6. your heart will take away your Lord and you will not know where it hath laid him as Joh. 20. 15. And you may be justly jealous that your heart is tainted with a love of Imagery Ezek. 8. 12. as you have chambers of imagery in you for there be many Idols set up in your heart Ezek. 14. 3. 1. Joh. 5. 21. as Rachel was with her Mawmets And you may surely say in sadness of Spirit to your Heavenly Father Let it not displease my Lord that I cannot rise up for the custom of sinning which is both the custom of Men and the custom of Women too is upon me how oft also is your heart wittily wicked in sitting upon your sins to hide them by sinful shifts from the eye of your Heavenly Father which yet is an all-seeing eye and nothing can be hid from the sight of it Hebr. 4. 13. without any due and true sense of the evil of sin when consuetudo peccandi tollit sensum peccati that custom of sinning which is upon you taketh away all sense of sin 12. The second Allusion is Tamar who deceived her Father in-law Judah by putting upon her the attire of an Harlot and sitting in the way-side to tempt him upon a feasting day Gen. 38. 12 13 14. c. mark this by the way that Harlots in those times were nothing so shameless for she covered her self with a Vail as they are in our times with their naked breasts c. to enflame a Judah the Father Hierome severely saith that all such shall be damn'd for proffering poison though there be none to drink it mark also how Judahs lust besots him he gives her whatever she demanded v. 17 18. whereby to prove him afterwards a Partner in the Crime she seals up her charge against him with his own Signet entangles him with his own Bracelets and beats him with his own staff c. v. 25. just so and more than so will your heart that is full of harlotry deceive you and cause you to commit uncleanness with it in sinful thoughts which like Lots daughters Gen. 19.32 to 35. are busie to contrive and compass some sin or other while you are fast asleep and your heart as Tamar will first tempt you to sin and then accuse you for sin 1 Joh. 3. 20. 2 Sam. 18. 12 13. writing down time and place and bringing forth undeniable evidences saying Discern whose are these I pray thee oh sublime treachery you must acknowledge all condemn your self for having been unrighteous and know your sin again no more as Gen. 38. 26. 13. The third Allusion is Josephs Mistress which was a Blackmoore a Gypsy or Egyptian and a very compound of impudence fraudulency and maliciousness Gen. 39. 7. to 14. 1. Her impudence that she who should be shame-fac'd by her Sex as a woman and grave by her condition and quality as a wife and that of a governour so a Mistress yet her lawless lust transports her beyond all bonds and bounds both of Piety and Modesty so as to make an impudent offer of committing a Rape not onely upon a man but upon her own man-servant oh prodigious propudium and a frontless fore-head not unlike the strange impudency in the strange woman Prov. 7. 13 18. both of them barely and basely sollicite associates whose beauty had captivated their wanton eyes and wicked hearts 2 Her fraudulency when her uncessant sollicitations day by day violently renewed and as valiantly vanquished prov'd all unsuccessful as Josephus saith she feigned her self sick as Amnon did after 2 Sam. 13. 6. not going with Potiphar to the Feast that her solitariness might give a more effectual opportunity for her solicitation v. 11 12. This became a strong snare to Joseph so that he must part either with his chastity or with his garment not daring to stay and parley with her this second time is Joseph stripped of his garment before by the violence of envy in his brethren Gen. 37. 31. now by the vehemence of concupiscence in his Mistress before out of constraint now out of choice before that his Father now that his Master might be deceived by it however he being good before the Lord escapeth from her snares as Eccles 7. 26. 3. Her maliciousness and treacherous cruelty she cloaks her own villany under Josephs garment and as his coat had caused his Fathers sorrow before Gen. 37. 32 33 34. now it causeth his own misery she incenseth her Husband accusing first him of foolishness for bringing in such an Hebrew and then his servant of filthiness which she both affirmeth by words and confirmeth by deeds to wit producing the Garment left in her hands no doubt but the accuser of the brethren had set her on to charge that upon the innocent whereof she herself was onely most guilty all this and much more will your heart do to you 't will first intice you to sin and then accuse you of sin as before 't will shift off sin from it self and lay the fault upon company occasion c. and not upon it self as Apollodorus his heart did when he dreamed that he was taken by the Scythians who flead off his skin and lifting him into the Caldron to boil him his heart cryed out within him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I am the cause of all this evil 14. The fourth Allusion is Jael who beguiled Sisera Judg. 4. 18. 19. c. with her turn in my Lord turn in to me Fair words make fools fain saith the Proverb she saith unto him fear not and promises him protection from his pursuers she covers him with a rug or cover-lid Stragulâ Villosa pretending both to hide him from his enemies and to secure him from catching cold but indeed intending to get him asleep that she might the easier destroy him yea as a shew of greater respect when he asked but Water to cool him in his great heat by his hasty flight on his feet she gave him Milk v. 19. Judg. 5.25 which was safer drink than water yet more procuring sleep which was her design yea she brought him Butter also in a Lordly dish to eat as well as Milk to drink and all this kindness she shewed him to make him sleep more securely under her protection and to prepare him the better for her Nail and Hammer wherewith she fastned his head when fast asleep to the ground as if it had been listning there what was become of his Soul he that boasted before of his Iron-chariots lies now slain by a Woman with a Nail of Iron a Nail of the Tent both long and strong enough both to pierce his skull and to fasten this proud worms-meat to the ground and all this carried on with shews of great kindness such are all the Murthering morsels of your sinful heart oh the flatteries thereof the Milk and the Butter wherewith it will lull you asleep in a false peace as the Syrens Songs Deut. 29. 19. but beware of the Tent-nail
taliter pigmentatae Deum ipsum habebitis Amatorem God himself will become a Suitor to such as do according to the Apostles direction 1 Pet. 3. 3 4. The Prophet doth so distinctly and punctually declaim against the Womens varnishing vanities as if he had indeed fully viewed the Ladies Wardrobe in Jerusalem Isa 3. 18 23. and had taken a particular Inventory of them with their turrified heads and stretched-out necks 10. Such persons as spend too much time in dressing their Bodies by the common Looking-glass it may justly be feared they spend too little time in trimming their Souls by this blessed Looking-glass Bernard excellently expresseth this saying Vestium curiositas deformitatis mentium morum indicium est Over-much curiosity in outward adorning is a shrewd sign of the deformity both of Mindes and of Manners or more plainly excessive neatness in outward ornaments is a palpable evidence of too much inward nastiness Mark what the wisdom of God himself saith 1 Pet. 3. 3. Whose adorning let it not be outward c. but let it be the hidden man of the heart Women are not simply or absolutely forbidden there to adorn themselves so it be without Pride and Excess and suitable to their States and Estates in the World otherwise good Rebeccah that immediate Daughter of Sarah would have been blamed for wearing those Bracelets and Ear-rings which the Holy Patriarchs Abraham and Isaac sent unto her for her adorning Gen. 24. 30. and Godly Lydia whose Heart the Lord opened would not have been a Seller of Purple Act. 16. 14. If it were lawful for her to sell it assuredly it was lawful for some to wear it 11. It follows then that what is spoken by the Holy Ghost in 1 Pet. 3. 3. is onely spoken comparatively and not simply or absolutely that they make not their outward adorning their chief Ornament as the Daughters of Jerusalem did Isa 3. 18. onely for pride and wantonness in the mean while altogether neglecting the adorning their Souls but surely those Daughters of Israel in Exod. 38. 8. were better minded who did willingly give up their Looking-glasses which were then made of Brass and whereby they trimm'd themselves to the service of the Lords Sanctuary by which free-will-offering of theirs they did most plainly and openly testifie that they preferred the Worship and Glory of God before their own gracefulness Those were undoubtedly religiously disposed women that assembled by Troops to fast and pray Pethachohel at the door of the Tabernacle and these instruments of the worlds Vanity whereby they had formerly dress'd their Bodies but which now they despised they dedicate to God to make the Laver of Brass an instrument whereby through Faith they might trim and sanctifie their Souls Oh that we had many such Women in this great City and such as Esthers Maidens Esth 4. 16. Zech. 12. 14. 12. The second Duty in order to this Looking-glass is You must not only â—ook into it but love to do so God looks not so much at what you do as at what you love to do God indeed looks that you should look into the Looking-glass that he himself hath made for you to that very end Yet to do so is not enough unless also you love to do so Let it be far from you to do with this Spiritual Looking-glass as History makes mention one Praxyllis did with her common one which when it but truely discovered to her eyes her own real Deformity she quarrels with the Glass and in a rage against it throws it down and breaks it all to pieces You may easily conjecture whether the true Representation of the Glass or the womans own Deformity were more in fault or to be quarrell'd withal Oh do not you quarrel with this blessed Looking-glass of the Word which God hath most graciously given you and hath not suffered it to be muffled up from you in an unknown Tongue as in Popish Times to give no true and due prospect of your sinful self but look into it and love to look into it yea look into it with a God-blessing Spirit saying with the Holy Apostle I had not known sin but by the Law that precious Looking-Glass Rom. 7. 7-9-18 As you were bred and born in sin and have all along lived in sin so you may dye in sin if you discern not by looking into this divine Looking-glass your Souls Deformity 13. The third Duty is You must not only look into it and love to do so but likewise to look wishtly and intently into it not taking a sleight and glancing prospect onely but viewing all the defects and deformities of your Heart with utmost intention of Soul until there be some deep Impression wrought kindly thereby upon your Affections This is the very scope of the Apostle James in Chap. 1. 23-25 He that beholds saith he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the face of his Nativity that which Nature gave him or that which he was born with into the world straightway he forgetteth what manner of man he was to wit the fashion of his Countenance and the spots represented in the Glass Whereby he most fitly noteth out those weak impressions which the discoveries of the Word leaveth upon a careless hearer of it who is not so deeply touched with those Discoveries as to be duely truely and throughly humbled for them so as to be brought out of self unto Christ 14. The fourth Rule is Labour for such a discovery of your Heart in this Looking-Glass of the Word that it may have an abiding Work upon you that the Word may be planted and engrafted in you Until this be the root of the Matter or of the Word as the word dabar signifies cannot be in you Job 19. 28. Nor the seed of God can be said to remain in you 1 John 3. 9. The seed of the Word must be hid in your heart Psalm 119. 11. Luke 2. 19. And the Law of the Word must be writ in as well as put into your Heart Jerem. 31. 33. Then doth the graft or root draw all your thoughts cares purposes and affections do nourish it and suck the sap of all to it All the motions of your Soul and Spirit will be cast 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 into the Mold of Religion Rom. 6. 17. like melted Metal takes the form of that mold which it is cast or poured into then will it be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a fruit-bearing Word Col. 1. 6. and then will it drive you into your Closet or some by-corner the secret places of the stairs Cant. 2. 14. to bewail the plague of your own heart 1 King 8. 38. A due and true sense whereof is the best Prayer-Book in the world When you are sensible of Sickness you need no Book to teach you what to say to your Physician and when you finde your self defrauded of your Inheritance what to say to your Counsellor at Law though you do your self consult Books about both those Cases 15.
therefore eye your self less and your High-Priest more in all your Duties especially considering that 't is he who carries the names of all the Tribes of Israel upon his Breast-plate into the Holy of Holies Exod. 28. 29. 'T is he who must present your person with acceptance to his Father saying Lo here am I and the children which thou hast given me Hebr. 2. 13. Yea and 't is He that must present your actions too or they will never come with acceptance upon Gods Altar Isa 60. 7. 'T is Christs work to pick out the Weeds from the Flowers in all our Duties he takes away the Iniquity of our holy things and what Flowers and Fragrancies of his own Spirit he finds in our Duties Cant. 4. 16. those he binds up in Nosegays and so presents them to the Father for us He Eekes out all our defects with his own fulness of sweet odours Revel 5. 8. and 8. 3 presenting nothing to God but what is pleasing to him as perfumed by his Merit 12. The eighth Deceit is You may be puffed up with Pride after enlargement of Duty When Spiritual Fire is at any time vouchsafed to be sent down from Heaven upon your Heart in Duty then is Satan's time in tempting you unto Self-admiration whereby you may forfeiâ— the heart-warming presence of God at anotheâ— time This is Satan's Chymistry to bring evil out of good to wit Spiritual Pride ouâ— of a divine enlarging presence which iâ— quite contrary to God's Chymistry in bringing good out of evil to wit a sanctified Use of temporal trouble Indeed God would never suffeâ— any sort of evil Natural or Moral to be in thâ— world if he knew not how to extract somâ— good out of all evil The spirit of or spiritual Pride is the worst sort of Pride as thâ— spirit of poison is the worst sort of poyson Corruptio optimi est pessima As this sort oâ— pride is the corruption of the best thing to wiâ—â— divine Duty so it becomes to be of the worâ—â— nature Morbus Satanicus the Devils Disease 'T is the worst kinde of Theft as it is a stealing from God his declarative Glory 't was Bernard's Descant Vxor gloria viri gloria uxor Dei as the Wife is the glory of man 1 Cor. 11.7 so Glory is the wife of God and therefore God is as jealous of his Glory as a man is of his wife His Glory he will not give to annother Isa 42. 8. 12. Will a man rob God Mal. 3.8 't is as sublime an Impudence as to rob the King of his Queen and yet this you may do in robbing God of his Glory the chiefest Flower and Jewel of his Crown when you exalt your self after enlargement more than your God which is a grosser and greater Crime than that which proud Haman was charged withal Will he force the Queen before my face Esth 7. 8. Hence arose that harsh-sounding Sentence of Austin Duty damus more than Sin and Duty damus more than it saves the sound sense whereof must be this When men are found priding for duty and resting in duty the Devil deceives them and so far their duties have accidentally a damning nature especially when they are deceived with seeming for saving Duty As the Witches in Lorain which Dr. Preston speaks of were deceived by some seeming broad pieces of Gold which proved at last no better than an heap of yellow dryed leaves of the Aspin-tree thus when we write up service and God writes it up sin Satan cheats us with seeming Service and in this sence Duty accidentally madamn Duty indeed saves none that â—â— Christs work to save and not the work oâ— Duty Duties be good Evidences as Grace be but both be bad Saviours 13. Thus far of the first thing to wit the Malady The second particular is the Remedâ— briefly Would you have relief against those deceits aforesaid then take these following Rules Rule the 1. Minde the Principle youâ— act from in Duty God looks more at the principle of Duty than at the performance or Duty it self he looks not so much at what you do as with what spirit you do your duty Alas a Cain may offer sacrifice as well as an Abel Gen. 4. 3 4. and a Doeg may step as far into the Sanctuary as a David I Sam. 21. 7. yea a proud Pharisee may step far further into the Temple than a penitent Publican Luke 11. 10 11. 13. yet with differing spirits and principles All your Deeds and Duties should be made manifest that they are wrought in God Joh. 3. 21. that is from a good principle as well as from a good End Jehu did excellent things for God 2 King 10. 16. yet that which spoiled all was that all his high and noble exploits did spring from a low and ignoble spirit and principle in not pursuing Gods praise so much as his own promotion The 2. Rule is Go forth in the strength of the Lord into every Duty Psal 71. 16 Take heed of fetching Materials of Duty from your self making Duty a matter of Wit of Memory and of natural Abilities Alas this is but a lifting up your own tool upon Gods Altar which will not polish but pollute it Exo. 20. 25. Duties that are made up of parts words and wit as Abanah and Parphar rivers of Damascus may indeed scour but 't is Duty done in Gods strength as Israel's Jordan can cure the Leprosie 2 Kin. 5.12 14. As Elisha's staff in the hand of Gehazi cannot cure 2 Kin. 4. 29 31. so Duties performed never so gloriously by our own abilities cannot help what cares Satan for all their Adjurations Act. 19. 13 14 15. where he sees not feels not the evidence and demonstration of God 14. The third Rule is Never sit down satisfied in Duty without the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ Phil. 1. 19. who must help your infirmities Rom. 8. 26. Gre. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 lift with you as at a log and bearing up the heavier end of Duty for you God said betimes 'T is not good for man to be alone Gen. 2. 18. 'T is not good that man should be alone at any time but especially in Duty he stands in as much need of an helper for his Soul as he doth for his Body Martha would not serve Christ alone but she would have Christ to bid her Sister Mary help her Luke 10. 40. So do not you serve Christ alone in Duty but desire him to bid his Spirit help you therein Christ tells you 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 seorsim a me without me and my Spirit you can do nothing Joh. 15. 5. you cannot pray as you ought Rom. 8. 26. As you must do Duty from a principle of Life habitual Grace or a renewed frame of heart in Faith and Love so you must call in the help of the Spirit to excite that spring and principle crying Awake O North-wind come thou South blow upon my Garden c. Cant. 4.
practical knowledge of it and therefore is he said not to know it As Christ knew no more of evil than he did practise which was none at all so you know no more of good than you do practise Knowledge and Profession without Power and Practice will make you indeed as Rachel beautiful but barren and as Ephraim a Cake not turned Hos 7. 8. baked on the one side only but plain dough only on the other side these are cast-away Cakes that are raw on the one side and burnt or scorched on the other as unpleasant to the palate in both the sides amongst men accordingly dough-baked Duties will not down with God Irreligious Honesty and dishonest Religion are both alike check-aside Groats and Cakes not turned to the Lord the former is for a Second-Table man and nothing for the first Table the latter is for a first-Table-man and nothing for the second Table Whereas the two Tables are clasp'd together and should not being all but one Copulative be disjoyned or disjoynted by any dispensatory Conscience 8. Now having discovered the false Grounds of Self-deceit which are the true Causes of your Spiritual Distemper in order to the compleating of your Cure and to an effectual Application of the right Remedy 't will be expedient to inform you how you may distinguish betwixt false grounds and true that you may be undeceived And that this may be done the more distinctly and particularly the second Question to be answered shall be How you may put a difference 'twixt Nature and Grace that you mistake not the former for the latter To this I answer You may have a good Nature yea a Nature better than others yet this is but a beautiful Abomination and a smoother way to Hell and Damnation to mistake Nature for Grace speaketh out as much blindness and bewrayeth as much gross and sublime Ignorance as to mistake the burnt Temple for the built one Ezra comes to Jerusalem findes the Temple burnt but leaves it built Could any Jew be so sottish as to put no difference 'twixt the Temple as it lay in its own ashes a ruinous heap and as raised out of those Ruines a glorious Fabrick much admired by Christ's own Disciples Matth. 24. 1. Alas Nature is the burnt Temble burnt down in the Fall Christ our Ezra or Helper Hebr. comes and findes the Temple and Image of God demolished in you he lays a new foundation rejoyce in this as they did Ezra 3. 11. but mistake not the one for the other as if no need of Christ 9. Grace is Christ's rebuilding the burnt Temple and his restoring the lost Image of God in you when he changes the old Nature and makes you to partake of the Divine Nature 2 Pet. 1. 4. Thus when Christ comes to repair his Temple he is said to be then as the Refiners fire and as Fullers soap Mal. 3. 2 3. to shew how the dross and dirt of sin is even so incorporated in the best yet depraved Nature of fallen Mankinde that Christ must be both fire and soap to the soiled Soul of man in a Similitudinary way before man can be a new-man a new creature created even out of Nothing or out of that which is worse than Nothing in Christ Jesus unto good Works Ephes 2. 10. 2 Cor. 5. 17. Gal. 6. 15. This corrupt nature is called the wild Olive Rom. 11. 24. which must be broâ—en from the old stock and not only so but it must be engrafted into the noble Vine John 15. 1. Christ Jesus or into that good Olive-tree Rom. 11. 24. This same spiritual engrafting of the branch which is wild by Nature is there said to be done contrary to Nature which Phrase plainly sheweth that Nature cannot contribute any thing unless it be Contrariety and Contradiction or Contrafaction in this mighty work of Grace Plutarch wonders at the Fig-tree that it should be so bitter in its root branches leaves stock and stem and yet the fruit of it so exceeding sweet and luscious But 't is more to be wondered at that such sweet fruits as those of the Spirit should ever grow upon the bitter stock of Nature for Gratia non tollit sed attollit Naturam Grace doth not destroy but refine Nature Man being by Nature in the very gall of bitterness Acts 8. 23. Alas none of his actings can be of a sweet savour unto God until he be engrafted into Christ and so partake of his sap and sweetness and thence become a tree of Righteousness Isai 61. 3. 10. After this first Answer which is general the second Answer is more particular to shew that Nature in her highest exaltation can never become Grace for these following Reasons drawn from corrupt Nature's defectiveness since the Fall As 1. mere Nature can never teach a Man to feel the weight and curse of a sin that was committed above five thousand years ago to wit Adam's eating the forbidden fruit which brought in all Misery on mankinde 2. Nor can it make a man sensible of original Corruption and that he not only carries about with him a very body of sin but also that the very spirits of sin runs in his blood the feeling of which makes him cry out Oh wretched man Rom. 7. 24. 3. Nor can it make a man see the sinfulness of sin especially of that great Gospel-sin the sin of Unbelief nor to see sin as the chiefest evil and accordingly to hate it and to love Jesus Christ as the chiefest good Joh. 16. 8. 'T is the work of Gods Spirit and not of mans to convince hereof 4. Neither can Nature instruct a man in the Doctrine of Self-denial which is a Lesson that could never be learnt in Nature's School For corrupt Nature can never teach a man to mortifie and destroy its own sinful self 5. Nor can mere Nature enable a man to prefer God before himself upon this bottome of being perswaded that his Well-being dependeth more upon God than upon himself Natures Lesson is Quisque suae fortunae faber as if man were a God to himself Gen. 3. 5. Which was Satan's first Insinuation into the first Man 's sinning heart 6. Mere Nature can never make a man so resolute for Christ as to endure abundance of evil and to refuse abundance of good that Christ may be retained Hebr. 11. 36 37. 7. Neither could it ever yet reform and rectifie its own Irregularities no not in the two greatest luminaries in her own School Natural Knowledge could never straighten or set to right natural crookedness This is evident in Aristotle the most Rational man and Seneca the most Moral man that ever the Heathen-world saw yet the one kept his Strumpet and the other was a biting Usurer to their dying day Oh bungling Nature that was screwed up ad ultimum potentiae to her highest peg in those her two darlings yet could she not redress those evils nor can she act any thing in a gracious manner or acceptable to God Wo
comply with the Law of God there is a law in the mind Rom. 7. 23. which is writ in the heart Hebr. 8. 10. this is call'd a Law because it carries an authority with it and sways down the Soul into a conformity to the will of God this makes the sound heart to love Gods precepts because they are pure Psal 119. 140. and inclines it as a strong byass stronger then all the external motives to love the Gospel for the Gospels sake Whereas the Hypocrite doth onely uti Deo ut fruatâ—â— Mundo use God to enjoy the world as Austin saith Thus Jehu obey'd Gods will but it was that he might attain to a Crown and Kingdom The 2. Character is such as deceive themselves with false and seeming grace never look for nor labour after true and saving grace such never search nor suspect themselves Judas came lagging in at last saying Master is it I Such never put themselves under a serious and strict scrutiny saying Am I yet got beyond the attainments of an Hypocrite Holy jealousie is a blessed frame of spirit and a solemn suspicion of being deceived is a comfortable sign of a sound sincerity He that never doubted never truely believed and such as go on in an uninterrupted estate blessing themselves all along with bare shows of grace have a dangerous symptome of destruction upon them Until Egypts dough was spent God gave no Mauna and so long as the Bridegrooms wine lasted Christ turned no water into wine The 3. Character is False grace is never comforted with Gods presence such hearts dare never set themselves solemnly in the sight of divine Omnisciency as Job did Job 31. 6. and David Psal 139. 23 24. and Peter Joh. 21. 17. sincere Souls all for they know though they may deceive men they cannot deceive God Gal. 6. 7. whereas true Grace dare appeal to Omnisciency about the general frame of the heart Though it undoubtedly trembles in that Appeal for its frequent frailties as Job 42.5 6. yet is it confident its Integrity will carry weight for though it may depart from God out of weakness yet never out of wickedness Psal 18.21 and though acts yet not ways of wickedness be found in it Psal 139.24 6. The fourth Character is false grace is never attended with humility if the more you profess the prouder you grow you have just cause to suspect your self but with true grace the more Holy you are the more humble you will be as the Centurion Matth. 8. 8. Luk. 7. 7. Notional knowledge puffeth up as above but the divine light of saving knowledge shining into a dark heart 2 Pet. 1. 19. discovers your ignorance that there is more you know not than that you know this humbles the people thought the Centurion worthy yea and Christ himself thought the man worthy yet the man doth think himself unworthy The more experimental knowledge you have the more sense of your own ignorance you will have also and the more faith the more sense of your unbelief Prov. 30. 2 3. 1 Cor. 8. 2. Mark 9. 24. 'T is a blessed frame to be kept hungry and humble under an Enjoyment of grace crying Lord I still want this grace and that grace The fifth and last Character is false grace never grows unless it be worse and worse guilded things loose their lustre and glory by wearing and pretences to grace do ratheâ— wither than thrive or prosper God complaineth that they went backward rather then forward Jerem. 7. 24. False grace like bad salt looseth gradually its own Acrimony and smartness until it be cast to the dunghill whereas true grace as a grain of mustard-seed grows to a tree from a morning glimpse to a perfect day Prov. 4. 18. from smoaking flax to a burning flame Matth. 12. 20. Nicodemus grows from timerousness to boldness Joh. 3. 1 2. 19. 39. when Judas with all his goodly shews of grace did dwindle into nothing if there be never so little meal in the barrel never so little Oil in the Cruise yet it being fed with a supply from heaven multiplies into abundance if you grow from fervency to formality from strictness to looseness if you can loose the sweetness of your spirit without remorse 't is a shrewd sign but if you have received grace in the truth of it then you grow 1. formâ in loveliness to Christ 2. Suavitate bringing sweeter Cane to God Isa 43. 24. 3. Robore better rooted the house of David growing stronger 1 Sam. 3. 1. And fourthly vigore every grace that is feeble will be nourish'd Hebr. 12. 13. you then grow both in kind and degree growing youth oft measure themselves they have better appetites than older people 7. The third deceit which is the third enquiry is your taking and mistaking common grace for special that you may be undeceived know that there is a common grace which is 1. more than civility it being of a more evangelical and heavenly nature than civility is 2. 'T is more than restraining grace which is conversant onely about sins and duties out of a servile awe and fear of God but this seemeth to carry out the Soul with some raised affections and love to Christ 3. 'T is more than meer outward gifts which raise up a man above ordinary onely for an usefulness to others but this seems to renew the man and make him another man than he was before 4. 'T is more than seeming grace or formality which hath onely verisimilia seeming true but not vera really true a meer shew and shadow of godliness but This is a real work upon the Soul as Hebr. 6. 4 5. declareth being not onely an enlightening work and a partaking of gifts but also some Spiritual tast of the sweetness of Christ and of the powers of the world to come yet observe all this amounted not to special grace in three things 1. Their light was not humbling there is mention of their enlightening but not a word of their humbling the more of saving light is let into the Soul the more self-abasement doth that light beget there the more precious that Christ is in our eyes the more vile we are in our own eyes they closed with Christ in a way of pride and presumption onely 2. Their gifts were not renewing and sanctifying they made them useful to the Church but did not change their hearrs they were tinkling cymbals in their lovely expressions but not vessels of gold in any divine and lively impressions their Speech and Spirit did not walk hand in hand together 3. Their tast was neither refreshing nor ravishing it did not draw the Soul after a farther and fuller enlargement and enjoyment of Christ they had but sleight and loose desires after Christ and Salvation bare glances of heavenly glory may stir up an overly wish even in a very Sorcerer causing him to say Oh let me dye the death of the righteous Numb 23. 10. but this falls far short of those serious longings
but the ambush of the subtle serpent in it she discerned not oh the crafty and deceitful Devil that lays an ambush of real death under the coverts and colours of seeming life hence he is call'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Cor. 11. 3. using 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his crafty subilety to cheat us of all graces but especially of our simplicity and therefore doth he muster up all his forces and lyeth in ambush all his frauds do deceive and destroy us 2. This old Serpent when he was but young out-witted our first Parents even in their state of innocency now that he is old and we but young all are but children Eph. 4. 14. how easily may he beguile us especially having something of himself in us which he had not in Christ Joh. 14. 30. to betray us into his hands this subtle serpent hath his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 set Ambushes and composed Stratagems 2 Cor. 2. 11. whereby to ravish and corrupt our 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or judgments you cannot be ignorant if you be a Christian in truth if you have but more than the title of a Christian of the cunningly-moulded-methods even in your personal experience of the darts and depths of Satan wherewith he deceives you and he plays not at small games but deceives whole Nations as well as single persons Revel 20. 3 8. even Gog the covert enemy and Magog the overt or open one the Pope and the Turk yea he deceives the whole world that lies in wickedness 1 Joh. 5. 19. This Interpolator Creaturae or broker and brusher up of the vain things of the World as Tertullian calls him sets an alluring Gloss upon the Creature and fits every one a penny-worth as he finds inclinations he hath an Apple for Eve a Grape for Noah and a Vineyard for Ahab he hath a wedge of Gold for Achan and talents of Silver for Gehazi c. 3. 'T is more than manifest that this grand Pyrate at land as well as at sea hangs out false Colours till his prey come within compass of his chain and that this sublime sophister and old Impostor can both in himself and instruments cog a Die wherewith to cheat you Eph. 4. 14. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is Artifex fallacia or fallax artificium a cunning sleight of Gamesters and Cheaters such a conquering couzenage that thereby were it possible he would deceive the very elect even fundamentally and finally Matth. 24. 24. as others are An eminent instance of this cheating Devil you have concerning Saul afore-mentioned to whom Satan that old Serpent did counterfeit Samuel in speech and Habit and with great gravity Samuel-like upbraided him with sparing Agag c. Before the fact was done he tempts Saul to it under the colour of an act of mercy and why should he be so cruel to his fellow-creatures not a word of any stumbling-block Satan lays in Sauls way to hinder this seeming work of Mercy before his doing of it but now when 't is done though it was done through his tempting him thereunto he presseth it with all aggravations upon his Conscience in his day of distress as an heinous and horrible sin that he might drive them into despair and he plaid the Sophister with Saul in the prophetical part of that passage of Pageantry as well as in the Historical to morrow thou and thy Sons shall be wtih me 1 Sam. 28. 19. wherein he could not mean Heaven with true Samuel for that is too good a place for bad Saul nor Hell with himself the true Satan for that is too bad a place for good Jonathan but the state of the dead the old deceiver insinuating to Saul thereby that the Souls of all men of the good as well as of the bad do go to the same place and seeking to blot out of him therewith all knowledge and apprehension of eternal life oh miserable comfort in distress and no better can those expect that run to Witches c. for ease the Parasite and tempter before sin will be a Tyrant and Tormentor after it when he hath accomplished his end his flattery goes no further but turns into fury 4. Although Satan be all this and much more against faln Mankind which makes him their greatest adversary yet hath a man a worse enemy than he to wit his own superlatively-deceitful and desperately wicked heart every one carries a tempter in his bosome whereby he is drawn away and enticed Jam. 1. 14 15. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 entised as a fish by a bait yea drawn away by his own byass of lust the Devil hath onely an insinuating sleight not any forcing or constraining might mans own concupiscence carries the greatest sway and stroke therein thence it is said that Deceit as well as all other Soul-defiling-evils come out of the heart Mark 7. 22 23. Satan might besiege us days without number and without success too if a treacherous party were not within to let down the Drawbridge and to set ope the Gates of the City for his entrance and entertainment There is deceit in the heart Prov. 12. 20. and therefore Christ tells you it comes out of the heart what is in the Well will be in the bucket surely they are redeemed from deceit indeed Psal 72.14 that have a cover for their heart that well which is so full of crawling lusts to wit the cover of Gods Spirit Isa 31. 1. Every vessel that wanteth a cover was unclean Num. 19. 15. so is the heart that is open to Satans squibs for ingress and sinful thoughts for egress 5. The second thing next to the old Serpent is Antichrist the man of sin call'd primo-genitus Diaboli the first-born of the Serpents seed that grand Impostor whose coming is after the working of Satan with lying wonders and all deceivableness 2 Thes 2. 9 10. that beast which doth great wonders in the sight of men and deceiveth them that dwell on the earth Revel 13. 13 14. This Son of perdition cheats the world 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with wonders of a lye which is an usual Hebraism to denote the notorious fallacy and falshood of his wonders they are either lying prodigies or prodigious lyes such as some of themselves say are for the most part false yet were devised for good intentions This Ludovicus Vives one of their own further confirmeth affirming that the Author of the Golden or rather lying Legend had a brazen face corrupting the lives of their Canoniz'd Saints with abundance of lyes and that the devisers of those Fables did not set down what their Saints did but what themselves would have had them done And the Doctrines of Popery are like their Miracles lying Doctrines it being no other than a Farrago of falsities and old Heresies for as the Centurists say the old Hereticks fled at the light of truth and hid themselves in the Popish Clergy And whence doth all this arise but from their own treacherous and deceitful hearts whereby they are
given up judicially to believe all those lyes because they received not the truth in the love of it 2 Thes 2. 10 11. that is the great Gospel-sin which is punished by the righteous God with strong delusions vile affections and just damnations self-deceit is an Idol that all the world worships as well as it doth the Beast in its three Sons self-conceit self-will and self-love 6. The third thing is false Prophecies Doctrines and teachings the publishers whereof are called deceitful workers 2 Cor. 11. 13. that like Solomons Harlot 1 Kin. 3. 20. would take away the living child to wit the Scriptures of truth from out of our bosomes and lay instead thereof the dead child of their own brain-sick notions and vain traditions These are said by good words and fair speeches to deceive the hearts of the simple Rom. 16. 18. you have need therefore to look well to your inheritance as Kin. 21. 3. that you be not beguiled of it by fraud as well as by force these have cunning craftiness and by a slight hand can cog a Die the common practice of cheating Gamesters lying in wait to deceive Eph. 4. 14. insomuch that if it were possible they would deceive the very elect Matth. 24. 24. which they cannot do fundamentally and finally because the deceived and the deceiver are both with the Lord Job 12. 13 16. However unstable Souls so called 2 Pet. 3. 10. are blown like Glasses into this or that form at the pleasure of their breath And whence flow all those false divinations the Prophet tells you Jerem. 14. 14. 23. 26. they are all the deceits of those deceivers hearts impudently lying to the Holy Ghost as Act. 5. 3. fathering the falsities of their own hearts upon the Spirit of truth Thus the deceitful heart first deceived those deceivers and then these deceivers did deceive credulous Souls with the deceits of their hearts 7. The fourth thing is the deceitful bow Psal 78. 57. Hos 7. 16. a slack or warping bow Resheth Remjiah Arcus doli vel dolosus seu fallax Hebr. will be sure to deceive the Archer that shoots in it 't will turn back into belly as the Archers phrase is and though he level both his eye and his arrow never so directly to the mark and think confidently with himself to hit it yet in the event the Arrow through the warping of the bow flyes a quite contrary way yea and sometimes reflects upon the Archer himself Non semper feriet quodcunque minabitur Arcus the bow smites not all it threatens and telum ob arcus obliquitatem aliud minatur aliud ferit interdum ctiam retrò in jaculantem reflectit The ill-fashioned or casting-bow will turn in the shooters hand and send the Arrow sometimes one way and sometimes another way yea and sometimes it rebounds into his own sides or if it be a rotten bow though otherwise fair to look upon when an Arrow is drawn to the head it breaks in the hand and deceives the Archer the same thing happeneth when the string of the bow is naughty and breaks when the Arrow is drawn This is no less than a Divine Scripture-Allegory Behold such a fallacious warping and rotten bow is mans deceitful heart his purposes and promises are the arrows that he puts upon the string the mark he aims at is Repentance to the which in affliction especially he looketh with an accurate and intent eye as though he would repent indeed but alas his heart deceives him as being unsound in Gods Statutes Psal 119. 80. and hence it is that his promises and pretences do fall at his foot or vanish in the air as smoke thus a deceiving as well as a deceived heart turns him aside Isa 44. 20. as it did those false Israelites oh then look to the secret warpings of your own heart and seeing you are Gods bow you must be bent by him and stand bent for him Zech. 9. 13. thereby you shall be like Jonathans how that never returned empty 2 Sam. 1. 22. 8. The fifth deceitful thing is Riches Mark 4. 19. they have deceitfulness in them as well as uncertainty 1 Tim. 6. 17. Riches have never been true to those that trusted in them but ever have proved a lye in their right hand Isa 44. 20. hence are they called lying vanities Jon. 2. 8. and compared to a flock of birds sitting upon a mans ground which upon the least fright takes the wings and flyes away Riches have wings saith Solomon and rather than want they will make to themselves wings Prov. 23.5 yea though they have not the wings so much as of a little sparrow wherewith to fly to you yet will they make to themselves the large wings of a great Eagle wherewith to fly from you oh how many have Riches served as Absaloms Mule served her Master whom she lurched and left in his greatest need hanging betwixt Heaven and Earth as if rejected of both a spark of fire may set them on flying a Thief may steal them a wicked servant may embezel and purloin them a Pyrate or shipwrack at sea a Robber or bad debtor at land yea an hundred ways sets them packing they are as the Apples of Sodom that look fair yet crumble away with the least touch golden delusions a meer Mathematical Scheme or fancy of mans brain 1 Cor. 7. 31. Act. 25. 23. The semblances and empty shews of good without any reality or solid consistency nec vera nec vestra as they are slippery upon the account of verity so they are no less in respect of propriety and possession for they are winged birds especially in this that they fly from man to man as the birds do from tree to tree and always from the owner of them this is a sore deceit and cozenage yet your heart is more deceitful inasmuch as it will deceive you with those deceitful Riches à quo aliquid tale est illud est magis tale they are so because the heart is so 9. The time would fail me to speak of all the deceitful things that the holy Scriptures calls so besides those here insisted upon as the sixth deceitful things is favour and beauty Prov. 31. 30. Sheker haken vehebel haiophe gratiositas venustas is deceit and falsity as the Hebr. signifies in the very abstract not onely as it is sometimes but a painted and borrowed beauty but especially as it lasteth not long soon fadeth satisfyeth none brings forth its own disdain and gives occasion to many sins to wit Morosity Wantonness Pride Idleness Imperiousness c. though it be true and genuine without painting if it be not seasoned and sanctified with the fear of God alas the best beauty in the world is but skin-deep an herd of Small-pox wherein God turns the fairest Creature inside outward to let them see that corruption as Jobs phrase is is their Mother or some fore fit of sickness soon and suddenly blasts it And though it doth escape both