that by a sweet communion with God sets himselfe in heaven nay maketh his heart a kind of heaven a Temple a Holy of Holies wherein Incense is offered unto God A thankfull heart to God for his Blessings is the greatest Blessing of all But were it not for a few gratious Soules what Honour should God have of the rest of the unthankfull world which should stir us up the more to be Trumpets of Gods Praises in the midst of his Enemies because this in some sort hath a Prerogative above our praising him in Heaven for there God hath no Enemies to dishonor him GOd is Salvation it self and nothing but Salvation and though our sins for a time may stop the current of His Mercy yet it being above all our sins will soone scatter that cloud remove that stop and then wee shall see and feele nothing but salvation from the Lord all his wayes are Mercy and Peace to a repentant Soule that casts it selfe upon him We should not therefore so much looke what destruction the Devill and his threaten as what salvation God promiseth Canot he that hath vouchsafed an issue in Christ from eternall death vouchsafe an issue from all temporall evills He that brought us into trouble can easily make a way out of it when he pleaseth this should be a ground of resolute and absolute obedience even in our greatest extremities considering God will either deliver us from death or by death and at length out of death CAinish hypocrites hang downe their heads when God lifts up the countenance of their brethren when the countenance of Gods children cleers up then their enemies hearts and looks are cloudy Ierusalems joy is Babylons sorrow It is with the Church and Her enemies as it is with a ballance the scales whereof when one is up the other is downe The reason why wicked men gnash their teeth at the sight of Gods gratious dealing is that they take the rise of Gods children to be a presage of their ruine Which lesson Hamans wife had learned SAlvation is Gods own work humbling and casting down is his strange Worke whereby he comes to his owne worke For when he intends to save he wil seem to destroy first whom he will revive he will kill first Grace and Goodnesse countenanced by God have a native in-bred majesty in them which maketh the face to shine and borroweth not his lustre from without which God at length will have to appeare in its own likenesse howsoever malice may cast a vaile thereon and disguise it for a time WHat comfort was it for Adam when hee was shut out of Paradise to looke upon it after he had lost it the more excellencies are in God the more our grief if we have not our part in them the very life-bloud of the Gospell lies in a speciall application of particular mercy to our selves without which we can neither entertain the Love of God nor returne Love againe whereby we lose all the comfort God intends us in his Word which of purpose was written for our solace and refreshment PRetend not thy unworthinesse and unabilitie to keep thee off from God for this is the way to keep thee so still God bids us draw neer to Him and Hee will draw neere to us Whilst we in Gods own wayes draw neere to Him and labour to entertaine good thoughts of Him He will delight to shew himselfe fauourable unto us whilest we are striving against an unbeleeving heart Hee will come in and helpe us and so fresh light will come in God alone must help us and if ever Hee helpe us it must be by casting our selves upon him for then he will reach out himselfe unto us in the promise of mercy to pardon our sin and in the promise of Grace to sanctifie our Natures SPirituall Comforts in distresse such as the world can neither give nor take away shew that God lookes upon the soules of his with another eye than he beholdeth others He sends a secret Messenger that reports his peculiar Love to their hearts He knowes their soules and feeds them with his hidden Manna the inward peace they feele is not in freedome from trouble but in freenesse with God in the midst of trouble SEchem had not sinned if Dinah had not tempted him Immodestie of behaviour makes way to Lust and gives life unto wicked hopes Lust commonly ends in loathing But Sechem would salve up his sinne with an honest satisfaction but actions ill begun are hardly salved up with late satisfaction wheras good entrances give strength to the proceedings and successe to the end Dinahs brethren pretend Religion we cannot give our sister in mariage to an uncircumcised man here God is in the mouth and Satan in the heart A smiling malice is most deadly and hatred doth most ranckle the heart when it is kept in and dissembled Iacobs sonnes think of nothing but revenge and which is worst begin their crueltie with craft and end their craft with Religion Bloudiest projects have ever wont to be thus coloured for the worse any thing is the better shew it desires to make and contrarily the better colour is set upon vice the more odious it makes it for as every simulation addes to an evill so the best addes most evill Indeed filthinesse should not have bin wrought in Israel nor should murther have been wrought by Israel Cursed be their wrath for it was fierce and their rage for it was cruell To punish above the offence is no lesse injustice than to offend and to execute rigor upon a submisse offendor is more mercilesse than just The idle curiositie of Dinah bred all this mischief what great evills arise from small beginnings Ravishment followes her wandring upon her ravishment murther and upon the murtner spoile It is holy and safe to be jealous of the first occasions of evill either done or suffered IF Thamar had not put off her widowes apparell Iudah had not taken her for a whore Immodestie of outward fashion or gesture bewraies evill desires the heart that means well will never wish to seem ill for commonly we affect to shew better than we are and it is no trusting of those which wish not to appeare good Thamars belly swells and Iudahs heart swells with rage Let her be burnt How easie is it to detest those sinnes in others which wee flatter in our selves Even in the best men nature is partiall in it selfe it is good to sentence others frailties with the remembrance of our owne Iudah no sooner sees the signals but confesseth his shame She is more righteous than I. God will find a time to bring his children upon their knees and to wring from them penitent Confessions and rather than he will not make them soundly ashamed he will make them Trumpets of their owne reproach There is nothing more thankelesse or dangerous than to stand in the way of a resolute sinner that which doth correct and oblige the Penitent makes the wilfull mind furious and
was not ashamed to set upon Christ himselfe with this temptation and thinks Christs members never low enough untill he can bring them as low as himselfe But God is often neerest to his children when he seemeth farthest off In the Mount of the Lord it shall be seene God is with them and in them though the wicked be not aware of it even as the Moone at what time it is least visible to us is then neerest the Sunne HE that shunneth labour procureth trouble An unimployed life is a burthen to it selfe God is a pure At alwayes working alwayes doing and the neerer our Soule comes to God the more it is in action and the freer from disquiet Men experimentally feele that comfort in doing what belongs unto them which before they longed for and went without WE ought not to be over-hastie in censuring others when we see their spirits out of temper Many things worke strongly upon the weake nature of man and wee may sinne more by harsh censure than they by over-much distemper as in Iobs case which was a matter rather of just griefe and pittie than great wonder or heavie censure IN all our troubles we should looke first home to our owne hearts stop the storme there for wee may thanke our owne selves not onely for our troubles but likewise for overmuch troubling our selves in trouble if wee will prevent casting downe let us prevent griefe the cause of it and sinne the cause of that A Dejected man is indisposed to good duties it makes him like an Instrument out of tune like a Body out of joint that mooveth both uncomely and painefully It unfits him to duties towards God who loves both a chearefull giver and receiver Dejectednesse makes a man forgetfull of all former blessings and stoppes the influence of Gods grace for the time present and that to come it makes us unfit to receive mercies A quiet Soule is the seat of wisdome therefore meekenesse is required in receiving of that ingrafted Word which is able to save our soules It is ill sowing in a storme A stormie spirit will not suffer the Word to take place Men are deceived that thinke a dejected spirit to be an humbled spirit yet it is so when we are cast downe in the sense of our owne unworthinesse and then as much raysed in the confidence of Gods mercie SAtan hath never more advantage than upon discontent it disposeth us for entertaining any Temptation It damps the spirits of those that walke the same way with us when as we should as good travellers cheere up one another both by word and example In such a case the wheeles of the soule are taken off or as it were want oyle whereby it passeth on very heavily and no good action comes off from it as it should which breeds not only uncomfortablenesse but unsetlednesse in good courses for a man will never goe on comfortably and constantly in that which he heavily undertakes So much as we are quiet and cheerfull so much we live and are as it were in Heaven so much as we yeeld to discouragements we lose so much of our life and happinesse Cheerfulnesse being as it were the life of our lives and the spirit of our spirits by which they are more inlarged to receive happinesse and to expresse it THere is an art or skill in bearing troubles without over-much troubling our selves As in bearing of a burthen there is away so to poise it that it weigheth not over-heavy if it hang all on one side it poiseth the body down The greater part of our troubles we pul upon our selves by not parting our care so as to take upon us only the care of duty and leave the rest to God and by mingling our passions with our crosses and like a foolish Patient chewing the Pills which we should swallow downe WHy should wee dwell too much upon griefe when wee ought to remove the soule higher Wee are neerest neighbours unto our selves when wee suffer griefe like a Canker to eat into the soule and like a fire in the bones to consume the marrow and drink up the spirits we are accessarie to the wrong done both to our bodies and soules we waste our owne Candle and put out our owne Light IN great fires men looke first to their Iewels and then to their Lumber No Iewell is so precious no possession so rich as the Soule The account for our owne soules and the soules of others is the greatest account and therefore the care of soules should be the greatest care A Godly mans comforts and grievances are hid from the world naturall men are strangers to them If we be troubled with the distempers of our hearts it is a ground of comfort unto us that our spirits are ruled by a higher Spirit and that there is a principle of that life in us which cannot brooke the most secret corruption but rather casts it out by an holy complaint as strength of Nature doth poyson which seekes its destruction Hee wants spirituall life that is not at all disquieted hee abates the vigour and livelinesse of his life that is over-much disquieted A Burning Ague is more hopefull than a Lethargie so is hee that feeles too much more happie than hee that feeles not at all for hee in all his jollitie is but as a Booke fairely bound beautifull to the eye while it is shut but being opened is full of nothing but Tragedies despaire to such is the beginning of comfort trouble the beginning of peace A storme is the way to a calme and Hell the way to Heaven 'T is fit that sinne contracted by joy should be dissolved by griefe A Christian should neither be a dead Sea nor a raging Sea Affections are never well ordered but when they are fit to have communion with God to love joy trust and delight in him above all things for they are the inward movings of the soule which then move best when they move us to God not from him A Carnall man is like a Spring corrupted that cannot worke it selfe cleare because it is wholly tainted his eye and light is darknesse and therefore no wonder if he seeth nothing Sinne lyeth upon his understanding and hinders the knowledge of it selfe it lyes close upon the will and hinders the striving against it selfe That which a carnall man doth for by-ends and reasons the godly man doth from a new Nature which if there were no Law to compell yet it would moove him to that which is pleasing to Christ WE cannot say This or that trouble shall not befall yet we may by helpe of the Spirit say Nothing that doth befall shall make me doe that which is unworthy of a Christian If wee expect the worst when it comes it is no more than wee thought of if better befalls us then it is the sweeter to us the lesse wee expected it IN the uncertaintie of all events here we should labour to frame that contentment in and from our own selves which
to tempt them AS wee ought not to reject the comfort of our friends in adversitie so should we not build too much upon humane comforts Men being at the best but Conduits of comfort and such as God freely conveyeth comfort by taking libertie often to denie comfort by them that so hee may be acknowledged the God of all comfort WE must not goe to the Surgeon for everie scratch opening of our estates to others is not good but when it is necessarie and it is not necessarie when wee can fetch supply from our owne store For God would have us tender of our reputations except in some speciall cases wherein we are to give him the glory by a free and full confession A Wicked man beaten out of earthly comforts is as a naked man in a storme and an unarmed man in the field or as a Shippe tossed in the Sea without an Anchor which presently dasheth upon Rocks or falleth upon Quick-sands But a Christian when hee is driven out of all comforts below nay when God seemes to be angry with him he can appeale from God angry to God appeased he can wrestle and strive with God by Gods owne strength fight with him with his owne weapons and plead with him by his owne arguments till he obtaine the comfort he desireth IT is an infallible rule of discerning a man to be in the state of Grace when he findes every condition draw him neerer unto God For thus it appeares that such love God and are called of him unto whom all things worke together for the best Grace dormant without exercise doth not secure us The soule without action is like an instrument not plaied upon or like a ship alwaies in the haven Even life it selfe is made more lively by action and by stirring up the grace of God in us sparkles come to be flames and all graces are kept bright WHen the soule suffers it selfe by somthing here below to be drawne away from God 't is his mercy tous that we should find nothing but trouble unquietnes in any thing else that so wee might remember from whence we are fallen and returne home againe and it is a good trouble that frees us from the greatest trouble and brings with it the most comfortable rest The soule naturally sinks downewards and therefore had need to be often wound up but after that Gods spirit hath touched the soule it will rather be quiet till it stands pointed Godward in whom there is both worth to satisfie and strength to support it If we resolve in Gods power and not our own and be strong in the Lord and not in our selves then it matters not what our troubles or temptations be either from within or without for Trust in God at length will triumph GRace like oyle will ever be above and though the soul be overborne with passion for a time yet if grace have once truly seasoned it it will worke it selfe into freedome again The eye when any dust falls into it is not more tender and unquiet till it bee wrought out againe than a gratious soul being once troubled The spirit as a spring will be cleansing it selfe more and more whereas the heart of a carnall man is like a standing poole whatsoever is cast into it there it rests trouble and disquietnesse in him are in their proper place It is proper for the sea to rage and cast up durt and God hath set it downe for an eternall rule That vexation and sinne shall be inseperable IF Man withdraw himselfe from Gods gratious government of him to happinesse hee will soone fall under Gods just government of him to deserved misery If he shakes off Gods sweet yoake hee puts himselfe under Satans heavy yoake who as Gods Executioner hardens him to destruction and so while hee rushes against Gods will he fulfils it and whilest he will not willingly doe Gods will Gods wil is don upon him against his will FOr setling our Faith the more God taketh liberty in using weake meanes to great purposes and setteth aside more likely and able means yet sometimes he altogether disableth the greatest meanes and worketh often by no meanes at all Nay God often bringeth his will to passe by crossing the course and streame of meanes to shew his owne soveraigntie to exercise our dependance THere is nothing so high that is above Gods providence nothing so low that is beneath it Nothing so large but is bounded by it Nothing so confused but God can order it Nothing so bad but he can draw good out of it Nothing so wisely plotted but God can disappoint it as Achitophels counsel nothing so weakly caried but he can give a prevailing issue unto it Nothing so natural but he can suspend its operation as heavy burdens from sinking fire from burning c. WHere a fearful spirit a melancholy temper a weak iudgement and a scrupulous conscience meet in one there Satan and his together with mens owne hearts which like Sophisters are continually cavilling amongst themselves worke much disquiet and makes the life uncomfortable But in this case wee should wholly resign our selves up unto God with Davids words Here I am let the Lord deale with me as seemeth good unto him For God oft wraps himselfe in a cloud and will not be seen till afterward Where wee cannot trace him we ought with Saint Paul to admire and adore him for all Gods dealings will appeare beautifull in their due season though wee for the present see not the contiguitie and linking together of one thing with another NOthing should displease us that pleaseth God neither should any thing be pleasing to us that displeaseth him A godly man in all estates and conditions sayes Amen to Gods Amen and puts his fiat and placet to Gods As the sea turnes all rivers into his owne rellish so he turnes all to his owne spirit and makes whatsoever befalls him an exercise of some vertue Thus hee inioyes heaven in the world under heaven and Gods kingdom comes where his will is thus done and suffered AS beasts that cannot endure the yoke at the first after they are inured a while unto it beare it willingly and carry their worke more easily by it So the yoke of obedience makes the life regular and quiet The meeting of authoritie and obedience together main the order and peace of the world SAlvation comes to bee sure unto us whilst by Faith looking to Gods promises and to God himselfe freely offering grace therin the soule resignes up it selfe to God making no further question from any unworthinesse of its owne for doubtlesse he will make good whatever he hath promised for the comfort of his children And what greater assurance can there be than for Being it selfe to lay its being to pawne and for Life it selfe to lay life to pawne and all to comfort a poore soule By the bare word of God it is alone that the Covenant of day and night and the preservation of the
Christian is more delighted Thou laughest not at the sight of an heap of thy gold yet thy delight is more than in a jest that shaketh thy spleene As griefe so joy is not lesse when it is least expressed It must needs be a strong and nimble soule that can mount to heaven possessing abundance of earthly things If thou finde wealth too pressing abate of thy load either by having lesse or loving lesse or adde to the strength of thy activity that thou maist yet ascend It is more commendable by how much more hard to climbe up to heaven with a burthen THe meaner sort of men would be too much discontented if they saw how far more pleasant the life of others is and if those of higher ranke could looke downe to the infinite miseries of their inferiours it would make them either miserable in compassion or proud in conceit It is good sometimes for the delicate rich man to looke into the poore mans Cup-board and seeing God in mercy lets him not know their sorrows by experience yet to know it in speculation Which will teach him more thankes to God more mercy to men and more contentment in himselfe I never saw Christian lesse honoured for a wise neglect of himselfe If our dejection proceed from the conscience of our want it is possible wee should be as little esteemed of others as of our selves but if we have true Graces and prize them not at the highest others shall value both them in us and us for them and with usury give us that honour we withheld modestly from our selves I never read of Christian that repented him of too little worldly delight he that takes his full liberty in what he may shall repent him how much more in what hee should not The surest course in all earthly pleasures is to rise with an appetite and to be satisfied with a little That mans end is easie and happy whom death findes with a weake body and a strong soule HErein as much as in any thing the perversnesse of our nature appeares that wee wish death or love life upon wrong causes we would live for pleasure and die for paine Iob for his sores Elias for his persecution Ionas for his Gourd would presently die and outface God that it was better for him to die than to live Wherein we are like to garrison souldiers that while they live within safe walls and shew themselves once a day rather for ceremony and pompe than need and danger like warfare well enough but being once called forth to the field they hang the head and wish themselves at home THe shipwrack of a good Conscience is the casting away of all other excellencies It is no rare thing to note the soule of a wilfull sinner stripped of all her Graces and by degrees exposed to open shame for since he hath cast away the best it is just with God to take away the worst and to cast off them in lesser regards which have rejected him in greater THe tongue will hardly leave that to which the heart is inured if we would have good motions to visit us in sicknesse we must send for them familiarly in health for such as a mans delights and cares are in health such are both his thoughts and speeches commonly on his death-bed And no marvell though the worldling often escapes earthly punishments God corrects him not because hee loves him not he will not doe him the favour to whip him The world afflicts him not because it loves him for each one is indulgent to his owne God uses not the rod where he meanes to use the sword the Pillory or scourge is for those Malefactors which shal escape execution LAughing is proper to Man alone amongst all living creatures though indeed he ought ever to be weeping because he ever sins and the beasts might rather laugh to see man so much abuse his most excellent part his reason Doubtlesse if man knew before he came into the world what should be his portion in the world he would feare his first day more than his last wherefore we ought to moderate our affections and in imitation of our great Lord and Saviour who was a man of sorrows we should not be altogether composed of mirth SEldome hath any man got either wealth or learning with ease and the greatest good is most difficult in obtaining he must not thinke to get Christ that takes no paines for him If men can endure such cutting such lancing and searing of their bodies only to protract a miserable life for a short time how much should we care what we doe or what we suffer so wee may win Christ No paine should bee refused for the gaining of Eternity MVch ostentation and much learning seldome meet together The Sun rising and declining makes long shadows but being at the highest makes none at all Skill when it is too much shewne loseth the grace as fresh coloured wares that are often opened lose their brightnesse and are soiled with much handling It is better to applaud our selves for having much of that we shew not than that others should applaud us for shewing more than we have The conscience of our owne worth should cheare us more in their contempt than their approbation comfort us against the secret check of our knowne unworthinesse Every man hath an heaven and a hell Earth is the wicked mans heaven his hell is to come contrarily the godly have their hell upon earth where usually they are vexed with many afflictions and temptations by Sathan and his complices their heaven is above in endlesse happinesse Though they sow in teares they shall reape in joy though their seed time be commonly waterish and lowring and their spring wet they shall bee sure of a cleare and joyfull harvest It is no marvell if the wicked have peace in themselves being as sure as temptation can make them Princes wage not warre with their owne subjects The The godly are still enemies and must therefore looke to be assaulted both by stratagems and violence Wherefore nothing should more joy us than our inward unquietnesse A just war is far more happy than an ill conditioned peace EVery good prayer knocketh at heaven for a blessing but an importunate prayer pierceth it though as hard as brasse and makes way for it selfe into the eares of the Almighty And as it ascends lightly up carried with the wings of faith so it ever comes laden downe againe upon our heads In prayer our thoughts should not be guided by our words but our words by our thoughts Good prayers never came weeping home and by fervent prayer we are sure to receive either what we aske or what we should aske VErtuous actions are a mans best monument Foolish is the hope of Immortality and future praise by the cost of sencelesse stone when the Passenger shall only say here lies a faire stone and a filthy Carkasse That only can report us rich but for other praises our selves must build