of Gospel-worship I confess it is a sad sight to see a bad man do that which is bad or a wicked man do that which is wicked yet I say it is a sadder sight to see a bad man continuing in his state having no spiritual principles to go on doing good God often declares himself very highly against such as do good themselves continuing evil The good that you do will not profit you 't will not advantage you 't will be no plea at the Great Day You may have Iehu's Penny a deliverance from an outward Judgment but there is no deliverance from Wrath and Eternal Judgment Thus those that are not far from Heaven shall never come there yet I would exhort the worst of men to do good though they please not God in doing it yet they displease him in not doing it And thus faln man if he neglect to do good sins If he doth good he spoils it in the doing of it Hence we see the necessity of regeneration we are not born with a pure Heart A pure Heart a good Conscience Faith unfeigned are the Issues of the new birth Education cannot make the Heart pure it must be Revelation which makes the Heart pure Education may change a mans Course but it cannot change his Nature that 's only done by Regeneration He must be good before he can do good spiritually God works us before we can work for him he makes us good before we can do good We by Union to Jesus Christ come to have a spiritual Principle to carry us out in the doing of all good works Here 's your way you must be Gods workmanship before you can do Gods works As we are grafted into Christ he changes the Branch Then all your Fruits are sweet Fruits and pleasant Fruits they are well-tasted Why It is done first from a Principle of life in Christ. And secondly It is done from a Principle of love unto Christ. The Heart of man is the greatest cheat in the world The Heart of man received such a crack in the fall that there is no mending of it It must be new made The Heart is made wholly new by the power of God Meritoriously by the Blood of Christ that cleansing Blood it is made pure by the Spirit of Christ the Spirit is a purifier The Word of God is a purifier Instrumentally Applicatorily the Heart is made pure by Faith When the command of every sin When the custom and practice of every sin And when the love of every sin is gone such a Heart is free from these powers that Soul is Evangelically pure He that indeed hath this pure Heart is really sensible that once his Heart was very impure And also is as sensible that to this day there remains much impurity in his Heart He also that hath a pure Heart loves every thing that is pure and the more pure it is the more he loves it A pure Heart will be full of pure thoughts a pure Heart converses with God in purity of thoughts Whereas the wicked they have not the Pure God nor the Holy God in all their thoughts A pure Heart is full of pure desires he desires to be more good to be better he desires to know more of God and to honour God more he desires to enjoy God more he hungers and thirsts after God A pure Heart hath pure purposes and pure resolves and by resolves the Heart is more settled and fixt Resolution is the establishment of the Soul He resolves let the Winds blow high or low to cleave to Christ. There is a purpose in a pure Heart against all that 's evil He will neither defile his Heart nor his Life and these purposes he carries quite thorough all unto the end A pure Heart hath pure ends in all it doth a holy aim a single eye not self-profit not self-applause not pleasure but he purposes the profit of many that they may be saved Weigh it well whether you have this pure Heart The hardest thing that we have to do and the greatest kindness which God can do to us is to cleanse our Hearts Our hearts are the filthiest part of us If there be impurity in the hand there 's much more in the Heart Till the Heart be made pure nothing can be pure God is a friend indeed to those who have a pure Heart Keep pure Hearts with all diligence for the Devil comes a Heart-stealing continually unless you wash it weed it sweep it Cobwebs will grow Spiders will creep in they will be weaving their Webs To the impure Heart there is nothing pure Holy Ordinances honest Callings great Possessions all these to an impure Heart are not pure The pure in Heart are onely fit for Communion with God they onely are fit to call upon God who have a pure Heart Onely the pure in Heart shall see and enjoy God Impure eyes cannot behold God they cannot bear the Glory the excellence of his Presence THE HEART ANATOMIZED THe wicked search out Iniquities they accomplish a diligent search the inward thoughts of their Hearts are deep The Heart is commonly hard Harden not your Hearts as in the provocation in the day of Temptation in the Wilderness The heart of a godly man may be said to be perfect for David saith of himself I will behave my self wisely in a perfect way Oh when wilt thou come unto me I will walk within my house with a perfect heart The heart is said to be sound A sound heart is the life of the flesh but envy the rottenness of the bones The heart is sometimes merry sometimes melancholy A merry heart maketh a cheerful countenance but by sorrow of the heart the spirit is broken The heart hath many devices Nevertheless the Counsel of the Lord that shall stand The heart of an Holy man may be said to be pure He that loveth pureness of heart or hath grace in his lips the King shall be his friend The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked Who can know it The heart is said to be stony I will give them one heart saith the Lord and I will put a new spirit within you and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh and I will give them an heart of flesh The heart is the chiefest Jewel which the Lord requires of a Christian My Son give me thine heart and let thine eyes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 my Laws He that keepeth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the Lord shall be 〈…〉 Law of his God is in his 〈…〉 none of his steps shall side Blessed are the undefiled in the way who walk in the Law of the Lord. Blessed are they that keep his Testimonies and that seek him with the whole heart Mr. Caryl's DIVINE SENTENCES OR A GUIDE TO An HOLY LIFE HE prepareth a fit Habitation for the Lord whose Reason is neither deceived nor Will perverted nor Memory defiled Happy is that Soul
Saints Memorials OR Words fitly spoken Like Apples of Gold in Pictures of Silver Being A COLLECTION OF Divine SENTENCES Written and Delivered By those late Reverend and Eminent Ministers of the Gospel Mr. EDMUND CALAMY Mr. JOSEPH CARYL Mr. RALPH VENNING Mr. JAMES JANEWAY Heb. 11.4 Who being dead yet speak Rev. 14.13 Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord they rest from their labours and their works do follow them LONDON Printed in the Year 1674. To all the SAINTS BELOVED OF GOD And Sanctified through OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST Grace and Peace be Multiplied THe dispensations of God though never so seemingly strange towards his people have always been propitious and favourable according to that of the Apostle he maketh all things work together for good to those that love him and are called according to his purpose How great love should we then have for them who love God and are so beloved of him To the Reader My Friends many there are whose beginning is better than their latter end but blessed are they who dye in the Lord who have an Interest in the Everlasting Covenant and in the sure mercies of David though God may visit their Iniquities with a Rod and their Transgressions with Stripes yet he will never suffer his loving kindness to depart Who would then depart from that God who sticks so close to his If we leave him whither shall we go surely to broken Cisterns that hold no water Oh then as you love your pretious and immortal Souls endeavour close Vnion and strict Communion with him As you are chosen by him so let him be your choyce Since he first loved you let it not be lost He cast his eye upon us when we were in our Blood and no eye pittied us and he spread his Skirt over us and then was the time of love Ah then if he loved us so unlovely what estimation should we have of him who is love it self Consider what he hath done for you in giving life health and above all his beloved Son to dye for you a most ignominious death that you through him migh have everlasting life That you may know how to value this transcendent love of God weigh well the condition you were at that time in lamentably helpless Dead in Trespasses and Sins without God and without Christ in the world strangers to the Commonwealth of Israel and to the Promises This we were in the general but what were we as to our best our Righteousness so bad that nothing could be worse no better than menstruous Cloaths and filthy Rags What Humiliation what Lamentation doth our condition call for Little reason to walk so haughtily as we do and with the Pharisee to say Stand farther off I am holier than thou For shame then come with humble Job in his prostrate State Abhor your selves and repent in dust and ashes or with the Prophet cry out Wo is me I am undone a man of unclean lips mine eyes have seen the King the Lord of hosts A dreadful sight undoubtedly that should be so astonishing to one whom God honoured in making use of his blood for a Testimony of his truth how much more must it needs be to us whose lives are so unclean that there is no soundness in us What necessity is there then of finding out a way to look God in the face there is but one and Blessed and for ever Blessed be his gratious Name for the Revelation of it and that is Jesus Christ the onely Mediator betwixt God and Man What had become of us had he not interposed betwixt the wrath of an incensed Majesty and sinful Creatures Vengeance had been speedily Executed and all that long-suffering and patience which is now exercised to us-ward had been prevented we should not have had line upon line precept upon precept here a little and there a little his faithful Ministers instructing exhorting and dehorting if hereby the torrent of his Ire had not been stopt How highly then ought we to prize this Talent and to let no day nor time of it pass without doing him some service who hath been so benigne and merciful to us If men do kindnesses to ingenuous minds what thoughtfulness is there of recompence in so much that they declare it to all their friends and enquire and advise what returns will best suit the nature of their received friendships How much more should we with David declare what God hath done for us and always walk in thankfulness towards him For this the grace of God teacheth us to deny all ungodliness and worldly lusts and to live righteously and soberly in this present evil world Not to turn wanton Libertines saying God is good and merciful and hath sent his Son to dye in our stead nothing remaining for us to do but like the children of the old world to eat and to drink and to rise up to play This bespeaks men to be of that number of whom Jude in his general Epistle makes mention ordained of old to this condemnation denying the onely Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ. How indeed can we more disown him than by casting his laws behinde our backs and saying as those wicked wretches did We will not have this man to reign over us although he was Lord of all and told them his yoak was easie and his burthen light and that his ways were ways of pleasantness and his paths were peace Think not that these things were written for their instruction onely but ours also on whom the ends of the world are come But lest I should burden you with too tedious an Epistle I will rather invite you to feed on those wholesome remains which you will finde collected from the Writings of those Eminent and Renowned men prefixt in the Title of this Miscelany whose worth should I undertake to display it would prove an Eclipse coming short of your Estimations and those choice and elaborate Works which will eternize their Memories to all gratious hearts The best use we can make of their loss is to study diligently what they once designed for our benefit and to be provoked by their good conversation to emulation I beseech you therefore let not their nor my poor Labours in gathering these crums from their Tables be lost but that we may have cause to rejoyce in this the Testimony of our Conscience that in Simplicity and Godly Sincerity we have had our conversations in the World as wisheth Your Fellow-Servant in the Kingdom of Grace Mr. EDMVND CALAMY HIS EXHORTATIONS TO The Service of the Lord. SUch are the minds of most men whom either the cares of this world hath distracted or the false pleasures thereof deluded that the meditations of Heaven are far from them and they rarely think of those dangers that attend them or what damage they are like to suffer by despising or slighting those pretious Opportunities that might lead to their Salvation to whom our Saviours saying when speaking to Martha may be
While we below groan at our Ichabod Vnder his burned Church his body lies But shall it self a Glorious Temple rise May his kinde Flock when a new Church they make Call it St. Edmundsbury for his sake Mr. Caryls PALM-TREE CHRISTIAN THe wicked and the righteous those two divide the world The wicked flourish as the grass they spring but they shall spring but like grass which quickly withers The Righteous shall flourish but how not like the grass but like the Palm-tree He shall grow like a Cedar in Lebanon The Palm-tree is an excellent Tree and often the praises of God are resembled by it This Tree grows in the purest soil It will not grow in filthy places in dungy places but it loves a very pure soil The Righteous are planted in Christ they grow in Christ and they grow in the Church they are planted in the House of God not in the World the unclean polluted World which lies in wickedness and smells like a Dung-hill The Palm-Trees Branches grow all upward there 's none grow out of the side as other Trees The Righteous their affections are set upon things above they grow up Heaven-ward They do not shoot out their Branches this way or that way to the World The Palm-Tree is always green green in Winter as well as Summer It doth not cast its Leaf nor fade The Righteous hold-up their Profession in Summers Prosperity and in the very Winter of Adversity The Palm-Tree it is a Tree that is full of Fruit good Fruit pleasant Fruit sweet Fruit a kind of cordial Fruit. The Righteous have the Green of Profession and the fruitfulness of their conversation and 't is pleasant Fruit Fruits of Righteousness Fruits of Faith Fruits of Love and the Fruits of the Spirit The Palm-Tree grows most when it is most press'd down by weights When the World would crush the Righteous and press them down to the Earth yea press them down to Hell yet they grow up more and more Pharaoh puts weights of very heavy oppression upon Israel but they multiplied and grew not onely in company but also in their lives The good Seed falling upon good Ground brought forth in some an hundred-fold They fall into trouble God helps them up they are purged and made white the fire shall not burn but refine them Afflictions strengthen Tribulation works Patience and then Patience Experience and Experience Hope Affliction will make us the fitter for Heaven Grace improved is very near to Glory The weights upon the Righteous do wean them from the World Now when the Soul is delivered from this world this evil world it must needs flourish up to the other world The School of the Cross is the School of Light Which discovers the worlds vanity baseness and wickedness And lets us see more of Gods mind Out of the dark of affliction there comes a spiritual light We see the worth of Grace and of an Interest in Christ. And the excellencie of Jesus Christ himself as of an interest in so of the person of Christ how glorious how choice This knowledge is not notional a Brain-knowledge but experimental These weights draw them to converse more at home to be acquainted more with their own bosomes How it is with grace what Faith what Love what Patience When the world is kind to us fair with us and flatters us and hugs us and embraces us we begin to forget and to slight Communion with Jesus Christ. But when the worlds weights are upon us we have promises of more of the presence of God and of the presence of his Spirit The purpose of the world when they hang their weights upon the Palm-Trees is to keep them down that their graces multiply not To discourage to turn them quite aside to renounce to forsake and apostatize But they have fail'd in it and the truth flourished more this hath been rather a furtherance to it The Lord hath a Flail of Tribulation to separate the Chaff from the Wheat The wicked mans plentiful Table shall be a Snare to him But the righteous mans Table shall be a Table to his inward man where his Graces shall come and feed and grow fat and flourish and increase This we are to bless the Lord for that our Afflictions do not snare us but are a Table to our graces It is a very great Question whether they that were not bettered by Affliction were ever good Mr. Caryl's Practical and Experimental CONSIDERATIONS AND CHARACTERS OF The Real Christian. WHite Garments are matter of Honour this Honour all the Saints shall have They shall walk in white Christ will honour them because they have kept their Garments undefiled They that are good indeed shall have a good name they shall walk in white To keep the Conscience clean is to keep the Credit clean and they who are careful not to blot their conversations Christ will take care of their reputations that they be not blotted The Old Worthies kept their Garments undefiled and it was by the power of Faith keeping themselves from the pollutions of the World they kept themselves a good report This honour and good report which we get by keeping our Garments undefiled is sure Sometimes God's people are not onely honourable in Gods eyes but they sometimes walk in white in the eyes of the men of the World He can give his people room in the opinions of men he moves their hearts to think well of them and he opens their mouths to speak well of them It is not much to us what the wicked World judge of us yet God doth sometimes raise a Testimony of Honour for his people amongst Carnal men of the World Ioseph would not defile his Garments he walked in white amongst men True he was cast into Prison what of that he was respected by the Keeper of the Prison and afterward he walked in white in the whole Egyptian Court. Daniel was one that walked in white with common men of the World With the Prince of Eunuchs he had tender favour he told him he would not disobey God to please man yet he did not rail against him and call him a stubborn fellow because he would not bow to Baal And afterwards Daniel as great a man as any in that Province he walked in white God hath created Testimonies of honour for his people from some men of the world yea they many times put white Garments upon them God doth sometime keep up their honour in the World who will not defile their Garments This may teach us the readiest way to the White Robe to the Robe of Honour It is to keep our selves from sinful practises Certainly they who please God he can make the World to honour them If God approve of us he can make the World to approve of us too If God see our Garments in the dirt and spotted with the filth of the World it will spoil the Honour we should
believeth that Iesus is the Son of God Why is it that sinners so rarely confess their sins it is because they are in them we use not to declare our dreams till we wake Therefore let us not sleep as do others but let us watch and be sober To represent a Christian is only to act a part on the stage of this world but to be a real Christian is to depart this stage and enter into a world of Bliss He that hath children ought to correct them with discretion But he that spareth his Rod hateth his Son and he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes To be truly sensible of sin is to sorrow for displeasing God more than for the displeasure of God to be afflicted that he is displeased by us more than that he is displeased with us Mirth and Mourning are opposites to each other Mirth is burthensome in the time of Mourning and Mourning is likewise burthensome in the time of Mirth Love the Saints for Christ's sake and Christ will love you for his Saints sake Beloved let us love one another for love is of God and every one that loveth is born of God and knoweth God but he that loveth not knoweth not God for God is love The Old Testament veils the New the New Testament reveals the Old Beautiful upon the Mountains are the feet of him which bringeth good tidings but how much more beautiful are the good tidings which are brought by those feet The works of our life is the best demonstration that we are acquainted with the words of our life The Saint hath the motion of grace whilst the Hypocrite hath but the notion the Saint sees tasts and feels it whilst the Hypocrite only reads hears and speaks of it The Saint hath the experience of grace and the Hypocrite the expression Be modest in your desires so shall your cup over-flow but the covetous man never hath enough Take heed and beware of covetousness There is a time for all things but no time when all things may be spoken To every thing there is a season and a time to every purpose under the heaven When you give thanks let the strings of your Heart and the strings of your Tongue be tun'd to Unisons it is the musick that God himself delighteth in What a vain thing is man when the best of men are but vanity at best Verily every man in his best estate is altogether vanity The wife of a man's bosom is better than the portions of the purse House and riches are the inheritance of fathers but a prudent wife is from the Lord. Marry not where you love not lest you are tempted to love where you marry not Marriage is honorable in all and the bed undefiled but Whoremongers and Adulterers God will judge If Nature be defective it is not the act of the creature but of God and since it is his will it should be so we ought to submit to his pleasure and not to blame the handy-work of God Hath not the Potter power over the clay of the same lump to make one Vessel unto honour and another unto dishonour To please all is hard to displease any may be inconvenient the Christians surest way is to please him who is all in all When a man's ways please the Lord he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him The Righteous man will venture his Credit to secure his Conscience but will not venture his Conscience for the sake of his Credit The Saints are visited by Christ here by way of invitation that they should visit him hereafter Blessed be the Lord God of Israel for he hath visited and redeemed his people A Christian should like all God's commands because they are all alike Holy Iust and Good The Statutes of the Lord are right rejoycing the heart the Commandment of the Lord is pure enlightning the eyes It is our Master's pleasure to let his joy enter into us here that it may teach us how to enter into our Master's joy hereafter In whose presence is fulness of joy at his right hand are pleasures for evermore No sin against God can be said to be little because it is against the great God of Heaven and Earth but if the sinner can finde out a little God it may be easie then to finde out little sins Our Mediator Jesus Christ the Righteous is the sinners Righteousness unto God and the Righteousness of God to sinners But we are all as an unclean thing and all our Righteousnesses are as filthy rags and we all do fade as a leaf and our Iniquities like the wind have taken us away If any man findes the want of Comforts Content will make them comfortable wants It was a rare experience which Paul had got who saith I have learned in whatsoever state I am therewith to be content Destruction giveth way to pride for pride goeth before destruction Be sober in advice and moderate in reproofs some hearts are sooner humbled with stroaks than with stripes As an ear-ring of gold and an ornament of fine-gold so is a wise reprover upon an obedient ear Pride soars aloft but patience walketh humbly with his God God resisteth the proud and giveth grace to the humble The mercie of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting Let not that incourage sinners to the commission of sin but from thence let them sue for a remission of sin It is the will of every Saint that the will of the Lord should be done and he is content that all things should be so done so as to content God The Holy Prophet confirms it saying I delight to do thy will O my God yea thy law is within my heart Though our good works will not carry us to heaven yet they shall finde a reward in heaven Behold I come quickly and my reward is with me to give every man according aâ— his work shall be The life of the wicked is abominable they sin with content and are content with sin Miserable Wretches Well spake the Holy Ghost by Esaias the Prophet unto our Fathers saying Go to this people and say Hearing ye shall hear and shall not understand and Seeing ye shall see and not perceive For the heart of this people is waxed gross and their ears are dull of hearing and their eyes have they closed lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and be converted and I should heal them Till we get Christ within us we are without Christ. The Lord's bottle and basket are never empty he bountifully invites us with this free offer of grace Ho every one that thirsteth come ye to the waters and he that hath no money come ye buy and eat yea come buy wine and milk without money and without price He hath filled the hungry with good things and the rich
he hath sent empty away When God sends mercie we should not onely thank the donor but welcome the messenger for they both come from God How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the Gospel of Peace and bring glad tidings of good things The proud man exalts himself against all that is good therefore the Lord thinks good to take down his pride Every one that is proud in heart is an abomination to the Lord. The world cannot exalt a proud man so high but God will bring him low neither can all the world so debase an humble man but God will exalt him The world may strive to pull him down But God will raise him to a Crown In the seed-time of your life let your Holiness be sown that so you may reap Blessedness in the Harvest of Eternity He that will put Piety in practice must set his heart to practice Piety The Lord seeth not as man seeth for man looketh on the outward appearance but the Lord looketh on the heart My Son give me thine heart and let thine eyes observe my ways Ungodly men grow rich yet godliness with contentment is great gain There is a kind of Divine husbandry saving grace is a heavenly thirft and doth so improve that it makes us Burgesses of the Holy City Wherefore Grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord Iesus Christ. A friend may commit an errour in love but he is an enemy that loves his errour The covetous man cannot enjoy what he hath got through the greediness of his desire to get more He coveteth greedily all the day long but the righteous giveth and spareth not To have faith in Christ is well-pleasing to the faithful God for he is the Father of the Faithful The Lord is God the faithful God which keepeth covenant and mercie with them that love him and keep his Commandments to a thousand generations The Righteous man hath grace beyond expression the Hypocrite hath expression beyond grace The tongue of the just is as choice silver the heart of the wicked is of little worth God doth sometimes deliver men up to Satan that they may be delivered from Satan Deliver such a one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Iesus Can a man be an empty Vine and yet bring forth Fruit Israel is an empty vine bringing forth fruit unto himself Christ is the Son of God and yet he is called the Son of man The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld his glory the glory as of the only begotten of the Father full of grace and truth The Almighty's permission of sin is no warrant for the sinners commission of sin Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin Our Saviour had a Father and a Mother and yet he was from the beginning In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God This is Solomon's advice Be not righteous overmuch However it is the duty of a Christian to cloath him with Righteousness as with a Garment The Saints have no greater joy than to enjoy God and to rejoyce in him He that glorieth let him glory in the Lord. As it is hard to bend a well-grown Stick so is it difficult to work upon the heart of a desperate season'd sinner for he runs on in his wickedness and is deaf to all good instructions They have ears to hear and hear not for they are a rebellious house Onwards they run a ready pace Plainer's the way than that to grace A Saint will not sin though he knows that sin may work for his advantage All things work together for the good of them that love God We are commanded to love Peace and follow after Righteousness and yet the Saints themselves are in continual War fighting the good fight of Faith Above all things take the sheild of Faith wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked The Salvation of a Saint may be sure yet may not he be sure of his Salvation Wherefore the rather brethren give diligence to make your calling and election sure for if ye do these things ye shall never fall Blessings if abused may be turned into curses and curses are oftentimes turned into blessings Saith the Lord of hosts I will even send a curse upon you I will curse your blessings If any man would be rich he must be diligent but notwithstanding that let him remember Paul may Plant and Apollo may Water but it is God that giveth the blessing He becometh poor that dealeth with a slack hand but the hand of the diligent maketh rich The blessing of the Lord that maketh rich and he addeth no sorrow with it The Righteous man makes godliness his gain the Wicked man makes gain his godliness He that is greedy of gain troubleth his own house but he that hateth gifts shall live The Soul is above the reach of any weapon but sin and that pierces like a sting Sin is a raging torment in the Conscience A wounded Spirit who can bear Let not the best of men think they were ever good lest their Conscience shall tell them they were never good Be not wise in thine own eyes fear the Lord and depart from evil Some men will pretend to abhor such a sin yet hug it in their bosom such sinners sting their Consciences to magnifie their Credits If by suffering for Christ we loose all that we have in this world we are sufficient gainers when we save our own Souls Paul that Pious Apostle saith Doubtless I count all things but loss for the excellencie of the knowledge of Iesus Christ my Lord for which I have suffered the loss of all things and do count them but dung that I may win Christ. A repenting Penitent though formerly as bad as the worst of men may by grace become as good as the best God who is rich in mercie for his great love wherewith he loved us Even when we were dead in sins hath quickned us together with Christ by grace ye are saved The Devil is indifferent whether we go to Hell in the frequented road of Profaness or in the smooth way of Hypocrisie It is the power of godliness not the form that directs the way to Heaven as the power of ungodliness leads to Hell Lovers of Pleasures more than lovers of God Having a form of godliness but denying the power thereof from such turn away Beware of impenitence and of late repentance true repentance cannot be too late but a late repentance is rarely true Wherefore the real Christian should say betimes with holy Iob I abhor my self and repent in dust and ashes It is one thing to hold the truth and another thing to hold it in sincerity we
must be just as well as orthodox Now therefore fear the Lord and serve him in sincerity and truth Let not the Sun go down upon your wrath go not to bed in anger lest you have a tempter to your bedfellow Wrath is cruel and anger is outragious but who is able to stand before envy One of the blessings of the Old Testament was Prosperity and one of the blessings of the new Testament is Affliction Let not sin intice you to forsake God lest it urge God to forsake you It is Solomon's advice My Son if sinners intice thee consent thou not Conversion is a fit application for the wounds of a wicked man and strengthening likewise is very apt for the converted Saith David In the day when I cryed thou answeredst me and strengthenedst me with strength in my Soul A devout Soul should not think himself secure when he is safe nor should he fear when in the greatest danger but distrust himself and always trust in God Say with Iob Though he slay me yet will I trust in him Act not against the light of Conscience lest your Light be darkned and your Conscience shipwrack't Men loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil Vertue and Vice that is Charity and Lust divide the whole life of man they are the two Trees of the Gospel that produceth fruits good and evil Study not to live long but to live well for an hour mis-spent is not liv'd but lost No man is perfect for there is none so good but he may mend Iesus said unto the young man If thou wilt be perfect go and sell that thou hast and give to the poor and thou shalt receive treasure in heaven and come and follow me The sins of a mans life are innumerable Who can understand his errours saith David cleanse thou me from secret faults The changes of a Saints condition are but so many exchanges of mercie if he thrives God is bountiful to him if he hath troubles in this world God is careful of him and provides him a portion in a better world When David was in the Cave all his comfort was in Prayer unto God I cryed unto thee O Lord I said Thou art my refuge and portion in the land of the living Troubles or Sickness when sanctified is much better than unsanctified Prosperity It is not talking of God but walking with God that makes a Christian compleat See that ye walk circumspectly not as fools but as wise Redeeming the time because the days are evil Beware of superstition for that will not teach a man to fear God but to be afraid of him Study to have Christ rather in your heart than your house for with such Habitations he is best pleased Rent your heart and not your garments and turn unto the Lord your God for he is gracious and merciful slow to anger and of great kindness The being of the Soul is rather where it loves than where it lives Let us study to love God though we do not see him rather than to see him and not love him All the pleasure of our days is grief when there is not an inward peace in the Conscience and with that all the griefs imaginable are turn'd into delight for a good Conscience is a continual feast It is good to be Learned but it is better to be Religious for Learning is but an Ornament to Religion but Religion is a Blessing to Learning One may be ever learning yet never able to come to the knowledge of the truth A man may have knowledge and no grace but he cannot have grace and no knowledge Jesus answered the Sadduces saying Ye erre not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God He that is truly Religious delights in the service of God and had rather be shortned in the comforts of his life than neglect the performance of his duty towards him Delight thy self in the Lord and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart To profess Religion is good but to practice Religion is better to profess and not to practice is to dissemble with God and Man and a cunning course it is for man to destroy his own Soul The godly man may apply the promises to himself but the wicked man may apply himself to the promises Having these promises let us cleanse our selves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit perfecting holiness in the fear of God If we would have God hear our Prayers we must have the sence of feeling them our selves Sin brought death into the world and death carried sin out of the world He that would not have Time pass swiftly away should not use much Pastime The way to understand the sweetness of God's mercie is to get a sence of the bitterness of our own misery In all concerns let God be concerned the work will be the better done and the blessing will be the larger No man can do an evil action well but a good action may be spoiled in the management The tongue is an evil member for he that hath no reputation himself is master of another man's Keep thy tongue from evil and thy lips from speaking guile The delight which a gracious Soul hath in mercies is not in the hearing of them or talking of them but in the possessing and enjoying of them God is a God that pardoneth Iniquity and retaineth not his anger for ever because he delighteth in mercie The delight of a gracious Soul is to long to be dissolved and to go to his long'd-for home that he may be with Christ. A day in thy Courts O God is better than a thousand I had rather be a door-keeper in the house of my God than to dwell in the tent of wickedness It is God's appearing gracious to our Souls that makes him appeaâ— so glorious to our eyes To the praise of the glory of hiâ— Grace wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved It is not in our power to imagine the power of God it converteth Souls and raiseth dead Bodies The Law of the Lord is perfect converting the soul the Testimony of the Lord is sure making wise the simple Iesus cryed with a loud voice Lazarus come forth And he that was dead came forth bound hand and foot with grave-cloaths and his face was bound about with a napkin Iesus saith unto them Loose him and let him go The Soul cannot be converted by the word that man speaks nor by the man that speaks the word For by grace are ye saved through faith and that not of your selves it is the gift of God By the Scriptures we learn what God hath done for us and what we are to do for God All Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine for reproof for correction for instruction in righteousness When a gracious Soul desireth a mercie of
God let him consider the value of that mercie before it comes and when it is present let him seriously value its worth before it be past When David's condition was low and mean in the world we finde to come from him many sweet breathings of his Soul and strong actings of his Faith and love I will be glad and rejoyce in thy mercie for thou hast considered my trouble thou hast known my soul in Adversitie Let me not be ashamed O Lord for I have called upon thee let the wicked be ashamed and let them be silent in the grave It is the key of Knowledge that openeth the door of Heaven it is the knowledge of the Truth that leadeth to Salvation Behold thou desirest the inward parts and in the inward part thou shalt make me to know wisdom The ill which proceeds from man must not be attributed unto God neither must the good which proceeds from God be attributed unto man There is none good but one that is God The Lord knoweth the thoughts of men that they are vain Sin hath dominion over us before conversion but being converted we have dominion over sin and whereas before we were captives unto sin we now lead sin into captivity He that is born of God overcometh the world When we have done for God all that we can our all is so little and our good deeds so ill that we are at best but unprofitable servants When ye have done all those things which are commanded you say We are unprofitable servants we have done that which was our duty to do What greater act of impiety or ignorance can there be than for a man to do ill and yet pretend or think he doeth well Who can understand his errours cleanse thou me from secret sins He that will not deny himself and his own ends for Christ will deny Christ for his own ends and will to his sorrow be denied by Christ in the end Whosoever shall deny me before men him will I also deny before my Father which is in Heaven In God there is no darkness at all for God is light in man there is no light at all for he is darkness our very light is darkness God is light and in him there is no darkness at all If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness How great is that darkness We may profess Christ but when we possess Christ then is our hope of Glory Christ is made known to us two ways by Relation and by Revelation which latter knowledge is the best If we can be of the number of Christ's little ones the mercie will be great It was our Saviour's saying Verily I say unto you Except ye be converted and become as little children ye shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven A Saint's heart is in the Law of God and the Law of God is likewise in his heart The Law of God is in the heart of the righteous none of his steps shall slide O how I love thy Law it is my meditation all the day If any man would have his child be a man of God he must teach him betimes first to become a child of God Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it He is Natures fair Picture drawn in Oyl Which time and handling oft doth spoil Let the wicked laugh at the godly for being godly rather than God should laugh at them for being wicked Ye have set at nought all my counsel and would none of my reproof I also will laugh at your calamity I will mock when your fear cometh What a choice mercie had Solomon who had the choice of mercies The reputation of a good man is to be rich in goodness not in goods Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom neither let the mighty man glory in his might nor the rich man glory in his riches but let him that glorieth glory in the Lord. He is the only wise and rich man that can learn to be content Godliness with contentment is great gain The expectation of a Saint is Eternity and the whole world is not able to answer his single expectation We may be instructed by a Prophet but it is the Spirit of God by which we profit Walk in the spirit and ye shall not fulfil the lusts of the flesh The death of Christ giveth life to them that repent and giveth them a repentance unto life not to be repented of it giveth salvation to them that believe and enables them to believe unto salvation Salvation belongeth unto the Lord. Whether God give or take it is our duty to be thankful Shall we rejoyce at Sweets and shall we lowre When God is pleas'd by his Almighty power To season them with some few grains of sour Your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things Our God is free to give and free to forgive his hand and his heart are both open to them that serve him When we draw neer to Christ he is ready to receive us nay when we fly from him he is ready to invite us Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden and I will give ye rest Many men in their doings purchase their undoings There are many devices in a mans heart nevertheless the counsel of the Lord that shall stand He that receiveth a mercie and doth not use it doth abuse it Christ dyed that we might live But now is Christ risen from the dead and become the first fruits of them that slept Live Iesus live and let it be My life to dye for love of thee If we finde not some time to serve God he will not finde any time to save us If any man serve me saith Christ let him follow me and where I am there shall also my servant be If any man serve me him will my Father honour He that hath Christ hath all things and he that hath not Christ hath nothing at all Wherefore Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and his Righteousness and all other things shall be added unto you There 's nothing in this vast Terrestrial Ball Compar'd to Christ for he is all in all Study to be altogether a Christian for if a man be but almost a Christian he is like to be but almost saved though he may think he is not far from the Kingdom of Heaven yet he will finde the Kingdom of Heaven is far from him Agrippa said unto Paul Almost thou perswadest me to be a Christian There is nothing among us more rife than the name Christian or the Christian name and nothing among us more rare than the Christian man They that are Christs have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts Though Christ was crucified to deliver us from death yet we must
either crucifie our sins or we shall dye in them Our hope of glory is not only Christ without but Christ within us What is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles which is Christ in you the hope of glory Many men are at one and the same time both alive and dead for they that wallow in the deceitful pleasures of sin are dead though they live You hath he quickned who were dead in trespasses and sins When man is most idle then is the Devil most busie It was Latimer's saying that one holy day produced more service to Satan than many working days This was the Iniquity of Sodom Pride fulness of Bread and abundance of Idleness was in her and in her daughters neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy The Righteous man saith What is lawful that will I but the unrighteous man saith What I will is lawful or to me all things are lawful All the wayes of man are clean in his own eyes but the Lord weigheth the spirit It is the pleasure of Almighty God to bless us without any cause given him How much then are we to bless him who hath given us the cause so to do Praise waiteth for thee O God in Zion Sing forth the honour of his Name make his praise glorious The devout Soul should so live as that the Gospel should not be ashamed of him nor he of that As he which hath called you is holy so be ye holy in all manner of conversation Where no assurance is there may be grace but no assurance can be where there is no grace Let us draw neer with a true heart in full assurance of faith having our hearts sprinkled from an evil Conscience and our bodies washed with pure Water The godly man sets a greater value by far upon the motions than the notions of grace All the blessings that a Saint receives are the more dear welcom because they savour of a Saviour Christ is our treasure as David saith With thee is the Fountain of Life and in thy light we shall see light He that denies himself shall be saved but he that denies his Saviour shall be damned It is Christ himself that saith He that taketh not his Cross and followeth after me is not worthy of me He that findeth his life shall loose it and he that looseth his life for my sake shall finde it When God sends us an evil visitation even then God is good to us for he sends that evil for our good The Lord is good to all and his tender mercies are over all his works When a sinner repenteth of his sin his sorrow speaks it self to be great when he cannot speak for sorrow A Saint will keep to the Doctrine of his life that he may keep life in his Doctrine God loves us not for what we have but for what we are and we are bound to love God were it for no other reason but because he loveth us The wicked man mindeth not the God that made him but sets his affections upon the God of his own making But your gold and silver is cankered and the rust of them shall be a witness against you and shall eat your flesh as it were fire ye have heaped treasure together for the last days It is more honourable to purchase fame from a low degree than to become contemptible and infamous though sprang from an honourable Family The fear of the Lord is the instruction of wisdom and before honour is humility Most men are naturally lovers of Gold yet that came but from the earth from the Gold comes Dross yet few men mind that so is it with good and bad men the Vertuous though they come from a mean stock are honoured and the Vicious though of splendid families are despised Wherefore Adde to your Faith Vertue and to Vertue Knowledge Why should we rejoyce in the pleasures of this world for we no sooner set our affections on them but of a sudden they are blasted or we are taken from them or by sickness disabled to enjoy them Wherefore seek ye the Lord Jesus Christ in whom is hid all the treasures of Wisdom and Knowledge And the Lord give thee understanding in all things THE SINNER'S Character Arraignment and Punishment BY Mr. RALPH VENNING IN Divers Sentential and Experimental DIVINE SAYINGS SIn is contrary to God Sinners are called enemies to God And sin is called enmity it self as being contrary to God It makes men walk contrary to God revelling rising up against and contending with God Hence men hate God resist God sight and blasphame God And Atheistically say there is no God Sin would ungod God Sin is by some of the Antients called God-murther or God-killing All these are in the nature of every sin more or less but are all of them in the heart of all sinners in their Seed and Root c. Hence sin is not onely High-Treason against the Majesty of God but it scorns to confess its Crime God is glorious in Holinessâ— Sin on the contrary is all sinful only sinful altogether sinful As in God there is no evil so in sin there is no good God is the chiefest of goods and sin is the chiefest of evils As no good can be compared with God for goodness so no evil can be compared with sin for evil Sin opposes all Gods Names and Attributes It deposeth God's Soveraignty it will not that the King of Kings should be in the Throne Pharaoh spake the Language of sin I know no Lord above me Sin denies God's all-sufficiencie as if there were more in sinful pleasures than in him Sin dares God's justice and challenges God to do his worst it provokes the Lord to jealousie and tempts him to wrath Sin disowns God's omniscience Tush say sinners God sees not Sin despises the Riches of God's goodness Sin turns all God's Grace into wantonness sin is the dare of God's Justice the rape of his Mercie the jear of his Patience the slight of his Power and the contempt of his Love Sin is the upbraid of his Providence the scoff of his Promise and the reproach of his Wisdom Sin is contrary to God's works and is called the Devil's work God's works were good and exceedingly beautiful But the works of sin are deformed and monstrous ugly Sin may be impleaded for all the mischiefs and villanies that have been done in the world 'T is the Master of Mis-Rule the Author of Sedition the Builder of Babel the Troubler of Israel and all mankind Sin is contrary to God's Law and Will to all the Rules and Orders of his appointment Sin is not only a transgression of but a contradiction also of the Will of God Sin is an Anti-Will to God's Will David in fulfilling of God's Will was said to be a man after God's own heart and they that obey the will of sin are said to
Beast Curst let him be with Sister lies Or Mother though in law Such sins do make those horrid cries That dreadful curses draw Cursed be he that secretly His silent Neighbour smites Murtherers too that cause to dye When a reward invites The wicked shall be curst at home And likewise in the field His Basket and his Store at last Shall Blessings fail to yield Cursed be all his sinful Fruit Of Body and of Land His Kine and Flock though they are mute And all he takes in hand Cursed be he when going out And curst when coming in That happy 't were for him no doubt If he had never been An ELEGIE ON THE DEATH of that much Lamented And no less wanted Industrious Labourer in GOD's VINEYARD The Reverend Mr. RALPH VENNING Who quitted this Vale of Tears And put on Immortality The 10th day of this Instant March 1673 4. Fretum vitae gaudeate Carina Tranavit Tutum tenet Anchorà portum Nunc hilaris ventos ridet tumidasque Procellas HArk how our Sion with Heart-piercing Groans Her Chariots her Horsmen's loss bemoans See! how each Pious blubber'd Cheek doth wear The sad Ennamel of a Briny Tear Each Soul turns a Close Mourner in its Cell And ev'ry Tongue becomes a Passing-Bell Must good Men still dye first and is there gone Another Cedar in our Lebanon Are Holy pow'rful Preachers snatch'd so fast They 're Pretious Death Oh! do not make such wast Well may the Scarlet Whore begin her Tricks Such Lights pust out threatens our Candlesticks And we may fear that God intendeth wars When he thus fast calls home's Embassadors Sweet Pious Venning could no longer stay Caryl in Glory beckon'd him away Whilst Heav'n to lend more moysture to our Eyes At his remove in Tears did Sympathize But Love and Zeal appear'd so I hill below They soon congeal'd each falling drop to snow Yet that white Robe the Earth put on did prove But a black Foil to what he wears above Go happy Saint I knew 't was not a Shrine Of Flesh could lodge so pure a Soul as thine I saw it labour in a holy scorn Of living dust and ashes to be sworn A heavenly Quirister it sigh'd and groan'd To be dissolv'd from Mortal and Enthron'd Amongst his fellow-Angels there to sing Perpetual Anthems to his Heavenly King He was a stranger to his house of Clay Scarce own'd it but that necessary stay Mis-call'd it his and only zeal did make Him love the Building for the Builders sake Amongst the throng that croud to Sacrifice To 's Memory the Torrents of their Eyes Let me although a Stranger unto those That Weep in Rhyme though oft I Mourn in Prose Water his Herse since my Big-bellied eyes Long for deliv'ry at his Obsequies Wherein what Art and Nature both deny Grief and the Subjects Merits may supply For who e're writes but truth of him will be Slander'd by Ignorance with Poetry And those that speak not half his worth in Verse The Sensual crew may think Idolaters But flattery can never reach his State We only praise to make men Imitate And so must speak in sober terms for know If Saints in Heav'n can hear things here below A Lye though in his Praise would make him frown And chide us when in Glory he comes down With his dear Lord to Iudge the World and pay Each Soul Rewards according to its way He was no Iingling Drolster of the times That as on Stage up to a Pulpit climes To trifle out an hour Tickle the Ear And Lullaby their Heads to sleep that hear Whose Preachments are but a Romantick Clatter A Sea of words but scarce a drop of matter Some Pye-bald scraps of new Philosophy Or Dough-bak'd Dictates of Morality Nor was he of that rash unpolisht Race Whose Sluttish hands do Sacred things disgrace Knowledge and Zeal in him so sweetly met His Pulpit seem'd a second Olivet Where from his Lips he would deliver things As though some Seraphim had clap'd his Wings His painful Sermons were so neatly drest As if an Antheme were in Prose exprest Yet quick and pow'rful that without controul They reach'd the Heart and pierc'd the very Soul Oh! what an excellent Surgeon has he been To set a Conscience out of Joynt by sin He at one blow could wound and heal whilst all Wondred to finde a Purge a Cordial His Manna-breathing-Sermons often have Given our good Thoughts new Life our bad a Grave His life was th' use of 's Doctrine still annext And all his Actions Comments on his Text. He made a Christian Frame of Heart appear So Imitable that Preach'd ev'ry where Nor owe we less to his Ingenious Quill Whereby although now Dead he Preaches still The way to Happiness he plainly show'd And how Canaan with Milk Hony flow'd To things worth thinking on he did apply And still sought to promote true Piety Sins dreadful Plague-sore which none should endure He soon discovers and prescribes a Cure And when 's quaint wit brought forth a Paradox His Christian Spirit made it Orthodox In life he taught to dye and now did give In death a great example how to live Fond Earth then cease and let thy childish eyes Ne'r weep for him thou ne'r knew'st how to prize But if you needs must weep Oh come come in Ye multitudes his pains have heal'd of Sin If you 'll be grateful Debtors pay him now Some of those Tears which he laid out for you SENTENTIAL TRUTHS Written and Delivered BY Mr. IAMES IANEWAY Not long before his Death THe world in its best estate is made up of Vanities troubles The lust of the flesh the lust of the eyes and the pride of life is not of the Father but is of the World Faith Hope and Patience desire help to lead the Soul out of Egypt and conduct it through the Red-Sea and Wilderness The Spies are sent into Canaan and bring good news out of that Land Faith sees Sihon Og and Amaleck discomfited and their powers broken Faith goes to the Borders of the promised Land to the very top of Pisga and upon Mount Nebo it sends love into Heaven to dwell there with the Lord for ever What shall I more say for the time would fail me to tell of Gideon of Barak of Samson of Iephthah of David Samuel and of the Prophets Who through faith subdued Kingdoms wrought righteousness obtained promises stopped the mouths of Lyons Quenched the violence of fire escaped the edge of the sword out of weakness were made strong waxed valiant in fight turned to flight the Armies of the Aliens Christians Let us be zealous in our private and publike Prayers in our Closet and Family-devotions so shall we not only enter into rest our selves but shall teach the way to our Children our Servants and our Friends Be strictly careful that the gain of the world prove not the loss of your Souls Let your hearts be early and late with God Time is pretious
God Christianity is a clear Demonstration of invisibles witness the many earnests of their Profession What warm refreshing Rays of Divine love break in upon their Souls what Joy what Experiments and blessed Intercourses have past betwixt God and such Souls the fire hath burnt and of a sudden the Soul hath e're it was aware been carried above the world The Spirit of Truth will not witness to a lye neither will Goodness it self put a cheat upon poor creatures Balaam's wish may throughly convince sinners that Holiness is no Madness Piety no Fancie and Religion no Delusion I am perswaded that all the Reprobates in Hell will one day justifie the Children of God for their seriousness and wish a thousand times that they had had their Scorns Losses and Torments Well then our Enemies themselves being Judges an Israelite indeed is a person of true worth and without controversie his Estate is and shall be comfortable blessed and glorious O Christian as long as God is true you shall not be deceived as long as he is happy you shall not be miserable you are well enough go on resolutely 't is but a little while and you shall see all this and more than this a thousand times Death will shortly tear off Ioshua's rags and present him before the Lord without spot or wrinkle Sin indeed accompanies the wicked to another world he rests from his pleasures and his wicked works follow him But it is far otherwise with the godly sin was his burden and death shall unload him Sin shall be confin'd to Hell Heaven entertains no such deformity This Tyrant shall no more inslave any of Christ's Subjects The house of Saul and the house of David shall no longer contend that sad conflict between the Flesh and the Spirit shall then be determined by a full Victory Death sets the Soul out of the Devils reach This Angel hath nothing to do in Heaven this Serpent shall not come into the higher Paradise nor Satan creep into this Eden O happy day when will it come when the Devil shall be as unlike to tempt as our hearts to close When we are got once safe to rest the Devil shall as easily shake God's Throne as our Happiness Death turns the key and bolts and bars this Enemy out then O then thou shalt see this Pharaoh cast dead on the shore Christian expect not as long as any of that Cainish Generation breath that thou shouldest be long secure What though the world speak great words thou shalt e're long ride in state to Glory and then let them do their worst When thou art in Heaven they may curse and encrease their own misery but they shall not in the least diminish thy tranquillity The beauty of this inferiour world will be darkned by the brightness of that light which Death leads thee into Death blows the dust out of our eyes it plucks off the vail and shews us quickly the glory of both worlds What Pen can describe the Honour and Dignities of the Sons of God! A Lazarus in stead of Beggers Cripples and Dogs had a guard of Angels waiting upon him These Chariots and Horse-men of Israel shall carry up Ioseph to his Fathers house The Souls of Believers are made perfect in Holiness at Death O then how glorious shall the Kings Daughter be when her beauty is made perfect O my Soul when will the shadows flee away when will days and nights be all at an end When will time be spent and the curtain drawn How should we think our selves if our hearts were always as God would have them Well be of good chear in Mount Zion there shall be deliverance and holiness Who that understands this would not bid death welcom That good Old Saint Simeon thought it a heaven upon earth to see Christ when his Majesty was vail'd This was but a small thing compared to the sight which they shall see when their graces shall be compleat How will the Heavens eccho of joy when the Bride the Lambs Wife shall come to dwell with her Husband for ever Christ is the desire of Nations the joy of Angels the delight of the Father What solace then must that Soul be filled with that hath the Possession of him to all Eternity Is not his Love better than Wine and a look of his Countenance to be preferred above Corn and Oyl Is not all the Glory of Heaven wrapt up in him I see now it is not for nothing that the Virgins did love him What mean the world sure they are dead blinde or mad Saints blessedness lies in this that they shall meet with all the Children of God and have communion with just men made perfect Death will bring you acquainted with all those famous Worthies of whom the world was not worthy This Porter opens the door and lets the Saints Soul into that Palace where all the favorites of that great Prince reside What would I give to see Enoch that walked with God How glad should I be to be acquainted with Elias How joyful if I might have some discourse with Paul Would it not make one couragious in the cause of God if one could hear Daniel or the three Children tell the Story of their deliverance How should one be pleased to have it from the mouth of Moses Ioshuah and Caleb what God did for Israel in the fields of Ham the Red-Sea and the Wilderness and how he brought them into the Land of Canaan Why as formidable as death looks it 's he that brings us to the speech of all these How loth are we now to part when a knot of us have got together to talk about the things of another world Heaven hath in it none but Saints and Angels and the blessed God O what acclamations of joy will there be when all the children of God shall meet together without fear of being disturbed by the Antichristian and Cainish Brood Is there not a time coming when the godly may ask the wicked What profit they have in their pleasures what comfort in their greatness and what fruit of all their labour They shall shortly know that nothing was lost which was spent for their Souls and Heaven If you would be better satisfied what the Beatifical Vision means my request is That you would live holily and go and see A further Addition is that there is no fear of loosing of it his Enemies can't rob him If the Grave were but lookt on as a chamber to rest in And if Faith could but take death to be but an undressing to put on better Raiment how contentedly then should we be uncloath'd that we might be cloathed with Immortality And if the case be so what a good condition is the dead Saint in Lazarus his Resurrection was no cheat many of the Saints arose and Christ is risen O what kinde of Greeting will these two old Companions have when they see one another in another world Never let any grutch to serve God chearfully They which