then they will begin this No man saith I will learn my trade when I am old It is imprudence for one to begin to work for Heaven when he is past his labour There is a night of sickness and death coming and our Saviour saith The night cometh when none can work Joh. 9. 4. Sure a man can put forth but little violence for Heaven when old age and old sins are upon him Besides how unworthy and dis-ingenuous is it to give the Devil the flower of youth and God the dâ—…egs of old age Therefore God rejected Cain's Sacrifice because it was stale before he brought it Gen. 4. 2. There is little hope of their salvation who are never violent for Heaven till their disease grows violent 6. It reproves those that are so far from using this violence for Heaven that they deride it These are your zealous ones 2 Pet. 3. 3. In the last daies there shall be scoffers Holy walking is become the object of derision Psal. 69. 12. I am become the song of the drunkards This shews a vile heart There are some who though thy have no goodness themselves yet honour them that are good Herod reverenced John Baptist. But what Devils are they who scoff at goodness and reproach others for doing that which God commands This age produceth such as sit in the chair of scorners and throw their squibs at Religion In Bohemia when some of the Martyrs were the next day to suffer they comforted themselves with this that this was their last Supper and to morrow they should feast with Christ in Heaven a Papist standing by asked them in a jear if Christ had any Cooks in Heaven to dress their Supper Oh take heed of such an Ishmael-spirit â—…t is a sign of a man given over to the Devil God scorneth the scorner Prov. 3. 34. And sure he shall never live with God whose company God scorns 7. It reproves them who instead of taking Heaven by force keep it off by force as if they were afraid of being happy or as if a Crown of glory would hurt them Such are 1. The ignorant who shut their eyes against the light and refuse to be taught the way to Heaven Hosea 4. 6. Thou hast rejected Knowledge The Hebrew word signifies to reject with disdain As I have read of a Scotch Bishop who thanked God he never knew what the Old and New Testament was I wonder where that Bishop took his text 2. The prophane who hate to be admonished and had rather die than reform Amos 5. 10. They hate him that rebuketh in the gate These keep off Heaven by force Such were those Acts 13. 46. Seeing you put away the Word from you The Greek word may be rendred seeing you shuff it away with your shoulders As if a sick â—…n should bolt out the Physician lest he should cure him Job 21. 14. Who say unto the Almighty depart from us God is loth to bâ—… gone he woes and beseecheth sinners to accept of terms of mercy he is loth to be gone but sinners will have him gone They say to him Depart May not we say to these quis effascinavit who hath bewitched you What madness beyond Hyperbole is this that you should not only forsake mercy but fight against it as if there were danger in going to Heaven These who put away salvation from them are felo de se they do wilfully perish they would not hear of any thing that should save them Were it not a sad Epitaph to be written upon a man's Tomb-stone Here lies one that murdered himself This is the condition of desperate sinners they keep off Heaven by force they are self-murderers Therefore God writes their Epitaph upon their grave Hosea 13. 9. O Israel thou hast destroyed thy self 3. Let us then examine whether we put forth this holy violence for Heaven What is an empty Profession without this like a Lamp without Oyl Let us all ask our selves What violence do we use for Heaven 1. Do we strive with our hearts to get them into an holy frame How did David awaken all the powers of his soul to serve God Psal. 57. 8. I my self will awake early The heart is like a Bell that is a long while a raising 2. Do we set time apart to call our selves to an account and try our evidences for Heaven Psal. 77. 6. My Spirit made diligent search Do we take our hearts as a Watch all in pieces to see what is amiss and mend it Are we curiously inquisâ—…ive into the state of our souls Are we afraid of painted grace as of painted happiness 3. Do we use violence in prayer Is there fire in our Sacrifice Doth the wind of the Spirit filling our sails cause groans unutterable Rom. 8. 26. Do we pray in the morning as if we were to die at night 4. Do we thirst for the living God Are our souls big with holy desires Psal. 73. 25. There is none upon earth my soul desires besides thee Do we desire holiness as well as Heaven Do we desire as much to look like Christ as to live with Christ Is our desire constant Is this spiritual pulse ever beating 5. Are we skilled in self denial Can we deny our ease our aimes our interest Can we cross our own will to fulfill God's Can we behead our beloved sin To pluck out the right eye requires violence 6. Are we lovers of God It is not how much we do but how much we love Doth love command the â—…astle of our hearts Doth Christ's beauty and sweetness constrain us 2 Cor. 5. 14. Do we love God more than we fear Hell 7. Do we keep our spiritual watch do we set spies in every place watching our thoughts our eyes our tongues When we have prayed against sin do we watch against temptation The Jews having sealed the stone of Christ's Sepulchre seâ—…t a watch Matth. 27. 66. After we have been at the Word or Sacrament that sealing Ordinance do we set a watch 8. Do we press after further degrees of sanctity Phil. 3. 13. Reaching forth unto those things which are before A good Christian is a wonder he is the most contented yet the least satisfied he is contented with a little of the world but not satisfied with a little grace he would still have more Faith and be anointed with fresh Oyl Paul desired to attain unto the resurrection of the dead Phil. 3. 11. that is he endeavoured if possible to arrive at such a measure of grace as the Saints shall have at the Resurrection 9. Is there an holy emulation in us do we labour to out-shine others in Religion To be more eminent for love and good works 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Do we something which is singular Matth. 5. 47. What do you more than others 10. Are we got above the world though we walk on Earth do we trade in Heaven Can we say as David Psal. 139. 17. I am
lock up our selves at least once a day that we may meditate upon Glory 1. Meditation makes the Word preached to profit it works it upon the Conscience As the Bee sucks the flower so by meditation we suck out the sweetness of a Truth It is not the receiving of meat into the mouth but the digesting of it makes it nutritive So it is not the receiving the most excellent truths in at the ear that nourisheth our souls but the digesting them by Meditation Wine poured into a sieve runâ—… out Many truths are lost because Ministers pour this Wine into sieves either into leaking Memories or feathery minds Meditation is like a soaking rain that goes to the root of a Tree and makes it bring forth fruit 2. Holy meditation quickens the affections Psal. 119. 97. O how I love thy Law It is my meditation all the day The reason our affections are so cold to heavenly things is because we do not warm them at the fire of holy meditation As the musing on amorous objects makes the fire of lust burn the musing on injuries makes the fire of revenge burn so meditating on the transcendent beauties of Christ would make our love to Christ flame forth 3. Meditation hath a transforming powâ—… in it The hearing of the Word may affect us but the meditating of it doth transform us Meditation stamps the impression of Divine Truths upon our hearts By meditating of God's holiness we grow holy As Jacob's Cattel by looking on the Rods conceived like the Rods so while by meditation we look upon God's purity we are changed into his likeness and are made partakers of his Divine Nature 4. Meditation produceth Reformation Psal. 119. 59. I thought on my wayes and turned my feet unto thy Testimonies Did but people meditate on the damnableness of sin did they but think when they meddle with it there is a Rope at the end of it which will hang them eternally in Hell they would break off a course of sinning and become new Creatures Let all this perswade to holy meditation I dare be bold to say if men would spend but one quarter of an hour every day in contemplating heavenly objects it would leave a mighty impression upon them and through the blessing of God might prove the beginning of an happy conversion But how shall we do to meditate Get a love to spiritual things We usually meditate on those things which we love The voluptuous man can muse on his pleasures the covetous man on his bags of gold Did we love heavenly things we should meditate more on them Many say they cannot meditate because they want memory but is it not rather because they want affection Did they love the things of God they would make them their continual study and meditation 5. The fifth Duty wherein we are to offer violence to our selves is Self-examination a duty of great importance It is a parlying with ones own heart Psalm 77. 7. I commune with my own heart David did put interrogatories to himself Self-examination is the setting up a Court in Conscience and keeping a Register there that by a strict scrutiny a man may know how things stand between God and his own Soul Self-examination is a spiritual Inquisition a bringing ones self to trial A good Christian doth as it were begin the day of Judgement here in his own Soul Self-searching is an Heart-Anatomy As a Chirurgion when he makes a Dissection in the Body discovers the intestina the inward parts the Heart Liver Arteries so a Christian anatomizeth himself he searcheth what is flesh and what is spirit what is sin and what grace Psal. 77. 7. My spirit made diligent search As the Woman in the Gospel did light a Candle and search for her lost Groat Luke 15. 8. So Conscience is the Candle of the Lord Prov. 20. 27. A Christian by the Light of this Candle must search his Soul if he can find any grace there The Rule by which a Christian must try himself is the Word of God Phancy and Opinion are false Rules to go by We must judge of our spiritual condition by the Canon of Scripture This David calls a Lamp unto his feet Psalm 119. 105. Let the Word be the Umpire to decide the controversie whether we have grace or no. We judge of colours by the Sun So we must judge of the estate of our souls by the light of Scripture Self-examination is a great Duty incumbent it requires self-excitation it cannot possibly be done without offering violence to our selves 1. Because the duty in it self is difficult 1. It is act us reflexivus a work of self-reflection it lies most with the heart 'T is hard to look inward External acts of Religion are facil to lift up the eye to Heaven to bow the Knee to read a prayer this requires no more labour than for a Papist to tell over his beads but to examine a mans self to turn in upon his own Soul to take the Heart as a Watch all in pieces and see what is defective this is not easie Reflexive acts are hardest The eye can see every thing but it self It is easie to spy the faults of others but hard to find out our own 2. Examination of a mans self is difficult because of self-love As ignorance blinds so self-love flatters Every man is ready to think the best of himself What Solomon saith of love to our neighbour is most true of self-love iâ—… hides a multitude of evil Prov. 10. 12. A man looking upon himself in Philautiae speculo in the glass of self-self-love his vertues appear greater than they are and his sins lesser self-Self-love makes one rather excuse what is amiss than examine it 2. As examination is in it self difficult so it is a work which we are very hardly brought to Thâ—…t which causeth a back wardness to self-examination is 1. Consciousness of guilt Sin clamours inwardly and men are loth to look into their hearts lest they should find that which should trouble them It is little pleasure to read the Hand-writing on the wall of conscience Many Christians are like trades-men that are sinking in their Estates they are loth to look over their Books or cast up their accounts lest they should find their Estates low So they are loth to look into their guilty hearts lest they should find something there which should affright them as Moses was affrighted at the sight of the Rod turned into a Serpent 2. Men are hardly brought to this duty because of foolish presumptuous hopes they fancy their estate to bâ—… good and while they weigh themselves in the Ballance of presumption they pass for currant Many take their salvation on trust The foolish Vâ—…gins thought they had had Oyl in their lamps as well as the wise Mat. 25. Some are not sure of their salvation but secure If one were to buy a piece of Land he would not take it upon trust but examine the title
for Heaven thou wilt lose all thy pleasures ask him what pleasures are they Satan such as please only the senses they do not delight the mind they do not comfort the conscience they are such delights wherein the bruit creatures do exceed me 3. These sugred pleasures in sin the Scripture saith are but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for a season Heb. 11. 25. Like fire in straw which makes a blaze but is presently out 1 Joh. 2. 17. The world passeth away and the lusts thereof It passeth away swiftly as a ship under sail Worldly pleasures perish in the using like a flying shadow or flash of lightning and are these to be preferred before an eternal weight of glory 4. The present sweetness which is in fin will turn to bitterness at last Like the Book the Prophet eat Ezek. 3. 3. Sweet in the mouth but bitter in the belly Hony is sweet but it turns to choler Sin is a sweet poison it delights the palate but torments the bowels When once the finner's eyes come to be opened at death and he feels some sparks of God's wrath in his conscience then he will cry out for horrour and be ready to lay violent hands upon himself We may say of the pleasures of sin as Solomon of wine Prov. 23. 32. Look not on the wine when it is red when it shews its colour in the glass afterwards it bites like a Serpent So look not on the smiling pleasures of sin be not delighted with its beauty but affrighted with its sting Do the damned in Hell feel any pleasure now in their sins Hath their cup of wrath one drop of hony in it Oh remember after the golden Crowns and womens hair come the Lions teeth Rev. 9. 8. Thus I have answered the first part of the Objection I shall lose all my pleasures in sin If I put forth this violence in Religion I shall exchange my delight for labour I must dig a way through the Rock and while I work I must weep Resp. Though you must use violence yet it is a sweet violence it is a labour turned into delight Psal. 138. 5. They shall sing in the waies of the Lord. To send out faith as a spy to view the heavenly Canaan and pluck a bunch of Grapes there what delight is here Rom. 15. 13. Joy in believing To love God in whom all excellencies are combined how sweet is it To love beauty is delightful To walk among the promises as among beds of spices and taste the fruit oh how pleasant The labour of a Christian brings peace of conscience and joy in the Holy Ghost Sed juvat ipse labor And whereas it is said that this holy violence takes away our joy and while we work we must weep I answer a Christian would not be without these tears The tears of a Saint saith Bernard have more true joy in them than all worldly delight The Oyl of joy is for mourners Isa. 61. 3. 4. I would use this violence for Heaven but I shall expose my self to the censure and scorn of others They will wonder to see me so altered and think it nothing but a religious phrensie Consider who reproach thee they are the wicked such as if Christ were alive on earth would reproach him They are blinded by the God of the world 2 Cor. 4. 4. It is as if a blind man should reproach a beautifull face 2. What do they reproach thee for 't is for offering violence for Heaven Is it a disgrace to be labouring for a Kingdom Tell them thou art doing the work that God hath set thee about Better they should reproach thee for working in the Vineyard than God damn thee for not working 3. Jesus Christ was reproached for thy sake Heb. 12. 2. He endured the shame of the Cross and wilt not thou be contented to bear reproaches for him These are but the chips of the Cross which are rather to be despised than laid to heart If I use this holy violence and turn religious then I shall lose such yearly profits which my sin hath brought in As Amaziah said What shall I do for the hundred Talents 2 Chron. 25. 9. Is there any profit in sin did ever any one thrive upon that Trade by that time you have cast up the reckoning you will find but little profit 1. By the incomes that sin brings in thou treasurest up vengeance Rom. 2. 5. While thou puttest unjust gain in thy bag God puts wrath in his viol and will you call this profit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Whatever mony a man gets in a sinful way he must pay interest for it in hell 2. That cannot be for thy profit which makes thee come off a loser at last Thou losest Heaven and thy soul and what can countervail this loss What is a man profited if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul Matth. 16. 26. God saith Chrysostom hath given a man two eyes if he lose one he hath another but he hath but one soul and if that be lost he is undone for ever But I have so much business in the world that I can find no time for this holy violence As the King of Macedon said when they presented him with a book treating of Happiness 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I am not at leisure See the folly of of this objection What is the main business of life but looking after the soul and for men to say they are so immersed in the world that they cannot mind their souls is most absurd and irrational This is to make the greater give way to the lesse As if an Husbandman should say he is so busie in angling or looking after his Bees that he hath no time to plow or sow What is his occupation but plowing Such a madness is it to hear men say they are so taken up about the world that they have no time for their souls Could God find time to think of thy salvation could Jesus Christ find time to come into the world and be here above thirty years in carrying on this great design of thy Redemption and canst thou find no time to look after it Is the getting a little mony that which obstructs this violence for Heaven Thy mony perish with thee Canst thou find time for thy body time to eat and sleep and not find time for thy soul canst thou find time to employ about thy recreation and no time to employ about thy salvation canst thou find time for idle visits and no time to visit the Throne of Grace Oh take heed thou goest not to Hell in the croud of worldly business Joshua who was a Commander of an Army yet his work as a Souldier was not to hinder his work as a Christian he must pray as well as fight and take the Book of the Law in his hand as well as the Sword Josh. 1. 8. Thou whosoever thou art that makest this
throw it away that thou maist the faster run to the heavenly Kingdom If you would be violent for Heaven take heed of despondency of spirit Be serious but chearfull He whose spirit is pressed down with sadness is unfit to go about his work An unchearful heart is unfit to pray or praise God When the strings of a Lute are wet it will not put forth any sweet harmony Such as go drooping under fears and discouragements cannot be violent in Religion When a souldier faints in the field he soon le ts fall his sword David chides himself out of his melancholy Psal. 43. 5. Why art thou cast down O my soul Why art thou disquieted within me hope yet in God A sad heart makes a dull action We use the Drum and Trumpet in Battel that the noise of the Trumpet may excite and quicken the souldiers spirits and make them fight more vigorously Chearfulness is like musick in battel it excites a Christian's spirits and makes him vegete and lively in duty What is done with cherfulness is done with delight and the soul flies most swiftly to Heaven upon the wing of delight If you would be violent for Heaven take heed of a supine lazy temper A slothful Christian is like a fearful souldier that hath a good mind to the plunder but is loth to storm the Castle So he would fain have Heaven but is loth to take it by storm enerves animos odisse virtus solet Sloth is the soul's sleep Many instead of wo king out of salvation sleep away salvation Such as will not labour must be put at last to beg they must beg as Dives for one drop of water An idle man saith Soâ—…omon putâ—… his hand in his bosom Prov. 19. 24. He should have his hand to the pâ—…ough and he puts it in his bosom God never made Heaven an hive for drones Sloth is a disease apâ—… to grow upon men shake it off A ship that is a slug is a prey to the Pirate A slugish soul is a prey to Satan When the Crocodile sleeps with his mouth open the Indian Rat gets into his belly and eats his entrails While men are asleep in sloth the Devil enters and devours them Take heed of consulting with flesh and blood As good consult with the Devil as the flesh The flesh is a bosomtraitor An enemy within the walls is worst The flesh cries out there is a Lion in the way The flesh will bid thee spare thy self as Peter did Christ Obe not so violent for Heaven spare thy self The flesh saith as Judas What needs all this waste So what needs all this praying and wrestling why dost thou waste thy strength what needs all this waste The flesh cries out for ease it is loth to put its neck under Christ's yoak The flesh is for pleasure it had rather be gaming than running the heavenly Race There is a description of fleshly pleasures Amos 6. 4 5 6. That lie upon beds of Ivory and stretch themselves upon their Couches that chaunt to the sound of the Viol that drink Wine in bowls and anoint themselves with the chief ointments These are the delights of the flâ—…sh Such an one was he spoken of in Beard 's Theatre that did strive to please all his five senses at once He did bespeak a room richly hung with fair Pictures he had the most delicious musick he had all the choise Aromaticks and Perfumes he had all the Candies and curious Preserves of the Confectioner he was lodged in the bed with a beautiful Curtisan Thus did he indulge the flesh and swore that he would spend all his estate to live one week like a God though he were sure to be damned in Hell the next day O take heed of holding intelligence with the flesh The flesh is a bad Counseller St. Paul would not confer with flesh and blood Gal. 1. 16. The flesh is a sworn enemy to this holy violence Rom 8. 13. If ye live after the flesh ye shall die You have taken an oath in Baptism to renounce the flesh Take heed of listning to the voice of such carnal friends as would call you off from this blessed violence Fire when in Snow will soon lose its heat and by degrees go out Among bad company you will soon lose your heat for Religion The company of the wicked will sooner cool you than your company will heat them Vinegar will sooner sowre the Wine than the Wine will sweeten the Vinegar How often do carnal friends the same to our souls as infected persons do to our bodies convey the Plague The wicked are still disswading us from this violence they will say it is preciseness and singularity As Christ's friends laid hold on him when he was going to preach Mark 3. 21. They went out to lay hold on him for they said he is beside himself Such as are unacquainted with the spirituality and sweetness of Religion judge all zeal phrensie and therefore will lay hold upon us to hinder us in this sacred violence When we are earnest suitors to Piety our carnal friends will raise some ill report of it and so endeavour to break the match Galeaciâ—…s Marquess of Vico being resolved for Heaven what a block in his way did he find his carnal Relations and what a do â—…ad he to break through that impediment Take heed of a soare in your bosom This is one of the Devil 's great subtilties to hinder us from Religion by our nearest Relations and so to shoot us with our own rib He tempted Adam by his wife Gen. 3. 6. Who would have suspected the Devil there He handed over a temptation to Job by his wife Job 2â—…9 Dost thou still retain thine integrity What notwithstanding all these disasters that have befallen thee dost thou still pray and serve God Throw osf his livery Curse God and die Thus would the Devil have cooled Job's violence for Heaven but the shield of his faith quenched this siery dart Spira's friends stood in his way to Heaven for advising with them about Luther's Doctrine they perswaded him to recant and so openly abjuring his former faith he felt an Hell in his conscience Take heed of such tempters resolve to hold on your violence for Heaven though your carnal friends disswade you 'T is better to go to Heaven with their haâ—…red than to Hell with their love It was a saying of St. Hierom If my Paâ—…ents should peâ—…swade me to deny Christ if my Mother should shew me her breasts that gave me suck if my wife should go to charme me with her embraces I would forsake all and fly to Christ. If our dearest friends alive would lie in our way to Heaven we must either leap over them or tread upon them Take heed of setting up your stay in the lowest pitch of grace He that hath the least grace may have motion but not violence It is a pitiful thing to be contented with just so much