pleased to discover better things to you so as to make you renounce your former ways and to make choice of another way in which your souls have found other maner of comforts and satisfactions and contentments then ever you did before bless God as David did Blessed be the Lord that hath given me counsel and made me to understand aright So may such a soul say for had I been left to the counsels of mine own heart I know what should have become of me I have as vile a heart as any and my heart did take as much delight in the flesh as any and I should have gone on God knows whither and might by this time have plunged my self into the bottomless pit my friends would have given me other counsels to harden me in my ways of sinful pleasure but blessed be God that hath over-powered my heart How many do I see every day whose parts of nature exceed mine and yet they are mistaken in the things that concern their everlasting welfare they minde no other things but the pleasures of the flesh and stumble at the meanness of Gods people and this hides the beauty of godliness from their eyes and what a great mercy is this that God hath taken this stumbling block from me and that he hath opened mine eyes to see pearls though wrapped up in rotten rags and to see the excellency of godliness notwithstanding all afflictions that do attend upon them Certainly it is no other but a beam of Gods own light from Heaven that hath shined into thy heart It is a remarkable passage that we have Esay 44. 20 21. where God shewing the difference between those who forsook the true God and his people who chose him to be their God stirs up his people to remember for ever this mercy of God towards them that they should be delivered from the deceit and vanity whereby others were deluded and guided in a right and safe way to be the servants of the blessed God As for the Idolater he feedeth upon ashes a deceived heart hath turned him aside that he cannot deliver his soul nor say Is there not a lye in my right hand Now mark what follows Remember these O Jacob and Israel for thou art my servant c. As if he should say Do you see how others have left God and God hath left them They feed upon ashes a seduced heart hath deceived them but it is otherwise with you God hath put it into your hearts to be my servants to choose me for your God Remember for ever these things O Jacob here is a mercy indeed never to be forgotten How comes it to pass that your hearts should not be so seduced as theirs it is Gods free grace and rich mercy towards you And his mercy is the greater in that it is in such a weighty thing that the Lord hath given thee counsel to make a right choice in If a man makes an ill choice in a matter that is of moment that will bring him trouble in his life how is he grieved as in marriage when he is to make choice in that one thing upon which he knows the comfort or trouble of his life does much depend if the Lord hath so provided for him that he hath made a good choice onely in that how does he bless God it is that which sweetens all his life If it be such a mercy to be guided to make a good choice in marriage what a mercy is it to be guided to make a good choice for ones soul to be happy to all eternity if the Lord should leave a soul in that choice what a lamentable condition had the soul been in And therefore those that have any savour of godliness if they be to change the condition of their lives they will seek God and be earnest that God would guide them and not leave them to themselves and take advantage to punish their former sins in their choice now If you be to make a choice that concerns the outward comforts of your lives you will earnestly desire God not to leave you there Now you are to make your choice for your eternal condition if God should leave you now what a lamentable condition would you be in as he does leave most in the world As soon as we come to years of discretion we come to make our choice to go on in the ways of God or in the ways of death How many yong ones make a woful choice in the beginning and go on and are hardened in their choice and perish for ever And hath the Lord looked upon you and considered how like you would be to fail in your choice And hath the Lord been pleased to come in with his Spirit and a light from Heaven to shew you the way Have you heard a voyce from heaven saying This is the way walk in it Though God should leave you in all outward things yet you are made for ever and therefore thou mayest say as Judas not Iscariot Lord wherefore is it that thou revealest thy self to us and not to the world Lord wherefore is it that in this great business of my choice that concerns my eternal estate thou art pleased to reveal thy self to me a poor contemptible creature rather then to the world 1. Hence it is because thou art one of the chosen ones of the Lord because the Lord hath made a choice of thee and hath separated thee from all eternity to do good to thy soul hence it is manifest that thou art the chosen one of the Lord when thou seest most in the world to follow the pleasures of the world if God hath given thee a heart to choose his ways upon any terms take this as an argument that thou art a chosen vessel of God Reciprocal signs of Gods grace are the most sweet as if I love God this is an argument God loves me if Gods honor be dear to me then my soul is near to God so if I choose God then God hath chosen me 2. This choice is that for which thousands of Gods people have blessed God upon their death-beds they counted it a blessed time and blessed the means the Word and the Instrument that God was pleased to work by to incline their hearts to such a choice as this 3. Yea this choice of thine though it be suffering affliction it is that thou shalt bless God for to all eternity in the highest Heavens it is such a great mercy as this little poor span-long life of ours is not sufficient to give God glory for it therefore there is an eternity reserved to praise God for it when thou shalt see what good comes of thy choice then thou shalt bless God indeed Certainly God takes it well at thy hands now Jer. 2. 2. I remember the kindeness of thy youth and the love of thine espousals when thou wentest after me in the wilderness God takes it kindely that men will choose him and his
acknowledge we do not know what the ways of wisdom mean if we do not subscribe to this truth that her ways are ways of pleasantness Ways of pleasantness they are and this pleasantness that is in her ways hath abundance of excellencies in it Very many I thought to have spoken of and enlarged take onely the very mention of them because I must not be too long and then we will answer to some quaeres and apply all and so conclude For the excellent properties of this pleasantness it is that which is the sweetest soul-satisfying pleasantness the very rule it self is sweet sweeter then honey oh how sweet is the souls acting by it it hath the very quintessence of all other delights extracted in it it is the most solid such as hath not vanity and froth in it as other delights have it is such a delight as ennobles the soul it spiritualizeth the heart it is immixt not dangerous as others are it is abiding not vanishing it is continually virid and fresh though there is a fulness in it yet it grows not to satiety by use but grows more and more sweet for it raiseth and enlargeth the faculty it is Heavenly it is divine it is independent in regard of the creature there needs no sharking out to the creature for the upholding it all other delights depend on this there is no pleasure had but in the ways of godliness Una guttula malae conscientiae totum marae mundani gaudii absorbet One drop of an evil conscience swallows up the whole Sea of worldly joy says Luther but one drop of this delight is enough to sweeten all sorrows one drop of gall will imbitter much sweet but one drop of sweet cannot sweeten much gall but here it is otherwise one drop of this sweet sweetens all bitterness of afflictions but all the bitter of afflictions cannot imbitter one drop of this delight Yea this pleasure is the rule of all pleasure and the end of all pleasure whatsoever pleasure is not regulated by this and subordinate to this is evil But how are the ways of wisdom the ways of pleasantness It appears otherwise for the ways of godliness do abridge men of abundance of pleasure and delight in many things in the world What is so great an enemy to the pleasures of men and women as Religion It causeth them to be cut short of abundance of delightful things that others rejoyce in To that I answer first Suppose it were so you heard in the commendation that the pleasantness of the ways of godliness was exceeding great that it hath that excellency in it to make up whatsoever pleasure it wants Though it should cut you short of abundance of pleasure if it shall put a principle that shall enable you to stand in no need of that pleasure it cuts you short of what have you lost As suppose a man that is weak and hath little blood or spirits in him and is chill and cold and puts on many clothes to keep himself warm if these clothes should be al taken away save only his inward garment if there could be put into him spirits and blood and marrow and that which should make him not to be sensible of the want of his clothes it is a great deal better What man that is weak and sickly and is fain to have abundance of clothes to keep him warm would not be willing to part with his clothes if he might have spirits and blood put into him not to feel the want of those clothes So why is it that your hearts are set upon the delight of the creature because you want a principle within to satisfie your souls withal and therefore you are fain to seek the cloathing of the creature and to keep your selves warm with the cloathing of the creature but if Religion take away those things and give you a principle not to feel the want of them but have them made up another way and better you have no cause to complain of the want of pleasantness Secondly I answer that godliness abridges us of no lawful pleasure if it abridges of any it is delightfulness to want those delights that godliness abridges us of What hast thou delight in that which is sinful if it be not sinful Religion does not abridge thee of it onely such delights in which thou dishonorest God and provokest him against thee But secondly How are the ways of God ways of pleasantness when they require abundance of humiliation trouble for sin and is not that bitter and grievous To that I answer First there is more sweetness in that which thou callest bitterness then in all the delightfulness of the world besides those waters Christ does turn into wine And to convince you that these are not bitter waters but that the tears of repentance and humiliation are sweet refreshing waters of life consider from what fountain they come First the work of humiliation if it be right the principle of it is the melting work of the Gospel in the soul the sweetness of the goodness and mercy of God in Jesus Christ melting the heart and causing it to dissolve and fall down under the hand of God certainly that which comes from such a sweet principle cannot have much bitterness in it Secondly the soul in the work of humiliation melting before the Lord eases it self in that melting of abundance of sin and much sweetness there must needs be in those tears that ease the soul of and deliver the soul from much sin Thirdly in the work of humiliation there is much delight because the soul hath much delight in looking back to that sorrow it hath had and if godliness makes mourning to be delightful what does it make rejoycing to be But if it be said in the third place But there are many hardthings that Gods people do meet withal in the ways of godliness and the ways of godliness put them upon such things as cause them to meet with sore temptations and trials here in the world how then can the ways of godliness be so pleasant To that I answer Here is a mighty commendation to the pleasantness of the ways of Religion notwithstanding the hardest and sorest things a godly heart meets with there is that delight in the ways of godliness as upholds the heart under all and carries the heart sweetly on What commendation was it to the grace in the hearts of the Martyrs that did uphold their hearts and carry their hearts sweetly in the enduring of such hard things Secondly these being hard to flesh and blood hinder not the pleasure of a gracious heart it is the highest improvement of all our estates that can be the highest testimony of giving your respect to God whereby the soul enjoys most of God all times The Spirit of God and glory resteth upon the soul while it is enduring such things And how opposite is thy heart and
but what if it does prove that this way of mirth and delight to the flesh shall procure unto thee Gods laughing and Gods mocking at thee in thy anguish and greatest distress that ever thy soul shall be in Certainly if thou walkest in the way thou art in this will be thy portion mark that place in Prov. 1. 24. what God says I have called and you refused I have stretched out my hand and no man regarded but ye have set at naught all my counsel and would none of my reproof I also will laugh at your calamity I will mock when your fear cometh c. Be it known unto thee that in whatsoever sin thou blessest thy self the more thou blessest thy self in it the more cursed shall it be unto thee What comfort will the pleasures of the flesh be to thee when as Christ shall come and say Was I content to part with the pleasures of Heaven the bosome of my Father to redeem poor man and was it not the pleasure of a little meat and drink thou couldst be content to part with for me Could I be content to part with my blood and couldst not thou be content to part with thy lusts Was not all my sufferings worthy of enduring those little things thou wert called to suffer in thy life What was not all that glory of mine that I revealed in my word and works sufficient to shew me to be worthy that thou shouldst have given such a testimony of thy respect and honor to me as to be willing to part with such empty poor slight things and to suffer such poor little things When God shall bring the Saints before thee that did make a better choice and thou shalt see them to be in a most glorious blessed condition and thou thy self cast off for ever how will this confound thee another day Consider of this you that have made an ill choice now while it is time consider of the evil of the folly of the danger of the cursedness of that choice that you have made in that you have chosen rather to give content to your flesh then the ways of godliness Wherefore for the following of this in a word of exhortation CHAP. XIV The drawing mens hearts to a happy choice THe Lord then perswade thy heart to change thy choice change it or else thou art lost better thou hadst never been born then that thou shouldst not change thy choice O that now thou hadst wisdom for eternity whatsoever your ways have been now at last in this your day learn to know the evil of them to renounce them to embrace the ways of godliness and let it be sufficient that you have spent so much time in the ways of sin and giving content to your flesh O that this may be the day of your new choice that you may bless God for this day that God did this day dart in some truths to turn the streams of thy soul another way to make another choice that there might be before thou goest out of the presence of God a secret frame of spirit surrendring thy soul unto God being convinced of thy evil choice and say O Lord how have I lived What hath my course been the Lord knows my course hath been to give content to my flesh and to live bravely in my life now God begins to make me afraid lest I have been in a dangerous false way the Lord have mercy upon me what have I done Is it not time to look about me I have all this time miscarried in the choice of my soul for my everlasting estate I have chosen the ways of death all this while O that the fear of God might fall upon your hearts this day and then the promise of God is Psal 25. 12. Who is the man that feareth the Lord him will he teach in the way that he shall choose The fear of God will put you into a teachable frame and the Lord delights to teach such and surely it is an unspeakable blessing of God to be taught in the way of our choice How happy were it if the Lord would put a reasoning frame into your hearts that you might begin to ponder and weigh things and if spiritual arguments cannot prevail yet let us see whether they you reasonable Creatures or no Esay 46. 8. Remember and shew your selves men bring to minde O ye transgressors Come let us reason together Is there not infinite reason for Gods ways more then those ways you have walked in Is not God infinitely worthy of honor and praise from you other maner of honor and praise then he hath had from you your own consciences being judges Hath not God given you immortal souls and are they not capable of better things then these things that you have chosen for your chiefest good Hath not God made you for a higher end then to eat and drink and play What did the blessed Trinity consult to make a glorious creature Come let us make man according to our own image and when this great work is done is he made for no other end then to eat and drink and commit wickedness What is not man to live by rule indeed no creatures but Angels and men have a rule to walk by no creature is capable of knowing a rule but they What if so be that now thou wert to dye what would comfort thee if God should put an end to thy days and call thee to an account for thy ways what account couldst thou give to the great and dreadful God of thy ways and life would thy ways be peace It may be thou thinkest thou mayest have thy pleasure and that which is spoken out of the word by the Ministers thou canst avoid and there are no such things as thou hearest but what if those things that we deliver concerning the evil of sin and the danger of that way of sin should prove true then wo unto thee if all thy comfort depends upon this thou hopest these things that we preach are not true and is not this all the support of thy comfort which if it fail thou art lost for ever Certainly if that glory of God and that eternal estate we preach so much of be true it is worth the venturing of the loss of greater pleasures and delights then any thou hast in thy seeking after them make but a supposition What if it should be so is it not worth the venturing You will do so in other things the very supposition of a great gain or possibility of great evil will make you venture much God does not call you to venture much they are poor things that you are perswaded to leave and be not too confident in your way all that is written in the word may be true and if it be but possible yet be so wise as upon a supposition to venture O that you would make tryal of the ways of God! If once your hearts were in them whereby you would be satisfied
further consider what a great deal of good there is in bearing reproaches patiently First there is a great deal of honor in it There is more honor in bearing reproaches patiently then there is disgrace in having them cast wrongfully upon you now what do you lose then Suppose there be hot water and I put so much cold to it it loses its warmth but if I put more warm then cold to it then the water hath lost nothing of its warmness So suppose you be reproached and God brings more honor then the reproach did scandal then you have lost nothing Every fool can cast reproach but it is the part of a wise man to bear it well Again if we can bear reproaches patiently what a quiet will it be to our hearts otherwise we should never be quiet for we live amongst those that will cast reproaches and unless we can get power this way we shall never have comfortable lives and we should think it much that the comfort and quiet of our lives should lie at the mercy of others Thirdly the bearing of reproaches patiently is a mighty help to the progress of godliness in us As those that have overcome the evil of shame in a way of sin grow mightily hardned in their sins so those that have got that strength to go on in the ways of God so as not much to regard any reproach that is cast upon them in that way they will mightily grow in those ways Lastly consider there is much danger in being honored by men and in many regards the honors of men are as much if not more to be feared then their contempts and dishonors Luther writing to a friend of his says He would not have the glory and fame of Erasmus my greatest fear is the praises of men but my joy is in their reproaches and evil speeches CHAP. XXXIII What we should do that we may be able to bear reproach BUt you will say these arguments may move us to do it and convince us we should do it but how shall we do it First be sure to keep conscience clear that that do not upbraid thee be careful of what you do and then you need not be much careful of what men say if conscience do not reproach you reproach without will not much move you consciences testimony for thee is more then ten thousand slanders against thee As the storms and winds without do not move the earth but vapors within that causes earthquakes As Ambrose says of David he was not much troubled with Shimei's railing because his conscience did abound with good works If thou canst say with Job Chap. 27. 6. My heart shall not reproach me as long as I live thou art safe enough from the evil of reproach Secondly if you be failing in any thing begin with your selves before any begin with you accuse your selves before God first so some interpret that place in Psal 119. I am wiser then my enemies though my enemies are witty and do plot and their malice do help them with invention yet I am wiser I can finde out the ways of my own heart and my own evils better then all my enemies Thirdly Christians should exercise themselves in great things in the things of God and Christ and eternity and labor to greaten their spirits in a holy maner and be above reproach It was a speech of Seneca Men that know their greatness are not troubled with reproaches he will think himself above reproach And therefore if our spirits be truly greatned not with pride but with the exercising of our spirits in things that are above the world reproaches would be nothing in our eyes It is a notable expression that St. John hath against the evil tongue of Diotrephes Ep. 3. ver 10. He prates against us with malicious words in the Original it is he trifles although his words were malicious and Diotrephes a great man yet all was but trifles so high was St. Johns spirit above them Aquinas gives two figns of a weak spirited man one that he delights in light and foolish words a second that he cannot endure contempt such a man says he although he should work miracles yet he is beneath the perfection of vertue his spirit hath no true greatness in it The sinking of the heart under reproaches or to be put out of the way by them argues too vile a pusillanimity such a poor low spirit as is not consistent with the true magnanimity of a Christian Gulielmus Parisiensis in his Treatise De virtutibus hath notable Expressions to this purpose Little things saith he yea meer nothings cast down poor weak spirited men The words of vain men are small things whosoever fears such words so as to do evil or to leave off good are the weakest of men these are like unto Soldiers who are cast down and overcome not with some violent strong tempest but with some small weak puff of winde these are the more ridiculous and not to be reckoned amongst Warriers nay they are not to be reckoned amongst men who fall off for fear of words which yet have not been spoken as if a man should fall for fear of the wind which yet blows not such are those who dare not do good or leave evil for fear of reproaches Fourthly another means is to make your moan to God and lay your case before him as Hezekiah when Rabshekah came and reviled God and the people of God he went and spread the letter before God and made his moan before God If we can do so there will be that satisfaction to our souls that is unspeakable and that will be a great argument of our innocency Many will say Oh they are innocent and God knows their hearts but can you go and make your moan before God when you are reproached and acquaint God with the cause and receive refreshment that way as Job 16. 20. My friends scorn me but mine eyes pour out tears to God And David Psal 109. 1 2. Hold not thy peace O God of my praise for the mouth of the wicked and the mouth of the deceitfal are opened against me they have spoken against me with a lying tongue they have compassed me about with words of hatred they are mine adversaries but I prayer for so the words are in the Original not I give my self but onely thus but I prayer as if he should say as for my part all that I do to help my self withal is to pray to God and make my moan Others have their evil tongues to help them and run to this witness and that witness to seek to help themselves but I prayer Psal 57. 2 3. I cry unto God most high he shall send from heaven and save me from reproach of him that would swallow me up Selah God shall send forth his mercy and truth A carnal heart hath no way to deliver it self but by reproaches again by
resolved to command the clouds not to rain and from whom he would take the hedge of his protection Esay 5. but after the captivity he speaks otherwise of it Esay 27. 2 3. In that day sing ye unto her a Vineyard of red wine which was the best wine now the Lord will keep it and water it every moment I have read of a Fountain that at noon-day is cold at midnight it grows warm it is thus with many they are coldest in their prosperity and the nights of afflictions contract their heat and intends it fire never burns so hot as in frosty weather The winter time of affliction sometimes proves to be the most fruitful time of a Christians life contrary to the work of nature for all things seem dead then and they flourish and grow onely in the Summer but a Christians Winter is sometime better then his Summer grace flourishes and grows most in his Winter Our Benoni's sons of sorrow prove oftentimes our best Benjamins sons of our right hand the best corn is that which lies under the clods in frost and snow Paul rejoyced much in Onesimus whom he had begotten in his bonds Philem. ver 10. Basil in his Sermon upon the forty Martyrs calls them the stars of the world the flowers of the Church And Chrysostome upon Acts 12. speaking of those who were praying for Peter in the night says That they were made by afflictions more pure then the Heaven And some of the Ancients as Chrysostom and Salvian have called afflictions the mother of Vertue Manasses his chain was more profitable to him then his Crown Hebr. 12. 10. God is said to chastise his people for their profit that they might be partakers of his holiness God communicates of his own holiness unto the souls of his people by their chastisements in a special maner love is often encreased in affliction sheep run together when the dog is set on them after the Church was delivered from violent persecution it suffered much by divisions the very bowels were rent by their dissentions it was then in a worse condition then before the fire of their dissentions being worse then the fire of their persecutions the one hindred but the other furthered their growth John 15. 2. Every branch in me my Father purgeth that it may bring forth more fruit as Vines are made fruitful by pruning so are Gods people by the pruning knife of afflictions and hence it is when the Lord hath some great employment some great service for any of his people he first sends them unto and trains them in the school of afflictions as Joseph and David And as our Benoni's our sons of sorrows that which we get out of our sorrows proves oftentimes our chiefest Benjamins so Gods chiefest Benjamins whom he useth as the sons of his right hand in special services are first Benoni's sons of sorrow There is a great deal of difference says Luther between a Divine in outward pomp and a Divine under the cross It is a rare thing to have any mans eyes opened as Jonathans were by tasting of honey by prosperity but in afflictions many are afflictions prove to them as the clay to the poor mans eyes that gave him sight They that are afflicted do better understand Scripture says Luther but those who are secure in their prosperity read them as a verse in Ovid. Amongst many others this is one special means whereby an afflicted condition comes to be useful for the encrease of grace because in it the soul gains much experience experience of God and of his ways experience of the good there is in and faithfulness of his word as we read Psal 107. Those who go down into the Sea see the wonders of the Lord much more those who come into the seas of troubles and afflictions how do they see the wonders of the Lord they can tell their friends much of the wonders of the Lord towards them so Israel in the time of trouble cryes out Hos 8. 2. My God we know thee now we know thee otherwise then before we did and experience of the evil of sin It was a speech of a Germane Divine in his sickness Gasper Olevianus In this disease I have learned how great God is and what the evil of sin is I never knew what God was to purpose before nor what sin meant When God spake to Job out of the whirlwind cap. 38. he answers cap. 40. 3 4. Behold I am vile what shall I answer thee I will lay my hand upon my mouth And experience likewise of our weakness and the vanity of the Creature more now then ever Psal 39. 11. When thou with rebukes doest correct man thou makest his beauty to consume away like a moth surely every man is vanity Selah he can then say Surely and that with a Selah that every man is vanity It is very observable that of all the seven churches that Christ wrote unto in the second third Chapters of the Revelations there are onely two which he charges no evil upon the Church of Smyrna and the Church of Philadelphia and these two were exercised with much trouble as the Church of Smyrna cap. 2. 9. is said to have endured much tribulation and to be in poverty yet Christ commends her and says she is rich her poverty made her rich her tribulations made her glorious in the eyes of Christ And the Church of Philadelphia cap. 3. 8 10. she had but a little strength she was in a low poor afflicted contemptible condition yet she denyed not the name of Christ she kepe the word of Christs patience that word for which she suffered much being strengthened thereunto by the patience she received from Jesus Christ Seventhly afflictions preserve from much sin they are blessed preventing physick our falls into sore afflictions keep us from falls into sin Hosea 2. 6. God says he will hedge the way of his people if the hedge of the command will not keep us from transgression it is a mercy for God to hedge in our way by another hedge the hedge of afflictions they are blessed stumbling blocks cast in the way of sin to hinder us in it I have read of Augustine that once by wandring out of his way he escaped one who lay in wait to mischieve him it falls out so many times with us if afflictions did not put us out of our way we should fall into the power of some sin or other which would mischieve us Gregory saith of Solomon that he left the house of wisdom because the discipline of afflictions did not preserve him Salt brine preserves from putrifaction the salt marshes keep the sheep from the rot Eightly by afflictions decayed grace comes to be recovered These are Gods files that file off the rust of security Physitians use to cure a Lethargy by putting their patient into a feaver the spiritual Lethargy of security is often cured by
hot and strong afflictions When men are in a swound we use to nip and pinch them and strike them and cast cold water upon their faces Gods strokes and the cold water of afflictions being sanctified by him recover many from spiritual swounds many who have so far decayed in their spiritual vigor and activeness that they have seemed to be even dead yet they have been recovered this way Job 36. 15. God opens their ears in oppression many mens ears are clogged up with the world but when God gives them up for a while to the oppressions of men then their ears are opened It is good for me saith David that I was afflicted for before I went astray but now have I learned thy word In the 2. Hosea God threatens the Church to strip her naked and to set her as in the day that she was born and to make her as a wilderness to hedge her way with thorns and thus the Lord did to that Church but mark what he says shal be the fruit of all verse 7. Then shall she say I will go and return unto my first husband for then was it better with me then it is now When Absolom sent for Joab once and again yet he came not unto him until Absolom caused his corn fields to be set on fire and then he comes God speaks and calls to his people who are grown secure once and again but they neglect God until God comes with the fire of afflictions and then they come Afflictions are like the prick at the Nightingales brest that awakes her and puts her upon her sweet and delightful singing Gulielmus Parisensis saith of Musk when it hath lost its sweetness if it be put into the sink amongst filth it recovers it this he applyed to decayed grace in the times of afflictions in afflictions it revives and recovers Ninthly afflictions are of great use to mortifie lusts to purge out filth and corruption Isa 27. 9. By this shall the iniquity of Jacob be purged and this is all the fruit thereof When Physitians purge the body they purge out that which is good as well as that which is evill but when God purges in the sanctified use of afflictions he onely purges out the evil this is all the fruit thereof As Aloes kills worms so do bitter afflictions crauling lust in the heart Cold and hard winters do destroy much vermine which otherwise would be very noisom so cold and hard afflictions vermine lusts Violent storms and thunder clear the air strong afflictions clarifie the heart by them we are as it were poured from vessel to vessel from whence the ill savour of our heart-distempers comes to be taken away Ier. 48. 11. Foul and stained cloathes are made white by laying abroad in cold frosty nights so the defiled heart Salt marshes purge rank humours so do the saltness of afflictions rank lusts Men let their armour lye rusting by them in the time of peace but in the time of war they scour all bright to make fit for service so mens hearts in the time of peace grow foul but in times of trouble they are then cleansed It is a great mercy to have the act of sin hindered afflictions are very useful for this and therefore Hosea 2. 6. they are as you heard called a hedge of thorns whereby the ways to sin are hedged up but to have the inward lusts mortified this is a greater good All the Prophets preachings could not purge the Jews from idolatry so as the Babylonish captivity it is observed never since that time have idols been found amongst them Tenthly Gods people are often in an afflicted condition as chastisements for their sins they bring many evils upon themselves by their loose walkings by their indiscretions by their pride by their selfseeking by their forwardness by their wilfulness and worldliness God chastens even whom he loves the Apostle tells the Corinthians that they were chastened of the Lord that they might not be condemned with the world Those whom God would never condemn yet he will chasten God will have his children feel something of the evil of their sins and will have them and others see how displeasing sin is to him in the fruits of his displeasure upon those who are his beloved ones who are exceeding dear and precious in his eyes because the Lord is careful of his honour therefore if his children sin he will chastise them hence the Greek word for chastisement signifies care of honour GODS children may come to be children under anger though not children of wrath yea God usually holds a more strict hand over his people then over any he quickly brings them under the rod when he lets other go on and rot in their sins yet he comes not upon his children as a revenging Judge to destroy the person for the sins sake but as a gracious Father to destroy the sin for the persons sake he is angry that they have sinned but especially angry that they might sin no more Eleventhly that which God ayms at in the afflictions of his people is to make them conformable to Christ their head that they may enter into their glory as Christ did into his Ought he not to suffer these things and so to enter into his glory Luke 24. 26. We read of S. Paul Phil. 3. 10. that he earnestly desired to be partaker of the fellowship of Christs sufferings and to be conformable to his death God will have a conformity to the death of his Son We read of Godfrey of Bulloin that he would not be crowned in Jerusalem with a crown of gold where Christ was crowned with a crown of thorns because he would not have such a great disproportion between him and Christ It is reported of Origen when Alexander Severus the Emperor sent for him he appearing to be meanly cloathed there were divers costly garments prepared for him and sent to him but he refused them and when he came near to Rome there was a Mule and a Chariot sent for him that he might choose which liked him best but he refused them likewise and would not go in pomp to the Emperor saying He was less then his Master Christ of whom he never read that he rode but once Twelfthly the afflictions of Gods people are in just judgement a rock of offence and a stumbling block to the ungodly Christ in regard of the afflictions that attend the profession of the Gospel is said to be a rock of offence and so appointed for the fall of many Luke 2. 34. How many thousands perish because they are offended at the mean afflicted persecuted estate of Christ in this life Thy heart is set upon vanity and outward pomp this persecuted estate of godliness is thy stumbling block at which God in his wrath lets thee stumble that thou mightest fall break thy neck and perish for ever hence is that speech of Christ Blessed are they that are not offended in me O
great deal of evil and misery and wrath in being suffered to go on with delight and pleasure in a sinful way Bernard says when God spares men in a sinful way it is because God is not onely angry with men but hates them he calls his mercy more cruel then all indignation Origen in his Sermon upon Ex. 20. quotes that place Hos 4. 14. I will not punish your daughters when they commit whoredom and he hath this pathetical expression upon it God chastiseth every soul whom he loveth but would you hear the terrible voyce of Gods indignation hear him by the Prophet Hosea when he had reckoned up many wicked things which the people had committed and he adds this I will not visit your daughters when they commit whoredom this is terrible this is in the height And Bernard speaking of the same thing in the 42 Sermon upon the Canticles At the hearing onely of this says he I tremble then God is most angry when he shews no anger God keep me from this mercy this kinde of mercy is worse then all anger Luther hath an expression much like upon the 37. of Genesis O unhappy and miserable men whom God leaves to themselves not resisting their lusts wo to them whose sins God seems to wink at And Jerome writing to a sick friend hath this expression I account it a part of unhappiness not to know adversity I judge you to be miserable because you have not been miserable Bernard in his Book de consolat cap. 3. Freedom from punishment is the mother of security the step-mother of vertue the poyson of Religion the moth of holiness Yea this was seen by the purblinde eyes of the Heathen Seneca in his fourth Chapter of his Book of Providence hath the same words that before was said of Jerome I judge him miserable that was never miserable And Demetrius Nothing seems more unhappy to me then he to whom no adversity hath happened It were easie to multiply abundance in this kinde it may be testimonies of men may have some force to prevail with such who are given up by God to their pleasures to the enjoyment of earthly prosperity and sensual delights certainly they are not so happy as they judge themselves to be that which God denies to another in mercy he may give thee in wrath And thus much for this I come to that which is a main thing in Moses choyce CHAP. XI Afflicted godliness is better then delightful wickedness NOtwithstanding both these though Gods people are afflicted and the wicked have pleasure yet afflicted godliness is better then delightful wickedness It is better to joyn with Gods people in a way of godliness in all afflictions then to enjoy all the pleasures that possibly any man in the world can have in any way of sin the tears of the godly are better then all the jollities of the wicked it is an expression of an Ancient The very tears of those that are seeking of God are more sweet then the joys that any have in the world the worst part of godliness is better then the best part of any way of sin though Christ be a crucified Christ and bring never such afflictions hard things to his people yet he is more delightful to them then all the pleasures that are in the earth and delightful in another way It is a notable speech Luther hath I had rather fall with Christ then stand with Caesar rather suffer any thing in the world with Christ then stand and enjoy all the pleasure of Caesars Court. Thus a godly man a gracious heart considering and musing of things and laying one thing with another had rather have affliction with the people of God then enjoy all the pleasures of the world for a season Now the main work in this point is to shew unto you how a godly heart doth reason with its self and cast about its self as it were to bring himself and his thoughts to this issue to choose rather afflicted godliness then all the pleasure of sin First it casts about what the ways of godliness are Secondly what those afflictions are that do attend the ways of godliness Thirdly it casts about what the ways of sin are and what the afflictions and pleasures are that do attend upon them and puts them into a ballance and compares them both together and so makes its choyce First a gracious heart considers the ways of godliness If I walk in them then I walk with God I live to the honor of the blessed God who is infinitely worthy of all honor and praise from his Creature those ways are the ways of infinite wisdom they are the ways of holiness of righteousness in those ways I attain to that end for which I was made Secondly in those ways I enjoy peace peace of conscience to my soul whatsoever trouble I meet withal abroad I am sure I shall have peace within a little with outward peace is better then a great deal where outward peace is wanting Eccles 4. 6. Better is a handful with quietness then both the hands full with travel and vexation of spirit A little with outward quiet is better then a great deal with vexation if a man be in a quiet family a little there is better then to be where there is a great deal with frowardness and vexation surely a little is better with inward peace with peace of conscience then a great deal without wherefore these ways wherein I walk with Gods people though the world may rage and persecute I shall have joy in my own spirit A good conscience will be a continual feast while they rail conscience will encourage Thirdly again when I walk in these ways my soul shall enjoy the love of God and that little I have I shall have it in love and from the love of God Now thy love O Lord is better then wine better then all the comforts of the world The Lord satisfies his people with love as with marrow and fatness a little that the soul hath that comes from the love of God by vertue of a promise how sweet is it how sweet is sleep when it comes from that promise Thou wilt give thy beloved sleep and all comes this way I have all in the love of God though I have but a little in the world and though I be in affliction am short of that which others have Fourthly and in those ways my soul shall enjoy communion with God God will let out himself to me in a gracious maner he will reveal the secrets of heavenly joys to my soul and one beam of the light of his face is more worth then all the world and is able to carry through all the hardships of the world My soul shal have communion with Jesus Christ and Cursed is that man says that noble Marquess Galeacius that counts all the world comparable to one days enjoyment of communion with
ways in affliction if there were always prosperity in the ways of God it were nothing but when it is with affliction it is so much the more an argument of thy love to God and thy sincerity and therefore he takes it so kindely Bless God for it and bless him the rather because he hath begun with you betimes If the Lord hath given you a heart when you are yong to make this choice what a great mercy is this what abundance of sin does such a one prevent If one that is yong goes on in the ways of Religion though he suffers much in the family wherein he lives his brethren scorn at him and his Parents hate him yet he hath cause to rejoyce and bless himself in the goodness of the Lord. 4. Again thou hast further cause to bless God because he hath given thee such encouragements since thou hast made thy choice thou madest thy choice many years ago I ask thee Hast thou not had encouragement in thy choice Hast any cause to repent thee O no! blessed be God I have found more good then I looked for 5. And know within a while the end of thy choice will be attained and then it shall appear before men and Angels thou madest a good choice and all the world shall bless thee for thy choice Blessed be that man or woman that ever they were born to make such a choice and thou shalt be honored of all those that do despise thee now and they shall wish they had made thy choice It is reported of a yong man who loved his pleasures standing by St. Ambrose and seeing his excellent death he turned to other yong men by him and said O that I might live with you and dye with him Thou hast little cause to envy them that will choose vanities for their portion let them have them though thou hast lost something of thy bravery of thy carnal delight for this choice be content it is made up infinitely here and shall be made up more hereafter And seeing God hath thus enclined your heart to himself be for ever established in your choice seeing God hath shewn to you his ways say as Pilate in another case That I have written I have written so That I have chosen I have chosen If any temptation come to tempt you from your choice as flesh and blood would be ready to mutter and think I might have lived as brave a life as such a one might have had as much pleasure as such a one I have lost so many friends and so much means and brought my self into a great many straights indeed they spake much of Gods Ordinances and I was taken with it and I ventured and I have brought my self into troubles and upon the mutterings of flesh and blood you are beginning to bethink your selves again and examine things again and think whether you did wisely or no O take heed of that first degree of Apostacy namely that suspition of your choice Many in their yong time are very zealous in the ways of Religion while all is well with them and now they meet with other things then they looked for and they begin to think they were too forward and wish they were not so far engaged as they are they begin to repent as chapmen who have out-bid themselves Many go on in a profession and suffer much because they are engaged in that way and they know not how to get off if they could get off they would take heed of repentings of your choice lest God lead you out with the workers of iniquity do not listen to the reasonings of flesh and blood Cassianus reports of a yong man that had given himself up to a Christian life and his Parents misliked that way and they wrote Letters to him to perswade him from it and when he knew they were Letters come from them he would not open them but threw them into the fire and so flesh and blood will come and say Do thus and thus you may do well enough at last throw away these letters these suggestions of flesh and blood and do not answer them but be resolved in thine own heart I know in whom I have believed I know whom I have chosen I did not choose rashly but I felt the power of God upon my heart before I made my choice and I had grounds and arguments of my choice and what shall I by such an argument as this be perswaded to the contrary Therefore go on and be established in your choice and the Lord confirm you in it and give my soul part with you in that choice you have made let flesh and the world and temptations say what they will peace will be in the end You have found some good already that might make you say with David Surely it is good for me to draw near to God and though I do meet with some troubles and temptations that do cry down this way yet let my soul say It is good for me to draw near to God it is good for me that I left such and such things it is good for me that I have these Ordinances though it be with the loss of some outward comforts and my estate be abated and my trading less say as David in the 73. Psalm Truly God is good to Israel however it be yet God is good to Israel though many things seem to the contrary and therefore conclude with thine own heart Though I should never see good day in the world yet that comfort I have received in the ways of God it is enough to make me prize them for ever if now I should dye and be annihilated if God should deprive me of the joys of Heaven and turn me into nothing yet that good that I have had already in Gods ways should be enough to countervail all the troubles that I have met withal in the world or ever shall meet withal though God should withdraw himself in all the course of my life and I should be in darkness and have nothing but trouble yet I have had enough in God already to countervail all Hath God thus spoken peace to thy soul remember that text in Psal 85. 8. Return not again to folly the Lord hath spoken peace already to thy soul in afflictions and therefore God forbid that thou shouldst return to folly but continue in thy way and go on constantly in thy way to the end and the Lord bless thee in thy way And this is for the encouragement of the hearts of Gods people that have with Moses made this choice Rather to suffer affliction with the people of God then to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season CHAP. XIII The evil of an ill choice discovered IN the third place hence those are justly rebuked who have made an ill choice this was a blessed choice of Moses and whosoever makes this choice are blessed of the Lord but how few have we of Moses his minde it
and said He that could save others let him come down and save himself Again consider the great mercy of God in concealing the secret sins of your thoughts there are none let them be never so innocent in the world yet there is so much filth and baseness within the heart that if God should but turn the inside outward and discover all to the world certainly it would make them ashamed of the society of men make them ashamed to come into the Congregation what confusion and what matter of reproach would there be then Now seeing God in his goodness favors his people so far as he keeps in much secret evil that he could discover before the world if he should withdraw himself a little from you he could let you fall into such sins as your secret sins should be discovered but God favors your names so as that he hath kept in that secret evil that you have had secret inclinations unto now the consideration of Gods goodness in tendring you so far may very well quiet your hearts when you begin to be troubled for every reproach that is cast upon you Now I see my adversaries are fain to watch and search and pry for occasion of reproach God might have given them matter enough and therefore its mercy they have such little matter as they have It is a great work of nature to keep the filth of the body when it is in a man from being unsavory unto others so the filth of the soul though it be unsavory to God yet it is Gods mercy that keeps it from that unsavoriness that it might be to men Fifthly consider how much reproach the name of God hath endured for your sakes and is it so great a matter for your names to be reproached for his sake It is a notable speech Chrysostom hath That for us and for our life our Lord should be blasphemed is worse then if we perished Hath not the name of God been reproached for your sakes not onely in the time of your ignorance but since have there not been occasion given by you to cause others to reproach the name of the blessed God and if God comes to you in your names do you take it so ill Again consider who those are that do reproach you and for what it is It is the speech of an Ancient That a reproacher is beneath a man but the reproached that bear it well are equal to the Angels The Hebrew word that signifies scorners hath many other significations which set out the vileness the dangerous evil there is in a scornful spirit the Seventy besides that of scorning have five other words to shew the signification of it as first 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the first Psalm in the chair of scorners they translate it by a word that signifies the plague in the chair of plagues because scorners are a plague to the place where they live and do infect many a second word that they use to express it by is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Prov. 20. 1. which signifies incorrigible that which cannot be tamed because scorners are such Wine is a scorner res indomita an unruly thing that cannot be tamed because it makes men to be so and so are scorners there is little hope of such Thirdly sometimes they translate it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Prov. 9. 12. as such as are given up to all kinde of vice and so are scorners And fourthly by a word that signifies proud 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Prov. 3. 34. for such likewise are scorners Fifthly by a word that signifies to deal unjustly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Psal 119. 51. because scorners are injurious Thus you see what kinde of men those who scorn and reproach the ways and professors of Religion are But besides they are especially such as have been brought up superstitiously or prophanely such as have been bred in superstitious Popish families are many times bitter scorners and reproachers of those who are most forward in the ways of godliness We read 2 Kings 2. 23. when Elisha went to Bethel there came forth little children out of the city and mocked him and said unto him Go up thou bald head go up thou bald head that is observable they came out of Bethel which was that idolatrous city in Israel where the Calf of Jeroboam was set up that place was full of scorners at the Prophets of the Lord you may know the temper of the place by the disposition of the little children they usually heard their parents and those who were elder scorn at the Prophets of the Lord they were brought up in that way and because it was at Bethel the curse of God was the rather upon their children to destroy them although they were but children yet two and forty of them were presently destroyed Hosea 7. 5. we read of those who were elder the great ones in that City even Jeroboam himself and his Courtiers what scorners they were In the day of our King the Princes have made him sick with bottles of wine he stretched out his hand with the scorners The Princes Nobles Officers great ones of the Countrey jeered and scorned at those who would not yield to that way of worship that Jeroboam had set up namely of the Calves O they must be so precise as no worship will serve their turn but going up to Jerusalem to worship there such as ventured the loss of their estates their offices their liberties they accounted them fools and reproached them as a company of simple silly people And as superstition is a cause of this so prophaneness and sensuallity causeth it likewise that is observable in the forenamed place of Hosea when he was made sick with wine then he streched out his hand with scorners when wicked men pamper themselves with good cheer and their hearts are hot with wine then they scorn at Religion and reproach such as are more strict and forward then others blessing themselves in the brave life they live contemning the ways of godliness and the professors of them as such who want those brave delights they enjoy and in regard of that they scorn at and reproach the ways of God and his people at those times Psalm 35. 16. with hypocritical mockers in feasts they gnashed upon me with their teeth the most cruel scornful reproaches against the Saints are at feasts That place is observable Deut. 32. 33 34. Their wine is the poyson of dragons and the cruel venom of asps because of the bitterness of their spirits against those who are godly when they are at their cups but mark what follows Is not this laid up in store and sealed up among my treasures to me belongeth vengeance and recompence their foot shall slide in due time God will remember this it is laid up in store with him it is surely sealed up and shall certainly be brought forth one day And yet further Who are your reproachers They are those that
have had of the heighth and depth of the riches of the glory of the grace of God in the face of Jesus Christ That sight of Gods grace that is the cause of security in people is that which is grounded meerly upon a natural light which hath no efficacy to raise and enlarge and to purge the heart But this true spiritual sight of Gods grace it hath a mighty efficacy and nothing more to raise and enlarge and purge the heart In 2 Corinth 3. 18. says the Apostle We beholding the glory of the Lord as in a mirror What then are we secure and presumptuous upon this No We are changed into the same image from glory to glory What was that glory that the Apostle did behold the glory of God in the mirror of the Gospel the glory of God in the riches of his grace towards the Saints Now says he While we behold as in a mirror this glory of God this is the fruit of it We are changed from glory to glory People talk of Gods mercy but how few ever had a spiritual sight of Gods mercy they would have Ministers preach much of Gods mercy but if people had eyes to behold it in the glory of it how would it change their hearts wherefore then I beseech you labor to have more then a natural sight of Gods mercy and goodness towards mankinde A man by a low apprehension of Gods mercy and goodness may think thus So long as I serve God it shall be well with me God will bless me and be merciful to me but that spiritual and supernatural sight of the riches of the glory of Gods mercy is this for a soul though it sees it self a base vile wretched worm a lump of filth and sees it self standing guilty before the Lord and God seems to look with an angry face upon it and conscience within it accuses it and the threats of the fiery Law come out against it yet for a soul to be able to look into the deep bowels of Gods infinite compassion that are in Christ and in them to look upon it self for all this as an heir of glory and eternal life so as to have the soul raised and enlarged and devoted to the magnifying praising and adoring the riches of Gods grace and to venture all upon this this is more then a natural sight of Gods grace and of his mercy towards mankinde You will say We could admire Gods grace and mercy towards mankinde and praise him and bless him for it and our hearts would be enlarged If we were sure these things did belong to us and that we had any interest in them there is enough in them to enlarge and raise our hearts but this is that which hinders We do not know that we have an interest therein To that I answer That this very work of God it self that gives this sight of his grace to raise up the heart to close with it and to make the soul venture all upon it that does bring the soul to devote it self to the praise and honor of it this very work of it self does interest your souls in it therefore do not say If I were interested in these things then I could praise and magnifie God for them If you can do this you are interested in them for this is an immediate work of faith and it is from a divine principle to be able to do this and therefore though you know no good at all in your selves before and you had no arguments to encourage you before and you had no preparation in your own apprehensions before yet if you have but this work of grace it does interest your souls in all that which hath been revealed concerning the recompence of reward of the Saints of God But may we not presume to think that such great things belong to us To that I answer Where ever presumption is it is built upon a natural sight of Gods grace and that is a poor low flat dead thing that hath no such efficacy to raise the heart to such a glorious work as this is and therefore if the heart be raised to such a glorious work as this by the appprehension of the riches of the grace and goodness of God towards mankinde that is not presumption And this is the sixth Use CHAP. LIV. Gods people to be highly honored SEventhly if there be such blessed things reserved for the people of God Hence let us look upon all the servants of God as honorable in our eyes and let them be honored in our thoughts for great are the thoughts of God upon them and towards them and therefore great and honorable should be our thoughts of them though they be never so poor and mean in the world We use to look upon great heirs with admiring thoughts and blessing of them every time we look upon them Do you see one walking in the ways of God whatsoever he be for his outwards let your hearts bless him and say Here is one indeed born to great things other maner of things then any the world affords Did we know what were the things that the people of God should be possessed of within a while we would say in our hearts O blessed that ever they were born blessed is the womb that bare them and blessed are the paps that gave them suck Did we with a spiritual believing eye behold what things they should have and saw them as now possessed of them we would see cause to fall down and kiss the ground upon which they tread The blessed Angels look upon them as great ones as the glory of the world and therefore do joyfully minister unto them because they know they are the great heirs of Heaven for whom such great things are prepared Great things are spoken of thee O thou City of God says the Psalmist Great things are spoken of you O ye Saints of God If Heaven must be so glorious to entertain the Saints how glorious are those for whom heaven is prepared Says Ahasuerus What shall be done to the man whom the King will honor O what shall be done to those whom an infinite God hath set his heart upon to raise to honor and to manifest to Angels and to all the world what his infinite power is able to do in raising of a creature to glory In the Saints there is a meeting as it were of the beams of Gods grace and goodness as in a center and that must needs be very warm and hot indeed The beams of the Sun in the circumference scattered in the ayr are warm but in a glass where they are united together as it were in a center there they warm after another maner there they burn so all the works of Gods grace abroad in the world they are as the beams of the Sun in the circumference that are scattered abroad but in his people there is the center where they are united together and there they burn and
And what union have you with God What union of grace What mystical union between God and your souls And what fruition have you of God Is it God that you enjoy in the creature and God in all things God in the Ordinances and what rest do your souls finde in God though you be tost up and down in regard of the uncertainty of the creature yet is God your rest yea do you enjoy your selves in God the beginning of all these are now for the present And likewise for communion with Jesus Christ what communion and converse is there between your souls and Jesus Christ Is it not a riddle to you Are you delighted in the communion of the Saints Are the Sabbaths your delight as a beginning of the eternal Sabbath you shall keep in Heaven Therefore now do you ask Who shall have Heaven and Who shall ascend into the Mount Those whom the Mount now comes down unto Many hope they shall have God when they dye but surely if God be not so merciful as to give you spiritual mercies for the present he will not be so merciful as to give you eternal mercies hereafter if he do not give you mercies of grace here he will not give you mercies of glory hereafter Fifthly what are the apprehensions that you have of this reward there may be a special note drawn from thence whereby you may see whether this reward shall be yours or no. What is it that you apprehend to be the heighth and excellency of that reward and glory that you expect Is it that spiritual and supernatural good that is in Heaven Do you not apprehend Heaven after a carnal and natural way when you hear speaking of Crowns and dignity and happiness and glory and the like but hath God shewed you that the heighth and top of all consists in those spiritual and supernatural things in the image of God and in communion with God and those things that have been opened are your hearts more after these then after any thing else then it is like that Heaven is for you for these things are kept hid from those that Heaven is not for Sixthly consider what your hopes are for this recompence of reward First where hopes are true they are such as are wrought by the power of the Holy Ghost Secondly they are purging hopes First they are such hopes as are wrought by the power of the holy Ghost Rom. 15. 13. Certainly hopes of such great things as these must be raised by a great power they are hopes that could never be raised by any natural apprehensions by any work of Reason you have hopes of Heaven and of the glorious reward How came you by them What almighty power of the holy Ghost have you felt that hath raised these hopes If you have no other hopes but those that may spring out of nature natural conceits and apprehensions you are far short of this recompence of reward but this recompence of reward being glorious it hath a glorious principle to raise hopes such hopes as can bear down strong difficulties that shall oppose them the holy Ghost does stretch out the hopes of the soul beyond that which nature can do In the Hebrew that word that signifies hope signifies a line because by hope the heart is stretched out as in a line to the thing it hopes for now the hopes that nature raises is but in a short line and they stretch out the heart but a little way but the hopes that are wrought by the power of the holy Ghost are such hopes as the heart is stretched out very far by them and there must be a mighty stretching out of the heart and that by a mighty power to make it hope for such great things as these that God should bring such a poor worm to such high things as these are Ordinary base drossie hopes that have nothing in them they are not stretched out to these things they have some confused apprehensions and slight opinions about heaven they are loth to think they should be damned for ever and cast from God and therefore they will have some conceits it shall be well with them and they hope well but to have their hearts stretched out to expect these blessed things as the happiness of their souls and as the real substantial and onely good this is by the mighty power of the holy Ghost Secondly they are purging hopes 1 John 3. 3. And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself even as he is pure It is a lively working hope 1 Pet. 1. 3. Blessed be God who hath begotten us again to a lively hope As a fountain that hath dirt cast into it it being a living fountain it works and works and never leaves till it hath got the dirt out cast dirt into a puddle and it lies there and putrifies And this is the difference between the sin of one that is natural and one that hath hope of eternal life When sin comes into a carnal natural heart it lies there and putrifies but where sin comes into a gracious heart that hath hope of eternal life such a heart by these hopes are as a living fountain that will never leave working till it be pure again Such a soul as apprehends it self a vessel of such rich and glorious mercies as these do labor to cleanse it self to the utmost if you have a vessel that you put ordinary water into you care not though there be some dust in the bottom but if you will put in some precious liquor you will cleanse it again and again and will not suffer any dust to be there So carnal hearts that do not know what great things God hath laid up for his people that are not vessels of mercy but onely look for some common things they can suffer their hearts to filled with noysom lusts but where the soul does apprehend it self a vessel of mercy such a one as God will fill with these glorious things it would not have any filth and corruption abiding in it In 2 Tim. 2. 21. The Apostle speaks of two sorts of vessels that are in Gods House that is in the Church Vessels of honor and Vessels of dishonor But how shall we know we are vessels of honor or of dishonor if therefore a man purge himself from these he shall be a vessel of honor a vessel of dishonor is an unclean vessel a vessel of honor is a clean vessel If therefore your hopes be such as can stand with any beloved sin against knowledge you are vessels of dishonor And here is the liveliness of this hope if thou hast a hope to be a vessel of honor it purges you from filth and by that purging from filth there comes to be a readiness and preparation to every good work here is such a one as shall ascend up into the holy Hill of God This is the sixth note Seventhly examine what thy claim is whether thy