unmindfull of such a Master The dog hath led me a little beyond my mark but not out of my way my scope here is but this to shew that so we are degenerated so low are we falne the Beasts exceed man in their Naturals and men in their pure Naturalls make not that improvement of their senses for their Masters service their owne safety and mutuall comfort each with other as the Beasts doe no cause we should be proud of our Naturals And for Intellectuals being without that which the Apostle saith our speech should be seasoned with the Salt of Grace they may prove and ordinarily doe like Absoloms haire deadly So I remember a Knight that suffered upon Tower-hill acknowledged who had not returned his gifts to the glory of the Giver Nay more for wee hope better of him they make a man more miserable then the beasts that perish Achitophel is a sad example hereof so is Machevil who say the Italians so I learne out of Bishop Andrews rotted in â—pson Reason and speech they are the chiefe properties Ratio Orâ—tiâ— differencing man from a Beast Reason is the Crowne of a man his tongue his glory the same word in the sacred Tongue signifyes both But if man shall depose reason taking from it Hersoveraignty I mean in earthly matters then will a man be carryed like a horse that hath cast his rider and he will abuse his Tongue also vilifying that which should have honored him and in so doing he will liken himselfe to the most stinking place that we can passe by and to the most odious name that is named under the Sunne and so in the end will fall lower then a Beast can A Beast can fall no lower then the Earth nor doth it apprehend any evill till it feele the same and when it comes it is soone over and there 's an end Which remembers me of Pyrrhoes Hog that did eate his meate quietly in the Ship almost covered with waters when all the men there were halfe dead with feare But now reasonable Creatures are sometimes perplexed with unreasonable fears A mans apprehension may present evils that are not as impendent which may make his knees smite together and with all the apprehension of the time that is past and of that which to come may torment him too before he come to the place of his torment Bee not like the horse and mule then which have no understanding for then thy condition will bee much worse and lower then theirs in the latter end It may be I shall never call thee to an account nor live to see how thou hast thriven But consider this first what an Heathen o Plut. de fraterno amore spake it is very worthy a childs consideration We are charged that we doe ill to none much lesse to a parent but it is not enough for a child not to hurt his parents he must doe them all the good he can his whole deportment must be such such his words and deeds that thereby he may glad the heart of his parent else it is wicked and unjust Marke it for thus much it implyes It is not enough that the child doth not actually or positively give the parent cause of sorrow that were monstrous he or she must not privatively rob them of their comfort or stop them of their rejoycing even this were impious and unjust It is not enough not to grieve the parent not to give them matter of sorrow the childe that doth not more doth not his dutie he must give them matter of comfort and gladding of hearts This a childes dutie let a childe thinke of it and that an Heathen spake it from whom a lesson comes double to a Christian Consider again what the Lord saith It is a people of no understanding therefore He that made them will not have mercy on them p Esa 27. 12. Consider with that Scripture what the Apostle saith q 2 Thes 1. 8. In flaming fire taking vengeance of them that know not God c. If this and that be considered Thou wilt cry r Prov. 2. 3. after knowledge and lift up thy voyce forunderstanding wisdome is the principall thing therefore thou wilt get wisdome and with all thy gettings thou wilt get understanding Å¿ Prov. 4. 7. which only consolidates a man making him like armour of proofe or like a rocke for it fixeth the heart on Him in whom is everlasting strength Thou must consider also That an account must be given and the greater thy receits have been the greater thy accounts must be Line upon line and precept upon precept fills up the score apace A man looks to reape liberally where he sowes liberally And as God did bountifully reward the faithfull servant so did He severely punish the unfaithfull and negligent In the last place consider this and it sufficeth That a worthy name is called upon us even the name of Christ of whom the whole Family in Heaven and Earth is named t Eph. 3. 15. A name which will honour us if we honour it which will highly exalt us if we exalt it And this we do when our conversation is honourable and as becommeth in heaven though amidst the things of the earth If there be a precise walking a good and suteable conversation worthy that name u The Scripture acknowledgeth them Christians or the anointed of the Lord who live Christian-like according to Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Nazian Oral 21. p 378 then the Christian is the honourable person as the fruitfull vine the best amongst the trees or as those which were very good x Jer. 24. 5. But if we defile y Read page 36. that name by an unworthy conversation then are we the basest of men like the barren vine z Ezech. 15. 4. fit for nothing but the fire or unsavoury salt very bad and to be cast out a Christians are the worse the better they should be the more sacred their name the more accursed their guilt c. Read Salv. de Gubâ—r l 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the end and Li. 4. within two leaves of the end Christiani deteriores sunt c. Reatus impii est pium crimen It is a good conversation which commends a Christian and that only and which proves him so to be not miracles if a man could work them not revelations if a man could see them not signes and wonders if such a power were given from above It is the conversation which is all in all and justifies before men If I do not the works of my Father beleeve me not b John 10. 37. Our Lord said thus of Himself His work should testifie of Him c Luk. 7. 21. and be a foundation of their faith works are the standard by which we must be measured also whether we are in Christ and Christ in us If we do not the works of Christ such as He hath proposed for
before us else we are as he who puts a knife to his throat a Alioquin Trem. Prov 23. 2. Lege Clem. Alex. paed lib. 2 cap. 1. saith the wiseman What meaneth he by that If we do not moderate our selves in a sober temperate use of the Creatures as men not given to our appetites we do then turn that which was ordained to maintain life and to refresh the spirits the clean contrary way as a meanes to destroy life and to suppresse and damp the spirits which is a great provocation for thereby we fight against God with His own blessings and against our selves with our own weapons and so are as they who instead of putting their hands to their mouthes to feed them put both to their throat to cut it For by intemperance this way in meat and drink by feeding without fear we transgresse the set bounds b Chrysostomes observation touching the use of wine is very usefull for it telleth us the use of all the creatures given for our nourishment wine glads the heart there you have the use of it saith he gladding and refreshing is the very bound and limit set unto us in the use of the creatures if we transgresse that bound we abuse them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ad Rom. 15. Hom 28. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and our heart thereby is made as heavy as a stone our spirits quite flat and dead whence the proverb is An intemperate man digs his grave with his fingers so that although life be within him yet his body is his prison and the grave of Gods mercies and his life serves him to little other purpose then to dishonour that God who hath provided so bountifully for him And this kinde of intemperance I mean this lifting up the heel in our full pasture and exalting the heart this unkinde requitall of the Lord puts man that reasonable creature one degree below the c 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Tom. 5. de Lazaro concio 1. unreasonable The ox the horse and the asse These saith the Father usefully when they are fed go on their way carrying their burdens and performing their service but man so overchargeth himself that his meat proves his burden if not this surfeit and makes him unfit to return any service but such as sheweth him to be a debter onely to the flesh which indeed we must nourish that it may be serviceable but further we owe it neither suit nor service Think then how ill we do requite the Lord when fed by Him we spurn against Him loaded with His mercies we load Him with our sinnes refreshed with His comforts we grieve His Spirit by a contrary and unsavorie walking Here then is a fit place and season to teach and learn abstinence one of those vertues so much commended and that may help much to the learning of the other patience so I invert the order d 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Epiot Aul Gell. lib. 17. cap. 19. He that hath gotten command over himself at his Table in moderating his appetite and can deny himself what his stomach eagerly craves will be able to command himself in great matters and bear hard things It is unseemly for a man the Lord over the creatures to be brought under the power of the creature and if he would not which is his wisdome he must consider as well what is expedient as what is lawfull e 1. Cor. 6. 12. And so he teacheth his childe by his own example as well as by precept and much better and now is his season for abstinence is best taught and learnt at the first and no where better then at our meat f Comeditur quantum ad famem bibitur quantum satis pudicis castis sunt omnia quasi comed rint bibâ—rint disciplinam Tert. in Apoll. cap. 39. It is Mr Perkins g On Gal. 5. 24. p. 181. rule That man must deny his desires at the table he must command himself there as one under his own power and not under the power of the creatures if he look to be able to deny goods good-name wife children selfe and all All which must be parted with when they stand in competition with the truth else we lose our selves These are sweet bits indeed and he that cannot deny himself his sweet bits at his table wtll very hardly h 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mark 8. 34. deny himself in these If a man must needs swallow that bit because it is sweet and that cup of wine because it is pleasant if he hath so farre lost the command over himself that this he must needs do when yet his stomach needs it not It is very probable then that the same man will strain at the cup of sorrow as at a cup of trembling it will no more down with him by his will then will a Camel but if down it must it is because it must be so there is no remedie for God hath put the cup into his hand and he must drink thereof The lesson then is At our tables we must begin this deniall so we shall frame unto it the better in other things of greater importance We may note here that naturally we are very short spirited all for the present we are impatient of waiting soon tired there even almost before we begin though the Lord hath said The waiting of the meek shall not be forgotten And though the Lords manner is to make His children wait putting a long date to the performance of His promises when yet His deferring is no empty space for in that space much good is done even a fitting for the promise as while the seed lieth in the earth the time is not lost for the hard winter fitteth for the more hopefull Spring But I say so the Lords manner is to inure unto a patient waiting to stay as in the case of Lazarus k John 5. 6. and with those He most loveth two dayes longer when the extremity seems greatest so long as we may think with Martha that the season for help is quite past We may take notice how short our spirits are by that we reade of the two sisters but especially of the three disciples l Luke 24. 21. The third day was come and not fully over and yet but so long deferring their hopes weakened their trust And to day is the third day By them we may learn how short our spirits are and how impatient in waiting But the shortnesse and eagernesse of our spirits appeares in nothing more then in those things which presse upon the necessities of nature We see ordinarily the bread and the cup are put to the mouth before so much as a thought the quickest thing that is is conceived of Him who hath ordained both for our comforts And we may remember how hard it pressed upon Esau yea and upon the good old Prophet m 1. Kings 13. 15. who was easily seduced upon the mention of bread which
g Angusta est juslitia ad legem justum esse See Isid Pelâ—s lib. 2. â—p 138. Love constraines more under the Gospel then feare restrained under the Law Ibid could say It is but a narrow and scanty justice which extendeth no further then mans Law Few offenders there are which come within the Magistrates circuit and they that come are not all taken some and they not a few break out of the cob-webbe by force and some by favour But the Law of God is perfect and exceeding broad it reacheth to all persons and to the words and actions and thoughts too of all the sonnes of Adam not a syllable can passe not a thought stray not a desire swerve from the right way but it falleth within danger and is lyable to the penalties Thence it is that the greatest and hardest work of a Christian is least in sight which is the well-ordering of his heart And a good Christian begins his Repentance where his sinne begins in his thoughts which are the next issue of his heart God counts it an honour when we regard His All-seeing eye so much as that we will not take liberty to our selves in that which is offensive to Him no not in our hearts wherein no creature can hinder us It is an argument that we feare as we ought before the God of Heaven when we forbear the doing of that which if we should do it were not possible that man should understand or condemne it as h Lev. 19. 14. is the cursing of the deafe which the Deafe man heares not and the putting a stumbling block before the blinde which the blinde perceiveth not But the Lord heares and He sees for He made the Eare and the Eye and Him shalt thou feare for His eyes behold His eye-lids try the children of men i Psal 11. 4. And this is the Law which stands charged upon us and through Him by whom we can do all things we can keep the fame Law with our whole heart in an acceptable manner checking the first motions of sin discerning not beams onely but moats also light and flying imaginations and abasing our selves for them and by degrees casting them out as hot water the scum and as the stomack doth that which is noysome And because they presse upon the true Christian as Flies in Summer incumbring alwayes over powring him sometimes therefore is he moved to renew his interest daily in the perfect righteousnesse of His Saviour The deceitfulnesse of his heart still inciting and drawing back from God and His perfect Law and his readinesse to break covenant makes him the more watchfull over his heart and carefull to binde himself daily as with new cords To k Jude 2 â— build himself up in his most holy faith to pray in the holy Ghost and to keep himself in the love of God looking for the mercy of our Lord Iesus Christ unto eternall life for it is a standing Rule That Gods commands are not the measure of our power but the Rule of our duty the summe of our debt the matter of our prayers the scope of our strife l Mousine Seâ— Hist of World B. 2. Ca. 4. Sect. 13. p. 240. But we must ever note this which is that there is in the heart of every true Christian a disposition answering every Iota and tittle of Gods m Salv. dâ— Eccles Cathol â— Law They have the same Spirit in their hearts which is in the Law so soone as that Spirit made a change in them they could not but then exceedingly love the Law and where love n Chrys in Rom. cap 4 â— Si amor est vincit omnia c. Chrysost de past bono Seâ—m 40. Haec omnia dura videbuntur â—i qui non amaâ— Christum Amemus Christum facile videbitur omne difficile Brevia putabimus universa quae long a sunt Nâ—si vim fecâ—ris coeâ—orum regna non capies Hier Ad Eustochium Ep. 17. l. 2. p. 207. Prima regula in cultu Dei ut ipsum diligamus non potest Deus verè dâ—ligi quin sequatur hunc affâ—ctum membra omnia omnes partes c. Cal in Dan. c 9. v. 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrys in c. 29. Gen. Hom. 55. is that great Commander there is diligence and activenesse in all the wayes of obedience joy also and peace in obeying For in case they are opposed and persecuted for their love and ready obedience they have gentlenesse goodnesse faith meeknesse all armour of proofe whereby they are made resolute and patient to beare according to their wise choice affliction rather then Job 36. 21. iniquity For this we must adde to the rest and note it God communicates His common gifts diversly and scatteringly this man hath the gift of tongues that man a gift of prophecie one man hath this another that he that is lowest cannot say but the Lord hath dispenfed unto him some grace and he that is highest cannot say he hath all But now for these graces which make a man well pleasing to God they are all freely bestowed these as one said love neighbour-hood M. G. are in a continuall conjunction They are freely bestowed and altogether as it were in one lumpe not scatteringly as the Sporaaes Islands in the Sea scattered here and there here a little eye of Land and there all Sea again Sponsa Christi â—â—ca est Testamenti c. Hâ—er ep 17. li. 2. p. 205. this man hath not faith and that man hope one hath not love and another patience But he that hath one he hath all and he that hath not all hath none These graces put or spring forth together though all may not have equall growth nor shew themselves alike operative It is certain he that hath a grounded hope hath a lively â—aith an unfained love he hath patience meeknesse gentlenesse or if any of these be missing there is weeping and mourning and hanging down the head for the lack of this grace as there was when there was a Tribe lacking in Israel o Judg. 21. 3. There is no chasme or gaping in the life of a true Christian It cannot be that he should be one while like firme land which cannot be moved and then again as weake as water or like the raging Sea which fometh out mire and dirt it cannot be that he should one while glory in the Name of Christ and another while defile pollute and dishonour that worthy Name by which he is called These gifts of the Spirit though many yet are called in the singular number a Fruit because they have but one root and do put forth like grapes in clusters and come or draw together like the rings in a Chaine It is a report concerning our Spice that all proceeds 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Galat. 5. 22. from one Tree one kinde is the root another the bark a third is the fruit inclosed within a fourth so they say but
herefrom How hast thou been inclined to love the Lord for His goodnesse to feare Him for His Mercies How hast thou been melted thereby to obedience and engaged upon his Service Aske thy selfe againe for in that Method we went Thou hast two hands another hath but one or perhaps none what more worke hast thou done Thou hast a Tongue and the use of the same there is another thou knowest who hath a Tongue but speakes not wherein hast thou glorified thy Maker more then the other hath done Thou hast two eyes thy Neighbour is darke Aske the same question over againe For as it was said of him who was borne blind So it was that the workes of God Iohn 3. 9. should be made manifest in him So we may say we have our eyes eares tongues hands which others have not That we might the more ptaise the Lord for His goodnesse and declare His workes toward the children of men These are the questions but upon the point it is but this single question and the very same and to the same purpose which the King makes to that I doe allude touching Mordecay What honour and dignity hath been done to Mordecay x Esther 6. 3. for this So let this be the question What honour what service hath been done to the Lord He hath so honoured thee he hath so served thee he hath so and so preserved thee from the Paw of the Lyon and jaw of the beare so delivered thee Through his strength thou didst leap over such a wall He brought thee out of such a strait He supported thee in such weaknesses He supplyed thee in such a Wildernesse He gave successe to thee in such businesses What shall I say for we are confounded here He is the God not of some but of all consolations the Father of mercies And we can no more number them then we can the drops of the raine or of the dew or the Treasures of the snow and haile but we know who is the Father of them and out of whose Bowels these mercies come whereby thou hast been fed all thy life long and redeemed from evill we know the price of them too the very least of them is the price of bloud What honour hath been done for all this What peculiar Service that 's the single question If now thy heart make answer as we read in the foregoing place There is nothing done no peculiar service at all instead of being the Temple of His praise thou hast been the grave of His mercies They have been buried in thee they have brought forth no fruits if this be the answer of thy heart and so it condemne thee the Lord is greater then our hearts He will condemn much more And therefore it is high time to look into the Register of Gods mercies into the books of record And if these mercies have laine as things cast aside and of no account as dead things out of minde if so long and to this day forgot then now it is high time that thy rest should be troubled and sleep should not come into thy eye till thou hast looked over this Register and recorded the mercies of the Lord and so pressed them on thy conscience That it may answer out of a pure heart that something at the length is done some sacrifice of praise and thanks is returned to the Lord for all this This is the first thing to be done now and it is high time to do it Considering the season It is supposed that gray haires are upon thee here and there they are sugared now and like the hoary frost The Almond tree flourisheth thou art in the winter of thine age It is high time now to look about thee and to consider That is the first ground of consideration 2. That time is hasting whose portion and burden from the Lord is but labour and sorrow And then though we have time for our day lasteth while life lasteth yet no time to do any thing in it to purpose for then the Grasse hopper is a burden So I make two periods of this age And each a ground to presse on unto a timely consideration The one I call declining age when we have lived almost to threescore yeares The other when we are drawing onward to fourescore c. extreame old age of both in their order 1. Both the one as well as the other is an age not more desired then complained of They knew best why that feele the burden of it I have not lived unto it It is likely that person complained not without cause who being willed to hasten her pace told them who were so quick with her That so she could not do for she carryed a great burden on her back And whereas no burden at all appeared to the eye she replyed again that threescore years were passed over her head and that was the burden Plaut And so it may well be with those whose spirits are much spent and strength wasted even at those yeares And then age it self alone is a burden I can speake little here out of experience But this I can say If God be pleased to stretch out my day so long I shall know no cause to complain of the length for that is a blessing Length of dayes is from the right hand Prov. 3. 16. Riches and honour from the left Only we must note here That if the Lord be pleased to shorten the day of this life to any person as sometimes He doth to His dearest and most obedient children their dayes are not long upon earth why yet if He eek out this short day here with an eternitie of dayes and pleasures at His right hand when they are taken hence if so that partie shall have no cause to complaine of a short day on earth so abundantly recompensed in heaven This is a note by the way If I say God be pleased to stretch forth my dayes so long I know no cause why I should complaine of a blessing I may complaine and just cause why I should and that bitterly but not for the accession of yeares If any thing sower them it is of mine owne Leaven and of my owne putting in Complaine of my selfe I may of them I may not Old age is a cal me quiet and easie time if youth have done it no disservice in filling its bones before hand Nor no intemperance hath weakned its head or feete If so Old age hath just cause to complaine of the Man not the man of Old Age. There is no Guest in the world that is more desired and expected and yet when it comes worse welcomed and entertained then Old Age is still with sighes and complaints which we know argues bad welcome I would have my Child make good provision for it against it come and when it is come to give it good welcome Welcome I say I doe not say ease Good welcome doth consist we say in shewing a good and chearefull countenance to our guest
churlish dealing and answer This instructs us to sobrietie and watchfulnesse that the Lord may not have the same controversie against us when we come to our declining age Surely in vain have I kept this man this woman and all that they have so as nothing is missing of all that pertained unto them In vain have I lengthened out their dayes in vain have I fed them all their life and redeemed them from evill in vain have I preserved their inward and outward faculties both of soul and body all sound and entire for all this have they so and so churlishly requited me for all they have returned evill for good This is a reproof the hearing whereof we cannot endure And such a like reproof must he or she heare even such an one as will make their hearts like a stone within them if being preserved so and so long they have so unkindely requited the Lord if having so long a time of gathering and of exercising their talent they have gained nothing if having passed over so many yeares they have carelesly passed over also the observations which so many yeares would have yeelded very many For this we must still remember That the unthankfull man the better he is the worse he is That is the more good the Lord hath been to him the heavier his account will be and then the worse it will be with him Better the Lord had been a wildernesse unto him then that he should be a wildernesse to the Lord who had so watered him that he might be fruitfull That we may escape this great condemnation labour we to acquaint our selves betime with the Lord and to grow up more and more in the knowledge of Iesus Christ and the power of his grace for according to our increase and growth herein will our strength be for in Christ Iesus the decayes of age are repaired so as there shall be no more an infant of dayes nor an old man that hath not filled his dayes as Mr Calvine expoundeth the place e Esay 65. 20. Let us heare now how sadly Clemens of Alexandria complaineth at this point we will heare his counsell also for that is of use indeed but his complaint first which is this Ye have been infants then children then grown-men after grave-men but yet good men never Now reverence your 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. ad gentes pag. 50. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ibid. c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Ibid. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Châ—ysost Tom. 6. in vet Test pag. 543. old-age this is the counsell give this honour unto it of being wise of doing vertuously give it as you would have others give you honour and due reverence You are hastening now towards your grave set your face the more stedfastly towards your countrey which is above Your feet are almost stumbling upon the dark mountains pluck them up now as a Traveller that hath slept out his time and yet hath farre to go and walk on the faster in the wayes of peace so redeeming the time Put that crown upon your gray head upon your declining age the Sun of the day is neare the setting that now at length now you are dying you may begin to live A man cannot be said to live truly till he lives godlily holily till then he is dead though he lives that the end of your life may be the beginning of your happinesse Oh! farre be it that ye should be delivered and delivered again and yet again that you should be spared and spared and yet to commit more abominations h Jer. 7. 10. far be it that ye should be i 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ioâ—d pag. 40. Alex. as some have been by so much the more wicked the more kinde and gracious the Lord hath been You pity blinde men k 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Ibid. pag. 49. and deaf men because they cannot see the works of God which ye see nor heare the works of God which ye heare O pitie your selves for ye are both both blinde and deaf Ye have seen much ye have observed little ye have heard many things and those great things but ye understand not what ye heard Now heare and hearken now see and perceive now while it is called to day and know that there is a great deale of mercy l 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. p. Ibid. 41. that yet the day is and is yet continued still every day to this present repeated a great mercy this provoke the Lord no longer grieve His good spirit no more lest He swear in His wrath as He will do if we continue to turn grace into wantonnesse m 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Iâ—id While it is yet to day heare His voice and turn unto Him This is the counsell I will adde but this to it That He and He onely turns the heart who opened the eyes of Him that was born blinde and made a man every whit whole therefore the Church saith convert me and I shall be converted c. It is He who gives a seeing eye and an hearing earâ— even both these is a speciall mercy from the Lord and greatly to be begged for This then we must note for close hereof that as there may be a childe in n Noli annorum nos aestimare numero nec sapientiam canos reputes sed canos sapiâ—ntiam Hier. ad Paul 14. p. 180. yeares and a man in understanding so also may there be an old man in yeares and a childe in understanding For understanding comes not by yeares but by meditation in Gods law o Psal 119. 99. 100. Noli sidem pâ—nsaâ—e temporibus Ibid. I have more understanding then my teachers for thy testimonies are my meditation I understand more then the Ancients because I keep thy precepâ—â— A man may run out many yeares and more houres and yet be never the wiser by all that time because he hath not learnt from whom every good and perfect gift commeth even from the Father of lights He that worketh all our worke in us and for us before whom the Elders fell down and worshipped casting their crowns before His Throne acknowledging themselves to be in point of grace but Almes-men p Exuentes 〈◊〉 propriam bâ—nignitatem se beneficiarios ejus agnoscunt anâ—e cujus thronum coronas abjiciunt Brightman Rev. 4. 10. or sitting at the receit of a free mercy He it is that giveth wisdome not length of yeares nor number of dayes out of His mouth cometh knowledge q Prov. 2. 6. and understanding God iustructs unto discretion r Esay 28. 28. Job 38. 22. The Husbandman can neither sow nor reap c. without assistance and instruction from God much lesse can he sow righteousnesse and reap the same without speciall instruction from His mouth Who knoweth the heart therefore it is said Who teacheth like Himâ— And he that is old and stricken in yeares
dutie begins where the childe had its beginning at the wombe There the Parents shall finde that which must busie their thoughts about it before they can imploy their hands And this work lyeth specially in considering Gods worke upon the childe and how their sinne hath defaced the same First they consider Gods worke and the operation of His hands how wonderfull it is and how curiously wrought in the secret parts of the earth so the Prophet calls the Wombe because Psal 137. curious pieces are first wrought privately then being perfected are exposed to open view It was He that made the bones to grow we know not how then clothed them with flesh He that in the appointed time brought it to the wombe and gave strength to bring forth Here they acknowledge an omnipotent hand full of power towards them and as full of grace and they doe returne glory and praise both But here it ceaseth not Now they have their burden in their armes they see further matter of praise yet in that they see the childe in its right frame and feature not deformed or maimed Some have seene their childe so that they had little joy to looke upon it but through Gods gracious dispensation it is not so and for this they are thankfull And upon this consideration they will never mocke or disdaine nor suffer any they have in charge so to do a thing too many do any poore deformed creature in whom God hath doubly impaired His Image This they dare not do for it might have been their case as it was their desert Deformitie where ever we see it admits of nothing but our Pitie and our Praise 2. Thus they see Gods handy-worke and it is wonderfull in their eyes but still they see their owne Image also and cause enough to bewaile the uncleannesse of their Birth What the Pharisees once spake of him whose eyes Christ had opened is true of every mothers Childe Thou wast altogether borne in sinnes which should Joh. 9. 34. make every Parent to cry out as that mother did Have mercy on me O Lord thou sonne of David my Childe is naturally Matth. 15. 22. Joh. 3. the childe of wrath Except it be borne againe of water and of the spirit it cannot enter into the kingdome of God The Parents see evidently now that they are the channell conveying death unto the childe The mother is separated for some time that shee may set her thoughts apart and fixe them here The father is in the same bond with her and in this we may not separate them God hath made promise to restore this lost Image this not tooke but throwne away integritie And this now their thoughts run upon and they pray That the Lord would open their mouthes wide and enlarge their hearts towards this so great a Mysterie They have a fruit of an old stocke it must be transplanted and out they carry it and into the Church they beare it as out of old Adam whence was transmitted to it sinne and death into the second Adam whence it may receive Righteousnesse and Life Then at the fountaine they hold it blessing God Who hath opened it for sinne and for uncleannesse And there they present it not to the signe of the Crosse but to Blood Sacramentally there that is Righteousnesse purchased by the death of Christ and now on Gods part appropriated and made the childes And the Parents blesse His name and exalt His mercy who hath said at such a time as this Live Who hath found out Ezek. 16. 6. a Ransome to answer such a guilt A righteousnesse to cover such a sinne so big and so fruitfull A life to swallow up such a death with all its issues This the Parent sees in this poore element Water appointed by God set apart fitted and sanctified for this end With it the childe is sprinkled and for it the Parent beleeves and promiseth Then home againe they carry it It is a solemne time and to be remembred and the vaine pompe takes not up much time where wiser thoughts from truer judgement take place Friends may come and a decency must be to our place sutable but the Pageant like carriage of this solemne businesse by some speaks out plainly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A fancie Act. 25. 23. that the heart is not right nor is that vaine pompe forsaken which yet is now upon their lips to say They who have better learned Christ do better understand the nature and solemnitie of the action they are about so their great businesse is with God before whom they spread themselves and their childe Who can worke by meanes as secret as is the way of the spirit and can set this water closer to the soule then He hath set its bones which yet no man understandeth nor can tell when or how To Him they offer it before Him they lay it praying That this water may ever lye upon the heart of theirs as a fruitfull seed quickning renewing sanctifying That that water may as the Rocke ever 1 Cor. 10. 4. follow the childe The rocke removed not but the waters there-out followed them so the Parents pray That this water may ever follow the childe as a fresh spring still quickening washing refreshing untill the day of refreshing shall come This is their dutie now and this is all they can do beside the tending of it and this their dutie and their life must end together Now the childe lyes at the mothers breast or in the lap she is the nurse without question or so she should be though it is a resolved case that in some cases she cannot and in some she may not mercy must be regarded before this sacrifice But looke we still That mercy be not the pretence and ease the thing that is pleaded for that alters the case very much and will not prove a sufficient excuse wherewith to put off so bounden a dutie The * Aul. Gel. lib. 12. cap. 1. Macrob lib. 5. cap. 11. Erasm puerp Heathen have spoke enough to this point and more then all the Christians in the world can answer for the deserting and putting off unlesse in the cases before pointed at this so naturall and engaged a service At the mothers breast then we suppose the childe is and the eyes are open abroad it looks nothing delights it they shut againe as if it would tell the Parent what they should be now and it selfe hereafter both crucified to the world and the world to them 3. The childe is yet so little that here is little for the father to do yet All that is and it is no little worke is in his closet But besides that for it is the mothers worke too here is work for the mother enough It must be tended though it sleepe much more when it is awake And here is the observation It is hard to say which is more the mothers tendernesse or the childes frowardnesse and yet how they agree how they
story and to be observed That a very proud King delighted much in his childe hood to put out the eyes of Quailes This King carryed himselfe afterwards with such pride and insolency that he had his denomination from it and delighted himselfe so much in crueltie and bloud that the people expelled him out of their Citie and Countrey with protestation never to receive any King againe so they changed the name of their Government An Emperour after him delighted as much to see the entralls of flies he killed as many as he could catch and tooke his times for it So the proverb was The z Ne musca quidem Suet. Dom. Emperour had not so much as a flye neere him This man or rather beast in shape of a man delighted as much in the shedding of Christians blood and as cruelly abused Gods Image which he had shamefully cast off Indeed there are some men who are cruell to Christians and kinde to Beasts But they have but the shape of men they are a Lege Dialog de bello sacro p. 339. Beasts indeed and therefore do they esteeme more of Beasts then of Christians It is b reported that a Christian Boy in Constantinople Had like to have been stoned for gagging in a waggishnesse a long billed fowle b Lo. Ver. Essay 13. p. 67. I would perswade but this from hence That children be not suffered to bathe their recreations in bloud as Mr. Bolton phraseth it Not to refresh their tyred mindes with spectacles of crueltie nor inured to behold rufull objects without horrour No beast they say takes content in the hurting of any other except in the case of hunger or anger They satisfie their appetite and rage sometimes with crueltie and bloud but their eyes and fancies never It is a debasing of humanitie below beasts to please the eye I say not in beholding one man teare and mangle another but to see poore beasts encountring each other and mangling each other being set on by man we must not make Gods judgements and punishments of sinne for we made the beasts wild our sinne put the enmitie betwixt the Woolfe and the Lambe c Quis seras fâ—cit nisi tu Mor. de verit religionis cap. 12. the matter and object of our recreation Alas sinfull man it is Mr. d Direct 156. Boltons patheticall expression what an heart hast thou that canst take delight in the cruell tormenting of a dumbe creature Is it not too much for thee to behold with dry eyes that fearefull brand which only thy sinne hath imprest upon it but thou must barbarously also presse its oppressions and make thy selfe merry with the bleeding miseries of that poore harmlesse thing which in its kinde is much more and farre better serviceable to the Creator then thy selfe Yet I deny not but that there may be another lawfull use of this Antipathy for the destroying of hurtfull and enjoying of usefull creatures so that it be without any taint or aspersion of crueltie on our part or needlesse tormenting of the silly beasts It is a sure note of a good man He is mercifull to his beast And it is worth our marke That the Lord commands a mercy to a creature perhaps not worth two farthings and for this He promiseth a great mercy the like blessing which is promised to them who honour their father and mother Deut. 22. 6 7. If thou finde a birds nest c. Thou shalt in any wise let the Dam go and take the young to thee That thou mayest prosper and prolong thy dayes This is to lead to mercy and to take out of our hearts crueltie saith Mr Ainsworth It is the least of all in Moses law and yet such a promise is annexed thereunto as we heard so true is that which the learned Knight hath The debts of mercie and crueltie shall be surely paid Think we on this so we have our duty and we shall teach our children theirs and then though the bloud of the creature be not spared for we have dominion over it yet it shall not be abused nor shall we delight our selves in the pain of it which tends to much evil which we must by all means and all too little prevent and at the first while the minde is tender and doth easily receive any impression 15. It is not possible to point at all the evils whereof our corrupt nature is fruitfull nor at all the meanes whereby to prevent the growth of the same I remember how e Ad Dâ—m 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Isocrates concludes his oration so full of instructions With all our diligence we cannot overcome the pravitie and corruption of our nature And yet we must not sit still therefore and do nothing at all because all we do is too little We must with the husbandman cast up the ground and cast out the stones and thorns that is the order and then cast in the seed that is our duty And we must look up to an higher hand who makes the seed to grow that is a parents wisdome We must not forget the order this plucking up these weeds first where with our nature like the sluggards field is over-run which will so choake the seed as that no fruit can be brought to perfection The Greeks have a proverb some what homely but it teacheth very much you must not put f 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plut. dâ—educat meat into a chamber-pot This teacheth that good instructions to a stubborn and corrupt heart are as good meat to a foule stomack the more we put in the more we increase the distemper We must look to the cleansing the heart in the first place the keeping that fountain clean as we would the Spring-head whence we would fetch pure water I remember the reproof that was given to a very loose companion who yet would sit very close and attentive at a Philosophers lecture It g 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Aul. Gell. 17. 19. will come to nothing young man which you take in nay it will rather hurt then do good because you have not looked to the cleansing of the vessel And this reproof is the same in substance with that prohibition which we finde Ier. 4. 3. 4. h Clem. Alex. Strom. lib. 1. p. 203. When there is no pains taken for the cleansing of the heart first but we bring our old corrupted hearts to new and holy lessons they agree no better then new wine and old bottles all is lost the instructions spilt and if any good purposes were they vanish like the morning dew and the heart returns again like the swine or the dogge And the very reason thereof we have heard 16. We may note now in the shutting up hereof that we may abridge our way and make it shorter by leaving precepts and proposing examples for these take best with children and it is the more compendious and certain way So the sober master reproves his
were to be given unto God The night is for sleepe which must serve as other creatures to strengthen and refresh our bodies not to satisfie ease sloth and a sluggish humour Å¿ Plus vigi are plus vivere est Indâ—lgendum somno est ut corpus reparet non resolvat vires revocet non â—nervet Chrysol de servo vigili Ser. 24. we must beware least that great Devourer t 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c Clem. Alex Paed. 2. cap. 9. and waster of time sleepe rob and bereave us of those precious and golden houres in the morning when we are freshest and fittest for imployment we should often remember saith the same Divine u Indecens est Christiano si radius solis eum inveniat in lecto posset enim dicere Sol si potestatem loquendi haberet An plius laboravt heri quam tu iamen cum jam surrexerim tu adhuc dormis when we see the Sunne up before us that saying of Austin It is an uncomely thing for a Christian to have the Sun-beames finde him a bed And if the Sunne could speake saith he it might say I have laboured more then thou yesterday and yet I am risen and thou art still at rest And yet as good rest as to move and to no purpose We must not so much as eat in the morning certainly it doth concerne not those of the higher sort onely which we read x 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hom. Iliad 2. A governour ought not to sleep all night long And it is a forerunner of a woe when Princes eate in a * Eccles 10. 16. morning It cannot be conceived that the meaner sort have more priviledge then their betters to eate unseasonably or intemperately so Tremellius expounds that place These precious houres of the morning are for precious imployment the serving of God as becommeth with reverence and feare and then our selves and our brethren in love These are the services which must take up the whole day But more especially in the morning we are fittest for them when we are wholly our selves as the saying is The powers and faculties of the outward and inward man being awakened and refreshed But first we must addresse our selves to God and set our soules in order before Him that we may strengthen and perfume our spirits with some gracious meditations specially of the chiefe end and scope wherefore we live here and how every thing we do may be reduced and ordered to further the maine This is first to be done and a necessitie there is that it be done first else that which follows to be done will be done to little purpose It follows now That we consider briefly how we stand ingaged to this principall service even to call upon all to awake as the Prophet saith All without us and within us to return unto the Lord according as we have received and to give praise unto His Name for now praise is comely †1. It is He that kept us when we could not keep our selves He kept our houses which the watch did not keep from those who y Job 24. 16 17. marked them forth in the day-time Our security is as Noahs was in Gods shutting our doores He it was who preserved that spark of mankinde alive in the midst of the waters as the Father z 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrys Tom. 5 Ser. 6. in medio elegantly for so we reade And the Lord shut him in a Gen. 7. 16. The Lord shut in our doores upon us also kept us in safety kept out danger else we had not been alive The destroying Angel I mean danger in any kinde waiteth but his commission from the Almighty and when he had it we heard what havock he makes From this destroyer the Lord kept us though our hearts were not so besprinkled as they should have been nor did we keep our selves according to our b Exod. 11. 22. See Mr Ainsw charge under the safe and secure protection of that Bloud as we should have done yet notwithstanding the Lord kept us The Lord is the great wing of our protection our castles towers houses doores chambers c. but the small feathers thereof These nothing without Him He All without them We may reade of c Athanasius Cent. 4. one who had a safe convoy himself alone through a troop of enemies five thousand in number all and every one appointed for his destruction And of another d H. 3 Charron we may reade murdered by a Monk when he lay entrenched with an Army of friends about him 40 thousand strong Safety is from on high from the Highest is our protection He is our Sun and shield He kept us this night which is now past But behold His goodnesse yet further He hath renewed the face of the earth unto us given us a new resurrection with the day lengthened and stretched out yet further our span of time renewing our strength and making us fresh like the Eagle crowning us with loving kindnesse and tender mercies such mercies as whereby our hearts are cheered to see the light which thousands cannot say great reason we should call upon all to praise the Lord and this right early for now praise is comely †2. We must now every one to his work in his lawfull calling or to that which fitteth for the same if children we are not made as it is said of the Leviathan to take our pastimes in the world and to passe our dayes in vanity The Sun riseth and man goeth to his labour every man his severall way and in those severall wayes so many snares great cause to fence and guard our hearts and as was said to perfume our spirits from above that we may avoid these snares from below e The first fruits of our lips and hearts are to be offered unto God Amb. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Why wilt thou suffer thine adversary to surprise thy castle or strong holds first in the morning Basil de jejunio p. 285. for we shall meet with them it is not possible to be otherwise We draw along with us such a concatenation a chain of businesse as that we must needs be fettered and puzled with them if a gracious hand leade us not the way into them and help us out of them In the commerce betwixt man and man which drives the great trade of the world There sinne sticks as close as a naile sticketh betwixt the joyning of the f Ecclus. 27. 2. stones which consideration engageth us to feare alwayes and to walk close with God that our wayes may be established lest going beyond our brother in bargaining we exchange the favour of God for some poore advantage from the world †3. Now that we are going every man his way as the way of our calling leads us now we must know that God and He onely openeth our way to all our occasions leades us unto them and gives us an
till the blessing be given Christ gave thanks before He gave to His disciples that we might begin with thanks-giving And He gave thanks after He had distributed and sung a Psalme that we might do so likewise so Chrysostome Now then that we are filled it is the very season of thanksgiving saith the y 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Chrys de Laz. Ser. 1. Tom. 5. Father And he that is now to addresse himselfe to return thanks is supposed to have fed temperately and to be sober They that have fed without feare and are filled with their pasture are more like to kick with the heele then to return praise and in so doing are worse then the most savadge creatures who to shew their thankfulnesse will be at the beck of those that feed them We must remember that with us men every favour requires a z Omne beneficium exigit officium Lege Chrysost in Gen. cap. 12. Hom. 32. Man must not be like his belly what it receives to day it forgets to morrow and when it is full it thinks of temperance Translated out of Basil de jejunio p. 281. Psal 154 10. returne much more when we receive these comforts of meat and drink from Gods hand we must return in way of homage our thankfulnesse If it should be thrice asked as one in another case what is the speciall dutie or grace required in a Christian I should answer thrice also supposing the season Thankefulnesse Thankfulnesse at our sitting down Thankfulnesse at our receiving the blessing Thankfulnesse when we are refreshed Thankfulnesse is as good pleading in the Common Law the heart string a Lord Cooke Pref. Littlet thereof so of Religion It is the very All of a Christian if it be with all the heart And heartie it should be for as it is for beasts to eate till they be filled so is it beast-like to look downward when they are filled If God had made me a Nightingale I would saith on have sung as a Nightingale doth but now God hath made me a man I must as a man sing forth His praise All Thy works blesse Thee and Thy Saints praise Thee Now that we have received mercies we must think to make return else every bit we have eaten will be an inditement against us There is a vanitie in our natures for sometimes we stand upon exactnesse of justice as one saith in answering petty D. 5. 563. courtesies of men and in shewing our selves thankfull for favours received there when yet we passe by substantiall favours from God without taking notice of them But we can easily consider that if it be a sinne in civilitie carelesly to passe by the favours from men much more in Religion to receive from Gods hand and not to returne our thanks b Ila semper cemedendum est ut cibum oratio sequatur Lectio Hier. epist lib. 1. cp 35. pag. 47. And if it be a rude and uncivill fashion to rise from our common tables where we receive common bread to play much more then so to rise from our seat at Church where the bread we are fed withall is so much more precious as the soule is above the body We suppose then we are now rising from our common table where every man hath put in his thanks as into a common stock and so joyntly offered unto God Cyprians words are seasonable here I finde them in Vrsinus touching the order and connexion of the fourth with the fift petition After our supplication to God for supply of food and sustenance Give us we say forgive us that is we pray for pardon of sinnes and offences That He who is fed by God may live to God c Vt à Deo pasti in Deum vivant Thankfulnesse and that is the spring of a kinde obedience must presently follow the receipt of mercies It is good to take the advantage of the freshnesse of a blessing He will not be thankfull anon who is not thankfull now he hath newly felt and found the sweetnesse of a mercy what we adde to delay we take from thankfulnesse If the heart be closed now that the Lord hath so newly opened His hand toward it it is like it will be as hard and dry as a flint afterwards And what an unkinde requitall is it when in stead of being Temples of His praise we become graves of His benefits They lye buryed in us It is an old tradition but instructs very much which is That every creature hath a three-fold voice to man take returne beware In more words the meaning is this when we take the creature into our hands be it bread or be it water d Isa 33. 16. Calv. under these two all is contained saith Calvin we must remember that it speaks thus unto us 1. Take the benefit and comfort which the Lord hath ordained thee from me 2. Returne the duty of praise and thanks which is due to the Lord for me 3. And beware thou forget it not least the Lord deprive thee of me or curse His blessings Our goodnesse e Job 35. 6 7 8. is nothing to the Lord nor can we adde unto His glory by making returne of our thankfulnesse any more then we can give to the fountaine f where at we Aug. de civit 10. 5. drinke or to the Sun whereby we see but yet we must note That there is a taxation or impost set upon every thing we enjoy which is this God the supreame Lord must have His tribute of glory out of the same And from man who hath these things to trade withall God must have the tribute of thankfulnesse It being the easie taske tribute or impost which the supreame Lord of All layeth upon all the goods we possesse and blessings we receive and if we be not behinde with Him in this tribute of our lips He will see that all creatures in heaven and earth shall pay their tributes unto us But if we keep back His homage we forfeit and endanger the losse of all Man will not sow his best seed but in a fruitfull ground God intends His glory in every mercy g Lâ—ge S. Basil in Her Hom. 7 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and he that praiseth Him glorifies Him Remember then we must when we receive Gods mercies what we reade Deut. 10. 12. And now O Israel what doth the Lord thy God require of thee All errors saith one h Bp. And. who said much in a little are tolerable save two about the first beginning and the last end we erre against the first when we derive things amisse not acknowledging all to come from God Against the second we erre when we referre things amisse when we returne not all to Him giving Him the tribute of praise I must remember here-with the memorable words of Clemens which are these Behold O man i 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Protrept p. 53. for how small a matter the Lord doth give
agreeing to our earthy and compounded bodies therefore for our benefit and comfort sometimes for our punishment too it receives alteration from beneath or from above or from about it thence it is that most times the aire refresheth and sometimes poysoneth sometimes temperately cooling sometimes again with heate scorching Sometimes it candies the herbs and trees and hideth the waters as with a stone d Job 38. 30. and then who can stand before His cold e Psal 147. 17. who casteth forth His yee like morsels for so we must resolve the Lords f Job 38. 29. question out of whose wombe came the rce And if it be said who can stand before His cold how much more then who can stand before Him when He is angry for our God is a consuming fire 1. Here the winds have their circuit but where there treasure is we cannot tell I know what the Poets faigne and what the Philosopher of the greatest experience that our part of the world had doth write hereof But the sacred Scripture saith That the Lord causeth it to blow g Psal 127. 18. 104 3. He raiseth the stormy winde for He hath appointed them their work their circuit as He hath the treasures h Job 38. 22. for the snow and haile And we heare their sound and feele them too but the place whence they come we know not nor whither they will so secret is the way of the winde And as secret is the way of the spirit but more admirable in working it casteth down strong holds too it levells high and exalted things But I am too high This we may conceive The same wind which now shaketh the leafe and maketh the feather to move being charged against a mountaine would have turned it up from the foundation And the same strength that bloweth up the dust if it came against the earth would shake the bottoms of it And this should make us feare before Him that whatsoever He hath done whether it seeme great or little we should confesse His handy worke and according to His greatnesse so we should honour Him that whatsoever He hath commanded whether it seeme weightie or little all our obedience should be streight unto it These are Mr Dearings words i Heb. 1. vers 3. Lect. 2. Tranquillus dominus tranquillat omnia quietum afficere quiescere est Cal. I adde this All the winds without though never so raging and boisterous shake not the earth which is of ordinary use If a man have peace within no matter what troublesome blasts without they shall not remove him 2. Here likewise is the kingdome of the winged Creatures where they have more scope then the greatest Monarch on the earth and more aire-roome then the ship hath sea-roome when it rideth on the widest Ocean And more secure these creatures are then we for their provision though they sow not neither do they reape nor carry into their barn for your heavenly Father feedeth them And doth He so even the young râ—ven a forsaken creature thrice mentioned in the sacred Scripture the more firmly to establish us in a providence for the Naturalists say the old raven forsaketh her young till they be feathered but our heavenly Father feedeth them how much more then those who trust in Him and roule themselves upon Him for provision They are of more worth then the ravens How great should be the securitie of the Righteous that the Lord will provide He will take care for their provision as He doth for their protection Oh be thou saith Chrysostome as secure as the birds k Aves sine paâ—â—iâ—onio vivâ—at M. Faelix in sol p. 25. lin 19. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrys ad Pop. Ant. Hom. 12. are that thy heavenly Father will feed thee too Here also I mean in the aerie regiment we see the great vessels of water rouling over our heads and it should be wonderfull in our eyes for we cannot understand the ballancing thereof He that upholdeth all things by His mighty power upholdeth the clouds and divideth a course for their rain making small the drops thereof so as they distill upon man abundantly and in a way of mercy He it is who maketh strong the bond of the cloud who gives it a retentive facultie whereby the water is bound up within it as with a swadling cloth for so we must resolve the Lords question Who l Job 36. 16. and 36 27. hath bound the waters in a garment Even thou ô Lord hast done it we know Thy Name and Thy Sonnes Name for thou art wonderfull m Prov. 30. 4. Isa 9. If the Lord should unloose this bond of the cloud this retentive facultie then would the water fall as through a floud-gate or from a spoute not breaking into drops but in one body with a resistlesse violence as sometimes our countrey-men have observed it when the violence of the waters fall hath laid the ridges of their land equall with the furrows But more ordinary the rain falls so amongst the Indians who call the falling thereof in that resistlesse manner The spoutes n Hist lib. 1. c. 7. § 6. So writeth Sr Walter Raleigh but the Scripture calleth it I think the great rain of His strength o Job 38. 6. And if it fall with such violence who then can abide the viols of Gods wrath Who can stand under the spoutes of His displeasure The wicked shall be driven before the tempest as the chaffe before the winde But to the matter in hand certain it is This clotheing the heavens with blacknesse and making sackcloth their covering p Esay 50. 3. This ballancing the clouds and binding the waters within them as within a garment thence making the water distill by drops all this must be taken notice of as the wonderous work of Him Who is perfect in knowledge q Job 37. 16. And upon the power of this Mighty Hand doth the faithfull soul stay it self Faith can never be at a stand for whether the Lord gives rain or restraineth it because of our back-slideing r Jer. 14. yet behold a glorious dependance faith limits not the holy One of Israel nor bindes Him to naturall meanes Å¿ Legâ— Bâ—â—sil Hex Hom. 5. p. 47. Who did make the earth to bring forth before He set the Sunne in the firmament or made it to rain and filled the valleys with water when there was neither winde nor cloud t 2. Kings 3. 3. Hence it is that the thunder is heard whereat the heart trembleth and is moved out of its place u Job 37. 1. but the heart soon setleth again when the noise ceaseth for it hath learnt the reason thereof And yet it posed the heathen and almost made him cease from his own wisdome when he heard it thunder but saw no cloud x Hor. carâ— 1. od 34. then it was the voice of the Lord sure and is it not the same voice though the cloud appeare
that gives His children light in darknesse and songs in their night As Peter found it for behold to him a light shined in the prison x Act. 12. 7. so shall it be with all that truely feare the Lord A light shall arise to them in darknesse * Isa 58. 10. Psal 112. There is some cranny left whereby to let in light and a way open with the Lord for deliverance from all the expectation of the enemy though all the wayes be blocked up to man both in respect of the prison and the Iron-gate y Act. 12. 11. The children of Israel children of the day and of the light ever had in despight of the enemy and ever shall have light in their dwellings z Exod. 10. 23 though these dwelling are prisons caves and dungeons which the enemy calleth and indeed seeme to be like the shadow of death This meditation may be more enlarged for if nature be so solicitous as was said * Preface p. 19. in recompensing what is wanting much more then so will the God of nature do He takes from Moses a distinct and treatable voice He Himself will be a mouth to Moses He takes away Iohn a great light to His Church He gives the Lord Christ The Light of that Light He takes away Christ His bodily presence He leaves them not orphans comfortlesse He gives His Church a fuller measure of His Spirit He takes away strength of body He gives strength of faith establishment of heart He takes away a deare childe by that sorrow as by a sanctified meanes He formeth Christ in the heart It is of high use to consider how God doth supply in one kinde what He takes away in another as He doth make the little candle to supply the absence of the great Sun Lastly when we lye down we are to be taught as to recount the mercies of the day so to call to minde the dangers of the night Houses are marked out in the day-time and broke open in the night houses also are fired in the night And how helplesse is man amidst these casualties and dangers If a sleep the theefe findes him bound to his hand and if fire take his chamber he is fewell for it such sad examples we have known our eyes have seene The destroying angel but one of Gods guard hath set forth in the night and before the morning hath executed his commission our adversary wil do that to us sleeping which he cannot waking many have gone to bed well and before morning have made their appearance before the Iudge of the whole world and then as they lay down so they rise up and so provided or so destitute there is no time for provision then when we are summoned to appeare Naturally all things seeme black unto us in the night and if we see no danger nor see any reason of danger yet our fancy can create dangers unto us The Lords second comming is often mentioned in the sacred Scripture and as often in the night which defines not the time but shews the manner of His coming As a thiefe in the night as a snare suddenly when by the most least expected All these considerations should teach us to watch over our hearts and to take a strict account of our wayes at our lying down and to lift up our eyes to the Keeper of Israel that His eyes may be upon us for good appointing a sure Guard about us in the night As we cannot tell what a day may bring forth so nor can we know how our feares may increase before the next morning we cannot no not the wisest of men look forward a few houres to tell what may happen before the day-dawn a Imminentium nescius Tac. de Paeto 15. 2. which should engage our heart to Him who changeth not And that it may be so we must remember our prayers and our praises these being performed in a right manner do secure us touching protection in the night prayer will help us against carefulnesse notwithstanding our dangers are so many as we have heard it will suck out the heart of our feares and sorrows b Preces hirudo curarum Melanch so as they shall not hurt us nor dismay us but that we may lye down in peace But then we must remember what prayer is It is saith Luther The unutterable groaning of those who despaire of any strength in themselves c Precatio est gemitus inenarrabilis desperantium dese Luther in Gen. It is not every prayer which secureth us there is a prayer which more provoketh uttered only from the lips in such a manner as would not be accepted before our Governour d Melac 1. 8. We must remember our tribute of praise too great reason That we should praise the Lord who hath yet spared us in the night of our ignorance when we could not enquire after Him and in the night of our vanitie when we cared not for Him and in the night of our sorrow when our spirits were overwhelmed that we remembred Him not Thus hath He patiently spared and hitherto watched over us to shew mercy when we were secure and carelesse in our duties towards Him which engageth us the more to give the more praise to His name And so much may teach us to keep sound wisdome and discretion that when thou lyest down thy sleep may be sweet so I have done with those foure seasons in the day so seasonable for instruction CHAP. IX An ordinary and great neglect in point of education The ground of that neglect For the helping thereof the Parent is advised to fix upon two conclusions what they are Of the Schoole and School-master and the way he must go THus farre as my method or way led me touching the good culture of the childe It prescribes a way to no man no matter what way he takes so he doth his dutie and so the work be done and the end attained which is The tilling over the whole man by the well improving of this seed-time A season very much neglected willingly or ignorantly let slip and passed-over by the most Parents too many make but a waste of those so precious houres as was said e Preface pag. 20. and as it were an emptie space which yet being improved would serve to fill and store up that which would be of more use to promote the childe then the Parents purse though therein he puts more confidence Thus I say it is for the most part and we cannot easily believe how much the Family the Common-wealth the Church how much all suffer for this neglect herein And which is the losse indeed The higher the persons are and the more promising their parts the more for the most part they are neglected in point of culture and due manurance It was Mr. Calvins complaint f Hoc erat summū decus nobilibus nibil prorsus tenere doctrinae gloriati sunt etiam nobiles hoc
12 cap. 15. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Câ—rys Tom. 6. ser 1. in Gâ—â— Exod. 28. 36. Psal 17. 15. Geneva Tran. things below us finde us still hungring lusting desiring and so they leave us still more unsatisfi'd But He who hath stampt this a excellent image upon us which should shew forth as that engraving upon the plate Holinesse unto the Lord He can fit the same He can fill it up and fully satisfie So that me thinks and with that I conclude David hath a full expression when he saith When I awake that is I think in the day that I shall rise again I shall be satisfied with thy Image God can satisfie David and God onely and then but not till then fully untill he awake out of the dust of death for that is the time when God is all in all Let us at length shew our selves men and look up to heaven that thence we may receive that which is after our Image Chrys Hâ—m 9. â—n Epist ad Cor. â— When I awake I shall be satisfied with thy Image And so much touching thy Image that thou maist look on it and behold His goodnesse that so engraved thee and then as thy Image directeth thee look up to Him till thou art loosed from that spirit of infirmity and filled with His goodnesse with His Image which onely can fit and fill up which onely can satisfie thine § 4. There is yet another remnant of Gods goodnesse towards this Image of thine and thou must remember it to His praise for it makes up the summe of His mercies to thy outward man and very much it makes for che beauty and comelinesse thereof which consisteth but in the full number of parts and in their comely order wherein they are placed holding conformity and proportion with the whole For the beauty and comelinesse of the body stands in an onenesse and fit agreement of many parts to one I call this goodnesse of God a remnant of His mercy or fagge-end thereof not that it is so for the mercy I shall remember thee of is the verie beauty of His work the excellency of thy outward glory it sets it off to the eye and declares the excellent skill of the Worker But it is as a remnant or fagge-end in our esteeme we look upon it as the list of a fine piece of cloth we too commonly either behold it not at all or account not of it at all and all because we have this mercy we want it not Assuredly the commonnesse of a mercy and the not knowing the want of that mercy is the cause we set no estimate upon it at all Had the Lord dealt thus with thee as He might there are many monstrous births in the world many in whom His Image at the first not taken but cast away is doubly defac'd Had He made any part of thee double which is single or single which are double Had He for one face which no creature in the world hath but a Faciâ—s homini tantum Plin. Nat. Hist li. 11. ca. 37. man given thee two for one tongue two or for two eyes two eares two hands two feet but one I will not instance in those so beautifying ornaments Had the Lord for two eye brows which are but a few haires and they excrements of the body yet had He of them given thee but one that want had taken nothing at all from the bulke of thy body but very much from the ornament thereof so much that Si unum radatur supercilium c. August de Civit. Dei li. 11. c. 22. thou canst not well think or imagine But thou canst imagine that if any thing might have been spared then an excrement might and if not an excrement but deformitie would have followed then much more if thou hadst wanted some excellent or more usefull part Thou hast thy parts childe in weight and in number and in their order too and due place comelinesse and proportion in all Thou art not wanting And why think'st thou David that King and Prophet tells thee Because the Lord had written all thy parts in Psal 139. 16. Our book is our Remembrancer Fidelissimus ad jutor memoriae Brightm Reve â— 1. pa. 91. His common place book He speaks to informe man and therefore to his capacity for he is dull and slow to understand That which we will not have forgotten nor omitted nor slipt over we will note in a book and set it before our eye In thy book all my members were written Had the Lord left out of His book thy eye thou hadst wanted it and then thou wouldst have said Oh what a mercy it is to have windows to look out of for now my body is to me a dungeon and the world a prison Had he left out thy tongue thou hadst wanted it and then as thou maist use it thou hadst wanted thy glory though otherwise and by abuse it is a world of wickednesse But had'st thou wanted it thou wouldst have said Oh what a mercy is it what an happinesse to have whereby to expresse my self Whereas now a Shepheard takes more content with his dogge then with me one that cannot deliver my meaning a Aug. de Civ Dei l. 19 c. 7. It is so with the eare too had it been left out thou hadst stood amidst the people like a Statue or walked with them but converse thou couldst not In His book were all thy members written and thou mayest say as follows How great is the summe of them how great thinkst thou put them all together as they are and behold them and thy self an epitome of the whole world the Index of all the creatures and therefore well mayest thou take the following words speaking them to His praise How great is the summe of them Nay should I call Man the great world and the visible world before us the little world I should say no more but what a Greek Father Nazianâ—e hath said before me So excellent and beautified a creature is man when he hath all his parts comelinesse and proportion in all I could be large here but praise would be the summe of all and praise is comely Oh that men would praise the Lord for His goodnesse and the wonderfulnesse of his works even in this behalf touching our outward frame Consider now and so I conclude this also Hath God written all thy members in His book not one is left out Hath He set them in a comely and decent rank and posture And is this order and uniformity comely and goodly to behold as Souldiers well disciplined or as an Army with Banners We must needs grant it is so it is gracefull in the eyes as the contrary an inconformity and disorder in parts would have been as unseemly as to see Souldiers breaking their Ranks or an Army routed Then consider but this what then is the beauty of a well-ordered soule Think but so and certainly thou wilt think that
nothing in this world is of sufficient worth to put us out of frame This thought set home may carry the soul like the Sunne which worketh upon all inferiour things but is not wrought upon by them above forms and stormes too in an uniform way in a constant course and tenor like it self sutable to its own dignitie and keeping its distance We take a view now of the way we have gone and of the observations in our passage This first that it was the Lord who curiously formed thee in the wombe He brought thee thence and yet thy engagement to thy parents no whit the lesse He gave thee a being amongst the creatures and those of the highest ranke He put thee into an house like a rich Heire ready furnished a See Chrysost Hom 8. in Gen. He crowned thee with honour and gave thee dominion over the works of his Hands In His book were all thy members written thou doest not want one of them and how great is the summe thereof so great that thou art the epitome of this great world the Index of all the creatures which sets deep upon thy score thou hast much to return unto the Lord if thou doest return according to that thou hast received So God hath exalted thee so shouldst thou exalt the Lord and all this from thy outward frame the site and posture thereof And so farre we are gone and before we go further we must take fuller notice of things we have passed briefly over for they are observable § 1. We are Gods workmanship His building wonderfully were we made by b Isa 45. 11. Him accordingly should we strive to live unto Him if we ask more grace He will not deny us it A strong argument it is c Psal 138. 8. We are the workmanship of thy hands and as strong is this Created in Christ Iesus unto good d Ephes 2. 10. works †1. 2. He brought us forth thence where many miscarried because there was no power that our praise might be alwayes of Him And He gave our parents charge over us and them a strong affection to discharge that trust though we were froward and like perverse children which engageth mightily to honour the parents to obey them in the Lord. And to do what possibly we can and all too little for their good if they shall need it and for the promoting their comfort in the childes well-doing the very garland of their hope and sore travell under the Sunne and a very cordiall to their drouping spirits § 2. His exceeding patience to us-ward in sparing us so long and His good providence over us all this time but specially then when we could have none for our selves when we foresaw nothing no not a pit before us For mark I pray you that little thing such an one I was so wast thou and let us not carelesly behold him If now he be out of the cradle and the armes and can do more then creep by the wall we shall see it still in harmes-way now puddering in the fire then in the pot of seething liquour then up the stairs it will creep and down again it tumbles with little or no harm And if it can break the mothers prison we shall see it marching in the streets presently in the Carts way or under the horses heels perhaps as his strength is upon their backs or upon some Ladder or some Tree where he ventreth his necke for an apple or a lesse matter Like a Lapwing it is Squerill headed still skipping into danger not so quicke to get from it Such like and many more dangers attend that silly age So that this is a sure thing which I shall tell you It was not the care of the earthly Father though he was carefull with all his care nor the tender hand and eye of the Mother though both still helpfull and wakefull neither this nor that was it which provided for the childe and secured its safety but the providence of the Almighties eye 2. Kin. 4. 13. His good hand upon the childe that kept it That that was it and to that we must sacrifice that we have been preserved where so many have fallen and escaped those snares and dangers wherein so many have been taken Make this use we must of the casualties And forget we must not the many diseases this vile body is subject to which we have been kept from or delivered in Plinie reckons no fewer then 300. from top to toe I mention but two and they be capitall ones the Evill and the Falling sicknesse very incident to children and makes their life but a death to themselves and friends That we have been preserved and delivered thus and thus what a mercie herein what praise therefore 3. He hath ranked us in His highest form amidst His chiefest creatures that our thoughts should be on high and our wayes on high Noble creatures we are of an heavenly stamp impresse and superscription that our carriage and deportment should be answerable Oh then how is it that the horse and the mule which have no understanding should teach their Lord and this Lord so brutish that he will not be taught by them We put bits in our horses mouths and they obey us The doâ—ge follows our foot and will be struck by our hand the d Jer. 8. 7. Stork the Crane the Swallow know their season The e Isai 1. 3. Ox knoweth his Master and the Asse his Crib but man is become brutish he considers not Every f Jam. 3. 7. kinde of beasts and of birds and of Serpents and things in the Sea is tamed and have been tamed of mankinde But man is the unruly creature the ungoverned person yet hath he reason to guide him Reason I say the crown and dignitie of a person when the naturall powers and noble faculties are entire and sound a great good mercy go to Bedlam else and enquire we there but that we need not do we need but go sit down and hearken there and then we must needs say Oh what a blessing is it what a mercy that we have the use of reason that our understanding-part is sound and perfect He hath reason I say to guide him the fear of the Lord to awe him His word to instruct him and if he be not guided reclaimed taught he will have no excuse no pretext for himself for saith g In Gen. Hom. Chrysostome man tameth the Lion and he leads the Beare and he frays the 9 p. 85. Serpent that he hurts him not thou art unexcusable then O man if thou art an ungoverned creature so the Father reproves man made in Gods image And Elihu to h Job 35. 10. 11. Iob gives us as full a reproofe and concludes the use saying But none saith where is God my Maker who giveth songs in the night Who teacheth us more then the Beasts of the earth and maketh us wiser then the fowls of heaven 4. Lastly he
ever after From thence thou cam'st into the world a sinke a Sodome of all filth and impuritie Thou hast inherent in thy bowels secret seeds and imbred inclinations of all sinne The principles of Hazaels bloudy cruelties of Athaliahs treasons and Iâ—zebels lusts The wombe the seed of all the villanies that have been acted in the world which Saint Paul hath sum'd up together in his first chapter to the Romanes 1 Tim. 1. 2 Tim. 3. Thou hast within thee the spawn the somenter the formative vertue of all that hellish stuffe All those flouds of ungodlinesse have no other originall fountain from which they issue then this sinne thou art now taking a view off Thy Heart is the Treasury of all that wickednesse and if the Lord shall rip up the foundations of thy nature as He may and in mercy also then wilt thou know I do not speak parables But if thou canst not follow sinne to its first originall if thou could'st so do thou would'st feare it more and flie from it faster then Moses from the serpent for more active it is and hurtfull if thou hast not learnt so much yet then learne now and follow the streames they leade to the Spring-head Know then whatsoever vanitie ignorance or darknesse is in our minde whatsoever swarmes of foolish thoughts whatsoever insensiblenesse in our conscience whatsoever disabilitie or enmitie is in our Will whatsoever unfaithfulnesse o 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 â—eb 2. 1. leaking or running out in our memory whatever leaven or corruption in doctrine or manners whatsoever bitternesse dissentions wars devouring words To conclude whatsoever we have found in our selves or observed from others to breake out of the mouth at the eye like the purging of a corps now the soule is out All this is but the issue of this body of sinne which thou carryest about thee All that hath no other originall fountain from which they issue then this sinne When we let our tongues and eyes and eares loose and at libertie keeping no watch over the one nor making no covenant with the other when I say we doe thus set the doores windows and all open we then commonly excuse our selves thus That though we speake merrily yet our minde is good And though our eyes wander yet our heart walkes not after our eyes p Job 31. 7. And though we let in vanitie by the eare as the wooll sucks in water yet we can keepe the inward man cleane and pure this is our excuse and we would be pardoned But the excuse is worse then the fault for we must know That the tongue the eare and the eye these doores and windows of the soule The feet and the fingers there is a q Prov. 6. 13. speaking with the one and a teaching with the other All these are but as a little Comentary upon the great Text of the heart they do but serve to make plaine so as he that runs may read what lewdnesse and frowardnesse lyes in that depth involved there in more hid darke and obscure characters Or to use a plainer metaphor and according to the sacred Scripture The heart is the treasury the ever going mint wherein our thoughts r Fabricatur Prov. 6. 14. hammer mischiefe Out of that aboundance the mouth so of the rest filleth and emptyeth it selfe If there be a little vanitie upon the tongue we must conclude there is much in the heart if the eyes be full of adultery then the measure of the heart * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is pressed down running over That vanitie which is shewed openly by the outward members is but like the money a rich man carryes in his purse to be laid forth upon all occasions compared Chrysost Tom. 6. Relâ—g p. 597. What wickednesse will they stick at in sâ—cret who pâ—oclâ—ime thâ—ir folly openly â—â— saith Isâ—â— Pelâ—sit lib. 2. p. 153. with that which is in the bag or chest there is the store The mouth is but as the cistern the heart is the well that fills it The aboundance is in the heart there is the treasury And this thou carryest about thee Nay it is within our earth more inwrapped within our nature then the Ivy within the wall as fast as with a band of Iron and Brasse And it is as was said the acting sinning brooding sinne the fountaine and inlet of all we can call evill The first matter of all our misery The tinder of lust disposing us to evill and causing an aversnesse to all good This is the treasury thus we have look'd into the aboundance that is in the heart of every mothers childe In all it doth not breake out alike God in mercy to mankinde and for preservation of society restraining the dominion and over-ruling it in some And some again having received more grace prevailing over the same with the wrestling of God strong wrestlings Å¿ Gen. 30. 8. But within us this aboundance is I meane this sinne dwels within the best of men The life thereof is prolong'd t Dan. 7. 12. though the dominion is taken away And its kingdome to allude to that place is partly strong and partly broken u Dan. 2. 42. And hence is that which ever hath and ever will make the people of God vile in their own eyes and to loath themselves witnesse their low and base account of themselves Dust * Gen. 19. 27. and ashes saith Abraham we may say that and more even what was said of a bloudy persecutor we are earth mingled with bloud and to the same fiercenesse we should proceed were we not renewed or restrained x Gen. 32. 10. Lesse then the least of Gods mercies said Iacob What am I a dog fit to lye under the table a dead y 1 Sam. 24. 14. dog fit for the ditch It was the lowest expression of humilitie and we know whose it was It is Thy z Lam. 3. 22. mercy we are not consum'd so the Church makes her acknowledgement when she was brought even to the dust of death Though the Church be smitten to the place of Dragons yet if it be above hell it is mercy so she accounts Nothing saith Paul not worthy to be accounted an Apostle a Cor. 15 9. And to mention but one neerer our own times a true b Antipapas Bright on Rev. 2. 13. Antipas a faithfull witnesse a holy-man yet thus vile and abased in his own eyes and feeling I am as dry as a stone a most miserable hard-hearted man an unthankfull sinner Thus subscribed he his letters Humble Iohn Bradford And this is the reason why I would have thee childe look back to the rock whence thou wast taken and stay thy thoughts there even to humble thee and to make thee see how vile thou art that thou mayst exalt Christ Certainly there is no such ground for humiliation that can be thought of Search then this nature of thine and search it to the bottome There is no quick
and power from both to cast us in and mould us thereto for if in the dayes of His flesh there went virtue out from even the edge of His garment to do great Cures then much more from His owne self and from these most principall and powerfull actions of His own self His death and resurrection there issueth a Divine power from His death a power working on the old-man or flesh to mortifie it from His resurrection a power working on the new-man the spirit to quicken it a power able to roll back any stone of an evill custome lie it never so heavy on us a power able to drie up an issue though it have runne upon us twelve yeers long these are Bp. Andr. words not one grain too light We see in that Element the price paid for us and the eqâ—ity hereof that we should glorifie Him whose purchase we are How should we live in sinne that lay so heavie upon the soul of Christ and could not be purged but by the bloud of God And how should we not be wholly consecrated to that Lord who so dearly bought us in whose Name we were all baptized and that is to consecrate our selves up as not our own but anothers and whose Name is called upon us It is b Râ—atus impii est pium nomen Salv. 4. de Gber p. 145. See li. 3. p. 95. The Church is a choice people picked out and paled up from those whom the Apostle placeth wâ—thout but there is yet a more choice and peculiar people as Clemens a calletâ— them after whom we must walke more peculiarly which we cannot do but by offering violence b to our sâ—lves that we may walk worthy of His calling a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sâ—r. lâ—b 6 p. 485. b 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 500 a worthy and honourable Name indeed and it must be honourably answered It was a sad and wise reproofe which the Father gives to one who walked not decently nor in order Why doest thou defile that good and honourable name of Christianisme c 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But I must not insist upon this though nothing except Him who leads into all truth can be more flexanimous more perswading then is this worthy Name which is call'd upon us we who carry Gods Name how exactly should we carry our selves what manner of persons ought such to be choice persons for we have a choice Name There is not a more naturall request then what we would be such to be what we would be in Name such in deed that is that having obtained so excellent a Name we would be even what our Name importeth even such That the Name of our Lord Iesus Christ may be glorified in us and we in Him 2. Thes 1. 1â— This is our engagement and by the solemnest vow that ever was taken And therefore it is called The answer of a good Conscience towards God for then we entred into covenant as God with us of grace and salvation so we with Him of faith and repentance as He to be our God all-sufficient so we to walke before Him and be perfect We have by Christ a right to an interest in a much better covenant and now we must looke to ours we cannot thinke that God is bound and we loose Religion is nothing else according to the denotation and meaning of the word but a gathering-up and binding of us fast to God If we look that God should stand fast to us we must cleave to Him If we breake our bands and cast away our cords we must look to be broken There was never any covenant more solemnly made and ratified then this in Baptisme nor in breaking whereof there is more danger And yet an oath despised and a covenant broken with man hath been severely punished as we reade Ezâ—k 17. 15 16. And as the whole Christian world feeleth at this day for it smarteth yet for that breach of league long since made with the Turke whereby they both lost the day and their honour in both an irrecoverable losse And can we think to prosper or escape that do such things or shall we breake the covenant of our God and be deliver'd keep we covenant here through Christ we can and if we do it in sinceritie that mantle will cover many defects And we are the more likely to do it the more we see how false our hearts are how ready to breake all bands and to cast away all cords for this our impotencie truely apprehended will make us feare alwayes and cleave the faster to Him in whom our strength is keeping our selves as the Apostle counselleth in the e Jude 20. love of God building up our selves in our most holy faith praying in the Holy-Ghost Such a prayer will as the Horsleech sucks out corrupt f Prâ—ces pâ—râ—inacissima curarum hirudo M l. vit Lâ—th p. 139. c. bloud it is Luthers comparison consume our cares our feares our sorrows oâ—r sins This by the way My chiefe scope is here to put to our consideration what a straight and binding cord Religion is and better we cannot see it then in Baptisme wherein we are wholly consecrated g 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Clem. Alex. Proâ—rept pag. 30. to the Lord that bought us 1. There we professe our selves made the members of Christ How can the thoughts thereof but stirre us up to give our members weapons of righteousnesse unto holinesse shall we take the member of Christ and give it to our lust There is great weight in those words And if members of Christ then members one of another h Eph. 4. 25. And then we suffer as members when we suffer not in our own bodies we suffer in compassion as others in their passions such a sympathy and fellow-feeling there is In Saint Pauls i Heb. 10 13. Heb. 13 3. Lege Chrysost in 1 Cor. c 8. â— in ep Ad Câ—los cap. 4. Hom. 12. remember my bonds Verse 18. Perniciocissimâ— labâ—ntur quòd fratrum insâ—â—mitatem nullius peâ—si habent Caâ— Iâ—st lib 3. c. 1â— sect 10. construction it is ever thus If this brothers back be pinched it is my back I am pinched too If his eye be offended it is as the apple in mine I am offended too If his heart is sadded it is my heart I am sadded too ye are members one of another and then ye are pitifull and mercifull As we have received so we must return according to our measure mercy for mercy blessing for blessing nay blessing for cursing knowing that we are thereunto called that we should inherit a bâ—â—ssing k 1 Pet. 3. 9. I know said Luther l Ignâ—râ—ntâ—am meam facilè feret ignoscet mihi Ecclesia Dâ—i Regina illa misericordiae cujus viscera sunt merae remissiones peccatorum Luth. Praefatio in postillas 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrysâ—â— Act. Apâ—st ca. 21. Hom. 44. â— my ignorance the Church will beare with and my faults
lesson is plaine answered they This stone signifies The great Alexanders Emperours Princes Potentates of the world who while they are as they are though no bigger then other poore men yet they out weigh a thousand of them but when they must dye and dust is put upon them then one poore man weigheth more upon the ballance then they For a living Dog is better then a dead Lion Å¿ Eccles 9. 4. A great lesson it is to know our selves to be but men In our very best estate upon earth but vanitie †9. Is it thy own righteousnesse that is so lovely and doth so sparkle in thy eye Is it that which like the mornning dew or the Sun beames on the mud-wall so glareth Yes that is it God shall strike thee thou whited wall what because the Sun doth daine to cast his beames upon thee gloryest thou as if thou wert the father of those beames t Perinde ac si paries radium se purturire dicat Cal. Insti lib. 3. cap. 12. â— sect ult thou did'st produce them Boast on but all such boasting is vaine glory in these sparkles of a false light but this is thy judgement from the Lord Thou shalt lie down in sorrow t Thy glory will be thy shame Thy confidence is as in an unfaithfull â— Esay 50. â— friend who in time of trouble will deceive like a broken tooth and a foot out of joynt x Prov. 25. 19 Our own righteousnesse dealeth deceitfully like the streames of brooks when it is y Job 6. 17. We are in Gods hand as the pen in the writers he makes it puts ink into it directs it along the paper The pen doth nothing of it self but blot and blurre Nothing properly our own but sinne Cal. hot and there is need of them they are consumed out of their places and we shall be confounded because we hoped We never heard of any that durst trust to it I mean this self-righteousnesse on their death-bed when they were making ready for their appearance and knew themselves to be but men Then though before they were content to live in a righteousnesse of their own yet they are glad to die in the righteousnesse of another a See the excellent Epistle of our Divines before Luther coment Galat. See M â— Hookers Disc of Just. 502. But to help us against this monster so Luther calls an opinion of self righteousnesse pray we that the Lord would rip up before us the foundations of our nature shew us the Rock whence we were taken and what an hard rockie stone the heart is which no ministerie nor miserie no braying in a morter no judgements though made sick with smiting nor mercies though made new every morning none of all these can possibly break can possibly mollifie The consideration of such an heart would surely humble if we could consider it heartily I will conclude this in Mr Hookers words b Disc of Just p. 494. which are these It may seem somewhat extreame which I shall speak but let every one judge of it I will onely make a demand If God should yeeld unto us not as unto Abraham If fifty forty thirtie twenty yea or if ten good persons could be found in a Ctie for their sakes that Citie should not be destroyed but and if he should make us an offer thus large search all the generations of men sithence the fall of our Father Adam finde one man that hath done one action which hath past from him pure without any stain or blemish at all and for that one mans onely action neither man nor Angel shall feel the torments which are prepared for both Do you think that this ransome to deliver men and Angels could be found to be among the sonnes of men The best things which we do have somewhat in them to be pardoned How then can we do any thing meritorious or worthy to be rewarded And so much to fortifie us against this monstrous conceit of self-righteousnesse In the last place the strange judgements of God upon the proud should be still in remembrance how c Job 4 10. He hath decked Himself with Majestie and cast abroad the rage of His wrath for in effect He telleth Iob that so He doth He doth abase the proud and bring him low d Acts 12. 23. Worms have consumed them They have with the Serpent e Dan. 4. Reade Hist of the world book 3. § 11. p. 17. licked the dust Nebuchadnezzar is a great example hereof so is Herod He also who was a great f Zâ—ch 4. 7. Mountain before the Lutherans and quickly made a plain He bent his hand against the Apple of g Zech. 2. 8. Gods-eye and he both commanded and armed that hand which thrust forth the Apple of his hereon a story depends which for some reason I relate not here he that can may reade it at large or very little abridged Epitomies h Advanc 2 p. 3 are as the Noble Advancer saith but mothes corruptions and cankers of Historie by O siaander cent 16. lib. 3. cap. 34. But we may look into a place nearer hand and a fitter looking glasse for a woman where we may see how the Lord did retaliate those proud dames Esay 3 proportionating their punishment to their sinne and to the severall parts wherein they offended verse 24. Thus childe I have been more particular touching this sinne The causes The workings of it The remedies against it That in something or other some instruction or other may take hold and perswade with thee That thou mayest take heed of pride and vain glory as all is vain that is in and of the Creature That glory is not good Glory belongs to God Souls i Anima sexum non habet have no sexes in the better part male and female they are both men to man shame and confusion God will not give His Glory to another if man do take it it will be his destruction Thankfulnesse must be our return to God for His blessings whether of body minde or goods If they lift us up we provoke God highly fighting against him with His own weapons which will be as a sword in our bones Consider again by what hath been spoken how true it is and what reason there is for it That the proud the fool and the sinner are convertible terms through the whole sacred Scripture The Lord make us wise by it purge out all pride in self-pleasing and self-seeking That in whatsoever we do and in whatsoever we have in all and for all we may give all the honour and glory to the onely wise God to whom all honour belongs and is due Take heed of taking from God to set up thy self put not that to thy account which belongs to Him take heed of sacrificing to thy strength or parts acknowledge that all the excellence of all thy actions is of Him God is very jealous of His honour and oftentimes leaves His
would we have another bloud to cry unto which cries for mercy but if we spill this Bloud and tread it under foot what then whither then shall we flie for mercy when with our own hands we have plucked down our Sanctuary We spill we cast away our right pretious medicine We must then be well advised what we do and be humbled very low for what we have done even to girding with sackcloth and wallowing in dust p Jer. 6. 26. For who is he that may not say even in this case Deliver me from bloud guiltinesse O Lord the God of my salvation q And blessed be God even the God of our salvation that we can in His Name go to bloud for pardon of this crimson sinne even the spilling of His Bloud for so three thousand did before us r Acts 2. And written it is for our example For when the stain of This Bloud was fresh on their hands and hearts too yet being pricked at their hearts for it even for the shedding of that Bloud they cryed to that Bloud and were pardoned And so having premised this I come to the question which hath two branches and so shall have a double answer briefly first to the first branch If these graces be wanting may I go Quest 1 It is not safe If thy case be so wanting upon the ballance Answ thou mayest more safely go to other ordinances for supply others there are appointed by God to cast down the loose and presumptuous as this serves to raise up the humble to nourish the faithfull Soul For tell me what communion hath a proud haughty person with an humbled Lord What hath an unbroken heart to do with a broken Christ What relish can a dead man take in the sweetest dainties What pardon can an implacable man expect from the Lord who paid our debt to the utmost farthing What comfort can that soul fetch from seeing bloud poured out for him who cannot at least poure out his soul in confessions before Him Answer thy self at this point for if I answer I must needs say though to the confusion of my own face that certainly there is required of every communicant that there be some Analogie proportion conformitie or agreement betwixt our hearts the frame of them and the great duty or imployment we are upon I mean thus That we bring mortified lusts before a crucified Lord a bruised spirit before a broken Body a soul fitly addressed to such a feast Some drops of mercy in a free and full forgivenesse of trespasses against us before such an Ocean of mercy swallowing up the guilt of so many trespasses against Him And surely though I define nothing at this point yet truth there is in what I say For I remember Chrysostome saith Å¿ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That Disciplâ—â— onely are to come to this holy Table such who are taught from Christs mouth and live according to what they are taught And the danger of not being such an one and yet coming to this feast is certainly very great too for the Father addes in that same place t 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That he would rather suffer his own heart bloud to be spilt then that he would give the bloud of Christ to a man of unclean hands of an impure life and known so to be to an unworthy Communicant and discovered to come unnworthily u 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 If the danger be such in giving then much more is the danger great in Receiving though indeed an impenitent person cannot be said properly to receive Christ but rather to reject Him But yet in proprietie of our speech we say he receives whereas so none can do truly and properly but a Disciple Therefore the Father resumes it again saying he must be a Disciple that comes to this feaâ—t If not I give and he receives but it is a sharp sword in stead of bread x 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mâ—tt 26. Hom 83. â—â— Quest 2. Answ So I leave it upon examination and passe to the second branch Thy worthinesse Do I come as a worthy guest No sure But this is the great enquiry what worthinesse If I had such a degree of sorrow such a measure of faith such a length of charitie then I should think I had some worthinesse in me then I could approach with some comfort This is the conceit and deceit too Indeed we must know there is a worthinesse in acceptation But we will make no mention thereof at this time none at all but for thy better instruction of His worthinesse onely for whose sake our unworthinesse is not imputed unto us For suppose thou haddest all Grace Repentance first Thou couldest gird thy self with sackcloth and as the Lord commands wallow in dust so loathing thy self and haddest all faith too even like pretious faith and all charitie which thou canst extend like the heavens as the Father expresseth and I cannot mention it too often suppose all this couldest thou then think thy self a worthy Communicant I trow not If thou wert worthy what shouldest thou do there It is a feast designed for the halt the lame the blinde for the faint for those that have no strength no worthinesse in themselves none at all If thou haddest not wants very many why shouldest thou come thither where is such a fulnesse Thou comest thither as to a well of salvation which never drains it self but into emptyvessels mark that And therefore the more thou art wanting the more likely nay out of all doubt thou shalt be filled He filleth the hungry the empty soul but the rich He sendeth empty away Therefore open not thy mouth mention not thy worthinesse but the worthinesse of the Lord Iesus Christ for He onely was found Worthy I remember Luthers words upon this point of Catechisme they are to this purpose This thought I am not prepared for this Supper I am an unworthy guest for this Table will make a man sit down astonished and keep him off for ever from approaching thereunto When we consider our worthinesse and the excellency of that Good which is offered there at that Table and then compare them together our wrothinesse is like a dark lanthorne compared to the cleare Sun Therefore let this be thy tryall here saith he Thou wantest a broken contrite heart but doest thou not in thy prayer pray * that is pray earnestly y 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tom. 6. de oratione a man may but James 5. 17. speak or prate in prayer as was said and so speak he may that he heares not himself and expects he that God should heare him saith Chrysostome doest thou not I say pray earnestly that the Lord would bruise it give thee a tender spirit sensible of all appearances of evill of all that may offend Thou feelest thy heart dedolent and hard the greatest of all evills but is it not thy burden and thy greatest sorrow that oppresseth thee that such a
Old-Age must recount and record the Mercies of the Lord and what deliverances Hee hath wrought for them in their way thitherward This is the first thing to be done even to sacrifice the sacrifice of thankesgiving and to declare his works also with rejoycing And Child I began the Register of Gods Mercies towards thee where thou tookest thy beginning and first entrance into the world at thy Birth and Baptisme There I considered thy outward frame of Body and inward frame of minde where I left off then there I begin now to teach thee to recall to minde and record the mercies of God to thee ever since that time And though this recording of Mercies be proper to every person that is growne up to the yeares of understanding and not to every Age only but to every yeare and month and weeke and day therein yet this is a duty which seemes more to presse upon us the more and the faster yeares doe presse on And therefore though it doth concerne All in generall and every age and person in speciall yet being specially intended because that which is spoken to all is counted as spoken to none I shall bend my words to Thee whom I must suppose now stricken in yeares the Sun of thy day farre passed the Meridian and its shaddow gone downe many degrees towards the place where anon it must set Thou must then consider how wonderfully the Lord hath maintained thy life and preserved the same ever since thy comming into the world and that this consideration may presse the more thou must consider what this life is and that of so small a bottome the Lord should spinne out so long a thred Had he not drawne it out of his owne power as the Spider doth her web out of her owne bowels it had been at an end the second minute The maintaining the Radicall Moysture that Oyle which feeds the Lampe and light of thy life is as great a miracle as was the maintaining the Oyle in the Cruse of the poore widow But He did not maintaine this life only and at His owne proper cost But defended and protected thee also tooke thee under His Wings as the hen doth her chickens to shelter thee from those many dangers thy life hath been exposed to We cannot tell how many but this thou must know that there are principalities and Powers both in the plurall number to shew they are Legions and in the Abstract to shew they are armed with power as they are swelled with malice And to this their malice and power thou wast liable every moment of thy life and thou hadst felt both their malice and their power as quick and fierce against thee as Iob and others have done if the Lord had not charged them concerning thee Touch her not and how canst thou be sufficiently thankfull for this Againe consider how many dangers and casualties thou hast scaped from the Earth the severall creatures on it from the Water from the Fire from the Aire also how often have the Arrowes of Death come whisking by thee Tooke away those next thee and yet have missed thee perhaps thou hast seene some Deare yeares of time as thy forefathers have done When a thousand have falne at thy right hand and ten thousand at thy left When Gods Arrests have seized upon some walking talking and yet have spared thee And if not so yet consider thine owne body and the humours thereof They had every day overflowne and drowned thee as the waters the earth if God had not said unto them stay your proud Waves In a word if thou consider what thy life is and the dangers thou art subject to thou must acknowledge that the preservation thereof is as great a wonder as to see a sparke maintained alive amidst the waters So Chrysostome speakes of Noah t 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tom. 5. ser 6. As great a wonder as to see a glasse that hath been in continuall use gone through many hands and hath had many knocks and fals to be kept for forty fifty sixty yeeres whole and unbroken As great a wonder as to see a Candle in a paper lanthorne in a strong windy night kept from being extinct when as we often see in many that a little cold comes but in at a little cranney and blowes their Candle out as Iob speakes Thus hath God kept thee and as it were in His hand carryed thee And in thy way how hath He crowned thee with His goodnesse and filled thy yeares with comforts so as they are more innumerable then are the Minutes of thy life Only thus thou must summe them up in the grosse That whatever comfort thou hast had in thy life time from Him thou receivedst it who puts in all the Sugar and delight we finde in or from the Creature as Ayre lights not without the Sunne nor wood heats without fire so neither can any condition comfort without God and with Him every condition is comfortable though seemingly never so discomfortable for He moderateth the discomfort it is like thou hast found it so so as we are not swallowed up of sorrow and He fashioneth the heart to that disconsolate condition and that condition to the heart so much it is very likly thou hast found also and it requires thy sad and serious consideration But more especially this thou must consider what have been the effects and fruits of all this goodnesse What thou hast returned to the Lord for all these All these what are these Nay it is not possible to reckon them up They that keepe a Register of Gods mercies some doe cannot set downe all the Receits of one Day much lesse of all their dayes so great is the summe of every particular day that we cannot reckon up the specialties thereof and call them by their names as God doth the Starres But put it to the Question and let thy heart make answer before him who tryeth the heart and searcheth the reines and will bring every secret thing to judgment The Oyle and radicall Balsome of thy life we spake of hath it been fuell to thy Thankfulnesse or hath it increased the fire of thy lusts Thou hast been preserved and delivered so long and so miraculously as thou hast heard and seene How hath Gods patience and longsuffering wrought upon thee Hath it brought thee nearer to repentance and so nearer to God Or hath thine heart been hardned thereby because sentence against an evill worke is not presently Eccles 8. 11. executed So as with that stubborne people whose sonnes and daughters naturally we are thou mayst say I have been delivered to doe more abominations v Ierem. 7. 10. Thou hast had mercies upon mercies they have been new unto thee every morning and for thy Sorrowes they have been mitigated too and so mixed that there was much mercy in them many ingredients of comfort to take of the sharpnesse and allay the bitter relish thereof What strong workings hast thou found
yet hath learnt so much as hath been said That the Lord giveth wisdome that His word or law instructs to discretion This mans case is not to be despaired of though it be towards the last houre for while breath is within the nostrils for ought we know there is a doore of grace and mercy open But yet this is a very sad and lamentable case For the longer a man walks on in the wayes of ignorance the more unwilling and unable he will be to return and be reformed custome in sinning exercising still more and more tyranny his understanding will be more darkned his judgement more perverted his will more stubborn his memorie more stuffed with sensuall notion his affections will become more rebellious his thoughts more earthly his heart more hardened his conscience more seared And so much considering the season that gray hairs are mingled with the black no time for delay now when before it be long there shall be no more time We must account that the long suffering of the Lord is salvation t 2. Pet. 3. 15. And let the conclusion hereof be an earnest prayer to the God of all grace that as His promise was unto His Church to v Joel 2. 25. restore the yeares that the locusts had eaten the Cankerworm and the Caterpiller So he would restore unto us the yeares which the ignorance of childehood the vanities of youth the negligence of age have consumed There is another period of this age the burden whereof is II. labour and sorrow Barzillai lived to those yeares full fourescore and what saith he I x 2. Sam. 19. cannot taste what I eat or what I drink a question in the sacred tongue is a strong affirmation I heare not the voice of singing wherefore then should thy servant be yet a burden how long have I to live a question we should often put to our selves which would answer all solicitations from the world and flesh and put them to silence how long have I to live That is how very short is the remnant of my mortalitie yet a very little while y 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heb. 10. 37. and I must hence what should I think of now but of my death and of my grave what are pleasures or earthly contentments unto me so feelingly spoke that old man The many decayes infirmities that accompany this age are fully set down by the preacher Eccles 12. Amongst those many one expression there is very full and significant as our English renders it verse 5. The grashopper shall be a burden In the Originall the words imply no more but the curvature of the back which with men of such yeares stands bent like a Grashopper and that makes an old mans gate the more burdensome The words may imply also according to the common construction that every thing even the lightest to an old man is burdensome If he creep up to his bed and down from it though to repaire his decayes yet even this is burdensome even delights to others to him are tiresome he takes no delight in the Grashopper nay it is a burden that is saith Tremellius that pleasant season of the yeer when we heare the Grashopper yeelds no pleasure to him none at all he hath quite lost his taste and relish now in those things which to others are pleasurable c. And yet if the grave meet us not in our way hitherto as commonly it doth before we come so farre and prevent our expectation it is larger in nothing then in the issue of this age and in the account we hope to give up at that time This is our greet folly For how bad stewards soever we have been of our fore-past time yet at this time we hope to lay our reckonings even and so to give up our account with joy Though we have turned from God all our dayes yet we have a sure and certain hope in our conceit that we shall turn unto Him and He will turn unto us at this time when indeed we are not able to turn our selves upon our bed And naturally for it is but Nature seeking its own preservation naturally I say and usually men do make fair offers essayes and promises this way at such a time as this when they see themselves dropping into the grave But we must note as one before us and for our use z B. Andrews on Psal 78. verse 34. that this time is the time when all Hypocrites Atheists tag and rag come in and seek Him For who is it that will not look out for a dwelling when he sees his old house dropping down upon his head Who will not cry out for mercy mercy when he seeth the doore shutting upon him and if he speaks not now he must hold his peace for ever Who will not desire that earnestly to live for ever with the Lord now that he sees he must die So true it is that this is the time when all even the worst of all do seek unto God and will turn unto Him But we must note also that this is not our time nor is it the time when God usually opens unto us 1. It is not our time to seek when we are not in case to seek any thing else It is not our time to turn to Him when we are not able to turne our selves in our bed not our time to rise earely to seek Him so we must if in an ordinary way we look to finde Him when we are not able to rise at all not our time to enquire after Him when breath faileth us and we are not able to speake three words together What ever our words are and â—ow pious soever whatever offers we make towards heaven it will be suspected to be slavish and extorted for feare of the Pale horse and that which follows It is not to be doubted but at such a pinch as this something we would say and something we would do which might do our selves good But what or how can we do to purpose when our strength is gone our spirits spent our senses appaled the shadow of death upon our eyes This time is not our time 2. Nor is it Gods time to heare In the Law the Lord forbad that torne flesh should be offered unto Him it was allotted for the dogs a Exod. 22. 31. Mal. 1. v. 13. But such a like sacrifice are our prayers and our praises at such a time as this as torne flesh broken divided and interrupted they must needs be when our heart within us is as Lead and our sighes beat as thick as a swift pulse The Lord ever refused the torne blind and the lame for a sacrifice It was not beseeming our Governour b Mal. 1. v. 8. a man like our selves In case to Him it was offered he would not accept of the same much lesse will God accept our torn divided sacrifice our refuse our Lees or dregs bottome dotage That which was dogs meat that