for mee if thou defirest my love should continue and abide in thee answere it with the like affection and as I loved thee so loue mee againe I loued thee to death my loue nailed mee to thee crosse but tell mee how sar shall thy loue cary thee when Christ our louing redeemer shall thus bespeake the conscience what man that is predestinate will not returne this answer drowning first his cheekes with a flood of teares O my deare Saviovr my most loving Lord I will love thee euen to death yea to the death of the Crosse if thou shalt be â—se pleased to call me to it And O my Iesus my most sweete Jesus would to God I might be so honourd as to dy for thee but what am I that I should think my selfe worthy to dy for thy sake to set forth thy praise and to aduance thy Glory And how great is thy love oh my life and joy which moved thee to suffer so much alone and to dye for mee Such heavenly dialogues such holy sighs and groanes are wont to be the Colloquies that passe betweene Christ and the soules of Communicants who are his elect ones his Sons and Servants And by such inward and familiar discourses is God united Intimately to their soules And for this cause we make a frequent receiving of the holy Eucharist a sure and Infalsible signe of praedestination If wee come to that sacred banquet with due preparation with hearts purgd from all rantour and malice and adorn'd with faith and godly purposes of new obedience But for all that is taught us in Bookes and out of the Pulpits the greatest part of Christians are so lull'd asleepe and besotted with an evill custom that neitherexamples of the godly nor admonitions of Gods Saints can stir them up and mould them to a more frequent use of the Sacrament Poore soules such men are to bee lamented withteares whose hearts are so flinty whose breasts are so chill'd and frozen as it were with Infidelity that they shun this bright shining and most glorious Sun not considering that they are deluded by the craft and subtilty of Satan who labours by all meanes possible to extinguish the fire of divine love in us that wee being as it were stiffe with could with the want of love to God may live like dead men and dye in our sinnes and never come to the land of the living but hee that loves Christ with an ardent affection desires nothing more then to bee where Christ is so sayes Cassidorus Wee may laugh at him for folly and Ignorance who sayes he loves his friend yet desires not his presence SYMBOLVM III. Frequens Sacramentorum confessionis et coÌ„munionis usus Hic est panis de caelo descendens ut si quis ex ipso manducauerit non moriatur Ioan. 6. Embleme IV. Renouncing All Worldly things What things were gaine to me those I counted losse for Christ Philip. 3. v 7 The fourth Signe The Renouncing and leaving all things for Chirst set out by this Symboll An Altar naked and uncoverd The words taken out of the 3. PHIL. 7. But the things which were vantage or a gaine to me those I counted losse for Christs sake OVR blessed Saviour proclaimes by his holy Apostle Hee that forsaketh not all things that he possesseth he cannot bee my Disciple Hee hath commanded us to renounce all hee hath perswaded us to renounce all hee hath perswaded us to leave all to wit in our affections and to follow the example of his holy life adhering to his Heavenly Doctrine So let every one whâ—ose high-borne soul speaks him to be of a more noble stock then to cleave and stick fast in his love to things of the Earth Let every-Christian say out of a setled Resolution I had rather be most sharply pinched with poverty then in the least manner shew my selfe to be Gods enemy I had rather be spoild of all my Goods then want his soule saving grace poverty hath beene the cause that many have turn'd rich Merchants not of fine silke nor of sweet and costly spices but of Heaven and happinesse The Kingdome of heaven sayes our deare Saviour is like unto a Merchant man seeking precious Jewells and when he had found one hee went and sould all that he had and bought it That Merchant thought it not a losse but a great gaine to loose all his wealth and substance Indeed hee was no sooser but only a seller because by parting with his money he purchas'd a gemme of great price and value He gave to Christ in his poore members a little earthly trash and for this Christ gave him an Acquittance under his hand to repay him in mercy with the reward of heaven Hee contemned his Gold and had eternall glory in pawne for it He was ready if God had beene so pleas'd to have forsaken all his Lands and possessions and for this willing readinesse and subjection to the will of God hee has gotten a Kingdome which hath no bounds being Insinite and without all extent and limitation Hee that has a Jewell in his possession sayes Chrysostome very well knowes himselfe to be rich although it be unknown to others by reason that his Jewell is hid or shut up in a bagge So it is with a faithfull Christian he knowes himselfe to be in a happy state although the men of the world think otherwise from whose eyes his faith and inward vertues are hid To speake truly we were sent by God into this world to negotiate not to spend our time in florh and riot and there is none so poore and indigent but may do as that Merchant did he may make a purchase of Jewelss which are inestimable not to bee prizd or valued Hee that hath gotten Christ hath all things hee has God for his friend who is all in all A God of mercy and bounty who seeks us when wee are lost and desires not our goods but only to save us as St. Aug. sweetly meditates to bestow upon us the riches of his mercy and goodnesse Neither is there any that so abounds in wealth and large possessions but that hee may without feare of losse throw away and disesteeme all those to procure these unions these gemmes of Gods grace Yet this Merchandise this trading for Grace exacts not of us that actually wee leave and forsake our riches but that we be in a preparation or readinesse of mind if need be to part with them The manner of this Negotiation is not to expend all our money to give away our meanes in a lavish and prodigall profusnesse but to be ever resolv'd with full purpose of our hearts rather to have mercy or our soules sav'd then by sparing our money to bring them to eternall woe and misery A good and faithfull Christian had rather bee a beggar then Gods enemy We must not lay downe our soule for our money but our money for our soules eyther by a voluntary or free contribution of it or by
spirituall food which may bestead and comfort us in the Autumne of our old Age and in the could winter of Death Christ Commends unto us this Immortall food Jo. 6.51 where he sayes He that eateth of this Bread shall live for ever This bread is his body crucified upon the Crosse He that feeds on this bread by the mouth of Faith applying to his soule for pardon of his sinnes the merit of his Saviours death and passion that man shall never see death shall escape damnation And they that are predestinated to Eternall life doe labour for this heavenly and soule quickning food more then the Glutton does for delicacyes whose Belly is his God Christ when hee gave us this vitall bread this precious morsell charging us to communicate oft when he said Doe this c. intended not it should be slighted with a prophane neglect Our ordinary food our daily repast keepes the body in life and strength which otherwise by meanes of our naturall heat would be impay'rd and presently consum'd No lesse but rather greater vertue is in this blessed Sacrament of Christs body and blood by meanes of it the life of our soule is preserved which otherwise would be wasted by that devouring heat of our impure lust and concupisence which rages in the best Therefore Innocentius his Counsell may here take place We must beware sayes he least by dâ—â—e ring too long to receive the blessed Sacrament the food of life we incurre the hazard of eternall Death St. Hilary gives us the same advice Let us feare seast being abstracted or separated from the body of Christ i e. never communicating with the faithfull in the holy Eucharist we be hereafter severd and banishd from God our Saviour we that never cease to sin should never cease to partake of the holy Communion But this is our malady this one thing is our chiefe let and impediment Rather then wee will cease to sin wee forbeare to come to the blessed Communion We had rather desert this heavenly Table then shake hands and bid adew to our petulant wickednesse wee are unwilling to be led sweetly as it were by the hand from our pollutions and impurity to an holy conversation and practise of piety Wee beleeved once the lying Serpent perswading us that we shall be Gods but we give no credence no beliefe to God assuring us that if we frequent this caelestiall banquet Wee shall be converted and changed into his divine nature through the Sanctification of his blessed Spirit Consider what Christ promiseth He that eateh my flesh and drinketh my blood Joh. 6.56 dwelleth in mee and J in him Wee heare Christ promising but we do not readily beleeve him Christ commands us to doe this in memory of his death and Passion upon the Crosse And no doubt his will is that we often do this We conceive that his praecept is equall and just but we contrary to what Christ intended will not perswade our selves that this Commemoration is often to be celebrated All the ancient holy Fathers advise us in their writings to come often to this feast Their Counsaile does not displease us but our Corrupt and vitious custome prevaile with us All the holy Martyrs and Confessors in the Primitive times have shind before us in their Godly example inviting us to the practise of those Saint-like and Religious duties The light of their piety shines in our eyes but we will not conforme our selves to them by a Godly imitation of their vertues But to discover farther the corrupt perversenesse of our natures let us put case That as oft as A man received the Communion he were to receive withall a thousand Crownes If this condition were annexed to his duty there were no need of any Rhethoricall expressions to allure him those Arguments dressed in Gold would command his obedience by a sweet force and unresistable violence On these termes of conjuring we should rather want a staffe to keepe the rude multitude off then a goade to prick them on Oh the blindenesse of man we cannot see Gold but our affections are inflam'd with a love and desire of it because wee consider not that mine that rich treasure which is wrapped up and onteinedhidden in the blessed Sacrament therefore it is by us entertaind with neglect and vilified That vast masse of Gold in both Indies compard with this unvaluable Jewell is but dirt and mudde It is beyond the pitch of the sublimest understanding to set upon it a true value and estimation For by vertue of this holy Eucharist or Christs body and blood crucified represented to us in it our sins past of what nature or degree so ever are blotted out of Gods booke sins to come are prevented the strength of our imbred vitious corruptions is weakned our understanding is enlightned Our will and affections stirred up and incited to the desire and love of God and goodnesse our conscience is cleard being disburthened of its heavy load And by meanes of it we are furnished with spirituall Armature against the Devill It corroborates our Spirits that we faint not in adversity It sustaines and supports our natures that wee fall not in prosperity It confirmes us in the way of Godlinesse with constancy and patience Lastly by the holy Eucharist we receive a pledge of future glory and by it we get a rich purchase the contempt of death and desire of heaven the moderation of affections and loathing of our vices and a love of vertues the victory over our selves and perseverance in good workes But one may object I dare not come by reason of my great pollution my thoughts are vaine my heart is uncleane and not wâ—rmd with the love of God therefore I dare not come to the holy Communion This excuse is either bad or to no purpose for the more wicked thou art the lesse is thy accesse to it to bee deferr'd Art thou uncleane come first bewailing thy sins The â—ucharist is a pure and living fountaine it will wash away thy staines Art thou sick come for it is the only medicine and Antidote whereby the maladies and diseases of thy soule may be cured Art thou pinch'd with an holy hunger after righteousnesse Come for the Eucharist is the bread of Angells Is thy Soule benumm'd with a deadly chillnesse with a Lethargy of sin defer not to come for the Eucharist is such a fire such an heavenly flame that will warme thy spirit and enflame it with devotion Do thy spirituall Enemies the Divell or the Flesh molest and vex thee distrust not but come for here is an Armory out of which thou may'st fetch weapons to wound and subdue any of thy Ghostly Adversaries Art thou sad and consumd with wasting griefe Here is Wine that maketh glad the heart of man Desirest thou delicacies certainely there are not better then these which are exhibited in this banquet and cheares the heart of Kings Art thou in love with thy heavenly Country dost thou long after it in thy desires
and art thou moving to it Behold here is thy Viaticum thy provision for the way more costly then that was which Elias had in his passage to mount Horeb. If Christs Garment had such virtue in it that being only to touch'd it could stop an Issue of blood what efficacy what power may we conceive to be in his body when it is received and applyed by the hand of faith But you may say I am unworthy to partake of that divine food neither can I afford or give that reverence unto it which is meet I beseech you deare Brother let us not cover and cloake our sloathfullnesse with a colourable pretence ' of Reverence It is better sayes Aquinas to approach to this banquet out of love then out of a fond feare wholly to abstaine from it Part. 3.2.80 Art 10 and 3. St. Amb. expounds that Petition of the Lords Prayer Give us this day our daily Bread lib. 5 de Sac. c. 4. to be meant of the Supper of our Lord If it be daily Bread why receivest thou it but once a yeare Receive that daily which being received will profit thee So live that thou maist be fitted to receive it daily for he that is not fitted to receive it every day is unworthy to receive it after a yeares space when he has taken a surfeit in sinn and wickednesse lib 4. de Sac. c. 6. For as St. Amb. in another place if as often as the blood of Christ is poured out hee meanes the Wine in the chalice which is a signe of his blood it is poured out for the remission of sins It concerns mee to accept it ever with joy and thankfullnesse and that my sins may be wiped out and pardond I that alwayes wound my soule with sin ought alwayes to apply to those wounds a medicine Gemmadius Massi liensis determines this point well I neither praise nor discommend the Art of those who receive every day the holy Eucharist yet I exhort and perswade all Christians having first subdued their affections and repented heartily of their sins to communicate each Lords Day Hee that comes with a mind not infected with the love of sinne that man comes prepared And who so casts off all affections to his former sinnes that man ceases to hate and begins to love God Surely he is most ungratefull to his maker who for his sake and in obedience to his Command will not throw away and cast out the poyson of every pestilent and foule affection that so he may come prepar'd to the holy Communion with those that will not do this God is highly and deservedly displeased as appeares by that parable of the great man that made a Feast and invited Guests who would not come Luk 14.16 I say unto you said that Mr. of the Family that none of these men shall tast of my supper what Lord not tast of thy Supper why they are those that will not come and tast of it and dost thou Judge this to bee a fit punishment for their obstinate Rebellion so it is Their doome proceeded out of their own mouths They said they will not and God sayes they shall not Thus by their ungodly and rebellious will they shall be punish'd When the City of Samaria was straitned with a sore famine which threatned a generall destruction And Elisha promised that within a few dayes there should be great store and plenty of corne and other provision one of the lords of that City scoffing at his prediction answerd Though the Lord would make windowes in heaven could this thing come to passe to whom Eâ—isha replyed Behold thou shalt see it with thine eyes but shall not eate thereof It happend to that proud Lord as the Prophet foretold And thus at this day are many puâ—ished They see abundance or good store of this holy bread in the Eucharist but they eat not of it And thou cold Christian whose heart is frozen with hatred and malice ' thou who now contemnest Gods Ordinance thou shalt see the bread upon the Table and the Wine stand by it but God will not give thee grace to drink of this or tast of that Thou shalt see and heare of many who have beene refreshd by this heavenly banquet whilst thou in the meane time art starved and famished Because thou hast excluded thy selfe thou art debarred from comming to Gods Table by which thou mightst have beene plentifully fed and satisfied However it bee thus with the ungodly and wicked yet those that are predestinated to eternall life that are the genuine and true sons of God count it as a marke of Gods high displeasure to want this heavenly bread and therefore they neglect no opportunity omit no occasion whereby they may obtaine and purchase it for they are not Ignorant that the most provident Creatour hath allotted its proper food to every creature as to Eagles birds to Lyons wild beasts to the Horse Oates to an Ox Hay to sheepe Grasse to the Whale fishes to man bread that comes out of the Earth but to those that are his Sons by the grace of Adoption hee hath appointed better food that is bread from Heaven This heavenly bread this bread of Sons this bread of Angells Gods adopted Saints for the most part receive with an ardent desire with most submissive reverence and with that affection which becomes Gods beloved Children who had rather shew themselves to be Gods sons by immodest piety then appeare to bee his Enemies by an impious modesty If to any ones conscience who is in the number of the praedestinate Christ should thus speake by the still voyce of his spirit whilst he is receiving the holy Sacrament Consider seriously with thy most collected thoughts what and how great things I have done and suffered of my meere love to thee to expâ—ate thy sinnes Lift up the Eyes of thy soâ—â—e and behold with good attention the thornes that peirced my head and the many Sorrowes that rent my heart My body was wounded with whips and nails but my soule received its wounds from many great and unsufferable Injuries For thy sake I had almost in the garden selt deaths stroke There the lashes of my inward griefs did anticipate the whipping of Herods Souldiers Thinke not with thy selfe what I suffered from my foes when such heauy strokes were laid on me by my freinds Thou Knowest upon how hard a bed I dyed for thee If thou hads't not find I had not suffered My loue that thou mayst vnderstand the greatnesse of it moued me to undergoe the most bitâ—er and Ignominious death but none could he sound more bitter and Ignominious then that I did sustaine for thee the death of the crosse Behold I I who am the son of God haue died for thee poore sinfull man and if that death had not beene sufficient I would not haue refused to dye a thousand times more to have redeem'd thee from the power of death and Hell But what wilt thou doe
affection as of Anger Love Hatred or the like will not easily repress its unruliness nor hinder its force but shall be hurried by the precipitate humor of that affection even to commit the foulest sins to which his nature is prone It is the safest way therefore to prevent the beginning of any passion to kill it in the bud and to stifle it in the Cradle before it gets strength and grovvth .. As an enemy is to be driven out of the borders of the City for vvhen he has gotten vvith in the gates or come vvithin the Walls he vvil shevv little mercy to the captive Citizens Pro. 16. He that is slow to Anger is beter then the a strongman he that ruleth his mind is beter then he that winneth a City Blessed are the peace-makers L. deser doc c. 2. sayes St. Aug. Those that make peace in themselves those that compose the tumults and stirrs that arise in their ovvn brests and subject them to the command of Reason Blessed are they who tame the lusts of the flesh by prayer and abstinence so that they become the kingdom of God or his house wherein all things are in order no confusion to be found vvherein Reason guided and enlightn'd by Gods spirit has the sole command the senses of the body obeying vvithout any the least reluctancy or contention This invvard peace vvas proclaim'd by a Quire of Angells when Christ was born but it is not to be obtain'd easily but by much strife and paine This was presignified by Gods giving his law to Moses with the loud voice of a Trumpet Ex. 19. an instrument of War A man would suppose that gentle and soft musick had bin fitter for this religious work The Trumpet fits better with the Camp then a Church But to leave off these nice expostulations and disputes we must know that God did this to teach us that as our life is a warfare so we are cal'd by God not to sit still at ease but to fight our battells against our sinfull lusts we are call'd by him who gave the Law to Moses which Law we cannot observe and keep unless we oppose and fight against the Law 's Enemies which are our lusts None ever subdued his flesh by flattering it none ever conquered an enticing Devill or the soothing world but by resisting both with those weapons which God prescribes in his holy Scriptures strive then we must and fight with every corrupt affection which is adverse to Gods Law and so to be esteem'd an enemy He that is only angry with his sins and favours his affections he cuts off the boughs of a bad tree but spares the Root so long as this remaines the boughs will againe shoot out Thus Chrys commenting upon those words of our Saviour He that looks upon a woman to lust after her has committed adultery with her in his heart sayes that Christ in this precept forbids not only the disease it selfe but strikes also at the root of it The root of Adulstery is unchast lust And therefore he does not only condemne Adultery but concupiseence likewise which is its Mother or Nurse So he forbids not murder alone but Anger also which is oftentimes the spawne or cause of it or contumelious and reproachfull speeches which occasion many quarrells and the spilling of much blood Anger and love are two violent affections that admit of no lawes but those that are severe and serious they are not easily tam'd by gentle and smooth precepts Anger does not like other vices which sollicite by flatteries it suatcheth away our minds and drives them furiously into dangers And although scarce any man be found so cruell who having wounded his enemy with a sword desires to bury his hand in the vvound and never draw it out yet Anger is such a weapon that can hardly be dravvne out when it is driven in Anger is dareing and feares not to act any sin and having design'd a man for destruction is never pacified till it draws his hearts blood An angry man is like the fire-stone which if it be strook against the flint spits fire immediatly is hardly quench'd An angry man stirreth up strise Pro. 29. and a surious man aboundeth in transgression So sayes Salemon Anger and wrath are abominable things and the sinfull man is subject to them both No plague or murraine has destroy'd so many men as these two Anger and Wrath. Anger slayes the foolish man and envy the man of low degree Therefore my beloved Brethren L. 4. de civ c. 6. let us not sayes St. Aug. bring so great an evill upon our selves as to harbour that which is the disease of the soule puts out the eye of reason alienates us from God makes us forget our familâ—ar friends the beginning of Wars the Author of our calam ities and the worst of Divells who is so much the more to be abhorred as he is most misceivous letting almost none escape his hands Ep. 18. This affection sayes Seneca sets most mens hearts on fire it is engendred as well by hatred as love and no less conversant is it with our serious discourses then with our merry sports and Iests equally it mingles it selfe with all these And it is not so much to be regarded from what cause it proceeds as into what mind it enters As it matters not how great the fire is but where it lights for dry stubble or any the like combustible thing will take fire at a spark and break forth into a great flame Notwithstanding all this there is nothing so hard and difficult which the mind or spirit of man cannot overcome and there are no affections so feirce and untam'd which may not be master'd and kept under by the Rod of discipline The mind can effect any thing which it commands it selfe to do Although the work be not very easie to keep Anger within its bounds and with it to avoyd madness ravening cruelty rage and the like passions which are its Attendants and Companions yet that Work has been and it must be done What Seneca sayes of Anger may be applyed to those two famous and well knovvn furies Envy and Pride the same too may be verified of those two most impious Sisters Luxury and Gluttony and of all the whole brood and band of other vices All which may be subdued by bringing the mind to that settled and happy tranquillity that there may be in it a sweet concord and harmony of all our desires not swerving from the rubrick of Gods commandements Blessed is the man who indulges or grants a little liberty to his affections that he may serve sin the less and God the more And happy he that nailes as it were his passions to the Cross that he may place Reason in her Throne to act the Queen or Mrs. over any rebellious passion Those slaves who are confin'd to the Oares in Gallies have some remission though it be but short from their
never stopped nor staied 1 Sam 6.12 not turned aside to the right hand or to the left Now for the comfort of tender Christians who find in their lives many turnings and windings many slips failings sins of naturall infirmitie of suddain surreption and daily incursion as lustfull motions distrustfull thoughts a disorder in the Passions or the like against which they strive and bend the force of their best endeavours to subdue them but cannot by meanes of that Body of sin Rom. 6.6 that lump of flesh that principle of weakness which they cary about them for the comfort of such I must add this by way of a Corolarie or appendix to the former Treatise which pointeth at a Collective perfection scarce to be found in a Christian It is this Peccatum non damnat quod 〈◊〉 nen placet August That such frailties and Infirmities if they be bewailed daily in an humble confession to Christ if they be stroven against and by a constant use of the meanes as prayer and fasting be in part mastred though a compleat conquest over them be not atchieved they shall not seperate us from the love of God which is in Christ Iesus our Lord. Rom. 8.39 Who as St. Paul intimates Rom. 5.6 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. when we were weak died for us The Holy Ghost hereby assuring all such weak ones that such sins as these to which their weakness betraies them shal not damne them so long as they be resisted with a strict and constant opposition with all the vigour and activity of their soules so that they be neither allowed of nor contiâ—ued in by a daily practise It remaines in the last prace that I compleat what I in a manner promised in my preface that is for the better establishing the hearts of good Christians to discover more particularly then hath been done before the inward tokens and outward fruits of sanctification whereby they may attaine to an assured knowledge of their Election And then for a Conclusion subjoyne some qualifications which may by Gods helpe sustaine the drooping Spirits of those feeble Christians who either find not in themselves all the Signes that have been set downe in the preceding Treatise or are burthened with the troubles of an unquiet conscience which is incident to the best and dearest of Gods Saints The Casuists prescribe unto us 2. Two wayes to attaine to the knowledge of our Election wayes whereby we may come to the knowledge of our Election That our names are written in the Book of the living The First is by taking flight from Earth by ascending as it were into Heaven there to prie into Gods Cabinet to peep into his Closet and to enquire into the deep and hidden Counsell of God this way is dangerous and not to be attempted Deut. 29.29 it being besides the difficulty and danger of it forbidden by the Word This Position was delivered by the Doctors in our Vniversity at the death of that Famous and learned Man Dr. Whaly The Second Is by descending into our selves in a privy search of our owne hearts and so to climb up as it were by degrees and steps to Gods eternall Counsell concerning the welfare of our Soules This second way alone is to be practised and it teacheth us by certaine signes and infallible testimonyes in our selves to collect or gather what is God's eternall purpose concerning our Persons our Soules and Bodies Those testimonies which we call for their infallibility 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are of two sorts The first is The Testimony of Gods Spirit The Second The Testimony of our spirits of both which we read at once Rom. 8.15 The same spirit beareth witness with our spirits that we are the Sons of God The Testimony of the spirit is effected in us by an application of the promises of the Gospell in the forme of a practicall Syllogisme thus Whosoever beleeveth in Christ shall be saved Ioh. 6.47 Now when the Spirit shall as J may so speak break into the dark roomes of the soule with light and discoveries opening the eye of a mans understanding so as to perceive and know that there is no other way to Heaven but by Christ and by stirring up the will and affections so as to make an assumption with freedome of Spirit without hesitation or doubting and to say I beleeve I renounce my selfe all my delight and comfort my joy and confidence is in Christ my stay and trust is in his all-sufficient merits from hence will result a blessed Conclusion Therefore shall be saved and I am the Child of God To say thus is the Testimony of the Spirit per modum causalitatis by way of causality to use the Scholemens phrase because it proceeds no from flesh and blood Mat. 16.17 from the strength of our owne Will but from the operation of the Holy Ghost stirring us up to beleeve to embrace the promises and to cry Abba Faâ—her as St. Paul there speakes St. Bernard hath an excellent passage to this purpose which runs thus in English Rom. 8.15 Bern. Ep 107. Who is just but he that being loved of God returnes love to him againe which is not done but by the spirit of God revealing by Faith unto man the eternall purpose of God that concernes future salvation Which Revelation is nothing else but the infusion of spirituall grace c. He meanes the Grace of Faith as he expressed himselfe before which is understood by that mark in the forehead of the hundred forty and foure thousand which stood with the Lamb in Mount Sion Rev. 14.1 and it is the only or chiefe marke of Election And as I take it Christ is therefore said in one sence to be the saithfull witness Rev. 1. Rev. 1 5. because by his spirit he stirres us up to beleeve which is accompanied with that inward experimentall Joy and inexpressible Peace of Conscience by the which he in a manner witnesses to that is assures our soules that we are his and shall infallibly one day if we persevere in the Faith partake of his happinesse The Second Testimony of our Election is the Testimony of our Spirit of the heart and Conscience purified and sanctified in the blood of Christ And it leads us to an assurance of Gods eternall love and to a certainty of our salvation two wayes as we are taught by Masters in these great Mysteries First By inward tokens in it selfe which are so many earnests of the spirit of Christ Secondly By outward fruits which break forth in our lives and Actions The former are speciall Graces of God in the Spirit or soule of man whereby he may be assured of his Adoption that he is God's Son These tokens are of two sorts The one respecting our sins The other Gods mercy in Christ who is the propitiation for our sins 1 Joh. 2 2â— The first are in respect of our sinnes Past 3. markes of Election
his will I should spin a songer thred of life I am content to doe it so long as he is pleass'd to will it Is God willing I should dye and be gathered to my Fathers my will joyfully meetes with his and I desire that death may arrest my bedy without all delayes I would not live a moment longer then God pleases My beginning is from God and he is my end the end of my Hope and whatsoever hee shall send and think fitting for mee I will entertaine and receave it with a cheerefull alacrity Phil. 1. imitating herein Saint Paul who thus sayes of-himselfe Christ is to me an advantage both in life and death My heart is enflam'd with the love of thee O my God and I desire to be more enflam'd Let my heart bee melted with this fire of love No creature O my most deare God besides thee can make mee blessed or any way happy And when shall I appeare in thy presence when O my God shall my winged Soule fly away from hence to thee and be at rest I follow thee Blessed Saviour I follow thee in my desires which then are most earnest when I come nearer to thee in any bodily griefe or Sicknesse Neither ought these desires to seeme strange in a good Christian for as a Physitian sayes Theophylact when he sees his patient loath that diet be prescribed and refuse to drink his potions he first tasts of them himselfe that by his example he may induce the sick man to admit of his Physick so Christ our blessed Saviour himselfe first drank of Death's bitter cup that wee his Servants his redeemed his followers might not bee afraid to pledge him but looke death in the face with that undaunted cheerefullnesse which becomes those who have God for their Father and Christ for their Redeemer And now Christian Brother although thou art of a fearefull nature strive to excite and raise thy fainting Spirits with these or such like Divine expressions Be speake God in the words of the Prophet David and say with an emboldened confidence and with a spirit unappal'd with the feare of Death I will receive the Cup of salvation and call upon the name of the Lord. The Cup indeed is bitter Psal 116.12 it hath Wormwood in it but my Saviour hath sweetned it having first drank to mee of it when he suffered upon the Crosse for my sinnes That Cup is Deaths fatall potion which Christ tasted willingly to purchase our salvation and all must drinke of it without exception All men must why then should J alone refuse it who ever hee bee whether Prince or Peasant Bond or free that hath entered upon the Stage of mortality and hath begun to act his part in this life 's sinfull Tragedy he must necessarily have his Catastrophe he must have an end that he may begin to Act a better part in the Theater of heaven and beginne a new life which nver shall have end Hence then all vaine and idle feares A way all vexing griefe and tormenting sadnesse The Cup which my Heavenly Father puts into my hand which Christ has temperd with his sweetnesse and drank deepe of it shall I not drinke off that I who am mortall whose composirion tends to ruine shall not I make it my study and a part of my daily businesse to learne to die wee read that when Alexander and the Madonian lay sick of a desperate disease and some of his friends who were too scrupulous had suggested to him that his Phisition by name Philip intended to give him poyson in his Physick The King when hee beheld Philip comming with his potion he raised himselfe upon his Pillow and thus entertained his Physition with one hand hee gave him his friends letters to read with the other hee took the potion from Philip And putting it to his mouth hee fixed his Eye upon the Physitians face knowing that if guilt were in his Conscience it would discover it selfe by the speaking blushes of his countenance and when he was fully satisfied that no mischiefe was intended by his Physition whose face spake him not guilty in that it was not stain'd with a blushing confusion the King with great confidence drank up the potion Thus by Gods grace will I do in this lifes pilgrimage my Iesus my Physition and my sweet Saviour hath prepard and temperd for mee a Cup which will cast mee into a long and sweet sleepe whilst I drink of it I will fasten my eyes upon his and fix my looke upon the gratious countenance of my Crucified Lord In the which I may read written in the bloody Characters of his passion his excessive love to mee and then with a Martyr like and cheerfull spirit I vvill drink off the potion vvhich the more bitter it is is better for us and the more vvholesome By this meanes deare Christian Brother may the sting of Death be blunted the force of his blow weakned and Death it selfe may be conquer'd if wee arme our selves against it by holy meditations if it be often thought on and never feared SYMBOLVM II. Promptitudo ad mortem Coarctor autem e duobus desiderium habens dissolui et esse cum Christo ad Philipp Cap. 1. Embleme 3. Frequenting of the Sacrament This is the bread which cometh downe from heaven that hee which eateth of it should not die Iohn 6.56 The third Signe A frequent use or receiving of the Sacrament of the body and blood of our Lord Set out by a golden Cup with these words taken out of the. 6. IOHN 56. This is the bread which commeth downe from Heaven that be which eatch of it should not die WEE read in the 2. Acts 42. that the primitive Christians who were converted to the Faith by Christ and his Appostles were not daunted by the fury of their Enemies not discourag'd in their profession by their persecutors malice but continued as the Text speakes in the Apostles Doctrine and fellowship and breaking of Bread and Prayers And it is observed by some that when the religious custome of frequenting the communion flagg'd and ceased Then that fervency of Spirit and ardor of love grew could Then that Sanctity or holinesse began to decay which before shined in the lives and Actions of those Christians who were burning and shining lights in their example and practice of all holy performances here the Divell bends all the force of his endeavours in this one thing he labours with all his art and cunning to hinder as many as hee can from the frequent use of the Eucharist or holy Communion And good God how many obstacles how many lets and impediments hath he invented how many rubbs has he laid in our way to retardate our intentions and stop the progresse of our devotion sometimes he shaks our Faith with the blasts of doubting feares when this suggestion succeeds not and takes no effect then he colours his Tentation and suggests to our soules that great reverence wherewith we should
come to these reverend and holy mysteries and that the seldomer we come we shall tast and find a greater sweetnesse in them At other times hee proposes to us the example of others who seldome communicate and yet are thought good Christians Againe sometimes hee stires up his Instruments to vex and disquiet us with opprobrious speeches that so he may prevent and hinder â—s sometime he presseth our thoughts with the lumber of worldly businesse or troubles our heads with vaine and wandring thoughts and afflicts our hearts with the anguishes and terrors of a guilty Conscience if all these will not doe then he stirres up in us strife and hatred against our friends and Neighbours by all which meanes he detaines our soules from all love and affections to Goâ— and holy duties and makes our prepararion to the Sacrament hard and difficult and full of paine and vexation Some he deceives thus hee perswades out of a pretence or shew of Religion to deferre that which they know ought not to be omitted Thus this Grand Impostor being of a Serpentine nature winds and turnes himseife into divers shapes and trickes sets upon us with his cunning wilds and delusions And hence it is that delay followes upon delay and one good purpose and resolution upon the neck of another whilst wee deferre from day to day from weeke to weeke nay from yeare to yeare to come to Christ in this heavenly Supper nay which argues our wickednesse and sinfull corruption we seldome come to this banquet but when we are driven and forc'd to it by the Lawes compultion We find Recorded Luk 14. that a certaine man made a great Supper and bad many Verse 16 and sent at supper-time his Servant to say to them that were bidden Come for all things now are ready And they all with one mind began to make excuse One said hee had bought a farme another Oxen a third reply'd that he had maried a Wife No man is at leisure when he is to come to Christ who is lively represented in the supper of the Eucharist To pretend the care of Wife and Family is an excuse that carries with it some plausibility yet indeed it is attenced with great folly shall we not for one houre lay aside all worldly thoughts and distempering cares the care of our Farmes Oxen and Wives and what else is deare and precious to us that so we may the better imploy our selves in the study and performance of those things which concerne the eternall good and welfare of our soules If wee were call'd to plow or to some such toylesome worke there would be some reason for it if wee should choose rather to sleepe then digge but being invited to sit down at a feast with Christ where wee have none other food but his owne body and blood to withdraw our selves from this banquet to shunne this Feast is certainely a signe of an impudent madnesse If wee did fly from an angry God wee should shew that we descend from Adams race and lineage Gen. 3. but to flye from an appeased and mercifull God from a God that invites us with all love and sweetnesse to his Table adornd vvith heavenly dainties to turne from so good a God is the property not of men but beasts But that our excuses may not vvant their varnish and colours vve do not palliate and cover our faulty Idlenesse vvith filthy and illegall pretences vve pretend not our Thefts nor the foulenesse of our Adulteries to be the cause of our abstaining from this heavenly Feast but our excuse is fram'd and built upon colourable and honest things For it is no sinne to marry nor to take care for ones Family to buy Cattle and purchase Land is a point of good Husbandry But I pray tell mee what good will all these things doe thee what profit wilt thou reape by them if in cleaving to these thou loosest God thy chiefest good and endangerest thy salvation Wee must take care when we pamper the body that we starve not the soule and he that purchases a Farme or buyes a field with the losse of heaven is a worse foole then he was of whom we read in the Gospell who cared more for a full Barne then hee did for God When wee are Invited to dine or sup with some great man we lay aside all businesse for that time and whilest wee converse with God the King of Heaven and Lord of the Angells at this supper of the holy Eucharist Farmes and Oxen and Wife are to be neglected all businesse and worldly cares are to bee silenc'd and suppressed yet we often times proceed to that impudent bouldnesse that we feare not to say wee cannot come we should speake more truly in saying wee will not so long as we persever in this bold Impudence can vve hope to purchase Gods favour or tast the sweet of his goodnesse Ah wretched soules miserable men that wee are hurtfull to none more then our selves vvee freeze with could and yet shun the fire sick vve are and contemne him that can cure us and the more need vve have of a Physition by so much the lesse vvee feele and are sensible of our malady and sicknesse Wee loath svveet Manna and hunt after stinking Onyons Exod. 16. God in times past commanded the Israelits to gather Manna every day but to rest on the Sabbath And vvee God be praised have our Manna far more precious then that of the Israelites We have the vvord and his Sacraments this Manna vvee may freely use so long as vvee have breath in our Nostrills before death surprise us and our soules be translated to enjoy an eternall Sabbath vvith God and his holy Angells But poore deceived Wretches vvee follow our first Fathers steppes Adam sayes Gerson would not when he might eat of the Tree of life justly therefore was he punished afterwards he could not when he would even so wee whilst wee may will not accept of mercies and herein we betray our proud and contumatious Arrogancy wee post and fly with all hast to rich mens Feasts but wee are hardly drawne and that seldome to the Table of Christ wee are not more drousie and lesse active in any one thing then in that which is the maine even our soules salvation In other matters wee shew an active agility in this only a senseles and dull stupidity which that God Almighty may correct and amend in us he sends us to the Ant an example of Industry and diligence Prov. 6. Go to the Ant thou stuggard Behould her wayes and be wise She by the very guidance and Instinct of Nature knowing that food is not to be got in Winter gathers her food in Harvest and prepares her meat in Summer Thus ought we to doe with more care and circumspection of thoughts out of a religious providence and prospection to our soules good should provide in the Summer of our flourishing youth in the Harvest of this life that vâ—â—t cum that
our patient suffering when we are forced to leave or loose our Mammon And hee that can doe this resigne up his will to his heavenly Father and relye upon Christ for the pardon of his sinnes that man is praedestinated and is in the number of those that shall be sav'd And not only the Doctrine of the Apostles but even reason it selfe moves and invites us to this The Story relates of one Stilpon Stilton to whom when his Country was destroy'd his Children slaine his Wife taken from him and hee only had escapt the hands of his enemies his friend Demetrius put this question asking him whether he had lost all I have lost nothing replyed hee for I cary all my goods all my treasure about me So said that Phylosopher Bias Bias. whose soule was planted above the world and admired not riches Both these carried in their breasts and magazin of Vertues not to be seene with mortall eyes and farre above all eatthly treasures To do as the former did in an Idolater or Heathen man may bee a note or marke of a generous mind but in a Christian 't is a signe that he is praedestinate to eternall Salvation when he can forsake all and follow Christ and count him the chiefest gaine That man is a true servant of Christ who being stripp'd of all his outward goods yet dares say in truth and sincerity I beare all my treasure about mee All is within mee for I have God and so have all things inward joy and comforts which are a pledge of my future happinesse We read of a holy man by name Francis Assisinas who spent many nights with great delight in meditating and oft repeating these foure words Deus meus et omnia i. e. my God is all in all unto mee let us imitate the example of this good man and in all our extremity and want let each of us glory and rejoyce in God saying with him Deus meus et omnia Having God I have all things let other men seeke after this or that let them in a greedy persuite of their soules desires hunt after pleasing vanities I seeke God and him alone him I desire and in him I will delight O my God thou art all in all unto mee I leave riches and honours and pleasures to others let mee have God and I shall have all things Let other men enjoy their worldly treasures let them be Lords of this world I envy not their stately piles nor their golden Mountaines I covet not their curious and exquisite delights God is all in all to mee There is nothing so good nothing so comely and pleasant which is not farre outstrip'd by that cheife and supreame Good which is beauty and excellency it selfe O my God thou art all in all to mee what a variety of lusts burne in mee how many fires glow in my breast how am I scorchd with the heat of divers wanton desires I am so pester'd with them that I may say with that lunatike man Sometime I am cast into the fire Mat. 17. sometime into the water but what are those things I pursue with so eager a greedines Alas they are vaine fading and filthy and besides this momentary they never last long but either forsake their owners or lovers before their death or desert them when they are dying My God my love my joy my all things what is it I can desire with my greedy Appetite which out of thy selfe who art a rich storehouse of blessings thou canst not afford unto mee O my God thou art all things in thee are all perfections and excellencyes Thou art meat and drink joy and rest to mee Thou art my onely delight and comfort my chiefest honour and glory thou art all these and more then all this to mee for although I finde and feele a satisfaction of my desires in a large supply of my wants and helpe in my necessities although I am replenished and refieshed with meates and drinkes and enjoy those pleasures my soule desires yet this enjoyment and those replenishings and all other refreshments without God would turne to discomforts My God thou art all in all to meeâ— to enioy thee to bee refresh'd and recreated by thee is to enjoy all good things that conduce to mans felicity But O my God whilst I thus challenge a share in thee I am oppressed with labour afflicted with Griefe and cares distract mee my substance is diminished I am out of favour with the world my friends trouble mee and I am vexed by my enemies Thus may a good Christian appeale to God yet withall will he say with St. Paul I feare none of these things Acts 20.24 neither count I my life precious unto mee so that I may finish my course with joy For all those calamities rushing on me at once are not evills so long as I have Gods aid and assistance who is our chiefest Good Deus meus et omnia So long as I have God I have all things and care for nothing else Thou O my God O Goodnesse it selfe thou art my rest in labours my delight in griefes my security in the midst of my cares Thou art wealth to mee in poverty thou art a Castle of defence to shield me from the invasion and violence of my foes a refuge in the time of trouble when I am straitned by any calamities Thou art all things to mee even whatsoever my heart can desire or wish Riches and plenty to mee without God is poverty But why do poore mortall men thirst after impure and muddy streames whilst they pretermit and neglect the foun tame we have a most cleare and soule-refreshing Spring of which if wee tast with the mouth of faith wee shall feele how good it is This spring or fountaine is God having him wee have al things that can fall within the compasse of our desires If our soules stand in this posture with God if wee esteeme him our only and chiefe Good when poverty whips us when fortune frownes on us although our joy may bee a little Ecclipsed yet our sorrow shall be much abated no casualty shall hurt us and death shall not affright us being out of the reach of both these the only bug-beares of proud distrustfull worldlings There is a second sort of Christians not inferiour to the former in content and happinesse These with Lot and Abraham ' have large possessions but adhere not unto them in their love and affections They have Gold in their Chest but God in their heart And therefore greive not immoderately when having lost all they are brought to extreme want and poverty for indeed that is lost without griefe which is possest without love But those things which wee love ardently whilest they are in our possession we bewaile the losse of them with bitter lamentation So sayes St. Greg That good which makes us truly good and happy we gladly receive and part with it not easily for that cannot bee term'd our proper and
true Good which may be taken from us by the hand of violence Go to now Satan Act thy malice to thy height do what thou pleasest use all thy subtle shifts and devices Act the part of a Messenger faine thy selfe to be a post or Carrier Thou shalt finde to thy greife that the whole race of Iobs family is not quite extinct yet there lives those who with a chearefull willingnesse can bid adieu to all their lost possessions Run therefore and tell such an one cry aloud in his Eare and say Thy money and all thou had'st is wasted and consumed by fire Heare now what he will retort by way of Answer to thy Message I had bin an undone man if I had not lost my money Now that I am disburdned of this thick clay I shall walk more nimbly and and move with more Agility to heaven which is my Country a place of Rest and everlasting Glory God hath eased me of a deare yet a dangerous burthen and hath put me into a more happy condition And what God intended for a Remedy to prevent sinne in mee I shall not account that a losse but a great gaine Why then should I afflict my selfe in vaine with griefe and sadnesse for the losse of those things which I ever enjoy'd with a mind willing to lose and leave them whensoever it pleased God to strip mee of these outward Comforts and repay mee with spirituall and Inward consolations Now I am more mine owne whilst those things are no longer mine Heare this O yee muck-wormes yee Foxes of the World that have nested your selves and your soules in earth and have drowned your thoughts in voluptuous delights scarce ever thinking of Heaven or future happinesse Heare and consider what is the language and opinion of those who are predestinate to bee Heires of the cesestiall paradice who cannot sustaine so great a lesse but that they will break out into this joyfull expression It is no losse but usury when for a small dammage we find a profitable returne with great advantage and whenby parting with a small pittance of earth we obtaine Heaven SYMBOLVM IV. Renunciatio omnium Quae mihi fuerunt lucra haec arbitratus sum propter Christum detrimenta ad Philipp 3. Embleme V. Patience in Tribulation Blesed are yee that weepe now for yee shall laugh-Luke 6. v. 21 The fifth Signe IS Perpetuall Tribulation attended with patience Set out unto us by a Rose-Tree which is full of Prickles with this Motto LVK 6.21 Blessed are yee that weepe now 〈◊〉 for yee shall laugh WEE read in the Gospell of St. Luk c. 16.25 that when the rich Glutton lay scorching in his deserved flames Abraham objected this to his afflicted conscience Son remember thou in thy life-time receavd'st thy good things but Lazarus evill things thou enjoyd'st pleasures but hee suffered paines now therefore he is comforted but thou art tormented Thus men have their changes by a speciall and infallible decree of God Suffer we must either here or hereafter in that other world which shall succeed this Choose wee may which we will either to suffer here or there none shall escape every man must and shall bee a sufferer VVhen thou seest a man Orat. 3. de Lazaro sayes St. Chrys that loves virtue and goodnesse yet groaning under the crosse and pressed with many troubles think such a man happy who for his sins in this life is chastis'd that in the other hee may receive an everlasting reward It is impossible for a man who hath bid defiance to the world and to the Devill and wages Warre with his lusts to be at quiet ease God allowes not his Champion such is a daring Christian to pamper his flesh with delights and wanton pleasures Hee that hath entred the lists to wrastle with his corruptions must not feed his carnall desires with dainty and costly dishes This present life is nothing else but a continuall strife a wrastlingplace a race or war combating with sin and greife The life to come is a time of rest this is deputed to labour and toylings with daily discontentments and sorrowes There is no man who having strip't or anointed his body to wrastle or to run a race that will seeke or desire rest for if thou desirest to sit still upon a soft â—ushion why didst thou put off thy clothes and make that preparation why didst thou denounce warre against the lusts of thy corrupt nature Chrys Ep. 2 ad ti T. if thou never intended'st to take up Armes to subdue the rebellious motions of thy flesh c. 3. Let not this trouble thee that such and such men live at ease and thou thy selfe subject to divers tentations and layly miseries otherwise you must charge St. James with a great error who sayes My Brethren count it exceeding joy when ye fall into divers tentations Truly said Seneca that man of all men is most unhappy who never tasted of the gall of adversity It is an argument that such a man is contemned by God as one that is weake and unworthy to suffer persecution No greater honour can befall a Christian then to bee brought upon the Stage by God to grapple with affliction It is a certaine marke and badge of blessednesse when one rejoyces in his suffrings and when he is beset with evills and begirt with sorrowes to lift up his soule to God with joy and cheerfullnesse whilst teares run downe in abundance upon his Cheeks Indeed Christ knew full well if wee poore mortalls loaded with an heape of daily crosses have no other comfort besides the hope of our future reward yet he as if wee were blessed and happy sayes thus unto us Bee glad and rejoyce Notwithstanding this exhortation Mat. 5. how doe wee break our owne hearts and trouble others eares with vaine lamentations and cryes when we are afflicted how do we whimper and complaine like Children how do wee tremble and quake at every stroke of fortune Never acknowledging with love and thankfullnesse the fatherly and gentle hand of God who does not punish according to our deservings whose hand too is an healing hand for hee wounds that he may cure us We scarce have so much knowledge as is in little boyes who know and are perswaded that a wound made in the body by a Chirurgion is an Introduction to and the beginning of health so that to many it often time proves a medicine God wounds to heale not to kill and destroy us The blessed Apostle Peter doth witnesse this If you sayes be suffer for righteousnesse sake happy are yee for this is thanks worâ—hy if a man for conscience-sake 1 Pet. 3.14 towards God suffer griese wrongfully for what praise is it if when ye be buffeted for your faults yee take it patiently but and if when ye do well yee suffer wrong and take it patiently this is acceptable to God To this purpose Saint Greg. speakes thus It happens for the most part that every
feathery nest This is the constant practise of many voluptuous worldlings I am asham'd to think that this can bee writ or said of Christians who rather should be ashamd to Act what vve blush to speak on write Such like practises are signes and notes of those whom God has ordained to destruction They doe otherwise who are predestinate to life and salvation Witnesse that of St. Luke And it came to passe saith hee that when the people pressed upon him to heare the word of God Cap. 5.1 c. It seems that this religious thirst this holy hunger of hearing the word could not be pent nor kept in the Synagogues or Temple alone nor yet within the Walls of the Citty It brake forth into the vvide and open fields there Christ found Auditors Neither did the men and Women of those times feare the solitary corners of the dark deserts for they ventur'd to go any where and follow their teachers with the hazard of their lives Many amongst us who dwell nere the Church will not do so little as step over their Thresholds not move a foote out of doores to heare those from whose Godly instruction they might reape benefit to their souls and consciences They loath nothing more then the heavenly food and being so near to the Temple if they refuse now to goe to it can we hope that they ever wil doe as the primitive Christians did who many times would loose their Dinners and Suppers to goe into a Wildernesse or some solitary place that so they might gaine the heavenly repast and food for their souls In this sinfull Age of ours there is not such a want of Preachers as hearers these are scarse the other abound with us We have an hundred excuses to palliate our absence from the Church wee bolster our neglect of Gods service with worldly pleasures and some are not wanting among us who therefore refuse to come to Gods house the Church fearing least by the loud voyce of the Minister thundring out Gods Judgements against mens sinns their consciences should be awaked out of the deep sleep of Security in which for a long time they have been lull'd for he that is conscious to himself of any foul sin and wickednesse feares even himself who is his owne Accuser Judge and executioner The tribunal of his own conscience is as terrible unto him as the Bench and Iudge upon it is to a guilty Prisoner Hieremy once made great lamentation for the sinns of Hierusatem and said That even the wayes that lead to Sion lamented because the solemn Feast was neglected The wayes to our Churches may as well now mourn because the By-paths that leade to Taverns are worne with throngs of Drunkards who sit laughing and quaffing there when they should be singing in Gods house with the Congregation We see not that concourse of people pressing to heare Gods Law read and preached they come not with that alacrity to this as they do to see a Play or shew or to gaze at a Wedding passing through the street If there be a faire at the next Market Town they flock together and run to it But Gods Messengers and Ministers if they be not mock'd and flouted their words are slighted their Doctrine little estemed for which God complains in his word 2. Chr. 36. It is not to be denyed That there be many who come to Church and heare Sermons but this with grief wee may say and must confesse that there be few who desire from their heart to goe away betterd from the Sermon and reformed in their conversation They have eares but want hands they heare and do not They goe home not one jot the better for what they have heard There be some that come to heare to satisfie their curiosity some to weare away the time others to obey custome A sort of men there is who frequent the Church to inform their understanding not to reforme their lives to get learning and knowledg not piety and Religion There be others that come to see to feed their eyes vvith the aspect of those beauties vvhich they cannot find in other places Another sort come to be seene and with fleshly enticements to allure mens eyes to gaze upon them There are that entertain the words of the Preacher with detraction and derision others come to pratle some to sleep or if they keep their eyes open their eares are shut and dull'd with the presse of worldly thoughts and cares There be a few and those good hearers who come with a mind prepared to receive wholesom admonitions and draw near to the Preacher for no other end but only that they may return better by his Sermon The end of their hearing is not to wrangle or dispute as they do in the Schooles but to win others to Christ by a Godly example in their lives They heare with both eares fast tyed to the Preacher and slak not in their attention til the Sermon be done at which time they find in themselves ever some change and alteration They are more enflamed with the love of God and moved to an hatred of sin There is none of so feirce a nature and disposition who will not be tam'd and brought to a gentle and mild temper if he refuse not instruction but lend patiently an eare to the Counsell of a Wise monitour And Christs sheep as they may be discernd many wayes and by divers marks from the Goates so they are discernable by this they have an eare-mark which discovers them they heare the word of God with greedinesse and practise it in their lives with a constant and universall obedience Those that are predestinate to salvation know fulwell what St. Aug. truly averreth That he is no lesse guilty that heares the word of God negligently then he that should take the consecrated Bread in the Sacrament and in a scornful disdain trample it under his feet Therefore he that speaketh to us out of the puspit is not so much to be respected as he who dictates to the Minister and suggests vvhat he shall speak What am I sayes St. Aug. but the basket of that heavenly Sower who poures into me what I sow or deliver unto you Attend not the vilenes of the Basket but the excellency of the seed and the power of the sower from whom the seed has its efficacy and vertue to spring up in your hearts and to shew it self in your Godly and Religious practises A Christian is ever learning and never stands still but goes on from one degree of knowledg and grace to another he delights to fit at the feet of his Lord and Master and with Mary to heare his word with that attentive heed so that neither houshold employments not a Brother nor Sisters murmuring nor any entreaty of his friends shall be able to draw him from the presence of Christ speaking unto him by the voyce of his Ministers Lastly we must consider that it is a note of our Election not only
and fixed Excell 〈◊〉 is that saying of Epictetus an heathen man I have sayes he so framed my will that in all things it is conformable to the wil of God Is it his will to scorch mee with a burning feaver I presently submitt and say so will I would he have me attempt any difficulty I wil. would he have me enjoy the goods of this world I wil. Not enjoy them but to be poore I will Is it his will I should die I will And seeing now my will is changed into Gods so that what he wills I will no man may will or hinder me from doing that vvhich is Good Oh! hovv may this brave spirit in an heathen put us to the blush vvhat a shame is it for Gospell not to discerne those things which are seene by those who were wrap'd up in the darke night of blindness and Ignorance Let us then as we outstrip them in knowledge so exceed them in Devotion and say Thy will be done Thine O our God thine not ours be â—â—ne by us in earth as it is in heaven wherefore a me your selves 1 Mac. 3.58 and be valiant men and be ready to fight against the Nations your sins and vices and encourage your selves in the fight and in all your distresses with the words of Iudas to his brethren As the will of God is in heaven so be it v. 60. The Towne clock or that which belongs to the Church is a president for all the rest in the Towne to go by by it they are set And why should not the wills of men like so many little Clocks move according to the direction of that great one in heaven Why should they not follow only the will of God It is beyond all thought and expression It cannot be said or Imagin'd how pleasing and gratefull a thing it is to God Almighty when a man renounces his owne will and makes Gods will the rule of all his Actions Acts 13.22 J have found sayes God David the Son of Iesse a man after mine owne heart who will do all things that I will It seemes by this Text that God had been long a seeking and that now he seeks to find a man of that will and affection who only loves that which God likes and wills and nills that which God willeth and forbiddeth Having found such a man God is much delighted and pleased with him and expresses his joy in that joyfull exclamation oh I have found a man After my long search I have a man which will do all things that I will and command And hence it was that Christ the only begotten Son of God subjected his whole will to his Fathers Ioh. 6. for so he sayes of himselfe I came down from heaven not to do mine owne will but the will of him that sent mee That man is farre from ordering and squaring his life Actions by the rule of Gods will revealed in his word who will neither come when God calls nor obey when he commands A wise man feareth and departs from evill Pro. 14. Pro. 30. but a foole goes on and is confident He eates and wipes his mouth and then saith I have done no evill He that is thus desperatly perverse and foolish hath pawned his foule to the Devill and yet laughs is merry he has lost heaven and is not sensible of his misery he spends his dayes in a wanton jollity as if he had lost nothing Thus like a fool that is going to the Stocks or house of Correction he playes and sports while he is posting to damnation But on the contrary those that are destin'd to eternall glory have their minds so confirmed and establish'd in good and the love of it that they dread even the very shevv of evill â—nd the shadovv of sin That vvhich displeaseth God shall in no vvise please them The bent of their soules is so carried to that vvhich is pleasing to him that they neither think nor speak of any thing else It is the subject of their discourse and object of their thoughts and though they displease all men by their performance of any good duty they vvill do it so long as they be certaine and sure it is pleasing to God And vvith out all doubt their vvills are so enflam'd vvith divine love that they can upon better grounds cry out vvith Epictetus My God my love be it farre from mee not to vvill that that thou vvillest or to nill that vvhich thou vvouldest not have me to doe Thy will is my will nay my will is no more mine but now begins to be thine and therefore thy will is now to be followed because it has begun to be mine It is my duty to will that which thou willest and O my God I do will it vvilt thou have me sick I will or poore I will Afflicted with tormenting paine and griefe I will Or loaded with Injuries and contumelious speeches This also O Lord I am willing to beare Is it thy will I should be contemned and despised This too willingly I 'le suffer although this is greivous to flesh and blood Wilt thou have me left like a Cottage in a Garden of Cucumbers destitute of all helps and comforts In this likewise I vvill subscribe to thy good vvill and pleasure for I knovv that I am in the hands of a mercifull and indulgent Father wilt thou have me suffer the pangs of a troubled mind vvhich are to the vvicked the previous flashes of Hell torments These deare God vvill I endure patiently and vvould undergoe this burthen cheerefully even till the day of Judgement if thou Lord do'st think it fit and convenient for me vvilt thou have me spoil'd and bereav'd of those things I love next unto thee my God I confess it is an hard task to relinquish in our affections and to sustaine the loss of those things on vvhich vve have set our hearts yet even this I vvill endure because it is thy vvill I should suffer Wilt thou have me die All difficulties we know strike saile and stoop to this at which Nature shrinks yet I refuse not to die an hundred deaths on this condition that I may breath out my last breath in the armes of thy divine will and be compassed with the embraces of thy mercy Wilt thou have me die before my time before the thread of life be spun out This I will too though nature be not willing to it Wilt thou have me go to Heaven and shake off the fetters of mortallity vvherevvith I am clogged and held fast in affliction I vvill O my Lord I will Wilt thou send me to Hell Ah good Iesus that thou shouldest will this I have deserved it by my wicked deeds whereby I served the De vill with that willingness as if I had a will to go to his place but O my sweet Iesu when thou did'st shed thy most precious blood for me thou plainly shewd'st that thou wert unwilling I should be
sentenc'd to that place of torments and by vertue of thy merit my nature was sanctified my vvill changed But if it were so as indeed it cannot be that I must choose one of these two either to be happy that thy just will should be frustrated or damned that it might be executed and fullfil'd I proclaime and pronounce to the praise of thy Justice that it were better for me to be damned that so thy will o God may be in me ratified But o eternall goodness I know am perswaded that thou willest not my death because thou therefore vvould'st have thy Son die upon the Cross that I might not dye an eternall death which is a perpetuall banishment from thee the fountaine of all bliss Wherefore I beseech thee deare Father by the merits of the bitter death of thy Son preserve me from the bands of eternall death Behold the wounds behold that blood that precious blood which was shed for me and by which thy Iustice was satisfied who would'st not spare thy Son that I thy poore servant might be redeem'd from destruction O King immortall and of eternall glory do with me novv what thou pleasest and so sanctifie my vvill that it may yeeld it selfe to be govern'd by thee in all things The Issues of thy will shall be sweet and pleasant to me Whatsoever thou willest most gladly will I doe Psal 106. My heart is ready O God my heart is ready Such servants the great Lord of heaven does love who observe their Masters nod with so vigilant an eye that the will of their Lord is their Law and rule by which their lives and Actions are regulated who likewise can with cheer fullness say It is the Lord let him do what he pleases There is nothing better then to feare God nothing sweeter then to take heed to the Commandements of the Lord. Eccl. 23. God delights in those servants who observe his precepts and keepe his commands with all care and diligence Who are ready at his beck to obey and bow when he would have them bend who likewise though most afflicted can in one day cheerefully even a thousand and more times cry and say with heart and voyce God's will be done and let him doe whatsoever he pleases Thus whatsoever these good men will God wills the same for they most constantly and reselutely will not that which they know God wills not but hate and abhorre it By this meanes such holy minded men obtaine what ever they desire because they desire nothing else but this that they may conforme themselves wholly and onely to Gods good will and pleasure They know how true that is which St. Hierome once said when he writ to Paula concerning the death of Blaesilla God is good and all that a good God doth must needs be good Neither doe men who are well minded who have good and holy wills account any thing evill which comes from a good God Are they in health They give thanks for this to their maker Are they rich even in this they acknowledge the vvill of their Lord and praise their loving Father Are they bereav'd of their deare friends by death They lament and bewaile their loss but because they know this to be the good pleasure of their Lord they sustaine and suffer it with a joyfull mind and are contented Is their onely son taken from them This is hard but to be endured because he is taken away by that God from whom he was sent or rather lent Does poverty which is a sore burden lye hard upon them or sickness which is heavier then that does contumely or contempt afflict their patient soules doe whole troopes of Injuries provoke their spirits for all this and in these great extremities they suffer no other speeches to fall from their Tongues but this What the Lord hath pleased so hath he done and it is well done God be praised God be Blessed for it With such sanctified and reformed wills ever subjected to Gods the righteous are settled and staied as it were with an Anchor in the mid'st of many Tempests Stormes and Changes which shake the minds of those that are not built upon Christ who is a strong foundation But the godly relying upon Christ his all sufficient merits and throwing themselves upon God by an entire subjection to his vvord by suffering vvhat he vvills and doing vvhat he commands standing in this holy posture of their soules they expect their last houre the houre of their change and think every misfortune and calamity short and little that shall be seconded vvith an happy state and condition which shall be eternall and never have end SYMBOLVM XI Voluntatis in bonum propensio Inclinaui cor meum ad faciendas justificationes tuas in aeternum propter retributionem Psal 118. Embleme XII Moderation of our passions Thy desire shall be subiect to thine husband and hee shall rule over thee Genesis 3.16 The twelfth signe IS The moderation of our affections set out by a vvell-tuned Lute The vvord or motto annexed to it GEN. 3.16 Thy desire shall be subjest to thine Husband and he shall rule over thee i.e. The sensitive appetite shall be subject to the command of Reason THey that be Christs have crucified their flesh with the vices and lusts thereof Gal. â— So sayes St. Paul Elegantly Saint Bern. commenting upon Christs words inviting us to come unto him He that will come after me let him deny himselfe It is sayes hee as if Christ had said He that desires to enjoy mee let him despise himselfe and he that would do my will must learn to forsake and break his owne We may be wearied in the fight but after victory we shall be crown'd And this is the way to gaine life to die daily to our selves and to mortifie our affections where and in whom they live there reason is dead And therefore holy David prai'd thus unto the Lord. Psal 119. Open mine eyes that I may see the wondrous things of thy law As if he should have said I know o Lord that in thy law are hid and conteined great and sublime mysteries but I am a poore sinfull man cumbred and pressed vvith the burthen of my flesh subject to divers affections and lusts neither am I Ignorant how great is their power and strength they molest my thoughts and blind my understanding Doe thou therefore of thy goodness open my eyes and dispell the mist of error which is spread in my foule by meanes of my affections Concerning these raging passions Seneca sayes not amiss Ep. 85. et 116. It is far more easy to stop their beginnings then to master or rule their violence for as the body that is cast down headlong from an high Tovver has no command of it selfe nor power to resist or stay its selfe before it falls to the ground even so the mind if it has thrown itselfe upon any base passion if it hath yeelded it selfe captive to any untamed
by his spirit which is the first union between God and us then that blessed spirit comes into the soule with discoveries The first union betweene Christ and a Soule it reveals unto it it 's maine sins the danger and filthiness of them It reveales likewise this truth that without Christ there is no salvation This discovery moves the soule to griefe and sorrow for it's sins it forceth teares from the eyes Gen. 1.2 and then the spirit of God moveth upon the face of these waters In this flood of teares the soule as I may so speak sailes to Christ and when it apprehendâ— it selfe by reason of it's Corruption to be in the suburbes or Iawes of Hell Gen. 8.9 it flies with the Dove to the Ark to the saving promises of the Gospell which are the Anchor and staie of our soules it takes hold on Christ and applies to it selfe for pardon of it's sins the merits of his passion Resurrection and Ascention The Application of which merits to our soules and Consciences The second Vnion between Christ the soule is the second union which is between us and Christ the Vnion of Faith And now having a tast of the goodness of God in the peace of Conscience and joy in the Holy Ghost a soule thus united to Christ is ready to cry out with that dying Martyr None but Christ None but Christ and with Saint Paul it counts all things but loss and dross in comparison of this great and incomparable purchase Phil. 3.8 This change in a soule thus trampling upon the World with scorn and contempt and prizing Christ above all earthly riches proceeds from that inward illumination of Gods Spirit proper only to the Elect convincing the soul of it's sinful wretchedness and discovering Gods Mercy reached out unto us in Christ who in his first approaches and accesses to an Elect soule to be sanctified breakes into it's dark roomes immittendo Spirituale lumen Note against the Illuminators to the time that this light neverdictates any thing repugnant to the Word by setting up as it were a Candle in it by clarifying it with spirituall * 1 Tim. 1.14.6.11 light and ravishing it with joy and Heavenly delight For when Christ is united to a Soule by his spirit and that soule to Christ by a justifying Faith which is ever attended with the band of * 1 Tim. 1.14.6.11 Love by vertue of this spirituall Vnion it being joyned to God in an holy Communion in a Communion of his Graces in a participation of his piety and Goodness in a Communication of his strength and comfort to siritaine it in all afflictions I say by vertue of that Vnion and this blessed Communion a Soule rejoyceth in God above all things with a * 1 Pet. 1. joy unspeakable and glorious a joy that can triumph and glory in the Cross rejoycing in tribulations Such a joy filled the brest and warmed the spirits of the Prophet David as appeares by that passage of his Psal 94.19 In the multitude of the Sorrowes which I had in my heart thy comforts have refreshed my soule Thus when Christ is in the heart wedded to it by Faith and love he turnes Water into Wine as he did at the marriage of Cana Ioh. 2.9 for when there are nothing but discomforts and terrors without then Christ cheares the heart within when there is nothing left but the water of affliction then Christ turnes that water into inward Consolation In the multitude of the sorrowes c. This was Dâ—uids case and this is the happy condition of Christs servants They receive the word in much affliction with joy in the Holy Ghost Thes 1 6. They greatly rejoyce though they be in heaviness 1 Pet. 1.6 And as this joy is Divine and heavenly quoad originem in regard of the principall Author of it flowing from a divine and heavenly fountaine that is Gods blessed Spirit so it is also celestiall and divine quoad objectum because it fasteneth on divine and Caelestiall objects A soule thus filsed with joy rejoyceth in nothing more then Gods favour and in the smiles of his gracious countenance and greeves for nothing less then the loss of worldly goods so long as it enjoyes God reconciled to it in Christ Augusâ—nus so long as it finds Lucrum in conscientia it cares not for damnum in crumâ—nâ A sanctified believing Christian slights all losses whilst he hath God in his Conscience and is assured of this that he is Christ's and Christ is His. 1 Cor. 23. Aquin. 〈◊〉 Q. 28 1. Now because that Joy as the Schooles determine ariseth from the Conjunction or fruition of the thing or person we love it will follow that when this Joy which I have proved to be divine is setled in us it is accompanied with a perswasion on which it is builded that God is our God in Christ Jesus by an eternall Election for we cannot neither do we usually rejoyce in things that either are not known or are uncertaine being built upon conjectures which are ever attended with doubtfull feares When our Saviour in his instructions to the seaventy disciples willed them to rejoyce because their names more written in heaven Luk 10.20 He intimated thereby that a man may attaine to a certaine knowledge of his Election which our Divines call a certainty of Faith in opposition to the Papists assurance by Hope or a speciall certainty when by Faith resting on the merits of Christ as having satisfied his Fathers Iustice and fullfilled the Law for us we apply to our selves the promise of Salvation because we find in our selves by a reflexive knowledge the performance of the condition annexed to the promise and accordingly â—eleive without doubt or wavering that remission of sinnes and redemption from Hell purchased by Christs death or his passive obedience and life everlasting obtained by his Active belong unto us Particular Faith and its properties This particular faith is a Jewell of great worth for God and Christ Heaven and happinesse depend upon it and as it relates to the promises held forth in the Gospell unto us it is made up or compounded of these three Ingredients First a consident perswasion that if I be not wanting to my selfe not neglectfull of the meanes and so faile not on my part Christ will not faile in his Secondly a forceing of all the powers and faculties of Soule and Body to performe the condition on which the promise is made Thirdly an Applying the conditionall promise by way of comparison and selfe-examination to my particular present Estate and condition and thence drawing this sweet Inference upon sight of the condition in my selfe that I am such a one to whom the promise belongeth and shall have a part in it if I persevere in well-doing and doe in the profession of godliness as the Kine did which carried the Ark to Bethshâ—mesh who took the strait way and
in regard of sin Godly sorrow Present To come The signe or inward token which respects sins past is Godly sorrow which St. Paul fully describes 2 Cor. 7.10 It is the mother grace of many heavenly graces and it springs not from the Apprehension of Gods wrath but of his love and goodness It is that whereby a man grieves for sin as sin for that thereby his good God is offended and displeased Vpon which displâ—asure followes the loss of his Grace and favour which we feel and find in the desertion of our sad soules when they are afrighted with the ugly sight and horrour of our sins The Holy Ghost that we may not be deceived in judging the Truth of this godly sorrow hath seâ— down in the forenamed Chapter seaven fruits thereof or markes whereby it may be discovered Amendmenâ— of our lives is the Sum of all those particulars which are so many degrees and effects of true Repentance It is a sure mark that will never faile for sorrow for sin may faile and hatred of sin may faile and deceive us but Amendment never failes be that amendeth is only the true Convert Secondly That token which is in regard of sins present 2. The combate betwean the flesh and the Spirit is that Combat between the flesh and the spirit Gal. 5.17 and proper to those who are regenerate who are partly flesh and partly Spirit It is a fighting and striving of the Vnderstanding Will and Affections with themselves whereby so far forth as they are renewed they carry the man one way and as they remaine in part corrupt they hurrie him flat contrary Gen. 25 26. yet commonly Grace like Jacob taking hold on Esaues heel pulls sin backward and breaking out in holy resolution shewes it selfe in Godly actions and for the most part getteth the Masterie over sinfull provocations Of this Temper was St. Augustine who in one of his Sermons de Tempore confesses thus of himselfe to the glory of Gods powerfull grace Serm. 45. in Rom. 7. Canne servâ—o legi peccati dum concupiseam sed mente Servio legi Dei dum non consentiam i. e. with my flesh I serve the Law of sin whilst I covet and lust but with my spirit I serve the Law of God whilst I do not consent Thirdly 3. Care to prevent sin The token which respects sin that is in futurition or to come which lies hid or raked up in the Embers of our corrupt natures is a care to prevent it That this is a marke of Gods Children 1 Ep. 5 18 appeares by that testimony of St. John in his first Epistle 3 Ep. 5.18 He that is begotten of God keepeth himselfe and that wicked one toucheth him not This care of keeping our 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from the contagion of sin shewe it selfe not only in ordering thâ— outward actions of the body according to the rule of Gods will and Commandements but even also in regularing the very thoughts of the heart so as a righâ—eous man is afraid to think that which the wicked is not ashamed to Act. And this watchfullness over our thoughts so as they be chast and pure is an infallible note of the sincerity of our heaâ—ts The tokens which concern Gods mercy in Christ are specially two 2dly The first is when a man feeles himselfe distressed and loaded with the burthen of his sins The first token that concernes Gods mercy in Christ Luk 4.23 or when he apprehends the heavie displeasure of God in his Conscience for them then farther to feel how he stands in need of Christ our heavenly * Physitian and withall heartlly to desire yea to hunger and thirst after reconciliation with God in Christ and that above all things in the world that can be wished or desired this is an infallible signe that God hath chosen that foule out of the world Ioh 15.19 and to all such Christ hath made most sweet and comfortable promises John 7.38 Rev. 21.6 John 4.14 The Second mark which concernes Gods mercy in Christ is a wonderfull and strange affection if we respect the intensivenese of it wrought in the heart by the Spirit of God The 2d whereby a man doth so esteem and value and set so high a price upon Christ and his righteousness Phil. 3. â— that he accounts the most precious things that are to be as Dung in comparison of it So that he would not lose those sweet contents and ravishing comforts which he enjoyes in his Soul and Conscience upon the fruition of Christ he would not part with these 〈◊〉 not for a moment to gaine as much Gold as would lie in the Vast Concave between Heaven and Earth Indeed there is no comparison between a finite and an Infinite good between that which is fading and that which is everlasting Christ is an everlasting possession Rev. 1.8 The consideration of this kindled that holy flame in the brest of Saint Paul of which we read Phil. 3.8 whereby he set Christ upon the highest throne in his affections and trampled in scorn upon all worldly Commodities The loss of which did not moue him so long as he enjoyed Christ and the riches of his grace and goodness And those good Soules who are so affected to Christ and value all worldly goods at no more then their owne price they being nothing else but so many empty Vanities if compared with future hapiness such men ever have in them a love and longing desire to the coming of Christ This love and desire to the comeing of Christ is a Signe of the truth of our our affection to him whether it be by death or to Judgement and that to this end that their joy may be perfected by a full participation of bliss and fellowship with him in whom their Soul delights And such men when they lie upon their Death-beds retaining the comfortable memory of a well acted life behould death without dread and the Grave without feare and embrace both as necessarie guides to endless glory Thus much of the Inward Signes of our Election or Adoption by Christ J pass now to the Outward token after whose discovery and that with brevity I shall wind up all with certaine Corollaries or Qualifications of the former Doctrine for the establishment and comfort of tender Consciences The Outward Token of our Election is New obedience New obedience an holy frame of the Soul and such a temper of Spirit whereby a man in consideration of Gods great love unto him in making him a reasonable Creature a Christian and providing Christ and Heaven for him endeavours to shew his thankfullness by obeying God's Commandements and making these the Rule of his life and Actions 1 Ioh. 2.5 Hereby we know that we are in Him i. e. Elected by God in Christ if we keep his Commandements This Obedience must have have these qualifications to attend it otherwise it may be suspected as unsound and