thy comfort when I have learnd them this lesson I do give them back their estates again with interest twenty in the hundred and so I do their parts with the same advantage but O Christ wilt thou do so by mee if I give thee my whole estate gifts and parts Friend I alwayes do so trust me try mee prove mee O Christ I will I will well friend let me tell thee as I am Christ thou shalt never lose by it but shalt have the light of life and glory to the bargain O but what doe ye meane by Christs slow knocks I mean all the good purposes he puts in your soules as to read a chapter go to prayers in the sence of his goodnesse to hear a sermon to lead a new life to serve God better and therefore friends as you vallue Christs company or your own souls looke to these knocks of good purposes by Christs knocking in your hearts Many soules are damnd in the yeare for neglecting these purposes O saith one I was going for to open but I think I was bewitched by my old companions and I too saith another but there came some to buy commodities and kept mee in my shop and I too saith another but my friends began to jear and said I would not now turn fool would I to open unto Christ all the world would but laugh at me to minde him so soon before the worlds profits pleasures which every one almost feekes first of all and then Christ when they die which was one Mr. Carefulls speech to his son Worldling many yeare agoe which I thinke all his sons did very much mind and ever since have practised but Zacheus a convert by Christs knocking at his heart and inviting of himself to dinner But thirdly what do you mean by Christs slow knocks evening meditations telling thee of death and eternity the vanity of the world the emptinesse of the creature the necessity of himself O saith Christ the world is vain by knocking at the soule Solomon hath found it so and all the sons of wisedome too One said it would not satisfie the soule of any man no more then mitigate the paines of the body another said it was changeable like the Moon and weather sometimes in Eclins sometimes clear again not a moneth constant all the yeare about but altering mens conditions who live below the Sun sometimes into sear sometimes into care seldome out of trouble all the yeare about which are so strong in many that they can scarcely sleep either day or night and still after the world which changes like the Moone O happy were it for these soules if Christ would knock or tell them they are dead and buried in cares of the world and so raise them up to live in himself and minde the other death and eternity beyond O death and eternity who mindes yee and yet thou kilst and hourds up all yea all high low rich poore young and old in thy two garners of hell and heaven but the Saints onely there which Christ fetcheth in by his serious knocks Fourthly I mean by Christs slow knocks his night knocks of affliction such as straits wants sicknesse reproach and disgrace O friends Christ knocks at the door of your hearts by all these blessed and for ever blessed is such a soule that heares Christ by these kinde of knocks But what doe you meane by Christs sweet knocks I meane by Christs sweet knocks his telling thee of thy Fathers love the strength and length of this love with thy interest in it O saith Christ my Father so loves thee that he thinks nothing too dear for thee God so loved the world that he gave his onely begotten Son yea and more he could not give for in him he gives himself and all we have and all we need and therefore saith the Apostle Seeing he hath given us his Sonne how shall be not with him give us all things life pardon heaven happinesse and salvation and therefore Christ is called The Guift of God John 7. Hadst thou known the Guift of God saith Christ to the woman of Samaria and indeed to this Guift all is nothing If a Prince should give his favour what was that to Christ If he should give thee houses mannours lordships what was that to Christ If he should give thee crownes and kingdomes what was that to Christ honours mannours lordships crownes and kingdomes are but nothing unto Christ the Gift of God to a poore sinner well might Paul say O the height depth and breadth of this love which he acquaints the soule with by his sweet knocks and of his interest in it too O saith Christ to the sinner It is firmely set upon thee and cannot be removed mountaines may be moved but my Fathers love cannot though the mountaines should be removed yet my loving kindnesse will I not remove Men cannot Devils cannot move it sinne cannot move it If my Children forsake my Law yet my loving kindnesse will I not take away saith God by David Mark my loving kindnesse will I not take away I will onely visit them with a rod O saith Christ once beloved and ever men may love and hate but God cannot he is unchangeable Mal. 3. and so is his love too his love is grounded in his Son and spread in all relations to shew the greatnesse of it the Friend loves as a freind the Bridegroome as the Husband the Father as the Parent but Gods love is all at once yea all and more then all ten thousand times over and over againe to that And therefore saith the Apostle Behold what manner of love is this how great how sweet how deare how neare is this Father Friend and Husbands love As a Bridegroom rejoyces over his Bride so will I rejoyce over my People to doe them good saith the Lord by his Prophet Isaiah Well Friend Christ acquaints the soul of this love by his sweet knocks which even melts it like the Suggar in the Wine But secondly I meane by Christs sweet knocks his acquainting thee of the Fathers glory thy interest in this glory Gods glory make the heavens heaven and fils the heavens too and makes them heavens indeed to Saints and Angels and all that doe dwell there Paul had once a glimps of this glory and it was unutterable Moses with the very conceit of it forsook Pharohs court and chose rather to be afflicted with the People of God then to live in his court and glory and be the Sonne in law to that great King of Egypt Paul having once a glimple of it desires to dye and be dissolved that he might enjoy it David cries out saying It is wonderfull yea it fils Heaven and Earth saith he in his Psalms And so it shall thy soul too saith Christ by his sweet knocks at the heart O saith Christ I will fill thee with this glory and wrap thee in this glory and cloth thee head and foot and thou shalt be like Solomon yea like
Angels clothed with splendor from the God of glory And now what thinkst thou of it sinner if thou shouldst see a lovely Princes arayed and clothed in golden Tissue lac'd and trimm'd with Jewels it were a gallant sight but O alasse ten thousand of these were all but nothing to set off thy glory O arayed Saint by God and Christ in righteousnesse But when shall I have this glory saith the sinner quickly quickly Behold I come quickly Rev. 22.20 and will then give it thee and all that long for my appearance as Paul saith of his Crowne which he tels you is laid up for him and all that loves Christs appearance But thirdly I meane by Christs sweet knocks Christ telling thee of his Fathers counsell and purpose and of thy being wrapt up in this counsell and purpose of God like time between eternities O friend saith Christ my Father loved thee from all eternity and chose thee to him from all eternity a vessell for his own Glory Name and Fame that thou mights shew in ages to come the exceeding riches of his grace Ephes 4.5.6 O this must needs be sweet indeed for Christ to tell thee of a love before time and a love out lasting time yea all time and ages O when a sinner fits poring of this love in respect of person God the lover in respect of time before all worlds then saith he O Lord God what is man that thou art so mindfull of him and what am I but lesse then the least of all thy mercies as Iacob once said which was of old towards me And why me O Lord God a poore gentile sinner a runnagado sinner who had neither house nor home nor grace nor vertue but hell and sinne and cursed nature and yet thou lovest me more then all and chose me out of all my neighbours kindred house and family wherein were many sweet and many courteous many wise and many knowing but none but I chosen the youngest of them all the poorest of them all the sinfullest of them all yet I obtained mercy for his purpose sake O saith the sinner me thinks I even see how God rould me in his thoughts and all the sonnes of men too saying this shall be a vessell and this shall be a vessell and this shall be another but these I will not use throwing millions by which were as like as any if he had pleased to use them to set his mercy off but he refused both mighty ones and many and chose a little remnant of which my soule was one to set his love upon which hath no height nor depth but over-spreadeth all and leaves no roome to think the ground or reasons of it but onely free-grace which makes the soule still wonder and leaves him at a lost why he should be the man to be exalted so above his fellow creatures which are alike unto himselfe but for free graces sake which onely lookt on him and made him what he is which makes him stud and still to say it is God alone doth all according to his purpose But secondly I meane by Christs sweet knocks his acquainting thee with himselfe First In respect of his love which thou art by nature more ignorant of then ever Iosephs Brethren were of him who eate and drunke with him but knew him not to be their Brother till teares and bowels said it was he whom they unkindly sold The sinner doth the like full many a time by Christ when he comes to the heart and tels them of his dreames as Ioseph did his Brethren how they must bow to him and eke submit their soules unto his yoaks of love his sweet and just commands which thing they cannot away with but huncht him for his newes by greiving of his Spirit but Christ now makes a famine by wants and straights and knocks and brings them down by need to save their hungry soules which now doe see the need of Christ his love and righteousnesse which he cannot hide from them but by his sweet knocks acquaints them with his love himselfe like Ioseph with his bowels And in respect of his love which was and is beyond all loves Greater love saith Christ to the sinner hath no man then this to lay downe his life for his friend but mine is greater O unkind sinner an enemy to me who loved thee in thy blood and loved thee in thy sinne and hid thee from displeasure which thou once laidst liable too till I in love did free thee but this thou little mindest nor all my loves for many yeares together in hunger cold and wants in life in death still for thy sake And thus Christ acquaints the soule with his love by his sweet knocks and wider opens the sinners bowels then ever Joseph did his Brethren But secondly I meane by Christs sweet knocks his acquainting the soule with his lovelinesse as well as of his love which washed us from our sinnes in his blood Revel 1. v. 5. O saith Christ sweetly knocking at the sinners doore in a woing way Sinner sinner behold me behold me my locks are wet with the dew of the night Cant. 5.1 How long shall I knock and stand for pitty let me in I am the rose of Sharon the sweetest of ten thousand the Lilly of the vallies the fairest of ten thousand How canst thou chose but love me sinner Behold me behold me with the Crowne that my Father crowned me Proverbs And now for my own sake sinner with my crowne and glory let me in I am the fairest I am the sweetest that ever will come woing to thee how canst thou thus deny me O thou hard hearted sinner that ever I met with to stand me out so long who am the rose the lilly and starre of heaven too which twinkles day and night and darkens Sun and Moone which cannot come neere unto me I am so farre excelling for beauty light and luster and yet still undervalued by thee O proud and scorning sinner But yet behold me once againe and if thou canst deny me I will never try thee more nor shall my spirits strive with thee when as it is in vain and thus Christ acquaints the sinner of his lovelines by his sweet knocks But thirdly Christ acquaintes the sinner with his union O saith Christ I am Adam too yea flesh of thy flesh and bone of thy bone thy brother sister husband friend and father Matth. 12.48 49. Wilt thou deny all these relations and fall below nature then farewell sinner but I am still the same and cannot yet deny my self in no respect to thee O strange unkind and forgetfull sinner of me thy husband head and vine in whom thou livest as in thy root when once thou knowest these sweet relations which are more strong then death and sweeter too then sugred wines the honey or the honey-comb yea and the rose of Sharon the sweetest in the world But what my union is for sweetnesse it is for time and length and this I
doe you doe quoth he yee doe not to any purpose witnesse your whining pining sithing and continually sorrowing after a husband a wise a childe And how doth another complaine for losse of trading O my poverty comes on me like an armed man mistake me not I know christians have bowels of compassion more then any and may moderately complaine for friends and want but should they should they greive as men unhappy without hope of ever enjoying of that they they have lost No no they should not my Husband is dead but my Christ is alive and lives for ever my Wife is dead yet am I the Spouse of Christ and because he lives I shall live John 17. I have lost my Childe but yet am I the Child of God the Son of God Heires joynt-Heires with Christ my estate is spent and because of that the world will not smile friends look strange because of poverty I was wont but now cānot see their faces in my distresse well what of that art thou troubled at this O happy christian God hath promised that thou shalt see his And they shall see my face saith God Rev. 22.4 the words I first named what is that thou calst thy face O my God what is it this my glory man O Lord how wonderfull is that Heaven and earth is full of thy Glory Psal 8.9 all the glories of this world are but shadowes of thy glory yea all the glory of Heaven Angels and arch-Angels Cherubims and Seraphims are but the reflecting shadowes of thy glory thy uncreated glory thy increated glory O my God when Moses begged to see this thou wouldst not alas poore soule he could not No man can see my glory and live but time is a comming when they shall see my glory my naked glory and live yea live by seeing and see by living by living in it by living to it in singing praises alwayes before it and then O happy Christian shalt thou forget all former things all former sorrows all former feares all former griefs O how then will these things passe away and be forgot as if they had never been I remember Peter having but a glimpse of Moses and Elias glory in the mount desired then to live and to die in that mount but thou O precious Christian shalt live and never dye in this mount mount Sion heavenly Jerusalem where thou shalt see Moses yea a thousand Moses and ten thousand times ten thousand glorious Saints as well as he with as many Angels with God and Christ excelling all ten thousand times over and over againe O but when will that day come that I a poore Gentile sinner shall see this glory Heavens Saints and Angels excelling glory will it come doe thou say it will come and it will make amends for all it is now a comming Paul saith We see now but darkly as in a glasse we shall see him then naked as he is Christ tels thee friend in John 17 22. And the glory that thou hast given me I have given them that they may be one O Father as we are one Here thou seest that Christ prayes for this day and yet thou as kest shall this day ever come O friend know this that what ever Christ prayes for he wils and what he wils shall come to passe as in John 17.24 Father I will that all these thou hast given me may be with me even where I am to behold my glory Christs glory is Gods glory and Gods glory is Christs glory and this wils Christ that yee may see O said the Queene of Sheba once to Solomon Happy are those that tend thee and see thy glory Thrice happy yea ten thousand times thrice happy are they O Christ whom thou wilt shalt see thy glory in thy Kingdome in thy Throne O my Christ it is said that the Kings and the Captaines too shall hide themselves in their dens and among the rocks and mountaines crying to the rocks and calling to the mountaines to fall on them from thy glory and thy presence Revel 6.15 And this I will saith Christ to confound mine enemies which will not that I should reign over them or in them had they hearkened to mee or accepted of mee my righteousnesse when time was they should not have need to be ashamed of their nakednesse or call and cry to the hils to cover their poor soules but this is just seeing they did when time was reject me this in one day shall come on them but when these things shall come on them like travels on a woman ye shall lift up your heads with boldnesse because my glory and yours too drawes neer O frinds no marveile that wicked men shall runne to the caves and dens and rocks to hide themselves in for the Saints shall in that day shine as so many sunnes and Christ as a sunne to all O glorious day O day of dayes that is now a comming this is that day that the righteous shall shine in the kingdome of their Father Matth. 13.43 Then when they see the face of God and Christ and this is nothing but the reflects of Gods glory beaming out on the Saints in the beholding of his face but yet this glory is not all that is implied when God saith Ye shall see my face For it implies as well as his glory his love and delight which you know are most apparant in the face for you judge of mens love and affections by the face and countenance so that to see this face is to see his love and delight in you and on you Delight ariseth out of love and flowes from love as affections from relations But of this love and delight what shall I say and first for this love this pure love flowing from the fountaine of love yea divien love Secondly it is sweet love yea sweeter then the honey or the honey-combe Thirdly it is strong love and long love first it is strong love for it so bindes the Saint yea so strongly binds him by its discoveries to him that as with coards his soul is drawn to love and bound and cannot but love yea love still more and more this is that love that is stronger then death yea then death that kills all things but cannot this love nor never shall O death I will be thy death saith Christ so saith love I am and still will be but thou like fading time shall be no more The Angel swore that time should be no more Revel 10. v. 6. But for love Christ wills that it shall be for ever Iohn 17. v. 23. let the world know saith Christ to the Father that thou hast loved them as thou lovedst me O when God shall cease to love his Christ then Christ shall cease to love his Saints O friend God cannot but love his Son nor he but love his Father nor both but love the Saints and they that be wrapt thus up in love must needs and cannot but love againe and thus this love binds up
was this poor woman cut and at last cut of life too O all cut but her soule saved and that I verely beleeve on good grounds and now though here lyes before us her body coffind yet my soule cannot but rejoyce in her soules salvation one thing a little troubles me and another thing would have split my very heart if I did not beleeve it confidently that that a little troubles me is that I should be no more kind to so good a body yet I hope and doe beleeve none no not one of all you can condemne me but my heart doth a little I thought to enjoy her when wee were old and to be so kind to her as we might be all along my advice O husbands and wives is yea I wish you pray you intreat you to look on one another as as parting dying yoake-fellows and if you doe how sweet how kinde how loving will you be when brethren are called to part farre asunder the one to crosse the seas and the other to go a prentise how svveetly will they embrace one the other do ye so I pray ye do so it is a duty well pleasing to God no love but Gods Christs love should be above this mutuall love of wife and husbands love O saith Paul love your wives as Christ loved his Church that is for sincerity constancy I quantity too but that is impossible hovv ever it holds forth that greatnesse of affection that should be betvveen the Wife husband But the main thing as I said before vvhich grievs me to think is how unfaithfull a husband I have beene to her soul and that in these particulars First that I should put up so few prayers them so cold I have been as apt to say I hope God will blesse us in our estates I friends I was as apt to say so and come love let us look to the World as oft as to say look to thy soule and Christ either more worth then ten thousand Worlds O my friends I hope you be not guilty like me in this particular if you be it may trouble you more then you are aware of one day O if I had doubted that her soul had miscaried how heavy heavy would this have been yea how sadly should I have followed her corps to the garve a body miscarrying is not easily born but a soul miscarrying who can bear it O friends love your wives and husbands soules as much above their bodies as ye doe their bodies above their clothes it will do the wife good to think that the husbands soule is in heaven smiling whilst shee and her friends are mourning for the corps in the coffin when my wife was sick and I thought it might be unto death then then I thought how many nights my poor wife would call on mee in the night watch sweetheart husband let us talk of Christ a little le ts have some spirituall discourse pray be not so sleepy but talk to me to which I like a dead man a stock or stone would say nothing many times or else I am weary or sleepy or some such kind of sluggish answere and so neglect a spirituall and sweet opportunity in which I might have done her soul and mine own good David speaks of communing with his own heart in the night season The wives the husbands heart should be as one speaking to one another being alwayes mindful of each one anothers welfare especially in a spirituall sense and indeed this was the main end and reason why I desired leave from you to speak a few words to you my friends and truely if I were now to be coffind for the grave to morrow this should be my advice to you my last and solemne advice to you yea to all of you my friends to take all advantages by night and day to doe one anothers soules good O if that be saved how wil it comfort rejoyce your hearts when you in a melancholly way walke to view againe the grave of your wife your husband how will the heart be lifted up with such kind of sweet thoughts as these though here lies rotting the flesh and bones of my wife my husband yet their fouls are with God and Christ with Abraham Isaac and Iacob in the kingdome of God singing farewell all sin and sorrow which now shall be no more Oh hovv do the soules there sing its triumphs over sinne and sorrow death hell and misery devils men and dangers The absence of a friend is not so much a grief as the condition of him in his absence if a friend be in prosperity ye onely mourn for his absence but if yee doubt he is in misery ye mourn double Truly an absent soule doubted to be lost is the greatest trouble yea the greatest that can be in this World I think it I in my conscience really think it and on this consideration my soul did even weep weep till God did further fully confirme my faith in her souls salvation if she should die But I had reason to beleeve this of her before for many a time had I seen her weep for want of Christ for sin and corruption for sinne Blessed are they that mourn for sin for they shall be comforted which I now beleeve she is and beleeving this truely my soule cannot but now rejoyce in her soules salvation whose body lies here coffind I say her souls salvation I doe rejoyce in who never did much work for Christ but brought glory to Christ by beleeving strongly in Christ to the very last moment And that ye may know I do not flatter which I would not for any good in the World in such a case as this I will read you a little of what she beleeved concerning her self and what she spake concerning others the night before she died and of this I will read something to you which I writ down thinking it would be sweet and comfortable to read another day when I should think upon her O God not my will but thy will be done Lord what is this that lies so bitter here pointing to her stomack Lord if it be thy will remove it O Lord thou hast removed many bitter paines from mee in my dayes blessed be thy holy Name I rejoyce to hear thy sweet expressions O sweet heart I am full I am full within but so weak not able to speake what I enjoy O that all my friendes in the world were here I would bid them live to Christ and live in Christ but alas they cannot by their owne strength Well I am willing to leave all to goe to Christ indeed I am indeed I am What will all things avail me but Christ the Lord hath not threatned mee with death nor sinne furely the Lord hath been good to me above all women I asked her once againe of her assurance shee seemed a little troubled saying O Lord sweet heart why do you not beleeve me when I have told you so often I have
was Israels victory and he in this was a type of our David our Christ who hath slain and triumpht openly over our enemies upon the crosse And therefore saith Christ to his Disciples be of good cheare I have overcome as in John the 16 the last Secondly We do overcome likewise when we doe by the strength of Christ oppose and overcome the pollutions of the world In this sence saith John Greater is he that is in you then he that is in this world and yet not but that a poor soule may be foyld and seemingly wholly overcome as David but yet David by renewing grace he gets up and fights and like David in conclusion wholly overcomes Saul and his house Again he may be said to overcome two waies First Comparing himselfe with himselfe I was such a sinner and such a sinner but now I thanke God I am no more the same man Secondly Hee may be said to overcome comparing himselfe with the world who lies lives and wallows in all kinde of polutions and defilements Revel 16. there is a blessing promised to such a one Behold saith Christ I come as a Thief in the night blessed is he that keepes his garments undefiled Thirdly What is meant by Christs Throne and by the Fathers Throne surely here is meant both one thing namely the Glory of God I say the Glory of God is the thing meant the eteruall Glory of God is the Throne on which Christ sits on and in which you must fit also Doth Christ sit in this glory of God Christ your Husband Christ your Head Christ your Vine then must you O Christians too for ye are inseperable Where should the Bride sit but by the Bridegroome Where should the Members be but with the Head Where should the Branches be but with the Vine O poore gentile sinner what glory is design'd for thee But fourthly What is meant by sitting down in Christs Throne or Gods Glory First It denotes a cessation or rest so you know Christ is said to enter into his rest as he is set down with his Father in glory And Paul saith there remains a rest for the people of God aluding to that so that to sit down with Christ in his Throne is to sit with Christ in the Glory of God Moses was but a while in the Mount with God and yet his face shined so that Israel could not behold him O how will thy face shine when thou shalt sit down with Christ in the true glory of God Moses saw him in fire smoake and thunder but thou shalt see him in Christ a loving kinde and tender father a father rejoycing over thee even as a bridegroome rejoycing over his bride to do them good saith the Lord in Isai O how well pleased was Jacob when he had his Joseph O friends God will sweetly please himself as I may so say when Christ shall say he are am I and all the Children thou hast given me make them welcome Father they are my sons and daughters whom I dearly loved dearly bought O seeing now I have them I am at rest while they were in the world tossed with afflictions and troubled with temptations my heart was not at rest but seeing now I have them and from those things have freed them I will set them in my Glory where they shall sweetly sing thus Farewell all sin and sorrow which now shall be no more my work and labour is over and nothing now remains but rest and joy and glory O this is a sweet sitting down indeed for a soul tost and tumbl'd with sinne and sorrow to be brought from all to rest for ever Secondly This setting in Christs Throne or Gods glory denotes a welcome unto Christ we bid them sit down that are welcome unto us take them by the hand and set them down by us O friends Christ will one day take you by the hand lead you to the Father present you as his Spouse the Father will take both Christ and yee and set you both down in his own Glory and in that day saith Christ Yee shall know the Father is in me and I in you then shall yee know the Fathers love too as Christ speakes Iohn 17. last v. O Christians yee will never know this love nor your union the strength glory sweetnesse of it till that day commeth but in that day yee shall know the relation your souls stand in to God to Christ You will know him then to be a Father indeed and not in name onely you will finde so much fatherly love and tenderness towards you that your souls shall lye steeping in it like Sugar in wine If a little taste of Gods love now be so sweet O what will it be when you shall lye night and day soaking in it and wholly melted by it into holy praises Here a gracious heart mourns for want of love to God to Christ but this want shall be supplyed when the Father and you personally meet which day is a comming and I tell you this till this day commeth yee will never know what the love of God and Christ is Now a drop is sweet but how sweet will it be when it shall be like a flowing Fountain in you O friends in that day yee shall be like as a Vessell that 's set under a Fountain Cock alwayes full and alwayes running over Now saith David thy loving kindnesse is better then life O but then he will say nothing but stand stand pore and admire I admire to al eternity when great and undeserved love is shewn unto us by some one unexpected how do we admire and as it were study and wonder why such kindnesse should be shewn unto us O precious christian thou wilt one day admire indeed to think that such love should be shown to such a dead dog as that good man said before the King so wilt thou say O my God and King what am I that thou shouldest love a poor Gentile sinner to keep me in thy presence to have me in thine eye to set me in thy throne that thou maist talk with me and tell me there thy thoughts of old O great and glorious God why art thou so kind to worme Jacob. Thirdly by sitting down in the throne of Christ or Gods glory it denotes respect and estimation we usually bid them sit down whom we best respect and esteem O happy christian how art thou esteemed of the Son and Father that thou shouldest sit down with them the world hates thee so farre as Christ appears in thee yea it cannot but hate thee so farre I say it hates thee though it love thee other wayes as a friend and kinsman or harmlesse man but I say so farre as thou refusest to comply with their wayes and wink at their faults to speak of their folly to sigh at their joy and mourn at their laughter so farre I say they cannot but hate thee but so farre as thou workest by their example and walkest by
downe with Christ in the throne of Christ It is said John leaned on the bosome of Christ O loving John O loving Christ to give such priviledge to a bold but loving sweet and humble sinner John John how couldest thou be so bold with Christ thy Lord and Master John t was love within that bosome that drawed thee there to rest and loll as in a lap it was love that drawed thee it was loue that laid thee in that same bosome but yet I say thy privilege far excels in sitting down with Christ in the throne of Christ Christ was in the form of a servant now Lord of all things Christ was then I say on earth with a mean out-side round about him but now surrounded with Angels with his title on his thigh King of kings Lord of lords Christ was then in rags but now cloathed with suns and stars Christ was then God-man unglorified but now glorified of God with that eternall glory of God which Christ had before the world was as Christ speaks John 17. O friends this glory like glistering diamonds sparkles round the heavens dazeling Saints and Angels Well friend is not thy privilidge farre above Johns to sit down with this Christ in his throne and glory side by side as I may so say Fifthly this sitting downe in the throne of Christ and the glory of God denotes honour what an honour is it for a beggar to sit at a Kings table you will say that is a great honour indeed but what is that to thine O gentle sinner to sit with God and Christ in glory Seemes it a small thing saith David to be a Kings son in law O but ye are the King of kings sons and daughters ye are the Bride the Lambs wife Rev. 21 9. Come saith the Angel I will shew thee the Bride the Lambs wife nothing draws the eyes of the people to gaze more then the sight of the Bride and the Bridegroom Was the queen of Sheba so taken with Solomons glory that she cried out O happy are these that tend thee O Solomon Angels and Archangels will be taken with thy glory when this marriage shall be solemnized before the Father It was a question once What shall be done to the man whom the King will honour and delight in But I ask what shall be done to the man whom the King of kings delighteth to honour first he shall be arayed in pure white linnen which is the rigteousnesse of the Saints as in Revel He shall be cloathed with the Sun and trample the Moon under his feet I know the Saints shining forth in Christ are able in some measure to trample these changeable things by living farre above them in an unchangeable God by the Spirit of Christ living in them but so far as they are flesh they are apt to mixe themselves with these things below not knowing their majesty nor glory forgetting their descent but time is a comming that they shall know God know as they are known they shall know God with all his attributes and glory yea they shall know themselves with the glory designed for them Christ sayes John 17. The glory thou hast given me I have given them that we may be one O Father One part of Christs glory is this that the Father hath appointed the Son to judge the world and in this respect Christ will honour his Saints know ye not saith Paul that the saints shall judge Angels and men here they look like poor shrimps as they are cloathed with rags and flesh but when Christ shall appear then shall we appear with him in glory as the Apostle John speaketh O this appearance shall confound the world as soon as Christ hath confounded the world with his own and his Saints glorious appearing to the world then shall he sit downe in glory to rest himselfe as it were satisfied in the finishments of all his works and the Saints shall sit down by Christ as well pleased with Christ and all his works what an honour is this Well this honour all his Saints shall have Thy name O Lord it above the heavens saith David and as his name so his Saints too in seating them above Angels as taken into union with Christ and set down in the Throne of Christ What joy feasting musick is there at your Princes marriage dayes when solemnized O but when the Bridegroome and his Spouse the Bride the Lambs Wife shall sit down to solemnize that eternall match made up in the everlasting purpose and counsell of God the Father long before all worlds or the Foundations of them O what songs then what joy what praises shall Angels sing with lightsome hearts Yea I say Angels and this too shall they count their heaven and happinesse O thou melancholy Saint tossed with afflictions what thinkst thou of this day tell me tell me true sure thou dost not mind this if thou didst thou couldst never complain of wants losses if thou didst mind this day indeed this endlesse day when heaven shall ring with shouts and praises unto the Lord and unto the Lambe by Saints and Angels as with one voice Doth a little Instrument sweetly touchd take and charme the eare and Siren-like kill all other delights at least for present O how shall thy soul be taken yea taken and charmed to heare the Songs of praises unto the Lord unto the Lambe in that same day unto the Lord O that must needs have a sweet melodie in it which must touch and take that eare which made that eare by which weheare If all the skilfullest Musitions in the world should meet with every one the sweetest Instruments that could be thought on with all Solomons Singers yea and ten thousand more to them I say if all these should meet to try their skill and straine their voyces yet would the Songs the Praises of one bare Saint or Angel as farre excell them all for sweetnesse as they excell the Asses braying and if so what sweetnesse will there be when ten thousand times ten chousands of Saints with as many Angels shall all joyne as with one voice to sing their praises unto the Lamb O Christ how blessed is that soule whom thou wilt to sit in thy Throne to hear these Songs to heare these praises Sixtly This sitting down in the Throne of Christ and the Glory of God denotes joy and triumph It is said at Christs birth Angels and innumerable company of Angels was heard to sing and rejoyce Luke 2.13 Glory to God on high peace and good will to men on Earth Shall not this Song be sung again at that day when Christs marriage shall be solemnized a match of the Fathers own making Surely yea and the twenty four Elders shall sing worship God for ever Revel 18.20 O Heavens doe yee rejoyce and all yee holy Apostles and Prophets too At Israels victory it s said Deborah and Barak sung praises but for Christs victory and his Saints over Worlds Men Sinne Death
that will come come Christ loudly calls you and the Spirit still invites you and the Bride would faine perswade you from her own experience that she hath of this river why will you not then come away and take the water of life you may have it if you will now take it freely so saith the Bride and the Spirit And now friends ye see what this river is how freely you may have it yea you I meane the worst of sinners come away then come away and drinke abundantly come I say for the name of God come and drink For the name of God what is that His goodnesse and his kindnesse his unchangeable goodnesse his transcendent goodnesse his infinite goodnesse O for this his goodnesse sake come and drink for the name of Christ come and drinke For the name of Christ what is that His love his love his bleeding love his dying love his living love his eternall love O for Christ his loves sake sinners come away for the name and sake of the Spirit come and drink The name of the Spirit what is that His freeing name his sealing name his comforting sweet name his leading name his pleading name sake come away O sinner in the name of God and for the sake of God Christ and the Spirit come and drinke O sinner I should invite thee too for thine own soules sake but what is that to God Christ and the Spirits sake but stay me thinks I heare one say what is it to drinke of this river of life First it is to delight your selves in it yea drinke for delight as well as for thirst O then ye sonnes of men why will ye not come hither that your soules might be delighted with draughts of living water Secondly yea drinke to quench your thirst O come and quench your thirst in this pleasant river yea quench all kinds of thirst in your soules your thirsts for profits pleasures and contents come quench them here for here you may and no where else men who have runne to creatures to quench their thirsty soules have found them all a lie and so will you too who run and call for creature waters to quench their feverish soules Thirdly ye drink to coole your selves come hither drinke drinke and then ye shall lay all your heates your worldly heates your lustfull heates your sinfull heats O thou laborious Worldling thy bottle will be empty what shall thy soul then do when death like night comes on thee I say what will you doe O me thinks I heare thee even crying out drink drink or else I die I die Why doe you not give me drink but let me thus lye burning and dying too for thirst of that which once was freely offered to mee but now cannot be bought with prayers teares nor cryes nor all my worldly riches which I once overvalued and thirsted after more then God Christ or heaven have you never heard dying worldlings thus complain surely you have why doe you not that are alive and living come then unto this river and drink of this same water and thee I would too who art heated with lust with burning lust of uncleannesse pride passion and such like fiery distempers burning in thy soul as if hell fire was already kindled in thee O friends those lusts which lye so secret smothering in thy soule will one day breake forth into dreadfull flames burning round about thee Have you never seen a dying sinner dispairing of mercy lie in the midst of these flames burning and dispairing and no friend able to bring him any comfort no not in the least Againe ye drink for comfort to comfort your hearts but poore hearts know this there is no true comfort but in God Christ and the river and unlesse you come to this river of pleasure this soul-comforting water of life ye shall live comfortlesse ye shall die comfortlesse and be damnd for want of it God hath decreed true comfort shall be no where but in himself his Son and river John 15.26 ye know Christ promised his Disciples a comforter and what was that Comforter I pray but the Spirit and the river mentioned O me thinks I might perswade you to this river a drop a drop of it will sweeten any condition art thou poore sick weak what aylest thou man take a drop take a drop of this river I will warrant you comfort but here I would invite and not discourage for a world such poor Christians that are heated with temptations and corruptions that they goe mourning and sighing by reason hereof and Satans temptations filling them with feares and doubts that they cry out like David O I shall one day perish by corruption and temptation such a corruption sayes one and such a corruption sayes another me thinks they grow stronger and stronger and I feare at last will be my ruine O my friend let me tell thee two things and doe thou remember them First no soule is damnd for the presence of sin but for the love of sin marke me I say it is not the presence of sin but the love of sin that damns My second word is this to thee O complaining sinner sinne flutters most when it hath its deaths wound as soon as Christs comes into our hearts he wounds sinne to the heart as I may so say by giving a sight of it a dislike and hatred to it Well thus Christ wounds sinne and it may be now sinne like some fowle whose necke is broken beats the wing and flutters as if it were alive well so doth sinne whose neck Christ hath broken in the soule beates the wing and fluters keepes more sputter now then ever Well friend remember these sputterings are the death pangs of sinne I the death pangs and be but patient thou shalt plainly see them to be no otherwise and therefore doe not fill thy heart with feares of ruine for it shall never be for thou like David shalt overcome Saul thine enemy I meane corruption but in the meane time come away to the river drinke drinke and it will strengthen thee and coole thee O but now me thinks I heare some soule say I would drinke with all my heart but I am an unworthy poore sinner O friend the more poore the more worthy to Christ art thou poore then goe to Christs doore he feeds the poore but the rich he sends empty away Againe Thou art unworthy What dost thou meane by unworthy Thou seest no reason why Christ should give thee the water of life nor the Spirit I beleeve thou dost not I verily beleeve thou art unworty in thy self and cannot see any reason why Christ should give thee the water of life But Friend know there is a worthynesse in Christ and so thou mayst be worthy or any poore sinner who layes hold on Christs worthynesse and so goes to the Father in the worthynesse of the Son for the water of life and the river But to be plaine with thee thou art indeed a proud
fatherly way unto us O great and wonderfull O mysterie of mysteries who would have thought of such a way as this to have found a blessed God again O Adam lost couldst thou have thought of this way O angels all ye angels could ye have thought of this way no no I dare say no nor all the world besides you it is said by Paul when Angels heard of this mysterie Gods coming down into flesh to find and bring back man lost man again it was such a mysterie to the Angels that they desired to peep into it Oh how farre was Ioseph carried from good old Iacob but yet at last he saw his face again So farre and further yea ten thousand times furthermore were ye sold by Eve and carried by Satan but God like Jacob comes down though not for want yet for his love to bring ye back to your own place it is said when the Israelites were delivered out of Balon they were as men in a dream they had been so long in Captivity and were so suddenly delivered unepxected Psalme 137. But lost man thou lesse expectedst if lesse could be thy great deliverance that God by Christ should bring back thee from Pharaoh in Egypt a strange land to Christ in Canaan where plenty and all fullnesse dwels and now will God again become your God and dwell with you now it may be truly said the tabernacle of God is with men and he will dwell with them and they shall be his people and God himself will be there God with them Rev. 21.3 Mark this God himself will be with them this being with them denotes Gods familiarity to them where strangenesse is there can be no familiarity but strangenesse now shall be no more for God will dwell with them and they with him O they must needs see his face who dwell in his presence In thy presence O God is fulnesse of joy and pleasures for evermore so saith David in Psal 36.8 Here is a fullnesse indeed First a feeding fullnesse Secondly a filling fullnesse Thirdly an overflowing fullness First a feeding fullnesse O Christian it shall feed thy very soul to see the face of God and Christ Secondly a filling fullness it shall fill thy heart yea every corner of thy heart and soul too it shall so fill thee that thou shalt be as David said in his Psalm filled with marrow and fatnesse Thirdly an overflowing fullness for thou shalt be so filled with the sight of thy God that thou shalt overflow with delight Here the discoveries of God have an emptiness in the soul that there is still an emptiness in thee but in that day thou shalt be as a vessell brim-full and not so but overflow with the fullness of Gods discoveries to thy soul he shall so immediately discover himself to thee Here Gods discoveries are in a secondary way but then thou shalt have them immediately from himself and not by any hand conveyed but by himself his presence with thee shall be a flowing fatness yea an overflowing fullness in thee and in that day thou shalt know the relations thy soul stands in to God thou shalt know him to be a father indeed he shall so fatherly discover himself to thee Here God carries himself sometimes to his children as Joseph did to his brethren rough and strange but then God shall say to his children O my deare children how do I love you yea I love you more and more I loved you before and now I cannot hide my bowels from you yea I cannot but show my love to you come my deare children for whom I prepared Glory before the world was as Christ speaks John come sit down by me I will tell you over my love I loved you before I had you but now I have you I cannot but embrace you ye were my delight long before the world was I rowled you in my thoughts I had you in my eye and carried you in my purpose and bought you by my Christ O my deare children let me wipe away all teares from your eyes Rev. 21.4 You were wont to mourn but now rejoice and sing and let no man take your joy from you as Christ speaks Iohn 16.20 you wont to grieve but grief shall be no more nor pain nor sorrow nor any such thing shall ever be again I have you now and I will no more nurse you abroad but ye shall live in my presence and because I live ye shall live also as Christ speaks in Iohn 16. O deare children how did I long for this day that I might have you in my presence and dandle you on my knee speak with you and to you the world was wont to snib you Ioh. 20.33 therefore I plagued it the world abused you and mifused you but I said I would reckon with her for that the world knew you not therfore hated you but I knew you and therefore loved you yea loved you more and more I cannot but love ye are my sonnes and daughters my Iewels my preasure my treasure my purchase my lot my inheritance and now what will you that I do for you show us thy face and it sufficeth us John 14.8 O my sons and daughters I will show you my face and glorie my heart and all the secrets of my soul if that will satisfie you O God it is our desire to see thy face thy pleasant face thy glorie thy transcendent glorie but thy heart O God what is that my love my intire love my surpassingand indearing love and for my thoughts I mean my purpose my purpose towards you which was of old as David speaks of old before time yea before time was at all for before the world was no time and then were you in my thoughts and purpose I had a purpose of you and on you of you to make you my sonnes and daughters and a habitation for my glorie that ye in ages to come might know I loved you above all and chose you out of all the Nations of the world that I might show the exceeding riches of my grace to you and for my purpose on you it was to raise my glory by you in shewing it unto you for if you had not seen my face how could you know my glorie but this I will that ye may know how much I loved you carrying you in my thoughts time time all along yea and long before time too Christ and I was contracting your salvation little did you once know my transactions concerning your souls but God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself John 5.19 But now ye see my face and my transactions too all which you do admire and more and more you shall to think how once I made you and after that I lost you yet back again I bought you and now to my self have brought you all this you must admire When Ionas was in the deep and his head wrapped with reeds and rushes little did he think to have ever
seen the shore again lesse if less could be did your souls think to have seen this day which now you see what I can do and bring about that you might prize my face at last But in the fourth place whereas God doth promise they shall see his face It doth imply that great reward by which he will reward his servants that serve him so that Christians doe not fight as if there was no crown nor worke as if no wages O saith Paul I have fought the good fight I have finished the course and henceforth is laid up for me a Crowne of life and not for me onely but for all that love his appearance too And therefore Christian be thou faithfull unto the death and thou shalt have the Crowne of life Revel 2.10 Where Christ promised it unto thee for the incouraging of thee Christminded his owne glorie and so maiest thou as well as Moses see Christ speaks of it yea demands the Crown John 16.1 I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do and now glorifie thy sonne or reward thy son and then it is said I have glorified thee and I will glorifie thee O Friends you are now glorified as you sit by your union with Christ in the glorie of God which shineth round the heavens and makes them to be heavens indeed wel friends this is the glorie into which you must be taken to behold his face and then will not this be a reward a full reward ineeed tenne thousand times beyond all your doings and all your sufferings yea equall unto Christ his merits and to thine hearts desire a Saints desire is to see God and enjoy God nothing doth a Saint desire in comparison of that with our souls have we desired thee saith the Prophet Isaiah yea and this is the desire of every soul everie gracious soul O when the sense of Gods eternall love glorie sweetnesse lies boiling in it how strong doth the desire rise O friends no desire under heaven rises and heaves so like to mighty waters in the Soul as this desire when the sense of Gods love and glorie lies boiling in it and the mightie Spirit stirring of it thunders do not more shake the cloudie aire nor earthquakes move the dungie earth then these desires the soul of man when it is strongly rocking there O saith Moses shew me thy face or glorie while his soul was filled with the sense of it he would fain see it though he died the death for it but God spares Moses his life by hiding him and his glory for the present well-knowing Moses was lesse able for to see this glorie which he requests he might then we to see the Sunne through and through but shall Moses never see this glorie therefore because of weaknesse yes yes he shall he doth he now sees it and so shalt thou O happy Christian ere it be long what was it that took Peter when he had a glimpse of Moses on the Mount but the beames of this glory sparkling on his back like glittering suns and starres Well friends you wish and would but time shall passe and time shall come and you enjoy the thing you wish crave and often breatheth after namely that glory that Moses then appeared in namely on the mount well you shall I say you shall as sure as the Lord lives have it one day have it and be cloathed by it as with a garment down to the ground like the white robe Rev. 19.14 and then like Moses will your appearance be as cloathed with twinkling stars from Phoebus beames And now hearken O heavens and give ear O earth earth earth with all that dwells therin high low rich poor how God will glorifie his Son and his Son his Saints to their hearts desire with men and Angels admirations and astonishments too Well may David say O Lord I have none in heaven but thee and there is none in earth that I desire in comparison of thee nay Lord in comparison of thee I scorn crowns and kingdoms yea ten thousand tuns of Jewels marke none in heaven nor in earth saith a David in comparison of thee and thus God rewards a Saint according to his hearts desire when he promiseth to show his face unto them O this reward will make amends for all for all your sufferings for all your sorrows and now in the hopes of this raise your selves your souls in all your troubles and castings down and indeed nothing but this consideration will do it to any purpose for if by the losse of one creature you raise your selves by another What will you then do when all creature-comforts shall be taken away from you which God at first or last will surely doe And then what will ye then do ye all of you whose hearts are bound up in the creatures and things of this life But mourne mourn bitterly like Babylon crying alas alas Revel 18.10 How in one day have I lost all my hopes my creature comforts my friends my children my wife and husband my life and soul and Christ more worth then all ten thousand times over and over againe O unhappy man that I am O unhappy soul how wast thou deluded how was I deceived to think my self happy in a few dying creature-enjoyments O my bewitched soul who deluded thee who deceived thee time was thou heardst of God and Christ and hadst thou then minded him and served him as thou didst thy King thy lust and pleasures hee would not now have left thee as dying Wolsey once said that great Cardinall in his dispaire and horror But thou O precious Christian whose heart and hopes are placed in God shall dying say my hopes my heart and expectation lives for it was not here nor here below in dying things but a living Christ and now my soule shall live with him and because he lives I shall live also John 14.19 ye live in his presence live in his sight and now my soule my happy soule tell thou the world thy friends all that mournes for thy departure thy life thy life for which they mourne its sure and safe it s hid with God in Christ our lives are hid with God in Christ and when he shall appear we shall appear with him also as the Apostle speaks John 1.3.2 O glorious day O day of dayes unthought unminded by most of men now it appears not what we are but then it shall when the dust of this body more precious then the seed of stars and jewels shall be gathered and be carefully picked up by Angels sent forth by Christ from all the winds for that same purpose then my life was hid but now it is found where first it was in God and Christ in my own root and that to my dear souls content and therefore let me go to my home to my father to my husband to my God to my Christ and to my brethren for sure I shall be welcome as Jacob was to Joseph Welcome
for relations sake O friends there is such a neere relation between Christ and a Christian he is the head and you the members he is the Bridegroome and you the Bride he is the vine and you the branches Christ cannot but bid you wellcome nor the father neither for you are all his children how wellcome is a friend a childe a husband after seven yeares voyage when returned what love what embraces doth then passe between them powring heart into heart as it were How sweetly did Josephs and his brethrens bowels yerne one towards another O friends Christ will one day embrace you in his armes with his rowling bowels like a husband his beloved wife after seven yeares absence and you him with teares and kisses of joy and love How glad was Dide queene of Carthage when she had Aeneas prince of Troy to look on and embrace Well friends time will come when thou shalt have thy Christ to embrace and look on who hath endured more broiles ten thousand times then all Aeneas feigned ones Here Christ to look on is admirable and lovely too in broiles O saith the Spouse Who is this that coms from Bozrah with his garments dipped in blood Isaiah 63.1.2 travelling in the greatnes of his strength Christ the prince and Captain of our salvation comes from the fields of slaughter like some noble champion and hath his bloody armes which doth declare him conquerour so Christ here travels from Bozra a field of slaughter this I take to be the crosse of Christ on which he might be well said and did conquer all the Churches enemies yea naild them to the crosse as Paul speaketh by triumphing over them openly upon the crosse Well in this field Christ slayes the law sinne and death making this saying good O death I will be thy death 1 Cor. 15.55 And now comes in warlick vestures which are dipped in this blood declaring him to be the mighty conquerour Well the Spouse sits and sees him at her window comming from the field which is the Spirit in the soule through which she lookes upon these mighty champions Christ Sinne Death and Devils Well Christ foyls and spoyles all by trampling on all which being done he leaves them dead and comes away to refresh himselfe in glory the Spouse spies him in the way and cries out who is this not that shee did not know Christ well enough but she is taken with Christ in the beholding of Christ thus bravely wins the field which Christ never quited til all foild spoild the day his own Well Is the Soule now so taken with the gallentry of Christ that she cryes out for joy and wonder O then how wilt thou be taken when thou shalt see this Christ againe which heare is promised yea stroak the face of this Champion Christ the Prince of our salvation how will she be taken with him then saying O my deare Christ it was my enemies thou ingaged in Bozra and if thou hadst not conquered my soule and thousands more had been undone for ever but seeing thou didst win the day we will name and stile thee most high and excellent and mighty Conquerour King of Saints Prince and Captaine of our salvation which thou for ever shalt be called by Saints and Angels men and Devils poore drooping sinner what dost thou think of this day and this Christ who is thy Champion thy Captaine and Salvation I say what dost thou thinke O malencholy Christian of this day when thou shalt see the face of this Prince and Saviour wilt thou not make one to sing his prayses to sing his victories over sinne death hell men and devils which Angels now are doing and so shalt thou and this shall be thy reward too a full reward indeed for all thou ever didst or suffredst In the mean time bear up bear up thy head O drooping Christian Christ hath conquered sinne death men and devils and yet it may be thou fearest all O foolish sinner weake in faith men are bound sinne and satan wounded yea death and sinne slaine too and all by Christ in Bozra what meanst thou to be troubled O but Sir Sir me thinks I see sinne alive and Satan loose yea both in me I will not deny but thou mayst think so but all is not true that men doe thinke but grant both these be in thee yet if sinne be wounded and Satan bound one cannot long live nor the other doe much mischeife if sinne be wounded it is to the heart be sure of that And when Christ was wounded there by sinne he straight died well I am sure Christ hath wounded sinne there too and it cannot live long O Sir Sir it is livelier then ever it struggles more then ever O friend that is to me as cleare as the day that sinne is just a dying every thing in nature will doe the like what dost thou see dying willing but a Saint and he I must confesse on this consideration that he shall live with God and Christ and behold the face of God and Christ as in the first words I say on this consideration happily he may with a great deale of willingnesse die But who besides the Saint will will man or beast or fish or foule or any other creature No no the fish yawns and gapes the fowle flutters the beast beats it selfe and yels though bound and musled man mournes and cries alas alas why must I die and leave my hopes my wife my childe my lands and livings nay friends and all fetch the Doctor quickly fetch the Doctor save me if it be possible I faine would live a little longer and thus he mournes to think on death and when it comes and drawes neere to him then he growns and gasps and grinnes and stares still striving with it while breath doth last Well friend the fish yawns and gapes the fowle flutters the beast yels man mournes and cries alas what shall sinne doe nothing it were contrary unto nature if it should die without its throwes in thy soule But stay you said Satan was bound I I did so and so he is in two respects Christ hath bound him up from hurting thee Christ hath bound him up from forcing thee First From hurting thee you know if the most notorious theeving rogue in the world lyes bound in a lone womans house hand and foot there was no ground nor cause of feare he is bound hand and foot what can he now doe but curse and swear well she being a weak woman is troubled and frighted notwithstanding but when her husband comes home her feares ceaseth and are gone Well friends know this Christ hath bound Satan for a thousand yeares yea for ever from mischeiving his Saints and Servants and if he be in thee he is bound O no me thinks he is loose he doth so tempt me and accuse me I doe not know what to doe it may be so he doth tempt and accuse thee I did not say Christ had bound Satans tongue no
he hath not nor never will whilst the world stands Satan shall have his tongue loose to tempt some of his Saints and to accuse others for divers good reasons This is one When he cals on thee to commit this or that great sinne thou mayst call on Christ to keep thee from sinne A second reason is this When he accuseth thee for thy sinne Christ would have thee pray and crave his pardon for thy sinne yea beleeve it is pardoned notwithstanding his accusing thee which when thy soule doth by his power and strength in thee it brings much honour to Christ yea very much but I will not stand now to give thee any more reasons why Christ will not tie the Devils tongue But remember these two but the thing I said was Christ hath bound Satan hand and foot and so he hath from doing thee any mischeife fast enough and yet it may be he lyes thus bound in the middle of the floor as I said before and raves and curseth thee and stares at thee in thy house about thy calling and this causes a great deale of trouble in thy soule but when thy husband Christ comes home which will be at noon in his discoveries thy feare will be gone and thou with joy wilt tell thy neighbours I meane thy christian friends Againe Satan is bound from forcing thee if a maid should be tempted day and night to part with her virginity yet if she consent not and the other have no power but by consent what is she the worse or her chastity the lesser no it is rather greater if you will So I say to thee who talkst of Satans temptations what if Satan tempt thee day and night to part with thy virginity or resolution against such and such a sin Well Satan tempts to yeild yea tempts thee day and night doe not yeild by no means if he should goe to force thee Christ will come and helpe thee or at least excuse thee saying thou art yet his chaste and beloved Spouse and will not hide his face from thee for all that But in the fifth and last place whereas God saith They shall see my face It doth imply that great and sweet delight that God takes in his peoples presence God delights in all his workes but especially in his own people O Israel whom I have created God created all things for his praise but Israel especially more then all his whole creation God said of all his works that they were good serving some designe or other but Israel his glory O Jacob my servant and Israel whom I have chosen Isa 44.1 2 3. Feare not O Jacob my servant and Jeshurum whom I have chosen yea thou art chosen before all times and worlds Iacob have I loved saith God before Iacob had a being but he is now brought forth by creation for the glory of his grace that he might shew the greatnesse of his love to them in discovering of himselfe to be their God and Father which he doth in Jesus Christ who is the expresse Image of his Fathers person and so the very face of God as I may so say For in Christ he shewes himselfe to the Saints a Father of love and sweetnesse yea and a God and fountain too of all delights God discovers nothing in his Sonne but love delight and sweetnesse to the sonnes of men So that whereas God saith he will shew his face he meanes he will shew you Christ and in him his love delight and pleasure which when it is once discovered to the soule it so takes the soule that it cryes out O God who is a God like unto thee as Moses once said How great O God is this goodnesse which thou hast laid up for them that serve love and feare thee As David once said O God in thy presence is life and thy loving kindnesse is better then life it selfe Psalme And therefore my lips shall praise thee nothing is better then life but his favour is better and sweeter too ten thousand times Doth the favour and smiles of a Prince so take the flattering Courtier that he blesses himself as it were in the obtaining of it and saith he is now a happy man he hath now the Princes eye and eare he more delights in me then all his noble favourites O happy christian favourite of God and Christ the Prince of princes and nations too as well as King of Saints how wilt thou be delighted in these delights of God set on thee and shewn unto thee in his Sonne It is said of him I will make my first born higher then the princes of the earth this is spoken of Christ but it is as true of the Saints in their creation being the cheife of it well God sets up these higher then the Princes of the earth as they are set up in his favour by his Son for his own glory to make himself a name by them Children saith Solomon are the glory of their parents and so are the Saints too of God namely the glorie of his grace by which he gets himselfe a Name and praise in the earth O Israel praise the Lord that made thee of nothing O house of Jacob praise ye the Lord O all ye servants of his praise him day and night for he hath magnified you by his grace in his Son and set you above men and Angels in respect of union and now where would the riches of this grace appear to the world but for the Saints The world is blind and sees no glory love nor sweetnesse in him but they in Christ see all namely a glory beyond all glories a love surpassing all a sweetnesse like a sea and they in the midst which fils the soules with admiration and makes them like David cry out and say how great is thy goodnesse which thou hast laid up in store for them that feare and serve thee God hath laid up in store Jewels Crowns kingdoms nay more his own favour in Jesus Christ which they shall one day see and seeing say as once the queen of Sheba did to Solomon I have heard of thee but not of halfe thy glory So shall the Saints say we have heard much of thee O God and Father and of thy glory but never the halfe that we now see One said thou art a God of love and sweetnesse and another of all delights and pleasures but we never heard halfe we now see and find thee to be to our soules O had the world known thee they would have ownd thee and counted thy favour better then life it self or heaven either for it is thy presence love and favour makes the heavens heavens indeed to our soules O God we met with springs of it in the valley of tears but they were fountaines to us and filled our souls with delights Psal 84. v. 6. But now our joyes are double and fountaines too like seas which breaks up every moment with new and fresh discoveries and makes our soules admire and
for her husband but what is their grief or loss to thine unhappie sinner thou hast lost a father indeed or at least one that would have beene a Father to thee when time was in Iesus Christ yea a sweet and loving Father for them that have found him have found him so to be yea a Father as farr excelling all relations and Fathers too for sweetness as the universall sweetness does the single Pink. Men may talk of losses by wife and children husbands friends and Parents but all is nothing unto thine O unhappie sinner they have lost pebbles but thou hast lost a Iewell yea a God as farre excelling Iewels Crowns and Kingdomes as they for lustre beautie worth and sweetness love and lovelinesse excell straw and stubble chaffe and vanity Yea and lost it too for nothing which must needs cut the soul and split thy Spirit too when it thinks on it O saith a poore Soul I have lost the heaven of heavens for dust and ashes a few dying creatures saith the worlding and I too saith the wanton for my Dalilah this or that sinne which at the last betrayed me Iudas-like in-into mine enemies hands death hell and Devils where I must lie yea weep and wail and see no God no hope no help nor pity for millions of yeares as that young man the Apothecarie once said to his servant in his despair and horrour And if then too there were but any hopes to see God at last it would be some comfort but this everlasting departure and never seeing more is a hell to hell and a hell in hell to think upon which every carelesse sinner will one day find though he now makes a ship of God and thinks there is no danger of finding him or at least finding him when he needs he is so mercifull that if he crie but Lord Lord in a dying houre God is so near and mercifull that he will be straight found I will not lessen his mercie and say absolutely thou shalt not but friend let me tell thee thousands and ten thousands have found it otherwise witnesse Francis Spira and those despairing Sinners which thou seest daily dying so which would give a thousand worlds might they live a little longer O saith one in his burning feaver would I could live to see God a reconciled God in the face of Iesus Christ I would be contented to lie a thousand yeares in this Feaver and I too saith another in this Gout and I too saith a third with his bowells twisted in his belly which pains are all intollerable yet all would fain live in them to find a God before they die O foolish man O foolish sinner what shall I like thee unto but unto that simple man that built his house upon the sands of peradventure I hope and thinke to finde God when I die for all these Puritans be so stritkt though I take my pleasure and live in my sinnes and doe as my neighbours Mr. Custome and the rest well friend I will take thee at thy word peradventure thou mayst But wilt thou venture thy soule thy deare and pretious soul upon a peradventure O foolish sinner hast thou ever another soule to save if this miscarry dost not thou lose all and for a peradventure which may take and yet it is a thousand to one if it doth But with this parable before mētioned I shal conclude now for thy souls sake hearken to me whoever thou art that readest these lines this little book mind me for it is a truth and shall be so when thou and I am rotten that Christ is the rock yea the rock of ages and whoever builds on him shall stand yea stand and stand firme when the windes blow and whistle and raines fall like hailstones driven by the winde and the stormes beat yet thou shalt stand and stand firme in all these stormes and troubles and afflictions and temptations yea in death and judgement too shalt thou stand where millions yea and millious too shall fall whilst thou stands firme on thy rock Christ thy sure foundation and see the face of God too for thy comfort after all these stormes like the Sunne after an April shower or a haven after many weary leagues by day and night like Paul upon the Seas of Creet Acts 28.38 But how thou must build upon this rock know and let all the world know it is by the mighty power of faith wrought in the heart by the eternall Spirit of the mighty God and not by the workes which we doe or can doe by all created power Here followeth a briefe Exhortation which I gave in my owne house at my wifes Funerall to our friends then present FRiends and Neighbours I am beholding to you all for your love and loving presence at this time I have one request to you yea all of you which I hope no one will be offended at It is to joyn with me to speake a word to God after a word to you and to my owne heart which if I know It is not through pride nor any self-seeking end and could this Corps have beene conveniently longer kept I would have had Mr. Sedgwick whom she loved heard and profited by to have preached her Funerall Sermon But seeing it is as it is and my self am more concernd in this then all the world I take leave from you without any more request to you hoping you will take my meaning to be good where my expressions are short and broken for I had neither time nor a quiet mind but a few houres meditation last night when want of sleep had much besotted me But what improvement shall we now make by this my wife your sister friend and harmlesse neighbour Anne Blakes death And to improve it First see what is your end a grave a coffin wil house you all O call in then your thoughts your wide and wandring thoughts and mind your change with seriousness before it comes which will not be long you may be confident Secondly see what you yea all of you must part with at first or last your friends your nearest dearest sweetest friends your sons and daughters your wives and husbands O this grave and death will have them all which once I little minded but now I must and cannot but mind this death this cruell death which hath so haunted me and will doe you ere it be long but I hope he will not be so quick with none of you a sonne a daughter a loving wife in six weeks space O nimble quick cruell death how hast thou stolen my nearest sweet and dearest comforts Odeath where hadst thou this full and large Commission Was it given thee by chance O no I know it was not thou canst not take by that Commission a bird a sparrow much less a daughter sonne and wife O death this Commission it was from the Lord for he gives and takes Iob the first The Lord gives and the Lord takes and blessed be his name O