redeemer and expect thee as a Saviour And in the mean while let me rest in thy peace that I may rise in thy power Sect. LXII Take heed how you walk LOving Father what time so ever I bestow out of thy service I bestow it on my self am a Thief because I rob thee of thy due And if I be more enamoured with any of thy blessings than with thee I commit Adultery and take another God before thee And if I spend good houres in evill actions to bad purpose then I commit Treason against thy Majesty Sparke 62. Give me grace most loving Father to serve thee in righteousnesse and holinesse all the days of my life to love thee with all my heart with all my strength and with all my soul and to do say nor think either in merriment or sobernesse but those things which may please thee and advance thy glory Sect LXIII The last Enemy THere is no Enemy which a man cannot avoid either by flying forward retyring backward or standing still hidden or disguised or at the least by prayer but death For if we go forward we meet death if backward it meets us If we stand still it is coming upon us Yea whether we sleep or wake go or stand all is one we must needs meet death Therefore we must be resolute and prepare our selves for this last enemy from whom we cannot fly It is but a bug-bear it hath lost his sting we need not fear Sparke 63. O Lord prepare thy servant to die Grant I may live the life of the godly that I may die the death of the righteous For what man liveth and shall not see death O Lord how precious in thy sight is the death of thy Saints for they sleep in thee and cease from their labour Grant Lord that I may put my house in order and joy that I must dye Sect. LXIV The insatiable Worm I See that all the Creatures and worms of the earth can live onely upon some kinde of food that comes from the earth either upon grasse hay or corne or upon some fruits of trees or herbes But man is from the earth and yet all the Creatures of the earth will not suffice him but he must go to the Fowles of the ayre and the fishes of the sea for daintie and all too little to satisfie his appetite So that if he had as many dishes as he lived dayes he would both desire and invent novelties Sparke 64. O Lord let me not pamper my body dayly with delicates but prepare my soul with dutifull obedience to feed on the heavenly Manna of thy word That having meat and drink to suffice nature I may learn therewith to be content Let his diet that was but a loaf and a fish with a cup of
Royalty THough the Lord shares so liberally with man that of all his Creatures he reserved but the least part to himselfe yet in most things he will have us to acknowledge him for our cheif Lord and of every thing to pay him something as his chief rent and royalty As of our time the seventh day of the trees of Paradise the tree of knowledge of good and evill of all our increase the tenth of our generation the first born of our Corn the first fruits of his people Israel the tribe of Levi of all Cities Jerusalem of all mountaines Mount Sion of all the sons of Ishai little David of all women the blessed Virgin and of all the members of our bodies the heart Spark 52. O King of Glory how liberall doest thou deale with us and how niggard are we in repaying thee For how many a thousand thoughts have we conceived and not one of them in remembrance of thy goodness How many thousand words have we spoke and not one of them to the praise of thy name How many thousand deeds have we done and not one of them for the setting-forth of thy glory Good Lord as thou hast given me all things saving thy glory so for thy glory give me of thy grace that I may acknowledge thee Let my heart be alwayes inditing of a good matter that my tongue may be the pen of a ready writer Psal 45 and my hand diligent in well doing and open unto the needy through Jesus Christ Prov. 12.30 Amen Sect. LIII The earthly Planet AS the Bridegroom the bright Son of happiness and Lord of life is often compared to the Sun of heaven so his Spouse the Church doth often resemble the Moon For as the Moon hath all her light from the Sun so the Church from Christ And as the shadow of the earth doth somtimes hinder and Eclipse the Moon that she cannot shew the light of the Sun the which she received so our sins like earthly shadows do hinder and debar us oftentimes from giving thanks and glory to God for what we received and to shew the same to others giving him the glory from whom they proceed But as that good Planet the sun faileth not to give light continually unto the body of the Moon and to all inferiour bodies though sometimes it seems to be eclipsed in regard of us so the glorious Sun of Righteousness doth never fail to give light unto his Church and his Elect here on earth though by reason of the black cloud of our sins he seems sometimes for a while to be absent from us And as the Moon will not utterly fail by any Eclipse that can happen though to our sight is be almost quite darkened so the Church of God can never faile nor fall clean away but shall ever be a Church world without end being grounded upon a sure Rock Jesus Christ being the chief corner Stone Spark 53. O most glorious Sun of Righteousnes and the bright day-Star of grace and glory vouchsafe we beseech thee to lighten our darknesse by thy holy Spirit and to shew us the pure light of thy countenance by shining in our hearts and souls Let thy holy word be a lanthorn to our feet and a light unto our paths disperse all the black clouds of ignorance and errours that may Eclipse the light of thy holy Spirit from us be thou alwayes with us unto the end of the world and pray unto the Father for us that our Faith may not faile Marry us unto thy self for ever that though we seem sometimes to have a faile yet we may never fall finally from thee which art the way the life and light for ever Sect. LIV. The Sympathy of Christ's Passion O Sweet Saviour work in me that pitty of thy paint that the Creatures had at thy Passion For then the Sun was darkned the earth quaked the temple rented the stones cleaved and the graves opened And yet thou didst not suffer for the sun nor the earth for the graves the temple nor the stones but for us men and our salvation Shall these be amazed at the pungs and we not moved at thy pains Sparke 54 O Lord let the wounds of thy hands cause a wound in my heart The nayles of thy feet prick my conscience Thy Vineger and Gall draw tears from mine eyes Thy bloudy side cause me a bleeding Soul And thy paines cause in me sorrow and passions Sect. LV. The eyes Imperfection SOme can see a mote in their brothers eye and not so much as a beam in their own such was the Pharisee that prayed with the Publican Some again can see a mote in their brother's eye a beam in their own such was Peter when he denied Christ and wept And Paul who counted himself not worthy to be called an Apostle There be also some that espie beames both in their own eyes and in every bodies else such are they that know themselves in conscience to be bad and therefore think every body else to be so Such was Pharaoh that thought God's people to be idle because he was idle himself Some again see no mote neither in their own eyes nor in others such are blinde Atheists and loose Liberties that think that every man may do what he will Some again can see two beames in their own eyes and a beam in others such was Judas and Cain and such as see their own sin so great that they despaire of Gods mercy For though they judge others to be great sinners yet they think their own unpardonable Sparke 55. O Lord blesse me from such a sight For Lord if I offend thy Justice by transgression yet let me not offend thy mercy by disperation And yet give me grace alwayes to see the beam in mine own eye and to take it away that then I may the better see the mote in my brothers eye Sect. LVI Our Credite once Crack't c. VVE have need to have Gods Grace to guide us every minute in all our actions For we may commit in an houre such a fault as will be a blemish to us in a whole age Noab was but once drunk yet is ever spoken off David but once in Adulterer yet his fact never forgotten Adam but once tasting of an apple yet his posterity smart for it to the worlds end Lot once committing incest with his Daughters yet his fin is notorious for ever Lots wife turning but once back to Sodome yet an example for ever Peter but once fallen yet his weakness perpetually noted Sparke 56. O Lord let thy Angels guard me thy grace guide me thy word direct me and thy spirit preserve me that I neither stirre nor nor start waver nor wander out of thy path Lord keepe me as the apple of thine eye and as the fignet on thy right hand that all my thoughts may be of thy goodnesse all my words to thy praise and all my works to thy glory to whom be all glory and goodnesse
Rom 13. Gal. 5. 1 Cor. 15. and be skilâ—ul in the rules of Christianity through that loadstone of love Jesus Christ Amâ— Sect. LXXIX The House-holder's Office EVery man in his House should beare the same Office as Christ doth in his Gen. 32. Church who is King Priest and Prophet So most that good man be a King to rule his Family and to correct his Children so did Jacob A Priest to pray for his Children Job 1. 1 Kings 2.2 so did Job And a Prophet to teach and instruct them so did David Spark 79. Grant O Lord that I may correct my Children For Prov. 13. The sparing of the rod is the spoyling of the Childe Teach me to instruct them in their youth that they may it when they are old Teach me how to pray both for me and them Mat. 7. For to him that knocketh it shall be opened Sect. LXXX A Medicine well tempered THough God's blessings be sweet alwayes in themselves yet he maketh them often times seem more sweet to us by the manner of giving them as when he sends a calm after a great tempest perfect health after long sickness free liberty after close Imprisonment a bright day after a dark night a blessing to Jacob after long wrastling the Land of Canaan to Israel after long Warre riches to Job after great poverty light to Paul after long darkness Sorrow for a night to his Children but joy in the morning Spark 80. O Lord If thy blessings taste not sweet enough in the mouth of my sickly and sinfull soul feed me sometimes with â—hy tart benefiâ—s that thy sweet blâ—ssings mâ—y be the more welcome to me and my self more thankfull unto thee that I may say with David â—er 10 24. It is good for me that I have been in trouble for before I was troubled I went wrong Sect. LXXXI Sin 's port-way IF a man wil take his journey towards Hell he need not fear to be out of his way for that way is both common and plain where he shall overtake many to bear him company but none coming back to bring him commendation to his friends But he that will resolve to take his voyage towards Hâ—aven shall have much ado to finde the way for it is a troublesome path frequented but by few and therefore we had need to set forwards betimes if we will come to the end of our journey But the best is though we travailâ— hard to come to it yet when we come we shall be sure of a good lodging where we may be joyfull and merry and rest for ever without any more pain banquetting and feasting like glad children in our elder brother's house Spark 81. Psal 5. Psal 139. Psal 143.10 Luk. 16. Mat. 4. Exod. 23 20 Teach me O Lord thy way and let thy holy spirit direct me thy Word conduct me and the blessed Angells attend me that I neither wander fall nor stumble untill I arrive at the haven of happiness to dwell with thee forever more Amen Sect. LXXXII The chiefest Trade VVHen men are about to bind their children to any Trade they will commonly be carefull to know that profession wherein they may be admitted with less charge where the Professor is of good name and credit the calling honest and gainfull and whereby in the end they shall be sure to come to great preferment Christianity is the best profession of all and such a calling that the poorest man may be admitted unto without charge Who is of greater credit than God And who can choose a better mastâ—r to serve than his Maker The calling is most honest and gainfull For what greater honesty than to do unto all men as I would they should do unto me And what greater gain than godliness Lastly having served out the time what greater freedome can any have than to be a free-man of Heaven what greater preferment can any wish than to have a Crowne of glory and life everlasting Sparke 82. O Lord this is onely my profession I am bound to it since I was a child Howbeit I have a thousaand times broken my Indentures and run away from thee and thou hast still brought me back again and forgiven me I am ashamed Lâ—rd I have so often displeased so gentle a Master Good Lord forgive me for Jesus Christ's sake Amen Sect. LXXXIII The best conception SOme have bin for a time barren in body but fruitfull in soul so was Sarah Rebecca and Elizabeth Some have been fruitfull in body but barren in soul so were Lot's Daughters that so readily conceived of their Father Some again are fruitfull both in body and soul and so was the blessed Virgin for she conceived Christ in her womb and pondered all his sayings in her heart Sparke 83. Lord grant that how barren soever our bodies be in multiplication yet our souls may be always bringing forth fruit in due season conceiving a good faith in thee and bringing forth good works to thy praise and glory Sect. LXXXIV Welcome God's Will SOme men have many children and have no inheritance for them some have inheritance and no children some have both children and inheritance some neither children nor inheritance c. Sparke 84. Lord if it please thee to send me many Children without inheritance make them thine by adoption and then they shall be inheritors of thy Kingdome If thou send me children and inheritance make me the more thankfull unto thee and let me not esteem them above thee If I have neither children nor inheritance then give me a lively faith in Christ to purchase Heaven for my patrimony and to become a childe my self that I may have thee for my Father But if it please thee to send me wealth without children Lord give me grace to bestow it upon my poor brethren which are thy children and my spirituall kinsmen for in so doing I do but lend unto thee of thine owne thou wilt be sure to pay me the best interest Sect. LXXXV For us men and for our salvation he came down from heaven VVHen I view the earth and see that of her own accord she brings forth both herbs and fodder and food sufficient for all creatures save man wiâ—hâ—ut labour or tillage and that onely man must till and labour for his food then I well perceive Lord that it is man onely that hath and do h daily offend and not the bruit creature Spark 85. Good Lord forgive me my sins both originall and actuall that I with all thy elect may evermore praise thee that the earth may bring forth her increase and that God even our own God may give us his blessing c. Sect. LXXXVI The Kings Court. IF it pleased such as attend the Court to see the difference between the Court of Princes here on earth and the Court of the King of Glory in heaven they would quickly forsake all the Profits of the one to attaine unto the pleasurs of the other For First
Father from whom onely and immediatly we receiv'd wholly our Souls principally our bodies also And further if we love our Father and brother in the flesh so dear that we can suffer no injury to be offered unto them no harm to be pretended towards them nor no word of the least disgrace to be spoken of them and that onely in respect they are our father and brother in the flesh How much more then ought we to love our Father and brethren in the spirit and to affect them so dearly as not to suffer any dishonour unto them any disgrace any injury nor any unseemly word at all to be uttered against them by any if we might help it or hinder it Spark 11. O good Lord thou art our God and Grand-Father yea our neer and dear Father give us Lord thy spirit of grace whereby p Rom. 8. we may call and acknowledge thee our Father Let us remember Lord that our Father in heaven is one e Mat. 23. â— and therefore study all to becom f Rom. 12. one in thee g Eph. 4. for we have but one Father one faith one body in Christ one Baptisme through Christ one Lord and one Law Therefore Lord as thou art one so grant we may all be one in thee Teach us O Lord to reverence thee as our Lord to love thee as our Father to fear thee as our Judge to obey thee as our Maker to expect thee as a Saviour Grant this O Father for Jesus Christ's sake in whose name we and all thy children are bold to call thee Father saying as thy Son taught vs k Math. 6. Our Father which art in Heaven c. Sect. XII Christ our onely Saviour A watch word for Jewish infidels AS the Scripture doth promise us no other Saviour but Jesus Christ So doth Christian Faith and humane Reason perswade us that there can be no other For if Jesus Christ were not that onely Messias and true Saviour that must satisfie Gods infinite Justice for all our sins it were expedient and needfull that before this time another Saviour should be sent But seeing God permitted Christ Jesus alone all this while to rule in the world in his name suffering all people to follow him and to believe in him as in God the true Saviour If Christ then were not the Messias it should happen that God by suffering him should hinder himself and be against himself and his own Kingdome because he disposed his people to believe in such a one as Christ is For it must needs be that he which God sends for a Saviour should do as Christ Jesus did affirming himself to be true God and man destroying and impugning all sins and this cannot be done For if God should send another that should do as Christ did and say as he said then he should in all things agree with Christ his Doctrine with Jesus's Doctrine his works with Christs works for greater works cannot be but this cannot be for then more than one could be the Son of God the Messias the Saviour and Gods anointed which must be anointed with the oyl of gladness above his fellowes But if there should be more than one then the Saviour must have an equall but Christ hath no fellow For he is the Arch-angel and chief Messenger of all The Jews indeed for all this do look still for God's promise to be fulfilled and so look for Christ to come and the Christians believe that he is come already and that God hath fulfilled his promise God therefore having promised to send the Messias to Jew and Gentile and to â—ll that want him by this means he should do against himself were Jesus not the promised Messias by hindering all people to believe a future promise and by suffering Christ Jesus so long to rule and raigne under the name of the true Messias and so he should suffer all Christian people to be deceived in his promises But God hath suffered Christ to raign and will ill he hath put all his enemies under his feet till he hath delivered up the Kingdome to God the Father 1 Cor. 15. and hath also permitted all Christians and many Jews firmely to believe in him and to preach him over the world Therefore Lord they that will not believe the coming of thy Son the true Messias are utterly deceived and far wandring from thee and thy truth Spark 12. O sweet Saviour be thou over me a Saviour and grant a Act. 4.12 that I may never acknowledge any other name whereby I may be saved but onely by thy sweet name Jesus And I beseech thee Lord let not any thing be able to separate me from the love of Christ Rom. 8 35.38.3â— neither tribulation nor anguish nor persecution nor famine nor nakednesse nor perill nor sword nor death nor life nor Angels nor principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come nor heighth nor depth nor any other creature but grant that I may count b Phil. 35. all but dung that I may win Christ Let me never forsake thee c Joh. 17.1 but ever acknowledg thee to be onâ—ly God and whom thou hast sent Jesus Christ For d Esay 5.3 11. the knowledge of thy righteous servant shall justifie many Instruct me therefore that am unjust that I may perfectly know him and by knowing him aright I may be rightly justified Grant this Lord for his sake that never disobeyed thee even thy e Mat. 3.17 well pleasing Son and my most loving Saviour Jesus Christ the righteous to whom with thee and the Holy Ghost be ascribed all praise and power government and glory might and majesty rule and dominion now and for evermore Amen Sect. XIII Of our Regeneration in Christ The fraternity of Christians VVE find that there are three things requisite to make a man perfect compleat in this world namely 1. A Body or trunke of flesh 2. An immortal soul And 3. A vertuous disposition or inclination in both namely the well-being and well-doing of both Now the first man Adam received all these three from God i. e. 1 A Body 2. A Soul 3. The wellfare and good being of both But because our first parents lost the well-being and good inclination of both these and having onely these two remaining namely a Soule and a Body therefore other men begotten from Adam received from him but only a being namely a body with a soul infused of God but not the happy being and good disposition of both Therefore in every man there is a double generation the one from Adam the other from God In the first generation man receiveth immediately his body and flesh from the fiâ—st man Adam In the second generation man receiveth his soul immediately from God although indeed both body and soul be from God yet after diverse manners But in a Christian man and the child of God there 's a third kind of generation
and substance to our members it putteth us in minde that we received our flesh from man when we think of our heart which giveth vitall and naturall heat to our members it puts us in mind that we received our Soul from the living God Lastly when we think of our head that giveth sense and motion to our bodies it maketh us remember how that we receive in our last generation all sense and motion of grace from our head Christ And calling this to minde we must remember that every Christian is a threefold brother unto us First by man as having all of us our flesh from one and the same man Adam Secondly by God as having all our souls infused into our bodies by one and the self same God And thirdly by our Redeemer as having all of us that be Christians received all grace and good motions from one and the same Christ God and man Therfore we ought to love all as brethren in the flesh but love them the more as brethren in Soul but love them best of all that are brethren in grace unto us for whosoever is our brother in grace must needs be our brother in soul and body likewise And therefore a Christian is no half brother or base broâ—hâ—r Sparke 13. O Lord That we may be perfect grant that we may be born b Joh. 3.5 again of water and of the spirit And because our first generation in the flesh is foul and filthy lustfull and lawless grant we may d Rom. 8.13 mortifie the deeds of the flesh by the spirit and subdue the rebellion thereof O Lord beget us again in thy Son e 1 Joh. 5.1 Joh. 3.3 Christ after thine own f Ephes 4 23 24. Image in righteousnes and true holiness of life O Lord grant that as the first Adam by his flesh g 1 Cor. 15.22 corrupted all thy children so the second Adam by his flesh may save all thy children Good Father seeing we are made h Gen. 1.27 by thee and i Joh. 3.3 born again of thee let us have no strife between us for our Fathers sake because we are brethren grant us to love our brother whom we see daily to love thee whom we have not seen least otherwise we be judged of thee to remain in death and counted as k 1 Joh. 3.14 15. Murtherers and man-slayers Therefore give us grace to love our Christian brother more for his father's sake for his own sake for Christ's sake and for thy Image sake than our brother cosen or kinsman in the flesh For by this love towards our brother we shall be known to be thy l 1 Joh. 2.3 disciples Grant us therefore sweet Jesus that we may follow thee as thy Disciples m Ephes 4.11.2 and as dear children walking in love as thou hast loved us and given thy life for us Grant this O Father for thy son and our Saviours sake Jesus Christ Amen Sect. XIV Christ our chiefest felicity VVE count him most happy The feliciâ—â— of the faithfull that hath all things at will wants nothing then most happy are we that are in Christ for he is all in all unto his servants For if we have wounds and would have them cured he is the best Phisician If we be wronged our Master is most just If we be poor our Master is Lord of Heaven and Earth and will not see us want If we fear death he is life If we would go to heaven he is the way If we be in darknesse he is the light If we desire to be nourished he is our meat If learning he is wisdome If strength he is power No marvell then though David had rather be a door-keeper in the house of such a Master than to dwell in the Palaces of Princes Sparke 14. O n Mat. 8.20 sweet Jesus thou wast poor q 1 Cor. 1.5 Luke 1 to make me me rich Thou wast stript stark naked to clothe my nakedness Thou hast spilt thy precious r Mar 15.46 Math. 26.28 blood to make a plaister for my putrified wounds Thou becamest a t Phil. 2. â— servant in earth among sinners that I might be made a King in heaven among Saints Sweet Saviour I honour thee and humbly embrace and kisse the wounds of thy hands and feet I esteem more of thy Crown of thornes thine hysop thy reed thy spunge thy spear thy vineger than of any princely Diadem I am more proud of thy thornes and nailes than of all Pearls and Jewells And I account thy Cross more splendent and glorious than any Princely Crown Teach us O Lord to know thee as we ought for thou art the way the truth and the life without a way men walke not without a truth men know not without a life men live not Be thou therefore still the way for us to walk in the truth for us to stick unto the life for us to hope in For indeed thou art the way inviolable the truth infallible the right way the chiefest truth and the truest life grant we never wander from thee never hope but in thee nor never learn but to know thee our onely Saviour Amen Sect. XV. Of Christ's Passion O Good Lord A Soveraigne Salve why doth not my heart bleed for my sins to think how often my Saviour bled for them First being but young and tender eight dayes old when he was circumcised Secondly when he was condemned and scourged Thirdly when he was nailed and crucified on the Cross And Fourthly after his death his side was pierced and his very body wept water blood for my sins And Fifthly in his bloody sweat when every member wept and melted for me Sparke 15. O dear Saviour make me sorry that I am no more sorrowfull for my sinnes For if my teares were in quantity like the Sea If my sighes were like the smoake of a furnace If my sobs could pierce the hardest Diamonds and my wailings like thunder yet have I still cause to weep sigh sob bewail my manifold sins Good Lord make my mouth to be filled with thy praise my eyes with tears for my offences and my heart to bleed with sorrow for my sins O Lord by thy blood b Mat. 9 3â— heal the bloody issue of my sins and through thy precious blood wash and cleanse me from all my sins c 1 Joh. 1.7 that through the blood d Rev. 7.14 of that tender Lamb the garments of our filthy spotted flesh may be made white through Jesus Christ our Lord Amen Sect. XVI Of the holy Ghost's operation O Blessed comforter it was thy divine will to shew thy self to thy children in four sundry forms for our comfort and instruction First like fire to manifest thy love and power Secondly like a cloud to manifest thy pitty and compassion Thirdly like a Dove to declare thy patience and peaceableness Fourthly like tongues to shew thy wisdome and eloquence For as the
earth and all contained therein to whom gave he all this to his children or them of his house or to his friends nay not onely to them but to all to his enemies to Idolaters to such as make a God of the gift and despise the giver Deut. 4. And shall we shut our compassion from men because they are strangers or wicked or offensive to us seeing our Lord and Master gave all these to all and to his friends and children gave heaven's treasure and his own dearest Jewell which is his Son Christ blessed for ever more offering him also to all though all receive him not Sparke 36. O blessed Lord abundant in thy mercies and most liberall and bountifull in thy gifts Psal 36. Psal 136. Psal 137. Prov. 2. Psal 26. 2 Cor. 2. Ephes 5. 1 Thes 5. Mat. 6. 1 Kings 3. yea more rich in mercy than we can be poor in misery continue thy blessings towards us so far forth as it is for our good make us thankfull for them and forgive us the abuse of them Let us not want those things without the which we cannot serve thee and having them give us grace to use them unto thy glory Give us with thy blessings a liberall heart that by the disposing of those blessings committed to our trust we may be known to be thy thildren Grant this O Blessed Saviour for thy mercy sake Amen Sect. XXXVII Of our Naturall Blindness GReat is our weakness to be lamented The healing of the blind and the corruption of our Judgement to be condemned by which we prefer the shadow of that which seems before the truth of that which is and for a momentary taste of earthly vanities depart from the hope of everlasting joys as being the naturall sons of Adam who lost Paradise for an Apple and the brethren of Esau who sold his birth-right for a mess of pottage whereas we cannot but know that which we dayly hear of thee O Lord and seem to believe that there is no nobility to a new birth in Christ no beauty to the beauty of the daughter of Sion whose beauty is all within no honour to the service of God which is perfect freedome no glory to the Cross of Christ no riches to godliness no treasure to that which is laid up in Heaven no clothing to the righteousnesse of Christ no building to that which is not made with hands no Crowne to that of Immortality no Kingdome to the conquest of our selves no learning to the knowledge of Christ no wisedome to that of the Spirit no joy to a good conscience and no life to a conversation in heaven Sparke 37. O sweet Jesus which art the true light that lighteneth every man that cometh into the world John 1.5 Psal 43. lighten our darknesse we beseech thee Gen. 3.7 And as the eyes of our first Parent 's conscience were opened to see their miseries Psal 36.9 so open the eyes of our understanding that we may behold thy mercies and thee the Lamb of God that takest away the sins of the world John 1.29 give fight O Lord unto our blinde eyes that we may see our weakness Esa 35.5 by our weakness our wickedness and by them both our accursedness Psal 115.5 Let us not be like dumb Idolls thâ—t have mouths and speak not eys and see not or like those accursed ones that in seeing perceive not and in hearing understand not Isa 5. Let us not call light darkness or good evill but put off the scales of our understanding that we may know a difference between good and evill and to ensue the one and esch w the other through him that is able and willing to help us Jesus Christ our Lord Amen Sect. XXXVIII Against Pride O Man The proud's looking-glasse I much wonder why thou shouldest be so proud considering thy beginning which is but dust the unprofitablest earth that is For clay is good for something Sand is good for something Marle Lime Coal Dung and Ashes good for something yea Earth Gravel Stones or Metals good for somthing but dust is profitable for nothing but hurtfull many wayes Yet such is thy Almighty power O Lord that thou hast created light out of darknesse the world out of nothing and man from the dust of the ground which was nothing making him Lord of all creatures and more excellent than all the works of thy hands Sparke 38. Judg. 9 Good Lord there was never proud person that pleased thee Let me that am but dust have no proud thought or high look but with Mary humble my self before thee Luk 1.48 Gen. 18 27. Mat. 15. with Abraham acknowledge my base beginning with the Canaanite woman my unworthiness with David my vileness with Job my misery and with Paul my Infirmity through Jesus Christ our Lord Amen Sect. XXXIX The condition of the godly of in this world is not of the best LOrd The Godli's Lot we finde it true that the state of thy children is not alwayes of the best neither in outward account with the world nor yet in their own feeling For sometimes the spirit of wisdom calls them the afflicted ones Prov. 15.15 Math. 5. Esay 41. Luke 12. Psal 41. sometimes the hungry and thirty sometims little worms as the little worm Jacob sometimes a little flock sometimes the poore and needy And yet they are in account with the Lord for the afflicted shall have a continuall feast the hungry shall be filled with good things the little worm Jacob shall be written upon the palm of thine hand the poor shall be relieved and helped and the needy raised up out of the dust Sparke 39. O Lord let my estate be what thou wilt So I may be thine Rom. 8.35 Luk. 15.29 make me as one of thy hired servants and feed me if not with thy dainties Math. 15.27 yet with the crums that fall from thy table If I must taste of thy vineger and gall for a while in this world yet if in the end I shall be fed at thy table with Manna I shall digest it with a good stomack and look after it with a cheerfull countenance as Daniel did Ròm 8.31 for if thou Lord be with me what can hurt me Sect. XL. Christ's Passion the soul 's best salve GOod Lord Sin 's remedy we have often seen those men that have been delivered from some dangerous and desperate sickness to be ever delighted with the very name of that medicine that helped and healed them prescribing it unto their friends for a chief and present remedy in all such desperate cases and now we have found by the pacification of our own conscience that thy merits are the best medicine for our Sickness Sparke 40. Esay 53.5 O Lord it is by thy stripes that we are healed of all our sins Thy bloud is the onely plaister whereby our wounds may be cured Iohn 1.7 Therefore
Holy Ghost according to his own will Sparke 43. O Holy Father I believe help my unbelief though an Angell from Heaven should teach preach contrary to that which thou by thy holy Prophets Apostles hast taught let me not believe him but hold him accursed Let me never doubt of the verity of the Scripture because it is thy word For as thou hast commanded us not to believe every spirit 2 Ioh. 4. so are we forbidden to doubt of that Truth which proceeds from the spirit of Truth Which cannot deceive nor dissemble Let us therefore never gain-say what thou dost affirm never doubt what thou dost promise never mistrust what thou hast spoken nor call into question what thou hast verified Sect. XLIV How to purchase Heaven LOrd A great purchase thou hast taught us that there be four kindes of men which by foure kind of meanes come to Heaven For some buy it at a rate at it were and bestow all their temporall goods for the better compassing thereof Some catch it by violence and they forsake Father and Mother land and living trade and traffick and all that they have for the possession of it Some steal it and do their good deeds secretly and they are rewarded openly And some are enforced to take it and by continuall affliction made to fall to a liking thereof Spark 44. O dear Saviour thy Kingdome is such a Pearle that all I have cannot buy it For I have nothing to give thee but that which came from thee and is thine own Therefore teach me to obtain thy Kingdom by what means thou wilt so that I may enjoy It. Let not my care be for the things of this world but give me grace first to care for that one thing necessary namely the seeking of thy Kingdome and the righteousness thereof and all temporall blessings shall be added thereto through Jesus Christ our Lord Amen Sect. 45. God in his Glory will be All in All to his Elect. IF we consider the right use of a Temple An End of man's Ministry we shall easily perceive the reason why John having seen the Order and Ornaments of the heavenly Jerusalem saw no Temple therein For Temples here on earth had by the Lord's Commandements but five uses or ends First To offer Sacrifices for sins and burnt offerings as in the time of the Law Secondly to preach the Word as in the time of the Gospell Thirdly To administer the holy Sacraments Fourthly To offer prayers and supplications unto Gdo And Lastly To laud and praise his holy name with Thanksgiving hymnes and spirituall songs But in Heaven there needs no sacrifices for there are no sins committed no preaching of the Word for the word incarnate will manifestly speake unto all men face to face according to the Prophet Jeremiah Ierem. 31. The use of the Sacraments likewise have an end which being but signes and seales of true things themselves serve no longer seeing the things signified by them are perfectly seen and enjoyed And as for Prayers and Praises to God there needs no Temple erected in Heaven to performe them for they shall see God as he is seen openly face to face and he shall be easily heard of all men for he himself will be their Church Temple and House of Devotion Sparke 45 O Gracious Father build the Kingdom of grace here upon earth and hasten the Kingdome of Glory Let us visit thy holy Temple often here upon earth to worship thy name that at last thou mayst bring us to that place that needs no Temple to Jerusalem than is above that is the free Mother of us all where thou art our Temple for ever Let us dwell in thee by faith and love while we are on earth that hereafter we may by an inward reverence and humility be so neerly joyned unto thee that thou mayest be our Temple to sing Hal-le-lu-jah to thy name for ever through Jesus Christ Amen Sect. XLVI Of God's Fore-warnings ALthough the sword of our God is ever ready drawn and burnished Gods Covenant to his people his bow bent his arrowes prepared his Instruments of death made ready his cup mingled yet he seldome powreth down his plagues but a shower of mercy goeth before them to make us the more heedy before his wrath be kindld to consume in 's sore displeasure for peace be to this house was so indeed to every house where th' Apostles entred but if that house was not worthy of peace then war followed and their peace returned back unto them Vertues were wrought at Chorazin and Bethsaida before the woe took hold upon them Noah was sent to the old World Messengers to the Hirers of the Vineyard Moses and Aron to the Aegyptians Prophets from time to time to the Children of Israel John Baptist and Christ and the Apostles together with signes in the host of heaven and tokens in the Elements to Jerusalem before it was destroyed Yea many signs of warning foretold us before that fearfull and finall day of Judgement as the Preaching of the Gospell to all Nations the revealing of Antichrist a departing from the faith corruption in manners great tribulations a deadly security and the conversion of the Jewes which is the last signe and warning we must expect for saving the signe of the Son of man Sparke 46. O Dear Father let thy pitty prevent my punishments and the greatness of thy mercy supply the grievousness of my misery for thou Lord wilt not the death of a sinner but rather he should convert and live Therefore let me know that my salvation is neerer than when I believed Let me not despise the riches of thy bountifulness and patience and long suffering but let me know that thy bountifulness leadeth me to repentance through Jesus Christ our Lord Rom 2.4 Amen Sect. XLVII The Titles of the Damned IF we observe the Scripture Satans bag we shall find that the Devill hath no name given him which the wicked are not branded with For he is called a Lyar so are they He if called a Tempter and they are called Tempters He is called an Enemy and they are called Enemies He is called a Murtherer and they are called Murtherers He is called a Slanderer and they are called Slanderers He is called a Viper and they are called Vipers Thus God will'd that they which should be damned should bear the name of him that is damned Spark 47. O Lord Jesus grant me grace to differ from the damned in nature as the godly do in name Lord do thou give me of thy hid Manna to eat and a white stone and in that stone a new name written which no man knoweth but he that hath it Grant this O Father for our dear Saviour's sake who hath a name above all names to whom all things shall bow in heaven in earth and under earth Amen Sect. XLVIII God is the best Master IT is counted meer folly for any man to serve three
Sparke 99. O dear Father that art one God true and constant in all thy wayes and unchangeable yea a jealous God and a consuming fire grant that I may be true and constant in all my wayes not having a shew of godliness and denying the power thereof let me not become half a christian like Agrippa but grant unto me the love of thy servant John the heart and constancy of David the zeal of Phineas the boldnesse of Peter the resolution of Paul the patience of Job the perseverance of Joseph the courage of Joshua the earnestness of Moses and the constancy and integrity of my Saviour That so I may run the way of thy commandments and count it my meat and drink to do thy will Good Lord make me every day more fervent of thy glory more faithfull in thy service more fearfull of thy judgements and more sorrowful for my sins through Jesus Christ our Lord Amen Sect. C. The death of his Saints is dear in the Lords sight IT is not without great reason that murther is so hatefull unto God that the bloud of the slain crieth in his ears for revenge For if we respect the majesty of Goh himself what can be more odious to him than to see his own image defaced in his own presence or what can be more contemptuous than to kill one in his view which he loved so dear that he gave his onely son to dy for him Nay what more wicked than willfully to deprive him of life of whose life and safety God was so carefull that he numbred the haires of his head least one of them should perish Sparke 100. O Lord keep mee from bloud thirsty men give me grace to love thy image for thy sake and not to destroy that which thy hands have made and for whom thy son died Sect. CI. The beastly Man IT was not for nothing that the Poets did faine men to be transformed into the shape of some beasts for indeed we are worse in some things than beasts The drunkard is more filthy than the swine the murtherer more cruell than the tiger the wordling more subtile than the Serpent the cholerick more angry than the Wasp the covetous more greedy than the Wolf the adulterer more leacherous than the Goat Yea many beasts have exceeded us in vertue but we exceed all in vice Sparke 101. O Lord renew thy image in us and repaire our defects let us not any more with the Swine wallow in the mire of our filthiness Instruct thou us Lord and let us not be like horse and mule that have no understanding but keep us in thy wayes that we walk in thy wisedom through Jesus Christ our Lord Amen Sect. CII The Foolish Worldling and the wise Christian BOth will yield honour to man but diversely the one honoureth him that hath the richest garment and other externall ornaments glorious to the eye the other honours him most who is richly adorned within with wisedom and good qualities For as the world respects the outward man so do the chil of the world And as God respects the inward man so do the children of God For if a man be vain outwardly he is like unto the world and therefore the worldlings will honour him but if he be good inwardly he is like God and therefore the godly will reverence him Spark 102. O Lord grant I may give tribute to whom tribute honour to whom honour worship to whom worship and fear to whom fear is due through Jesus Christ Amen Sect. CIII Faith's feeding Some Creatures by the providence of God are said to live in the air as the Chamaeleon some in the water as Fishes c. some in the earth as Wants and Wormes c. some in the fire as Salamanders c but hope is such a creature that is not tied to any one Element but hath free liberty to comfort and refresh her self upon all these As first upon the aire and light of heaven For how can we see the sun and the rest of those glorious Planets to set and rise every day and not be confirmed in our hope of our own resurrection Secondly upon the fire which we see covered and buried at night in the ashes like our bodies in the dust and in the morning to be kindled with a little dry straw which may assure us that â—hough now the dust doth cover our bodies as it were for a night yet the joyfull morning of our resurrection will come when our bodies shall be quickened and lightened again with the candle of our soul through the power of our Saviour and the fiery force of the holy spirit that we may shine as bright lamps in his house for ever Thirdly is not our hope much sustained by the water which now we see to decrease and ebbe within few hours after to flow and fill again all those empty chinkes and channels which of late were dried up and so to revive them with a new floud and fresh current and shall not those empty veynes of our bodies and those holy arteries of our flesh at the spring-tide of the resurrection by the powerfull blowing of the Southern wind of Gods spirit be filled again with bloud and the spirit of life Fourthly shall we observe the earth to bring forth all things committed unto her and not hope without doubt that she will one day likewise deliver up our bodies committed to their trust and that much more glorious than she doth any corne or seeds which she keep but for lesse than a year Let us not think it therefore unlikely for our vile bodies to be made glorious seeing that fine paper is made of foul rags and pure glasse of the ashes of ferne yea of a heap of dry bones faire and stronge bodies and life given unto them with a blast of winde Ezek. 37 For could God create all things of nothing and can he not work his own will in his own creatures could he fetch light out of darkness as it were out of a grave can he in the womb of a woman of a little bloud frame a body distinguished with so many and sundry instruments as that it may go for a little world and within the space of some few dayes add lifâ— unto it And can he not restore the body that hath been so to what it was Can he quicken us in the womb of our mother and can he not receive us in the womb of the earth Can we fetch fire out of the flint and cannot he fetch us out of the earth 1 King 17.23 2 King 4 32 Acts 9.40 23.10 Could Eliah and Elisha raise the widow of Zareptha the Shunamites children Could Peter raise Tabitha and Paul Eutychus and cannot God their Lord and ours raise both them and us Sparke 103. O dear Father 1 Pet. 1. which by thy great mercy hast regenerated us to a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Chrst from the dead 1 Tim. 3. Rom.
excellent things are spoken of thee thou City of God Psal 87. For thou Lord to shew us the beauty and bravery of that place callest it by the name of a City For whereas it is called in many places a kingdome Mal. 5. to shew the greatnesse and largeness of the place yet left any man by that name of a kingdom might suspect or imagine that there were in heaven many Hils and Deserts and such like waste places where nothing but bruit beasts did inhabite as in Woods and Rocks and such like as in this world therefore though it be called a kingdome yet it is such a kingdome as in all beauty civility pleasantness is like a city where fair Temples Houses Galleries Gardens Orchards and such delights are most plentifull Neither is it termed a city so much for the beauty of the place as for the goodness therein contained and practised For in this city though there be divers Nations of all countries and kindreds yea of Angels Archangels Principalities and Powers an infinite company and an innumerable multitude and in all likelihood more in number than men being of a differing kind from man yet they have all but one law and one language one king and one government being all true citizens having one heart and one mind all guided and governed by the law of perfect charity and because charity is contrary to hatred envy contention discords braules and other sins and vices Therefore that city and place of blisse must needs be void of all anger braule strife envy malice uncharitablenes and such like For there must raign true charity with justice peace and joy in the holy Ghost Rom. 14. neither is peace and amity the onely felicity of this place but perfect liberty is also granted unto the citizens thereof and that in many respects as first a freedome from the servitude of sin For whereas in the earthly Paradise Adam had ability and power not to sin à posse non peccare in this celestiall Paradise they have non posse peccare an impossibility to sin Such shall be their liberty from sin that they shall not be able to sin at all And as they have this freedome and liberty from the servitude of sin so likewise from the servitude of death and mortality For as in the earthly Paradise Adam had non posse non mori a disability not to die so in the city of Heaven he hath an impossibility to die So that not to be able to sin or not to be able to die sheweth a freedome from sin and death And as they are free from sin and death so from all kinde of necessity For here men have need to eat drink sleep sit stand and walk sometimes but in Heaven the Saints of God have no such need for they need nothing but enjoy the glorious liberties of the sons of God Rom. 8. How sweet this liberty is the poor the rich and the hollest men in the world may quickly know and perceive For what pains do poor take yea how do they toile and moile cark and care trot and drudge for a little meat drink and cloathing which they must have to supply their bodily wants and what great thanks do they heartily give unto those that supply their present want free them from this painfull servitude of necessity Yea not onely poore men feele the misery of this but holy and sanctified persons are much molested and cumbred with this servitude of necessity and think it a grievous burden to be bound to care for their own bodies necessary provision accounting the time they spend about such business in a manner lost and ill spent or at least that this care in providing is a hinderance to them from better imployments in holy businesses in so much that many Christians in the time of the Apostles were so busied and delighted in holy meditations Euseb lib. 2 Hist c. 15. that commonly they never took leisure to feed their bodies till after the suns going down yea some forgetting to take meat and for three days together Mar. 8. and some for whole weeks This bondage of necessity and corporall need was so heavy unto some of them that no doubt it made them cry out with St. Paul Oh wretched man that I am Rom. 7. who shall deliver me from this body of death And though the rich citizens of this world seem to be little troubled with this bondage of necessity because their meat and drink is sweetly prepared for them their rest in soft beds a kinde of contented quietness and Sabbaoth of rest yet if they exceed never so little in the use or abuse of any of these they fill their bodies with sundry and perhaps incureable diseases for the expelling of which they shall be fain carefully to seek and unwillingly to take many bitter potions and to endure many griping pains yea they shall be driven wiâ—l they nill they either to be at debate with God and to undergo his wrath or else to fight with their fleshly concupiscence for temperance and sobriety which strife is often both dolorous and dangerous to the patient Therefore both rich and poore wicked and godly are troubled and vexed in the city of the world with this servitude of necessity but the children of God in the city of God are freed from the servitude of all this misery For they cark not toil not eat not drink not sleep not surfeit not sicken not but have perfect liberty from the bondage of sinne of death of necessity and which is more from the law because the law is not given to the just but to the unjust and none are more just than the blessed Saints which are justified in the blood of the lamb and cloathed with his white unspotted robe being confirmed in true justice and unable to do injustly and though the just that live in this world have no threatning and permanent law to which they are bound because willingly and with a glad heart they obey unto the precept of God without law or compulsion yet they have a directing law and rule of godliness given them of God binding them to do what the law commandeth and to leave undone what it forbiddeth but the Saints in heaven which enjoy that glorious liberty of the sons of God need no law or direction who in the word and Son of God behold all righteousnesse and are so confirmed in perfect love that they cannot decline from the will of their God Thus do they live and love in that holy place as crowned Kings and free Citizens in the heavenly Jerusalem being freed from the bondage of sin death necessity and the law attending the service of the everlasting God which is true liberty and perfect freedome forever Sparke 6. O Gracious God bring me unto thy strong City d Psal 40. say unto me in the worthiness of thy son thou good and faithfull servant enter into thy Lords joy e