himself with an unnecessary weapon one sword can serve both his enemy and him Goliahs own weapon shall serve to behead the Master so this mans own tongue shall serve to accuse himself and acquit thee Yea as David had Goliah to bear his sword for him so thy very enemy shall carry for thee both sword and shield even sufficient for defence as well as for offence Wherefore in these cases it hath been usuall for Gods people to behave themselves like dead Images which though they be rayled on and reviled by their enemies yet have ears and hear not mouthes and speak not hands and revenge not neither have they breath in their nostrils to make reply Psal. 115.5 6 7. If you will see it in an example look upon David he was a deaf and dumb at reproach as any stock or stone They that seek after my life saith he lay snares and they that go about to do me evil talk wicked things all the day sure it was their vocation to backbite and slander but I was as deaf and heard not and as one dumb which doth not open his mouth I was as a man that heareth not and in whose mouth are no reproofs Psal. 38.12 13. This innocent Dove was also as wise as a Serpent in stopping his ears and refusing to hear the voice of these blasphemous Inchanters charmed they never so wisely And as their words are to be contemned by us so are their challenges to fight When a young Gallant would needs pick a quarrell with an ancient tried Souldier whose valour had made him famous it was generally held that he might with credit refuse to fight with him until his worth shoult be known equivalent to his saying Your ambition is to win honour upon me whereas I shall receive nothing but disgrace from you The Goshawke scorns to fly at Sparrows Those noble Doggs which the King of Albany presented to Alexander out of an overflowing of courage contemned to encounter with any beasts but Lyons and Elephants as for Staggs wilde Boars and Bears they made so little account of that seeing them they would not so much as remove out of their places And so the Regenerate man which fighteth daily with their King Satan scorns to encounter with his servant and slave the carnall man And this is so far from detracting that it adds to his honour and shews his courage and fortitude to be right generous and noble Again secondly The wager is unequall to lay the life of a Christian against the life of a Russian and the blind sword makes no difference of persons the one surpassing the other as much as Heaven Earth Angels men or men beasts even Aristippus being derided by a scarless souldier for drooping in danger of shipwrack could answer Thou and I have not the like cause to be afraid for thou shalt only lose the life of an Asse but I the life of a Philosopher The consideration whereof made Alexander when he was commanded by Philip his Father to wrastle in the games of Olympia answer he would if there were any Kings present to strive with him else not which is our very Case and nothing is more worthy our pride than that which will make us most humble if we have it that we are Christians When an Embassadour told Henry the fourth that Magnificent King of France concerning the King of Spains ample Dominions First said he He is King of Spain is he so saith Henry and I am King of France but said the other He is King of Portugall and I am King of France saith Henry He is King of Naples and I am King of France He is King of Sicily and I am King of France He is King of Nova Hispaniola and I am King of France He is King of the West Indies and I said Henry am King of France He thought the Kingdom of France only equivalent to all those Kingdoms The application is easie the practise usuall with so many as know themselves heirs apparent to an immortall Crown of glory And as touching their future estate Fret not thy self saith David because of the wicked men neither be envious for the evill doers for they shall soon be cut down like grass and shall wither as the green herb Psal. 37.1 2. This doth excellently appear in that remarkable example of Samaria besieged by Benhadad and his Host 2 King 7.6 7. As also in Haeman who now begins to envy where half an hour since he had scorned as what could so much vex that insulting Agagite as to be made a Lackie to a despised Iew yea not to mention that which followed stay but one hour more the basest slave of Persia will not change conditions with this great favourite though he might have his riches and former honour to boot I might instance the like of Pharaoh Exod. 15.9 10 19. Senacherib Isa. 37.36 37 38. Herod Acts 12.22 23 and many others but experience shews that no man can sit upon so high a Cogue but may with turning prove the lowest in the wheele and that pride cannot climbe so high but Iustice will sit above her And thus are they to be contemned and pitied while they live and when they die 3. After death the Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptation saith Peter and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgement to be punished 2 Pet. 2.9 Alas were thy enemy sure to enjoy more Kingdoms than ever the Devill shewed Christ to be more healthfull than Moses to live longer than Methuselah yet being out of Gods favour this is the end to have his Body lye hid in the silent dust and his Soul tormented in hell fiâ—e And upon this consideration when Dionysius the Tyrant had plotted the death of his Master Plato and was defeated by Platos escape out of his Dominions when the Tyrant desired him in writing not to speak evil of him the Philosopher replied That he had not so much idle time as once to think of him knowing there was a just God would one day call him to a reckoning The Moon looks never the paler when Wolves howâ— against it neither is she the slower in her motion howbeit some Sheepherd or Lyon may watch them a good turn Wherefore saith St Gregory Pray for thine enemies Yea saith St Paul be gentle toward all that do thee evill and instruct them with meekness proving if God at any time will give them repentance that they may knrw the truth and some to amendment of life out of the snare of the Devill of whom they are taken prisoners to do his will 2 Tim. 2.25 26. Which thing himself had formerly found of force for with that contrary breath I mean that one prayer which St Steven made at his death he was of a so made a friend of a Saul a Paul of a Persecutor a Preacher of an Imposter a Pastor a Doctor of a Seducer of a Pirate a Prelate of a blasphemer a blesser of a thief
immortall yea even their mortall wounds make the sufferers immortall and presently transport us from the contemplation of felicity unto the fruition Whereas if the corn of our bodies be not cast into the earth by death we can have none of this increase which is the reason first that we celebrate the memory of the Saints not upon their birth-dayes but upon their death-dayes to shew how the day of our death is better than the day of our birth And secondly that many Holy men have wisht for death as Ieremy Iob Paul c. As who can either marvell or blame the desire of advantage for the weary traveller to long for rest the prisoner for liberty the banished for home it is so naturall that the contrary disposition were monstrous And indeed it is our ignorance and infidelity at least our impreparation that makes death seem other than advantage And look to it for he hardly mourns for the sinnes of the time who longs not to be freed from the time of sinne he but little loves his Saviour who is not willing to go unto him and is too fond of himself that would not go out of himself to God True he that beleeveth will not make haste Isa. 28.16 that is he will not go out by a back-door seek redresse by unlawfull means for though here he hath his pain and in Heaven he looks for his payment yet he will not make more haste than good speed Though he desires to be dissolved and to be with Christ which is best of all Phil. 1.23 24. Yet he is content to live yea he lives patiently though he dies joyfully In his wisdome he could chuse the gain of death but in his obedience he refuseth not the service of life and it is to be feared that God will refuse that soul which leaves the body before himself calls for it as Seneca speaks like a Divine Now what are we to learn from this double lesson but a two-fold instruction 〈…〉 unsent is death to the godly no other then the Brazen Serpent to the Israelites which was so farre from hurting them that contrarily it healed them And wouldest thou not fear death for to labour not to die is labour in vain and Kings in this are Subjects First Look through death at glory as lâ—t but the unfolded Heavens give way to Stevens eyes to behold Christ in the glory of his Father how willing is he to ascend by that stony passage Acts 7.56 59. Secondly Fear to commit the least sinne which is forbidden by so great a God and suffered for by so loving a Saviour Now God hath so farre forth forbidden revenge that he hath forbidden all kinde of hatred and malice for the Law in every Commandement is spirituall and bindes the heart as well as the hand and to thy power thou hast slain him whom thou hatest he is alive and yet thou hast kil'd him saith St Augustine and therefore these two hatred and murther are coupled together as yoak-fellowes in that long teame of the fleshes beastly works which draw men to perdition Rom. 1.29 Gal. 5.21 and wherein do they differ but as the Father and the Sonne or as Devill and evill only in a letter Yea saith Christ in the places before quoted Love your enemies do well to them that hate you overcome evill with good c. Luk 6.27 Rom. 12.21 Be so farre from snatching Gods weapon out of his hand that you rather master unkindnesse with kindnesse And as this is Gods word so hearing what the word speaks is an ear-mark of Christs sheep as witnesseth the chief sheepherd Joh. 8. He that is of God heareth Gods word and he is of an uncircumcised ear and one of the Devils Goats that wants this mark for he heareth it not because he is not of God Vers. 47. Wherefore lay it to heart lose not the priviledge of Gods protection by an unwarrantable righting of thy self Do not like the Fool that leapt in the water for fear of being drowned in the boat But above all fears fear him which after he hath kil'd hath power to cast into hell Luk. 12.5 compare the present with the future the action with the reward think thou seest beyond pleasing thy appetite and doing thine own will sinne against God beyond that death beyond death judgement beyond judgement hell beyond that no limits of time or torments but all easelesse and endlesse Thou cryest God be mercifull to me but be thou also mercifull to thy self Fear God fear sinne and fear nothing for sinne is the sting of all troubles pull out the sting and deride the malice of the Serpent Yea have but Gods warrant for what thou goest about and then let death happen it shall not happen amisse for the assurance of Gods call and protection when a mans actions are warranted by the Word will even take away the very fear of death for death as a Father well notes hath nothing terrible but what our life hath made so He that hath lived well is seldom unwilling to die life or death is alike welcome unto him for he knowes whiles he is here God will protect him and when he goes hence God will receive him I have so behaved my self saith St Ambrose to the Nobles of Millain that I am not asha 〈…〉 Hilarion These seventy years and upwards thou hast served the Lord therefore now go forth my soul with joy c. Whereas he that hath lived wickedly had rather lose any thing even his soul than his life whereby he tels us though his tongue expresse it not that he expects a worse estate hereafter How oft doth guiltinesse make one avoid what another would wish in this case Yea death was much facilitated by the vertues of a well-led life even in the Heathen Phocion being condemned to die and the executioner refusing to do his office unlesse he had twelve Drachmes paid him in hand Phocion borrowed it of a friend and gave it him ne mora fieret morti Again Cato was so resolute that he told Caesar he feared his pardon more than the pain he threatned him with And Aristippus as I take it though I may be mistaken told the Saylers that wondred why he was not as well as they afraid in a storm that the odds was much for they feared the torments due to a wicked life and he expected the reward of a good one It s a solid and sweet reason being rightly applied Vicâ— drawes death with a horrid look with a whip and flames and terrors but so doth not vertue Whence it was that death was ugly and fearfull unto Cicero wished for and desired of Cato and indifferent to Socrates Obj. But a violent and painfull death is by far more terrible and intollerable than a naturall Answ. Seldom have the Martyrs found it so but often the contrary which made them kisse the wheele that must kill them and think the stayres of the scaffold of their Martyrdom but so many degrees of
if they be angry they turn their malice from the person which punisheth them to the sinne by which and for which he came to have leave and power to punish them and to themselves for committing such sins The cause of their suffering doth more vex them than the things which they suffer and they grieve more for the displeasure of God than for the stripes of his displeasure It is not the punishment but the cause of it makes them sorrowfull And indeed to speak home to every mans conscience why are we patient or impatient it is worth the noting when sinne lyes light then reproaches and contempt lye heavy whereas if we truly feel the weight of sinne all indignities will be as nothing Or thirdly In case they do return an answer it is after the manner of Epictetus who would not deny the sins his enemy taxed him with but reproves his ignorance rather in that being unacquainted with the infinity of his crimes he layes only two or three to his charge whereas indeed he was guilty of a million Or as Latymer was wont who rejoyced when any objected indiscretion against him in his Sermons saying he knew by that that they could not object against the matter it self Or according to Philip of Macedon his example who would not punish Nicanor although he openly spake evill of him saying when he heard thereof I suppose Nicanor is a good man it were better to search whether the fault be in us or no so no sooner shall an holy mans enemy accuse him of hypocrisie pride passion covetousnesse c. but he will go to God and accuse himself and complain I am so indeed yea with Paul I am the chief of all sinners I am more vile than his termes can make me and I much marvell my punishment is no greater then to hear a few ill and bitter words And indeed one would think whatsoever is not pain nor sufferance or admit it be pain and sufferance so long as it is not a curse but a crosse may well be born without grumbling What said that Gentleman in Athens to his friends when Ashuerus came and took away half his plate as he was at dinner with him they admiring that he was not a whit moved thereat I thank God quoth he that his Highnesse hath left me any thing Yea suppose we lose all we have our goods are furthest off us and if but in these we smart we must confesse to finde favour Or admit they hurt our bodies or kill us which they may soon do if God but give leave for our life even the best of us is but like a bubble which boyes blow up in the ayre and presently again blow into meer ayr Caesar goes an Emperour to the Senate is brought a Corps home again What ever I say befals us this would be our meditation he that afflicted me for a time could have held me longer he that touched me in part could have stricken me in whole he that laid this upon my body hath power to lay a greater Rod both upon my body and soul without doing me the least wrong That all crosses and curses temporall spirituall and eternall even from the pains of the damned to the very Itch as Moses sets down Deut. 28.27 are deserved and come not upon us against equity equity I say in respect of God not in respect of men they come from a just Author though from an unjust instrument And that sinne is the ground of all our griefs the source of all our sufferings wickednesse the root of our wretchednesse that we are disciplin'd is from our defects is a truth undeniable appears plainly for first God affirms it Deut. 28. Isa. 57.17 Hos. 13.9 Jer. 30.15 and 4.18 Secondly His servants confirm it 1 Chron. 21.17 Isa. 64.5 Dan. 9.7 8 c. Lam. 1.5 8. and 3.39 c. Ezra 9.13 Luk. 23.41 Thirdly Good reason makes for it sinfull men smite not their dogs much lesse their children without a cause and shall we think the just God will smite without just cause his judgements saith a Father are sometimes secret alwayes just No misery had ever afflicted us if sinne had not first infected us What 's the reason we all die it could not be in justice if we had not all sinned and so of all other evils even sicknesse originally proceeds from sinne and all weaknesse from wickednesse one man languisheth of a Consumption another laboureth of a Feaver a third is rackt with the Gout a fourth swoln with the Dropsie a fift hath his soul let out with a sword every one hath a severall way to bring him to the common end death but sinne is the universall disease Death passed upon all for all have sinned Rom. 5.12 Iames 3.2 Yea as we brought a world of sinne into the world with us so since each man hath broken every one of Gods ten Laws ten thousand times and ten thousand wayes which is far from a privative holinesse in reforming that which is evill and a positive holinesse in performing that which is good Eph. 4.22 23. and every sin helps for as originall sin is the originall cause of death so actuall sins hasten it But to conclude in generall that sin is the cause we suffer is not sufficient for commonly no judgement comes from God but some particular provocation of man went before it the hand of Divine Iustice seldom makes us smart without some eminent cause foregoing therefore David seeing a famine in the Land inquires for the particular provoking sin 2 Sam. 21.1 so when we suffer our question should be What have we done yea what have we done in the same kinde for oftentimes we may read our sin in our punishment as it fared with Adonibezeck Judg. 1.7 and many other mentioned in Scripture Sodom was burnt with fire unnaturall as they burned with lust unnaturall Absoloms chief pride lay in his hair and that became his halter Salomon dividing Gods Kingdom had his own Kingdom divided David hath slain Vriah with the sword therefore the sword shall not depart from his house Dives would not give Lazarus a crum Lazarus shall not bring Dives a drop Iudas was the instrument of his Masters death he shall be the instrument of his own death Proud Bajazet vowes to imprison Tamberlaine in an Iron Cage and carry him about the world in triumph But Tamberlaine having conquered that bragging Turk carried and carted him through all Asia to be scorned of his own people For instance Is any one censured reviled and persecuted of lewd men for being religious Let him reflect upon his life past and happily their revilings and persecutions will bring to his remembrance that he himself before his conversion hath likewise censured reviled or persecuted others It may be his naturall spirituall or politicall parents in some kind or other as who can plead innocency herein and he that is not humbled for his sin is not yet justified from his sin Yea so often as
10.29.30 Let the Powder-Traytors plot and contrive the ruinâ— of our state never so cunningly and closey let them go on to the utmost as there wanted nothing but an actor to bring on that Catholick dooms-day yet before the match could bee brought to the Powder their artificiall fire-works were discovered their projection prodition deperdition all disclosed and seasonably returned on their own heads And the like of their invincible Navie And of Pope Alexander the sixth who prepared a feast for diverse Cardinalls and Senators purposing to poyson them but by the providence of God they escaped and hee alone was poysoned Let Iezabel fret her heart out and swear by her gods that Eliah shall die yet shee shall bee frustrate Eliah shall bee safe Let the red Dragon spout forth floods of venom against the Church the Church shall have wings given her to flie away she shal be delivered Rev. 12. Let the Scribes and Pharisees with their many false witnesses accuse Christ never so yet in spite of malice innocency shall find abbettors and rather than hee shall want witnesses the mouth of Pilate shall bee opened to his justification Yea let Ionas through frailty run away from the execution and embassage of God's charge and thereupon bee cast into the Sea though the waves require him of the Ship and the Fish require him of the waves yet the Lord will require him of the Fish even the Sea and the Fish had as great a charge for the Prophet as the Prophet had a charge for Niniveh for this is a sure rule if in case God gives any of the creatures leave to afflict us yet hee will be sure to lay no more upon us than we are able or he will make us able to bear yea than shall make for our good and his glory Hee hath a provident care over all the Creatures even Beasts and Plants and certainly wee are more precious than Fowls and Flowers yet the Lord cares for them Will the House-holder take care to water the herbs of his Garden or to fodder his Cattell and suffer his Men and Maids to famish through hunger and thirst Or wil hee provide for his Men and Maids and let his own children starve Surely if a man provide not for his own Hee hath denyed the faith and is worse than an Infidell 1 Tim. 5.8 Far bee it then from the great Hous-holder and Iudge of all the earth not to provide for his dear Children and Servants what shall bee most necessary for them indeed wee may fear our own flesh as Saint Paul did but God is faithfull and will not suffer us to bee tempted above our strength but will even give the issue with the temptation and in the mean time support us with his grace 2 Cor. 12.9 You have an excellent place to this purpose Ier. 15.20 21. Section 2. Objection But wee see by experience that God gives wicked men power often times to take away the very lives of the godly Answ. What then If wee lose the lives of our bodies it is that wee may save the lives of our souls and attain the greater degree of glory Luk. 9.24 and so wee are made gainers even by that loss Now if God takes away temporall and gives eternall life for it there is no hurt done us hee that promiseth ten pieces of silver and gives ten pieces of gold breaks no promise Peace bee unto this house was the Apostles salutation but it was not meant of an outward peace with men of the world and Christ â—aith you shall have rest Matth. 11.28 but it is rest unto your souls Again thou hast merited a three-fold death if thou bee'st freed from the two worser spirituall and eternall and God deal favourably with thee touching thy naturall death hee is mercifull if not thou must not think him unjust Though the Devill and the world can hurt us aswell as other men in our outward and bodily estates as the Devill had power over Iob in his ulcers over his children in their death over Mary Magdalen that was possessed and over that daughter of Abrahams Luk 13. whom hee kept bound 18. years ver 16. yet they can do us no hurt nor indanger our souls they shall lose nothing but their dross as in Zachary 13.9 Isa. 12. Let them sluce out our blood our souls they cannot so much as strike let wild beasts tear the body from the soul yet neither body nor soul are thereby severed from Christ. Yea they can neither deprive us of our spirituall treasure here nor eternall hereafter which makes our Saviour say Fear yee not them which kill the body but are not able to kill the soul but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in Hell Matth. 10.28 The body is but the Bark Cabinet Case or Instrument of the soul and say it falls in pieces there is but a pitcher broken the soul a glorious Ruby held more fit to bee set in the crown of glory than here to bee trodeâ— under foot by dirtie swine and therefore so soon as separated the Angels convey her hence to the place of everlasting bliss Alas what can they do they cannot separate us from the love of God in Christ Iesus Rom 8 38.39 Yea they are so far from doing us harm as that contrariwise wee are much the better for them In all these these things wee are more than conquerours through him that loved us ver 37. Whatsoever then becoms of goods or lives happie are wee so long as like wise Souldiers wee guard the vitall parts while the soul is kept found from impatience from distrust c. Our enemie may afflict us hee cannot hurt 〈◊〉 Objection Nevertheless that which I suffer is exceeding grievous Answer Not so grievous as it might have been for hee that hath afflicted thee for a time could have held thee longer hee that toucheth thee in part could have stricken thee in whole hee that laid this upon thy body hath power to lay a greater Rod both upon thy body and soul. Again there is no chastisement not grievous the bone that was dis-jointed cannot bee set right without pain no potion can cure us if it work not and it works not except it make us sick Nay my very disease is not so painfull for the time as my remedy how doth it turn the stomack and wring the in trails and work a worse distemper than that whereof I formerly complained neither could it bee so wholesome if it were less unpleasing neither could it make mee whole if it did not â—iâ—st make mee sick But wee are contented with that sickness which is the way to health There is a vexation without hurt such is this wee are afflicted not overpressed needy not desperate persecuted not forsaken cast down but perish not how should wee when all the evill in a City comâ— from the providence of a good God which can neither bee impotent nor unmeâ—cifull It is the Lord let him do
required the second time 1 Ioh. 1.9 Now that Christ hath sufficiently satisfied for all the sins of the faithful and paid our debt even to the utmost farthing it is evident by many places of Scripture as Isa. 53.4.5 2 Cor. â— 21 Heb. 9.26 1 Pet. 2.24 Rom. 3.25.26 1 Ioh. 1.7.9 and sundry others Are we bound to perform perfect obedience to the Law bee performed it for us were wee for disobedience subject to the sentence of condemnation the curse of the Law and death of body and soul hee was condemned for us and bore the curse of the law hee died in our stead an ignominious death did wee deserve the anger of God hee indured his fathers wrathfull displeasure that so he might reconcile us to his father and set us at liberty Hee that deserved no sorrow felt much that wee who deserved much might â—eel none and by his wounds wee are healed Isa. 53.5 Adam eat the Apple Christ paid the price In a word whatsoever wee owed Christ discharged whatsoever we deserved he suffered if not in the self same punishments for hee being God could not suffer the eternall torments of Hell yet in proportion the dignity of his person being God and Man giving value unto his temporary punishments and making them of more value and worth than if all the world should have suffered the eternall torments of Hell for it is more for one that is eternall to die than for others to die eternally Therefore was the Son of God made the Son of man that the Sons of men might bee made the Sons of God and therefore was hee both God and man lest being in every respect God he had been too great to suffer for man or being in every respect man hee had been too weak to satisfie God Seeing therefore our Saviour Christ hath fully discharged our debt and mâ—de full satisfaction to his Fathers justice God cannot in equity exact of us a second paiment no more than the Creditor may justly require that his debt should bee twice paid once by the Surety and again by the Principall Again secondly it is the Lords Covenant made with his Church and committed to writing Ier. 31.34 Heb. 10.16 17. Psal. 32.10 Isa. 55.7 Ezek. 18.21 22 23. and 33.11 Mâ—l 3.17 Confirmed and ratified by his seals the Sacraments together with his Oath that there might be no place left for doubting for God willing more abundantly to shew unto the Heirs of promise the stableness of his counsell bound himself by an oath that by two immutable things wherein it is impossible that God should lie we might have strong consolation as the Apostle speaks Heb. 6.17.18 And lest the afflicted conscience should object that hee entred into covenant and made these promises to the Prophets Apostles and holy men of God but not to such hainous and rebellious sinners who have most justly deserved that God should pour out upon them the Vialls of his wrath and those fearfull punishments threatned in the Law All the promises made in the Gospel are generall indefinite and universall excluding none that turn from their sins by unfained repentance and beleeve in Christ Iesus testing on him alone for their salvation as appears Isa 55.1 Ezek. 33.11 Mark 16.16 Ioh. 3.14 15 16.36 and 6.37.40 Act. 10.43 1 Ioh. 2.1 Neither is there any limitation or exception of this or that sin for bee they never so grievous and manifold yet if wee perform the condition of faith and repentance they cannot debar us from receiving the benefit of God's mercy and Christ's merits as appears Isa. 1.18 Titus 2.14 1 Ioh. 1.7.9 And therefore unless thou conceivest of God that hee is unjust in his dealing untrue in his Word a covenant-breaker yea a perjured person which were most horrible blasphemy once to imagine thou must undoubtedly assure thy self that hee will pardon and forgive thee all thy sins bee they in number never so many and innumerable or in nature and quality never so hainous and damnable if then turnest unto him by unfained repentance and laiest hold upon Christ by a true and lively faith For consider doth the Lord say hee will extend his mercie unto all that come unto him doth hee invite every one doth hee say I would have all men saved and none to perish and dost thou say nay but hee will not extend his mercy unto mee hee will have mee to perish because I am a grievous sinner What is this but in effect and at a distance to contradict the Lord and give the lye to truth it self Indeed God says not Beleeve thou Iohn or Thomas and thou shalt bee saved but hee says Whosoever beleeveth and is baptized shall bee saved which is as good And yet thou exceptest thy self hee excludes none and dost thou exclude one and that one thy self Hee would have all men saved and thou comest in with thy exceptive All but mee Why thee a precious singularity but beware of it For whereas others that beleeve not the threatnings flatter away their souls in a presumptuous confidence thou by not beleeving the promises wilt cast away thine in a sullen prodigious desperateness if thou take not heed For infidelity on both sides is the cause of all of presumption in them of despair in thee of impiety in every one But bee better advised beleeve the Lord who never brake his Word with any soul. Thou wilt give credit to an man's bare word and hast thou no affiance in the mercifull promises of God past to thee by Word Oath Seals Scriptures Sacraments the death of his own Son and I presume the Spirits testimony if not now yet at other times take heed what thou dost for certainly nothing offends God more then the not taking of his Word Section 7. Objection I know well that Christ is the end of the Law for righteousness unto every one that beleeveth Rom. 10.4 But I want faith Answer This is the objection I expected for the true Christian is as fearfull to entertain a good opinion of himself as the false is unwilling to bee driven from it But is it so or doth Satan onely tell thee so I know it is not so I know that thou beleevest with some mixture of unbelief and that this is but a slander of Satans for as Satan slandereth us to God Iob 1.9 and God to us Gen. 3.4.5 so hee slandereth us to our selvs Iob 16.9 But least thou shouldest think I slander Satan know that you beleeve even whiles you complain of unbelief for as there could bee no shadow if there were no light so there cannot bee this fear where there is no faith They that know not Christ think it no such great matter to loose him But if God once say this is my Son Satan will say if thou hee the Son of God Matth. 3.17 and 4.3 That Divine testimony did not allay his malice but exasperate it Neither can the happy building of Lord I beleeve stand without that columne to under-prop it
Schools of learning and good literature especially the Universities Remember in much mercy all that are afflicted whether in body or in mind of in both whether in conscience groaning under sin or for a good conscience because they will not sin and as thou makest them examples to us so teach us to take example by them and learn wisdome by thy hand upon them These and all things else which thou knowest we stand in need of we humbly crave at thy mercifull hands and that for the alone worthinesse and satisfaction of thy son and the honour of our onely Redeemer and Advocate Jesus Christ to whom with thee O Father and thy blessed Spirit be given as is most due all praise glory and dominion the residue of this day and for evermore Amen A PRAYER for the Morning O Lord prepare our hearts to Pray O Most glorious LORD GOD and in JESUS CHRIST our most merciful and loving Father in whom wee live and move and have our being in the multitude of thy mercies we desire to approach unto thee from whom all good things do proceed who knowest our necessities befoâ—e we ask and our ignorance in asking It is true O Lord if we should consider onely our own unworthiness and how we have heretofore abused thy goodnesse and long-suffering towards us wee might rather despair with Iudas and like Adam run from thee then dare to approach thy glorious presence For we confesse O Lord to the shame and confusion of our own faces that as our first Parents left us a large stock of sinne so we have improved the same beyond measure O that we could have so improved that stock of grace which wee have received from thee But whereas thou gavest us as large a portion we suddenly lost it We were created indeed by thee after thine own image in righteousness holiness in knowledg of the Truth But alas now our understandings are so darkned and dulled our judgmeÌ„ts so blinded our wils so perverted our affections so corrupted our reason so exiled our thoughts so surprised our desires so entrapped and all the faculties and sunctions of our souls so disordered that we are not sufficient of our selves to think much lesse to speak least of all to do ought that is good And yet usually like Bladders we are not more empty of grace than we are blown up with pride whereby with Laodicea we not once see our own spiritual misery and nakednesse but think we are rich and good enough as wanting nothing when as scarce any spark of grace yet appears in us Yea so far have we been from loving and serving thee that we have hated those that do it and that for their so doing And so far have we been from performing that vow which we made to Christ in our Baptism when we took his presse-mony to be his Souldiers and serve him in the field of this world against his and our enemies that we have renounced our vow made to him and fled from his standard yea fought for Satan and the World seeking to win all we could from Christ by tempting to sin and by persecuting such as were better then our selves so that all our recompence of thy love unto us hath been to do that which thou hatest and to hate those whom thou lovest Yea we cannot deny but we have persecuted thee with Paul denied thee with Peter betraied thee with Iudas and crucified thee with those cruel Jews Now Lord it being thus with us how can we expect that thou shouldest hear our praiers grant our requests yea how can wee look for other at thine hands then great and grievous yea then double damnation as most justly we have deserved Yet most most merciful Father being that thou hast given thy Son and thy Son himself for the ransome of so many as shall truly repent and unfainedly believ in him who hath for our sakes fulfilled all righteousness yea suffered on the Crosse and there made full satisfaction for the sins of all thine Elect. And likewise knowing that mercie pleaseath thee and that the sole perfection of a Christian is the imputation of Christs righteousnesse and the not-imputation of his own unrighteousnesse We are emboldened to sue unto thee our God for grace that we may be able to repent and believe Wherefore for thy promise sake for thy Sons sake and for thy great Names sake we beseech thee send down thy holy Spirit into our souls regenerate our hearts change and purifie our natures subdue our reason rectifie our judgments strengthen our wills renew our affections put a stop to our madding and straying fancies beat down in us whatsoever stands in opposition to the Scepter of Jesus Christ and enable us in some measure both to withstand that which is evil and perform that which is good and pleasing in thy sight And because every day which does not abate of our reckoning will increase it and that by procrastinating we shall but heap unto our selves wrath against the day of wrath Good Lord suffer us not we beseech thee to defer our repentance lest the custome of evill makes it altogether unalterable in us or lest we dye before we begin to live or lest thou refusest to hear us another day calling upon thee for mercy because we refuse to hear thee now calling to us for repentance Wherefore if we be not yet converted let this be the happy hour of our conversion that as our bodies are risen by thy power and providence from sleep so our soules may daily bee raised from the sleep of sin and the darknesse of this world that so we may enjoy that everlasting light which thou hast prepared for thine and purchased with the bloud of thy dear Son our Saviour Jesus Christ. Give unto us we beseech thee a true lively and justifying faith whereby we may lay hold upon those gracious promises which thou hast made unto us in him and wherewith we may vanquish all our spirituall adversaries Seal up unto us the assurance of our salvation by the teâ—stimony of thy blessed Spirit Give to us thy servants that wisdome which descendeth from above that we may be wise unto our eternall salvation so shall our hearts instead of a Commentary help us to understand the Scriptures and our lives be an Exposition of the inward man Give us grace to account all things in this world even as drosse and dung that we may win Christ Jesus and Heaven and happinesse by means of him Give us single hearts and spirits without guile that wee may love goodnesse for it self and more seek the power of godlinesse then the shew of it and love the godly for thy sake and because they are godly Grant that in the whole course of our lives we may doe unto all others as we would that they should doe unto us considering that whether we do good or evill unto any one of thy members thou takest it as done unto thy self Discover unto us all our
desperation and this observe we are cast down in the disappointing of our hopes in the same measure as we were too much lifted up in expectation of good from them Whence these perremptory presumers if ever they repent it is commonly as Francis Spira 〈…〉 One star is much bigger than the Earth yet seems many degrees lesse It is the nature of fear to make dangers greater helps lesse then they are Christ hath promised peace and rest unto their souls that labour and are heavy laden and to those that walk according to rule Matth. 11.29 Gal. 6.16 even peace celestial in the state of grace and peace eternal in the state of glory Such therefore as never were distressed in conscience or live loosly never had true peace Peace is the Daughter of Righteousness Rom. 5.1 Being justified by faith we have peace with God But he who makes a bridge of his own shadow will be sure to fall into the water Those Blocks that never in their life were moved with Gods threatnings never in any straight of conscience never groaned under the burden of Gods anger they have not so much as entered into the porch of this house or lift a foot over the threshold of this School of repentance Oh! that we could but so much fear the eternal paines as we do the temporary and be but so carefull to save our souls from torment as our bodies In the mean time the case of these men is so much the worse by how much there fear is the lesse It faring with the soul as with the body Those diseases which do take away all sense of pain are of all others most desperate As the dead Palsey the falling-sicknesse the sleepy lethargy c. And the Patient is most dangerously sick when he hath no feeling thereof In like manner whilst they suppose themselves to be free from judgment they are already smitten with the heaviest of Gods judgments a heart that cannot repent Rom. 2.5 In a lethargy it is needfull the Patient should be cast into a burning Fever because the senses are benammed and this will waken them and dry up the besotting humours So in our dead security before our conversion God is fain to let the Law Sin Conscience and Satan loose upon us and to kindle the very fire of Hell in our souls that so we might be roused out of our security but thousands of these blocks both live and depart with as great hopes as men go to a lottery even dreaming of Heaven untill they awake in Hell For they too often die without any remorse of conscience like blocks or as an Ox dyes in a ditch Yea thousands that live like Laban dye like Nabal which is but the same word inverted whilst others the dear Children of God dye in distresse of conscience For it is not every good mans hap to dye like Antoninus Pius whose death was after the fashion and semblance of a kindly and pleasant sleep However Austin's rule will be sure to hold He cannot dye ill that hath lived well and for the most part He that lives conscionably dyes comfortably and departeth rich And so you see how it fares with the wickedest and worst of men Wherefore if you are truly sensible of your wretchednesse it is a good sign that you are in some forwardnesse to be recovered and really to become so good as formerly you but dream'd or imagined your self to be And indeed the very first step to grace is to feel the want of grace and the next way to receive mercy is to see your self miserable Therefore our 〈◊〉 and most diligent search should be 〈…〉 Sect. XXXVII Loose Libertine But is there any hope for one so wicked as I who have turned the grace of God into wantonesse applying Christs passion as a warrant for my licenciousnesse not as a remedy and taking his death as a licence to sin his cross as a Letters pattent to do mischief As if a man should head his drum of rebellion with his pardon For I have most spitefully and maliciously taken up arms against my Maker and fought against my Redeemer all my daies Convert Do but unfeignedly repent you of your sins and forsake your former evil waies and lay hold upon Christ by a true and lively faith my soul for yours God is very ready to forgive them be they never so many and innumerable for multitude never so hainous for quality and magnitude Yea I can shew you your pardon from the great King of Heaven for all that is past the which you may read at large Isa. 55.7 Ezek. 18.21 to 29. and 33.11 Ioel 2.12 13 14. Yea read 1 Cor. 6.10 11. together with the story of Manasses Mary Magdelen the Thief and the Prodigal Son and you shall see presidents thereof Yea the very murtherers of the Son of God upon their serious and unfeigned repentance and stedfast believing in him received pardon and salvation And indeed despair is a sin which never knew Iesus True every sin deserves damnation but no sin shall condemn but the lying and continuing in it True Repentance is ever blest with forgiveness And know this that Gods mercy is greater than thy sin whatever it be you cannot be so infinite in sinning as he is infinite in pardoning if you repent yea sins upon repentance are so remitted as if they had never been committed I will put away thy transgressions as a cloud and thy sins as a mist Isa. 44.22 And what by corruption hath been done by repentance is undone As the former examples witnesse Come and let us reason together saith the Lord though your sins be as scarlet they shall be as white as snow Isa. 1.18 Yea whiter than snow For the Prophet David laying open his blood-guiâ—â—inesse and his original impurity useth these words Purge me with hysop and I shall be clean wash me and I shall be whiter than snow Psal. 51.7 And in reason did Christ come to call sinners to repentance and shall be not shew mercy to the penitent Or who would not cast his burthen upon him that desires to give ease As I live saith the Lord I would not the death of a sinner Ezek. 18.32 and 33.11 Only apply not this salve before the ulcer be searched to the bottom Lay not hold upon mercy untill you be throughly humbled The only way to become good is first to believe that you are evil and by accusing our selves we prevent Satan By judging our selves we prevent God Are we as sick of sorrow as we are of sin then may we hopefully go to the Physician of our souls who came into the world only to cure the sick and to give light to them only who sit in darknesse and in the shadow of death God does not pour the oyl of grace but into a broken and contrite heart Wouldst thou get out of the miserabâ—◠〈◊〉 of nature into the blessed estate of grace and of Satans bondsla 〈◊〉 me the child of God and a very
sensible how evil and wicked it is that so thou maist have a more humble conceit of thy self lay to heart these three particulars 1 The corruption of our nature by reason of Original Sin 2. Our manifold breach of Gods righteous Law by actual sin 3. The guilt and punishment due to us for them both This being done thou wilt see and find thy necessity of a Redeemer And it is thirst only that makes us relish our drink hunger our meat The full stomach of a Pharisee surcharged with the superfluities of his own merits will loath the honey-comb of Christs righteousnesse This was it which made the young Prodigal to relish even servants fare though before wanton when full fed at home No more relish feels the Pharisaical heart in Christs blood than in a chip But O how acceptable is the fountain of living waters to the chased hart panting and braying The blood of Christ to the weary and tyred soul to the thirsty conscience scorched with the sense of Gods wrath he that presents him with it how welcome is he even as a special choice man one of a thousand And the deeper the sense of misery is the sweeter the sense of mercy is Sect. XXXVIII Then if you would be satisfied for time to come whether your Repentance and conversion be true and sound these particulars will infallibly inform you If you shall persevere when this trouble for sin is over in doing that which now you purpose it is an infallible sign your repentance is sound otherwise not If thou dost call to mind the Vow which thou madst in Baptism and dost thy endeavour to perform that which then thou didst promise If thou dost square thy life according to the rule of Gods Word and not after the rudiments of the world If thou art willing to forsake all sin without reserving one for otherwise that one sin may prove the bane of all thy graces even as Gideon had seventy Sons and but one Bastard and yet that Bastard destroyed all the rest that were Legitimate Judg 9.5 Sin is like the Ivy in the wall cut off bough branch body stump yet some strings or other will sprout out again Till the root be pluck't up or the wall be pulled down and ruined it will never utterly die Regeneration or new birth is a creation of new qualities in the soul as being by nature only evil disposed Gods children are known by this mark they walk not after the flesh but after the spirit Rom. 8.1 If Christ have called you to his service your life will appear more spiritual and excellent than others As for your fails 't is a sign that sin hath not gained your consent but committed a rape upon your soul when you cry out to God If the ravished Virgin under the Law cried out she was pronounced guiltlesse A sheep may fall into the mire but a swine delights to wallow in the mire Great difference between a woman that is forced though she cries out and strives and an alluring Adulteresse Again The thoughts of the godly are godly of the wicked worldly and by these good and evil men are best and truliest differenced one from another Would we know our own hearts and whether they be changed by a new birth Examine we our thoughts words actions passions especially our thoughts will inform us for these cannot be subject to hypoâ—â—risie as words and deeds are Sect. XXXIX Then by way of caution know that a child may as soon create it self a man in the state of Nature regenerate himself We cannot act in the leasâ— unlesse God bestows upon us daily privative grace to defend us from evil and daily positive grace inabling us to do good And those that are of Christ teaching know both from the word and by experience that of themselve they are not only weak but even dead to what is good moving no morâ— than they are moved that their best works are faulty all their sins deadâ—ly all their natures corrupted originally You hath he quickned that werâ— dead in trespasses and sins Ephes. 2.1 Yea we are altogether so dead in sinâ— that we cannot stir the least joynt no not so much as feel our own deadness nor desire life except God be pleased to raise and restore our souls from the death of sin and grave of long custom to the life of grace Apt we arâ— to all evil but reprobate and indisposed to all grace and goodness yeaâ— to all the meanes thereof My powers are all corrupt corrupt my will Marble to good but wax to what is ill Insomuch that we are not sufficient of our selves to think much lesse 〈◊〉 speak least of all to do that which is good 2 Cor. 3.5 Joh. 15.4 5. I we have power to choose or refuse the object to do these well we have no power We have ability we have will enough to undo our selves scopâ— enough hell-ward but neither motion nor will to do good that must bâ— put into us by him that gives both power and will and power to will Finally Each sanctified heart feels this but no words are able sufficiently to expresse what impotent wretches we are when we are not sustainâ—ed So that we have no merit but the mercy of God to save us nothinâ— but the blood of Christ and his mediation to cleanse and redeem us nothinâ— but his obedience to inrich us As for our good works we are altogether beâ— holding to God for them not God to us nor we to our selves becausâ— they are only his works in us Whatsoever thou art thou owest to him that made thee whatever thoâ— hast thou owest to him that Redeemed thee Therefore if we do any thinâ— amisse let us accuse our selves if any thing well let us give all the praise 〈◊〉 God And indeed this is the test of a true or false Religion that which teacheth us to exalt God most and most to depresse our selves is the true that which doth most prank up our selves and detract from God is thâ— false As Bonaventure well notes Sect. XL. Now to wind up with a word of exhortation if thou beest convinced are resolvest upon a new course let thy resolution be peremptory anâ— constant and take heed you harden not again as Pharaoh the Philistinâ— the young man in the Gospel Pilate and Iudas did resemble not the iroâ— which is no longer soft than it is in the fire for that good saith Gregâ—â—ry will do us no good which is not made good by perseverance If wiâ—â— these premonitions the Spirit hath vouchsafed to stir up in thine heart anâ— good motions and holy purposes to obey God in letting thy sins go quench not grieve not the Spirit 1 Thes. 5.19 Return not with the Dog to thy vomit lest thy latter end prove seven-fold worse than thy beginning Matth. 12.43 45. O it is a fearfull thing to receive the grace of God in vain and a desperate thing being warned of a rock willfully to cast our selves
the clock esteeming every minute a month and thy present misery unsupportable What then will it be to lie in stames of fire to which our fire is but ayre in comparison fire and brimstone kept in the highest flame by the unquenchable wrath of God world without end where thou shalt have nothing about thee but darkness and horrour wayling and wringing of hands desperate yellings and gnashing of teeth thy old companions in vanity and sin to ban and curse thee the Devils insulting over thee with cruelty and scorn the never-dying worm of conscience to feed upon thy soul and flesh for ever and ever O everlasting eternity a never-dying life an ever-living death Which yet is but just with God for if thou mightest have lived for ever thou wouldst have sinned for ever If God would everlastingly have spared thee thou wouldest have everlastingly hated and provoked him What then can be more equal then that thou shouldst suffer everlastingly O then bethink thy self of this word eternal and everlasting and ponder upon it yea do but indeed believe it and it will be enough to break thine hard heart and make it relent and repent and thereby prevent the wrath to come It will put thee to a demur What have I done what am I now about whether will this course tend how will it end what will become of me if I go on in chambering and wantonness surfeting and drunkenness strife and envying swearing prophaneness earthly-mindedness and the like For indignation and wrath tribulation and anguish shall be upon the soul of every one that doth evil and continueth therein as the Apostle witnesseth Rom. 2.8 9. O then break off thy sins without delay and let there be an healing of thine errors Sect. 3. Neither is the extremity of pain inferiour to the perpetuity of it it is a place full of horrour and amazedness where is no remission of sin no dismission of pain no intermission of sense no permission of comfort its torments are both intollerable and interminable and 〈◊〉 neither he enda 〈…〉 The pangs of the first death are pleasant compared with those of the second For mountains of sand were lighter and millions of years shorter than a tithe of those torments Rev. 20.10 Iude 7. It is a death which hath no death it hath a beginning it hath no ending Matth. 3.12 Isa. 66 24. The pain of the body is but the body of pain the anguish of the soul is the soul of anguish For should we first burn off one hand then another after that each arm and so all the parts of the body it would be deemed intollerable and no man would endure it for all the profits and pleasures this world can afford and yet it is nothing to the burning of body and soul in hell Should we endure ten thousand years torments in hell it were grievous but nothing to eternity Should we suffer one pain it were miserable enough but if ever we come there our pains shall be for number and kinds infinitely various as our pleasures have been here every sence and member each power and faculty both of soul and body shall have their several objects of wretchedness and that without intermission or end or easâ— or patience to endure it Luke 12 5. 16.23 Matth. 3.12 5.22 22.23 The Schools affirm that the least torture in Hell exceeds the greatest that can be devised by all the men on earth even as the least joy in Heaven surpasseth the greatest comfort here on earth There is scarce any pain here on earth but there is ever some hope of ease mitigation or intermission of some relief or deliverance but in Hell their torments are easeless endless and remediless unsufferable and yet ineviteable and themselves left hopeless helpless pittyless It were misery enough to have the head-ach tooth-ach Collick gowt burning in the fire or if there be any thing more grievous Yea should all these and many more meet together in one man at one instant they would come infinitely short of the pains of Hell Yea they would all bâ— bar as the stinging of Antes to the lashes of those Scorpions but as drâ—pes to those Vials of wrath as sparks to that flame as Chrysostome speaks The Furnace of Babell was but a flea-biting to this tormenting Tophet prepared of old Isa. 30. He hath made it deep and large the pile thereof is fire and much wood the breath of the Lord like a stream of brimstone doth kindle it vers 32. So that it were happy for reprobate spirits if they were in no worse condition than so many Toads or Serpents As consider If a dark dungeon here be so loathsome what is that dungeon of eternal of utter darkness If material fire be so terrible what is Hell fire Here we cry out of a burning feaver or if a very coal from the hearth do but light on our flesh O how it grieves us we cannot hold our finger for one minute in scalding lead but there both body and soul shall fry in everlasting flames and be continually tormented by infernal fiends whose society alone would be sufficiently frightfull Sect. 4. Now consider Is one hours twitches of tâ—â—â—orm of conscience here yoâ— one minutes tâ—â—ch of a tooth pulling out so unsufferable what is a 〈…〉 mented in that flame what think we shall that torment be when body and soul come to be united in torment since the pains of Hell are more exquisite than all the united torments that the earth can invent Yea the pains and sufferings of the damned are ten thousand times more than can be imagined by any heart under heaven and can rather through necessity be endured than expressed It is a death never to be painted to the life no pen nor pencil nor art nor heart can comprehend it Matth. 18.8 9 10. 25.30 Luke 16 23 24. 2 Pet. 2.4 Isa. 5.14 30 33. Prov. 15.11 Yea were all the land paper and all the water ink every plant a pen and every other creature a ready Writer yet they could not set down the least piece of the great pains of hell-fire Now add eternity to extremity and then consider hell to be hell indeed For if the Ague of a year or the Collick of a month or the Rack of a day or the burning of an hour be so bitter here how will it break the hearts of the wicked to feel all these beyond all measure beyond all time So that it is an evil and bitter thing to depart from the living God We poor mortals until God does bring us from under the power of Satan unto himself do live in the world as if hell were not so hot noâ— the Devil so black as indeed they are as if Hell and Heaven were the one not worth the avoiding the other not worth the enjoying but the heat of fire was never painted and the Devil is more deformed than represented on the wall There are unexpressible torments in Hell as well
as unspeakable joyes in Heaven Nor will this be their case alone that are desparately wicked cursing and blaspheming Drunkards and sheders of blood but of all impenitent persons As for instance They who have lived in the fire of lust here must not think much to be scorched in the flames of Hell hereafter Heb. 13.4 Rev. 21.8 22.15 The detractor is a devil above ground his tongue is already set on fire from hell James 3.6 Rev. 16.10 11. which does sadly presage what will be his portion for ever unless repentaâ—ce quench those flames and so of the like offenders Psal. 9.17 Revel 22.12 As what sayes the Apostle Neither fornicators nor thieves nor murtherers nor drunkards nor swearers nor raylors nor lyers nor covetous persons nor unbelievers nor no unrighteous persons shall inherit the Kingdom of Heaven but shall have their part and portion in that lake which burneth with the fire and brimstone which is the second death 1 Cor. 6.9 10. Rev. 21.8 which did they well consider they durst not continue in the practise of these sins without fear or remorse or care of amendment Sect. 5. Now what heart would not bleed to see men run headlong into these tortures that are thus intollerable Dance hoodwinkt into this perdition O that it were allowed to the desperate russians of our dayes that swear and curse drink and drab rob shed blood c. as if Heaven were blind and deaf to what they do to have but a sight of this Hell how would it charm their mouths appale their spirits strikâ— fear and astonishment into their hearts Yea if a sinner could see but one glimpse of hell or be suffered to look one moment into that fiery Lake he would rath 〈…〉 sin Nor can I think they would do as they do if they did but either see or foresee what they shall one day without serious and unfeigned repentance feel And indeed therefore are we dissolute because we do not think what a judgment there is after our dissolution because we make it the least and last thing we think on yea it is death we think to think upon death and we cannot endure that dolefull bell which summons us to judgment Lam. 1.9 Deut. 32.29 Oh that men would believe and consider this truth and do accordingly Oh that thou wouldest remember that there is a day of account a day of death a day of judgment coming Heb. 9.27 Matth. 25. wherein the Lord Iesus Christ shall be revealed from Heaven with his mighty Angels in flaming fire to render vengeance unto them which obey not his Gospel and to punish them with everlasting perdition from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power as the Apostle speaks 2 Thes. 1.7 8 9. Iude 15. Isa. 33 14. Mat. 25.46 As consider seriously I beseech you whether it will not be worth the while so to foresee the torments of Hell that you may prevent them Or if otherwise will you not one day wish you had when death comes and arrests you to appear before the great and terrible Iudge of all the world Luke 16 23. to 32. Matth. 13.30 38. at which time an Assizes or Quarter-Sessions shall be held within thee where Reason shall sit as Iudge and Satan shall put in a Bill of Indictment as long as that Book in Zechary Chap. 5.2 Ezek. 2.9 10. wherein shall be alleged all the evil deeds that ever thou hast committed and all the good deeds that ever thou hast omitted with their several circumstances that may aggravate them Eccles. 11.9 12.14 2 Cor. 5.10 and all the curses and judgments that are due to every sin Thine own Conscience shall accuse thee and thy memory shall give bitter evidence against thee and thou shalt condemn thy self before the just condemnation of thy Iudg who knows all thy misdeeds better than thy self 1 Iohn 3 20. Which sins of thine will not then leave thee but cry unto thee We are thy works and we will follow thee Rev. 14.13 And then who can sufficiently express what thy grief and anguish will be when the summons both of the first and second death do overtake thee at once Prov. 1.27 And when at once thou shalt think of thy sins past thy present misery and the terrour of thy torments to come and how thou hast made Earth thy Paradise thy belly thy God and lust thy Law so sowing vanity and reaping misery And finding that as in thy prosperity thou neglectedst to serve God so now in thy adversity God refuseth to save thee Prov. 1.24 to 32. Ezek. 23.35 When thou shalt call to mind the many warnings thou hast had of this dolefull day from Christs faithfull Ambassadours and how thou then madest but a mock or jeer at it Prov. 1 25. and think how for the short sinfull pleasures thou hast enjoyed thou must endure eternal pains Luk. 16.24 25. Rev. 6.12.10.18 Which yet thou shalt think most just and equal saying As I have deserved so I am served for I was oft enough offered mercy yea 〈◊〉 to accept thereof but I preferrâ—◠〈◊〉 pleasing of my 〈…〉 and the allurements of Satan than the Word of God or the motions of his holy Spirit Prov. 1.24 c. Mark 16.16 And which I would have thee think upon Hell fire is made more hot by neglecting so great salvation Heb. 2.3 This is the condemnation saith our Saviour none like this that light is come into the world and men loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil Joh. 3.29 Now salvation is freely offered but men reject it hereafter they would accept of salvation but God will reject them Yea then a whole world if thou hadst it for one hours delay or â—â—spite that thou mightest have space to repent and sue unto God for mercy but it cannot be because thy body which joyned with thy soul in thy sinfull actions is now altogether unfit to joyn with her in the exercise of repentance and repentance must be of the whole man Besides death will take no pitty the Devil knows no mercy and the God of mercy will have utterly forsaken thee Then wilt thou say Oh that I had been more wise or that I were now to begin my life again then would I contemn the world with all its vanities yea if Satan should then offer me all the treasures pleasures and promotions of this world he should never entice me to forget the terrours of this dreadfull hour and those worse which are to follow Luke 16.24 c. 13.28 But Oh wretched Caitiff that I am how hath the Devil and my own deceitfull and devilish heart deluded me and how am I served accordingly For now is my case more miserable than the most despised Toad or Serpent that perisheth when it dieth in that I must go to answer at the great Judgement-seat for all my sins that am not able to answer for one of the least of them Eccles. 12.14 Mat. 18.34 that I
who heretofore gloried in my lawless liberty am now to be enclosed in the very claws of Satan as the trembling Partridge within the griping tallons of the ravening and devouring Falcon. Oh Cursed be the day when I was born and the time when my mother conceived me c. Job 3. Sect. 6. And so death having given thee thy fatal stroke the Devil shall seize upon or snatch away thy soul so soon as it leaves thy body Luk. 12.20 and hale the hence into the bottomless lake that burneth with fire and brimstone where she is to be kept in chains of darkness until the general judgment of the great day Jude 6 7. 1 Pet. 3.19 Rev. 21.8 Thy body in the mean time being cast into the earth expecting a fearfull resurrection when it shall be re-united to thy soul that as they sinned together so they may be everlastingly tormented together Heb. 10.27 At which general Iudgment Christ sitting upon his Throne Joh. 5.22 shall rip up all the Benefits he hath bestowed on thee and the miseries he hath suffered for thee and all the ungodly deeds that thou hast committed and all the hard speeches which thou hast spoken against him and his holy ones Jude 15. Eccles. 12.14 11.9 Within thee shall be thine own conscience more then a thousand witnesses to accuse thee the Devils who tempted thee to all thy lewdness shall on the â—ne side testifie with thy conscience against thee 〈◊〉 on the other side shall stand the holy Saints and Angels approv 〈…〉 thee all the world burning with flaming fire above thee an irefull Iudg of deserved vengeance ready to pronounce his heavy sentence upon thee beneath thee the fiery and sulphureous mouth of the bottomless pit gaping to receive thee Isa. 5.11 14. And in this wofull and dolefull condition thou must stand forth to receive with other Reprobates this thy sentence Rom. 14.10 2 Cor. 5.10 Depart from me there is a separaâ—ion from all joy and happiness ye cursed there is a black and direfull excommunication into fire there is the extremity of pain everlasting there is the perpetuity of punishment prepared for the Devil and his Angels there are thy infernal tormenting and tormented companions Matth. 25.41 O terrible sentence from which there is no escaping withstanding excepting or appealing Then O then shall thy mind be tormented to think how for the love of abortive pleasures which even perished before they budded thou haâ—t so foolishly lost Heavens joyes and incurred hellish pains which last to all eternity Luke 16.24 25. Thy conscience shall ever sting thee like an Adder when thou calleâ—t to mind how often Christ by his Ministers offered thee remission of sins and the Kingdom of Heaven freely if thou wouldst but believe and repent and how easily thou mightest have obtained mercy in those dayes How near thou wast many times to have repented and yet didst suffer the Devil and the World to keep thee still in impenitency and how the day of mercy is now past and will never dawn again Thy understanding shall be racked to consider how for momentary riches thou hast lost eternal treasure and exchanged Heavens felicity for Hells misery where every part and faculty both of thy body and soul shall be continually and alike tormented without intermission or dismission of pain or from it and be for ever deprived of the beatifical sight of God wherein consists the soveraign good and life of the soul. Thou shalt never see light nor the least sight of joy but lye in a perpetual prison of utter darkness where shall be no order but horrour no voice but howling and blaspheming no noise but screeching and gnashing of teeth no society but of the Devil and his Angels who being tormented themselves shall have no other ease but to wreak their fury in tormenting thee Matth. 13.42 25.36 c. Where shall be punishment without any pity misery without any mercy sorrow without succour crying without comfort malice without measure torment without ease Rev. 14.10 11. Where the wrath of God shall seize upon thy soul and body as the flame of fire does on the lump of pitch or brimstone Dan. 7.10 In which flame thou shalt ever be burning and never consumed ever dying and never dead ever roaring in the pangs of death and never rid of those pangs nor expecting â—â—d of thy pains So that after thou hast endured them so many thousand years as there are blades of grass on the earth or sands in the Sea 〈◊〉 on the heads of all the sons of Adam from the first to the last born 〈◊〉 there have been creatures in Heaven and Earth thou shalt be no nearer 〈◊〉 and of thy torments than thou wast the very first day that thou 〈…〉 into them yea so far are they 〈…〉 that they are ever 〈…〉 damned soul could but conceive some hope that those torments should have an end this would be some comfort to think that at length an â—nd will come but as often as thy mind shall think of this word never and thou shalt ever be thinking of it it will rend thy heart in pieces with â—â—ge and hideous lamentation as giving still new life to those unsufferable sorrows which exceed all expression or imagination It will be another hell in the midst of hell Wherefore consider seriously what I say and that while the compassionate arms of Iesus Christ lye open to receive you and do thereafter Prov. 1.24 c. Take warning by Pharaoh's example who in the Rich mans scalding torments hath a Discite à me Learn of me Luke 16.23 c. For he can testifie out of wofull experience that if we will not take warnâ—ing by the Word that gentle warner the next shall be harder the third and fourth harder than that yea as all the ten plagues did exceed one another so the eleventh single exceeds them altogether Innumerable are the curses of God against sinners Deut. 28. but the â—ast is the worst comprehending and transcending all the rest The fearfullest plagues God still reserves for the upshot all the former do but make way for the last Hâ—ll in Scripture is called a Lake that burneth with fire and brimstone and than the torment of the former what more acute than the smell of the latter what more noysome CHAP. XX. Sect. 1. THus I say shall they be bid Depart ye cursed into everlasting fire c. while on the contrary the same Christ shall say unto the other Come ye blessed of my Father inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from before the foundation of the world Mat. 25 34. Which Kingdom is a place where are such joyes as eye hath not seen nor ear heared neither hath it entred into the heart of man to conceive 1 Cor. 2.9 A place where there shall be no evil present nor good absent Heb. 9.12 Mat. 6.20 In comparison whereof all the Thrones and Kingdoms upon earth are less than the drop of a bucket Deut. 10.14
not onely dulls and dams up the head and spirits with mud but it beastiates the heart and being worse then the sting of an Aspe poisoneth the very soul and reason of a man whereby the faculties and organs of repentance and resolution are so corrupted and captivated that it makes men utterly uncapable of returning unlesse God should work a greater miracle upon them then was the creating of the whole world Whence Austin compares it to the very pit of hell out of which when a man is once â—allen into there is no hope of redemption That Drunkennesse is like some desperate plague which knowes no cure As what saies Basil Shall we speak to drunkards we had as good speak to livelesse-stones or sencelesse plants or witlesse beasts as to them for they no more believe the threats of Gods Word then if some Imposter had spoken them They will fear nothing till they be in hell-fire resembling the Sodomites who would take no warning though they were all struck blinde but persisted in their course untill they felt fire and brimstone about their ears 〈…〉 That there is no washing these Blackmores white no charming these deafe Adders blind men never blush fools are never troubled in conscience neither are beasts ever ashamed of their deeds That a man shall never hear of an habituated inâ—atuated incorrigible cauterized Drunkard that is reclaimed with age 6. Br. That as at first and before custome in sin hath hardened these Drunkards they suffer themselves to be transformed from men into swine as Elpeâ—or was transformed by Circos into a hogge so by degrees they are of swine transformed again into Divels as Cadmus and his wife were into serpents as palpably appears by their tempting to sin and drawing to perdition That these Agents for the Divel Drunkards practise nothing but the Art of debauching men that to turne others into beasts they will make themselves divels wherein they have a notable dexteritie as it is admirable how they will winde men in and draw men on by drinking first a health to such a man then to such a woman my mistris then to every ones mistris then to some Lord or Ladie their master their magistrate their Captain Commander c. and never cease until their brains their wits their tongues their cies their feet their sences all their members fail them that they will drink until they vomit up their shame again like a filthie dog or lie wallowing in their beastlinesse like a bruitish swine That they think nothing too much either to do or spend that they may make a sober man a drunkard or to drink another drunkard under the table which is to brag how far they are become the divels children that in case they can make a sober and religious man exceed his bounds they will sing and rejoice as in the division of a spoil and boast that they have drenched sobrietie and blinded the light and ever after be a snuffing of this taper Psal. 13.4 But what a barharous gracelesse and unchristian-like practice is this to make it their glory pastime and delight to see God dishonored his Spirit grieved his Name blasphemed his creatures abused themselves and their friends souls damned Doubtlesse such men have climbed the highest step of the ladder of wickednesse as thinking their own sins will not presse them deep enough into hell except they load themselvs with other mens which is Divel-like indeed whose aime it hath ever been seeing he must of necessitie be wretched not to be wretched alone That as they make these healths serve as a pulley or shooing-horn to draw men on to drinke more then else they would or should do so a health being once begun they will be sure that every one present shall pledge the same in the same manner and measure be they thirstie or not thirstie willing or not willing able or unable be it against their stomachs healths natures judgments hearts and consciences which do utterly abhor and secretly condemne the same That in case a man will not for company grievâ—usly sin against God wrong his own bodie destroy his soul and wilfully leap into hell-fire with them they will hate him worse then the hangman and will sooner adventure their blood in the field upon refusing or crossing their healths then in the cause and quarrel of their Countrie 7. Br. How they are so pernicious that to damne their own souls is the least part of their mischief and that they draw vengeance upon thousands by seducing some and giving ill example to others That one Drunkard maâ—◠〈…〉 a multitude being like the Bramble Iudg. 9.15 which first set it self on fire and then fired all the Wood. Or like a malicious man sick of the plague that runs into the throng to disperse his infection whose mischief out weigh's all penaltie And this shews that they not onely partake of the Divels nature but that they are very divels in the likenesse of men and that the very wickednesse of one that feareth God is far better then the good intreaty of a Drunkard That which sweet words they will tole men on to destruction as we tole beasts with sodder to the slaughter-house And that to take away all suspition they will so molsifie the stiffnesse of a man's prejudice so temper and fit him to their own mould that once to suspect them requires the spirit of discerning And that withall they so confirme the profession of their love with oaths protestations and promises that you would think Ionathan's love to David nothing to it That these pernicious seducers divels in the shape of men have learned to handle a man so sweetly that one would think it a pleasure to bee seduced But little do they think how they advance their own damnations when the blood of so many souls as they have drawn away will be required at their hands For know this thou tempter that thou doest not more increase other mens wickednesse on earth whether by perswasion or provocation or example then their wickedness shall increase they damuation in hell Luk. 16. 27.28 Non fratres dilexit sed seipsum respexit And this let me say to the horror of their consciences that make merchandise of souls that it is a question when such an one coms to hell whether Iudas himself would change torments with him 8. Br. That the Drunkard is so pleasing murtherer that he tickles a man to death and makes him like Solomons sool die laughing Whence it is that many who hate their other enemies yea and their friends too imbrace this enemy because he kisseth when he betraieth And indeed what fenceâ— for a pistol charged with the bullet of friendship Hence it is also that thousands have confest at the Gallowes I had never come to this but for such and such a Drunkard For commonly the Drunkards progresse is from luxiory to beggerie from beggerie to thieverie from the Taverne to Tyborne from the Ale-house to the Gallows Briefly That these
to that renowned Captain Bellizarius It was yet worse which Popilius shewed to Cicero which Lycaon shewed to his stranger guests that came to him for relief It was worst of all in the Iews to scourge and crucifie Christ who did them good every way for he healed their diseases fed their bodies enlightened their mindes of God became Man and lived miserably amongst them many years that he might save their souls though in killing him they did their utmost to sink the onely ship that could save them But all these fall far short of our ingratitude to God for his maintenance we take and live on the bread we eat the air we breath the cloaths we weare all are his § 3. That we are out of Hel there to fry in flames never to be freed That we have the free offer of grace here and everlasting glory hereafter in Heaven where are such joyes as eye hath not seen nor ear heard neither hath entred into the heart of man to conceive 1 Cor. 2.9 we are beholding to him Yet we not onely deny this Lord that hath bought us as every one does that prefers Mammon or any other thing before him but we hate him as he doth hate and not love God that loves what he hates or hates what he loves but most spightfully and maliciously fight on Satans and sins side against him and persecute his Children and the truth with all our might perswading and enforcing others to do the same even wishing that we could pull him out of his Throne rather then to admit him our just Iudge And all this against knowledge and conscience after illumination I wish men would a little think of it and then if this will not melt their hearts no hope that any other means should do it but perish they must § 4. I confess I have small hope that what hath been said of Gods love and our odious unthankfulness his goodness and our ingratitude which being seriously considered were enough to bring the whole world upon their knees should make them any whit ashamed or the better because their blockishness is such that they think themselves good enough and that to doubt of it or strive to be more holy were but a foolish and needless scrupulosity Yea they prefer their condition before other mens that are so consciencious A thing strange yet it is so For although there be not a leaf in the sacred Volume but hath matter against a voluptuous life none for it For â—o please flesh and blood is the Doctrine of the Devill Yet how do a woâ—ld of men stifle their consciences and force themselves to believe if it were possible that in case men will not swear drink drunk conform to their lewd customes and the like they are over-precise and that God will like a man the worse for his being the better or for having of a tender Conscience And that he looks for less fear reverence and obedience from his servants then we do from our servants and yet hold that a servant can never be too punctual in his obedience to his Masters lawful commands They think it not enough for themselves to prefer the pleasing of their senses before the saving of their souls and to venture tasting the forbidden fruit at the price of death eternal but they account them fools that do otherwise CHAP. VII § 1. O My brethren it is not to be believed how blinde and blockish men are that have hardened their hearts and seared their consciences with accustomary sinning for albeit I have informed them how dangerous their estate is that they might plainly see it truly fear it and timely prevent it yet I have very little hope to do any good upon them For first These lines to them are but as so many Characters writ in the water which leave no impression behinde them as being like one that beholdeth his natural face in a glass who when he hath considered himself goeth his way and forgetteth immediately what manner of one he was James 1.23 24. of like some silly Fly which being beat from the Candle and hundred times and oft singed therein yet will return to it again until she be consumed Prov. 23.35 All those Beasts which went into the Ark unclean came likewise out unclean Secondly Though these sparks of grace may kindle piety in others yet not in them for they are out of all hope of being healed For what is light to them that will shut their eyes against it or reason to them that will stop their ears from hearing it and men of their condition do on purpose stop their ears and wink with their eyes lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their hearts and so should be converted as our Saviour shews Matth. 13.15 and St. Paul Acts 28.27 yea it 's well if they do not carp and fret against the Word and persecute the Messengers as Herod did Iohn Baptist Demetrius Paul and the false Prophets Ieremiah And how should not that patient perish who after he is launced flies from the Chirurgion before the binding up of his wound Or how should not that sin be past cure which strives against the cure certainly salvation it selfe will not save those that spill the potion and fling away the plaister O if these Adders had not stopt their ears how long since had they been charmed I grant they have reason so to do such as it is For will a Leper take pleasure in the searching of his sores and Satan the like for if they could clearly see the loathsomnesse of their impieties it were not possible not to abbor them not to abhor themselves for them but their blindnesse makes them love their own filthinesse as Ethiopians do their own swarthinesse § 2. And to tell you the truth though I speak against my self had I not a further reach in it it were an unreasonable motion in me if I should request mindes propossest with prejudice to hear reason Since the World and the Devil hath so forestalled their judgements therewith against Gods people and goodnesse it self that they resolve never to be better then they are And where Satan hath set this his porter of prejudice though Christ himself were on earth that soul would make an ill construction of whatsoever he did or spake as we see in the Scribes and Pharisees who when he wrought miracles reputed him a sorcerer when he cast out Devils thought it to be by the power and Prince of Devils when he reproved sinners he was a seducer when he received sinners he was their favourer when he healed the sick he was a Sabbath-breaker and the like yea they counted him the greatest offender that offended not once in all his life which would make a wise man suspect his own judgement or the common â—ame and to examine things throughly before they condemn one whom they know no evil by Yet this is the case of these men of most men for
the Devill The poore â—heaâ—s soul if ever it be saved costs no less a price than Christs precious blood yet half a crown yea six pence will make this Chuâ—â—e fell his By which means he swels in his estate from a Toad to an◠〈…〉 â—isease we call the Wolf which is ever eating yet keeps the body Lean. The Covetous Cormorant is like one of Pharaoh's lean and illfavoured kine 〈◊〉 though he devours much yet he is never the less hungry never the â—ore fat A moderate water makes the Mill go merrily but too much â—ill not suffer it to go at all The Covetous Miser is like the Indians who though they have all the Gold among them yet are the most beggerly people alive He is like Tantalus who stands up to the câ—â—n in water and hath all kinds of fruits hanging over his head but is not suffered to taste the one nor drink of the other Or like an Asse that is laden with gold and dainty cates but feeds upon thistles He scarce wears a good garment or eats a liberall meal or takes a quiet sleep but is ever tormenting himself to get that for getting whereof he shall be tormented As a proud man is ignorant in the midst of his knowledge so is he poor and needy in the midst of his wealth Yea whereas the Poor Begger wants many things the Rich Miser wants every thing His business will never give him leave to think of his conscience All his Religion is the love of money He goes to Church indeed but it is not to serve God but the State which he uses not as a means to save his soul but his silver To him all spirituall and eternall things seem incredible because they are invisible Nothing will sink into his head that he cannot see with his eyes or feel with his fingers And in case he cannot gain by being Religious his care shall be not to lose by it and that Religion will like him best that is best cheap and that will cost him least Any doctrine is welcome to him but that which beats upon good works only that he cannot indure No if another be at the charges to serve God this Churle like Iudas will cry out Why is this waste Nor shall any means ever convert him No Physick is strong enough to purge out this Humour Because if ever he should repent he must restore his ill gotten estate which to him is as hard an injunction as that of God to Abraham Gen. â—2 2 Or as that of our Saviour to the Young man Luke 18.22 and â—herefore what hope of his yielding Covetousnesse is Idolatry Eph 〈…〉 â—oll 3.5 and Money is the covetous mans god and will he part 〈…〉 No And so long as he keeps the weapon ill-got goods 〈…〉 â—nd will not pluck it out by restitution how is it possible he should be â—â—â—ed He may with that Rich man Luk. 10. have a good mind to Heavâ—â—â— reversion yet for all that he will not hear of parting with him He 〈◊〉 â—hereof he hath the present possession 〈…〉 then a Drunkard yet had I rather be a Drunkard then a Covetous Miseâ— Matth. 21.31 32. CHAP. 2. Now as this Merciless Miser is all for sparing so his Heir is all 〈◊〉 wasting He lives poorly and penuriously all his life that he may die rich Psal. 39.6 And what comes of it As he hath reapt that which another sowed so another shall thrash that which he hath reaped He hords up 〈◊〉 knowing who shall enjoy it and commonly they enjoy it who lay it out aâ— fast He takes only the bitter and leaves the sweet for others perhapâ— those that wish him hanged upon condition they had his means the sooner Or possible it is he may have children which if he have he loves them so much better then himself that he will voluntarily be miserable here and hereafter that they may be happy He is willing to go in a thred-bare coat to starve his body lose his credit wound his conscience torment his heart and minde with fears and cares yea he can finde in his heart to damne his own soul and go to hell that he may raise his house and leave his heir a great estate as thinking his house and habitation shall continue for ever even from generation to generation and call their lands by his name as the Psalmist shews Psalm 49.11 He is careful to provide his children portions while he provideâ— no portion of comfort for his own welfare either here or hereafter He provides for his childrens bodies not for their souls to shew that he begat not their souls but their bodies He leaves a fair estate for the worser part nothing for the estate of the better part He desires to leave his children great rather then good and is more ambitious to have his sons Lords on earth then Kings in heaven But as he that provides noâ— for their temporal estate is worse then an Infidel 1 Tim. 5.8 So he that provides not for their eternal estate is little better then a devil which yet is the case of nine parts of the parents throughout the Land But observe how his children requite him again and how God requiâ—es him in his children for commonly they are such as never give him thanks 〈…〉 the least lament his Loss perhaps they mourn at his funeral yet 〈◊〉 for that he iâ— dead but because he died no sooner Nor is it any raâ—e 〈◊〉 for men to mourn for him dead whom they would by no means have still to be alive Yea for the most part it is but a fashionable sorâ—â—â— which the son makes shew of at his fathers death as having many 〈…〉 for that hour A sorrow in shew onely like that of Iacobs sons when theâ— had sold their brother Ioseph who profest a great deal of greâ—◠〈…〉 when inwardly they rejoyced Have ye not heard of a preâ—â—â— young heir that incouraged his companions with come let us 〈…〉 revel throw the house out at windows the man in Scarlet will 〈…〉 â—â—â—cious liquor into a Seeue that will hold no liquid substance which occasioned the Rhodians and Lydians to enact several laws that those 〈◊〉 which followed not their fathers in their vertues but lived viciously â—â—â—uld be disinherited and their lands given to the most verteous of that raâ—e not admiting any impious heir whatsoever to inherit as Varro well notes But it is otherwise in this case for in regard of Gods curse upon â—his unmerciful Muckworm if he have more sons then one the eldestâ—roves â—roves a prodigal and he inherits Every mans own experience can tell him that for the most part a scatterer succeeds a gatherer one that wasts vertues faster then riches and riches faster then any vertues can get them one that is as excessive in spending as the other was in scraping for as the father chooseth to fill his chests so the son is given to satisfie his lusts Nor could the one be more cunning at the
rake then the other will be at the pitchfork The moneys which were formerly chested like caged Birds will wing it merrily when the young heir sets them flying And as Cicero speaks he riotously spends that which the father had as wickedly gotten The one would have all to keep the other will keep nothing at all the former gets and spends not the latter spends and gets not Yea the son being as greedy of expence as the father was in scraping he teddeth that with a fork in one year which was not gathered with a rake in twenty Yea how oft is that spent upon one Christmas revelling by the son which was fourty years a getting by â—he Father Which Diogenes well considered for whereas he would ask of a frugal Citizen but a penny of a Prodigal he would beg a talent and when the party asked him what he meant to desire so much of him and so little of others his answer should be Quoniam tu habes ille habebunt because thou hast and they will have I shall beg of thee but once thy estate will so soon vanish of them often yea give me now a talent I may live to give thee a groat And at another time hearing that the house of a certain Prodigall was offered to sale he said I knew well that house was so accustomed to surfeiting and drunkenness that ere long it would spue out the Master Nay in all likelihood he foresees it himself and therefore as he makes short work with his estate so not long with his life as knowing that if he should live long he must be a begger As seldom but he shortens his days some way for he gives himself to all manner of vice gluttony and drunkennesse chambering and wantonness pride riot contention c. He even banishes civility and gives himself over to sensuality and such a life seldom lasts long They may rightly be called spend-alls for they not onely spend all they have but themselves also in stead of quenching their thirsts they 〈◊〉 both their bodies souls and estates in Drink They will call 〈…〉 us an Ocean and then leave their wits rather then the wine behâ—nde 〈…〉 Religion that should make them good men but even reason that shoâ—â—â— make them men And saving only on the Sea they live without all câ—â—pass as a ship on the water so they on the land reâ—â— too and fro and 〈◊〉 like a drunken man Psal. 107.27 All their felicity is in a Tavern or brothell-house where harlots 〈◊〉 sicophants riflâ—e their estates and then send them to robbe or teach thâ—â— how to cheat or borrow which is all one for to pay they never mean 〈◊〉 prodigality drives them to repair their too great lavishnesse in one thinâ—â— by too great covetousnesse and injustice in another The greatest mispendâ—â—s for the most part are constrained to be as great misgetters that they may feed one vice with another Now as if they had been bred among Bears they know no other dialect then roaring swearing and banning It is the tongue or language of hell they speak as men learn before hand the language of that Country whether they mean to travel By wine and surfeting they pour out their whole estates into their bellies The father went to the devil one way and the son will follow him another and because he hath chosen the smoother way he makes the more hast The one so loved Money that he could nor afford himself good Drink the other so loves good Drink that he scornes Money The Father cannot finde in his heart to put a good morsel into his belly but lives on roots that his prodigal heir may feed on Phesants he drinks water that his son may drink wine and that to drunkenness The one dares not eat an egge lest he should lose a chicken and goes to hell with whay and carrots the other follows after with Canary Partridges and Potatoes These are Epecures indeed placing Paradise in their throats and heaven in their guts their shrine is their Kitchin their Priest is their Cook their Altar is their table and their belly is their God By wine and surfeitâ—ng they pour out their whole estates into their bellies yet nevertheless complain against nature for making their necks so short Aristippus gave to the value of sixteen shillings for a Patridge his clownish neighbour told him he held it too dear at two pence Why quoth Aristippus I esteem less of a pound then thou dost of a penny the same in effect sayes the prodigal son to his penurious father for how else could be so soon bring a noble to nine pence an inheritance of a thousand pounds 〈…〉 to an anunity of five hundred shillings besides the one obtains 〈…〉 and pounds with more ease then the other did a thousand pence and by 〈◊〉 much the lâ—ss he esteems of money by so much the more noble and better mâ—n he esteems himself and his father the more base and here 〈◊〉 â—he coâ—â—any calling and must go apparelled like a Prince 〈…〉 it as a perpetual law In the sweat of thy Face be it 〈…〉 shall thou eat bread till thou return to the earth Gen. 3.19 〈…〉 Gentleman to disâ—â—se honest callings mental or manual 〈…〉 〈◊〉 ground of frugality Besides exercise is not more wholesome for the 〈◊〉 then it is for the minde and soul but this vain glorious Coxcombe â—â—all for sports and pleasure and seldom ceases hunting after sports as Esau 〈◊〉 venison until he hath lost the Blessing But he should O that he would consider that medicines are no meat to live by Then for his pride in apparel you may know that by this he is like the Cinamon tree whose barke is of more worth then his body or like the â—ridge or Bird of Paradise whose feathers are more worth then her flesh Or some Vermine whose case is better then het carcass And yet this swells him so and makes him look as big as if the river of his blood could not be bancked within the channel of his veins and shift his attire he must like the Islanders of Foolianna the ficle or that King of Mexico who was wonâ— to change his cloths four times a day and never wear them again imploying his leavings and cast suits for his continual liberalities and rewards and who would also have neither pot nor dish nor any implement in his Kitchin or on his Table be brought twice before him Indeed he cannot shift himself out of the Mercers books until he hath sold the other Farm or Lordship perhaps a dinner or supper at some Tavern may cost him ten pounds or more for he must pay the whole reckoning that he may be counted the best man Yea when the shot comes to be paid for any man to draw in his company is a just quarrel and use hath made it unpleasant to him not to spend and yet a bare head in the streets does him more good then a meals meat He hath the Wolfe
He hordes up not knowing who shall injoy it and commonly they injoy it who lay it out as fast He takes onely the bitter and leaves the sweet for others perhaps those that wish him hanged upon condition they had his means the sooner Or possible it is he may have children which if he have he loves them so much better then himself that he will voluntarily be miserable here and hereafter that they may be happy He is willing to go in a thred-bare coat to starve his body lose his credit wound his conscience torment his heart and minde with fears and cares yea he can finde in his heart to damne his own soul and go to hell that he may raise his house leave his heir a great estate as thinking his house and habitation shall continue for ever even from generation to generation and call their lands by his name as the Psalmist shews Psalm 49.11 He is careful to provide his children portions while he provides no portion of comfort for his own welfare either here or hereafter He provides for his childrens bodies not for their souls to shew that he begat not their souls but their bodies He leaves a fair estate for the worser part nothing for the estate of the better part He desires to leave his children great rather then good and is more ambitious to have his sons Lords on earth then Kings in heaven But as he that provides not for their temporal estate is worse then an infidel 1 Tim. 5.8 So he that provides not for their eternal estate is little better then a devil which yet is the cace of nine parts of the parents throughout the Land But observe how his children requite him again and how God requites him in his children for commonly they are such as never give him thanks nor in the least lament his loss perhaps they mourn at his funeral yet not for that he is dead but because he died no sooner Nor is it any rare thing for men to mourn for him dead whom they would by no means have still to be alive Yea for the most part it is but a fashionable sorrow which the son makes shew of at his fathers death as having many a day wisht for that hour A sorrow in shew onely like that of Iacobs sons when they had sold their brother Ioseph who profest a great deal of grief for his loss when inwardly they rejoyced Have ye not heard of a prodigal young heir that incouraged his companionâ— with come let us drink revel throw the house out at windows the man in Scarlet will pay for all meaning his father who was a Iudge but he adjudged the patrimony from him to one of his yonger sons more obedient And good reason he had for it for to give riches to the ryotous is all one as to pour precious liquor into a seeve that will hold no liquid substance which occasioned the Rhodians and Lydians to enact several laws that those sons which followed not their fathers in their vertues but lived viciously should be disinherited and their lands given to the most vertuous of that race not admiting any impious heir whatsoever to inherit as Varro well notes But it is otherwise in this case for in regard of Gods curse upon this unmerciful Muckworm if he have more sons then one the eldest proves a prodigal and he inherits Every mans own experience can tell him that for the most part a scatterer succeeds a gatherer one that wasts vertues faster then riches and riches faster then any vertues can get them one that is as excessive in spending as the other was in scraping for as the father choseth to fill his chests so the son is given to satisfie his lusts Nor could the one be more cunning at the rake then the other will be at the pitchfork The moneys which were formerly chested like caged birds will wing it merrily when the young heir sets them flying And as Cicero speaks he roituously spends that which the father had wickedly gotten The one would have all to keep the other will keep nothing at all the former gets and spends not the latter spends and gets not Yea the son being as greedy of expence as the father was in scraping he teddeth that with a fork in one year which was not gathered with a rake in twenty Yea how oft is that spent upon one Christmas revelling by the son which was fourty yeers a getting by the Father Which Diogenes well considered for whereas he would ask of a frugal Citizen but a penny of a Prodigal he would beg a talent and when the party asked him what he meant to desire so much of him and so little of others his answer should be Quoniam tu habes illi habebunt because thou hast and they will have I shall begg of thee but once thy estate will so soon vanish oâ— them often yea give me now a talent I may live to give thee a groâ—â— And at another time hearing that the house of a certain Prodigal was offered to sale he said I knew well that house was so accustomed to surfeting and drunkenness that ere long it would spue out the master Nay in all likelihood he foresees it himself and therefore as he makes short work with his estate so not long with his life as knowing that if he should live long he must be a begger As seldom but he shortens his days some way for he gives himself to all manner of vice gluttony and drunkenness chambering and wantonness pride riot contention c. He even banishes civility and gives himself over to sensuality and such a life seldom lasts long They may rightly be called spend-alls for they not onely spend all they have but themselves also instead of quenching their thirsts they drown both their bodies souls and estates in drink They will call drawer give us an Ocean and then leave their wits rather then the wine behinde them One cryes to his fellow do me reason but the drink answers I will leave thee no reason no not so much as a beast hath for these Nabals cannot abound but they must be drunk and surfet They have not onely cast off Religion that should make them good men but even reason that should make them men And saving only on the Sea they live without all compass as a ship on the water so they on the land reel too and fro and stagger like a drunken man Psal. 107.27 All their felicity is in a Tavern or brothell house where harlots and sicophants rifle their estates and then send them to robbe or teach them how to cheat or borrow which is all one for to pay they never mean and prodigallity drives them to repair their too great lavishness in one thing by too great covetousness and injustice in another The greatest mispenders for the most part are constrained to be as great misgetters that they may feed one vice with another Now as if they had been bred
presently they are gone Why then complainest thou I am afflicted on every side Like a childe that cries out of his shoe when the fault is in his foot or the sick patient who faults his bed when he should his back Why groanest thou under thy burden and cryest out of unremedied pain Alas thou repentest not trouble came on this message to teach thee repentance give the messenger his errand and hee 'l be gone But if thou refusest to be reformed thou hatest to be healed Alas every Cain will groan under the penalty whereas a David will grieve for the iniquity but the one trembles as a slave whereas the other fears as a son and he that mourns for the cause of his punishment shal mourn but a while but he that mourns onely for the punishment and not for the cause shall mourn for ever The soul cannot live while the sin lives one of the two must die the corruption or the Person but Repentance is a Supersedeas which dischageth both sin and sorrow moving God to be merciful the Angels to be joyful Man to be acceptable and only the Devil and his to be melancholy True God doth not meerly though mainly smite and chastise his children for sin without any other respect all his afflictive acts are not punishments some are for the benefit of the creature whether for probation or purgation or reformation and for the praise whether of his divine power or justice or mercy as appears by our Saviours words touching him that was born blinde Iohn 9.3 For though his Parents had sinned in themselves and the man had sinned in his first Parents yet it was not the guilt of either that was guilty of this blindness and the like we may collect from Iobs example Nevertheless sin is still the Original as when the head akes and the members are sick the fault is in the stomack For this cause saith the Apostle of the believing Corinthians many are weak by lingering diseases many sick by sharp and grievous maladies and many sleep are dead out-right 1 Cor. 11.30 Hence our so many diseases miseries maladies troubles without terrours within it is this thief in the Candle that wastes us this Fly in the Box that corrupts us this traitor in the heart that betrayes and exposes us to all perils In which regard it was a sound and savoury reply of an English Captain at the loss of Calice who when a proud Frenchman tauntingly demanded When will you fetch Calice again answered When your sins shall weigh down ours What saith Saint Hierom in the like case by our sins are these Infidels made strong and therefore a mean to lessen our punishment is to lessen our sins Yea even Achaior a very Ammonite could say thus to Holofernes Enquire if this people have offended their God otherwise all our warring will come to nothing and Vespasian the like who when he had conquered Ierusalem refused to have the Crown set upon his head saying I indeed am the rod in Gods hand but it is their sins only that hath subdued them And it is very rare in this case if there be not some Achan in the Army some Sheba in the Town some Ionas in the Ship some distemper in the soul disorder in the life that God would have removed and remedied as for instance Ionas how came he into the Whales belly Was it not his own undutifulness David whence came all his troubles by Absalom Amnon Adonijah Was it not his fondness and indulgence And so of Eli. Iacob what might he thank for all his afflictions whereof God gave him not a draught but made him a diet-drink so that he had scarce a merry day for one trouble or another whom had he to thank for it Did he not thrust his own feet into the stocks by that threefold lie of his uttered in a breath to get the blessing Wherefore if thou lovest thine own ease deal freely and ingenuously with God and thine own soul for sin and punishment are inseparable companions and go tied together with chains of Adamant as the Poet speaks like individual twins they are born together live together are attended one by the other as the body by the shadow where sin is in the Saddle there punishment is on the Crupper whence it is that the Hebrews have but one and the same word for them both Objection But thou hast repented and resolvest to be reformed Answer Many in time of distress have strong resolutions and promise fair even a Candle as big as a Mast but trouble being over one of ten in the pound were well which proves they never truly repented Yea in stead of being better they grow worse like one that falls into a relapse from an Ague to a burning Feaver which peradventure would be thy case if God should now release thee at least thou mayest fear it for to seek unto God only in affliction is suspicious and such seekers commonly are rejected with scorn Proverbs 1.24 to 33. Indeed if thou shalt persevere when thou art released in doing that which now thou purposest it is infallible signe thy repentance is sound otherwise not CHAP. 5. That it serves to work in us amendment of life 2 SEcondly the malice of our enemies serves to work in us amendment of life Every affliction sanctified rubs off some rust melts off some drosse straines out some corruption c. which done we rise out of trouble as Christ rose out of the grave for when the gold is fined the fire shall hold it no longer The outward cold of affliction doth greatly increase the inward heat and fervour of the graces of God in us Indeed no chastisement saith the Author to the Hebrewes for the present seemeâ— to be joyous but grievous But afterwards it bringeth the quiet fruit of righteousness to them that are thereby exercised Heb. 12.11 We are dunged with reproaches that we may prove a richer soil for grace as Nazianzen speaks alluding to the parable of the Fig-tree God beats us that he may better us he hedgeth us about with thorns that he may keep us within compasse lest we break over into Satans pastures which indeed will fat us but to the slaughter Yea he pricks us with goads that he may let out our ill humours and happy thorns or lancets of tribulation are those which open a vein for sin to gush out at God strips the body of pleasure to cloath the soul with righteousnesse and oftentimes strengthens our state of grace by impoverishing our temporall estate for commonly the more prosperity the lesse Piety The poor saith Christ receive the Gospel though the rich are more bound It was an observation of Tacitus that raising of the fortune did rarely mend the disposition only Vespasian was changed into the better Yea if it make us not worse it is a wonder Evagrius gives it as a high praise of the Emperour Mauritius that in the height of all his Majesty he reteined his ancient Piety We
like a fire of green wood which burneth no longer than whiles it is blown Affliction to the soul is as plummets to a Clock or winde to a Ship holy and faithful prayer as oars to a Boat And ill goeth the Boat without Oars or the Ship without winde or the Clock without plummets Now are some afflicted in reputation as Susanna was others in children as Eli some by enemies as David others by friends as Ioseph some in body as Lazarus others in goods as Iob others in liberty as Iohn In all extremities let us send this messenger to Christ for case faithful and fervent prayer if this can but carry the burthen to him he will carry it for us and from us for ever Neither can we want encouragement to ask when as the sick of the Palsie but asked health and obteined also forgiveness of sins When Solomon but desired wisedome and the Lord gave him wisedome and honour and abundance of wealth When Iacob asked but meat and cloathing and God made him a great rich man When Zacheus desired only to have a sight of Christ and was so happy as to entertain him into his house into his heart yea to be entertained into Christs Kingdom We do not yea in many cases we dare not ask so much as God is pleased to give Neither doest thou ô Saviour measure thy gifts by our petitions but by our wants and thine own mercies True if the all-wise God shall fore-see that thou would'st serve him as the prodigall son served his father who prayed but till he had got his patrimony and then forsook him and spent the same in riot to the givers dishonour as too many use the Ocean of Gods bounty as we do the Thames it brings us in all manner of provision cloaths to cover us fuel to warm us food to nourish us wine to chear us gold to enrich us and we in recompence soil it with our rubbish filth common shoares and such like excretions even as the Cloud that 's lifted up and advanced by the Sun obscures the Sun In this case he will either deny thee in mercy as he did Saint Paul 2 Cor. 12.8 9. and our Saviour himself Matth. 26.39 or grant thee thy request in wrath as he did a King to the Israelites and Quails wherewith he fed their bodies but withall sending leanness into their souls Psal. 106.15 And well doth that childe dâ—serve to be so served who will lay out the money given him by his father to buy poison or weapons to murther him with Wherefore let thy prayers not onely be fervent but frequent for thy wants are so And be sure to ask good things to a good end and then if we ask thus according to Gods will in Christs Name we know that he will hear us and grant whatsoever petitions we have desired 1 Iohn 5.14 15. CHAP. 7. That it weanes them from the love of the world 4 FOurthly our sufferings wean us from the love of the world yea make us loath and contemn it and contrariwise fix upon heaven with a desire to be dissolved Saint Peter at Christs transfiguration enjoying but a glimpse of happiness here was so ravished and transported with the love of his present estate that he breaks out into these words Master it is good for us to be here he would fain have made it his dwelling place and being loath to depart Christ must make three tabernacles Mat. 17.4 The love of this world so makes us forget the world to come that like the Israelites we desire rather to live in the troubles of Egypt then in the Land of Promise Whereas S. Paul having spoken of his bonds in Christ and of the spirituall combate concludeth I desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ which is best of all Phil. 1.22 23. Yea it transported him to Heaven before he came thither as Mary was not where she was but where her desire was and that was with Christ. Prosperity makes us drunk with the love of the world like the Gadarens who preferred their swine before their souls or him in the Parable that would go to see his farmâ— and lose Heaven or the Rich Gluâ—ton who never thought of Heaven till he was in Hell and thousands more who if they have but something to leave behinde them 't is no matter whether they have any thing to carry with them But as sleep composeth drunkenness so the cross will bring a man to himself again for when the Staff we so nourish to bear us becomes a cudgel to beat us when we finde the world to serve us as the Iews did Christ carry us up to the top of the hill and then strive to throw us down headlong Luk. 4.29 When the minde is so invested with cares molested with grief vexed with pain that which way soever we cast our eyes we finde cause of complaint we more loath the World than ever we loved it as Amnon did his sister Tamar yea when life which is held a friend becomes an enemy then death which is an enemy becomes a friend and is so accountted as who having cast Anâ—hor in a safe Road would again wish himself in the storms of a troublesome Sea Yea in case we have made some progress in Religion and found a good conscience sprinkled with the blood of Christ the marrow of all comforts and resolved with Ioseph to forsake our coat rather than our faith yet if the World make new offers of preferment or some large improvement of profits and pleasures we begin to draw back or at least we know not whether to chuse like a horse that would and yet would not leap a ditch And after a little conflict having half yielded to forsake that with joy which cannot be kept but with danger we resolve thus The same God which hath made my crosses chearful can as well make my prosperity conscionable Why then should I refuse so fair an offer but alas having made choice it is not long ere these pleasures and honouâ—s these riches and abundance prove as thorns to choak the good seed of Gods Word formerly sown in our hearts as it is Matth. 13.22 For prosperity to Religion â—s as the Ivy to the Oake it quickly eats out the heart of it yea as the Misselâ—o and Ivy sucking by their straight embraces the very sâ—p that only giveth vâ—getation from the roots of the Oake and Hawthorn will flourish when the Trees wither so in this case the corruption of the good is alwayes the generation of the evil and so on the contrary crosses in the estate diseases of the body maladies of the minde are the medicines of the soul the impairing of the one is the repairing of the other When no man would harbour that unthrift son in the Gospel he turned back again to his Father but never before Lais of Corinth while she was young doted upon her Glass but when she grew old and withered she loathed it as much which made
her give it up to Venus When Satan is let loose upon us to shew us our sins and the danger we are in then farewel profit farewel pleasure treasure and all rather then I will endure such a rack such a hell in my conscience Whereas if we should only hear of misery or read what is threatned in the Word though it might a little fright us it would never amend us Birds are frighted at first with the Husbandmans scar-crowes but after a while observing that they stir not are bold to sit upon them and defile them Thus as harmonious sounds are advanced by a silent darkness so are the glad tydings of salvation The Gospel never sounds so sweet as in the night of persecution or private affliction When Vertue came down from Heaven as the Poets feign rich men spurned at her wicked men abhorred her Courtiers scoft at her Citizens hated her and being thrust out of doors in every place she came at last to her sisters poverty and affliction and of them found entertainment When it ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of the World she conceived Isaac so when it ceaseth to be with us after the manner of the Worlds Favourites we conceive holy desires quietness and tranquillity of minde with such like spiritual contentments Yea we make faith our only option whereas before we kept open house for all vices as the States are said to keep open house for all Religions or if not it fares with piety as with holy water every one praiseth it and thinks it hath some rare vertue in it but offer to sprinkle them with the same they shut their eyes and turn away their faces and no marvel for we never taste this Manna from Heaven until we leave the leaven of this Egypt Now better the body or estate perish then the soul though we are too sensual to consent unto it Plùs Pastor in vulnere gregis sui vulneratur The loss of a graceless childe cannot but grieve the father though the father him self were in danger of mischief by that childe as David mourned for Absalom that would have cut his throat True prosperity is hearty meat but not digestible by a weak stomack strong wine but naught for a weak brain The prosperity of fools destroyeth them Proverbs 1.32 So that all temporall blessings are as they hit but if the minde do not answer they were better mist. The more any man hath the more cause he hath to pray Lord lead us not into temptation for we cannot so heartily think of our home above whiles we are furnished with these earthly contentments below but when God strips us of them straightwayes our minde is homeward Whiles Naomies husband and sons were alive we find no motion of her retiring home to Iudah let her earthly stays be removed she thinks presently of removing to her Countrey a delicious life when every thing about us is resplendent and contentful makes us that we have no minde to go to Heaven wherefore as a loving mother when she would wean her childe from the dug maketh it bitter with Wormwood or Aloes so dealeth the Lord with us he maketh this life bitter unto us by suffering our enemies to persecute oppress us to the end we may contemn the World transport our hopes from Earth to Heaven he makes us weep in this veil of misery that we may the more eagerly long for that place of felicity where all tears shal be wiped from our eys Our wine saith Gregory hath some gall put into it that we should not be so delighted with the way as to forget whither we are going And this is no small abatement to the bitternesse of adversities that they teach us the way to Heaven for the lesse comfort we finde on earth the more we seek above and the more we esteem the best things and we are very ungratefull if we do not thank him for that which so overcomes us that it overcomes the love of the world in us Experience shewes that in Countreys where be the greatest plenty of fruits they have the shortest lives they do so surfet on their abundance Sicily is so full of sweet flowers if we believe Diodorus Siculus that dogs cannot hunt there and it is questionable whether the enjoying of outward things or the contemning of them be the greater happinesse for to be deprived of them is but to be deprived of a Dye wherewith a man might either win or lose yea doth not a large portion of them many times prove to the owner like a treacherous Dye indeed which flatters an improvident Gamster with his own hand to throw away his wealth to another Or to yield it the uttermost gold may make a man the richer not the better honour may make him the higher not the happier and all temporal delights are but as flowers they onely have their moneth and are gone this morning in the bosome the next in the Besome The consideration whereof made the very Heathen Philosophers hate this world though they saw not where to finde a better Yea it made Themistocles so under value transitory things in comparison of vertue that seeing rich Bracelets of precious stones lie in his path he bade his friend take them up saying Thou art not Themistocles And indeed it is Heaven onely that hath a foundation Earth hath none God hath hanged it upon nothing and the things therein are very nothing Nothing feeds pride nor keeps off repentance so much as prosperous advantage 'T is a wonder to see a Favourite study for ought but additions to his Greatnesse God shall have much ado to make him know himself The cloth that hath many stains must pass through many larthers If Musk hath lost its sweetness there is no way to recover it except you fling it into the sink among filth No less then an odious leprosie will humble Naaman wherefore by it the only wise God thought meet to sawce the valour dignity renown victories of that famous General of the Syrians If I could be so uncharitable as to wish an enemies soul lost this were the only way let him live in the height of the worlds blandishments for how can he love a second Mistresse that never saw but one beauty and still continues deeply inamoured on it Why is the Lapwing made an Hieroglyphick of infelicity but because it hath a little Coronet upon the head and yet feed◠upon the worst of excrements The Peacock hath more painted Plumes yet is the Eagle accounted the Queen of Birds because she flieth neerest heaven We often see nothing carries us so far from God as those favours he hath imparted to us 'T is the misery of the poor to be neglected of men 't is the misery of the rich to neglect their God The Badger being wounded with the prickles of the Hedghog his invited guest whom at first he welcomed and entertained in his Cabbin as an inward friend mannerly desiring him to depart in kindnesse
as may appear in that Women are sooner angry then men the sick sooner then the healthy and old men sooner then young Again it 's nothing to endure a small trial or affliction every Cock-boat can swim in a River every Sculler sail in a calm every man can hold up his head in ordinary gusts but when a black storm arises a tenth wave flows deep calls unto deep Nature yields Spirit faints Heart fails Whereas grace is never quite out of heart yea is confident when hopes are adjourn'd and expectation is delay'd 7 Again seventhly How excellently was Iobs sincerity made known by Satans malice when he brought forth those Angelical words What shall we receive good at the hand of God and not receive evil Job 2.10 When he stood like a Centre unmoved while the circumference of his estate was drawn above beneath about him when in prosperity he could say If my mouth hath kist my hand and in adversity The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh blessed be the Name of the Lord he was not so like the wicked as they are like Dogs that follow the meat not the man 8 Again eighthly God suffers us to suffer much more especially to cry our perseverance which is a grace so good and acceptable that without it there is nothing good nor acceptable The Spaniel which fawneth when he is beaten will never forsake his Master and Trees well rooted will bear all storms The three Children walked up and down in the fiery flames praysing God And a Blade well tried deserves a triple price How did the Church of Pergamus approve her self Yea how was she approved of God which hath the sword with two edges when she held out in her works even where Satan dwelt and kept his Throne I know thy works saith God and that thou keepest my Name and hast not denied my faith even in those dayes when Antipas my faithful Martyr was slain among you where Satan dwelleth yea where his Throne is and where some maintain the Doctrine of Balaam and the Nicolaitans and teach that men ought to eat things sacrificed to Idols and to commit fornication c. Revel 2.13 14. But how can I lay down my life for Chriss when I cannot for his sake quietly disgest a few reproachful speeches he will scarce hear blows for him that will now quietly put up and digest ill words Finally Affliction and Persecution is both a Whet-stone and a Touch-stone to each particular grace It humbleth the spirits of the repentant trieth the faith and patience of the sincere Christian but hardeneth the hearts of the ungodly for wicked men grow worse after affliction as water grows more cold after an heat yea like some Beasts they grow mad with baiting if crosses or losses rush in upon them they fall to the language of Iobs wife Curse God and die or to that of the King of Israels messenger Why should I serve God any longer 2 Kings 6.33 CHAP. 10. That it prevents greater evils of sin and punishment to come 7 SEventhly the Lord by this evil of Chastisement for sins past preventeth the evils of sin and greater punishments for the time to come The Lord saith Elihu correcteth man that he might turn away from his enterprize and that he might keep back his soul from the pit and that his life should not perish by the sword Job 33.17 18. This salt doth not only preserve from corruption but also eat out corruption We are chastened of the Lord saith the Holy Ghost that we might not be condemned with the world 1 Cor. 11.32 If we be not chastened here we shall be condemned hereafter Erring souls be corrected that they may be converted not confounded If Paul had not been buffetted by Satan and wicked men he had been exalted out of measure 2 Cor. 12.7 Pride is so dangerous a Poison that of another poison there was confected a counterpoison to preserve him from it God would rather suffer this chosen Vessel to fall into some infirmity thâ—n to be proud of his singular priviledges Lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of Revelations there was the poison of Pride insinuating it self I had a thorn in the flesh the messenger of Satan to buffet me There was the counterpoison or antidote which did at once make him both sick and whole And this is no unusual thing with God who in mercy doth so use the matter that he cures one sin by another how many proud men have been healed by the shame of their uncleanness how many furious men by a rash bloodshed and so in many other cases one Devil being used for the ejection of another Yea we gain strength by every new fall for hence issues deeper humility stronger hatred of sin fresh indignation against our selves more experience of the deceitfulness of our hearts renued resolutions until sin be brought under c. 2 Cor. 7.11 The Lord sets some messenger of Satan and our lusts together by the ears as the Egyptians against the Egyptians that while two poisons wrestle we may live But my purpose is to speak of affliction not sin Bodily sickness saith Saint Gregory cleanseth away sins committed and curbeth and hindreth those that in health might have been committed The flesh indeed is nourished by softness but the spirit by hardness that is fed by delights and pleasures this groweth by bitterness And hereupon when a Religious man as Ruffinus relates prayed Iohn the Anchorite to free him of a certaine Ague he answered him truly thou desirest to have a very necessary companion cast out of doors for saith he as cloaths are washed with sope so is the minde purified by diseases And the same may be averred of all kindes of crosses For is it not commonly seen that the pleasures of the body are the poisons of the soul heap riches and honours upon an evil man you do but minister wine to him that hath a Feaver saith Aristotle Honey to one oppressed with choler and meat to one troubled with morbus Cephaliacus which increaseth the disease saith Plutarch For as Noah was drunk with his own wine so the cup of prosperity hath intoxicated many a soul and God hath no worse servants in our Land then they that can live of their Lands and care for nothing else Commonly where is no want is much wantonness And as we grow rich in temporals we grow poor in spirituals Nabal cannot abound but he must surfet Tertullus cannot be eloquent but he must turn the edge of his wit against the Gospel Many cannot have beauty but they must love their faces more then their souls We use Gods blssings as Iehu did Iehorams messengers David Goliahs sword We turn them against their owner and giver and fight against Heaven with that health wealth wit those friends means mercies that we received thence abusing peace to security plenty to ease promises to presumption gifts to pride for commonly so much the more proud idle secure wanton
scornful impenitent by how much the more we are enriched advanced and blessed And it is just with God to make us know what we had by what we want But I proceed The enjoyment of the Worlds peace might add to my content but it will endanger my soul how oft doth the recovery of the body state or minde occasion a Relapse in the soul Turn but the Candle and that which keeps me in puts me out The younger brother shal not have all his portion lest he run Riot All the life of Solomon was full of prosperity therefore we finde that Solomon did much forget God but the whole life of David had many enemies much adversity and therefore we see by his penitential Psalms and others that David did much remember God And indeed if God did not often visit us we should serve him as the women of Tartary do their husbands who marry if they be absent but twenty dayes But the fire of correction eats out the rust of corruption And as Vineger with its sharpness keeps flowers from corrupting so their malice keeps our souls from festering Bees are drowned in Honey but live in Vineger Now if sweet meats breed surfets it is gâ—od sometimes to taste of bitter it is good somwhat to unlade when the Ship is in danger by too liberal a ballast I will tell you a Paradox I call it so because few will believe it but it is true many are able to say they have learned to stand by falling got strength by weakness Tho burnt Childe dreads the fire and a broken bone well set is faster ever after Like Trees we take deeper root by shaking And like Torches we flame the brighter for bruizing and knocking God suffered Satan to spoil Job of his substance â—ob him of his Children punish him in his body Yet mark but the sequel well and you shall finde that he was crost with a blessing As the Physician in making of Treacle or Mithridate for his Patient useth Serpents Adders and such like poison that he may drive out one poison with another Even so our spiritual Physician is pleased to use the malice of Satan and wicked men when he tempereth us the cup of affliction that hereby he may expel one evil with another Yea two evils with one namely the evil of sin and the evil of punishment and that both temporal and eternal Perhaps this byting plaister burneth thee but it healeth thee He suffers us to be afflicted because he will not suffer us to be damned such is the goodness of our heavenly Father to us that even his anger proceeds from mercy he scourgeth the flesh that the spirit may be saved in the day of Iesus Christ 1 Corinthians 5.5 Yea Ioseph was therefore abased in the dungeon that his advancement might be the greater It is true in our thoughts we often speak for the flesh as Abraham did for Ishmael O that Ishmael might live in thy sight No God takes away Ishmael and gives Isaac he withdraws the pleasure of the flesh gives delight to the soul crossing us in our wils that he may advance our benefit As it fared with Manasses whose Chain was more profitable to him then his Crown The man sick of a burning Feaver cries to his Physician for drink he pities him but does not satisfie him he gives him proper Physick but not drink A man is sick of a Pleurisie the Physician lets him blood he is content with it the arm shall smart to ease the heart The covâ—tous man hath a pleurisie of riches God lets him blood by poverty let him be patient it is a course to save his soul. But we are so sensual that no reason can prevail We are sorry to lose the proper cause of our sorrow we are like whining children that will not stay until their Milk be cold but must have it though they be scalded with it Yea it fares with many as with the Mother of Nero let them be damn'd so they may be dubb'd But our Heavenly Father will do us good though we desire the contrary Wherefore if he scourge us any way so we bleed not on till we bleed so we faint not or till we even faint so we perish not let us be comforted for if the Lord prune his Vine he means not to root it up if he ministers Physick to our souls it is because he would not have us die in our sins all is for salvation What if Noah were pent up in the Ark sith he was safe in it what if it were his Prison sith it was his Fort against the waters I might illustrate the point and make it plain by sundry and divers comparisons We know one nail drives out another one heat another one cold another yea out of admirable experience I can witnesse it that for most constitutions there is not such a remedy for a cold in the head or extream tendernesse as a frequent bathing it especially the temples with cold water I can justly say I am twenty years the younger for it Yea one sorrow drives out another one passion another one rumour is expelled by another and though for the most part contraries are cured by contraries yet not seldome will Physicians stop a lask with a purge they will bleed a patient in the Arme to stop a worse bleeding at Nose Again in some Patients they will procure a gentle Ague that they may cure them of a more dangerous disease Even so deals God with us he often punisheth the worser part of man saith Saint Hierome That is the body state or name that the better part to wit the soul may be saved in the day of judgement Neither are chastisements any whit lesse necessary for the soul then medicines are for the body many a man had been undone by prosperity if they had not been undone by adversity they had perished in their souls if they had not perished in their bodies estates or good names It is probable Naamans soul had never been cleansed if his body had not been leprous but his leprous flesh brought him to a white and clean spirit and though affliction be hard of digestion to the natural man yet the sheep of Christ know that to feed upon this salt Marsh is the only preservative against the Rot the experienced Christian knowes that it is good for the soul that the body is sometimes sick and therefore to have his inward man cured he is content his outward man should be diseased and cares not so the sins of his soul may be lessened though the soares of his flesh be increased It is better saith Saint Hierome to have a sick stomack then a grieved minde Yea he desires with Saint Austine that God will send him any plague rather then the plague of the heart And why is it not so with thee I hope thou desirest thy souls safety above all and thou knowest the stomack that is purged must be content to part with some good nourishment that
the proceedings of God well know that cherishing ever follows stripes as cordials do vehement evacuations and the clear light of the morning a dark night yea if we can look beyond the cloud of our afflictions and see the sun-shine of comfort on the other side of it we cannot be so discouraged with the presence of evil as heartened with the issue Chear up then thou drooping soul and trust in God whatever thy sufferings be God is no tyrant to give thee more then thy load and admit he stay long yet be thou fully assured he will come at length In thee do I trust saith the Psalmist all the day He knew that if he came not in the Morning he would come at Noon if he came not at Noon he would come at Night at one hour of the day or other he will deliver me and then as the Calm is greater after the Tempest then it was before so my joy shall be sweeter afterwards then it was before The remembrance of Babylon will make us sing more joyfully in Sion If then I finde the Lords dealing with me to transcend my thoughts my faith shall be above my reason and think he will work good out of it though I yet conceive not how CHAP. 14. That it increaseth their joy and thankfulness 11 BEcause our manifold sufferings and Gods often delivering us doth increase our joy and thankfulness yea make after-blessings more sweet By this we have new Songs put into our mouthes and new occasions offered to praise the Authour of our deliverance When the Lord brought again the captivity of Sion saith David in the person of Israel we were like them that dream meaning the happiness seemed too good to be true Then were our mouthes filled with laughter saith he and our tongues with joy the Lord hath done great things for us whereof we rejoyce Psal. 126.1 2 3 4. And how could their case be otherwise when in that miserable exigent Exod. 14. they saw the Pillar remove behinde them and the Sea remove before them they looking for nothing but death Is any one afflicted I may say unto him as that Harbinger answered a Nobleman complaining that he was lodged in so homely a Room You will take pleasure in it when you are out of it For the more grievous our exigent the more glorious our advancement A desire accomplished delighteth the soul Prov. 13.19 We read how that lamentable and sad Decree of Ahashuerus through the goodness of God was an occasion exceedingly to increase the Iews joy and thankfulness insomuch that as the Text saith the dayes that were appointed for their death and ruine were turned into dayes of feasting and joy and wherein they sent presents every man to his neighbour and gifts to the poor Esther 9.17 22 to 28. And this joy and thankfulness was so lasting that the Iews cease not to celebrate the same to this day Gods dealing with us is often harsh in the beginning hard in the proceeding but the conclusion is alwayes comfortable The joy of Peter and the rest of the Church was greater after he was delivered out of Prison by the Angel Acts 12. And the joy of Iudith and the rest of Bethulia when she returned with Holofernes head then if they never had been in distress Iudith 13. The Lord deprives us of good things for a time because they never appear in their full beauty till they turn their backs and be going away Again he defers his aid on purpose to increase our desires before it comes and our joy and thankfulness when it is come to inflame our desires for things easily come by are little set by to increase our joy for that which hath been long deteined is at last more sweetly obteined What think we did he that was born blinde think when his eyes were first given him How did he wonder at Heaven Earth the strange goodly varieties of all the Creatures and chearfulnes of the light every thing did not more pleas then astonish him Lastly our thankfulness for suddenly gotten suddenly forgotten hardly gotten hardly forgotten Philoxenus was wont to say it wil taste sweeter if it cost me sweetly We love that dearly that cost us dear As Mothers love their children more tenderly then Fathers because they stood them in more Abrahams childe at an hundred years of age was more welcome then if he had been given at thirty And the same Isaac had not been so precious to him if he had not been as miraculously restored as given his recovery from death made him more acceptable The benefit that comes soon and with ease is easily contemned long and eager pursuit endears any favour The Wise men rejoyced exceedingly to finde the Star The Woman to finde her piece of Silver The Virgin Mary to finde her and our IESUS CHRIST alwayes returns with increase of joy He may absent himself for a time but he intends it only as a preparative to make us relish that sweet food the better he may keep us fasting but it is on purpose that our trial may be perfect our deliverance welcome our repentance glorious Yea the delivering of some increaseth the joy of others and causeth them to praise God for and rejoyce in their behalf that are delivered Acts 12 14. We never know the worth of a benefit so well as by the want of it want teacheth us the worth of things most truly Contraries are the best Commentaries upon each other and their mutual opposition is the best exposition Oh how sweet a thing is peace to them that have been long troubled with wars and tedious contentions The thunder of the Cannon is the best Rhetorick to commend it to us How sweet is liberty to one that hath been long immured within a case of walls A very Bird never chants it so merrily as when she is is got loose into the open air having been long encaged How dear a jewel is health to him that tumbles in distempered blood For then only we begin to prize it when we have lost it Let a man but fast a meal or two ô how sweet is brown bread though it would not down before Yea when Darius in a slight had drunk puddle water polluted with dead carcaces he confest never to have drunk any thing more pleasant the reason was he always before used to drink ere he was a thirst We are never so glad of our friends company as when he returns after long absence or a tedious voyage The nights darkness makes the light of the Sun more desirable and brings of it Letters of commendations A calm is best welcome after a tempest c. Yea what serves others sorrows for but to increase our joy and thankfulness Thou hast eyes ask the blinde whether that be not a blessing Thou hast ears ask the deaf whether that be not a great blessing Thou hast a tongue what thinks the dumbe of that Thou hast feet hands health liberty life reason c. is all
this nothing Yea others bleed we sleep others beg we abound others starve we surfet others groap in the dark our Sun still shines and shall not we rejoyce and be thankful Bless saith our Saviour when ye are cursed and shall not we bless when thus blessed Yet wo is me we forfeit many of Gods favours for not paying that easie Rent of thankfulness like those nine Luk. 17.12 to 19. we are more apt to pray then to give thanks because we are more sensible of our own wants then of Gods glory We can open our mouthes when we want any thing either to pray or at least to murmur and why should not our thanksgivings be as frequent as our blessings are The Lâ—pers voice was not more loud in his suit then in his thanks It were happy for us Christians if we could but learn of this Samaritan And thus we see that good things then appear of most worth when they are known in their wants When we have lost those invaluable comforts which we cannot well be without the minde hath time to recount their several worths and the worths of blessings appear not till they are vanisht No wonder then that our estates and conditions are so variable like the face of the Heavens or the Sea or like the weather about Michaelmass which is now fair and presently again foule or rather the hard Winter which for one fair Sun-shine day hath oftentimes ten â—oul For God sees that it is very good for us for as seeds that are deepest covered with snow in Winter flourish most in the Spring or as the winde by beating down the flame raiseth it higher and hotter and as when we would have some fires flame the more we sprinkle water upon them even so when the Lord would increase our joy and thankfulness he allayeth it with the tears of affliction misery sweetneth joy yea the sorrows of this life shall like a dark veil give a lustre to the glory of the next when the Lord shall turn this water of our earthly afflictions into that wine of gladness wherewith our souls shall be satiate for ever We deceive our selves to think on earth continued joys would please Plenty of the choicest daintie is no dainty When Pearls grew common at Rome they wore them on their shoes and they had much ado to save themselves out of the dirt as Tertullian speaks Nothing would be more tedious then to be glutted with perpetual jollities were the body tied to one dish always though of the most exquisite delicates that it could make choice of yet after a small time it would complain of loathing and satiety and so would the soul if it did ever Epicure it self in joyes I know not which is the more useful Ioy I may chuse for pleasure but adversities are the best for profit I should without them want much of the joy I have Well then art thou vexed persecuted and afflicted by some cruel and malicious Saul and is it grievous to thee for the present Why that which hath been hard to suffer is sweet to remember at last our Songs shall be louder then our cries CHAP. 15. How it increaseth their spiritual Wisdom 12 OUr sufferings make us teachable and increase in us spiritual Wisdom He delivereth the poor in his affliction and openeth their ear in trouble Job 36.15 And again He openeth the ears of men even by their corrections Job 33.16 We are best instructed when we are most afflicted Pauls blindness took away his blindness made him see more into the way of life then could all his learning at the feet of Gamaliel And what saith Naaman upon the cleansing of his Leprosie Now I know there is no God in all the Earth but in Israel O happy Syrian that was at once cured of his Leprosie and his misprision of God The prodigal son regarded not his Fathers admonition so long as he enjoyed prosperity when we smart not we believe not God is not feared till felt but that which makes the body smart makes the soul wise It is good for me saith David that I have been afflicted that I may learn thy Statutes We grow wise by evils whereas prosperity besots us Even to lose is some ways profitable it makes a man wary Yea St. Basil calls want penury the inventor of all Arts And St. Augustine the Mistress of all Philosophy The best wisdom is dearest bought Algerius the Martyr could say out of experience he found more light in the dungeon then without in all the World The Scottish King prisoner in Mortimers hole learnt more of Christ then in his Palace he could all his life Gaspar Olevianus a Germane Divine sayes I never learned how great God was nor what the evil of sin was to purpose till this sickness taught me There is a great deal of difference saith Luther between a Divine in outward pomp and a Divine under the cross neither could he understand some Psalmes till he was in affliction the Christs-cross is no letter yet it taught him more learning then all the letters in the rowe The cross opens mens eyes as the tasting of honey did Ionathans Yea what will not affliction teach us when even the savagest Beasts are made quiet and docible with abating their food and rest or by adding of stripes That Beef-brain'd Fellow in Scaliger had his eare bored with thunder when nothing else would do it Yea saith Molineus Bonifacius his silly reasons for the Popes Supremacy did well enough being propounded with a sword in the hand Even as the Clay with Water and the Iron with fire are made pliable and apt to receive impression from the workman even so when we are soaked in the floods of sorrow and softened in the fire of affliction we are aptest to receive the impression of Gods Law into our hearts when he speaks unto us by his Ministers If the Lord breaks us in pieces with the Plough of his Iustice then let the Seedsmen his Ministers sow the seed of his Word we shall receive it through the surrows of our eares into the ground of our hearts and grow up in wisdome and saving knowledge Or when the hard heart is grown'd to powder between the upper and the nether Milstone of the two Tables it will see and imbrace that counsel which before it slighted We heare and read much of the corruption of our natures odiousness of our sins necessity of a Saviour sweetness of Gods love in Christ c. but we never fully apprehend these things or taste how good the Lord is till some sharp affliction comes A man knows not where his house is ill covered tâ—ll Winter Crosses are like pinching Frosts that will search us we learn to know our selves by that wâ— suffer Yea Affliction so brings down our stomachs that we can see even matter of thankfulness where our former pride sound matter of complaining And that which formerly had no more taste then the white of an Egg viz. the
glad tidings of the Gospel is now such a spectacle of unspeakable mercy as ravisheth our souls with admiration Many a good word is even spilt upon us till God sets it on with his Rod Naomi will not look home-ward nor we Heaven-ward till the Almighty have dealt very bitterly with us Zippora falls presently to circumcizing her son when she sees her husbands life lies upon it Were it not for temptations we should be concealed from our selves like the inchanted Ass in Lucian which returned to his proper shape again when he saw himself in a Looking-glass So long as we prosper like those wives in Ieremy Chap. 44.17 18. We judge of things by their events and raise our confidence according to the success we have and so bless our selves without being blest of God like the Thief that applauded himself for merciful because he had never kill'd any and yet rather then lose a Ring he would cut off the Travellers finger but strong affections will give credit to weak reasons O how blinde and partial are we before affliction hath humbled us even so stupid that Narcissus-like we are enamoured of our our own shadows bragging we discharge a good conscience when indeed we discharge it quite away and this righteousness in opinion is almost the only cause of all unrighteousness Before want came poverty was more contemptible then dishonesty but now it is disgraceful to none except Fools and Knaves Then we could censure things indifferent and pass by hainous crimes now we are able to distinguish them and so judge righteous judgement Before trouble came we were either ungrounded in the principles of Religion or unconscionable in the practice and by vertue of our mother-wit could post and pass sin from our selves unto some other as Adam laid the fault upon Eve his wife she upon the Serpent and the Serpent upon God Or excuse or extenuate it which saith Fabius is to double it As for original corruption that never troubled us which now we bewail as the Mother and Nurse of all the rest thinking it worthy our sighes yea of our tears and not without need it being the great wheel in the Clock that sets all the wheels a moving while it seems to move slowest Though not one of a hundred taketh it sufficiently to heart as not seeing the evil of it But never did any truly and orderly repent that began not here esteeming it the most foul and hateful of all as David Psal. 51.5 and Paul crying out of it as the most secret deceitful powerful evil Rom. 7.23 24. And indeed if we clearly saw the foulness and deceitfulness of it we would not suffer our eyes to sleep nor our eye-lids to slumber until a happy change had wrought these hearts of ours which by nature are no better then so many Sties of unclean Devils to be habitations for the God of Iacob Apt we were to measure our own good by anothers want of it and to scoâ—f at others infirmities but now other mens sins shall rather be the subjects of our grief then of our discourse Before fear of the law shame of men and such like base ends bare the greatest sway with us yea to please men we could be like certain Pictures that represent to divers beholders at divers stations divers forms but now it is enough to regulate our thoughts words and actions that God seeth and indeed where are brains there needs no more We read that Paphnutius converted Thais and Ephron another famous Strumpet from uncleanness only with this argument That God seeth all things in the dark when the doors are fast the windows shut the curtains drawn Before too much devotion was made an argument of too little discretion and mischief called vertue when it was happy in the success as with the Papists the ostentation of the prosperity of their estate is the best demonstration of the sincerity of their Religion yea and think also they have clipt the wings of prosperity as the Athenians did the wings of Victory that she cannot flie away Before we thought drinking and jovial company the best receit to drive away sadness but now nothing like living well as an Heathen hath confest Once we thought Earth Heaven but now we apprehend the World and glory thereof to be like a beautiful Harlot a Paradise to the eye a Purgatory to the soul. Yea he that before was indifferent in nothing but conscience and no cause so bad but he would undertake it for gain or glory think it well done As Satan prevails chiefly by deception of our reason whereby we mistake vertue for vice and vice for vertue wherein he imitates Hannibal who having overcome the Romans put on their Armour and so his Souldiers being taken for Romans won a City by that policy and to this purpose what stone so rough but he can smooth it What Stuff so pitiful but he can set a gloss upon it Like a Bear he can lick into fashion the most mishapen and deformed lump or like a Dog heal any wound he can reach with his tongue yea what golden Eloquence will he whisper in our ear What brazen impudence What subtil shifts What quaint qnircks What cunning conveyances What jugling shuffling and packing will he use to make any sin feazable like the Hare which if she dare not trust to her speed she will try the turn and so on the contrary to discourage us in good shewing each thing as it were in triangular Glasses among the Opticks which will represent a way so foul so deep that 't is impassable as if it were all covered with Tapistry But as he pleads now with Eloquence so when he sees his time he will speak with Thunder Even such a man I say now hath his eyes opened to discern good and evil when God speaks and when Satan for Gods chastisements are pills made on purpose to clear the sight and vertue if it be clearly seen moves great love and affection as Plato speaks Yea when to our cost we can Adam-like see good from evill clearly the subtile Serpent can deceive no longer whereas before we were easily deceived and led away with the multitude into innumerable errors Yea if the fish did know of the hook or the bird did but see the net though they have but the understanding of fishes and birds yet they would let the bait alone fly over the net and let the Fowler whistle to himselfe Thus Gods corrections are our instructions his lashes our lessons his scourges our schoolmasters his chastisements our advertisements And commonly the soul waxeth as the body wayneth is wisest to prescribe when the bones and sinews are weakest to execute neither do we hereby become wise for our own souls good only but affliction makes us wise and able to do others good also that are in any the like affliction Blessed be God saith Saint Paul which comforteth us in all our afflictions that we may be able to comfort them which
the Emperour Augustus who though of a most tenacious and retentive memory would forget wrongs as soon as they were offered Or Agathocles Antigonus and Caesar who being great Potentates were as little moved at vulgar wrongs as a Lyon at the barking of Curres yea the Orator gives it as a high praise to Caesor that he could forget nothing but wrongs remember nothing but benefits and who so truly noble as he that can do ill and will not True It is not rare to see a great man vex himself at the neglect of a peasant but this argues a poor spirit A true Lyon would passe it by with an honourable scorn You 'l confesse then 't is Princely to disdain a wrong and is that all No forgivenesse saith Seneca is a valiant kinde of revenge and none are so frequent in pardoning as the couragious He that is modestly valiant stirs not till he must needs and then to purpose Like the Flint he hath fire in him but it appears not untill you force it from him Who more valiant than Ioshna and he held it the noblest victory to overcome evil with good for the Gibeonites took not so much pains in coming to deceive him as he in going to deliver them And Cicero more commends Caesar for overcoming his own courage in pardoning Marcellus than for the great victories he had against his other enemies Yea a dominion over ones self is greater then the Grand Signiory of Turkie For as the greatest knowledge is truly to know thy self so the greatest conquest is to subdue thy self He is a wise man that can avoid an evil he is a patient man that can indure it but he is a valiant man that can conquer it And indeed for a man to overcome an enemy and be overcome by his own passions is to conquer a petty village with the losse of a large City What saith a Father Miserable is that victory wherein thou overcomest thine enemy and the Divell in the mean time overcomes thee thou slayest his body the Divell thy soul Now we deem him to have the honour of the warre that hath the profit of it But as an Emperour said of the means prescribed him to cure his Leprosie which was the blood of Infants I had rather be sick still than be recovered by such a medicine so wilt thou in this case if thou hast eitheâ— bowels or brains Yea if the price or honour of the conquest be rated by the difficulty then to suppresse anger in thy self is to conquer with Hercules one of the Furies To tame all passions is to lead Cerberus in chains and to indure afflictions and persecutions strongly and patiently is with Atlas to bear the whole World on thy shoulders as saith the Poet. It is no shame to suffer ill but to do it to be evil we are all naturall disposed to be holy and good is the difficulty Yea every beast and vermine can kill it is true prowesse and honour to give life and preserve it Yea a beast being snarled at by a cur will passe by as scorning to take notice thereof I but is it wisdome so to do Yes first the ancient received opinion is that the sinews of wisdome are slownesse of 〈…〉 None more wise then Salomon and he is of opinion That it is the glory of a man to passe by an offence Prov. 19.11 We fools think it ignominy and cowardise to put up the lye without a stab a wrong without a challenge but Salomon to whose wisdome all wise men will subscribe was of another judgment and to this of Salomon the wisest heathen have set their seal Pittacus the Philosopher holds That pardon is better than revenge inasmuch as the one is proper to the spirit the other to a cruell beast And Demosthenes being reproached by one answers I will not strive with thee in this kinde of fight in which he that is overcome is the better man But how Socrates whom the Oracle of Apollo pronounced the wisest man alive and all the rest of the Philosophers approved of it both by judgment and practise we shall have occasion to relate in the reasons insuing No truer note of a wiseman than this he so loves as if he were to be an enemy and so hates as if he were to love again We know a spark of fire falling upon a solid body presently goes out which falling upon combustible matter kindles and burns Now as with fire the light stuff and rubbish kindles sooner than the solid and more compact so anger doth sooner inflame a fool than a man composed in his resolutions This the holy Ghost witnesseth Eccles. 7. Be not thou of a hasty spirit to be angry for anger resteth in the bosome of fools vers 9. So much fury so much folly the more chasing the lesse wisdome Some have no patience to bear bitter scoffs their noses are too tender to indure this strong and bitter Wormwood of the brain Others again like tyled houses can admit a falling spark unwarmed it may be coals of Iuniper without any danger of burning Now what makes the difference the one hath a good headpiece and is more solid the other are covered with such light dry straw that with the least touch they will kindle and flame about your troubled ears and when the house is on fire it is no disputing with how small a matter it came I confesse I finde some wise men extreamly passionate by nature as there is no generall rule but admits of some exceptions Even God himself had particular exceptions from his generall Laws as the Cherubims over the Ark was an instance against the second Commandment the Israelites robbing the Aegyptians against the eight the Priests breaking the Sabboth Matth. 12.5 against the fourth and Phineas killing Zimry against the sixth Numb 25.8 And these as they are more taken with a joy so they tast a discontent more heavily In whom Choler like fire in stubble is soon kindled and soon out for they are stung with a Nettle and allayed with a Dock being like Gun-powder to which you no sooner give fire but they fly in your face And they say these hot men are the best natur'd but I say then the best are naught And it is a strange fit that transformes a wise man with Apulcius into an Asse yea a Tyger And others again none of the wisest who are free from being affected And as they never joy excessively so they never sorrow inordinately but have together lesse mirth and lesse mourning like patient Gamsters winning and losing are all one But for the most part it is otherwise Yea â—â—â—atience is the Cousin german to frenzie How oft have we heard men that have been displeased with others tear the Name of their Maker in pieces And lastly This of all others is the most divine and Christian-like revenge witnesse our Saviour Christ who by death overcame death as David cut off the head of Goliah with his own sword and even then
for banishing it was better not to let him stirre out of Macedoneia where all men knew that he lyed then to send him among strangers who not knowing him might admit his slanders for truth better he speak where we are both known then where we are both unknown And this made Chrysippus when one complained to him that his friend had reproached him privately answer Ah but chide him not for then he will do as much in publike Neglect will sooner kill an injury than Revenge These tongue-squibs or crackers of the brain will die alone if we revive them not the best way to have them forgotten by others is first to forget them our selves Yea to contemn an enemy is better then either to fear him or answer him When the Passenger gallops by as if his fear made him speedy the Cur followes him with open mouth and swiftnesse let him turn to the brawling Cur and he will be more fierce but let him ride by in a confident neglect and the Dog will never stir at him or at least will soon give over and be quiet Wherefore when aspersed labour as the eclipsed Moon to keep on our motion till we wade out of the shadow and receive our former splendor To vex other men is but to prompt them how they should again vex us Two earthen pots floating on the water with this Inscription If we knock we crack was long ago made the Emblem of England and the Low-Countreys When two friends fall out if one be not the wiser they turn love into anger and passion passion into evil words words into blowes and when they are fighting a third adversary hath a fair advantage to insult over them both As have you not sometimes seen two neighbours like two Cocks of the Game pick out one anothers eyes to make the Lawyers sport it may be kill them As while Iudah was hot against Israel and Israel hot against Iudah the King of Syria smote them both At least Sathan that common and arch enemy will have us at advantage For as vain men delight when two Dogs or two Cocks are a fighting to encourage and prick them forward to the combate Even so doth Satan deal with us Controversies like a pair of Cudgels are thrown in by the Devill and taken up by male-contents who baste one another while he stands by and laughs And we cannot please the Divell better for as the Master of the Pit oft sets two Cocks to fight together unto the death of them both and then after mutuall conquest suppeth perchance with the fighters bodies Even so saith Gregory doth the Devill deal with men He is an enemy that watcheth his time and while we wound one another he wounds and wins all our souls Thus like the Frog and the Mouse in the Fable while men fight eagerly for a toy the Kite comes that Prince and chief Foul that ruleth in the aire and snatcheth away both these great warriours Or like two Emmets in the mole hill of this earth we fight for the mastery in mean while comes the Robin-red breast and picks both up and so devours them But on the other side by gentlenesse we may as much pleasure our selves It is said of Aristides when he perceived the open scandall which was like to arise by reason of the contention sprung up between him and Themistocles that he besought him mildly after this manner Sir we both are no mean men in this Common-wealth our dissention will prove no small offence unto others nor disparagement to our selves wherefore good Themistocles let us be at one again and if we will needs strive let us strive who shall excell other in vertue and love And we read of Euclides that when his Brother in a variance between them said I would I might die if I be not revenged of thee he answered again Nay let me die for it if I perswade thee not otherwise before I have done by which one word he presently so won his Brothers heart that he changed his minde and they parted friends Milde words and gentle behaviour may be resembled to Milk that quencheth Wild-fire or Oyl that quencheth Lime which by water is kindled And this was Davids way of overcoming 1 Sam. 24. He whose Harp had wont to quiet Sauls frenzie now by his kindnesse doth calm his fury so that now he sheds tears instead of blood here was a victory gotten and no blow stricken The King of Israel set bread and water before the host of the King of Syria when he might have slain them 2 King 6.23 What did he lose by it or had he cause to repent himself No he did thereby so prevent succeeding quarrels that as the Text saith the bands of Aram came no more into the Land of Israel so every wise Christian will do good to them that do hurt to him yea blesse and pray for them that curse him as our Saviour adviseth neither is he a fool in it for if grace comes and nothing will procure it sooner than prayers and good examples though before they were evil enemies now they shall neither be evil nor enemies It was a witty answer of Socrates who replied when one asked him why he took such a mans bitter railing so patiently It is enough for one to be angry at a time For if a wise man contend with a foolish man saith Salomon whether he be angry or laugh there is no rest Prov. 29.9 whereas gentle speech appeaseth wrath and patience bridleth the secret pratling of mockers and blunteth the point of their reproach Had not Gideon Judg. 8. learned to speak fair as well as to smite he had found work enough from the swords of Iosephs sonnes but his good words are as victorious as his sword his pacification of friends better than his execution of enemies Vers. 2 3. As it is not good to flatter or lye no more is it in some cases to speak the truth we know the Asse and the Hound in the Fable were both kild by the Lyon the one for hiâ— slattery in commending the sweetnesse of his breath the other for his plain dealing when he affirmed it had an ill savour whereas the Fox by pretending he could not smell by reason of a cold he had got saved his life Rage is not ingendred but by the concurrence of cholers which are easily produced one of another and born at an instant When the stone and the steel mâ—ets the issue ingendred from thence is fire whereas the sword of anger being struck upon the soft pillow of a milde spirit is broken The shot of the Cannon hurts not Wool and such like yeelding things but that which is hard stubborn and resisting He is fuller of passion than reason that will flame at every vain tongues puff A man that studies revenge keeps his own wounds green and open which otherwise would heal and do well Anger to the soul is like a coal on the flesh or garment cast it off suddenly it doth
the heart may be quiet and cheerfull so St Paul as sorrowing and yet alwayes rejoycing 2 Cor. 6.10 Neither can it be solid comfort except it hath his issue from a good conscience Indeed we therefore are not merry enough because we are not Christians enough Now if all our sufferings are thus counterpoysed and exceeded with blessings have we any cause to be angry and impatient What saith Iob Shall we receive good at the hand of God and not evill He was content to eat the crust with the crumme Indeed his wife like the wicked would only have fair weather all peace and plenty no touch of trouble but it is not so with the godly who have learnt better things Who will not suffer a few stripes from a Father by whom he receiveth so much good even all that he hath Diogenes would have no nay but Antisthenes must entertain him his Scholer insomuch that Antisthenes to have him gone was forc't to cudgell him yet all would not do he stirs not but takes the blowes very patiently saying Use me how you will so I may be your Scholer and hear your daily discourses I care not Much more may a Christian say unto God Let me enjoy the sweet fruition of thy presence speak thou peace unto my conscience and say unto my soul I am thy salvation and then afflict me how thou pleasest I am content yea very willing to bear it Yea if we well consider the commodity it brings we shall rather wish for affliction than be displeased when it comes Col. 1.24 For it even bringeth with it the company of God himself I will be with you in tribulation saith God to the disconsolate soul Psal. 91.15 When Sidrack Mishack and Abednego were cast into the fiery furnace there was presently a fourth came to bear them company and that was God himself Dan. 3.23 to 27. And his presence makes any condition comfortable were a man even in hell it self Yea as when St Paul was rapt up to the third Heaven he was so ravished with the joy thereof that he knew not whether he had his body about him or not 2 Cor. 12.2 Whether in the body or out of the body I cannot tell God knoweth So Gods presence so ravisheth the soul that while a man suffers the greatest pain he knows not whether he be in pain or no. Yea God is not only with them to comfort them in all their tribulation 2 Cor. 1.4 but in them for at the same time when the Disciples were persecuted they are said to be filled with joy and with the holy Ghost Acts 13.52 And as our sufferings in Christ do abound so our consolation also aboundeth through Christ 2 Cor. 1.5 And lastly he doth comfort us according to the dayes we are afflicted and according to the years we have seen evil Psal 90.15 So that a Christian gains more by his losses and crosses than the happiest worldling by all his immunities as it was said of Demosthenes that he got more by holding his peace than other Lawyers did by their pleading And if so our sufferings require patience with thankfulnesse as it fared with Iob. Object But what ever others finde thy sufferings are not thus counterpoysed and sweetned Answ. What 's the reason get but the light of grace to shine in thy heart thy prison shall be an Heaven thy Keepers Angels thy chains thy glory and thy deliverance salvation Grow but heavenly minded and thou shalt be able to extract gain out of losse peace out of trouble strength out of infirmity out of tears joy out of sin holinesse out of persecution profit out of affliction comfort For godlinesse in every sicknesse is a Physician in every contention an Advocate in every doubt a Schoolman in all heavinesse a Preacher and a comforter unto whatsoever estate it comes making the whole life as it were a perpetuall hallelujah Besides we look for a Crown of glory even that most excellent and eternall weight of glory to succeed this wreath of Thorns but if we are never tryed in the field never set foot to run the race of patience how can we look for a Garland Ten repulses did the Israelites suffer before they could get out of Aegypt and twice ten more before they could get possession of the promised Land of Canaan And as many did David endure before he was invested in the promised Kingdom many lets came before the Temple was re-edified All men would come to Heaven but they do not like the way they like well of Abrahams bosome but not of Dives door But God seeth it 〈◊〉 for us to tast of that Cap of which his Sonne drank so deep that we should feel a little what sin is and what his love was that we may learn patience in adversity as well as thankefulnesse in prosperity while one scale is not alwayes in depression nor the other lifted ever high while none is so miserable but he shall hear of another that would change calamities with him CHAP. XXII That they are patient because patience brings a reward with it 6. BEcause Patience in suffering brings a reward with it In reason a man would forgive his enemy even for his own sake were there no other motive to perswade him for to let passe many things of no small moment as that if we forgive not we can do no part of Gods worship that is pleasing to him for we cannot pray aright 1 Tim. 2.8 We cannot communicate in the Sacrament but we make our selves guilty of Christs blood 1 Cor. 11.27 Matth. 5.24 We cannot be good hearers of the Word Iames 1.21 and that it makes a man captive to Satan Ephes. 4.26 27. and many the like If ye forgive men their trespasses saith our Saviour your heavenly Father also will forgive you but if you forgive not men their trespasses neither will your heavenly Father forgive you your trespasses Mat. 6.14 15. So he that will not be in charity shall never be in Heaven And why should I do my self a shrewd turn because another would Yea we desire pardon as we give pardon and we would be loath to have our own lips condemn us When we pray to God to forgive us our trespasses as we also forgive them that trespasse against us and do not resolve to forgive our brethren we do in effect say Lord condemn us for we will be condemned whereas he that doth good to his enemy even in that act doth better to himself It is a sigular sacrifice to God and well-pleasing to him to do good against evill and to succour our very enemy in his necessity but we may perchance heap coals of fire upon the others head Rom. 12.20 though we must not do it with an intent to make his reckoning more but our reckoning lesse Again Blessed is the man saith St Iames that endureth temptation viz. with patience for when he is tried he shall receive the Crown of life James 1.12 And this made Moses not only
patient in his sufferings but joyfull esteeming the rebuke of Christ greater riches than all the treasures of Aegypt For saith the Text he had respect unto the recompence of the reward Heb. 11.26 And well it might for whereas the highest degree of suffering is not worthy of the least and lowest degree of this glory Rom. 8.18 St Paul witnesseth that our light affliction which is but â—or a moment if it be borne with patience causeth unto us a far most excellent and eternall weight of glory while we look not on the things that are seen but on the things which are not seen 2 Cor. 4.17 18. Where note the incomparablenesse and infinite difference between the work and the wages light affliction receiving a weight of glory and momentary afflictions eternall glory answerable to the reward of the wicked whose empty delights live and die in a moment but their insufferable punishment is interminable and endlesse As it fared with Pope Sixtus the fifth who sold his soul to the Devill to enjoy the glory and pleasure of the Popedom for seven years their pleasure is short their pain everlasting our pain is short our joy eternall What will not men undergo so their pay may be answerable The old experiencâ—â— Souldier fears not the rain and storms above him nor the numbers falling before him nor the troops of enemies against him nor the shot of thundring Ordnance about him but looks to the honourable reward promised him When Philip asked Democritus if he did not fear to lose his head he answered No for quoth he if I die the Athenians will give me a life immortall meaning he should be statued in the treasury of eternall fame if the immortality as they thought of their names was such as strong reason to perswade them to patience and all kind of worthinesse what should the immortality of the soul be to us Alas vertue were a poor thing if fame only should be all the Garland that did crown her but the Christian knowes that if every pain he suffers were a death and every crosse an hell he shall have amends enough Why said Ambrose on his death-bed we are happy in this we serve a good Master that will not suffer us to be losers Which made the Martyrs such Lambs in suffering that their persecutors were more weary with striking than they with suffering and many of them as willing to die as dine When Modestus the Emperours Lieutenant told Basil what he should suffer as confiscation of goods cruell tortures death c. He answered If this be all I fear not yea had I as many lives as I have hairs on my head I would lay them all down for Christ nor can your master more benefit me than in this I could abound with examples of this nature No matter quoth one of them what I suffer on earth so I may be crowned in Heaven I care not quoth another what becometh of this frail Bark my flesh so I have the passenger my soul safely conducted And another If Lord at night thou grant'st me Lazarus boon Let Dives dogs lick all my sores at noon And a valiant Souldier going about a Christian atchievement My comfort is though I lose my life for Christs sake yet I shall not lose my labour yea I cannot endure enough to come to Heaven Lastly Ignatius going to his Martyrdom was so strongly ravished with the joyes of Heaven that he burst out into these words Nay come fire come beasts come breaking my bones racking of my body come all the torments of the Devill together upon me come what can come in the whole earth or in hell so I may enjoy Iesus Christ in the end They were content to smart so they might gain and it was not long but light which was exacted of them in respect of what was expected by them and promised to them 2 Cor. 4.17 Neither did they think that God is bound to reward them any way for their sufferings no if he accepts me when I have given my body to be burned saith the beleever I may account it a mercy I might shew the like touching temptations on the right hand which have commonly more strength in them and are therefore more dangerous because more plausible and glorious When Valence sent to offer Basil great preferments and to tell him what a great man he might be Basil answers Offer these things to Children not to Christians When some bad stop Luthers mouth with preferment one of his adversaries answered it is in vain he cares neither for Gold nor Honour When Pyrrhus tempted Fabritius the first day with an Elephant so huge and monstrous a beast as before he had not seen the next day with Money and promises of Honour he answered I fear not thy force and I am too wise for thy fraud But I shall be censured for exceeding Thus hope refresheth a Christian as much as misery depresseth him it makes him defie all that men or Devils can do saying Take away my goods my good name my friends my liberty my life and what else thou canst imagin yet I am well enough so long as thou canst not take away the reward of all which is an hundred fold more even in this world and in the world to come life everlasting Mark 10.29 30. As when a Courtier gave it out that Queen Mary being displeased with the City threatned to divert both Terme and Parliament to Oxford an Alderman askt whether she meant to turn the Channell of the Thames thither or no if not saith he by Gods grace we shall do well enough For what are the things our enemies can take from us in comparison of Christ the Ocean of our comfort and Heaven the place of our rest where is joy without heavinesse or interruption peace without perturbation blessednesse without misery light without darknesse health without sicknesse beauty without blemish abundance without want ease without labour satiety without loathing liberty without restraint security without fear glory without ignominy knowledge without ignorance eyes without tears hearts without sorrow souls without sinne where shall be no evill present or good absent for we shall have what we can desire and we shall desire nothing but what is good In fine that I may darkly shadow it out sith the lively representation of it is meerly impossible this life everlasting is the perfection of all good things for fullnesse is the perfection of measure and everlastingnesse the perfection of time and infinitenesse the perfection of number and immutability the perfection of state and immensity the perfection of place and immortality the perfection of life and God the perfection of all who shall be all in all to us meat to our tast beauty to our eyes perfumes to our smell musick to our ears and what shall I say more but as the Psalmist saith Glorious things are spoken of thee thou City of God but alas such is mans parvity that he is as far from comprehending it
as his arms be from compassing it Heaven shall receive us we cannot conceive Heaven Do you ask what Heaven is saith one when I meet you there I will tell you for could this ear hear it or this tongue utter it or this heart conceive it it must needs follow that they were translated already thither Now if this be so how acceptable should death be when in dying we sleep and in sleeping we rest from all the travels of a toylsome life to live in joy and rest for evermore Let us then make that voluntary which is necessary and yeeld it to God as a gift which we stand bound to pay as a due debt saith Chrysostom Yea how should we not with a great deal of comfort and security passe through a Sea of troubles that we may come to that haven of eternall rest How should we not cheer up one another as the mother of Melitho did her sonne when she saw his leggs broken and his body bruised being ready to yeeld up his spirit in martyrdome saying O my sonne hold on yet but a little and behold Christ standeth by ready to bring help to thee in thy torments and a large reward for thy sufferings Or as Iewell did his friends in banishment saying This world will not last ever And indeed we do but stay the tyde as a fish left upon the sands Ob. I but in the mean time my sufferings are intollerable saith the fainting soul Sol. It is no victory to conquer an easie and weak crosse these main evils have crowns answerable to their difficulty Rev. 7.14 No low attempt a star-like glory brings but so long as the hardnesse of the victory shall increase the glory of the tryumph indure it patiently cheerfully 2. Secondly As patience in suffering brings an eternall reward with it in Heaven so it procureth a reward here also Suffer him to curse saith David touching Shemei here was patience for a King to suffer his impotent subject even in the heat of blood and midst of warre to speak swords and cast stones at his Soveraign and that with a purpose to encrease the rebellion and strengthen the adverse part but mark his reason It may be the Lord will look upon mine affliction and do me good Why even for his cursing this day 2 Sam. 16.12 And well might he expect it for he knew this was Gods manner of dealing as when he turned Balaams curse into a blessing upon the children of Israel Numb 23. And their malice who sold Ioseph to his great advantage Indeed these Shemois and Balaams whose hearts and tongues are so ready to curse and rail upon the people of God are not seldom the very means to procure a contrary blessing unto them so that if there were no offence to God in it nor hurt to themselves we might wish and call for their contempt cruelty and curses for so many curses so many blessings I could add many examples to the former as how the malice of Haman turned to the good of the Iews the malice of Achitophel to the good of David when his counsell was turned by God into foolishnesse the malice of the Pharisees to him that was born blinde when Christ upon their casting him out of the Synagogue admitted him into the Communion of Saints Joh. 9.34 The malice of Herod to the Babes whom he could never have pleasured so much with his kindnesse as he did with his cruelty for where his impiery did abound there Christs pitty did super-abound translating them from their earthly mothers arms in this valley of tears unto their heavenly Fathers bosome in his Kingdom of glory But more pertinent to the matter in hand is that of Aaron and Miriam to Moses when they murmured against him Numb 12. where it is evident that God had never so much magnified him to them but for their envy And that of the Arians to Paphnuâ—ius when they put out one of his eyes for withstanding their Heresie whom Constantine the Emperour even for that very cause had in such reverence and estimation that he would often send for him to his Court lovingly imbracing him and greedily kissing the eye which had lost his own light for maintaining that of the Catholike Doctrine so that we cannot devise to pleasure Gods servants so much as by despiting them And thus you see how patient suffering is rewarded both here and hereafter that we lose what ever we do lose by our enemies no otherwise than the husbandman loseth his seed for whatever we part withall is but as seed cast into the ground which shall even in this life according to our Saviours promise return unto us the increase of an hundred fold and in the world to come life everlasting Mark 10.29 30. But admit patience should neither be rewarded here not hereafter yet it is a sufficient reward to it self for hope and patience are two soveraign and universall remedies for all diseases Patience is a counterpoyson or antipoyson for all grief It is like the Tree which Moses cast into the waters Exod. 15.25 for as that Tree made the waters sweet so Patience sweetens affliction It is as Larde to the lean meat of adversity It makes the poor beggar rich teacheth the bondman in a narrow prison to enjoy all liberty and society for the patient beleever though he be alone yet he never wants company though his diet be penury his sawce is content all his miseries cannot make him sick because they are digested by patience And indeed It is not so much the greatnesse of their pain as the smalnesse of their patience that makes many miserable whence some have and not unfitly resembled our fancies to those multiplying glasses made at Venice which being put to the eye make twenty men in Arms shew like a terrible Army And every man is truly calamitous that supposeth himself so as oftentimes we die in conceit before we be truly sick we give the battell for lost when as yet we see not the enemy Now crosses are either ponderous or light as the Disciples or Scholers esteem them every man is so wretched as he beleeveth himself to be The tast of goods or evils doth greatly depend on the opinion we have of them and contentation like an old mans spectacles make those Characters easie and familiar that otherwise would puzzle him shrewdly Afflictions are as we use them there is nothing grievous if the thought make it not so even pain it self saith the Philosopher is in our power if not to be disanulled yet at least to be diminished through patience very Gally slaves setting light by their captivity finde freedom in bondage Patience is like a golden shield in the hand to break the stroak of every crosse and save the heart though the body suffer A sound spirit saith Salomon will hear his infirmity Prov. 18.14 Patience to the soul is as the lid to the eye for as the lid being shut when occasion requires saves it exceedingly so Patience
also in much Luk. 16 10. He that will corrupt his conscience for a pound what would he do for a thousand If Iudas will sell his Mâ—ster for thirty pence what would he not have done for the Treasury Alas there are no sins small but comparatively These things speaking of Mint and Cummin ought ye to have done sayes our Saviour and not have left the other undone Luk. 11.42 Wherefore it is with a good and tender conscience as it is with the apple of the eye for as the least hair or dust grieves and offends that which the skin of the eye-lid could not once complain of so a good and tender conscience is disquieted not only with beams but moates even such as the world accounts trifles it strains not only at Cammels but Gnats also A sincere heart is like a neat spruce man that no sooner spies the least speck or spot on his garment but he gets it washt or scrap't off the common Christian like a nasty sloven who though he be all foul and besmeared can indure it well enough yea it offends him that another should be more neat than himself But such men should consider that though they have large consciences that can swallow down any thing yet the sincere and tender conscience is not so wide A strait shooe cannot indure the least pibble stone which will hardly be felt in a wider neither will God allow those things in his Children which he permits in his enemies no man but will permit that in another mans Wife or Child which he would abhor in his own A box of precious oyntment may not have the least fly in it nor a delicate Garden the least weed though the Wildernesse be overgrown with them I know the blind world so blames the Religious and their Religion also for this nicenesse that they think them Hypocrites for it but this was Iobs comfort in the aspersion of Hypocrisie My witnesse is in Heaven and my record on high And as touching others that are offended their answer is Take thou O God who needest not our sinne to further thy work of Grace the charge of thy Glory give us grace to take charge of thy Precepts For sure we are that what is absolutely evill can by no circumstance be made good poyson may be qualified and become medicinall there is use to be made of an enemy sicknesse may turn to our better health and death it self to the faithfull is but a door to life but sinne be it never so small can never be made good Thus you have seen their fear but look also upon their courage for they more fear the least sinne than the greatest torment All the fear of Satan and his instruments ariseth from the want of the true fear of God but the more a man fears God the lesse he fears every thing else Fear God honour the King 1 Pet. 2.14 17. He that fears God doth but honour the King he need not fear him Rom. 13.3 the Law hath not power to smite the vertuous True many have an opinion not wise That Piety and Religion abates fortitude and makes valour Feminine but it is a foundationlesse conceit The true beleever fears nothing but the displeasure of the highest and runs away from nothing but sinne Indeed he is not like our hot-spurs that will fight in no cause but a bad that fear where they should not fear and fear not where they should fear that fear the blasts of mens breath and not the fire of Gods wrath that fear more to have the world call them Cowards for refusing than God to judge them rebels for undertaking that tremble at the thought of a Prison and yet not fear Hell fire That can govern Towns and Cities and let a silly woman over-rule them at home it may be a servant or a Childe as Themistocles Sonne did in Greece What I will said he my Mother will have done and what my Mother will have my Father doeth That will undertake a long journey by Sea in a Wherry as the desperate Marriner hoyseth sayl in a storm and sayes None of his Ancestors were drowned That will rush fearlesly into infected houses and say The Plague never ceizeth on valiant blood it kills none but Cowards That languishing of some sicknesse will strive to drink it away and so make hast to dispatch both body and soul at once that will run on high battlements gallop down steep hils ride over narrow bridges walk on weak Ice and never think what if I fall but what if I passe over and fall not No he is not thus fearlesse for this is presumption and desperate madnesse not that courage and fortitude which ariseth from faith and the true fear of God but from blindnesse and invincible ignorance of their own estate As what think you Would any man put his life to a venture if he knew that when he died he should presently drop into hell I think not But let the beleeving Christian who knowes he hath a place reserved for him in Heaven have a warrant from Gods word you cannot name the service or danger that he will stick at Nor can he lightly fail of successe It is observed that Trajan was never vanquished because he never undertook warre without just cause In fine as he is most fearfull to offend so he is most couragious in a good cause as abundance of examples witnesse whereof I 'le but instance two for the time would be too short to tell of Abraham and Moses and Caleb and David and Gideon and Baruck and Sampson and Ieptha and many others of whom the holy Ghost gives this generall testimony that by faith of weak they were made strong waxed valiant in battell turned to flight the Armies of the Aliants subdued Kingdoms stopt the mouthes of Lyons quenched the violence of the fire c. Heb. 11.22 to 35. Nor will I pitch upon Ioshua whom neither Caesar nor Pompey nor Alexander the Great nor William the Conquerour nor any other ever came near either for valour or victories but even Ionathan before and the Martyrs after Christ shall make it good As what think you of Ionathan whom neither steepnesse of Rocks nor multitude of enemies could discourage or disswade from so unlikely an assault Is it possible if the divine power of Faith did not add spirit and courage making men more than men that two should dare to think of encountering so many thousands and yet behold Ionathan and his Armour-bearer put to flight and terrified the hearts of all the Philistims being thirty thousand Chariots six thousand Horse-men and Foot-men like the sand of the Sea-shore 1 Sam. 14.15 O divine power of faith that in all attempts and difficulties makes us more than men and regards no more Armies of adversaries than swarms of flies A naturall man in a project so unlikely would have had many thoughts of discouragement and strong reasons to disswade him but his faith dissolves impediments as the Sunne doth dewes
yea he contemns all fears overlooks all impossibilities breaks through all difficulties with a resolute courage and flies over all carnall objections with celestiall wings because the strength of his God was the ground of his strength in God But secondly To shew that their courage is no lesse passive than active look upon that Noble Army of Martyrs mentioned in Ecclesiasticall History who went as willingly and cheerfully to the stake as our Gallants to a Play and leapt into their beds of flames as if they had been beds of down yea even weak women and young striplings when with one dash of a pen they might have been released If any shall yet doubt which of the two the Religious or Prophane are most valiant and couragious let them look upon the demeanour of the twelve Spies Numb the 13th and 14th Chapters and observe the difference between the two faithfull and true hearted and the other ten then will they conclude that Piety and Religion doth not make men Cowards or if it do that as there is no feast to the Churles so there is no fight to the Cowards True they are not soon nor easily provoked but all the better the longer the cold fit in an Ague the stronger the hot sit I know men of the Sword will be loth to allow of this Doctrine but truth is truth as well when it is not acknowledged as when it is and experience tells us that he who fears not to do evill is alwayes afraid to suffer evill Yea the Word of God is expresse That none can be truly valarous but such as are truly religious The wicked fly when none pursueth but the righteous are as bold as a Lyon Prov. 28.1 The reason whereof is If they live they know by whom they stand if they die they know for whose sake they fall But what speak I of their not fearing death when they shall not fear even the day of Iudgement 1 Joh. 4.17 Hast not thou O Saviour bidden us when the Elements shall be dissolved and the Heavens shall be flaming about our ears to lift up our heads with joy because our redemption draweth nigh Luk. 21.25 to 29. Wherefore saith the valiant Beleever come death come fire come whirlewinde they are worthy to be welcome that shall carry us to immortality Let Pagans and Infidels fear death saith St Cyprian who never feared God in their life but let Christians go to it as travellers unto their native home as Children unto their loving Father willingly joyfully Let such fear to die as have no hope to live a better life well may the brute beast fear death whose end of life is the conclusion of their being well may the Epicure tremble at it who with his life looketh to lose his felicity well may ignorant and unrepentant sinners quake at it whose death begins their damnation well may all those make much of this life who are not sure of a better because they are conscious to themselves that this dying life will but bring them to a living death they have all sown in sinne and what can they look to reap but misery and vanity sinne was their traffique and grief will be their gain detestable was their life and damnable will be their decease But it is otherwise with the Godly they may be killed but cannot be hurt for even death that fiend is to them a friend like the Red Sea to the Israelites which put them over to the Land of Promise while it drowned their enemies It is to the faithfull as the Angels were to Lot who snatcht him out of Sodome while the rest were consumed with fire and brimstone Every beleever is Christs betrothed Spouse and death is but a messenger to bring her home to her Husband and what chaste or loving Spouse will not earnestly desire the presence of her Bridegroom as St Austin speaks Yea the day of death to them is the day of their Coronation and what Princely heir does â—â—t long for the day of his instalment and rejoyce when it comes Certainly it was the sweetest voice that ever the Thief heard in this life when Christ said unto him This day shalt thou be with me in Paradise Luk. 23.43 In a word as death to the wicked puts an end to their short joyes and begins their everlasting sorrowes so to the Elect it is the end of all sorrow and the beginning of their everlasting joyes The end of their sorrow for whereas complaint of evils past sense of present and fear of future have shared our lives amongst them death is 1. A Supersedeas for all diseases the Resurrection knows no imperfection 2. It is a Writ of ease to free us from labour and servitude like Moses that delivered Gods people out of bondage and from brick-making in Aegypt 3. Whereas our ingresse into the world our progresse in it our egresse out of it is nothing but sorrow for we are born crying live grumbling and die sighing death is a medicine which drives away all these for we shall rise triumphing 4. It shall revive our reputations and cleer our Names from all ignominy and reproach yea the more contemptible here the more glorious hereafter Now a very Duellist will go into the field to seek death and finde honour 5. Death to the godly is as a Goal-delivery to let the Soul out of the prison of the body and set it free 6. Death frees us from sinne an Inmate that spite of our teeth will â—oust with us so long as life affords it house-room for what is it to the faithfull but the funerall of their vices and the resurrection of their vertues And thus we see that death to the Saints is not a penalty but a remedy that it acquits us of all our bonds as sicknesse labour sorrow disgrace imprisonment and that which is worse than all sinne that it is not so much the death of nature as of corruption and calamity But this is not half the good it doth us for it delivers us up and lets us into such Ioyes as eye hath not seen nor ear heard neither hath entred into the heart of man to conceive 1 Cor. 2.9 Yea a man may as well with a coal paint out the Sunne in all his splendor as with his pen or tongue expresse or with his heart were it as deep as the Sea conceive the fullnesse of those joyes and sweetnesse of those pleasures which the Saints shall enjoy at Gods right hand for evermore Psal. 16.11 In thy presence is the sullnesse of joy and at thy right hand are pleasures for evermore For quality they are pleasures for quantity fullnesse for dignity at Gods right hand for eternity for evermore and millions of years multiplied by millions make not up a minute to this eternity Our dissolution is nothing else but aeterni natalis the birth-day of eternity as Seneca calls it more truly than he was aware for when we are born we are mortall but when we are dead we are
man was ever so desirous to save his life as Christ was to lose it witnesse that speech I have a baptisme to be baptised with and how am I pained till it be accomplished Luk. 12.50 His minde was in pain till his body and soul came to it And to him that disswaded him from it he used no other termes than avoid Satan And thirdly With what patience he suffered all let both Testaments determine he was oppressed and afflicted yet did he not open his mouth he was brought as a sheep to the slaughter and as a sheep before the shearer is dumb so opened he not his mouth Isa. 53.7 His behaviour was so mild and gentle that all the malice of his enemies could not wrest an angry word from him Yea when his own Disciple was determined to betray him I see not a frown I hear not a check from him again but what thou doest do quickly O the admirable meeknesse of this Lamb of God! Why do we startle at our petty wrongs and swell with anger and break into furious revenges upon every occasion when the pattern of our patience lets not fall one harsh word upon so foul and bloody a Traytor When the Jews cried out Crucifie him as before they cried out His blood be upon us and upon our Children he out cries Father pardon them being beaten with Rods crowned with Thorns pierced with Nayls nayled to the Crosse bathed all his body over in blood filled with reproaches c in the very pangs of death as unmindfull of all his great griefs he prayeth for his persecutors and that earnestly Father forgive them Pendebat tamen petebat as St Augustine sweetly O patient and compassionate love Yee wicked and foolish Iews you would be miserable he will not let you His ears had been still more open to the voice of grief than of malice and so his lips also are open to the one shut to the other Thus Christ upon the Crosse as a Doctor in his chair read to us all a Lecture of Patience for his actions are our instructions and the same that Gideon spake to Israel he speaks still to us as ye see me do so do you And no man be he never so cunning or practised can make a strait line or perfect circle by steddinesse of hand which may easily be done by the help of a Rule or Compasse Besides is Christ gone before us in the like sufferings what greater incouragement When we read that Caesars example who not only was in those battels but went before them yea his very Eye made his Souldiers prodigall of their blood when we read that young King Philip being but carried in his Cradle to the Warres did greatly animate the Souldiers Besides what servanâ— will wish to fare better than his Lord Is it meet that he who is not only thy Master but thy Maker should passe his time in continuall travell and thou in continuall case When a lewd Malefactor being condemned to die with just Phocion rayled at the Iudge the Law his Accusers and looked on Death with terrour and amazednesse he thus cheered him with encouragement Dost thou grudge to die with Phocion so say I to thee Dost thou grudge to suffer with thy Saviour O blessed Iesus O thou Co-eternall Sonne of thine Eternall Father why should I think strange to be scourged with tongue or hand when I see thee bleeding what lashes can I fear either from Heaven or Earth since thy scourges have been born for me and have sanctified them to me True It is Satans policy to make men beleeve that to do and suffer as a Christian is so extreamly difficult for them that it is altogether impossible wherein he deals like the inhospitable Salvages of some Countreys who make strange fires and a shew of dismall torrours upon the shores keep passengers from landing But if Christ be gone before us in the like and it is for his sake that we smart then we may be sure to have him present with us even within us by his spirit 1 Pet. 4.12 13 14. to assist us and prevent our enemies and is not he able enough to vindicate all our wrongs Learn we therefore from him to suffer Innocently Patiently Wilt thou saith one look to reign and not expect to suffer Why Christ himself went not up to his glory until first he suffered pain Or wilt thou saith Saint Cyprian be impatient by seeking present revenge upon thine enemies when Christ himself is not yet revenged of his enemies Do thou bear with others God bears with thee Is there a too much which thou canst suffer for so patient a Lord But to go on wilt thou follow Gods example Then note whereas Christ hath in many particulars commanded us to follow his example yet in no place saith Saint Chrysostome he inferreth we should be like our Heavenly Father but in doing good to our enemies And therein resemble we the whole three Persons in Trinity God was only in the still winde Christ is compared to a Lamb the holy Ghost to a Dove Now if we will resemble these three Persons we must be softly Lambs Doves but if on the contrary we be fierce cruell and take revenge so using violence we resemble rather the devil who is called a roaring Lion and the wicked who are termed Dogges Wolves Tygers c. 3. To adde to the precept of God and the practice of our Saviour the example of Gods people they are patient in suffering of injuries that they might imitate the Saints in all ages They were so and we are likewise commanded to follow their steps as in all things which are good so especially in this Take my brethren the Prophets saith Saint Iames for an example of suffering adversities and of long patience Jam. 5.10 â—â—ethren saith Saint Paul to the Thessalonians Ye are become followers of the Churches of God which in Iudes are in Christ Iesus because ye have also suffered the same things of your own Countreymen even as they have of the Iews 1 Thes. 2.14 And to the Philippians Be ye Followers of me Brethren and look on them which walk so as ye have us for an example Phil. 3.17 And see how he followed his Masters example for who amongst us so loves his benefactors as Saint Paul loved his malefactors He would do any thing even he rased out of the book of life to save them that would do any thing to â—ell him Amongst many examples recorded for thy imitation and mine Behold the patience of Iob. Jam. 5.11 of Abraham Gen. 20.17 18. of Isaâ—c Chap. 26 1â— of Ioseph Chap. 3â— 32 33. who notwithstanding his brethren hated him for his goodnesse and could not speak peaceably unto him conspired to kill him stript him of his Goat cast him into a pit sold him for a slave recompenc'd them good for evil when he was armed with power to revenge for when these his enemies did hunger he fed them when they were thirsty he gave
most Wherefore patience and mildnesse of spirit is ill bestowed where it exposes a man to wrong and insultation Sheepish dispositions are best to others worst to themselves I could be willing to take injuries but I will not be guilty of provoking them by lenity for harmelesnesse let me go for a Sheep but whosoever will be tearing my fleece let him look to himself Diogenes the Stoick teaching his auditors how they should refrain anger and being earnest in pressing them to patience a waggish boy spit in his face to see whether he would practise that which he taught others but Diogenes was not a whit moved at it yet said withall I fear I shall commit a greater fault in letting this boy go unpunished than in being angry In some cases for reason to take the rod out of the hands of wrath and chastise may be both lawfull and expedient The same which Aristotle affirmed in Philosophy viz. That choler doth sometime serve as a whetstone to vertue is made good Divinity by St. Paul Be angry but sinne not Ephes. 4.26 that is be angry with sinne only For Cautions and Rules to be observed when we appeal to the Magistrate First Let it be in a matter of weight and not for trifles True thou canst not be more forward to cast away thy money than some Lawyers are to catch it but the Physician and Lawyer are for necessity not for wantonnesse What said one to a Lawyer offering to right his wrongs and revenge him of his adversary by Law I am resolved rather to bear with patience an hail shower of injuries than seek shelter at such a thicket where the brambles shall pluck off my fleece and do me more hurt by scratching than the storm would have done by hailing I care not for that Physick where the remedy is worse than the disease Secondly Let it be in case of necessity after we have assayed all good means of peace and agreement using Law as a Father doth the Rod ful sore against his will As whatsoever our wrongs be true wisdome of the spirit will send the Apostle leâ—ity as admonitions harbinger with offers oâ— peace before she takes out process 2 Tim. 2.25 Thirdly Let not our aym and end be the hurt of our enemy but first the glory of God secondly the reformation of the party himself that so he which is overcome may also overcome and if it may be others by his example whereby more than one Devill shall be subdued And thirdly to procure a further peace and quiet afterwards as Princes make warre to avoid warre yea in case we see a storm inevitably falling 't is good to meet it and break the force Fourthly Let us not be transported either with heat or hate but begin and follow our suits without anger or using the least bitternesse or extremity against the person of our adversary as Tilters break their Spears on each others breasts yet without wrath or intention of hurt or as Charles the French King made warre against Henry the seaventh King of England rather with an Olive-branch than a Lawrell-branch in his hand more desiring peace than victory not using bribery or any other means to corrupt or hinder justice but to seek our own right Fifthly and lastly Having used this ordinary means that the Lord hath given us for the righting of our selves in case we finde no redresse let us rest with quietnesse and meeknesse therein without fretting or desiring to right our selves by private revenge knowing assuredly that the Lord hath thus ordered the whole matter either for our correction or for the exercise of our patience and charity or that he will take the matter into his own hand and revenge our cause of such an enemy far more severely or for that he means to deal far better with us if we commit our cause to him than either our selves or any Magistrate could have done To conclude this argument in a word If thou go to Law Make Conscience thy Chancery Make Charity thy Iudge Make Patience thy Counsellor Make Truth thy Attorney Make Peace thy Solicitor And so doing thou shalt be sure to finde two friends in thy suit that will more bestead thee than any ten Iudges namely God and thy Conscieâ—â—â— God who being Chief Iustice of the whole world can do for thee whatsoever he will and will do for thee whatsoever is best thy Conscience which is instead of a thousand good Witnesses a thousand good Advocates a thousand good Iuries a thousand Clerks of the Peace and Guardians of the Peace to plead procure pronounce record and assure to thee that peace which passeth all understanding But I fear I have incited your impatiency by standing so long upon patience An End of the Second Part the Third follows Together with London Printed by A. M. for Iames Crump in Little Bartholomews Well-yard 1654. A handfull of Nuts MEn no more differ from Beasts Plants Stones in speech reason shape then some differ from others in heart in brain in life Nor is the Epicure more like a swine the Lustfull person a Goat the Fraudulent man a Fox the Backbiter a barking Dog the Slanderer an Asp the Oppressor a Wolf the Persecutor a Tygâ—r the Church-robber a wild Bore the Seducer a Serpent yea a Devil the Traytor a Viper c. 2 Tim. 4.17 Luk. 13.32 Phil. 3.2 Psal. 22.12 13 16 20 21. 74.13 14 19. 80.13 Matth. 23.33 Dan. 7.4 5 6 c. Zeph. 3.3 4 c. Cant. 2.15 17 c. then every of them is unlike another as the holy Ghost intimates in comparing severall men to almost every severall Creature in the Vniverse Neither does sin and grace only make this difference or occasion the very Heathen Poets usually and most fitly to compare some men to Stones for their hardness and insensiblenesse which may be understood of the Adamant stone as Zech. Chap. 7.12 hath it others to Plants that only fill their Veins a third sort to Beasts that please their senses too a fourth to evil Angels that only sin and cause others to sin a fifth to Good Angels that are still in motion alwaies serving God and doing good yet ever rest But as Menander speaks there is no lesse difference between the wise and simple the learned and unlearned then there is between men and beasts or between the living and the dead as another hath it And yet the rational does not so much excell the sensuall as the spirituall excels the rationall For as the soul is the lamp of the body and the reason of the soul and Religion of reason and Faith of Religion so Christ is the light and life of Faith Joh 1.9 8.12 Act. 26.18 Ephes. 5.14 Christ is the Sun of the soul and the day we know with one eye doth far more things descry then night can do with more then Argus eyes Whence it is that all men in their natural condition are said to be blinde and in darknesse Mat. 4.16
temptation or fall become more â—ircumspect after it There is also Honey out of the Lion c. For there is no Samson to whom every Lion doth not yield some Honey for as affliction sanctified ever leaves some blessing behinde it like the River Nilus which by overflowing the Land of Egypt fattens and fils it with flowers and fruits so a fine wit and a Christian will makes use of any thing like the little Bee which will not off the meanest flower till she hath made somewhat of it Even Sauls malice shall serve to enhance Davids zeal and the likelihood of losing Isaac shall both evidence and improve Abrahams love to God or Hath the Lord made Hannah barren And doth her adversary vex her sore year by year and grievously upbraid her for it so that she is troubled in her minde why even that shall make her pray and weep sore the Lord and make vows yea and when God gives Samuel to her she will give Samuel back again to God Lastly Saint Paul in this School of Affliction will learn in what estate soever he is prosperous or adverse therewith to be content Phil. 4.11 And thou mayest souly suspect thy self if thou beest not the better for thy being the worse He is no true born Christian who is not the better for his evils whatsoever they be no price can buy of the true believer the gain of his sins Yea Satan himself in his exercise of Gods Children advantageth them And look to it if the malice and enmity of wicked men hath beaten thee off from thy profession thou wert at the best but a counterfeit and none of Christs own Band. A little faith even so much as a grain of Mustard-seed would be able to remove greater mountains of fear and distrust out of thy soul then these for know this that Good men are like Diamonds which will shine in the dirt yea they resemble Glow-wormes which shine most in the dark or Iuniper which smels sweetest in the fire or Pomander which becomes more fragrant by chasing or Roses which are sweeter in the Still then on the stalk Use 2. 2 If the malice of our enemies as it is husbanded to our thrift by a divine and supream providence doth make so much for our advantage and benefit here and hereafter as namely that it opens our eyes no less then peace and prosperity had formerly shut them that nothing doth so powerfully call home the conscience as affliction and that we need no other art of memory for sin besides misery If commonly we are at variance with God when we are at peace with our enemies and that it is both hard and happy not to be the worse with liberty as the sedentary life is most subject to diseases if vigour of body and infirmity of minde do for the most part lodge under one roof and that a wearish outside be a strong motive to mortification if God the All-wise Physician knows this the fittest medicine for our souls sickness and that we cannot otherwise be cured if our pride forceth God to do by us as Sertorius did by his Army who perceiving his Souldiers puft up through many Victories and hearing them boast of their many Conquests led them of purpose into the lap of their Enemies to the end that stripes might learn them moderation If this above all will make us pray unto him with heat and fervency As whither should we flie but to our Ioshua when the powers of darkness like mighty Aramites have besieged us If ever we will send up our prayers to him it will be when we are beleagur'd with evils If true and saving joy be onely the daughter of sorrow if the security of any people be the cause of their corruption as no sooner doth the Holy Ghost in sundry places say Israel had rest but it is added They committed wickedness Even as standing waters soon grow noisome and Vines that grow out at large become wilde and fruitless in a small time if it weans us from the love of worldly things and makes us no less enamoured with heavenly as Zeno having but one flie-boat left him hearing news that both it and all therein was cast away said O Fortune thou hast done well to send me again to our School of Philosophy whereas if we finde but a little pleasure in our life we are ready to do at upon it Every small contentment glues our affections to that we like neither can we so heartily think of our home above whilest we are furnished with these worldly contentments But when God strips us of them straightways our minde is homeward If this world may be compared to Athens of which a Philosopher said that it was a pleasant City to travel through but not safe to dwell in If by smarting in our bodies states or names we are saved from smarting in our souls If it was good for Naaman that he was a Leper good for David that he was in trouble good for Bartimeus that he was blindâ— if with that Athenian Captain we should have perished for ever in case we had not thus perished for a while if our peace would have lost us in case we had not a little lost our peace Then refuse not the chastening of the Lord neither be grieved with his correction as Solomon adviseth Prov. 3.11 And so much the rather 1 First because our strugling may aggravate cannot redress our miseries 2 Secondly because the Lord will be sanctified either of us or on us one of the two as Saint Anstine speaks 3 Thirdly because that is little which thou sufferest in comparison of what thou deservest to suffer for thou hast deserved to be destroyed and he that hath deserved hanging may be glad if he scape with whipping Besides as David told Saul he could as easily have cut his throat as he had his coat or as Caesar boasted to Metellus he could as soon make him hop headlesse as bid it be done so the Lord may expostulate with thee and much more Wherefore be patient I say but not without sense be not of those Stoicks stocks rather you may stile them who like beasts or rather like blocks lie under their burthen and account it greatest valour to make least ado and lay it as little as may be to heart For if you mean to be the Kings sonnes you must bring him the fore-skins of an hundred Philistines shew him the fruit of your former sufferings But above all let us not resemble the wicked who if affliction comes to them receive the curse with cursing and if the Devil throw but one crosse to them they will take their souls and throw them again to him for they presently break out either into some cursed rage or into the rage of cursing or into some cursed action An usual thing when men are crossed by the creatures I might say their own husbands or children to fall a cursing and blaspheming them to whom we may say as the Prophet did to
finde many acts of deception in the Saints I finde infirmity in those acts but that any one of them hath scoft at and hated another for goodness I finde not or that have used to dispute against it Gregory Nazianzen I pray minde it seriously told his friends that Iulian would prove a notorious wicked man he took such delight in disputing against that which was good Much less that any after regeneration have in this case been cruel If we would know saith Chrysostome a Wolf from a Sheep since their cloathing is alike look to their fangs and their mouth if they be bloody for who ever saw the lips of a Sheep besmeared with blood which being so No matter though the gate be strait and the way narrow if the end to which it leadeth be everlasting life 5 Use. 5 Fiftly if in conclusion the most malicious and damnable practices of our worst and greatest enemies prove no other in effect to us then did the malice of Iosephs brethren Mistress and Lord to him the first in selling of him the second in falsly accusing him the third in imprisoning him all which made for his inestimable good and benefit then the malice of Haman to Mordecai and the Iews whose bloody decree obtein'd against them procured them exceeding much joy and peace then Balaaâ—s malice to the children of Israel whose desire of cursing them caused the Lord so much the more to bless them Numbers 23. Then the Devils spite to Iob who pleasured him more by his sore afflicting him then any thing else could possibly have done whether we regard his name children substance or soul then Iudas his treason against the Lord of life whose detestable fact served not only to accomplish his will but the means also of all their salvations that either before or after should believe in him this should move wonder to astonishment and cause us to cry out with the Apostle O the deepness of the riches both of the wisdome and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgements and his wayes past finding out Rom. 11.33 O the wonderful and sovereign goodness of our God! that turns all our Poisons into Cordials that can change our terrours into pleasures and makes the greatest evils beneficial unto us for they are evil in their own nature and strong temptations to sin Iames 1.2 also fruits of sin and part of the curse and work those former good effects not properly by themselves but by accident as they are so disposed by the infinite wisdom goodness and power of God who is able to bring light out of darkness and good out of evil yea this should tutour us to love our enemies We love the medicine nor for its own sake but for the health it brings us and to suffer chearfully whatsoever is laid upon us for how can Gods Church in general or any member in particular but fare wel since the very malice of their enemies benefits them How can we but say Let the World frown and all things in it run cross to the grain of our mindes Yet With thee ô Lord is mercy and plenteous redemption thou makest us better by their making us worse Objection But perhaps thou hast not proved the truth of this by thy own knowledge and particular experience Answer If thou hast not thou shalt in due time the end shall prove it stay but till the conclusion and thou shalt see that there is no cross no enemy no evils can happen unto thee that shall not be turned to good by him that dwelleth in thee Will you take Saint Pauls word for it or rather Gods own word who is Truth it self and cannot lie His words are We know that all things work together for the best unto them that love God even to them that are called of his purpose Rom. 8.28 And in Verse 35 36. after he hath declared that Gods chosen people shall suffer tribulation and anguish and persecution and famine and nakedness peril sword c. be killed all the day long and counted as sheep for the slaughter he concludeth with Nevertheless in all these things we are more then conquerours through him that loved us and so goeth on even to a challenge of our worst enemies Death Angels Principalities and Powers things present and to come height depth and what other creature besides should stand in opposition What voluminous waves be here for number and power and terrour yet they shall not separate the Ark from Christ nor a soul from the Ark nor a body from the soul nor an hair from the body to do us hurt What saith David Mark the upright man and behold the just for the end of that man is peace Psal. 37.37 Mark him in his setting out he hath many oppositions mark him in the journey he is full of tribulations but mark him in the conclusion and the end of that man is peace In Christ all things are ours 1 Cor. 3.22 How is that Why we have all things because we have the Haver of all things And if we love Christ all things work together for our good yea for the best Rom. 8.28 And â—f all things quoth Luther then even sin it self And indeed how many have we known the better for their sin That Mary Magdalen had never loved so much if she had not so much sinned had not the incestuous person sinned so notoriously he had never been so happy God took the advantage of his humiliation for his conversion Had not one foot slipt into the mouth of Hell he had never been in this forwardness to Heaven Sin first wrought sorrow saith Saint Augustine and now godly sorrow kills sin the daughter destroyes the mother neither do our own sins onely advantage us but other mens sins work for our good also Objection But may some say Can any good come out of such a Nazarite Answer Yes The advantage we have by Christ is more then the loss we had by Adam If Arrius had not held a Trinity of Substances with a Trinity of Persons and Sabellius an Unity of Persons with an Unity of Essences the Mysteries of the Trinity had not been so clearly explaned by those great Lights of the Church If Rome had not so violently obtruded her Mâ—rits the doctrine of Iustification onely by faith in Christ might have been less digested into mens hearts We may say here as Saint Augustine doth of Carthage and Rome if some enemies had not contested against the Church it might have gone worse with the Church Lastly suppose our enemies should kil us they shall not hurt but pleasure us yea even death it self shall work our good That Red-sea shall put us over to the Land of Promise and we shall say to the praise of God we are delivered we are the better for our enemies the better for our sins the better for death yea better for the Devil and to think otherwise even for the present were not onely to derogate from the wisdom power and goodness
when the seventy years are accomplished I will visit the King of Babel and that Nation for their iniquities and will make it a perpetual desolation c. Ier. 25.11 12. and 30 16. even the greater sinners may punish the lesse and prosper for a time Ezekiel 7. I will bring the most wicked of the Heathen and they shall possesse their Houses vers 24. When iniquity hath plaid her part vengeance leaps upon the Stage the Comedy is short but the Tragedy is longer We use rubbish to scoure our vessels when those vessels are cleared we fling away the rubbish Bridges that help men over the stream at last themselves rot and sink in When Balaams Asse had done speaking humana voce she lived an Asse and died an Asse So when God hath sufficiently afflicted the righteous by the rod of the wicked he will fling the Rod into the fire which is unquenchable Isa. 33.1 And it stands with the strength of reason for if God saith Saint Gregory strike so smartly those whom he spareth how heavie will his blows be on them whom he condemneth and with what severity shall Cast-awayes be pâ—nished when his own children are so visited and afflicted If Gods own Children who are as dear and near to him as the Apple of his eye or the signet on his right hand suffer fo many and grievous afflictions here what shall his adversaries suffer in Hell undoâ—btedly when the Patient is made whole he shall be preserved but the Plaister shall be thrown away For as God doth tâ—rn evil to good to them that love him so â—e turnes good to evil to those that hate him Again secondly if the wicked are punished for doing wrong to the wicked much more for wronging the just and innocent But wee have many examples of the former as that of Adonibeâ—eck who having cut off the Thumbs and great Toes of Seventy Kings 〈◊〉 were wicked like himself had also hiâ— his own Thumbs and Toes cut off Iudg. 1.5.7 And Moab of whom the Lord saith hee hath burnt the bones of the King of Edom into lime therefore will I send a fire upon Moab and it shall devour c. Amos 2.1 2. If the greater Serpent devours the less there is a Dragon to devour him therefore the enemies of Gods Church have no hope to escape The everlasting punishments of the ungodly are deferred not remitted But all the evill thou doest to the godly is with thy tongue Answ. That 's bad enough the Serpents hissing betrays his malice and Ishmael's tongue made him a Persecuter as well as Doeg's hands hee did but stout Isaac yet Saint Paul saith hee persecuted him Gal. 4 2â— â—ham onely scoft at Noah yet it brought upon him his Fathers curse and Gods upon that The Athenians but scoft once at Silla's wife and it had well nigh cost the razing of their City he was so provoked with the indignity And whatever thou conceivest of iâ— let this fault bee as far from my soul as my soul from Hell For assuredly God will one day laugh you to scorn for laughing his to scorn and at last despise you that have despised him in us CHAP. 35. Other grounds of comfort to support a Christian in his sufferings And first that God is specially present with his servants in their afflictions takes notice of their sufferings and allayes their grief THis rub being removed and the pâ—ssage made clear proceed wee to other grounds of comfort which the Word of God affords in this case for the better upholding and strenghtening of a weak Christian in his sufferings Wherein that wee may not exceed I will select out onely five because instructions if they exceeâ—â—â—re wont like nails to drive ouâ— one another First wee shall bear the Cross with the more patience and comfort if wee consider that God is specially present with his servants in their afflictions takes notice of their sufferings and allays their grief The troubles of a Christian are very great for number variety and bitterness yet there is one ingredient that sweetens them all the promise of God I will bee with thee in trouble and deliver thee Psal. 91.15 And thou shalâ— not bee tempted above thy strength 1 Cor. 10.13 Again fear not for when thou passest through the water I will bee with thee and through the floods that they do not over-flow thee When thou walkest through the fire thou shalt not bee burnt neither shall the â—lame kindle upon theâ— Isa. 43.1 2. Lo here are promises like Flaggons of Wine to comfort the distressed soul. Wherefore as Câ—sar said to the trembling Marriner 〈◊〉 not afraid for thou carriest Caesar so O Christian bee not afraid for hee that is in thee for thee with thee that guides thee that will save thee is the invincible King Iehova And upon this ground David was so comforted and refreshed 〈◊〉 his soul Psal. 94.19 that hee was able to say Though I should walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evill Why For thou art with mee thy Rod and thy Staffe shall comfort mee Psal. 23.4 Yea our Enemies can no sooner assault us with their tongues but God coms in to our rescue If yee bee railed upon for the name of Christ saith Saint Peter blessed are yee for the Spirit of God resteth upon you 1 Pet. 4.14 God is never so much injoyed of us as when we are in the deep with David Psal. 130.1 and when wee are worst of all bestead with Iehosaphat a Chron. 20.12 When did Iacob see a Vision of Angels but when hee fled for his life making the cold earth his bed and a stone his pillow or when was his heart so full of joy as now that his head lay hardest When was Paul wrapp'd into the third heaven to hear words from Christ not fit to bee uttered 2 Cor. 12.2.4 but as some of the learned conceive when hee was bereaved of his sight Stephen saw great happiness by Christ in his peace but under that shower of stones hee saw heaven it self open Act. 7. When wee are slain all the day long for his sake with the Martyrs then wee are given to see him with our eyes as Iob did who till that time had onely heard of him by the hearing of the ear Then wee come to know that the Lord hee is God with Manasses 2 Chron. 33.13 and that he is our hope and strength and refuge and a very present help in troubles ready to bee sound of all that seek to him 2 Chron. 15.4.15 Psal 9.9 10 and 46.1 The Israelites never fared so well as when they lived at Gods immediate finding and at night expected their morrows break-fast from the clouds When they did daily ask and daily receive their daily bread Yea even when they were wandering in a forlorn wilderness how did God as it were attend upon them in their distress to supply their wants They have no guide therefore God himself goes before them in a
it How opportunely doth God provide succours to our distresses It is his glory to help at a pinch to begin where wee have given over that our relief might bee so much the more welcome by how much it is less looked for superfluous aid can neither bee heartily desired nor earnestly looked for nor thankâ—ully received from the hands of mercy Besides our infirmitie best sets off the glory of his strength 2 Cor. 12.9 Spirituall consolations are commonly late and suddain long before they come and speedy when they do come even preventing expectation and our last conflicts have wont ever to be the forest as when after some dripping rain it powres down most vehemently wee think the weather is changing When hee means to ease us of our burthen hee seems to lay on heavier wherefore trust in God killing and love God chiding it is a good signe of our recovery Section 3. Again in the next place thou must know that man's extremity is Godâ— opportunity well may hee forbear so long as wee have have any thing else to rely upon but wee are sure to find him in our greatest exigents who loves to give comfort to those that are forsaken of their hopes as abundance of examples witness When had the Children of Israel the greatest victories buâ— when they â—eared most to bee overcome 2 King 19.35 Exod. 14. ver 28 29. When was Hagar comforted of the Angell but when her child was neer famished and shee had cast it under a Tree for dead Gen. 21.15 to 20. When was Eliah comforted and relieved by an Angel with a Cake baked on the coals and a Cruise of Water but when hee was utterly forsaken of his hopes 1 Kings 19.4 to 7. Wheâ— was the Sareptan relieved it was high time for the Prophet to visit her poor soul shee waâ— nâ—w making her last meal after one mean morsell shee was yielding her self over to death As long as Egypts flower lasted Manna was not rained When did God answer the hopes of Sarah Rebeccah Rachel the wife of Manoah and Elisabeth touching their long and much desired issues but when they were barren and past hope of children by reason of age Gen. 18. Iudges 13 Luke 1.6.7 When did our Saviour heal the woman of her bloody issue but after the Physitians had given her over and shee becoming much worse had â—iven them over when shee had spent all shee had upon them for to mend the matter poverty which is another disease was super-added to make her compleatly miserable When mans help fails then Gods begins When did Moses find succour but when his Mother could no longer hide him and hee was put into the River among the Bull-rushes shee would have given all shee was worth to save him and now shee hath wages to nurse him shee doth but change the name of mother into nurse and shee hath her son without fear not without great reward When Israel was in so hard a straight as either to bee drowned in the Sea or slain by the Sword how miraculously did God provide an evasion by dividing the waters When Rochel like Samaria had a strong enemy without and a sore famine within how miraculously did God provide an evasion by making the tyde their Purveyor to bring them in an Ocean of shel-fish the like of which was never known before nor since Wee read how Merline during the Massacre at Paris was for a fortnight together nourished with one egge a day laid by a hen that came constantly to a hay-mow where hee lay hid in that danger When the English had lest Cales and the Spainard was again repossest of it by some neglect or oversight there was an English man left behinde but how did Goâ— provide for his escape it's worth the remembring hee was no sooner crept into a hole under a pair of stairs but instantly a Spider weavs a web over the hole and this diverted them for when one of them said here is surely some of them hid another replyes What a fool art thou doest thou not see it 's covered with a firm cob-web and so past him that in the night hee â—scaped O! Saviour our extremities are the seasons of thy aid even when Faux was giving fire to the match that should have given fire to the Powâ—der which should have blown up Men and Monuments even the whole State together thou that never sleepest didst prevent him and disclose the whole design yea thou didst turn our intended Funerall into a Festivall And why doth the goodness of our God pick out the most needfull times for our relief and comfort but because our extremities drive us to him that is omnipotent there is no fear no danger but in our own insensibleness but because when wee are forsaken of all succours and hopes wee are â—ittest for his redress and never are wee nearer to help than when wee despair of help but because our extremities give him the most glory and ouâ— comfort is the greater when the deliverance is seen before it is expected His â—isdom knows when aid will bee most seasonable most welcome which hee then loves to give when hee finds us left of all other props That merciâ—ull hand is reserved for a dead lift and then hee fails us not as when Abraham had given Isaac and Isaac had given himself for dead then God interposeth himself When the knife is falling upon his throat then then coms the deliverance by an Angell calling forbidding commending him When things are desperate then look most for God's help for then is the time Psal. 119.126 Isa. 33.9.10 And indeed our faith is most commendable in the last act it is no praise to hold out untill wee bee hard driven but when wee are forsaken of means then to live by faith in our God is thought worthy of a Crown O! wretched Saul hadst thou held out never so little longer without offering and without distrust Samuel had come and thou hadst kept the favour of God whereas now for thy unbelief thou art cast off for ever 1 Sam. 13.10 to 15. To shut up all in a word were thy soul in such a straight as Israel was between the Red Sea and the Egyptians the spirits of vengeance like those enemies pursuing thee behinde Hell and death like that Read Sea ready to ingulf thee before yet would I speak to thee in the confidence of Moses Exod. 14. ver 13. Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord. Thy Word O! God made all thy Word shall repair all hence all yee diffident fears hee whom I trust is omnipotent Again Secondly thou must know that God in his wisdome hath set down a certain period of time within which hee will exercise his children more or less and at the end whereof and not before hee will relieve and comfort them again As wee may perceive by Eccles. 3.1 Act. 7.25 Exod. 12.41 Gen. 15.13 Dan. 12.1.4.11 Ier. 25.11 Gen. 6.3 Four hundred years hee appointed to Abraham and his
speak thou Musick to the wounded conscience Thunder to the feared that thy justice may reclaim the one thy mercy relieve the other and thy favour comfort us all with peace and salvation in Iesus Christ. Section 8. But secondly if this will not satisfie call to thy remembrance the time past and how it hath been with thee formerly as David did in thy very case Psalm 77.2 to 12. And likewise Iob Chapter 13. for as still waters represent any object in their bottome clearly so those that are troubled or agitated do it but dimly and imperfectly But if ever thou hadst true faith begotten in thy heart Ioh. 1.13 by the ministry of the Word Romans 10.17 Iam. 1.18.21 and the Spirits powerfull working with it Ioh. 3.3 5 8. whereby thine heart was drawn to take Christ and apply him a Saviour to thine own soul so that thou werâ— forced to go out of my self and rely wholly and onely on his merits and that it further manifested it self by working a hatred of sin and an apparent change in thy whole life by dying unto sin and living unto righteousness and that thou hast not since returned to thine old sins like the Dog to his vomit if it hath somtime brought forth in thee the sweet fruit of heavenly and spirituall joy if it hath purified thine heart in some measure from noysome lusts and affections as secret pride self-love hypoâ—risie carnall confidence wrath malice and the like so that the spirit within thee sighteth against the flesh If thou canst now say I love the godly because they are godly 1 Ioh. 3.14 and hast an hungring after Christ and after a greater measure of heavenly and spirituall graces and more lively tokens of his love and favour communicated unto thee My soul for thine thou hast given false evidence against thy self for as in a gloomy day there is so much light whereby wee may know it to bee day and not night so there is something in a Christian under a cloud whereby hee may bee discerned to bee a true beleever and not an hypocrite But to make it manifest to thy self that thou art so Know first that where there is any one grace in truth there is every one in their measure If thou art sure thou hast love I am sure thou hast faith for they are as inseparable as fire and heat life and motion the root and the sap the Sun and its light and so of other graces Or dost thou feel that Christ is thy greatest joy sin â—hy greatest sorrow that when thou canst not feel the presence of the spirit in thy heart thou goest moâ—rning notwithstanding all other comforts Assuredly as that holy Martyr said if thou wert not a wedding Child thou couldest never so heartily mourn for the absence of the Bridegroom Thus I might go on but a few Grapes will shew that the Plant is a Vine and not a Thorn Take but notice of this and severall graces will one strengthen another as stones in an Arch. As for example Master Peacock Fellow of a House being afflicted in conscience as thou art and at the point of despair when some Ministers ask'd whether they should pray for him answered By no means do no so dishonour God as to pray for such a Reprobate as I am but his young Pupill standing by said with tears in his eyes Certainly a Reprobate could never bee so tender of Gods dishonour which hee well considering was thereby comforted and restored when neither hee with his learning nor any other Ministers with their sage advice could do any good Again secondly if ever thou hadst true faith wrought in thy heart bee not discouraged for as the former graces shew that thou hast with Mary made choice of that better part which shall never bee taken from thee So this grace of faith is Christ's wedding Ring and to whomsoever hee gives it hee gives himselfe with it wee may lose the sence but never the essence of it It may bee eclipsed not extinguished Fides concussa non excussa The gifts and calling of God are without repentance as it is Rom. 11.29 Friends are unconstant riches honours pleasures are unconstant the world is unconstant and life it self is unconstant but I the Lord change not Malachi 3.6 In a swound the soul doth not excercise her functions a man neither hears nor sees nor feels yet shee is still in the body The Frantick man in his mad fits doth not exercise reason yet hee hath it he loseth the use for a time not the habit Yea a sober man hath not alwayâ—â—he use of his sences reason and understanding as in his sâ—eep shal we therefore conclude that this man is senceless unreasonable and without understanding it were most absurd for if we have 〈◊〉 but a while our argument will appear manifestly â—alsâ— Trees and so wee are fitly called bee not deâ—d in Winter which resembles the tune of adversity because the sap is shut up in the root and confined thither by the cold frosts that they cannot shew themselvâ— in the production of leavs and fruits for by experience wee know that for the present they live and secretly suck nourishment out of the earth which maketh them spring and revive again when Summer coms Yea eveâ— whiles they are grievously shaken with the winds and nipped with cold frosts they are not hurt thereby but contrarily they take deeper root have their worms and cankers kill'd by it and so are prepared made fit to bring forth more fruit when the comfortable Spring approaches and the sweet showres and warm Sun-beams fall and descended upon them Elementary bodies lighten and darken cool and warm die and revive as the Sun presents or absents it self from them And is not Christ to our souls the onely Sun of reghteousness and fountain of all comfort so that if hee withdraw himself but a little wee become like plants in the Winter quite witheredâ— yea in appearance stark dead or like Trees void both of leavs and fruit though even then there remains faith in the heart as sap in the root or as fire raked up in the ashes Which faith though it bee not the like strong yet it is the like precious faith to that of Abrahams whereby to lay hold and put on the perfect righteousness of Christ. The Woman that was diseased with an issue did but touch and with a trembling hand and but the hem of his garment and yet went away both healed and comforted Well might I doubt of my salvation says Bradford feeling the weakness of my faith love hope c. if these were the causes of my salvation but there is no other cause of it or of his mercy but his mercy Wherefore hast thou but a touch of sorrow for sin a spark of hope a grain of faith in thy heart thou art safe enough The Anchor lyeth deep and is not seen yet is the stay of all The Bladder blown may float upon the â—â—ood But cannot sink nor
stick in filthy mud But thou dreamest of a saith without doubting which some doting by boast they have but as no righteousness can bee perfect without sin so no assurance can bee perfect without doubting Take the evenest ballances and the most equall weights yet at the first putting in there will bee some in-equality though presently after they settle themselvs in a 〈…〉 is a cloud that often hinders the Sun from our eyes yet it is still a Sun the vision or feeling of this comfort may bee somtime suspended the Union with Christ is never dissolved An usuall thing with beleevers to have their ebbing and flowing waâ—ing and waning Summer and Winter to bee somtimes so comfortable and couragious that wee can say with David Though I were in the valley of death yet would I fear none ill Psal. â—3 4 otherwhiles again so deâ—ded and â—â—jected in our spirits that wee are like him when hee said One day I shall die by the hand of Saul 1 Sam. 27.1 Somtimes so strong in faith that wee can overcome the greatest assaults and with Peter can walk upon the swâ—lling waves by and by so faint and brought to so low an ebbe that wee fall down even in far less dangers as Peter began to sink at the rising of the winde Matth. 14.29.30 And indeed if the wings of our faith bee clipp'd either by our own sins or Satans temptations how should not our spirits lye groveling on the ground Sect. 9. But thirdly and lastly for I hâ—â—â—â—n suppose thou art at the last-cast even at the very brink of despair and that thy conscience speaks nothing but bitter things of Gods wrath hell and damnation and that thou hast no feeling of faith or grace yet know that it is Gods use and I wish wee could all take notice of it to worke in and by contraries For instance in creating of the world hee brought light out of darkness and made all things not of somthing but of nothing clean contrary to the course of Nature In his preserving of it hee hath given us the Rain-bow which is a signe of rain as a certain pledge that the world shall never the second time bee drowned Hee caused waterâ— and feâ—cheth hard stones out of the mid'st of thin vaâ—ours When he meant to blesseâ— Iacob hee wrestled with him as an Adversaâ—yâ— even till he lamed him When he meant to preferr Ioseph to the Throne hee â—â—rew him down into the Dungeon and to a golden chaine about his neck he laâ—ed him with Iron ones about his legges Thus Christ opened the eyes of the blind by annointing them with clay and spittle more likely to put them out And would not cure Lazarus till after hee was dead buried and stunk again no question to teach us that wee must bee cast down by the Law before wee can bee raised up by the Gospell that wee must dye unto sin before wee can live unto righteousness and become fools before wee can â—ee truly wise In the work of Redemption hee gives life not by life but by death and that a most câ—â—sed death making that the best instrument of life which was the worst kind of death Optimum seciâ— instrumentum vitae quod eraâ— pessimum moriis genus In our effectuall voâ—ation hee calls us by the Gospell unto the Iews â— stumbling-block and unto the world meer foolishness And when it is his pleasure that any should depend upon his goodness and providence hee makes them feel his anger and to bee nothing in themselvs that they may rely altogether upon him Thus God works joy out of fear light out of darkness and brings us to the Kingdom of heaven by the Gates of hell according to that 1 Sam. 2. 〈◊〉 â— 7 And wherein does thy case differ Hee sends his Serfeant to 〈◊〉 thee for thy debt commands thee and all thou hast to bee sold. But why onely to shew thee thy misery without Christ that so thou 〈◊〉 seck so him for mercy for although hee hide â—â— is futherly affections as Ioseph once did his brotherly his meaning is in conclusion to forgive thee every â—arthing Matth. â—8 26 27. And dost thou make thy flight sufferings an argument of his displeasure for shame mutter not at the matter but bee silent It is not said God will not suffer us to bee tempted at all but that wee shall not bee tempted above that wee are able to bear 1 Cor. 10.13 And assure thy self what ever thy sufferings bee thy faith shall not fail to get the victory as oil over-swims the greatest quantity of water you can powr upon it True let none presume no not the most righteous for hee shall scarcely bee saved 1 Pet. 4.18 yet let him not despair for hee shall be saved Rom. 8.35 Onely accept with all thankfulness the mercy offered and apply the promises to thine own soul for the benefit of a good thing is in the use wisdom is good but not to us if it bee not exercised cloth is good but not to us except it be worn the light is comfortable but not to him that will live in darkness a preservative in our pocket never taken cannot yield us health nor baggs of money being ever sealed up do us any pleasure no more will the promises no nor Christ himself that onely summum bonum except they are applied Yea better there were no promises than not applied The Physician is more offended at the contempt of his Physick in the Patient than with the loathsomness of the disease And this I can assure thee if the blood of Christ bee applied to thy soul it will soon staâ—ch the blood of thy conscience and keep thee from bleeding to death 1 Ioh. 1.7 But secondly instead of mourning continually as the tempterâ—ids â—ids thee rather rejoice continually as the Apostle bids thee 1 Thes. 5.16 Neither think it an indifferent thing to rejoice or not to rejoice but know that we are commanded to rejoice to shew that wee break a commandement if wee rejoice not Yea wee cannot beleeve if wee rejoice not for â—aith in the commandements breeds obedience in the threatnings fear in the promises comfort True thou thinkest thou dost well to mourn continually yea it is the common disease of the innocentest souls but thou dost very ill in it for when you forget to rejoice in the Lord then you begin to muse and after to fear and after to distrust and at last to despair and then every thought seems to be a sin against the holy Ghost Yea how many sins doth the afflicted conscience record against it selfe repoâ—ting for breaking this commandement and that commandement and never repenteth for brâ—â—â—ing this commandement rejoice evermore But what 's the reason Ignoranceâ— thou thinkest thy self poor and miserable and onely therefore thinkest so because thou knowest not thy riches and happiness in Obâ—â—st for else thou wouldest say with the Prophet Habbakuck in the want of all other things I will rejoice in the
Lord I will joy in the God of my salvation Habbak 3.17 18. Thou wouldest 〈◊〉 that thy name is written in the book of life as our Saviour injoines Luk. 10.20 though thou hâ—dst nothing else to rejoice in But it is nothing to be blessed untill we understand our selvs to be so wherefore Thirdly wait Gods leisure with patience and hold fast to him in all pressures Time saith Seneca is the best Physick for most diseases for the body and so likewise for the soul if it bee an afflicted conscience waiting Gods leisure for the assurance of his love is the best remedy and so in all other cases Section 10. Ob. Buâ— when will there bee an end of this long disease this tedious affliction this heavie yoake of bondage c. Answ. It is a signe of cold love scarce to have begun to suffer for Christ and presently to gape for an end It was a far better speech of one Lord give mee what thou wâ—lt as much as thou wilt when thou wilt Thou arâ— Gods Patient prescribe not thy Physiâ—ian It is the Gold-Smiths skill to know how long his gold must bee in the Crusible neither takes hee it out of that hot bath till it bee sufficiently purified What if the Lord for a time forbear coming as Samuel did to Saul that hee may try what is in thee and what thou wilt do or suffer for him that hath done and suffered so much for thee as why did God set Noah about building the Ark an hundred and twenty years when a small time might have finished it It was for the triall of his patience Thus hee led the Israelites in the desarts of Arabia forty years whereas a man may travell from Ramesis in Egypt to any part of Canaan in forty days this God did to prove them that hee might know what was in their hearts Deu. 8.2 Hee promised Abraham a son in whom hee should bee blessed this hee performed not in tâ—irty years after Hee gave David the Kingdom and anointed him by Samuel yet was hee not possessed of it in many years 〈◊〉 so much that hee said Mine eyes fail for thy Word Psal. 119.123 Ioseph hath a promise that the Sun and Moon should do him reverence but first hee must bee bound in the Dungeon This God doth to try us for in these exigents we shew oâ—r selvs and our dispositions What saith God to his people in their misery Psal. 75. When I see convenient time I will execute judgment ver 2. hee doth not say when you think the time convenient Let us tarry a little the Lords leisure diliverance will come peace will come joy will com in mean while to 〈◊〉 â—â—â—ient in misery makes misery no misery Again secondly hee may delay his coming for other ends of greater consequence Martha and Mary send to Christ as desiring him to come and resâ—â—re Lazarus their sick brother to health Ioh. 11.3 expecting him without delay now hee loved both Martha and her Sister and Lazarus 〈◊〉 5. yet hee neglects coming for many days lets him die bee put in the grave untill hee stank but what of all this he that would not restâ—re 〈◊〉 Lazarus to health restored dead Lazarus to life which was a greaâ—eâ—â—â—â—â—cy than they either did or durst ask Neither did this onely increase 〈◊〉 joy and thankfulness give them occasion ever after to believe and 〈◊〉 above and against all hope but it made many of the Iews believe in him which before did noâ— ver 45. Thirdly and lastly hee delaies thee the longer that when hee coms he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 may bring with him the greater recompence of reward for hee will comfort us according to the days wee have been afflicted and according to the years that we have seen evill Psal. 90.15 Neither will hee stay over-long for behold saith he I come quickly and my reward is with me to give every man according as his works shall bee Rev. 22.12 and suffering is accounted none of the meanest works So that the harder the conflict the more glorious the conquest Wherefore hold out yet a little and help shall not bee wanting to the combatants nor a crown to the conquerours Yea fight to the last minute for the eye of thy Saviour is upon the if thou faint to cheer thee if thou stand to it to second thee if thou conquer to crown thee whereas no combate no conquest no conquest no triumph Object But my sufferings are so great that if they continue I shall never bee able â—o hold out Answ. True if thou trustest to thine own strength for perseverance is the gift of God yea it is hee that worketh in us both to will and to do at his good pleasure Phil. 2.13 For first mans will is a fugitive Onesimus and God must call home that runagate subdue that rebell before wee can chuse that which is good Neither when wee have begun can we continue perficit qui efficat Hee that begun a good work in us will perform it Phil. 1.6 Jesus is the founder and finisher of our faith Heb. 12.2 Neither can wee of our selvs suffer for him Datur pati it is given to us to suffer for his sake Phil. 1.29 Without mee yee can do nothing Ioh. 15.5 not parum but nihil But in him and through him all things I can do all things through him that strengthens mee Phil. 4.13 In our selvs wee are weak Captives in him wee are more than Conquerours Rom. 8.37 Whence it is many sick men undergo patiently such pressureâ—â— as when they were in health they would not have beleeved they could have born The truth of grace bee the measure never so small â—s always blest with perseverance because that little is â—ed with an everlasting spring Yea if grace but conquer us first wee by 〈◊〉 shall conquer all things else whether it bee corruptions within us or temtations without us for as the fire which came down from heaven in Elias time licked upâ— all the water to shew that it came from God so will this fire spend all our corruptions No affliction without or corruption within shall quench it Wherefore do but thy endeavour to hold out I mean with patience 〈◊〉 that Spirit which came in the likeness of a Dove will not com but 〈◊〉 Dove and pray for divine assistance this sadness shall end in gladneâ—â— this sorrow in singing But above all pray unto God for Praier is the key of heaven as 〈◊〉 Austin tearms it and the hand of a Christian which is able to reach from Earth to Heaven and to take forth every manner of good gift out of 〈◊〉 Lords Treasury Did not Elias by turning this Kâ—y one way lock up the whole Heaven from raining for three years and six months and another while by turning the same Key of prayer as much another way in the turning of a hand unlock all the doors and windows of heaven and set them wide open that it rained and the earth brought
any case let us not bee without correction for as Mariners at Sea find that of all stoâ—ms a Calme is the greatest so wee that to bee exempt from misery is the most miserable condition of all other Object But thou fearest that Gâ—d hath not pardoned thy sins and this makes him so severe against thee Answ. Many timeâ— after the remission of the sin his very chastisements are deadly as is cleer by Davids example and Lots who had a sharp misery clap on the heels of a sweet mercy for hee that was so beloved of God that hee saved a whole City could not save his own Spouse When God delivers us from destruction hee doth not secure us from 〈◊〉 affliction Grace was never given us for a Target against externall evills Though wee bee not condemned with the world yet wee may bee chastened in the world Neither the truth nor strength of Iobs faith could secure him from the outward and bodily vexations of Satan against the inward and spirituall they could and did prevail so no repentance can assure us that wee shall not smart with outward affliction that can prevent the eternall displeasure of God but still it may bee necessary and good wee should bee corrected our care and suit must bee that the evills which shall not bee averted may bee sanctified CHAP. 38. That Christ and all the Saints are our Partners and partakers with us in the Cross yea our sufferings are nothing in comparison of theirs 4 WEe shall bear the Cross with more patience and comfort if wee consider that Christ and all the Saints are our partners and partakers therein yea thy sufferings are nothing in comparison of what others have suffered before thee Look upon righteous Abel thou shalt see his elder brother Cain had dominion and rule over him by Gods appointment Gen. 4.7 Yea in the next ver thou shalt see him slain by his brother After him look upon Noah a most calamitous person as ever lived as the Chronologer computes him as for Lot hee had his righteous soul vexed from day to day Look upon Iob. thou shalt see that miseries do not stay for a mannerly succession to each other but in a rude importunity throng in at once to take away his children substance friends crediâ— health peace of conscience c. leaving him nothing but his wife whom the Devill spared on purpose to vex him as the Fathers think so that in his own apprehension God was his mortall enemy as hear how in the bitterness of his soul hee complains of his Maker saying Hee teareth mee in his wrath hee hateth mee and gnasheth upon mee with his teeth he hath broken mee asunder taken mee by the neck and shaken mee to pieces and set mee up for his mark his Archers compass mee round about he cleaveth my reins asunder and doth not spare to pour out my gall upon the ground he breaketh me with breach upon breach and runneth upon me like a Giant Iob 16. Now when so much was uttered even by a none-such for his patience what may we think he did feel and indure Look upon Abraham thou shalt see him forced to forsake his Countrey and Fathers house to go to a place he knew not to men that knew not him and after his many removes he meets with a famine and so is forced into Aegypt which indeed gave relief to him when Canaan could not shewing that in outward things Gods enemies may fare better than his friends yet he goes not without great fear of his life which made it but a dear purchase then he is forced to part from his brother Lot by reason of strife and debate among their Heardsmen after that Lot is taken prisoner and he is constrained to wage Warre with four Kings at once to rescue his Brother then Sarah his wife is barren and he must go childlesse untill in reason he is â—ast hope when he hath a Son it must not onely die 〈◊〉 himself must slay him Now if that bosom wherein we all look to rest was assaulted with so many sore trials and so diverse difficulties is it likely we should escape Look upon Iacob you shall see Esau strive with him in the wombe that no time might be lost after that you shall see him â—lie for his life from a cruel Brother to a cruel Uncle with a 〈◊〉 goes hee over Iordan alone doubtful and comfortlesse not like the son of Isaac In the way he hath no bed but the cold earth no pillow but the hard stones no sheet but the moist aiâ— no Canopy but the wide Heaven at last he is come far to finde out an hard friend and of a Nephew becomes a servant after the service of an hard Apprenticeship hath earned her whom he loved his wife is changed and he is not onely disappointed of his hopes but forced to marry another against his will and now he must begin another Apprenticeship and a new hope where he made account of â—ruition all which fourteen years he was consumed with heat in the day with frost in the night when he hath her whom he loves she is barren at last being grown rich chiefly in wives and children accounting his charge his wealth he returns to his Fathers house but with what comfort Behold Laban follows him with one troop Esau meets him with anotherâ— both with hostile intentions not long after Rachel the comfort of his life dieth his children the staffe of his age wound his soul to death 〈◊〉 proves incestuous Iudah adulterous Dina is ravished Simeon and 〈◊〉 are murtherous Er and Onan are stricken dead Ioseph is lost Simeon imprisoned Benjamin his right hand endangered Himself driven by famine in his old age to die among the Aegyptians a people that held it abomination to eat with him And yet before he was born it was Iacob have I loved and before any of this befell him God said unto him Bee not afraid I am with thee and will do thee good Gen. 28.15 And did so even by these crosses for that 's my good saith the Proverb that doth me good Now what Son of Israel can hope for any good daies when he hears his Fathers were so evill It is enough for us if when we are dead we can rest with him in the Land of Promise Again hear what David saith of himself Thy arrows sâ—ck fast in me and thy hand presseth me sore Psal. 38.2 And see what cause he had so to say what were these Arrows To let passe those many that Saul shot at him which were sharp and keen enough and those other of Doeg when he slew fourscore and five of the Priests and the whole City of Nob both man and woman child and suckling for shewing him kindness Likewise Shimâ—iâ— carriage towards him also his distresse at Ziglag and those seventy thousand which perished by the Pestilence upon his numbering the people and the like First Nathan tells him from the Lord that the sword should houseâ—
own sins that wee may not be so forward to censure others as wee have been heretofore Give us patience to beare thy Fatherly chastisements which through thy grace sanctifying them to us become both Medicines to cure us and Antidotes to preserve us from the sicknesse of sin considering that all the afflictions of this life are not worthy those joyes which shall be revealed unto us And as we are suiters unto thy Majesty for these thy blessings spirituall so likewise we humbly beg at thy mercifull hands all necessaries appertaining to our temporall welfare beseeching thee to blesse us in our persons with health strength and liberty in our estates with sufficiency and the right use of it considering that if wee spend what wee have upon our own lusts we may ask but wee shall not receive in our good names with an unreproveable report and so blesse and sanctifie unto us all the things of this life that they may be furtherances of us in the way to a better And seeing that it is in vain for us to labour except thy blessing go along with it neither can our endeavours succeed well except thou prosper them bless every one of us in our several places and callings and so direct us in all we shall take in hand that whatsoever wee do may tend to thy glory the good of others and the comfort of our own soules when wee shall come to make our finall account unto thee for them These and all things else which thou knowest we stand in need of we humbly crave at thy mercifull hands and that for the alone worthinesse and satisfaction of thy son and the honour of our onely Redeemer and Advocate Jesus Christ to whom with thee O Father and thy blessed Spirit be given as is most due all praise glory and dominion the residue of this day and for evermore Amen A Praier for the Evening which would be performed before Supper and not when we are more prone to sleep then to pray O Eternal Almighty and incomprehensible Lord God who art great and terrible of most glorious Maâ—esty and infinite purity Creator and Preserver of all things and Guider and Governour of them being created who fillest Heaven and Earth with thy presence and art every where at hand to receive and hear the praiers of all that repair to thee in thy Christ. Thou hast of thy goodnesse bestowed so many and so great mercies upon us â—haâ— wee know not how to expresse thy bounty herein Yea we can scarce think of any thing more to pray for but that thou wouldest continue those which thou hast bestowed on us already yet we cover still as though we had nothing and live as if we knew nothing of all this thy beneficence Thy blessings are without number yet our sins strive with them which shall be more if we could count the numberless number of thy Creatures they would not be answerable to the number of thy gifts yet the number of our offences which we return in lieu of them are not much inferiour thereunto Well may we confesse with Iudas we have sinned and there stop but we cannot reckon their number nor set forth their nature We are bound to praise thee above any Nation whatsoever for what Nation under Heaven enjoys so much light or so many blessings as we above any Creaâ—uâ—e for all the Creatures were ordained for our sakes and yet Heaven Earth and Sea all the Elements all thy Creatures obey thy Word and serve thee as they did at first yea call upon us to serve thee onely men for whom they were all made ingratefully rebell against thee Thou might'st have said before we were formed let them be Toads Monsters Infidels Beggers Cripples or Bondslaves so long as they live and after that Cast-awaies for ever and ever but thou hast made us to the best likenesse and nursed us in the best Religion and placed us in the best Land and appointed us to the best and onely Inheritance even to remain in blisse with thee for ever so that thousands would think themselvs happy if they had but a piece of our happinesse Why shouldest thou give us thy Son for a ransome thy holy Spirit for a pledge thy Word for a guide thy Angels for our guard and reserve a Kingdom for our perpetual inheritance Why shouldest thou bestow health wealth rest liberty limbs senses food raiment friends and the means of salvation upon us more then upon others whom thou hast denied these things unto We can give no reason for it but that thou art merciful and if thou shouldest draw all back again we had nothing to say but that thou wert just which being considered why should any serve thee more then we who want nothing but thankfulnesse Why should we not hate the Way to Hell as much as Hell it self and why should we not make every cogitation speech and action of ours as so many steps to Heaven yet if thou shouldst now ask us what lust is asswaged what affection qualified what passion expelled what sin reâ—pented of what good performed since we began to receive thy blessings to this day we must needs confesse against our selvs that all our thoughts words and works have been the service of the World the Flesh and the Divel yea it hath been the course of ouâ— whole life to leave that which thou commandest and to do that which thou forbiddest yet miserable wretches that we are if we could give thee our bodies and souls they should bee saved by it but thou wert never the richer for them Thus while we look upon our selvs we are ashamed to liâ—t up our eâ—es unto thee yea we are ready to despair with Cain yet when we think upon thy Son and the rich promises of the Gospel our fear is in some measure turned into joy while we consider that his righteousnesse for us is more then our wickednesse against our selvs onely give us faith we beseech thee and setâ—le it in thy beloved that we may draw virtue from his death and resurrection whereby we may be enabled â—o die unto sin and live unto righteousnesse and it sufficeth for all our iniquities necessities and infirmites It is true O Lord as wee were made after thine own Image so by sin we have turned that Image of thine into the Image of Satan but turn thou us again and we shall bee turned into the Image and likenesse of thy Son And what though our sins be great yet thy mercie is far greater then our sins either are or can be we cannot be so bad as thou art good nor so infinite in sinning as thou art in pardoning if we repent O that we could repent O that thou wouldest give us repentance for we are weak O Lord and can no more turn our selvs then we could at first make our selvs yea we are altogether dead in sin so that we cannot stir the least joint no not so much as feel our deadnesse
nor desire life except thou be pleased to raise and restore our souls from the death of sin and grave of long custome to the life of grace Apt wee are to all evil but reprobate and indisposed to all grace and goodnesse yea to all the means thereof Wee are altogether of our selvs unable to resist the force of our mighty adversaries but do thou fâ—ee our wills and set to thy helping hand in casting down by thy Spirit our raging lusts and by thy grace subdue our untamed affections and we shall henceforth as much honor thee as by your wickednesse we have formerly dishonored thee Wherefore of thy goodnesse and for thy great Names sake we beseech thee take away our stony hearts and give us hearts of flesh enable us to repent what we have done and never more to do what we have once repented not fostering any one sin in our souls Reform and change our minds wills and affections which we have corrupted remove all impediments which hinder us from serving of thee and direct all our thoughts speeches and actions to thy glory as thou hast directed our eternal salvation thereunto Let not Satan any longer prevail in causing us to defer our repentance since we know that late repentance is seldom sincere and that sicknesse is no fit time for so great a work as many have found that are now in Hell Neither is it reasonable thou shouldest accept of our feeble and decrepit old age when we have spent all the flower and strength of our youth in serving of Satan not once minding to leave sin until sin left us Yea O Lord give us firmly to resolve speedily to begin and continually to persevere in doing and suffering thine holy will Inform and reform us so that we may neither mis-believe not misâ—live subdue our lusts to our wills submit our wills to reason our reason to faith our faith our reason our wills our selvs to thy blessed Word and Will Dispell the thick mists and clouds of our sins which corrupt our souls and darken our understandings separate them from us which would separate us from thee Yea remove them out of thy sight also we most humbly beseech thee as far as the East is from the West and in the merits of thy Son pardon and forgive us all those evils which either in thought word or deed we have this day or any time heretoâ—ore committed against thee whether they be the sins of our youth or of our age of omission or commission whether committed of â—gnorance of knowledge or against conscience and the many checks and motions of thy holy â—pirit And now O Lord seeing the time approacheth which thou hast appointed for rest and because wee can neither wake nor sleep without thee who hast made the day and night and rulest both therefore into thy hands we commend our souls and bodies beseeching thee to watch over us this night and preserve us from all our spiritual and bodily enemies from thievs fire and from all other dangers ☞ These things we humbly beg at thy fatherly hands and whatsoever else thou knowest in thy divine wisdome to be needful and necessary for our souls or bodies or estates or names or friends or the whole Church better then we our selvs can either ask or think and that for thy Names sake for thy promise sake for thy mercies sake for thy Sons sake who suffered for sin and sinned not and whose righteousnesse pleadeth for our unrighteousnesse in him it is that we come unto thee in him we call upon thee who is our Redeemer our Preserver and our Saviour to whom with Thee and thy blessed Spirit be ascribed as is most due all honour glory praise power might majesty dominion and hearty thanksgiving the rest of this night following and for evermore Amen A Praier for the Evening which would be performed before Supper and not when we are more prone to sleep then to pray O Eternal Almighty and incomprehensible Lord God who art great and terrible of most glorious Maâ—esty and infinite purity Creator and Preserver of all things and Guider and Governour of them being created who fillest Heaven and Earth with thy presence and art every where at hand to receive and hear the praiers of all that repair to thee in thy Christ. Thou hast of thy goodnesse bestowed so many and so great mercies upon us â—haâ— wee know not how to expresse thy bounty herein Yea we can scarce think of any thing more to pray for but that thou wouldest continue those which thou hast bestowed on us already yet we cover still as though we had nothing and live as if we knew nothing of all this thy beneficence We no sooner lived then we deâ—served to die neither need we any more to condemn us then what we brought into the world with us but thou hast spared us to this hour to try if we would turn unto thee by repentance as our first Parents and wee have turned from thee by sin yet thy mercy seems to have been in vain and thy long-suffering to no end For whereas many have been won by thy Word wee would not suffer it to change us many have been reformed by the Crosse but we would not suffer it to purge us many have been moved by thy benefits but we would not suffer them to perswade us yea as if we had contracted with the Divel that we would abuse all thy gifts so fast as they come â—hy blessings make us proud thy riches covetous thy peace wanton thy meats intemperate thy mercy secure and all thy benefits serve us but as weapons to rebell against thee We have prophaned thy daies contemned thy ordinances resisted thy Word grieved thy Spirit misused thy Messengers hated our Reprovers slandered and persecuted thy people seduced our friends given ill example to our Neighbours opened the mouths of thine and our adversaries to blaspheme that glorious Name after which we are named and the truth we professe whereas meaner mercies and far weaker means have provoked others no lesse to honour thee and the Gospel who may justly rise up in judgment against us Besides which makes ouâ— case far more miserable we can scarce resolve to amend or if we do we put off our conversion to hereafter when we were children we deferred to repent till we were men now we are men we defer untill we be old men and when we be old men we shall defer it until death if thou prevent us not and yet we look for as much at thine hands as they which serve thee all their lives Perhaps we have a form of godlinesse but thou who search stâ—â—he heart and triest the reins knowest that too often we deny the power of it and that ouâ— Religion is much of it hypocrisie our zeal envie our wisedom policie our peace security our life rebellion our devotion deadnesse and that we live so securely as if we had no souls to save Indeed thy Word and Spirit
Banquet Give us O Lord to consider that although sin in the beginning seem never so sweet unto us yet in the end it will prove the bane and ruine both of body and soul and so assist us with thy grace that wee may willingly part with our right eyes of pleasure and our right hands of profit rather then sin against thee and wrong our own consciences considering that it would bee an hard bargain â—or us to win the whole world and lose our own souls Blesse preserve and keep us from all the temptations of Satan the world and our wicked hearts from pride that Lucifer-like sin which is the fore-runner of destruction considering that thou resistest the proud and givest grace tò the humble from covetousnesse which is the root of all evil being taught out of thy word that the love of money hath caused many to fall into diverse temptations and snares which drown them in perdition and destruction from cruelty that infernal evil of which thou hast said that there shall be judgment mercilesse to him that sheweth not mercie from hypocrisie that sin with two faces whose reward is double damnation and the rather because wickednesse doth most rankle the heart when it is kept in and dissembled and for that in all the Scriptures we read not of an hypocrites repentance from whoredom which is a sin against a man's own body and the most inexcusable considering the remedy which thou hast appointed against it for the punishment whereof the Law ordained death and the Gospel excludeth from the Kingdom of Heaven from prophanation of thy day considering thou hast said that whosoever sanctifieth it not shall bee cut off from thy people and did'st command that he should be stoned to death who only gathered a â—ew sticks on that day from swearing which is the language of hell considering that because of oaths the Land doth mourn and thou hast threatned that thy curse shall never depart from the house of the swearer from drunkenness that monster with many heads and worse than beast like sin which in thy Word hath many fearfull woes denounced against it and the rather for that it is a sin like the pit of Hell out of which there is small hope of redemption Finally O Lord give us strength to resist temptation patience to endure affliction and constancie to persevere unto the end in thy truth that so having passed our pilgrimâ—ge here according to thy will we may be at rest with thee hereafter both in the night of death when our bodies shal sleep in the grave and in the day of our resurrection when they shall awake to judgment and both bodies and souls enjoy everlasting blisse These and all other good things which for our blindnesse we cannot ask vouchsafe to give us thine unworthy servants not for our sakes but for thy mercies sake and for thy Son our Saviour Iesus Christ sake in whom thou art well-pleased and in whom thou wast fully satisfied upon the Crosse for our sins who with thee and the Holy Ghost liveth and reigneth ever one God world without end Let thy mighty hand and out-stretched arm O Lord be still our defence thy mercie and loving kindnesse in Iesus Christ thy dear Son our salvation thy true and holy Word our instruction thy grace and holy Spirit our comfort consolation illumination and sanctification now and for ever Amen A Thanksgiving to be brought in to any or every one of them next before the Conclusion where the hand is placed ANd as we pray unto thee so we desire also to praise thee rendring unto thy Majestie upon the bended knees of our hearts all possible laud and thanksgiving for all thy mercies and favours spiritual and corporal temporal and eternal For that thou hast freely elected us to salvation from all eternity when thou hast passed by many millions of others both Men and Angels whereas we deserved to perish no lesse then they and thou mightest justly have chosen them and left us for that thou hast created us Men and not Beasts in England not in Aethiopia or any other savage Nation in this clear and bright time of the Gospel not 〈◊〉 the darknesse of Paganisme or Popery For thine unexpressible love in redeeming us out of Hell and from those unsufferable and endlesse torments by the pretious blood of thy dear Son who spared not himself that thou mightest spare us For calling us home to thee by the Ministry of thy Word and the work of thy good Spirit For the long continuance of thy Gospel with us the best of blessings For sparing us so long and giving us so large a time of repentance For justifying and in some measure sanctifying us and giving us ground for assured hope of being glorified in thy heavenly Kingdom For preserving us from so infinite many perils and dangers which might easily have befalne us every day to the taking away of either our estates our limbs or our lives For so plentifully and graciously blessing us all our life long with many and manifold good things both for necessity and delight For peace of conscience and content of minde For our health wealth limbs senses food raiment liberty prosperity For thy great mercie in correcting us and turning thy corrections to our good For preserving us in the night past from all dangers of body and soul and for infinite more mercies of which we could not well want any one and which are all greatned by being bestowed upon us who were so unworthy and have been so ungrateful for the same O that we could answer thee in our thankfulnesse and obedient walking one for a thousand Neither are we unmindful of those national blessings which thou hast vouchsafed unto our Land in general as namely that deliverance from the Spanish Invasion in 88 and from that divelish design of the Gunpowder-Treason for preserving us from the noisome and devouring Plague and Pestâ—lence Lord grant that our great unthankfulnesse for these thy mercies may not cause thee to deliver us into the hands of our enemies and although we have justly thereby deserved the same yet we beseech thee give us not up unto their wills neither suffer Popery ever to bear rule over us nor thy blessed Word and Sacraments to be taken away from us but continue them unto us and to our posterity after us if it be thy good pleasure untill the coming of thy Christ. Babes that are inexpert in the Word of righteousnesse use milk but strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age Heb. 5.13 14. THE STATE OF A CHRISTIAN lively set forth by an Allegorie of a Ship under Sayl. MY Bodie is the Hull the Keel my Back my Neck the Stem the Sides are my Ribs the Beams my Bones my Flesh thâ— Planks Gristles and Ligaments are the Pintels and Knee-timbers Arteries Veins and Sinews the several Seams of the Ship my Blood is the Ballast my Heart the principal Hold my Stomach the Cook-room my Liver
the Cistern my Bowels the Sink my Lungs the Bellows my Teeth the Chopping knives except you divide them and then they are the 32 points of the Sea-card both agreeing in number Concoction is the Caldron and hunger the Salt or Sawce my belly is the lower Deck my Kidneys Close Cabbins or receptacles my Thighs are long Galleries for the grace of the Ship my Arms and Hands the Can-hooks my Midriffe is a large Partition or Bulk-head within the circumference of my head is placed the Steeridge-room and chief cabbins with the Round-house where the Master lieth and these for the more safety and decencie are inclosed with a double fence the one Dura-mater something hard and thick the other Pia-mater very thin and soft which serveth instead of hangings The Ears are two doors or Scuttles fitly placed for entertainment the two Eyes are Casementâ— to let in light under them is my Mouth the Stowidge or Stewards-room my Lips are Hatches for receipt of goods my two Nostrils serve as Gratings to let in air at the one end stands my Chin which is the Beak-head my Forehead is the Upper-deck all which being trimmed with my fat instead of pitch and hair instead of Ockham are coloured with my skin The fore-deck is humility the stoarn charity active obedience the sayls which being hoysed up with the several Yards Halliars and Bow-lings of holy precepts and good purposes are let down again by sicklenesse faintings and inconstancie Reason is my Rudder experience the Helme hope of salvation my Anchor passive obedience the Capstain holy revenge the Cat and Fish to hawl the sheat-Anchor or last hope fear of offending is the Buâ—y virtues are the Cables holy desires and sudden ejaculations the Shrouds the zeal of God's glory is my Main-mast premeditation the Foremast desire of my own salvation the Mizzen-mast saving-knowledge the Boltsprit Circumspection a Sounding-line my Light is illumination Justice is the Card God's Word the Compasse the meditation of life's brevity a four-hour-glasse Conâ—emplation of the creatures the Grosse-staff or Iacob's Staff the Creed a Sea-grammer the life of Christ my Load-star the Saints falls are Sea-markes Good examples Land-marks Repentance Pumpes out the sink of my sins a good Conscience keeps mee clean imputative righteousness is my Flag having this Motto BEING CAST DOWN WE PERISH NOT The Flag-staff is sincerity the Ship is victualled afresh by reading hearing receiving Books are Long-boats Letters are little Skiffes to carry and re-carry my spiritual merchandise Perseverance is my speed and Patience my name my fire is lust which will not be clean extinguished full feeding and strong drink is the fuell to maintein it whose flame if it be not supprest is jealousie whose sparks are evil words whose ashes is envie whose smoke is infamy lascivious talk is as flint and steel concupiscence as tinder opportunity is the match to light it sloath and idlenesse are the servants to prepare it The Law of God is my Pilot Faith my Captain Fortitude the Master Chastity the Masters-mate my Will the Coxen Conscience the Preacher Application of Christs death the Chirurgion Mortification the Cook Viviâ—â—cation the Calker Self-denial is an Apprentice of his Temperance the Steward Contentation his Mate Truth the Purser Thankfulnesse the Pursers-mate Reformation the Boat-swain the 4 Humors Sanguine Choller c. are the Quarter-masters Christian vigilancie undertakes to supply the office of Starbord and Larbord waâ—ch Memory is Clerk of the Check Assurance the Corporal the Armour Innocencie the Mariners Angels Scismaticks are Searchers sent aboard my understanding as Master-Gunner culls out from those who Budg-casks of the New and Old Testament certain threats and promises which is my onely Powder and Shot and with the assistance of the Gunners-mate holy anger against sin chargeth my tongue which like to a Piece of Ordinance shoots them to the shame and overthrow of my shirituall Adversaries My Noble Passengers are joy in the Holy Ghost and the peace of conscience whose retinue are divine graces my ignoble or rather mutinous Passengers are worldly cogitations and vain delights which are more than a good many besides some that are arrant thievs and traytors namely pride envie prejudice but all these I 'le bid farewell when I come to my journies end though I would but cannot before Heaven is my Country where I am registred in the Book of life my King is Iehova my tribute Almsdeeds they which gather it are the poor Love is my Countries badge my language is holy conference my â—ellow Companions are the Saints I am poor in performances yet rich in Gods acceptation The foundation of all my good is Gods free Election I became bound into the Corporation of the Church to serve him in my baptisme I was inrolled at the time when hee first called mee my freedom is Justification it was purchased with the blood of Christ my evidence is the earnest of his Spirit my priviledges are his sanctifying Graces my Crown reserved for mee on high is Glorification My Maker and owner is God who built mee by his Word which is Christ of earth which was the materiall hee fraught it with the essence of my soul which is the Treasure and hath set mee to sail in the Sea of this world till I attain to the Port of Death which letteth the terrestriall part into the harbour of the grave and the celestiall into the Kingdom of Heaven in which voyage conveniency of estate is as Sea room good affections serve as a tyde and praier aâ— a prosperous gale of wind to help forward But innumerable are the impediments and perills for here I meet with the proffers of unlawfull gain and sensuall delights as so many Syrens the baits of prosperity as high banks on the right hand or weather-shore and there with evill suggestions and crabbed adversity as Rocks on the left hand or Lee-shore ready to split mee the fear of Hell like quick-sands threaten to swallow mee Originall sin like weeds clog me and actuall transgressions like so many Barnacles hang about mee yea every sin I commit springs a new leak my senses are as so many storms of rain hail and snow to sink me lewd affections are roaring billows and waves self-confidence or to rely upon any thing but divine assistance iâ— to lose the bolt sprit Restitution is heaving goods over-board to save the Ship Melancholly is want of fresh water the Scoffs of Atheists and contempt of Religion in all places is a notable becalming the lewd lives and evill examples of the most a contagious air Idleness surs it and is a shrewd decay both of Hull and Tackling Moreover sailing along and keeping watch for they that are Christs friends you know must look for all they meet to bee their enemies wee no sooner look up but presently wee ken a man of war and then wee must bee for war too and provide for a skirmish Now the Gallion that hath our Pinnace in chase and always watcheth for
the satisfying of his justice and also freeing us from the guilt and punishment of either And that with as much brevity as may stand with perspicuity First in general we must undoubtedly know that the sole perfection of a Christian is â—he imputation of Christs righteousnesse and the not imputation of his own unrighteousnesse as appears by the whole current of Scripture of which a few Even the Son of man came to give his life a ransom for many Mark 10.45 As in Adam all die so in Christ shall all be made alive 1 Cor. 15.21 22. As by one mans disobedience many were made sinners so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous c. Rom. 5.18 19. As by the offence of one the fault came on all men to condemnation so by the justifying of one the benefit abounded towards all men to the justification of life Rom. 5.18 Unto Iesus Christ that loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood Rev. 1.5 The blood of Iesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all our sins 1 Joh. 1.7 he is the reconciliation for our sins c. 1 Joh. 2 1 2. He hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousnesse of God in him 2 Cor. 5.21 He was delivered to death for our sins and is risen again for our justification Rom. 4.25 Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree by whose stripes we were healed 1 Pet. 2.24 He was wounded for our transgressions he was broken for our iniquities the chastisement of our peace was upon him and with his stripes we were healed Isa. 53.5 Neither is there salvation in any other for among men there is given none other name under Heaven whereby we must be saved Acts 4.12 The wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life through Iesus Christ our Lord Rom. 6.23 I am the resurrection and the life he that beleeveth in me although he were dead yet shall he live John 11.25 You hath he quickned that were dead in trespasses and sins Ephes. 2.1 God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world but that the world through him might be saved Joh. 4.16 to 20. God commendeth his love towards us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us much more then being now justified by his blood we shall be saved from wrath through him For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son much more being reconciled we shall be saved by his life Rom. 5 6. to 11 read to the end of the Chapter See more Iohn 1.29 Acts 13.39 Rom. 6.4 to 23. and 8.2 3. and 10. 3,4 1 Cor. 15.56 Col. 1.14 Gal 3.22 Heb. 9.28 1 Pet. 1.18 19 20. 1 Joh. 3.8 Sect. XVIII As Christ was a sinner onely by the imputation of our sins so we are just onely by the imputation of his righteousness Our good works were they never so many and rare cannot justify us or deserve any thing at Gods hands it is onely in Christ that they are accepted and only for Christ that they are rewarded Yea the opinion of thine own righteousnesse makes thy condition far worse then the wickedest mans alive For Christ that came to save all weary and heavy laden sinners be they never so wicked neither came to save or once to call thee that hast no sin but art righteous enough without him As hear his own words to the proud Pharisees who had the same thoughts of themselves as thou hast They that be whole need not a Physitian but they that are sick I am not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance The lost sheep of the house of Israel Mat. 9.13 and 10.6 and 15.24 and 18.11 Nor can any soul be so dangerously sick as thou who art least sensible of thy being sick Briefly until with Saint Paul thou renounceth thine own righteousness seest thy self the greatest of sinners art able to discern sin in every thing thou canst think speak or do and that thy very righteousness is no better then a menstruous cloth Isai. 64.6 thou canst have no part in Christ. And untill Christ shall become thine by Regeneration and a lively faith Thou art bound to keep the whole Law actually and spiritually with thy whole man thy whole life or else suffer eternal death and destruction of body and soul in Hell for thy not keeping it So that thou hast yet to answer and I pray mind it seriously for all the sins that ever thou hast committed who art not able to answer for one of the least of them For the wages of sin any sin be it never so small is eternal death Rom. 6.23 Gal. 2.16 19 20 21. Neither let Satan nor thy own deceitfull heart delude thee in thinking that thou hast faith when thine own words declare the contrary Nor would I ask any more evidence against thee in this then thine own mouth in saying that thou never doubtedst in all thy life for this makes it plain that thou never hadst faith nor ever knewest what saith means For he who never doubted never believed and Satan hath none so sure as those whom he never yet assaulted Sect. XIX But this being a main fundamental point which every man is bound to know I will more particularly and fully explain it as thus Man being in a most miserable and undone condition by reason of Original and actual sin and of the curse due to both being liable to all miseries in this life and adjudged to suffer eternal torments in hell-fire after death having no possibility to escape the fierce wrath of Almighty God who had already pronounced sentence upon him VVhen neither Heaven Earth nor Hell could have yeilded any satisfactory thing besides Christ that could have satisfied Gods justice and merited Heaven for us then O then God of his infinite wisdome and goodness did not onely find out a way to satisfie his justice and the Law but even gave us his own Son out of his bosome and his Son gave himself to die even the most shameful painful and cursed death of the Cross to redeem us that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life Iohn 3.16 A mercy bestowed and a way found out that may astonish all the sons of men on earth and Angels in Heaven VVherefore wonder at this you that wonder at nothing that the eternal God would die to redeem our worse then lost souls that we might not die eternally O the deepnesse of Gods love O the unmeasurable measure of his bounty O Son of God who can sufficiently admire thy love or commend thy pity or extol thy praise It was a wonder that thou madest us for thy self more that thou madest thy self man
for us but most of all that thou shouldest unmake thy selfe that thou shouldest dye to save us VVhich salvation stands in two things First in freeing and delivering us from Hell Secondly In the possession of Heaven and eternal life Christ by his death merits the first for us and by his obedience fulfilling the law merits the second The parts of our justification are likewise two the remission of our sins and the imputation of Christs righteousnesse whereby we have freedom from all evill here and the perfection of all good and happinesse in heaven Insomuch that all those Millions of mercies that we have received from before and since we were born either for soul or body even to the least bit of bread we eat or shall enjoy to eternity Christ of his free grace hath purchased for us with the price of his own precious blood For which see Psal. 68.19 and 145.15 16. and 75.6 7. Hear this all you that care to be saved God will pardon all your sins he will give you an eternall crown of glory in heaven if you unfainedly repent and wholly rely upon Christ for your salvation by a lively faith and that because he is just for although the Lord cannot in justice let sin go unpunished for the wages of sin is eternal death Rom. 6.23 death in the person if not in the surety Yet Christ hath sufficiently satisfied for all the sins of the faithful and paid their dept even to the utmost farthing as is evident by Isai. 53.4 5. 2 Cor. 5.21 Heb. 9.26 1 Pet. 2.24 Rom. 3.25 26. 1 Ioh. 1.7 9. and sundry other places As are we bound to perform perfect obedience to the Law Christ performed it for us VVetâ— we for disobedience subject to the sentence of condemnation the curse of the Law and death of body and soul He was condemned for us and bore the curse of the Law he died in our stead an ignominious 〈◊〉 Did we deserve the anger of God he endured his Fathers wrathful displeasure that so he might reconcile us to his Father and set us at liberty He that deserved no sorrow felt much that we who deserved much might feel none And by his wounds we are healed Isai. 53.5 Adam eat the apple Christ paid the price In a word whatsoever we owed Christ discharged whatsoever we deserved he suffered if not in the self-same punishments for he being God could not suffer the eternal torments of Hell yet in proportion the dignity of his Person he being God and Man giving value unto his temporary punishments and making them of more value and worth then if all the world should have suffered the eternal torments of Hell For it is more for one that is eternal to die then for others to die eternally Therefore was the Son of God made the Son of man that the Sons of men might be made the Sons of God and therefore was he both God and man lest being in every respect God he had been too great to suffer for man or being in every respect man he had been too weak to satisfie God And so much for explication of the Third Principle mentioned in the beginning Sect. XX. But now comes the hardest part of my work to be performed For admit the Natural man be convinced of the truth of these three fundamental Principles never so clearly yet he will draw such a conclusion from the premisses that he will be never the better for what hath been told him yea he will decoct all even the mercy and goodness of God into poyson For what will such a one suggest to himself the Devil helping forward Let it be granted will he say that I were every way wretched and miserable a great sinner both originally and actually and likewise liable to all the plagues of this life and of that to come yet I thank God I am well enough so long as Christ hath paid my ransom and freed me from all by a new Covenant the tenure whereof is Believe and Live whereas at first it was do this and live to which I answer In Covenants and Indentures between party and party there are alwayes articles and conditions to be performed on the one side as well as promises to be fullfilled on the other as saith Pareus Now as God hath covenanted and bound himself by his word and Seal to remit thee thy sins adopt thee his child by regeneration and give thee the Kingdome of Heaven and eveâ—lasting life by and for his sons sake so Christ hath for and on thy behalf undertaken yea thou thy self didst for thy part bind thy self by covenant promise and vow in thy baptism that thou wouldest forsake the Devil and all his works constantly believe Gods holy Word and obediently keep his Commandments the better thereby to expresse thy thankfulness towards him for so great a benefit 1 Pet. 3.21 Psal. 116.12 13 14. And we know that in Covenants and Indentures if the Conditions be not kept the Obligation is not in force VVhereby millions Magus like after the water of baptism which is a Seal of the Covenant of Grace go to the fire of Hell Yea except we repent and believe the Gospel threats and precepts aswel as promises that holy Sacrament together with the 〈…〉 to us our salvation will be an obligation under our own hand and seal against us and so prove a seal of our greater condemnation Therefore the main question is VVhether thou art a believer For although Christ in the Gospel hath made many large and precious promises there are none so general which are not limited with the condition of faith and the fruit thereof unfained repentance and each of them are so tied and entailed that none can lay claim to them but true believers which repent and turn from all their sins to serve him in holiness without which no man shall see the Lord Heb. 12.14 Isa. 59.20 As for instance Our Saviour hath made publick Proclamation Mark 16.16 That whosoever shall believe and be baptised shall be saved but mark what withal is added he that will not believe shall be damned Again God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life John 3.15 16. And that none may deceive themselves he addeth He that believeth on him is not condemned but he that believeth not is condemned already because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God And this is the condemnation that light is come into the world and men loved darkness rather then light John 3.19 20. And again As many as received him to them he gave power to become the sons of God even to them that believe on his name Joh. 1.12 Again Heb. 5.9 He is said to be the Author of eternal salvation unto all that obey him not unto them which continue in their rebellious wickedness and never submit themselves to be ruled by the scepter of
transgressions have been such and so many and my ingratitude therein so great that it might have sunk me down with shame and left me hopelesse of ever obtaining pardon for them As see but some small part of my monstrous and devilish ingratitude to so good a God so loving and mercifull a Saviour and Redeemer that hath done and suffer'd so much for me even more than can either be expressed or conceived by any heart were it as deep as the Sea Touching what God and Christ hath done for me in the first place he gave me my self and all the creatures to serve for my use yea he created me after his own Image in righteousnesse and holinesse and in perfect knowledg of the truth with a power to stand and for ever to continue in a most blessed and happy condition But this was nothing in comparison for when I was in a sad condition when I had forfeited all this and my self 〈…〉 become his enemy mortally hating him and to my utmost fighting against him and taking part with his only enemies sin and Satan not having the least thought or desire of reconcilement but a perverse and obstinate will to resist all means tending thereunto he did redeem me not only without asking but even against my will so making of me his cursed enemy a Servant of a Servant a Son of a Son an Heir and Co-heir with Christ Gal. 4.7 But how have I requited this so great so superlative a mercy All my recompence of Gods love unto me hath been to do that which he hates and to hate those whom he loves Christ the fountain of all good is my Lord by a manifold right and I his servant by all manner of obligations First He is my Lord by the right of Creation as being his workmanship made by him Secondly By the right of Redemption being his purchase bought by him Thirdly Of preservation being kept upheld and maintained by him Fourthly His by Vocation even of his family having admitted me a member of his visible Church Fifthly His also had it not been my own fault by sanctication whereby to possesse me Lastly He would have me of his Court by glorification that he might crown me so that I was every way his God had raised me from a beggar to a great estate but how did I requite him I would not if possible suffer a godly and conscientious Minister to be chosen or to abide where I had to do but to bring in one that would flatter sin and flout holiness discourage the godly and incourage the wicked I used both my own and all my friends utmost ability Much more might be mentioned but I fear to be tedious Now argue with all the world and they will conclude that there is no vice like ingratitude But I have been more ingratefull to God than can be exprest by the best Oratour alive It was horrible ingratitude in the Iews to scourge and crucifie Christ who did them good every way for he healed their diseases fed their bodies inlightened their minds of God became man and lived miserably amongst them many years that he might save their souls but they fell short of my ingratitude to God in that most of them were not in the least convinc'd that he was the Messias sent from God and promised from the beginning But I have not only denied this Lord that bought me but I hated him yea most spitefully and maliciously sought on Satans and sins side against him and persecuted his children and the truth with all my might and all this against knowledge and conscience after some measure of illumination which cannot be affirmed of the Iews Yet miserable wretch that I was if I could have given him my body and soul they should have been saved by it but he were never the better for them Sect. XXXIII Lastly To tell you that which is more strange Notwithstanding all this that hath been mentioned and much more Yet I thought my self a good Christian forsooth yea with that young man in the Gospel I thought I had kept all the Commandements Nor was I a whit troubled for sin either original or actual but my conscience was at quiet and I was at peace neither 〈…〉 my self with that Pharisee Luke 18.9 to 15. and say I was not like other men not once doubting of my salvation I ever refused to do what my Maker commanded and yet confidently hoped to escape what he threatned Nor did I doubt of having Christ my Redeemer and Advocate in the next life when I had been a bitter enemy to him and his members in this life Here was blindnesse with a witnesse as it is not to be believed how blind and blockish men are that have only the flesh for their guide especially if they have hardned their hearts and seared their consciences with a customary sinning As I could give you for instance a large catalogue of rare examples how sin hath besotted men and what stark fools carnal men are in spirital things be they never so wise for mundane knowledg But least it should be taken for a digression or excursion you shall have a list of them by themselves the which I will add as an Appendix to this Discourse or Dialogue In the mean time I have given you a brief of my manifold provocations and great ingratitude to my Maker and Redeemer for otherwise I might be endlesse in the prosecution thereof It remains that I should in like manner lay open my original defilement which is the fountain whence all the former whether sins of commission or sins of omission do flow But touching it be pleased to peruse that small Tract intituled A short and sure way to Grace and Salvation Or Three Fundamental Principles of Christian Religion by R. Y. from page 4. to page 10. Sect. XXXIV Loose Libertine If this hath been your case no wonder it hath startled you for to deal plainly with you as you have done with me what I have heard from you makes me also tremble For is such honest moral men that live so unreprovably as you had done go not to heaven what will become of me that have been openly prophane and notoriously wicked all my time Yea it contented me not to do wickedly my self and so damne my own soul but I have been the occasion of drawing hundreds to Hell with me by seducing some and giving ill example to others the infection of sin being much worse than the act As how many have I drawn to be Drunkards and swearers and whoremongers and prophane persons insomuch that the blood of so many souls as I have drawn away will be required at my hands Yea my life hath been so debauched and licentious that I have brought a scandal upon the Gospel and made it odious to the very Turks and Infidels Rom. 2.24 Convert Alass what I did that was morally good or what evil I refrained was more for self-ends or more for fear of mens Laws than
how peevishly averse they are to their own eternal salvation let us pity them as being so much more worthy our commiseration as they are more uncapable of their own misery And so much of the First sort namely Sensuallists Sect. 43. SEcondly There is another degree of Knowledge that is accrued or obtained by education and learning observation and experience called natural or speculative knowledge or reason improved For humane learning is as oyl to the lamp of our reason and makes it burn cleerer but faith and illumination of the spirit more than doubles the sight of our minds as a prospective glass does the corporal sight Matth. 16.17 1 Cor. 2.7 to 17. Joh. 12 46. For as the soul is the lamp of the body and reason of the soul and religion of reason and faith of religion so Christ is the light and life of Faith Joh. 1.9 8.12 Act. 26.18 Eph. 5.14 Christ is the sun of the soul reason and faith the two eyes reason discerns natural objects faith spiritual and supernatural We may see far with our bodily eye sence farther with the minds eye reason but farther with the souls eye faith than with both And the Beleever hath the addition of Gods spirit and faith above all other men I am the light of the world saith our Saviour he that â—olloweth me meaning by a lively faith shall not walk in darkness but shall have the light of life Joh. 8.12 and more see two eyes than one yea the day with one eye does far more things descry than night can do with more than Argos eyes So that as meer sense is uncapable of the rules of reason so reason is no less uncapable of the things that are divine and supernatural Jer. 10.14 1 Cor. 2.14 15 16. Eph. 5.8 And as to speak is only proper to men so to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven is only propper to believers Psal. 25.14 Prov. 3.32 Amos. 3.7 Now of natural and speculative knowledge the wicked have as large a share as the godly but of spiritual experimental and saving knowledge which is supernatural and descendeth from above Jam. 3.17 and keepeth a man from every evil way Prov. 2.12 the wicked have no part with the godly Whence all men in their natural condition are said to be blind and in darkness Matth. 4.16 15.14 Eph. 4.18 19. 5.8 Whereas believers are called children of light and of the day 1 Thes. 5.5 1 Pet. 2.9 Nor is this kind of knowledge any way attainable but by Grace from above No learning experience or pains in studdy and Books will bring them to it Ephe. 1.17 18. 3.19 except they become new creatures have hearts eyes and eares sanctified from above and that the holy Ghost becomes their teacher Deut. 29.2 3 4. Psal. 111.10 Joh. â—â— 15 Rom. 8.14 15. Nor is it saving knowledge that they seek after For though many of them be great seekers after knowledge great pains-takers to become wise yet it is not divine and supernatural knowledge that they labor for or desire Indeed wisdom in the largest sense hath ever carried that shew of excellency with it that not only the good have highly affected it as Moses who studied for wisdom and Solomon who prayed for wisdom and the Queen of Sheba who travelled for wisdom and David who to get wisdom made the word his counsellor hated every false way and was a man after Gods own heart but the very wicked have labored for it who are ashamed of other vertues as O the pleasure that rational men take in it Prov. 2.3 10 11. 10.14 Phil. 3.8 Knowledge is so fair a virgin that every cleer eye is in love with her it is a pearl despised of none but swine Prov. 2.3.10.11 whereas brutish and blockish men as little regard it they who care not for one dram of goodness would yet have a full scale of knowledge Amongst all the trees of the garden none so pleaseth them as the tree of knowledge And as wisdom is excellent above all so it is affected of all as oyl was both of the wise and foolish virgins It hath been a mark that every man hath shot at ever since Eve sought to be as wise as her Maker but as a hundreth shoot for one that hitts the white so an hundred aim at wisdom for one that lights upon it Eccles. 7.28 because they are mistaken in the thing For as Iacob in the dark mistook Leah for Rachael so many a blind soul takes that to be wisdom which is not like Eve who thought it wisdom to eate the forbidden fruit and Absalom who thought it wisdom to lye with his Fathers Concubines in the sight of all the people and the false Steward who thought it wisdom to deceive his Master And so of Josephs brethren of Pharoah and his deep counsellors of Achitophel of Herod of the Pharisees in their project to destroy Jesus and many the like All these thought they did wisely but they were mistaken and their projects proved foolish and turned to their own ruine Sect. 44. BUt take some Instances to prove that all sorts of Naturians are Fools in comparrison of the Godly I 'le begin with those that repuâ—e themselves and are reputed by others the wisest amongst men And they are your profound Humanists and cunning Polititians wherein you shall see whether the most and greatest number are not grosly mistaken in their opinions and verdicts touching Wisdom First for profound Humanists a man would think that they were incomparably wise for none so thirst after knowledge and wisdom as they to get it they are no niggards of their labor nor do they leave any thing unstudied but themselves They know all parts and places of the created world can discourse of every thing visible and invisible divine humane and mundane whether it be meant of substances or accidents are ignorant of nothing but the way to heaven are acquainted with all Laws and customs save the Law of God and customs of Christianity they are strangers no where but in the court of their own consciences Yea they build as hard and erect as high as did the Babel-builders but all to no purpose they never come to the roof and when they die they are undone They spend all their time in seeking after wisdom as Alchimists spend all their estates to find out the Philosophers stone but never find it they never attain to that which is true wisdom indeed For as the ragged Poet told Petronius that Poetry was a kind of learning that never made any man rich so humane learning of it self never made a wise man As thus if I may be so bold what is it or what does it profit a man to have the etymologie and derivation of wisdome and knowledge without being affected with that which is true wisdom indeed to be able to decline vertue yet not love it to have the theory be able to prattle of wisdom by rote yet not
and so plainly that you cannot be deceived except you desire to deceive your own soul. The knowledge of God that saves us is more than a bare apprehension of him iâ— knows his power and therefore fears him knows his justice and therefore serves him knows his mercy and therefore trusts him knows his goodness and therefore loves him c. For he that hath the saving knowledge of God or of Christ hath every other Grace There is a sweet correspondence between every one where there is any one in truth As in the generation the head is not without the body nor the body without each member nor the soul without its powers and faculties so in the regeneration where there is any one grace in truth there is every one 2 Cor. 5.17 If you will see it in particulars read Psa. 9.10 Jer. 9.24 1 Joh. 4.6 Joh. 4.10 1 Joh. 4.7 8. 2.3 Joh 42.5 6. 1 Ioh. 4.7 which Scriptures shew that as feeling is inseparable to all the organs of sense the eye sees and feels the ear hears and feels the pallat tastes and feels the nostrils smell and feel so knowledge is involved in every grace Faith knows and believes Charity knows and loves Patience knows and suffers Temperance knows and abstains Humility knows and stoops Repentance knows and mourns Obedience knows and does Confidence knows and rejoyces Hope knows and expects Compassion knows and pities Yea as there is a power of water in every thing that grows it is fatness in the olive sweetness in the figg cheerfulness in the grape strength in the oak taleness in the cedar redness in the rose whiteness in the lilly c. so knowledge is in the hand obedience in the mouth benediction in the knee humility in the eye compassion in the heart charity in the whole body and soul piety Alas If men had the true knowledg of Jesus Christ it would disperse and dispel all the black clouds of their reigning sins in a moment as the Sun does no sooner shew his face but the darkness vanisheth or as Caesar did no sooner look upon his enemies but they were gone Egypt swarmed with locusts till the west wind came that left not one He cannot delight in sin nor dote upon this world that knows Christ savingly Vertue is ordained a wife for knowledg and where these two joyn there will proceed from them a noble progine a generation of good works Again as the water engendereth ice and the ice again engendereth water so knowledg begets righteousness and righteousness again begetteth knowledg It is between science and conscience as it is between the stomack and the head for as in mans body the raw stomack maketh a thumatick head and the thumatick head maketh a raw stomach so science makes our conscience good and conscience makes our science good Nor is it so much scientiae capitâ—s as conscientia cordis that knows Christ and our selves whence Solomon saith Give thine heart to wisdom Prov. 2.10 and let wisdom enter into thine heart Prov. 4.4 And when he would acquaint us 〈…〉 become wise he tells us that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom Prov. 1.7 as if the first lesson to be wise were to be 〈…〉 If it be asked Why the natural man perceiveth not the â—ings of the spirit of God Saint Paul answers he cannot know them because they are spiritually discerned 1 Cor. 2.14 and indeed iâ—â—hey 〈◊〉 spiriâ—ually discerned how should they descern them 〈…〉 spirit For though the outward man receiveâ— the eleme 〈…〉 â—udiments of Religion by breeding and education yet his 〈…〉 veth them by heavenly inspiration 1 Cor. 2.11 12 13 12.3 8 Matth 16 16 17. Deut. 29 2 3 4 Psa. 111. â—0 Luke 24 4◠〈◊〉 15 15. â—nd â—his alone is enough to prove that no wickeâ— man 〈…〉 man for if God alone be the giver of it we may be suâ—â— that 〈◊〉 will 〈◊〉 his secrets to none but such as he knows will improve their knowledge to his glory and the good of others Even as the husband man will not cast his seed but into ground that will return him a good harvest Psa. 25.14 Luke 24.45 Mark 4.34 Gen. 18.17 1 Joh. 4.7 Sect. 47. BUt would these men any one even the best of them thus improve or imploy their knowledge Or do they desire it to any such end No but to some other end as I shall in the next place acquaint you Some men desire not to know some desire only to know Or rather thus Few men in comparison desire knowledge fewer that desire divine and supernatural knowledge fewest of all that desire to be the better or that others should be the better for their knowledge More particularly a world of men desire knowledg for no other end but to remove their ignorance as Pharaoh used Moses but to remove the plagues Others again study the Scriptures and other good Books only to make gain thereof or to be the abler to dispute and discourse as boys go into the water only to play and paddle there not to wash and be clean With Eve they highly desire the tree of knowledg but regard not the tree of life As I would fain know what fruit or effect the knowledge of most men produces in them except it be to inable them to dispute and discourse to increase wit oâ—â—o increase wealth or to increase pride or perhaps to increase Athiesm and to make them the more able and cunning to argue against the truth and power of Religion Whether the utmost of their aim be not to enrich dignifie and please themselves not once casting the eye of their souls at Gods glory their neighbors good or their own salvation Whether their main drift be not purchasing of a great estate for them and theirs with out either fear of God regard of men or the discharge of their duty and calling Again whereas a godly man and a good Christian thinks himself as happy in giving light to others as in receiving it himself how many are there who as themselves are never the better I mean in regard of Grace for their great wisdom and learning so no more are others for commonly they resemble dark Lanthorns which have light but so shut up and reserved as if it were not and what is the difference betwixt concealed skill and ignorance It is the nature and praise of good to be communicative whereas if their hidden knowledge do ever look out it casts so sparing a light that it only argues it self to have an unprofitable being And for the most part these men if they may be thought great Rabbies deep and profound Schollars this is the night of their ambition though neither the Church be benefited nor God glorified by it whereas they ought the contrary for as the grace of God is the fountain from which our wisdom flows so the glory of God should be the Ocean to which it should run yea that God may be honoured with and by
weary my Reader before I have dispatcht all my Clients or halfe listed my men The Covetous miser if you mark it esteems not of things according to their true value but preferreth bables and trisles before things of greatest worth which is the most remarkable property of a naturall fool that is being like the ignorant Indians in Florida Virginia New England and Kâ—nida who for a Copper kettle and a few toyes as Beads and Hatchets will depart from the purest gold and sell you a whole Countrey with the houses and ground which they dwell upon As Iudas preferred thirty pieces of silver before him that was Lord of the whole world and ransome of man-kinde so the covetous man prefers Earth yea hell to heaven time to eternity his body before his soul yea his outward estate before either soule or body Whereas the godly care for the soul as the chief jewell and onely treasure and for the body for the soules sake and settle their inheritance in no land but the land of promise their end being to possesse a kingdome without end They are not like Shebna who built his sepulchre in one Countrey and was buried in another But like our English Merchants that traffique in Turkey get wealth in Turky yet plant not in Turky but transport for England It cannot be said of them as it may of the most that they worship the golden Calfe because they consider that Pecunia the worlds Queen I meane that world whereof the Devill is King extends her Regiments but to the brim of the grave and is not current one step farther Worldly hearts are penny-wise and pound-foolish they know how to set high prizes upon the worthlesse trash of this world but for heavenly things or the God that owns them they shamefully under-value Like Iudas who valued Maries ointment which she bestowed upon the feet of Christ at three hundred pieces of silver and sold his Master on whom that odour was spent for thirty But it is not so with the godly they think it the best purchase that ever was in the world to buy him who bought them in comparison of whom all things else are dross and dung as Paul speaks Phil. 3.8 And indeed if we once have him we have all thing as the Apostle argues Rom. 8.32 1 Cor. 3.21 22 23. So that the godlys man is onely rich the servant of Christ is Lord of all Whereas by a just judgement of God upon the covetous Miser who makes Mammon his god The Devill makes them his Drudges to get and bring him in Gold as the King of Spain does the poor Indians that he may keep it in banke for the next prodigall to spend as ill as the other got it As how often is that spent upon one Christmas revelling by the son which was forty years a getting by the Father O fools incomparable to take a world of care and paines endure so much grief sting of conscience loss of credit to deprive themselves of Heaven damn their own souls to get wealth and when they have got it not to be a jot the better for it Yea they are less satisfied and contented then other men meanlier accommodated then mâ—an men Yea a poor beggar that hath nothing here is in better estate then a rich Miser that hath nothing in effect either here or hereafter O that they would but use that yea half that wit study and industry hereafter to save their souls that they have formerly done to damn them But hear more Aristippus cared onely for his body as if he had had no soule Zeno but for his soule as if he had had no body Achitophel for his Family alone as if neither soule nor body had been worth caring for but these neither for body nor soule nor any thing but for a little muck to leave behind them Yea he can finde in his heart to goe to hell for another that wishes him gone and will damn his own soul to leave his son rich Yea what a deale of paines and care does the covetous man take for his own damnation ever tormenting himself to get that for getting whereof he shall be tormented so himselfe is voluntarily miserable here and hereafter that others may be happy And so much of the Miser The next I will fall upon shall be such as equall these in their Idolatry another way as § 56. Fourthly what think you of common Idolaters are not they arrant fools I 'le give you but one instance mentioned Exod. 32. and you will need no more Turn to the place and there you shall find that those blockish Israelites made them a molten Calfe and then said This is thy god that brought thee out of the land of Egypt ver 34. This is such a pregnant example that there needs no more to prove it that a Beast should be their god yea and a beast of their own making and that this beast should have brought them out of Egypt which could not move it selfe but as it was moved and that before it had any being This is such a blockish absurdity that as one would think should never enter into the heart of him who is endowed with a reasonable soule But what can the Prince of darknesse propound that a wicked heart blinded with the custome of sinne and given up by God to be further blinded by Satan will not believe as appears by our Ranters Shakers and Quakers at this day And such other fools are the Papists though great Clerks and wise men who if I could intend to aquaint you maintain a thousand ridiculous tenents stifly defending those things for truth which the Holy Ghost calls in expresse words The doctrine of devils 1 Tim. 4.1 2 3. And most justly are they forsaken of their reason who have abandoned God Yea most just it is that they who want grace should want wit too If Idolaters will needs set up a false god for the true is it not equal that the true God should give them over to the false Again Fifthly how does lust blinde and besot men when the Adulterer prefers a filthy strumpet before his own chaste wife though his own lawfull Consort is known to be more comely and lovely then the strange woman Yea when they shall confesse the same as it was the speech of one too great to name That were she not his wife he could love her above all women in the world a word able to rot out the tongue that spake it But take an instance of this nature I 'le give you one amongst many very remarkable We read Iudges 16. that Sampson cared more for his pleasure in this kinde then his life O strange debauchednesse his filthy lust of a Nazarite leaves him scarce a man He that might not drink wine is drunk with the cup of fornication How could hee other then thinke if lust had not blinded and bewitched him She whose body is mercenary to me will easily sell me to others she will be false if
2 Cor. 12.2 4. Isa. 66.1 Heaven in Scripture is compared to a Kingdom for soverainty to a Throne for preheminency to a Crown for state and majesty to an Inheritance for perpetuity to a Marriage-feast for plenty pleasure and delicacy and to whatsoever else may set forth its excellency though indeed in these comparisons there is little or no comparison as I might shew you in many particulars if I would be large for instances in this case would be endless There death shall have no more dominion over us Rom. 6.9 The Sun shall not burn us by day nor the Moon by night Psal. 121.6 There all 〈◊〉 shall be wiped from our eyes Rev. 7.17 There shall be no sorrow noâ— pain nor complaint there is no malice to rise up against us no 〈…〉 afflict us no hunger thirst wearisomness temptation to disquiet us 〈…〉 19 20. Heb. 9.12 There is no death nor dearth no pinâ—â—g nor 〈…〉 Rev. 7.16 17. 21.4 Heb. 9.12 There O there one day is better than a thousand there is Rest from our Labours Peace from our Enemies Freedom from our Sinnes c. Iob. 3.17 Heb. 4.3 9 10 11 Rev. 14 13. Heb. 9.12 15. Sect. 2. Unto which Negative Priviledges there are also added Positive of all sorts as I might plentifully prove but I study brevity Do we delight in good company what pleasure shall we take in the company of Saints and Angels in whom there is nothing not amiable comfortable delectable nothing in us that may cool the fervour of our love and affection to them And so of all other enjoyments As Dost thou desire beauty riches honour pleasure long life or whatever else can be named No place so glorious by creation so beautifull with delectation so rich in possession so comfortable for habitation nor so durable for lasting Heb. 12.22 1 Pet. 1.4 2 Cor. 4.17 18. Rom. 9.3 8.18 There are no Estates but Inheritances no Inheritances but Kingdomes no Houses but Palaces no Meals but Feasts no noise but Musick no Rods but Scepters no Garments but Robes no Seats but Thrones no coverings for the head but Crownes Rom. 8.17 Tit. 3.7 Heb. 9.15 Mat. 25.31 34. 2 Tim. 4.8 Gal. 4.7 1 Pet. 3 9 10. Mar. 10.23 24 25. Rev. 7.13 14 15. 6.11 There we shall see the blessed face of God which is the glory of all sights the sight of all glory Yea we our selves shall out-shine the Sun in brightnese Mat. 13.43 For if the brightness of the body shall match the Sun what will the glory and splendour of the soul be And yet such honour shall all the Saints have For when Christ which is our head and life shall appear then shall we also appear with him in glory And he shall change our vile and mortal body that it may be fashioned like to his glorious body Col. 3 4. Phil 3.21 Briefly Our joy shall there be fall and none shall be able to take it from us or diminish it Iohn 15.11 16.22 There is fulness of joy and pleasures for evermore Psal. 26. Joyes and pleasures never ebbing but ever slowing to all contentment There we shall rejoyce for the pleasantness of the place we possess for the glory of our souls and bodies which we have put on for the world which we have overcome for Hell which we have escaped for the joyes of Heaven which we have attained to We shall have joy above us by the beatifical vision and sight of God joy within us by the peace of conscience even the joy of the Holy Ghost and joy round about us by the blessed company and fellowship of our associates the holy Saints and Angels Sect. 3. And in reason if a Christian-soul in this Tabernacle of the body wherein we see but as in a glass be so delighted to see the face of God manifested in Iesus Christ If it so glads a Child of God when he can but in the least measure master his corruptions or hath occasion to manifest the sincerity of his affectionate love to his Maker and Redeemer 〈…〉 to serve his Brethren in love How joyfull will he be when these gra 〈…〉 be perfected and he freed from all grievances inward and out 〈…〉 Yea if the communion and 〈◊〉 of Gods Spirit and 〈…〉 and ordinances 〈…〉 better than a thousand with the ungodly Psal. 84.10 What will it be to enjoy the immediate presence and glory of God our Father Christ our Redeemer and elder-Brother the Holy Ghost our Comforter the Angels and Saints our Consorts and Companions Our condition there will be so joyfull that look we outwardly there is joy in the society Heb. 12.22 if inwardly there is joy in our own felicity 1 Cor. 2.9 Look we forward there is joy in the eternity 1 Pet. 5.10 Mark 10.30 So that on every side we shall be even swallowed up of joy Isa. 35.10 51.11 Matth. 25.23 18.10 Heb. 12.2 22. Psal. 16.11 As Oh the multitude and fulness of these joyes so many that only God can number them so great that he onely can estimate them of such â—arity and perfection that this world hath nothing comparable to them 2 Cor. 12.2 4. As Oh the transcendency of that Paradise of pleasure where is joy without heaviness or interruption peace without perturbation blessedness without misery light without darkness health without sickness beauty without blemish abundance without want ease without labour satiety without loathing liberty without restraint security without fear glory without ignominy knowledg without ignorance eyes without tears hearts without sorrow souls without sinne where shall be no evil heard of to affright us nor good wanting to chear us for we shall have what we can desire and we shall desire nothing but what is good Deut. 10.14 Isa. 66.1 1 King 8.27 Mark 10.21 Luke 18.22 1 Pet. 5.10 Iohn 4.36 10.28 Matth. 25.46 Sect. 4 While we are here how many clouds of discontent have we to darken the sunshine of our joy when even complaint of evils past sense of present and fear of future have in a manner shared our lives among them Here we love and loath in an instant like Amnon to his Sister Tamar in Heaven there is no object unlovely nothing which is not exceeding amiable and attractive And not attractive onely but retentive also for there we shall not be subject to passion nor can we possibly there misplace our affection Here we have knowledg mixed with ignorance faith with doubting peace with trouble yea trouble of conscience Or in 〈◊〉 we have peace of conscience alas how often is it interrupted with 〈◊〉 of spirit Now rejoyce we with joy unspeakable and glorious 1 Pet. 1.84 but alas anon it falls out that we need to pray with David Restore unto us the joy of thy salvation Psal. 51.12 but there is peace even full without want pure without mixture and perpetual without all fear of foregoing Dan. 2.44 There shall be no concupiscence to tempt no flesh to lust
so important a 〈…〉 First If the Sun which is but a creature be so bright and glorious that no mortal eye can look upon the brightness of it how glorious then is the Creator himself or that light from whence it receives its light If the frame of the Heavens and globe of the Earth be so glorious which is but the lower house or rather the foot-stool of the Almighty as the Holy Ghost phraseth it Isa. 66.1 Matth. 5.35 Act. 7.49 how glorious and wonderfull is the Maker thereof and the City where he keeps his Court Or if sinners even the worst of wicked men and Gods Enemies have here in this earthly pilgrimage such variety of enjoyments to please their very senses as who can express the pleasurable variety of Objects for the sight of meats and drinks to satisfie and delight the taste of voyces and melodious sounds to recreate the hearing of sents and perfumes provided to accommodate our very smellings of recreations and sports to bewitch the whole man And the like of honour and profit which are Idols that carnal men do mightily dote upon and take pleasure in though these earthly and bodily joyes are but the body or rather the dregs of true joy what think we must be the soul thereof viz. those delights and pleasures that are reserved for the glorified Saints and Gods dearest darlings in Heaven Again Secondly If natural men find such pleasure and sweetness in secular wisdom lip-learning and brain-knowledg For even mundane knowledg hath such a shew of excellency in it that it is highly affected both by the good and bad As O the pleasure that rational men take therein It being so fair a Virgin that every clear eye is in love with her so rich a Pearl 〈◊〉 at none but Swine do despise it yea among all the Trees in the Garden none so takes with rational men as the Tree of knowledg as Satan well knew when he set upon our first Parents insomuch that Plato thinks in case wisdom could but represent it self unto the eyes it would set the heart on fire with the love of it And others affirm That there is no less difference between the Learned and the Ignorant than there is between the â—â—â—ing and the dead or between men and beasts And yet the pleasure 〈◊〉 â—atural and moral men take in secular and mundane knowledg and leaâ—â—â—g is nothing comparable to that pleasure that an experimental Christian finds in the Divine and Supernatural knowledge of Gods Word which makes David and Solomon prefer it before the honey and the honey-comb for sweetness and to value it above thousands of gold and silver yea before Pearls and all precious stones for worth How sweet then shall our knowledg in Heaven be For here we see but darkly and as it were in a glass or by moon-light but there we shall know even as we are known and see God and Christ in the face 1 Cor. 13.12 Thirdly if meer Naturians have been so taken with the love of Vertue that they thought if a vertuous soul could but be seen with corporal eyes it would ravish all men with love and admiration thereof yea if the very worst of men drunkards blasphemers and the like though they most spitefully scoff at and backbite the people of God yet when they know a man sincere upright and honest cannot choose â—â—◠〈…〉 touching Iohn and King Agrippa touching Paul Sect. 2. Or rather if Gods own people are so ravished with the graces and priviledges which they enjoy upon earth as the assurance of the pardon of sin the peace of a good conscience and joy of the Holy Ghost which is but glorification begun what will they be when they shall enjoy the perfection of glory in Heaven As see but some instances of their present enjoyments here below First if we were never to receive any reward for those small labours of love and duties we do to the glory of God and profit of others we might think our selves sufficiently recompenced in this life with the calm and quietness of a good conscience the honesty of a vertuous and holy life That we can do and suffer something for the love of Christ who hath done and suffered so much to save us That by our works the Majesty of God is magnified to whom all homage is due and all service too little For Godliness in every sickness is a Physitian in every contention an Advocate in every doubt a Schoolman in all heaviness a Preacher and a comforter unto whatsoever estate it comes making the whole life as it were a perpetual Halleluja Yea God so sheds his love abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost that we are in Heaven before we come thither Insomuch that as the fire flyeth to his Sphere the stone hastens to the center the River to the Sea as to their end and rest and are violently detained in all other places so are the hearts of Gods people without their Maker and Redeemer their last end and eternal rest and quietness never at rest like the Needle touched with the Loadstone which ever stands quivering and trembling until it enjoyes the full and direct aspect of the Northern Pole But more particularly How does the assurance of the pardon of sin alone clear and calm alâ— storms of the mind making any condition comfortable and the worst and greatest misery to be no misery To be delivered of a child is no smal joy to the mother but to be delivered from sin is a far greater joy to the soul. But to this we may add the joy of the Holy Ghost and the peace of conscience otherwise called the peace of God which passeth all understanding These are priviledges that 〈◊〉 Paul happier in his chain of Iron than Agrippa in his chain of gold 〈◊〉 Peter more merry under stripes than Caiaphas upon the Iudgment-seat and Steven the like under that shower of stones Pleasures are ours if we be Christs whence those expressions of the Holy Ghost The Lord hath done great things for us whereof we rejoyce Be glad in the Lord and rejoyce ye righteous and shout for joy all ye that are upright in heart Let all that put their trust in thee rejoyce let them even shout for joy Rejoyce evermore and again I say rejoyce rejoyce with joy unspeakable and full of glory Our rejoycing is this the testimony of our conscience Your heart shall rejoyce and your joy shall no man take from you c. So that it is a shame for the faithfull not to be joyfull and they sin if they rejoyce not whatever their condition be The Eunuch no sooner felt the pardon of sin upon his being baptized into the faith of Christ but he went on his way rejoycing Act 8.39 He then found more solid joy than ever he had done in his râ—cheâ— honours and great places under Candace Queen of the Aethiopians 〈◊〉 same time when the Disciples were persecuted they are said to be filled with
between flâ—shly meat and a carnal stomach Therefore the want of this taste and apprehension condemneth the world to be carnal but magnifies the joyes spiritual as being above her carnal apprehension Or Thirdly Herein lies the fault few feel these joyes in this life because they will not crack the shell to get the kernell they will not pare the fruit to â—at the pulp nor till the ground to reap the Harvest They â—lie the wars and thereby lose the glory of the Victory They will not dig the craggy mountain to find the mine of gold Nor prune the Vine therefore enjoy not the fruit They â—lie mortification and therefore attain not the sweet spiritual consolation which ever attends the same And so much for the Reasons The Use may be manifold CHAP. XXII Sect. 1. FIrst Is it so that the torments of Hell are so exquisite even worse than the pangs of death or child-birth scalding lead drinks of gall and wormwood griping of chest-worms fits of the stone gowt strangury flames of fire and brimstone Yea are all these and all other pains that can be named put together but shadows and flea-bitings to it And are they to be endured everlastingly And are all Fornicators Idolalaters Thieves Covetous Drunkards Swearers Raylors fearfull and unbelieving persons Murtherers Sorcerers Liars and all unrighteous persons to have their part and portion in that lake And withall lose their parâ— and portion in the Kingdom of Heaven as the Word of God expresly tells us Rev. 21. 7 8. 22.14 15. How is it that we are not more affected therewith The only reason is most men are so far from believing the word of God in this point that they do not believe there is a God The fool sayes David hath said in his heart there is no God Psal. 53.1 They meaning the wicked think alwayes there is no God Psal. 10.4 to 14. And the reason follows His wayes alwayes prosper Psal. 73 3. to 21. And hence it is that they live like beasts because they think they shall die like beasts without any answer for what they have either acted or left undone and accordingly resolve Let us eat and drink â—or to morrow we shall die as the Holy Ghost hath acquainted us with their inmost thoughts 1 Cor. 15.32 Whereas if men did believe either Heaven or Hell they could never sâ— carelesly hazard the loosing of the one or the procuring of the other As Oâ— the madness of these men that cannot be hired to hold their finger for one minute in the weak flame of a farthing candle and yet for triflâ—s will plunge themselves body and soul into those endless and infinitely scorching flames of Hell fire If a King but threatens a Malefactor to the Dungeon to the Rack to the wheel his bones tremble a terrible palsie runs through all his joyn◠〈…〉 unmoved undaunted And what makes the difference tho one we believe as present the other is as they think uncertain and long before it comes if ever it do come Otherwise it could not be since the soul of all sufferings are the sufferings of the soul since as painted fire is to material such is Material to Hell-fire Men may say they believe there is an Hell and a Heaven but surely they would never speak as they speak think as they think do as they do if they thought that their thoughts words and actions should ever come to judgment If men believed that Heaven were so sweet and Hell so intollerable as the Word makes them they would be more obedient upon earth The voluptuous and covetous would not say take you Heaven let us have money pleasure c. Sect. 2. True there are none so confirmed in Atheism but some great danger will make them fly to the aid of a Divine Power as Plato speaks Extremity of distress will send the prophanest to God as the drowning man stretcheth out his hand to that bough which he contemned whiles he stood safe on shore Even Sardanapalus for all his bold denying of a God at every hearing of thunder was wont to hide his head in a hole Yea in their greatest jollity even the most secure heart in the world hath some flashes of fear that seize on them like an arrest of Treason At least on their death-beds had they as many Provinces as Ahashuerosh had they would give an â—â—ndred six and twenty of them to be sure there were no Hell though all their life they supposed it but a fable And 〈◊〉 makes them fearfull to die and to die fearfully Yea how oft do those Russians that deny God at the Tap-house preach him at the Gallows and confess that in sincerity of heart which they oppugned in wantonness And certainly if they did not at one time or other believe a God a day of judgment an Heavens and an Hell they should be in a worse condition than Felix or Belshazzer yea than the Devils themselves for they believe them yea quake and tremble to think of them as being still in a fearfull expectation of further degrees of actual torments Mat. 8.29 However admit their lethargized consciences be not awakened untill they come into Hell as God not seldom leaves them to be confuted with fire and brimstone because nothing else will do it yet in Hell they shall know there is a righteous Iudg that will reward every man according to his deeds and confess that what they once vainly imagined was but imagined There may be Athiests on earth there are none in Hell Vengeance shall make them wise whom sin hath made and left foolish A Pope of Rome being upon his death-bed said to those about him Now comes three things to trial which all my life I have made doubt of whether there be a God a Devil and whether the soul be immortal 'T was not long o're he was fully resolved with a vengeance and so shall you O ye foolls when that hour comes though you flatter your selves for the present When you feell it you will confess it and when 〈…〉 late you will like a fool say Alas I had not thought For this is the 〈…〉 foreseeth the evil the evil of Hell sayes Bernard and preventeth it but fools go on and are punished Prov. 22.3 Acknowledg thy self a fool then or bethink thy self now and â—o thereafter without delaying one minute For there is no redemption from Hell if once thou comest there And there thaâ— maist be for ought thou knowest this very day yea before thou canst swallow thy spittle Thy Pulse may leave beating before thou canst fetch thy Breath Sect. 3. But to speak thus to the Sensualist is labour in vain For their consciences are so blinded that they as they think do believe an Heaven and an Hell yea in God and in Christ as well as the precisest Iohn 5.38 39 46 47. For it is hard for men to believe their own unbelief in this case They that are most dangerously sick are least sensible of their being
sick A very likely matter thou believest in Christ and hopest to be saved by him when thoâ— wilt neither imitate his actions nor follow his Precepts How does this hang together Let me ask thee a question or two that may convince thee of thy unbelief If a Physitian should say to his Patient here stands a cordial which if you take will cure you but touch not this other vial for that is deadly poyson and he wittingly refuseth the cordial to take the poyson will not every one conclude that either he believed not his Physician or preferred death before life If Lots Sons-in-law had believed thâ—â—r Father when he told them the City should suddenly be destroyed with fire and brimstone and that by flying they might escape it they would have obeyed his counsel If the old World had believed that God would indeed and in good earnest bring such a stood upon them as he threatned they would have entred the Ark and not have scoft at Noah for building it So if you did firmly believe what God in the Scriptures speaks of Hell you would need no entreaties to avoid the same Sect. 4. But alas men of thy condition are so far from believing what God threatens in his Word against their sins that they bless themselves in their hearts saying we shall have peace although we walk according to the stubbornness of our own wills so adding drunkenness to thirst Deut. 29.19 Yea they preferre their condition before others who are so abstemious and make conscience of their waies thinking that they delude themselves with needless fears and scruples 2 King 18.22 30 33 35. Alas if they dâ—d in good earnest believe that there is either God or Devil Heaven or Hell or that they have immortal souls which shall everlastingly live in bliss or woe and receive according to what they have done in their bodies whether it be good or evil 2 Cor. 5.10 They could not but live thereafter and make it their principal care how to be saved â—ut alas they believe what they see and feell and know they be 〈…〉 this makes them abstain from murther felony and the like but they believe not things invisible and to come For if they did they would as well yea much more fear him that hath power to cast both body and soul into Hell as they do the temporal Magistrate that hath onely power to kill the body they would think it a very hard bargain to win the whole world and lose Heaven and their own souls Luk. 9 25. Men fear a Gaol more then they fear Hell and stand more upon their silver or sides smarting than upon their souls and regard more the blasts of mens breath than the fire of God's wrath and tremble more at the thought of a Serjeant or Bailiff than of Satan and everlasting perdition Else they would not be hired with all the worlds wealth multiplied as many times as there be sands on the Sea shore to hazard in the least the loss of those everlasting Joys before spoken of or to purchase and plunge themselves into those caseless and everlasting flames of fire and brimstone in Hell there to fry body and soul where shall be an innumerable company of Devils and damned Spirits to affright and torment them but not one to comfort or pity them Confident I am thou wouldest not endure here to hold thy hand in a fiery crusible the space of a day or an hour for all the worlds wealth and splendour How then if thou bethinkest thy self wilt thou hereafter endure that and ten thousand thousand times more for millions of millions of ages Look Revel 20.10 and bethink thy self how thou wilt brook to be cast into a doleâ—ull disconsolate dungeon to lie in utter darkness in eternal chains in a little ease a no ease for ever and ever Canst thou endure to dwell with the devouring fire with the everlasting burning Sect. 5. Wherefore let me my Brethren beseech you not to be such Atheists and Fools as to fall into Hell before you will fear it when by fearing it you may avoid it and by neglecting it you cannot but fall into it What though it be usual with men to have no sense of their souls till they must leave their bodies yet do not you therefore leap into Hell to keep them company but be perswaded to bethink your selves now rather than when it will be too late when the Draw bridge will be taken up and whâ—n it will vex every vein of your hearts that you had no more care of your souls Yet there is grace offered if we will not shut our hearts and wills against it and refuse our own mercy but how long God will yet wait thy leisure or how soon he will in his so long provoked Justice pronounce thy irrevocable sentence thou knowest not nor canst thou promise thy self one minutes time Oh that men would believe the God of truth that cannot lie touching spiritual and eternal things but as they do these temporary and transitory Oh that thou who art the sacred Monarch of this mighty frame wouldest give them hearts to believe at least thus much That things themselves are in the invisible World in the World visible but their shadows onely And that whatsoever wicked men enjoy here it is but as in a dream their plenty is but like a drop of pleasure before a River of sorrow and displeasure And whatsoever the godly feel but as a drop of misery 〈…〉 Iudg of all the World comest slowly to judgment yet thou wilt come surely As the Clock comes slowly and by minutes to the stroak yet it strikes at last That those are onely true riches which being once had can never be lost That Heaven is a Treasure worthy our hearts a purchase worth our lives That when all is done how to be saved is the best plot That there is not mention of one in the whole Bible that ever sinned without repentance but he was punished without mercy For then there would not be a Fornicator or prophane person as Esau who for a portion of meat sold his inheritance Heb. 12.16 Then they would not be of the number of those that so doted upon Purchases and Farms and Oxen that they made light of going to the Lords Supper Luke 14.18 19 20. Nor of the Gadarens mind who preferred their Hogs before Christ. Then would they know it better to want all things then that one needfull thing whereas now they desire all other things and neglect that one thing which is so needfull They would hold it far better and in good sadness to be saved with a few as Noah was in the Ark than in good fellowship with the multitude to be drowned in sin and damned for company Nor would they think it any disparagement to their wisdoms to change their minds and be of another judgment to what they are CHAP. XXIII Sect. 1. SEcondly Are the joyes of Heaven so unspeakable and glorious How then
if he remitted his stroke never so little where he had leisure to consider with himself that now he was chained who might have walked at liberty now he was a slave who might if he would have been a King now he was over-ruled by Turks who might have ruled over Christians The thought whereof could not but double his misery and make him bewail his sorrow with tears of blood Now this hereafter will be the case of all careless persons save that this comes as 〈◊〉 of that as earth comes short of heaven and temporal misery of eternal Wherefore if thou wouldest have this to become thy very case go on in thy wilfull and perverse impenitency but if not bethink thy self and do thereafter and that without delaying one minute For there is no redemption from hell if once thou comest there And 〈…〉 thou canst swallow thy spittle if thou diest this day in thy natural condition Many men take liberty to sin and continue in a trade of sin because God is mercifull bâ—t they will one day find that he is just as well as mercifull There is mercy with God saith the Psalmist that he may be feared not that he may be despised blasphemed c. Psal. 130.4 Yea know this and write it in the Table-book of thy memory and upon the table of thy heart That if Gods bountifulness and long-suffering towards thee does not lead thee to repentance it will double thy doom and encrease the pile of thy torments And that everyday which does not abate of thy recâ—oning will encrease it And that thou by thy hardness and impâ—nitency shall but treasure up unto thy self wrath against the day of wrath and the declaration of the just judgment of God Rom. 2.4 5 6. Now this Iudg hath told us that we must give an account for every idle word we speak Mat. 12.36 much more then for our wicked actions therefore beware what thou dost against him Men may dream of too much strictness in holy courses but they do not consider the power the purity and strictness of the Iudg He who briâ—gs even idle words to judgment and forgets not a thought of disobedience How will he spare our gross negligence and presumption How our formality and irreverence in his service much more our flagitious wickedness Heb. 12.29 Sect. 3. Wherefore as you ever expect or hope for Heaven and Salvation as you would escape the tormenting flames of hâ—ll-fire cease to do evil learn to do well For Sanctification is the way to Glorification Holiness to eternal Happiness If we would have God to glorifie our bodies in Heaven we also must glorifie God in our bodies here on earth And now for conclusion Are the Ioyes of Heaven so unspeakable and glorious the torments of Hell so wofull and doloâ—ous then it behoves all Parents and Governours of Families to see to their Children and Servants souls and that they miscarry not through their neglect As tell me Will not their blood be required at your hands if hey perish through your neglect Will it not be sad to have Children and Servants rise up in judgment against you and to bring in evidence at the great Tribunal of Christ saying Lord my Father never minded me my Master never regarded me I might sin he never reproved me I might go to Hell it was all one to him Will not this be sad Secondly If it be so Let Children and Servants consider that 't is better to have lust restrained than satisfied 't is better to be held in and restrained from sin than to have a wicked liberty Be not angry with those who will not see you damn your souls and let you alone they are your best Friends Fear the strokes of Gods anger be they spiritual or eternal more than the strokes of men What 's a setter to a Dungeon a Gallows to Hell fire Give not way to imaginary speculative heart-sins Murther in the beast uncleanness in the eye and thoughts given wâ—y to will come to actu 〈…〉 he get but in he will be to hard for you And let so much serve to have been spoken of Heaven and Hell Upon the one I have stood the longer that so I might if God so please be a means to save some with fear plucking them out of the fire of Gods wrath under which without Repentance they must lie everlastingly And for the other I have like the Searchers of Canaan brought you a cluster of grapes to give the Reader a taste thereby of the plentifull vintage we may expect and look for in the heavenly Canaan Now if any would truly know themselves and how it will fare with them in the end let them read the whole Booâ— out of which this is taken viz. The whole duty of a Christian. Which Book is licenced by Iohn Downame and Thomas Gataker What follows is both to fill up the sheet and to occasion or forewarn Swearers who swarm so in all places and ignorant persons whose number is numberless and who of all others are most confident that they shall do well enough not to forget what they have herein heard of Heaven and Hell And to these their faithfull and impartial Monitor the Book giver presents a few Considerations EVen such is the power of sin that it made God become man Angels become Dâ—vils and men become beasts For each man by nature every one whose heart is not changed by the Loadstone of the Gospel is a very beast in condition as Ieremy affirms Ier. 10.14 and St. Peter 2 Pet. 2.12 But that 's not all for when the custom of sin hath so brawned mens hearts sâ—ared their consciences and blinded their minds that they can Swear and Curse as familiarly as dogs bark When the just and true God hath for their rebellious wickedness in rejecting him and despising all good means of being bettered given them up to their own hearts lusts and to Satan the god of this world to be taught and governed by him even as a just Iudg having passed sentence upon some hainous Malefactor gives him up to the Iaylor or Executioner as you may see by sundry places 2 Thes. 2.10 11 12. 1 Kings 22.20 21 22. 2 Tim. 2.26 Ephes. 2.2 Iohn 13.2 Acts 5.3 1 Chron. 21.1 Gen. 3.1 to 6. Revel 2 10 3 15. Iohn 8.44 12.31 14 30. 2 Cor. 4.4 Then they become so devilized that as Paul being guided by the good Spirit of God could say I live not but Christ lives in me Gal. 2.20 so may they say we live noâ— but the Devil lives in us For he is not onely their Father Gen. 3.15 Iohn 8 44. But their God 2 Cor. 4.4 And their Prince Iohn 14.30 And works in them his pleasure Eph. 2.2 2 Tim. 2.26 So that they are ready and willing to say or do what he will have them as you may plainly read Ioh. 13.2 Acts 5.3 12.1 2 to 12. 1 Chro. 21.1 Gen. 3 1 to 6. Rev. 2.10 And these you may
easily know by their language For Swearing and Cursing is the very language of the damned as you may see Revel 16.1 21. Onely they learn it 〈◊〉 before they come in Hell As whence do 〈…〉 Devils learn this their damnable Cursing and Swearing Are not their tongues fired and edged from Hell as St. Iames hath it Iames 3.6 And doth not experience shew that the language of hell is so familiar with many of them that blasphemy is become their mother tongue Trâ—e these poor simple souls know none of all this as those four hundred of Ahabs Prophets in whom this â—vil Spirit spake did not know that Satan spake by them 1 King 22.22 Neither did Iudas know when he eat the sop that Satan entered into him and put it into his heart to betray Christ Iohn 13.2 Nor do Magistrates when they cast the Servants of God into Prison once imagine that the Devil makes them his Iaylors but he doth so They are his Instruments but he is the Principal Authour as is plain by Rev. 2.10 Neither did Annanias and Sapphira once think that Satan had filled their hearts or put that lye into their mouthes for which they were strook dead Act. 5. yet the Holy Ghost tells us plainly that he did so vers 3. Nor Eve in Paradise had not the least suspition that it was Satan that spake to her by the Serpent Nor Adam that it was the Devils mind in her mouth his heart in her lips when tempted to eat the forbidden fruit Nor did David once dream that it was Satan who moved him to number the people 1 Chron. 21.1 Much less did Peter who so loved Christ imagine that he was set on by Satan to tempt his own Lord and Master with those affectionate words Master pitty thy self For if Christ had pittied himself Peter and all the world had perished Yet it was so which occasioned Christ to answer him Get thee behind me Satan Matth. 16.22 23. Much more is it so with you who tare Heaven with your blasphemies and bandy the dreadfull Name of God in your impure and poluted mouthes by your bloody Oathes and Execrations For how else could you Swear and Curse as if he that made the ear could not hear or as if he were neither to be feared nor cared for who for sin cast the Angels out of Heaven Adam out of Paradise drowned the old world rained down fire and brimstone upon Sodom commanded the earth to open her mouth and swallow down quick Korah and his company He who smote Aegypt with so many plagues overthrew Phoraoh and his host in the Red Sea destroyed great and mighty Kings giving their Land for an Inheritance to his people and can as easily with a word of his mouth strike you dead while you are blaspheming him and cast you body and soul into Hell for your odious unthankfullness yea it is a mercy beyond expression that he hath spared you so long When a dog flyes in his Masters face that keeps him we conclude he is mad Are you then rational men that being never so little crost will fly in your Makers face and tare your Saviours-Name in pieces with Oathes and Execrations which is worse than frenzy No you are demoniacal obsessed or rather posessed with a Devil and more miserable than such an one because it is a Devil of your own choosing as Basil speaks Or if you have any spark of reason left oâ— do in the least love your selves leave off your damnable and devilish Sweating and 〈…〉 God hath made and set down in his Word against this horrid sinne and against all those that so daringly and audaciously provoke him lest you be plagued with a witness and that both here and hereafter for God who cannot lie hath threatened that his curse shall never depart from the house of the Swearer as it is Zach. 5.1 to 5. And I doubt not but you are already cursed though you know it not That either he hath cursed you in your body by sâ—nding some foul Disease or in your estate by suddenly consuming it or in your name by blemishing and blasting it or in your seed by not prospering it or in your mind by darkening it or in your heart by hardening it or in your conscience by terrifying it or will in your soul by everlastingly damning it if you repent not Wherefore take heed what you do before it prove too late Yea my Brethren bethink your selves what God and Christ hath done for you It is his maintenance we take and live on The air we breathe the earth we tread on the fire that warms us the water that cools and cleanseth us the cloathes that cover us the food that does nourish us the delights that chear us the bâ—asts that serve us the Angels that attend us even all are his That we are not at this present in Hell there to fry in flames never to be freed that we have the free offer of grace here and everlasting glory in Heaven hereafter we are onely beholding to him And shall we deny this Lord that hath bought us Shall we most spightfully and maliciously fight on Satans side against him with all our might and that against knowledg and conscience I wish that you would a little think of it Neither object that ye are so accustomed to Swearing that you cannot leave it for this defence is worse than the offence As take an instance Shall a thief or murtherer at the Bar alledge for his defence that it hath been his use and custome of a long time to rob and kill and therefore he must continue it Or if he do will not the Judge so much the rather send him to the Gallows And so much the rather for that of all other sins this sin of Swearing is the most inexcusable First Because it is a sin from which of all other sins we have most power of abstinence For were you forced to pay three shillings four pence for every Oath you swear as the Law enjoyns or if you were sure to have your tongue cut out which is too light a punishment for this sin damnation being the due penalty thereof as the Apostle sets it down Iam. 5.12 you both could and would leave it Secondly Because it is a sin to which of all other sins we have the fewest temptations for all thou canst expect by it is the suspicion of a common Lyar by being a common Swearer or that thou shalt vex otheâ—s and they shall hate thee for it bringeth not so much as any appearance of good unto us to induce us For whereas other sins have their several baits to allure us some the bait of profit some of honour some of pleasure this sin is destitute of them all and onely bringeth much loss here namely of Credit and a good Conscience and the loss of Gods Favour and the Kingdome of Heaven hereafter which 〈◊〉 of more value than ten thousand Worlds which shews that thou lo 〈…〉 lice to
number of those that by professing themselves Protestants discredit the Protestant Religion Who because they have been Christened as Simon Magus was received the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper like Iudas and for company go to Church also as Dogs do are called Christians as we call the Heathen Images gods yea and being blinded by the Prince of darknesse 2 Cor. 4.4 think to be saved by Christ though they take up Arms against him and are no more like Christians then Michols Image of Goats hair was like David Who make the world only their god and pleasure or profit alone their Religion Who are so gracelesse that God is not in all their thoughts except to blaspheme him and to spend his daies in the Divel's service Who being Christians in name will scoffe at a Christian indeed Who honour the dead Saints in a cold profession while they worrey the living Saints in a cruel persecution Who so hate Holiness that they will hate a man for it and say of good living as Festus of great Learning It makes a man mad whose hearts will rise at the â—ight of a good man as some stomachs will rise at the sight of sweet meats Whose Religion is to oppose the power of Religion and whose knowledge of the Truth to know how to argue against the Truth Who justifie the wicked and condemne the â—ust who call Zeal madness and Religion foolishness Who love their sins so much above their souls that they will not onely mock their Admonisher scoff at the means to be saved and make themselves merry with their own damnations but even hate one to the death for shewing them the way to eternal life who will condemne all for Round-heads that have more Religion then an Heathen or knowledg of heavenly things then a childe in the womb hath of the things of this life or conscience then an Atheist or care of his soul then a Beast and are mockers of all that march not under the pay of the Divel Who with Adam will become Satans bond-slaves for an Apple and like Esau sell their Birth-right of Grace here and their Blessing of Glory hereafter for a messe of Pottage Who prefer the pleasing of their palates before the saving of their souls who have not onely cast off Religion that should make them good men but reason also that should make them men Who waste virtues faster then riches and riches faster then any virtues can â—et them Who do nothing else but sin and make others sin too who spend their time and patrimonies in Riot and upon Dice Drabs Drunkennesse who place all their felicity in a Tavern or Brothel house where Harlots and Sycophants rifle their Estates and then send them to rob Who will borrow of every one but never intend to satisfie any one Who glory in their shame and are ashamed of that which should and would be their glory Who desire not the reputation of honesty but of good fellowship Who instead of quenching their thirst drown their senses and had rather leave their wits then the wine behinde them Who place their paradise in their throats heaven in their guts and make their belly their god Who pour their Patrimonies down their throats and throw the house so long out at windows that at length their house throws them out of doors Who think every one exorbitant that walks not after their rule Who will traduce all whom they cannot seduce even condemning with their tongues what they commend in their consciences Who as they have no reason so they will hear none Who are not more blinde to their own faults then quick-sighted in other mens Who being displeased with others will flie in their Makers face and tear their Saviours Name in pieces with oaths and execrations as being worse then any mad dog that flies in his Masters face that keeps him Who swear and curse even ouâ— of custome as currs bark yea they have so sworn away all grace thar they count it a grace to swear and being reproved for swearing they will swear that they swore not Or perhaps they are covetous Cormorants greedy Gripers miserly Muck-worms all whose reaches are at riches Who make gold their god and commodity the stern of their consciences Who hold every thing lawful if it be gainful Who prefer a little base peâ—f before God and their own salvations and who being faâ—ted with Gods blessings do spurn at his precepts Who like men sleeping in a boat are carried down the stream of this World until they arrive at their graves-end Death without once waking to bethink themselves whether they are a going to Heaveu or Hell Or Ignorant and Formal Hypocrites who do as they see others do without either conscience of sin or guidance of reason Who do what is morally good more for fear of the Law then for love of the Gospel Who fear the Magistrate more then they fear God or the Divel regard more the blasts of men's breath then the fire of God's wrath will tremble more at â—â—e thought of a Bayliffe or a Prison then of Satan or Hell and everlasting perdition Who will say they love God and Christ yet hate all that any way resemble him are slint unto God wax to Satan have their ears alwaies open to the Tempter shut to their Maker and Redeemer will chuse rather to disobey God then displease great Ones fear more the Worlds scorns then His anger and rather then abridge themselves of their pleasure will incur the displeasure of God Who will do what God forbids yet confidently hope to escape what He threatens Who will do the Divels works onely and yet look for Christs wages expect that Heaven will meet them at their last hour when all their life long they have galloped in the beaten Road towards Hell Who expect to have Christ their Redeemer and Advocate when their consciences tell them that they seldom remember him but to blaspheme him and more often name him in their Oaths and Curses then in their Praiers Who will persecute Honest and Orthodox Christians and say they mean base and dissâ—â—bling Hypocrites Who think they do God service in killing his servants Joh. 10.2 Who will boast of a strong faith and yet fall short of the Divels in believing Jam. 2.19 Who turn the grace of God into wantonness as if a condemned person should head his Drum of Rebellion with his Pardon resolving to be evil because God is good Who will not believe what is written till they feel what is written and whom nothing will confute but fire and brimstone Who think their villainy is unseen because it is unpunished and therefore live like beasts because they think they shall die like beasts Considering the swarms Legions Millions of these I say and many the like which I cannot stand to repeat As also in reference to Levit. 19.17 Isa. 58.1 And out of compassion to their pretious souls there are above twenty several Books purposely composed wherein are proper remedies of
most dreadful part of the curse lies upon them in spirituals there being few of Chams posterity in any age of the world that have ever been taken into the Church Wherefore take heed of mocking or scossing at Religion or the Religious For as the Serpents hissing sufficiently betrayes his malice so that viz. scoffing alone infallibly declares you to be the Serpents seed and children of the Devill Act 13.10 Gen. 3.15 Nor is it you but the Devill in and by you as you may see by Gen. 3.1 to 6. Eph. 2.2 Matth. 16.22 23. 1 King 22.22 23. Iohn 13.2 Acts 5.3 And none but a Cain or a devill in condition will envy because his owne works are evill and his brothers good 1 Iohn 3.12 1 Pet. 4.4 But they will not believe that are ordained to perish Prov. 29.1 1 Sam. 2.25 And as good admonish a bruit beast as a scorner Prov. 12.1 13.1 19 29. For scorners are upon the very Lukeâ—6 â—6 31 2 Chr. 25.16 As how dreadfully does St. Peter speak of such his words are these and the like They walke after the flesh in the lust of uncleanness they are presumptuous and self-willed they speak evill of the things which they understand not they sport themselves in their owne deceivings they are reserved uuto the day of Iudgement to be punished yea saith the Apostle as naturall bruit beasts they are made to be taken and destroyed mark that they are made to be taken and destroy'd and shall utterly perish in their own corruption and shall receive the reward of unrighteousness to whom the blacknesse of darkness is reserved for ever 2 Pet. 2.9 to the end O wofull and dolefull condition Beware then of scoffing at goodness for there cannot be a greater argument of a soul soule given up to Satan the God of this world 2 Tim. 2.26 Eph. 2.2 2 Cor. 4.4 And to prove you a Souldier belonging to that great Red Dragon that fighteth against Michael and his Angels Rev. 12. Who when his hands are bound casteth a flood of reproaches out of his mouth against the Church and the remnant of her seed which keep the Commandements of God and have the testimony of Iesus Christ ver 15 16 17. Because sentence against an evill worke is not executed speedily therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evill Though a sinner do evill an hundred times and his dayes be prolonged yet surely I know that it shall be well with them that feare God c. Eccles. 8.11 12. LONDON Printed by T. R. for Iames Crump Preparation to Conversion Or Faith's Harbinger In a rare Epistle writ by a Person of Quality before his death to his surviving Friends Shewing That Satan prevails most by deception of our Reason That the beauty of Holiness and true Wisdom is unseen to the World That ingrateful persons are as witless as wicked Why most men hear the Gospel year after year and are never the better With wholsom instruction to prevent destruction All richly fraught with choise and pithy Sentences Similitudes Examples Metaphors Rhetorical and pointed Expressions Which being thought by many worth the Transcribing at no small charge is now committed to the Press by R. Young of Roxwel in Essex Much Respected IF you ask Why I take this pains Turn to Levit. 19.17 Heb 3.13 and you have there both my answer and warrant for I do but supply with my pen what I was bound to perform with my tongue If for a President Take that of Photian who when a Friend of his would have cast himself away suffered him not saying I was made thy Friend to this purpose And he that loves not such a Friend hates himself If why I have been silent so long These are the only reasons Want of courage fear to displease and lest you should think me to have had more Zeal then Wit and more Religion then Discretion A case too common which makes me fear that what our Saviour says Mar. 8.38 Whosoever shall be ashamed of me c. will prove a dreadful Text to a great many For who almost does not make a very Idol of Discretion and more fear the censures of men then the displeasure of God Men owe God some good will but like those Rulers Ioh. 12.42 they dare not shew it They would please him yet so as they might not displease others nor themselves Never considering that he who bears with his Friends vices makes them his own Now in case you shall with those Gentiles Rom 10.20 receive more good by it then you desire admire the providence and free grace of God who will shew mercy to whom he will shew mercy Exod. 33 19. Rom. 9.15 That little which Croesus learnt of Solon saved his life And had Pilate taken that fair warning his wife gave him it might have saved his soul. Nor am I without hope to prevail with some of you since Nathan wrought more upon David by one private particular Admonition then all the Lectures of the Law could do for three â—arters of a year together However it were happy for millions were they so plainly dealt withall Wherefore be perswaded to hearken a while unto me as you would 〈…〉 will even refer the point to your selves to determine As let me propound your case in the person of another as the disguised Prophet dealt with Ahab 1 King 20. v. 39. to 43. Or as Christ dealt with the Priests Scribes and Elders Luke 20. v. 1 to 20. The case is this 2 ¶ God in great love sent Sampson to deliver the men of Iudah from the slavish thraldom of their enemies but they in requital binde him in whom all their hope of deliverance lay and deliver him up to those enemies that kept them under to the end they might slay him and still make slaves of them Iudg. 15. Again after this God sent unto their successors the Iews his onely Son to the end he might heal their diseases feed their bodies inlighten their mindes and save their souls And they in requiral of all hate revile scourge and crucifie him though in killing him they did their utmost to split or sink the onely ship that could save them Two rare and remarkable Examples Now tell me what you think of these blockish Iews Were they more wicked or witless or ingrateful I know you will answer me You cannot tell as the Priests Scribes and Elders did our Saviour when the conscience of their own guiltiness had stopt their mouths Luke 20.1 to 8. Or if you do make a satisfying answer it shall be like David's answer to Nathan's parable wherein he pronounced sentence of death against himself 2 Sam. 12.1 to 8. For it is your very Case if you had but eyes or the wit to see it I mean all you who any way misuse or are ingrateful to your Ministers whom God out of his infinite love hath sent to be your Deliverers from the grievous slavery and thraldom you are
in under Sin Satan and Hell I know you think your selves wise men and Christians good enough yea what but your high thoughts and good opinion of your selves hath brought you to become scorners of your Teachers and Instructors and more of their godly instruction As proud men are wont to admire their own actions but to abate the value and derogate from the esteem of others every whit as basely to vilifie other mens doings as they over-highly prise their own as Iulian observes Bnt consider it rightly and this alone could you be taxed with nothing but this not onely shews you to be foolish and frantick but so ingrateful and wicked withal as if your wickedness and unthankfulness did strive with Gods goodness for the victory as Absalom strove with David whether the Father should be more kinde to the son or the soâ—â— more unkinde to the Father As what can you alleadge for your selves or against your Pastors Are they any other to you then those three Messengers were to Lot that came to fetch him out of Sodom that he might not feel the fire and brimstone which followed Gen. 19. Or then the Angel was to Peter that opened the iron-gates loosed his bands brought him out of prison and delivered him from the thraldom of his enemies Acts 12. 3 ¶ What wrong do they do you They beg and dig they dig and beg as that good Vine-dresser did whose Mattock kept off the Masters Ax Luke â— 8 9. They beat their brains they spend their spirits pour out their prayers plot and contrive all they can to save your precious souls were you but willing to be saved They bring you the glad tidings of salvation would furnish and endow you with the spiritual invaluable and lasting riches of grace and glory They are content to waste themselves like a candle that they may give light unto and bring others to Heaven 1 Cor. 9.19 2 Cor. 12.15 And do you instead of honoring respecting and rewarding them hate traduce and persecute them This is not for want of ignorance For you shew just as much reason in it as if those blinde deaf diseased possessed distracted or dead persons spoken of in the Gospel should have railed upon our Saviour for offering to cure restore dispossess recover and raise them again And had not they great reason so to do For shame think upon it For did you know and rightly consider that you cannot be nourished unto eternal life but by the milk of the Word you would rather wish your bodies might be without souls then your Churches without Preachers You would not like so many Mules suck their milk and then kick them with your heels But this most plainly shews that you are so far from knowing the necessity and worth of the Word of life that you do not know you have souls which makes you as little care for them as you know them Otherwise how could you make such a mighty difference between your bodies and souls As had any of you but a leg or an arm putrified and corrupt you would even give money and think your selves beholding too to have them cut off Because it is the onely way and means to preserve the whole body And if so what love and thanks can be too much that is exprest to them who would would we give them leave pluck our Souls out of Satans clutches and bring us to eternal life Nor can he ever be thankfull to God who is not thankfull to the instrument or means by whom God does or would do him good Yea more That man I dare boldly affirm cannot possibly have any interest is Christs blood who is not forced with Admiration to say How beautifull are the feet of them that preach the Gospel of peace bring glad tidings of good things and publish salvation Rom. 10.15 Isa. 52.7 But to prove and cleer this see both Examples and Testimonies 4 ¶ First Examples The Galatians are said to have received them as Angels of God yea even as Christ Iesus and that to pleasure them they would if it had been possible have pluck'd out their own eyes and have given the same unto them Gal. 1.14 15. and thought it their duty to communicate unto them in all their goods Gal. 6.6 And likewise the Romans Rom. 15.27 Yea by the Apostles testimony we that are converted do owe even our own selves unto our spiritual Pastors Phil. 1.9 and the like of other Churches Insomuch that Luther speaking of the Primitive times and of Christians in general says that so soon as the Gospel took root in mens hearts the glad tidings of salvation by Christ was so sweet to them that in comparison hereof riches had 〈◊〉 relish And Acts. 〈…〉 and â— 34 35 〈…〉 same And indeed who ever knew what Conversion and Regeneration was who hath tasted of the powers of the world to come and enjoyed the joy of the Holy Ghost and that peace of conscience which passeth all understanding but would rather have their bodies want food and the Firmament want light then that their souls should want that light and spiritual food of the Gospel by which they are nourished and do live For far better be unborn then untaught as Alexander a meer Heathen could say That this is the one onely thing necessary and which Believers prize above all you may see by what holy David says of it Ps. 27.4 84.1 to 11. 119.103 One thing have I desired c. Oh how sweet is thy word unto me c. As turn but to the places and see how he expresseth himself for I may but touch upon things And the like of wise Solomon Pro. 8.10 True to you that are strangers to and utterly unacquainted with these soul-ravishing enjoyments these things will appear impossible as the like did to Nicodemus touching Regeneration Ioh. 3.4 and to that multitude of Iews touching Stephens vision when he told them how he saw the heavens opened and Iesus standing at the right hand of God in glory Which they were so far from believing that it made their hearts brast for madness to gnash their teeth stop their ears cast him out of the city and stone him to death Acts 7.54 to 60. They could not possibly believe that he should see what was hid to every one of them But this I can assure you even you my friends beyond all exceptions That if ever the mask of prejudice be taken from before your sight or if your eyes shall be opened before you drop into Hell you will have other thoughts of these things and so of the Publishers of them and be clean of another minde yea you will loath what you now love and love what you now loath Yea I dare refer my self in this case to the very damned in hell For what else made Dives being in those torments desire Abraham that one might be sent unto his brethren from the dead to give them warning and to acquaint them with his success but
one did shew the least malignity towards him that person was branded for a notorious wicked man as Homer relates And to speak rightly we need say no more of a man then He is an Enemy to his faithfull Pastor that is enough to brand him Nor can there be a greater argument of his being of the brood of Cain Haman Eliah Michol Doeg Shimei Ahab Rabshekah Tobiah Saâ—ballat Pashur Zedekiah Elymus Herodias and their fellows then the hatred of good Ministers For such men would do the same to Christ himself were he their Minister There was never any so innocent or vertuous to whom such Belialists took not exceptions because they are as deeply in love with vice as others are with vertue Yea whom all men commend you have some Thersites will take occasion to blast I 'll give you an ear-mark to know such a one by whereas one of the modester sort will alledge his Minister is a Presbyterian or an Independent or a Royalist this overgrown Toad will object that he is a Roundhead the meaning whereof is a Religious Godly Conscientious man 7 ¶ But perhaps this is not your case Suppose it be not yet what I have before convicted you of is sufficient to prove you a souldier belonging to that great Red Dragon that fighteth against Michael and his Angels Rev. 12. Who when his hands are bound casteth a flood of reproaches out of his mouth against the Church and the remnant of her seâ—d which keep the commands of God and have the testimonies of Iesus Christ v. 15 16 17. But you are not at all versed in Scripture therefore we 'll come to Reason and therein answer me a few questions Do you do by the Ministers as you ought or as you would be done by Would you when you have discharged your duty and conscience to the utmost of your endeavour have ill constructions made of your best actions and intentions be rewarded with the greatest evil for the greatest good and the greatest hatred for the most superlative love For love to the soul is the very soul of love Is this an evidence that you have them in singular respect for their works sake Is this to receive them as an Angel of God yea as Christ Iesus Is this to make them partakers of all your goods and to be willing to pluck out your own eyes and to give them if need were as God commands and as the godly have been willing to do I think not Indeed if you may be your own Judges you will during the time of this your prejudice think all but little or nothing But if the Word of God be consulted with it will be found persecution in the highest degree Like that of Ahab and Iesabel to Elias or that of Herod and Herodias to Iohn Baptist or that of the Iews Scribes and Phariseâ—â— against our Saviour for they did but express their utmost spighâ— to Gods Messengers that came to save them and so do you And this is a sure rule He that now under the Gospel shews a spightfull and a malicious minde to a godly zealous Minister if he had lived in Christs dayes he would have been ready to have driven the first nail into his body and rather have been for Barrabas then Iesus And God measures what we do by what we would do whether in good or evil Thoughts and Desires in Gods account are good and evil works Neither does 〈◊〉 punish or reward any thing but the Will Again whereas you think not Tongue-taunts to be persecution 〈◊〉 shall one day if you go on hear it pronounced so in your Bill of Indictment Ishmael did but flout Isaac yet S. Paul saith he persecuted him Gal. 4.29 God calls the scorning of his servants by no better a name then persecution C ham did but scoff at Noah yet that scoff brought his fathers curse upon him and Gods upon that Even the serpents hissing betrays his malice Those two and forty little children though but children were devoured of wild Bears for only scoffing at the Prophets bald head 2 King 2.24 A small matter if Sensualists may be Judge But whatever you conceive of it let all even heart and tongue-persecution be as far from my soul as my soul from hell For assuredly God will one day laugh you to scorn for laughing his to scorn and at last despise you that have despised him in his Ambassadors 8 ¶ Again you think it nothing or no great matter to detain the Ministers maintenance But look narrowly into it and you shall find it to be theft sacriledge murder yea soul-murder and that in the highest degree For you rob the Minister of what is as due to him as any land of inheritance is to the owner You rob God of his Tythes offerings c. which he accounts most abominable as you may gather from the many complaints and threatnings which God throughout all the Old Testament utters touching it For which see only Mal. 3.8 9 10 11. 1.7 8 13 14. Hag. 1 2 chap. Hereby you make your selves guilty of murder First of murdering your Pastors body and whole family for if all should be of your mindes they should starve Secondly of your own and all the peoples souls as much as in you lies For how should your Pastor feed your souls if you feed not his body how should the lamp burn if you take away the holy oil that should maintain it and in case it burn not there will be but a dark house Men would have fire kept in the Sanctuary but allow no fewel they would have the lamp burn but without oil But how do they serve Christ themselves in so serving their Ministers To take away the Provante from the Army is to betray it to the Enemy And indeed if you might have your wills or if others were of your mind temper there should be no Preaching at all no souls saved all go to hell For to expect that Ministers should preach without maintenance yea good maintenance for to furnish themselves with Books only will cost more then a little is as if you should shut a Bird into a cage give her no meat and yet bid her sing It amazes me to think how unreasonable and base most men be They will bestow more upon their very Hair in a moneth or upon the Smoke of a needless Indian wanton Weed in a week then upon God and their souls in a whole year And were it not most just with God to take away our faithful Ministers from us when we so ill intreat them and so unworthily reward them yea since we love darkness more then light may not God justly leave us in the dark and bring upon us a famine of Preaching who would bring a famine upon the Preachers by purloining the maintenance of his Ministers It is but just with God to take away the lamp from that Nation which hath taken away the holy oil that should maintain it But it is a true
observation Sacrilege is the greatest theft yet of it men make the least conscienceâ— But lastly You make your selves not only guilty of persecution theft sacrilege of murdering bodies and souls of provoking God to send a famine of his Word and the like but you become by it guilty of high treason against God in thus using his Ambassadors and against Christ and all his members For besides that all the disgraces and wrongs that are done to Christs Ministers redound to him and he that â—raduceth or any way wrongs a Minister for the discharge of his place his envy strikes at the Image of God in him as a world of places prove So the very root or spring of this their spight and enmity against the Ministry is an inbred enmity and hatred against God himself As when Satan slew Iobs sons and servants his malice was against Iob Or as when Saul darted a spear Ionathan his spight was against David And accordingly God takes what is done to his messengers as done to himself as in that case of David sending his Ambassadors to the King of Ammon 2 Sam. 10.6 7. They have not cast thee away says God to Samuel but they have cast me away that I should not reign over them 1 Sam. 8.7 You are gathered together against the Lord and what is Aaron that ye murmure against him Numb 16.11 and the like Exod. 16.7 8. Luke 10 1â— Ioh. 15.23 24. Ioh. 7.7 He that despiseth you despiseth me 1 Sam. 17.45 Isa. 37.23 Saul Saul why persecutest thou me Acts 9.4 Rev. 16.9.11 Psal. 89.23 9 ¶ Which being so how does it behove you to look to your selves and bewail this sin this horrible and desperate sin Was there ever any that was stout against the Lord and prospered as Iob speaks Iob 9.4 When the Pitcher contends with the Rock straw with the fire it is easie to judge who will come by the worst And certainly if most men were not both blinde and mad they would more respect the Ministry For if I understand any thing of the Word of God or know what rectified reason is there is not a sin in the Nation that so hinders the blessings or pulls down the judgments of God upon us as does this very sin And yet it is not more provoking then it is a common sin How it will be answered to their Lord and master at the great day I tremble to think Can you answer it then with flashes of wit or carnal reasons as you do now I beseech you look to it Nor is our love or hatred to God any way better known then by our respect to and usage of his Ambassadors Lip-love is but lying love If you love me keep my commandments says our Saviour Ioh. 14.15 Wherefore let my counsel be acceptable Break off your sins by repentance kick no more against the pricks Refrain your selves from these men and let them alone lest ye be found even fighters against God Acts 5.38 39. Nor will it ever repent you if you come in Heaven that you were stopt in this your way to destruction Yea let the consideration of what you have already done make you sink down with shame and tremble for astonishment to think that notwithstanding you have been so many years in arms against your Maker and Redeemer and most spightfully and maliciously persecuted his Ambassadors that came to rescue you from the subtlery and slavery of Satan that bloody devouring Dragon and vowed enemy of all mankinde yet God hath no taken the advantage of casting you into Hell but of his never enough admired mercy hath spared you to this hour whereas he might most justly have prevented all in sending you body and soul into everlasting torments when you were but a span long For know this that we need no more to condemn us then what we brought into the world with us Yea we were condemned so soon as conceived And that you and I are not at this present frying in Hell-flames never to be freed no reason can be alâ—â—adged but O the depth Wherefore take heed in time and as you tender the good of your own souls defer not a minute but study and bestir your selves how you may make your peace with God Yea do it while the yerning bowels the bleeding wounds and compassionate arms of Iesus Christ lie open to receive you whiles ye have health and life and means and time to repent and make your peace with God As you tender I say the everlasting happiness and welfare of your almost lost and drowned souls As you expect or hope for grace or mercy for joy and comfort for heaven and salvation for endless bliss and glory at the last As you shall escape the direfull wrath of God the bitter doom and sentence of Christ the never dying sting and worm of conscience the tormenting and soul-scorching flames of Hell and everlasting separation from Gods blissfull presence abjure and utterly renounce this accursed sin Oh get an interest in Christ For till we become members of his mystical body by regeneration and a lively faith we even the bâ—st of us are as Traitors condemned to suffer eternal torments in Hell-fire â—eing onely reprieved for a time O bless God all the dayes you live yea to eternity that the gate of mercy yet stands open 10 ¶ But withal take hold of the opportunity before the Draw-briâ—ge be taken up lest you never have the like again Do not dally with God and your own souls for if this warning be slighted never look for the like For warning such a warning not taking is a certain presage of destruction Pro. 29.1 1.24 25 26. The sons of Eli would not hearken unâ—â— nor obey the voice of their Father why because saith the Text the Lord was determined to destroy them 1 Sam. 2.25 I know saith the Prophet to Amaziah the Lord hath determined to destroy thee because thou hast done this and hast not obeyed my counsel 2 Chron. 25.16 20. Whereas contrarily the Ninevites by hearkning to Ionah and those very murtherers of the Lord of life by listening to Peter were converted and saved Acts 2.36 37. O take heed of preferring your own carnal reason before the written were of God And that what is spoken of Babel may not be verified in you We would have cured him but he would not be cured lest you be given to destruction as she was What sayes our Saviour This is the condemnation noâ— like this that light is come into the world and men love darkness rather thâ—â— light because their deeds were evil Iohn 3.19 20. Indeed if you will rather beleeve Satan or his sollicitor the Flesh or be led by the perswasions of your own flattering heart which is deceitfull above all things and most desperately evil Ier. 17.9 No marvel you should be deaf to all hath been said 〈◊〉 thinking your selves already good enough and then farwel all hope of being better For the opinion of mens being wise and
heaven earth nor hell could have yeelded any satisfactory thing besides Christ that could have satisfied Gods justice and merited heaven for us then O then The eternall God would dye viz. so far as was possible or necessary that we might not dye eternally Iohn 3.16 A mercy bestowed and a way found out that may astonish all the sons of men o◠〈…〉 were his enemies mortally hating him and to our utmost fighting against him and taking part with his only enemies Sin and Satan as now you doe not having the least thought or desire of reconcilement but a perverse and obstinate will to resist all means tending thereunto 3. § O my brethren bethink your selves It is his maintenance we take and live on The air we breath the earth we tread on the fire that warms us the water that cools and cleanseth us the cloaths that cover us the food that does nourish us the delights that cheer us the beasts that serve us the Angels that attend us even all are his That we are not at this present in hell there to fry in flames never to be freed That we have the free offer of grace here and everlasting glory in heaven hereafter we are only beholding to him And shall we deny this Lord that hath bought us shall we most spightfully and maliciously fight on Satans side against him with all our might and that against knowledge and conscience I wish you would a little think of it 4. § For favours bestowed and deliverances from danger bind to gratitude or else the more bonds of duty the more plagues for neglect The contribution of blessings requires retribution of thanks or will bring distribution of judgments And certainly if a friend had given us but a thousand part of what God hath we should heartily love him all our lives and think no thanks sufficient And in reason Hath God done so much for us and shall we denye him any thing he requireth of us though it were our lives yea our souls much more our sins most of all this sottish and damnable sin in which there is neither profit nor pleasure nor credit nor any thing else to provoke or intice us unto it as in other sins for all you can expect by it is the suspicion of common Lyers by being common Sweaâ—ers Or that you shall vex others and they shal hate you Whereas if we could give Christ our Bodyes and Souls they should be saved by it but he were never the better for them Yea swearing and cursing are sins from which of all other sins we have the most power to abstain For were you forced to pay three shillings four pence for every oath and curse you utter as the Law enjoins or if you were sure to have your tongue cut out which is too light a punishment for this sin â— damnation being the due penalty thereof as the Apostle sets it down Iames 5.12 you both could and would leave it which alone makes it altogether inexcusable And this know that the easier the thing commanded is the greater guilt in the breach of it and the lighter the injuncâ—ion the heavier the transgression as Austin speaks and Adams eating the forbidden fruit sufficiently proves So that it is evident you love this sin meerly because it is a great sin and blaspheme out of meer malice to and contempt of God which is most fearfull and as a man would think should make it unpardonable I am sure the Psalmist hath a terrible word for all such if they would take notice of it Let them be confounded that transgresse without a cause Psal. 25.3 And no marvell that this fearfull imprecation should fall from the Prophetâ— mouth for that man is bottomlesly ill who loves vice meerly because 〈…〉 digious damnable wretch who rather then not die will anger God on set purpose Wherefore looke to it and think of it you cursing and cursed Swearers You swear away your salvation curse away your blessing Howling and Cursing shall be your chief ease in Hell to whom blasphemy was an especiall recreation on Earth 5. § Argue with all the world and they will conclude there is no vice like ingratitude And meer ingratitude returns nothing for good but you return evill yea the greatest and most malicious evill for the greatest and most admired love It was horrible ingratitude for the Iewes to scourge and crucifie Christ who did them good every way for he healed their diseases fed their bodies inlightned their mindes of God became Man and lived miserably among them many years that he might save their souls though in killing him they did their utmost to sinke the only ship that could save them but you are more ingratefull to God and Christ then they were or can be exprest by the best Oratour alive For which read more in a Treatise intituled Gods goodnesse and Englands unthankfulnesse from Chapter 4. to Chapter 7. 6. § O that you would but consider that the Lord Iehovah who is a God great and terrible of most glorious majesty and infinite purity hears and beholds you in all places and in every thing you think speak or do who is a just Judge and will not let this cursed sin go unpunished then would you keep a narrower watch over your thoughts then any other can do over your actions yea you would assoon stab a dagger to your hearts as let such oaths and execrations drop from your mouths whereas now you swear and curse as if he that made the ear could not hear or as if he were neither to be feared nor cared for who for sin cast the Angels out of Heaven Adam out of Paradise drowned the old world râ—â—â—ed down fire and brimstone upon Sodome commanded the earth to open her mouth and swallow down quick Corah and his companie he who smote Egypt with so many plagues overthrew Pharaoh and his host in the Red sea destroyed great and mighty Kings giving their land for an inheritance to his people and can as easily with a word of his mouth strike you dead while you are blaspheming him and cast you body and soul into Hell for your odious unthankfulnesse yea it is a mercie beyond expression that he hath spared you so long Consider of it I beseech you lest you swear away your part in that bloud which must save you if ever you be saved yea take heed lest you be plagued with a witnesse and that both here and hereafter for God who cannot lie hath threatned that his curse shall never depart from the house of the Swearer as it is Zach. 5.1 to 5. And I doubt not but you are already cursed though you know it not That either he hath cursed you in your bodie by sending some foul disease or in your estate by suddainly consuming iâ— or in your name by blemishing and blasting it or in your seed by not prospering it or in your minde by darkning it or in your heart by hardning it or in your conscience by
Cor. 4.12 4. § But this is not one half of thine offence For whom doest thou curse Alas the Creatures that displease thee are but Instruments thy sin is the cause and God the author 2 Sam. 16.11 Psal. 39.9 10. Gen. 45.8 Ioh 1.21 from whom thou hast deserved it and ten thousand times a greater crosse but in stead of looking up from the stone to the hand which threw it or from the effect to the cause as Gods people doe thou like a mastiff â—og settest upon the stone or weapon that hurts thee But in this case Who are you angry withall Does your horse the dice the rain or any other creature displease you Alas they are but servants and if their Master bid smite they must not forbear they may say truly what Rabshekeh usurped Isa. 36.10 Are we come without the Lord and all that hear thee may say as the Prophet did to Senacherib 2 King 19.22 Whom hast thou blasphemed and against whom hast thou exalted thy self even against the Holy One of Israel 5. § Besides why dost thou curse thine enemie if he be so but because thou canst not be suffered to kill him For in heart and Gods account thou art a murtherer in wishing him the pox plague or that he were hanged or damned Nor will it be any rare thing at the day of judgment for cursers to be indicted of murther For like Shimei and Goliah to David thou wouldst kill him if thou durst thou doest kill him so far as thou canst I would be loath to trust his hands that bans me with his tongue Had David been at the mercie of either Shimei or Goliah and not too strong for them he had then breathed his last Nor is it commonly any sin committed or just offence given thee that thou cursest Who could have lesse deserved those curses and stones from Shimei then David Yea did not that head deserve to be tonguelesse that body to be headlesse that so undeservedly cursed such an Innocent as after it fell out For the curses and stones which Shimei threw at David rebounted upon Shimei and split his heart yea and at last knockâ— out his brains and the like of Goliahs curses which is also thy very case For 〈…〉 Curser meant it Prov. 26.2 yea though thou cursest yet God will blesse Psal. 109.28 â—ut thy curses shall be sure to rebound back into thine own brest Psal. 7.14 15 16 Prov. 14.30 Cursing mouths are like ill made Piâ—â—eâ— which while men discharge at others recoil in splinters on their own faces Their words and wishes be but whirlwinds which being breathen forth return again to the same place As hear how the Holy Ghost delivers it Psal. 109. As he loved cursing so shall it come unto him and as he loved not blessing so shall it be far from him As he cloathed himself with cursing like a garment so shall it come unto his bowels like water and like oil into his bones let it be unto him as a garment to cover him and for a girdle wherewith he shall always be girded v. 17 18 19. Hear this all ye whose tongnes run so fast on the Devils errand you loved cursing you shall have it both upon you about you and in you and that everlastingly if you persevere and go on for Christ himself at the last day even he which came to save the world shall say unto all such Depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the Devill and his Angels Mat. 25.41 Where they shall do nothing but curse for evermore for they no farther apprehending the goodnesse mercie and bounty of God then by the sense of their own torments the effects of his justice shall hate him and hating him they shall curâ—e him Rev. 16.11 They suffer and they blaspheme there is in them a furious malice against him being cursed of him they re-curse him they curse him for making them curse him for condemning them curse him because being adjudged to death they can never find death they curse his punishments because they are so unsufferable curse his mercies because they may never taste them curse the bloud of Christ shed on the Crosse because it hath satisfied for millions and done their unbeleeving souls no good curse the Angels and Saints in heaven because they see them in joy and themselves in torment Cursings shall be their sins and their chief ease Blasphemies their prayers Lacrymae their notes Lamentation all their harmony these shall be their evening songs their morning songs their mourning songs for ever and ever And indeed who shall go to Hell if Cursers should be left out Wherefore let all those learn to blesse that look to be heirs of the blessing 7. § But to be in Hell and there continue everlastingly in a bed of quenchlesse flames is not all For this is the portion even of Negative and vicelesse Christians if they be not vertuous Of such as do not swear exexcept they fear an oath That abound in good duties if they do them not out of faith and because God commands them that he may be glorified and others edified thereby Whereas thou doest supererogate of Satan in damning many souls besides thine own Thou hast had a double portion of sin to other men here and therefore must have a double portion of torment to them hereafter The number and measure of thy torments shall be according to the multitude and magnitude of thine offences Rev. 20.12 13. 22.12 Luk. 12.47 Mat. 10.15 Rom. 2.5 6. And those offences if I could stand to aggravate them by their severall circumstances would appear 〈…〉 With thy swearing and cursing thou doest not only wound thine own soul worse then the Baalites wounded their own bodies for thou wilfully muâ—therest thine own soul and that without any inducement as hath been proved But thou art so pernicious that this is the least part of thy mischief for thou drawest vengeance upon thousands by thy infectious and damnable example as how can it be otherwise Thou doest not only infect thy companions but almost all the heaâ— or come near thee Yea little children in the streets have learnt of thee to rap out oaths and belch out curses and scoffs almost as frequently as thy self and through thy accustomary swearing learned to speak English and Oaths together and so to blaspheme God almost so soon as he hath made them And not only so but thy example infects others and they spread it abroad to more like a malicious man sick of the plague that runs into the throng to disperse his infection whose mischief but-weighs all penalty It is like the setting a mans owne house on fire it burnes many of his neighbours houses and he shall answer for all the spoil So that the infection of sin is much worse then the act 8 § Nor wilt thou cease to sin when thou shalt cease to live but thy wickednesse will continue longer then thy life For as if we sow good workâ—
cause the Earth to swallow down a third quick while they are blaspheming him they would be as far from beleeving as they were before as the examples of the old world the Sodomites Pharaoh Balaam Ahab Belshazzar Malchus and those great Clerks the Scribes and Pharisees together with thousands of the Iews sufficiently manifest Yea it is easier for a man possest with many Devils to be dispossest to raise one from the dead or to turn a stone into flesh in which God should meet with no opposition then perswade an habituated Swearer to beleeve these ensuing prâ—â—pts predictions testimonies of the Gospell or any other saving truth Mat. 5.20 12.36 25 30 to 46. 2 Thess. 1.7 8 9. 2.12 Heb. 12.14 29. Rev. 20.12 to the end Deut. 29.19 20. Prov. 1.24 to 33â— 14. § Well may they beleeve what the World the Flesh and the Devil suggests unto them As Satan that he may make smooth their way to perdition will perswade the most impudent and insolent sinners Drunkards Adulterers Blasphemers Sabbath-breakers Bloodthirsty Murtherers Persecuâ—ters of the Godly and contemners of Religion that they may take liberty to continue their sensuall lusts by a testimony of â—cripture and apply Christs passion 〈…〉 head his drum of Rebellion with his pardon they live as if the Gospell werâ— quite contrary to the rule of the Law or as if God were neither to 〈◊〉 feared not cared for Hence they exercise their saucie wits in prophâ—â—â— scoffs at Religion and disgrace that bloud whereof hereafter they would givâ— a thousand worlds for one drop hence they tear heaven with their blasphemieâ— and bandie the dreadfull name of God in their impure and polluted mouths by their bloody oaths and execrations hence they are so witlesse graceâ—lesse and shamelesse as to swear and curse even as dogs bark Yea the have so sworn away all grace that they count it a grace to swear and at so far from beleeving what God threatens in his Word against sin anâ— what is affirmed of his justice and severity in punishing all wilfull and imâ—penitent sinners with eternall destruction of body and soul that they presâ—sume to have part in that merit which in every part they have so abused to be purged by that bloud which now they take all occasions to disgrace to be saved by the same wounds and bloud which they swear by and so often swear away to have Christ an Advocate for them in the next life wheâ— they are Advocates against Christ in this that heaven will meet them aâ— their last hour when all their life long they have galloped in the bearer rode toward hell And that though they live like swine all their life long yet one cry for mercy at the last gasp shall transform them into Saints Anâ— this is the strong faith they are so apt to boast of viz. presumption not confiâ—dence Or rather Hope frighted out of its wits For not withstanding al this in beleeving the Scriptures they fall short of the Devils themselves For the Devils doe really beleeve that God is no lesse true and just then he â—word â— mercifull as his Word declares him to be and thereupon they tremble a S. Iames hath it Iames 2.19 whereas these men beleeve not a word thaâ— God speaks so as to be bettered by it 15. § And no marvail for their wont hath been to beleeve Satan raâ—ther then God as did our first parents Gen. 3. Therefore now afteâ— they have rejected all means of grace when they are so crusted in their vilâ—lanie that custome is become a second or new nature God that he may puâ—nish their hardnesse and excesse in sin with further obduration not onlâ— delivers them up to Satan the God of this world who so blindes their mindes and deludes their understandings that the light of the glorious Gospell of Chrisâ— shall not shine unto them 2 Cor. 4.3 4. Eph. 2.2 2 Thess. 2.9 But he giveâ— them up even to a reprobate judgment to the hardnesse of their hearts and tâ— walk in their owne connsels Psal. 81.11.12 Rom. 1.21 to 32. And betteâ— be given up to Satan as the incestuous Corinthian was then thus to be given up For he was thereby converted and saved as God used the matter making the Scorpion a medicine against the sting of the Scorpion the Horseleecâ— a means to abate the vicious and superfluous bloud so ordering Satans crafâ— and malice to ends which himself intended not Whereas these are given over as a desperate Patient is given over by hiâ— Physitian when there is no hope of his recovery As thus Because they wilâ— not receive the truth in love that they mights be saved for this cause God give 〈…〉 damned who beleeve not the truth but take pleasure in unrighteousnesse they are the very words of the holy Ghost 2 Thess. 2.10 11 12. If any would see more touching to wofull condition of a deluded worldling and how Satan guls wicked men with a world of misprisions that he may the better cheat them of their souls Let them read The Drunkards Character and The Cure of Misprision for in this I study all possible brevity being loath either to surfeit or cloy the Swearer who is commonly short breath'd in well-doing and lâ—st adding more should hinder him from hearing this for Satan and his corrupt heart will not condescend he shall hold out to hear his beloved sin so-spoken against MEMB. 5. 1. § Only I will insert a few notions aphorisms or conclusions touching the former point of Gods forbearing to punish the most stagitious sinners when they so horribly provoke him together with some pregnant examples of some that he hath executed Martiall Law upon even in this life Cornelius Gallus not to mention many nor any that every Author sets down dyed in the very act of his filthinesse as Plutarch well notes Nitingall Parson of Crondall in Kent was struck dead in the Pulpit as he was belching out his spleen against religion and zealous professors of the Gospel It was the usual imprecation of Henry Earl of Schuartzbourg Let me be drowned in a Iakes if it be not so and such was his end You may remember one Lieutenant of the Tower was hanged it had wont to be his usuall imprecation as he confessed at his death Earl Godwin wishing at the Kings Table that the bread he eat might choke him if he were guilty of Alphreds death whom he had before slain was presently choked and fell down dead Yea his lands also sunk into the Sea and are called Godwins sands where thousands since have made shipwrack It was usuall with Iohn Peter mentioned in the book of Martyres to say if it be not true I pray God I may rot ere I dye and God saying Amen to it he rotted away indeed A Serving-man in Lincoln-shire for every trifle used to swear Gods precious bloud and would not be warned by his friends to leave it insomuch that hearing the bell tole in the very
as safe as if they were in Abrahams bosom Their Adamantine hearts will neither yield to the fire nor to the hammer admit of no impression yea let them hear of never so many judgments they tremble and relent no more then the seats they sit on or the stones they tread on Even the declaration of sins denunciation of judgements description of torments and the like no more stir them then a tale moves one in a dream their supine stupidity is no more capable of excitation then the Sea Rocks are of motion or the Billowes of compassion which would make one even tremble to think of it CHAP. II. § 1. BUt what is the reason why men make no more use of these Predictions of this warning but that as neer as can be computed one of two are lascivious or voluptuous two of three drunkards â—n Gods account nine of ten cruel unjust persons nineteen of twenty swearers twenty nine of thirty Athiests thirty nine of forty ignorant wretches forty nine of fifty covetous ninety nine of an hundred open or secret enemies to the power of Religion and contemners of holinesse For certainly what God in these three particulars hath revealed in his Word cannot be unknown to any among us that hate not the light for every house almost hath a Bible and Christ hath continued his Gospel amongst us now neer upon an hundred years with such supply of able Ministers that no Nation under Heaven may compare with us § 2. I might give you many reasons of this as that they were born stark dead in sin and they thank God they are no changelings that they are as good as their Fore-fathers or those among whom they live and they neither desire to be better nor wiser yea it were a ridiculous singularity so to be That the custome of sin hath brawned their hearts and blinded their minds That they do as Satan their God 2 Cor. 4.4 and Father Ioh. â— 44 and King or Prince Eph. 2.2 would have them to do That they will either not hear the Word for I think I may say that one half of the men and women in the Kingdome come not once a year within the Church-doors I mean the poorer sort that do not know they have soules It were good they were compelled to hear the Word preached for the wicked like sullen children would not forsake their play for their meat but for the Rod of Correction And many Saints in heaven might now confess that they had not known God but for the Laws First compulsory means brought them to the feast whereof once tasting they would never leave it Compel them to come in c. Luk 14.23 Or if they do hear the Word and understand it in some measure they will not apply it to themselves That they will not receive the truth in love that they might be saved are therefore given over to strong delusions to believe lies That they will not by any means that Christ can use understand be converted and saved therefore they shall not understand nor be converted nor saved Isai. 6.9 10. Matth. 13.15 That they harden their own hearts whereupon their hearts are more hardned That because they will not regard nor retein God in their thoughts God gives them over to a reprobate minde Rom. 1.28 That because they will not take the Spirits counsel the Spirit gives them up to walk in their own counsels Ier. 9.14 That they wil believe Satan rather then God therefore God delivers them up to Satan so to be deluded that the light of the glorious Gospel shall not shine unto them 2 Cor. 4.3 4. Eph. 2.2 2 Thes. 2.9 10. 1 Tim. 4.7 That they are not as they ought and as it was in the Primitive times cast out of the Church and all Christian society by excommunication as dirt into the street 1 Cor. 5.4 5. 1 Tim. 1.20 Rom. 16.17 18. 2 Thes. 3.6 1 Tim. 6.5 2 Tim. 3.5 That they do as their flattering False Prophets teach them That they think they have as good hearts as the best and therefore follow that deceitful guide That they are not verâ—t in the Scriptures at least they understand not the spirituality of the Word nor have they the Spirit to convince them of sin But I have largely handled these â—pon other occasions wherefore I will passe them and onely give you this one and I pray minde it § 3. Wicked men and such are all natural and unregenerate persons whether loose Libertines or rich worldlings or civil Iusticiaries or formal hypocrites or profound humanists or cunning Politicians are so blockish and void of spiritual understanding that they will not believe what is written till they feel what is written nothing will fully confute them but fire brimstone Sin shuts their eyes and only punishment can open them Nor will they once think of Heaven till with that rich man they are tormented in the flames of hell but even that rich man that had so little care of his own soul during life when he was in hell-torments took care for his Brethrens not out of charity but because as he had by his perswasion ill example bin the occasion of their greater sin so they by continuing in those sins should be the occasion of his more grievous torment But had he bin so wise as to have believed Moses the Prophets report of hell he needed never to have come into it The common case of all that come there They will not believe what Moses the Prophets Christ and his Apostles tell them touching the truth justice and severity of God in punishing sin with eternal destruction of body and soul and the necessity of obeying his Precepts until they shall hear Christ say unto them Depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels Mat. 25.41 § 4. And indeed for want of this fore-wit the wisest worldlings as Balaam and Iudas and the rich man in the Gospel and the Scribes and Pharisees and all Atheists are in Scripture-language stiled fools and the wisdome of the world called foolishnesse twelve times in one Chapter Read 1 Cor. 1. and Chap. 2. Nor can there be so sure a signe to distinguish between a wise man and a fool A wise man saith Bernard fore-sees the torments of hell and avoideth them but a fool goeth on merrily until he feeleth them and then sayes I had not thought True many wicked men are taken to be wise and in some sense are so they have enlightened heads and fluent tongues as had Balaam Iudas and Paul before his conversion and the Scribes and Pharisees but their hearts remain dark and foolish as is plain by Rom. 1.21 22. Ioh. 3.10 Whence even the wisest of them are called by our Saviour fools and blinde Matth. 23.16 17 19 24 26. and 27.3 4 5. 2 Pet. 2.16 And indeed what is that wisdome worth which nothing profits the owner of it either touching vertue or
happinesse So that you may take this for a rule They that have but a shew of holinesse have but a shew of wisdome § 5. Men of the world believe the things of the world they believe what they see and feel and know they believe the Lawes of the Land that there are places and kindes of punishment here below and that they have bodies to suffer temporal smart if they transgresse and this makes them abstain from murther felonie and the like but they believe not things invisible and to come for if they did they would as well yea much more fear him that hath power to cast both body and soul into hell as they do the Temporall Magistrate that hath onely power to kill the body they would think it a very hard bargain to win the whole world and lose their own souls But if visible powers were not more feared then the invisible God and the Halter more then Hell natural men being like beasts that are more sensible of the flash of powder then of the bullet the world would be over-run without rage Or § 6. Secondly they believe the Devil and the Flesh that prophesie prosperity to sin yea life and salvation as the Pope promised the Powder-Traitors for though men do the Devils works yet they look for Christs wages and there is scarce a man on earth but he thinks to go to heaven yea the Devil and sin so infatuate and befor many that they can even apply Christs passion as a warrant for their licentiousnesse and take his Death as a license to sin his Crosse as a Letters Pattent to do mischief So turning the grace of God into wantonnesse As if a condemned person should head his Drum of Rebellion with his Pardon resolving therefore to be evill because he is good which is to sin with an high hand or with a witnesse and to make themselves uncapable of forgiveneesse And yet wretched and senseless men they presume to have part in that merit which in every part they have so abused to be purged by that blood which now they take all occasions to disgrace to be saved by the same wounds which they swear by and so often swear away to have Christ an Advocate for them in the next life when they are Advocates against Christ in this And that Heaven will meet them at their last hour when all their life long they have galloped in the beaten road towards Hell § 7. The Devil makes large promises to his but ever disappoints them of their hopes as he did our first Parents You shall die saith God You shall not die at all saith Satan Yea you shall be as Gods saith he when his drift was to make them Devils Yet the Devil was believed when God could not be credited Diabolus mentitur ut fallat vitam pollicetur ut perimat saith Cyprian And ever since our first parents gave more credit to Satan then their Maker Our hearts naturally have been flint unto God wax to Satan so that Satan may in a manner triumph over Christ and say I have more servants then Christ they do more for me then his servants do for him and yet I never died for them as Christ hath done for his I never promised them so great reward as Christ hath done to his c. § 8. Well may these men think they believe the Gospel as the Jews who persecuted Iesus and sought to slay him thought they believed Moses writings Ioh. 5.38 39 46 47. But it 's altogether impossible as Christ who knew their hearts better then themselves affirmes of them for certainly they would never speak as they speak think as they think do as they do if they thought their thoughts words and deeds should ever come to judgement Did men believe that neither Fornicators nor Idolaters nor Thieves nor Covetous nor Drunkards nor Swearers nor Railers nor the Fearfull nor Vnbelieving nor Murtherers nor Sorcerers nor Liars nor no unrighteous persons shall inherit the Kingdome of Heaven as the Scripture expresly speaks but shall have their part in the lake that burneth with fire and brimstone which is the second death They durst not continue in the practice of these sins without fear or remorse or care of amendment As for instance If sons-in-Law had believed their Father when he told them from God that the City should suddenly be destroyed with fire brimstone and that by flying they might escape it they would have obeyed his counsel Or if the old world had believed that God would indeed and in good earnest bring such a flood upon them as he threatened they would not have neglected the opportunity of entring into the Ark before it was shut and the windows of heaven opened much less would they have scoffed and flowted at Noah while he was a bulding it So if men did firmly believe what God speaks of â—ell it would keep them innocent make them officious they would need no intreaty to avoid it Men love themselves well enough to avoid a known pain yea there would be more fear and danger of their despair then of their security And the like of heaven if men but believed what fulness of joy and what pleasures are reserved at Gods right hand for evermore for them that love and serve him in sincerity Psal. 16.11 they would be more obedient upon earth CHAP. III. § 1. WHat believe the former Scriptures and nothing appear in mens lives in the whole Land almost but pride covetousness cruelty damnable Hypocrisie prophaning of the Sabbath cursed swearing and cursing abominable and worse then beast-like drunkenness adultery lying slandering persecuting contempt of Religion and all goodness grinding of faces like edged tools spilling of blood like water racking of Rents detension of Wages and workmens hire incredible cruelty to Servants inclosing of Commons ingrossing of Commodities griping exactions with straining the advantages of greatness unequal levies of legal payments spiteful suits biting usury bribery perjury partiality sacriledge simoniacal contracts and soul-murder scurrility and prophaneness cozening in bargains breaking of promises persidious underminings Luxury wantonness contempt of Gods Messengers neglect of his Ordinances violation of his days and the like as if these were fruits of faith not of Atheism rather § 2. Yea as if we had contracted with the Devil that we would abuse all Gods gifts so fast as they come his blessings make us proud his riches covetous his peace wanton his meats intemperate his mercy secure And all his benefits serve us but as weapons to rebel against him so that we turn his grace into wantonness and make a trade of sin yea it is our least ill to do evil for behold we speak for it joy in it boast of it tempt and inforce to it yea mock them that dislike it as if we would send challenges into heaven and make love to destruction § 3. And yet we are Christians forsooth I am even ashamed to think that men that rational men should be
in ill designes and ungracions courses to go on in sin uncontrouled for he that useth to do evil and speeds well seldome rests until he come to that evil from which there is no redemption Besides Forbearance is no acquittance the wickedness of the Old World is as abundant in the New World yet is not the World drowned with water But why because God hath ordained for it a deluge of fire The sins of Sodome are practised every where in our City and Kingdome yet do the committters escape fire and brimstone on earth because they are reserved to fire and brimstone in Hell Do not many persecute the Church as violently as Pharaoh with Chariots and Armies who yet escape drowning there is a reservation of a deeper and bottomless Sea for them divers murmur at the passages of Gods providence in these times of retribution and Reformation who are not stung with fiery Serpents as the Israelites because they are reserved to a fiery serpent in Hell Many yea the most that can come by them take Bribes like Gehazi without a Leprosie because of that eternal Leprosie which waits for them How many a deceitful Executor and Trustee sayes and swears with a little inversion of Ananias his lie I received but so much I disbursed so much yet are not stricken with death temporal because they are reserved to death eternal Have not many Monopolists with us done as bad as those Philippians Act. 16.16.19 who compounded with the Devil for a Pattent to bring them in gain and yet grow rich and prosper and leave a great deal of substance to their heires whose gain will be found losse when Satan shall seize upon their bodies and soules and hurry them to Hell And so of other Sinners for the like is appliable to the whole Nation except some few despised ones and he is a rare man that does not either mis-believe or grosly mislive that is not a worshipper of one of these three the lust of the flesh voluptuousness the lust of the eyes covetousness or the pride of life ambition which is all the Trinity the world worships But of all the rest let all envious Cains scoffing Ishmaels reviling Goliahs bloody-minded Hamans and Doegs cursing Shimeis railing Rabshake's flouting Tobiahs and Sanballats cruel Herods all the like God-â—aters that carry an aking tooth against every good man they know and will even hate one for his being holy though poor ignorant souls they know it not look for a whole volume of plagues in the next life though they escape in this if they repent not For it hell-fire shall be their portion that obey not the Gospel how can they look to escape that oppose it Or if at the great day men shall be bid Depart into everlasting torments for not feeding clothing visiting what shall become of those that maliciously scoffe at Religion and persecute Christ in his members which is the depth of sin For he that despiseth traduceth or any way wrongs one that believes in Christ especially one of his Ambassadors of the Ministery strikes at the Image of God in him by whose Spirit he both speakâ— and acts And God takes it as if it were done to himself for proof of both seâ— Psal. 44.22 74.4 10 18 22 23. 83.2 5 6. 89.50 51. 139.20 Prov. 19. â— Rom. 1.30 9.20 Matth. 10.22 25.45 â— Sam. 17.45 Isai. 37.4 22 23 28. 54.17 Acts 5.39 9.4 5. Iob 9.4 1 Thes. 4.8 Iohn 15.20 to 26. Numb 16.11 1 Sam. 8.7 Mark 9.42 Ier. 17.18 Psal. 79.12 2 Kings 2.24 O that my old acquaintance the Formal Hypocrite and my feigned friend the Civil Iusticiary and my well-meaning neighbour the Loose Libertine with millions more would but seriously consider these Scriptures and he warned by them before the Draw-bridge be taken up For if the bountifulness and long-suffering of God do not lead us to repentance it will increase our condemnation Besides God owes that man a grievous payment whom he suffers to run on so long unquestioned and his punishment shall be the greater when he comes to reckon with him for all his faults together CHAP. IV. § 1. BUt admit mens unbelief impenitency and prophanenesse in such glorious times of light and means of grace as ours is were not enough to provoke God to inflict this heavy grievous judgement upon them how well do they deserve this and much more for their horrible and abominable ingratitude to so good a God so gracious a Saviour and Redeemer that hath done and suffered or would do more for them then can either be expressed or conceived by any heart were it as deep as the Sea As mark well what I the meanest of a million shall but paint or draw ouâ— as it were with a cole of his unspeakable goodnesse to sinners I will according to my slender ability but give you a drop to taste out of that ocean Touching what God and Christ hath done for us In the first place he gave us our selves and all the creatures to be our servants yea he created us after his own Image in righteousnesse and holinesse and in perfect knowledg of the truth with a power to stand and for ever to continue in a most blessed and happy condition and this deserves all possible thankfulnesse but this was nothing in comparison for when we were in a sad condition when we had forfeited all this our selves when by sin we had turned that image of God into the image of Satan and wilfully plunged our souls and bodies into eternal torments when we were become his enemies mortally hating him and to our utmost fighting against him and taking part with his only enemies Sin and Satan not having the least thought or desire of reconcilement but a perverse and obstinate will to resist all means tending thereunto He did redeem us not onely without asking but even against our wills so making of us his cursed enemies servants of servants sons of sons heirs and coheirs with Christ Gal. 4.7 Here was a fathomless depth a wonder beyond all wonders § 2. But that we may the better consider what an alms or boon God gave us when he gave us his Son Observe that when neither heaven earth nor hell could have yielded any satisfactory thing besides Christ that could have satisfied Gods justice and merited heaven for us then O then God in his infinite wisdom and goodness did not onely finde out a way to satisfie his Justice and the Law but gave us his Son his only begotten Son his only beloved Son out of his bosome And his Son gave himself to die even the most shameful painful and cursed death of the Cross to redeem us That whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life Iohn 3.16 The very thought of which death before he came to it together with the weight and burthen of our sins put him into such an Agony in the Garden that it made him to
§ 6. Now the meditation of what God and Christ hath done for us should make us do what we are able for him again For did Christ all this for us and shall we do nothing for him for our selves like favours require like gratitude He that confers a benefit upon a grateful nature robs him of his liberty and self also and in one and the same act makes him a vassal and himself his master Wherefore if we have any ingenuity in us it will make us to direct all our thoughts speeches and actions to his glory as he hath directed our eternal salvation thereunto But to help and further you herein if you be willing so to do take these few directions First Let these things be never out of the mindes memories mouthes of those whom Christ hath done thus for O let us I say remember as we should never forget Si totum me debeo pro me facto quid jam reddam pro merefecto saith holy Bernard If I owed my whole self unto thee for giving me my selfe in my creation what have I left to pay for giving thy self for me to so cruel a death to procure my Redemption which was not so cheap as my creation Great was the benefit that thou wouldst create me of nothing but what tongue can sufficiently expresse the greatnesse of this grace that thou didst redeem me with so dear a price when I was worse then nothing We are full of thy goodnesse O let our hearts run over with thankfulnesse yea let so many of us as have either heart or brain in the next place say O Lord What is man that thou art so mindefull of hiâ— Psal. 8.4 And O man what is God that thou art so unmindful of him And then conclude with What shall I render unto thee ô Lord for all these thy benefits but love thee my Creator and Redeemeâ— and become a new creature I will serve thee ô Lord by the assistance of thy grace because thou hast given me my self but much more honour thee because thou hast given me thy Son Christ. § 7. Nor can any man in common reason meditate so unbottomed a love and not study and strive for an answerably thankful demeanure If a friend had given us but a thousand part of what God hath we should heartily love him all our lives and think no thanks sufficient What a price then should we set upon Iesus Christ who is the life of our lives and soul of our souls But thirdly this should at least make us part with our nearest dearest and sweetest darling sins to serve him in righteousness and holiness every day every hour all the dayes of our lives Even every sin for what sin should be so dear to us as Gods onely Son was to him Do we then for Gods sake not spare our dearest sin when God for our sakes did not spare his dearest Son Yea what a brutish and barbarous unthankfulness and shame were it that God should part with his Son and his Son with his own precious blood for us and we not part with our sinful lusts and delights for him § 8. Fourthly Hath Christ done all this for us his servants so much and so many wayes obliged unto him let us do what we are able for him again 1 Let us be zealous for his glory and take his part when we see or hear him dishonoured Nor can there be any love where there is no zeal saith Augustine Well-born Children are touched to the quick with the injuries of their Parents And it is a base vile and unjust ingratitude in those men that can endure the disgrace of them under whose shelter they live 2 Let us seek to draw others after us from Satan to Him 3 Do we all we can to promote his worship and service 4 Take all good occasions to publish to others how good God is and what he hath done for us 5 Let us wholly ascribe all the good we have or do to free grace and give him the glory of his gifts imploying them to our masters best advantage 6 Let us that we may expresse out thankfulnesse to him shew kindnesse to his Children and poor â—embers who are bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh Ephes. 5.30.7 〈◊〉 or we ourselves for our former unthankfulnesse and our wonderful provoking of him 8 Hearken we unto Christs voice in all that he saith unto us and express our thankfulness by our obedience Yea all this 〈…〉 if we do it but for our own sakes For what should we have if 〈…〉 thus serve Christ who hath done all these things for his enemies 〈…〉 and dishonouring him True we cannot properly be said to do any thing for 〈…〉 that have all we have from him Or if we could give him our bodies and souls they should be saved by it but he were never the better for them yet we may do these and many the like things which he accounts and rewards as done to himself CHAP. V. § 1. NOw these things we ought to do thus thankful we ought to be to God for his inestimable and unspeakable benefits towards us But do we thus requite the Lord or do we what we are able for him again O that I could say we did Yâ—â— I would we were but so thankful to Christ for all his mercies the least whereof is greater then all the courtesies of men as we are to a friend for some one good turn But wo worth us a people not worthy the crumbs of Christs our Makers least mercy Yea well worthy of more plagues then either Tyre or Sydon Chorazin or Bethsaida Capernaum Sodome or Gomorrah Matth. 11.21 to 25. or any people since the Creation For as if all that Christ hath done for us were nothing to move us we are so far from being thankful from loving and serving him that did we seriously think of Christs love and our odious unthankfulness and compare Gods goodness with our ingratitude rightly weighing how we have from time to time abused his mercy and those many means of grace which he in his long-suffering hath afforded for our reclaiming it would even make us speechless like him in the Gospel as neither expecting pardon nor daring to ask it Yea ô Lord it is thine unspeakable mercy that our Land hath not long since spued us out and that we are not at this present frying in Hell For whereas God hath removed so many evils spiritual and corporal temporal and eternal from us and conferred so many good things upon us that they are beyond thought or imagination § 2. We have striven to multiply offences against him and to make them as infinite in number as his blessings We have done nothing from our infancy but added sin unto sin as he hath added mercy to mercyâ— whereby our sins are become for number as the sands in the Sea and as the Stars of heaven and answerable to their multitude is the magnitude of them as I have
in the former Part shewn and shall further amplifie in this As tell me may not God justly another day call Heaven and Earth to witness against us that he would have saved us yea did woo us to accept of salvation saying Turn ye turn ye from your evil ways for why will you die ô people of England Ezek. 33.11 But we would not be converted nor saved As thus § 3 Whereas God hath offered us a pardon in tendering Christ unto us upon the condition of faith and repentance even his own Son to be a means of our reconciliation which is such a spectacle of unspeakable mercy as might ravish our souls with admiration We are so far from accepting it thankfâ—lly that we not onely refuse and contemn it but in a manner deride the offer of it our selves oppose the Gospel of glad tydings and persecute Christ in his Members either with hand or tongue or both We are so far from being holy our selves most of us that we hate holiness in â—thers For if any become Religious and conscionable and will not for company grievously sin against God wrong their bodies destroy their own soules and wilfully leap into Hell-fire with us we envy hate censure scoff at nick-name rail on and slander them that we may flout them out of their faith damp or quench the spirit where we perceive it is kindled discourage them in the way to heaven baffle them out and make them ashamed of their holy profession and religious course and consequently pull them back to the World that so we may have their company here in sin and hereafter in torment Nor do we so serve the most sincere onely in whom the graces of Gods Spirit do as apparently shiâ—â—t as the Sun at noon-day to the dazling of their eyes But we condemn all that have more religion then an Heathen or more knowledge of heavenly things then a childe in the wombe hath of the things of this life or more conscience then an Atheist or care of his soul then a Beast That live religiously and will not revel it with us in a shoreless excess for Round-heads and Puritans a name so full of the Serpents enmity as the egge of a Cockatrice is full of poison § 4. And in all which is worst of all we have caused others to do the same abominations by our evil example Yea worse yet then all this our abominable wickedness hath brought such a scandal upon our Religion and the Gospel that it is even abhorred of the Heathen and the great and glorious Name of God blasphemed among them Yea what else but the unchristian-like behaviour of Christians hath caused the Turks and Iews and many among our selves even to protest against their own conversion Or what else hath alienated the Indians from the Christian Religion making them to refuse the Gospel but this that they saw our lives more savage then those Savages themselves yea it hath made those poor souls resolve that whatsoever Religion the Christians were of they would be the contrary thinking it impossible that such beastly and bloody dâ—eds could proceed from any true Religion Or that he could be a good God who had such evill sons Whereas in the Primitive times more of them were won to the faith by the holy lives of Christians then by the Doctrine which they taught for it caused them to say This â—s a good God whose servants are so good CHAP. VI. § 1. ANd thus according to my scantling I have spread before you what God and Christ hath done for us and how we have again required him Though God who searcheth the heart and trieth the reins knows infinitely more by us and sees what strange monsters what ugly odious hideous fiends what swarms what litters what legions of noysome lusts are couched in the stinking styes of every one of our deceitful hearts and findes that if all our thoughts did but break forth into action we should not come far short of the Devils themselves And certainly if we shall compare the numberless number of our great and grievous abominations wherewith our Land is filled from corner to corner with the many means which God hath afforded for our reclaiming it will be found that no Nation under heaven did ever more provoke the Lord. Nor hath he ever strove more with any Nation to reclaim them then he hath done with us for when neither mercies nor any ordinary means would serve the turn he hath at several times visited us with several judgements to try what they would do But we have been so little moved therewith that instead of becomming better we have bin the worse for them as appears at this day and more audacious in declaring our sins as if with Sodom we took a pride in them to the great dishonour of our Redeemer and his Gospel and to the hardening of all that hear of it so that our horrid sins are grown up unto heaven in regard whereof we may justly be confounded and ashamed to lift up our eyes unto him who is a Lord so great and terrible of such glorious Majesty and infinite purity Now he that hath ears let him hear and he that hath wit let him consider and lay it to heart how thankful a people we are And not onely ye ô inhabitants of this our Jerusalem and Judah would I have to judge between Christ and his Vineyard what he could have done for us more then he hath done Isaiah 5.4 to 8. But heare ye also ô heavens and give eare ô earth be astonished at it and horribly afraid that this foolish people and unwise should so requite the Lord Jer. 2.11 c. Isai. 1.2 to 9. and Verse 15 to 25. Deut. 32.6 c. Oh my Brethren Englands unthankfulness hath striven with Gods goodness for the victory as Absalom strove with David whether the Father should be more kinde to the son or the son more unkinde to the Father We have been fatted with his blessings and then spurned at his precepts resembling the Leopard who wrongs them most that give him most fodder § 2. But why do I call it unthankfulness when our sin is many degrees beyond ingratitude it self For not to confesse a benefit is the utmost confine of unthankfulnesse meer ingratitude returnes nothing for good but we return evil yea the greatest and most malicious evil for the greatest and most admired love Argue with all the World and they will conclude there is no vice like ingratitude But we are more ingrateful to God then can be exprest by the best Oratour alive It was horrible ingratitude which the chief Butler shewed to Ioseph Gen. 41.9 which the nine Lepers shewed to Christ Luk. 17. 17 18. which the men of Succoth and Penuel shewed to Gideon Iudg. â— 6 8. which those five spies shewed to Micha Iugd. 18.14 18. It was worse which the Israelites shewed to Gideons seed Iudg. 9.17 18. which Michael Thraulus shewed to Leo the Emperour which Iustinianus shewed
found by ample experience that many have a minde to read good Books yea a zeal such as it is to reclaim others from evil so it may cost them nothing who otherwise have no stomack to either For when the like was to be given about swearing and cursing even the better sort of men and women could fetch them by a thousand a week from all parts of the Kingdome But since they have for some reasons been sold for eight a penny not one of an hundred could finde in their hearts to give that peny were it to save eight of their friends souls which shews both how they love money and what hollow-hearted devotion they have The Lord discover the same unto them There is over against the High Constables short of Shoreditch Church of this first part or division to be given freely together with the cure of cursing and swearing provided they that desire them can read very well for otherwise they will so nick-name words and make it such non-sense that one would rather his lines should never be read then so brokenly And I could wish that men would not fetch them for base ends as one did formerly fetch many hundreds of that against Swearing and Cursing onely to save the buying of waste Paper though he had many fair pretences of sending them to Graves-end Canterbury Dover and all other places where Sea-men resorted which being found out made the Donor with-draw his gift until now It was I think a most wicked act for which he deserves to be stigmatized and made an example to others And let men take heed of abusing things Dedicated to holy uses for they are the sharpest kinde of edged tools and therefore are not to be jefted with Neither will God so be mocked The end of the first Division POSTCRIPT AUgustiâ—e that his ignorant hearers might the better understand him would sometimes speak false Latine and I for my accidental Readers good have and that purposely done as absurdly in another kinde viz. used the same expression in one Tract when I have deemed it weighty and convincing that may be found in another which to many will not be discernable though obvious enough to some Who may if they please censure it and me for it But presuming that the more charitable and ingenuous would not have it otherwise it shall not much trouble me LONDON Printed by R. and W. L. for Iames Crump in Little Bartholomews Well-yard A LEAFE From the TREE of LIFE Wherewith to heal the NATION of all Strife and Controversie and to settle therein PEACE and UNITIE By R. Younge a Roxwell Bee whose sting is as Soveraign as its Honey is sweet and whose Enemies have no less cause to love him then his Friends Sold by Iames Crump in Little Bartholmews Well-Yard and Henry Crisps in Popes Head-Alley 1661. CHAP. I. Reverend Sir SOme time since I heard you upon Ier. 51.9 We would have healed Babilon but she would not be healed c. What change it hath wrought in me I forbear to mention But certainly Satan and the World fear they have lost the one a subject or prisoner the other a limbe or member ever since for whereas they never molested me formerly â— now as if I were rescued out of Satans clutches that Lyon foams and roars and bestirs himself to recover his losse And as for my old acquaintance they so envy to see themselves casheered and so mortally hate me for that I will no longer continue miserable nor run with them as I have done to the same excesse of riot 1 Pet. 4.44 that they make me weary of my life as the daughters of Heth dâ—d Rebeckah Gen. 27.46 Yea I am so scoft at and scorned both by Parents Friends and Enemies that it not only hinders me from doing the good I would or appearing the same I am but it almost beats me off from being religioâ—s back to the world And certainly he must be more spirit then flesh that can contentedly make himself contemptible to follow Christ be pointed at for siâ—gularity endure so many base and vile nick-names have his Religion judged hypocrisie his godly simplicity silliness his zeal madness his contempt of the world ignorance his godly sorrow dumpishness and the like malicious and mischievous constructions made of whatsoever he speaks or does For my part I could better abide a stake God assisting me then the mocks 〈◊〉 â—nd scorns which every where I meet withall It is death to me to be 〈◊〉 â—s it fared with Zedâ—kiah Jer. 38 19. Nor is there above Hell a 〈…〉 â—ishment in my jâ—dgement then to become a Sanâ—â—â— a subject of 〈…〉 â—ampson I doubt noâ— found 〈…〉 â—tion of his goods nor his banishment nor the wounds he received in his body were so grievous to him as one scornful word from his enemy Ctesiphon Yea doubtlesse our Saviours car was more painfully pierced then either his brows or hands or feet It could not but go deep into his soul to hear those bitter and gâ—rding reproaches from them whom he came to save A generous nature is more wounded with the tongue then with the hand CHAP. II. Minister I Grant there is no such rub in the way to Heaven as this Satan hath not such a tried shaft in all his quiver he gets more now by such discouragements and the reproaches that are cast upon Religion then he did formerly by fire and faggot for then the blood of the Martyrs was found to be the seed of the Church Others Phaenix like springing out of their ashes Whereas now multitudes of souls are scoft out of their Religion by wicked men many being apt with Peter to deny their Religion when they come in company with Christs enemies and with David to dissemble their faith when they are amongst Philistines lest they should be mockt have so many frowns and frumps and censures and scoffs be branded with that odious and stigmatical name of an hypocrite c. Yea S. Austin confesseth that he often belied himself with sins which he never committed lest he should be unacceptable to his sinfull companions which makes our Saviour pronounce that man blessed that is not offended in him Matth. 11.6 But for all that a wise man will not be scoft out of his Money nor a just man flowted out of his Faith The taunts of an Ishmael shall never make an Isaac out of love with his inheritance Yea for a man to be scoft out of his goodness by those which are lewd is all one as if a man that seeth should blindfold himself or put out his eyes because some blinde wretches revâ—le and scoff at him for seeing Or as if one that is found of limbs should limp or maim himself to please the criple and avoid his taunts And know this That if the barking of these currs shall hinder us from walking on our way to Heaven it is a sign we are most impotent cowards Yea if our love be so cold to Christ that we are ashamed
or member â— when a convert will no longer accompany them in their wicked customs I might also make it appear that Atheism or Vnbelief is another cause Psal. 2.1 to 4. and 10.4 and 94.5 6 7. John 8.37 a Kings 18.35 Dan. 3.15 Exod. 5.2 Acts 17.2 to 11. 1 Tim. 1.13 Speaking of truth another 1 Kings 22.8 17 23 24 26 27. Jer. 26.8 9.11 and 38.4 5 6. Amos 5.10 Acts 17.5 6 7 13. and 22.22 23. and 23.12 13 14. Gal. 4.16 Misprision another Acts 24.14 and 26 9 10 11 24. Jer. 44.17 18 19. Wisdom 5.4 Matth. 13.55 56 57. John 2.19 20 21. and 3.3 4. and 7.24 and 8.15 and 16.2 2 Thes. 2.11 1 Cor. 2.7 8 14 15 16. Revel 3.17 Breaking off society with them another Gen. 39.12 to 21. Psal. 26.4 5. and 119.115 Prov. 23.20 2 Thes. 3.6 14. 1 Pet. 4.4 The serpentine preaching of some Ministers another Jer. 5.31 and 8.11 and 23.13 14 to 33. Ezek. 22.28 Matth. 9.34 Mark 13.22 John 5.43 Acts 20.29 30. 2 Cor. 2.17 1 Tim. 4.1 2 3. 2 Pet. second chapter The scandalous lives of some Professors another Gen. 9.21 22. and 34.13 to 31. 1 Sam. 2.12 to 18. 2 Sam. 12.14 Matth. 18.7 and 23.3.14 23 24 25 27. Flocking after sermons another Iohn 11.48 and 12.19 Acts 13.45 See more Psal. 56.6 and 59.2 3. Matth. 23.13 15. Luke 11.52 John 11.18 and 12.10 11. Revel 12.17 as they make them but I hope I have said enough Only a Word more by way of caution set not your wit to theirs if they revile you revile not you again but pray for them as the Prophet for the Syrian Armie 2 Kings 6.20 Lord open the eyes of these men that they may see Or as Stephen for his enemies Lord lay not this sin to their charge Acts 7.60 Or as Christ for his murtherers Luke 23.34 Father 〈◊〉 them for they know not what they do Yea let you and I and all that suffer 〈◊〉 them send down water from our compassionate eyes and weep for 〈◊〉 by whom we bleed And well we may for their case hath been our 〈◊〉 were by nature the seed of the serpent if we are now changed to 〈◊〉 womans seed whom may we thank for it not our selves God 〈…〉 thing in us but enmity 1 Cor. 15.10 Rom. 7.18 25. And 〈…〉 might have left us in that perishing condition being bound to 〈…〉 have chosen them he hath of his free grace adopted us and 〈◊〉 sent left them What 's the reason surely no reason can be given 〈…〉 depth Only this is sure It is a mercy beyond all 〈…〉 A PRECIOUS MITHRIDATE FOR The SOULE Made up of those two POYSONS Covetousness AND Prodigality The one drawn from the Fathers Ill Qualities The other from the Sons For the Curing of both Extremes and advancing Frugality the Mean Being foure Chapters taken out of R. Iuntus his Chrstian Library And are to be sold by I. Crump Stationer in 〈◊〉 Bartholmes Well-yard and H. Crips in Popeshead 〈◊〉 A Precious Methridate for the Soul Made up of those two Poyfons Covetousness and Prodigality PREFACE Such as have formerly heard these Nightingales or seen these Jewels in another Cage or Cabinet may please to take notice that they are not stolen but borrowed Every Garden is furnished from other Gardens and so is mine but with leave from the Owners As Vertue is distributive and good Fruit the more common it is the better it is Besides the oftner these Nails are hammered the deeper they pearse and pearse too deep they cannot for five words remembred is better than a thousand forgotten Again old metal cast into a new mold becomes new and is so estâ—emed These Pearls are filed upon a string that men may not shake them out of their pockets If thou receivest any spiritual benefit by pertaking of this Banquet or extract give God the glory which is all the Confectioner expects for his pains for praise or thanks I seek none as I have deserved none Or in case my labour hath been worthy of hire the great pleasure I took therein hath been sweeter than anotherâ— wages Yea if I have not grown better by it yet it hath kept me from worse and not afforded me time to entertain the Divel Nor have I more made my Book than my Book hath made me CHAP. 1. HAving felt the Cormorants pulse I find into beat most violently after gain He were a skillful Physician that could 〈…〉 greedy worm which makes him so hungry yea 〈…〉 for you shal sooner hear of an hundred Malefactors conversion at thâ— Gallows then of one Covetous Cormorant in his bed Onely I will givâ— you his and his Sons Effigies and set them up as Sea-marks to makâ— others beware that both may do good service to the Church For whereâ— honest men profit the Commonwealth by occasioning themselves to be inâ—tated these shall happily benefit the same by causing themselves to bâ— evitated As sometimes a Harlots face hath suggested chastness anâ— good may be learnt both by similitude and contrariety At least the beautie of all Christian graces are illustrated by the blackness of their opposiâ—â— vices The Covetous Miser is one that affects no imployment or Occupatioâ— for it self but for gain all his reaches are at riches his summum bonum is commodity and gold is the Goddess he adores in every thing He plots studdies contrives breaks his peace his sleep his brains to compass his desires and though he venters his ears his neck his soul he dares no deny his slave his dog his Devil Avarice nor cares he how he gets buâ— what he gets There is no evill that he will nor do so goods may comâ— of it you cannot name the Sin that he will not swallow in the sweet broth of commodity like Dorio the Bawde in Tâ—rrence he is not ashameâ— of the basest actions that bring him in benefit nor does he smell any difference between gold got by oppression and that which is honestly come by Avarice is the grave of all good it â—ats out the very graceâ— by eating grace out of the heart The damps of the earth do not more quench fire then the love of earth stisles grace neither trees not grassâ— grow above where the golden Mines are below If the love of mony be once curred into the heart no fruits of goodness will appear in the life yea there is an absolute contrariety between the love of God and the love of Mammon as our Saviour shews Luke 16.13 This Machivillians heart is a very mint of fraud that can readily câ—yn falsehoods upon every occasion yea he is such a deep that one may better roll the haires of his head then either the springs wards or wickedness of his deceitful heart and yâ—t so foolish withall that he not onel◠〈◊〉 his soul to inrich his body but to purchase a great estate he will 〈◊〉 both soul and body Like Sylvester the second who to get the Popedome gave his soul to
bad one and sooner in thy Mistresses defence then in thy Makers Thou art of a reprobate judgment touching actions and persons esteeming good evil and evil good Prov. 17.15 and 29.27 Isa. 5.20 Thou doest stifle thy conscience and wouldst force thy self to believe if it were possible that in case men will not swear drink drunk conform to thy lewd customes and the like they are over precise and to forbear evil is quarrel sufficient for thee Thou speakest evil of all that will not run with thee to the same excesse of riot 1 Pet. 4.4 making them a by-word to the people Job 17.6 and a song amongst thy fellow Drunkards Psal. 69. 〈◊〉 Thou art so desperately wicked that thou wilt mock thy admonisher scoffe at the means to be saved and make thy self merry with thy own damnation In stead of hating the evil thou dost and thy self for doing it thou 〈…〉 of it rejoycest in it boastest of it yea pleadest for it and applaâ—â—ed 〈…〉 self for thy wickednesse God is not in all thy thoughts except 〈…〉 him and to spend his days in the Devils service And rather 〈…〉 thy pleasure thou wilt hazard the displeasure of God Thou doest not 〈◊〉 but art stubborn and disobedient to thy parents a Rioter c. If they stand in need of thee thou wilt not nourish or maintain 〈…〉 they did thee in thy need Thou takest no care to provide for thy 〈…〉 Thou wilt borrow or run in debt with every one but never carest to pay or to satisfie any one except it be thy Hostesse for drink lest she should never more trust thee As good men by their godly admonition and vertuous example draw 〈◊〉 they can to Heaven so by thy subtile allurements and vicious example thou drawest all thou â—anst to hell For as if it were too little to damnthy own soul or as if thine own sins would not presse thee deep enough into hell thou doest all that possibly thou canst to entice and enforce others to sin with thee for thou doest envy hate scosf at nick-name rail on and slander the godly that thou mayest flout them out of their faith damp or quench the spirit where thou perceivest it is kindled discourage them in there way to heaven to make them ashamed of their holy conversation and religious course pull them back to the World that so thou mayest have their company here in sin and hereafter in torment Thou fearest a Gaol more then thou fearest hell and standest more upon thy sides smarting then upon thy soul. Thou regardest more the blasts of mens breath then the fire of Gods wrath and tremblest more at the thought of a Serjeant or Bailiff then of Satan and everlasting perdition Thou takest incouragement from the Saints falls and sins of Gods people to do the like when they should serve thee as Sea-marks to make thee beware Yea thou doest most sordidly take liberty and incouragement to go on more securely in thy evil courses because God is merciful and forbears to execute judgement speedily and to defer thy repentance because the Theif upon the Crosse was heard at the last hour Thou wilt boldly do what God forbids and yet confidently hope to escape what he threatens Thus I could go on to tell thee a thousand more of these thy wicked thoughts words and actions had I not already done it But because I would not present my other Readers with Cole-worts twice sod be perswaded to take view of them in my other small Tract entituled The odious despicable and dreadful condition of a Drunkard drawn to the Life though indeed even a Tyth of these are sufficient evidences to prove and to make thee confesse that thou art in a most damnable condition But stand thou by and let the civil Iusticiary and formall Hypocrue hold up their hands and hear their charge Here ends the Prodigals Character with which I will conclude FINIS The Prevention of Poverty Together with the Cure of Melancholy Alias Discontent Or the best and surest way to Wealth and Happiness being Subjects very seasonable for these Times wherein all are Poor or not pleased or both when they need be neither By Rich. Younge of Roxwel in Essex Florilegus Imprimatur Ioseph Caryl LONDON Printed by R. W. Leybourn and are to be sold by Iames Crumpe a Book-binder in Well-yard 1655. Of the Prevention of Poverty By R. Y. VErtue is distributive and loves not to bury benefits but to pleasure all she can And happy is he that leaves such a president for which both the present and future Ages shall praise him and praise God for him It was no small comfort I suppose to Cuthemberg Anaximenes Triptolemus Columbus and other the like whose happiness it was to finde out Printing the Dial the Plough to enrich the World with the best of Metals with the Loadstone and a thousand the like But had they smothered their conceptions as so many lights under a bushel and not communicated the same for the publick it had argued in them a great dearth of charity whereas now to the glory of God all men are the better for them Nor is any employment so honorable as for a man to serve his generation and be profitable to many When like the Moon we bestow the benefits received from God to the profit and commodity of others It is the Suns excellency that his bright rayes and beamns are dispersed into every corner of the Universe The Tragick Buskin as they say would fit all that should put it on Here is that will much benefit thee being made use of be thy condition good or bad rich or poor learned or unlearned mental or manual The which to conceal would argue in the Authour either too much lucre or too little love Even the Physician that hath a sovereigne Receipt and dieth unrevealing it robs the world of many blessings which might multiply after his death leaving to all survivors this collection that he once did good to others but to do himself a greater C. E. The Prevention of POVERTY Together with the Cure of MELANCHOLY Alias DISCONTENT Or the best and surest way to Wealth and Happinesse Being Subjects very seasonable for these Times wherein all are Poor or not pleased or both when they need be neither THE PREFACE SECT 1. WHen a Gentleman in Athens had his plate taken away by Ahashucrus as he was at dinner he smiled upon his friends saying I thank God that his Higness hath left me any thing So whatever befals us this should be our meditation It is of the Lords mercies that we are not consumed Lam. 3.22 Or this He that hath afflicted me for a time could have held me longer he that hath touched me in part could have stricken me in whole he that hath laid this upon my name or estate hath power to lay a greater rod both upon my body and soul without doing me the least wrong And indeed if we but think of our deliverance from the
fire of Hell or that our names are writ in Heaven it is enough to make us both patient and thankful though the trifles we delight in be taken from us But most men are so far from this that if God does not answer their desires in every thing they will take pleasure in nothing they will flight all his present mercies and former favours because in one thing he crosses them Liâ—â— Ahab they are more displeased for one thing they want or rather fain and pretend they want or at least have no right unto than they are thankfull for a thousand things they enjoy though the least mercy they injoy is beyond their best merit They are ready to receive all while they return nothing but sin and disobedience wherein they more than abound for they have done more against God in one week than they have done for him ever since they were born Yea such sotts they are that if another displease them they will be revenged on themselves grow melancholy and discontent like foolish Children who will forbear their meat and gâ—â—w sick of the sullens if never so little crost Yea though men have all â—heir hearts can wiâ—h and might if they would and had but the wiâ— and grace be as happy as any men alive yet some small trifle shall make them weary of themselves and every thing else as it fared with foolish â—â—man Esther 5.13 More particularly if their purses grow light their â—earts grow heavy yea as if men did delight to vex themselves how many are there that of happy make themselves miserable or more miâ—serable than they need by looking upon miseries in multiplying glasses the opinion onely of being poor or fear that they may be so when they are old makes them never injoy a merry day when they neither want nor are like to doe and every man is so miserable as he thinks himself The raft of goods or evils does greatly depend on the opinion we have of them SECT 2. Thus millions are miserable melancholy discontent by their own concelt when thousands would think themselves happy had they but a piece of their happiness Which discontent or melancholy occasions more murmuring amongsts us than ever there was among those Israelitos in the wilderness an unthankfulness able to make or keep them poor and miserable and that everlastingly Indeed because judgement is not executed speedily Eccles. 8.11 they think it no sin at all such is their ignorance Otherwise they might know that as the Israelites was so their murmuring is against even the holy One of Israel as Isaiah affirmed of Sensâ—â—â—erib 2 King 19.22 And David of Goliah 1 â—am 17.36 45. The Lord sâ—yes Moses to the people when they grumbled for want of bread and also to Daâ—hau and Abiram heareth your murmuring against him and what are we your murmurings are not against us but against the Lord Exod. 16.8 Numb 16.15 21. Onely this is the difference multitudes of them were destroyed suddenly even fourteen thousand and seven hundred at a clap yea they had all been consumed in a moment for their murmuring had not Moses stood up in the gap and interceded for them Numb 16.41 to 50. and 32.10 to 14. and 26.64 65 and 11.12 33. and 14.12 22 23. and 21.5 6. Whereas millions among us do the like and are not stung with fiery Serpents as they were because they are reserved without repentance to a fiery Serpent in Hell Nor stricken with death temporall because reserved to death â—ternal But God is the same God still and as just now as ever though now under the Gospel instead of corporall judgements he inflicts many times spirituall as blindness of mind hardness of heart and finall impenitency the fore-runner of eternal destruction of body and soul in that burning lake Revel 19.20 For why is their ruine recorded but for our learning and warning â— Cor. 10 11. Neither is forbearance any acquittance yea to be let go on in a continual repeating of so great a sin under such meanes of light and grace uncontrouled is the greatest unhappiness the heaviest â—urle because such seldom rest untill they come to that evill from which there is no redemption God owes that man a greivous payment whom he suffers to run on so long unquestioned and his punishment shall be greater when he comes to reckon with him for all his faults together O that men 〈◊〉 but seriously consider this before it proves too late â— and before the draw-bridge be taken up for favours bestowed and deliverances from dangers bind to gratitude or else the more bonds of duty the more plagues for neglect The contribution of blessings require retribution of obedience or will bring distribution of judgements Yea argue with all the world and they will conclude that there is no vice 〈◊〉 ingratitude and meer ingratitude returnes nothing for good but these return evill for good yea the greatest evill for the greatest good being more ingrateful to God and Christ than can be exprest by the best Oratour alive Our Redeemer hath done and suffered more or would do did we not so daily provoke him for which read Gods goodness and Englands unthankfulness more for us than either can be exprest or conceived by any heart were it as deep as the Sea Yea God hath removed so many evils from us and conferred so many good things upon us that they are beyond thought or imagination And were the whole Heaven turned into a Book and all the Angels deputed Writers therein they could not set down all the good which Gods love in Christ hath done us As consider if we are so bound to bless God for his external temporal inferiour earthly perishing benefits as food rayâ—â—nt friends fire air water health wealth life limbs liberty senses and a thousand the like what praise do we owe him for the lasting fruits of his eternal love and mercy and how thankful should we strive to be And as much do we owe unto God for the dangers from which he delivers us as for the great and many mercies he hath bestowed upon us Neither could we possibly be unthankful if we seriously thought upon what God gives and what he forgives Besides which would also be thought upon what should we have if we did truly love and serve Christ who hath done all this for his enemies neglecting and dishounouring him SECT 3. Now can any one in common reason meditate so unbottomed a love and not study and strive for an answerable thankful demeanour yet as if all that Christ hath done for us were nothing to move us we are so far from being thankful that our whole life language and religion is nought else but one continued act of muttering and murmuring this is the case and it is the case of almost who not And is this a small matter Is it Gods unspeakable mercy that we are not at this present frying in Hell flames never to be freed and do we complain for want of a
himself into the Sea Yea in case he sustain any great loss he is ready to make himself away as Menippus of Phenicia did who having lost his goods strangled himself Or like Dinarcus Phidon who at a certain loss cut his own throat to save the charge of a cord At least he feels more sorrow in losing his mony then ever he found pleasure in getting it nor will any condition content him for the lightness of his purse gives him an heavy heart which yet filled doth fill him with more care His medicin is his malady These rich men are no less troubled with that they possess lest they should lose it then poor men are for that they want In the day time he dares not go abroad for fear of robbing nor stay at home for fear of killing His thoughts are so troubled with fear of thieves that he cannot that he dares not sleep yea he fears a thief worse then the devil therefore will he be beholding to the devil for a spell to save him from the thief which once obtained a little Opium may rock his cares asleep and help him to a golden dream for all his minde and heart is to get mony if waking he talks of nothing but earth if sleeping he dreams of it Lastly as if all his delight were to vex himself he pines himself away with distrustful fear of want and projecting how he shall live hereafter and when he is old resembling Ventidius the Poet who would not be perswaded but he should dye a begger And Apicius the Romane who when he cast up his accounts and found but an hundered thousand crowns left murthered himself for fear he should be famished to death CHAP. XII SEventhly To the former miseries which a cruel Miser is justly plagued withall this may be added the dolefulness of his conscience for the sin of oppression lyes upon the soul as heavy as lead yea as the shaddow does ever follow the body so fear and desperation in all places and at all times do wait upon an evil conscience Sin armes a man against himself our peace ever ends with our innocency A Pithagorean bought a pair of shoos upon trust the Shoomaker dyes he is glad thinks them gained but a while after his conscience twitches him and becomes a continual chider he hereupon repairs to the house of the dead casts in his money with these words There take thy due thou livest to me though dead to all beside Micha stole from his mother eleven hundred shekels of silver but his complaining conscience made him to accuse himself and restore it again Iudg. 17. Il gotten goods lye upon the conscience as raw meat upon a sick stomack which will never let a man be well or at ease untill he hath cast it up again by restitution Means ill gotten is to the getter as the Angels book was to Saint Iohn When he eat it it was in his mouth as sweet as hony but when he had eaten it it became in his stomack as bitter as gall Rev. 10.10 The which is notably illustrated Iob 20.12 to 20. which together with the whole Chapter is marvellous good for cruel and unmerciful men to read for I may not stand here to repeat it Sweetness is promised in the bread of deceit but men finde it as gravel crashing between their teeth Nor will his troubled conscience suffer him to steal a sound sleep yea he sleeps as unquietly as it his pillow were stuft with Lawyers per-knives I may give ye a hint of these things from the word but onely God and he can tell how the remembrance of his forepast cozenages and oppression occasions his guilty conscience many secret wrings and pinches and gives his heart many a sore lash to increase the fear and horror of his soul every time he calls the same to remembrance which is not seldom As O poor wretches what do they indure how are they immerged in the horrors of a vulned conscience there is more ease in a nest of Hornets then under the sting of such a tormenting conscience He that hath this plague is like a man in debt who suspecteth that every bush he sees is a Sergant to arest and carry him away to prison It was Gods curse upon Cain when he had slain his brother Abel to suspect and fear that every one he met would kill him yea it makes him so afraid of every thing that a very Maulking frights him and it is much that he dares trust his Barber to shave him Dionysius was so troubled with fear and horror of conscience that not daring to trust his best friends with a razor he used to findge his beard with burning coals as Cicero records He is much like a Malefactor in prison who though he fare well yet is tormented with the thought of ensuing judgement It is the hand-writing on the wall that prints bloody characters in Belshazzars heart So that if any should deem a man the better or happier for being the richer he is very shallow as many looking on the outer face of things or see but the one side as they used to paint Antigonus that they might conceal his deformity on the other side see not how they smart in secret how their consciences gripe them Nor does any one know how the shoowrings the foot but he that wears the same Or admit the best that can come as suppose they can stop consciences mouth for a time or with the musick of their mony play it asleep for the present yet when they lye upon their death-beds it will sting them to the quick For when death besiegeth the body Satan will not fail to beleagure the soul yea then he will be sure to lay on load for as all corrupt humors run to the diseased and bruised part of the body so when conscience is once awakened all former sins and present crosses joyn together to make the bruise or sore more painful As every Creditor falls upon the poor man when he is once arested Or let it be granted that his conâ—cience never troubles him on his sick bed and that he have no bonds in his death as the Psalmist speaks Psal. 73. but departs likes a Lamb which is not onely possible but probable for more by many thousands go to hell like Naball then like Iudas more dye like sots in security then in despair of conscience yet all this is nothing for the sting of conscience here though it be intollerable is but a flea-biting to that he shall endure hereafter where the worm of conscience dyeth not and where the fire never goeth out This is part of sins wages and Satans reward We have sinned therefore our hearts are heavy Isa. 59.11 12. The sorrows of them that offer to another God as do the covetous shall be multiplyed says holy David Psal. 16.4 Yea Seneca an heathen could say that an evil life causeth an unquiet minde so that Satans government is rather a bondage then a government
and a true use of his riches Thirdly he cares not for grace but for gold therefore God gives him gold without grace He longs not after righteousness but riches therefore he shall neither be satisfied nor blessed whereas both are their portion that thirst after the former Mat. 5.6 He desires riches without Gods blessing he shall have it with a curse he loves gold more then God and desires it rather then his blessing upon it or grace therefore he shall have it and want the other Whereas if he did first seek the kingdom of heaven all things else should be added thereunto Mat. 6.33 But this worldlings appetite stands not towards the things of a better life he findes no tast in heavens treasure let him but glut himself on the filthy garbage of ill-gotten goods he cares not for Manna He sings the song of Curio vincat utilitas let gain prevail he had rather be a sinner then a begger The Apostle Saint Peter said silver and gold have I none Act. â— 6 The devil says all these are mine Luk. 4.6 The Rich man I have much goods laid up for many years Luk. 12.19 Now ask the covetous muck worm whether had you rather lack with those Saints or abound with the devil and the rich man his heart will answer give me money which will do any thing all things Eccles. 10.19 Now if he prefers gold before either God grace or glory no marvail if God grant him his desires to his hurt as he did a King and Quailes to the Israelites CHAP. XIIII FOurthly he puts his trust in his riches not in God loves serves Satan more then God therefore he shall have his comfort reward from them and not from God Yea Satan shall have more service of him for an ounce of gold then God shall have for the Kingdom of heaven because he profers a little base pelf before God and his own salvation He loves God well but his money better for that is his summum bonum yea he thinks him a fool that does otherwise What part with a certainty for an uncertainty if he can keep both well and good if not what ever betides he will keep his Mammon his money though he lose himself his soul. And yet the Lord gives far better things for nothing then Satan will sell us for our souls had we the wit to consider it as we may see Isa. 55.1 2. Again he loves his children better then the Lord oppressing Gods children to inrich his own for so his young ones be warm in their nest let Christs members shake with cold he cares not He loves the Lord as Laban loved Iacob onely to get riches by him or as Saul loved Samuel to get honor by him He will walk with God so long as plenty or the like does walk with him but no longer he will leave Gods service rather then lose by it That the Mammonist loves not God is evident for if any man love the world the love of God is not in him 1 John 2.15 yea the two poles shall sooner meet then the love of God and the love of money Not is this all for he not onely loves Mammon more then God but he makes it his god shrines it in his coffer yea in his breast and sacrifâ—ceth his heart to it he puts his trust and placeth his confidence in his riches makes it his hope attributing and ascribing all his successes thereunto which is to deny God that is above as we may plainly see Iob 31.24 28. Nor ought covetous men to be admitted into Christian society We have a great charge to separate from the covetous Eat not with him sayes the Apostle 1 Cor. 5.11 and also wise Solomon Prov. 23.7 Covetousness is flat idolatry which makes it out of measure sinful and more hanious then any other sin as appears Col. 3.5 Ephes. 5.5 Iob 31.24 28. Ier. 17.5 1 Tim. 6.9 10. Fornication is a foul sin but nothing to this that pollutes the body but covetousness defileth the soul and the like of other sins Yea it is such a sordid and damnable sin that it ought not once to be named among Christians but with detestation Ephes. 5.3 It is a sound Conclusion in Divinity That is our God which we love best and esteem most as gold is the covetous mans god and â—ellychear the voluptuous mans god and honor the ambitious mans god and for these they will do more then they will for God Yea all wicked men make the devil their god for why does Saint Paul call the devil the god of this world but because wordly men do believe him trust him and obey him above God and against God and do love his wayes and commandments better then the wayes and laws of God We all say that we serve the Lord but as the Psalmist speaks other Lords rule us and not the Lord of heaven and earth The covetous Mammonist does insatiably thirst after riches placing all his joyes hopes and delights thereon does he not then make them his God yeâ— God sayes lend clothe feed harbor The devil and Mammon say take gather extort oppress spoil whether of these are our gods but they that are most obeyed Know ye not saith Saint Paul that to whomsoever ye give your selves as servants to obey his servants ye are to whom ye obey Rom. 6.16 the case is plain enough that every wilful sinner makes the devil his god he cannot deny it I wish men would well waigh it The goods of a worldling are his gods Ye have taken away my gods says Micha and what have I more to lose Jud. 18.24 He makes Idols of his coyn as the Egyptians did of their treasure They have turned the truth of God into a lye and worshipped and served the creature forsaking the Creator which is blessed for ever Amen Rom. 1.25 The greedy Wolfe Mole or Muckworm who had rather be damned then damnified hath his Mammon in the place of God loving it with all his heart with all his soul with all his minde making gold his hope and saying to the wedge of gold Thou art my confidence and yet of all men alive he is least contented when he hath his hearts desire yea more then he knows what to do withall the issue of a secret curse For in outward appearance they are as happy as the world can make them they have large possessions goodly houses beautiful spouses hopeful children full purses yet their life is never the sweeter nor their hearts ever the lighter nor their meales the heartier nor their nights the quieter nor their cares the fewer yea none more full of complaints among men Oh cursed Ciatifs how does the devil bewitch them Generally the poorer the merryer because having food and raiment they are therewith content 1 Tim. 6.8 They obey the rule Heb. 13 5. and God gives his blessing But for those that make gold their god how should not God either deny them riches or deny his
among Bears they know no other dialect then roaring swearing and banning It is the tongue or language of hell they speak as men learn before hand the language of that Country whether they mean to travel By wine and surfetings they pour out their whole estates into theâ—â— bellies The father went to the devil one way and the son will folloâ— him another and because he hath chosen the smoother way he makâ— the more hast The father cannot finde in his heart to put a good morsel into his belly but lives on roots that his prodigal heir may feed 〈◊〉 Phesants he drinks water that his son may drink wine and that 〈◊〉 drunkenness The one dares not eat an egge least he should lose a chicken and goes to hell with whay and carrots the other follows after with Canary Partridges and Potatoes These are Epicures indeed placing Paradise in their throats and â—â—aven in their guts their shrine is their Kitchin their Priest is their â—â—ok their Altar is their table and their belly is their God By wineâ—â—d â—â—d surfeiting they pour out their whole estates into their bellies yet nevertheles complain against nature for making their necks so â—â—â—rt Aristippus gave to the value of sixteen shillings for a Patridge his clownish neighbor told him he held it too dear at two pence Why quoth Aristippus I esteem less of a pound then thou dost of a penny the same in effect sayes the prodigal son to his penurious father for how else could he so soon bring a noble to nine pence an inheritance of a thousand pounds per annâ—m to an annuity of five hundred shillings besides the one obtains a thousand pounds with more ease then the other did a thousand pence and by how much the less he esteems of money by so much the more noble and better man he esteems himself and his father the more base and hereupon he scorns any calling and must go apparelled like a Prince God hath inacted it as a perpetual law In the sweat of thy face beit brow or brain shalt thou eat bread till thou return to the earth Gen. 3.19 And for the best Gentleman to despise honest callings mental or manual is a pride without wit or grace Even gallant Absalom was a great sheepâ—master the bravery and magnificence of a Courtier must be built upon the ground of frugality Besides exercise is not more wholsome for the body then it is for the minde and soul but this vain glorious Cox-combe is all for sports and pleasure and seldom ceases hunting after sports as Esau for venison untill he hath lost the blessing But he should O that he would consider that medicines are no meat to live by Thâ—n for his pride in apparel you may know that by this he is like the Cinamon tree whose barke is of more worth then his body or like the Estridge or Bird of Paradise whose feathers are more worth then her flesh Or some Vermine whose case is better then her carcass And yet this swells him so and makes him look as big as if the river of his blood could not be bancked within his veins and shift his attire he must like the Islanders of Foolianna the ficle or that King of Mexico who was wont to change his cloths four times a day and never wear them again imploying his leavings and cast suits for his continual liberalities and rewards and who would also have neither pot nor dish nor any implement in his Citchen or on his table be brought twice before him Indeed he cannot shift himself out of the Mercers books untill he hath sold the other Lordship perhaps a dinner or supper at some Tavern may cost him ten pounds or more for he must pay the whole reckoning that he may be counted the best man Yea when the shot comes to be paid for any man to draw in his company is a just quarrel and use hath â—â—de is unpleasant to him not to spend and yet a â—aâ—â— head in the streets does him more good then a meals meat He hath the Wolfe 〈◊〉 vaine glory and that he feeds untill himself becomes the food Nor 〈◊〉 it be long first for an excessive and successive impairing alwayes impâ—â—â—teth a final dissolution Nor hath he ever the wit to think upon sparâ—â— till he comes to the bottom of the purse resembling Plautus that famâ—â—â— comical Poet born in Vmbria who having spent all he had on plaâ—â—â— apparel was forced for his living to serve a Baker in turning a haâ—â— millpunc Like an hour-glass turned up he never leaves running till all 〈◊〉 out He never looks to the bottom of his patrimony till it be quite unravelled and then too late complains that the stock of his weaâ—â—â— ran coarse at the fag end His father had too good an opinion of the world and he too much disdaines it onely herein he speeds as he thinks a little the better for that those who barked at his father like curs faune upon him and lick his hand like spaniels He bestows upon his inferiors liberal gifts thinkiâ—â— it good gain to receive for it good words and your Worship Thus by the frequent use of substracting pounds out of hundreds shillings out of pounds and pence out of shillings the end of his account proves all Cifers Ideness is the Coach that brings a man to Needam prodigality the posthorse His father was no mans friend but his own and he sayes the proverb is no mans foe else be he never so old he never attaineâ— to the yeers of discretion And in case providence do not take him ward his heirs shall never be sought after His Vessel hath three leaks a lascivoious eye a gaming hand a deified belly and to content these he can neither rule his heart his tongue nor his purse He never proves his own man till he hath no other and then perhaps when want or good counsel or time hath made him see as much as his father did at last he sues for a Room in an Almeshouse that his father built else when he feels want for till then he never sees it he complains of greatness for ingratitude that he was not thought of when promotions were a dealing Yet seeing there is no remedy but patience when his last Acre lies in his purse he projects strange things and buildâ— houses in the aire having sold those on the ground Not that he is a man of parts for he is onely witty to wrong and uâ— doe himself Ease saith Solomon slayeth the foolish and the prosperity of fools destroyeth them Prov. 1.32 CHAP. XVIII MAny an one hath his father unfeathered to warm him 〈◊〉 pride drunkenness gamming c. plucks them away againâ—â— fast that he soon becomes naked and bare He is like a barren plot of ground for let him receive never so much seed and manuring Sun 〈◊〉 showers he remaines ever dry and fruitless and no marvail when 〈◊〉 â—nely his lâ—ud and vicious courses bring Gods curse upon all
he hath or â—akeâ— in hand but when he and what he hath is also â—ursed for 〈◊〉 â—â—hers sake For whereas the Holy Ghost saith of the just man His seed â—â—all be mighty upon earth his generation shall be blessed c. Psal. 112.2 and many the like Psal. 103. where God hath promised to bless and reward the children yea the childrens children for their fathers goodness vers 17. Isa. 58 10 11.12 Psal. 37.25 26 112.2 to 6. Of which I might give you examples not a few The children of Noah were preserved from drowning for their fathers sake Gen. 7.1 Mephibosheth fares the better for his fathers goodness the Kenites for Iâ—tbroes 1 Sam. 15.6 and that some hundreds of yeers after their Ancester was dead Phiâ—eas his seed for his sake Numb 25.11 12 13. Solomon for his father Davids sake 2 Sam. 1.2 Ishmael for Abrahams sake Gen. 17.20 And all Israel fared the better for Abraham Isaac and Iacobs sake Deut. 4 37. 1 Kings 11.12 The loving-kindness of the Lord sayes the Psalmist indureth for ever and ever upon them that fear him and his righteousness upon childrens children Psal. 103.17 Exod. 20.6 And as God usually blesseth and rewardeth the children for their fathers goodness so on the contrary Exod. 20 5. Eternal payments God uses to require of the persons only temporary oftentimes of succession as we sue the Heirs and Executors of our Debtors God hath peremtorily told us that he will visit the iniquity of ungodly parents upon their children unto the third and fourth generation Exod. 20.5 As for the sin of Haman his teâ— sons were hanged Hester 9.13 14. And so for Sauls sin his seven sons were likewise hanged 2. Sam. 21.6 and thus for Achans sin all his sons and daughters were stoned to death and burned with fire by the Commandment of Moses who was in Gods stead Iosh. 7. Yea God hath peremtorily threatned Psal. 109. that the children of a cruel and unmercifully man shall be Vagabonds and beg their bread and that none shall extend mercy or favor unto them ver 7. to 17. God will make those children beggars for whose sakes the fathers have made so many beggars this is a truth which the father will not beleeve but as sure as God is just the Sonne shall feele As what common and daily experience have we thereof had men but the wit to observe it for hence it is that riches ill got shift masters so often As rare it is if the wealth of an Oppressor doth last to the fourth generation seldom to the second for commonly in this case as the father was the first that raised his house by his extream getting and saving so the son proves the last in overthrowing his house by excessive spending and lavishing as Tullius Cicero answered a Prodigal that told him he came of beggerly parents for no man when his means is gone will ever after trust him with a stock to begin the world again the case standing with him as it did with the unjust Steward who having wasted his masters goods for the time past could not bee trusted with the like for the time to come and whereas hitherto he hath with Esau rejected the blessing of prosperity it will be denyed him hereafter though he should seek it with tears and which is worse then all if death find him as is much to be feared as banquerout of spirituall as of worldly goods it will senâ— hâ—m to an eternal prison for what can wee think of them that do not only lose crusts crummes which our 〈◊〉 would have carefully gathered up Iohn 6.12 but even lavish when away whole patrimonies yea most wickedly spend them in riot and upâ—â— Dice Drabs Drunkenness Oh the fearful account which these unthâ—â—â— Baylifs will one day have to give up to our great Lord and Master wheâ— he shall call them to a strict reckoning of their talents he was condemâ—â—â— that encreased not the sum concredited to him what then shall become of him that lawlessely and lavishly spends and impaires it bringing 〈◊〉 such a reckoning as this Item spent upon my lusts pleasures and prâ—â—â— fourty years and five hundred or ten thousand pounds c. let them be 〈◊〉 their right sences they cannot think that God will take this for a 〈◊〉 discharge of their Steward-ships though the devill may and will maâ—â— them believe that Christ will quit all scores between him the fatâ—eâ— and them And thus I have made it plain that want and beggery is the heirâ—â— parent to riot and prodigality and that he who when he should not speâ—â—â— too much shal when he would not have too little to spend a good lesson for young gulls I have likewise showne that what the covetous hath bâ—â—gotten is as ill bestowed and worse imployed a good item for old Curmudgens to take notice of that so they may not starve their bodies and damn their souls for their sons to so little purpose As O that the covetous Moule who is now digging a house in the eaâ—â—â— for his posterity did but fore-see how his prodigal son will consume what he with so much care and industry hath scraped together for should he have leave hereafter to come out of hell for an hour and see it hee would curse this his folly yea if possible it would double the pain of his infernall torment as it fares with Gnipho the Vsurer who as Luciaâ— feigneth lying in hell lamenteth his miserable estate that one Rodochâ—res an incestuous Prodigal on earth consumed his goods wastfully which he by unjust means had scraped together so carefully the which seemeth to have some affinity with the word of truth why else is Dives being in hell torments said to lift up his eyes and to see Abraham a farre 〈◊〉 and Lazarus in his bosome parlying so seriously about his brethren whoâ— he had left behind him Luke 16.23 c. Why else doth our Savioâ—â— say that the wicked shall gnash their teeth for vexation when they shall 〈◊〉 Abraham Isaac Iacob in the Kingdom of heaven and themselves thrâ—â— out of doors Luke 13.28 But that thou mayst the better fore-see or at lest fore-think what 〈◊〉 follow I will shew thee thy case in sundry other persons Clodius son to Esophus the Trâ—gedian spent marvelous great wealâ—â—â— which his father left him Epicharmus the Athenian having a large pâ—trimony left him by his parents consumed it in six dayes and all his life time after lived a begger Apicius in banqueting spent great reâ—â—â—nues left him by his parsimonious father and then because he would 〈◊〉 lead a miserable life hanged himself Pericles Callias and Nicius by prodigall lavishing and palpable sensuallity spent in a shorttime very great â—â—trimonies left them by their parents and when all their means was gone they drank each of them a poysoned potion one to another and dyed 〈◊〉 the place Again we read that Caligula in one year of his reign spent prodigally sixty
cured Besides as there are no colours so contrary as white and black no elements so disagreeing as fire and water so there is nothing so opposit to grace and conversion as covetousness and as nothing so alienates a mans love from his vertuous spouse as his inordinate affection to a filthy strumpet so nothing does so far separate and diminish a mans love to God and heavenly things as our inordinate affection to the world and earthly things yea there is an absolute contrariety between the love of God and the love of money no servant saith our Saviour can serve two masters for either he shall hate the one and love the other or else he shall leane to the one and despise the other ye cannot serve God and riches Luk. 16.13 Here we see there is an absolute impossibility and in the fourteenth Chapter and elsewhere we have examples to confirm it All those that doted upon purchases and farms and oxen and wives with one consent made light of it when they were bid to the Lords Supper Luk. 14 15. to 23. The Gadarenes that so highly prised their hoggs would not admit Christ within their borders Luk. 8. Iudas that was covetous and loved money could not love his Master and therefore sold him When Demas began to imbrace this prâ—sent world he soon forsook Paul 〈…〉 put their trust and place their confidence in their riches they make gold their hope they set their hearts upon it and do homage thereunto attributing and ascribing all their successes thereunto which is to deny the God that is aboâ—e as we may plainly see Iob 31.24 28. and as for his love and regard to the Word of God I will referre it to his own conscience to determine whether he finds any more taste in it then in the white of an egge yea whether it be not as distastfull to him as dead beer after a banquet of sweet-meats Nor is it only distastfull to his palat for his affections being but a little luke-warm water it makes his religion even stomack-sick Let him go to the Assemblies which he does more for fear of the Law then for love of the Gospel and more out of custome then conscience as Cain offered his sacrifice and so will God accept of it he sits down as it were at Table but he hath no stomack to eat his ears are at Church but his heart is at home and though he hear the Ministers words yet he resolveth not to do them for his heart goes after his covetousnes as the Lord tells Ezekiel touching his Auditors Ezek. 33.30 to 33. And as is his hearing such is his praying for that also is to serve his own turn he may afford God his voice but his heart is rooted and rivited so the earth They have not cryed unto me saith God with their hearts when they â—owled upon their beds and when they assembled themselves it was but for corn and wine for they continue to rebell against me Hosea 7.14 O that God had but the same place in mens affections that riches honours pleasures their friends have but that is seldom seen the more shame folly and madness and the greater and juster their condemnation whence that terrible Text in Ieremiah Chapter 17. Thus saith the Lord Cursed be the man that trusteth in man and maketh flesh his arm and withdraweth his heart from the Lord vers 5. And that exhortation 1 Tim. 6. Charge them that are rich in this world that they be not high-minded and that they trust not in uncertain riches but in the living God who giveth us abundantly all things to injoy vers 17. And well does that man deserve to perish that so loves the creature aâ— that he leaves the Creator CHAP. XXII FOurthly another reason were there no other why it is so impossible to prevail with the covetous is they will never hear any thing that speaks against covetousness and their refusing to hear it shews them to be such for flight argues guiltiness always Covetous men will never hear Sermons or read Books that press to good Works or wherein the necessity of restitution is urged neither had Satan any brains if he should suffer them so to do A Faulkner ye know will carry divers Hawks bâ—â—ded quietly which he could not do had they the use of their sight Such I say will not vouchsafe to hear reason lest it should awake their consciences and convince their judgements resembling 〈◊〉 that would nor have his Physician remove the thirst which he felt in his ague because he would not lose the pleasure he took in quenching the same with often drinking they had rather have their lusts satisfied then exstinguished Now we know that hearing is the only ordinary means of life and salvation if then the soul refuse the means of life it cannot live If Caesar had not delayed the reading of his Letter given him by Artemidorus as he went to the Senate wherein notice was given him of all the conspiracy of his murtherers he might with ease have prevented his death but his not regarding it made the same inevitable which together with the rest of this Chapter gives me a just and fair occasion now I have obtain my purpose to acquaint the ingenuous Reader why I rather call my Book The prevention of Poverty and best way to become Rich and Happy then The arraignment and conviction of Covetousness for by this means many a covetous wretch may out of lucre be touled one to read it to the saving of their souls who otherwise would never have been acquainted with a thousand part of their wretchedness and so not capable of amendment Bnt Fiftly suppose he should be prevailed withall to hear me all 's one even an ounce of gold with him will weigh down whatsoever can be aledged from the Word for though with that rich man Luk. 10. he may have a good mind to heaven in reversion yet for all that he will not hear of parting with his heaven whereof he hath present possession He can like Canaan well enough so he may injoy his flesh-pots also and could love the blessing but he will not lose his pottage and in case he cannot gain by being religious his care shall be not to loose by it and thaâ— Religion shall like him best that is best cheap and will cost him least any Doctrine is welcome to him but that which beats upon good works Nor will he stick with the Sages to fall down and worship Christ but he cannot abide to present him with his gold No if another will be at the charges to serve God he will cry out why is this waste as Iudas did when Mary bestowed that precious oyntment upon her Saviour which otherwise might have been sold and so put into his bag The love of money and commings in of gain is dearer and sweeter to the Muck-worm theâ— the saving of his soul what possibility then of his being prevailed withall To other sins Satan tempts a
to say All that is truly mine I carry with me They desire not so much to lay up treasure for themselvs upon earth but to lay up for themselvs in Heaven as their Lord and Master hath commanded them Matth. 6.19 20. What saith the Apostle Let not covetousness be once named among Saints Ephes. 5.3 As if that world which many prefer before Heaven were not worth talking of All worldly things are but lent us our houses of stone wherein our bodies dwell our houses of clay wherein our souls dwell are but lent us honours pleasures treasures money maintenance wives children friends c. but lent us we may say of them all as he said of the Ax-head when it fell into the water 2 Kings 6.5 Alasâ— they are but borrowed Only spiritual graces are given of those things there is only a true donation whereof there is a true possession worldly things are but as a Tabernacle a moveable heaven is a mansion Now put all these together and they will sufficiently shew that he is a fool or a mad man that prefers not spiritual riches which are subject to none of these casualties before temporal and transitory And so at lenght I have shewn you what it is not and what it is to be rich And I hope convinced the worldling that the richest are not alwayes the happiest Yea that they are the most miserable who swim in wealth wanting grace and Gods blessing upon what they do possesse while that man is incomparably happy to whom God in his love and favour giveth only a competency of earthly things and the blessing of contentation withall so as to be thankful for the same and desire no more I will now in discharge of my promise acquaint you how of poor melancholy and miserable you may become rich happy and cheerful CHAP. XXVIII THe which I shal do from the Word of God Nor need it seem strage that for the improving of mens outward estates I prescribe them rules and directions from thence For would we be instructed in any necessary truth whether it be Theological concerning God Ecclesiastical concerning The Church Political concerning The Common-wealth Moral concerning Our neighbours and friends Oeconomical concerning Our private families Monastical concerning Our selves Or be it touching Our Temporal estate Civil estate Spirituul estate Eternal Souls Bodies Names Estates Posterities We need but have recourse to the written Word For that alone is a magazine of all needful provision a store-house of all good instructions And let a man study Machiavel and all the Machiavilians and State-politicians that ever wrote he can add nothing or nothing of worth to what may be collected thence touching this subject Wherefore if any of poor would become rich let him use the means which tend thereunto observe and follow those Rules and Directions which God hath prescribed and appointed in his Word which are principally six For as the Throne of Solomon was mounted unto by six stairs so is this Palace of Plenty and Riches ascended unto by six steps set upon this ground already laid For I find in the Word six infallible wayes to become rich or six sorts of men whom God hath promised to bless with riches and all outward prosperity That is to say 1 The Godly 2 The Liberal 3 The Thankful 4 The Humble 5 The Industrious 6 The Frugal These of all other men in the world are sure never to want And these are the main heads unto which I will draw all I shall say upon this Partition or Division CHAP. XXIX FIrst if any of poor would become rich let him become religious for Godliness hath the promises of this life as well as of the life to come 1 Tim. 4.8 Yea all temporall blessings that can be named are promised to the godly and their seed and to them only as both the Old and New Testament does plainly and plentifully prove As for instance in Deuteronomy the 28th God hath promised that if we will hearken diligently unto his voice observe and do all his Commandements and walk in his wayes we shall be blessed in the city and blessed in the field blessed in our going forth and in our comming home blessed in the fruit of our bodies and in the fruit of our ground and in the fruit of our cattel the increase of our kine and the flocks of our sheep That he will bless us in our store-houses and in all that we set our hands unto and make us plentiful in all good things and that we shall have wherewith to lend unto many and not borrow Verse 1 to 15th and Chap. 7.11 to 19th To which may be added many the like places As Blessed is the man that feareth the Lord and delighteth greatly in his commandements wealth and riches shall be in his house Psal. 112. Verse 1 to 4th Wait on the Lord and keep his way and he will exalt thee to inherit the land Psal. 37.34 The Lord will with-hold no good thing from them that walk uprightly Psal. 84.11 Delight thy self in the Lord and he shall give thee thine hearts desire c. Psal. 37. 3 to 7. Fear ye the Lord ye his Saints for nothing wanteth to them that fear him The Lions do lack and suffer hunger but they that seek the Lord shall want nothing that is good Psal. 34.9 10. Whatsoever we ask we receive of him because we keep his commandements and do those things which are pleasing in his sight 1 John 3.12 What rare and precious promises are these to which I might add very many of like nature All which David had the experience of who tels us that he greatly rejoyced in the strength and salvation of the Lord and the Lord gave him his hearts desire and did not with-hold the request of his lips Yea he prevented him with the blessings of goodness and set a crown of gold upon his head Psal. 11.1 2 3 4. And the like of Abraham and Lot and Iob and Solomon Let us first seek the Kingdom of God and his righteousness and all other things shall be ministred unto us or come in as it were upon the bargain as our Saviour hath assured us Matth. 6.33 Talis est ille qui in Christâ— credit die qua credidit qualis ille qui universam legem implevit saith Hierom We have a livery and seisin of all the precious promises both in the Law and Gospel in the first moment of our faith Yea even an earnest and partly a possession of Heaven it self Ephes. 2.6 Neither are these promises made only to the obedient themselves but riches and all earthly blessings are entailed upon their seed also Psal. 112. His seed shall be mighty upon earth the generation of the righteous shall be blessed Verse 2 3. Nor is riches and outward prosperity promised to the godly and their seed as others usually enjoy them that is single and barely but they have a promise of them with a supply and addition of all other good
which being done and spoken he was presently absolved by the sentence of all Whence the Apostle exhorts the Ephesians to labour in their several callings if they would have sufficient for themselves and wherewith to help others And this makes Solomon in praising the vertuous woman for her bounty note that she works willingly with her hands and that her candle was not put out by night Prov. 31.10 to 31. And Saint Luke the like of Dorcas her pains and industry in making coats and garments Acts 9.36 39. And what but Idleness makes so many beggers and base persons It is the most corrupting Fly that can blow in any humane minde We learn to do ill by doing what is next it nothing Whence it is that vice so fructifies in our Gentry and Servingmen who have nothing to employ themselves in for they only sit to eat and drink lie down to sleep and rise up to play this is all their business and this brings thousands of them to beggery or worse Be therefore painful and industrious in thy calling and God will undoubtedly prosper and replenish thee with the good things of this life This is another step CHAP. XXXIII SIxthly if thou wouldest thrive and grow rich then be frugal and thrifty in spending For thrift which is a due saving from sinful and needless expences and a wary husbanding of what we get hath made as many rich men as painful getting It is our Saviours rule so to dispose of that plenty which God in his goodness hath bestowed upon us that nothing be lost John 6.12 And it is a rule which all good men will be sure to observe For He who gets what he hath justly Payes what he owes duly Requites favours received thankfully Considers the case of the poor cordially Will not yea dares not spend prodigally Let means come in never so plentifully And yet he of all men is sure of a lasting competency Prov. 28.27 Jam. 4.2 to 10. Frugality sayes Iustine is the mother of vertues But an expensive man whatsoever his gettings be by wasting and overlashing of his estate is sure not to thrive As it fared with that Captain in Tully who was not a peny the richer for that huge summe of money given him because he had done with it as a naked man would do with the Nuts that he gathers carry them all away in his belly for lack of pockets And this the Poets insinuate by their lusty Giant Briarius who had nothing to shew of all his comings in because his fifty bellies did consume the gettings of his hundred hands All the labour of that man of Monster was for his mouth and did slide through his throat Devorat os oris quicquid lucratur os ossis To want and waste differ but in time A poor man hath no riches a prodigal shall have none The Vessel that runneth out unduly will be empty when men come to draw out of it so will the state be if we let it leak like a crackt vessel But what the difference is betwixt a wise and prudent frugality and a vain expence of Gods benefits we may learn from Gen. 42 c. where notwithstanding the seven years of famine Egypt had corn enough when all other Countreys were without and the people ready to famish which needed not have been if they had been more sparing in the seven plentiful years for those years of plenty were not confined to Egypt other Countreys adjoyning were no less fruitful as the Learned aver But that Prodigality hath brought many rich men to poverty and poor men to beggery I have sufficiently shewn in the 17th Chapter And so much of the means whereby of poor a man may become rich I come in the last place to shew you how you may be happy as well as rich and cured of all your care misery and melancholy which is the principal thing I desire to pleasure you withall For millions there are that are mighty rich and yet are the most miserable melancholy and discontented men alive Here ends the First Part the second follows Postscript to the Pleased ACcording to my skill I have taught you to improve your estates but as to profit your soules would more please me and pleasure you so I have to that end taken the greater pains in providing proper remedies of the same alloy for each soul seduced or afflicted If such as they concern shall be pleased to make use of them they may with Gods blessing not only have their vices lessenea their knowledge increased and their mindes cheared and comforted but probably they shall find in them the flower cream or quintessence of what would otherwise cost them twenty years reading to extract If you meet not with those little pieces that are printed in this small Character at the Stationers At Iames Crumps a Book-binder in Little Bartholomews Well-yard you may have them all being in number two and twenty An Infallible VVay to Farewell In our BODIES NAMES ESTATES PRECIOUS SOULS POSTERITIES Together with Mens great losse of Happinesse For not paying The small quitrent of Thankfulness Whereunto is Added Remaines of The P. A. A Subject also of great concernment for such as would enjoy the Blessed Promises of this life and of that to come By R. Younge of Roxwell in Essex To gratifie such as have long and earnestly desired them To prevent future mistakes in the Printing and for other considerable Reasons I shall Print some few of these Books though at five times the rate of my other Pieces whereof I Print ten thousand at once Again though they will be too great for me to give as formerly or for the poor woman to sell as she can small ones Yet that the Buyer may have enough for his money I have like those that would distill Roses in the winter fairly crowded as you see a peck into a pint Pot. And that my own loss may be the less my method shall be when I have Printed off my number of any one sheet to keep the letters undistributed untill such are served as will venter upon each sheet single and have patience to stay untill it shall be grown up to an intire Treatise LONDON Printed by A.M. and are to be sold by Iames Crumpe in Little-Bartâ—◠〈…〉 To the well-affected READER that would be HAPPILY RICH. AS the Oratour grown old wrote of old age to an old man and of friendship to his much indeared friend so is this Discourse of Riches and Happinesse writ to such and such only as would be Happy as well as Rich. Not to all nor to all that are Rich as well knowing that the way to please the best is to displease the most and that to frame or fashion my matter to please either the Rich or all were displease him that is all in all Readers may be resembled to the Belgick Armies that consisted of French Dutch Spanish Italian c for so many hearers so many humours And what one speaks of Learning in
fifth part for amends added to the principal Levit. 6.5 Numb 5.6 7 8. And we read that there is a flying roll a winged curse for him that gets riches by robbery and oppression that shall not only pursue the theef but even enter into his house and consume it with the timber thereof and the stones thereof Zach. 5.3 4. Nor had Zacheus his repentance served his turn if ever he had this way been faulty or his bounty to the poor been accepted if he had not withall restored to every man his due Luk. 19.3 8. Micah 6.10 11. Ier. â—8 8 So that whatever blinded sensualists may think of it there is wisdome and gain in restoring for when all is done how to be saved is the best pâ—oâ— and better it is to case our evil-gotten goods over-board than make shipwrack of our souls Merchants when a tempest comes think it wisdome to cast their goods yea even their ballayneâ—ver â—ver board to save themselves And for certain thou art worse than jâ—eâ—zy if thou dost not the like For what shall â—t profit a manâ— though he should win the whole world if he gain Hell with it and â—â—ose both Heaven and his own soul Mat. 16.26 What is it to flourish for a time and perish for ever and well does that man deserve to perish that so loves the creature as that he leaves the Creatour The losse of saith is a dangerous shipwrack if it be possible save your vessel save your goods save your bodies but though you loose all else save your faiths save your souls True your twenty in the hundred will not believe this but an hundred to twenty he shall feel it here or hereafter As what gained Balaam or Iudas or Ahab or Achan or Ananias and Saphira when by seeking unlawfull gain they lost both what they got and themselves too A man would think that Achan paid dear enough for his goodly Babylonish garment the two hundred shekels of silver and his wedge of gold which he coveted and took away when He his Sons and Daughters his Oxen and Asses his Sheep and Tent and all that he had were stoned with stones and burnt with fire if that was all he suffered Iosh. 7.18 to 26. But to be cast into Hell to lye for ever in a bed of quenchless flames is a far greater punishment For the soul of all sufferings are the sufferings of the soul and in reason if Dives be tormented in endless flames for not giving his own goods to them that needed Luk. 16.21 23. Matth. 25.41 to 43. What shall become of him that takes away other mens If that servant in the Gospel was bound to an everlasting prison that only challenged his own debt for that he had no pity on his fellow as his Master had pity on him whither shall they be cast that unjustly vex their Neighbours quarrel for that which is none of theirs and lay title to another mans propriety If he shall have judgment without mercy that shews not mercy Jam. 2.13 What shall become of extortion and Rapine Psal. 109.11 Oh the madnesse of men that cannot be hired to hold their finger for one minute in the weak flame of a farthing Candle knowing it so intolerable and yet for trifles will plunge themselves body and soul into those endlesse and everlasting flames of hell fire True He that maketh gain blesseth himself as the Psalmist speaks Psal. 10.3 Yea if he can I mean the cunning Machevillâ—n whom the Devil and covetousnesse hath blinded any way advantage himself by anothers ruine and do it politickly how will he hug himself and applaud his own wisdome Hab. 1.13 to the end But by his leave he mistakes the greatest folly for the greatest wisdome For while he cozens other men of their estates Sin and Satan cozens him of his soul See Iob. 20.15 1 Tim. 6.8 10. And wofull gain it is that comes with the souls losse And how can we think those men to have reasonable souls that esteem money above themselves That prefer a little basâ— pelf before God and their own salvation Nor are there any such fools as these crafty knaves For as Austin speaks If the Holy Ghost term that rich Churl in the Gospel a fool that only laid up his own Goods Luk. 12.18 20. find out a name for him that takes away other mens And this know that if thou dost not willingly or at least with an unwilling willingnesse do it thy self yet it shall be plucked from thee with a vengeance As what saith the Holy Ghost Job 20. Though wickednesse be sweet in his mouth though he hide it under his tongue yet his meat in his bowels is turned it is the gall oâ— Aspes within him he shall vomit them up again God shall cast them out of his belly He shall suck the poyson of Aspes and the Vipers tongue shall slay him because he hath oppressed and forsaken the poor because he hath violently taken away an house which he builded not Surely he shall feel no quietness in his belly When he is about to fill his belly God shall cast the fury of his wrath upon him and shall rain it upon him while he is eating He shall flee from the Iron weapon and the bow of steel shall strike him through And the like from vers 5. to the end of the Chapter And so Ieremy 17. He that getteth riches and not by right shall leave them in the midst of his daies and at his end shall be a fool vers II. Wherefore in any case omit not to restore what thou hast unjustly gotten And that without disputing the point or making thy lust of counsel as they that desire with heed and more surely to see do shut the one eye Do like Abraham who when he was bid to offer his Sonne rose up betime and left his wife at home never making Sarah privy to it lest she should stop him Gen. 22.6 So do it if it be possible before thy flesh hears of it like Abigal who if she had consulted with Naball whether she should have supplied David with victuals or no the Miser would never have consented so she had perished with her whole family 1 Sam. 25. Paul consulted not with flesh and blood when he went to preach among the Heathen Gal. 1.16 the case was clear enough having a strict command from God So in this case there needs no deliberation but answer the Devil as that Martyr answered his Persecutors when they offered him both torments and rewards rewardes if he would deny Christ torments if he would not but withall time of deliberation whose answer was In re tam iusta nulla consultatio The case is so clear that I need not study about it Here I might 〈…〉 stances that restoring and giving rather than sinning is the way to grow rich I mean in pecuniary riches see Prov. 11.24 28.27 Mark 10.29 30. Mat. 6.33 2 Cor. 9.6 9 10 11. 2 Chron. 25.9 27.6 Deut. 7.13 to
happy for him to be a King in his own house as a door-keeper in Gods house That Solomon preferred the title of Ecclesiastes before the title of the King of Ierusalem That Theodosius the Emperour preferred the title of Membrum Ecclesiae before that of Caput Imperii professing that he had rather be a Saint and no King than a King and no Saint And that godly Constantine rejoyced more in being the Servant of Christ than in being Emperour of the whole world And indeed Gods servants are the only worthies of the world for Christ hath made them spiritual Kings Rev. 1.6 So happy are they as to have this high honour and dignity given them Yea so soon as regenerate we are made Sons to a King 2 Cor. 6.18 Brothers to a King Heb. 2.11 Heires to a King Rom. 8 17. Even to the King of glory Joh. 17.22 Rom. 8.18 2 Cor. 4.17 Nor are we his Sons only but he accounts us his precious Iewels Mala. 3.17 And reputes us his intimate Friends Joh. 15.14 15. Our Friend Lazarus saith Christ Joh. 11.11 O what an high and happy condition is this for mortal men to aspire unto that the God of Heaven should not be ashamed to own them for friends that before were his cursed and mortal enemies By nature we are like Nebuchadnezer no better than beasts grazing in the forrest but when grace once comes we are like him restored to his reason and high dignities Dan. 4.29 to the end Or like Manasses brought out of a loathsome Prison to be King of Ierusalem 2 Chron. 33.11 12 13. Thirdly Does any man glory in riches Christ is an unexhoustable treasure never failing and of his fulness have all we received Joh. 1.16 Nor are these transitory riches though these we have also when God sees them good for us For riches and treasures shall be in the house of the righteous Psal. 112.3 but we have heavenly and spiritual riches that true Treasure that is infinitely better than silver or gold and more precious than Rubies Pearles or any the most precious stones Yea it surpasseth all pleasure and prosperity strength honour or felicity It is more sweet than the Honey and the Honey-comb yea all the things thou canst else desire are not to be compared to it Length of daies is in her right hand and in her left riches and honour Her waies are waies of pleasantnesse and all her paths are peace She is a tree of life to them that lay hold upon her and happy is every one that retaineth her as Iob David and Solomon will insure you Iob. 28.13 to 20. Psal. 19.10 119.103 Prov. 3.14 to 19. 8.10 11. Eccles. 9.16 Yea lastly Heaven it self is made sure to every gracious soul for her Patrimony Mat. 5.3 to 12. Now consider before we go any further how poor a clod of earth a Mannour is how poor an inch a Shire how poor a span a Kingdom how poor a pace or Acre the whole earth And yet how many have sold their bodies and souls and consciences and Heaven and eternity for a few grains of this dust Only with Believers it is otherwise they consider that commodities are but as they are commonly valued And because transitory things in the next life bare no value at all and because there is notâ—ing firm under the firmament They hold it very good coveting what they may have and cannot leave behind them And though others most love what they must leave and think that money will buy any thing like foolish Magus Act 8.18 Or the Devil who presumed that this bait would even catch the Son of God Yet the wise and religious can see no reason why it should be so doted upon as it is But Fourthly Does any one desire or glory in Liberty Christ hath delivered us out of the hands of all our adversaries and enemies Luk. 1.71 74. As namely from the Law Gal. 5.18 Rom. 6.44 From sinne 1 Joh. 2.1 2. From death Joh. 8.51 5.24 And from the Devil with all the powers of darknesse Heb. 2.14 Rom. 8.35 to the end Or Fifthly Is it safety from fear and danger that a man wishes for or desires Let him become one of those little ones that believe in Christ then may he trust to a guard of Angels Mat. 18.10 and be assured of Gods protection without which a worm or fly may kill a man with it no Potentate on earth can do it As for Instance When Valens the persecuting Emperour should have subscribed an order for St Bazils banishment such a suddain trembling took his right hand that he could write never a good letter whereupon he tore the order for anger and there was an end of the businesse Laremouth Chaplain to the Lady Anne of Cleave a Scotchman being in Prison in Queen-Marieâ— daies it was said as he thought once twice thrice Arise and go thy waies whereupon he arising from prayer a piece of the prison wall fell down and he escaped beyond the Seas CHAP. VIII Sixthly Wouldest thou have God to prosper all that thou hast or doest then get grace to serve him so shalt thou be blessed in all places and delivered from all temporal evils as it is Deut. 28. Nor can it be other in reason For if when the Ark of the Covenant which was a sign of Gods presence was in the house of Obed Edom then the Lord blessed him and all his house how much more shall that man be blessed in whose heart even God himself by his Spirit dwels and by his grace which is a more sure and infallible sign of his presence then was the Ark. So that if thou beest wise thou wilt more esteem of grace and Gods blessing accompanying it than thou wouldest of Iasons Golden Fleece or the great Chams Tree-full of Pearles hanging by clusters Seventhly Wouldest thou with all these have all peace and joy than get Grace and Holinesse For as the Vnicornes horn dipped in the fountain makes the waters which before were corrupt and noysome clear and wholesome upon the suddain so whatsoever estate grace and godlinesse comes unto it saith like the Apostles Peace be to this house peace and happinesse be to this heart to this man c. That Regeneration is the only best Physick for melancholy I can sufficiently evidence out of fifty years experience I most gladly acknowledge that when I was in my natural condition without the pardon of sin and some assurance of Gods favour I seldome wakened in a morning but my heart was as heavy as lead as fearing an hell after that purgatory which since my heart was changed I have not I blesse God been acquainted with An old Disciple of Christ being asked the cause why he was ever such a merry man answered when I was a young man I studied how to live well and when I became an old man I studied how to dye well and so desiring to seek God in this his Kingdom of grace and hoping to see him in
three and thirty years In the Creation of the world he did but only speak the word in the Redemption of man he both spake and wept and sweat and bled and died and did many wonderfull things to do it Yea the saving of one soul single is more and greater than the making of the whole world In every new creature are a number of Miracles a blinde man is restored to sight a deaf man to hearing a man possest with many Devils dis-possest yea a dead man raised from the dead and in every one a stone turned into flesh in all which God meets with nothing but opposition which in the Creation he met not with What shall I say God of his goodnesse hath bestowed so many and so great mercies upon us that it is not possible to expresse his bounty therein for if we look inward we find our Creators mercies if we look upward his mercy reacheth unto the Heavens if downwards the earth is full of his goodnesse and so is the broad Sea if we look about us what is it that he hath not given us Air to breathe in fire to warm us water to cool and cleanse us cloathes to cover us food to nourish us fruits to refresh us yea Delicates to please us Beasts to serve us Angels to attend us Heaven to receive us And which is above all 〈…〉 we turn our eyes we cannot look besides his bounty yea we can scarce think of any thing more to pray for but that he would continue those blessings which he hath bestowed on us already Yet we covet still as though we had nothing and live as if we knew nothing of all this his beneficence God might have said before we were formed Let them be Toads Monsters Infidels Beggars Cripples Bond-slaves Idiots or Mad men so long as they live and after that Castawayes for ever and ever But he hath made us to the best likenesse and nursed us in the best Religion and placed us in the best Land and appointed us to the best and only Inheritance even to remain in blisse with him for ever yea thousands would think themselves happy if they had but a piece of our happinesse For whereas some bleed we sleep in safety others beg we abound others starve we are full fed others grope in the dark our Sun still shines we have eyes ears tongue feet hands health liberty reason others are blind deaf dumb are sick maimed imprisoned distracted and the like yea God hath removed so many evils from us and conferred so many good things upon us that they are beyond thought or imagination For all those millions of mercies that we have received from before and since we were born either for soul or body even to the least bit of bread we eat or shall to eternity of which we could not well want any one Christ hath purchased of his Father for us and yet God the Father also hath of his free grace and mercy given us in giving us his Son for which read Psal. 68.19 145.15 16. 75.6 7 Yea God is many times working our good when we least think upon him as he was creating Adam an help meet for him when he was fast asleep And as much do we owe unto God for the dangers from which he delivereth us as for the great wealth and dignities whereunto he hath alwaies raised us CHAP. XV. But the better to illustrate and set out this Love it will be good to branch it out into some more Particulars As First Call to mind all these external inferiour earthly and temporal benefits as that your being breathing life motion reason is from God That he hath given you a more noble nature than the rest of the creatures excellent faculties of mind perfection of senses soundnesse of body competency of estate seemlyness of condition fitnesse of calling preservation from dangers rescue out of miseries kindnesse of friends carefulnesse of education honesty of reputation liberty of recreations quietnesse of life opportunity of well-doing protection of Angels Then rise higher to his Spiritual favours though here on earth and strive to raise your affections with your thoughts Blesse God that you were born in the light of the Gospel for your profession of the truth for the honour of your vocation for your incorporating into the Church for the priviledge of the Sacraments the free use of the Scriptures the Communion of Saints the benefit of their prayers the aid of their counsels foot-steps of Faith Hope Love Zeal Patience Peace Ioy conscionablenesse for any desire of more Then let your soul mount highest of all into her Heaven and acknowledge those Celestial Graces of her Election to Glory Redemption from Shame Death and Hell of the Intercession of her Saviour of the Preparation of her Place And there let her stay a while upon the meditation of her future Ioyes This or the like do and it will teach you where to beg blessings when you want them and whom to thank when you have them For as the Sea is that great Cistern to recieve the confluence of all waters as first from that large and vast pond water is derived into all parts of the earth by veines and springs those springs run into rivers and those rivers empty themselves again into the Sea so all blessings come from God and all praises must be returned to him If we have any thing that is good God is the giver of it If we do any thing well he is the Authour of it God is Alpha the fountain from which all grace springs and Omega the sea to which all glory runnes All blessings come from him like so many lines from the center to the circumference therefore we must return all praises to him like so many lines from the circumference to the center Rom. 11.36 1 Cor. 10.31 His wisdom he communicates and his justice he distributes and his holinesse he imparts and his mercy he bestowes c. 1 Cor. 1.30 31. but his glory he will not give to another Isai. 42.8 But this is not all yea what can we think of that can be thought sufficient to render unto the Lord our God so good and gracious in way of thankfulnesse for all these his mercies For in reason hath he contrived so many waies to save us and should not we take all occasions to glorifie him Hath he done so much for us and shall we deny him any thing that he requireth of us though it were our lives yea our souls much more our lusts We have exceeding hard hearts if the blood of the Lamb cannot soften them stony bowels if so many mercies cannot melt them Was Christ crucified for our sins and should we by our sins crucifie him again Now the meditation of what God and Christ hath done for thee will wonderfully inflame thee with the love of God and thy Redeemer and withall make thee abhor thy self for thy former unthankfulnesse It will make thee break out into some such
expression as this Praised be the Lord even the God of our salvation who loadeth us daily with benefits Selah Psal. 68.19 The eyes of all wait upon thee and thou givest them their meat in due season thou openest thine hand and fillest all things living of thy good pleasure Psal. 145.15 16. To come to promotion is neither from the east nor from the west nor from the south but God is the Iudge he maketh low and he maketh high Psal. 75.6 7. And so of all other mercies and deliverances He that confers a Benefit upon a gratefull nature robs him of his liberty and self also and in one and the same act makes him a vassal will make us to direct all our thoughts speeches and actions to his glory as he hath directed our eternal salvation thereunto But to help and further you herein if you be willing so to do take these few Directions First Let these things be never out of the minds memories and mouthes of those whom Christ hath done thus for O let us I say remember as we should never forget Si totum me debeo pro me facto quid jam reddam pro me refecto saith holy Bernard If I owed my whole self unto thee for giving me my self in my creation what have I left to pay for giving thy self for me to so cruel a death to procure my Redemption which was not so cheap as my Creation Great was the benefit that thou wouldst create me of nothing but what tongue can sufficiently expresse the greatnesse of this grace that thou didst redeem me with so dear a price when I was worse than nothing We are full of thy goodnesse O let our hearts run over with thankfulnesse Yea let so many of us as have either heart or brain in the next place say O Lord What is man that thou art so mindfull of him Psal. 8.4 And O man what is God that thou art so unmindfull of him And then conclude with What shall I render unto thee O Lord for all these thy benefits but love thee my Creatour and Redeemer and become a new creature I will serve thee O Lord by the assistance of thy grace because thou hast given me my self but much more honour thee because thou hast given me thy Son Christ. Nor can any man in common reason meditate so unbottomed a love and not study and strive for an answerably thankfull demeanure If a friend had given us but a thousand part of what God hath we should heartily love him all our lives and think no thanks sufficient but to him that hath given me all things I have scarce given so much as thanks Yea I have striven to multiply offences against him and to make them as infinite in number as his blessings Thirdly The continual meditation of what God hath done for thee will make thee do what thou art able for him again For did God and Christ do all this for us and shall we do nothing for him again Like favours require like gratitude This then should at least make us part with our nearest dearest and sweetest darling sins to serve him in righteousnesse and holinesse every day every hour all the daies of our lives Even every sin for what sin should be so dear to us as Gods only Son was to him Do we then for Gods sake not spare our dearest sin when God for our sakes did not spare his dearest Son Yea what a bruitish and barbarous unthankfulnesse and shame were it that God should part with his Son and his Son with his own precious blood for us and we not part with our sinfull lusts and delights for him Fourthly Hath Christ done all this for us his servants so much and so many waies obliged unto him let us do what we are able for him again 1. Let us be zealous for his glory and take his part when we see or hear him dishonoured Nor can there be any love where thereâ— no zeal saith Augustine Well-born Children are touched to the quick with the injuries of their Parents And it is a base vile and unjust ingratitude in those men that can endure the disgrace of them under whose shelter they live 2. Let us seek to draw others after us from Satan to Him 3. Do we all we can to promote his worship and service 4. Take we all good occasions to publish to others how good God is and what he hath done for us 5. Let us wholly ascribe all the good we have or do to free grace and give him the glory of his gifts imploying them to our Masters best advantage 6. Let us that we may expresse our thankfulnesse to him shew kindnesse to his Children and poor members who are bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh Ephes. 5 30. 7. Abhor we our selves for our former unthankfulnesse and our wonderfull provoking of him 8. Hearken we unto Christs voice in all that he saith unto us and expresse our thankfulnesse by our obedience Yea all this let us do if we do it but for our own sakes For what should we have if we did thus serve Christ who hath done all these things for his enemies neglecting and dishonouring him CHAP. XVI But thou wilt say What can we do for God or for Christ I Answer We cannot properly benefit God nor add to his fulnesse They can add no good to him that have all their good from him The Ocean is never the fuller though all the rivers of the world flow into the same So What is God the better for our praises or performances to whom in that he is infinite nothing can be added If we be righteous our righteousnesse may profit the sonnes of men but what can we give unto him or what receiveth he at our hands Can the Sun receive light from a candle What profit does the Sunne receive by our looking upon it We are the better for its light not it for our sight or at all prejudiced by our neglect A shower of rain that waters the earth gets nothing to it self the earth fares the better for it Lord saith David our well-doing doth not at all extend unto thee but to the Saints that are on the earth and to the excellent ones in whom is all my delight Psal. 16.2 3. Yea if we could give him our bodies and souls they should be saved by it but he were never the better for them It is for our good that he would be served and magnified of us True as the Ocean daynes to take tribute of the small brooks and accepts that in token of thankfulnesse which was its own before it being the maintainer of the rivers streams Or as Ioseph accepted of his Brethrens small gifts albeit he had no need of them Gen 43.15 So does God accept of our free-will offerings and bountifully rewards them Phil. 4.18 Yea if in impolying our Talents we aim at his glory and the Churches good he doubles them Matth. 25.21 22 23. Nor does God look
these are added Isa. 58 If thou draw out thy soul to the hungry then shall thy health spring forth speedily c. verse 7.8 But admit the mercifull man be long sick God will preserve him alive strengthen him upon the bed of languishing yea make all his bed in his sickness the Lord will stir up the feathers under him his soul shall be at ease and his body sweetly refrashed mercy shall be his cordiall or pillow of repose untill he be raised up again Psalm 41.1 to 11. CHAP. XXIV But see how God hath rewarded many particular persons for this most excellent vertue Abraham in his old age was blessed with an Isaac a godly son and heir a glorious type of the worlds Redeemer and entertained Angels by his hospitality yea the Son of God the Lord of Angels as Sinesius observes The Shunamâ—te that entertained the Prophet Elisha received above a Prophets reward namely the promise and gift of a son when she was old and the raising of him to life when he was dead and the restoring of her house and land lost in her long absence for the famine 2 Kings 4 and 8. Chapters Rebeccah got so good and great an Husband by her hospitality as Chrysostom observes Lot was honoured with the entertainment of Angels and preserved alive with his whole family from the destruction of Sodom by his hospitality The Widow of Sarepta was blessed with a miraculous increase of her meal and oyl with the preservation of her family in the time of famine with the resurrection of her son by her relieving the Prophet in his banishment 1 Kings 17. Revell or Iethro for it is the same man under two divers names as Calvin proves upon Exod. 2. for this was rewarded with such a son in law as Moses and by him better instructed in the true worship of God Publius the chief man of the Island Melitâ— by entertaining St. Paul and his companions gâ—t his father healed of a fâ—aver and of a bloody flux Acts 28.8 It is likewise storied of Stephen King of Hungary and of Oswald King of England that their right â—â—nds dâ—d never putâ—efie because so much exeâ—câ—sed in relieving the nâ—cessities of 〈…〉 Again Fifthly It bringeth the blessings of God upon all we have or do And we know that the blessing of God in effect is all and does all Thou shalt surely give to thy poore Brother and thy heart shall not be grieved when thou givest unto him because for this thing the Lord thy God shall blesse thee in all thy work and in all that thou puttest thine hand to Deut. 15.10 And the like Prov. 22.9 Luke 14.14 It were endless to name the particulars wherein God hath promised to bless the mercifull see onely Isa. 58. Psal. 112. Prov. 10. and 22. Chapters 2 Chron. 31.10 Deut. 14 28 29. Ezek. 44.30 Or turn to Luke 11. and there you shall see that as fasting sanctifieth the body and prayer the soul so Almes does sanctifie the substance Give almes of those things which ye have saies our Saviour and behold all things shall be clean unto you ver 41. It s not spoken without a behold But CHAP. XXV Sixthly The mercifull man shall be no less blessed in his name and credit he shall be had in honour and reputation according to that Prov. 14. He that oppresseth the poore reproacheth him that made him but he honoureth him that hath mercy upon the poore ver 31. And to this accords that of the Psalmist he hath dispersed 〈◊〉 hath given to the poore his righteousness endureth for ever his horn shall be exalted with honour Psalm 112.9 And so Proverbs 10. His memoriall shall be blessed Verse 7. And of this I might give you sundry examples and pregnant As Rachab Gaius Iob The Centurian Boas Cornelius and Mary as how did our Saviour value and honour Maries bounty though so slighted by him that was a thief and carried the bag into which he would have had it come when he commanded it should be spoken of to her honour wheresoever the Gospell should be preached throughout all the world Matth. 26.13 But experience sufficiently proves that a liberal and bountiful man shall have all love and respect with men all good repute and report both living and dead Nor is this so light a blessing as many deeme it for what sayes the wise man The memoriall of the just shall be blessed but the name of the wicked shall rot Prov. 10.7 Yea a good name is better then a sweet oyntment and to be chosen before great riches Prov. 22.1 yea then life it self Bâ—iefly for conclusion of this point let this be the use when the poore at your gates ask their daily bread they highly honour you yea after a sort they make you Gods therefore by your bounty liberality shew your selves at least to be Christians to be men Secondly such as have by this divine vertue obtained a good report let it provoke them as much to excell others in doing good as they do excell them in hearing thereof For I hold this a sure rule He is of a bad nature to whom good report and commendations are no spur to vertue but he is of a worse disposition to whom evil report and blame is no bridle and retentive from vice which made Tully so wonder at the strange perverseness of Antony whom neither praise could allure to do well nor yet fear of infamy and reproach deter from committing evil But CHAP. XXVI Seaventhly the spiritual blessings and benefits which accompany these works of mercy and thereby accrew to the soul even in this life as they are inestimable so they are innumerable I le nominate so many as may satisfie and not cloy First it is the onely meanes to have the soul prosper kept safe and preserved Psal. 86. Preserve my soul saith David for I am mercifull Verse 2. The liberall soul shall be made fat and he that watereth shall also be watred himself Prov. 11.25 The mercifull man doth good to his own soul Verse 17. Secondly it is rewarded with illumination and conversion The two Disciples that went to Emaus were rewarded with illumination for entertaining our Saviour as a stranger Luke 24.45 Whence St. Austin observes that by the duty of Hospitality we come to the knowledge of Christ. Loe saith St. Gregory the Lord was not known while he spake and he vouchsafes to be known while he is fed And then St. Albone the first Martyre that ever in England suffered death for the name of Christ was converted from Paganism to Christianity by a certain Clark whom he had received into his house fleeing from the persecutors hands Thirdly works of mercy are infallible signes of a lively faith whereby we may prove it to our selves and approve it unto men Iam. â— 18 which fruits if our faith beare not it is dead not a living body but a carcass that breatheth not verse 26. They are signes of a lively faith for no man
the other into life eteâ—nall Matth. 25.31 to 47. Where are two things considerable They to save their purses would not be at a little cost for the poore while they lived and what have they got by it Now they are dead bâ—t firâ—t an everlasting separation from Gods blisfull presence and thâ—se unutterable joyes before mentioned and to be for ever confined in a bed of quenchlesse flames For this departure is not for a day nor for years of dayes nor for millions of yeares but for eternity into such paynes as can neither be expressed nor conceived There shall be no end of plagues to the wicked and unmercifull Math. 25.41 Mark 9.44 Their worme shall not dye neither shall their fire be quenched Isa. 66.24 Neither is the extremity of paine inferiour to the perpetuity of it Rev. 19.20 20.14 18.6 2 Pet. 2.4 Heb. 10 2â— Jude 6. The plagues of the first death are pleasant compared with those of the second For mountaines of sand were lighter and millions of yeares shorter then a tythe of these torments Rev. 20.10 Iude 7. The pain of the body is but the body of paine the anguish of the soule is the soule of anguish For should we first burn off one hand then another after that each arme and so all the parts of the body it would be deemed intolerable and no man would endure it for all the pleasures and profits this world can afford and yet it is nothing to that burning of body and soule in Hell Should we endure ten thousand yeares torments in Hell it were grievous but nothing to eternity should we suffer one paine it were miserable enough but if ever we come there our payns shall be for number and kinds infinitely various as our pleasures have been here Every sense and member each power and faculty both of soul and body shall have their severall objects of wretchednesse and that without intermission or end or ease or patience to endure it Luke 12.5 16. â—4 Matth. 3.12 Yea the paynes and sufferings of the damned are ten thousand times more than can be imagined by any heart under heaven It is a death never to be painted to the life no pen nor pensill nor art nor heart can comprehend it Mat. 18.8 9. 25 30. 2 Pet. 2.4 Isa. 5.14 30.33 CHAP. XXXIII Now what heart would not bleed to see men yea multitudes run head long into these tortures that are thus intolerable dance hood-wink'd iâ—to this perdition O the folly and madnesse of those that prefer earth yea hell to heaven time to eternity the body before the soule yea the outward estate before either soule or body These are the worlds fooles meer children that prefer an apple before their inheritance Besotted sensualists that consider not how this life of ours if it were not short yet it is miserable and if it were not miserable yet it is short that suffer themselves to be so bewitcht with the love of their money and their hearts to be rivered to the earth to be so inslaved to covetousnesse as to make gold their God Certainly were they allowed to have but a fight of this Hell they woâ—ld not do thus if they did but either see or foresee what they shall one day without serious and unfeigned repentance feel they would not be hired with all the worlds wealth to hazard in the least the losse of those everlasting joyes before spoken of or to purchase and plunge themselves into those caselesse and everlasting flames of fire and brimstone in hell there to fry body and soule where shall be an innumerable company of Devils and damned spirits to affright and torment them but not one to comfort or pity them But O that thou who art the Sacred Monarch of this mighty frame wouldst give them hearts to believe at least that the soule of all sufferings are the sufferings of the soule that as painted fire is to materiall such is materiall to hell fire That things themselves are in the invisible world in the world visible but their shadowes onely And that whatsoever wicked men enjoy here it is but as in a dream their plenty is but like a drop of pleasure before a river of sorrow and displeasure and whatsoever the godly feel but as a drop of misery before a river of mercy and glory Then would they thinke it better to want all things then that one needfull thing whereas now they desire all other things and neglect that one thing which is so needfull They would be glad to spare something from their superfluities yea if need requâ—re even from their necessaries that they might relieve and cherish the poor distressed members of Iesus Christ. And let so much serve to have been spoken of the reasons that concern our selves in particular and how God hath promised to blesse the merciful man in his soule body name and estate I should now go on to declare that what the liberall man gâ—ves his seed shall inherâ—t But I consider that if for the increasing of their estates for the obtaining of heaven and the avoyding of everlasting destruction of body and soule in Hell will not prevail with rich men to do some good with their goods while they lâ—ve whatsoever else can be spoken will be lost labour and to no purpose I grant there are some of them such desperate doting fools that they can find in their hearts to damn their own souls and go to hell to leave their sonnes rich and therefore it will not be amisse to set down or poynt them to a few of those promises which God hath made to the mercifull or liberall mans seed and posterity after him I 'le alleadge but three places onely CHAP. XXXIV That if we bountifully relieve the poor the reward of onr charity shall not onely extend to us but also to our Off-spring and Progeny the Prophet Esay witnesseth Chap. 58. where he tells us that if we will draw out our soule to the hungry and satisfie the afflicted soule the Lord will not onely satisfie our soules in drought make fat our bones but that those also that some of us sâ—â—ll prosper unto many generations ver 10 11 12. And also the Psalmist Psal. 37. I have been young and now am old saith hee yet have I not seene the righteous forsaken not his â—ood begging bread vers 26â— then gives the reason He is ever mercâ—full and endeth and his seed enjoyes the blessing vers 26. And so Psal. 112. His seed shall be mighty upon earth the generation of the righteous shall be blessed Vers. 2. to 6. Now what better inheritance can we leave to our Children then the blessing of God which like an ever-springing fountaine will nourish and comfort them in the time of drought when as our owne provision which we have left unto them may faile and when the heate of affliction ariseth will like standing waters be dried up Nor is this only probable but God hath set down
that it shall be so For he speaks far otherwise of the unmercifull as Psal. 109. Let his children be fatherlesse and his wife a widow Let his children be continually vagabonds and beg their bread I pray mind it let them seek their bread also out of desolate places Let the extortioner catch all that he hath and let the strangers spoile all his labour Let there be none to extend mercy unto him mither let there be any to favour his fatherlesse children Let his posterity be cut off and in the generation following let their names be blotted out and the memory of them cut off from the earth Because mark the reason he remembred not to shew mercy but persecuted the poor and needy Vers 6. to 17. all which he speaks by the spirit of prophesie Though indeed we want not examples of this in every age Was not this fulfilled in Haman and is it not fulfilled daily in our experience For hence it is that riches ill got or I 'l kept shift masters so often But take some other instances out of the Scriptures of both kindes Ionathan is payd for his kindnesse to David in Mephibosheâ—h Iethro for his love to Moses in the Kenites 1 Sam. 15.6 some hundreds of years aftet he their Ancestor was dead The Aegyptians might not be unkindly dealt withall for their harbouring the Patriarchs though they afflicted their posterity But the Moabites and Ammonites were either to dye or not to enter into the congregation of the Lord to their tenth generation because they met not Gods Israel with bread and water in the wildernesse Deut. 23.3 4. God caused Soul to spare all the Kenites for that they had shewed mercy to Israel who otherwise had all of them been destroyed 1 Sam. 15 6. Another example you have in Iob 21.18 19 20. all which shewes that God usually blesseth and rewardeth the children for their fathers goodnesse The loving kindnesse of the Lord saith the Psalmist endureth for ever and ever upon them that feare him and his righteousnesse upon childrens children Psal. 103.17 And so on the other side Eternall payments God uses to require of their persons onely temporary often times of succession as we sue the Heyres and Executors of our debtors Now if this be so that what the liberall man gives his seed shall inherit then the good provision that we should make for our Children coâ—sists not so much in laying up as in laying out and more in making provision for their soules then for their bodies I confesse it is the case of niâ—e parts of the Parâ—â—ts throughout the Lâ—â—d to provide for their childrens bodies not for their soules to shew that they begat not their soules but their bodies to leave faire estates for the worser part nothing for the estate of the better part They desire to leave their children great rather then good and are more ambitious to have their sons Lords on earth than Kings in heaven But as he that provides not for their temporall estate is worse then an Infidell 1 Tim. 5.8 So he that provides not for their eternall estate is little better then a Devill The use which I would have you make of the premisses is this Let none refuse to give because they have many children but give the rather out of love to and for their childrens sakes that God who as you see hath ingaged himselfe may be their Guardian and provide and take care for them Or if not for their soules yet for thine owne For why shouldest thou love thy children better then thine owne person and in providing for them neglect thy selfe Yea why shouldst thou preferre their wealth before thine own soule and their flourishing estate in the world which is but momentany and mutable before the fruition of those joyes which are infinite and everlasting Will it not grieve and gall thy conscience another day to thinke that for getting or saving some trifles for thy posterity on earth thou hast lost Heaven or to remember that thy children ruffle it out in worldly wealth and superfluous abundance when thou shalt be stripped of all and want a drop of cold water to cool thy scorching soul in hell CHAP. XXXV Thus I might go on and inlarge my selfe upon this and add thereunto many other reasons First in regard of God Secondly in regard of Christ. Thirdly in regard of the poore Fourthly in regard of others I should also according to the order first proposed shew what are the ends to be propounded in our giving almes and lastly the severall impediments that hinder men from giving but I finde which when I fell upon it I did not foresee matter representing it selfe like those waters in Ezekiel Chap. 47. which at the first were but anckle deep and then knâ—e deep and then up to the loynes which afterwards did so rise and flow that they were as a River which could not be passed over Or like that little cloud which Elias his servant saw 1 Kings 18. Much hath been said of this subject bnt much more might be said for I could carry you a great way further and yet leave more of it before then behind But I am loth to tire my Reader or cause any to make an end before they begin as not seldome doth Addition in this case bring â—orth substraction and more writ cause lesse to be read Wherefore I will onely give you the sum of some few particulars briefly and leave the rest That little which I intend to deliver is First the neer communion that is between the poor and us with our head Christ. For besides the civill communion that is between all men as being of one fâ—â—sh the off-spring and generation of God Act. 1â— 28 9. The senâ—es of the same Father Adam and Noah and so brethren one with another and proceeding as so many flowers from one root many Rivers from one fountain many arteries from one heat many veines from one liver and many sinews from one braine And likewise of the same Country Common-wealth yea of the same City and Corporation yea perhaps neer Neighbours and parishioners every of which the Holy Ghost maketh a sufficient argument to move us to do these works of mercy in relieving the poor Isa. 5.8.6 7. There are many spirituall respects and divine relations which make a more neer communion between Christians one with another for we are elected to the same eternall life and happinesse we are not onely Gods workmanship created in Adam according to his owne glorious image but re created and restored unto the divine Image lost by Adam in Christ the second Adam we are redeemed in our soules and bodies with the same precious blood of Iesus Christ we are partakers of the same calling whereby we are chosen out of the world and gathered into the Church and communion of Saints that we may inheriâ— eternall gloâ—y together and that out of darknesse into maâ—vellous light and out of a desperate condition to be partakers
of the same precious promises And by vertue of this Calling we serve one and the same God are of one Church and family and have one Religion one faith one baptisme are invited guests to the same Table and Supper of our Lord are all Heirs and Co-heires of the same heavenly kingdome and therein annexed also with Christ our elder brother Finally we are brethren of the same Father the onely Spouse of the same heavenly Bridegroom and members of the same mystical body whereof Iesus Christ is the head so that the neerest and strongest communion that can be imagined is between Christians one with another and all of them with their head Iesus Christ And should not all this move us to relieve them Yea more then all this If we do good to our fellow-members the benefit will râ—dound unto our selves who are of the same body even â—s the hand giving nourishment to the mouth and the mouth preparing it for the stomacke do in nourishing it provide nourishment for themselves also Yea more then all this there is such a neare and strong union and communion with the poor together with us and with our head Christ our Saviour That he esteemeth that as doâ—â— to himselfe which is done unto them even as the head acknowledgeth the benefit done unto it which the meanest member of the body receiveth Yea in truth that is much more acceptable which we do for his poor members then if we should do it to his owne person as being a signe of greater love For it is but an ordinary kindnesse to confer benefits upon our dearest friends but to extend our bounty to the poorest and meanest that belong unto them is a signe of much greater love For if for their sakes onely we do good unto these how much more would we be ready to do it unto themselves if they had occasion to crave our help And as in this regard he much esteemeth this Christian bounty so he will richly reward it also at the day of Iudgemeut For then these mercifull men who have relieved the poor for Christs sake shall with ravishing joy heare that sentence Come ye blessed of my Father because the works of mercy which they have done to the poor Christ will acknowledge as done unto himselfe And this will more rejoyce thy soule hereafter then it doth now refresh the others body when Christ shall say unto thee Come thou blessed and inherit the Kingdome Nor will it then repent thee that thou hast parted with a small part of what God hath given thee to the poor CHAP. XXXVI And indeed what can be a more forcible reason to make our hearts relent though they be never so stony and our bowels to yearn with pity and compassion towards the poor though they were of brasse and iron Then to consider that our dear Lord and Saviour in them doth crave reliefe for who is so more then brutishly ungratefull that can turne him away empty handed Who being infinitely rich in all glory and happinesse was contented for our sakes to become poore that by his poverty he might communicate unto us his heavenly riches Who would not give Christ lodging Yea even if need should require the use of his own bed if hee remember that Christ was content so far to abase himselfe for our sakes as to make a stable his chamber and a manger his lodging that we might be admitted into his heavenly and everlasting mansions Who would deny to cloath him being naked who hath câ—â—â—hed our nakedness and covered our filthinesse with the precious robe of his righteousnesse in which we stand accepted before God and receive the blessing of eternall happinesse Who would not spare food out of his owne belly to relieve poore Christ who hath given unto us his blessed body to be our meat and his precious blood to be our drinke whereby our soules and bodies are nourished unto everlasting life Who would not leave all pleasure and profit to go and visit him in his sicknesse and imprisonment that left heaven and his Fathers bosome that he might come to visit and redeem us with the inestimable price of himselfe Yea if wise we will count it an honour whereof we are very unworthy As most unworthy we are of such an honour as to relieve hungry thirsty and naked Christ in his poor members whence the Macedonians counted and called it a favour that they might have their hand in so good a worke 2 Cor. 8.1 2 3 4. And that David thanks God that of his owne he would take an offering 1 Chron. 29.9 And this is another reason to convince men that it is most just and equall they should be liberall to the poor members of Iesus Christ. And so much touching the reasons and motives to this Christian duty Then which there cannot be either more or clearer or stâ—onger or weightier inducements to perswade to any one thing in the world then there is to this if men have either hearts or braines CHAP. XXXVII The next to be considered is The time when we are to give and that is two-fold First when an opportunity of doing good offers it seâ—fe do it speedily without delay readily entertain the first â—oâ— on with-hold not good from thy Neighbour when it is in thy power to do it Say not to him that is in present need goe and â—ome again and to morrow I will give thee when thou hast it by thee Prov. 3.27 28. When Lazarus is in need of refreshment let him not wait or lye long at thy door Luke 16.20.21 22. For nothing is more tedious then to hang long in suspence and we endure with more patience to have our hopes beheaded and quickly dispatcht then to be racked and tortured with long delayes according to that Prov. 13.12 Hope deferred maketh the heart sicke but when the desire cometh it is a tree of life For as one saith Beneficentia oft virtus que moram non patitur Beneficence is a vertue which disliketh all delayes And as Seneca telleth us Omnis benignitas properat All goodnesse is quick of hand and swift of â—oot and hateth aswell the paralyticall shaking and staggering of those who doubt whether to give or no as the gouty lamenesse of such as after they are resolved to give make but slow hast The greater speed the greater love for love can abide no lingring Then does a benefit loose his grace when it sticks in his fingers who is about to bestow it as though it were not given but pluckt from him and so the receiver praiseth nor his Benefactors bounty but his owne importunity because he doth not seem to have given but to have held too weakely against his violenâ—â— These delayes shew unwillingnesse Et qui moratur neganti proximus est He that delayes a benefit is the next door to him that denyeth it Even as on the other side a quick haâ—d is an evident signe of a free heart For proximum est libenter facientis
the blood of Christ so he buildâ— an Almesâ—house or Hospitall for the Children with their Fathers bones Nor is that out of conscience or love to the poore but rather he thinkes by this and a piece of Marble to raise his name and revive his credit which hâ— had long since lost though it no whit avails him with men of judgement Again he thinkes that a little almes will make amends for a great deal of injustice But this pleaseth God like the offering of Cain or as that of Nadab and Abihu when they offered strange fire unto the Lord Levit. 10. For certainly as the Lord would not in the law receive as an offering the price of a dog or the hire of a whore so it is no going about to corrupt God with presents and call him to take part of the spoyle which he hath gotten by fraudulent meanes and extortion No he that offereth to the Lord of the goods of the poor is as he that sacrificeth the sonne in the sight of the Father Eccl. 3.4 Yea â—ven Plato an Heathen could say Neither the gods nor honest men will accept the offerings of a wicked man Nay a generous Roâ—an would scorne to have his life given him by such a sordid Pinch gut As when Sylla the Dictator had condemned to death all the Inhabitants of Perâ—â—za pardoning none but his Host he would needs dye also saying he scorned to hold his life of the murtherer of his Countrey as Appian relates And for my part I had rather endure some extremity then to be beholding to the almes of Avarice He that overvalues what he gives never thinks he hath thanks enough and I had better shift hardly then owe to an insatiable creditor Now herein is the difference between grace and corrupt nature the Christian exerciseth himselfe in the works of mercy in the whole course of his life and giveth his goods to the poor while he might enjoy them himself but the wordling is only liberal at the approach of death and then alone he is content to employ them this way when as he seeth he can keep them no longer And that not out of love towards God or the poor but out of feare of approaching judgement and that dreadfull account which he must presently make before a just and terrible Judge Or out of self-love either that he may gaine the vain glory of the world or that he may satisfie for his sins and so escape eternall condemnation In which respect he giveth to the poor and casts his bread upon the face of the waters as the Merchant casts his goods into the sea in time of a storme to preserve the ship from sinking and himselfe from drowning For were he not in danger to make shipwrack of his soul and of sincking into the gulfe of hell and condemnation he would be no more liberall at his death then he hath always been in the whole course of his life But what do I speak of his being liberall aâ— the approach of Death for not one of a thousand of these ever entertain such a thought Yea they love all the world so little that if it were possible they would with Hermocrates make themselves their owne Executors and bequeath their goods to none else As he that gives not till he dies shewes that he would not give if he could help it and so it appears by their not parting with it till they be plucked from it For to give when they dye and when they can keep it no longer is not worth thanks it is not in some sense their own to bestow but rather to be liberall of that which is indeed none of their own but other mens Neither will God then accept of it or hereafter reward it which proves the covetous man no less foolish then wicked for as one light carried before us does us more good then many that are brought after so does a ltitle given in a mans life-time more benefit him then thousands at the hour of death Because what the charitable man gives while he is alive and in health he shall carry with him being dead whereas the uncharitable man shall leave his gold behind him but carry the guilt with him into everlasting fire So that Misers may fitly be likened to the Mules of Princes that go all day laden with treasure and covered with gay cloaths and at night after a tedious and wearisome journey their treasure is taken from them and they shaken off into a sorry stable much galled and bruised witâ— the carriage of those treasures their galled backs onâ—ly left unto themselves For after all these mens toyle and slavery what they have shall be taken from them and they turned off with their wounded consciences to that loathsome and irksome stable of hell and damnation Wherefore he that hath either grace or wit will make 〈◊〉 owne hands his Executors and his eyes his Overseers Nor are we 〈◊〉 of Christs fold but goats and swine if we do not benefit others more in our lives then by our deaths CHAP. XL. It is no small wonder to me that any wise man should so dote and set his affections upon that which is so uncertain and that will do him so little good in time of greatest need As oh the uncertainty of riches whom either casualty by fire or inundation of waters or robbery of Thieves or negligence of servants or suretyship of friends or over-â—ight of reckonings or trusting of Customers or unfaithfulnesse of Factors or unexpected falls of Markets or piracy by Sea or unskilfulnesse of Pilots or violence of Tempests may bring to an hasty and speedy poverty It is in the power of one gale of winde or a farthing candle to make many rich men beggars And then as the greatest floods have often the lowest ebbs so are they most poor and miserable that were formerly most rich and in the mindes esteem most happy 2. Or in case our riches thus leave not us yet we know not how soon we may leave our riches For for ought we know this very night may be our last night That rich man in the Gospell reckoned up a large bill of particulars great barnes much goods many yeares but the sum was short one night He that reckons without God shall be sure to reckon twice And so it may fare with thee There is but one way to come into the world there is a thousand wayes to go out of it In Plinies time Physitians had found out above three hundred diseases between the crown of the head and the sole of the foot all which do lye lingring and lurking for our lives Nor is that all Anacreon that drunken Poet was choaked with the huske of a grape Euripides returning home from King Archelaus his supper was toâ—â—e in pieces of Dogs Archemâ—rus sonne to Lycurgus King of Thrace was slain by an Adder Lucia sister to M. Aurelius was killed with a needle which stuch on her breast being thrust in by her Childe
he promised to bless the merciful man in his temporal civil spiritual and eternal estate Is there no such way to grow rich as by being bountiful to the poor Is it the most certain and infallible way never to want Is sparing in this case the worst thrift Wil with-holding from the poor bring a man to poverty Shal we have the benefit of their prayers and their loins to bless us Is this the Way to obtain God's blessing upon our persons whereby we shall be kept in perpetual safety delivered from the malicious practises of all our enemies Will God hear us and send us succor in all times of need as we hear and pity the poor and even make our beds when we are sick Wil what we have this way distributed stand us in more stead at the hour of Death and Day of Iudgement then all the Wealth in the World Shall the merciful be rewarded with illumination and conversion Wâ—â— these Works of Mercy bring such joy and peace confirm our hope and sweeten all our afflictions Are they evident signs of saying Graces And do they assure us of our future reward and fruition of God's presence hereafter Is it the onely way to an honourable and honest repute and report living and dead procuring all love and respect from good and bad Will God bless the merciful man with an happy match a godly offâ—spring Shall what we give be paid again unto our children and posterity with an addition of all other blessings who otherwise shall not prosper but be Vagabonds and beg their bread Is it a thing so pleasing to God that he accounts what is given to them as lent to him And so acceptable to Christ by reason of the near union that is between him the poor and us being but one mistical body whereof he is the Head that what we do to them his members he takes as done to himself and will accordingly reward it or plague the neglect thereof both upon us ours here and our bodies and souls hereafter Is it so that what we disburse in this World we shall receive again by Bill of Exchange in Heaven And that it is not so much given as laid up insomuch that we may truly say What we gave that we have If besides all this God hath promised to reward a little mony meat clothes with an infinite Eternal Kingdom of glory have the poor as true a right to it as we have to the residue Are we no less beholding to the poor then they are to us Would we were it our case think the contrary very unequal For if we look on the sufferings of others as heavier then our own this will beget thankfulness if we look on the doings gifts and graces of others as better then our own this wil beget humility Shall they thereby be the better able to serve God in their several stations Shall they have cause to pray for and praise God for us Will it stop our enemies mouths and make them think the better of our Religion and happily win them to imbrace the truth at least seeing our good works they will glorifie our Father which is in heaven Whereas the Poore shall onely have some outward relief and comfott thereby Shall wee fare the better for it in our souls bodyes names estates and posterities with many the like which might be added for our eâ—couragement to this duty Then they should serve as one would think as so many effectual and strong arguments to move every Christian to the diligent and frequent doing of them Yea by this time as I hope I have made some way in the Worldlings heart to rellish the relieving of the poor at least it concerns men to urge and press these motives upon themselves until they have compell'd their unwilling wils to resolve to interest themselves into so many promises and blessings and to shun the danger of so many threats and judgements as the neglect thereof will incur As did we thus hide the Word of God in our hearts and particularly apply these things to our Consciences it would work this Grace in us all Which otherwise will prove no other then as a sweet harmony of Musick to â— deaf man It is not unknown to us that Nathan wrought more upon David by a particular private admonition then all the Lectures of the Law could do for three quarters of a year together Yea let but this be done or indeed do but wel weigh what hath been said and it will be sufficient to perswade any covetous Nabal alive if he hath either heart or brain or indeed any care of or love to himself or his to become as liberal as Zacheus himself However I doubt not but some wil be so wise as to consider the premises thereupon to give as God in his Word injoins And that others will do the same if it be but meerly out of self-love for there cannot possibly be more rational or strong inducements more rare remarkable Benefits and Promises to any duty then is propounded to this particular Grace Wherefore if there be any consolation in Christ if any comfort of love if any fellowship of the Spirit if any compassion and mercy towards your selves or others think of these things accept of these blessings rush not upon so many Curses but break off your sins and former unmercifulness by righteousness and your iniquity by shewing mercy towards the poor Dan. 42 Distribute to the necessities of the Saints minister unto them of your Substance like Mary Magdalen Ioanna the wife of Chuza and Susanna And give your selves to Hospitality Rom. 12.13 Luke 8.2.3 Suffer not the naked to lodge without garment and without covering in the cold Job 24.7 Yea if thou dost but wel weigh what benefit it will bring to thee by being bountiful to them thou wilâ— be glad to meet with and invite such an object or opportunity of doing good and be thankful for it even as Zerxes the Persian Monarch said when Themistocles came to him being banished his own Countrey Let the Athenians send us more of such guests And indeed if men will not be moved nor drawn to good with the threefold cord inerrableness of Precepts innumerableness of Examples inestimableness of rewards and yet here is more then a sevenfold Cord no hope that any means should prevail with them as St. Austin speaks If Othniel be told what preferment he shall get for taking Kiriath Sephar he will undertake that difficult task Iosh. 15 16 17. And if David does but hear what shall be done to the man that kills Goliah he dares accept the challenge of that terrible Champion 1 Sam. 17. If Moses hath once respect unto the recompence of the reward he will be content to suffer affliction with the People of God Heb. 6.11.25 26. And if the Apostles expect to receive some great thing of Christ they will soon forsake all and follow him Matth. 19.27 28. We should therefore
thou seest no possibility of increasing thy wealth by giving away a great part of it unto the poor I answer And what more reason hast thou by the collection of Sence that thy seed which thou sowest should be multiplied which thou castest away and lettest to rot in the earth unless thou hast learned it by experience And is not God's Word a more infallible Teacher and surer ground for thy faith to rest on especially when thou art not without experience of the like increase springing from the sowing of the seeds of thy beneficence To conclude this point if thou doubtest of these promises of God made unto those who relieve the poor because thou seest not how or when they are performed why dost thou believe the Remission of thy sins Salvation by Christ and everlasting life when as thou seest none of these nor hast any other ground but God's promise even as thou hast for the reward of thine Alms-deeds And therefore it thou doubtest of the one thou doubtest of the other and were not the profession of thy faith concerning those spiritual things good cheap but that it should cost thee as dear as the giving of Alms thou wouldst doubtless discover and proclaim thy infidelity there as well as here and plainly shew that it was in meer formality and hypocrisie Methinks our mistrust or at least the smal confidence we have in what God speaks in his Word especially touching temporals is the greatest wonder in the world And certainly if we cannot trust him for our bodies how do we or how can we trust him with our souls which is the greater trust But beloved what I speak I speak not to all for we have perswaded our selves better things of you and such as accompany salvation though we thus speak Heb. 6.9 And so I have finished what at first I promised with an overplus in behalf of the Poor But as Iohn could onely Baptize with water so I can but teach you with Words and when God withholds his contemned Grace Paul himself cannot move a soul. If the Holy Ghost shall set it home to your hearts that you may so meditate on what hath been spoken and so practise what hath been prescribed that God in Christ may be pacified your sins by free grace pardoned and your souls eternally saved That while you are here you may enjoy the peace of God which passeth all understanding Philip. 4 7. and when you depart hence you may arrive at the Haven of all happiness in Heaven where is fulness of joy and pleasures for evermore blessed and happy are yee Psal. 16.11 Which being my praier and hope I shall not onely take my work off the Loom or turn my Pinnace into the Harbor by making a conclusion of this subject as well considering that those who are most insatiable in other things will soonest be cloied with Mannah but likewise take leave of the Press and that for these Reasons First according to my scantling I have said something if not sufficient in one or other of my Six and thirty Pieces to each soul seduced or afflicted Secondly which would by the Reader be considered As he gathers that reads so he spends that writes and who so spends ere he gathers shal soon prove Bankrupt Thirdly because the Bow that is alwaies bent will soon grow weak and sluggish Fourthly I have bestowed so many years and taken so much pains in gleaning ears of corn with Ruth grinding at the Mill with Samson in binding Sheaves carrying to the Mill Barn Garner in threshing Winnowing Garbling Kneading it into Paste making it into Loaves and baking it into Bread that so I might have fine Manchet to set before you my most welcome Guests that with Martha in entertaining her Saviour I have wearied my self And the truth is no mony could have hired me to have taken the pains had not an earnest desire and hope of the common good continually spurred me to go on Onely for this cause and the great pleasure I have taken in the work or imploiment I would not for a world have been debarred from it This may seem a Paradox but it is the immediate gift of God to those that he imploies in such his service thus to counterpoise their labour with more then answerable delight Now unto the King Everlasting Immortal Invisible unto God onely Wise be Honour and glory for ever and ever Amen 1 Tim. 1.17 If you cannot remember all that I have said yet at least remember what the Holy Ghost says in these ensuing places Godliness is profitable for all things and hath the promises both of this life and of the life to come 1 Tim. 4.8 The Lyons do lack and suffer hunger but they that seek the Lord shall want nothing that is good Psalm 34.9 10. Many sorrows shall be to the wicked but he that trusteth in the Lord mercy shall compass him about on every side Psalm 32.10 He that giveth to the poor shall not lack Prov. 28.27 All things shall work together for the best unto those that love God Rom. 8.28 FINIS The sad and doleful Lamentation of ORIGEN after his Fall Set up as a Sea-Mark to make others beware of doing the least Evil that good even the greatest good may come of it BEing much affected with this Example of Origen as deeming it exceeding rare remarkable forcible to make others beware I have much desired that some Stationer would print it with some other small piece for the common good and thereupon I engaged first one and after that another who were to print Spira that they would add this of Origen unto it leaving my Copy with them but neither of them kept their promise because forsooth that of Spira alone would sell for six pence and both together for no more A solid reason while a little gain shall be more stood upon then the glory of God and good of Souls Yet this is the worlds method and as common as cursed and barbarous All which considered none of them I hope can justly blaâ—â— me for filling up the void pages of this sheet with that which may pleasure thousands For I dare say there is not one Reader of fourty that have formerly met with the same in any Author IN the days of Severus lived Origen a man famous for Learning and in mental excellencies most rare and singular he was bold and fervent under the reign of Severus Maximinus and Decius in assisting comforting exhorting and cherishing the Martyrs that were imprisoned with such danger of his own life that had not God wonderfully protected him he had bin stoned to death many times of the heathen multitude for such great concourse of men and women went daily to his house to be catechised and instructed in the Christian Faith by him that Souldiers were hired of purpose to defend the place where he taught them Again such search sometimes was set for him that neither shifting of place nor Countrey could hardly serve him