be Governours of Families set before you the example of the virtuous Woman Pro. 31. 13 28. If Servants Eleazar and Jacob Gen. 24. 31. 6 40. Col. 3. 22. to the end Remember the promise of protection of Angels while you are diligent in your Callings Psal 91. 11 12. and how God hath graciously and gloriously appeared unto them he found therein Exod. 31. 2. Judg. 6. 11. 2 Sam. 7 8. Amos 7. 14 15. And how he will welcome you with a well done good and faithful Servant Mat. 25. Only be sure to follow these Rules in your particular Callings 1. Labour principally for spiritual and heavenly things Mat. 6. 33. Esay 55. 2. Joh. 6. 27. 2. Let your end be right 1 Cor. 10. 31. Acts 20. 35. Eph. 4. 28. And 3. For the manner do your work without all carking care And without discontent of any providences and with a heavenly mind Phil. 3. 20. 3. Be alway rejoycing God hath declared abundantly his will and pleasure that you who dwell in him should be continually cheerful and comfortable in your Spirits and he hath in his Word as oft charged you to be so and he hath charged you to fear him and live a godly life Psal 119. Psal 2. 117. 32. 11. 33. 1. 48. 11. 5. 11. 68. 4. Mat. 5. 12. Phil. 3. 1. 1 Thes 5. 16. And he is delighted to see you cheerful and offended much when you are disconsolate and uncheerful Deut. 28. 47 48. You are the only People that have right and title to joy and comfort Psal 116. 15. 47. 11. 64. 10. 106. 4 5. Rom. 5. 1. 14. 17. 15. 13. The objects of your joy are such as have in every one of them force and power if seriously pondered to keep up your hearts in frame of comfort and so fill them with joy at all times Quest. What are these objects Answ 1. The Lord himself he is the prime main ultimate adequate object of your joy Phil. 4. 4. Psal 4. 6 7. Hab. 3. 17 18. Jesus Christ John 16. 33. Phil. 3. 3. 4. 13. The word of God Psal 119. 92. 94. 19. Rom. 15. 4. All the Ordinances of God especially Prayer Phil. 4. 6 7. The works of God these are also a great object of his Peoples joy both the internal eminent ones that werewrought within himself especially Election Luk. 10. 20. And the outward viz. Creation and providence Psal 107. 22. Especially the work of Redemption Psal 53. 6. 71. 23. 126. 1 2. All the gifts of God Faith Hab. 2. 4. 1 Pet. 1. 8. Hope Rom. 5. 2. The testimony of your sanctified Conscience 2 Cor. 1. 12. Experiences of the love of God Psal 63. 3. Remission of sins Mat. 9. â— Co-operation of all things for their good Rom. 8. 28. The Attendants of the holy Angels the immensity of their wages for their works which is from free grace 2 Tim. 4. 8. Heb. 11. 26. Rom. 8. 18. Afflictions themselves of all sorts both natural being prepared for them corrected with Lenitives one whereof is commonness 1 Cor. 10. 13. Another that they are love-tokens like the Rain-bow And another the effects they produce whereof you have heard much and much more accidental for Religion and Christianity sake Mat. 5. 11 12. Col. 1. 24. 1 Pet. 4. 13. 2 Cor. 12. 15. Acts. 5. 41. Jam. 1. 2. 4. Be alway praying opening your desires to God with reverence and confidence in the name of Christ for things agreeable to his will viz. That he will glorifie his own great name immediatly by himself and by all his providential Dispensations That his paternal Kingdom may be brought to perfection both by means and gifts of grace That his will may be done by your selves and others as the Angels in Heaven do it chearfully without murmuring speedily without delaying totally without mincing or reservation sincerely without self-seeking constantly without fainting That you your fellowes may enjoy all necessary temporal blessings personal domestical Political National have title to them leave to use them and comfort in the use of them That he will free you from the guilt of sin grant you remission free and full And that he will sanctifie you and them throughout giving you conquest over all temptations and perseverance to the end Neglect not to keep a constant course of praying twice a Day at least Morning and Evening and occasionally Day and Night sending up servent short Ejaculations Continue in Prayer and watch in the same with thanks-giving which is the next duty to be performed and the next which every Day must be payed duly 5. Be alway giving thanks 1 Thes 5. 18. In thanksgiving there is both the Memory Meditation and serious acknowledgement of God's blessings And in token of the truth thereof and dedication and consecration of our Bodies and Souls with all we have to divine use that is to the honour and service of God This was figured in the Sacrifices of the old Law which were first set before the Altar and so presented to God and then afterward were offered unto him This dedication is made when the intention of our mindes and purpose of our hearts and in all our affections we give up and set our selves apart This was first done in our Baptisme and is continually renewed in the Lord's Supper Thankfulness is all the Rent God requires of us for the House we dwell in and all the accommodations thereunto annexed Psal 5â— 15. We would not forfeit any thing we hold for non-payment of rent Take we heed lest for want of thankfulness we give God occasion to dispossess us of himself and of all the good things we enjoy in him 6. Be alway willing to remove from these lowest into higher Rooms in this House By Death we do no more but change our Lodging from lower to higher Rooms in the same House Be willing to dye at any time So Simeon was Lord now lettest thou thy Servant depart in peace So was Paul Having a desire to depart and to be with Christ which is far better Be alway prepared to dye by dying to sin and to the World continually And by making every Day your dying Day by breaking off sins and avoiding all occasions of sinning and embracing all occasions of doing good and doing all in such a manner as you would if you knew you should dye presently Making also to your selves Friends of the Mammon of Unrighteousness and setting your House in Order and praying to God continually To teach you to number your Dayes that you may apply your hearts unto Wisdom FINIS IMPRIMATUR Rob. Grove R. P. D. Humph. Episc Lond. a Sac. Dom. Mart. 9. 1668 9. Mat. 8. 20. P. 14. Psal 91. 1. 1 Joh. 3. 24. 4. 13. 15 16. Gen. 11. 4. Psal 144. 2. Esa 33. 15 16. Psal 61. 3. 71. 7. Prov. 15. 10. Esa 25. 4. Jer. 22. 14. Prov. 21. 9. Esa 28. 20 Job 11. 7 8 9. Psal 119. 69. Gen. 13. 17. Exod. 3.
quite cut off from the spiritual communion with Christ the true foundation of life and grace Or if they have brought forth any fruit at any time materially good the root and manner and end have been all naught stark naught worse than naught They never did any thing for God in obedience and out of love to him or with an intent to honour and please him thereby Take them at the best and it may be said of them what was said of Israel Israel is an empty Vine he bringeth forth fruit unto himself They have been self-seekers and selfdependers and self-ascribers in all that ever they have seemed to do for God Answ To this Objection I have these two things to say 1. That it is possible for a Man to be in God and yet to see no goodness at all in himself nothing but evil nothing at all to commend him to God nothing but what may make him odious in his sight The Centurion saw nothing of worth in himself why Christ should come to him or he to Christ Though others thought him to be a worthy Man and so reported him to be to Christ And Christ himself gives testimony not only he had true faith but a great measure of it I have not found so great faith no not in Israel No more did the Woman of Canaan see any goodness in her self she confesseth her self to be an unclean Person but Christ both graceth and gratifieth her gives a very high commendation of her Heroical Faith And what goodness saw Paul in himself when he said I am a carnal Man sold under sin Hear the Confession of our Holy Mother and all her Genuine Children We are all an unclean thing all our righteousness is as filthy rags We acknowledge that our Persons and all our actions even the most praise worthy of them namely those wherewith we did thy service are all contaminated with abominable filth 2. That it is an Argument of true goodness to see little goodness much evil in thy self If thou canst and dost bewail the absence of that the presence of this findest a disallowance and deep detestation of it in thy heart and makest continual resistance against it Mourning for the want and absence of a friend argues truth of affection and love to him Thou wouldst not couldst not grieve because thou art not good if there were not in thee a love of goodness And the sight of so much sin in thy Soul proves thee to have light in it For whatsoever doth make manifest is Light And thy sensibleness of the burden of thy sins tells thee that thou livest much more thy stirring and strugling to be rid of them and the War thou makest against them A dead man can neither feel nor stir nor strive there is therefore spirit in thee as well as flesh For the Flesh lusteth against the Spirit and the Spirit against the Flesh and these are contrary the one to the other so that ye cannot do the things that ye would Every new Man is two Men. The two Armies in the Shulamite maintain civil broyles within her as the two Babes did in Rebecca's Womb. This Combate with Corruption may comfort thee Though still I must grant that as there is natural life and conscience in the wicked so common Grace may strive uneffectually in them And the Spirit in the Godly does conquer their reigning sin as well as strive but not all their infirmities Saint Paul doth comfort himself with this raising up his Soul even to an holy insultation and triumphing For after he had described the two contrary principles the Combatants within him the unregenerate and regenerate part and the combate or conflict it self between them That hindering from the evil which he would do and putting him upon the evil he would not do This disapproving and hating the evil which he did and approving the good which he did not he comforts himself in this that he consented to the Law of God delighted in it that to will to keep it perfectly was present with him and although he found a foyl given to the new man captivated which makes him make a miserable out-cry Wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from this Body of Death that is tyed to me and which I am compelled to carry about with me tired with the luggage and poysoned with the stench Yet through the Grace of God in Jesus Christ I am filled with comfort rejoyce and triumph as more than a Conqueror I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I my self serve the Law of God but with my Flesh the Law of Sin I bless God for his Grace in Christ who doth not impute this corruption unto me to condemnation But still that it is only sins of infirmity and not such as are inconsistent with spiritual life which were in Paul and are in all the Godly So though thou seest nothing but Flesh in thy self if a Man may believe thee yet thou walkest not after it for though thou walkest in the Flesh yet thou dost not fulfill the lusts of the flesh followest not with consent the motions of thy own natural corruption Thou sowest not to the Flesh taking no other care but to please thy carnal appetite but on the contrary thou sowest to thy Spirit imploying thy care and labour in obedience to the motions of the Holy Spirit that thy will is to do so thou canst say in sincerity and this may be thy rejoycing as it was Paul's Obj. But I am full of hypocrisie which Paul was free from all the signes of hypocrisie that I finde in the Bible I finde in my self not one sign of sincerity Answ What the Apostle saith of Sin in general If we say that we have no sin we deceive our selves may be said of this sin of hypocrisie if we say we have no hypocrisie the truth of Grace is not in us Obj. But it 's said of Israelites indeed that there is no guile in them And they only are blessed in whose Spirit there is no guile therefore I have cause to conclude my self cursed Answ These places must be understood as those where it is said Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin and his seed remaineth in him and he cannot sin because he is born of God They also do no iniquity The meaning is they give not themselves over to sin they sin not with full consent they fall not into the purpose though sometimes into the act of Sin Sin reigns not in their mortal Bodies that they should obey it in the lusts thereof It hath not Dominion over them Obj. But this Sin of Hypocrisie Reignes in me Answ But that it doth not is evident by this because thou discernest it and art so troubled with it complainest to God and Men of it and judgest thy self for it and hatest it
all fulness with marrow What is Wines on the Lees what are all earthly royal dainties to these rich graces and Divine special favours and blessings offered and bestowed and participated of in the Sacraments At which sumptuous and delicious banquet every worthy receiver that has made due preparation by self examination is or should be much affected and ravished As the Divine Poet was who thus expresseth himself First as to the manner of Importation and submission Herb. H. Com. Not in rich Ornament or fine Aray Nor in a Wedge of Gold Thou who for me wast sold To me dost now thy self convey For so thou should'st without me stil have been Leaving within me Sin But by the way of nourishment strength Thou creepest into my Breast Making thy Way my Rest And thy small quantities my length Which spread their Forces into every part Meeting Sins force and art Yet can these not get over to my Soul Leaping the Wall that parts Our Souls and fleshly Hearts But as the out-works they may controll My Rebel-flesh and carrying thy Name Affright both sin and shame Only thy grace which with these Elements comes Knoweth the ready way And hath the Privy Key Op'ning the Souls most subtile Roomes While those to Spirits refin'd at Door attend Dispatches from their Friend Give me my Captive Soul or take My Body also thither Another life like this will make Them both to be together Before that Sin turn'd Flesh to stone And all our Lump to leaven A fervent sigh might well have blown Our innocent Earth to Heaven For sure when Adam did not know To sin or sin to smother He might to Heav'n from Paradise go As from one Room to another Thou hast restor'd us to this ease By this thy Heavenly blood Which I can go to when I please And leave the Earth to their food When he was pleased to go to this Heavenly Banquet and he was so pleased as oft as might be and so should every godly Christian hear him warbling this Divine Rapture Idem the Banquet Welcome sweet and sacred cheer Welcome deer With me in me live and dwell For thy neatness passeth sight Thy delight Passeth Tongue to taste or tell O what sweetness from the Bowl Fills my Soul Such as is and makes Divine Is some Star fled from the Sphere Melted there As we Sugar melt in Wine Or hath sweetness in the Bread Made a head To subdue the smell of Sin Flow'rs and gums and powders giving All their living Lest the Enemy should win Doubtless neither Star nor Flower Hath the Power Such a sweetness to impart Only God who gives perfumes Flesh assumes And with it perfumes my heart But as Pomanders and sweet Wood Still are good Yet being bruised are better sented God to shew how far his love Could improve Here as broken is presented c. Let the wonder of this pitty Be my ditty And take up my lines and life Hearken under pain of Death Hands and breath Strive in this and love the strife Nor found he this food beyond all degrees of comparison nourishing and strengthning but he feeleth it also most effectually healing Physick as appeares by what he speaks to his pratling Conscience which call'd every fair look sowl every sweet Dish sower If thou persist I will tell thee That I have Physick to expell thee And the Receipt shall be My Saviours Blood when ever at his board I do but taste it straight it cleanseth me And leaves thee not a Word No not a Tooth or Nail to scratch And at my actions carp or catch Here is therefore no such provision of food no such sumptuous fair in any House as this Solomon's so much admired was as Husks yea and stark hunger compared to this and each of the Houshold fares alike And they have both Dinner and Supper every Day of the same delicates that which Matthew calls a Dinner Luke calls a Supper And they are called upon to feed heartrly Eat O Friends Drink yea drink abnndantly O well-beloved Nor are there any such fellow-Commoners to Dine and Sup with any where as here These are all Noble Honourable Persons The choicest and most excellent Kings and Priests A chosen Generation a Royal Priesthood a Holy Nation a peculiar People Yea the King of Kings and Lord of Lords Dines and Sups with them Mephibosheth thought it no small honour that David set him among them that did eat at his own Table How great honour must it then be to sit at Christs Table who is David's Lord And to increase their comfort they have assurance of the same Session with him in the Kingdome of Glory I appoint you saith he a Kingdome as my Father hath appointed me that ye may eat and drink at my Table in my Kingdome Nor are there any such servitures in any House as in this to wit the Holy Angels Are they not all Ministering Spirits sent forth to Minister for them who shall he Heirs of Salvation There are that make them both Cooks and Butlers that dress and dish up and bring in the provision of this continual Feast attend at Table and Minister Cups of Consolation And moreover wait upon every Member of this Family when they go abroad about the works of their Callings and in all the changes of their life who have care of them besides this common attendance a peculiar Guardian of Angels from their new birth at least as some probably gather from sundry Scriptures Nor are there any such Vessels in any House to serve up the Meat and Drink in as are in this The Dishes Spoons Covers and Bowles belonging to the Sanctuary were all of pure Gold so were all the Vessels of the pure Table All the drinking Vessels of King Solomon were of Gold and all the Vessels of the House of the forrest of Lebanon were of pure Gold At that Royal Feast which Ahasuerus made to all his Princes and Servants That lasted an hundred and fourscore Days They gave them Drink in Vessels of Gold The Vessels of this House wherein the Saints dwell and wherein they have their Meat and Drink served up are much more precious than the Gold that perisheth which is corruptible how pure soever even great and precious promises in which are contained all the choicest Viands that Earth and Heaven can yield both for the nourishment of Soul and Body For Godliness is profitable for all things having the promise of the Life that now is and that which is to come Nor are there any such Seats to rest both Souls and Bodies on in taking repast in any House as in this Kings have had their Seats for themselves and by them for their Children and Favorites on which they sate down to eat meat they were terrestrial these coelestial places We read of the great King sitting at his Table with his Spouse
will be with thee and through the Waters they shall not overflow thee and through the fire it shall not burn thee neither shall the flame kindle upon thee for I am the Lord thy God I will never leave thee nor forsake thee Be of good cheer thy sins are forgiven thee If we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins Blessed be the Poor for theirs is the Kingdome of God Blessed are ye that hunger now for you shall be filled Blessed are ye that weep now for ye shall laugh All things shall work together for good to them that love God If there be a willing mind it is accepted according to what a Man hath with a thousand more This is the Musick that David desired to hear which he calls joy and gladness Such Musick and Dancing there is to it in this House every moment and frequently an expression of spiritual joy and jollity in Psalmes and Hymns and spiritual Songs makeing melody in the Heart unto the Lord. And as for Treasures of Gold and Silver there is not one of this House which hath not alway plenty of both Though many of them many a time may say as Peter did Silver and Gold have I none First they have that which is a thousand times better The Word of God which they justly claim as their Heritage for ever Thy Testimonies have I taken as an Heritage for ever as my true Soveraign and peculiar good which I hold from thee as a Child of thy grace The Law of thy Mouth is better unto me than thousands of Gold and Silver More to be desired than Gold yea than much fine Gold And in that word they have bonds which made by solvent Men are esteemed every whit as good as the sums therein specified Divine Promises One shall suffice for all Thou shalt lay up Gold as Dust and the Gold of Ophir as the Stones of the Brook yea the Almighty shall be thy Gold and thou shalt have plenty of Silver There are a World of goods more wherewith this House is stored the worth whereof is unvaluable the smallest quantity whereof being a thousand times more worth than a thousand such Worlds as this Visible one is The Lord the Lord God gracious merciful long-suffering abundant in goodness and truth The Earth is full of the goodness of the Lord thy right Hand is full of Righteousness Touching the Almighty he is excellent in Power and in Judgment and in plenty of Justice Holy holy holy is the Lord of Hosts the whole Earth is full of his glory Thou Lord art good and ready to forgive and plenteous in Mercy unto all them that call upon thee the Voice of the Lord is full of Majesty And O the fulness of God manifested in the Flesh We beheld his Glory the Glory of the only begotten of the Father full of grace and truth Of his fulness have we all received With him is plenteous Redemption 7. This is a living House other Houses are made of dead Materials Wood and Stone most of them of Clay whose Foundation is in the Dust which are crushed before the Moth. God the Father hath life in himself and he hath given to the Son to have life in himself and to be the cause and giver of life of the life of nature to all Men and of grace and godliness to sinful Men and of comfort to sorrowful Men and of Resurrection to dead Men and of Glory to godly Men. It is God in whom we live and move and have our Beeing and he it is that maintains our life O bless our God ye People and make the voice of his praise to be heard which holdeth our Soul in Life Watching continually to prevent them that seek after it and lay snares for it Men that are Princes Life-Guards are fain sometimes to sleep cannot watch always and Men that dwell in costly Houses are fain to watch their Houses Know this saith our Saviour that if the good Man of the House had known in what Watch the Thief would come he would have watched and not have suffered his House to be broken up But this House watcheth over all that dwell in it that no hurt be at any time done them He that keepeth thee will not slumber saith the Psalmist speaking to himself who dwelt in the secret place of the most High in the spirit Behold he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep This is a new House alwayes new and so needs no repair it is not subject as all other Houses are to age and decay Though some old things are better than new No Man having drunk old Wine straight-way desireth new for he saith the old is better They sacrificed to new Gods that came newly up Yet generally new things are best and so accounted both things of Gods making Behold I make all things new I create new Heavens and a new Earth I will make a new Covenant A new Heart will I give you and a new spirit will I give you thou shalt be called by a new Name which the Mouth of the Lord shall Name And so of Mens Garments and all manner of Utensils when and while new are most set by Especially Houses both themselves live and lodge in and also Out-houses when they are over old they pull them down and build new ones This House is never old but as new at this day as it was when the first holy Man had his habitation in it as full of lustre and glory ten thousand times more glorious than that Palace of the Sun which the Poet describes and it must needs be so because every Inhabitant is not only glorious made so by it but glory it self Upon all the Glory shall be a defence By Glory are meant the Saints of God the abstract put for the concrete to note their eminent shining surpassing transcendent excellency though in this life they are compassed about with many infirmities which makes their glory less conspicuous They are all glorious within Now do but note what kind of defence what manner of covering this House is promised to be to all those glorious ones that dwell in it namely like that of the Israelites when they went out of Egypt The Lord went before them by Day to lead them in a Pillar of a Cloud in the way and by Night in a Pillar of Fire to give them light It shall be though not so visibly conspicuous yet as illustrious and miraculous and that against all manner of evils heat and rain and for all times Day and Night There shall be a Tabernacle for a shaddow in the Day-time from the heat and for a place of refuge from storme and from Rain God hath been ever such a house of defence to all his holy ones is now and ever shall be World without
Jesus Christ apprehending and applying the promises of pardon made in his blood Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved 2. Hereby know we that we dwell in him and he in us because he hath given us of his Spirit By spirit are meant the gifts or workings of the Holy Ghost which are twofold one inferiour once slightly enlightning Mens mindes this is common to the Elect with many reprobates who are said to be made partakers of the Holy Ghost All that before God are rightfully baptized receive the Holy Ghost according to the promise No Man being able to say that Jesus is the Lord but by the Holy Ghost The other is a supream gift peculiar to the Elect only a new quality of Holiness infused into the Soul transforming the whole Man effecting a real change and alteration of the whole Man from evil to good enabling him to make a good confession and to walk in Love which are the two next Characters 3. Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God God dwelleth in him and he in God This confession includes and comprehends in it four things 1. A distinct and cordial knowledge of this and all other fundamental Articles of the Christian Faith which are inseparable in their own Nature For if Jesus Christ be the Son of God all his Doctrine must be a Divine and everlasting truth Especially of that which the Gospel reveals concerning Christ namely that he is an alsufficient Saviour and offered indefinitely to every reasonable Creature that will receive him in a Matrimonial Covenant as a Wife receives her Husband to be governed by him and to cleave unto him in every condition 2. A lively assent of the mind to all this is an undoubted truth with a free and full consent of the will to this blessed offer for the incomparable goodness of it rolling and relying upon his Person and merits for the obtaining of remission of sins and everlasting life after Death According to that of the Apostle This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation that Jesus Christ came into the World to save sinners 3. A Verbal acknowledgment of these and all other known and believed Gospel Verities with an open profession of them before the face of the World That this is necessary to be found in every one that would approve himself to have Interest in God and possession of him as his Habitation appeares belike in God's grace by Christ is by faith in the heart as in a lively Spring and in confession as a continual respiration both which are promised in the Gospel For what saith Moses The Word is nigh thee even in thy mouth and in thy heart that is the Word of Faith which we Preach that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and shalt believe in thy heart that God raised him from the dead thou shalt be saved for with the heart Man believeth unto Righteousness and with the Mouth confession is made unto Salvation Nor can the one be without the other For when God hath once said unto any Mans heart I have called thee by thy Name thou art mine That Mans heart cannot but answer and say Lord I am thine O Lord truly I am thy Servant I am thy Servant And what he hath heard in the Ear he cannot but declare in the hearing of others One shall say I am the Lords and another shall call himself by the Name of Jacob and another shall subscribe with his hand and surname himself by the Name of Israel All manner of Persons that shall joyn themselves to me with my Church shall make open profession of my faith and service and therefore he that is ashamed of Christ and his Words in an adulterous and sinful Generation that would hate and reproach and persecute him for a strict profession thereof or is affrighted hereby from making such a profession God will never own nor Christ acknowledge such a one Their hidden faith shall not hide them from the wrath of God who will take Eternal Vengeance on them for their Cowardize They who through carnal fear shall not dare to make profession of my truth saith Christ shall have their part fixed in the Lake that burneth with Fire and Brimstone These lead the Van in the rout of Reprobates marching thitherward Among the Chief Rulers many believed on Christ but did not make publick profession of believing in him for fear of excommunication this faith of theirs was properly no faith For a true and lively faith confesseth that with the Mouth which is believed in the Heart This duty of confessing God was figured under the Law by the shaking of things offered waving them to and fro before the Lord which signified the shaking of our Lips as in uttering and speaking forth his praise By him let us offer the Sacrifice to God continually that is the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his Name So the telling forth frankly and boldly what we hold in matter of Religion 4. A Vital confession joyned to a Verbal There are some whose lives give their Mouths the lye They profess that they know God but in works they deny him being abominable disobedient and unto every good work Reprobate Unto the wicked God saith what hast thou to do to declare my statutes seeing thou hatest instruction and castest my words behind thee God is love and he that dwelleth in Love dwelleth in God and God in him This is a sure note and character of our dwelling in God when we finde that we love God for himself and our Neighbour for his sake In obedience to his Command Thou shalt love thy Neighbour as thy self And because of his Image which is more or less visible in every Man by this we may try the truth of the first note for the love of God is the root of all true obedience to his Commandments Nothing we do is good in his sight unless we do it out of love to him When our Saviour gives the sum of the precepts of the first Table he does it in these words Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart Giving us thereby to understand what makes all the service there required to be acceptable unto God The same makes the duties of the second Table so Let all your things be done in love Follow the truth in love Above all these things put on Love This makes them all lovely Love is the fulfilling of the Law Qu. How may we know we have this love to God and Men Answ Where there is true love to God the heart is softned The sight and sence of sin will fill it with sorrow for offending God thereby Zech. 12. 10. Psal 51. 3. Luk. 7. 38 47. and there will be a Daily increase of hatred of sin a greater desire after and delight in the
Word of God and all other meanes of grace and in the Saints of God and a more fervent zeal against sin in our selves and others and for advancement of God's glory For zeal is nothing else but a flame issuing from the Fire of Love And because there is a zeal which is not according to knowledge the five requisites in the exerting of our zeal ought to be examined namely whether we have a good cause and calling and a good Conscience and use only good meanes and aim at a good end Where there is true love to Men it will be extensive to all and manifest it self by unfeigned desire of their salvation and an earnest desire to procure them all the goods their necessities require according to our ability and even to our greatest Enemies compassionate affection towards them pitying and grieving for any evil that befalls them with a gentle usage of them in speech and action Thus are we commanded to deal with our Enemies Oxe or Ass Moreover we are bound to pray for the pardon of their sins and conversion of their minds and manners and readily to relieve them But especially we prove our dwelling in God by Love to the Brethren Christs whole spiritual Kindred that are knit to him by the bond of faith and among themselves by that of love Those on whom we discern the new Man put on which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness though different from us in judgment in points of faith that are not fundamental Our love to these must not only be unfeigned So it must be to all others and with a pure heart free from Lust and evil surmising but with extraordinary heat of affection Having thus proved the Doctrine and resolved the Question we proceed to Application And there are three sorts of Persons to be dealt with 1. Such as are or may be sure they have not yet made God their Habitation 2. Such whose Habitation the Lord is sure enough but they have no comfortable assurance that he is so 3. Such as have this assurance The first of these are the greatest part of the Visible Church as for the rest of the World which are 28. or 31. by computation they are without doubt without God in the World wherein there are no less than one and thirty sorts of Hypocrites of whom eleven come not up so high as the profession of the true Religion The other 20. Persons the true Religion without being truly Religious Affecting the Name Religion but dis-affecting the thing The description of each of these are legible in Crook's Characters Now an Hypocrite shall not come before God cannot subsist in his presence much less have his abode in him Many of them have confidence in Gods mercies But the Hypocrites hopes shall perish whose hope shall be cut off and whose trust shall be a Spiders Web their hopes shall be as the giving up of the Ghost For what is the hope of the Hypocrite though he hath gained when God taketh away his Soul Will God hear his cryes when trouble cometh upon him There is no hope of mercy for them no though the fittest objects of mercy The Lord shall have no joy in their young Men. Neither shall have mercy on their Fatherless and Widdows for every one is an Hypocrite Nothing but woe is their Portion as appeares by those 8. woes pronounced against them by our Saviour in one Chapter And he makes them as it were the Free-holders of Hell All others but as Inmates holding under them And he hath given 14. Notes together whereby they may be known any one of which raigning in any Man proves him to have nothing to do in God that God is not his Habitation but that he is a Simon Magus was in the gall of bitterness It is too manifest alas that most among us are out of God by what hath been spoken in answer to the Question 1. There are none in comparison that will be perswaded to make choice of God Not only the whole World out of the Church lyeth in wickedness as in a deep puddle have chosen to live under the power and command of the wicked one and with the Swine to wallow in the mire and filth of Sin but also the whole Multitude that is within the Body and Kingdome of Christ Yea they have chosen their own ways and their Soul delighteth in their Abominations When I called none did answer when I spake none did hear but they did evil before mine Eyes and chose that wherein I delighted not They hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the Lord they would have none of my counsel My People would not hearken unto my Voice and Israel would have none of me No for I have loved strangers and after them will I go Strange Nations and Gods their Idolatries Superstitions and Customes They choose new Gods that came newly up whom their Fathers feared not From the least of them even to the greatest every one is given to Covetousness from the Prophet even to the Priest every one dealeth deceitfully They have chosen the Tongue of the Crafty Such a choice most of the sacred stock and Members of the Church of old made The Sons of God saw that the Daughters of Men were fair and they took them Wives of all which they chose Without making any distinction for spiritual matters or Religion did intimate was to be done and such a perverse choice the Jews long after made who were the only Visible Church For Salvation is of the Jews They cryed all not this Man but Barabbas They denyed the holy One and the just and desired a Murderer to be granted unto them And no other choice do the generality of the World among us at this day make The World hath three Daughters The lust of the Flesh the lust of the Eye and the Pride of Life One of which every one chooseth before God the Voluptuous the first the Covetous the second the Ambitious the third And who or where is he or she that is not one of these Many walk of whom I have told you often and now tell you even weeping that they are Enemies of the Cross of Christ Whose God is their Belly whose Glory is their shame who mind Earthly things 2. There are as few that lay hold on God joyn themselves to him close with him There is none that calleth upon thy Name that stirreth up himself to take hold of thee Where are there any that do as those Children returning to Judea did the Children of Israel and the Children of Judah together of whom it is said They shall go and seek the Lord their God they shall ask the way to Zion with their Faces thither-ward Saying come let us joyn our selves unto the Lord in a perpetual Covenant that shall not be
forgotten Going and weeping for repentance for their former sins for grief to behold their miserable Estate Where have we any that have any such mind to joyn themselves unto the Lord To become one spirit with him We have too many that joyn themselves to Harlots making one Body with them Like the Israelites that committed Whoredom with the Daughters of Moab and then joyned themselves with Baal Peor and that joyne together with Thieves and Drunkards and Enemies to God and goodness Saying Come with us let us lay wait for blood let us lurk privily for the Innocent without cause though they have done us no wrong Come let us devise devices against Jeremiah let us smite him with the Tongue lay accusations and calumnies against him 3. There are fewer that cleave unto the Lord. How many visible Members of the Church joyned a Covenant with God by Baptisme and in fellowship with his People have fearfully apostatized yea some that have been eminent for knowledge profession and practice of piety are fallen from their holy principles and practices Some to scandalous and foul sins some to Popery and other Heresies some to Prophaneness and some to Worldliness like Demas who forsook Paul Having loved this present World The eases commodities and carnal securities thereof How many are there in whom we may see as in him that fulfilled which our Saviour speaketh Many that were the first the forwardest in their love to the Word in the work of God in publick domestical and secret duties are now become the last the backwardest of all others After they had escaped the pollutions of the World through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ They are again intangled therein and overcome by the Devil Again in some manner and for some time they fought whereby he hath for ever possessed himself of them To whom it is happened according to the true Proverb The Dog is turned to his own Vomit again and the Sow that was washed to her wallowing in the Mire 4. How few have any care to keep the Commandments of God How many give that answer to his Prophets pressing obedience which those Jews did to Jeremy As for the word that thou hast spoken unto us in the Name of the Lord We will not hearken unto thee But we will certainly do whatsoever thing goeth out of our own Mouth willingly walking after the Commandments of Men. 5. Where almost shall we finde such a one as Joshua a Man in whom is the Spirit to whom God hath given his good Spirit upon whom the Spirit of the Lord resteth as it did upon Christ the spirit of wisdom and understanding the spirit of counsel and might the spirit of knowledge and of fear of the Lord the spirit of grace and of supplication the spirit of sanctification of meekness of faith of love and of a sound mind Such a Spirit as Caleb had fulfilling to follow God No such spirit appears in many in our Days In most there is the evil spirit the spirit that worketh in the Children of disobedience A perverse spirit The Lord hath mingled a spirit of perversness in the Land He hath taken away the understanding and troubled them as if they had drunk some stupifying Drink A Spirit of deep sleep The Lord hath punished their voluntary blindness with a greater astonishment depriving them quite of the light of his spirit against whom they rebelled giving themselves over to the spirit of darkness The spirit of the World such a spirit as hath no proportion nor correspondency but only with worldly things which it only values and affects If Men had thâ— holy spirit of God given them they would be led by him follow his directions and good motions for the guide and Governor of their life they would live in the spirit and walk in the spirit and strive in the newness of the spirit and give and offer unto God a spiritual worship according to his nature Bring forth the fruit of the spirit which is love joy peace long-suffering gentleness faith meekness temperance but the clean contrary But none of all this they do and therefore God hath not given them his spirit and consequently they do not dwell in God 6. Very few confess truly that Jesus Christ is the Son of God They know nothing of him and his Gospel as they ought to know distinctly humbly â—avourly practically They give not their unfeigned assent and consent unto his Holy Liturgy that all in it is truth and goodness nor do they own and acknowledge him with their Lips and Lives 7. Most Men are so far from dwelling in Love that the hatred both of God and Men dwells in them They are haters of God could wish there were no God Though with their Tongue some shew much love yet with their hearts they hate him and his Laws and wayes And so they do his People as Cain did Abel and Ahab Micaiah wishing evil to them out of a rooted and setled malice and that for their Holiness though they pretend it is for their hypocrisie and if any wrong them they bear implacable spirits towards them by this it appears they dwell not in God Now my business with all these is to advise them to give all diligence to give themselves no rest till they have gained the Lord even the most High to be their habitation and to instruct them in the means conducing to this end Motives many might be given but sufficient hath been spoken in the beginning of this Discourse concerning the desirableness and excellency of Rest in general and of the Souls rest which is to be found only in this House To which I shall add that in no other a Man that takes his rest can be secure and safe but in this he may I will both lay me down and sleep for thou Lord makest me dwell in safety If thou preparest thy heart makest thy self fit to lodge under the shaddow of the Almighty Thou shalt take thy rest in safety Also thou shalt lye down and none shall make thee afraid Whoso harkneth to me useth means to have his abiding in me shall dwell safely and be quiet from the fear of evil God sayes to every one whom he sends his Ministers unto to come and take their Rest in him As David to Abiathan Abide thou with me fear not for thou shalt be in safe-guard Those Egyptians that feared the Word of the Lord threatning a direful hayle which should come on the morrow and should destroy all Men and Beasts which were out of Houses Made their Servants and their Cattel flee into Houses He that regarded not the word of the Lord left his Servants and his Cattel in the Field to their destruction It will be the destruction of you and yours to Eternity if you
noted and taxed and threatned in many new builders of old and which it is to be feared will be found in too many of your fellow builders whose Houses will be contiguous with your selves what those crimes are may be gathered from such Scriptures as these Woe unto him that buildeth his House by unrighteousness and his Chambers by wrong that saith I will build me a wide House and large Chambers and cutteth him out Windowes and it is ceited with Cedar and painted with Vermilion Woe to him that coveteth an evil covetousness to his House that he may set his Nest on High Thou hast consulted shame to thy House for the Stone shall cry out of the Wall and the Beam out of the Timber shall answer it That shall say I was laid here by biting Usury and this shall answer I lye here by cheating and violence extortion and oppression All the people shall know that say in the pride and stoutness of Heart the Bricks are fallen down but we will build with hewen Stone The Sycomores are cut down but we will change them into Cedars We will raise up our Houses in greater splendour and Glory than ever they were Their Goods shall become a booty and their Houses a desolation they shall build Houses but not inhabit them Whereas Edom saith we are impoverished but we will return and build the desolated places Thus saith the Lord of Hosts they shall build but I will throw down For as much as their treading is upon the Poor and ye take from him burdens of Wheat ye shall build Houses of Hewen Stone but ye shall not dwell in them Ye planted pleasant Vineyards but ye shall not drink Wine of them For I know your manifold transgressions and your mighty sins They afflict the just they take a bribe and turn aside the Poor in the Gate from their sight They build up Zion with blood and Hierusalem with iniquity the Heads thereof judge for a reward and the Priests teach for hire and the Prophets thereof Divine for money Yet will they lean upon the Lord and say is not the Lord among us no evil shall befall us Therefore shall Zion for their sakes be plowed as a Field and Hierusalem shall become heaps I will smite the Winter Houses with the Summer House and the House of Ivory shall perish and the great Houses shall have an end saith the Lord. For behold the Lord commandeth and he will smite the great Houses with breaches and the little House with clefts Woe unto them that joyn House to House He will destroy the House of evil doers Whoso rewardeth evil for good evil shall not depart from his House Though you with whom I am dealing are not of the number of these wicked Men that are building with you yet it is your part and duty to take good notice of the Lord 's just punishments which he hath threatned to inflict upon them and take warning thereby not to follow their foot-steps nor to tread in one of them The righteous Man wisely considereth the House of the wicked which being wholly built and filled with Goods gotten by evil means shall bring them to fall into ruine so far shall it be from being any stay unto them Take heed of partaking of their sins that ye receive not of their Plagues See that terrible and flaming place I will bring the curse forth and it shall enter into the House of the Thief legal as well as illegal and into the House of him that sweareth falsly by my Name and of him that sweareth vainly as well as falsly that sweareth by the inch as well as by the Ell by his faith and troth as well as by his Maker Petty as well as bloody Oaths and it shall remain in the midst of his House and shall consume it with the timber thereof and the Stones thereof 3. If you have not yet begun to build take the wise Man's advice 't is the loving advice of your living House Prepare thy work without and make it fit for thy self in the Field and afterwards build thine House Regulate your self and your Building according to thy Purse Cast the cost before-hand Which of you intending to build a Tower sitteth not down first and counteth the cost whether he have sufficient to finish it lest happily after he hath laid the Foundation and is not able to finish it all that behold it begin to mock him They will do as much and worse if you finish with other Mens Money which you owing are unable to repay By no means run in debt take thine own measure Owe no Man any thing but love 4. In carrying on this work as in all others of your particular calling approve your selves to God and Men to be good Men by doing all things according to the rule and guidance of well instructed natural reason A good Man will guide his affaires with judgment Through wisdom is an House builded and by knowledge shall the Chambers be filled with all precious pleasant riches I need not tell you what is the prime means in order to this end namely prayer For the Lord giveth wisdome out of his Mouth cometh knowledge and understanding He is the Author of reason in Men and in the guiding of their actions even in all manual matters If any of you lack wisdome let him ask it of God Your God will direct you to order your Buildings that there may be a prevention of deadly mishaps as he directed his People of old in theirs When thou buildest a new House thou shalt make a Battlement for thy Roof that thou bring not Blood upon thine House if any Man fall from thence In all other points of prudence and fore-sight you shall finde him your Instructer 5. When then the work is done and your Houses fit for Habitation remember and imitate God's people in ancient times in dedication of their new-built Houses solemnly blessing the first enjoying of them by Prayers and holy Hymns consecrating them to God to be Houses of Prayer and little Churches wherein Duties of Religion should be performed every Day and all things done therein even natural actions to the glory of God by Governours and governed according to that of the Apostle Whether ye eat or drink or whatsoever ye do do all to the glory of God This was Josuas religious resolution I and my House we will serve the Lord. Now because all these Five Divine Domesticks are apt to have their mindes too much upon the things of the World they that are Housless and Landless to be solicitous how to get a House and livelihood they that have Houses of their own but are prohibited to live in them to have a hankring desire after Liberty they that have their Houses free to live in and sufficiency how they may add house to house increase their substance
all their Moral parts and actions till they be members of Christ will yield them no true comfort by being in him they are brought to dwell in God This you may easily prove unto them by the example of sundry Persons who though endowed with many civil Virtues yet are branded by the Holy Ghost for most unhappy Men. Esau was a dutiful Childe to his Father careful to please him fearful to offend him of a bountifull disposition and free from covetousness Ahab a kind-hearted Man pittiful towards an insolent inveterate Enemy The Pharisee that went up into the Temple to pray could thank God that he was not as other Men were Extortioners Unjust Adulterers that he payed his Tythes duly And what Man in the World could live a more unblameable life than that young Ruler did And so Paul before his Conversion If any Man think he hath whereof he might trust in the Flesh I more touching the righteousness which is in the Law blameless Yet without Faith in Christ and a real change wrought in the heart all this and much more is nothing he being the Fountain of all true goodness The civil Devil carries Men to Hell as well as the prophane Devil though somewhat more about 5. Those whom you discern to be Hypocrites by living and allowing themselves in some one known sin of Omission or Commission Thus Jehu discovered himself to be an Hypocrite He took no heed to walk in the way of the Lord God of Israel with all his heart for he departed not from the sins of Jeroboam which made Israel to sin When you have occasion to confer with these acknowledge the good that is in them much more than in Moral Men as having a prime respect to the first Table affecting the Ministry of the Word giving themselves to Prayer and Fasting abstaining from petty as well as bloody Oathes strictly observing the Lord's Day loving the pure worship of God and hating will-worship commend them for these things but labour to fright and Fire them out of their Hypocrisie by pressing that of St. James upon them Whosoever shall keep the whole Law and yet offend in one point he is guilty of all that breaketh one Commandement Habitual sincere obedience is Universal extending to the compass of the whole Law evangelically And as one Leak in a Ship let alone will sink it as well as many and one Mortal Wound destroy the Body So any one sin wilfully continued in will drown and destroy the Soul and finally how more intolerable their torment shall be in Hell than any other sinners 6. In like manner deal with them who are haters and Persecutors of the People of God pretending that it is for their Hypocrisie that they cannot away with them perswade them that their pretence is false for if they hated them as Hypocrites they would hate them as sinners and so they would hate all sinners and the greatest sinners most as he that hates a Toad because of his poyson the greater the Toad is the more he would hate it But these Men know themselves and are known to love well enough Drunkards Whoremasters Swearers and practical Atheists and therefore the true reason why they hate strict Professors is for their godliness which condemns their irreligious and loose living as Noah by building the Ark condemned the World So Cain slew his Brother because his own works were evil and his Brothers righteous Saul Saul why persecutest thou me His Conversion presently followed his Conviction They that dwell in God dwell in love Your love to poor Souls that are out of God expressed thus by making essayes to draw them unto God will both evidence to your selves and others that he is your habitation Make this therefore your work every day do as Lot did by the two Angels Turn in I pray you into your Servants House no but we will abide in the Street and he pressed them greatly and they turned in unto him and they entred into his house What know you but you may prevail as he did and if so you will make Men Angels for this is their highest happiness Alway to behold the Face of God Let love constrain you not only that which I have now pressed you owe love to every Man are bound to love them as your selves and to seek their welfare as your own and there is no love in any Man to his Neighbour that loveth not his Soul But the love of Christ should more constrain you to put the whole strain of your strength to this work God having declared his desire to have his House filled and his Sons Kingdome enlarged and there being joy in Heaven at the Conversion of every sinner Yea love to your selves should force this It being the best meanes to increase your graces and comforts the more you draw to knowledge and faith and holiness the more will these graces increase in you and the comfort of them As a Man casting forth of his Seed brings it him back again with great increase Nor will any work you can do have the like recompense which was hinted before They that turn many to righteousness shall shine as the Stars for ever and ever Nor can you be ignorant that this is the end why God hath bestowed his graces upon you whereby you were made meet to be partakers of this Inheritance not that you should keep them to your selves but that you should benefit others by them The manifestation of the Spirit that is those gifts of grace whereby it is manifested that they dwell in God is given to every Man to profit withall Finally The Lord hath strictly commanded that no Man should content himself to know and believe aright himself to repent of his own prophaneness and to be religious and righteous but that he should seek also to cause others to be and do so that they may be as well housed as he as happy as himself Cause others to return that you and they may live together under the same Roof and the more the merrier and better cheer to Obj. There is no hope of doing good upon many that we meet with scarce upon any Answ If with all your pains taken all the Days of your Life you can win but one Soul it 's as much as the gaining of the whole World Yea one Soul is more worth than the whole World 2. Despair of none how wicked so ever as bad as bad can be have been reduced and brought in Manasseh for example and three thousand at once 3. If assaying three or four or five or six times prevail not the 7th may Go up now look towards the Sea Master there is nothing go again seven times and it came to pass at the seventh time that he said behold there ariseth a little Cloud out of the Sea like a Mans hand 4. Suppose when you have done all you can all your
it is for Brethren both by nature and grace to dwell together in Unity both of judgment and affection Next he expounds and so proves the pleasure and the profit of this two-fold Unity First by parable and similitude which is double to shew the pleasure he compares it to that odoriferous anointing Oyl which God commanded to be made and compounded after the Art of the Apothecary which when it was poured upon Aaron's head ran down upon his Beard and thence went to his Skirts So this sweet communion of spiritual grace cunningly composed of united minds and affections passeth down from Christ our Head not only upon the stronger Professours which are as great an Ornament to the Church as a Beard is on the Face of a Man but also to the meanest and weakest Christian Members To set forth the pleasure of it he compares it to Dew which is a special blessing sent upon the Earth for the refreshing thereof which falls freely and therefore is said to be begotten of God and finely distilled down in so small drops that it cannot be perceived till it be laid and fully it falls into lowest Valleys as well as highest Hills and fitly in Spring for growth in Harvest for ripening and fruitfully making the Ground bring forth abundantly So it is in all these respects with spiritual graces especially with this And then he proves it by plain strong and binding demonstration where this Unity is God commandeth the blessing and life for ever-more that is promiseth and fully performes it in this life spiritually and corporally and hereafter Eternally I hinted this Unity to be twofold and will speak a little to both First of mind and judgment it is a thing greatly to be wished and sought after that all God's Children and Servants dwelling together in the same House might be of one mind and judgment in all points The Apostle oft earnestly presseth this frequently striketh upon this String Now I beseech you Brethren by the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ that ye all speak the same thing and that there be no Divisions among you but that ye be perfectly joyned together in the same mind and in the same judgment be of one mind for matter of Opinion If there be therefore any consolation in Christ if any comfort and love if any fellowship of the Spirit if any bowels of mercy fulfill ye my joy that ye may be like-minded being of one accord and of one mind A most passionate obtestation importing a most vehement desire of their good agreement whereunto he conjures them by all the bonds of love between him and them Perswasion it self could not speak more perswasively Here are so many words so many Weapons able to pierce and work upon any heart that had not an Iron sinew How many Arguments doth he take from one to inforce his Exhortation with all possible carefulness To keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace One Body one Spirit one Hope one Lord one Faith one Baptisme one God and Father of all The Apostle well knew the neerer they were agreed in Judgment the faster their affections would be knit one to another and beside the great advantage that all wicked Men take at the disagreement of God's People should make them desirous to be all of one mind and to compose all the differences that are between them Let there be I pray thee no strife between thee me between c. for we are brethren not only upon this account but because the Canaanite and the Perizzite dwell in the Land and because of our dissention we shall give them occasion to speak evil of our holy Religion and alienate their hearts more from it How oft have you had this cast in your Dish by enemies both to the form power of godliness when you have perswaded them to embrace both Agree first among your selves There is no such stumbling Block at this Day in this Land laid in the way of ungodly Men through God's just Judgment indeed and it is necessary there should be such offences but woe unto you if you become occasions of such offences if you repent not that you are so and labour not to take away the stumbling Block out of your way by endeavouring to be all of one mind But because perfect Unity is not to be expected till the Church be come to her perfection There must be Heresies among you Sects and Dissentions concerning Tenets and Grounds of Doctrine and wayes of Worship It is a thing unavoidable by reason of the Devil's malice Men's wickedness and God's most wise counsel and according to the frequent predictions of the Holy Ghost God indeed hath promised to give his People One Heart and one Way But the meaning is that they shall all agree in all Fundamental points of Doctrine and in all substantial ways of Worship in which they should joyntly and conformably serve him but in points of Religion and Circumstances of divine Worship that are of inferiour moment there will be Brethren different in Opinion and practice from you towards whom you are bound to bear brotherly love which is of a bearing and forbearing nature and not suffer difference in judgment to work in you the least alienation of affection towards them What a deal of pains does the Apostle take to work Christians to a charitable Toleration each of other 1. Disswading them from censuring one another for or in the use of things indifferent the parties that dissented were weak and strong Christians the things wherein were Meats and Days the strong thought all difference of Meates prohibited by the Law to be abolished by Christ and therefore did not forbear to feed on any and they conceived all Jewish Festivals to be abrogated by God and so observed them not The weak not seeing their own liberty in the case of Meates choose rather to eat Herbs than with a doubting Conscience to feed upon Meats forbidden and conceiving the Festivals not to be abrogated still observed them In both these cases the Apostle gives negative directions and exhortations to both sorts of Christians Viz. That in the case of Meates the strong should not contemn the weak as superstitious for abstaining Nor the weak censure the strong as prophane for neglecting the observation of distinction of them And in the case of Dayes that neither of them should do any thing with a gain-saying or doubting Conscience pressing these directions with sundry Arguments and that by no means the strong should give the least offence to their weak brethren by abuse of their liberty 2. And he perswades every one to study not to please himself but his Neighbour to edification for his good by the example of Christ who did not only not please himself but sought the good of others and so saith he must we bearing one with another receiving one another as he received us to be partakers of
use of lawful things 1 Pet. 1. 7 8. 1 Thes 5. 5 6. Luke 21. 34. 2. Filial fear of God Pro. 14. 16. Rom. 14. 16. 16. 6. Psal 4. 4. 130. 4. Gen. 20. 11. Psal 36. 1. Jer. 32. 42. 3. Remembrance of God's Judgments Mat. 24. 37 38 42. Es 47. 8 9. Rev. 3. 3. Luke 21. 34 35 c. 1 Cor. 10. 15. 12. especially of the last Judgment 2. Cor. 5. 10. There are other notable helps Viz. Growing in knowledge a blind Man is unfit to make a Watch-man A spirit of mistrust-fulness a Master that mistrusts a Servant will watch to catch him Living under a powerful Ministry a Trumpet continually sounding is a good meanes to keep a Man from sleeping Desiring Friends to admonish you when ever you nod They that are inclined to sleep mortally are desirous that others should pinch them to keep them waking Sobriety and temperance in eating and drinking A Drunkard will make an ill Watch-man If you will know what are the signs of a truly watchful Christian they are such as these He discovers the secret windings and turnings of his own heart the least stirring there and much more if the Fire of any Lust begin to kindle there If there be any Fray there he presently stifles it And if need be he calls for help If any good news comes he takes present notice of it and makes it known Psal 66. 16. No blessing of God towards himself or the Church that he does not take thankful notice of If there be Lightning or Thunder or any dreadful Apparition of God's judgment he trembles at it loves and delights in the Morning light And for that reason feares not Death the immediate antecedent of it Qu. Are all of God's holy houshold alway thus waking and watching Ans The Holy Spouse of Christ acknowledgeth that there was a time when she slept having eaten and drank largely of her heavenly Husbands blessings She began to remit her Zeal and neglect the works of Faith and Love Wanting the pretence of her Husband and being pressed with the remnants of the Flesh she gave Eare to carnal ease and security occasioned further hereunto by the time of the Night and by the weather which was Rainy that is by ignorance and errour prevailing and by the opposition and persecution of Enemies Her sleep was neither that dead sleep that all Men are in by nature nor that judicial sleep the spirit of slumber a farther degree of that natural sleep to which God gives up some as a Seal of their desperate condition but it was a sleep arising from the reliques of natural corruption unsubdued prevailing over the regenerate part yet was her heart all this while awake I sleep but my heart waketh Though she had a little laid aside her divine thoughts and meditations yet she still kept the eye of Faith open and the eare of her Heart attentive When the Lord had returned Thus the wise Virgins slumbered and slept but they had their Lamps burning by them which the foolish had not Their hearts waked Mat. 25. 5. They were provided in them with instructions in faith and piety and with the gift of the spirit which is the Oyl that alway burneth in all good hearts howsoever not alwayes in actual exercise But O! the dreadful danger that good Christians are in when it is not so through the letting down of their spiritual watch and giving way to sluggishness there being no sin no temptation no judgment but a secure drowsie Christian is open for Which is the reason of so often inforcing watchfulness by the spirit of God in the Scriptures And therefore I beseech you suffer a word of exhortation to the next special duty incumbent upon all whose habitation the Lord is Namely to be always working God will not have one idle or sloathful Person in his House Every one must have a particular honest Calling The Light of Nature taught the Heathens this as appeares by Pharaoh's question to Joseph's Brethren What is your occupation Gen. 47. 3. And the Marriners to Jonas What is thy occupation Forty Years was Moses a Courtier and Forty Yeares more a Shepheard that great Men may not be ashamed of honest Vocations the greatest that ever have been content to take up with mean Trades The contempt of honest Callings in those that are well born argues pride without wit How constantly did Moses stick to his Shepherds Hook and yet a Man of great learning excellent spirit good education I presume all you that dwell in God are in lawful Callings wherein you may be serviceable to the Church or Common-wealth or private Families In these the Apostle forbids you to be sloathful Not sloathful in business To be sloathful is to be loath to work willing and desirous to shift it off Pro. 21. 25. 24. 23. To be negligent in working taking up more time than needs or not to endeavour to do it well Not to be sloathful is to be ready and forward to be employed Esay 6. 8. and to be diligent and expeditious and industrious to do business in the best manner Gen. 31. 6. That every Christian Man and Womans duty is to be thus employed continually appears because God prohibits sloathfulness and commands diligence Heb. 6. 12. Pro. 6. 9. Gen. 3. 19. Mark 13. 34. 1 Thes 4. 11. Curseth sloathfulness and blessed diligence Pro. 10. 47. 23. 21. 24. 30. to the end Jer. 48. 10. Pro. 13. 11. 28. 19. Eccl. 5. 12. Mat. 25. 16 17 21 23. O that every one would look upon idleness and sloth as a great sin as theft 2 Thes 3. 10 11 12. Prodigality Pro. 18. 9. Sodomy a sin that disposeth a Man to all manner of sin and which shall be punished with the vengeance of Eternal Fire Mat. 25. 26 30. And Heathens and Bruits shall rise up in Judgment against idle sloathful Christians You therefore that are sure you dwell in God take heed of damping your assurance and blurring your evidence by giving the least way to idleness or sloathfulness in your Callings Are you Magistrates be continually imploying and applying your power and authority to the uttermost for the ends for which God hath given it to you Rom. 13. 4. 1 Tim. 2. 2. 2 Chr. 19. 6. to the end Consider God's wrath declared against you if you be slothful to execute Judgment even upon your dearest Relations that deserve it In the example of Eli 1 Sam. 3. 13 14. On the other side the pleasure he will take in you and delight to do you good if you be faithful and severe Jer. 22. 15 16. Numb 25. 11 12 13. 2 King 10. 30. If you be Ministers let the weightiness of the work and glorious reward promised to laboriousness therein and the Plagues threatned against loyterers move you 1 Cor. 4. 2. 2 Tim. 2. 15. 4. 1 2. 1 Pet. 5. 2. Es 58. 1. 2 Cor. 2. 16. Dan. 12. 3. Jer. 1. 1. 1 Cor. 9. 16. If you