who were wilfully the meritorious cause should also be the efficient in their own sufferings and then who can they complain of but themselves and they will be no more able to cease their self-tormenting then men that we see in a deep Melancholy that will by no Arguments be taken off from their sorrows SECT VI. 6. COnsider also how that their torment will be universal not upon one part alone while the rest are free but as all have joyned in the sin so must they all partake of the torment The soul as it was the chief in sinning shall be chief in suffering and as it is of a more spiritual and excellent nature then bodies are so will its torments as far exceed our present bodily sufferings As the joys of the soul do far surpass all sensual pleasures and corporal contentments so do the pains of the soul surpass these corporal pains and as the Martyrs did triumph in the very flames because their souls were ful of joy though their bodies were in pain so though these damned creatures could enjoy all their bodily pleasures yet the souls sufferings would take away the sweetness of them all And it is not onely a soul but a sinful soul that must suffer The guilt which still remains upon it will make it fit for the wrath of God to work upon as fire will not burn except the fuel be combustible but if the wood be dry or it light upon Straw how fiercely will it burn them Why the guilt of all their former sins will be as Tinder or Gunpowder to the damned soul to make the flames of hell to take hold upon them with fury And as the soul so also the body must bear its part that body that must needs be pleased whatsoever became of its eternal safety shall new be paid for all its unlawful pleasures That body which was so carefully looked to so tenderly cherished so curiously drest that body which could not endure heat or cold or an ill smell or a loathsome sight O what must it now endure How are its haughty looks now taken down How little will those flames regard its comliness and beauty But as Death did not regard it nor the Worms regard it but as freely feed upon the face of the proud and lustful Dames and the heart of the most ambitious Lords or Princes as if they had bin but beggers or bruits so wil their tormentors then as little pitty their tenderness or reverence their Lordliness when they shall be raised from their graves to their eternal doom Those eyes which were wont to be delighted with curious sights and to feed themselves upon beauteous and comely objects must then see nothing but vvhat shall amaze and terrifie them an angry sin-revenging God above them and those Saints vvhom they scorned enjoying the Glory vvhich they have lost and about them vvill be only Devils and damned souls Ah then how sadly wil they look back and say Are all our merry Meetings our Feasts our Playes our vvanton Toyes our Christmas Games and Revels come to this Then those Eares vvhich vvere vvont to be delighted vvith Musick shall hear the shriekes and cries of their damned companions Children crying out against their Parents that gave them incouragement and example in evil but did not teach them the fear of the Lord Husbands crying out upon their Wives and Wives upon their Husbands Masters and Servants cursing each other Ministers and People Magistrates and Subjects charging their misery upon one another for discouraging in Duty conniving at sin and being silent or formal when they should have plainly told one another of their misery and forewarned them of this danger Thus will Soul and Body be companions in Calamity SECT VII 7. ANd the greater by far will their Torments be because they shall have no one comfort left to help to mitigate them In this life when a Minister foretold them of Hel or Conscience begun to trouble their peace they had Comforters enough at hand to relieve them Their carnal friends were all ready to speak comfort to them and promise them that all should be well with them but now they have not a word of comfort either for him or themselves Formerly they had their business their company their mirth to drive away their fears they could drink away their sorrows or play them away or sleep them away or at least time did wear them away but now all these remedies are vanished They had a hard a presumptuous unbelieving heart which was a wall to defend them against troubles of minde but now their experience hath banished these and left them naked to the fury of those flames Yea formerly Satan himself was their comforter and would unsay all that the Minister said against them as he did to our first Mother Hath God said Ye shall not eat Yea shall not surely dye So doth he now Doth God tell you that you shall lye in Hell It is no such matter God is more merciful he doth but tell you so to fright you from sinning Who would lose his present pleasures for fear of that which he never saw Or if there be a hell what need you to fear it Are not you Christians And shall you not be saved by Christ was not his blood shed for you Ministers may tell you what they please they delight to fear men that they may be masters in their Consciences and therefore would make men believe that they shall all be damned except they will fit themselves to their precise humor Thus as the Spirit of Christ is the Comforter of the Saints so Satan is the Comforter of the wicked for he knows if he should now disquiet them they would no longer serve him or if fears and doubts should begin to trouble them they would bethink themselves of their danger and so escape it never was a theif more careful lest he should awake the people when he is robbing the house then Satan is careful not to awake a sinner And as a cutpurse will look you in the face and hold you in a tale that you may never suspect him while he is robbing your pockets so will Satan labour to keep men from all doubts or jealousies or sorrowfull thoughts But when the sinner is dead and he hath his prey and his stratagem hath had success then he hath done flattering and comforting them VVhile the sight of sin and misery might have helped to save them he took all the pains he could to hide it from their eyes but when it is too late and there is no hope left he will make them see and feel it to the utmost O which way will the forlorn sinner then look for comfort They that drew him into the snare and promised him safety do now forsake him and are forsaken themselves His ancient comforts are taken from him and the righteous God whose forewarnings he made light of will now make good his word against him to the least
prayer how unexcuseably they have herein offended Should they thus confess their sin and yet commit it as if they told God what they would do as well as what they have done 4 Quest. What manner of persons should those be in painful Godliness who have bound themselves to God by so many Covenants as we have done and in special have covenanted so oft to be more painful and faithful in his service At every Sacrament on many days of Humiliation and Thanksgiving in most of our deep distresses and dangerous sicknesses we are still ready to 〈◊〉 our neglects and to engage our selves if God will but try 〈◊〉 trust us once again how diligent and laborious we will be and how we will improve our time and reprove offenders and watch over our selves and ply our work and do him more service in a day then we did in a moneth The Lord pardon our perfidious Covenant-breaking and grant that our own Engagements may not condemn us 5 Quest. What manner of persons should they be who are so near to God as we who are his Children in his Family still under his Eye the Objects of his greatest Jealousie as well as Love Nadab and Abihu can tell you that the flames of Jealousie are hottest about his Altar And Vzza and the 50070 Bethshemites 1 Sam. 6.19 though dead do yet tell you that Justice as well as Mercy is most active about the Ark. And Ananias and his wife can tell you that profession is no cover for transgression Judgment beginneth at the house of God 1 Pet. 4.17 And the destroying Angel doth begin at the Sanctuary Ezek. 9.5 6. 6 Quest. What manner of men should they be in Duty who have received so much encouragement as we have done by our successes Who have tasted such sweetness in diligent obedience as doth much more then countervail all the pains Who have so oft had experience of the wide difference between lazy and laborious Duty by their different Issues Who have found all our lazy Duties unfruitful and all our strivings and wrestlings with God successful so that we were never importunate with God in vain We who have had so many admirable National and Personal Deliverances upon urgent seeking And have received almost all our solid Comforts in a way of close and constant Duty How should we above all men ply our work 7 Quest. What manner of men should they be who are yet at such great uncertainties whether we are Sanctified or Justified or whether we are the Children of God or no or what shall Everlastingly become of their Souls as most of the godly that I meet with are They that have discovered the excellency of the Kingdom and yet have not discovered their interest in it but discern a danger of perishing and losing all and have need of that advice Heb. 4.1 And have so many doubts to wrestle with dayly as we have How should such men bestir themselves in time 8 Quest. What manner of persons should they be in Holiness who have so much of the great work yet undone as we have So many sins in so great strength Graces weak Sanctification imperfect Corruption still working our ruine and taking advantage of all our omissions When we are as a Boat-man on the water let him row never so hard a moneth together yet if he do but slack his hand and think to ease himself his boat goes faster down the stream then before it went up So do our Souls when we think to ease our selves by abating our pains in Duty Our time is short Our enemies mighty Our hinderances many God seems yet at a great distance from many of us Our thoughts of him are dull and strange and unbeleeving Our acquaintance and communion with Christ is small and our desires to be with him are as small And should men in our case stand still 9 Quest. What manner of men should they be in their diligence whose lives and duties are of so great concernment to the saving or destroying of a multitude of Souls When if we slip so many are ready to stumble and if we stumble so many are ready to fall If we pray hard for them and admonish them dayly and faithfully and plainly and exhort them with bowels of pity and love and go before them in a holy inoffensive Conversation it is twenty to one but we may be instruments of saving many of them from everlasting perdition and bringing them to the possession of the Inheritance with us On the contrary if we silently neglect them or sinfully offend them we may be occasions of their perpetual torment And what a sad thought is that to an honest and merciful heart That we may not destroy the Souls for whom Christ dyed That we may not rob them of their everlasting Happiness and God of the Praises that in Heaven they would give him What manner of persons should we be in our Duties and Examples 10 Quest. Lastly What manner of persons should they be on whom the Glory of the great God doth so much depend Men will Judg of the Father by the Children and of the Master by the Servants We bear his Image and therefore men will measure him by his representation He is no where in the world so lively represented as in his Saints And shall they set him forth as a Patron of Viciousness or Idleness All the world is not capable of honoring or dishonoring God so much as we And the least of his honor is of more worth then all our lives I have harped all this while upon the Apostles string 2 Pet. 3.11 And now let me give it the last touch Seeing then that all these things fore-mentioned are so I charge thee that art a Christian in thy Masters name to consider and resolve the Question What manner of persons ought we to be in All Holy Conversation and Godliness And let thy Life Answer the Question as well as thy Tongue SECT XXVII I Have been larger upon this Use then at first I intended Partly because of the general neglect of Heaven that all sorts are guilty of Partly because mens Salvation depends upon their present Striving and Seeking Partly because the Doctrine of Free Grace mis-understood is lately so abused to the cherishing of sloath and security Partly because many eminent men of late do Judg That To work or labor for Life and Salvation is Mercenary Legal and Dangerous Which Doctrine as I have said before were it by the owners reduced into practice would undoubtedly damn them because they that seek not shall not finde and they that strive not to enter shall be shut out and they that labor not shall not be crowned And partly because it is grown the custom of this distracted age in stead of striving for the Kingdom and contending for the Faith to strive with each other about uncertain Controversies and to contend about the circumstantials of the Faith wherein the Kingdom of God doth no
one with another and Calvins Exposition which is the summ of all I have said q. d. Danda est vobis opera non tantum ut salsi intus sitis sed etiam ut saliatis alios Quia tamen sal acrimoniâ suâ mordet ideo statim admonet sic temperandam esse condituram ut pax interim salva maneat SECT XI 6. THe last whom I would perswade to this great Work of helping others to the Heavenly Rest is Parents and Masters of Families All you that God hath intrusted with Children or Servants O consider what Duty lyeth on you for the furthering of their Salvation That this Exhortation may be the more effectual with you I will lay down these several Considerations for you seriously to think on 1. What plain and pressing commands of God are there that require this great Duty at your hands Deut. 6.6 7 8. And these words which I command thee this day shall be in thy heart and thou shalt teach them diligently to thy children speaking of them when thou sittest in thy house and when thou walkest by the way and when thou lyest down and when thou risest up So Deut. 11. And how well is God pleased with this in Abraham Gen. 18.19 Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do For I know him that he will command his Children and his Houshold after him that they shall keep the way of the Lord c. And it is Joshuaes Resolution That he and his Houshold will serve the Lord. Prov. 22.6 Train up a childe in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it Ephes 6.4 Bring up your children in the Nurture and Admonition of the Lord. Many the like Precepts especially in the Book of Proverbs you may finde So that you see it is a Work that the Lord of heaven and earth hath laid upon you and how then dare you neglect it and cast it off 2. It is a duty that you ow your children in point of Justice from you they received the defilement and misery of their natures and therefore you ow them all possible help for their recovery If you had but hurt a stranger yea though against your will you would think it duty to help to cure him 3. Consider how neer your children are to you and then you will perceive that from this Natural Relation also they have interest in your utmost help your children are as it were parts of your selves If they prosper when you are dead you take it almost as if you lived and prospered in them If you labor never so much you think it not ill bestowed nor your buildings or purchases too dear so that they may enjoy them when you are dead and should you not be of the same minde for their everlasting Rest 4. You will else be witnesses against your own souls your great care and pains and cost for their bodies will condemn you for your neglect of their pretious souls you can spend your selves in toyling and caring for their bodies and even neglect your own souls and venture them sometimes upon unwarrantable courses and all to provide for your Posterity and have you not as much reason to provide for their souls Do you not believe that your children must be everlastingly happy or miserable when this life is ended and should not that be fore-thought of in the first place 5. Yea All the very bruit creatures may condemn you Which of them is not tender of their young How long will the Hen sit to hatch her Chickens and how busily scrape for them and how carefully shelter and defend them and so will even the most vile and venemous Serpent and will you be more unnatural and hard-hearted then all these will you suffer your children to be ungodly and profane and run on in the undoubted way to damnation and let them alone to destroy themselves without controll 6. Consider God hath made your children to be your charge yea and your servants too Every one will confess they are the Ministers charge and what a dreadful thing it is for them to neglect them when God hath told them That if they tell not the wicked of their sin and danger their blood shall be required at that Ministers hands and is not your charge as great and as dreadful as theirs Have not you a greater charge of your own Families then any Minister hath Yea doubtless and your duty it is to reach and admonish and reprove them and watch over them and at your hands else will God require the bloud of their souls The greatest charge it is that ever you were entrusted with and we to you if you prove unfaithful and betray your trust and suffer them to be ignorant for want of your teaching or wicked for want of your admonition or correction O â—ad account that many parents will make 7. Look into the dispositions and lives of your children and see what a work there is for you to do First It is not one sin that you must help them against but thousands their name is Legion for they are many It is not one weed that must be pulled up but the field is overspread with them Secondly And how hard is it to prevail against any one of them They are Hereditary diseases bred in their Natures Naturam expellâ—s furea c. They are aâ— neer them as the very heart and how tenacious are all things of that which is natural how hard to teach a Hare not to be fearful or a Lyon or Tiger not to be fierce Besides the things you must teach them are quite above them yea clean contrary to the interest and desires of their Flesh how hard is it to teach a man to be willing to be poor and despised and destroyed here for Christ to deny themselves and displease the flesh to forgive an Enemy to love those that hate us to watch against temptations to avoid occasions and appearance of evil to believe in a crucified Saviour to rejoyce in tribulation to trust upon a bare word of Promise and let go all in hand if call'd to it for something in hope that they never saw nor ever spake with man that did see to make God their chief delight and love and to have their hearts in heaven while they live on earth I think none of this is easie they think otherwise let them try and Judg yet all this must be learned or they are undone for ever If you help them not to some Trade they cannot live in the world but if they be destitute of these things they shall not live in heaven If the Marriner be not skilful he may be drowned and if the Souldier be not skilful he may be slain but they that cannot do the things above mentioned will perish for ever For without holiness none shall see God Heb. 12.14 O that the Lord would make all you that are Parents sensible what a work and charge
and Earth where we now are yea or Heaven which is offered us then certainly we have received Mercy Yea if the Blood of the Son of God be Mercy then are we engaged to God by Mercy for so much did it cost him to recover us to himself And should a people of such deep engagements be lazy in their returns Shall God think nothing too much nor too Good for us and shall we think all too much that we do for him Thou that art an observing sensible man who knowest how much thou art beholden to God I appeal to thee Is not a loytering performance of a few heartless duties an unworthy requital of such admirable kindness For my own part when I compare my slow and unprofitable life with the frequent and wonderful mercies received it shames me it silenceth me and leaves me unexcusable SECT VIII 7. A Gain consider All the Relations which we stand in toward God whether common or special do call upon us for our utmost diligence Should not the pot be wholly at the service of the Potter and the creature at the service of his great Creator Are we his Children and do we not owe him our most tender affections and dutiful obedience Are we the Spouse of Christ and do we not owe him our observance and our Love If he be our Father where is his honour and if he be our Master where is his fear Mal. 1.6 We call him Lord and Master and we do well but if our industry be not answerable to our assumed relations we condemn our selves in saying we are his children or his servants How will the hard labour and dayly toyl that servants undergo to please their Masters judg and condemn those men who will not labour so hard for their Great Master Surely there 's none have a better or more honourable Master then we nor can any expect such fruit of their labours 1 Cor. 15. ult SECT IX 8. COnsider What haste should they make who have such Rods at their backs as be at ours And how painfully should they work who are still driven on by such sharp Afflictions If either we wander out of the way or loyter in it how surely do we prepare for our own smart Every creature is ready to be Gods Rod to reduce us or to put us on Our sweetest mercies will become our sorrows Or rather then he will want a Rod the Lord will make us a scourge to our selves Our diseased bodies shall make us groan our perplexed minds shall make us restless our conscience shall be as a Scorpion in our bosom And is it not easier to endure the labour then the spur Had we rather be still thus afflicted then to be up and going Alas how like are we to tired horses that will lie down and groan or stand still and let you lay on them as long as you will rather then they will freely travel on their journey And thus we make our own lives miserable and necessitate God if he love us to chastiâ—e us It is true those that do most do meet with Afflictions also but surely according to the measure of their peace of Conscience and faithfulness to Christ so is the bitterness of their Cup for the most part abated SECT X. 9. HOw close should they ply their work who have such great preparations attending them as we have All the world are our servants that we may be the Servants of God The Sun and Moon and Stars attend us with their light and influence The Earth with all its furniture is at our service How many thousand plants and flowers and fruits and birds and beasts do all attend us The Sea with its inhabitants the Air the wind the frost and snow the heat and fire the clouds and rain all wait upon us while we do our work Yea the Angels are ministring Spirits for the Service of the Elect. And is it not an intolerable crime for us to trifle while all these are employed to assist us Nay more The Patience and Goodness of God doth wait upon us The Lord Jesus waiteth in the offers of his blood The Holy Ghost waiteth in striving with our backward hearts Besides all his Servants the Ministers of his Gospel who study and wait and preach and wait and pray and wait upon careless sinners And shall Angels and Men yea the Lord himself stand by and look on and as it were hold thee the Candle while thou dost nothing Oh Christians I beseech you when ever you are upon your knees in prayer or reproving the transgressors or exhorting the obstinate or upon any duty do but remember what attendance you have for this work and then Judg how it behoves you to perform it SECT XI 10. SHould not our Affections and Endeavors be answerable to the acknowledged Principles of our Christian Profession Sure if we are Christians indeed and mean as we speak when we profess the Faith of Christ we shall shew it in Affections and Actions as well as Expressions Why the very fundamental Doctrines of our Religion are That God is the chief Good and all our Happiness consists in his Love and therefore it should be valued and sought above all things That he is our only Lord and therefore chiefly to be served That we must Love him with all our heart and soul and strength That the very business that men have in the world and the only errand that God sent them about is to Glorifie God and to obtain Salvation c. And do mens duties and conversations second this profession Are these Doctrines seen in the painfulness of mens practise Or rather do not their works deny what their words do confess One would think by mens Actions that they did not believe a word of the Gospel to be true Oh sad day when mens own tongues and professions shall be brought in against them and condemn them SECT XII 11. HOw forward and painful should we be in that work where we are sure we can never do enough If there were any danger of over-doing then it might well cause men to moderate their endeavors But we know that if we could do all we were but unprofitable servants much more when we are sure to fail in all It is true a man may possibly pray too much or preach too much or hear or reprove too much though I have known few that ever did so but yet no man can obey or serve God too much For one duty may be said to be too long when it shuts out another and then it ceaseth indeed to be a duty So that though all Superstition or service of our devising may be called a Righteousness-over-much yet as long as you keep your service to the rule of the Word that so it may have the true nature of obedience you never need to fear being Righteous too much For else we should reproach the Lord and Law-giver of the Church as if he had commanded us
your souls to this blessed Work and that when death comes it may finde you so imployed that I may see your faces with joy at the Bar of Christ and we may enter together into the Everlasting Rest. Amen Your most affectionate though unworthy Teacher Rich. Baxter Kederminster Jan. 15. 1649. To the Right Worshipful Sir Thomas Rous Baronet with the Lady Jane Rous his VVife Right Worshipful THis First Part of this Treatise was written under your Roof and therefore I present it not to you as a gift but as your own Not for your Protection but for your Instruction and Direction for I never perceived you possessed with that evil spirit which maketh men hear their Teachers as their Servants to censure their Doctrine or be humored by them rather then to learn Nor do I intend this Epistle for the publishing of your Vertues You know to whose judgment you stand or fall It is a small thing to be judged by mans judgment If you be sentenced as Righteous at the Bar of Christ and called by him the Blessed of his Father it matters not much by what name or title you are here called All Saints are low in their own esteem and therefore thirst not to be highly esteemed by others He that knows what Pride hath done in the World and is now doing and how close that hainous sin doth cleave to all our Natures will scarce take him for a friend who will bring fewel to the fire nor that breath for amicable which will blow the coal Yet he that took so kindly a womans box of oyntment as to affix the History to his Gospel that where-ever it was read that good Work might be remembred hath warranted me by his example to annex the mention of your Favors to this Treatise which have many times far exceeded in cost that which Judas thought too good for his Lord. And common ingenuity commandeth me thankfully to acknowledg That when you heard I was suddenly cast into extream weakness you sent into several Counties to seek me in my quarters and missing of me sent again to fetch me to your house where for many moneths I found a Hospital a Physitian a Nurse and real Friends and which is more then all daily and importunate Prayers for my recovery and since I went from you your kindnesses still following me in aboundance And all this for a man that was a stranger to you whom you had never seen before but among Souldiers to burden you And for one that had no witty insinuations for the extracting of your favors nor impudency enough to return them in flatteries yea who had such obstructions betwixt his heart and his tongue that he could scarce handsomly express the least part of his thankfulness much less able to make you a requital The best return I can make of your love is in commending this Heavenly Duty to your Practice wherein I must intreat you to be the more diligent and unwearied because as you may take more time for it then the poor can do so have you far stronger temptations to divert you it being extreamly difficult for those that have fulness of all things here to place their happiness really in another life and to set their hearts there as the place of their Rest which yet must be done by all that will be saved Study Luke 12.16 to 22. and 16.19 25. Matth. 6.21 How little comfort do all things in this world afford to a departing soul My constant prayer for you to God shall be That all things below may be below him in your heart and that you may throughly master and mortifie the desires of the flesh and may daily live above in the Spirit with the Father of Spirits till you arrive among the perfected Spirits of the Just. Your much obliged Servant Rich. Baxter The Contents of the First Part. CHAP. I. THE Text explained pag. 1 2 3 Qu. Doth this Rest remain to a determinate number of persons Elect Or only to believers in generall p. 4 Qu. Is it theirs only in possibility or in certainty p. 5 Chap. 2. The definition of Rest And of this Rest. p. 6 Qu. Whether to make the obtaining of Rest and avoiding misery the end of our duties be not Legall or Mercenary Answered p 8 9 Chap. 3. Twelve things which are presupposed to this Rest. p. 12 c. Chap. 4. What this Rest containeth 1. Cessation from all that motion which is the means to attain the end p. 20 2. Perfect freedom from all evill p. 21 3. The highest-degree of personall Perfection p. 22 4. Our nearest fruition of God the chief Good p. 23 5. A sweet and constant action of all the powers in this fruition p 28 As 1. Of the Senses and Tongue and whole Body p. 29 2. Of the Soul And 1. Vnderstanding As 1. Knowledg p. 30 2. Memory p. 33 2. Affections As by Love p. 35 2. By Joy p. 39 This Love and Joy will be mutuall p. 41 Chap. 5. The four great antecedents and preparatives to this Rest. p. 44 1. The coming of Christ. p. 45 2. Our Resurrection p. 51 3. Our justification in the great Judgment p. 57 4. Our solemn Coronation and Inthroning p. 65 Chap. 6. This Rest tryed by nine Rules in Philosophy or Reason and found by all to be the most excellent state in generall p. 69 Chap. 7. The particular excellencies of this Rest. p. 76 1. It s the fruit of Christs blood and enjoyed with the purchaser ibid. 2. It is freely given us p. 78 3. It is the Saints peculiar p. 81 4. In association with Angels and perfect Saints p. 83 5. Yet its Joys immediate from God p. 87 6. It will be a seasonable Rest. p. 91 7. And a sutable Rest 1. To our Natures 2. Desires 3. Necessities p. 97 8. A perfect Rest 1. In the sincerity of it 2. And universality p. 101 1. Of good enjoyed 2. And of the evill we are freed from ibid. We shall Rest 1. From sin and that 1. Of the Vnderstanding p. 102 2. From sin of Will Affection and Conversation p. 105 2. From suffering Particularly 1. From all doubts of Gods love p. 106 2. From all sense of his displeasure p. 107 3. From all Satans Temptations p. 108 4. From temptations of the world and flesh p. 110 5. From Persecutions and abuses of the world p. 112 6. From our own divisions and dissentions p. 116 7. From participating in our brethrens sufferings p. 121 8. From all our own personall sufferings p. 125 9. From all the labour and trouble of duty p. 128 10 From the trouble of Gods absence p. 129 9. As it will be thus perfect so Everlasting p. 129 c. Chap. 8. The People of God described The severall parts of the description opened and therein many weighty controversies briefly touched And lastly the description applyed by way of examination p. 134. to 164 The Contents of the Second Part. CHAP. I. THE Certain truth
admire that patience could bear so long and justice suffer him to live Sure he will admire at this alteration when he shall finde by experience that unworthinesse could not hindâ—r his salvation which he thought would have bereaved him of every mercy Ah Christian There 's no talk of our worthiness nor unwornesse If worthiness were our condition for admittance we might sit down with S. John and weep because none in heaven or earth is found worthy But the Lion of the tribe of Judah is worthy and hath prevailed by that title must we hold the inheritance We shal offer there the offering that David refused even praise for that which cost us nothing Here our Commission runs Freely ye have received Freely give But Christ hath dearly received yet Freely gives The master heals us of our leprosie freely but Gehazi who had no finger in the cure will surely run after us and take somthing of us and falsly pretend it is his masters pleasure The Pope and his servants will be paid for their Pardons and Indulgencies But Christ will take nothing for his The fees of the Prelats Courts were large and our CoÌ„mutation of Penance must cost our purses dear or else we must be cast out of the Synagogue and soul and body delivered up to the Devil But none are shut out of that Church for want of money nor is poverty any eye-sore to Christ An empty heart may bar them out but an empty purse cannot His Kingdom of Grace hath ever been more consistent with despised poverty then wealth and honour and riches occasion the difficulty of entrance far more then want can do For that which is highly esteemed among men is despised with God And so is it also The poor of the world rich in faith whom God hath chosen to be heires of that Kingdom which he hath prepared for them that love him I know the true labourer is worthy of his hire And they that serve at the Altar should live upon the Altar And it is not fit to muzzle the Ox that treadeth out the corne And I know it is either hellish malice or penurious baseness or ignorance of the weight of their work and burthen that makes their maintenance so generally Incompetent and their very livelihood and subsistance so envied and grudged at and that it 's a meer plot of the Prince of darkness for the diversion of their thoughts that they must be studying how to get bread for their own and childrens mouths when they should be preparing the bread of life for their peoples souls But yet let me desire the right aiming Ministers of Christ to consider what is expedient as well as what is lawfull and that the saving of one soul is better then a thousand pound a year and our gain though due is a cursed gain which is a stumbling block to our peoples souls Let us make the Free-Gospell as little burthensome and chargeable as is possible I had rather never take their Tythes while I live then by them to destroy the souls for whom Christ dyed and though God hath ordained that they which preach the Gospell should live of the Gospell yet I had rather suffer all things then hinder the Gospell and it were better for me to dye then that any man should make this my glorying voyd Though the well-leading Elders be worthy of double honour especially the laborious in the word and doctrine yet if the necessity of Souls and the promoting of the Gospel should require it I had rather preach the Gospell in hunger and ragges then rigidly contend for what 's my due And if I should do so yet have I not whereof to Glory for necessity is laid upon me yea wo be to me if I preach not the Gospell though I never received any thing from men How unbeseeming the messengers of this Free-Grace and Kingdom is it rather to lose the hearts and souls of their people then to lose a groat of their due And rather to exasperate them against the message of God then to forbear somewhat of their right And to contend with them at law for the wages of the Gospell And to make the glad-tidings to their yet carnall hearts seem to be sad tidings because of this burthen This is not the way of Christ and his Apostles nor according to the self denying yeelding suffering Doctrine which they taught Away with all those actions that are against the main end of our studies and calling which is to win souls and fie upon that gain which hinders the gaining of men to Christ. I know flesh will here object necessities and distrust will not want arguments but we who have enough to answer to the diffidence of our people let us take home some of our answers to our selves and teach our selves first before we teach them How many have you known that God suffered to starve in his Vineyard But this is our exceeding consolation That though we may pay for our Bibles and Books and Sermons and it may be pay for our freeâ—dom to enjoy and use them yet as we paid nothing for Gods eternal Love and nothing for the Son of his Love and nothing for his Spirit and our grace and faith and nothing for our pardon so we shal pay nothing for our eternal Rest. We may pay for the bread and wine but we shal not pay for the body and blood nor for the great things of the Covenant which it seals unto us And indeed we have a valuable price to give for those but for these we have none at all Yet this is not all If it were only for nothing and without our merit the wonder were great but it is moreover against our merit and against our long endeavoring of our own ruine Oh the broken heart that hath known the desert of sin doth both understand and feel what I say What an astonishing thought it will be to think of the unmeasurable difference between our deservings and our receivings between the state we should have been in and the state we are in To look down upon Hell and see the vast difference that free-grace hath made betwixt us and them to see the inheritance there which we were born to so different from that which we are adopted to Oh what pangs of love will it cause within us to think yonder was my native right my deserved portion those should have been my hideous cries my doleful groans my easless pains my endless torment Those unquenchable flames I should have layen in that never dying worm should have fed upon me yonder was the place that sin would have brought me to but this is it that Christ hath bought me to Yonder death was the wages of my sin but this Eternal life is the Gift of God through Jesus Christ my Lord. Did not I neglect Grace and make light of the offers of Life and sleight my Redeemers Blood a long time as well as yonder suffering
rule No Government but that of Christ All things are established Jure Divino No bitter Invectives nor voluminous reproaches The Language of Martin is there a stranger and the sound of his eccho is not heard No Recording our Brethrens infirmities nor raking into the sores which Christ died to heal How many Sermons zealously Preached how many Books studiously compiled will then by the Authors be all disclaimed How many back-biting slanderous speeches How many secret dividing contrivances must then be laid on the score of Christ against whom and his Saints they were committed The zealous Authors dare not own them They would then with the Athenians burn their books Acts 19.19 and rather lose their labor then stand to it There 's no ploting to strengthen our party nor deep designing against our Brethren And is it not shame and pity that our course is now so contrary Surely if there be sorrow or shame in Heaven we shall then be both sorry and ashamed to look one another there in the face and to remember all this carriage on earth Even as the Brethren of Joseph were to behold him when they remembred their former unkinde usage Is it not enough that all the world is against us but we must also be against one another Did I ever think to have heard Christians so to reproach and scorn Christians and men professing the fear of God to make so little conscience of censuring vilifying slandering and disgracing one another Could I have believed him that would have told me five years ago that when the scorners of Godliness were subdued and the bitter prosecutors of the Church overthrown that such should succeed them who suffered with us who were our intimate friends with whom we took sweet counsel and went up together to the house of God Did I think it had been in the hearts of men professing such zeal to Religion and the ways of Christ to draw their swords against each other and to seek each others blood so fiercely Alas if the Judgment be once perverted and error have possessed the supream faculty whither will men go and what they will do Nay what will they not do O what a potent instrument for Satan is a misguided Conscience It will make a man kill his dearest friend yea father or mother yea the holiest Saint and think he doth God service by it And to facilitate the work it will first blot out the reputation of their holiness and make them take a Saint for a Devil that so they may vilifie or destroy him without remorse O what hellish things are Ignorance and Pride that can bring mens souls to such a case as this Paul knew what he said when he commanded that a Novice should not be a Teacher lest being lifted up with Pride he fall into the Condemnation of the Devil 1 Tim 3.6 He discerned that such young Christians that have got but a little smattering knowledg in Religion do lie in greatest danger of this Pride and Condemnation Who but a Paul could have foreseen that among the very Teachers and Governors of so choice a Church as Ephesus that came to see and hear him that pray and weep with him there were some that afterwards should be notorious Sect-masters That of their own selves men should arise speaking perverse things to draw away disciples after them Acts 20.30 VVho then can expect better from any Society now how knowing and holy soever To day they may be Orthodox unanimous and joyned in Love and perhaps within a few weeks be divided and at bitter enmity through their doting about Questions that tend not to edifie VVho that had seen how loving the godly in England did live together when they were hated and scorned of all would have believed that ever they would have been so bitter against one another That when those who derided us for Preaching for Hearing for constant Praying in our Families for singing Psalms for sanctifying the Lords day for repeating Sermons for taking Notes for desiring Discipline c. had their mouthes stopped we should fall upon one another for the very same duties and that Professors of Religion should oppose and deride almost all that worship of God out of Conscience which others did before them through prophaneness Did I not think that of all other the scorning at the worshippers of Christ had been a sure sign of a wicked wretch But I see now we must distinguish between scorners and scorners or else I fear we shall exclude almost all I read indeed in Pagan VVriters That these Christians were as cruel as Bears and Tygers against one another Ammianus Marcellinus gives it as the Reason of Julians policy in proclaiming Liberty for every party to Profess and Preach their own Opinions because he knew the cruel Christians would then most fiercely fall upon one another and so by Liberty of Conscience and by keeping their Children from the Schools of Learning he thought to have rooted out Christianity from the Earth But I had hoped this accusation had come from the malice of the Pagan VVriter Little did I think to have seen it so far verified Lord what Divels are we unsanctified when there is yet such a Nature remaining in the sanctified Such a Nature hath God in these days suffered to discover it self in the very Godly that if he did not graciously and powerfully restrain they would shed the blood of one another and no thanks to us if it be not done But I hope his design is but to humble and shame us by the discovery and then to prevent the breaking forth Object But is it possible such should be truly Godly Then what sin will denominate a man ungodly Answ. Or else I must believe the doctrine of the Saints Apostasie or believe there are scarce any godly in the world O what a wound of dishonor hath this given not onely to the stricter profession of holines but even to the very Christian name Were there a possibility of hiding it I durst not thus mention it O Christian If thou who readest this be guilty I charge thee before the living God That thou sadly consider how far is this unlike thy Copy Suppose thou hadst seen the Lord Jesus girded to the service stooping to the Earth washing his Disciples dirty feet and wiping them and saying to them This I have done to give you an example That if I your Lord and Master have washed your feet you also ought to wash one anothers Would not this make thee ashamed and tremble Shall the Lord wipe the feet and the fellow-fellow-servant be ready to cut the throat would not thy proud heart scorn to stoop to thy Masters work Look to thy self it is not the name of a professor nor the zeal for thy opinions that will prove thee a Christian or secure thee from the heat of the consuming fire If thou love not thine enemy much more thy Christian friend thou canst
darken our Delights as the Frosts do nip the tender Buds Cares do consume us and feed upon our Spirits as the scorching Sun doth wither the delicate Flowers Or if any Saint or Stoick have fortified his inwards against these yet is he naked still without and if he be wiser then to create his own sorrows yet shall he be sure to feel his share he shall produce them as the meritorious if not as the efficient cause What tender pieces are these dusty bodies what brittle Glasses do we bear about us and how many thousand dangers are they hurried through and how hardly cured if once crackt O the multitudes of slender Veins of tender Membranes Nerves Fibres Muscles Arteries and all subject to Obstructions Exesions Tensions Contractions Resolutions Ruptures or one thing or other to cause their Grief Every one a fit subject for pain and fit to communicate that pain to the whole What noble part is there that suffereth its pain or ruine alone whatever it is to the sound and healthful methinks to such as my self this Rest should be acceptable who in ten or twelve yeers time have scarce had a whole day free from some dolor O the weary nights and days O the unserviceable languishing weakness O the restless working vapors O the tedious nauseous medicines besides the daily expectations of worse and will it not be desireable to Rest from all these There will then be no crying out O my Head O my Stomack or O my Sides or O my Bowels No no sin and flesh and dust and pain will be all left behinde together O what would we not give now for a little ease much more for a perfect cure how then should we value that perfect freedom If we have some mixed comforts here they are scarce enough to sweeten our crosses or if we have some short and smiling intermissions it is scarce time enough to breathe us in and to prepare our tacklings for the next storm If one wave pass by another succeeds And if the night be over and the day come yet will it soon be night again Some mens Feavers are continual and some intermittent some have Tertians and some Quartans but more or less all have their fits O the blessed tranquillity of that Region where there is nothing but sweet continued Peace No succession of Joy there because no intermission Our lives will be but one Joy as our time will be changed into one Eternity O healthful place where none are sick O fortunate Land where all are Kings O place most holy where 〈◊〉 are Priests How free a State where none are servants save to their supream Monarch For it shall come to pass that in that day 〈◊〉 Lord shall give us Rest from our sorrow and our fear and 〈◊〉 the haâ—d bondage wherein we served Isai. 14.3 The poor man shall no more be tired with his incessant labors No more use of Plough or Flail or Sythe or Sicle No stooping of the Servant to the Master or the Tenant to the Landlord No hunger or thirst or cold or nakedness No pinching Frosts nor scorching Heats Our very Beasts who suffered with us shall also be freed from their bondage our selves therefore much more Our faces shall no more be pale or sad our groans and sighes will be done away and God will wipe away all tears from our eyes Revel 7.15 16 17. No more parting of friends asunder nor voyce of Lamentation heard in our dwellings No more breaches nor disproportion in our friendship nor any trouble accompanying our relations No more care of Master for Servants of Parents for Children of Magistrates over Subjects of Ministers over people No more sadness for our Study lost our Preaching lost our Intreaties lost the Tenders of Christs blood lost and our dear Peoples Souls lost No more marrying nor giving in marriage but we shall be as the Angels of God O what room can there be for any evil where the whole is perfectly filled with God Then shall the ransomed of the Lord return and come to Sion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads They shall obtain joy and gladness and sorrow and sighing shall flie away Isai. 35.10 Hold out then a little longer O my soul bear with the infirmities of thine earthly Tabernacle endure that share of sorrows that the love of thy Father shall impose submit to his indignation also because thou had sinned against him it will be thus but a little while the sound of thy Redeemers feet are even at the door and thine own deliverance neerer then many others And thou who hast often cried in the language of the Divine Poet Sorrow was all my soul I scarce beleeved till Grief did tell me roundly that I lived shalt then feel That God and Joy is all thy Soul the fruition of whom with thy freedom from all these sorrows will more sweetly and more feelingly make thee know and to his eternal praise acknowledg That thou livest And thus we shall Rest from all Afflictions SECT XVII 9. WE shall Rest also from all the trouble and pain of Duty The Conscientious Magistrate now ctyes out O the burden that lieth upon me The conscientious parents that know the preciousness of their childrens souls and the constant pains required to their godly education cry out O the burden The conscientious Minister above all when he reads his charge 2 Tim 4.1 and views his patterne Mark 3.20.21 c. Act. 20.18 31. When he hath tryed a while what it is to study and pray and preach according to the weight and Excellency of the work to go from house to house and from neighbor to neighbor and to beseech them night and day with tears and after all to be hated and persecuted for so doing no wonder if he cry out O the burden and be ready 〈◊〉 to run away with Jonas and with Jeremy to say I will not make mention of him nor speak any more in his Name For his word is a reproach to us and a derision daily But that he hath made his word as a fire shut up in our bones and heart that we are weary of forbearing and cannot stay Jer. 20.8 9. How long may we study and labor before one soul is brought clear over to Christ And when it is done how soon do the snares of sensuality or error entangle them How many receive the doctrine of delusion before they have time to be built up in the Truth And when Heresies must of necessity arise how few of them do appear approved The first new strange apparation of light doth so amaze them that they think they are in the third Heavens when they are but newly passed from the suburbs of Hell and are presently as confident as if they knew all things when they have not yet half light enough to acquaint them with their ignorance But after 10 or 20 years study they become usually of the same judgment with those they despised
disproportionable to the justice of the Law but Christs doth extend to every title If he intercede there is no denial such is the dignity of his person and the value of his merits that the Father granteth all he desireth He tells us himself that the Father heareth him always His sufferings being a perfect satisfaction to the Law and all power in Heaven and Earth being given to him he is now able to supply every of our wants and to save to the uttermost all that come to him Quest. How can I know his death is sufficient for me if not for all And how is it sufficient for all if not suffered for all Answ. Because I will not interrupt my present discourse with controversie I will say something to this Question by it self in another Tract if God enable me 3. The Soul is also here convinced of the perfect excellency of Jesus Christ both as he is considered in himself and as considered in relation to us both as he is the onely way to the Father and as he is the end being one with the Father Before he knew Christs excellency as a blinde man knows the light of the Sun but now as one that beholdeth its glory And thus doth the Spirit convince the Soul SECT IIII. 3. AFter this sensible conviction the Will discovereth also its change and that in regard of all the four forementioned objects 1. The sin which the understanding pronounceth evil the will doth accordingly turn from with abhorrency Not that the sensitive appetite is changed or any way made to abhor its object but when it would prevail against the conclusions of Reason and carry us to sin against God when Scripture should be the rule and Reason the Master and Sense the Servant This disorder and evil the will abhorreth 2. The misery also which sin hath procured as he discerneth so he bewaileth It is impossible that the soul now living should look either on its trespass against God or yet on its own self-procured calamity without some compunction and contrition He that truly discerneth that he hath killed Christ and killed himself will surely in some measure be pricked to the heart If he cannot weep he can heartily groan and his heart feels what his understanding sees 3. The Creature he now renounceth as vain and turneth it out of his heart with disdain Not that he undervalueth it or disclaimeth its use but his idolatrous abuse and its unjust usurpation There is a twofold sin One against God himself as well as his Laws when he is cast out of the heart and something else doth take his place This is it that I intend in this place The other is when a man doth take the Lord for his God but yet swerveth in some things from his commands of this before It is a vain distinction that some make That the soul must be turned first from sin secondly from the Creature to God For the sin that is thus set up against God is the choice of something below in his stead and no Creature in it self is evil but the abuse of it is the sin Therefore to turn from the Creature is onely to turn from that sinful abuse Yet hath the Creature here a twofold consideration First As it is vain and insufficient to perform what the Idolater expecteth and so I handle it here Secondly As it is the object of such sinful abuse and the occasion of sin and so it falls under the former branch of our turning from sin and in this sense their division may be granted but this is onely a various respect for indeed it is still onely our sinful abuse of the Creature in our vain admirations undue estimations too strong affections and false expectations which we turn from There is a twofold Error very common in the descriptions of the work of Conversion The one of those who onely mention the sinners turning from sin to God without mentioning any receiving of Christ by Faith The other of those who on the contrary onely mention a sinners believing and then think they have said all Nay they blame them as Legalists who make any thing but the bare believing of the love of God in Christ to us to be part of this work and would perswade poor souls to question all their former comforts and conclude the work to have been onely legal and unsound because they have made their changes of heart and turning from sin and Creatures part of it and have taken up part of their comfort from the reviewing of these as evidences of a right work Indeed should they take up here without Christ or take such change in stead of Christ in whole or in part the reprehension were just and the danger great But can Christ be the way where the Creature is the end Is he not onely the way to the Father And must not a right end be intended before right means Can we seek to Christ for to reconcile us to God while in our hearts we prefer the Creature before him Or doth God dispossess the Creature and sincerely turn the heart therefrom when he will not bring the soul to Christ Is it a work that is ever wrought in an unrenewed soul You will say That without Faith it is impossible to please God True but what Faith doth the Apostle there speak of He that cometh to God must believe that God is and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him The belief of the Godhead must needs precede the belief of the Mediatorship and the taking of the Lord for our God must in order precede the taking of Christ for our Saviour though our peace with God do follow this Therefore Paul when he was to deal with the Athenian Idolaters teacheth them the knowledg of the Godhead first and the Mediator afterwards But you will say May not an unregenerate man believe that there is a God True and so may he also believe there is a Christ But he can no more cordially accept of the Lord for his God then he can accept of Christ for his Saviour In the soul of every unregenerate man the Creature possesseth both places and is both God and Christ. Can Christ be believed in where our own Righteousness or any other thing is trusted as our Saviour Or doth God ever throughly discover sin and misery and clearly take the heart from all Creatures and Self-righteousness and yet leave the soul unrenewed The truth is where the work is sincere there it is intire and all these parts are truly wrought And as turning from the Creature to God and not by Christ is no true turning so believing in Christ while the Creature hath our hearts is no true believing And therefore in the work of Self-examination whoever would finde in himself a through-sincere work must finde an entire work even the one of these as well as the other In the
Preach and make him Disciples of all Nations To send his Followers into all the world to make men believe him to be the Saviour of the world and to charge them to expect salvation no other way Why almost all the world might say They had never seen him And to tell them in Britain c. of one crucified among theeves at Jerusalem and to charge them to take him for their eternal King this was a design very unlikely to prevail When they would have taken him by force and made him a King then he refused and hid himself But when the world thought they had fully conquered him when they had seen him dead and laid him in his Sepulchre then doth he rise and subdue the world He that would have said when Christ was on the Cross or in the Grave that within so many weeks many thousands of his Murderers should believe him to be their Saviour or within so many years so many Countries and Kingdoms should receive him for their Lord and lay down their Dignities Possessions and Lives 〈◊〉 his feet would have hardly been believed by any that had heard him and I am confident they would most of them then have acknowledged that if such a Wonder should come to pass it 〈◊〉 needs be from the Finger of God alone That the Kingdoms of the world should become the Kingdoms of Christ was then a matter exceeding improbable But you may Object That first It is but a small part of the world that believes And secondly Christ himself saith that his Flock is little I Answer First It is a very great part of the world that are Believers at this day if we consider besides Europe all the Greek Church and all the Believers that are dispersed in Egypt Judea and most of the Turks Dominions and the vast Empire of Prester Jehan in Africa Secondly Most Countries of the world have Received the Gospel but they had but their time they have sinned away the light and therefore are now given up to darkness Thirdly Though the Flock of Christs Elect are small that shall receive the Kingdom yet the called that profess to believe his Gospel are many 2. Consider also as the wonderful raising of the Kingdom of Christ in the world so the wonderful preservation and continuance of it He sends out his Disciples as Lambs among Wolves and yet promiseth them deliverance and success His followers are every where hated through the world their enemies are numerous as the sands of the sea The greatest Princes and Potentates are commonly their greatest enemies who one would think might command their extirpation and procure their ruine with a word of their mouths The learned men and great wits of the world are commonly their most keen and confident adversaries who one would think by their wit should easily over-reach them and by their Learning befool them and by their policy contrive some course for their overthrow Nay which is more wonderful then all the very common professors of the Faith of Christ are as great haters of the sincere and zealous Professors almost if not altogether as are the very Turks and Pagans And those that do acknowledg Christ for their Saviour do yet so abhor the strictness and spirituality of his Laws and ways that his sincere subjects are in more danger of them then of the most open enemies whereas in other Religions the forwardest in their Religion are best esteemed of Besides the temptations of Satan the unwillingness of the Flesh because of the worldly comforts which we must renounce and the tedious strict conversation which we must undertake these are greater opposers of the Kingdom of Christ then all the rest yet in despite of all these is this Kingdom maintained the subjects increased and these spiritual Laws entertained and obeyed and the Church remains both firm and stedfast as the rocks in the Sea while the waves that beat upon it do break themselves in pieces 3. Consider also in what way Christ doth thus spread his Gospel and preserve his Church First Not by worldly might and power not by compelling men to profess him by the Sword Indeed when men do profess themselves voluntarily to be his subjects he hath authorised the Sword to see in part to the execution of his Laws and to punish those that break the Laws which they have accepted But to bring men in from the world into his Church from Paganism Turcism or Judaism to Christianity he never gave the Sword any such commission He never levied an Army to advance his Dominion nor sent forth his Followers as so many Commanders to subdue the Nations to him by force and spare none that will not become Christians He will have none but those that voluntarily list themselves under him He sent out Ministers and not Magistrates or Commanders to bring in the world Yea though he be truly willing of mens happiness in receiving him and therefore earnestly inviteth them thereto yet he lets them know that he will be no loser by them as their service cannot advantage him so their neglect cannot hurt him He lets them know that he hath no need of them and that his beseeching of them is for their own sakes and that he will be beholding to none of them all for their service if they know where to have a better Master let them take their course Even the Kings of the earth shall stoope to his Tearms and be thankful too or else they are no servants for him His House is not so open as to welcome all comers but onely those that will submit to his Laws and accept of him upon his own conditions therefore hath he told men the worst as well as the best that if they will be discouraged or frighted from him let them go He tells them of poverty of disgrace of losing their lives or else they cannot be his Disciples And is not this an unlikely way to win men to him Or to bring in so much of the world to worship him He flatters none he humoreth none he hath not formed his Laws and Ways to please them Nay which is yet more he is as strict in turning some men out of his Service as other Masters would be ready to take them in Therefore he hath required all his Followers to disclaim all such as are obstinate offenders and not so much as to eat or be familiar with them How contrary to all this is the course of the great Commanders of the world when they would enlarge their Dominions or procure themselves followers They have no course but to force men or to flatter them How contrary was Mahomets course in propagating his Kingdom He levieth an Army and conquereth some adjoyning parts and as his success increaseth so doth his presumption he inticeth all sorts to come to his Camp he maketh Laws that would please their fleshly lusts he promiseth them beautiful sights and fair women and such carnal delights in another world In a
you may easily see what great advantage the devil hath got over the souls of a great part of the world by these Apparitions and consequently that this being the end of his endeavors there is certainly a Happiness which he would deprive us of and a Misery that he would bring us to when this life is ended SECT III. 3. IT is manifest also by the devils Possessing and Tormenting the bodies of men for if it were not more for the sake of the soul then the body why should he not as much possess or torment a beast Certainly it is not chiefly the outward torment of the person that he regardeth though he desire that too for then he would not labor to settle his Kingdom generally in peace and prosperity and to make men chuse iniquity for its worldly advantages Yet it may perhaps be the souls of others more then the possessed persons themselves that the devil may hope to get advantage on So among the Papists it hath brought their Exorcisms into singular credit by their frequent dispossessing the devil I confess there have been many counterfeits of this kinde as the Boy at Bilson by Wolverhampton hired by the Papists and discovered by the vigilant care of Bishop Morton and divers others But yet if any doubt whether there is any such thing at all credible History and late experience may sufficiently satisfie him The History of the dispossession of the devil out of many persons together in a room in Lancashire at the prayer of some godly Ministers is very famous for which these Ministers being Nonconformists were questioned in the High Commission Court as if it had been a device to strengthen the credit of their cause Read the Book and Judg. Among the Papists Possessions are common though I believe very many of them are the Priests and Jesuits delusions What possession is and how the devil is confined to a body or whether circumscribed there in whole or in part are things beyond my reach to know But that the strange effects which we have seen on some bodies have been the products of the special power of the devil there I doubt not Though for my own part I believe that Gods Works on the world are usually by Instruments and not immediate and as good Angels are his Instruments in conveying his Mercies both to soul and body and Churches and States so evil Angels are instruments of inflicting his Judgments both corporall and spiritual Hence God is said Psal. 78.49 to send evil Angels among the Israelites hence Pauls phrase of delivering to Satan hence Satan doth execution on the children cattle and body of Job and upon Jerusalem in that Plague after numbring the people To satisfie you fully in this and to silence your objections and to teach you the true and spirituall use of this doctrine I refer you to Master Lawrences book a now Member of the House of Commons called Our Communion and War with Angels So then though I judge that Satan is the instrument in our ordinary diseases yet doth he more undeniably appear in those whom we call the possessed Luther thought that all Phrenetick persons and Ideots and all bereaved of their understanding had Devils notwithstanding Physitians might ease them by remedies And indeed the presence of the Divel may consist with the presence of a disease and evill Humor and with the efficacy of means Sauls Melancholy Divel would be gone when David played on the Harp Many Divines as Tertul. Austin Zanchius Lavater c. think that he can work both upon the body and the minde and that he maketh use to this end of Melancholy humors And indeed such strange things are oft said and done by the Melancholy and mad that many learned Physitians think that the Divel is frequently mixt with such distempers and hath a maine hand in many of their symptomes So Avicen Rhasis Arculanus Monensis Jason Pratensis Hercul Saxon c. Who can give any naturall cause of mens speaking Hebrew or Greek which they never learned or spoke before Of their versifying Their telling persons that are present their secrets discovering what is done at a distance which they neither see nor hear Fernelius mentioneth two that he saw whereof one was so tormented with convulsive paine sometime in one arme sometime in the other sometime in one finger c. that four men could scarce hold him his head being still quiet and well The Physitians judged it a Convulsion from some malignant humor in the spinâ dorsi till having used all means in vain at last the Devil derided them that they had almost destroyed the man with their medicines The man spoke Greek and Latine which he never learned he told the Physitians many of their secrets and a great deal of talk with the Divel which they had he there mentions In conclusion both this and the other were dispossessed by Popish prayers fasting and exorcisme Forestus mentions a Country man that being cast into melancholy through discontent at some injuries that he had received the Divel appeared to him in the likness of a man and perswaded him rather to make away himself then to bear such indignities and to that end advised him to send for Arsenicke and poyson himself But the Apothecary would not let him have it except he would bring one to promise that he would not abuse it whereupon the Divel went with him as his voucher and so he took a Dram But though it tormented him yet it did not presently kill him wherefore the Divel brought him afterward a Rope and after that a Knife to have destroyed himself At which sight the man being affrighted was recovered to his right minde again You may read a multitude of such examples in Scribonius Sikenkius Wierus Chr. à Vega Langius Donatus l. 2. c. 1. de med mir Cornel. Gemma l. 2. de natur mirac c. 4. See also Valesius c. 28. Sacr. Philosop Roderic à Castro 2 de morb mul. in c. 3. Schol. Caelius Rhodiginus l. 1. antiq lect c. 34. Tertullian challengeth the Heathen to bring any one possessed with a Devil before their Judgement seat or one that pretended to have the spirit of the Gods and if at the command of a Christian he do not confesse himself to be a Divel let them take the Christian to be presumptuous and put him immediately to death But of Jesus saith he they say not so nor that he was a meer man but the Power the Wisdome and Word of God and that they are Divels damned for their wickedness So that it seems it was then common for the Divel in the possessed to confesse Christ or else Tertullian durst not have made such a challenge SECT IV. FOurthly the fourth and last of these palpable Arguments to prove that man hath a future happiness or Misery is drawn from the Divels compacts with Witches It cannot be onely his desire of hurting their bodies that makes him
be an Ignorant carnal person that you have to deal with who is an utter stranger to the Mysteries of Religion and to the work of Regeneration on his own Soul the first thing you have to do is to acquaint him with these Doctrines Labour to make him understand wherein mans chief Happiness doth consist and how far he was once possessed of it and what Law and Covenant God then made with him and how he broke it and what penalty he incurred and what misery he brought himself into thereby Teach him what need men had of a Redeemer and how Christ in mercy did interpose and â—ear the penalty and what Covenant now he hath made with man and on what terms only Salvation is now to be attained and what course Christ taketh to draw men to himself and what are the riches and priviledges that Believers have in him If when he understandeth these things he be not moved by them or if you find that the stop lieth in his will and affections and in the hardness of his heart and in the interest that the flesh and the world have got in him Then shew him the excellency of the Glory which he neglecteth and the intolerableness of the loss of it and the extremity and eternity of the torments of the damned and how certainly they must endure them and how just it is for their wilful refusals of grace and how hainâ—us a sin it is to reject such free and abundant mercy and to tread under foot the blood of the Covenant Shew him the certainty nearness and terrors of death and judgment and the vanity of all things below which now he is taken up with and how little they will bestead him in that time of his extremity Shew him that by nature he himself is a child of wrath and enemy to God and by actual sin much more Shew him the viâ—e and hainous nature of sin the absolute necessity he standeth in of a Saviour the freeness of the promise the fulness of Christ the sufficiency of his Satisfaction his readiness to receive all that are willing to be his the Authority and Dominion which he hath purchased over us Shew him also the absolute necessity of Regeneration Faith and Holiness of life how impossible it is to have Salvation by Christ without these and what they are and the true nature of them If when he understandeth all this you find his Soul inthralled in presumption and false hopes perswading himself that he is a true Believer and pardoned and reconciled and shall be saved by Christ and all this upon false grounds or meerly because he would have it so which is a common case Then urge him hard to examine his state shew him the necessity of trying the danger of being deceived the commonness and easiness of mistaking through the deceitfulness of the heart the extream madness of putting it to a blind adventure or of resting in negligent or wilful uncertainty Help him in trying himself Produce some undenyable Evidences from Scripture Ask him Whether these be in him or not Whether ever he found such workings or dispositions in his heart Urge him to a rational answer do not leave him till you have convinced him of his misery and then seasonably and wisely shew him the remedy If he produce some common gifts or duties or works know to what end he doth produce them If to joyn with Christ in composing him a Righteousness shew him how vain and destructive they are If it be by way of Evidence to prove his title to Christ shew him how far a common work may reach and wherein the Life of Christianity doth consist and how far he must go further if he will be Christ's disciple In the mean time that he be not discouraged with hearing of so high a measure shew him the way by which he must attain it be sure to draw him to the use of all means set him a hearing and reading the Word calling upon God accompanying the godly perswade him to leave his actual sin and to get out of all ways of temptation especially to forsake ungodly company and to wait patiently on God in the use of means and shew him the strong hopes that in so doing he may have of a blessing this being the way that God will be found in If you perceive him possessed with any prejudicate conceits against the godly and the way of holiness shew him their falshood and with wisdom and meekness answer his Objections If he be addicted to delay the duties he is convinced of or laziness and stupidity do endanger his Soul then lay it on the more powerfully and set home upon his heart the most piercing considerations and labour to fasten them as thorns in his conscience that he may find no ease or rest till he change his estate SECT IV. BUt because in all works the manner of doing them is of greatest moment and the right performance doth much further the success I will here adjoyn a few Directions which you must be sure to observe in this work of Exhortation for it is not every advice that useth to succeed nor any manner of doing it that will serve the turn Observe therefore these Rules 1. Set upon the work sincerely and with right intentions Let thy Ends be the Glory of God in the parties Salvation Do it not to get a name or esteem to thy self or to bring men to depend upon thee or to get thee followers Do not as many carnal Parents and Masters will do viz. rebuke their Children and Servants for those sins that displease them and are against their profit or their humors as disobedience unthriftiness unmannerliness c. and labour much to reform them in these but never seek in the right way that God hath appointed to save their Souls But be sure thy main end be to recover them from misery and bring them into the way of eternal Rest. SECT V. 2. DO it Speedily As you would not have them Delay their returning so do not you Delay to seek their return You are purposing long to speak to such an Ignorant neighbor and to deal with such a scandalous sinner and yet you have never done it Alas he runs on the score all this while he goes deeper in debt wrath is heaping up Sin taketh rooting Custom doth more fasten him Engagements to sin grow stronger and more numerous Conscience grows seared the heart grows hardened while you delay the Devil rules and rejoyceth Christ is shut out the Spirit is repulsed God is dayly dishonored his Law is violated he is without a Servant and that service from him which he should have the Soul continueth in a doleful state time runs on the day of visitation hasteth away death and judgment are even at the door and what if the man dye and miss of Heaven while you are purposing to teach him and help him to it What if he drop into hell while you are purposing to prevent
guilty of all the sin that he committeth in his drunkenness VVill you resolve therefore to set upon this duty and neglect it no longer Remember Eli your children are like Moses in the basket in the water ready to perish if they have not help As ever you would not be charged before God for murderers of their souls and as ever you would not have them cry out against you in everlasting fire see that you teach them how to escape it and bring them up in holiness and the fear of God You have heard that the God of heaven doth flatly command it you I charge every one of you therefore upon your allegiance to him and as you will very shortly answer the contrary at your peril that you neither refuse nor neglect this most necessary work If you are not willing now you know it to be so plain and so great a duty you are flat Rebels and no true subjects of Christ. If you are willing to do it but know not how I will adde a few words of direction to help you 1. Teach them by your own example as well as by your words Be your selves such as you would have them be practice is the most effectual teaching of children who are addicted to imitation especially of their parents Lead them the way to prayer and reading and other duties Be not like base Commanders that will put on their Soldiers but not go on themselves Can you expect your children should be wiser or better then you Let them not hear those words out of your mouths nor see those practices in your lives which you reprove in them No man shall be saved because his children are godly if he be ungodly himself Who should lead the way in holiness but the father and master of the family It is a sad time when he must be accounted a good master or father that will not hinder his family from serving God but will give them leave to go to heaven without him I will but name the rest for your direct dutie for your Family 1. You must help to inform their understandings 2. To store their memories 3. To rectifie their wills 4. To quicken their affections 5. To keep tender their consciences 6. To restrain their tongues and help them to skill in gracious Speech 7. And to reform and watch over their outward conversation To these ends First Be sure to keep them at least so long at School till they can read English It is a thousand pities that a reasonable Creature should look upon a Bible as upon a Stone or a piece of Wood. Secondly Get them Bibles and good Books and see that they read them Thirdly Examine them often what they learn Fourthly Especially bestow the Lords day in this work and see that they spend it not in sports or idleness Fiftly Shew them the meaning of what they read and learn Josh. 4 6 21 22. Psal. 78.4 5 6 34.11 Sixthly Acquaint them with the godly and keep them in good company where they may learn good and keep them out of that company that would teach them evil Seventhly Be sure to cause them to learn some Catechism containing the chief Heads of Divinity as those made by the Assembly of Divines or Master Balls SECT XVII THe Heads of Divinity which you must teach them first are these 1. That there is one onely God who is a Spirit invisible infinite eternal Almighty good merciful true just holy c. 2. That this God is one in three Father Son and holy Ghost 3. That he is the Maker Maintainer and Lord of all 4. That mans happiness consisteth in the enjoying of this God and not in fleshly pleasure profits or honors 5. That God made the first man upright and happy and gave him a Law to keep with Conditions that if he kept it perfectly he should live happy for ever but if he broke it he should die 6. That man broke this Law and so forfeited his welfare and became guilty of death as to himself and all his Posterity 7 That Christ the Son of God did here interpose and prevent the full execution undertaking to die in stead of man and so to Redeem him whereupon all things were delivered into his hands as the Redeemer and he is under that relation the Lord of all 8. That Christ hereupon did make with man a better Covenant or Law which proclaimed pardon of sin to all that did but repent and believe obey sincerely 9. That he revealed this Covenant and Mercy to the world by degrees first in darker Promises Prophecies and Sacrifices then in many Ceremonious Types and then by more plain foretellings by the Prophetâ— 10. That in the fulness of time Christ came and took our Nature into Union with his Godhead being conceived by the holy Ghost and born of the Virgin Mary 11. That while he was on earth he lived a life of sorrows was crowned with Thorns and bore the pains that our sins deserved at last being Crucified to death and buried and so satisfied the Justice of God 12. That he also Preached himself to the Jews and by constant Miracles did prove the truth of his Doctrine and Mediatorship before thousands of Witnesses That he revealed more fully his New Law or Covenant That whosoever will believe in him and accept him for Saviour and Lord shall be pardoned and saved and have a far greater glory then they lost and they that will not shall lye under the curse and guilt and be condemned to the everlasting fire of hell 13. That he rose again from the dead having conquered death and took fuller possession of his Dominion over all and so ascended up into heaven and there reigneth in glory 14. That before his Ascention he gave charge to his Apostles to go Preach the foresaid Gospel to all Nations and persons and to offer Christ and Mercy and Life to every one without exception and to intreat and perswade them to receive him and that he gave them authority to send forth others on the same Message and to Baptise and to gather Churches and confirm and order them and to settle a course for a succeâ—â—â—on of Ministers and Ordinances to the end of the world 15. That he also gave them power to work frequent and evident Miracles for the confirmation of their Doctrine and the convincing of the world and to annex their writings to the rest of the Scriptures and so to finish and seal them up and deliver them to the world as his infallible Word and Laws which none must dare to alter and which all must observe 16. That for all this free Grace is offered to the world yet the heart is by Nature so desperately wicked that no man will believe and entertain Christ sincerely except by an Almighty power he be changed and born again and therefore doth Christ send forth his Spirâ—t with his Word which secretly and effectually worketh holiness in the hearts of the Elect drawing
thou walk without thy strength how long dost thou think thou art like to endure SECT IX 7. COnsider It is he that hath his conversation in heauen who is the profitable Christian to all about him with him you may take sweet counsel and go up to the celestial House of God When a man is in a strange Countrey far from home how glad is he of the company of one of his own Nation how delightful is it to them to talk of their Countrey of their acquaintance and the â—â—â—airs of their home why with a heavenly Christian thou maist have such discourse for he hath been there in the Spirit and can tell thee of the Glory and Rest above VVhat pleasant discourse was it to Joseph to talk with his Brethren in a strange Land and to enquire of his Father and his brother Benjamin Is it not so to a Christian to talk with his Brethren that have been above and enquire after his Father and Christ his Lord when a worldling will talk of nothing but the world and a Politician of nothing but the affairs of the State and a meer Scholar of Humane learning and a common Professor of Duties and of Christians the Heavenly man will be speaking of Heaven and the strange Glory which his Faith hath seen and our speedy and blessed meeting there I confess to discourse with able men of clear Understandings and piercing Wits about the controverted difficulties in Religion yea about some Criticisms in Languages and Sciences is both pleasant and profitable but nothing to this Heavenly discourse of a Beleever O how refreshing and savory are his expressions how his words do peirce and melt the heart how they transform the hearers into other men that they think they are in Heaven all the while How doth his Doctrine drop as the Rain and his Speech distil as the gentle Dew as the small Rain upon the tender Herb and as the showers upon the Grass while his tongue is expressing the Name of the Lord and ascribing greatness to his God Deut. 32.2 3. Is not his feeling sweet discourse of Heaven even like that box of precious oyntment which being opened to pour on the head of Christ doth fill the house with the pleasure of its perfume All that are neer may be refreshed by it His words are like the precious oyntment on Aarons head that ran down upon his beard and the skirts of his Garments Even like the dew of Hermon and as the dew that descendeth from the Celestial Mount Zion where the Lord hath commanded the blessing even life for evermore Psal. 133.3 This is the man who is as Job When the Candle of God did shine upon his head and when by his light he walked through darkness When the secret of God was upon his Tabernacle and when the Almighty was yet with him Then the ear that heard him did bless him and the eye that saw him gave witness to him Job 29.3 4 5 11. Happy the people that have a Heavenly Minister Happy the children and servants that have a Heavenly Father or Master Happy the man that hath Heavenly Associates if they have but hearts to know their happiness This is the Companion who will watch over thy ways who will strengthen thee when thou art weak who will chear thee when thou art drooping and comfort thee with the same comforts wherewith he hath been so often comforted himself 2 Cor. 1.4 This is he that will be blowing at the spark of thy Spiritual Life and always drawing thy soul to God and will be saying to thee as the Samaritan woman Come and see one that hath told me all that ever I did one that hath ravished my heart with his beauty one that hath loved our souls to the death Is not this the Christ Is not the knowledg of God and Him Eternal life Is not it the glory of the Saints to see his Glory If thou come to this mans house and sit at his Table he will feast thy soul with the dainties of Heaven thou shalt meet with a better then Plato's Philosophical feast even a taste of that feast of fat things Of wines on the lees of fat things full of marrow of wine on the lees well refined Isai. 25.6 That thy soul may be satisfied as with marrow and fatness and thou maist praise the Lord with joyful lips Psal 63.5 If thou travel with this man on the way he will be directing and quickning thee in thy Journey to Heaven If thou be buying or selling or trading with him in the world he will be counselling thee to lay out for the inestimable Treasure If thou wrong him he can pardon thee remembring that Christ hath not onely pardoned greater offences to him but will also give him this unvaluable portion If thou be angry he is meek considering the meekness of his heavenly Pattern or if he fall out with thee he is soon reconciled when he remembreth that in heaven you must be everlasting friends This is the Christian of the right stamp this is the servant that is like his Lord these be the innocent that save the Iland and all about them are the better where they dwell O Sirs I fear the men I have described are very rare even among the Religious but were it not for our own shameful negligence such men we might all be What Families what Towns what Commonwealths what Churches should we have if they were but composed of such men but that is more desirable then hopeful till we come to that Land which hath no other inhabitants save what are incomparably beyond this Alas how empty are the speeches and how unprofitable the society of all other sorts of Christians in comparison of these A man might perceive by his Divine Song and high Expressions Deut. 32. and 33. that Moses had been oft with God and that God had shewed him part of his Glory Who could have composed such spiritual Psalms and poured out praises as David did but a man after Gods own heart and a man that was neer the heart of God and no doubt had God also neer his heart Who could have preached such spiritual Doctrine and dived into the precious mysteries of Salvation as Paul did but one who had been called with a light from heaven and had been rapt up into the third heavens in the Spirit and there had seen the unutterable things If a man should come down from heaven amongst us who had lived in the possession of that blessed State how would men be desirous to see or hear him and all the Countrey far and neer would leave their business and crowd about him happy would he think himself that could get a sight of him how would men long to hear what reports he would make of the other world and what he had seen and what the blessed there enjoy would they not think this man the best companion and his discourse to be of all most profitable Why sirs Every true
it you in respect of the time of performance Our chief work will here be to discover to you the danger and that will direct you to the fittest remedy Let me therefore here acquaint you beforehand That when ever you set upon this Heavenly employment you shall finde your own hearts your greatest hinderer and they will prove false to you in one or all of these four degrees First They will hold off that you will hardly get them to the work secondly or else they will betray you by their idleness in the work pretending to do it when they do it not or thirdly they will interrupt the work by their frequent excursions and turning aside to every object or fourthly they will spoil the work by cutting it short and be gone before you have done any good on it Therefore I here forewarn you as you value the unvaluable comfort of this work that you faithfully resist these four dangerous evils or else all that I have said hitherto is in vain 1. Thou shalt finde thy heart as backward to this I think as to any work in the world O what excuses it will make what evasions it will finde out and what delays and demurs when it is never so much convinced Either it will question whether it be a duty or not or if it be so to others yet whether it be so to thee It will rake up any thing like reason to plead against it it will tell thee That this is a work for Ministers that have nothing else to study on or for Cloysterers or persons that have more leisure then thou hast If thou be a Minister it will tell thee This is the duty of the people it is enough for thee to meditate for the instructing of them and let them meditate on what they have heard as if it were thy duty onely to cook their meat and serve it up and perhaps a little to taste the sweetness by licking thy fingers while thou art dressing it for others but it is they onely that must eat it digest it and live upon it Indeed the smell may a little refresh thee but it must be digesting it that must maintain thy strength and life If all this will not serve thy heart will tell thee of other business thou hast this company stayes for thee or that business must be done It may be it will set thee upon some other duty and so make one duty shut out another for it had rather go to any duty then to this Perhaps it will tell thee that other duties are greater and therefore this must give place to them because thou hast not time for both Publike business is of more concernment to study to preach for the saving of souls must be preferred before these private contemplations As if thou hadst not time to see to the saving of thy own soul for looking after others or thy charity to others were so great that it draws thee to neglect thy comfort and salvation or as if there were any better way to fit us to be useful to others then to make this experience of our doctrine our selves Certainly Heaven where is the Father of Lights is the best fire to light our candle at and the best book for a Preacher to study and if they would be perswaded to study that more the Church would be provided of more heavenly lights And when their Studies are Divine and their Spirits Divine their preaching will then be also Divine and they may be fitly called Divines indeed Or if thy heart have nothing to say against the work then it will trifle away the time in delayes and promise this day and the next but still keep off from the doing of the business Or lastly If thou wilt not be so baffled with excuses or delayes thy heart will give thee a flat denial and oppose its own unwillingness to thy Reason Thou shalt finde it come to the work as a Bear to the stake and draw back with all the strength it hath I speak all this of the heart so far as it is carnal which in too great a measure is in the best for I know so far as the heart is Spiritual it will judg this work the sweetest in the world Well then what is to be done in the forementioned case wilt thou do it if I tell thee Why what wouldst thou do with a servant that were thus backward to his work or to thy beast that should draw back when thou wouldst have him go forward Wouldst thou not first perswade and then chide and then spur him and force him on and take no denial nor let him alone till thou hadst got him closely to fall to his work Wouldst thou not say Why what should I do with a servant that will not work or with an Ox or Horse that will not travel or labor Shall I keep them to look on Wilt thou then faithfully deal thus with thy heart If thou be not a lazie self deluding Hypocrite say I will by the help of God I will Set upon thy heart roundly perswade it to the work take no denial chide it for its backwardness use violence with it bring it to the service willing or not willing Art thou master of thy flesh or art thou a servant to it hast thou no command of thy own thoughts cannot thy will chuse the subject of thy Meditations especially when thy judgment thus directeth thy will I am sure God once gave thee mastery over thy flesh and some power to govern thy own thoughts Hast thou lost thy authority art thou become a slave to thy depraved nature Take up the authority again which God hath given thee command thy heart if it rebel use violence with it if thou be too weak call in the Spirit of Christ to thine assistance He is never backward to so good a work nor will deny his help in so just a cause God will be ready to help thee if thou be not unwilling to help thy self Say to him Why Lord thou gavest my Reason the command of my Thoughts and Affections the authority I have received over them is from thee and now behold they refuse to obey thine authority Thou commandest me to set them to the work of Heavenly Meditation but they rebel and stubbornly refuse the duty Wilt thou not assist me to execute that authority which thou hast given me O send me down thy Spirit and Power that I may enforce thy commands and effectually compel them to obey thy Will And thus doing thou shalt see thy heart will submit its resistance will be brought under and its backwardness will be turned to a yielding compliance SECT II. 2. WHen thou hast got thy heart to the work beware least it delude thee by a loitering formality Least it say I go and go not least it trifle out the time while it should be effectually meditating Certainly the heart is as likely to betray thee in this as in any one particular about