New man is renewed and that is after the Image of Him that Created him after God or the likeness of God Fourthly Here is the particulars wherein this Image or Resemblance of the New Creature unto the Creator doth consist and that is in Righteousness and true Holiness Agreeable hereunto are the words of the Apostle to the Corinthians 2 Cor. 3.18 But we all with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord are changed into the same Image from glory to glory even as by the Spirit of the Lord So that Holiness doth most resemble the Image of God and of our Lord Jesus Christ therefore it ever becometh the Lords people to be an holy people The second Reason grounded on Ephe. 1.4 A second Ground and Reason why it ever becometh Gods people to be an holy people is because God hath chosen them thereunto in Christ before the foundation of the world as the Apostle teacheth the Ephesians According saith he as he hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and without blame before him in Love In this Scripture we may note these three particulars First God's choyce of his people Secondly Upon what account this choyce is made and that is not our works foreseen but Christ's merits he hath chosen us in him Thirdly To what end this choyce is made and that is that we should be holy and without blame before him in Love But if it be asked how hath God chosen his people in his Son unto holiness before the foundation of the world I Answer God did from Eternity see the lost condition of his people through their transgression of his Law and their defaceing his Image of holiness in which he did at first Create them He also did foresee and in himself purpose and decree a satisfaction to his Justice in and by Jesus Christ his obedience to his just Law which man had transgressed and by his suffering death for sin in the same humane nature that had sinned that thereby a perfect Righteousness and Justification might be wrought for man-kinde that all those who through grace and the operations of the holy Spirit are in time brought over to believe in Jesus Christ should be justified from all things from which they could not be justified by the Law Act. 13. and sanctified to the obedience of Christ and to acceptance with the Father through him And so God beholding his people from Eternity in that Righteousness that Christ by his perfect obedience to the Law should in time obtain and in that satisfaction which he should make to divine Justice by his sufferings on the Cross God also beholding his people in that work of Regeneration and Sanctification which in time Christ by his Spirit should work and effect in them did accept and choose them in this means to be a people to the praise and glory of his grace in relation whereunto are these words of the Apostle to the Ephesians For we are his Workmanship saith he Created in Christ Jesus unto good works which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them Eph. 2.10 So that Gods people ought ever to be an holy people because they are chosen thereunto from Eternity And this is the second Reason The third Reas n grounded on 1 Thes 4 7. 2 Tim 1.9 A third Ground and Reason why it ever becometh God's people to be an holy people is because they are called thereunto with an holy calling as the Apostle to the Thessalonians saith God hath not called us unto Vncleanness but unto Holiness The Apostle also writing to Timothy speaking in the words before of God Who saith he hath saved us and called us with an holy Calling not according to our Works but according to his own purpose and grace which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began In these words we have the Lords act of saving his people set forth unto us in two particulars First he Saved us Secondly he Called us whereby the term Saved I do apprehend that free and full Redemption from Sin and the Wrath of God due to man for sin which Jesus Christ the unspotted Lamb of God hath by his perfect and unsinning obedience wrought for Man-kind Rom. 3.24 25. Ephes 1.5 6 7 8. for which obedience sake the Father doth give to his people a free and full Remission of their sins with everlasting Salvation And by the term Called I understand the operating power of Christ's Spirit bringing persons into the way of Salvation and investing them with the holy Calling whereby they may receive the priviledges of the Gospel that is Adoption Sanctification and Justification as John 1.12 1 Cor. 6.11 which the Spirit of Christ doth work either immediatly as in the Apostles or more ordinarily in the Ministry of the Word plainly and purely set forth to the understanding to the producing Faith Regeneration and Sanctification whereby the Creature is called forth to walk with God in that way whereunto it hath pleased the Father to annex the promise of salvation according to those words of the Apostle to the Thessalonians 2 Thes 2.13 But we are bound to give thanks always to God for you Brethren beloved of the Lord because God hath from the Beginning chosen you to Salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the Truth Believers therefore are the persons that are saved and called not according to their works but according to the purpose and grace of God given in Christ Jesus before the world began so that mans works are no ways meritorious of Salvation nor any original ground of Gods love to man but Justification Sanctification and Glorification together with all the means appertaining thereunto are God's free gift to man upon the account of Jesus Christ to the end that man in a diligent improvement of the same might bring forth the fruit of holiness to the praise glory of his name God hath called his people unto holiness with an holy calling therefore it becometh them always to be an holy people sutable to their Call And this is the third Reason The forth Reason grounded on Levit. 20.7 8. A fourth Ground and Reason why it ever becometh God's people to be an holy people is because God hath enjoyned holiness upon his people by special command The Lord said to the Children of Israel to whom he had given his Laws Statutes and Ordinances Sanctifie your selves therefore and be ye holy for I am the Lord your God and ye shall keep my Statutes and do them I am the Lord which sanctified you As if he should have said I am the Lord your God which have chosen you unto my self to be an holy people and to that end I have sanctified unto you the means of holiness therefore sanctifie your selves through a careful and diligent improvement of the means that you may be holy So the Apostle Peter gives the like
much in Answer to the second Question The third particular we have to consider by way of Explication is the Furniture or comly Ornaments of this House and these are here comprehended under the term Holiness Holiness becometh thine House O Lord Holiness is an Ornament which doth adorn and beautifie both the inside and outside of a Christian or Christian Society it is curiously wrought in the inward man by the In-dwellings of Gods holy Word and Spirit in the influences and operations thereof and it branches forth it self in those visible actions and practices that are agreeable to Gods Will. This Ornament comprehendeth within its circumference the great work of Transformation somtimes called Renovation or new Creation according to the Apostles exhortation And be not conformed to this World but be ye Transformed by the Renewing of your minde that ye may prove what is that good that acceptable and perfect Will of God Rom. 12.2 And saith the same Apostle Eph. 4.23 24. Be ye Renewed in the Spirit of your minde and that ye put on the New Man which after God is Created in Righteousness and true Holiness When the minde is transformed from Carnality to stand in the things of God it may then be said to be Holy The will also may be said to be Holy when it is transformed from that stubbornness and Rebelliousness which by corrupted Nature it standeth in against the will of God and is become submissive and obedient to the will of God so as freely to observe it in all his Commands and freely to submit unto his Will in all his dispensations saying The Will of the Lord be done So likewise the affections when they are transformed from Earthly objects to Heavenly objects when the Meditations Desires Love and Delights are all seated in God and in the things of God this may be accounted holiness in the inward man holiness in the outward man doth arise from this inward work as from the root and brancheth forth it self in word and action as that holy man David saith of himself That his mouth should shew forth the praise of God Psal 34.1 and his tongue should talk of his Righteousness all the day Psal 71.24 It was the Prayer of Paul that holy Servant of God in the behalf of the believing Romans That with one mind and one mouth they might glorifie God even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ Rom. 15.6 The minde and the mouth should go together in those things where the glory of God and the edification of the Church is concerned yea all the members of the body as David saith I thought on my ways and turned my feet unto thy Testimony I made hast and delayed not to keep thy Commandements Psal 119.59 It is not enough for a man only to withdraw his affections from Carnal objects but he must have also his eye fixed upon the Lord and his Truth with the Professors thereof as David saith Psal 101.6 Mine eyes shall be upon the Faithful of the Land that they may dwell with me Neither is it enough for a man to have his hand shut from doing any action of violence or oppression but he must have it open also in doing works of Mercy and Charity to undo the heavy burdens and to let the Oppressed go free Esa 58.6 to be ready to Distribute and willing to Communicate to such as are in Want Tim. 6.18 So that when all the faculties of the inward man and members of the outward man act in their places according to the will of God by vertue of his sanctifying and quickening Spirit that gives motion thereunto When a man is set free from sin and become the Servant of God he hath his fruit unto holiness and the end will be Everlasting Life Rom. 6.22 So that holiness is the perfection of purity in Nature Word and Works the which perfection is only found in God but in reference to man holiness consisteth in pardon of sin and in transformation of Nature by the renewing of the mind from corrupted Nature to a renewed or new-begotten Nature which is wrought by the operations of the holy-Spirit in such thoughts words and actions as arise from that original And thus much by way of Explication concerning the term Holiness The fourth particular concerns the duration of this Ornament which is expressed in the Text by the term Ever Holiness becometh thine House O Lord for Ever The term Ever doth here signifie Time without limitation or end and so it is taken somtimes in Scripture We have the Lords Kingly Office in respect of the duration of it set forth by this term Ever The Lord sitteth King for Ever Psal 29.10 So the Apostle Paul setting forth to the Thessalonians the second coming of Christ and the happy Estate of the Faithful at that day when the dead in Christ shall rise first Then we saith he which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them to meet the Lord in the aire and so shall we ever be with the Lord wherefore comfort one another with these words Thes 4. whence I apprehend the the term Ever to signifie Time without limitation or end which is also called Eternity or Life Eternal Math. 25.46 And so having considered the words by way of Explication I shall proceed to the Doctrine and Application CHAP. II. The Doctrine Propounded and Confirmed THe point of Doctrine or Observation which doth offer it self to our Christian consideration from the words thus explicated is briefly this The Doctrine Holiness is an Ornament ever becoming the people of God Or thus It ever becometh Gods people to be an Holy people This Doctrine is confirmed by such Scriptures as do shew the Grounds and Reasons why it ever becometh Gods people to be an holy people And the first ground I shall present to consideration is this The first Reason grounded on Col. 3.9 10. because they do therein most resemble God their Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ their Elder Brother Paul to the Colossians gives this Exhortation Lye not one to another seeing that ye have put off the Old man with his deeds and have put on the New man which is renewed in knowledg after the Image of Him that Created him The same Apostle in his Epistle to the Ephesians gives the like Exhortation Put off saith he Ephe. 4.22 23 24. concerning the former Conversation the Old man which is corrupt according to the deceitful Lusts and be renewed in the Spirit of your minde and that ye put on the New man which after God is Created in Righteousness and true Holiness In which words we may note First That the Lord calls for a renewed mind and not only the mind but also the whole man Secondly The way in which this work of Renovation is wrought and that is through a true and sanctified knowledge of God Put on the New man which is renewed in Knowledge Thirdly Here is the likeness or Image into which the
for whose sake many times the tranquility of a City or Nation is prolonged wherefore all ye that have any respect unto your Native Country King and Kingdom or unto your own souls and yet are solacing your selves in wicked vicious ways let Daniels Counsel find acceptation with you To break off your Sins by Righteousness and your Iniquities by shewing Mercy to the Poor if it may be a lengthening of your own tranquility and of your Country King and Kingdom Dan. 4.27 And all ye that are Descipled to Christ and by confession of Faith and Baptisme have joyned your selves into a Congregational way of Church-communion to live to Christ and to walk with him in all his holy appointments contained in his word remember Christ's Counsel by way of caution to you Take heed saith he unto your selves that your hearts be not overcharged with Surfeting and Drunkenness and cares of this life and so that day come upon you unawares for as a snare shall it come upon all them that dwell upon the face of the whole Earth Watch ye therefore and pray always that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things and to stand before the Son of man Luk. 21.34 35 36. O consider the Caution is a piece of Divine Counsel take heed therefore And as Surfetting and Drunkenness is become a part of the abounding sins of this Age and Nation and many temptations and opportunities thereunto are presented and many evils thereby doth ensue take heed therefore watch and pray against the temptations occasions and evils thereof and consider that as Drunkenness dismables and makes a man unmeet for divine Contemplations and Religious Services so also the immoderate cares of this life makes persons unfit and unmeet for the same and also unmeet for the enjoyments of glory Therefore take heed and beware watch and pray against the same also consider what dishonour it is to God what reproach to religious profession what grief to the spirit and spiritual persons and wounds to your own Souls attend thereupon Take heed therefore watch and pray always that ye may escape these things once again consider that unto you that are Christians by profession these sins are sins against divine Love Light and Knowledge received sins against rich grace sins of a deep defilement sins against Covenant-mercies and obligations which if after we have escaped such corruptions through divine Illuminations and Experiences of God in Heavenly concernments and shall again therewith be entangled and brought in bondage may not the last state be worse then the first Therefore take heed watch and pray that ye may be able to withstand all temptations and to stand before the Son of man If our first Parents Adam and Eve in their estate of Innocency did by yielding unto one temptation against the known Law of God so corrupt themselves and Posterity as to stain and pollute their Ornaments of Holiness and Righteousness and thereby disable themselves to withstand many other temptations without a divine assistance how do we know but we by yielding unto one temptation to transgress allowingly the Law of God known unto us may thereby disable our selves to withstand Satan in many other of his wiles one sin may give advantage to another and therefore take heed watch and pray for divine assistance that ye fall not in temptation and as we are to take heed of viciousness of life so also of corruptness of judgment in the points of Faith by false Doctrines which are likewise some of Satans baits and subtil wiles wherewith he lyeth in wait to deceive take heed therefore watch and pray against the same try before ye trust and prove them by the word of Christ before ye imbrace If any bring not the Doctrin of Christ receive him not into your house neither bid him Godspeed for he that bideth him God-speed is partaker of his evil deeds As saith Saint John in his second Epistle vers 9 10 11. Take heed saith Christ our Saviour for many shall come in my name and shall deceive many Take heed therefore watch and pray that ye may obtain a firm Faith in Christ and a well-grounded judgment in his Counsel contained in his Word his Testimonies Commands and Promises to the enabling of you to live therein and according thereunto to the perfecting holiness in the fear of God Plentiful is the Scripture of Cautions upon this account whereunto I shall refer you and proceed unto a further prosecution of this Use by way of Caution considering that omission of Duties required is sin of dangerous consequence as well as actual transgression Take heed and beware of neglect of duty and particularly the omission of action in the Word of God and Prayer The Word or Doctrin of Christ is somtimes called the word of Faith because it is the ordinary means in the ministration of it to beget Faith and to nourish Faith and to compleat Faith in a Soul towards Jesus Christ It is somtimes said to be the power of God to Salvation unto every one that believeth because the tendancy use and efficacy of it is to the directing leading and nourishing of Souls up to the attainments of Salvation by Jesus Christ And as it is the requirement of God that the Sons and Daughters of men should harken diligently unto his Word in the ministrations of it and to meditate therein and to apply it and improve it to the glory of his Name and to their attainments unto holiness and happiness so it becomes a duty incumbent upon us to be active therein Therefore take heed and beware of neglect in this great duty and our omission thereof become our great sin and the Word that we have omitted become a witness against us to our Condemnation And let those that through grace have received ministerial gifts and imployed in the work of the Ministery take heed of omitting willingly or carelesly what the Lord requires at their hands in order to their feeding of the Flock of God take heed therefore of omitting but watch and pray for opportunities to the work and for divine assistance in the work that ye stain not your Ornaments of Holiness by the sin of Omission And in the duty of Prayer take heed of Omission lest it become sin unto us God forbid saith Samuel that I should sin against the Lord in ceasing to pray for you 1 Sam. 12.23 God's People are required to pray for an increase of Labourers in the work of the Ministery and for an increase of gifts and qualifications sutable to the work in those that are already imployed And if Paul did stand in need of and required the Prayers of God's People who was extraordinarily gifted how much more ordinary gifted-Ministers Paul required the Prayers of the Christians in order to his preservation from the hands of wicked and unreasonable men And herein Christians ought to be active at the Throne of grace in behalf of Gospel-Ministers now and especially when the storms of
commiserate the condition of the same that he must leave his King and his Office in the Court with all the honours profits and pleasures thereof to visit his Brethren and to repair the decays and make up the breaches with endeavours to set Jerusalem in her former state or primitive beauty unto which work he thought not much to set his hand his heart his all for to compleat the same And canst not thou O Unregenerate heart be wrought upon to a sensibility of thy own Estate by all the tydings brought home unto thine ears by the infallible word of Truth and Ministry thereof informing thee of the sad decays and breaches made upon thy precious Soul by sin and Satan the grand Enemies of man-kind Hast thou not heard that thy Walls of Security and Ornaments of Beauty are much decayed and many breaches made therein that is to say thy beautiful state of Righteousness and true Holiness in which man was at first Created in which man did God's Image bare and unto which Estate God did vouchsafe his Presence for security of thy self thy Peace thy Comfort and Consolation And hast thou not heard how by the Enemy all the faculties of thy Soul and members of thy Body are Captivated under the dominion of Sin and Satan A sad servitude unto thy Eternal desolation except a supernatural means timely applyed and carefully improved to effect a Restoration to thy primitive Estate And hast thou not heard that a Supernatural King hath granted and given forth a supernatural means compounded with Divine Love and Pitty to thy poor distressed Soul and Captivated state together with an order sealed with his own Signet for liberty to improve the means unto the aforesaid end with directions in the same and calls thereto And canst thou with those by the Holy Ghost Recorded Amos 6. Chant to the sound of the Viol and invent to thy self Instruments of Musick drink Wine in Bowls and solace thy self in worldly Vanities and not lay to heart the sad condition of Joseph of Jerusalem of thy poor Soul and Body in their Captivated state plundred of all their chiefest good O that thou wouldst act Nehemiahs part which is thy great concernment to lay to heart thy Condition so as to become sensible of thy Estate wherein thou standest and in the sence thereof to go unto God and humble thy self before him with Chastisements by Fasting and Tears of Mourning and lay thy Cause before the Lord with supplications in the name of Christ on thy Jerusalems thy precious Souls behalf and in order to thy sensibility hereunto and the quickening of thy motion herein Consider the words of Christ to the unprofitable Servant thou oughtest to have put my money to the Exchangers As if he should have said thou oughtest to exercise those noble faculties of Rationality and Memory that God hath bestowed on thee by a due Consideration and serious Meditation in the Word So now may I say to thee as God hath bestowed upon thee those noble faculties of Rationality and Memory wouldest thou exercise them in the Word of God by a due Consideration and serious Meditation and in those Ballances weigh the Adorning Ornaments of Righteousness and Holiness and the benefits and priviledges thereunto appertaining against the deformed habit of Ungodliness and the sad slavery thraldom and wrath that attends thereon and weigh well the value of thy precious Soul by the price laid down for its Redemption against the value of those sinful Vanities that procure thy Souls Condemnation and Christs Love and Faithfulness against Sin and Satans Deceitfulness then happily thou mightest obtain a sence of thy condition as thou standest in thy Unregenerate and Barren state and see that it is time for thee to seek the Lord and to break up thy fallow ground and to Sow in Righteousness in hope to Reap in Mercy see Hos 10.12 and to wait upon God in the use of God's appointed means until he rain the dews of Grace and Righteousness upon thee When Nehemiah came to Jerusalem Neh. 4.10 to view the decays and breaches therein made he found there much Rabbish the which must in wisdom first be removed and cleansed away otherwise the Rubbish would obstruct the work and cause it soon for to decay and fall again And although this obstructive Rubbish was so very much that it required many hands and heavy burthens with much difficulty and industry to remove and clear away yet this Obstruction must first be done away otherwise it would deceive their work and cause their labour to be in vain Now wouldest thou in the sence of thy decayed and falne state act Nehemiahs part in the use of the means appointed thereunto to be a Renewer or Repairer of those decays and breaches in thee made by the Enemy of thy Prosperity Peace and Happiness then thou must with Nehemiah wisely seek God's assistance and set thy self with all diligence to remove the Rubbish those corrupt Lusts and Sins that lye as grand obstructions in the way to our Attainments in the work of our Reparations and Restoration of our first Estate in Holiness and Righteousness true Peace and Happiness Wherefore in order to our better discovery and sensibility of those grand obstructions prejudicial to the work and for our better inducement to improve our utmost abilities with all diligence to a removal thereof that our atchievements may be the more prosperous and effectual Consider with me the ensuing discourse raised upon these following words written Prov. 30.15 The Horseleach hath two Daughters crying Give Give Prov. 30.15 AS all Scripture was given by Inspiration and is profitable and whatsoever was written aforetime was written for our Learning so doubtless this small part or portion of holy Scripture afore-mentioned hath something in it of profit and use to the Sons of men in the right Application of it Should we consider the words by way of division we may therein observe three parts First A subject bearing the denomination of a Horseleach Secondly A second part relating to the Horseleach as conceived and brought forth by her demonstrated by the denomination of her Daughters Thirdly A third particular observable is their qualifications or natural properties demonstrated in these words Crying Give Give Should we consider the words by way of Explication it will not be unnecessary in the first place to consider that it is often-times the method of the Holy Ghost in Scripture-Record by way of similitude or parable to illustrate the natural properties of one thing by the name of another thing of the same nature as for instance The Spirit of God by the Prophet Zephaniah illustrateth or setteth forth the natural properties and dispositions of Jerusalems Rulers in respect of their Oppressions and Cruelties imposed upon the people under their jurisdiction by the names of Lyons and Wolves Her Princes within her saith he are roaring Lyons her Judges are Evening Woolves they gnaw not the bones till the morrow Zeph. 3.3 So
likewise David setteth forth the property and disposition of his Enemies by the Denomination of Lyons My Soul saith he is among Lyons I lye even among them that are set on fire even the Sons of men whose teeth are Spears and Arrows and their tongue a sharp sword they prepare a net for my steps Psal 57.1 6. So our Saviour Christ demonstrates the natural properties and dispositions of his Desciples or Believers as they are Regenerate by the denomination of Sheep and Lambs as in John 21.15 16. and John 10. and that in respect of their harmless nature and peaceable deportment which they bare or ought to bare towards all men even towards their Persecutors and in this sence Christ himself is sometimes called a Lamb and compared to a Sheep yea many Testimonies of like nature may we find in holy Scripture to evidence this that it is the method of the holy Ghost many times to illustrate the nature of one thing by the name of another of the like nature So now in the explication of this Text of Scripture I shall observe the same method according to what I have received now by this Horseleach my judgment is that the Holy Ghost doth mind to illustrate some other thing of the like nature yet more mysterious Now we know that the Horseleach is a certain Worm whose appetite doth much delight in blood and after it they naturally are very greedy and insatiable therefore Physitians make use of the Horseleach to draw blood from their Patients as they see occasion yea so insatiable and greedy is her appetite after blood that if she once fasten upon a man she would suck and drain all the blood out of every Vein and part of the body to the destruction of the life if possible she could contain it and suffered thereunto such is her natural properties Now that which this Horseleach doth in its natural properties to us resemble and simily forth is that mysterious Horseleach-Corruption that ceased upon mans heart and did take up its Residence there by the first transgression The which Corruption is Horseleach-like in her natural properties so insatiable and greedy that by her operation and powerful influence she will search into every Vein Member and faculty of Body and Soul and suck and draw out of the same all that spiritual blood and life of God and power of Godliness which man was invested with in his Creation until she hath wholly made the Creature like a dead man without life and motion as to the things of God but so enslaved under the dominion of her Laws that in conformity thereunto the poor Creature must run and go at every beck improve all Opportunities embrace all Companions and use all means tending to the promoting of Corruptions-Interest the law of Sin to the great decay and detriment of mans holy and happy State But Secondly The Text saith The Horseleach hath two Daughters crying Give Give It seemeth these Daughters of the Horseleach are for nature and quality like her self greedy insatiable Worms their cry is always Give Give they are all for themselves but nothing part from These two Daughters of the Horseleach do much resemble the Creatures affections as they stand in their Unregenerate state that is to say Unsanctified love and Carnal desire sometimes in Scripture called Lust and that they are the Daughters of this Horseleach-Corruption it may appear by these Reasons First They bare her name they are Corrupt Affections Secondly They bare her nature they are Inordinate Affections Col 3 5. And as they are Inordinate in respect of their being out of that order wherein God at first placed them which was upon himself to be unto him and to him only so are they Inordinate in their Insatiable Covetousness greedy dispositions after other objects as if they could never have enough always their cry is Give Give Thirdly That they are the Daughters of that Horseleach Corruption doth further appear by their subjection to the law of Corruption they are as obedient to the Law of Corruption as a Daughter can be to the Law of her Mother insomuch that they and the whole man steered by their course are by the Holy Ghost demonstrated to be the Servants of Corruption Yea as the Law of Corruption doth require these Daughters to Renounce God and break Covenant with him and joyn themselves in a conjunction of affinity with self and the world they readily submit and yield thereto and make the interest of Self and the World the only object of their delight And in order to the promoting of this Interest of Self and the World they unto every faculty of Soul and member of Body are always moving and crying Give Give Give your strength your abilities your motion and action your time and opportunities in our Service to Self and the World and to our satisfaction in the delights and pleasures thereof whereby the whole man is brought into Captivity and Slavery to these Horseleach Daughters these greedy insatiable Worms these Lusts to Self-advancement to worldly Vanities until the poor Soul be left as desolate as ever Nehemiah found Jerusalem plundred and ransacked of all its life of God and power of Godliness true peace and happiness and all its gates and doors of faith and hope and assurance in God burnt up and destroyed and its beautiful Ornaments of Righteousness and Holiness much defaced and all its Walls of Fortification broken down and the whole man laid open to the mercy of a merciless Enemy to its eternal ruine except a supernatural means be timely applyed and improved for a remedy to the breaking off the Creatures affections from this affinity and to the reducing them to their first Estate Now that there is such a conjunction of affinity as aforesaid is farther evinced by the name that the Holy Ghost hath put upon those persons in that contract as those persons that are joyned in a spiritual Conjunction or Contract with Christ are called Christians and as a Woman Espoused to a Man is called by his name So hath the holy Spirit of God put the name of the world upon those persons whose affections are joyned to the world as Christ said to those in a conjunction of affection with him Marvel not if the world hate you ye know that it hated me before it hated you Whence note that by world he meaneth persons Espoused in affection to the world So the Spirit of God by Saint John saith the whole world lyeth in wickedness meaning all persons in their Unregenerate state whom Corruption hath drawn off their affections from God and situated them upon Self and the World So that in this discourse here is briefly and plainly set forth First That by the Horseleach is imply'd Corruption that ceazed upon the heart of man by sin in the first Transgression so considered from their natural properties and the two Daughters to be the Creatures of affections Unsanctified love and Carnal desire as they
to suffer affliction with the People of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season for he had respect to the Recompence of reward and what 's the reason of this Surely he drank of the Brook in the way and therefore he lift up his head Psal 110.7 above all the treasures and pleasures of this world Esteeming the reproaches of Christ greater Riches than the Treasures of Aegypt Yea Heb. 11.25 26. such is the Virtue and Efficacy of these living spings Gods free grace in Christ that it both cures the heart of the raigning power of sin and furnisheth it with courage and boldness in the ways of God against all reproaches and persecutions for the sake of Christ As we read of many that underwent Mockings and Scourgings Bonds and Imprisonments some ston'd some sawn asunder and some slain with the sword some wandring about in Sheep-skins and Goat-skins being destitute afflicted tormented of whom the world was not worthy and these not accepting of deliverance i. e. upon their Adversaries terms And what was the reason that they thus slighted self and the world to follow the Lord in his ways to the loss of all their outward enjoyments Surely they drank of the brook in the way the streams of Gods free grace in the promised Messiah were the waters of life whereunto they had recourse upon all occasions and by a supernatural hand of faith applyed the same unto the heart in the cup of serious meditation and by the vertue of the said streams they received such spiritual nourishment comfort support and assurance of better and more satisfying enjoyments the which drew up their affections to the Lord so as to renounce self and the world with all the fading vanities thereof as saith the Apostle Paul Whether we are besides our selves it is to God or whether we be sober it is for your cause for the love of Christ constraineth us because we thus judge that if Christ died for all then were all dead and he dyed for all that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves but unto him that dyed for them 2 Cor. 5.13 14 15. Thus divine love with the excellent benefits thereof hath a constraining opperation in it to convert a soul from self and the world unto God and to the glorifying of his name with qualifications of grace wrought in the heart through the souls participation of the powerful influences and refreshing streams thereof For as the true sight and sence of our own Corruptions and our vileness thereby and our just deserts for the same laid to heart by a divine hand is sufficient for the converting of our proud hearts and haughty spirits into humiliation so also the true sight and sensible experience of the glory of the Lord in the dispensations of his free grace in Christ and the glory that it leads unto being laid to heart by due consideration and serious meditation through the operation and power of the divine spirit of the Lord is a sufficient means for to change the property and alter the dispositions of the heart from what it was by corrupted nature and to qualifie it with the qualifications of the Divine Nature into the same Image or likeness unto Jesus Christ in his natural properties inclinations and qualifications of grace as evidences of future glory As saith the Apostle We all beholding as in a Glass the glory of the Lord are changed into the same Image from Glory to Glory even as by the spirit of the Lord 2 Cor. 3.18 An Exhortation to a Unity with Christ in qual fication and self-denyal after Christs example as an emblem of true Christianity If there be therefore any Consolation in Christ if any comfort of Love if any fellowship of the spirit if any bowels and mercies Fulfil ye my joy saith the Apostle that ye be like-minded having the same love being of one accord of one mind Let nothing be done through strife or vain glory but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves Phil. 2.1 2 3. so forward Thus have we the Counsel and Example of Christ with the experimental testimonies of the faithful in former ages recommending unto us upon Scripture Record Gods free grace in Christ as a soveraign remedy to cure our souls of this disease of Corruption that Horseleach and all those greedy worms bred in the heart by the influence thereof which lye as obstructive Rubbish in our way to Holy and Heavenly attainments suitable to our Head Jesus Christ Wherefore we having such excellent means afforded us and being compassed about with such a cloud of Witnesses giving testimony to us of the excellent vertue and powerful efficacy thereof let us carefully and with all diligence improve the said means to the laying aside every weight and the sin that doth so easily be set us and let us run with perseverance unto the divine springs and streams of the waters of life flowing unto us in and through Jesus Christ from the Fountain of the Eternal Love of his Father and manifested by his Spirit in the word of truth the Gospel of Jesus Christ and our Salvation looking unto Jesus the Author and Finisher of our Faith who for the joy that was set before him denyed himself contemned the world endured the Cross and despised the shame to do his Fathers Will in opening the springs of the waters of life unto us and is set down at the right hand of the Majesty on high there to appear in the presence of God as an Interceder for us as we by faith unite to him and participate of his fulness Thus have we before us a discovery of a most sad and dangerous disease of the Heart-worms the Horseleach and her Daughters in conjunction with self and the world and a brood of ungodly Lusts conceived in the heart of unregenerate man by the influence thereof as insatiable as the Grave the barren Womb the Earth and the Fire which never saith it is enough the which disease is not only dangerous but also very general thousands are sick thereof and thousands are dead thereby whilst they live as being unsensible of the disease or danger thereof and thousands of thousands have perished by the same we are also informed of a way how we may try our hearts whether this disease be prevalent in us or no and also what means is like to be most effectual against the same with some motives for encouragements to a careful improvement of the said means As First God the Fathers free invitation of Sinners unto his Son in whom the springs of the water of life is placed to be communicated to those that by faith imbrace him Secondly Christs invitation of Sinners to come unto him and partake of his fulness as he is a full Fountain set open for Sinners a Fountain fed with all the springs of God Thirdly Christs freeness to impart of his fulness to poor Sinners enslaved the which freeness