they passed by the great Luminaries of Heaven without admiration So these beholding the poor mean treasures and fleeting honours of this world bow down the knees of their souls to them and worship them but pass by the beautiful Image of the blessed God the unsearchable riches in Christ and the glory to be revealed without any respect or regard So reasonable and righteous is mans devoting himself to the worship of the blessed and most high God that he cannot without manifest injustice as well as ingratitude and folly deny the exercising himself to godliness Unless man were his own Makerâ— he cannot have any title to become his own Master Psa. 119. 73. The Redeemers title to us is certain and clear and unquestionable whether we own it or no and all the while we keep any thing from him or deny subjection to him we rob him of his right Ye are not your own but â—ought with a price therefore glorifie God in your bodies and spirits which are Gods 1 Cor. 6. ult The Slave is not his own man but his who redeemed him though his proud and stubborn spirit may refuse to acknowledge it Man is not in the condition of those persons who are servants by compact and agreement for a year or so long as they think fit and upon their own terms but like those whom the Romans took in War over whose persons and estates they had an absolute dominion as well as a right to their works and service Though the Commands of Christ are all holy just and good as profitable for man as honourable for himself yet he hath absolute authority over man and all that he hath and may command him what he pleaseth As Laban said to Iacob These daughters are my daughters these sons are my sons these cattel are my cattel and all thou seest is mine So the Redeemer by vertue of the price he laid down his most precious blood may say to every man This soul is my soul this body is my body this estate is my estate these children and friends are my children and friends this name and credit and interest is mine and all thou haste is mine Yet alas men â—â—o will give their Relations their due strangers their due enemies their due nay according to their Proverb the very Devil his due and far more then his due will not give Iesus Christ his due but against all justice and righteousness rob and wrong him of that which is his own and dearly bought too Rom. 14.7 8. For whether we live we live unto the Lord and whether we dye we dye unto the Lord whether therefore we live or dye we are the Lords For to this end Christ both dyed and rose and revived that he might be Lord both of the dead and living So absolute is the necessity of mans making Religion his business that upon his diligence or negligence herein his eternal salvation or damnation doth depend If any man will be Christs Disciple he must deny himself disclaim all title and disown all right to himself have nothing more to do with himself as upon his own account and make an unfaigned unreserved dedication of himself and all that he hath to the honour and interest of his Redeemer Sanctification is a separation from all common to sacred uses and this must be done with all the heart and soul and strength in the whole course of the life by all that will escape the wrath to come God commandeth men to strive to enter in at the straight gate to work out their salvations with fear and trembling to be holy as he is holy in all manner of conversation and his word is like the Law of the Medes and Persians which cannot be altered He hath enjoyned nothing but what his infinite wisdom saw fit and he is resolved not to vary the least tittle not to abate the least farthing of the price he hath set Foolish men are so besotted by their deceitful hearts and befooled by the Devil that they complement with Religion and onely give it an outside formal salute instead of cordial embraces and real entertainment They deal with religion as Anacharsis saith the Athenians dealt with money using it for no other end but to number and cast up accounts with whereas it might have served them for excellent purposes So they use Religion onely for a shew for fashion for custom and are satisfied with an hypocritical way of Worshipping God and think to put God off therewith whereas it would serve them for high and honourable ends it would if entertained in the power and life of it elevate the Christian above this beggarly world enable him to combat with and conquer his sturdy stubborn lusts and the power and policy of Hell help him to a conversation in Heaven to converse and communion with the Father and Jesus Christ his Son and dress his soul for a blessed eternity Reader If thou art unacquainted with this high and honourable this worthy and noble Calling of Christianity I shall appeal to thy reason and conscience in the tender of some questions possibly one or other of them may prevail with thee to bind thy self Apprentice to it As a Fowler according to the different nature of his game contrives and appropriates his stratagems that some he catcheth with light as Larks with a glass and day nets some with baits as Pigeons with pease some with frights as Blackbirds with a low-bell some with company as Ducks with decoy fowl So I shall endeavour to suit my questions to thy temper whatever it be that if either the light of reason or the bait of unconceiveable and infinite profit or the frights of dreadful threatnings and comminations or the company of Christ the captain of our salvation and all his followers and Souldiers who marched to Heaven in this way will win upon thee I may perswade thee to make Religion thy business O that being crafty I might catch thee with holy guile To this end I beseech thee to weigh the questions again and again as thou readest them and to dart up thy prayers to Heaven for a blessing on them that thou mayst not reject the counsel of God against thy own soul but hearken to counsel receive instruction and be wise for thy latter end 1. Is not that worthy to be made thy business upon which the true comfort and joy of thy life during thy whole pilgrimage doth depend Comfort is the cream the top of life joy is the flower the honey the life of life Life without comfort without delight is a living death If the body be disquieted with diseases and aches and pains the soul as a tender Husband sympathizing with his bride though the patient be heir of a Kingdom and commander of large dominions yet all creatures to him are unsavoury morsels and as an aguish pallat he can taste can rellish nothing Iob in distress speaks in such a mans dilect Why is light given to him that is in misery
and life to the bitter in soul Job 3. 20. Light is one of the most excellent things that God hath made and is therefore used by the Holy Ghost to set out not onely the Word of God and the Work of Godliness Psa. 119. 105. 1 Iohn 1. 7. but also Christ and Heaven and God himself 1 Ioh. 9. 1 Colos. 12. 1 Iohn 1. 5. Life is the Apex the highest stair the top-stone the choisest of all temporal mercies There is no flower in natures garden for beauty or excellency comparable to it therefore men if brought to the pinch will part with all to redeem this Skin for skin all that a man hath will he give for his life The loss of life is the chiefest outward loss and esteemed the greatest satisfaction to justice or nature The desire of life is indeed the greatest earthly blessing the most loyal people can desire for their loving Prince Let the King live but light and life as precious pearls as they are become burdens most toylsom and tedious to men without comfort Joy to life is as the form to the matter which animates and actuates it and makes it spâ—ightful and lively Why is light given to one in misery and life to the bitter in soul Now Reader It is Religion that is the comfort of thy life by bringing thee to him who is the life of all thy comforts Other things can never suâ—e and so can never satisfie and therefore can never truly refresh or rejoyce the soul of man The body may sooner be fed and preserved with Air and Wind as the soul filled with the whole world They who swim down with a full stream of outward good things who have waters of a full cup wrung out to them and have more then heart can wish though they be Masters of hidden and bottomless mines as the Spanish Ambassadour boasted of his Soveraigns treasures in the Indies though they have thousands and millions of heads bare and knees bowing to them and are mounted to the loftiest pinacle of honour and fame and renown though their garments are of finest silk sented with the sweetest perfumes embroydered by the most skilful Artist and enamelled with the richest jewels though their food be the most choice and luscious delicates the most mellifluous Nectar that earth air and water can afford and though their bodies be in the most perfect state of health and thereby enabled to extract the quintessence of all this and so rellish it in the highest degree yet all this is not able to give them the least dram of true delight the smallest crum of true comfort In the midst of their sufficiency such Monarchs are in straights They may possess much but enjoy nothing Their faces someâ—times are featured with laughter when at the same time their souls are in little ease In the midst of mirth their hearts are sorrowful and the end of that mirth is heaviness As some Plumbs that are sweet and luscious in the outward part but have bitter kernels so the most rich and honourable sinners in the midst of their mirth and gigling and sports have inward gripes which like Leaven sowreth the whole lump of their enjoyments Haman though exalted to the highest seat next the Throne in the Persian Court and had the command of him who commanded one hundred and twenty seven Provinces yet had an aking heart and a worm gnawing his inwards that he cryeth out All this avails me nothing c. The Worlds greatest darlings whom she dandleth most upon her knees and to whom she granteth her sweetest kisses are but at best like a curious marble chimney-piece glorious and shining without but full of soot and blackness within God did at first for mans fall judge the earth to bring forth Briars and Thorns and all the fruit it beareth will be piercing and paining what ever men fancy to themselves But Reader though the curse of the earth be Thistles and Thorns yet the blessing of Heaven is light and joy Though the World be empty and vain and vexatious yet Religion is full and filling the soul with content and comfort Observe the very formal nature of it The Kingdom of God i. e. Religion consisteth not in meats and drinks but in righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost Rom. 14. 17. Peace and joy is the heart-chearing wine which groweth upon this vine A good conscience is a continual feast Natural things must be brought to their center before they can enjoy rest and how can it be expected that spiritual beings can enjoy true repose but in their centre the Father of spirits That peace which passeth all understanding that joy which is unspeakable and full of glory are the true and legitimate children of the power of godliness Outward things and formes like Glow-worms may be glistering but they are not warming T is the power of Religion like the Sun that brings refreshing light and enlivening heat along with it The wicked is snared in his wickedness but the righteous sing rejoyce 2. Is not that worthy to be made thy business in which thou hast to do with an insinite glorious and jealous Majesty If men are serious about the concernments of a Father or Master or Noble-man or King how serious should they be about the concernments of a God I must tell thee Reader that thou hast every moment of thy life to do with the great God Whether thou art eating or drinking or walking or buying or selling or ploughing or sowing or reaping as well as when thou art praying or hearing or reading or meditating thou haste still to do with God In all companies in all thy relations in all natural actions in all civil transactions at all seasons thou haste more to do with God then with any creature then with all the creatures And is his work to be slighted or dallied with or slubbered over Is it good playing or toying with his interest and concerns in whose hand is thy breath and life and all that thou hast Dost thou not know that his eyes is ever upon thee that his arm is able to reach and revenge him on thee when he pleaseth that he looks on himself as worthy to be observed and pleased in all thy thoughts and words and deeds and wilt thou dare him to his face and provoke him before his eyes and cast him behind thy back as not deserving to be minded or regarded Is his fury so light a burden or his favour so little a blessing that thou art so indifferent unto either Ah didst thou but know what a God thou hast to deal with in every part and passage and moment of thy life how sweet his love is far better then life how bitter his wrath is more dreadful then death didst thou know how great a good how blessed a friend how high an honour how choice an happiness how rich a cordial how vast a treasure he is to them that make his service their business didst
thou know how powerful an enemy how intolerable his anger is what a Lion gâ—eedy of his prey what a consuming fire he is to them that do his work by halfes and negligently didst thou know him as the saved in heaven know him to be an hive of sweetness a river of pleasure or as the damned in hell know him to be a sea of wormwood meeting thee as a Bear robbed of her whelps O what wouldst thou then think of making religion thy business speak Friend in thy conscience wouldst thou then live without him in the world and leave him out as one unconcerned in the several passages of thy conversation Wouldst thou then put him off with the skin and shell and carkasse of religion as if he were an Idol and had eyes and saw not and ears and heard not instead of an hearty dedication of thy self and all thou hast to his service Wouldst thou then eat or drink or buy or sell or do any thing without asking his leave and begging his blessing and observing the rules and commands which he hath prescribed thee Or wouldst thou not rather do all things as in his presence according to his precepts and as may be most for his praise believing that he is not a God to be dallied with 3. Is not that worthy to be made thy business which is the end of thy being and preservation and of all the mercies that thou enjoyest and of all the cost and charge which the Great God is night and day at with thee For what end dost thou think the Great and Glorious God formed thy body so couriously in the womb and animated it with an heaven-born soul but that thou mightst be made capable of admiring his excellencies adoring his perfections and obeying his precepts Canst thou be so foolish as to think that he created thee to despise his dominion and break his laws and dishonour his name and walk contrary to him in thy conversation Wherefore dost thou imagine God doth preserve thee in thy being afford thee health and strength and sleep and food and raiment and friends and respect and protect thee in thy outgoings and incomings and defend thee from invisible enemies who are continually waiting to destroy thee and have power enough to drag thee into hell every moment bâ—t are onely restrained by his almighty arm but that thou mightest by these streams be led upward to the fountain imploy these talents as a faithfull Steward for the honour of thy Master and by these gifts tokens of his love be perswaded to own and acknowledge the giver Canst thou bâ— so sottish as to think that he bestoweth these favours upon thee that thou shouldst walk after the flesh and embrace the present world or to strengthen thee in thy treasons and rebellions against him To what purpose dost thou imagine he bestoweth on thee his Gospel his Ministers his Sabbaths his Ordinances many golden seasons of grace but to help and enable thee to draw nigh to him to seek out after him to desire him and delight in him as thy onely happiness and heaven Surely thou canst not be so brutish as to conceive that he giveth thee all this as women give babies to children to play and toy with or as the Dutch are reported to have sent powder and shot for money to the Spaniards to fight against him with Doth not the Husbandman who takes care by dunging and ploughing and sowing and harrowing to manuâ—e his ground expect that it will bring forth the greater crop and so recompence his cost that the profit which he shall receive by it at harvest will answer all his pains When a Father is at a great charge in the nurture and education of his child providing him Tutors or sending him first to some considerable Schools for a good while next to the University then to the Inns of Court is it not his â—rdâ— that his Son may be an honour to him continâ—â— his name with credit and be a prop and suppoâ—â— to his family And canst thou think that the only wise God to whom all Men are absolute and Angels comparative fools is at such infinite cost and charge with thee upon any other account then that thou mayst be serviceable to his interest advance his kingdom and make his praise glorious by a pious gracious and exemplary conversation and by making his service thy business 4. Is not that worthy to be made thy business which is the elevation and advancement and perfection of thine heaven-born immortal soul The advancement and restauration of a Prince and one nobly born to his kingdom and birth-right is much more deserving our care and pains and treasure and blood then the exaltation of a beggar from the dunghil The soul of man is royally descended begotten of God holiness is its restauration to its original glory and primitive perfection which it lost by the fall and therefore is worthy of all our cost and care and study and labour Thy soul Reader is of unconceivable value and excellency 1. As it is immediately created by God without any pre-existing matter 2. As it is of an immaterial and spiritual nature 3. As it is capable of the image and life and love and fruition of God himself 4. As it is immortal and of eternal duration though years and ages and generations and time have an end the soul hath no end 5. As it is the bottom in which the body and its everlasting good is embarqued 6. As it is the standard and measure of all our outward excellencies as friends and health and food and life and riches and honour and ministers and ordinances are more or less worth as they are more or less serviceable to the soul. Now grace and godliness is the honour and elevation and excellency of the soul it is soul-beauty Cant. 4. 1. it is soul-wisdom Prov. 4. 7. it is soul-riches Luk. 12. 21. it is soul-glory soul-comfort soul-food soul-raiment soul rest O how worthy is that form which animates and elevates the soul of man as its subject and matter He that addeth honour to a puissant King must be high and honouraâ—le indeed That which is the form of our form and the soul of our soul that exalteth and honoureth so noble a piece must needs deserve to be our only business 5. Is not that worthy to be made thy business which was the great design and end of the blessed Redeemers birth life death burial ascension and intercession No man unless worse then distracted can possibly conceive that the glorious God whose wisdom is unsearchable and love to his Son unquestionable would send his onely begotten Son out of his bosome or that Christ in whom were all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge would give himself to be born so meanly to live so poorly to die so painfully to be disgraced reviled buffetted scourged crucified for any thing that was not superlatively eminent and deserved to be the main work and business of every
great mercy to our selves The Oyl of grace like the Widows 2 King 4. 6. increaseth by powring out an opportunity is a special season which God affordeth us for the benefit of our own and others souls When time and helps meet and marty their off-spring is opportunity Thou dealest with those at one time whom thou mayst never see again possibly their hearts being big with sin they bring forth in thy presence either swearing or slandering or mocking at holiness now God gives thee an opportunity by a prudent affectionate reproof and by serious savoury advice to kill those brats of Hell as soon as they are born and to make the Parents barren in regard of such a cursed brood for ever after which if thou neglectest thou shalt never have again The Bird of opportunity is usually upon the wing she flieth away of a sudden and we never fee her again therefore whilst thou hast her make the best use of her Thou thinkest it may be that thy counsel to such men would be but cast away as pure water in a nasty sink but do thy work which is to endavour their conversion and leave the success which is Gods work to him Benhadads Souldier drew a Bow at a venture and his Arrow pierced within the joynts of the Harness and slew Ahab the man shot the Arrow at he knew not who but God levelled it at the King amongst all the company Do thou draw the Bow according to thy duty and God may so direct the Arrow of admonition as to make it enter the sinners heart and let out the very life of his sin Sometimes things are done best on a sudden Tiberius was happier in his extempore speeches then those which he made upon study and premeditation Thou mayst as Philip to the Eunuch fall in with a person on a sudden whom thou never sawest before nor shalt ever see again and by seasonable counsel be instrumental to his eternal comfort It may be thou meetest with such as do believe then thy care must be to build them up Saints must be Land-markâ— to direct others in the way to life Apollos was a stranger to Aquila and Priscilla but coming into his company they expounded to him the way of God more perfectly Act. 18. 25. The members of the mystical body must be helpful to one another Christians with whomsoever they converse ought to endeavour either their gaining to or growing up in Jesus Christ. Alexanders body was of so exact and rare a constitution saith the Historian that it perfumed every place where he came The gracious soul being it self filled with spikenard and Calamus and Cassia and all sweet spices may well leave a sweet savour among the persons with whom he converseth They are dead and withered grains of Corn out of which there doth not one ear spring up A Good Wish of a Christian in Relation to his dealings with all men wherein the former Heads are applied THe Living and Eternal God whose I am and whom I am infinitely bound to serve whose unquestionable dominion over me calleth for universal subjection from me having commanded me in his word to be holy as he is holy in all manner of conversation and to walk by rule in my commerce with men as well as in my immediate converses with his glorious Majesty I wish in general that I may make Religion my business not onely in my sacred duties but also in my civil dealings that I may trade with God in divine performances as if men saw me and traffique with men in humane affairs as knowing that God beholdeth me and herein dayly exercise my self to keep a conscience void of offence towards God and towards all men I Wish in particular that my earthly actions may never clash with or incroach upon my heavenly calling that I may not endanger the loss of Religion in the throng and crowd of outward dealings but may be so limitted and directed therein by Gods Law that all my works may be â—orship and when I am labouring for my body and family I may be furthering the good of my soul and my eternal felicity that as my chief natural quality Reason commandeth in my lower actions of eating and drinking so my supernatural excellency Religion may bear sway in every passage of my life Lord who hast given me a perfect rule and appointed me to order my life in all things according to it be pleased to write all thy laws in my heart that I may be tender of both Tables love thee with all my soul and strength and love my Neighbour as my self for thy sake If one link of the golden chain of thy commands be broken the whole is dissolved they love one another too well to part company where one precept is wilfully despised all are disobeyed Thou hast said it He that breaks one is guilty of all O enable me to be as universal in my conformity and duty as thou art in thy mercy and bounty for then shall I not be ashamed when I shall have respect to all thy Commandements I Wish that the soundness and integrity of my heart may appear in the cleaneness and purity of my hands The sound will speak what Mettal the Bell is of the Flowers that shew themselves above ground will declare the nature of the root which lieth hid How often doth the face discover the faults of the vital parts If my tongue and speech be double my spirit cannot be single If my actions be unrighteous my inward man must needs be irreligious How grossely do I delude my self if I presume that I am holy because I mind the first Table if I be dishonest and live in the breach of the second when there is so much Religion in the duties of the second Table that there can be no Religion without them My deceitful heart is apt to suggest that it s but a small matter If I should supplant my Brother and that there is no such need of care in my ordinary outward carriage But my Soveraign to whom I have sworn Allegiance hath told me in the word of truth Mat. 23. 23. that justice and mercy are the weighty matters of the Law and hath commanded me Micah 6. 8. to do justly and to love mercy throughout my whole life O that I might never allow my self in the breach of those precepts which in the worlds blind judgment are the least of his commands and by my pattern teach men so lest I be found at last the least in the Kingdom of Heaven Lord thou hast enjoyned me to keep thy Law as the Apple of mine eye Prov. 7. I know a small thing will pain a little dust will offend mine eye but thy Law is infinitely more tender thy Word forbids and condemneth the smallest wandring the very conception of sin in a vain thought much more its birth in an unrighteous action is abominable and odious to it Thou hast commanded me to keep thy
it by thy providence water it with the showres of thy grace and so quicken it with the beams of thy favour that it may bring forth much fruit to thy glory I Wish that I may like Enoch walk so with my God in all my actions whilst I walk amongst men that in thy good time my soul may be translated and I may not see death either as the wicked in this World do with terrour or as the damned in the other World do in torment to their everlasting woe Lord thou art Jehovah Tsidkenu the Lord my righteousness be pleased to cloath my person with the robe of thy Sons imputed righteousness that my nakedness may not appear before Men and Angels to my eternal shame let all my actions be covered with the garment of thy Spirits imparted righteousness that they may be acceptable and amiable in thine eye Let thy grace so fill my heart that godliness may be visible in my hands and I may thereby draw others towards Heaven Thou hast said Behold I make all things new what wilt thou then do with this old corrupt nature of mine O Renew that or nothing will be new to my comfort O God create a clean heart and renew a right Spirit within me I know the time will come that thou wilt create new Heavens and new Earth wherein shall dwell righteousness My body is the Earth and my soul is the Heaven which thou hast already made but might thy servant prevail with thy Majesty to create my soul thy new Heavens and my body thy new Earth wherein may dwell righteousness how infinitely should I be bound tâ— thy distinguishing mercy Thy hands have made me and fashioned me O give me understanding that I may keep thy Commandements Were my soul bespangled with the glorious stars of thy graces and my body embroydered and curiously wrought so as to be the Temple of thy Spirit then indeed thou mightest reâ—lect upon what thou hadst made with complacency for behold it would be very good Hast thou not made the great World for man and the little World Man for thy self When shall I be so pure as to invite thy presence and so sanctified as to be set apart from all others and to be only for thy service O make it appear that I am thy workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works which thoâ— hast before ordained that I should walk in them If thou pleasest to set forth this Heaven and Earth this little Epitome of the creation in a new edition I know it would be done in so fair a Character as to delight thine eyes and to raviâ—h the hearts of all that behold it T is confest the Copy was perfect when it came out of thy hands there was no unrighteousness or impatience not the least blot or blemish in it but my Parents who transmitted the book to the world through their unfaithfulness filled it from the beginning to the end with errors Adam begat a Son in his own likeness after his Image The first sheet went off the press through his cursed falseness and negligence imperfect and full of faults and the many millions that followed have still retained the same defects Yet Lord since thy Son was at the cost of a new impression Let it please thee for his sake to be at the pains of correctâ—ing this volume so effectually that those who look into it may read righteousness courtesie meekness faith humility patience heavenly-mindedness printed in so large a Letter free from the former errors that they may so like it as to embrace and imitate it O then I shall be assured that at the general Resurrection when thy last hand shall pass on me and I shall be published in the newest and last edition none of those blots and blurs wherewith I have defiled it shall be found in it but thy Image shall be printed on me in such a lovely Character and in so perfect a manner that thou wilt delight in me and I in thee for ever and ever Amen CHAP. II. How Christians may exercise themselves to Godliness in the Choice of their Companions SEcondly Thy duty is to make Religion thy business and to exercise thy self to Godliness in relation to thy Company Man saith the Great Philosoper is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 natures good-fellow as one Englisheth it a creature in love with Company Cosmographers observe that the farthest Islands of the World are so seated that there is none so remote but that from some shore of it another Island or Continent may be discovered as if nature hereby invited Countries to mutual commerce God never intended that the World should be a wilderness nor the chief inhabitants thereof as barbarous Beasts to live alone lurking in their Monksâ— and Nuns and Hermits who under pretence of Sanctity sequester themselves from all society are so far from more holiness and being better Christians then others that they seem to have put off the very humane nature and not to be so much as Men. Vnclean nasty persons love to be always private and by their good will would neither seeâ— nor be seen of others Birds of Prey flye always alone and Ravenous Brutes come not abroad till others are retired Psa. 104. 23. Our very senses speak that God would have us sociable nay it s the natural voice of our tongues for our speech and hearing and sight would be in a great degree lost and our Makers end in giving us those Organs and Instruments for converse much frustrated if every man should immure himself in his own Cell The graces and spiritual riches of Saints would in some measure be useless if they did not deal with some to whom they might distribute them The Law of man condemneth ingrossers of external goods and the Law of God condemneth ingrossers of spiritual good things They who study to Monopolize all to themselves undo others As the World shall never want poor men that the wealthy may always have objects of Charity and opportunities of laying out and improving those talents which are committed to their trust so the world shall never be without needy Christians that those who are rich in grace may have fit objects and occasions of imploying their gifts The Moralists axiom is right Omne bonum quo communius eo melius Every good thing is so much the better as it hath many sharers in it In this sense there is a truth in that It is not good for man to be alone Not that it was a formal evil but inconvenient Infinite wisdom hath so dispenced his gifts and graces that no man is so sterile but he hath something wherewith to profit others nor any man so furnished and fruitful but he standeth in need of others help The Head cannot say to the Foot much-less the Foot to the Head I have no need of thee The King himself who seemeth to have least want cannot subsist without the meanest workmen even them that grind
endeavour to revive me When I fall he will do his utmost to recover me He will rejoyce with me in my joys and sympathize with me in my sufferings in every condition to his power be a futable consolation O that the value and vertue of this Pearl may make me esteem it at an high price and the more wary that I be not cheated in my Choice Lord thou hast ordained the communion of Saints to be for mutual comfort and counsel let me choose those for my friends that will be faithful to their own and to my soul. I Wish that I may manifest to my own conscience the truth of my conversion by my Companions and that I am passed from death to life because I joyn with and love the brethren Beasts flock together Sinners joyn hand in hand and Saints are of the same heart and walk together towards the same Heaven My Associates will discover my nature whether Vertue or Vice be my Master My Comrades will speak to what Captain I belong If I joyn with the black Regiment of the Prince of Darkness it s a sign I am an enemy to the Lord of Hosts The members of Christs Mystical Body go in company It s presumed they are unchast Women who company with known Harlots and it s supposed they are dishonest men who are familiar with Theives If Christ and grace be predominant in me I cannot like and love their enemies An holy soul cannot delight in prophane sinners goldâ— will unite it self with the substance of gold but not incorporate with dross An heart truly good cannot brook those that are evil All creatures desire to joyn with such as are of the same nature Fish Fowls Birds Beasts all every one strive to be with them that are of the same species Confederacy in sin is the livery by which the black guard of Hell is distinguished from the rest of the rational creatures True friendship is the Cognisance of true Christians By this shall all men know that ye are my Disciples if ye love one another Love is the badge of the houshold of faith which witnesseth to what Lord they appertain Where love is in truth to their persons there will be a delight in their presence For what is love but a motion of the soul towards and its complacency in the object beloved In vain do I pretend my self a Disciple without sincere love which is the life of a Disciple Love to my God is the soul of Religion which keeps it in being in motion without this the whole body of it decayeth and dyeth All my performances if this be lacking are but as an unsavoury Corpse without either loveliness or life Love to my brethren is the sign of Religion which ever sheweth it self at the door where the substance is within He that loveth him that begetteth must needs love him also that is begotten The Child is acceptable for the Fathers sake The Picture is amiable because of the Person it representeth O how grossely do they delude their souls that think they love the Head when they hate and despise the Members that say they affect and prize Christ above their lives when they reject and persecute Christians to the very death Lordâ— thou hast told me He that loveth not his Brother abideth in death All thy Children are my Brethren they have the same Father the same Mother O suffer me not to give conscience cause to witness against me that I am in a state of death of damnation for want of this brotherly affection but grant that the hot beams of thy love may so warm my heart that I may be always reflecting back love to thy self and thy Saints as an evidence of my eternal salvation I Wish that I may consider whom I choose for my Companions least I be disappointed in the ends of Company My God intendeth society to be helpful to his people in the best things But they are never likely to further me in holiness who walk in the broad way that leadeth to Hell Satans Servants will not teach me to do the Lords work That friendship is ill made which is soon broken no band can hold him who is a stranger to Religion Where there is no fear of God in the heart there can be no true friendship They who are two in disposition will scarce be one in affection Where there is no true likeness there can be no true love Can two walk together unless they be agreed Grace is the onely Cement which conglutinates hearts and maketh true friends A brutish Sinner and a Beleiver are contrary each to other An unjust man is abominable to the just and he that is upright in his way is abominable to the wicked the Eagle hath perpetual emnity with Serpents and Dragons and their seed So hath the Eagle-eyed Christian with the seed of the Serpent Beasts hate fire and so do those whom God calleth Foxes and Lions and Bulls the fire of grace that burneth in a Saints heart and flameth out in his life Lambs and Wolves Doves and Ravens cannot unite Jerusalem and Babylon Sion and Sodom can never be compact and at unity togeâ—her Can I expect love from that person that hath none for his own soul nor for the blessed God Can contraries meet and not fight Is there any hope of an amicable conjunction betwixt them that are not onely differing but opposite I am born of God he is of his Father the Devil My work is to do the will of my Father in Heaven his work is to do the lusts of the wicked one Self is the Byass by which he moveth Scripture iâ— the Compass by which I sail I am travailing towards heaven he is hastening to hell and is it possible for us to have one heart O that no worldly advantage might make me ever strive to strike a Covenant with them to whom I am thus contrary They must needs be false to me that are made up of unfaithfulness A true friend is another self a vicious man cannot be a true friend because he is never himself Sometimes he is drunk with passion and so loseth his guide and leaveth the dictates of reason those servants are often in rebellion and thâ—n like the troubled Sea he casteth up mire and dirt In his fury he will strike at friends or foes and discover what he knows and more many times Passion is an high Feaver wherein men talk idly therefore the wise man gives a special Caution against such Companions Make no friendship with an angry man and with a furious man thou shalt not go Sometimes he is overcome with wine and then the Beast in him puts the curb into the mouth of reason and hath the command of it A Drunken man hath Nebuchadnezzars brutish heart and is fit onely to graze with Cattel Clitus is killed by his drunken Master and such a one speaketh and doth he knows not what He speaks what he should forget and forgets what he hath
be charily lookt to or they fade away so Saints if the Spirit of God were not choyce of them and ever watchful over them would perish How lovely are flowers to the eye how pleasant to the taste how soft to the touch what ornaments to an house How amiable are the children of God to those that have eyes to see his image on them how fragrant is the smell of their Spiknard and Calamus and Cassia what a grace are they to any Family or Society Dost thou walk into thy Garden to observe how thy flowers thrive so Jesus Christ goeth into his garden to see how his plants flowrish Thou wilt not allow any weeds or barren flowers in thy Garden and Jesus Christ will not permit such wicked unprofitable ones in his Church Flowers are lovely and beautiful one day and withered and fallen off the stalk the next so man is a comely living creature one day and a deformed corps the next Thus a Saint may make every flower like the Gilly-flower cordial to him If thou walkeâ—t by a River thou mayst change the water there into spirits by meditation How fitly may thy thoughts be raised by that object to the cleansing refreshing properties of the Word of God to the water of life to the Well of salvation to the river whose streams make glad the City of God to the rivers of pleasures at Gods right hand for evermore The same water which being liquid is penetrated with an horse hair will bear the horse himself when hard frozen So those threats and judgements of God which penetrate deep into the tender consciences of the regenerate enter not at all into the hearts of carnal men hardned by custom in sin and hence thou mayst gather the reason whence the sword of the Word that in some divideth the joynts and marrow in others glanceth only or reboundeth not making the least dinâ— or impression upon their frozen adamantine hearts If thou art eating and drinking thou mayst feed thy soul as well as thy body by meditating on the meat that endureth to everlasting life on that flesh which is meat indeed and that blood which is drink indeed Thou mayst think if my outward man need food and without it cannot subsist surely spiritual food is as needful for my inward man and without it that will starve If a famine of bread and water be so dreadful that the tongues of men cleave under it to the roof of their mouths and their countenances become as black as a coal how dreadful is a famine of the Word of the Lord If natural food be so pleasant and savoury to my taste surely spiritual food is sweeter then the honey and the honey comb If all the labour of man be for his belly what labour doth the soul deserve If the ordinances of my God now are so pleasant to me that my soul is even filled as with marrow and fatness and refreshed as with Wine on the Lees well refined what a blessed day will it be when I shall eat bread in the Kingdom of Heaven and drink new wine in my Fathers Kingdom O blessed are they that are called to the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. If thou beholdest thy candle thou mayst consider how that light which makes small shew in the day yeilds a glorious lustre in the night not because the Candle hath then more light but because the Air hath then more darkness so that holiness and grace which in a day of prosperity and life seems of small worth and price in a night of adversity and death will be of infinite value Or thus I set up this candle to help and direct me about my business so God sets up the candle of my life and affords me the light of his word for me to work out my salvation not to play by them Or thus this candle is spending it self for my good so I should be willing to spend and be spent for the good of others souls Or this Candle is always consuming and will at last be quite wasted so is my life daily wearing away and ere long will be quite extinguished The great Candles whilst they burn make the greater light but when they go ouâ— leave the greater stench So ungodly men the greater they are the more they shine with glory whilst they live but when they die leave the more stinking savour behind them If thou art putting off thy cloaths thou mayst ponder thy duty to put off the old man which is corrupt according to his deceitful lusts and to put off the works of darkness as also that ere long thou shalt put off thine earthly tabernaâ—le Art thou lying down in thy bed thou mayst think of thy grave wherein thou must shortly lye down and never rise up till the morning of the resurrection Is the night dark thou mayst meditate thence on the darkness of thy mind naturally of the works of darkness of the blackness of darkness for ever Ah! what a dark dungeon is Hell where not the least spark of light appears though so much fire My night will end but sinners evening will find no morning If a bed be so refreshing to my wearied body how refreshing is a Redeemer to a wearied soul How lovingly he inviteth me Come to me all that are weary I will give you rest and how refreshing will tha God! When thou wakest in the morning thou mayst say with the Psalmist When I awake I shall be satisfied with thy likeness or When I awake I am still with thee or rouse thy self up with Awake to righteousness and sin not Awake thou that sleepest arise and call upon thy God When thou art rising thou mayst meditate on the Churches garment of needle work the fine linnen of the Saints righteousness thy putting on the new man created after God in righteousness and true holiness thy putting on that most excellent cloathing which is for warmth for ornament and defence the Lord Iesus Christ. Dost thou look on the glass to dress thy self think of the glass of Gods law how necessary it is daily to look into it for the discovery of thy spiritual spots and filth Dost thou wash thy hands O wash thy heart from wickedness and forget not that great laver of the blood of Jesus Christ. Doth thy stomach call for some food think of thy spiritual appetite and how savoury it will make the dainties of Gods house to thee They did all eat of the same spiritual meat and they did all drink the same spiritual drink they drank of that spiritual rock that followed them and that rock was Christ. Art thou to go about buying or selling or worldly bargains take some thoughts of buying that one Pearl of great price which the wise Merchant sold all he had to purchase of buying that gold of grace and fine linnen of the Saints righteousness Mat. 13. 44. Rev. 3. 18. Amongst all thy gains and gettings consider What will it profit a man to gain the
conscienciousness of my behaviour in secret The lineaments and features of the body are beâ—t discovered in the night when it s stripped naked of those garments which in the day time covered it and were not wholly answerable to the proportion of its several parts The shape and countenance of the soul is much better revealed when it retires from the world and is freed from these objects and businesses which hurried it hither and thither possibly much differing from its own inclination There is no right judging of the Patient by his water till it is setled nor true discovery of the state of a Christian by his heart till it be quiet and composed When men are busie upon the stage of the world surrounded with spectators they put on habitsâ— and act not their own but the parts of others and so are not easily known who or what they are but he that followeth them into the retiring room where they undress themselves may soon discover them The frame and bent of my heart in private to sin or holiness will speak its temper whether good or bad The soul is not at such liberty to vent it self and to manifest its genius and disposition in its outward actions as in its inward motions and meditations External acts may flow from external principles which as a Team of Horse draw the Cart after it by force but internal thoughts ever flow from an internal principle which as the natural and proper off-spring of the mind discover what its parent is The Laws of men the fear of punishment the hope of reward may tye my hands in company but it s nothing but the fear of my God can bind my heart to its good behaviour in secret My thoughts are not liable to an arraignment at any earthy Bar nor my person to any arrest from men â—or any tumult or disorder in them because the Law of the Magistrate can take no cognizance of them they being locked up from all humane eyes in the privy cabinet of my heart Though I am limited in my words not to speak what I will and also in my works not to do what I will by reason of that shame or penalty or ill-will from friends or superiours which dishonest actions and unseemly expressions may bring upon me yet my thoughts in this sense are free I may think what I will notwithstanding any of these considerations Again outward actions both good and bad materially considered are common both to Sinners and Saints What good duties are there but as to the matter of them wicked men may perform them as well as the godly Abstinence from gross sins praying fasting hearing reading almes-giving have been practised by some Hypocrites in a larger measure then by some sincere Christians On the other side There are â—ew sins so great but some of the Children of God have at some time or other been guilty of them Gluttony Drunkenness Fornication Incest Murder c. have been committed by them that were truly sanctified where then lieth the difference between them so much as in their usual and predominant thoughts Once more my God judgeth of my actions by my thoughts and therefore by them I may well judge of my spiritual condition Isa. 10. 7. Gen. 22. 16 17. Lord I have often heard out of thy word Where the treasure is there will the heart be also I know every man will be frequent in thinking of that which he esteems his happiness and treasure The Covetous wretch hugs and embraceth his wealth in his heart and thoughts when it is out of his sight and in other mens hands the Adulterer pleaseth himself in the meditation of his wanton dalliances with his foolish Minion when he hath no opportunity for the execution of his lust the Proud man fancieth himself in a fools Paradise whilst he imagineth multitudes waiting upon him in the Presence Chamber of his crazie brain with their bare heads their bended knees admiring and applauding the worth of his person the vastness of his parts and himself as the only epitome of all perfections O give me that character of thy children to meditate in thy Law day and night Let my thoughts be conversant about those riches that are not liable to rust those pleasures which satisfie a rational soul and that honour which is from God give me to know that my treasure is in Heaven with thy self in thy Son by having my heart and my conversation there also I Wish that when ever I sequester my self from worldly business I might leave all my finful and worldly thoughts behind me There can no work of concernment be done in secret unless these disturbers be absent Should I entertain such guests I forbid Christ my Company Vicious thoughts are his sworn enemies and he will not dwel in the same heart in the same house with them If I desire him to sit upon the throne of my heart I must give him leave to cast down every imagination and to bring every thought to the obedience of himself Places that are full of vermine are not fit for a Princes presence Vain and unnecessary thoughts about lawful objects are strangers though not sworn enemies and will give my best friend distast Though a noble person should come to give me a visit if he should hear me debasing my self to converse needlesly with inconsiderable impertinent fellows I may look that he should passe by without calling in Christ loves not to be entertained in a room full of dust-heaps and cobwebs If vain thoughts lodge within the blessed Jesus will stand without Gold and Clay will not mingle If these mists arise and these clouds interpose they will hinder my sight of the true Sun Besides My works will be answerable to my thoughts if my thoughts be wicked or fruitless so will my actions be My hands are but the Midwife to bring my thoughts the conception of my heart into the world My thoughts are the seed that lyeth in the ground out of sight my works are the crop which is visible to others according to the seed whether good or bad such will the crop be If men be so careful to get the purest the cleanest and the best seed for their fields that their harvest may be the more to their advantage how much doth it concern me that my heart be sown with pure and holy thoughts that my crop may tend both to my credit and comfort Lord there is no good seed but what comes out of thy garner I confess the piercing thorns of vicious thoughts and the fruitless weeds of vain thoughts are all the natural product of my heart O let thy good spirit plow up the fallow ground of my soul and scatter in it such seeds of grace and holiness that my life may be answerable to thy Gospel and at my death I may be translated to thy glory I Wish that I may in solitude when I have no men to discourse with converse with other
and serving his God and his soul as well as his family and body in those interjections The wheel of a chariot though it be in motion all the day and turning about on the ground yet it s but a small part of it that toucheth the earth at one time the greatest part of it is always above it so the true Christian though he be all the day busie about earthly affairs yet it s but his body his lesser part that is employed about them his soul his affections which are his greatest part are always about them SECT I. I Shall first offer thee two quickening Motives and then acquaint thee wherein thy daily exercise to Godliness consisteth First Consider Any day may be thy last day and therefore every day should be an holy day with thee I mean not an holy day for play or recreatâ—on but for the work of Religion He that knoweth not how soon his Master will come and reckon with him had need to be always employed about his Masters business Because there is no time of life in which thou art secure from death therefore every day of thy life thou oughtest to be about thy duty Prov. 27.1 Boast not thy self of to morrow thou knowest not what a day may bring forth Every day is big-bellied and hath more in the womb of it then any man knoweth he that salutes the morning with a smiling aspect may bid the world good night for ever before the evening The candle of thy life may be blown out on a sudden before its half burnt out The Poets fable that Death and Cupid lodging together at an Inn exchanged arrows whereby it hath since come to pass that old men â—â—ote and young men die Death cometh up to the young and strong old and weak men go down to Death Thou mayst be called forth to that war in which there is no discharge and not have an hours warning to prepare thy self for a march Sturdy trees are overturned by an unexpected wind lusty men by violent feavers or outward accidents our enemies are strong our earthly houses weak the coming of our Landlord is unknown the lease of our lives is uncertain we are every moment liable to be ejected and shall we not be so employed that our Lord when he comes may find us well-doing I remember I have in some Author read that the invention of clocks was not primarily to mind us of the Suns posting in the heavens but of our Lives passing on earth It was Calvins reason for his unweariedness in his studies when his friends urged against it the injury it did his body Would ye have my Lord when he cometh find me idle It will be woful for that servant whom his Lord when he cometh shall find doing evil or doing nothing But and if that servant say in his heart My Lord delayeth his coming and shall begin to beat the men-servants and maidens and to eat and drink and be drunken The Lord of that servant will come in a day when he looketh not for him and in an hour when he is not aware and will cut him asunder and will appoint him his portion with unbelievers Luk. 12. 45 46. In which words we may observe 1. The sin of the unfaithful servant 2. The severity of his Lord. In the sin we may take notice 1. Of the nature of He bâ—ats his fellow-servants and eats and drinks and is drunken He gives himself up to all manner of wickedness He is unrighteous to his fellow-servants he beats them and unfaithful to his Master he abuseth his goods he eats and drinks and is drunken Sin doth not lie skulking in the â—ecret trenches of his heart but appeareth boldly in the open field of his life T is a sign an enemy hath great power when he sheweth himself openly 2. The occasion of it His Plea for it His Lord delayeth his coming Because he hath not a speedy reward he layeth aside all good works because of Gods gracious forbearance he argueth a general acquittance for all his evil works He makes bold to riot because he is not called to a speedy reckoning We tremble not at the noise of those Cannons which we fancy to be a great way off That which is lookt upon at a distance seems small and so is despised though the same beheld near appears great and terrifieth us In the severity of the Lord we may read 1. How sore his judgement is He shall cut him asunder and give him his portion among unbeleivers These two expressions speak the dreadfulness of his doom though no words can speak fully how woful it is He shall cut him asunder An allusion to some tortures then in use amongst the Heathen to shew the exquisite pain which his body shall suffer And give him his portion among unbeleivers Because the hottest Hell is reserved for such The wrath of God abideth on them Joh. 3. ult to note the extream punishment which his soul shall undergo 2. How sudden it is unexpected evils are most dreadful The Lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him Sudden frights overwhelm the spirits Those miseries which seen at some distance have been entertained with patience surprising men on a sudden have â—triken them into despair Death comes sometimes like a Thief up into our windows coming in at the door is ordinary but coming in at the window is unlookt for Ier. 19. 21. As the snare secretly and unexpectedly seiseth the silly Bird so doth a day of death the simple Children of men Luk. 21. 35. Our Saviour speaks of his coming in the second or third watch of the night which the Jews called Intempestum Gallietnium not in the first and fourth because saith Theophilact they are the dead time of the night when men are in their soundest sleep to shew us how suddenly and unexpectedly he shall surprise most men Luk. 12. 38. Reader This present days work may be the last act of thy life it behoveth thee therefore to do it well When thou art in thy Closet thou mayst think with thy self I may possibly never pray more never read the word of God more how reverently uprightly graciously should I therefore pray and read When thou art eating or drinking or refreshing nature thou mayst consider for ought I know this may be the last time that I may use these creatures of God how fearful should I be of abusing them how should I eat my bread as before the Lord. When thou art in thy Shop or about thy calling thou mayst ponder this Possibly my last sand is running and I must this day bid adieu for ever to Wares and Shops and Flocks and Fields and all civil commerce O how heavenly should I be about these earthly affairs How spiritual about these temporal things Who would not do his last work well Ah how holy should he be at all times who hath cause every moment to expect the coming of an holy and
not his Closet before his Shop is an Atheist and he that mindeth not his Shop after his Closet is an Hypocrite The world is Gods great Family and he will allow none in it to be idle Though he distinguisheth some from the common Mass and maketh them vessels of honour as Superiours and Officers in his house yet to every one he committeth some Talent or other and commandeth them to trade till he come The ancient Massilians would admit no man into their City who had not a good trade knowing what pests and plagues such are to the people among whom they dwell He that is void of or negligent in his calling is at best as a snail 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 according to the Septuag Domiporta according to the Latines keeping house and unprofitable But usually such a one is mischeivous and may not unfitly be compared to Kites that flie lazing up and down scarce moving their wings making a querulous complaining noise filching their food out of the shambles or warrens or out of Childrens hands by force Idleness is usher to murmuring and theâ—ving He quickly learns to do ill by doing that which is next to ill nothing The Air when still corrupts and putrifieth Wheat if not stirred groweth musty and unwholsom for mans body The earth if not tilled breeds thorns Milstones if there be no grist wast and wear out themselves The soul needeth exercise as well as the body to preserve it in health Action keeps the soul sweet and clean T is no wonder that persons are almost choacked with the flegm of corruption that deny themselves the benefit and advantage of Motion that they do not thrive who refuse to trade It s a worthy speech of holy Master Boultons He is a cursed drone a child of idleness the very Tennis ball of temptation most unworthy the blessings and benefits of humane society who doth not one way or other cooperate and contribute to the common good with his best endeavours in some honest particular calling Iob saith Man is born to labour but how many Gentlemen sing the rich fools requiem to their souls Soul take thine ease thou hast goods laid up for many years till at last they come to his end and that place where there is no ease day nor night for ever and ever but as a bone out of joynt so is a good man out of his calling The Sons of the Husbandman in the Fable being told by their Father on his Death-bed that he had left much gold buried in his Vineyard fell presently a digging and delving with diligence whereby they obtained though not the gold they sought for yet a rich Harvest by stirring the mold about the roots of the Trees In all labour there is profit Eccles. 5. Though the Christian doth not ever by diligence in his calling reap that gold of outward profit which is promised conditionally so far as God seeth fit for him in this world yet he reaps peace and comfort in the discharge of his duty and prevents temptations by being imployed about other things It s in vain for any to pretend that they are so busie in praying and reading and hearing and holy duties that they cannot attend their particular callings for the same God that calls them to spiritual traffique commands them their temporal trades and hath allotted them sufficient time for both He doth the Devil too great a courtesie who makes the Commands of God to quarrel and clash one against another If Satan can prevail with men to neglect their callings whole days together and leave their families declining and almost starving through their idleness for private fasting and praying he never fears the good such a man shall get by all that devotion which is as Paul speaks of himself born out of due time He knoweth God doth not usually send in blessings at such back-doors and that he is provoked as truly by leaving our Shops when our callings require our company as by passing by our Closets when he calls us in to speak with us there The best food may prove unwholsom and burthensom to the stomach if a fit season for taking it be not observed Our best duties like some Children are utterly lost by being brought forth before their time The Roman General said Non amo nimium diligentem I love not them that are too diligent meaning them that leave their own callings and are busie-bodies in others God loves not such over-diligent nor any negligent ones As he commandeth our dependance on him for a blessing so he commandeth our diligence in our several places But having also treated largely of the Christians carriage in his particular calling in the first part how he should undertake it in obedience to the divine command follow it with an heavenly heart depend upon God for a blessing I shall say no more here Thirdly Be watchful all the day long If thou wouldst walk safely walk as one that hath his eyes in his head Ponder the paths of thy feet Every man walketh every day in the midst of traps and gins and rubs and blocks now the secure person is as a blind man stumbling at every stone When a man goeth upon cords straitned and fastned on high it concerns him to look well to his footing lest he totter and fall and break his neck There is no Christian but walks as dangerously as he that danceth on the ropes it behoves him therefore to walk Watchfully The Children of God are called to be Souldiers to fight a good sight of faith under Christ the Captain of their salvation but Souldiers must be upon their guard especially such as are encompassed on all sides at all times with enemies of all sorts Should they who are the mark at which the world and Hell are continually shooting their fiery darts to destroy them give themselves to sleep Watch ye stand fast in the faith Quit your selves like men 1 Cor. 16. 3. The Divel watcheth to devour us and he is politique to insnare us and shall we slumber Machiavel saith A Prince ought to know the tempers of men that he may fit them with baits and wind them to his own ends Satan hath not waited on men and observed them so long but he knoweth the length of their feet and can fit them to their will and wo as Agrippina the wife of Claudius gave her Husband poison in that dish which he loved best so he can give them that meat which they love with poison for its sance He is a Serpent for his subtlety and can bait his hooks answerable to the love and liking of poor silly â—ish We read of his wiles of his devices As the Camelion that lieth on the ground to catch Flies and Grashoppers changeth himself into the colour of the grass whereby they are deceived and caught So Satan can transform himself into any shape even into an Angel of light for a shift that he may deceive and destroy Though he appeared in
savour of it So if godliness and the immediate worship of God do first in the morning possess my soul my natural and civil affairs will probably rellish of it Again Mens hearts are generally upon that in the morning which they esteem their happiness and portion The covetous Muck-worm no sooner openeth his eyes but his â—eart is tumbling in his heaps The voluptuous beast no sooner wakes but he is sporting in sensual waters The ambitious Peacock no sooner is able to think but his gay Feathers and gaudy dress for that day come into his mind and why should not my heart send its first thoughts into Heaven Whom have I in Heaven but thee and there is none upon Earth that I desire in comparison of thee The Birds early in the morning salute the rising Sun with their sweet notes and shall not I the Sun of righteousness Further My wants my mercies call for morning duties I walk in the midst of deaths of dangers every day and shall I dare to travail without my defence Men cloath their bodies against the sharpness of the weather and why not their souls against the assaults of the flesh the world and the wicked one There is no safety without this breast-work If Satan take me out of my trenches and strong holds as Joshua did the men of Ai it will be no wonder if he roâ—t and ruine me If I do not bless God in the morning how can I expect that he should bless me in the day Is any earthly Prince so prodigal of his favours as to throw them away upon those that esteem them unworthy to be desired If I do not serve the Precepts of God I am presumptuous to look that his providence should serve meâ— Should I undertake my affairs on earth before I have dispatched my business with heaven I am a notorious Cheat and Theif I am a Theif to God by robbing him of his glory and that natural allegiance which I owe to my Maker I am a Theif to my self in robbing my self of that blessing which I might have on my callings and undertakings O that prayer might be the girdle to compass in the whole body of my natural and civil dealings and concernments And that I could every day of my life forestal the worlds market by setting early about closet and family duties Suitors find it fittest to wait upon and dispatch their business with great persons betimes in the morning Lord freedom of access to thy throne of grace is an unspeakable favour Access is hard to earthly Princes No worldly Court is so open as to admit all comers Those that with much difficulty present their Petitions are often against all reason denyed Thy gates are open night and day all that will may come and be welcome Thou invitest souls to come into thy presence and delightest to hear and grant their prayers Thine eares are more open and ready to hear then their mouths to ask Thou pressest upon many undesired blessings but denyest none who ask not stones instead of bread Importunity never angers thee the more fervent and frequent my soul is with thee the more prevalent Thou fillest the hungry with good things and dost not send any that desire thy grace empty away from thy gate What care I how little notice or knowledge the Nobles of the earth will take of me when I can speak so freely to their better their Soveraign and not fear a repulse O teach me the right art of begging and then I need not be afraid of poverty If I be but skilful to follow that trade my returns will be both â—â—re and large Thy mercies are renewed upon me every morning so are my necessities O let my prayses and prayers be as frequent and early I will bless the Lord at all times his praise â—hall be continually in my mouth O God my God early will I seek thee my soul thirsteth for thee in a dry and barren Wilderness where no water is My voice shalt thou hear in the morning O Lord in the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee and will look up I Wiâ—h that having done with the more immediaâ—e service of my God in Praying and Reading both in my Closet and Family I may proceed to serve him in my Shop and Particular Calling When God saith Man is born to labour I must not sing with the fool Soul take thine ease An idle person is like Caterpillars and Mice that devour Gods creatures and do no good to others It s pity he ever lived the book of whose life is filled up with nothing but Cyphers Nature never intended men to be drones to feed on others labours nor bats to spend their lives in the company of sleep the brother of death My God my soul my family my country do all call upon me to be diligent in that calling whereto he hath called me My God is a pure act himself and hath capacitated all his creatures for action He created all men but never made a sluggard The idle person wholly degenerates from the end of his being and receiveth his faculties in vain The command for civil labour hath the same divine stamp as that for sacred rest I have also his pattern for my encouragement as well as his precept for my warrant Hitherto my father worketh and I work My soul also stands in as much need of exercise as my body Idleness is the door at which diseases enter into both Rust eats up vessels that are laid by and unused The mind is never more bright then when it is in imployment from doing nothing we proceed to do evil Idleness is not onely a vice it self but also hath this unhappiness to usher in all other This is the least advantage of industry that it gives the soul no leasure to play with sin or to entertain the wicked one Standing waters do not sooner putrifie then lazy souls T is action that preserves the â—oul in health As Gâ—ats dance up and down in the Sun and then sit down and sting the next hand they seize upon So they who have no time to work have much to imploy in slandering and backbiting others One sin never goeth alone Again my Family may well rouze me out of the bed of laziness If I expect supply of their wants it must come in with Gods blessing at the door of diligence I am stealing from my wife and children all the while I am loytering The Heavens may cause seed sown to ripen into a joyful Harvest but untilled land will afford no crop save of weeds or stones Once more My Country commands me to my calling I am but an ill member in the body Politique if as a diseased part I take of its nourishment but rather hinder its growth then contribute to its health A jarring string is not more prejudicial to the rarest Viol in the hands of a skilful artist then an idle person to the musick and composure of the universe The most venemous
creatures that nature produceth are some way serviceable to their fellow creatures O that I might never by filling up my life with laziness be a Wen in the face of nature serving no way to profit onely to disfigure it Yet I desire that my diligence in my particular may be regulated by my duty towards my General calling Oyl moderately poured in feeds the Lamp excessively drowns it Alexanders Souldier run so lightly upon the sand that he made no impression with his feet My duty is to give earthly things my hands but my heart onely to the things of heaven Lord It s as well thy pleasure that I should work here as thy promise that I shall rest hereafter Let tâ—y grace be so operative in me that I may never give Satan advantage against me by being negligent or over-diligent in my particular calling Suffer not the interposition of the earth ever to cause an eclipse of holiness in my soul But let thy word so limit me and thy spirit guide me that as one diligent in his business I may come at last to stand before the King of Kings to my eternal comfort I Wish that I may no part of the day be so overcharged with the cares of this life by my particular calling as to expose my self to wickedness by neglecting my spiritual watch If my heart be full of earthly vapours they will fume up into my head and make me drowsie A drunken man is no sooner set in his chair but he is fast asleep Sober and Vigilant are sisters in Scripture 1 Thes. 5. Let us watch and be sober 1 Pet. 5. 8. Be sober and vigilant The immoderate love of the world will incline me as effectually to spiritual slumbers as immoderate drinking of Wine to bodily If Satan can get me to take this Opium he doubts not but to lock me fast to my bed and to have me at what advantage be pleaseth O how easie is it to destroy a sleeping body to defile a sleepy soul Noah Lot David Solomon walked in their sleep and dreams in strange and sensual paths When the eye of the souls watchfulness is â—hut the soul is open to all dangers and assaults Whilst the Husbandmen sleep the enemy soweth Tares Sisera's head was nailed to the earth whilst he lâ—y snoring on the ground Epaminondas was not more severe then exemplary when he ran the Souldier through with his sword whom he found sleeping upon the Guard as if he intended to bring the two Brothers Sleep and Death to a meeting The Hare therefore say someâ— being liable to many enemies sleepeth with her eyes open to see danger before it surprise her I walk continually in the midst of powerful and politick adversaries The Canaanite is yet in the Land though not Master of the Field yet skulking in Holes and Ambushments watching an opportunity to set upon and destroy me There is not onely an Army of Temptations besieging me without but also many Traytours conspiring within to open the gate of my heart to them that they may enter and undo me My own heart is like Jacob a Supplanter and conspireth to rob me both of the birth-right and the blessing Let me go where I will I tread upon Lime-twigs which the Arch-fowler layeth to intangle and insnare me Saul sent messengers to Davids house to watch him and to slay him Satan sendeth messengers after me in all places where I â—ome to watch me and to sâ—ay me The whole world is as the valâ— of Siddimâ— full of slime-pits and without watchfulness the anointed of the Lord are taken in those pits Gen. 14. 10. Lam. 4. 10. Sin is a slie theif that steals upon the soul to rob it when t is asleep O what need have I of the greatest watchfulness and circumspection imaginable As the eye-lids guard the tender eyes from harm so doth watchfulness preserve the soul from wickedness O my soul canst thou not watch with thy Redeemer one hour when he ever liveth to make intercession for thee T is but the short night of this life that thou art commanded to stand â—entinel ere long thou shalt be called off the guard and freed from that trouble Lord thou art ever watchful over me for good thou never slumberest nor sleepest but thy seven eyes are ever upon me Thou mayst say to me as to thy Vineyard I the Lord do keep it I water it every moment lest any hurt it I keep it night and day O since thou watchest to preserve me let me watch to serve thee Set a watch O Lord before my lips Be thou the Governour of my heart Lighten mine eyes lest I sleep the sleep of death Let mine enemies never find me nodding lest they leave me dying Thou hast told me Behold I come as a Theif Blesâ—ed is he that watcheth and keepeth his garments lest he walk naked and they see his shame Give me so to wake and watch now that death may bring me a Writ of ease and call me to my endless rest I Wish that I may all the day long be even covetous of my time as knowing it is allowed me not for the service of the flesh but for the service of my God and to dress my soul for Heaven If I be lavish of my time I am the greatest Prodigal in the World If he be a spendthrift that throweth away an hundred pound every day he is a far greater that wasteth half an hour in one day Time is more worth then the revenues of the whole world He that can command millions of treasure cannot command one moment of time The Father of eternity hath the sole disposition of time The value of this commodity is not known to this beggarly world in a day of life Now men study sports and pleasures and company and plays to waste time It lieth as a drug upon their hands and they think themselves beholden to any that will help them to put it off But when the King of terrors with his gastly countenance approacheth them and summons them to a speedy appearance bâ—fore the King of nations to receive their eternal dooms O then their judgements will be quite altered and time will be precious indeed Then they who play away their time and give all to the world or flesh will tell me that time was good for something else then to eat and drink and sleep and trade that it was good to feed an immortal soul in and provide for an eternal estate Then the Rich and Covetous as well as they loved their wealth though it be now dearer to them then their God and Christ and Souls and Heaven will part with all they have for a little time Then the Swaggerers and Gallants of the world who spend twenty hourâ— in Taverns to one hour in the Temple and if it were not for Play-houses and Ale-houses and Whore-houses and Hawks and Hounds and Cards and Dice could not tell what to do with their time who mark all the
holiness Even Benhadad the King of Syria an enemy to the Prophets and People of God in his health will send a Prince to Elisha with a large present and most submissive expressions thy Son Benhadad in his sickness 2 King 7.9 Sickness gives men a double advantage for holiness 1. It takes off their hearts from creatures by teaching them experimentally what a poor weak cordial the whole creation is to sick or dying men When men are strong and lusty they can taste and savour earthly things carnal comforts hinder their endeavours after spiritual They take up with creatures as Esau and say they have enough but sickness makes them know the emptiness of all sublunary things When men are sick they cannot rellish the worlds dainties and delicates The preferments and riches and pleasures of the earth are all unsavoury and uncomfortable to them They now see the vanity of those things which heretofore they so much idolized how unable they are to revive their fainting spirits or to allay their pain or purchase them the least ease or procure them the least acceptance in the other world and hence the price of the worlds market falls abundantly in their judgements Bernard tells us of a Brother of his that when he gave him many good instructions and he being a Souldier regarded them not he put his finger to his side and told his Brother One day a Spear shall make way to this heart of thine for admonition and instruction to enter 2. In sickness conscience is usually allowed more liberty to speak its mind and men are then more at leasure to hear it In health their callings or friends or lusts or sports or some carnal comfort or other take up their hearts and time that conscience must be silenced as too bold a Preacher for offering to disturb them in their pleasures or if it will use its authority and continue to speak in Gods name and forbid their foolishness and Atheism and sensuality and prophaness they are deaf to its calls and commands and drown its voice with the noise of their brutish delights But in sickness they are taken off from their trades and pastimes and merry meetings and jovial companions when their bodies are weak their fleshly lusts are not so strong as formerly whereby conscience hath a greater opportunity to tell them of their miscarriages and wickedness and they themselves are more attentive to its words and warning Reader It s a special peice of wisdom to improve such a season for the good of thy Neighbours soul. When the Wax is softned then we clap the Seal upon it lest it harden again and be incapable of any impression When the hand of God hath by sickness made the heart of thy wicked friend or brother soft and tender then do thy utmost to stamp the Image of God upon it Paul would preach whilst a door was opened and there was likelyhood of doing good It s a great encouragement to work when the subject upon which we bestow our pains seems capable of what we prosecute and probable to answer our labour We have some heart to strike a nail into a bâ—ard because there is hope it will enter but no list to drive a nail into a flint because we despair of effecting it The Smith strikes when the Iron is hot he knoweth if he should stay till it is cold his labour would be in vain Friend take the advantage of others bodily sickness to further their spiritual health lest they either die in their sins or harden upon their recovery Opportunity is like a joynt in some part of a fowl which if we hit upon we may easily carve and divide the fowl but if the Knife fall on this side or that side of the joynt we do but mangle the meat and take pains to no purpose It is the speech of Master Richard Rogers in his seven Treatises I have visited some persons that have been condemned to die in whom through the blessing of God upon his endeavours I have found as good signs of saved persons as of any that died in their beds not having tasted of repentance before 2. It s a special opportunity of Receiving good We are taught more effectually by the eye then by the ear The sight of a sick or dying person hath often a strange and a strong operation upon the beholder When the Father heard of one that sinned notoriously he cried out I may be as bad as this man is When thou seest one dangerously sick thou mayst think with thy self I must â—e as this man is sick unto death when none of my Relations or Possessions can afford me the least comfort and O how much doth it concern me to prepare before-hand for such an hour If this mans work be now to do when his life is ending how sad is the condition of his precious soul O that I were wise to consider timely and to provide seasonably for my latter end The sight of a dead man was instrumental to the spiritual life of Waldus The sight of others sickness may well quicken me to the greater industry and diligence after spiritual health Do I behold my Neighbour whose Sail formerly sweld with a full gale of worldly enjoyments now wind-bound chained to his chamber or fettered to his bed unable to rellish his food or take any comfort in his friends Do I see him full of Aches and Pains Tossings and Tumblings crying out in the evening Would God it were morning and in the morning Would God it were evening because of the anguish of his Spirit Do I behold his cheeks pale his eyes sunk his lips quivering his loyns trembling his heart panting and nature striving and strugling with the disease to keep its ground and yet at last forced to quit the field and leave the victory to its adversary how many excellent observations may I draw from such a Text What a fool am I to trust the world which leaves this man in his greatest want How mad am I in loving sin which is the cause of all these crosses and miseries and which makes death so mortal to poor souls Of how much worth and value is the blessed Redeemer who will comfort a Christian in such a time of need and carry him through his last conflict with joy and conquest How careful should I be to get and keep a good conscience which in such a day of extremity will yeild me true courage and confidence The wise man doth not without cause tell us It is better to go into the house of mourning to the terming or charnel-house then to the house of feasting for that is is the end of all men and the living will lay it to heart Eccles. 7. 2. Men in a house of feasting are apt to be forgetful of their duty to God themselves and their Neighbours Isa. 22. 13 14. Amos 6. 3 6. Isa. 5. 11 12. When the body is filled the soul is often neglected Iob was afraid of this in
his Sons Iob 1. 5 6. It may be my Sons have sinned and cursed God in their hearts i. e. when they had been feasting at their elder Brothers house God gives Israel a special caution against this Deut. 8. 12 14. Men in an house of mourning are put in mind both of Gods Soveraignty who draweth away their breath and they perish Psa. 104. 29. and their own frailty how soon they are gathered and withered even in their prime and pride Psa. 39. 5. I am blind if I do not see mine own end in the end of another and distracted if I do not provide for my last enemy which I must necessarily encounter Thus it s a mercy to our selves to be merciful unto others and whilst we visit the sick we visit our own souls Who would not do his Neighbour good when he may be confident it will tend to his own gain I have but hopes by my visit of advantaging a sinner but I may be sure if I be faithful therein of profiting my self SECT III. THirdly It may be the last opportunity thou mayst ever have of advantaging thy sick neighbours soul. His sick-bed may be his death-bed and then t will be too late to counsel or advise him There is no Purgatory in the other world Diseases both bodily and spiritual must be purged away before death or never He that is filthy at death must be filthy still even to all eternity All the tears in hell will not wash out the least spot in the soul All the fire of hell will not purge out the least dross Therefore Christ took the opportunity of dropping good counsel into the heart of the Theif on the Cross knowing that if he had omitted it a very few hours longer the soul of the poor Theif had been lost for ever Hadst thou a friend going to Sea and never to return again waiting at a Port for a Wind and then to be gone and hadst busineâ—s with him of as great concernment to him as his life thou couldst tell him of a quicksand which he must beware of or he will be cast away wouldst thou not be quick and speedy to acquaint him with it lest he should be under Sail before thou didst see him would it not cut thee to the heart if he should miscarry through thy negligence The Application is easie The soul of every Neighbour is or ought to be dearer to thee then the body of thy nearest friend or relation When thy wicked Neighbour is sick his soul is launching for ought thou knowest into the Ocean of eternity whence he shall never â—ever return more He waits onely for a wind a word from God and he is gone The sick bed is the passage or path-way to the grave Thou hast work to do with him that is more worth to him then his life that iâ— of as great value as his immortal soul and eternal salvation Now thou mayst acquaint him while he is on the shore with his danger and the way of his delivery but if once he launch into the Main thou mayst call loud and long enough after him in vain O will it not pierce thee to the quick if his soul should be swallowed up in the boundless and bottomless Sea of divine wrath through thy laziness or unfaithfulness When the day drew near for the destruction of the Jews the heart of Haman swelled with hopes and Hester had then an opportunity to step in and preserve the lives of her Countrymen Mordecai tells her Who knoweth whether thou art come to the Kingdom for such a time as this She made use of the season and saved their lives with the hazard of her own Had she delayed a little longer it had been too late they had all been sacrificed upon the Altar of Hamans ambition When the hour of a wicked mans death approacheth the heart of the roaring Lyon is big with expectation of his prey and a Christian friend hath then possibly an opportunity to save the poor creatures soul Now or never there is no knowledge nor wisdom in the grave whether the sick person is going If he make use of the price God puts now into his hands by serious prudent faithful and affectionate counsel he may help the â—inner to heaven Who knoweth whether he be come by the Providence of God into the sick mans Chamber for such a thing as this I have but one thing more to commend to thee and then I shall speak to the work it self Before thou goest to thy sick Neighbour go to God by prayer intreat him to direct thee what to speak and to succeed what shall be spoken It is his own Ordinance and therefore thou mayst the more comfortably beg and expect his assistance Nehemiah would speak to God before he spake to the King for the afflicted Jews Hester prefers her Petition first to her Maker that her prayer might prosper and then her Petition to her Husband for the lives of her Countrymen God is the Principal Agent and if he be left out all thy labour will be lost Wherein the exercising thy self to Godliness in visiting the sick consisteth 1. In endeavouring to benefit the soul of thy Neighbour 2. In getting some spiritual profit to thy self First In endeavouring the spiritual good of thy Neighbour We are enjoyned in the eighth Command to mind and further our Neighbours temporal wealth but much more his spiritual welfare T was true which Bucers Physitian told him when he expressed his eagerness to die Non sibi sed multorum utilitati se esse natum That he was not born for himself but for the good of many others Every Saint is to be as it were a common stock for the profit of many He is born and new born not onely for himself but for others benefit The Lynx is a spotted unclean beast that knowing how his urine will congeal into a precious stone and be profitable to men maketh an hole in the ground when he pisseth to hide it from them Iob who knew the advantage that might acrue to others thereby would not conceal either the word or works of God from them Iob 6. 10. and 27. 11. To this end 1. Labour to be acquainted with the state of the sick persons soul. It s dangerous to give either Purges or Cordials ignorantly or at peradventure The souls of men are of unconceivable value and therefore not to be tampered or trifled with It s a good step to the cure to understand fully the disease and the constitution of the Patient therefore Physitians feel the pulse view the urine enquire of the sick person or his friends concerning his former course of life diet present digestion of his food place of his trouble or pain c. that they may proceed upon good grounds and give sutable and effectual advice So shouldst thou Reader in visiting the sick inform thy self either by conference with some serious Christians of their acquaintance before-hand or by some searching
discern and discover the secret lusts which are hugd in their hearts Besides their consciences being defiled as well as other faculties are not so true to them as to convince them powerfully of that pride hypocrisie unbelief impenitency atheism and ungodliness which they are guilty of And Satan hath a strict watch over them to keep them asleep in sin not caring so men go to hell whether they go thither in the dirty road of scandalous and crying crimes or in the cleanly path and through the fair Meadows of Civility Whether the person be scandalous or civil it will be needful to let in light at some crevice and not to leave the sinner wholly in the darkness of despair The good Samaritan poured Oyl as well as Wine into the wounds of him that fell among Theives A little hope may melt that heart which despair would harden Sturdy Theives have wept at the news of a Reprieve that have stormed and raged at the sentence of Condemnation But this is wisely to be done lest the sinner be encouraged to presume Lenity is to be joyned with Severity Let there be love but not emboldening them to sloth let there be terror but not driving them into a fury saith Gregory If the sick person be one that is judged a true member of Christ then speak to the excellency of Grace and Christ and Heaven to the certainty and worth of those promises that are entailed on beleivers to make his passage into the other world as comfortable as thou canst It will be fit also to speak to those graces of Faith Patience Love Heavenly-mindedness and Ioy in God which should be minded and exercised in a time of sickness how the time of affliction is the spring the special time wherein those graces should shoot up and shew themselves that God expecteth some service from him under his fickness and that his last works should be better then his first If he be under doubts and fears for Satan will take the advantage of his sickness to assault him with his fiery darts and Saints are too apt to Question Gods love when they feel his hand the weakness of the body discomposing the mind and denying it the free exercise of spiritual judgement then advise him to review his former experiences of divine goodness and trials of divine grace within him to hold fast on Jesus Christ and to consider that sickness is common to men good as well as bad that though they differ vastly in the other world yet not at all in their passage thither Singular Saints have been afflicted with the sorest sickness Iob was a none-such for sanctity yet full of sores It s a question whether he were more eminent for corporal distempers or spiritual health Hezekiah David Asah Paul Epaphroditus were all thus chastened of the Lord but not condemned with the world Whatsoever the sick person be whether gracious or graceless it will not be amiss to mention the three great lessons which God would teach every one by affliction 1. The emptiness of the world appearing in its inability to afford the least ease to the body or comfort to the soul of the sick how little worth is that which fails a man in his greatest need 2. The preciousness of Christ and Grace and the Promises of the Gospel which can enliven and encourage a dying person that can cause light in darkness joy in sorrow and life in death that can enable a Christian to rejoyce in tribulation and to welcome pain and sickness nay and the very King of terrors and to look into the other world with comfort and confidence 3. The sinfulness of sin which is the original of all diseases and aches and greif and separation of friends and losses and miseries whatsoever The Rabbies say that when Adam tasted the forbidden fruit his head aked T is clear sin is the original of sickness The body is the instrument of unrighteousness therefore the subject of diseases For this cause many are weak and sick 1 Cor. 11. 30. All the evil in this and the other world are the issue and off-spring of sin Ah! what a root of bitterness is that which brings forth such bitter fruit Be sure to take the thoughts of the sick off from resting in Physitians or any means used for their cure Thâ—s was the fault of good Asah 2 Chron. 16. 12. Let them know that it is God that wounds and he onely that can heal and therefore he must not be tempted either by despiâ—ing those helps which his providence giveth or by relying on them Hippocrates gave this counsel to all Physitians that when they went upon any occâ—sion to visit their Patients they should consider first of all whether there was not divinum aliquod in morbo something of God in the disease if so he held the Patient to be desperate and his recovery impossible Cujus contrarium verum est If it were the hand of God that smote them the same hand can help them for with him nothing is impossible Let them understand that sickness hath a supernatural as well as a natural cause That all diseases are like the Centurions Servants at the command of God He saith to one Go and it goeth to another Come and it cometh to a third Do this and it doeth it God would have the Israelites know that not onely Sword and Famine and Captivity but also Pestilence Consumptions Feavers and Burning Agues are sent from Heaven Deut. 28. 21 22. He causeth those stormes and tempests and quarrels and contentions that are between the humours in our bodies to their disturbance and destruction therefore Moses beholding the whole body of the Jews except two renowned members corrupted for he lived to see all that came out of Egypt besides to die cryed out Thou turnest man to destruction and â—ayst Return ye children of men SECT V. 3. DEal closely and faithfully with him Let not fear of giving distaste or hope of some advantage to thy self make thee false to the soul of the sick Do not play the part of a Mountebank in using palliating medicines to allay the distemper or Anodynes to stupifie the patient and neglect the root of the malady Alas carnal wretches are prone enough of themselves to deceive and flatter their own souls till it be too late for second thoughts and the wicked one will be at their beds side to hinder if it be possible all means from awakening and undeceiving them be careful therefore lest thou shouldst be any way accessary to Satans design Sin is like the little Serpent Aspis which stings men whereby they fall into a pleasant sleep and in that sleep die sinners need all the rouzing and affrighting considerations that may be He that gives a potion which instead of furthering health procureth death is a Murderer The Flatterer is like the worm Terendo mentioned by Pliny in Nat. Hist. as soft as Silk in the feeling of the hand but it biteth so hard with the
teeth that it eateth out the heart of the strongest timber Flattery is to sin what Oyl to Fire it makes it flame the more O t is dangerous to speak peace where God speaks war shouldst thou do so the blood of such a soul would be required at thy hands Ezek. 33.8 Jer. 23. Faithful dealing will bring thee in most comfort at present and most credit hereafter as also be most advantagious to the sick person When the great day comes the man that hated flattery and scorned for a little profit or favour to disown his duty or prove false to the soul of his Neighbour will hold up his head with courage but the cowardly and fearful wil hang down their heads with shame Rev. 21. 8. 4. Pray with him and for him Sick persons are often full of pain and grief and are more then usually assaulted by Satan whereby they are the less able to pray for themselves and have the more need of the prayers of others It s observable that though the Holy Ghost commandeth men in other afflictions to pray themselves Is any afflicted let him Pray yet when he mentioneth sickness he saith not Is any sick let him Pray But Is any sick let him send for the Elders of the Church and let them pray over him Jam. 5. 13 14. i. e. A sick man is not so fit to pray himself he wanteth others to pray for him and with him The soul sympathizeth in the sufferings of the body and the inner man is seldom at rest if the outward man be distempered and disquieted The mind is unfitted for duties by the diseases of the flesh Paul calls his bodily weaknesses a temptation Gal. 4. 13 14. Afflictions on the flesh are temptations to the spirit and sickness is a piercing Arrow in Satans Quiver of temptations If the person be carnal what Motives hast thou from his misery to quicken thee to the duty The poor creature is going to Hell and knoweth it not His destruction is near and he is not aware How should the thoughts of that extremity and eternity of torments which he is every moment liable to stir thee up to be earnest and instant with God on his behalf It may be thou wouldst sit up a whole night to watch with him for the comfort of his body Dost thou not know that the soul is infinitely more worth O watch and pray that he enter not into eternal condemnation Thou art not ignorant that God hath made promises of grace as well as promises to grace and canst not tell but that grace waiteth in heaven for the â—ick person onely thy prayer must be the messenger to fetch it thence God hath shewn mercy at the last he can do it to this man therefore thou mayst have the more hopes Besides it may be his sickness shall not be unto death but onely to heal his diseased soul and so to give him a new life both natural and spiritual The Question before thee is whether that poor sick creatures soul shall be Christs or the Devils for ever and wilt thou not plead hard with God that it may be thrown in to Christ whose title is unquestionable and that the Grand and Arch-enemy of Christ and Men may be frustrated and disappointed in his expectation Zeal to the advancement of thy Redeemers interest and love to the soul of thy Neighbour should actuate and animate thy requests and put life and fervency into thy Petitions If the sick man be godly thou hast the more encouragement to pray God hath promised as much to him as thou canst rationally desire for him He hath hopes to speed that goeth to an honest able man and sheweth him his Bond for what he demands God is infinite both in righteousness and power so that there is no fear of a repulse if you can shew his hand for your request He delights to hear his promises pleaded in prayer and to see his Children so full of affection as to be fervent in their petitions for each other Thou mayst send the same message by prayer to Jesus that the Sister of Lazarus did Lord behold he whom thou lovest is sick and mayst be confident of the like gracious answer This sickness is not unto death eternal but for the glory of God that the Son of God might be glorified thereby Next to thy endeavours for the good of thy sick Neighbours spiritual estate it will be fit to advise him about his temporal estate that he may dispose of his worldly affairs and his wealth if God have given him any with wisdom and settle things so firmly that his Relations may not be wrangling for his goods when his body is at rest in his grave Secondly The exercising our selves to Godliness in visiting the sick consisteth in getting good to our own souls by it Though it be forbidden us to enquire of the dead and ask their counsel yet it s commanded us to enquire of the dying and to learn of them Sick men may teach them that are in health many excellent lessons Some say that ground covered with Ashes is made thereby the more fruitful The Dust of the dead falling upon a right soil an honest heart will make it the more abundant in holiness A Christian findeth walking in Hospitals or Church-yards among the sick or dying much conducing to the health and life of his soul. He that was cast dead into his Grave by touching the bones of dead Elisha he was ravished to life That which Elias said to Elisha when he begged a double portion of his spirit If thou seest me when I am taken from thee it shall be so unto thee may fitly be alluded to in this place The sight of others sickness and death and their departures from us is a great means to increase the spirit in us and to double our care and diligence in preparing for such an hour 1. In laying to heart thine own frailty He is but a cold clod of clay and dead already who doth not see his own death in the death of others Sickness is but one remove from death the sick bed is the way to the coffin therefore when thou visitest the sick or dying reflect upon thy self and consider This will be my case or a worse a violent stroak The same enemy that encountred my Neighbour is upon his march towards me and will certainly overtake me The feet of them that carry my friend to his grave are ready to carry me also what need have I to be always in a dying frame and ready for death The very next arrow that death shoots may be levelled at me and shall not I stand always upon my guard in expectation of it and armed for it O how deep will the head of that Arrow pierce me if it find me naked 2. In considering Gods mercy to thee and blessing him for the health thou enjoyest The pain of others will tell thee that ease is a mercy the racking sickness and restless nights
the soul By these Hand-maids he wooeth the Mistress But the sick bed is a Book in which I may read their deceitfulness and treachery their perfidiousness and fallacies and thereby learn to avoid them Further I may read the sinfulness of sin in others sickness That Parent must needs be a deformed monster that begets such uncomely and ill-favoured children In the dreadful effects I may behold the poisonous cause Man had never known sickness in his body if he had not known sin experimentally in his soul T is the plague and stone of the heart that causeth those in the flesh When I behold the sick man labouring under his distemper how he is chastened with pain upon his bed and the multitude of his bones with strong pain so that his life abhorreth bread and his soul dainty meat How his flesh is consumed away that it cannot be seen and his bones stick out he is filled with tossings too and fro unto the dawning of the day When I behold his eyes sinking his heart panting hiâ— Wife and Children wailing and wringing their hands his friends weeping his tongue faltering his throat ratling his breath failing his strength languishing his whole body in a cold clammy sweat wrestling with his pain and disease may I not well cry out O what an evil is sin which bringeth all this upon the poor Children of men My Redeemer is therefore said to bear our sicknesses because he bare our sins in his body on the tree 1 Pet. 2. 24. Mat. 8. 17. And in all his applications for the cure of the diseased he had an eye to the root of the malady To one that was diseased he said Be of good cheer thy sins are forgiven thee To another Sin no more lest a worse thing come unto thee When the Angel was smiting Israel with a Pestilence holy Davids thoughts ran upon the procuring cause I have sinned I have done very wickedly My God teacheth Israel the grievous nature of their defilement in the greatness of those judgements which they brought upon them Speaking of his severity towards them he tells them Thy way and thy doings have procured those things unto thee this is thy wickedness because it is bitter because it reacheth unto thine heart Ier. 4. 18. Our bodies are full of natural corruption because our souls are full of moral corruption O how fitly may I therefore when I behold the evil of affliction on others abhor and bewail the evil of sin in my self Once more I may be instructed in the necessity of a timely preparation for such an hour of affliction Can I think a â—ick bed a fit place an hour of pain and grief a meet season to begin that great business of turning from sin of loathing my self for all my abominations and working out my own salvation Is it rationally to be imagined that trembling joynts dazelled eyes a fainting heart failing limbs a body full of aches and diseases a soul sympathizing with it and full of vexation and grief should be fit instruments about such a work which an angelical strength and agility and freedom is little enough for Ah What wise man would build his eternal making and welfare upon such a tottering and sandy foundation The greatest strength and longest time and most vigorous health is not in the least degree too much for this needful and weighty business and shall I put it off till my strength fails my health is gone and my time near its last sand Lord Beside all these I may learn the excellency of thine Image and thy favour Sickness cannot waste them nor death it self destroy them Where the Curtains are drawn and the windows close in the darkest chamber of the dying man the comeliness of thy likeness and the sweetness of thy love are most sparkling and glorious The want of outward comforts doth convince the unbeleiving world of the worth of eternal blessings When the flesh and world that made shew of such love to their deluded favourites turn them off in their extremity as the Jews did Judas complaining to them of his-folly and wickedness What is that to us see thou to that Thou standest by and ownest thy servants thou knowest their souls in their days of adversity and how-ever thou dealest with them in their health wilt be sure to tend and look to to be both Nurse and Physitian to thy sick children Thy grace is a reviving Cordial and thy love will make even death it self a sweet and desireable dish O help thy poor servant to gain much spiritual good by those natural evils which others suffer As others sickness speaketh these things to mine ears and their conditions make them visible to mine eyes do thou write them in my heart that all such providences of thine towards others may make sin more ugly the world more empty thy graces and favour more comely and desireable and that furthering my purity at present they may further my eternal peace hereafter Finally I Wish that the sickness of others may cause me to be the more industrious in a faithful improvement of my health and take me wholly off from priding and pampering and making provision for that flesh which is so apt to breed diseases and in its greatest beauty and strength is so near to death The goodliest structure of body is but earth a little better wrought or more curiously then usually moulded up and with an ordinary disease is mard and defaced and so calleth on me to be humble rather then lifted up The Flesh that I provide for my flesh is not more subject to corruption or more perishing then the flesh for which it is provided Within a few days I shall have an end both of food and feeding O that I might waste that body in Gods service which will ere long waste with sickness spend and he spent in his work who gives me my health and strength and hath promised a bountiful reward Sure I am I can never bring them to a better Market nor put them off at an higher price Is it not better to consume my flesh in doing good in glorifying my God then with idleness and ease or with distempers and diseases Satans servants do not grudge to give their prime and cheif their healâ—h and strength to their lusts and shall not I give mine to my Lord Ah Lord an unthankeful selfish unbeleiving heart hath too much â—indered me from and disturbed me in those excellent duties which thou callest me to O deliver me from it for thy mercies sake Strengthen me by thy good spirit both to do good to and receive good by such as thou chastenest with sickness so to consider the poor and afflicted and to visit others in my heath that thou mayst visit me with thy saving health strengthen me upon my bed of languishing and make all my bed in my sickness that my most mortal sickness may not be unto death eternal but for thy glory and my passage into endless bliss yea
militant Calvin was heard before his death often to sigh out How long Lord How long will it be ere thou avenge the blood of thy Servantsâ— The people of God are the purchase of Christ and of the same family and body with the dying Christian and therefore must needs be dear to him 4. For his Benefactours and those that have done good to him and his Paul had received some kindness from Onesimus he refreshed him in his bonds and in the 2 Tim. 1. 8. which was the last of his Epistles and thought to be written but a little before his death for he tells us in it I am ready to be offered and the time of my departure is at hand how pathetically doth he pray for him The Lord grant that he may finde mercy at that day 5. For our enemies This is to follow Gods pattern who doth good for evil and to obey his Precept who commandeth us to pray for them that despitefully use us Stephen when departing out of the World intreats mercy for them who were cruel to him Lord lay not this sin to their charge Act. 7. 60. Our blessed Saviour dying begs hard for their eternal lives who were the instruments and authors of his bloody death Father forgive them they know not what they do Luk. 23. 34. Thirdly In an holy exercise of Faith Courage Repentance Charity and Patience 1. Faith It s the Character of Gods Children that they live by Faith and they dye in the Faith Hab. 2. 6. Heb. 11. 31. The waters say some of the Pool of Bethesda wherein the Priest washed the sacrifices before he offered them was of a reddish colour to note that men must be washed by faith in the blood of Christ before they are ready to be offered a Peace-offering to God by death The dying Christian must expect strong assaults against the bulwark of his faith but what-ever he let go he must keep his hold on Christ. I know no grace that the Devil is such a sworn enemy to as Faith and I know no season that he is more diligent in to overthrow their faith then when they are under some dangerous sickness therefore it s the observation of a good man that he seldom seeth a sick Saint followed close with temptations to recover of that sickness for Satan knowing he hath but a little time useth all his craft and strength to separate the soul from the Rock of his salvation Upon a dying bed reflect upon former experienes of Gods love to thy soul and recollect the former evidences of of thy title to Christ and thereby to Heaven I must tell thee though the certainty of thy salvation depend upon the truth of thy Faith the comfort of thy dissolution will depend on the strength of thy Faith Faith is the shield of the soul and therefore above all in thy encounter with thy great enemy Satan and thy last enemy death take the Shield of Faith Eph. 6. 14. Epaminondas after his victory at Loâ—ctrum wherein he was mortally wounded understanding that his Buckler was safe bid his Chirurgion boldly to pluck out the Dart that stuck in his side and died cheerfully The Saint the Souldier of Christ who is wounded even to death and keepeth his Shield of Faith safe may leave the world with courage The Apostle Paul who knew whom he had beleived 2 Tim. 1. 12. rings a challenge in the ears of death O death where is thy sting and sings a triumphant ditty at the approach of death The time of my departure is at hand I have fought a good fight I have finished my course I have kept the Faith Henceforth is laid up for me a crown of righteousness 2 Tim. 4. 7 8. When Iacob had beleived the report of Iosephs life his heart was revived Is Joseph yet alive saith he I will go down and see him before I dye When the true Israelite can firmely credit the testimony which God hath given of Iesus the Son of Ioseph how he being an enemy was reconciled to God by the death of his Son and shall much more being reconciled be saved by his life and by faith can cling on him his heart though dying is then enlivened O with what comfort can he take his journey into the other world When Philip viewed his young Son Alexander Now saith he I am content to dye Old Simeon springs young again at a sight of Christ and having embraced his Saviour in the armes of faith as well as in the armes of his body he begs a dismission out of this valley of tears being assured thereby of an admission into fulness of joy Lord now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace according to thy word for mine eyes have seen thy salvation Having with an eye of faith beheld Christ he counts his life but a bondage and desires to depart or be loosed from fetters as the word signifieth and is taken Mat. 27. 17. We read of the Lords worthies that by faith they stopped the mouths of Lions Death is a fierce and cruel Lion but faith will pull out its teeth that it cannot hurt us or stop its mouth that it shall not devour us This grace like the Angel sent from Heaven when Daniel was cast into the Lions Den will save the Christian from being torn in peices O Friend The Robes of Christs righteousness is the onely Coat of Male which can defend thy soul against the shot of death If thou canst with Moses go up to Pisgah and take a view by faith of the Land of promise thou wilt comfortably with him lay down thine earthly Tabernacle Iob desired death as eagerly as the Labourer in an hot summers day desires the shadow Paul longed for it as vehemently as the Apprentice for the expiration of his Indentures and all because they had first beheld Christ by faith It s no wonder that many of Gods Children have called earnestly to be laid to bed knowing that it would prove their everlasting happy rest and when their bodies are carried by mortal men to their Mother Earth their souls should be conveyed by glorious Angels to their Father in Heaven 2. Courage A Christian should be a Voluntier in death Many of the Martyrs were as willing to dye as to dine went to the sire as chearfully as to a Feast and courted its pale and gastly countenance as if it had bee a beautiful Bride When King Lysimachus threatned Cyrenaeus Theodorus with Hanging Istis quaeso inquit ista horribilia minitare purpuratis tuis Thedori quidem nihil interest humine an sublime putrescat Threaten these terrible things to thy brave Courtiers Theodorus cares not whether he rot in the Air or on the Earth Cyprian said Amen to his own Sentence of Martyrdom Hierom reports of Nepotianus that he gave up his life so chearfully that one would have thought he rather walked forth then died When Ignatius was led from Syria to Rome to be torn in peices of wild
mind to make their Wills have not had a tongue to do it with Others who have had a tongue have lost the use of their understandings partly because in sickness we should have as little as may be to do with the World All occasions of disturbance or distraction to our souls should be prevented The disposition of what God hath given thee must be with prudence for the maintenance of love among Relations with plainness that thy meaning may not be mistaken and with judgement and ability for the preventing of all Quarrels and Law-suits amongst such as are interested in it Reader If thou art careful and faithful in the discharge of these particulars thy Funeral will prove a Festival and the Sun of thy life will set as the natural Sun in a clear evening not in a cloud but in such a red skie as to prognosticate the ensuing day to be fair thy certain and comfortable resurrection to bliss and honour Thy name will live when thou art dead and thy memory be blessed amongst all that fear the Lord. Tacitus makes one of the Sempronii not wholly to degenerate from the honour of his house onely for dying well Constantia mortis hand indigna Sempronio nomine Nero did tacitly wipe Claudius the Emperour though himself were the worst of the two when in an ambiguous phrase he mentions his death Desinit Morari inter homines Every sinner goeth out like a snuff but the just shall be had in everlasting remembrance By practicing these duties thou shalt come to die in the Lord to rest from thy labours and to have thy works following thee to thine endless blessed reward A Good Wish about the Christians exercising himself to Godliness on a Dying Bed wherein the former heads are applied THe righteous God having appointed death to be the end of all the Children of men as the common road through which they pass into the other world to receive according to what they have done in this life whether it be good or whether it be evil I Wish that I may be wise to consider of my latter end and so live that I may rather desire then be afraid to dye that my last days may be my best days and I may imitate my Redeemer in bringing my God much honour and doing his Church much service when I am entring into my Masters joy The evening praiseth the day the last scene commends the Act. The rivers the nearer they draw to the Sea the sooner they are met by the tide Though to guide a vessel safely along in the Ocean argueth much skill and such a Pilot is worthy of praise yet at the very entrance into theâ— Haven then to avoid the Rocks and to cast Anchor in a safe Road argueth most skill and deserveth most praise Musitians reserve the sweetest strain for the close of their lesson Orators though in every part of their speech they use great care yet in the close of their speech they use the utmost of their Rhetorick and put forth all their art and skill to stir up all the affections of their hearers that they may leave at last the deepest impressions upon their hearts of those things which they would perswade to My whole life ought to be noâ—thing else but a pleading with my God for mercy and a walking according to his word but when I come to the period of my days how powerful should my prayers how pious my practices be how lively my graces how holy my whole conversation that my God may say of me as once of Thyatira I know thy works and charity and service and faith and thy patience and thy works and the last to be more then the first Though violent Motions are slowest at last as being farthest from that strength which forced them contrary to their own inclinations yet natural motions proceeding from an inward principle the nearer the centre the swifter the motion Though Hypocrites and such as have onely a form of godliness grow worse and worse and fill up the measure of their lusts with the measure of their lives yet gracious persons and such as have the power of godliness grow better and better and compleat their task with their time O that the longings the desires the faith the hope the delight of my soul like the approaches of a Needle may be so much the more quick by how much they draw nearer to their Load-stone Iesus Christ. Lord thou hast an absolute dominion over me both living and dying It s thy word None of thine liveth to himself or dyeth to himself But whether they live they live unto the Lord and whether they dye they dye unto the Lord and whether they live or dye they are the Lords O help me to glorifie thee both by my life and by my death Let thy spirit be strong within me when my flesh is weak When the Keepers of the house shall tremble shew thy self the Keeper and strength of my heart When the Grinders shall cease because they are few or weak give me to feed on the Manna of thy promises and that bread which came down from Heaven When the Daughters of Musick shall be brought low let me hear by faith the song of Moses and the Lamb sung by the celestial quire When they that look out at the Window are darkened let the eyes of my soul be opened to behold with thy dying Martyr Stephen Iesus sitting at the right hand of God Let my hope and desire look out at the Windows and say Why is his Chariot sent to fetch me to himself so long a comming Why tarry the wheels of his Chariot Make hast my beloved be thou like the Heart and Roe upon the Mountains of spices Whether I perish in the field with Abel or in the Prison with the Baptist or in my bed with Jacob grant me thy gracious comforting presence and then though I walk in the valley of the shadow of death I shall fear none ill O do thou undertake my conduct in my passage over the rough waters of this Jordan into Canaan and then there will be no danger of drowning Assist me so to live by faith that I may dye in the faith and when my friends take my earthly body to their disposal O do thou receive my Heaven-born soul into the armes of thine infinite mercy for thou hast redeemed it Lord God of truth I Wish that I may frequently ponder what a serious solemn thing it is to dye How ever light or vain or jesting my life hath been my death will be in earnest I cannot dally or trifle with it It will not dally or trifle with me It can be done but once and upon it my everlasting making or marring depends It â—s so certain that all must willing or unwilling ready or unready undergo it Neither the policy of Achithophel nor the strength of Sampson nor the wisdom of Solomon nor the beauty of Absolom nor the piety of Abraham nor the wealth
of the rich Glutton can prevail to avoid it No time no place no company no houses no lands no relations no youth no strength no power no preferments can priviledge me against the arrest of death God hath decreed it Sin hath deserved it and I must expect it It is so searching that it will discover all the Children of men both to themselves and Angels Though ships are usually distinguished by their Flags yet that is no sure sign for Mariners when in sight and fear of their enemies will ordinarily hang out the colours of other Nations and say they belong to them but when they come to their Haven to unload their vessels it appears to what Country they belong Though men are usually distinguished by their outward behaviours yet many for their own ends put on Christs livery who are of Satans family but when they come to be searched and unladen at the end of their lives t will be known to whom they belong When I come to dye then the great controversie between Christ and Satan concerning my soul will be determined whose it shall be for ever O my soul that thou couldst but conceive what it will be to be sent by death into an unchangeable estate either of bliss or misery If thou diest in thy sins thou art killed with death Shouldst thou now live without conscience thou wilt dye without comfort and remain comfortless for ever Ponder a little with thy self the fearful death of a sinner that thou mayst flie his wicked acts as thou wouldst his woful end In the midst of his jollity and mirth when he is in an eager pursuit of carnal pleasures and posting in the way of worldly delights and running to all excess of riot he is on a sudden by deaths harbinger sickness commanded to stand and proceed no further This cuts him to the very heart His former prosperity like Oyl hath suppled his body and makes him more sensible of his present pain And his immoderate love to those fleshly delights doth abundantly greaten his grief and increase his loss Now the man is thrown whether he will or no upon his sick bed that must be his death bed In this his extremity his Companions and Friends and Wife and Children and Honour and Places and Preferments and Silver and Gold and Houses and Lands and costly attire and dainty fare are all dry things and unsavoury to him no creature can afford him the least comfort If he look into his Chamber his Wife is weeping and wringing her hands his Children are sighing his friends are lamenting and wailing but all this doth increase not mitigate his vexation and misery If he look into his Conscience he finds that taking courage and telling him to his face that though formerly he would not suffer it to speak yet now it must tell him the truth that death and hell and wrath are the wages of his ungodly works It will bring to his mind the time he hath mis-spent the talents that he hath mis-improved the day of grace that he hath despised the great salvation that he hath neglected his secret and private and publick sins the sins of his Childhood of his youth of his riper age those sins which he had forgotten and thought should never have been remembred are all set in order before his eyes His heart which was before harder then the neather Milstone is now pierced though not with an evangelical contrition yet with legal terrors and torments His sickness will allow no rest to his body and his sins will afford no ease to his soul. In the evening he cryeth Would God it were morning in the morning Would God it were evening because of the anguish of his spirit His bones are filled with a painful disease and his body with unquietness The Arrows of the Almighty are within him the poison thereof drinks up his spirit and the terrors of God do set themselves in array against him His review of his past actions his remembring of his slighting Christ for a brutish pleasure or a little fading treasure or a base lust and provoking God and continuance in sin against mercies judgements warnings the light of conscience the motions of the spirit are as so many envenomed Arrows sticking in his side and piercing him through with many sorrows but the thoughts of his necessity of dying and his fore-thoughts of the consequent of death how hell rides upon its back and eternal torments attend it how he must fry in unquenchable flames and take up his everlasting lodging amongst roaring Lyons frightful Dragons and the hellish crew sink him quite down To add some more Gall and Wormwood to his cup of bitterness the Devil now steps in and sheweth him his sins in their black hew in their bloody colour and countenance to make him hopeless and desperate The poor creature in this miserable plight and plunge knoweth not what to do whether to go for releif Dye he would not but must live he would but cannoâ— Now he wisheth that he had prayed and served God and minded his soul and salvation more and gratified his flesh and embraced the pleasures and honours of the World less Now he desireth that he might live a little longer and thinks O how would I redeem time and follow after holiness and walk with God what would I not do and suffer to lay up some comfort some cordial against such an hour But whilst he is thus in the midst of his vain wishes Death tells him by the violence of his distemper that the time of his departure is at hand His eyes now begin to sink his speech to faulter his breath to shorten and his heart to fail him and a cold sweat to seise on his whole body He strives and struggleth with all his might to continue here but Death like a Cruel Serjeant drags him to the bar of God whence he is immediately with frowns and fury dismist and haled to the dreadful and eternal Dungeon of Hell O the howlings the screeching the groans the grief which possesseth this poor soul when he is attached by Devils those merciless Officers and carried by them to the lake that burns with fire and brimstone for ever The Spirit being now gone the Body remains a cold lump of Clay forsaken of its dearest friends loathsom to its nearest relations sit for no company but the wormeaten congregation amongst which it must abide till the last day when it shall be joyned to the soul and partake with it in unconceiveable and endless torments Ah who can read such a souls estate with dry eyes or think of such a condition without sorrow O my soul what are thy thoughts of such a death Wouldst thou for the most prosperous Worldlings life dye such a death Doth not thine heart ake whilst thou art musing on it If thou wouldst not meet with the end of such men avoid their ways Lord I confess my self a great sinner and thou mightest justly leave me to walk
in the counsel of the ungodly and to go in the paths of the destroyer that my feet should tend to death and my steps take hold of hell yet for thy sons sake teach me thy way and lead me in thy righteousness that my soul may never be gathered with sinners nor my life with bloody men that I may die the death of the righteous and my latter end may be like his I wish that I may look upon a dying Bed as a Fit Pulpit in which I may preach my Makers and Redeemers praise The speeches of dying persons are often highly prized as savouring of most sincerity and least suspected of selfish ends They who scorned my counsel and rejected my advice in my health and strength as fearing it proceeded rather from interest then simplicity of heart will if they have the least grain of charity believe me in earnest and my words to be the language of my soul when I am dying and entering into my eternal estate The worst of men have some reverence and respect for dying Christians What thrusting and crowding even to the prejudice of their bodies hath there often been to hear the speeches and last words of dying men The vilest Malefactour who is cut off by the Sword of justice is permitted with patience to speak and attended to with diligence at the Gallows If enemies have some respect for dying Felons and will hearken to them with meekness what hopes may a dying Saint have of advantaging the souls of his friends O that I might greedily embrace such an opportunity of advantaging the interest and honour of my God the service and good of my neighbours and by my pious language and gracious carriage at my latter end make others in love with holiness holy men and the holy one of Israel Sinners catch hold of every season to propagate their ungodly seed and commend Satans rotten wares to the men of the world Why should not Saints be as vigilant as diligent for their God and Saviour Lord I know not in what manner by what distemper it will please thee to call me to thy self I beg if it may seem good in thy sight that nothing may befal me on my dying bed which may render me uncapable of commending thee and thy ways and worship to others My chearfulness in bearing thy will and activeness to extol thy work and reward may through thy blessing perswade Satans drudges to forsake his slavery and admit themselves thy servants O that I might allure others to prepare for such a day by lifting up my head with joy when that day of redemption draweth nigh The Apprentice makes merry when his time is expired and he enjoyeth his freedom The Bride hath a feast and musick when her Marriage-day is come This life is my time of service death sets me at liberty In this World I am contracted to my dearest Saviour my solemn marriage is in the other world into which I pass through death Why should I fear that Messenger which brings such good news and be troubled at that friend who will do me so great a courtesie O enable me to live every day according to thy Gospel that keeping my conscience clean and my evidences clear I may in the day of my death rejoyce and be exceeding glad Give me to savour the sweetness of thy love the pleasantness of thy paths to feel the powerful influences of thy spirit the vertue and efficacy of thy word so to rellish communion with thy self and thy dear Son all the days of my life that when I am going out of the world and comming to thee O Father I may from my own experience quicken and encourage others to forsake earthly vanities before earthly vanities forsake them and to take thee for their chiefest good and choicest happiness who will never leave them nor forsake them I Wish that the nearer I draw to my reward the more zealous and industrious I may be about my work and that when my body droppeth and faileth most my soul may be most vigorous and active in the exercise of grace I am infinitely indebted to the blessed God for his unspeakable grace to my precious soul my engagements to the dearest Redeemer for loving me and washing me in his own blood are far beyond my apprehension This is the last opportunity that I shall ever enjoy to testifie my thankefulness and to do my God my Saviour my soul any service O how diligent should I be to promote their interest and improve this season Nature in its last conflict with a disease puts forth it self to the utmost it draweth in those spirits which before were scattered in the outward parts to guard and arm the heart it rallieth all those forces which are left if possible to win the day O why should not grace in its last encounter muster up all its strength and put forth it self to the utmost Lust is strong to the last when nature is weak and spent and the sinner disabled from his unclean or intemperate acts even then he can hug them in his heart and roul them under his tongue as a sweet morsel and commit them over and over again in his thoughts and fancy and affections The dying Theif on the Cross when his hands and feet were nailed and by force kept in order could yet find his tongue at liberty before his death to rail at and revile the Lord of life Ah is it not a thousand pities that grace should be outvied by lust and that those that are paid with such lamentable wages as everlasting burnings should dye serving their cruel Master and enter into Hell belching out their blasphemies and spitting their poison in the face of Heaven and that the Children of God should do their father so little service when they are going to their blissful mansions and can do him no more love to my self as well as to my God may quicken me to labour with all my might when I draw near my last hour As I fall now I lie for ever My eternal estate dependeth more upon my death then my life It s possible though rare that a prophane life may be corrected by a penitent death but a wicked death can never be amended He that shoots off a piece if he be not steady just at its going off loseth his Charge and misseth his Mark He that dieth ill dieth ever he is killed with death He that goeth awry when he goeth out of the world shall never come back to recal or amend his steps If I am a conqueror now I am a conqueror for ever if I am foiled now I am foiled for ever Cowards will sight desperately when they are in extremity and must either kill or be killed The Historian saith of Cn. Piso a confederate of Catalines that though he had an heart like an Hare yet he could sight like a Lyon when he apprehended a necessity of fighting for his life O that my pains my diligence may be
answerable to my peril and my danger Lord when that day and hour draweth near that I must go hence and be no more seen do thou draw near in boundless mercy to my poor soul When I must enter into the Chambers of death and make my bed in the grave save me from the paws of Satan and the power of Hell that the bottomless pit may not shut her mouth upon me and give me to triumph in that hour of tribulation as knowing that neither tribulation nor persecution nor principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come nor life nor death can seperate me from thy love which is in Christ Jesus my Lord. I Wish that when I am going to the place of silence I may speak the excellencies of my God and make his praise glorious It is the unhappiness of worldlings and wicked men that they cannot when they dye commend the principles whence they have acted nor the vain pleasures which they have minded and pursued How many of them whose lives have been nothing but a bundle of false-hood and lies when God hath called them to leave the world have spoken truth and told their Friends and Relations that sin is an evil and bitter thing that carnal pleasures are guilded poisons that the greatest and choicest of worldly comforts though they may have honey in their mouths have a sting in their tailes and what a vain empty nothing the whole creation is How often have they complained how the world hath deceived them the flesh deluded them and Devil beguiled and destroyed them It is my priviledge as well as my duty to extol my Master whom I have served to commend the sweetness of his ways the pleasantness of his worship the reasonableness of his precepts the richness of his promises and the vastness of that portion which he hath laid up for his Children when they come to age I have sometimes tasted his work and ways to be sweeter then the honey and the honey comb I have viewed by faith his reward to be vastly glorious and beyond all apprehensions excellent O why should I not diswade others from their eager pursuit of foolish fading shadows and perswade and encourage them to earnest endeavours after real substance and durable riches The sinner who hath wallowed all his life time in the mire of filth and wickedness will when he comes to dye and begins to return to his wits from his own experience of the emptiness and unprofitableness of his ungodly courses and from the convictions of his natural conscience acknowledge a sober sanctified conversation to be safest and the ways of God to be most gainful and upon these accounts advise his friends and relations to forsake and abandon the lusts of the world and flesh and to follow after holiness as they would be happy eternally And have not I much more cause to shew my abhorrency of sin and love to my Saviour and his image when I am entering into my Fathers house The sinner hath onely found at last a fleshly life to be vain and fruitless and is like to pay dear for his learning but I have known the paths of piety to be paths of pleasantness and rejoyced more in them then in all riches The sinner hath onely the dim light of nature to shew him the loathsomness of vice and the loveliness of grace but I have the holy Spirit of my God to enlighten my mind in the knowledge of both The sinner hath only a carnal love to his Neighbours and Kindred he knoweth not what it is to love them in Christ and for Christ I have some knowledge of the love and Law of Christ of the worth of their souls of the price paid for them by the Lord Iesus and their unchangeable conditions in the other world O that my language to them might be somewhat answerable to the love of Christ to me Lord It is unrighteousness to die in debt to man and not to endeavour to make them satisfaction according to my power I am sure to dye in thy debt for I am less then the least of all thy mercies and unable to requite thee for the smallest of thy favours It is my comfort that all the recompence thou expectest is a thankful acknowledgement and hearty acceptance of thy grace and good will O what injustice and ingratitude were I guilty of should I deny thee so small a request Be pleased to help thy servant in his last hours both to accept unfeignedly of thy grace for his own good and to acknowledge thy good will and bounty and faithfulness to thy glory for the good of others I Wish that my lost breath may be drawn Heaven-ward I mean that I may enter praying into the house of blessing and praise I am no Christian if I do not give my self to prayer whilst I live It is one choice piece of my spiritual Armour whereby I have often assaulted and conquered my soul-enemies It is the Ambassadour which I have many a time sent to the heavenly Court that always received a favourable Audience and obtained his errand It is the Vessel which hath brought me food from far and ever returned richly laden if it were not my own fault It is the element in which I live the aliment by which I subsist the pulse the breath of my soul without which it must needs dye On my death-bed I have as much need of its succour as at any season My adversaries will then imploy their greatest power and policy to rout and ruine me I am but weak flesh and blood altogether unable to combat with Principalities and Powers and how can I expect supplies from the Lord of Hosts unless I send this Messenger to intreat it My wants and weaknesses at such a time will be more then ordinary Faith must then be acted in spight of all the frights and fears which a malicious Devil and an unbeleiving heart from the number and nature of my sins the strictness of the law and the justice of God may put me to Repentance must then be exercised and my sins lye nearer my heart then my sharpest diseases In patience I must possess my soul under all the pains and pressures which the wise God shall lay upon me I must then chearfully submit to the divine pleasure and by my willingness to leave all the world to go to Christ shew that I hate Father Mother Wife Child House Lands Life and all for Christ. Those graces and many other must be put forth at suâ—h a time none of which I can do by my own power and therefore have abundant cause to fetch help from Heaven by prayer Besides the distempers of my body will discompose my soul and unfit it in a great measure for all holy service Again my Benefactors my near Friends and Relations the poor afflicted Church of God do all call aloud to me to pray for them as the last kindness I shall ever do for them I profess
Joseph shall send to convey me to the true Goshen I Wish that I may with patience submit on my dying bed to the divine pleasure It hath been far from some Moralists to murmure either at the extremity of their sickness or the necessity of dying By impatience I do not help but rather kill my self before-hand It s the general lot of mankind to sickeâ— and dye Am I angry that I am a man that I am mortal Because I know that I must be sick and dye I know that I must submit The knowledge of an approaching evil is no small good if improved Though it cannot teach me to prevent it by all my power or providence yet it may teach me to prepare for it and to bear it with courage and patience Discontent and quarrelling are great arguments of guilt and a defiled conscience The harmless sheep conscious of their innocency do quietly receive the Knife either on the Altar or in the Shambles and give death entrance with small reluctancy when the filthy loathsom Swine roar horribly at their first handling and with hideous cries are haled and held to the fatal block The Children of God and members of Christ who are perfect through their head do often give up the Ghost and desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ when the souls of wicked men are required of them and they are strangely passionate at the approach of death and with dreadful screeches salute its Harbinger sickness O that patience might have its perfect work in me when I am taking my leave of it and its work is near an end Lord my heart is too prone to be impatient under thy hand though thou art infinitely wise as well as gracious and knowest what is best for me In my sickness turn mine eyes upon my sins that my discontent may be at my self for that which is the original of all my sorrows and then I shall never repine or murmur against thee I Wish that I may daily think of death and wait beleiving and repenting and working out my salvation till my change shall come My whole time is given me that therein I might prepare and dress my soul for my blessed eternal estate Why should it not be imployed for that end The Child who hath all day been diligent about his duty may expect his Fathers good word at night But what Master will give a reward to him in the evening who hath all the day long served his enemy My life is the seed which will yeild a crop of horror or comfort in an hour of death If that be good my Harvest will be glorious and joyful if that be sinful my Harvest will be bitter and sorrowful Do men gather Grapes of Thorns or Figs of Thistles The Grapes of comfort are not to be expected from the Thistles of corruption nor the Figs of peace from the thorns of impiety I should blush to commit to the keeping of a cleanly and considerable person a foul and filthy vessel With what face can I commend to the holy and glorious God an impure and polluted soul O how dreadful will it be to meet with my dying bed before I have met with the Lord of life and to be going out of the world before I have seriously considered why I came into it My great work in this world is to get my depraved nature healed by the blood and spirit of Christ ifâ— I forget my business when I have time to do it and trifle away my days in doing evil or doing nothing I lose my soul am unfaithful to my Master and deepen my judgement by the number of my days â— That Traveller may well be agast and perplexed who hath a long journey to go upon pain of death in one day for which the whole day is little enough and seeth the sun near setting before he hath begun his journey How ill doth the evening of my time and the morning of my taske accord together How justly may God reserve the dregs of his wrath for me if I reserve the dregs of myâ— days for him What folly am I guilty of in deferring my preparation for death If he be a ridiculous person that having choice of lusty horses should let them all go empty and lay an extraordinary heavy load upon a poor tired jade that is hardly able to go much more foolish is he that prodigally wasteth his youth and health and strength in the service of the flesh and the world and leaves the great and weighty affairs of his soul and eternity to be transacted on a sick or dying bed O my soul what little cause hast thou to future or delay thy solemn provision for the other world First thy life is uncertain thou hast not another day at thy disposal There are some creatures they say in Pontus whose life lasteth but one day They are born in the morning come to their full growth at noon grow old in the evening and dye at night What is thy life but a vapour that soon passeth away The first minute thou didst begin to live thou didst begin to dye Death was born when thou wast born the last act of life is but the completing of death As on thy birâ—hâ—day thou didst begin to dye so on the day of thy death thou dost cease to live How many outward accidents and inward diseases art thou every moment liable to May I not say to thee as Michael to David Save thy self to night for tomorrow thou shalt be slain Others have died suddenly by imposthumes or the falling-sickness or violent means and if thou promisest thy self a fair warning before the fatal stroak thou dost but cozen and cheat thy self But secondly If thou wert sure to see the evening star of sickness before the night of death overtake thee thou art not sure thy sickness shall not be such as may not incapacitate thee for the working out thy salvation Extremity of pain anguish of body lack of sleep the violence of a fever may indispose thee and distract thee that thou canst not so much as think of God Or thy distemper may be such that the Physitian may charge thee not to trouble thy self with melancholy or sad thoughts lest thou wrongest thy body and yet the Minister commandeth thee to pull up those sluces of sorrow if thou wouldst not lose thy soul for ever Or cold diseases as the Lethargy or Palsie may surprise thee and incline thee to continual slumbers till at last thou sleepest the sleep of death O how sottish art thou and how grosly doth the destroyer of souls delude thee to defer that work of absolute necessity of conversion to God upon which thine endless weal or wo dependeth to a dying Bed when thou art not sure to dye in thy bed but mayst as well dye in thy Shop or Fields or in the Streets when thou art uncertain what disease if thou shouldst meet with a dying bed should send thee to thy eternal
home when thou art neither Master of thy time nor reason nor of thy natural abilities much less of supernatural grace which is indispensably requisite to this great work O that since I must dye once for sin I might dye daily to sin and as the Philistines that they might the better deal with Sampson cut off his Hair wherein his great strength lay so that I may the better deal with death I may by faith and repentance daily cut off and destroy sin wherein the strength of death lieth May I not say to thee O my soul as Joshua to Israel Prepare ye victuals for within three days ye shall pass over this Iordan to go to possess the Land which the Lord your God giveth you Prepare the spiritual food the flesh of Christ which is meat indeed and the blood of Christ which is drink indeed an heart weaned from the world longing to be with God for within a few days thou shalt go in to possess the land of promise Lord I know nothing more certain then death Sin hath deserved it my brittle body inforceth it thou hast decreed it and none can prevent it I know nothing more uncertain then the time when or the manner how Thou hast many ways and means to bring me to my grave not onely ordinary distempers of my body but thousands of casual dangers I cannot promise my self freedom from it in any place or condition Death may seise me abroad at home in company in solitude at bed at board Why should I not always provide for that extremity that enemy which I cannot avoid Why should I not ever be ready for that which may come at any time and will come at some time or other Surely I do not hasten my death by preparing for it but sweeten it exceedingly I â—hall not dye a moment the sooner but infinitely the better Should death overtake me in my sins alas where am I what will become of me for ever I may well salute it as Ahab Elijah with Hast thou found me O mine enemy for t will come to me as the Prophet to that King with doleful dreadful tidings T will bring me news of a dismal dungeon of darkness to be my habitation of Lyons and Scorpions and Dragons to be my companions of a never dying worm an unquenchable fire pure wrath without mixture full torments without measure to be my portion for ever and ever O teach me so to live above this vain empty life so to be crucified to this world so to make my peace with thy Majesty through the great peace-maker and Prince of Peace my Lord Iesus so to set my heart and house my spiritual and temporal concernments in order that I may be delivered from the paw of the Lyon from the teeth of this monster from the sting of this Serpent and though my body be destroyed yet my soul may escape as a bird out of the snare of the Fowler and mount up to thy self to enjoy that happy life which shall know no death I Wish that all the days of my appointed time I may exercise my self herein to keep a conscience void of offence towards God and towards all men There are but two which can afford me real comfort in a dying hour which always take the same side and joyn together God and my conscience Humane friends often stand afar off when they should be most near and I have most need Some of them are loth to come to a sick mans chamber Mournful objects must not disturb their jollity and mirth They are sworn enemies to sorrowful occasions and baniâ—h such foes their quarters or themselves from such coasts Others if they come to visit me love not to see my gastly countenance like not to hear my deep and deadly groans But be they never so full of pity they can onely sympathize with me they cannot relieve refresh me The most they can do is to accompany me to my grave and there they leave me But O the comfort which a loving God and a conscience sprinkled with the blood of Christ and purged from dead works will afford me in a dying hour The smiles of a God and chearings of a good conscience will be musick indeed to welcom me to the shoar after all my tumblings and tossings in this tempestuous Ocean They will make my bed in my sickness help me to lye easie hearten me in my sighs and groans be my feast at my funeral bid me Be of good chear for my sins are forgiven me tell me that my Redeemer liveth and because he liveth I shall live also lodge my body in a grave as in a Bed of Spices and convey my soul into my Saviours Bosome and Embraces when my Houses Lands Honours Friends Wife Children leave me they will cleave to me nay when my breath life heart flesh forsake me they will not fail me yea when faith hope patience repentance shall bid me farewel weeping as Orpah did Ruth these like Naomi will stick to me go with me and seek rest for me O that my heart may be so upright in the service of my God that when I â—hall receive the sentence of death I may be able to say with good Hezekiah Remember now I beseech thee O Lord how I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart and have done that which is good in thy sight O my soul what a friend shouldst thou be to thy God thy conscience how faithful to their warnings now in life if thou wouldst have them thy friends at death Hereby thou mayst be able to triumph in that hour of temptation to defie death it self and bid it do its worst Though it be the common gate through which the sinner goeth into prison where he meets with Chains and Fetters and cold and all sorts of miseries yet thou shalt go through it into the Kings Pallace where thou shalt have rivers of pleasures and 〈◊〉 entertainment If Jacob went down so joyfully 〈◊〉 Egypt when God had said to him fear not to go down for I will go down with thee and I will bring thee up again What needest thou fear to go down into the Grave when thy God hath undertaken to go down with thee thither and to bring thee up again Thy body may be turned into dust but thy God is in Covenant with thy dust and thy head the blessed Redeemer will not suffer one muscle or nerve or artery or vein of any of his members to be lost With what chearfulness mayst thou take thy leave of thy body Farewel sweet body thou hast been in some measure faithful to thy soul in the service of thy Lord Farewel I must bid thee goodâ—night till the morning of the resurrection Be thou content to go to bed and sleep in the dust and rest in hope for though after the skin wormes destroy this body yet in my flesh â—hall I see God Whom I shall see for my self and mine eyes shall behold him and
God Alsufficient or the Almighty God Walk before me and be thou perfect Gen. 17. 1. knowing that unless his faith were firm his steps could never be even If he had not beleived Gods power he could not be evangelically perfect And hence that father of the faithful became so eminent in obedience from the strength of his faith It s said of him Isa. 41. 2. that he came to the foot of God That Child was dutiful indeed that when his Father did but stamp with his foot left what ever he was about though it were never so delightful or gainful to him and ran to his Father to know and obey his commands Thus truly did Abraham when God called him to turn his back upon his relations and the place of his nativity nay to sacrifice his Isaac the child of the promise as well as of his love he did not question Gods pleasure nor quarrel with his precepts but obeyed them presently and all from his faith His strong faith caused strong obedience Heb. 11. It s observable that all the noble and heroick acts of obedience of the Lords Worthies mentioned in that little book of Martyrs were performed under the conduct and command of faith Faith is one of the best Antidotes against the poison of prophaness and one of the greatest helpes to holiness None are more faithful to God then they who have most faith in God They who beleive will be careful to maintain good works Tit. 3. 8. As the natural heat is the life of the body and as that increaseth with the radical moysture strength and health abound So Faith is the life of the soul as that is strong or weak his godliness is more or less He that is highest in affiance is highest in obedience This is the strength of the soul According to a Mans strength such is his walk either straight or stumbling According to a mans Faith such is his life either even or crooked 1. Faith destroyeth sin 2. It enableth to live to God 1. It killeth sin If the Pulse of a Christianâ— hand or life beat uneven it is because his Faith which is his heart doth faulter This is the shield of the soul which secures it against all assaults and dangers Other peices of the Christians Armour are serviceable to defend particular parts of the new man as the Girdle of truth the loyns rightâ—ousness the brest the Gospel of peace the feet but Faith is a Shield moveable at pleasure and surroundeth and guardeth the whole man With favour wilt thou compass him as with a Shield Psa. 5. ult Faith secureth the head from evilâ—principles What sense denieth and reason understandeth not Faith beleiveth Aristotle reading Moses concerning the Creation is reported to say Egregie dicis domine Moses sed quomodo probas Thou speakest nobly but how dost thou prove it The answer to him is easie By Faith we believe that the world were made of God Heb. 11. 2. Faith clears up the understanding and scattereth the mists of error The pesence of this Sun disperseth those Clouds Faith secureth the heart from evil purposes It s the besome that sweepeth out such dust and keeps the heart clean Having their hearts purified by Faith Act. 15. 9. Faith entertaineth the King of Saints into the heart it sets him on the throne and these traytours flye before him His presence makes these Rebels to hide their heads Who ever could find in his heart to hug sin whilst he was viewing by faith his bleeding Saviour Faith secureth the hand from evil practices The Martyrs chose the flames rather then the denial of their Master and all because of their Faith Those Worthies of the Lord of whom the World was not worthy through Faith stopped the mouths of Lyon-like lusts quenched the violence of hellish fires were tortured not accepting deliverance that they might obtain a better resurrection Heb. 11. 33 34 35. By Faith we stand 2 Cor. 1. 24. As a Souldier under the protection of his Shield stands his ground and doth his duty notwithstanding the shot that are made against him So a Christian under the protection of Faith keeps his place and mindeth his work whatsoever opposition he meets with Faith like Ioab stabbeth this Abner under the fifth rib it wounds fin mortally Hope like Saul hath slain its thousands but Faith like David it s ten thousands Whole Armies of Lusts have turned their backs at the sight of this Warriour By Faith the walls of Ierico fall down Whilst unbeleif liveth no sin will dye All iniquity sheltereth it self under the Banner of infidelity If once the banks of Faith be broken down a flood of wickedness will rush and flow in What made Abraham deny his Wife and expose her to such temptations and wickedness but unbeleif What made Isaac tread in his Fathers steps and leave Rebecah to the Heathens luste but unbeleif What made David dishonour his God by his uncomely carriage before Achish and injure his soul by his unholy language that he should one day perish by the hand of Saul but unbeleif What made Peter deny and forswear his Master but unbeleif These tares were sown by the enemy when the husbandman Faith was asleep had they believed the power and faithfulness of God to defend them in their dangers and distresses without their lyes and his grace and bounty to reward them largely for all their sufferings for his sake had they believed that God when he called them to straights would without any sinful means have brought them off safe on earth or safe to Heaven they would never have used such sinful shifts for their own safety Faith would secure the soul against all those temptations and prevent such sinister and sinful doings He that beleiveth maketh not haste He will patiently wait Gods leasure and submit to his pleasure and not venture upon forbidden courses and unlawful ways to deliver himself out of distress Vnbeleif is the dung which makes the soyl of corrupt nature so fruitful in the unfruitful works of darkness Whence cometh such immoderate love of a perishing world but from want of Faith and Beleif of that transcendent glory that is to be revealed Whence cometh such dulness and deadness in holy duties but from unbelief either of the holiness and jealousie of that God with whom we have to do or of his goodness and mercy that his reward will pay the charge of diligence in his work Whence comes such cozening and cheating and over-reaching in dealings with men that from distrust of Gods power and providence as if he could not or would not spread a Table for his Children in the most barren Wilderness Whence comes that impatience and murmuring in adversity but from want of Faith which would encourage the heart in the Lord his God in the saddest estate and when the Fig-tree doth not blossom nor the Vine yeild its fruit enable the soul to rejoyce in the Lord and be glad in the Rock of his salvation Whence
cometh such pride and carnal confidence in prosperity but because men beleive not the meanness and vanity and emptiness of riches and that divine mercy not the merits of men are the original of them There is no sin so monstrous but unbeleif will venture upon it He that beleiveth not will never be allured by divine promises nor affrighted at divine threatnings nor obey divine precepts nor submit to divine providences As Cicero said of Parricide I may say of Unbeleif It s a teeâ—ing vice a well of wickedness many sins are bound up in it No wonder the Apostle gives such a serious warning and so strict a charge against Infidelity as the mother and nurse of all Apostacy Take heed lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbeleif whereby ye depart away from the living God Heb. 3. 12. The superstitious Pagans thought that their Idol Vibilia kept them from erring out of their way The religious Christian knoweth by experience that his faith keeps him within the limits of his duty Faith ingrafts the soul into Christ and into the fellowship of his death by which the old man is crucified and the body of sin destroyed that henceforth we should not serve sin Rom. 6. 5,6,7,8 For therefore did Christ bear ouâ— sins in his body on the tree that we might become dead to sin 1 Pet. 1. 24. Faith enableth the soul to conquer sin by enabling it to overcome the three grand provocations to sin The World the Flesh and the Wicked one There is neither of these enemies but Faith hath wounded mortally 1. Faith enableth to overcome the World the World indeed hath conquered millions the greatest Souldiers have been slain by it Alexander could subdue the Nations in it but could not subdue his Affections to it As great a conqueror as he was over it he was its slave and vassal for his ambition was still larger then his Dominions But faith cloathing the Christian with the Sun helps him to trample this Moon under his feet This is your victory over the world even your Faith 1 Joh. 6.4 The World hath two faces the oneâ— ugly and deformed toâ—affright the Saint the other comely and painted to allure him to sin but Faith seeth how pittiful onely touching the body her threatnings are and how poor onely skin-deep her promises are and makes the soul to disdain both It was by Faith that Luther could say Contemptus a me Romanus favor furor I scorn both Romes favour and Romes fury The worlds Furnace and Musickâ— are much alike to a Beleiver he is blind and deaf nay dead to both The special object of Faith is the Cross of Christ whereby saith the Apostle I am crucified to the world and the world to me Tickle a dead man or lance him it s all one he is sensible of neither As Fabricius the Noble Roman told Pyrrhus who one day tempted him with Gold and the next day sought to terrifie him with Elephants I was not yesterday moved with your money nor to day with your beasts So Basil when first offered preferment and afterward threatened with imprisonment if he would not deny Christ and turn Arrian to this purpose answered the Messenger Such babies of preferment are fit to catch Children with and such bug-bears of bonds and imprisonment may fright your tender Gallants and Courtiers Faith enableth the Christian to mount up to heaven and thereby secures him from the baits and shots the snares and lime-twigs which attend him on earth Homer saith Vlisses caused himself to be bound to the Mast of the Ship and every one of his fellows ears to be stopped with Wax that they might not hearken to the Songs of the Syrens and so be drowned in the Sea Faith fastens the soul to Christ and so ravisheth iâ—s ears with the glad tidings of pardon and peace and eternal life that it is deaf to the worlds musick 1. Faith enableth the soul to overcome the affrightments of the world Faith like blown bladders keepeth the soul from sinking in deep waters It s a Target under which a soul is free from the hurt though not from the smart of evil It s the Ark wherein he rides triumphing when the windows from above are opened and poure down and the floods from beneath are broken up In this strong Tower the soul finds shelter Faith like Ioseph layeth up in a time of plenty against a time of scarcity in a day of prosperityâ— against a day of adversity and so feareth it the less Faith sheweth the Christian a place of refuge in the time of trouble He shall hide thee saith Faith in the secret of his presence i. e. cover thee with the warm wings of his providence he shall keep thee secret in his Pavilion An allusion to Princes retiring rooms which are sacred and secure places for their Favourites Nature teacheth all creatures to run in distress to that which they count their defence The Conies run to the Rocks the Goats to the Hills the Ravenous Beasts to their Deâ—s the Child to his Mothers Armes This grace discovereth to the soul a Rock a Refuge a Fort a Fortress an High Tower which makes him fearless of the worlds threatnings and bugbears The lame and the blind those most shiftless creatures when they had got the strong hold of Sion over their heads scorned the Host of David 2 Sam. 5. 6 7. The Egyptians that dwell in the fens are much troubled with Gnats therefore they sleep in High Towers whither those Insects cannot flye The Name of the Lord is a strong Tower the righteous run unto it and are safe Prov. 15. Such a soul is like a strong Tree which no wind can shake or like Mount Sion which cannot be moved Therefore he can sing when unbeleivers quake and tremble Though the Earth be troubled though the Mountains be carried into the midst of the Sea though the Waters roar and the Mountains shake yet we will not fear The Lord of Hosts is with us the God of Jacob is our refuge Psa. 46. 56. and 91. 2 3. Faith is like the Cork in the Net when the Lead wound sink the Net the Cork keeps it above water This Faith is the Anchor of the soul both sure and stedfact entering into that within the vail and so stayeth the Saint against all the winds and waves of affliction Faith or beleif of the resurrection and that happiness which then should be enjoyed was that which enabled Paul to dye daily and to fight with Beasts at Ephesus 1 Cor. 15. 30. In the greatest distress Faith can see deliverance and when it is at the greatest distance salute it as Abraham did Christs day afar off When the weather is cloudy it can see the Heaven begin to clear and notwithstanding his present pain and poverty cause the Christian to rejoyce in his hope of bliss and glory The eye of Faith looking to the recompence of reward seeth afflictions with the Israel of
world offereth him great treasures high honours c. may through the subtlety of his flesh have a mind to embrace them onely seeing by Faith Ierusalem where are greater treasures higher honours he slights and rejects them By faith Moses refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter esteeming the reproaches of Christ greater riches then the treasures of Egypt for he had an eye to the recompence of reward Faith makes things future present it looketh intoâ—Heaven and saith as David before he had conquered those places Gilead is mine Manasseh is mine Heaven is mine Eternal Life is mine fulness of joy is mine that Kingdom in comparison of which this whole world is a dunghil is mine because God hath sworn by his holiness that he will not lye unto his David and whilst the soul by faith seeth and is assured of these felicities for their sake it can trample under foot the worlds largest offers 2. Faith enableth the Christian to conquer Satan Though the wicked one be full of power and policy yet Faith makes him flee like a Coward It s said of the Crocodile that he flyeth if resisted but followeth those that fear and flee from him Truly so doth Satan Iam. 4. 8. Resist the Devil and he will flee from you But how must he be resisted the Apostle Peter answers that question whom resist stedfastly in the Faith 1 Pet. 5. 9. The Crocodile cannot endure the sight or smell of saffron therefore in Egypt they sow saffron to keep him away Faith is this saffron Cant. 4. 14. which drives away the Devil Faith like little David wounds the great Goliah of Hell They overcame him meaning the Devil by the blood of the Lamb. The Wild Bull say Naturalists cannot endure a red colour therefore the Hunter putteth on red garments and standeth before a Tree which the Bull runneth against with all his might and the Hunter stepping aside his hornes stick fast in the tree whereby he is taken The Christian by Faith in the blood of Christ overcometh those infernal spirits who thought to overcome him This is the onely holy water that will fright away the Devil Our blessed Saviour in his speech to Peter acquaints us how to subdue Satan Peter Peter Satan hath desired to winnow thee as Wheat is winnowed but I have prayed for thee that thy Faith fail not Which words imply that whilst Peters Faith stood firm he should not forsake Christ whilst that was up he could not be down His Faith flagged before his courage failed or he himself fell so fouly A Tree is soon felled when the Root is once loosened Faith roots the soul in Christ and therein his safety consists but as his Faith fails so he is loosened from Christ and thereby in danger of falling The Christians strength lieth in his Faith as Sampsons in his Hair if the uncircumcised one can deprive us of this he may make sport enough with us Hence it is that Satans chiefest Guns are shot against the Royal Fort of Faith knowing that that commandeth all and if â—e can make a breach there he fears not but to enter with success The first mine which he ever sprang to blow up the first Adam and his Wife and in them the whole race of mankind was by weakning their faith Hath God said In the day ye eat thereof ye shall dye When he came to the second Adam he endeavoured to slay him with the same sword If thou be the Son of God command that these stones c. And without question his aim was more at Iobs Faith then his Cattel or Servants or Children he had a greater intent to have blown down that house of Iobs conscience then that wherein his Sons and Daughters were feasting Therefore Reader Above all take the shield of Faith whereby thou mayst quench the fiery darts of the wicked one Ephes. 6. 16. Goats in the Island of Creet when they are stricken with a dart do seek for the Hearb Dittany which will cause the dart to fall out Truly such juice hath Faith that it makes all the darts which Satan shoots at the Christian ineffectual 3. Faith enableth to conquer the flesh The great Apostle who lived by Faith brought under his body and crucified the flesh Faith seeth the safety of the body to consist in its subordination to the soul and that the onely way to save the life is at Gods call to lose it By faith Abraham left his Kindred and Country and obeyed and went out not knowing whither he went Heb. 11. 8. Indeed the flesh is the worst enemy of the three partly in that it is so near us always about us so that we can as well flye from our selves as from it A Traytour in the Bed chamber is much more dangerous then one in open armes against us in the Field A Snake in the bosome is like to do more hurt then one under the grass partly in that it knoweth our minds exactly and so can temper its poison sutable to our Pallats but Faith can discover its secret conspiracies and prevent their execution Though it dig its mines never so closely and covertly and craftily Faith will find them out and countermine them 2. Faith enableth as to dye to sin so to live to God The life of holiness doth so much depend on Faith that it s said to consist wholly in it The just shall live by his Faith Though he cannot live by sense that upon which he lives being invisible nor by reason because his food is supernatural yet he can live by faith and make a good living of it too As the body lives by the soul so Religion lives by Faith A mortal wound in faith le ts out the heart blood of all holiness T is faith that actuates and animates the new creature Faith puts him upon high designs and holy enterprises for God and his own soul. David saith I beleive therefore have I spoken It may be said of a Christian He beleiveth therefore he speaks so much of God for God and to God He beleiveth the unquestionable certainty incomparable excellency and eternity of that reward which is set before him and therefore he prayeth and watcheth and readeth and heareth and denyeth himself and worketh night and day that he may attain it Ferdinando of Arragon beleiving the report of Columbus concerning the richness of the Indian Mines and the likelyhood of his possessing them was at great cost and charge in sending out men in Ships and made them venture their lives and labour hard to get those Golden and Silver veins Faith beleiveth the report which the Gospel makes of the glory to be revealed and the unsearchable riches in Christ and the likelyhood nay certainty of his enjoying them if he will but strive and labour and use those means which God hath appointed and this puts the soul upon its greatest industry and integrity in the performance of what the word requireth in order thereunto and a resolution to
course will be hindered Indeed as God could preserve our bodies without food or any sustenance by his omnipotent power as he did Moses and Elijah forty days together but he will not where he affordeth ordinary means So he could preserve our souls in life without ordinances but he will not where his providence giveth us opportunity to enjoy them Reader I must say to thee as Iacob to the Patriarchs Behold I have heard that there is Corn in Egypt get you down thither and buy for us that we may live and not dye Behold thou hast heard there is spiritual food in Heaven the Son of Ioseph hath his granaries full of Corn go thou thither daily by sacred duties that thy soul may live and not dye There is a sensible decay of the strength in Husbandmen whose work is great upon one days abstinence If tradesmen grow careless of their business and neglect their Shops they quickly decay in their estates When Christians grow careless of duties and neglect their Closets t is no wonder that they decline in their spiritual stocks When the Moon hath her open side downward she decreaseth but when her open side is upwards towards Heaven she increaseth in light There is no growing in grace and holiness but by conversing with Heaven Grace like Armour may easily be kept bright if it be daily used but if it hang by the wall it will quickly rust and cost much time and pains to scoure Much fasting takes away the stomach and omission of Closet duties at one time makes a man more backward to them and dead about them another time When a Scholar hath plaid the Truant one day its difficult to bring him to School the next day Fear and Shame both keep him back when he comes thither he is the more untoward about his book Our deceitful hearts after they have discontinued holy exercises and are broken loose are like horses gotten out of their bounds not found or brought back without much trouble When an instrument is daily plaid on it s kept in order but if it be but a while neglected and cast into a corner the strings are apt to break the frets to crack the bridge to flye off and no small trouble and stir is requisite to bring it into order again We read of the Iews daily sacrifice which was Morning and Evening Exod. 29. 38. and 30. 7 8. David was for Morning and Eveningâ— and Noon-tide Psa. 55. 17. Daniel was three times a day upon his knees Dan. 6. 10. In the Morning the Saints were at their devotion which is thought to be the third hour when the Holy Ghost descended on the Apostles Act. 2. 15. This is deemed to be our ninth hour The midle or mid day prayer was termed the sixth hour which is our twelfth Ioh. 4. 6. At this time Peter went up to the house top to pray Act. 10. 9. The evening Prayer was at the ninth hour which is our three a clock in the After-noon Now Peter and John went up together into the Temple at the hour of prayer being the ninth hour Act. 3. 1. So Cornelius Act. 10. 30. At the ninth hour I prayed in my house Some think the Primitive Christians had these three hours in such regard and use that thence they were termed Canonical hours David tells us Seven times a day do I praise thee because of thy righteous judgements Psa. 119. 164. The more frequent a Christian is at holy duties supposing he doth not make the commands of God to interfere and neglect his calling and family when his presence is required in them the more thriving he shall be in his spiritual trade The oftener we go to the Fountain or River the more water we bring thence As Runners in a Race do daily diet their bodies and use exercise to keep themselves in breath that they may be more able and active when they run for the wager whereas if they should neglect it they would grow pursie and shortwinded and unlikely to hold out when they run for the Garland So Christians who would hold out to the end and so run as to obtain must be daily feeding and dieting their souls and renewing their strength by these means which God hath appointed As the Sun is the cause of life and groweth in vegetables so is the Son of God the efficient cause of motion and growth in Christians where the Son is present in any soul there is spiritual moâ—ion and growth budding and blossoming and bearing fruit but when the Sun with-holds and with-draws when this Sun departs the soul is at a stand Now Ordinances are the means whereby the Mediatour conveys heat and life and growth to men CHAP. XI Means whereby Christians may exercise themselves to Godliness Frequent Meditation of the day of judgement A daily Examination of our hearts Avoiding the Occasions and Suppressing the beginnings of Sin SEvently If thou wouldst exercise thy self to Godliness Meditate much upon the day of Iudgement They will prepare themselves best to the battel who always hear the sound of the last trump in their ears Zisea that valiant Captain of the Bohemians commanded his Country-men to flea off his skin when he was dead and to make a Drum of it Which use saith he when ye go to battel and the sound of it will drive away the Hungarians or any of your enemies Could the Christian but with Ierom hear the sound of the last trumpet in his ears at all times it would encourage him in his spiritual warfare and enable him to fight manfully and to cause the enemies of his salvation to flee before him He who can frequently by faith view the Judge sitting on his Throne of Glory hear the last trumpet sounding behold the dead raised the books opened the godly examined by the Covenant of grace all their duties graces services sufferings publiquely declared approved and rewarded the wicked tried by the Law of works all their natural defilements actual transgressions in thought word and deed which ever they were guilty of with their crimson bloody circumstances openly revealed their persons righteously sentenced to the vengeance of the eternal fire and that sentence speedily without the least favour or delay executed on them will surely loath sin as that which brings him certain shame and torment and follow after holiness which will be his undoubted credit and comfort at that day The Apostle writing to the Iews concerning the terror of that day how the Heavens must pass away with a great noise and the Elements melt with fervent heat the earth also and the works therein burnt up makes this use of it Seeing then that all those things shall be dissolved What manner of persons ought we to be in all holy conversation and godliness And again Wherefore beloved seeing ye look for these things be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace without spot and blameness He had need to be exact in his conversation who must
thy pains Encline thine ear unto wisdome and apply thy heart unto understanding Yea if thou cryest after knowledge and liftest up thy voice for understanding If thou seekest her as silver and searchest for her as for hid treasures Then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God For the Lord giveth wisdom and out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding Prov. 2. ver 2 3 4 5 6. Did men but spend that time and strength about the knowledge of God which they spend in endeavouring to raise their families and advance their parties and interest and to suppress them that in their apprehensions stand in their way we should quickly have a Nation as famous for peace and love and holiness as now it is notorious for divisions and prophaness CHAP. XIII Means whereby Christians may exercise themselves to Godliness A contented Spirit Avoiding those things that hinder Godliness THirteenthly If thou woulst exercise thy self to Godliness Labour to get a contented frame of heart A setled fixed frâ—m of heart as to all outward occurrences is like Ballast to a Ship which will help it to sail trim in all waters whereas a discontented spirit is as a light smal boat in the Ocean tossed about with every blast and always in danger of drowning I doubt not but the great Apostles diligence to learn this lesson perfectly I have learned in what state soever I am to be contented I know how to be abasâ—d and how to abound Philip. 4. 12. was a special means of his extraordinary growth and proficiency in grace It is generally observed that peevish persons whom nothing pleaseth are usually lean and thin in their bodies but those who are of chearful tempers and not overmuch troubled with any disasters are thriving and healthful The discontented soul whom eveâ—y heat or cold above ordinary puts into a fright or fever will rather decline then increase in his spiritual health but the Christian who is ever chearful in his God and Saviour and lives about these lower things as one indifferent about them will never be hindered by them in his work of holiness As a sickly man is hindered in his journey by every storm and ready to run to an House or stand under an Hedge at every shower so is a discontented person ready to turn aside or stand still at every unexpected providence when a contented man like a lusty resolved travellar keeps on his course whatsoever weather comes Godliness requires a contented mind to grow in 1 Tim. 6. 6. It is said of the Pelican that she is caught by the Shephards in this manner They lay fire not far from her nest which she finding and fearing the danger of her young seeks to blow out with her wings so long till she burns her self and makes her self a prey out of foolish pity to her young So many men out of unwise pity to their relations and possessions when they are at any time in danger for want of this contented spirit and qâ—iet submission to infinite wisdom trouble themselves so much and so long about them till they make themselves a prey to Satan and no whit preserve or secure those persons or things about which they are so immoderately anxious and sollicitous Whilst we are in this world we must expect various winds some sharp some warm some nipping some refreshing some with us some against us and unless we are prepared for all by an holy pliableness we shall be injured by every one Every strong wind whether with us or against us will be ready to overturn us if we want this ballast There is no condition in this life so blessed as to afford the perfection of content and yet there is no estate in this life so wretched but a Christian may be contented with it If thou hast as much as thou wantest thou hast as much as in reason thou desirest and therefore hast cause to be contented The way to true Riches saith Plato is not to increase our heaps but to diminish the covetousness of our hearts It were well for the world saith another if there were no Gold in it but since its the Fountain whence all things flow it s to be desired but onely as a pass to travail to our journeys end without begging Every man is rich or may be so if he will equal his mind to his estate and be but poor in his desires He that hath most wants somthing as Haman when he had the commander of one hundred and twenty Provinces at command He that hath least wants nothing if he want not a contented spirit He that can bring his heart to an even poize in all providences will avoid many temptations and escape many snares in which others are entangled The want of this renders many a mans life as unserviceable to God as uncomfortable to himself The discontented person like the Sea is seldom seen without storms and tempests A small mattâ—r puts him out of order and joynt and so unfits him for spiritual actions As hot Iron the smallest drop sets him a hissing like a rufled skein of silk every way taken to compose him entangleth him Discontent like Ink poured into a Bottle of Water turns all into blackness O Frind beware of it It hinders from praying A discontented man will rather poure out his passions then any sober prayers before the Lord. It hinders examining our selves Though quiet and calm waters will like a glass if we look into it shew us the image and likeness of our selves yet troubled and muddy waters will make no such representation Though the heart when calm and contented may shew us the face and features of our souls yet if muddied by discontent they cannot do it It hinders from hearing The noise of passion drowns the voice of the Preacher Men must with meekness receive the ingrafted word if they desire it should save their souls Iam. 1. When a Fountain is troubled there can no Water be drawn out of it but what is filthy and unsavoury When a person is discontented all his duties are distasâ—eful and unacceptable to God Therefore Christ more then once diswads his Disciples from it Let not your hearts be troubled Let not your heart be troubled neither let it be afraid Joh. 14. 1 27. Diogenes resolved since many evils would befal him to keep himself steady in all he would oppose Resolution to Fortune Nature to the Law his Reason to his Affections But the Christian hath a better guide and better grounds for contentedness There be several thoughts which may quiet and compose the heart in all occurents 1. That Infinite wisdom ordaineth whatsoever befalleth me and the present condition that I am in is ever best for me If a greater portion of outward good things had been good for me I had had it my Father is not so careless of his Children as to deny them any thing that is good for them and if it be not good for me why
man in this world The greatness of the price the blood of God doth to every rational understanding fully speak the preciousness of the pearl Now how clear and plain is it in the word of truth that the Redeemer gave himself to redeem us from all iniquity and to purifie unto himself a peculiar people zealous of goodworks Tit. 2. 14. That being delivered out of the hands of our enemies we might serve him in holiness and righteousness all our days Surely Reader that which the Son of God who thought it no robbery to be equal with God thought worthy the taking on himself the form of a servant and the suffering the spite and malice of men the wrath and rage of devils and the frowns and fury of his father to purchase for thee doth deserve to be minded and regarded by thee as thee onely thing thou followest after and setst thy self about during thy pilgrimage Alas All the pains and labour and watching and working and time and strength and lives of all the men in the world are not equivalent to one drop of the blood of Christ or the least degree of his humiliation and wilt thou deny to make that thy business for which he shed so much blood and laid down his life 6. Is not that worthy to be made thy business which is the peculiar work of the Holy Ghost and for which the Spirit is infused into the hearts of men The worth of the Father doth speak the desert of the Child Though men who pretend to honour the Father for his work of Creation and to admire the Son for his work of Redemption blasphemously deride and wretchly slight sanctification which is the work of the Spirit yet undoubtedly the work of the Spirit is no whit inferiour to either nay is the beauty and glory both of Creation and Redemption as being the end and perfection of both The Father created the world in order to the new creation by the Spirit as that choice work man ship which he resolved should bring him in the largest revenue of praise and honour T is the new heavens wherein dwelleth righteousness that doth most declare the glory of God and the Firmament of sparkling graces that sheweth forth his most choice and curious handi-work Sanctification is the travel of the Sons soul a spiritual sacred life the great end of his death The Son redeemed man from slavery to sin and Satan and unto the service of righteousness by layino down the price thereof his own most precious blood One of the Sons main works was to purchase the re-impression of Gods Image on man the actual performance of which is the peculiar office of the Spirit hence he tells us Ioh. 14. I go away that the comforter may come and again Ioh. 6. The Spirit was not yet given i. e. so plentifully and universally because Iesus was not yet glorified And therefore we read that in few days after his ascension to acquaint us what was one main end and fruit of his death and suffering he powreth down the holy Ghost in an extraordinary manner and measure So that Creation the work of the Father doth as it were provide the matter the wax Redemption the work of the Son buyeth the Image of God the Seal and Sanctification the work of the Spirit stampeth it on the soul. Now Reader doth not the Sanctification of the Soul deserve to be thy main business when it is the curious work of the holy Spirit as that which the Fathers eye was chiafly on in thy Creation and the Sons in thy Redemption Is not that worthy to be made thy business which addeth a real worth to every thing and without which nothing is of worth or value Every one will grant that what is so richly excellent as to ennoble and add an intrinsick value to whatsoever it is affixed and the lack of which maketh every thing be they in other respects never so precious low and mean must needs deserve to be our business Truely Friend such is holiness it makes the word of God a precious word more to be embraced then gold yea then much fine gold The Ordinances of God precious Ordinances the people of God a precious people the excellent of the earth What is the reason that some in the account of him who is best able to judge though they be never so rich or beautiful or high and honourable in the world are called Dross Chaff Stubble Dust Filth Vessels of dishonour and counted Dogs Swine Vermine Serpents Cockatrices but want of holiness What is the reason that some though poor and despised and mean and houseless and friendless are esteemed by him who can best discern true worth The glory of the World the glory of Christ a Royal Diadem a Royal Priesthood higher then the Kings of the earth more excellent then their Neighbours Princes in all lands such of whom the world is not worthy but because they are godly persons an holy people Why are some Angels advanced to the highest Heavens waiting always in the presence of the King of Kings honoured to be his Ministers and Deputies in the Government of this lower world when other Angels are thrown down into the lowest Hell for ever banished the Celestial Court and bound in chains of darkness as prisoners to the day of execution but holiness in the former and want of it in the latter 8. Is not that worthy to be made thy business which will and can refresh and revive thee in an hour of death and enable thee to sing and triumph at the approach of the King of terrors The Master of Moral Philosophy tells us that its worth the while for a man to be all the time he lives learning how to dye well The unerring spirit of God acquaints us that it ought to be our great work to be wise for our latter end Doubtless it must be a rich costly cordial indeed and deserves not a little time and pains and charge to prepare which can keep a man from fainting in such a day of extremity wherein our honours and treasures friends wives children nay our flesh and hearts will fail and forsake us That cannot be of mean worth which can make a man encounter his last enemy with courage and conquest at the sight of which Kings and Captains and Nobles and the greatest Warriers have trembled as leaves with the wind and their hearts melted as grease before the fire Now Reader Godliness is that wine which will cause thee to sing at the approach of this Goliah and enable thee as Leviathan to laugh at the shaking of his spear when whole hosts of others without Godliness flie like Cowards before it and would give all they are worth to avoid fighting with it Heark what a challenge the godly sends to this adversary daring it to meet him in the field O death where is thy sting O grave where is thy victory the sting of death is sin and the strength of sin is the
all wicked men after death when they come into the other world will wish in earnest with all their hearts and souls that they had minded nothing but the service of God and exercising themselves unto godliness There there it is that the whole world that now lyeth in wickedness and will not believe the word and wisdom of their Maker will all set their hands and seals to the truth of that which I am now endeavouring to evince When God sends his Officer death to arrest sinners for the vaste summs which they owe to his justice for their breach of his laws and this Serjeant according to command from the King of Kings executes his writ and delivers his prisoner to the Divels Gods Iaylors and they seize as so many roaring Lions on the poor trembling prey and hale them to their own den hell that dungeon of eternal darkness where sinners see and are assured that all their meat must be flakes of fire and brimstone and all their drink a cup of pure wrath without mixture and all their Musick howling and weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth and all their rest torments day and night for ever and ever and all their Companions frightful Devils and a cursed crew of damned wretches and all this to come upon them for not making religion their business whilst they were on earth Then O then they will wish with all their souls and strengths again and again that they had minded the Christian mans calling and made religion their business whilst they were in this world though they had been slaves or beggars or vagabonds and had lived in poverty and disgrace and prisons and fetters during their whole pilgrimage Now Reader if the witness of one enemy be a double testimony what is the witness of all the enemies of God and Godliness on the behalf of the Lord and his ways against themselves Shall it not prevail with thee to set speedily and diligently about the work of Christianity Ah how dumb wilt thou be struck another day if thou wilt not believe either God or good men or thy conscience or thy companions or all the world 12. and Lastly Is not that worthy to be made thy business upon which thine eternal life or death salvation or damnation doth depend Consider it friend here is salvation and damnation before thee eternal salvation and eternal damnation and they depend upon thy making religion thy business or neglect of it O what weight is there in these few words Make religion thy business and thou art eternally blessed be formal and careless about it and thou art cursed for ever upon the one and the other turneth thine eternal estate The Almighty God hath under his own hand set down this making religion thy business to be the onely terms upon which heaven shall be had and it is impossible to alter or abate his price Ioh. 6. 27. Mat. 6. 33. Philp. 2. 12. Canst thou be so foolish as to think that Christ and happiness and eternal life can be obtained upon easier conditions whea he must make God a liar and the Gospel a lie which the Divel himself is not so wicked as to think possible who arriveth at the port of bliss without exercising himself to Godliness The promises ever since the world was had the same conditions and ever will whilst the world shall endure The Gospel is therefore called the everlasting Gospel because it will continue without the least change or alteration the same for ever Thou mayst be confident that God doth not as some indiscret Citizens ask much more for his eternal glory and life men then he intendeth to take I say again ponder it for this argument hath more in it then thine understanding can possibly conceive or imagine Is not that worthy to become thy business and main work in this world upon which thine everlasting weal or wo thine endless estate in the other world doth depend Reader if that doth not deserve all thy time and pains and soul and heart and infinitely more upon which unchangable joy or eternal torments hang then I am sure nothing doth Alas all the things of this world whether about food or raiment or houses or lands or wives or children nay and life it self are but toys and trifles and shadows and nothings to an everlasting condition in the other world O that thou wert but able to conceive what it is to be eternally in fullness of pleasure or eternally in extremity of pain to be frying in flames for ever or bathing in rivers of delight for ever To enjoy God in his ordinances though it be but imperfectly and in a low degree one hour one day how sweet is it His tabernacles are highly amiable upon that account One day in thy Courts is better then a thousand elswhere But to enjoy God fully immediately and for ever too O how superlatively how infinitely pleasant and delightful will it be To be in Gods lower house though but a little time under some pious powerful Minister how reviving and refreshing is it But to dwell in his upper house for ever O blessed are they that dwell in that house they always praise thee The eternal presence of God will cause an eternal absence of all evil and an eternal confluence of all good O Reader who will not work hard labour much exercise himself to Godliness night and day do any thing that God commandeth suffer any thing that God inflicteth forbear any thing that God forbiddeth to be saved eternally to be infinitely blessed in the fruition of God for ever Surely its worth the while to obey the counsel of God in order to eteâ—nal salvation On the other side eternal damnatian how dreadful is it if it be but the scratch of a pin for ever or a little ach of the head for ever it woâ—ld be very doleful but a violent head-ach or tooth-ach or fits of the collick or stone for ever oh how intolerable would they be But ah how terrible is the wrath of God for ever darkness of darkness for ever the fire of hell for ever to which all the wracks and torments in this life are next to nothing Ah who can dwell in everlasting burnings I suppose thou woulst avoid thy wicked companions and forbear thy sinful courses do any thing thou couldst rather then to boyl in a furnace of scalding water for a thousand years nay one year and wilt thou not make religion thy business when otherwise God himself hath told thee thou shalt boil in a furnace of scalding wrath infinitely worse then scalding lead for ever ever ever Consider what thou hast read and the Lord give thee understanding that thou mayst be wise to eternal salvation Reader these twelve Questions being proposed I desire thee to answer them to him before whom thou shalt answer ere long for all the motions of thy heart and passages of thy whole life and I shall not detain thee longer in the passage though it be much
they have set their eyes bowing down to the earth Psa. 17. 11. It s an allusion to Hunters who go poring on the ground to find the print of the Hares claws when their Dogs are at a loss in their sent So Satans agents go with their eyes bowing down marking the Saints footsteps to find out if it be possible where they have slipped or stepped awry that their blood-hounds may follow both their persons and their profession with loud cryes and fresh noise The baggage world is both desirous and industrious to scarr that face and to spie the least blemish in it that is fairer then her self If the Christian be once defiled Christianity it self will quickly be defamed Though sins in secret duties have their aggravations yet sins in our publique dealings do in a three-fold respect exceed them 1. These are scandalous to the good which those are not The children of God weep bitterly when they hear that others walk disorderly Their hearts bewail their brethrens wickedness now wouldst thou sadden the Spirit of a Saint Alas they have grief enough from their enemies and shall they be wounded in the house of their friends 2. They are infectious to the bad which secret sins are not Thy sins are like St. Pauls in London on highâ— for the gaze of the World but thy vertues as St. Faith under ground they do not note them How soon will the World plead a Christians sinful act to excuse and justifie their own sinful habits They are like ravenous birds that flie over sweet and pleasant flowers and pitch onely upon unsavoury carcasses they take little notice of thy graces but will be sure to mind thy vices The Philosopher saith that the Fleeces of such Sheep as are killed by the Wolf are most apt to breed Lice one of Christs Sheep foiled by Satan in the eyes of men doth much mischief Now will it not trouble thee that these unclean fowles should pick that from thee which will feed and nourish their filthy natures Alas they move fast enough towards Hell with the tide of their own evil hearts and shall the wind of thy example make them sayl more swiftly 3. Thy open sins occasion the wicked to speak ill of God which secret sins do not The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles through you saith the Apostle to the Romans Rom. 2. 24. Christians ought to be shields to ward off those blows of reproach which would fall on the name of God how unchristian are they then that are swords in the hands of the wicked wherewith the name of God is wounded Truly an unrighteous professour is such a one If thou studiest to do thy God disservice and to bring on his blessed name dishonour thou canst not do it sooner then by unjust actions under the livery of an high profession The Divel himself cannot dress a man in a more ridiculous habit to make both him and his Master the scorn of the Company then by putting on him a coat patcht up of divers peices and contrary colours a glorious name of a Saint and the unrighteous works of a reprobate Friend beware how thou behavest thy self in the world The Snow makes a fair shew to the eye but being melted it makes a dangerous flood They who make a fair shew in the flesh by walking offensively may cause such a deluge as may drown the souls of others and give many a dash at the name of God himself The Indians would not hear of Heaven when they were told that the Spaniards whom they had found to be barbarous and bloody went thither The Iews are hardened in their emnity against Christ by the evil lives of pretended Chistians Epiphanius saith that in his days many avoided the Christians company because of the looseness of some mens conversation When some beasts have blown on grass others will not eat of it for a good while after â—ts no wonder that Religion finds so few greedy of her service when her work is so much disparaged by those that already seem to be her servants Men will easily be discouraged from travailing in that rode which is haunted with Theeves and robbers Either walk up to thy calling or lay thy calling down why shouldst thou give conscience cause to say to thee truly what Michael did to David falsly thou hast made thy self like one of the vile and base fellows of the earth SECT II. AS to the exercising thy self to Godliness in thy dealings with all men it consisteth partly in the manner of thy dealings partly in the principle of thy dealing and partly in the end thou propoundest in thy dealings First Be careful in thy carriage towards others as to the maner of it that it be righteous meek and courteous 1. Be righteous in thy dealings with all men Righteousness strictly taken is a vertue which guideth and ordereth the whole man for the good of his neighbour as the understanding to conceive the Will to chose the affections to love and desire and the whole man to act and do what may tend to the welfare of others This righteousness is of so great concernment to godliness that it is sometimes put by a Synechdoche for the whole of Religion 1 Ioh. 3. 7. He that doth righteousness is righteous so Rom. 6. 17. And the Christian is denominated from this part of Christianity Gen. 7. 1. And the Lord said unto Noah Come thou and all thy house into the Ark for thee have I seen righteous before me so Psa. 5. ult For thou Lord wilt bless the righteous The Moral Philosophers tell us that justice is the sum and Epitome of all vertues the Divines will inform us that righteousness largely taken is the string upon which all the graces hang if that be broken or snapt asunder they all fall off and are lost I must tell thee Christian that civil righteousness is as really necessary as sacred He that seemeth righteous towards God and is unrighteous towards men is unrighteous both to God and Man I say be righteous in thy dealing with all men Viz. Let thy righteousness be real and universal Commntative Distributive Be righteous in thy actionâ— expressions and towards all persons 1. Be righteous in thy works or Actions Deal with men as one that in all hath to do with God If thou art a Christian thou art a Law to thy self thou hast not onely a Law without thee the Word of God but a Law within thee and so darest not transgress Thy double hedge may well prevent thy wandring Alas what do those unruly beasts get whom no fence can keep in but a more speedy slaughter It s said of an unrighteous man his own counsel shall cast him out Job 18. 7. Unjust men think by their craft to cast others down but their own counsel will cast themselves out Out out of what Out of their houses for such dwellings are built upon powder and a spark of wrath sooner or later will blow them up Psa.
37. 9 10 Out of their lands and possessions for some providence or other as Flaâ—ius Vespasianus served his proling Officers will press such Spunges hard and squeeze out all their impure water which they have so greedily sucked in Out of their Shops and all earthly comforts for such wealth is bâ—t like the flesh which the Eagle fetcht from the Altar with a coal in it which fires and consumes the whole nest Hab. 2. 9. And which is worst of all their counsel will at last cast them out of heaven God himself hath lockt the gate of bliss against them and with all their craft and counsel they shall not be able to pick it open 1 Cor. 6. 9 10. Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the Kingdom of God It w as a true saying of Bishop Latimer when one told him The Cutler had cozened him in making him pay as much more for his Knife as it was worth No saith he he hath not cozened me but his own conscience That Knife cut deep into the poor Cutlers soul and made wider gaps then he was aware of O how foolish is man to conceive that by fraud he shall keep himself up when God himself saith that his own counsel shall cast him down Reader If thou art one that like Balaam lovest the wages of unrighteousness bethink thy self speedily for thy wealth unjustly gotten will like Achans wedge of Gold cleave thy soul in sunder Righteousness in thy works must appear both in buying and in selling Be righteous in buying Take heed lest thou layest out thy money to purchase endless misery Some have bought places to bury their bodies in but more have bought those commodities which have swallowed up their souls Injustice in buying is a Canker which will eat up and waste the most durable wares An unjust Chapman like Phocion payeth for that poison which kills him and buyeth his own bane A true Christian will in buying as well as selling use a conscience Austin relates a story of an Histrionical Mountebank who to gain spectatours promised if they would come the next day he would tell them what every ones heart desired When they all flocked about him at the time appointed expecting the performance of his word he told them This is the desire of every of your hearts to sell dear and buy cheap but it s a sign he was an Emperick by the falseness of his bill for a good man would buy as dear as he selleth His buying and selling are like two scales that hang in an equal poize In buying do not work either upon the ignorance or the poverty of the Seller Do not take advantage by the Sellers ignorance This would be as bad as to lead the blind out of the way 1 Thes. 4. 6. Let no man go beyond or over reach another in any matter because that the Lord is the avenger of all-such Mark Reader Those that over-reach men are within the reach of a sin-revenging God Some persons will boast of their going beyond others in bargains but they have more cause to bewayl it unless they could go beyond the line of Gods power and anger It s an ordinary saying but sinful A man may buy as cheap as he can Austin tells us A certain man himself I suppose he meaneth was offered a book by an unskilful Stationer at a price not half the worth of it he took the book but gave him the just price according to its full value Sure I am those wares which are half bought through a cunning Chapmans out-witting the silly tradesman are half stolen It is naught it is naught saith the buyer but when he is gone his way then he boasteth Pro. 20. 14. but hath more reason to weep for his subtle words how cheap soever he buyeth will make it an hard pennyworth in the end He makes the best Market that like holy David payeth the full just price Nay saith he of Ornans threshing floor but I will buy it for the full price 1 Chron. 21. 22 24. Ahab never bought a dearer purchase then Naboths Vineyard for which he paid not one penny Do not work upon the Sellers poverty This is to grind the faces of the poor and great oppression It is no mean sin in many rich Citizens who take advantage on the necessity of poor tradesmen The poor man must sell or his Family starve the rich man knoweth it and will buy but at such a rate that the other with all his labour shall not earn his own bread God made the rich to releive but these I must be bold to say rob the poor It s an ill way for any to raise themselves higher in the world by trampling poor men under their feet God hath sometimes made their houses as high and as firm as they were to fall down upon their heads who have thus sucked out the blood of poor mens hearts Some will tell us They do no wrong herein for if poor men will not take their money they may let it alone they do not force them Reader if thy soul be died with this crimson sin I shall onely ask thee this question Is this to love thy Neighbour as thy self If thou hadst a Wife and several small Children and the providence of God had called thee to this poor mans condition wouldst thou be contented to work hard a whole week and when thou wast compelled to fell thy wares to buy food for thy family to receive the money for materials deducted but six pence or twelve pence for all thy pains Let thy own conscience be judge in this ease Is not this for men to live like fish the greater devouring the lesser I have heard a Country Mercer say who is now in heaven that several times when poor men have brought lace or ribands or other ware to him he hath tried how low he could beat the price and because of their necessities he hath brought them to allow their commodities for less then the very materials cost them but after he had so done he durst not but give them a just equitable price his conscience would not suffer him to make them suffer because their poverty necessitated them to sell. And truly where men act otherwise though their consciences may be quiet because asleep yet they have no true rest and the time will come that conscience will awake to their wo. When some of the Jews had bought Lands and Vineyards of their brethren at an under rate they being forced to Mortgage them to get bread Nehemiah rebukes them severely for working upon others extremity and desires God to shake every man out of his possession who did not make restitution Nehem. 5. 2 3 4 12 13. Such wealth to a man is like Ionah to the Whale though he swallow it down yet he will finde it too hard a Morsel to digest and have no ease till he hath restored and vomited it up again Be righteous in thy payments Pay what thou
in their dealings and more frequent in their thefts These Cheats that do it cunningly as Rabbits making holes under ground and so think themselves secure will at last be fereted out and slain 3. His Case and Cover of his sin I am become rich I have found me out substance in all my labour they shall find none iniquity As if his riches did prove him to be righteous and his prosperity had argued him free from all impiety Whereas God suffereth many like ravenous birds to build their Nests on high with stollen materials intending at last by some fierce blast of providence to bring them down and destroy the whole brood Thieves seldome finde joy in their new purchases but never stability Geese say some if they chance to take hold of a root with their bill they will bite and pull so long to have it that many times they break their necks before they leave their hold So unjust men by their greediness to inrich usually ruine themselves such goods are like the Fox which Plutarch mentions the Lacedemonian boy to have stollen and rather then he would be discovered put it into his breeches but it quickly did tear out his bowels Be righteous in the manner of thy selling The Seller may not exact upon the Buyers necessity but sell by the rule of equity I am not bound to sell cheap because I buy cheap neither may I sell dear because I buy dear Not my buying or selling so much as the price of the Market should be my standard Though I conceive a Market rate to be most righteous yet its wicked by keeping in commodities to raise the Market He that with-holdeth Corn the people shall curse him Prov. 11. 26. Such a man like a corrupt imposthumated member would draw all the nourishment to himself and cares not though the other parts of the body perish but the people shall curse him This Oak which will suffer no small trees to thrive neer it will in time fall with the breath of so many curses Probably you would know whether a Tradesman that knoweth such and such commodities will fall very much by Letters which mention several Ships comming home laden with them or some other way may not sell off his own wares at the present price and hide his news from his Country Customers Reader I shall answer it with a question not much unlike it in an Heathen Author expecting that Christians should not be excelled by Heathen A man brings a Ship of Corn from Alexandria to Rhodes saith Cicero in a time of great Famine he may have for it what priâ—e he pleaseth he knoweth of many more Ships which will be there the next day may he conceal this from the Rhodians No saith the Orator And what sayest thou Reader In all thy Contracts Purchases and Sales cast an eye upon that golden rule mentioned by our Saviour Mat. 7. 12. Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you do ye even so to them for this is the Law and the Prophets This is the Royal Law the golden Rule the Kings High-way and the standard of all righteousness Whatsoever in a well ordered judgement thou wouldst have others do to thee and thine do the samâ— to them and theirs supposing conditions alike for this is the sum and epitome of all that is delivered in the Law and the Prophets concerning thy carriage towards others Hierom commended this saying to a holy woman to be written on her heart as an abridgement of all righteousness Lactantius saith It s the root and foundation of all equity Severus the Emperor had often this saying in his mouth and caused it to be proclaimed by the Cryer as often as he punished a Souldier for injuring any other It s very profitable for a Christian in his dealings with others to make frequent appeals to his own Conscience Would I be dealt thus with were I as this man is or as this woman Would I be willing to have this measure measured to me or mine Would I be glad to be served so as I serve others Is this to love my Neighbour as my self Reader such serious Soliloquies may prevent much unrighteousness Though Charity begins at home in regard of order yet not in regard of time for a man no sooner loves himself aright but he loves his Neighbour as himself That Proverb came from the Devil Every man for himself and God for us all For God saith Let no man seek his own but every man anothers wealth And again Thou shalt love thy Neighbour as thy self 1 Cor. 10. 24. Gal. 5. 24. He is but a beast that preyeth for himself alone Inanimate creatures are beneficial to others Fire Ayr Earth Water are all serviceable to others beside and more then to themselves How soon would the frame of nature be dissolved if every thing should be confined within the narrow compass of self Water moveth downward Fire upward naturally yet both will cross their own nature to prevent a Vacuum and preserve the Vniverse Besides I must tell thee that the Subjects house as well as the Kings Throne is preserved by righteousness That speech of Nevessan the Lawyer is contrary to Scripture He that will not venture his body shall never be valiant and he that will not venture his soul shall never be rich Righteousness not Robbery is the way to Riches He goeth the farthest way about that endeavours to increase his strength by sucking others blood or to get an estate by injustice Nay he takes a contrary course for he pulls down on his head the Divine curse which like an Hectick Feaver will cause an irrecoverable Consumption of all his comforts both temporal and spiritual Such treasures and owners are like the Canaanites to the Land the Land will groan till it spue them out Treasures of wickedness profit nothing Prov. 10. 2. Observe Reader 1. The Excellency of these Comforts in themselves they are Treasures that is heaps of outward good thing the word includeth a multitude for one or two will not make a treasure and a multitude of precious things for an heap of sand or coales or dust is not a treasure but of silver or gold or some excellent earthly things It is here in the plural Treasures Noting the greatest confluence of worldly comforts Note 2. The impiety of the owners they are treasures of wickedness The Purchaser got them by sinful practices They were brought into his house slily at some back door He was both the receiver and the theif Treasures of wickedness because gotten by wicked ways and imployed to wicked ends There is an English Proverb which too many English men have made good That which is got over the Devils back is usually spent under the Devils belly When sin is the Parent that begets riches it many times hath this recompence that they are wholly at its service and command 3. The vanity of those treasures they profit nothing Treasures of wickedness profit
nothing They are unable to chear the mind to cure the diseases of the body muchless to heal the wounds of the soul or to bribe the flames of Hell Alas they are so far from profiting that they are infinitely prejudicial Such Powder-Masters are blown up wiâ—h their own ware These loads sink the bearers into the unquenchable lake The Philosopher tells us of the Sea-mew or Sea-Eagle called in Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because she seeketh for her prey in the waters that she will often seize on her prey though it be more then she can bear and falleth down headlong with it into the deep and so perisheth This Fowl is a fit embleme of the unrighteous person for he graspeth those heavy possessions which press him down into the pit of perdition They that will be rich that resolve on it whether God will or no and by any means whether right or wrong fall into temptations and a snare and into many foolish and hurtful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition 1 Tim. 6. 9. They that will be rich Men that scrape an estate together unjustly are frequently said in the Word of God to get it in haste to make haste to be rich because such will not stay Gods time nor wait in his way till he send them in wealth but must have it presently and care not though it be unrighteously But as we say Matches made in haste are repented at leasure So truly riches got in haste are often lamented for ever It s most true here The more haste the less speed Food hastily eaten is seldom so well digested as what is eaten leasurably He that maketh haste to be rich shall not be innocent He that maketh haste to be rich hath an evil eye and considereth not that poverty shall come upon him Prov. 28. 20 22. Sometimes God suffereth a cruel hand to pluck the stolen feathers of this unclean Bird and then he is left bare whilst he liveth sometimes he is hurried away in the prime and pride of his age to Hell from his goods which he got in haste As the Lizards eggs are hatcht in six moneths and yet the old one never liveth to see them saith the Naturalist Fair and softly goes far None thrive so well as those that stay Gods leasure and expect wealth in his way Titus Vespasian stamped in his Coin a Dolphin and an Anchor with this Impress Sat cito si sat bene Soon enough if well enough A Dolphin outstrips the Ship that 's soon enough And an Anchor stayeth the Ship that 's well enough So both together make soon enough if well enough And of this Prince it is reported Abstinuit alieno si quis unquam If ever any was free from injuring others he was the man None are more guilty of unrighteousness then those that huddle up riches in haste They are most harmless who are contented to live in hope and to wait patiently on God That wealth which is gotten well enough is gotten soon enough All other is worse then an abortive birth that comes before the time That fruit which is soon ripe will be soon rotten An inheritance may be gotten hastily at the beginning but the end thereof shall not be blessed Prov. 20. 21. As Hony over liberally eaten though it be sweet and pleasant at first yet afterwards causeth strange vomitings and sad gâ—ipings in the stomach and belly so an estate overhastily gotten though it may cause a smile in thy countenance and rejoyce thy carnal part at the beginning yet will afterwards cause dreadful gripings in thy conscience be a Vulture gnawing at thy heart and its latter end be cursed to thee and thine I have read of a Philosopher who bought a pair of shoes upon trust the Shoe-maker dieth the Pythagorean rejoyceth and thinks his shoes clear gaines but a while after his conscience twitches him and will allow him no rest because of his robbery he repaires to the house of the dead and casts in his money saying There take thy due Thou livest to me though dead to all besides He that carrieth such luggage on his back all day must expect to find his conscience galled to purpose at night O Friend take heed of setting thine inestimâ—ble soul to sale for a little corruptible silver If it will not profit thee to gain the whole world and lose thy own soul surely t will not advantage thee to gain a small pittance of it and lose thy soul. Thou rakest and runnest and it may be cozenest and cheatest to leave thy child a considerable estate I must tell thee thy Son is little beholden to thee for leaving him a gay knife to cut his Throat with a gaudy suit with the Plague in it a great stately dwelling haunted with Divels a large portion with the curse of God No man in his wits would give one hair of his head to be made thine heir wert thou worth thousands The Devil himself though he will thank thee for getting it so unjustly yet he would not thank thee if thou shouldst bequeath him all thy ill gotten goods No he doth not love the curse of God so well Thou wouldst shew thy self a more loving Father in leaving thy Son a Bottle and a Basket to beg with from door to door then the greatest heap of such riches Besides What comfort will it be to thee for thy Son to live in honour and bath himself in carnal pleasure with that wealth which thou hast unjustly scraped together when thou art frying in unquenchable flames for thy injustice Thy Children are rejoycing with thy silver and the Devils are revelling with thy soul at the same season Canst thou think that the contentment of thy posterity will in the least abate thy torments It may be thou pleasest thy self with an intention of giving somewhat in thy Will to the poor and so to pay thy debts to God with the Devils goods with that coyn which hath the Image and Superscription of the Prince of darkness on it and art thou so mad as to think that it will be acceptable I tell thee God hates robbery for a sacrifice and thy stollen goods for a burnt Offering The Great Sultan as giddy as he was with the noysome fumes of Mahomets Alchoran was yet so well in his wits as to tell his Bashaw who perswaded him to build an Hospital with the wealth he had unjustly taken from the Persian Merchants That to despose his money to releive the poor would not please God but to restore it to the right owners would be acceptable Will a King thank that man who robs his honest Subjects of an hundred pound upon the road and then thinks to make amends by paying half a Crown out of it towards his service Thou canst not groundedly hope that thy unrighteousness should be remitted until thy Mammon of unrighteousness be restored by the Law of God as well as of men Debts must be paid first and then Legacies Iustice
wickedness How few live in Venice but grow lecherous or in Spain but become proud or in France and are not fantastick or among the Dutch and do not drink in both their deceitfulness and their drunkenness It s natural for men to put on the fashions be they never so wicked of the Country or Company wherein they abide It s said of Rome He that goeth thither once shall see an evil man if he like so well as to go a second time he shall gain his acquaintance but if he go a third time he shall bring him home with him The mind like Iacobs Sheep receiveth the tincture and colour of those objects that are presented to it Sin is a Gangreen which if it seiseth one part quickly spreadeth and infecteth the other parts which are near it 2 Tim. 2. 17. A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump whether it be the leaven of error or of scandal 1 Cor. 5. 7. Gal. 5. 9. Sinners are plague-Sores as the 70. read 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pests Psa. 1. 1. which we translate scorners that convey the Contagion to all their Companions A little wormwood will imbitter much hony and one sinner destroyeth much good Eccles 9. 18. Of a certain Prince of Germany t is said Esset alius si esset apud alios He would have been a better person if he had but been with better Companions An unclean Leprous person under the Law tainted whatever he touched therefore God would have him distinguished by his bald head his torn habit and his habitation apart that all might avoid him And what is the Gospel of it but that men should avoid the scandalous infectious sinner lest they be defiled with his sin The Nicopolites so hated the braying of an Ass that for that cause they would not endure the noise of a Trumpet Reader if thou hatest every false way according to thy duty if ever sin be loathsom to thee I doubt not but thou wilt be far from loving the cup in which this cursed potion is I mean the sinners company Those that company much with Dogs may well swarm with fleas God tels Israel Thou shalt not make a Covenant with them meaning the Canaanites they shall not dwell in thy land lest they make thee sin against me Exod. 23. 32 33. There is great prevalency in evil patterns Evil precepts perswade but evil patterns compel men to sin lest they make thee sin against me The Pelagian error is that no sin came in by propagation but all by imitation but it is an experienced truth that sin is much spread and increased by example It s common to sin for company and that Cup usually goeth round and is handed from one to another At least evil Company will abate the good in thee The Herb of grace will never thrive in such a cold soyl How poorly doth the good Corn grow which is compassed about with Weeds Cordials and Restoratives will do little good to the natural body whilst it aboundeth with ill humours Ordinances and duties are little effectual to our souls whilst Christians are distempered with such noxious inmates It s said of the Mountain Kadish that whatsoever Vine be planted near it it causeth it to wither and dye It s exceeding rare for Saints to thrive near such pull-backs It s difficult even to a miracle to keep Gods Commandments and evil Company too therefore when David would marry himself to Gods Commands to love them and live with them for better for worse all his days he is forced to give a Bill of Divorce to wicked Companions knowing that otherwise the match could never be made Depart from me ye workers of iniquity for I will keep the Commandments of my God Psa. 119. 115. As if he had said Be it known unto you O sinners that I am striking an hearty Covenant with Gods Commands I like them so well that I am resolved to give my self up to them and to please them well in all things which I can never do unless ye depart ye are like a strumpet which will steal away the love from the true Wife I cannot as I ought obey my Gods precepts whilst ye abide in my presence therefore depart from me ye workers of iniquity for I will keep the Commandments of my God Sometimes Saints are ashamed to shew themselves whose Servants they are sometimes they are afraid of giving offence to their Friends or Neighbours of the Synagogue of Satan some snare or other the great Soul-hunter catcheth them in when he finds them amongst his own that they shall refrain their mouths from all 〈◊〉 while the wicked is before them Psa. 39. 3. They who touch the fish called Torpedo lose their senses and finde their Members so benummd for a time that they cannot stir them How often hath spiritual sense been taken away and grace been as it were in a swoon by the noisom vapors and filthy exhalations that have arisen from ungodly companions How many of them like the Pine-tree with their shadow hinder all other from growing near them A Conjurer in Tindals presence could not shew his Cheats but confest there was some godly man in the room that hindered him A Christian who thrusteth himself into vain fellows Company cannot do the good shew the grace he should and may acknowledge ungodly persons to be the cause A tender person used to warm chambers coming into the open air finds his members chilled and unfit for action O what a damp hath many a Christian found to come upon his spirit by his conversing with those that are wholly carnal Antisthenes would frequently say Iâ— was a great oversight in men that would purge their Wheat from Darnel not to purge their Common-wealth from lewd persons 2. Further thou art in danger of suffering as well as of sinning with them The Wheat hath many a blow for being amongst the Chaff The Gold would not be put into the fire if it were not for the dross with which it is mingled God loves his Saints so well that he sometimes saveth sinnâ—rs temporally for their sakes Holy Paul was the plank upon which all that sailed with him got safe â—o shore the grass in the Allies fares the better for the watering which the Gardiner bestoweth on his flowers in the banks Israel is a blessing in the Land of Assyria Isa. 19. 24. The whole world will stand the longer because Christians bear up the Pillars thereof but God hates sinners so much that even his own people being amongst them have suffered temporally with them Lot chose wicked Sodom for a pleasant habitation but what did he get by it when he was captivated with its inhabitants and afterwards forced to leave that wealth which drew him to love it to the destroying flames Iosiah though peerless for his piety was not spared when he joyned with the Assyrian but his League with them cost him his life When two are parties in a Bond though one be the
principal both may justly be cast into Prison It s ill being in a Feloâ—s company when the Officer of justice overtakes him he may come to suffer for the Treason who haâ—bours and abetteth the Traytor A Companion of fools shall be destroyed Prov. 13 20. The Apostle St. Iohn saith the Ecclesiastical Historian finding Cerinthus a blasphemous Heretick in the Bath and some others as bad as he departed away presently lest divine vengeance should finde them together Nay the very Heathen had some sense how unsafe it was to associate with vicious men When Bias was in a ship amongst a wicked crew and a storm arising they cried aloud for mercy he had them hold their peace and not let the Gods know they were there lest the Ship should be sunk and all perish for their sakes When the great Ordnance of wrath shattereth a wicked man in peices the force of it may strike down those that are next him We command you brethren saith the Apostle in the name of our Lord Iesus Christ that ye withdraw your selves from every brother who walketh disorderly 2 Thes. 3. 6. The word withdraw is an allusion to Mariners heedfulness to avoid Rocks and Sands lest they should be ruined by them They who would not shipwrack themselves must decline both sinners courses and company The Psalmist would not eat of their dish lest he should pay their reckoning Let me not eat of their dainties nor drink of their cup. He durst not be so familiar as to feed with them lest he should afterwards fare as they Friend as thou wouldst not suffer with sinners take heed of sitting with them It s enough to bring a man into suspicion at Court to be intimate with one whom the King hates Intireness with wicked persons saith one is one of the strongest chains of Hell and binds us to a participation both of sin and punishment When the Deer pierced with the Arrow and pursued by the hounds runneth to the Herd for shelter they will not admit her amongst them out of a principle of self-preservation lest the Dogs in fetching her out should fall on them If thou wouldst not have divine judgements to attach thee beware of being found amongst them who are markt out for vengeance Come out from her my people that ye be not partakers of her sins and that ye receive not of her plagues Rev. 18. 4. T was dangerous being near those who were to be cast into the fiery furnace which Nebuchadâ—ezzer had made the men that took them up were scorched to death Clemens Alexandrinus tells it as the Worlds saying If a Fish that is taken break the snare and get away no other of that kind is taken that day How many that through mercy have been given to ill company and broke the snares have told us the mischeif thereof afterward Let their example make thee fearful of such â—nares Some tell us that Swallows would not flie into Thebes because their walls were so often beleagured and wilt thou run into that company which is always besieged with Gods thundering curse O take heed with whom thou strikest friendship for when the breath of Gods anger overturneth the house of the Drunkard or Swearer the houses of their next though best Neighbours may fare the worse for its fall Let me give thee the same advice which Physitians do their friends touching persons infected with the plague Cito Longe Tarde speedily shun their company Flie far away from them let it be long even till their sores be healed before thou returnest to them again for it may be truly said of evil companions what one saith of Rumny Marsh It s bad in Winter hurtful in Summer good never If thy Choice be good it will redound very much to thine advantage It s no small happiness to have him for thy friend who is a favouâ—ite in Heavens Court Elisha offered it as a great kindness to his courteous Host Shall I speak for thee to the King This favour thou mayst expect in a greater measure from thy Christian friend He will speak for thee to the King of Kings and send many a rich venture for thee into the other World whence the return will be certain and the gain superabundant O t is good to have an interest in that heart which hath an interest in Heaven The great Apostle begs hard as upon his knees for a share in the Saints prayers Seldom haste thou heard a starving beggar so importunate for a piece of bread as he is to be a partner in their joynt stock Rom. 15. 30. I beseech you brethren for the Lord Iesus Christs sake and for the love of the Spirit that ye strive together in your prayers to God for me And whaâ—s the reason Truly Paul knew that united force was stronger that such persons prayers would be prevalent Ambassadours to obtain the errand they were sent about The Father who denyeth or delayeth a single child when several of them together desire favour granteth it speedily It s hard to turn stones into bread to fetch meat out of the eater affliction yet the Saints prayers have been helpful to do it I know that this i. e. great tribulation shall turn to my salvation through your prayers Phil. 1. 19. A good Companion is a rare jewel and of great value It s observable that Moses proceeding by degrees ascendeth at last to the highest step of persons that may win upon us and nameth friends as the top of all and dearer then all Relations If thy Brother or Son or Daughter or Wife or Friend which lyeth in thy bosome which is as thine own soul Deut. 13. 6. A godly friend is a choice book out of which we may learn many excellent things and a precious treasure whereby our souls may be inriched with vertue He that walketh with the wise shall be wise Prov. 13. 20. They who walk with them that are strong-sented with grace must needs receive somewhat of its savour The very sight of that holiness which shineth brightly in their works will kindle thy spirit and enlarge thy mind with an honest emulation of their worth If as some credibly relate of Persina the Ethiopian Queen by seeing the fair Picture of Perseus and Andromeda she was delivered of a fair Child the frequent view of a fair Picture hath such an operation upon the body as to cause an AEgyptian Woman to bring forth a beautiful Child Surely thy constant beholding the amiable Image of the blessed God in thy pious companion may have such an energy on thy soul as to assimulate thee to its own nature and help thee to bring forth a lovely issue a Iedediah whom the Lord loveth The ground is the more fruitful which is near such Trees of righteousness for the dunging and dressing which the good Husbandman bestoweth on them When a friend of Phocions would have cast himself away Phocion suffered him not saying I was made thy friend for this purpose
of his sincerity I have not sat with vain persons neither will I go in with dissemblers I have hated the Congregation of evil doers and will not sit with 〈◊〉 wicked O gather not my soul with sinners Psa. 26. 4 5 9. i. e. Lord I have not loved the wicked so well as to sit with them for a little time and shall I live with them for ever I have not layn amongst them rotting on the earth and wilt thou gather my soul with those sticks for the unquenchable fire of Hell Lord I have been so far from liking that thou knowest I have loathed the Congregation of evil doers Do not I hate them that hate thee Yea I hate them with perfect hatred and shall thy friend fare as thy foes I appeal to thy Majesty that my great comfort is in thy chosen I rejoyce onely to be amongst thy Children here and shall I be excluded their company hereafter O do not gather my soul with sinners for the Wine-press of thine eternal anger Marcion the Heretick seeing Polycarp wondred that he would not own him Do you not know me Polycarp yea saith Polycarp Scio te esse primogenitum Diaboli I know thee to be the first-born of the Devil and so despised him SECT II. THirdly Consider that there can be no true friendship betwixt a Godly and a Wicked person therefore it concerneth thee to be the more wary in thy choice He that in factions hath an eye to power in friendship will have an eye to vertue Friendship according to the Philosopher is own soul in two bodies but how can they ever be of one soul that are as different as Air and Earth and as contrary as Fire and Water All true love is motus animi ad fruendum Deo propter ipsum se proximo propter Deum A motion of the saâ—â—â— towards the enjoyment of God for himself himself and his neighbours for Gods sake so that he can never truly love man who doth not love his Maker God is the onely foundation upon which we can build friendship therefore such as live without him cannot love us in him That building which is loose without this foundation can never stand long A wicked man may call that profession he maketh to to his Brother by the name of love but Heathens can tell us that vertue alone is the hand which can twist the cords of love that other combinations are but a confederacy and all other conjunctions in Hypocrisie T is impossible that vitiated nature should move any other way then the principle of self carrieth it which is directly opposite to true friendship Unfaigned love saith Aristotle is a benevolent affection willing good to another for his own sake How then canst thou expect the comfort of a friend from him who steereth wholly by the compass of self He saith he loves thee I am sure his lust hath more of his heart then thou hast either then thou must love the Dog his brutish lust or he will tell thee shortly thou dost not love the Master If ever thou happenest to touch on his sore place to tell him of his fault which thou art bound to do if thou wilt be faithful to God to him and to thy own soul he will soon kick up thy friendship and publish to the World that thou art an uncivil sawcy and unintolerable person Such are like unwholsom meat which can neither be detained in the stomach without danger of diseases nor cast up without pain By patching up a friendship with a carnal man thou bringest thy self to this miserable plunge either thou must turn Caterer for his flesh purvey for his sensual appetite and provide the air of flattery a more hellish wind then any the Laplanders sell to feed the Camelion of his pride or else snap the bones and ligaments of friendship in sunder which will not be done without some pain and regret on each part Cardan tells us that he would never rend a false friendship in peices but fairly pick the threads by which it was sown together but this is hard to do O what folly is it to make choice of him whom thou canst not keep for thy friend without Gods disfavoru Reader If thine end be good in desiring Companions thou wilt be wholly frustrated in it unless thou art wise in thy choice Canst thou think that he can love thee sincerely who is Hypocritical in his love to his own soul Ionathan was a true friend and loved David as his own soul. So t is said of Basil and Nazianzen Anima una inclusa in duobus corporibus A wicked man quickly love thee as his own soul but not in Ionathans sense He loved David as his own soul according to a renewed and spiritual light as one that saw the worth of his soul and his eye affected his heart but a wicked man hath no love to his own soul in this sense he loveth or rather seemeth to love it by carking and caring to please and pamper it for indeed he hateth his dying flesh but he careth not at all for his everliving spirit mindeth not whether it sink or swim for ever Now is it likely that he should be a faithfull friend to thee to direct thee in thy doubts reprove thee for thy faults who is such a cruel enemy to himself Such a one may scare Birds but he will never secure a Christian As the Dolphin in a calm Sea he is never from the sides of the Ship but if a tempest arise he is gone He may indeed shroud his private aims under the cloak of friendship but this the very Moralist will tell thee non est amicitia sed mercatura is onely to make a trade and merchandise of one another There may be fire in the Pan when there is none in the Barrel of the piece there may be a profession of love in his words but there is no love in his heart I cannot more fitly compare such a mans friendship then to some plants in Rivers which have broad leaves at the top of the water but scarce any root at all He may make a great shew of love and tell thee you shall never know what I will do for you and then he speaks true but his high building hath no bases his great profession hath no root and therefore is rotten To be brief Reader thou wilt easily grant that there can be no true friendship betwixt a man and a beast their natures being so differing I must tell thee t is more impossible for true friendship to be betwixt a true Christian and a carnal person for their natures are more differing The beast and a prophane man differ indeed yet are not contrary nay they are so much alike that the sensual appetite is the predominant quality and commander in cheif in both onely beasts are innocent Subjects to it as breaking no Law thereby but man by being a Slave to that Usurper
is before the thing exemplified If a man is bound to love another as himself he must needs love himself first and more then another Thy love to them may cause thee to hope that thou mayst convert them but thy love to thy self should make thee fear lest they should pervert thee 2. Position A Christian is bound to avoid all needless society with wicked men Mark I say needless When our Relations command it as amongst Husbands and Wives and Parents and Children or our Vocations call for it then it is necessary Those precepts that enjoyn us to forbear their company are to be understood when we have no call to it We may Trade with wicked men we must perform all moral duties to our Kindred and acts of courtesie and charity to the worst of our enemies so we be careful to keep our selves from their corruptions and use their company no longer then the discharge of those duties doth require When by admitting their persons we cannot avoid their vices we must deny both 3. Position Christians should as God gives them opportunity if there be any hope of doing good endeavour to reform men before they wholly reject their company Nay and pray for their welfare after they have refused them for Companions It s small kindness to shut up a man that hath the plague lest he should infect others and to use no means for his own cure If I finde that a man is desperately bent in wickedness that Religion is the object of his laughter and to give him any serious counsel is to cast Pearl before Swine I must judge such Ishmaels and Esaus unworthy of humane society but it s a very hard case to shut a man up in a Coffin and bury him before he be quite deadâ— Sometimes vicious men are in distress and a godly man hath a call from God to do him some charitable office here the Christian may have less fear of receiving hurt from them Afflictions are bonds and these beasts in Chains are not so unruly Pauls Viper benummed with cold did not sting him Here a Christian hath also more hope of doing good to them The hard mettal when in the fire may receive impressions Men will take that Physick willingly in their sickness which they refused in health 4. Position A Christian may love a wicked man sincerely though he wholly shun his society He may affect him with a love of pity though not of complacency He may shew his love by powring out his heart in petitions to God for him Though a Saint deny a scandalous sinner his presence yet he doth not deny him his pity nor his prayers Nay our Non-Communion may be a means of their conversion If any obey not the word have no company with him that he may be ashamed 2 Thes. 3. 14. Shame and Confusion is a good step towards Conversion A wicked mans presence burdens a Saint and a godly mans presence hardens a sinner Surely thinks he I am if not praise worthy yet tolerable and not very bad since such a good man is so much with me They who did eat and drink in Christs presence on Earth wondered much to be excluded from his Heavenly Banquet Math. 7. 23. Hymeneus and Alexander were excluded Christian society that they might learn not to blaspheme 1 Tim. 1. 20. This wounding is the way to healing â—t makes prophane men bethink themselves when sober persons avoid their presence Object 2. Did not Iesus Christ accompany with wicked men Can I follow a better pattern or can any pretend to more purity Is not Christ upon this account called a friend of Publicans and Sinners Answ. 1. I Answer More generally All our Saviours actions are for our instruction but all are not for our imitation Christ indeed hath left us an example that we should follow his steps but not in all the prints of his feet Christ did nothing amiss but he that shall undertake to do in all things as he did will follow him too close and do many things amiss It may be commendable to imitate my Soveraign but it is possible enough to do it so far as to be guilty of treason by it Some of Christs actions were done by him as man others were done by him as Mediatour or God-man In many of these latter we cannot imitate him in others we may not Who can work Miracles forgive Sins c. as Christ did Who may appoint Apostles constitute Laws for the Church c. as Christ did Answ. 2. More particularly Christ had a Call which all others have not to go amongst wicked men Where should a Physitian be but amongst his Patients to deal with such is his calling Christ came to call sinners to repentance to heal their vitiated natures and therefore it was necessary he should associate with them He went amongst them not as a friend to their sins but as a Physitian to their souls How should he otherwise have cast out Devils cured their sicknesses and proved his Deity to their faces An Ambassadour being commissionated by his Prince may do that which if an ordinary Subject should do may cost him his life Abraham might having liberty from God stand still and behold Sodom flaming when Lot might not so much as cast an eye or have a glance towards it Christ was sent to the lost sheep of the house of Israel and so he went to them in discharge of his Errand and Mission He had also a Commission under his Fathers Hand and Seal Luk. 4. 18. Iob. 6. 27. Answ. 3. Christ had no tinder about him to take fire being conceived without sin but we are little else then dry tinder and therefore have cause to avoid the least spark The Prince of this world cometh saith Christ and findeth nothing in me He cometh with his baits but there is nothing in me that will be nibling at them Besides his Deity was a perfect Antidote against all infection As the beams of the Sun he could be in filthy places and amongst defiling persons and not receive the least pollution when we have such unhealthful souls that we are ready to receive the contagion from the least infectious breath Our corrupt nature is like fire which if there be any infection in the room draweth it straight to it self Answ. 4. Christ did not choose the Company of Publicans and Sinners though he was often amongst them A Physitian is not in a Pest-house wiâ—h delight though his own pity and their misery may call him thither Sinners were the guest Saints onely the delight of Christ wicked men had his company but the Disciples onely were his Companions He was intimate with none but beleivers others were his care they his comfort It was to them he said I have not called you servants but friends for the servant knoweth not what his Lord doth but I have called you friends for all things that I have heard of the Father I have made known unto you Joh. 15. 15 16.
toucht it desileth but Fullers-Earth doth not so soon cleanse If Israel once joyn themselves to Baal-Peor they quickly eat the offerings of the dead and bow down to their Idols It s as ordinary to put on other mens faults as their outward fashions One Corah did but kindle the fire of rebellion and presently two hundred and fifty Captains brought wood to increase its flame to their own destruction If I know of any that have infectious diseases love to my body will not suffer me to drink of their Cup or to sit at their Table and when I know of them that have such contagious spiritual sicknesses shall not love to my soul move me to forbear their society Lord my prayer hath often been Lead me not into temptation shall I run into temptation thou knowest how prone I am should I walk with wicked persons to walk in their wicked paths and hast therefore laid thy strict command upon me Enter not into the path of the wicked and go not in the way of evil men Avoid it pass not by it turn from it and pass away Prov. 4. 14 15. keep me from hazarding this frail Potsherd my flesh upon the Rock of evil company from venturing amongst those vipeâ—s lest I be stung Enable me to avoid the Congregation of evil doers and keep me from going with the wicked lest I learn their ways and get a snare to my soul. I Wish that I may be the more fearful of joyning with sinners lest my God joyn me with them in their sufferings It is evil and woful to be found in that house which is all over in a flame The anger of my God is worse then a consuming fire and shall I associate with them that are always under his fury When a City is taken by storm in the night the sword makes no difference amongst the Inhabitants betwixt friends and foes What safety can I expect in being near them that are far from Gods Law and Love Wicked men are dross they have no good mettal in them they are neither fit vessels to serve nor currant mony to inrich me but though I be Gold if mingled with such Dross I must look to be melted If the Stork accompany the Cranes it s no wonder if she be taken in the fame Net Jehosaphat was a good man yet for joyning with the wicked wrath came upon him from the Lord 2 Chron. 19. 2. If I follow him in his sin shall I be free All that sailed in the Ship fared the worse for one disobedient Jonah his company cost them the loss of their lading and was like to have cost them their lives The whole body of Israel fell before their enemies because wicked Achan stood amongst them O my soulâ— dost thou think then to afford such thy presence and not to share in their punishment Consider with seriousness what thy God saith Depart from the Tabernacle of these wicked men and touch nothing of theirs lest ye be consumed in their sins Wouldst thou for any carnal profit be found amongst those persons who are every moment in danger of the bottomless pit The Earth clave asunder that was under them and swallowed them up their houses goods and all that appertained to them O what man unless bereft of his wits would be one hour contentedly in the company of these Corahs that are always liable to Gods curse Let the great use thou makest of such dreadful Doctrines be not to partake of their sins so much as by thy presence that thou mayst not partake of their plagues And they that were round about them fled at the cry of them for they said Let us be gone quickly lest the earth swallow up us also Numb 16. 26. and 31. 34. Lord Thine Enemies enjoy many mercies through their Neighbourhood to thy Friends thou art so loving a Father that the servants of sin whom thou countest no better then Dogs do fare much the better for that bountiful Table which thou keepest for thine own Children the Dogs have eaten the crums which fall from the Childrens Table The Tares continue the longer in the field and the sickle of thy justice doth not yet cut them down for the unquenchable fire because the Wheat is amongst them but thy Saints have suffered much outward misery for their nearness to sinners thou art such an holy jealous God thine hatred of sin is so infinite that when the fire of thv wrath hath consumed unbeleivers some sparks of it have lighted on their best Neighbours when the hand of thy fury hath fallen heavy on the workers of iniquity thy Chosen sitting by them have been sensible of the blow My prayer hath often been Remove thy stroke away from me and my Complaint for I am consumed by the blow of thine hand I tremble to think of the frownes of thy face but surely the weight of thy hand would sink me indeed O guard thy servant so powerfully by thy grace that I may avoid all appearance of evil As I would avoid thy batteries let me avoid the Camp of thine enemies and keep me from giving them the least countenance that I may not be wrapt up in their vengeance I Wish that the great gain which I may get by good Companions may make me the more diligent to find them out Though it s no small unhappiness to be joyned to them that are ever standing under the spout of the Lords fury yet it s blessed to be near them that are always under the dropings of divine favour Christ is always present with his people and therefore I may say with Peter It is good to be there When a King comes to visit one of his Peers all the family oftentimes tasteth of his bounty but the Noblemans Relations of his grace and love he converseth with them and they with him If Sinners are the better for the Neighbourhood of the Saints and for their sakes God lets his Enemies experience his goodness surely Beleivers shall be the better for the Neighbour hood of their Brethren and shall have experience of special good-will I cannot conceive the kindnesses which may be done for me by these Friends at Court Their interest is great in the blessed and glorious Potentate The King is not he as was once said in another sense that can deny them any thing Whatsoever they ask the Father in Christs name he will do it for them When guilt flieth in my face and I dare not appear or when through the prevalency of temptation I cannot pour out a prayer they will appear for me put up my suits and that with success If I be dull they may quicken me If I am in doubts they may resolve me If I wander they will be faithful in acquainting me with my faults to reduce me If I walk uprightly they will be helpful by administring Heavenly Cordials to encourage me A faithful friend will be my second self and love me as his own soul. When I faint he will
spoke The Drunkards mind and stomach are alike neither can retain what they receive Solomon likewise sets a brand at this mans door to discourage every sober man from coming there Be not amongst Winebibbers amongst riotous eaters of flesh Always he hath some lust or other lording it over him and according as their interests lead him so he acteth that his friend must expect no more of him then they can spare and is such a person like to prove a Cordial friend He may abound in frothy words but I must expect no faithful deeds from him if ever I come to sufferings like a Drum in a Battel he may make a great sound but will act nothing for my succour like a Cipher though now in my prosperity he stands for thousands in my adversity he will stand for nothing Such a friend will be like a familiar Devil which forsakes the Witch when she is in Fetters How much shall I miss of my expected help from him when I am brought into hardships As a Lemon he may be hot without but is altogether cold and cooling within O that I might never manifest so much folly as to choose him for my friend whose principles will teach him to be false He so often changeth his dwelling for his own end and interest that I shall not know where to find him when I stand in most need As a Flie he will tarry no longer in the Kitchen then there is grease to feed him I am but his Pond which he will use whilst there is any water but when dry I shall hear no more of him Lord how far would thine end of society be frustrated and my hopes of comfort in companions be disappointed should I choose him who is ruled neither by Religion nor Reason I beseech thee let my lot fall amongst those persons that are filled with the fruits of thy Spirit for they onely will be faithful to the true and holy ends for which thou hast ordained friendship Preserve me from walking in the counsel of the ungodly and standing in the way of sinners lest being found in their Company I come to inherit their curses I Wish that I may like Paul joyn my self to the Disciples and be in League onely with them who are joyned to the Lord in an everlasting Covenant never to be forgotten I profess my self to be a follower of God My God hath set apart him that is godly for himself Psa. 4. 3. If the godly man be the object of my Gods choice he may well be of mine If he be separated for his service he is without question worthy of my society Surely there is some value in those vessels which are meet for the Masters use Common and ordinary things are not fit for a Princes Table Neither is every person meet for a Kings presence They are specially qualified with parts and abilities that stand before Great men Pharoah would have none but men of activity to serve him in tending his Cattel Nebuchadnezzar would have Children in whom was no blemish but well-favoured and skilful in all wisdom and cunning in knowledge and understanding sciences and such as had ability in them Dan. 1.4 to stand in the Kings Palace What manner of men are those then whom the glorious God hath chosen to wait upon him There cannot but be rare perfections in them that are set a part to shew forth all his praise He is infinitely wise and would not honour them so much that are not of eminent worth O my soul what a Loadstone is here to draw forth thy love towards the Saints Thy constant thy loving thy best friend sets an high price upon them All the world bâ—sides is a wild Wilderness to him they onely are his Garden wherein he delights and wilt not thou walk there with him amongst such fragrant Flowers and pleasant Fruits He esteems others but as dust they are his jewels Observe what he tells thee The heart of a wicked man is little worth but the tongue of the righteous is as choice silver The heart of man includes the understanding will and affections the soul and all its faculties and is the noblest part of man it is the fountain of life the spring of motion the seat of his Empire and Regiment nay the Commander in chief that ordereth and disposeth of all at pleasure yet this heart which is the most excellent part in a wicked man is of small price it is little worth nay is worse then naught but the tongue a far inferiour member of the righteous is no mean mettal as choise silver and makes a most delightful sound Wilt not thou joyn thy self to these excellent ones If their tongues be as choice silver surely their hearts do infinitely excel fine gold Nay are more precious then rubies The Topaz of Ethiopia cannot equal them neither shall they be exchanged for jewels of fine Gold Who would not be greedy of acquaintance with men of such surpassing eminence It would bewray extream want of wisdom not to be ambitious of communion with persons of such worth Besides Should I joyn with others I choose them that are my Gods enemies It is not onely ingratitude but treason to countenance them that are traytours against the Crown and Dignity of Iesus Christ. T was a sharp and cutting reproof which Jehu gave to King Jehosaphat I Wish I may never give cause for the like to me Shouldst thou help â—he ungodly and love them that hate the Lord My God counts my enemies his enemies and hates them that hate me and shall I esteem his enemies my friends and love those that hate him Wicked men are a generation of Vipers they hiss at godliness and spit their poison at God himself They stretch out their hands against God and strengthen themselves against the Almighty Iob 15. I shew but small kindness to the God of all my comforts if I take his foes to be my friends Once more I disgrace my birth my breeding I dishonour my profession my Prince if I accompany with wicked persons It s below a great Heir to company with beggars It s a discredit to a King to be taken up with Porters A Companion of riotous men shameth his Father on Earth Prov. 28. 7. A companion of vicious men shameth his Father in Heaven It speaketh his education to be very mean and his expectation to be low both which reflect upon his Father O that I might never disgrace my Gods goodness in the cost and charge he hath been at with me by choosing the scullions and filth of the World to be my companions nor disparage my own judgment in refusing the excellent of the earth and them that are Princes in all Lands Lord thy people are thy portion Jacob is the lot of thine inheritance they are precious in thy sight and honourable for thou hast loved them they are fair in thine eyes and altogether lovely Help thy poor servant to resemble thy Majesty Give me spiritual eyes
contrary He that hath a good mixture of zeal and prudence is like a fire on the hearth of much use and service but zeal without discretion is like fire on the top of the Chimney which often doth much mischief Zeal to a Christian is like an Windâ—â—lling â—â—lling the sails of a Ship which unless it be ballasted with discretion doth but the sooner overturn it Abdias a Bishop raised a dreadful storm of persecution by his intemperate zeal I doubt not but the whole company of beleivers in some Nations have suffered through the indiscreet heats of some particular persons Zeal in a man is like wings to a Bird or mettle to an Horse but the bridle of discretion is requisite as the Poeâ—s fable that Minerva put a golden bridle on Pegasus lest he should flie too fast Bernard hath a good saying Discretion without Zeal is slow-paced and Zeal without Discretion is heady let therefore Zeal spur on discretion and Discretion rein in Zeal Paul was full of heavenly fire it s said of him when he came to Athens and beheld their Idolatry that his spirit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was stirred within him Act. 17. 16. yet it is worthy our observation though he preached much against Idols in general yet he pleads not at all against Diana in particular the Goddess of whom the Athenians were so foolishly fond his zeal moved him to oppose Idolatry to his power but his prudence directed him to forbear particular invectives against Diana and to do it in such a way as might be in probability most profitable for them and least dangerous to himself The rash zeal of some godly persons hath set others at a further distance from piety When every unskilful Phaeton takes upon him to drive the Chariot of the Sun t is no wonder that the whole World be in a flame Geese say some when they flie over Taurus keep stones in their mouths lest by their gaglingâ— they should discover themselves to the Eagles which are amongst the Mountains waiting there to take them It were well for some persons if they could keep their mouths with a Bridle whilst the wicked are amongst them who wait and watch to destroy them Reader I would be understood rightly I do not intend by any thing I have wriâ—ten to incite thee to take all courses good or bad to avoid suffering but to diswade thee from bringing thy self into suffering Grace may teach thee not to choose sin and both grace and nature teach thee not to choose suffering Follow the Lamb wherever he goeth and whithersoever he calleth thee but take heed of going before him lest he leave thee to suffer at thy own charges He that will take a Bear by the Tooth or a Mad Dog by the Ear may thank himself if he be well bitten It s too ordinary for some Christians when wicked men give them a few good words and pretend a little good-will to open their minds fully and freely to them even to the hazard of their own liberties and lives but such do not consider the Counsel which God gives them Trust ye not in a friend muchless in an enemy as every wicked man is to the godly put ye not confidence in a Guide though he may be full of power and policy and promises keep the door of thy mouth from her that lieth in thy bosome lest as Sampsons Wife she tell all to thy undoing Mich. 7. 5. Every smooth face and smiling countenance is not to be trusted Kisses do sometimes betray us When the tongues of some cry Ave they threaten a Vae saith Austin They come Psa. 118. 12. about me like Bees with honey in their mouthsâ— and a sting in their tails As Butchers they claw the Ox about the ribs that they may have the fairer blow at his head The Pellican swalloweth shell-fish and warmeth them in her stomach but it is to make them gape that she may pick them out of the shels where they are safe whilst they are shut and devour them Thus some ungodly men frequently warm Christians with flâ—tteries to make them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 according to Aristophanes expression of a fool Gapers and to utter all they know and think that they may make a prey of them Friend Do not onely look on wicked men as gins to intangle thy soul but also as snares to intrap thy livelihood and life It was the complaint of Luther A falsis amicis plus est mihi periculi quam a toto Papatu That he was in more danger by reason of false friends then by the Pope and all his Hierarchy As Conies those unclean creatures are dangerous about the places where they lurk The Island Majorica was overthrown according to Historians by the digging of Conies So unlean men even by their crouching under thee may undermine and overthrow thee Consider their hatred of thee notwithstanding all their shew of love is real and inward and of all wounds those which â—rancle inwardly are most to be feared The Devil confest Christ yet hated him to the death and his children do all take after him It s â—aid of Antoninus Geta that he would always shew most love where he intended to bereave of life therefore men were more afraid of his favour then of his anger Antigonus kept a Priest on purpose to pray and offer up sacrifice to the gods that they would preserve him from his seeming friends There may be some profit of that Italian Proverb The Lord deliver us from our friends we will watch our selves over our enemies that they do not hurt us Solomon gives thee a good caution in his Character of a fool and a wise man A Fool uttereth all his mind but a Wise Man keepeth it in till afterwards Prov. 29. 11. And those words of Hugo Victorinus have much weight in them and are somewhat near Solomons There is a time when nothing is to be spoken there is a time when something but no time when all things are to be spoken Especially if thou hast found a man false once beware of him the second time He deserves to break his shins that stumbleth twice at one stone That Proverb of the Italians is worthy of consideration If a man deceive me once it is his own fault if a second time it is my fault He had need to sit sure who backs that Horse which hath once cast his Rider Thirdly If thou wouldst exercise thy self to Godliness in evil company Be sure thou dost not disown thy profession and deny Iesus Christ. Though it behoveth thee to walk wisely because sinners lye in wait to destroy thy life yet be careful thou dost not walk wickedly for sin lyeth in wait to destroy thy soul. It may consist with grace not always openly to proclaim thy profession yet iâ—s a graceless part at any time to deny it T was a blot to Nicodemus that he was a Night-bird If the honour of Christ be engaged and by thy silence the Gospel
when they were sick he fasted so when they sinned he prayed and mourned Hasten out of evil company if thou hast no hopes of doing good That Company may well be to thee as the torrid Zone where wickedness sits in the chair and Religion is made a foot-stool Though thou mayst pass through such a Climate as thy occasions require yet it s not safe to dwell in so unwholsom an air Men that are forced to walk by unsavoury carcasses hold their breath and hasten away as soon as they can It s ill being an Inhabitant in any place where God is an Exile A little before the destruction of Ierusalem there was a voâ—ce heard in the Temple very terrible Migremus hinc let us go hence That were a good Motto for Christians in ill-company Let us go hence Let such men know as Manlius Torquatus told the Romans that as they cannot bear thy strictness so thou canst not endure their looseness sake heed of staying in any place needlesly out of which thy God is gone before thee Go from the presence of a foolish man when thou perceivest not in him the lips of knowledge Prov. 14. 7. Running away was the means Ioseph used against the wicked allurements of his Mistriss It s not cowardise but true courage to turn the back upon sin and sinners It doth often reflect upon our credits to be amongst wicked men AEschinus in the Comaedian blusht when he saw his Father knock at the door of an infamous woman but it will reflect upon our consciences to continue amongst them when our business with them is done The Apostle Peter with many words did exhort and testifie saying save your selves from this untoward generation Act. 2. 40. It appears to be a business of no small concernment and weight that the Apostle should use so many words about it Wise men will not spend their time or breath in vain they do not send more messengers about any work then the consequence and worth of it requireth Besides as Beza observeth upon the place he interposeth Gods authority and chargeth them in his name to save or guard themselves from such ill Companions What hast thou to do with them that scorn to have any thing to do with God The King may well frown on those and deny to converse with them that converse with Traytours in no relation to his service Rebeccah must leave her Fathers and Brothers House if she will be joyned to Isaac Hearken O Daughter and consider aâ—d encline thine ear forget also thine own people and thy Fathers House so shall the King greatly desire thy beauty Psal. 45. 10 11. A Good Wish concerning a Christians carriage in evil Company Wherein the former heads are applied THe Mighty Possessour of Heaven and Earth who governeth the World with infinite wisdom and allotteth to all the Children of men their several Callings and Habitations having permitted the chaff to continue amongst the Corn and appointed the tares to remain amongst the wheat till the great Harvest day and calling me sometimes by his providence to deal with prophane and vicious persons I Wish I may be so sensible how difficult it is to be safe amongst such defilers and destroyers of souls that I may walk with the more caution when ever I walk in such company and make them my fear not my familiarâ— and rather my care then my Companions I know that I must go out of the world if I will go away from the wicked Ill humours will be amongst good in the body Sins will be amongst graces in the soul and sinners will be amongst Saints on this Earth I am but a stranger here they are men of the world I must therefore expect as Lot in Sodom to be both vexed with their unclean conversations and tempted to their violent corruptions my God calleth them Foxes for their craft Lions for their cruelty and a generation of Vipers for their rage and venome In what danger therefore is my soul of being deceived and devoured by them How certainly will these ravenous beasts tear me in peices unless I stand upon my guard and the Keeper of Israel undertake my protection Lord since it is not thy pleasure to free me from their Company grant me such help from thy good spirit that I may be free from their contagion Though I may sit at the same table with them as my occasions or relations require let me never eat of their dish nor feed on their dainties I pray not that thou shouldst take me out of the world but that thou shouldst keep me from the evil keep me from the snares which they lay for me and from the gins of the workers of iniquity Let the wicked rather fall into their own Nets whilst that I withal escape I Wish that the sense of my danger may keep me from being secure and make me the more sedulous in the discharge of my duty Sound eyes are apt to fall a watering by beholding and looking on sore eyes Dry Flax is not more apt to take fire then my vicious nature to be inflamed the wet sheet of watchfulness is a good preservative He had need to have much grace who would not learn others vice It s hard to touch pitch and not be defiled Vngodly men are Satans blood-hounds with which he hunteth my soul. How many hath he drawn into the pit of perdition by such Cart-ropeâ— They are his strongest chains wherewith he binds men now to his own work and at last as their wages hales them to Hell Fruits of hotter Countries transplanted into colder Climates do not seldom die through the chilling nips of the air and the unsutableness of the soyl wherein they are planted there may be grace in my soul ready to flame heavenward which may be soon quenched by the putrid fogs of evil companions I know my God can keep mee as he did the three Children in the fiery furnace amongst them that are set on fire of Hell from being sienged or so much as having the sent of the fire on me but I know also that then I must keep his way and be watchful O that I might keep my heart with such diligence that as the Christal I may touch those Toads and not be poisoned yea that as a true Diamond in a ditch I may sparkle with holiness and shine brightly amongst defiled persons How natural is it to resemble their faults whose faces I am wholly unlike I am apt like a Snow-ball to carry away the dirt I am rolled upon and as an Ape to imitate those amongst whom I am in their folly and to sin for company rather then to be singular But though the Loadstone can draw Iron yet it cannot draw gold Lightning may smite the dead Oak but not the green and fresh Laurel though corrupt nature follow a multitude to do evil yet grace through the help of the Spirit is invincible Why may not my soul like Moses bush in the midst
a necessary cause is a sin and bringeth great disadvantage both upon our selves and others 1. Upon our selves we lose those helps which God hath afforded for the edification of our souls Fire laid abroad qâ—ickly abateth nay goeth out when if it be raked up together it continueth and increaseth I suppose the Spirit of God is so exact in registring the absence of Thomas from the Apostles company when Christ vouchsafed them his personal and gracious presence and the sad fit of unbelief which he fell into upon it partly as a warning to all Christians that they lose not such seasons as they love their immortal souls Ioh. 20. 24 25. But Thomas one of the twelve was not there when Iesus came The other Disciples therefore said unto him We have seen the Lord. But he said unto them Except I shall see in his hands the print of the Nails and put my fingers into the print of the Nails and thrust my hand into his side I will not believe Had Thomas been present when the Lord appeared how strongly might he have withstood Satans assaults against his faith His senses had been sufficient to have confuted the father of lies and helpful to have quencht his fiery darts but by his absence how dangerously was he shaken in that fundamental truth Satan hath a wonderful advantage of that person whom he meets without any warrant from God alone If I travail alone between Sun and Sun I have the Law for my protection that if I be robbed I may recover my loss of the Country but if at other times it is at my own peril If I be alone at the call of my God either when secret duties or my particular calling require it and my grand enemy set upon me I may expect help from him whose work I am about but if when he commandeth me to associate with his people I needlesly wander from them and any hurt befal me I must thank my self and look for no reparation at his hands It is observable that the house of Iobs Eldest Son which was the grave wherein all his children were buried stood alone otherwise the wind from the Wilderness could not have smote the four corners thereof O t is dangerous to be solitary when God requires thy company amongst his chosen There is a wo to him that is alone such a man shall be sure to have Satan for his companion He is ever ready to assault when none is neer to assist Eve was tempted with too much success when she was alone without her Husband Dinah gadding from her fathers house was defiled Ioseph was then assaulted when the whole Family was gone save the instrument of the assault How soon are straglers snapt up when those that march with the body of the Army are safe Pyrates lye skulking to find a Vessel sailing alone when those that sail in company are a convoy to each other They who separate are soon seduced The Cormorant or Sea-Eagle hath this property that she will not seise upon the fish in the water when they are in sholes but when single she makes them her prey Solitude is not more hurtful to the body then to the soul and to nature then to grace When David was an exile from the society of the Israelites and wandred abroad he fell into diffidence and distrust nay into hard and blasphemous thoughts of God as if he had forgotten to be gracious as if he himself had cleansed his heart in vain He then said in his haste that all men even Samuel who had anointed him to the Kingdom and promised him from God that he should be King were lyars It is a disadvantage to others When Saints do not meet together their love cooleth nay contentions frequently follow to the hardening of the wicked and the discouraging of the weak The Temple or body of Christ is not built up with blows and Schismes The parts of the Temple were framed and squared in Lebanon at the rearing of it up in Zion there was no noise either of Axe or Hammer Babel it self could not be built by divided tongues muchless Sion by divided hearts When Christians divide and separate weak beginners know not what to do whom to follow but are ready to say with Cicero when Caesar and Pompey were at odds Quem fugiam scio quem sequar nescio I know whom to flie but I know not whom to follow O how dreadful are the consequents of such civil wars Discord is not without cause described by the great Italian to be cloathed with a garment of divers colours made up of patches and they rent cut and torn her lap fâ—ll of writs citations processes and arrests attended onely wiâ—h Clarks Scriveners Atturneys and Lawyers but she was followed with bitter clamours and diswal howlings Melancthon perswading the Protestants in his time to peace tells them a parabolical story of the Dogs and Wolves who were meeting to fight one against another The Wolves sent out their Scout to know the strength of their adversaries The Scout returns and tells the Wolves that indeed the Dogs exceeded them in number but they need not fear them for he had observed they were not like one another Besides they marched as if they were offended rather with themselves then their enemies grinning and snarling yea biting and tearing one another therefore let us not be discouraged but march on resolutely Dissention amongst men brings destruction on men A Kingdom divided against it self cannot stand They who imbodied toâ—â—â—her may be able to overcome thousands divided and taken singly may be overthrown by a very few The hardest Adamant if once broken flieth into such small dust that its scarce discernable and so cometh to nothing The people of God have not seldom made themselves a prey to Persecutours by their heart burnings and divisions When the Town is once set on fire by the Granadoes shot in from them that besiege it the enemies hope to take it with the more ease Naturalists tell us that a Punice stone cast into the waters though it be never so big whilst it remains entire and the parts hold together t will swim above the water but break it once in peices and every part sinks to the bottom Truly such often times is the state of the faithful They who holding together are safe and as a bundle of stâ—ves not to be bowed when parted and taken singly are easily broken It is the Shepherds observation that when Sheep Butt one against another it s a sign of foul weather and of an approaching storm We have too much cause to fear that the Schismes and Contenâ—ions in the Church of God at this day do portend some heavy judgement to hang over our heads SECT III. I Shall now direct thee Reader how 〈◊〉 â—xercise thy self to godliness in Christian Company First I must give thee a Word of Caution Take heed of those sins which Christians when they accompany together are most prone to Saints are apt to
Ears 3. The Person he speaketh of He that takes away a mans name leaves him little for this world worth keeping This evil tongue is fitly compared to an arrow for it wounds a man even afar off As secret poison works incurable effects many times before it is discerned so doth a back-biting tongue A man were better like him one of the Antients mentions carry a stone in his mouth three years to prevent much babling then be guilty one hour of back-biting SECT IV. SEcondly If Christians would exercise themselves to godliness they must be serviceable to the good of each other The Temple was built in Solomons time by men of all sorts There is not the meanest Christian but may do somewhat in his place towards the building of the Spiritual Temple The Communion of Saints consisteth in three things 1. In a mutual Communication of their graces and gifts Grace is given us not onely for our selves but also for the good of the Saints 1 Cor. 12. 5 6. There are diversities of gifts but the same Spirit differences of administration but the same Lord diversities of operation but the same God which worketh all in all But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal The water of life is like a common stream for the benefit of many 2. In a mutual joyning in the ordinances of God Act. 2. 43. The Servants of the same Lord wait upon him sometimes singly sometimes in company There are set seasons wherein they all meet together to attend him though when they are parted they are all about his business And the same day there were added to the Church three thousand souls And they continued stedfastly in the Apostles Doctrine and Fellowship and breaking of Bread and Prayer 3. In mutual serviceableness each to other Every man is a Steward to manage his abilities for others good and to improve his Talents for his Masters glory Now if our stock were our own that we were the Proprietors to let it lie still would argue us guilty of much folly but when it is altogether anothers and we are but factours for him to neglect the improvement of it speaks us arrant theives and guilty of unfaithfulness As every man hath received the gift even so minister the same one to another as good Stewards of the manifold grace of God 1 Pet. 4. 10. It s but an ill property of the Swan that she cannot endure the Goose should come neer her to take part of her food Though it might be a fault in the Church of Syracuse what Hilary mentions that by a Law there was a community of outward goods yet I am sure it is none that there should be a community of spiritual gifts Wicked men are said to be of the night but Saints of the day now as the day enlightens and warms all it shines on calls them to their work to their walk and helpeth to prevent their faâ—ls and wandring even so should the Saints In love serve one another Gal. 5. 13. Such a man is of the earth is right earth that standeth on its own center who is wholly for himself All things that have affinity with the Heavens move upon the Centre of another which they benefit The Bramble which receiveth all good and keepeth it to it self piercing instead of pleasuring those that come neer it will be cast ere long into the Fire It is said of one as all the encomium could justly be given him Sibi natus sibi vixit sibi mortuus sibi damnatus He was born to himself he lived to himself he died to himself and he was damned to himself We have a common saying He that is not good to himself is good to no body and it s as true again He that is good onely to himself is as good as no body It was the voice of a cursed Cain Am I my brothers Keeper The voice of the blessed Apostle Consider one another to provoke to love Exhort one another whilst its called to day Let no man seek his own but every one his brothers good to edification Phil. 2. 4. Heb. 10. 34. A Company of Christians like the Plants in Paradise should impart an aromatical savour each to other A friend must shew himself friendly saith Solomon Prov. 18. But how By endeavouring to make his friends better It was a commendable property which some mention in Socrates That he always studied how he might better the minds of his Familiars And Seneca when the Scholars of Theophrastus had shewed him two men that were intimate friends whereof the one was very rich and the other very poor he said to them If they be friends how comes it to pass that the one is so poor and the other so rich Intimating that had there been any true friendship the rich man would have imparted of his goods to the poor man As true love cannot stand without communicating of our temporal riches so neither without imparting of our spiritual for the supply of others necessities If there be love in feasting one anothers bodies there is much more in feeding each others souls And if to distribute and communicate of our earthly treasures we must not forget for with such sacrifice God is well pleased then to distribute and communicate of our heavenly treasures we must be more forward because with such Sacrifice God is better pleased Besides it is an encouragement to Christians that they do not diminish but increase their spiritual stocks by trading He were not a man that would not do another a courtesie when by doing it he should do himself no injury How bad is he then that will not benefit his Neighbour when thereby he doth a real kindness to himself Money laid up rather wasteth with rust then increaseth but Money laid out brings in considerable profit To him that hath shall be given When the Servant that had received five Talents traded and gained five more Take the Talent saith Christ from the unprofitable servant and give it to him that hath gained five our Communication to others is no diminution but an addition to our selves Live coals are made the hotter for those near them which they enlivened The truth is there is no Vsury so lawful as of spiritual riches nor is there any so profitable Our use upon use which almost doubleth the principal in seven years is nothing to this O Christians therefore lose not a tide a market an opportunity if possible hereby though your beginnings be small your latter end shall wonderfully increase Many that have begun with very little have by trading thus come to dye worth thousands Before I come to shew wherein Christians should be serviceable each to other I must a little explain my self lest I should seem to allow that which the Word of God forbids namely that every private Christian ought to be a Preacher Such a tenent would cut asunder the nerves and ligaments of this society which is
3. Think he did it ignorantly that had he known the consequence he would not have been guilty of such a crime Surely the man thought no hurt he spake on a sudden such words came out of his mouth before he was aware or he would never have spoken them I my self in an heat might have been as harsh When high winds blow storms will follow 4. If thou canst not be perswaded but the injury was wittingly offered then think He was overcome with some great temptation There were extraordinary fumes at that instant flying up into his head which made him talk idly and of which now he may be repenting before the Lord. The strong man was too hard for the weak Christian. Flesh and blood was easily conquered by Principalities Powers I may well forgive him his sin will cost him sorrow enough before his Father smile on him III. The Natural burthen as I may call it though it hath a relation to spiritual but not fully in the former sense of their infirmities Some by reason of bad instruments are but bunglars at their work They have naturally understandings very dull to receive and memories very slow to retain spiritual things They have ill constitutions of body and thereby the worse frames of soul and the more apt to be peevish and fretful Now we exhort you brethren that ye support the weak and be patient towards all men 1 Thes. 5. 14. All the persons in Gods family are not of the same height and strength though some are Old Men and Fathers and others are Young and strong yet some are little Children Babes in Christ some can go alone or with a little help if you hold them but by their leading-strings but others must be carried in arms and will require much love and patience to overcome their childish frowardness Christ winks at their weaknesses who hath most reason to be moved with them though his disciples were raw and dull and slow to believe and understand yet he bears with them Nay though when he was watching for them and in his bloody sweat his whole body being in a goar blood under the weight of their and others sins on his back and they lay sleeping and snoring and could not watch with him one hour he doth not fall fiercely upon them but calmly asketh them Could ye not watch with me one hour and afterwards excuseth it for them First From the natural cause There heads were full at that time ofâ— fumes Their eyes were heavy with sorrow They were full of grief for their dear Master and their sorrow hindring the digestion of their food filled them with vapours which ascending to their brains inclined them to sleep Secondly From the Moral cause they would but they could not The Spirit indeed is willing but the flesh is weak there better part would move more swiftly and do any thing at my call and command but their flesh draweth back and makes them drive heavily It s no wonder that their pace is so slow when like the snail they have such an house such an hinderance upon their backs The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak Who can think of this infinite grace of the blessed Redeemer in making such an Apologie for them whom he had such cause to be full of fury against and not be incited to imitate so admirable a pattern There is another famous instance in the Old Testament and that is Gods patience towards peevish Ionah by which all may see how much he bears with his froward children First Ionah runs from his business God sends him to Niniveh he will go to Tarshish here was plain rebellion against his Soveraign One would have expected that the jealous God should have given him a Traytors wages and when he was at Sea have suffered the Ocean of waters to have swallowed up his body and the Ocean of fire and wrath his soul but loe he cannot permit his Ionah to perish he will rather whip him to his work then let him wander to his ruine But how gentle is the rod God cannot forget the love of a Father though Ionah forget the duty of a childe but will rather work a miracle and make the devourer his Saviour then Ionah shall miscarry T is true he was tossed with a violent tempest and thrown over-board but God provided him a shelter before the storm and prepared a Whale to swallow him down not for his destruction but his deliverance And the Lord spake to the fish and it vomited up Jonah upon the dry land Well now the childe is brought home you will look that he should make some recompence for his former disobedience by his faithfulness and diligence for the future that the danger he had been in the death he had so narrowly escaped the miracle which had been wrought for him and the extraordinary mercy he had so lately received should have melted him wholly into Gods mould and have made him like Abraham to have come up wholly to Gods foot But alas he addeth sin to sin and neither mercy nor misery prevail with him to know himself Indeed he undertakes the journey and message he was called to upon a second command but as unwillingly as the Bear goeth to the stake After he had pronounced a sentence of death upon the Ninivites and shewed them a warrant under the high Gods hand and seal for their speedy execution how ill doth he take it that upon their humble petition a Reprieve should be granted them he frets inwardly against God and through the exceeding heat of his heart his tongue blisters with casting Gods mercy in his teeth He was wrath for that in which he had cause to rejoyce His love to his brethren might have made him glad of their escape and his love to his God should have quieted him in all his wise and holy proceedings But it displeased Jonah exceedingly and he was very angry and he prayed unto the Lord O Lord was not this my saying in my Country for I knew that thou art a gracions God c. Therefore O Lord take away my life He quarrels with Gods providence and he doth as it were twit God with that which is the glory of all his Attributes and actions and the best friend the poor children of men have his Grace and Pity desiring rather the destruction of above sixscore thousand persons then that himself by the blind ignorant world should be reckoned a false Prophet Behold impatience in its largest dimensions Ionah will dye because so many thousands are allowed out of infinite kindness to live O what a nest of vermine was in the womb of this disobedience Here is pride both in preferring his own will before Gods and in his unwillingness to suffer a little in his repute in the eye of the people Here was passion to the height and that against God himself Here was murmuring against sparing mercy and the Divine pleasure Here was unbelief as if God could not repair his
independence on thee he beareth with thee and forbeareth thee oughtest thou not to forbear and forgive others Again Thou mayst put this question to thy self Have not I wronged others Doth not the righteous God now pay me in my own coin May I not say as Adonibezek As I have done to others so God hath requited me Nay possibly others offend me ignorantly unawares or through some violent temptation but I have offended others knowingly wilfully and upon weaker inducements O what cause have I to forgive who am so prone to offend Lord teach me to obey thy precept in forbearing my brethren that offend me and so to imitate that blessed pattern of thy Majesty who art pleased daily to requite evil with good that I may be able comfortably to pray Forgive me my trespasses as I forgive them that trespass against me I Wish that I may according to my poor ability be helpful to the weak and tender members of Christ by administring Cordials sutable to their conditions My duty is not onely to counsel the doubtful but also to comfort the sorrowful If I saw a body fainting and drooping I were bound to afford it what assistance I could and not to hide mine eyes from mine own flesh Doth not my Neighbours soul as far more precious call for more pity and command my help to my power If one Sheep be sick many others will flock about him and in an hot day after their manner refresh him by keeping the scorching Sun from him The Sheep of Christ should have more sense of others misery and more knowledge of the means relating to their recovery and shall they be less diligent for others health To him that is afflicted pity should be shewn if I deny this I forsake the fear of the Almighty How tender was my Redeemer of broken bones and sorrowful Saints When he arose from the dead he appeared first to mournful Mary and then takes special care that penitent Peter have speedy notice of that blessed news Go tell my Disciples and Peter that I am risen They that have smarted with inward wounds themselves have the more reason to compassionate others in their sorrows Lord the time hath been that thou didst cast me into the deep into the midst of the Seas thy Floods compassed me about all thy Billows and thy Waves passed over me I roared by reason of the anguish of my Spirit under the sense of thy wrath and the curse of thy Law The weight of my sins lay heavy upon my conscience and I was even sinking under them into the bottomless pit The sorrows of death compassed me about the pains of Hell gaâ— hold of me I found trouble and sorrow I knew not which way to turn nor whither to go for any ease or releif If I said My Friends should help me or my Possessions abate my grief I soon found them all miserable comforters and Physitians of no value If I said My bed should comfort me and my Couch ease my complaint then thou didst scare me with Dreams and terrifie me with Visions All the creatures were unable to afford me any succour When I lay thus half dead they all as the Priest and Levite passed by on the other side they had neither pity enough for such dreadful wounds nor power enough to work their cure Then called I upon the Name of the Lord O Lord I beseech thee deliver my soul out of the belly of Hell cried I unto thee and â—hou didst hear my voice For thou hast delivered my Soul from Death mine Eyes from Tears and my Feet from falling Thou wast the good Samaritan that hadst compassion on me that didst bind up my wounds pouring in Oyl and Wine and undertake my cure Thou didst send a Barnabas a Son of Consolation to me to proclaim liberty to me a poor captive and the opening of the Prison to me that was bound How beautiful were his feet that brought the glad ridings of peace to my poor soul O that I might be able to support the weak and comfort the feeble-minded God I Wish that I may be both faithful and wise to recover a fallen Brother out of his sin and error Jonathan a true friend of David promised to tell him if there were any danger and accordingly warned him whereby he saved his life I profess my self a lover of my Christian Companions but I am false in my profession if I suffer sin to lye upon them Yet I confess it is a difficult work to perform this duty in a right manner The best plaister may be ineffectual if it be not fitly applied I can seldom with Moses seek to unitâ— quarrelling Christians but one of them with the Hebrew is ready to quarrel with me and say Who made thee a Ruler or a Judge over us Men are seldom more touchy then when their sores are searched and therefore he that would not have their wounds to bring them into a Fever or Fury must handle them with much wariness I desire that Wisdom Courage and Love may be the ingredients of which all my medicines may be compounded Wisdom that I may observe the quality and temper of the Offendour the nature of his offence and the sittest season and manner of administring the reproof the quality of the person if he be my Superiour that I may do it with reverence rather exhorting and beseeching the plainly rebuking The temper of the offendour if he be of a fierce nature that I may so manage my work with meekness as when I am endeavouring to heal his distemper I may not increase it The nature of the offence If the sin be small that I may not make it great by giving stronger medicines then the disease requires The season of reproving that I may not give open rebuke for private offences but observe my Saviours râ—le If thy Brother offend thee tell him his fault between him and thee The presence of many may make him take up an unjust defence who in private would have taken upon him a just shame The open air makes sores to wrankle the more publique rebukes are for Magistrates and Courts of Justice to give Possibly it may be my suspicion more then any real fault as in the case of the Blessed Virgin and Joseph and then what wrong should I do him to accuse innocency before a multitude The manner of delivering it that I may give him his due praise as well us his deserved reproof This will somewhat allay his passion and make my reproof the more prevalent The Iron when heated red hot in the fire is bent and beaten afterwards without breaking which way the Smith pleaseth When I have heated him hot with the fire of commendation I may then beat upon him with reproof in greater hopes of success I would desire courage also that I may deal faithfully and not skin over a wound that hath dead flesh at the bottom Should I dally I destroy the Patient If the Ofâ—endour be so
my self when any reprove me for the evil in me let me accept it with thanks Make me able to say with that sweet singer of Israel Let the righteous smite me it shall be a kindness and let him reprove me and it shall be an excellent oyl it shall not break my head I Wish that I may by no means repine but always rejoyce at the gifts and graces of others If the other members of the body thrive the heart doth not grieve but is glad at it It s ordinary for younger brothers to boast and glory in the large estate and great possessions which their elder brothers have left them by their Fathers Why should not my soul be joyful at the great share of spiritual riches which the onely wise God hath given some of my brethren If a man love sweet smels the greater degree of them he observeth in any place the moâ—e he is refreshed with them He that delights in Pictures if he see one in a room exactly and exquisitely drawn above all the rest that shall have more of his eye and his heart Is not grace compared to sweet Oynments and shall not I be comforted the more for the greatness of its savour Is not the Image of my God amiable in mine eye and ought I not to delight most in that Copy which is nearest the Original Surely if I envy any their spiritual excellencies I shew my self too like a Child of the Devil There is hardly any worm that gnaweth that unclean spirit more painfully then the grace which God gives his Children Their sins are his utmost joy their graces are his extream greif Would I be found in Satans livery at the last O that I might be so far from murmuring at that double portion of the Spirit which my God bestoweth upon some of his people that I might bless God heartily for it and beg of God to add to it an hundred fold how great soever it is The pretty Birds sing the more merrily the higher the Sun mounteth in the Heavens I have cause to be the more chearful the nearer any ascend to Heaven and the higher they mount in holiness My love to my God to my Brother nay to my self all command me to it My love to my God He that loves his Soverain will rejoyce that he hath any Subjects eminent above others for duty and loyalty They that have much spiritual strength will do my God much spiritual service The more grace they have the more glory they bring to God It s an honour to the Father of Spirits when his Children keep open house according to their estates cloathing the naked feeding the hungry soul and relieving liberally such as are in want I am no Christian if I be not tender of my Gods honour and joyful when that is exalted in the World Besides Love to my brother should quicken me to this duty If I love him as my self I shall both grieve at his soul-losses and rejoyce at his spiritual gains Love delighteth in the welfare of the party loved The hotter the beames of grace are in the party beloved the more they rejoyce the heart of the lover Why should any mans eye be evil towards his Brother because Gods is good to him Have others the less because some have so much Or is it not my own fault that I am not as holy and gracious as he God is a Fountain of grace always running over but he derives it to us according to our capacities If I go to the Well of Salvation and receive but little of the water of life I may know the cause my Vessel was no bigger Nay Love to my self may make me glad at others gifts and graces The greater the Saints estate is the more he will relievâ— others As the Earth though it sucketh in so much water as will give her self a competent refreshment conveyeth many springs through her veins for the cherishing and refreshment of others So the Saints do not onely advantage their own but also others souls Lord though in Hell there be little else but murmuring and repining at the good of thy chosen yet in Heaven there is no emptiness in themselves no envying at others every Saint there hath his joy doubled for anothers joy and is glorified in anothers glory Suffer not thy Servant to make his heart a little Hell by filling it with grief at the good of thy chosen But O make it thy lesser Heaven be thou pleased to dwell in it and then I shall begin the work of eternity in time magnifie and bless thee for thy love to them and praise and bless them for their likeness to thee Finally I Wish that I may so carry my self in all my converses with the Children of God here that I may meet them in the Fathers house and sit down with them at the Supper of the Lamb. Lord if Communion with thy Saints be so pleasant and delightful on earth how pleasant and delightful will it be in Heaven Here my communion with them is imperfect my flesh will not suffer me to receive the good I might from them nor their flesh allow them to do the good they might to me But there shall be no evil no occasion of evil no appearance of evil no sin shall clog the chariots of our souls no flesh shall fetter us from running to embrace and delight in each other but all shall be free to rejoyce and refresh one another Every Saint shall be as it were a fountain of Communion in the sweetest mannerâ— and fullest measure from every one shall flow Riâ—ers of water of life and every one enlarged to rellish and receive If Jonathan beholding a little grace in David on earth loved him as his own soul how doth he love him in Heaven Here our Communion is much lamed by the defects in our bodily organs we cannot impart our minds without our members which being defective make our Communion so but there we shall be as Angels seeing each other without eyes hearing each other without ears and embracing each other without hands Here our Communion is interrupted our particular callings our eating our drinking our sleeping our many occasions call us from it But there is no calling but our general calling of worshipping and enjoying our God no feeding but on the tree of life that groweth in the midst of Paradise no drinking but of the Rivers of Gods own pleasures and no night no sleeping but that rest which remaineth for the people of God O what darkness what night can be there where all the righteous shall shine infinitely brighter then the Sun in his noon day lustâ—e Here our Communion is hindered by the differences that frequently arise â— like Children of the same Father we quarrel and wrangle but there they will all be like-minded having the same love being of one accord and one judgement There indeed Jerusalem is a City compact together and at unity within it self There Pauls desire is granted
ever with Ierusalem they shall be born upon her sides and dandled upon her knees they shall suck and be satisfied with the breasts of her consolation they shall milk out and be delighted with the abundance of her glory Amen CHAP. V. How a Christian should exercise himself to Godliness in Solitariness As also a Good Wish about that Particular THirdly Thy duty is to exercise thy self to Godliness in Solitude A gracious person is not onely consciencious in company but also when he is alone His whole life is nothing else but a walking with his God When I awake I am still with thee saith David Psa. 139. 18. He no sooner opened the eyes of his body in the morning but he was lifting up the eyes of his mind to Heaven When he was alone in his bed he was in company with his God As God was still with him so he was still with God Nevertheless I am continually with thee Psa. 73. True sanctity is visible in secresie to him that is Omniscient The Saint is many times most busie when he hath nothing to do and may say more truly then Scipio the African Nunquam minus solus quam cum solus I am never less alone then when alone The pulse of the body beats as well in solitariness as in company and so doth the pulse of the gracious soul towards his God and Saviour It s said of Domitian that he did one hour in a day sequester himself from all persons to no purpose for it was to catch flies which was the original of that answer to one that asked Whether any body were with the Emperour Ne musâ—a quidem No not so much as a flie A Believer hath business of great weight when he withdraweth from the press of the world it is that he might draw nearer to the Lord. Isaac goeth into the Fields to meditate of God Christ goeth into the Mountain apart to pray to God Daniel to the Rivers side Peter to the house top The Church to the secret place of the stairs and all to enjoy communion with their God Gen. 26. Mark 1. 35. Cant. 2. 4. Dan. 8. 2. and 10. 4. Act. 10. A Saint therefore sequestreth himself from the noise and clamour of company and worldly businesses that he might have the more free and intimate converse with his Redeemer A forced banishment from Men to dwell among Beasts hath been bewailed as a great misery but a free retirement from creatures to enjoy more of the blessed God is a great felicity Woodrow an hearb of an extraordinary pleasant smell delighteth in dark and shadowy places So the Christian who in company refresheth others with the fragrancy of his graces loveth sometimes to be obscure and in secret Many of the Heathen were so affected with the vanity and vexation of the world that they wilâ—lingly left their pleasures and preferments in Courts to live privately in the Country Sylla Felix laid aside his dictatourship to lead a retired life Dioclesians two and twenty years raigne could not make him out of love with a solitary life but he voluntarily left the Empire and could not be prevailed with to reassume it though he was threatned to it Demosthenes would shave his beard half off and all his hair from his head to necessitate his stay within doors and his abode amongst his Books Thales left the affairs of state that he might have time for Contemplation Cato in his old age wiâ—hdrew from Rome to live as he used to say out of the crowd of the world And the Romans were so much convinced of his prudence herein that as they passed by his house to which he retired they would ordinarily cry out Iste solus scit vivere This man alone knoweth how to live Old Similis having lived long in the Wars and afterwards for seven years devoting himself to solitariness when he died left this Epitaph behind Here lieth old Similis yet one that lived but seven years Hiero the Tyrant of Syracuse gave over his Kingdom to live a solitary life Others out of a deep melancholly have avoided all society and delighted onely like the Shrick Owl and Bittern in desolate places and Monuments of the dead Zeph. 2. 14. Socrates in his Ecclesiastical History Lib. 4. Cap. 18. speaks of some so strangely averse to all correspondence with men that they have immuted themselves in Cels and Silence for sixty and ninety years together even as long as they lived But Reader I would not advise thee to such continued retirement nor to any at all upon such low mean grounds Those voluntary sequestrations of deluded Votaries amongst the Papists from humane society are I dare say as unacceptable to God as uncomfortable to themselves Such solitary persons bring little comfort to their own souls little honour to God and do no good at all to others By how much as doing God great service is better then doing him little as doing good to many is better then doing good onely to my self so much is Company before solitariness But the most publique Christians have their times for privacy It s no mean misery to be either always alone or never alone He that is always crowded with Company can neither enjoy himself nor his God as he ought SECT I. I Shall first lay down some Motives and then shew wherein we should exercise our selves to Godliness when we are alone 1. To quicken thee to exercise thy self to godliness in solitude Consider The benefit of solitude well improved solitude is a good opportunity for godliness Seneca was wont to say that he seldom went into company that he came not home worse then he went out Society as it hath much gain so much perplexity Solitude is a release to the soul that was imprisoned in Company To be much in Company tires and wearies us We are prone to count it a bondage and the persons we associate with our fetters Retiring seasonably from them sets us at liberty and giveth us freedom to mount up to Heaven at our pleasure Scipio would tell his friends I have never better company then when I have no company for then can I freely entertain my own thoughts and converse with all the learned that have been in former ages Hierom speaks better Sapiens nunquam solus esse potest â—abet enim secum omnes qui sunt qui fuerunt boni si bominum sit inopia loquitur cum Deo A wise man can never be alone for he hath ever with him all the good men that are or have been and if he find any want of men he can converse with God It was a custome among the Indians when their King went to bed to pray with piping acclamations that he might have happy dreams and withal consult well for the good of his Subjects As ifâ— the silent secret night had been a friend to wisdom One of the best Kings that ever the world had tells us My reins instruct me in the night season
herein I shall give thee an example though I would desire thee to remember that the advantage of meditation is rather to be felâ— then read He that can paint Spikenard or Musk or Roses in their proper colours cannot with all his Art draw their pleasant savoâ—r that is beyond the skill of his pencil Let us O my soul a little retire out of the worlds company to converse with the word of thy God I cannot but hope the malefactour hath an high esteem for that Psalm of mercy without which he had lost his life I have reason to believe that thou hast no mean value for that Gospel of grace and the graece of that Gospel without which thou hadst lost thy soul thy God thy joy thy delight thine all and that for ever yet sure I am the price thou sets on it is far inferiour to the worth of this Pearl and besides I have observed of late wheâ—her partly because of its constancy with thee things common though never so necessary and excellent being less valued then meaner things that are rare or cheifly because of thy old seeming friend or rather real enemy thy flesh within thee that never speaks well of it because of its contrariety to the word from which it hath received its deaths-wound and therefore would die as the Thies on the Cross spitting out its venome and malice at it or what ever be the cause I perceive too much thou beginnest to decline in thy respect to it what else doth thy backwardness to read it thy carelesness in minding what thou dost read and thy neglegence in practicing it signifie Therefore let us take a turn or two together and argue the case lest it be argued against thee in an higher Court to thy cost and I charge thee before the dreadful God at whose judgement seat thou art to stand or fall for ever that thou attend to me seriously and not dare to give me the slip till the whole be debated for it is not a vain thing but iâ— for thy life What is this Word which thou art so prone to despise Consider it O my soul First in its Causes and then tell me whether the child be not worthy of love and esteem in the superlative degree for his parents sake 1. It s Principal Efficient cause is the glorious and supreme Majesty of Heaven and Earth the Spring and Fountain of all excellency and perfection All Scripture is given by inspiration of God It s the Word of the Lord the Breath of his Mouth the Law of his Lips whoever were the Pens or Scribes his Mind indicted and his Hand wrot every sentence in it What a word must that be which is the result of infiniteâ— wisdom How precious are those Tables which are the writing of God himself How glorious is that beam of light which was darted from this Sun to whom a whole Firmament of Suns were worse then perfect darkness If the breath of a man be so sweet that his doctrine drop as the rain and his speech distil as the dew If the heart of a man can indict a good matter and his tongue resemble the pen of a ready writer O what is the speech of the tongue of a God! Never man spake as he spake his enemies themselves being judges The Queen of Sheba came from the utmost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon and blessed those Servants that waited at his Table and heard his wisdom But loe O my soul A greater then Solomon is here How blessed are they that wait at his Gates and that watch at the Posts of his doors 2. The Pen-men and Scribes of it were men of choice gifts and graces Some of them were like Saul higher by the head and Shoulders then their brethren in the fear and favour of God As Moses the meekest man upon the face of the earth David the sweet singer of Israel a man after Gods own heart Solomon who excelled in wisdom all that were before him or came after him Isaiah of the Blood-Royal an Evangelical Prophet or Prophetical Evangelist whose prophesie is clean and clear and curiously garnished with all kind of Rhetorick Iohn the beloved Disciple that leaned on the bosome of Iesus Paul who was wrapt up into the third Heavens and as famous for active and passive obedience as any in the world in his days All of them were men extraordinarily inspired and assisted by the Spirit of God Not onely the notions but the very phrases and words were imprinted on them and infused into them by God himself The writings of some Naturalists have been bought at a great price and thought worthy to be presented to great Princes but the best of them though the Prophesie of the Sybills which the Heathen so highly esteemed be included is but a bundle of folly and vanity to this book Prophesie came not of old time by the will of men but Holy Men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost O how excellent must that Scripture be of which such incomparable persons were the Pen-men or Amanâ—enses and to whom the infinite wisdom of God did dictate every word 3. The matter of them is heavenly and divine the epitome of all equity and righteousness the compendium of whatsoever is fit to be beleived or practiced The Scripture is a perfect rule both for faith and manners It informeth us fully in our carriage towards God and towards men how we ought to walk in all relations and conditions it forbiddeth evil all evil in the very thoughts it commandeth good whatsoever is good in the whole course of our lives It speaketh of such things as are far above reason and yet nothing that is contrary to reason The truths delivered in it are many of them such as no humane or created capacity could have possibly invented yet such as are all agreeable to a rational understanding It would have exceeded the wisdom of an Angelâ— to have thought of such a sweet mixture of justice and mercy as is discovered in the Gospel about the redemption of fallen man It teacheth the nature and excellency of God the trinity of persons the unity of essence the immensity of all his attributes how he is infinite in his being wisdom knowledge holiness mercy and faithfulness how he is a pure act without the least passion a perfect being uncapable of any addition eternal without either beginning or ending immutable without the least alteration incomprehensible beyond all coâ—ceptions omnipresent without any circumscription It instructeth us in the person and offices and states of the blessed Redeemer how he being the Son of God was partaker of the humane nature that the Sons of men might be partakers of the divine nature How God and Man were united in one person that Man and God might be united in one Covenant How the eternal God married our natures that he might exalt his boundless grace in marrying our persons How man
for the least of their offences how he hath manifested his justice in the deluge brought on the old world in the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah in his carriage towards Apostate Angels rebellious Israelites his own chosen people and the Medâ—atour his own Son when he took upon him mans sin in the instruments of eternal death which he hath prepared in Hell for sinners and the solemn triumph which justice shall have at the great day and to all eternity in the other world 5. His holiness how he loaths sin with the greatest abhorrency cannot behold the least iniquity shoots the arrows of his vengeance against its actours and authors will be sanctified in or upon all that approach him is terrible in his holy places forbiddeth the least complyance with sin though but in a sudden thought and makes it his end in his providences ordinances the gift of his Son his Spirit to make men holy I might shew how it exalteth him in all his properties but I pass on It glorifieth him in every part of it Its precepts and commands speak his purity and dominion its promises and covenant speak his boundless mercy and compassion its threatnings and comminations speak his justice and jealousie its prophesies and predictions speak his wisdom and omniscience The Scripture tendeth also to the eternal good of men It is helpful to beget a soul to Christ Of his own will begat he us again by the Word of truth The Word of grace is instrumental for the conveyance of grace Act. 2.37 Rom. 10. 14. It is helpful to build the soul up in Christ as new born babes desire the sincere milk of the word that ye may grow thereby 1 Pet. 2. 2. Grace is increased by the same means by which it is generated as the same Sun that begets some living creatures is helpful for their growth The Word of God of stones raiseth up children to Abraham and of Children maketh Young men and Fathers It is so penned that all sorts of persons all ranks of Christians may be directed into the way of truth and guided by it in the way of life It is able to make us wise to salvation To shew the path of life 2 Tim. 3. 15. Psa. 16. 11. As Ioshua it leads the Israelites into Canaan All Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable 1. For Doctrine Where Scripture hath not a tongue to speak I must not have an ear to hear Scriptura est regula fidei Scripture is the rule of faith Hence the Doctrine of the Apostles and Prophets is called a foundation Ephes. 2. 20. 2. For reproof It is the hammer of Heresies Ignorance of Scripture is one main cause of error Ye err not knowing the Scripture By this sword of the Spirit Christ vanquished Satan Mat. 4. 4. and the Jews Ioh. 5.45 and Sadduces Mat. 22.29 Lapidandi sunt haeretici sacrarum literarum argumentis Hereticks are to be stoned with Scripture arguments saith Athanasius The Word of God hiâ—s that unclean bird in the eye and wounds it mortally 3. For correction of manners The sword of the Word pierceth the sinners conscience like Christ to the woman of Samaria It tells him all that ever he did and makes him smite upon his thigh and say What have I done Scripture is a glass which sheweth him the spots that are in the face of his heart and life 4. For instruction in righteousness It is the way in which we should walk the rule of our spiritual race What is written on some Psalms may be written on every Psalm and Chapter in the whole Bible Maschil or Psalm for instruction Its precepts teach us what to follow its prohibitions tell us what to forsake Its promises are to allure us to sanctity its threatnings to affright us from sin the good example of the Saints speaketh as Christ to Peter Follow thou me the wicked actions and ends of sinners cry aloud as Abner to Ioab Knowest thou not that it will be bitterness in the end 5. For comfort There is no such cordial for a fainting spirit as a promise in the Word The Gospel in the Greek is glad tidings and not without cause This is my comfort in my affliction for thy word hath quickned me When souls have been ready to despair under the sense of their wickedness and to sink in deep waters the Word of God hath held them up by the chin and preserved them from drowning Vnless thy law had been my delight I had perished in mine affliction 6. For salvation the Word is called the Kingdom of heaven partly because it revealeth Gods thoughts of such an inestimable happiness to the children of men The celestial Canaan was terra incognita till that discovered it He hath brought life and immortality to light by the Gospel partly because it prepares the soul for heaven the Word sanctifieth and so saveth precious souls By filling us with grace it fitteth us for glory Rom. 1.16 Ioh. 17.17 Partly because it is the seed of heaven As the Harvest is potentially in the seed and a tall Oke potentially in an acorn so heaven and eternal life is potentially in the Word of life It is called The grace of God that bringeth salvation It bringeth salvation to men and it bringeth men to salvation Secondly Consider it O my soul in its properties they will also speak its preciousness 1. It is pure and holy there are some dregs that will appear in the exactest writings of the best men when they have been shaken by a critical hand but none could ever justly fasten the least filth upon the holy Scriptures The Word of Christ is like the Spouse of Christ There is no spot in it The Alcoran of Mahomet alloweth Polygamy promiseth sensual pleasures as the reward of his servants but the Scripture winketh not at the least sin no not so much as in a motion of the heart or a glance of the eye and its promises are also pure and spiritual The Doctrine of the wisest Heathen and Philosophers were a mixture of good and bad Theft was no fault amongst Lycurgus Laws but if done slily commended highly Aristotle permitted revenge and obscene jesting which Scripture expresly forbids Thy word is very pure The words of the Lord are pure words as silver tried in a furnace of earth purified seven times There is not the least dross of evil or error in it 1. It s principal Author is the original and exemplar of all holiness his nature is the pattern and his will the rule of purity Exod. 15. 4. Isa. 6. 3. 2. The Scribes of it were holy men moved and actuated by the Holy Ghost 3. It s effect is to sanctifie and make holy Ye are clean through the word that I have given you 4. The matter of it is holy Its commanding part is holy The Law is holy just and good Rom. 7. 12. It s assertory part is holy what it affirmes to be is what it denyeth to
where it ariseth and displayeth its beames dispelleth mists and clounds causeth an alteration in the face of the Air and makes the shadows to flie before it that they cry like Iacob to the Angel Let me go for the day breaketh so the light of the word scattereth that darkness which was before upon the minds of men 1. It dispelleth the darkness of error Mat. 22.29 Naked Truth conquereth Armed Error and Little David with his small stones out of the silver streams of the Sanctuary the great Goliah of Heresie With this silly women have confuted and conquered profound Doctors notwithstanding their deep and intricate arguments and have wounded them as mortally as that woman without weapons did Abimilech that great Captain with a Milstone 2. It dispelleth the darkness of ignorance The word is the key of knowledge and openeth the door that lets us into the treasures of wisdom and knowledge It is that precious eye-salve with which our blind eyes being anointed see It is sent to open the eyes of the blind and to turn men from darkness to light When the word comes the people that sat in darkness see a great light Act. 26. 18. Mat. 4. 16. 3. It dispelleth the darkness of prophaness this weapon of the word stabbeth lust under its fifth rib and letteth out the very heart blood of it The Devil puts off his rotten wares in the dark shops of Heathen and unbelieving and unchristian Christians but where the word hath arisen upon any soul it discerneth his cheat and is too wise to be cozened by him By what means may a young man cleanse his way By taking heed thereto according to thy word Psa. 119.9 The word is resembled to Rain to Water to Dew Moses tells the Israelites My Doctrine shall drop as the Rain and my speech distil as the Dew Christ calls it the water of life Joh. 6. 35. 1. Rain is from above God keeps that key under his own girdle Can any of the vanities of the Heathen cause Rain Art not thou he Jer. 14. 22. Man may speak long enough to the cloâ—ds before they will distil one drop but if God command those bottles they are presently unstopped and poure down in abundance He covereth the Heavens with Clouds and prepareth Rain for the earth Psa. 147. 8. Thus the Word of God came down from above Every of the Pen-men of it might have spoken as David The Spirit of the Lord spake by me 2. Sam. 23. 2. It did immediately inspire me what particulars to utter and in what phrases to deliver them That which is said of some of the Prophesies may be said of every Book and of every Chapter and Verse in every Book Thus saith the Lord The word of the Lord which came to Amos The mouth of the Lord hath spoken it It is all one to say The Scripture saith and God saith Compare Rom. 4. 3. and 10. 11. with Rom. 9. 25. and Heb. 4.3 and Gal. 3. 21. with Rom. 11. 32. Some observe that the word which Moses useth for Doctrine dropping like Rain signifieth received Doctrine because the Doctrine in the word is received from God not devised by men Deut. 32. 2. I received from the Lord that which I also delivered unto you 1 Cor. 11. 32. 2. Rain is mollifying and softning When the earth hath been like Brass and Iron under our feet by long drought or hard frosts a few good showres supple it and make it tender Therefore David speaking of the earth saith Thou makest it soft with showres Psa. 65. 10. So the heart of man is compared to a stone to a rock to a flint to an adamant the hardest of stones for its hardness hath been suppled and softned by the word The Jews that had imbrued their hands in the blood of Christ had certainly very hard hearts The thought of such a murder would have made a deep impression upon any conscience that were not seared with a red hot Iron yet this word preached melted them as hard mettal as they were When they heard these things they were pricked to the heart Peters Sermon like Moses rod fetcht water out of the Rock Act. 2. 37. David upon the disorder and intemperance of his soul in the matter of Vriah had an hard swelling which continued and increased upon him several moneths yet when Nathan comes and gently baths it with this Oyl of the Word it groweth soft and tender as appeareth by the title of Psa. 51. A Psalm of David when Nathan the Prophet came to him after he had gone in to Bathsheba 3. Rain maketh the earth fruitful therefore some call it the earths Husband because it helps the earth to bring forth He watereth the hills from his chambers the earth is satisfied with his works he causeth the grass to grow for the earth and hearbs for the service of man Psal. 104. 13,14 so Psal. 65.9,10,11,12 So the Word of God turns that heart which was as a barren wilderness into a fruitful meadow 1 Pet. 2. 2. 4. Rain reviveth and refresheth the earth when the earth is chopt and faint when it gaspeth and is weary a showre of rain recovers and refresheth it the Psalmist tells us that upon such droppings from above the pastures and valleys shout for joy they also sing Psa. 65.13 Thus the Christian scorcâ—ed with the apprehension of Gods wrath due to him for sin draweth all his comfort and refreshment out of those wells of salvation the promises of the word When conscience is sore and raw through the wounds sin hath made in it and the weight of guilt that lieth continually grating upon it He sendeth his word and health them Psal. 107.20 David had experience what an healing medicine the Word was In the multitude of my thoughts within me thy comforts delight my soul. When Philip had preached the word to the Eunuch he went away rejoycing That milk which runs from the breasts of the two Testaments is never sucked with the mouth of faith without abundant satisfaction that wine which which is drawn from the pipes of the promises rejoyceth the heart of man indeed These things are written that your joy may be full The Saint never sits at a fuller table of joy then when he is feasting on the dainties of the Gospel O my soul how many thoughts mightst thou spend about those several things to which the word is aptly and excellently resembled It is compared to Armour to a tree of life to a portion to milk to strong meat to pastures to seed to an ornament of grace to rest to a Crown of glory to hidden treasures to gold tried in the fire to a glass to oyl and oyntment all which as so many curious colours well laid may help thee to admire and prize more the beauty of that face which they resemble and represent Glorious things are spoken of thee O thou Word of God Many books have done vertuously have acted famously for the overthrow of sin and
and the most holy condescend to so great so greivous a sinner O affect my heart with thy kindness herein and so fill me with thy blessed spirit that as thou art ever with me whether I am alone or in company so when I awake I may be still with thee I Wish that I may esteem solitude when my God calls me to it a gracious opportunity for more united and intimate converses with his Majesty How often hath the company of men distracted my spirit and hindered me from having my conversation in Heaven Their miâ—apprehensins and carnal interests and predominant passions do frequently bring such prejudice to their associates that none would be over fond of their honey who hath once felt their stings If I converse with wicked men I hear their Oaths and Blasphemies and Ribbaldry their Mocks and Taunts and Ieers against God and his people I see their intemperance and prophaneness and injustice and oppression and persecution of them that fear the Lord I can read in their wicked language and cursed carriage their bitterness and rage and emnity against their Maker and Redeemer I may behold the body of Christ wounded and his pretious blood trampled on the law and love and worship and honour of the blessed God scorned and despised and such vileness and wickedness committed in an hour as shall be bewailed and lamented for ever Such sights as these call for my deepest sorrow and the best that I can get by such company is inward trouble and abundant grief but it s many to one if they do not make me either directly or indirectly to contract real guilt O what pleasure can I take to be in a room filled with smoke which will certainly wring tears from mine eyes and probably smut and defile me If I converse with good men though their company in many respects be desireable and I have found it to be profitable and I would prize them whom God esteemeth and love them that have his beautiful Image and with whom I must live for ever yet how many things are in them to allay the vertue and benefit of their society Their peevishness and paâ—sion and pride and selfishness which are still too much in them the difference of their judgements and dispositions causeth their company to be far the lâ—ss eligible and lovely Besides their readiness and activeness to propagate their errors and their power and prevalency to draw others to joyn with them in their wandrings from the truth doth not a little abate of that comfort and delight which I might have in them Again their miseries and wants and necessities which are many and great and urgent which I am wholly unable to relieve or remedy call me to tears and weeping Once more their slips and falls and weaknesses and back-slidings which I must observe and reprove and bewail are far from being occasions of joy or pleasure to me They are at best as we say of Children certain cares and uncertain comforts Though they are roses they have prickles which offend as well as their pleasant smell to refresh us the truest friend I have may occasion me as much trouble as comfort When I travail with a chearful good Companion I promise my self much delight in my journey but anon he falls and wounds himself or tires or proves sick and unable to go further and instead of going forward I must stay to attend on him and thus instead of being my help he becomes my hinderance Indeed I have the more cause to bear with it in another not knowing how soon it may be my own case but however these accidents which too often fall out as they speak the benefit of it to one so also the perplexity and trouble of it to another If I converse with great or rich men what disdainful looks do they give me at what a distance do they behold me It s hard to obtain the liberty of speaking to them but if I would obtain their favour t will cost me more then it did the cheif Captain for his Roman freedom Vnless I can gratifie their lusts I must not expect their love If I can drink and swear and curse and roar at their hellish rate it may be they will afford me a good word but alas what man in his wits would pay for their best words so dear a price Their friendship can hardly be got without a breach with my God and what wise man would lose the good will of the Lord for the gain of the whole world When I have by many friends and with much â—â—fficulty and even danger to my soul procured their favour how little am I the better for it The most rotten tree is not so hollow for as cunning wrestlers they will get within me to give me a fall the wind it self is not more wavering then they are except I can be contented to be their foot-stool that by their treading on me they may be lifted higher in the world I must expect to be quite cast by It s possible wbilst they may make some use of me to decoy and trepan others or to raise and advance themselves they may carry me upon their shoulders as men do their Ladders when there is hopes thereby of climbing to their desired height but when that is done or if the Ladder prove too short they will throw it upon the ground If I will not always be some way or other mâ—king provision for their flesh I shall be dismist with the brand of an unworthy fellow If I converse with mean and poor men I find but little comfort in their company I see their poverty and indigency and hunger and nakedness which I cannot help or prevent I heard their cries and groans and complaints by reason of oppressing Landlords or tyrannical revengeful Neighbours or unfaithful Friends or distempered Bodies all which affect my soul and grieve me to the heart that I am ready to sit in the dust and cry and groan and mourn with them Let me go where I will to converse with any in this wilderness of the world I find little but briars and brakes and thorns and thistles and matter of sorrow and lamentation but when I retire alone to converse with my God I am freed from those distracting clamours and vexations cries and disturbing noise and might could I but leave an ungrateful unbelieving heart behind me find in him an Heaven â—pon Earth I may with Moses go up to Mount Pisgah and take a view with the prospective glass of faith of Palestine and that goodly land flowing with milk and honey I may enter into the suburbs of the new Jerusalem taste some clusters of the Grapes of Canaan and view as in a glass those celestial beauties and glories which I hope one day to see face to face and to be partaker ofâ— O my soul what needst thou care how much the world scorns thy company or to what place thy God see fit to banish thee if thou canst
but as Zacheus when gotten out of the crowd climb up into the Sycamore of meditation and obtain a sight of thy Saviour If he want no company who is with the King surely thou mayst deny all the company on earth for the King of Kings Look how lovingly he invites thee to take a turn or two with him alone in the fields Come my beloved let us go forth into the fields there I will give thee my loves Hast thou not many a time sighed out to him O kiss me with the kisses of thy lips for thy love is better then wine Lo he tells thee the place where he will answer thy petition There will I give thee my loves Thy bridegroom is bashful and desirous to satisfie thy longings in secret Isaac met his bride in the fields and thou mayst meet thy beloved when thou turnest aside from the world to entertain thy self in solitude O how pleasant should solitude be to thee for his sake What matters it whether thou art driven or who be the whips that drive thee when thou art driven farther from men to be nearer the Lord Iesus Christ A loving Husband is instead of all company to a faithful Spouse Is not Christ dearer to thee then all the world be not thou dejected though thou shouldst be turned as he was into a Wilderness but expect an Angel even the Angel of the Covenant to be sent from Heaven for thy comfort Lord it is my support that wherever I am thou art continually with me O that I were able to say I am continually with thee I would willingly with Jacob leave all my company to meet thee aloneâ— so I might but as he did weep in secret and make supplication so as to prevail with thee for thy blessing Though I should sind cause to say with David Lovers and friends stand aloof from me and with Job My friends scorn me yet if thou pleasest by parting me from them to draw me nearer to thy self and to afford me more of thy quickening cheering presence I shall account their absence a desireable advantage The best society without thee is as a barren desart and an howling wilderness the greatest solitariness with thee is as a fruitful Country and delectable Canaan How precious are thy thoughts my thoughts of thee to me O God Let me rather dwel alone in a Prison with thy company then in a Pallace without thee I Wish that I may be the more careful of my carriage in secret lest what I intend as an opportunity for my Gods service should prove a season and advantage for Satan The body must be lookt to narrowly when it comes out of an hot Bath lest the Poors being open it should take cold The soul must be carefully tended when it comes from Christian communion lest in solitude it lose what it hath gained in good company When the Countryman hath been at Market and filled his Purse he is in most danger of robbing as he goeth home alone The Tempter will be sure to be present with me whoever be absent He walks to and fro in the earth and whilst I am in his Circuit I must expect his company Though he be more bold then welcome and though I deny his desires defie his works and resist him and sometimes foil him yet he will still attend to sollicite me to folly wherever I go he will find me out and whatever I do I must expect him at my elbow he hath a double advantage of me in solitude partly in that I have no visible second to assist me he hopes when I am alone t is a good time to set upon me and that he is strong enough by force to ravish and defile me Partly in that shame which restrains from sin in publique hath no place no prevalency in private He will tell me that secresie may be a curtain to hide my sins from the worlds eye of which I am so much afraid As Josephs Mistress he will cry Come lie with me be bold to sin to take thy pleasure for here is no man present to know it or to reveal it to thy disgrace And for God he hath forgotten he hideth his face he will never see it How shall God know can he judge through the dark Cloud Thick Clouds are a covering to him that he doth not see and he walketh in the circuit os Heaven But O my soul thy double danger calleth upon thee to be the more vigilant and diligent in minding thy duty When thou hast no humane friend to watch over thee thou art the more concerned to watch over thy self They that live far from Neighbours are the more liable to Thieves and therefore if wise will make up that want by extraordinary watchfulness and a greater provision of armour and weapons If one Devil be too hard a match for many secure Christians how unable will one single Christian be to encounter with many with a Legion of Devils Shouldst thou be idle in solitude or suffer thy thoughts to wander expect more then good Company and such as will employ thee about works of darkness Besides Consider Though thy thoughts are mantled from the view of men yet thy God knoweth thy thoughts a far off long before thou thinkest them and will judge the secrets of mens hearts according to his Gospel He that numbereth the stars of Heaven numbereth all the thoughts of thy heart I know the things that come into your mind O house of Israel every one of them Ezek. 11. 5. And he that punisheth men for wicked deeds doth not let them escape for their evil thoughts Hear O earth behold I will bring upon this people the fruit of their thoughts Ier. 6. 19. Nay thy God will scourge men both for and by their thoughts accusing thoughts are stinging vipers That worm of conscience which will ever ever gnaw the sinners heart to his unconceiveable misery is bred in his thoughts O therefore wash thy heart from wickedness let not vain thoughts lodge within thee Remember also O my soul if thy most retired thoughts are legible to thy God then thy secret actions are all open and visible to his eye Never presume upon sin in hope of secrecy for though thou mayst cover the candle of creatures with a bushel yet thou canst not the glorious sun of righteousness nothing is hid from his sight There is no darkness nor shadow of death where the workers of iniquity can hide themselves Lord thou hast told me There is nothing hid which shall not be revealed nor secret which shall not be made known I confess my wicked heart is apt to argue impunity from secrecy and to think I am invisible to thee because thou art invisible to the eye of my sense O affect my heart so throughly with thine Omniscience and Omnipresence that â— may keep thy precepts because all my ways whether inward or outward are before thee I Wish that I may have this comfortable evidence of my sincerity by the
to them Faith is a Christians guide and good Works his garment As the Fish by the Fins are raised from the mud to the top of the water so faith lifteth the soul from earth to heaven It is the evidence of things not seen Good works are as Scales a shield to a Christian and are not unfitly called the Breast plate of righteousness Thus O my soul though thou couldst not read a line in any Printed book thou mightest read many good lessons in this natural book Even things without mouths can Preach and speak thy Makers praise and pleasure Their voices are heard in every language and their words go to the end of the world Psa. 19. 4. Wheresoever O my soul thou goest thou mayst by meditation get some steps nearer thine eternal weal Art thou walking Consider thou art but a sojourner and traveller in this world thy life is a continued moâ—ion thy way is the Son of God thy home is the Fathers House thy motion is painful thy way is perfect and thy home will be full of pleasure Why shouldst thou wander and come wide or loyter and come short of Heaven O be sure to walk in the right way and be content to travail hard that thy saâ—e way may find its end in solace and thy painful walk make thy home more welcome Art thou walking in thine Orchyard thou mayst from every tree as a Text gather many profitable doctrines and inferences Take a turn or two among the Trees and thou mayst find much wholsom fruit on them 1. Some Trees are profitable for one purpose some for another some to quench thirst some to comfort and refresh the inward parts c. so the Children of God are diversly serviceable according to the different gifts bestowed on them by the Holy Ghost 2. Every living fruit tree is in some measure fruitâ—ul though some bring forth more fruit some less yet all bring forth some All living Christians are thriving and bearing fruit though some are more eminent for growth and proficiency in grace yet all bring forth fruits worthy of repentance The Hypocrite like a dead stake in an Hedge continueth at a stay is without good fruit nay groweth more rotten every moneth then other but the true Saint like the living Tree the longer he continueth rooted in Christ the more abundant he is in the work of the Lord. 3. The best Trees have a winter wherein they seem to be dead and barren yet they have their life and sap at that time remaining in the root Christians under desertions and temptations may be judged by themselves and others to be dead and undone but even at such seasons their life is hid with Christ in God Though they may fall fouly they cannot fall finally 4. Fruit-trees are tossed and shaken by the wind but there is no danger of their overturning or death whilst their root remains firm in the earth Saints may be stirred and tossed by the high winds of Satans and the worlds temptations but can never be overthrown because they are rooted in Christ. Grace may be shaken in but never out of their souls 5. The winter which the Trees suffer in frosts and snow and the continuance of their sapunder ground is profitable for them and helpful to their greater growth in Spring So the various and severest providences of God towards his people are serviceable to their good and their seeming declensions in order to their greater growth As Children under a fit of an Ague they may at present be weakened and stand at a stay but afterward they shoot up the more 6. The fruits of trees are harsh and little worth till they are grafted so the fruits of all by nature are wild and unpleasant to God till they are grafted into Christ. 7. Those trees that stand most in the Sun bring forth the sweetest and the largest fruit So those believers that live nearest God by an holy communion do the more abound in the fruits of righteousness and their fruits are the more acceptable springing from a principle of love to God 8. The more the boughs are laden the more they bow down to the earth so the more abundant any are in holiness the more humble and lowly they will be 9. The Husbandman chuseth what plants he pleaseth to bring into his Orchyard and his grafting of them and care about them makes the difference between them and others So God chuseth whom he pleaseth out of the wilderness and waste of the world and his grafting them by regeneration and conduct of them by his Spirit distinguisheth them from all the rest of the earth 10. The Leaves drop from the Trees in the beginning of Autumn Such is the friendship of this world whilst the sap of wealth and honour lasteth with me and whilst I enjoy a summer of prosperity my friends swarm in abundance but in the winter of adversity they will leave me naked O how miserable is that person who hath no friends but of this world How happy is he that hath the sap of grace which will remain with him in the coldest winter Thus O my soul whilst thou art walking with regenerate creatures thou mayst better thy spiritual senses and walk with thy Creator O how may thy thoughts be raised to the trees that are planted in the house of the Lord and flourish in the Courts of thy God that are planted by the Rivers of waters and bring forth their fruit in due season Lord I confess thy goodness in giving me so many ushers yet alas my dull and blockish heart to this day hath not learnt those lessons which thou hast set me by them Vnless thou who art the chief Master of the Assemblies undertake the work all will be in vain Thy creatures are as burning glasses they cannot make the Sun to shine but when it doth vouchsafe its heavenly beams they help to increase both light and heat It s thine own promise that all Sions Children shall be taught of God Let it please thee to undertake the tuition and instruction of thine untoward Scholar O do thou spiritualize my heart and then I shall spiritualize all the works of thine hand do thou enlighten me so powerfully by thy blessed Spirit that I may turn every spark into a candle and every candle into a star and every star into a Sun and by the light of all be enabled to see more of thy beautiful face and blessed perfections I Wish that I may not onely taste by occasional but make a full meal by set and serious meditation of that food which may God provideth for my soul If a drop a little be reviving and strengthening surely a good draught will yeild me more comfort and profit If ever it be true it s here the best is at the bottom That rare object which upon a transient view gives me some delight upon a permanent vision will afford more pleasure If my meat abide in my body it will afford me the better
Murthers and Adulteries and Blasphemies and Prophaness of wicked men cry aloud in mine ears that God is patient The persecutions and oppressions and prayers and cries and tears of good men proclaim to my conscience that God is patient The Sabbaths and Ordinances and seasons of grace and offers of pardon and life which both good and bad enjoy speak plainly and distinctly The Lord is patient O that mine eyes could see it mine ears hear it my mouth taste it my mind discern it and my soul rellâ—sh it in all these O thou beautiful beam darted from the Sun of Righteousness that callest poor mortals to life when they are at the brink of death thou that art the wonder of glorious Angels and glorified Saints be thou unto me as a bundle of myrrhe and a cluster of camphire always unto me let me love thee much for my own sake because thou hast done so much for me but most for the Lords sake because he is all in all unto me Well O my soul how wilt thou requite the kindness thou hast received from this Patience of thy God! When Ahashuerus an Heathen had read and considered how Mordecai had saved his life by discovering the two trayrours that sought to lay hands on the King he cried out What honour hath been done to Mordecai for this and could take no rest till he had given him some signal honour Thou hast read for thy whole life is a Book written within and without with it how the Patience of thy God hath saved thy life the life of thy soul when sin and Satan conspired together to take it away now wilt thou not say within thy self What honour hath been done to the patience of God for this and be unsatisfied till thou hast done it some honour for this good office it hath done thee What love doth that friend deserve who saves thy life What esteem doth that hand of pity merit that keeps thee out of the bottomless pit What thanks is that Messenger worthy of that brings thee a condemned sinner certain news of a reprieve and great hopes of a pardon Surely the respect thou owest to the patience of God which doth as much for thee as all this should be very great especially considering thy disrespects formerly to the God of Patience have been very grievous Lord I acknowledge I have formerly much abused thy patience uâ—ing it as an encouragement to prophaness and turning thy grace into wantoness but now through thy strength I will no longer despise the riches of thy forbearance but be led through thy goodness to repentance I know thou intendest it as a City of refuge to the penitent not as a sanctuary to the presumptuous O let me never make it a pillow for an hard heart but a plaister for a wounded spirit Let this servant of thine and friend of mine obtain his errand and accomplish the end for which thou hast sent him Thou sparest me here that thou might spare me hereafter thou waitest upon me that thou mightst be gracious unto me and art long-suffering because not willing that any should perish but that all might come to repentance O that therefore I might wait upon thee in all thy providences and ordinances for grace that so thy long-suffering may be unto me salvation Thou hast told me Though the sinner live an hundred years and God prolong his days yet it shall not go well with the wicked His preservation is but a reservation to the sorer and greater destruction Though thou sufferest long thou wilt not suffer always and when thou strikest impenitent ones the slowness of thy pace will be recompenced in the heaviness of thy hand The longer the child of vengeance is in the womb of the threatning the bigger it groweth and the more pain it will put the sinner to when it cometh to the birth of its execution O how dreadful will my doom be when thou comest to reckon with me for all thy patience if I do not at this day prevent it by repentance If thy patience do not now make me bend hereafter it will make me bleed It s a sweet friend but a bitter enemy No fury like that which is extracted out of abused patience T were far better to be sent from the Mothers breasts to everlasting burnings then to live many years at the charge of patience and then to die impenitent If I cause thee to suffer long now in vain thou wilt cause me to suffer long in the other world and the more dreadfully for thy long-suffering in this Since thou art gracious and merciful slow to anger and of great kindness O take me not away in thy long-suffering but give me to mind in this day of thy patience the things that concern mine everlasting peace that I may to eternity give thee honour and praise for thy wondrous and boundless patience Amen CHAP. VI. How a Christian may exercise himself to Godliness on a Week-day from Morning to Night FOurthly Thy duty is to exercise thy self to Godliness every Week-day I have spoken in the first part how a Christian may make Religion his business on a Lords-day I shall therefore in this place discover how he may do it on a Week-day Every day with a godly man is an holy Sabbath to the Lord Godliness is not his holy days or high days but every days work and his exercise every part of every day I have enclined my heart to keep thy statutes not by fits and starts but always unto the end Psa. 119. 112. The Flower called Heliotropium or Turn-sol turneth its face towards the Sun from morning to night so doth the true Christian towards the Sun of righteousness The Command of God is Be thou in the fear of the Lord all the day long Prov. 23. 17. And the carriage of holy men is answerable hereunto The twelve Tribes served God instantly day and night Act. 26. 7. As the Angels though they are imployed up and down in the world for the service of the Saints yet they always behold the face of their Father so the Children of God though they are occupied about civil and natural actions are called hither and thither as their occasions are yet they pass the whole time of their soâ—journing here in fear That Watch is naught that goeth onely at first winding up and standeth still all the day after that mans religion is little worth that like Epâ—raims goodness is as a morning cloud or dew which vanisheth away ere noon The Rivers run ever towards the Sea notwithstanding that hills and rocks and mountains interpose and force them to their winding Maeanders nay their compass about is not without profit for they water those grounds in their passage through which they seemed to wander The person that hath the living water of grace in him is always tending towards the Ocean of his happiness notwithstanding his seeming diversions by his worldly actions and particular vocation nay he is doing good
with others And they injure themselves most by being false to their trust Should they feed the bodies of their Children and Servants on the Lords-days and make no provision for them on the week-days their consciences would flie in their faces and tell them they were inhumane and unnatural and yet they can omit all regard of their immortal souls which are far more worthy of care and tendance without remorse and sorrow I must tell such persons that if Atheism had not the predominancy in their hearts it would not bear such sway in their houses Such men are like Swine with their Pigs as if all their noses were nailed to the trough in which they feed they look not up to the God of their food and of all their comforts Such Children and Servants will in the other world find cause to curse the time that ever they knew such Fathers and Masters Others there are some of whom I hope to be godly though not in this particular that pray in their families every night but omit morning duties As if God were the God of the night and not of the day as the Syrians blasphemously affirmed that he was God of the Hills but not of the Vallies These as Austin speaks of those that woâ—ship the Moon are Atheists by day as they that worship the Sun are Atheists by night The day is thine the night also is thine thou preparest the light and the Sun Psa. 74. 16. Surely though evening Sacrifice ought to be minded yet there is as much if not more reason for morning duties A man at night in his Chamber is like a Souldier in his Garrison subject onely to the unavoidable and more immediate hand of God whereas in the day when he stragleth abroad from his quarters to fetch in his supplies he is then exposed to many unexpected casualties and unthought of accidents Family perils and dangers every day call for family prayers and duties every morning Family favours and kindnesses every night call for family thanks and acknowledgements every day When many are joyned in a Bond they go often together to see the money paid All in a Family joyn in borrowing domestical mercies therefore they must all joyn in paying hearty praises Reader if thou art Governour of a Family Consider that thou canst not faithfully serve God as a Commander unless thou takest care that all the persons under thy power do their duties in their places The Lord of Hosts will never thank that Officer who is careful to sight for him in his own person but suffereth his Company through his carelesness to fall away to the enemy Do not pretend Servants are abroad or scattered here and there about their imployments and are not at leasure but answer 1. Art thou and thy servants contented to go all day without Gods protection and provision Without question thou art most unworthy of them that dost not think them worth asking Surely God may as well say he hath no leasure he hath other employment then to defend and feed and preserve thee as thou that thou hast no leasure to serve him 2. Dost not thou and do not thine squander away more time idly and vainly then need to be taken up in morning duties 3. Do not Children and Servants come together every morning to feed their bodies and why not to feed their souls 4. If any man should make use of thy Goods or Servants of thy Time without leave thou wouldst take it very ill at their hands Thou art Gods and all that thou hast may not God therefore take it unkindly that thou shouldst dispose of thy self and thine affairs without his leave 5. Is it not plain Atheism and horrid disrespect to the blessed God to put thy self or them under thy roof upon worldly imployments without asking his providence and blessing Is it not too plain a speaking that there is no such need of him that thou canst do well enough without him 6. Thou wilt not say that thou and thine have no leasure in the morning to plough or sow or buy and sell oâ— follow earthly affairs and why not leasure as well to serve and worship the Lord His worship is of greater worth of greater weight It is of more necessity it concerns thine endless bliss in the other world It will bring in the greatest profit In the doing of his commands there is great reward Dost thou not believe that he is a better pay-master then the world 7. Art thou able to do any thing in any part of the day without his assistance Dost thou not depend every moment upon him for all thy motions and actions and is he not worth acknowledging 8. Wilt thou sayâ— Thou hast no time no leasure to be saved to escape Hell and to attain Heaven I must tell thee if thou hast no time to serve God he will have no time to save thee 9. Wilt thou stand to this Plea at the day of Christ When God shall ask thee Why thou and thy Family went abroad prayerless and drowned your selves in worldly affairs and were taken and torn by snares and temptations and disowned him and his laws as if they were not worth regarding Dost thou think it will be sufficient then to answer Lord I was a Knight or a Squire and though I had many servants yet they had their several offices and employments and could not spare time to pay that homage they owed to thy Majesty to implore thy mercy and to intreat an interest in the merits of thy son We had other things to look after then thy beautiful Image and the blessed vision of thy face for ever Or suppose thou art of an inferiour rank canst thou imagine it will be a comfortable Plea to say Lord early in the morning my Children and Servants were called to tend my Sâ—op or Flocks or Cattel or set upon some needful business or other that they could have no leasure to mind their inestimable souls or to approach thy glorious Majesty in holy ordinances O blush Reader if thou art guilty of morning omissions and either cast away thy frivolous pretences and set upon the duty or else stand to thy foolish pleas and try whether they will bear weight at the great and terrible day of the Lord Jesus but remember in the mean time that thou hast had one warning more I have written somewhat largely about family duties in the first Part and therefore had intended onely to have saluted them in this place and so to have left them but observing how some families even where governous are judged to fear God are without morning though not without evening sacrifices I dwelt the longer upon it to quicken them to this duty that they might be able to say with Abijah The Lord is our God and we burn incense and offer sacrifice every morning and evening unto him 2 Chron. 13. 10 11. SECT III. SEcondly Spend the greatest part of the day in thy particular calling He that mindeth
strong This Sampson of death can fetch meat out of the eater and out of the strong sweetness Deaths harbinger sickness which prepareth its way before it will make me melt like Wax before the Sun though my strength were the strength of stones and my flesh as brass Fresh Flowers are cropt in their pride and greatest beauty The Autumn of death comes ordinarily before the winter of old age Besides I am liable every day to many sudden accidents and unexpected surprisals How many die in their Shops or Fields or in the Church or Streets as well as others in their beds All men do not go out of the world at the fore door of sickness many at the back-door of a violent death When my blood frisketh merrily in my veins and light sparkleth gloriously in mine eyes when my countenance is most fresh and lovely and my senses are most quick and lively even then aâ— my best estate I am altogether vanity I may draw a long line of life because nature may afford radical moysture enough for it when death lieth in ambush like a theif in the candle and wasteth all on a sudden Should I as the rich fool reckon falsly to a million when I cannot count truly to one and promise my self many days when my soul may be required of me this night how gross is my delusion Ah how sad how fatal is that error that can never be mended The time past is gone and never never to be called back All my prayers and tears all the revenues of the world cannot regain the last moment The time to come is Gods not mine own It is not in my hands therefore I have no reason to reckon upon it I am both foolish and dishonest if I dispose of anothers goods Reversions are uncertain and he may well be poor that hath no estate but what he hath in hope or rather presumption Lord thou reckonest my life not by ages no not by years but by days thou hast told me that my days are few my time is little though my work be great I acknowledge my proneness to put far from me my dying day whereby I gratifie my grand enemy in drawing nigh to the seat of iniquity O help thy servant to live every day as if it were his last day Grant that I may live well and much though my life be little and short because there is no day of my life in which I can promise my self security from the arrest of Death let me expect it every day and every hour of every day that when ever my Lord shall come I may be found well-doing I Wish that since the eye of my God is ever on me my eye may be ever on him and I may be so pious as to carry my self all the day long as in his presence What ever I do my God observeth whatever I speak my God heareth whatever I think he knoweth I may call every place I come into Mizpeh The Lord watcheth and observeth Ah how holy should he be who hath always to do with so pure and jealous a Majesty The Iews were to dig and cover the natural excrements of their bodies because the Lord their God walked in the midst of their camp Sin is the spiritual excrement of my soul and infinitely more odious and loathsom to my God O how watchful should I be against it who walk ever in his company The Sun is said by some to be all eye because it hath a thousand beams in every place it filleth the largest windows and peepeth in at the smallest key-hole it shineth on the Princes Pallace and the Poor mans Cottage the Heavens above the Earth beneath and Air between it looks on every person with so direct a countenance as if it beheld none beside The natural Sun is darkness to the Sun of righteousness the whole world to him is a sea of glass he seeth it thorough and thorough The Watch-maker knoweth all the wheels and pins and motions in the Watch He that made me cannot be ignorant of me nor of any thing in me or done by me Whether I be in my Shop or Closet Abroad or at Home in Company or Alone the Hand of my God is with me and the Eye of my God upon me O that I could set him ever before me and set my self ever before him that I could always see him who always seeth me and like a Sun-dyal so receive this Sun in the morning as to go along with him all the day Lord thou searchest and knowest me thou knowest my down-sitting and uprising thou understandest my thoughs afar off Thou compassest my paths and lying down and art acquainted with all my ways For there is not a word in my tongue but O Lord thou knowest it altogether Whither shall I go from thy Spirit and whither shall I flee from thy presence If I ascend up to Heaven thoâ— art there If I make my bed in Hell behold thou art there If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the utmost parts of the Sea even there shall thy hand lead me and thy right hand shall hold me If I say surely the darkness shall cover me even the night shall be light about me Yea the darkness hideth not from thee but the night shineth as the day The darkness and the light are both alike to thee O teach me to walk before thee and to be upright I Wish that the end of all my days may be the beginning of every day that my first thoughts in the morning may be of him by whom alone I think The Firstling under the Law was to be the Lords and why not the first fruits of every day under the Gospel Surely the worthiness of the person deserves precedency of dispatch It is no mean incivility to let an honourable man wait our leasure what impiety is it then to let the great God stay till the dreggy flesh or world be served Ah how unworthy as well as wicked is it to put that God off who deserves all I am and have with the leavings of his slaves Besides the soul usually walks up and down all day in the same habit in which it is dressed in the morning The day is usually spent well or ill according to the morning employment If Satan get possession in the morning t will be many to one but he keeps his hold all day What youth is to age that is the morning to the day if youth be not tainted with vice age is imployed in vertue He that loves chastity will not marry her that spent her youth in whordom A man may give a shrewd guess in the morning when second causes are in working what weather will be most part of the day If I set out early in my heavenly journey I am the more likely to persevere in it all the day As some sweet Oyls poured into a Vessel first will cause whatsoever is put into it afterwards to taste and
days in the Kalender of their lives for Festivals and make them all Play-days as if there were never a working day among them that are as busie and tedious in dressing their worm-eaten bodies as Children in dressing Babies and are more troubled at the smallest disorder in their hairs then the greatest disorder in Church and State would give up all and much more if they had it for a little time Then the Nobles and Kings and Emperours of the world will disesteem their honours and height and trample upon their Robes and Scepters and â—rowns for a little time Then they who dally with their days of grace and delay the preparation of their souls for death and judgement as if time were at their command and they could force it to attend their leasure that live as if Death were their servant and must wait on them till they thought fit to come to their graves will find that time was time indeed O my soul of what worth will time be at that day and wilt thou waâ—te it at this day Alas how little is that time which thou hast to improve for thine unchangeable estate My life is but a shadow that is gone when the Sun hides his head A Bubble that vanisheth when a small breath of wind appeareth A day that is soon overtaken by a night a span nothing Thou hast made my days as an hand-breadth mine age is nothing unto thee Wert thou able to secure a long life though thou hâ—sâ— work enough of infinite weight to imploy it all yet thou mightest have more colour of reason for being lavish but when thy time is little and thy business of such consequence what unspeakable madness is it to be wasteful of it He that hath thousands of acres of Land will spare some for a Park some for a bowling-green some for a court-yard some for pleasure and pastimes but he that hath but a little land upon which himself and his family must live and by which they must be maintained can spare none at all for vain pleasures but must improve all to real profit Man that is born of a woman is but of few days He comes up as a Flower fleeth as a shadow and continueth not and wilt thou O my soul revel and riot away this poor pittance in which thou shouldst work out thy salvation O that I could value this jewel in some measure answerable to its worth and do the work of the day in the day allotted me for work Time rightly husbanded is acceptable time a day well imployed is a day of salvation Lord though my journey be great my time is little Nay how much of that little time have I lost A considerable part of it hath been taken up with my Infancy and Child-hood wherein I did little above a Beast My youth hath been squandred away in trifles and vanity and too much of it in lust and iniquity Much of what remains if thou shouldst add a few more days to my life must be spent in eating and drinking and sleeping and necessary natural actions and shall I not redeem it to my power for the service of my Saviour O affect my soul throughly how Eternity rides upon the back of time that I may prize time highly redeem it carefully and improve it so faithfully that eternity may be my friend and when time shall have an end I may enjoy that joy which hath no end I Wish that I may every day so cast up my accounts that I maybe always ready for the great Audit-day Wise Stewards do not write down great sums in gross which they have disbursed for their Lords at several times but set down the particulars whereby they are prepared for a general reckonning and enabled to justifie their accounts My trust is more weighty then of any Princes Steward on earth my Master will be more exact then the severest humane Lord and am I not then concerned so to number my days as to reckon every day what I receiâ—e from my Lord what I disburse for my Lord and at the foot of every day to write the total sum How foolish is he that rejects his books till his bookâ— reject him 〈◊〉 is it not better for me to look over the book of my conscience and observe what blots and errors are there whilst I have licence and liberty to correct them then to neglect them till those eyes which are purer then to behold iniquity come to look it over and leave be denyed of ever amending what he finds amiss O my soul this evening now I am writing this page I must send to thee Amaziah's challenge of Joash Come let us see one another in the face Why should we that are so near together be such strangers to each other I must ask thee as Elisha did Gehezi Whence comest thou Where hast thou been What hast thou done this day for God and thy self Hast thou lived or onely been in the world this day Doth thy soul work thine eternity work go forward or backward Hast thou lived as if thou wâ—rt going to die and walked in the fear of the Lord all the day long Hath the awe and dread of the divine Majesty all along possessed thee Dost thou consider that thou hast one day less to live and one day more to account for Suppose God should come to thee this night as he did to Belshazer with a Mene Mene It is numbred It is numbred Thy days are told God hath counted them up and finished them thou shalt not live to see a morrow Thy days are extinct the grave is ready for thee Art thou ready for thy grave If God should say to thee as that Lord to his Servant Give an account of thy Stewardship for thou shalt be no longer Steward Are thy accounts and Gods even Dost thou reckon as he doth What do all the actions of this day stand for in thine account Figures or Ciphers somthing or nothing What were thy first thoughts in the morning Was he who came first to thee with his morning mercies first served by thee How didst thou pray in thy Closet and Family What sorrow accompanied thy confessions Was thy heart broken that thou hast broken his holy laws What faith and fervency did accompany thy requests Was the heat of thy affections answerable to the weight of thy petitions Didst thou present thy petition to the Master of Requests the Lord Iesus Christ by him to be delivered to the Father What spiritual joy and delight didst thou find in Thankesgiving Didst thou wonder at that infinite cost which the glorious God is at with such an unworthy wretch How didst thou râ—ad the word this day Did it come with power and authority to thy conscience was it mingled with faith Didst thou hide it in thy heart Hadst thou any resolution to make it thy rule and Counseller and Comforter and to order thy conversation according to it How didst thou eat and drink this day Didst thou feed
Chaff that the Storm carrieth away I flie away as a dream and shall not be found my life is chased away as a vision of the night The eyes which have seen me shall see me no more neither shall my place any more behold me I must live now or never If I die I shall not live again O that all the days of my appointed time I could wait till my change cometh Were I to take my leave of the world this night and were my life to end with the day how then would I spend every hour every moment of it Should I lavish away my time about this or that vanity Would I play it away in vain company Would I neglect my spiritual watch or waste my talents upon trifles should I dally about secret or private duties or be careless of my carriage in my calling would I starve my immortal soul or cast off all care of eternity No but I should all the day long act by the square and rule of the word How serious should I be in praying in reading in working for my soul for my salvation how diligent to do all the good I could to receive all the good I might how watchful to catch at and embrace all opportunities of honouring and serving my Maker and Redeemer because my time is short and I must pray and read and work for eternity now or no more no more for ever And why should I not be as holy though I do not know that I shall die this night when I know not but I may die this night How foolish is he who neglects doing his work till his work is past doing Besides Other creatures are constant and unwearied in serving their maker they are every day all the day long in their stations obedient to his commands If I look to Heaven to Earth to inanimate to irrational creatures I behold them all as so many Souldiers in their several ranks exactly and continually subject to the orders which they receive from the Lord of hosts and shall I be shamed by them I am at present more indebted more intrusted by God I have a reward hereafter of joy to encourage me of pain to provoke me to unweariedness in well doing which they neither hope nor fear Lord I live every moment upon thee why should I not live every moment to thee My life is by thy providence O that it were according to thy precepts I would not be thine hireling to serve thee meerly for wages thou thy self art my exceeding great reward but I would be thy days-man to work for thee by the day every day all the day long O help me to live well in time that I may live well eternally Let every day be so devoted to thy praise and every part of it so imployed in thy service that I may be the more fitted to please and woâ—â—â—ip thee in that place where there is no night yet all rest no Sun yet all day all light all joy where I shall have no meat or drink or sleep or shop or flocks or family and which is best of all no unbeleiving selfish carnal heart to call me from or hinder me in thy work but I shall worship and enjoy thee without diversion without distraction without interruption without intermission both perfectly and perpetually Amen CHAP. VII How a Christian may exercise himself to Godliness in visiting the Sick FIfthly Thy duty is to exercise thy self in visiting the sick The Visitation of the sick is a work of as great weight as any injoyned us relating to others and as much neglected and slighted in its management as almost any duty commanded Sickness is so common and Death so ordinary that with most their frequency takes away the sense of them and charity in many sickens and dieth as fast as others bodies The generality of pretended Christians like the Priest and the Levite if they see a man wounded both in his body and soul though it be to death pass on the other side of the way not caring to meddle with any that are in misery They tell us they are true members of Christ but like a bag of suppurated blood they feel nothing neither have any communion with the body Many on their dying beds whose souls are worse and more dangerously sick then their bodies may speak to their Minister or Neighbour for the duty belongs to the People as well as the Pastor almost in the words of Martha to Christ Sir If thou hadst been here my soul had not dyed Some visite the sick but rather out of a complement then out of conscience or to profit themselves more then their Neighbours The Ingenuous Heathen Seneca will tell such If a man visit his sick friend and watch at his Pillow for charity sake and out of his old affection we approve it but if for a Legacy he is a Vulture and watcheth onely for the carcass The discourse of these is chiefly about worldly affairs and nothing about the great concernments of eternity Others sometimes go about the work but perform it so ill administring Cordials when there is need of Corrosives sowing Pillows under their sick friends heads that they may die easily or if they tell them of their danger they do it so coldly and carelesly and by halves that as he said there is diseaseâ— their soul-sickness is curable but the unsutable medicines they take make it incurable It may be said of many a soul as Adrians Counsellers said of him Multitudo medicorum c. Many Physitians have killed the Emperour Ah! How dreadful is it when unskilful and unfaithful Mountebanks undertake to tamper and trifle with immortal souls that are just entring into their eternal estates Father forgive them they know not what they do Galen saith in respect of bodily Medicines In medicina nihil exiguum There is nothing small in Physick Every thing in it is of great consequence A little mistake may cause death I may upon greater reason say There is nothing little in spiritual Physick A small error in our prescriptions to sick souls may cause dreadful mischief Instead of curing we may kill the patient Hazaels wet cloth was not more deadly to his Masters body then the discourse of most is to their sick neighbours souls Fear of displeasing and a natural propensity to flatter prevail with too many to sooth their dying friends into unquenchable flames But surely there is more love as well as more faithfulness in frighting a sick person out of his spiritual Lethargy then in fawning him into the eternal lake that burneth with Fire and Brimstone Some venemous creatures tickle a man till he laughs even when they sting him to death so doth the flattering Minister or Neighbour he raiseth a sick man void of grace to the Pinnacle of joy and highest hopes of Heaven and thereby throweth him down into the Culph of irrecoverable sorrows and leaves him to undeceive himself in hell I shall first lay down two or three
Motives to stir up the Reader to this work and then direct him about it SECT I. FIrst It is a duty commanded thee by God Men are apt to think the visitation of the sick to be onely an act of Courtesie and Civility which they may omit or perform at their pleasure when it is an act of Charity and Christianity which every Christian is bound to by a divine Precept The Ministers of Christ are especially enjoyned this task but every member of Christ also when God gives him opportunity oweth this debt to his Neighbour Iam. 5. 14 15. If any be sick let him send for the Elders of the Church and let them pray over him The same word which commandeth the sick man to send commandeth the Elder to go Indeed it s a gross fault in many sick persons and therein they are exceedingly their own enemies that they either send not at all for the Minister or if they do not till they have done with the Physitian when their bodies are past all hope then they look after some hope for their souls But without question it is a duty for the Elder sometimes to go uncalled It s good manners to be an unbidden guest at a house of mourning Our Master was found of them that asked not for him and so should his servants There are those that can invite themselves to their Neighbours Tables who withdraw themselves from their Chambers Some are drunk so often with their Parishioners whilst they are in health that they are afraid or ashamed to discourse seriously with them when they are sick God may speak to many as to the Shepherds of Israel Wo be to the Shepherds of England that do feed themselves should not the Shepherds feed the Flock ye eat the fat and ye cloth you with the Wool ye kill them that are fed but ye feed not the Flock The diseased have ye not strengthened neither have ye healed that which was sick neither have ye bound up that which was broken but with force and with cruelty have ye ruled them Ezek. 34. 3 4. None are more cruel to the Flock then those that are most covetous of the Fleece Oleaster on Lev. 14. 44. Then the Priest shall come and look and behold if the Plague be spread c. that being the third time the Priest was to visit the infected house hath this useful observation Si Saecerdos toties invisat leprosam domum cur tu non aegrum If the Priest were commanded so often to visit the leprous house why dost not thou visit the sick person The Plague in the heart calls for more pity and help then the Plague in the House This duty also belongs to private members as well as to publique Officers Every Christian should love his Neighbour as himself which he cannot do unless he have a sense of his sickness and endeavour to improve such an opportunity for his Neighbours Salvation True love like fire burns hottest when the weather is coldest Histories make mention of one Vrâ—iâ—us a Physitian that being to die for the Gospel and beginning to waver Vitalis a godly man stept to him and though he knew it would cost him his life encouraged him saying What have you been so industrious heretofore to preserve mens bodies and will you now shrink at the saving your own soul Be couragious For which faithful counsel he was condemned and suffered accordingly It s our duty to assist them that die natural as well as those that die violent deaths To visit persons in their affliction is one testimony of the truth of our Religion at this day Holiness and Charity are like Father and Child Pure Religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this to visit the Fatherless and the Widows in their afflictions c. Jam. 1. ult The fatherless and widows are expressed but the sick and strangers and captives are included because these are usually most afflicted and most neglected Those that have received mercy cannot but shew mercy As visiting the distressed is a sign of it now so it will be the test of Christianity at the great day Mat. 25. 34 35 36. Come ye blessed c. I was hungry and ye fed me naked and ye cloathed me sick and ye visited me c. Works of mercy fill up the whole bill as the evidence of the Saints right to heaven Whereof Luther gives this reason because the consciences of the wicked shall justifie Christ as well in the absolution of the godly as in their own condemnation Though Christians do not give their almes or visit the sick to be seen of men yet in doing many offices of love and acts of charity they are seen of men So they who can witness the truth of Christians mercy will be forced to acknowledge the equity of Christs sentence SECT II. SEcondly It is a special opportunity of doing and receiving good 1. Of doing good I think it the more necessary to speak to this Motive because many are apt to judge all pains with sick persons to be to no purpose They are discouraged from endeavouring the conversion of prophane men upon sick beds supposing that such mens repentance will be as unsound as their bodies even when they are sick unto death Though I would not give the least encouragement to any men to defer their turning to God beleiving him worse then mad who puts off the weighty business of his soul because peradventure God may grant him repentance hereafter yet I must obviate this suggestion of the Divel which hinders men from doing their duty God may shew mercy to a soul at last There is one example in Scripture that none might despair Sickness is with some men the tide-time of devotion They who scorned godly men and made a mock of godliness in their health will prize the Saint and desire his sanctity above all the world when they lye upon sick beds and consider what an holy God they are going to appear before Sickness as one saith is Officina virtutis morum disciplina The shop of vertue and the school of manners Therefore King Alfred was wont to say I ever find my self best when worst best in soul when worst in body the sickness of my body is physick to my soul Experience daily informeth us that the Swaggerers and Gallants of the world whose consciences are not seared with an hot Iron though they gave themselves up to Drunkenness and Gluttony and Gaming and Whoredom and all manner of wickedness in their youth and strength yet when they are weakened much with a disease and have no hopes of continuing longer on earth begin to wish that they had spent their time to more purpose and are sensible of their neglect of God and Christ and their Souls and Eternity then many of them will desire the company of those that fear God and beg their prayers and hearken to their counsels and would give all they are worth for a little of their grace and
prudent questions to the sick concerning the condition of their souls The ignorance of a Physitian may occasion the death of the Patient Some practitioners in Physick who intend much good do much hurt for want of judgement to find out the tempers and distempers of the sick A mistake in soul-cases is of more hazard then in body-sickness If I undertake to humble a person who is already cast down sufficiently and wants a Cordial or to comfort one who is full of presumption already and needs a Corrosive how good soever my meaning may be my acting is evil and instead of releiving I may destroy my Brother The Eastern Churches did not without cause enjoyn the Minister or such as were appointed to visit the sick to continue with them seven days together that in that space they might discover the man before they applied themselves to him either in a way of Admonition or Counsel or Consolation Iobs friends when they came to visit him spake not a word either reproving or advising him till they heard him open his mouth and curse the tongue that told the news of his birth The knowledge of the sick mans spiritual condition is as it were the foundation upon which we must build all our discourse with him and prayers to God for him or at least it is the rule by which we must build and therefore it s very dangerous to mistake in it If the Foundation be laid ill the superstructure will never stand well If the rule be crooked the building cannot be strait A blind Archer may as soon hit the Mark as one ignorant of his Neighbours state advantage his soul. SECT IV. 2. APply thy self to him sutably to his condition As the conditions of men are several so must the Application be that which cures one may kill another One medicine will as soon cure all diseased bodies as one way all sick souls Indeed the Physick to be prescribed every Patient is the same for substance The blood of Christ By his stripes we are healed but there are several ways of tendering this to sinners that they may be prepared for it and give it all acceptation that Physick which is given to one in a Potion is given to another in a powder to a third in an electuary to a fourth in a pill according as it will be most prositable and most acceptable to them It s not easie so to write the bill that the sick may receive what is prescribed to his greatest content and advantage For as many perish errore medici as vi morbi by the error of the Physitian as by the power of the disease Though I judge it next to impossible for me to set down exactly and fully directions answerable to the difference of sick persons condition disposition education calling guilt c. yet I shall speak to the most ordinary cases and be careful not to omit the main work namely that which concerneth the conversion of graceless and Christless persons if on a sick bed God peradventure will give them repentance If the sick person be judged carnal and unregenerate for the Tree is known by its Fruits Besides it s no breach of charity to fear the worst of them whose lives do not speak a positive holiness especially whilst we are endeavouring their good then in general I would advise thee to speak 1. To the depravation of mans nature and the transgressions of life with the sad aggravations thereof How holy man was by creation how universally and desperately vicious he is by his fall from God and what horrid unthankfulness he is guilty of in continuing in sin notwithstanding the grace that is offered to him in the Gospel It s fit to speak to the purity and equity of the Law of God and to the difference and contrariety of his heart and life to it to the sinfulness of sin in its offensiveness and opposition to the nature and word of an infinitely Holy Glorious and Gracious Majesty in its destructiveness to the present peace and future perfection of his own precious and immortal soul and in that the stain of it is so deep and the venome of it so great that nothing beneath the blood of God could wash out its spots or be a sufficient Antidote for its poison Tell him of the folly of sinners in refusing Heaven for Earth Angelical Delights for brutish Pleasures the blessed God for a base lust and of his own madness likewise in running on so eagerly upon his own ruine against the counsels of men the commands threatnings and intreaties of God the convictions of his conscience the calls and invitations of a loving Redeemer and the motions of the holy Spirit 2. Speak to the merit of sin how it being committed against an infinite Majesty deserveth infinite wrath and severity Tell him that the Wages of Sin is death temporal spiritual eternal Acquaint him with the justice holiness and jealousie of God how he will by no means clear the guilty but hath threatned all manner of plagues and judgements on the workers of iniquity and cannot fail in the least of accomplishing his word how he is resolved to make all the Children of Men feel sin to be an evil and bitter thing either in broken bones on earth or broken backs and endless torments in hell Let him know his own obnoxiousness by reason of his many and greivous sins to the curse of the Law the wrath of the Lord and the vengeance of the eternal fire Tell him that he is by nature a Child of Wrath an Enemy to God and an Heir of Hell that it had been just to have cast him out of the Womb into Hell that Gods patience in bearing with him thus long will but increase his condemnation and endless misery unless he prevent it by sincere conversion This is the first thing requisite in order to the recovery of his soul. Till sin be discovered in its hainous nature and bloody colours it will never be lamented nor the Saviour esteemed according to the duty of the Sinner The first thing usually which the Spirit doth in the change of a sinner is to convince him of sin Joh. 16. 8. And this is also first in the Ministers commission Acts 26. 18. The great neglect of this in Ministers and others is one reason that so few Sinners are awakened the needful work of humiliation is so dangerously slighted that poor souls go sleeping and dreaming all is well till they come to be undeceived in Hell 3. Speak to his own inability to help himself that no less then infinite power can recover him out of his miserable condition Men are prone to act like Brutes when they are wounded to undertake the licking themselves whole as if it were an easie thing to renew a carnal creature and heal vitiated nature but alas the work is not so soon done It s another manner of work to open the blind eyes and â—â—liven the dead soul then the secure careless worldling
of others do speak aloud in thine ears that health and rest are mercies O how shouldst thou adore that God who distinguisheth thee thus graciously from others Mayst thou not think with thy self Here is a person full of pain the day is full of darkness to him and wearisome nights are appointed to him Lo his Wife and Children and Friends are weeping about him but cannot relieve or redress him all the comforts of this life are unâ—avoury to him His aches and grief and diseases hinder him much in spiritual performances and in the prosecution of a better life how much aâ— I bound to the Lord that it is not so with me I can relliâ—h outward mercies and am refreshed with bodily comforts I have no such distemper or pain to take me off from prayer or Scripture but I may be as frequent and as urgent as I will about my soul and eternal concernments Bless the Lord O my soul and all within me praise his holy name Surely health is the Prince the first-born of outward blessings Though foolish men deprive themselves frequently of it for the satisfaction of a sensual wanton appetite yet it s more worth then a thousand of those brutish transitory delights A Stomach is of more value then meat and a good digestion then raiment Men think not much to part with much of their wealth in their sickness for a little health O it deserves thy prayers to God for it with submission to his will when thou wantest it and thy praysing of God for it with enlarged affections when thou hast it 3. In observing the necessity of a timely repentance and its difficulty on a dying bed How unfit is a man to begin to live when he is wracked with pain and going to die The dolour and trouble of his body are great impediments to the good of his soul. When the outward man is in great distress and the inner man sympathizing with it the best words are often wasted and thrown away and the mind is unfit either to receive counsel or comfort Further How irrational is it to give Satan our prime our health or strength and God our weak and consumptionate and dying parts to present our enemy with our quick and nimble and active faculties and members and to put off our best friend with a body full of sores and a soul full of sin Besides the longer men continue in sin the more difficult their conversion will be He that hath wandred or travelled out of the right way all day will hardly be perswaded to go back all the way and set out again at night Where Satan hath dwelt long he will hardly be removed A Ship the longer it leaketh the harder it is to be emptied The fâ—rther a nail is driven in the more trouble to get it out The longer my soul continueth in disobedience the harder it will be to bring it to repentance The more sin is riveted and habituated in me the more pains and toyl and grief it will cost to get it subdued and slain 4. In learning more the excellency of grace and an interest in Christ and God which will do a man good in a day of â—ickness and an hour of death He is a friend indeed that is a friend in a day of adversity The sinners folly in neglecting durable riches teacheth the Christian wherein true wisdom consisteth and the worth of it That it consisteth not in heaping up such treasures or getting such friends as will be useless and unprofitable in a time of need but in laying up a treasure in Heaven and ensuring eternal comforts Cold â—harp weather sheweth the value of an healthy constitution A storm will speak the worth of a sure Anchor and a skilful Pilot. The excellency of grace and holiness and Christ and God are not fully known till we come into the other world where all sublunary comforts are wanting But the more any condition in this world resembleth that and the nearer we approach that the more visible is the value of divine and lasting blessings A Cordial is not esteemed till we come to fainting fits A soul that in time of health and wealth and outward prosperity made the fear and ways of God and the estate of the godly the object of his scorn and contempt when he comes to be awakened by the alarum of death and to look into the other world will make them the object of his choice and give a world if he had it for them A Good Wish about the visitation of the sick wherein the former heads are applied THe righteous Lord and God of all grace who for sin afflicteth man with sickness yet in the midst of judgement remembreth mercy intending his instruction not his destruction by it having designed such afflictions as rods to whip men to himself to make them out of love with sin the spring of all their sufferings and sorrows and to wean them from the earth who otherwise would make it their Heaven and hath also appointed men to be the means through which these mercies shall be conveyed and sicknesses sanctified to them I Wish in general that I may never omit to visit those Neighbours with pity whom God hath visited in fury muchless insult as the Edomites over the afflicted Israelites and persecute them whom God hath smitten drawing blood from those wounds which are already blew with the blows of the Almighty but may be faithful to the precept and purpose of my God in this particular and adopt my second table duties into the Family of the first table by visiting the sick not out of common civility but out of charity and in obedience to the God of my health It is my priviledge that my Almes may become Sacrifice my Courtesies worship and in paying that debt of love which I owe to my Neighbour I may pay that duty which I owe to my Maker O that in all my common transactions I might move upon principles of reason and especially in works that have a tendency Godward act upon grounds of Religion Lord thou hast an eye to my good in all thy providences and dealings why should not I have an eye to thy glory in all my practices and actings Cause thy fear so to possess my heart that I may visit the sick out of conscience and let thy grace so assist and accompany my endeavours that thou mayst visit them to their eternal comfort I Wish that the Command of my God may be a sufficient Motive and warrant to make me set about the practice of this work It is my duty to visit them that are sick as I am the Lords Servant I disown his authority I deny his Image if I do not sympathize with others in misery Nature it self commandeth me to be affected with the conditions of such as are afflicted All creatures will commiserate those of their rank and order that are in misery Bees will rather stay and starve with those of their kind that
are unable to flie to their Hives by reason of the weakness of their wings then stir from them or forsake them The Swine are so sensible of their fellows sufferings that if one of the Company be lugd all the rest will after their manner condole it If a Beast be slain and its blood spilt others of that sort will â—hew their love and pity by scraping earth on the blood burying their fellow and solemnizing his funeral with a kind of lamentation Grace doth much more enjoyn me to be sick in others sickness poor in others poverty and to remember them that are in bonds as bound with them and them that suffer adversity as being my self also in the body David speaking of his enemies that sought his destruction saith But as for me when they were sick my cloathing was sack-cloth I humbled my soul with fasting and my prayer returned into mine own bosome I behaved my self as though he had been my friend or brother I bowed down heavily as one that mourneth for his Mother Psa. 35. 11 to 15. My God hath said To him that is afflicted pity should be shewn Sickness is one of the greatest outward afflictions it renders all the comforts of this life uncomfortable The largest Houses Revenues Honours the most loving Acquaintants Friends Relations are all unsavoury to them that are under great sickness To visit the prosperous and healthy is courtesie but to visit the distressed and sick is charity The sweetest showres should fall on the lower grounds Lord thou art the Father of mercies and art afflicted in all the afflictions of thy Children thy soul is greived for the miseries of Israel How sutable is it for them who expect mercy another day to shew mercy at this day Make me a follower of thee as a dear child to put on bowels of compassion and to be merciful in heart tongue and hand as thou my Father in Heaven art merciful I Wish that as a wise Merchant I may make the use of this price which is put into my hand for the furtherance of my own and my neighbours peace Sickness is a special opportunity wherein I may advantage others souls The most poisonous Viper is at such a season benummed with cold and so may be handled without much danger The strength of the body of sin is much abated at least in regard of act and exercise by the weakness of the natural body They who counted holiness a fancy and holy ones Phanaticks in their health and power will beg hard for purity and desire the Saints prayers in their sickness The waters of those passions which in a Summer of prosperity did overflow their bounds and threatned to over-whelm and over-throw all that was near are frozen up in a Winter of adversity and kept within their banks There are many nicks in time as we see in a Clock which if they hit the work goeth on well The hardened hearts of sinners are often melted when their persons are confined to their warm Chambers As Tinder when dry easily takes fire by the least spark that falls on it so when the souls of ungodly men are made soft by sickness and their thoughts of the evil of sin in the pain it brings on their bodies makes their affections combustible it will be much the easier to kindle the fire of repentance in them Affliction boareth or openeth the ear and then its seasonable to drop some wholsom counsel into it Though a load on the ground be hard to be stirred yet a load on the wheels is easie to be drawn The illness and aches and distempers of sinners bodies do as it were set the work of conversion and minding the good of their souls upon the wheel and therefore such opportunities ought to be diligently improved Sickness is a good time when charity is in season T is a grace to have an opportunity for the service of my God but a greater to improve it The Eastern people do Plow and sow their grounds when the former Rain hath softned it and why should not I endeavour to Plow up the fallow ground of my Neighbours heart and to sow in it the seeds of savoury instructions when it is made tender by sickness Lord thou layest hold of every opportunity to bless me with mercy answerable to my necessities make me both wise to discern time and judgement and faithful to make use of all such seasons to do thee service I Wish that the opportunity I have thereby of doing good to my own soul may move me to be the more careful and consciencious in visiting the sick It is the wise mans speech It is better to go into the house of mourning then to go to the house of feasting for that is the end of all men and the living will lay it to heart It is better as it is most sutable to my present state T is not proper for Pilgrims to spend their time in Pleasure Sorrow is becoming in a valley of tears An house of mourning agrees well with the mourners in Sion This world is a Sea I am a Mariner and Mariners rejoyce in the Haven not in the Tempestuous Ocean This life is a warfare I am a Souldier T is too soon to be joyful whilst I am fighting it will be time enough when all my Enemies are foyld O how harsh is it for a child to be jocond when he is far from home Weeping is good language for them that sit down by the River of Babylon How can I sing the Lords songs in a strange Land Again It is better to go into the house of mourning as it is most profitable to my precious soul. Grace thrives best in a wet soyl By the sadness of the countenance the heart is made better The inner man is best when clad in mourning Trees planted by the water-side hang with clusters and bring forth fruit in due season The sick bed is a Pulpit and though there be a wicked man in it he may teach me rare instructions If he be wholly silent his condition Preacheth to me that sin is the greatest evil that the world is a cheat and impostour and that grace is the most desireable created good His dark chamber weeping friends watered couch aking head trembling heart pale lips quivering loyns all call aloud to me to consider of and prepare for such an hour Abel being dead yet speaketh My sick my dead Neighbour speaketh Prepared be to follow me Some have been raised to life by beholding the dead O that I were wise to observe and improve the opportunities which free grace affordeth me for my own and others welfare If I lose a good Market for the furtherance of my outward estate I befool and bewail my self Ah why should I not be as much affected with the loss of opportunities for my inner man Sinners observe their seasons for the gratifying their Loves and the satisfying their lusts The Thief waiteth for the full Purse till the Market is
over and commodities be sold. The Adulterer makes use of the dark night for his deeds of darkness Satan watcheth every opportunity to insnare and destroy me if I give him the least advantage by idleness or carnal security or running into occasions of sin he doth presently lay hold on it to pollute me All men indeed may shameâ—me The Mariner doth spread his Sails when the Winds blow The Merchant observes his Exchange hours when he may meet with many friends and dispatch much business in a little time The Lawyer minds his Terms There is a time when Kings go out to Battel 2 Sam. 11. 1. which Souldiers will not neglect The Husbandman makes Hay whilst the Sun shines Yet Ah how foolish am I to let slip those golden seasons which my God giveth me for working out my own salvation Lord thou hast made every thing beautiful in its season But poor silly man knoweth not his time Grant me so much prudence that is the men of Issacar I may have understanding of the times and so much piety as to serve the times not as Worldlings in altering my course according to the fashions and customes of men but in embracing what is tendered in due time for my own and others good always adhering to the Commands of thee my God I Wish that the uncertainty of my sick Neighbours outward recovery may make me the more careful and solicitous about his spiritual health If he die he is stated and fixed for ever and ever and I am for ever deprived of all opportunities of profiting or advantaging his soul. Now he is sick he is nigh death but one step from it The sick stand upon the borders of the grave upon the brink of the pit nay of eternity Those that are in most perfect health are inclining towards death but they that are sick are approaching the Chambers of darkness Such a man may speak in the language of Haman My life draweth nigh unto the grave Psa. 88. 3. Should he depart this life in a natural estate he falleth into the jaws of eternal death All prayers for him will then be fruitless and there is no giving counsel to him after death I must now advise exhort perswade beseech him to mind faith and repentance or never do it I must now put up hearty cries and groans to God on his behalf or never do it The loving kindness of God cannot be declared in the grave nor his faithfulness in destruction When he is wailing in Hell for the ungodliness of his heart and life I may be weeping on earth for my neglect of him or unfaithfulness to him but both our tears will be ineffectual and our cries comfortless O that the love of my Saviour the command of my God the worth of a soul the weight of an eternal estate the fear of losing such a season and the impossibility of recalling or recovering it may all provoke me to be instant with the sick to turn to God and abhor and bewail their sins and to be fervent with God that he would crown my endeavours with success Lord I may speak thy Mind and Will to Men but thou alone who didst make the ear canst enable them to hear let it please thy Majesty so to affect my heart with a due sense of others misery so to direct my tongue what to speak in order to their recovery and so to prosper the undertakings of thy servant that as often as I visit any unconverted person in his sickness I may turn a sinner from the error of his ways save a soul alive and hide a multitude of sins I Wish that I may be solicitous to understand the spiritual conditions of the sick that my prescriptions may be profitable being sutable to their several sores The knowledge of the disease must necessarily precede directions for its cure It s folly to undertake their recovery whose estates I am ignorant of He works at the labour-in-vain who goeth about to heal a wounded Patient when he knoweth not the place or nature of his pain The mistake of the Physitian may be as mortal and dangerous as the disease it self It will be no wonder if a blind man shoot awry and miss the mark This was the cause that Jobs friends though holy men and designing a good end wandred exceedingly and instead of administring comfort by their visitation wounded him to the quick and proved his greatest cross The Sabeans and Chaldeans robbed him of his Cattel Satan wronged him in his body but his three friends vexed his soul and did break him in peices with words Their ignorance was the ground of the hurt they offered instead of the help they intended Job 19. 2. A Friend may do that mischief upon a false supposition which an Enemy doth out of malice Though the Doctrine be true and right if the Application of it be wrong I may kill sooner then cure the person to whom I apply it The Husbandman must know the nature of his ground before he casteth in his seed or otherwise he will miss of his expected crop Lord thou knowest the conditions and dispositions of all men by immediate intuition and needest not that any should testifie of man thou knowest how needful it is for me to understand by rational discourse who and what those sick persons are how things stand betwixt thy Majesty and their souls whose recovery I go about O help me to find out their sickness and to give such advice out of thy word that thou mayst work their cure I Wish that when the condition of the sick person is found out neither fear nor flattery may make me unfaithful to his soul. Those prescriptions cannot be profitable that are not answerable to his estate I am unfaithful to God my Neighbour and my self if my Application be not sutable to his condition My God commandeth me to proclaim War against the presumptuous to preach Peace to the penitent and if I act otherwise out of fear or affection I act contrary to my commission I am false to my trust if I keep not close to the will of my Lord. He that takes not his Masters Precepts for his rule will at last be counted and punished as an unfaithful servant I hinder also my Neighbours good whilst I give him counsel unsutable to his case I may pretend love and respect but its real hatred to flatter him who is hastening to the unquenchable fire How dreadful will his fall be from the high Turret of presumption into the infernal pit of perdition and how little thanks will he give me in the other world for cozening his soul by telling him all was well till he came to see his own and my mistake in hell Again the guilt of such a crime would make a deep gash in my own conscience It s ill slighting or tampering with inestimable souls His blood will be required at my hands and if the blood of a slain body cry so loud
for vengeance what will the blood of a murdered soul do Why should I to humour any mans lust injure his soul hinder my own peace and incur the anger of the Lord. O that no foolish pretences whatsoever may keep me off from acquainting sinners with thâ—â—â—â—il and end the nature and danger of their sins It s Gods order first to cast the soul down and then to lift it up The ground must feel the Plow before it receive the Seed Sorrow must precede comfort and they must sow in tears who would reap in joy God must shake all Nations before the desired of all Nations will come to him We come to Sinai the Mount that burneth with fire and to blackness and darkness and a tempest which makes even a Moses to fear and quake exceedingly before we come to Mount Sion the City of the living God the Heavenly Ierusalem and to Jesus the Mediatour of the new Covenant and to the blood of sprinkling that speaketh better things then the blood of Abel The Law is a School-Master to drive us to Christ. Austere Iohn with his Ax laid to the root of the Tree threatning the fire to those that bring not forth fruit prepareth the way for the sweet alluring Iesus Mourning and Grief is the Midwife of true mirth Penitential tears are the streams that lead to the Rivers of Pleasures Even the doleful sound of the Trumpet attendeth the Iudge when he is going to acquit a Prisoner by publique Proclamation Violence must be offered to corruption or there will be no acceptance of the Lord Christ. The building of holiness is the more strong for having its foundation of humiliation laid deep The safety of the soul doth depend like Jonahs upon his being cast over-boord and utterly lost in his own apprehension The blessed Iesus himself is brought into a desolate Wilderness before Angels are sent from Heaven to comfort him O that I might follow my God in his usual way and never prophesie smooth things to rugged and â—â—â—â—ed men but endeavour to break their hearts on â—â—th who have persisted in the breach of his holy Laws that their backs may not be broken in Hell Yet I would not instead of beating down the rotten Paper walls of presumption drive any into the Dungeon of desperation but as the good Nurse have the breast of consolation as well as the rod of correction in readiness for such Children Moses and Christ met together upon Mount Tabor The Gospel must be Preached to heal those wounds which are opened and discovered by the Law The Lord sendeth me to proclaim liberty to the Captives and the opening of the Prison to them that are bound Lord thou killest and makest alive bringest down to the grave and bringest up It s easie and ordinary with thee to break those bones which thou intendest to rejoyce and to perplex those Rams in Briars and Thorns which thou intendest to accept of as a sacrifice Teach thy Servant to know how to speak a word in season both to the wicked and to the godly how to divide thy word aright both in its minatory and consolatory parts that as occasion shall â—e I may awaken the wicked out of their deadly slumbers and quicken the godly to their spiritual watchfulness and help to sweeten that bitter cup which thou hast put into their hands O that thy blessing might water my labours for both their welfares Alas poor sick unregenerate ones are dropping into boundless and endless sorrows and yet are without sense Though they are dying they know not what they are doing nor whither they are going Their eyes are shut by the god of this World that they see not that unspeakable misery to which they are liable every moment their hearts are hardened through custom in sin that neithâ—â—â—â—reatnings nor promises prevail with them to feel their wounds and sores O thou great Physitian thou Lord of life thou God of health open their eyes send some Ananias to them that they may receive their sight and be filled with the Holy Ghost enable them so to mourn now that they may be comforted when the time of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord and help thy servant to deal so faithfully with those whom thou callest me to visit that I may never give thy Majesty cause to say of me as once of the Prophets of Israel They have healed the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly saying Peace Peace when there is no peace I Wish that I may be close and home in my Applications to sick persons and speak what is proper to their estates with ardency and affection to their very hearts It s ill dallying with edged tools O how sad is it to toy and trifle to be formal or customary in counsel or reproof or comfort to immortal souls that are launching into the Ocean of eternity Death is a serious thing and that which they never did before nor shall ever do again Sin is a serious thing as the damned find in Hell by woful experience Though there they are in blackness of darkness yet they have light enough to see sin to be the evil of evils and altogether sinful Christ was serious when he took upon him my nature and therein did offer up himselfâ— a sacrifice for sin God is serious in commanding faith and repentance and in promising Heaven to the faithful and holy and Hell to unbeleivers and atheists And shall not I be serious and in earnest when I am dealing about matters of eternal life and death and about the concernments of God and Christ and souls and eternity O with what earnestness should I perswade the wicked to turn from their wickedness and live If ever their souls would draw near to the Lord of life it concerns them to do it when their bodies are drawing nigh to the Chambers of death It is but a very few hours and their condition will be past all amendment all alteration In this poor pittance of time all must be done upon which the Scales must turn for their salvation or damnation They are going to make that change which will admit them into endless joy or torment and render their estates unchangeable Their time is hastening that they must struggle with dreadful pains and strong distempers and death the King of terrors and must review that life which is ending and look back upon all that they have done and judge their persons and actions impartially whether they will or no that they must take their leave of all their friends and food and sleep and lands and houses and honours and pleasures and riches and step into eternity and appear before God without their Relations or Possessions or any worldly comforts to help or encourage them that they must be tried by an holy Law and an holy Judge for their everlasting lives or deaths and can my expressions be too full of weight and reason or my affections too full of bowels and pity
aspire heaven-ward when its returning 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to its original divinity according to Plotinus his phrase of death As his Saviour he brings out his best wine at last and his last works are more then his first Rev. 2. 19. The blessed Prince and Lord of life should be our pattern at death He got his Father most glory he did his Church most good by his death though he was eminently serviceable to both all his life time It s said of him He was obedient Phil. 2. 7. to the death Which may import 1. His continuance in well-doing His obedience lasted to the last moment of his life so should ours Elisha would not leave his Master till taken from him into Heaven and we should not leave our Lord till taken to him into Heaven Polycarp in his old age being urged by the Proconsul to deny Christ answered I have served him eighty six years and he never once hurt me and shall I now deny him 2. His obedience in his death His death was a Free-will offering in obedience to his Fathers command Not onely his birth and life was an answer to his Fathers call A body hast thou prepared c. Then said I Lo I come to put on that body to take upo◠〈◊〉 that nature and thereby and therein to do thy Will O God but also his death was in pursuance of his duty This commandment received I of my Father Thus the Christians death must be offered up as a sacrifice to God in obedience to his command The Sinners soul is Prest to this War in which there is no discharge This night thy soul shall be required of thee The Saint understanding the orders from the Lord of Hosts is a Voluntier He gives up the Ghost Into thy hands Lord I commend my Spirit 3. The gracious manner of his dying The Sun of righteousness when setting did shine most gloriously Though at his death he had such infinite disadvantage being to wrestle with the frowns of an incensed God the fury of earth and Hell and met with clouds black and thick enough to have obscured the graces and hindered the holiness of any but himself from shining at all yet how brightly did they break forth in the midst of all those Fogs and Mists and Darkness What holy counsel and comfort did he give his Disciples to prepare them for his departure in his last and one of his longest Sermon Ioh. 14 15 16. What an heavenly prayer doth he put up to his Father for them and all his elect to give them both a taste and a pledge of that intercession which he was going to Heaven to make for them When he was hanging on the Cross under such an heavy weight as the sins of the whole World Grace was not depressed His love to his Mother is observeable Woman behold thy Son And from that hour that Disciple took her to his own house John 19. 26. But his love to his membrenâ— though enemies was wonderful Father forgiâ—â— them they know not what they do His Faith in his Father Father into thy hands I commend my spirit His pity to one of the Theives His Patience in bearing the scoffing words and taunts more bitter then Worm-wood of them that passed by reviling him as well as in suffering the wracking of his bones and whole body and the anger of an infinite God in his soul without any murmuring may well call for our admiration Reader he hath set thee a pattern that thou shouldst follow his steps Some tell us the Phoenix of Saba in Arabia Faelix so called from Phoenicea or the Purple colour of her wings liveth six hundred and sixty years at the end of which time she buildeth her a nest of Cassia Calamus Cinnamon and other precious spices and gums which the Sun by the extremity of his heat and the wavering of her wings fires and she taking delight in the sweetness of the savour hovers so long over it that she burns her self in her own Nest. Thus did the blessed Jesus and thus ought his followers to expire in a Nest of sweet Spices the exercise of the graces of the holy Spirit It was a poor farewel to the world which even Octavius Augustus gave when at the point of death he called for his Looking-glass commanded to have his Head and beard combed and his shriveled Cheeks smoothed up then asking his friends if he had acted his part well Cum ita responderint vos omnes igitur inquit Plaudite It is a dreadful conclusion which Pliny relates the Hyberboreans to make who when they have lived to one hundred years or more make a great feast to which they invite all their friends and after their jollity and mirth throw themselves down a steep rock and so perish Ungodly men are always worst at last when they come to the bottom they are flat and dead and nothing but grounds and dregs How often in the eyes of the world do wicked persons go out like a Lamp leaving a stench behind them The scandalous sinner usually like the Goats beard or star of Jerusalem closeth up the flower of his presumptuous hope at high noon he is cast in his own conscience long before his death The Hypocrite ordinarily as the Daysie and Dandelion declares the approach of the evening by shutting up before its approach If he be gold in the morning and silver at noon yet as we say of Butter he is lead at night What is the hope of the Hypocrite when God shall take away his soul As its storied of the Pardora a people in India that in their youth they have silver hairs but in their age their hairs are quite black Or as the She Wolf hath a yearly defect in generation the first time she hath five the second time four then three then two then one then barren ever after So the Hypocrite dâ—clines and decreaseth in goodness faster then the Moon in its last quarter and is commonly worst at last But the sincere Christian hath his best at the bottom and hath his daintiest dish reserved to be served in at the last courseâ— Naturalists tell us of Honey that that is the thickest and best Honey which is squeezed last out of the Comb. O what excellent periods and endings both in regard of the exercise of grace and comfort have many of the Children of God made The Death-bed to some Saints hath been like Tharah to the Israelites in the Wilderness where after many journeys growing near to the Land of Canaan they rested themselves and it was called Tharah from Roah and Tarah which signifieth a breathing time The Sun when it declines into the West hath even then much more light then any of the Stars The meanest upright Christian when he is near setting hath more joy and comfort then a specious Hypocrite any day of his life When some asked Oecolampadius lying on his death-bed whether the light did not offend him he answered pointing
guns of the losâ— of his Cattel and Estate and Servants would have done some execution in making some breach upon his faith and patience and this great gun playing when he was before tired in defending must needs shatter him in peices He may fitly be called the Wolf of the Evening Jer. 5. 6. that devoureth This roaring Lyon walketh in the night to seek his prey There have been few eminent Saints but have found their Death-bed a Bed of Thorns in regard of temptations Mr. Knox said when he came to dye In my life time the Devil tempted me to despair casting my sins in my teeth but now in my sickness he tells me I have been faithful in the Ministery and so have merited Heaven but blessed be God who brought those Texts into my mind Not I but the grace of God in me What hast thou that thou hast not received The Israelites never met with so much opposition as when they were to take possession of the Land of Canaan then all the Kings of Canaan combined together and came out and fought them When Satan was to be cast out of the possessed person and never to enter into him more he rent him and tore him that the people thought he was dead Now Reader What need hast thou to be serious and holy on a dying Bed to the utmost of thine ability and to fetch in all the strength thou canst from Heaven when thou hast such cruel powerful enemies to encounter with It s was one of the most quickening prevalent arguments that Alexander used to the Macedonians before their third and last fatal Battel with Darius That tâ—ey were to fight with all the strength of Persia at once What an awakening argument should it be to thee that thou art to fight with all the Powers of Hell at once Secondly Consider It s a special season wherein thou mayst glorifie God A Saint by his death may bring God more honour then by all his life The Actions and Speeches of dying men make a deep impression on the hearts of those that are about them The wicked themselves who have mocked at the purity and strictness of the Saints lives have admired their patience and chearfulness in their deaths Though they look on the beleivers words in health as savouring of self and sinister ends and humour and so neglect them yet when they hear a dying Saint commend the love and faithfulness of God the pleasantness and excellency of his ways and worship and to bless the time and pains and strength that ever they spent in his service they esteem his language and begin to have other thoughts of Holiness and Heaven for they consider that surely now the man is entering upon the borders of eternity he is serious and in earnest Hence the Patriarchs knowing the prevalency of such words urge Ioseph with Iacobs dying charge Thy Father when dying said Forgive I pray thee the iniquity of thy servants Gen. 50. 16. That Ruâ—â—ian that would live with his fellow Riotors beholding the holy behaviour of Ambrose on his Death-bed would chuse to dye with Ambrose The enemies of Christ beholding at the death of Christ how the Rocks were rent darkness covered the face of the earth how the vail of the Temple was torn in sunder the graves were opened the dead raised were forced to cry out Doubtless this man was the Son of God So when the adversaries of Gods people see them on their Death-beds and behold their patience in bearing their sickness their Faith in relying on their Saviour their charity in forgiving their enemies their zeal for the honour and interest of their Master their constancy in defending the Gospel they did before profess they are compelled in their consciences to acknowledge Doubtless these are the Servants the Sons and Daughters of God Much more will a holy behaviour on a Dying-bed benefit such as fear God It convinceth sinners that they whether they will or no must have other thoughts of holiness and holy men then formerly and it confirmeth Saints in their gracious practices and makes them more diligent in their preparation Mr. Bilny the day before he suffered death being told that though the fire was hot Gods Spirit would cool it to his everlasting refreshing answered putting his hand in the flame of the Candle I feel by experience and have known by Philosophy that Fire by Gods Ordinance is very hot but yet I am perswaded by Gods holy Word and by the experience of some spoken of therein That in the flame they felt no heat and in the fire no consumption and I constantly beleive howsoever the stubble of this my body shall be wasted by it yet my soul and spirit shall be purged thereby a pain for the time whereon followeth joy unspeakable And then he most comfortably treated on Isaiah 43. 1 2. But now Thus said the Lord that created thee O Jacob and that formed thee O Israel Fear not for I have redeemed thee When thou passest through the waters I will be with thee and through the rivers they they shall not overflow thee when thou walkest through the fire thou shalt not be burnt neither shall the flame kindle upon thee Which words he applied both to himself and his friends then present Of which some reaped such fruit that they caused the words to be fair written on Tables The comfort whereof in several that were with him was never taken from them to their dying day O t is very profitable to others when a Saint so behaveth himself on his Death-bed that he may say to his Friends and Relations as Sir Robert Harleigh did to his Children I have formerly taught you how to live and now I teach you how to die Thirdly Consider It s the last opportunity that thou shalt ever have to do any work for thy God and Saviour and thy own soul When thou diest thou goest to the place where thou shalt receive thy reward and shalt never never more have any season to sow to the Spirit in to serve thy Redeemer in and to manifest thy thankfulness to him for his love to thee I must work the work of him that sent me whilst it is day saith Christ for the night cometh wherein no man can work Ioh. 9. 4. Thou mayst when dying say to thy friends as the Crier of the Ludi seculares which happened but once in a hundred years did at Rome Come see that which ye never saw before nor shall ever see again He that hath but one Arrow to shoot but one throw to cast but one opportunity left him to work out his salvation in may well improve it to the utmost A certain Martyr going to suffer expressed his sorrow that he was going thither Where he should do his God no more service Our God is so good that his work is desireable and were it possible for any grief in Heaven saith Dr. Sibs it would arise from a Christians consideration that he did no more
Beasts he often wished by the way that he were in the midst of those Beasts that were to devour him and that their appetites might be whetted to dispatch him fearing lest it should happen to him as to some others that the Lyons out of a kind of reverence would not dare to approach them being ready he said rather to provoke them to fight then that they should suffer him to escape Bradford being told by his Keepers Wife that his Chain was a buying and he was to die the next day pulled off his Hat and thanked God for it When some wondered that Adam Damplip could eat his food so well when his end was so near he told them Ah Masters Do you think that I have been Gods Prisoner so long in the Marshalsey and have not yet learned to die Yes yes and I doubt not but God will strengthen me therein Ann Askew subscribed her Confession in Newgate thus Written by me Ann Askew that neither wisheth for death nor feareth his might and as merry as one that is bound towards Heaven Indeed it s said of a wicked man that his soul is required of him and that God takes away his soul Luk. 12. Job 27. 10. but of a godly man that he giveth up the Ghost and he cometh to his grave Gen. 25. 8. Job 4. ult Nature will teach the Heathen that death is the end of all outward miseries to all men hence some of them drank of its cup with as much constancy and courage as if it had been the most pleasant Julip but grace will teach the Christian that death is not onely a remedy against all his bodily and spiritual maladies as Sir Walter Rawleigh said of the sharp Ax that should behead him this will cure all my infirmities but also an inlet into fulness of joy and felicity Reverend Deering said on his death-bed I feel such joy in my spirit that if I should have the sentence of life on the one side and the sentence of death on the other side I had rather a thousand times chuse the sentence of death since God hath appointed a separation then the sentence of life Tiâ—us Vespation the mirror of mankind being a stranger to Christ was very unwilling â—o leave the world being carried in an Horse-litter and knowing that he must dye lookt up to Heaven and complained pittifully that his life should be taken from him who had not desired to dye having never committed any sin as he said but onely one Socrates and some of the wiser Heathenâ— comforted themselves against the fear of death with this weak Cordial that it is common to men the way of all the earth Hence it was when the Athenians condemned Socrates to dye he received the Sentence with an undaunted spirit and told them they did nothing but what nature had before ordained for him But the Christian hath a greater ground for a holy resolution and a stronger Cordial against the fear of death even his hopes of eternal life and surely if he that exceeds others in his Cordials be excelled by them in Courage he disgraceth his Physitian Aristippus told the Saylers who wondred that he was not as well as they afraid in the storm Ye fear the torments due to a wicked life and I expect the reward of a good one It s no marvail that they who lived wickedly should dye unwillingly being frighted with the guilt of their past sins and with the fears of their future torments therefore the holy Ghost saith of such a one The wicked is driven away in his wickedness as a Beast that is driven out of his den to the slaughter or as a Debtor driven by the Officers out of his house wherein he lay warm and was surrounded with all sorts of comfort to a nasty loathsom prison But that the righteous who hath hope in his death should even dye almost with fear of it before-hand is matter of wonder Lots soul is exceedingly vexed with Sodom yet he is loth to leave it This world is a wilderness a purgatory a step-mother a persecutor to all the Saints and yet some of them when called to leave it sing loth to depart and would linger behind partly from nature which dreads a dissolution and partly from the weakness of grace To fear death much argueth sometimes wickedness always weakness 3. Repentance It s said of St. Augustine that he dyed with tears in his eyes in the practice of repentance and Posidonius saith of him that he heard him often say in his health that it was the fittest disposition for dying Christians and Ministers Laudatos saith he Chistianos sacerdotes absque digna competenti paenitentia exire de corpore non debere We dye groaning iâ— regard of our bodies why should not our souls sigh that ever they sinned against so good a God! Beasts bite their enemies with more venome and indignation when they are ready to dye Maxime mortiferi solent esse morsus morientium animaliâ—m The Christian should give sin his most deadly bite his greatest abhorrency and grief and shame when he is dying and shall never see sin or sorrow or shame more As its noble and excellent to dye forgiving sinners so also taking revenge upon sin Moses a little before his death is commanded to avenge the Children of Israel of the Midianites and then he is gathered to his people Numb 31. 1 2. Samuel takes vengeance on Agag when he was old and knew not the day of his death David could not dye with comfort till he had charged Solomon to execute that justice on Ioab which he had omitted The last time the Judge seeth the Felon he passeth sentence of death upon him O how should the soul of a dying Saint be inflamed with anger against sin when he considers the rich love that it abuseth the glorious name that it dishonoureth the blessed Saviour that it pierceth and that vast happiness which he is going to possess of which without infinite grace and mercy it had deprived him Some persons when they have been to take their last revenge on their enemies have done it to purpose The beleiver on his dying bed takes his last revenge on sin he shall never have another opportunity to shew his love to his God and Saviour in his spite at and hatred of sin therefore then he should do it to purpose as dying Sampson put forth all his strength and beg divine help that he may utterly destroy it and be avenged on it for all the defilement and bondage it hath brought on his soul and dishonour to his Saviour Dying Iacob cursed the sins of his own Sons Cursed be their wrath for it was fierce and their anger for it was cruel O my Soul enter not thou into their secrets The dying Child of God should curse his passions his pride his unbeleif his selfishness even all his lusts for disobeying such righteous Laws and displeasing such a gracious Lord. When David Chrytaeus
ready by him The loving Husband let him come when he will is ever welcom to a faithful Spouse The actual unpreparedness of some holy persons hath caused their Petitions for a longer stay when God seemed to call them hence Psa. 39. 13. As a Nobleman who is a Loyal Subject and affectionately desires his Princes presence and company at his house may wish that it may be deferred when his house is out of repairs till it is in a better order The habitual unpreparedness of sinners I mean their predominant impenitency and unbeleif hath made death cutting to them indeed The Pismire fears not the Winter having laid in her provision against that season but the Graâ—hopper being unprepared is starved therein Let thy whole life be but a preparation for death He that would dye but once I mean escape the second death must dye daily live in a constant expectation of it and preparation for it Pliny calleth a sudden death the greatest fortune of a mans life Iulius Caesar the day before his death in discourse with Marius Lepidus upon that point what was the best end of a mans life preferred that which was sudden and unlookt for which was his fate the next day Augustus his Successor was of the same judgement and desired Mortem celerem insperatem But the Christian findeth by experience that death to be the best which was most expected and prepared for Meditatio mortis vita perfectissima The Meditation of death is the holiest life â—aith the Father Tota vita meditatio mortis discendum est mori The whole life is but a learning to dye saith the Philosopher Wise Princes lay up ten years for one days Battel A wise Christian will lay up every day somewhat for his last day knowing that if he win that combat he is made for ever Invasions or Insurrections like a sudden breach of the Sea carry all before them when pitcht Battels give equal advantage and cause less terror on each side Evils premeditated are often prevented always mitigated the mind gathering reason and strength together wherewith to encounter them But unthought of troubles like fire in the night are most frightful startling the secure sinner from his quiet repose In order to this preparation I shall mention two or three particulars but briefly having spoken to them else-where 1. Keep a clear conscience in thy health Remember that sin is the sting of death therefore be afraid of sin if thou wouldst not be afraid of death T was Nero's answer to Seneca when he advised him to desist his wicked courses that he might please the Gods Verâ—or ego deos cum talia facio Do you think I fear the gods who dare run upon such actions But he who did not dread the Gods found death dreadful to him for the Historian observeth that he cried pittifully like a Child when he was called forth to be killed T is the righteous onely that is bold as a Lion because the rigâ—teous onely hath a conscience sprinkled with the blood of the Lamb and a conscience void of offence towards God and Man When Hilarion was nigh death Depart my soul saith he depart what dost thou fear thou hast served Christ almost seventy years and art thou afraid of death Bernard observeth of Gerrard I beheld him exultantem in morte hominem insultantem morti exulting in death and insulting over death St. Ambrose undauntedly encountred his last enemy saying I have not so lived that I am afraid to live any longer neither do I fear to die because we have a good Lord. The Testimony of a good conscience was the great Apostles comfort in the midst of his trials and troubles 2 Cor. 1. 12. T is guilt which makes us shie of a severe and Holy Gods presence It is no marvail that Alexander the Conqueror was struck almost dead at the sight of Cyrus Tomb that Sigismond when dying should forbid his servants to mention the word Death that Lewis the eleventh should while in health enjoyn his Courtiers not to speak of Death and when sick prohibit the naming it upon pain of death I do not wonder that Saul upon the news of his approaching danger and death falls groveling on the ground and hath no strength left in him nor that Belteshazar upon the tidings of this Serjeants coming to arrest him fell into an Ague Quaking and Shivering so violently that all the wine which he drank so plentifully in his golden Bowles could not chear his heart nor fetch blood into his cheeks The Malefactour may well dread the thoughts much more the approach of an Assize knowing that he is bound over to it and must appear to be arraigned condemned and executed The entry of death may well be forcible upon them whom it ejects out of all their happiness and whole lives have been made up of unholiness T is vice that paints death with such a formidable countenance with a whip and flames in its hand Friend let thy conversation be pious if thou wouldst dye in peace Such as a mans life is usually such is his death An unholy life is ordinarily followed with an unhappy end A filthy Adulterer mentioned by Luther expired in the armes of an Harlot So also Tigillinus Cornelius Gallus Ladislaus King of Naples one of the Popes died in the embraces of strange flesh A great swearer when he came to dye saith Mr. Bolton swore apace and as if he had been already in Hell called upon the standers by to help him with oaths King Henry the second on his death-bed cursed his Sons the day wherein he was born and in that distemper departed the World saith the Historian which himself had so often distempered We read of one who lived well that died ill and of but one in the whole Book of God who lived ill that dyed well A sinner may presume upon peace at death and bespeak in the language of Iehoram to Iehu Is it peace Jehu Is it peace death or as the Elders to Samuel Comest thou peaceably but the Answer will be the same with that of Iehu to him What peace can there be so long as the whordoms of thy Mother Jezabel and her witch-crafts are so many What peace can there be so long as thy lâ—sts and atheism and ignorance and prophaness abound and thy abominations are so many It s no wonder that such persons like Owles are never heard but at night the close of their days and then they screech horribly What shall we call a mocking of God saith a learned person if they do not mock him who think it enough to ask him forgiveness at leasure with the last drawing of a malicious breath these find out a new God make one a leaden one like Lewis the eleventh of France And again Let us not flatter our immortal souls to neglect God all our lives and know that we neglect him trusting upon the peace we think to make at parting for this is no
other then a rebellious presumption and a contemptuous laughing to scorn and a deriding of God his Laws and Precepts Unquestionably such will be grosly mistaken at last in falling from their heights into Hell As the Daughter of Polycrates dreamed that her Father was lifted up that Iupiter washed him and the Sun annointed him but it proved to him but a sad prosperity for after a long life and large prosperity he was surprised by his enemies and hanged up till the dew of Heaven wet his cheeks and the Sun melted his grease Reader Let me bespeak thee as Iotham did the men of Sechem Hearken unto me that God may hearken unto you Hearken unto me in this day of thy health and life that God may hearken unto thee in the day of thy sickness and death Make thy peace with God now give a Bill of divorce to sin strike an hearty Covenant with Christ keep thy conscience clean every day allow not thy self in any known sin if thou wouldst leave this world in favour with God in the love of good men and to thy eternal gain Nihil est in morte quod metuamus si nihil timendum vita commisit saith the Antient Death hath nothing frightful but what a prophane life makes so They who flie from the holiness of God in life may well fear the justice of God at death A sinner indeed is every day carrying more Faggots to that pile in which he must burn for ever and always twisting those cords with which Devils will eternally scourge him and therefore the guilt of his wicked life and fear of his dreadful wages may well represent death to him in a frightful vizard But he who makes it his constant business to please his Maker to mortifie his earthly members to crucifie the flesh to serve the Wills of God in his generation and to dress his soul against the coming of the Bridegroom shall finde his latter end comfortable and the day of his death better then the day of his birth O Friend if thou wouldst dye comfortably live conscienciously An happy death is the conclusion of an holy life God hath joyned them together and none can part them asunder It s reported of the Dardani that they never Wash but three times when they are Born when they Marry and when they Dye The true Christian must be daily washing his soul by faith in the blood of his Saviour and bathing himself in the tears of repentance and hereby his soul will be fit to be commended into the Hands of God by well dying 2. Clear up thine evidences for Heaven Be not contented to leave thy salvation at uncertainty They who walk in the dark are full of frights and fears The comfort of thy death will depend much upon the clearness of thy deeds and evidences for eternal life The want of diligence about this hath caused many of the Children of God to go crying to Bed and wrangling to their eternal rest They dye and know not how they shall speed in the other world they fall into the hands of their enemy Death as the Lepers into the hands of the Syrians expecting nothing but cruelty and misery trembling every step of the way though they find good chear and all sorts of comforts 3. Dwell much in the thoughts of Deaths Cicero said of Fencing Fortissima adversus mortem dolorem disciplina It was the strongest fence against the fear of death So I may say of entertaining death frequently in our meditations it s a good guard against the terror of death Custom diminisheth the dread of things which to nature are so frightful Marius before he would bring out his Souldiers to fight with the Cimbres caused them to stand upon the trenches to acquaint themselves with the terrible aspect of those Savages and so brought them to contemn them which at first sight they so amazedly feared When we are on a sudden surprized by an unexpected adversary we want time to unite our strength to resist the assault but what we expect we provide for and so are the better able to encounter with it The old people that lived near the Riphaean Mountains were taught to discourse much of Death and to converse with it and to speak of it as of a thing that will certainly come and ought so to do hence their resolutions were strengthned to undergo it with patience and courage As Cordials lose their vertue so even Poisons their venome by frequent use Mithridates by constant use of it made it so far from being mortal that it was nourishing to him Though Death in its own nature be venemous the Christian by frequent meditation of it and application of the blood of Christ to his soul may make it profitable to him 4. Wean thy heart from the earth They who love the earth as their Heaven will be unwilling to leave it though for Heaven Canst thou bear the loss of some worldly comforts when God takes them from thee if not how wilt thou be able to bear the loss of all worldly comforts in a dying hour If running with Footmen weary thee how wilt thou be able to run with Horsemen If a little loss a little load be ready to break thy back what wilt thou do under the weight of a great one Paul was martyred in his affections before he was martyred in his body and dead to the world before he was slain by the world hence he came to dare even death it self and to bid it do its worst I protest by your rejoycing which I have in Christ Iesus I dye daily Should a Messenger have come to Paul and told him you must dye to morrow and leave all the good things of this life He might have said That is not now to do for I died yesterday and this day and every day and I have already taken my leave of this world and all its vanities Those that like Eeles lye in the mud of worldly pleasures are unfit to be sacrificed to God as being unclean creatures and unwilling to part with their present delights though for those that are more excellent The immoderate love of sublunary vanities makes men say as Peter at Christs transfiguration It is good to be here albeit like him they know not what they say 5. Set thy house in order After the heart is set in order the next work is to set the house in order according to Gods counsel Isa. 38. 1. Abraham was careful before his death to settle the affairs of his houshold as appeareth by his providing a fit spouse for Isaac and his giving gifts to the Children of his second Wife and sending them away Gen. 24. 1 2. and 25. 6. This ought to be done in the time of our health and strength partly because we are uncertain whether we shall have time and ability in sickness to do it or no. How many have died suddenly and why not thou and I as well as others Some who had a
I love them how can I manifest it better then by commending them to God in prayer Should I leave them thousands of silver and gold if I were able it would not all amount to the price of one fervent prayer My riches might wrong them through the deceitfulness of their hearts and cause them to be contented short of Heaven but my prayers cannot prejudice them but may much further their eternal welfares Men whose natures are crabbed and cruel have granted the requests of their dying children when they have been contrary to their own humours How much more will God the Father of mercies whose nature is Love whose bowels are infinite satisfie the desire of his dying children when they fall in with his own design and desire If Joab had hopes to speed in his supplication for Absolom because he knew the Kings heart was more for it then his own may not I be confident to speed when I beg that he would pay my debts in spirituals with interest to those who have bestowed carnals on me for his sake when I ask that my Children and Relations may love and fear and worship his Majesty and be his workmanship created in Christ Iesus unto good works and when I intreat that he would accomplish all the great and good things which he hath promised to his Church the purchase of his Christ knowing that his heart is infinitely more for these things then mine can be Lord when I dye I shall no more put up prayers for my self or other particular persons My natural obligations to my Kindred and Relations my civil ingagements to my Friends and Benefactours besides my spiritual bonds to them and thy whole Israel may well provoke me to be fervent and instant with thy Majesty at such an hour on their behalves My Redeemer before his death wrought hard at this duty He offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears Ah how should I pray for my self and others when I am taking my leave of prayer O let thy spirit of supplication be so poured down on me that I may poure out my spirit in supplication unto theeâ— for my own and others souls through thy Son with the greatest success I Wish that the night of my death may shine gloriously with the sparkling stars of divine and heavenly graces In particular I desire that when the time of my combat with my last enemy and my last combat with any enemy shall come I may above all take the shield of Faith whereby I shall be sheltered against the sting of death and quench the fiery darts of the wicked one The wise Mariner perceiving a storm approaching makes hast to fasten his Vessel with Anchors that it may be steady and not altogether at the mercy of the winds I must expect the greatest tempest when I am entering into my eternal Haven then all the powers of darkness will conjure up their strongest winds if possible to shipwrack the vessel of my soul Ah how much doth it concern me to put forth this grace the anchor of my soul both sure and stedfast and which entereth into that within the vail and thereby to fasten on the rock of Ages If I fail in this I fall I miscarry for ever God is a severe judge to condemn all guilty Malefactours Without his Son I am cloathed with guilt and so under his boundless wrath When Adam had disrobed himself of original righteousness by disobeying the law he fled from God and dreaded the summons of offended justice There is no appearing in the Fathers sight with acceptance but in the garments of his Son None can have boldness to enter into the holy of holies but by the blood of Iesus It s Faith onely that interesteth in this blood I know that through the red Sea of this blood I pass may safely though enemies pursue me hard into the Land of promise Lord I confess through an evil heart of unbeleif I have many a time departed away from the living God yet Lord I believe help mine unbeleif O Lord of life be not far from me when Devils and death are near me Help me with thy servant Stephen to see Heaven open by faith and the Son of man at thy right hand Enable me to disclaim whatsoever duties I have performed or graces I have exercised and to rely alone on a crucified Christ for pardon and life Though thou killest me let me dye trusting and clinging on and cleaving to Iesus Christ Let this Pilgrims staff of faith be never out of my hand till I come to my joâ—rneys end Thou art the Lord of Hosts and the Captain of my salvation O help me to put on the whole armour of God grant me such skill to use it that I may be able to stand in the evil day Teach thou my hands to war and my fingers to fight that through thee I may do valiantly and through thee may tread down mine enemies Grant me so to finish my course to fight the good fight of faith that at death I may receive the crown of righteousness which the righteous judge shall give to all that love his appearing I Wish that my faith may ripen into full assurance that thereby I may depart with joy and an abundant entrance may be ministred unto me into the Kingdom of my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Moses and Simeon could sing at their own funerals The great Apostle could call to be put to Bed expecting thereby his sweetest eternal rest How many Martyrs have gone more joyfully to dye then ever Epicure did to dine and leaped when they drew near the Stake believing that they drew near their home their happiness their heaven What is it O my soul that makes thee start and flinch back at the sight of this bug-bear What is there in death that is so dreadful to thee Is it the sweetness of life or the pain of death or thy future estate after death Consider them all seriously and then judge rationally whether any of these should make the sigh so loath to depart First The love of life need not make thee so backward to obey the call of death If all thy time were made up of Holy-days death would bring thee greater advantage The Garlick and Onions of Egypt are nothing comparable to the Clusters of Canaan But alas its far otherwise thy whole life is a civil death Thou art born to sorrow as the sparks flye upward Thy days are few but full of trouble The earth to thee is a valley of tears the cross is thy daily companion which accompanieth thee where-ever thou goest The sufferings of thy flesh are neither few nor small How many diseases in thy body losses in thy estate how much disgrace ignominy slander oppression art thou liable to The sufferings of thy spirit are more and greater Thine own sins the provocations of others the dishonour of thy God the wants and weaknesses and oppression and persecution of the Church
not another though my reins be consumed within me Though thou art sown in dishonour thou shalt be raiâ—ed in glory though thou art sown in weakness thou shalt be raised in power though thou art sown a natural body thou shalt be raised a spiritual body and fashioned like unto the glorious body of Christ himself Thy dust shall live and thou shalt arise and be joyned to this soul and both joyn with the great assembly of the sirst-born in singing the praises of thy Master and Husband The Souldier is glad when he is called to receive his pay though the ways be deep and dirty through which he travelleth to the the place of Muster The Husbandman rejoyceth when his Fields are white to Harvest and with piping and shouting accompanieth his last load 〈◊〉 the barn O that my life might be so sanctified 〈◊〉 devoted to my God that at my death he may be my solace Ah Lord it matters not who be failing to visit me on my sick bed so thou be present with me Nay though mine enemies come and say When shall he dye and his name perish An evil disease cleaveth to him now that he lyeth down he shall rise up no more If thou pleasest to visit me with thy saving health I shall not be afraid when I walk in the valley of the â—hadow of death O when the Sun of my life shall be setting let the Sun of righteousness so arise upon me that I may be delivered from the power curse and sting of death and may find it through his merits to be my haven of rest after all my foul weather a bed of ease after my sore labour a release out of prison and my Iubilee to give me possession of an inheritance undefiled incorruptible that fadeth not away which is reserved in heaven for me Amen CHAP. IX Means whereby Christians may exercise themselves to Godliness A good Foundation Lâ—ving by Faith Setting God always before our eyes I Come now to the second thing promised namely to lay down the Means whereby Christians may come to make Religion their business First If thou wouldst exercise thy self to Godliness be sure that thou layest a good foundation in a renewed heart and nature I begin with this because it is the chiefest requisite and the baâ—is of all Godliness must first spring up in the heart before it can overflow in the life Other means are like those parts of the body the want of which may be supplied by others but this is like the heart which if wanting nothing can make up its want A dead man will as soon arise and walk as an unsanctified person make Religion his business Every thing will act according to that principle which is predominant in it Though for a time it may by violence work contrary to its natural inclination yet it will endeavour the removal of that force and return to its old course Fire moveth upwards and earth downwards both strâ—ving to overturn what standeth in their way because the place of fire is above of earth beneath A river may be stopped and hindred in its current but it will never cease till it hath overborn the dam and attained its former passage Water that is naturally sweet may be made brackish by the over-flowing of salt water but it will not leave till it hath workt out that saltness and returneth to his natural sweetness so every man whether good or bad will act according to his nature whether gracious or vicious A good man may be hindred in his holy course by temptations and the violence of the flesh but because his nature is gracious he will never be at rest till he hath forcibly broke through those impediments and got into his former way of Godliness An evil man may step into the path of piety through the example of others or good education or some slender convictions of a natural conscience but he will quickly be weary he will not hold out in it he will break through those obstacles because his nature the stream of his heart runs another way The Heart of man is like the Spring of the Clock which causeth the wheels to move right or wrong well or ill Hence it is that Gods precept is to this Make you a new heart and a new spirit and his promise of this I will put my fear into their hearts and they shall never depart away from me The fear of God in the heart will bind thee fast to God in thy life If the heart be throughly drawn to him the tongue and hand will not depart from him If the heart once set forward for God all the members will follow after the mouth will praise the ears will attend to him the eye will watch him the seet will go after him all the parts like dutiful handmaids in their places will wait on their Mistris There was a great Master among the Jews which bid his Schollars to consider and tell him What was the best thing or the best way in which a man should always keep One said A good Companion was the best thing in the world another said A good Neighbour was the best thing he could wish A third said A wise man or one that could for esee future things A fourth said A good eye that is a liberal disposition At last came one Eleazer and he said A good heart is better then them all True said the Master thou hast comprehended in two words all that the rest have said For a good heart will make a man both contented and a good companion and a good neighbour and help him to foresee things that are to come that he may know what is on his part to be done Indeed without this there can be no godliness all professions and performances are but a shew a shadow and where there is this there is all godliness in all manner of conversation As the King of France said of Dover that it was the key of England and if his son who then invaded the Britains had not that he had nothing So it may be said of the heart It is the key of the whole man it opens and shuts the door to Godliness and Wickedness and if grace hath not this it hath nothing The Philosopher when he would perswade the King to settle his residence in the midst of his Dominions and thereby keep all his people the better in subjection took a Bulls hide ready tanned upon which when he stood on any side of it still it rose up on the other but when he stood on the middle he kept down all alike The onely way to subdue sin is to do it in the heart that commands all otherwise though one unruly passion may be kept down another will rise up The Heart is the great Work-house where all sin is wrought before it s exposed to open view It s the Mint where evil thoughts are coyned before they are currant in our words or actions Out of the heart proceed
God much more eligible then the pleasures of sin Symphorianus a Christian young man after he was almost scourged to death being draged to Execution at Augustodunum met his Mother not crying or tearing her hair but like an Holy Lady thus comforting him Son my Son I say Remember life eternal look up to Heaven Life is not taken from thee but exchanged for a better At which words of his Mother he went on willingly to the Block and exposed his Throat to the fatal Ax One of the Dutch Martyrs feeling the flame coming to him said O what a small pain is this to Heaven Our blessed Saviour had an eye to the joy set before him and thereby was encouraged to endure the Cross and despise the shame Indeed if Faith spring a leak then the waters break in and the Christian sinks apace as we see in Peters denial of his Master As Faith in the Promises so also Faith in the Threatnings makes the Christian a Conquerour over the worlds affrightments where the World threatens Bonds and Whips and Dungeoâ—s and Death if the Christian will not sin against God and begins to stagger the soul. Take heed what thou dost saith Faith for God threateneth Fire and Brimstone and Chains and Blackness of Darkness for ever as the wages of all sin Is the Wrath of an Infinite God not more to be feared then of weak dying Men Is the pains of a violent death which will quickly be over and the most the World can do against thee comparable to the pains of eternal death And thus Faith by the terror of this great Ordinance drowns the noise of those small peices that the soul is deaf to their report 2. Faith enableth the soul to overcome the allurements of the world If the world cannot terrifie the Saint with its fiery Furnace to disown and deny his Saviour it will seek to inchant him with its Musick and thereby to make him deaf to the Call and Commands of Christ. Thus it served Ioseph When it could not prevail on the left hand by selling him for a slave it tryeth him on the right hand by setting a Dalilah to tickle him with pleasure but by Faith he saw the Hook under the Bait and durst not nibble at it much less swallow it Though the world like Iezabel painteth her face and tireth her hair to render her amiable and lovely and as a Srumpet sheweth her naked Breasts of pleasure and profit to entice the beleiver to go a Whoring after her yet he vieweth by Faith the deformity of her person under all her dawbery and the dregginess and deceitfulness of her pleasures notwithstanding their shew of clearness and so rejects them with scorn and disdain Pliny saith of Cato that he took as much pleasure in the Honours he denied as in those that he enjoyed The beleiver can glory more in his refusal of glory for Christ then unbeleivers in all their preferments Indeed if the Christian did consult with sense or carnal reason he would take the worlds present money but the beleiver doth not consult with flesh and blood like wise Abigal knowing how much it will conduce to his advantage he can part with his estaâ—e for God and never make those Nabals privy to the design lest they should hinder it Besides Faith discovers pure Rivers of pleasures more noble and excellent delights to be the portion of those that refuse to grate their teeth with such kennel water As man is a rational creature he would sell his wares to them that will give most Now Faith sheweth how infinitely God out-bids the world Sense saith The world offereth fair it offereth comforts sutable to thy flesh such as they desire and it offereth ready money present possession But saith Faith God offereth thee better The comforts he offereth are more excellent being sutable not as the Worlds to a carnal brutish nature but to an heavenly divine soul and more durable being eternal when the pleasures of sin are but for a season He that hopes for no better market will take the present money offered him But he that is assured of greater gains will refuse the lesser An unbeleiver who expects no better bargain then what this life affords him may well take up with present pay what ever it be but the Beleiver who seeth the glory to be revealed and fulness of joy in Heaven and is assured that if he be faithful unto death he shall receive that eternal crown of life turns his eyes off the honours and comforts of this beggarly world Those stars of creature joys do all disappear in the presence of this Sun Gold bears little sway with the soul that knoweth his title to the new Ierusalem that is paved with Gold in which gold is trampled under foot Those birds that flie aloft in the Firmament are not so easily snared by the Fowlers Gins Though the things of this world were glorious in his eyes during his estate of unbeleif yet now he hath discerned a world beyond the Moon and sent Faith as a spie to search and coast that Country which hath brought word back that its a good land flowing with Milk and Honey and in it there is want of nothing they have no glory by reason of that glory that doth so infinitely exceed When a man is below things above seem small the great Stars that are bigger then the Earth seem not so big as a bushel and things below seem great but when a man is above as upon the top of a Steeple then things below seem little he beholdeth men like Grashoppers Were he conveyed to the highest hill in the World men would not be discerned great Kingdoms would be but small Cottages Unbeleif sets a man below here on earth and so the things of Heaven are little in his eye but Faith soars aloft it carrieth the Christian up to Heaven and then the whole earth is but a small spot in his eye Ioseph bids the Patriarchs Regard not your stuff for the good of all the Land of Egypt is yours So saith Faith to the Christian Regard not the lumber and rubbish of this world for all the great and good things of the other world are thine Faith gives the soul a taste the first fruits of Heaven And as no man having drunk old wine desireth new for he saith the old is better So no man having tasted the wine of Heavens pleasures desires carnal delights A Pilgrim travelling to Ierusalem saith one came to a City where he saw a goodly Training and Mustering there he had a mind to stay but that he remembred that was not Ierusalem He came to another City where he saw gallant sports and pastimes there he had some good will to abide but that he remembred it was not Ierusalem He came to a third where were goodly buildings Fair Ladies curious Musick c. where also he had some thoughts of setling but still he remembred it was not Ierusalem So the beleiver when the
were desirous to reclaim from their vicious course of life One of the men told one of the women that he was desirous to enjoy her company so it might be with secrecy and when she had brought him into a close room that none could pry into he told her All the bars and bolts here cannot keep God out The other desired the other woman to company with him openly in the streets which when she rejected as a mad request he told her It was better to do it in the eyes of a multitude then of God How doth the Adulterer or Drunkard or Theif when they come abroad at midnight for the satisfaction of their lusts sneak and steal away when they spye the watch or any persons who would be witness of their vices and shall not the presence of that God who hates sin who is resolved to punish it with hell-flames make us ashamed or afraid to sin and dare him to his face 2. The thoughts of this Omnipresence of God will quicken thee to holiness The Souldiers of Israel and Iudah were prodigal of their blood in the presence of their two Generals 2 Sam. 2. 14. Servants will generally work hard whilst their Master stands by and looks on It s said of Alexander that his presence caused such courage in his Souldiers Vt illo presente nullius hostium arma vel iner mes timuerunt That when he was with them though they were unarmed they feared not the weapons of any of their enemies Our blessed Redeemer exhorteth to prayer in secret upon this consideration that God seeth and heareth it Mat. 6. and to charity in secret because though the left hand knoweth not what the right hand doth God knoweth what the right hand doth Your Father which seeth in secret will reward you openly There is a story of Bishop Latimer that he having in a Sermon at Court much displeased the King Henry 8. was commanded to Preach again the next Lords day and to recant his former sermon according to appointment he cometh up and prefaceth to his Sermon in this manner Hugh Latimer dost thou know this day to whom thou art to speak even to the High and mighty Monarch the Kings most excellent Majesty who can take away thy life if thou offendest therefore take heed how thou speakest a word which may displease but as if recalling himself he proceeded Hugh Hugh dost thou know from whom thou comest upon whose message thou art sent and who it is that is present with thee and beholdeth all thy ways even that Almighty God who can cast body and soul into Hell for ever therefore look about thee and be sure thou deliverest thy message faithfully and so he went to his Text and confirmed what he had spoken the day before and urged it with the more vehemency then ordinary The eye of God as of the Sun will call the Christian to his work Those Countries that are governed by Viceroys seldom flourish or thrive so well as those Kingdoms where the Prince is present in person Conscience Gods Viceroy may much quicken a Christian to holiness but God the Prince himself much more I have kept thy precepts saith David for all my ways are before thee CHAP. X. Means whereby Christians may exercise themselves to Godliness A constant watâ—hfulness Frequent Meditation of Death Daily performance of â—aored Duties FOurthly If thou wouldst exercise thy self to Godliness Watch over thy self continually This spiritual watchfulness is the Main-guard of the soul which if once called off we lye open to the shot of every enemy This like one of the Nethinim must stand continually Porter at the door of our hearts Gods Temple to keep out whatsoever iâ— uncleanâ— Watchfulness is a diligent observation of our selves in all things and at all times that we may please God always He that watcheth hath his eyes in his head according to the wise mans phrase and seeth as the Chineses say of themselves with both eyes David expresseth it fitly I said I will take heed to my ways Psa. 39.1 i. e. I will ponder my paths and consider where I set my feet lest I should tread awry Without this wariness there is no safe walking Secure Laish is made a prey to their enemies and the secure soul is made a prey to his spiritual adversaries Iudges 19.9,10 Soul-Lethargies are most dangerous most deadly Those that slept in the sweating sickness generally died He who watcheth not is led about like one in his natural sleep by any temptation he knoweth not how nor whether When the Wolves in the Fable once prevailed with the Sheep to part with the Dogs they soon devoured them If Satan can but get men to forgo this means of their safety he will soon make them his prey The old World was drowned in sleep before they were drowned in water Sodom and Gomorah were secure when they were destroyed by fire It s reported of the Dragon that whilst he sleepeth a jewel is taken out of his head Noah lost the jewel of Temperance David the jewel of Chastity whilst they were fallen asleep If this eye of watchfulness be once shut the soul is open to all wickedness When Argus notwithstanding his hundred eyes was by Mercury piped into a sleep he was transformed into a Cow Reader hearken to Gods Watch-word Ye are all children of light and children of the day we are not of the night nor of darkness Therefore let us not sleep as do others but let us watch and be sober 1 Thess. 5. 5,6,7 Sleep is not seasonable in the day of grace nor sutable to a childe of light They that sleep sleep in the night Rom. 13.11 The night is for sleep therefore in it God draweth a curtain of darkness about us as the Nurse when she would lay her babe to sleep throweth a cloth over the head of the cradle But the day is for watching for working He hath little reason to give himself to sleep who is every moment surrounded with mortal enemies which are neither few nor weak Naturalists tell us that the bird Onocratulus and the Pellican take their rest with their Beaks upright expecting the Hawk and that the Whale and Dolphin sleep with their heads erected above water for fear of hurt Though there were but that one text of Scripture 1 Pet. 5.8 relating to this duty t were enough to alarm any wise man and to call him to his arms Be sober be vigilant for your adversary the Devil walketh about as a roaring Lion seeking whom he may devour If that voyce among the antient Romans Hannibal ad portas Hannibal is at the gates were sufficient to make them leave whatsoever they were about and run to their weapons and stand upon their guard what watchfulness should this voyce of the holy Ghost The Devil is at the door call thee too Reader Take that verse a little in pieces and see what a foe thou hast to fight with and then tell me whether it doth not
concern thee to watch Consider 1. His Power Your adversary the Devil It is not a weak man but a mighty Devil Thou art not called to wrestle with flesh and blood but Principalities and powers Is man a match for a Devil or a stripling nodding fit to enter the Lists with Goliah What is a Pigmie to a Giant or a a dying creature to the Prince of the powers of the air Had David been asleep when the Lion out of the wood came against him the Lion had sooner tore him by the throat then he had taken the Lion by the beard The cobweb may as soon withstand the broom in the maids hand and the dust oppose the force of a violent wind as a nodding secure Christian the temptations of Satan 2. His Policy Seeking whom he may devour Had our enemy strength without craft there were not so much danger nor cause of vigilancy but when he hath seven heads as well as ten horns and exceeds us in subtilty as much as in power it concerneth us to be watchful He that playeth with a cunning Fencer will heed his wards the more Reader the Devil hath a shrewd guess what Dalilah is most likely to entice thee and deprive thee of thy spiritual strength and if amongst all the uncircumcised there be any that will fit thee thou shalt not want her He hath not walked too and fro in the earth so long for nothing but he knoweth what weeds will take best and thrive most in the soil of thy heart be confident he will help thee both to the seeds and plants of them The subtle serpent that could wind himself into Paradise knoweth surely how to wind himself into thee If he were too crafty for man when he was perfect much more is he for man polluted And can such a strong politick foe be resisted when thou art lazing upon thy bed of security 3. His Industry Your adversary the Devil goeth about He is a diligent servant never from your elbow As Ioseph's Mistris when denied still sollicited and Sampsons Harlot pressed him with continual importunity night and day that his very soul was vexed unto death So the Devil serveth men he will never forsake them but follow them with his darts and assaults till they are safe in heaven from hiâ— or safe in hell with him He is called the Prince of the powers of the air and his Angels spiritual Wickednesses in high places the air is the seat of his Empire and truly as ravenous foul hover up and doâ—n in the air to catch and kill little chickens and though they be frighted away by any one yet they lye near at the catch and the person is no sooner gone but they are descending to destroy them So those infernal spirits are hovering up and down walking too and fro to defile and destroy souls and though they are resisted and foiled yet they impudently continue their former endeavours to undo us Now hath he any time for sleep that is every moment in such danger 4. His Cruelty As a roaring Lion seeking whom he may devour The Lions of the Forrest have no pitty Lest he tear my soul like a Lion renting it in peices Psal. 7.2 The Lions brake the bones of Daniels accusers before they came to the bottom of the Den But the Lions of hell have much less pity his tender mercies are cruelties indeed it is not the loss of thy life but of thy soul and thy God and thy Christ and that for ever which he looks after The racking of thy body and renting thy bones is nothing to the flames and whips and torments which he makes men suffer and that not for a day or week or year or age but to all eternity Reader is there not infinite reason for watchfulness Had not the Apostle ground enough for his precept Be sober be vigilant when our adversary is so strong a Devil so sedulous going about so cruel as a roaring Lion and so crafty seeking by all means whom he may devour Yet alas this is not all Go where we will we see abundant cause to look well to our feet Every place we come into is a net to ensnare us we cannot look out of our eyes but we see a baited hook nor open our ears but we hear the Syrens songs we cannot put forth our hands but we touch pitch nor set our feet but in the midst of nets every part of the body is a Iudas a Traytor to the soul. Our crosses and afflictions if we be secure will be to us as the Goal to a prisoner filling us with Vermine Our greatest earthly comforts if we be not watchful prove but like traps set for vermine pleasant and killing When the world sings most sweetly in our ears she doth but like Orpheus with his pipe endeavour to lead us by the ears into unquenchable flames Theives with provender in their hands catch horses to steal them The world allures our hearts by its pleasures and profits and steals them from God Our own hearts are Iacobs Supplanters of us deceitful and desperately wicked As the water-foul in Friezland will decoy other wilde foul in a net and then give a watchword to their Master to seise on them so officious will our own hearts be to the Devil And shall we not watch and pray that we enter not into temptation Sleep is the great Leveller which makes all equal The strongest Sampson is as liable in his sleep to be slain as the smallest infant When a deep sleep from the Lord had seised on Saul and his Souldiers how easily might David if he had pleased have killed them He took away Sauls Spear and Cruse of Water to assure him that he could have taken away his life Ah! how soon may the Devil or World or Flesh defile deceive and destroy a sleeping soul Bees that have many enemies Mice Spiders Drones Hornets Birds and Beasts never dare say Naturalists to give themselves to security but night and day have their Scouts and Centinels and Corp-du-guard to keep watch and ward lest some of their many enemies should on a sudden surprise them The Christian may learn this duty from such creatures Spiders weave their Cobwebs near the Flowers where the Bees use to gather and also just over the passage out of their Hives that so at their going out but especially at their comming in laden and weary they may catch them and make a prey of them David saith In the way wherein I walked have they privily laid a snare for me So mayst thou Reader say In the way wherein I daily walk doth Satan privily lay Baits to catch me at my Table in my Closet in my Shop in my Bed in the Streets in all places where I go he hath laid snares for my soul. If there be a snare and such danger in all things then let me advise thee if thou woulst avoid them in the words of Paul to Timothy Watch thou in all things 2 Timoth. 4. 5.
soul 1 Pet. 1. 17. Who would make his Belly his Gut his God who confidereth that every meal may be his last or that thinketh his dainty diet his fine fare doth but provide a greater feast for wormes Who would give way to sinful wantons who beleiveth that whilst he is unloading his lust God may put a period to his life He that is high in conceit of himself little dreameth how low he must shortly be laid Who would be proud of that body which shall ere long see corruption become such a noysom loathsom carcass that the nearest and dearest relations will not endure the sight or sent of it He who loveth the world inordinately forgetteth that he may leave it suddenly and must leave it certainly Would Haman have bragged so much of Hesters banquet if he had known that his own corps should be served in for the last course Would the Israelites have tempted God for meat if they had thought that death should have been their sauce Would Achan have coveted the golden wedge if he had mused of his so sudden departure into the other world Without question he would have forborn the Babylonish garment if he had seen death at his back so ready to strip him naked Had the rich fool thought that his bed should that night have proved his grave he would never in the day have prided himself in his goods Who would not at Gods call vilifie that flesh which will be ere long a lump of filth and be choice of that soul which lives for a more high and heavenly flight It is reported of the Brachmans that they use no cloaths but Bear-skins no houses but Caves no food but such as nature dresseth When Alexander came to them in his travails he asked them the reason of this severe kind of living They answered him We know we shall dye whether to day or to morrow we know not and therefore why should we take care either for power to govern others or for riches to live in pleasures or for honour to be esteemed of None are so loose to the world that great hinderance of holiness as they who ponder they must leave it Travellers who look on themselves near their journeys end care not to burden themselves with much baggage Their moderation will be known to all men who believe The Lord is at hand Those who are most mindful of their deaths are most faithful in their lives Iob was eminent in grace because Iob was daily conversing with his grave All the days of his appointed time he waited till his change came Job 14. 14. That servant will follow his work most and best who expecteth his Masters coming every moment It is said of the Kite that by the turning of his tail he directs and winds about his whole body The same is reported of the Glede or Puttock Fish also say Naturalists turn and wind about by the fins in their Tails Reader could I but prevail with thee to mind the end of thy life it would help thee very much to order thy conversation aright O said God that my people were wise then would they consider their latter end Deut. 32. 29. The Thebans made a Law that no man should build an house for himself to dwell in before he had made his grave Several of the Philosophers had their graves made before their doors that when ever they went abroad they might remember their deaths If thou wouldst but in thy out-goings and in-comings behold the place of thy burial I doubt not but thou wilt be watchful over all thy ways When thou art in the midst of thy delights as Ioseph of Aritmathea have thy tomb in thy garden and it may prevent thy surfeiting by those dainties When thou sittest at Table let the first dish set before thee be according to Prester Iohns custom a deaths-head and then with what fear wilt thou feed how thankfully wilt thou receive the creatures even as through the beloved Son how soberly wilt thou use them even as in Gods sight If God raise thee to the height of prosperity and some friend do but as Moses and Elias to Christ when his Face did shine as the Sun and his Raiment was as white as Snow Luk. 9. 30 31. talk to thee of thy decease which thou must shortly accomplish it will abate thy love to the worlds withering vanities and quicken thine endeavours after the eternal weight of glory If God cast thee into great adversity and thou dost but consider thy time here is but short and therefore thy troubles cannot be long this will make thee contented in the saddest condition When thou beholdest thy relations and fore-thinkest that thine eternal separation from them is at hand and that within a few days thou shalt never have another opportunity to help them heaven-ward how will it stir thee up to do them all the good thou canst now both by thy Precepts Pattern and Prayers If when thou attendest on publique Ordinances thou wilt but cast thine eye on the Graves in the Church-yard as thou passest along and meditate thus Within a little time I must be laid in the dust when I shall hear no more pray no more enjoy a Sabbath no more when I shall never never more have a tender of a Saviour never more have a season to beg mercy in for my poor soul. After such awakening thoughts with what attention wouldst thou hear with what affections wouldst thou pray with what intention and devotion with what seriousness and uprightness wouldst thou perform every duty Some say that nothing in this world is so strong as death because it subdueth the mighty it conquereth the greatest conquerours it overcometh all Sure I am that death hath great force and power over mens souls as well as over their bodies The thought of it hath raised some to a spiritual life The consideration of death hath also caused others to live much in a little space when they have sâ—en the â—un of their lives near setting and the night of their deaths approaching they have in the day followed their work with the greater diligence None will work so hard as they who think themselves near their everlasting homes There were two Emperors Adrian and Charles the fifth that in their life time caused their Coffins to be carried before them and their exequies to be solemnly celebrated to this end possibly that considering they were but men dying men they might thence be righteous in their government and virtuous in their actions It is reported of Turannius that after he was ninety years old he got leave of Caesar to retire himself from Court and the old man would needs be laid in his bed as one that had breathed out his last and all his Family must bewail his death Friend do thou in earnest what he did in jest Suppose thou wert this day to bid adiew to thy Friends Relations Honours and Possessions and to travail into the unknown other world to
strength to do and suffer whatsoever I am called to He carrieth the purse for me and gives out to me according to my necessities I have not a farthing of my own wherewith to buy the least morsel I can do nothâ—ng of my self but I can do all things through Christ strengthning me Man is a weak creature and so far from runing that he is not able to creep in the way of Gods commandements unless Christ strengthen him Without me ye can do nothing Joh. 13. 3. If Christ with-draw himself as the Sun he carrieth the light of holiness along with him The easiest duty is too hard and the weakest enemy too strong for us unless Christ assist us 'T is upon his wings alone that we can mount to Heaven in an Ordinance and through his power that we do improve any Providence It is not the standing Army of habitual grace that will make the Christian a Conquerour he must daily be recruted with Auxilaries from Heaven The watch-man doth not onely make the watch and set every wheel in its right place but he or some other must wind it up daily or it will stand still Exerciâ—ing grace is as requisite to our spiritual motion as habitual grace to our spiritual being The Razor though it be never so sharp or keen at first if it be used must be often at the Whetstone or it will grow dull The Wife that hath frequent occasions for money for provision for her Self and Children and Servants and for Cloaths and all Family necessaries and not a penny but what comes out of her Husbands purse and he fearing she should be prodigal lets her have money by driplets but from hand to mouth must be always going or sending to him or otherwise starve The Shopkeeper that drives a great trade in the Country must go often to London or abroad in other parts to fetch in commodities The Israelites in the Wilderness were maintained for water by the Rock They drank of the Rock that followed them and that Rock was Christ. The Rock followed them they did not only drink of it at first but had a constant mornings draught and drank of it often in the day it ran iâ— a stream after them and every day supplied them It s no marvail the Apostle commandeth us Pray continually Pray without ceasing Pray evermore when he knew all our living was got by begging that all our supplies must be from above and we must expect nothing without asking Ordinances are the food of the soul. As Cows afford us both Milk and Beef so Ordinances are Milk to Babes and Meat for strong Men. Our God is the Fountain of Spiritual as well as of natural life It s said most truly in respect of a Natural life In him meaning God we live and move and have our beings Act. 17. 28. We live Now as God hath made the heart the spring of natural life and hath drawn from thence a multitude of arteries to carry the vital spirits through the whole body and disperse life through every part of it So he hath made the Mediatour the spring of spiritual life and his Ordinances the Arteries to convey life to every part of the soul. In whom we move As God hath from the head derived manifold sinews to carry out thence the animal spirits and with them the faculty both of sense and motion over all So the Lord from Jesus Christ the Churches head through the sinews of sacred duties conveyeth spiritual sense and motion to all his members And have our being To preserve our being he hath made the Liver a fountain of blood and from thence drawn the Veins to convey it over the body to the nourishment of the whole Ordinances are those Veins which convey and disperse gracious spirits over the whole new man With him is the well of life Psa. 36. Sacred duties are as needful every day for our souls as food and raiment for our bodies The body must continually be repaired with nourishment because it is continually consumed by our natural heat Yesterdays bread will not keep the laborer to day in strength and vigor to go through with his work he must have new diet or he cannot hold out Friend I must bespeak thee as the Angel to Elijah Vp and eat for the journey is too great for thee Vp and be doing in Prayer and Scripture and holy Ordinances that thou mayst feed and receive spiritual nourishment for otherwise the business of exercising thy self to godliness the duties required of thee to be performed the graces to be exercised the temptations to be resisted the deadly enemies to be conquered will be too hard for thee the journey will be too great for thee The Amalekite by long fasting grew faint and unable to go his journey If the bringing stream be not as large as the running stream the bottom will quickly be without water The greatest stock will lesson apace if a man spend daily on it though but in a small quantity if he hath no way of getting Those that are under-kept and called to hard labour can never perform what is required of them The spirits daily are decaying and if not daily renewed by proper nourishment we perish The Vessels that are always leaking must stand constantly under the conduit to get what they lose When Ionathan through fasting became faint He tasted a little honey and his eyes were enlightened How much more said he if happily the people had eaten liberally of the spoil of their enemies which they found for had there not been now a much greater slaughter among the Philistines 1 Sam. 14. 29 30. The more a Christian mindeth Divine Ordinances in obedience to Gods precept and affiance on Gods promise the more strength he shall receive to conquer his spiritual adversaries and to discharge the several duties incumbent on him The truth is our religious life our heavenly flame is like a straw fire to mault which must constantly be tended and fed with fuel or it will go out There is noâ— more need of the Shepherds constant and daily tending his weak sheep in the summer seasonâ— then of the Saints daily regarding his precious soul. As trees being well ordered with skill and diligence they become abundantly fruitful but being left to themselves without culture and care they bring forth little or no fruit So Christians by a diligent use of means abound in the fruits of righteousness but neglecting ordinances they decline and decay The heart of man is like Reuben unstable 〈◊〉 water and is stablished with grace Heb. 10. which cannot be expected but through the means of grace The Viol that with every change of weather is apt to be out of tune must be constantly hung within sent of the fire Whilst we are in the care of this world we are full of damps and therefore need all means of quickening Our hearts are like Clocks twice a day at least the Plummets must be pulled up or their motion and
a Bee though the Bee be fled works it self into the flesh deeper and diffuseth its venome more strongly causing the greater pain that every man unless foolish will speedily pull it out lest he encrease his own anguish Truly so doth sin though the honey the pleasure of it be gone yet the sting remains and the longer it is before it is pulled out by Faith and Repentance the deeper it works it self into the soul and the more sorrow it will put us to in this or the other world T is examination at night that brings the soul to mourn for and repent of its failings in the day T is like the tree which Câ—esias speaks of in describing India that besides fruit distilleth certain tears of which are made Precious Amber or as the drops of the Vine its excellent against the leprousie of sin Ephesus would never repent till they examined and considered whence they had fallen When sin is admitted into the soul and as a Theif in the night stole in at unawares when the eye of the souls watchfulness was fallen asleep Examination will light the Candle of the word and search the house narrowly and find out this ill guest and before it hath done so much mischief as it intended apprehended it indict condemn and execute it Examination every day is like purging the body at the beginning of a distemper which takes it before it hath habituated it self and so is much the more easily repelled An enemy may much sooner be forced out of his holds when he hath newly taken possession then when he hath continued so long as to cast up his banks make his ditches placed his Guns and fortified them After we have been foiled by our spiritual enemies and by examination find out the cause it will make us more watchful at that gate at which they enter'd and careful of that particular wherein they got the advantage of us As when David had received intelligence that the Amonites had given his Army some small defeat he sends Ioab word of the reason they went too near the City and wisheth him to make the battel more strong against the place 2 Sam. 11. So examination finds out the reason of a Christians defeat by Satan either it was through self-confidence or want of spiritual watchfulness or love to some known sin and helpeth the Saint to bewail the cause of his defeat and directeâ—h him how to provide better against the next onset Frequent examination keepeth the conscience raw and tender that the least touch of sin will be offensive and troublesom to it When the heart is used to yeild at a small Willow it will never be quiet under a great Oak Searching into our souls makes sin more loathsom to us Whilst these filthy sinks are unstir'd they do but little disturb us or annoy us with their filthy savour but when by examination we rake into them their noysom stench offendeth us extremely and shews us what need we have of cleansing Examination every night will help the Christian to a good nights rest How comfortably may he lye down who hath made all even with his Maker and heard his everlasting Father bidding him Good-night How quietly may he sleep who hath his pardon under his Pillow he needs not fear any Officer to call him up at midnight and attach him for any treasons or misdemeanours It s said of Cato that constantly at evening he would call to mind what ever he had seen read or done that day It was Pythagoras rule to his Scholars That they should no night suffer sleep to seise their senses till they had three times recalled the accidents and passages of the day O what a shame is it that Moralists who had no true sense of the benefit of such a duty should out-go the Christian in the performance of it That many persons should know the Chronicles of other Countries or Kingdoms some ages past and yet not know the passages of their own souls one day past Reader If thou wouldst walk closely with God and keep even with him reckon daily with him Call thy self to a strict scrutiny What do I how live I where am I is the work I do warrantable by the word or no is my life the life of Faith of Holiness or no am I in Gods way under his protection or no Have I truth of grace the power of godliness or do I please my self with the form of it Do I thrive and increase in grace or do I decay and decline Suppose I were to dye this night what ground have I to hope for Heaven what assurance that I shall escape the power and rage of frightful Devils What evidences have I that I am a new creature engrafted into Christ and thereby entitled to life and bliss Thus feel the pulse of thy soul enquire into its state visit it often and see how it doth Call thy self to an account for thy sins Let heart and life sins open and private sins omissions commissions personal relative be all reckoned for Ask thy soul as Rebecah Why am I thus Why am I so false to my God so unfaithful to my Covenants The heart is like a Ditch into which filth is continually running and therefore it behoveth thee by examination to be always emptying it The Stable that is daily fowled must be daily cleansed The hands that are daily contracting dirt must be daily washed Our souls are more polluted and diseased then our bodies we have always a filthy issue of sin running which we must be daily searching into and dressing or our stench will make us loathsom to and unfit for any communion with God or his people Call thy self to an account daily for thy mercies Ask thy self How much am I indebted to my God what privative what positive mercies do I partake of what old what new what night what day mercies what mercies at home what abroad what personal what domestical what national mercies do I enjoy or am a sharer in what bodily what spiritual mercies do I receive what time what talents have I to trade with and reckon for This will help the soul to be speedy and hearty in thankfulness and force it to Davids Interrogation What shall I render to the Lord for all his benefits What hot love should I return what an holy life should I lead Do this daily It is much better to pay sums when they are little then when they are large Wise men that are able find it the best way to pay ready money for their wares Neglect herein causeth many mistakes and inconveniencies and many times differences amongst friends Having spoken to this particular in the sixth Chapter I shall say no more to it here though indeed I judge it next to a new nature not inferiour to any means of godliness Ninthly If thou wouldst exercise thy self to godliness Avoid the occasions of sin he that would avoid the commission of sin must avoid the occasions of sin If we
with Mithridates they were so eager after their prey that thereby they missed taking the King who could not otherwise have escaped their hands Ah! how foolish art thou if through thy violent pursuit of a perishing world thou shouldst lose an eternal kingdom As Constantinople was lost through the covetousness of the Citizens so is the crown of life and glory the City that hath a foundation through mens eager endeavours after earthly things The beloved Disciple doth not unfitly represent all the beauties and glories and excellencies of this lower world under the name and notion of the Moon which is ever in changes and never looks upon us twice with the same face and when it is at the fullest is blemished with a dark spot and next door to declining Rev. 12. 1. An old man of Brasil discoursing with the Merchants of France and Portugal and perceiving the long and dangerous voyages which they took to get riches asked them If men did not dye with them as well as in other Countries They told him Yea. He asked them who should possess their riches after their deaths They said their Children if they had any if not their next kindred Now saith the old man I perceive ye are fools for what necessity is there for you to pass the troublesome Seas wherein so many perish and to run so many hazards Is not the earth that brought you up sufficient to bring up your children and kindred also We have children and kindred that are likewise dear to us but when we consider that the earth which nourisheth us is sufficient to nourish them we rest satisfied That busie Bee and great trouble-world Alexander had a tart yet wise reproof from Diogenes when being taken with the Philosophers witty answers he bade him ask what he would and he would give it him The Philosopher desired him to grant him the smallest portiou of immortality Alexander said that is not in my power to give Then saith the Philosopher Why doth Alexander take such pains and make such sâ—ir to conquer the world when he cannot assure himself of one moment to enjoy it Ah! why should thou neglect thy God and Christ and soul and eternal good and tyre and weary thy self night and day for these unsatisfying comforts which may leave thee to morrow and of which thou canst not secure the enjoyment of one moment If God complain of wicked men and threatens them with fierce wrath and fiery indignation for selling the righteous for silver and the poor for a pair of shoes and would make them know that he valued his people at an higher price and would not suffer them to be sold at such a rate What will become of thee if thou shouldst sell thy soul thy salvation thy God thy Christ for silver for vain unsatisfying corruptible silver when their value is above millions of worlds O take heed that thou dost not cast away thy self for such transitory trifles Let not the Worlds venison cause thee to lose thy Fathers blessing T was a poor change of Glaucus to exchange gold for copper but O what a sad exchange wilt thou make to exchange heaven for earth the endless fruition of the blessed God for a moments enjoyment of creatures Thou wouldst condemn that Mariner of folly who seeing a Fish in the water should leap into the Sea to caâ—ch it which together with his life he loseth What a fool art thou for mortal comforts to lose an immortal crown The women of Corinth saith an ancient Father did set up Tapers at the birth of every child with proper names upon each of them and that Taper which lasted longest in burning had its proper name transferred to the Child God himself gives the highest and richest though conceited worldling his name Thou fool this night c. Nabal is his name and folly is with him The plain truth is the world is the ruine and destruction of men Its pleasures and honours make the sinner merry and jolly as the hearb Sardonia the eater who eating dyeth They that will be rich fall into temptations and snares and many hurtful lusts which drown men in perdition 1 Tim. 6. 9. The world serveth its darlings as that tyrannous Emperor did his servants let them through a sliding floor into a Chamber â—ull of Roses that being smothered in them they might meet the bitterness of death in sweetness O do not spend thy strength for that which is not bread but hearken to Christ and thou shalt eat that which is good and thy soul shall delight it self in fatness Isa. 55.3,4 Secondly Consider the brevity of thy life He who hath but a little time and a great task must work hard or his work will not be done The Birds know their time and improve it in some Countries the shorter the days are the faster they flye Heathen have been sensible of this Theophrastus cryed out on his dying bed Ars longa vita brevis Time was short and not sufficient for humane arts and sciences Seneca saith of himself Nullus mihi per otium exiit dies partem noctis studiis devovi I lose no day through idleness but even devote part of the night to my studies The very Devils follow their cursed trade with the greater diligence knowing that their time is short Rev. 12. 12. Now Reader Consider how few thy days are What is your life even a vapour a coming and a going a flood and an ebbe and then thou art in the Ocean of eternity I have read of one that being asked What life was was answered answerless for the party of whom the question was demanded onely turned his back and went away We come into the world and take a turn or two about in it and God saith Return ye Children of men A little child may number the days of the oldest man We project high things and lay foundations for an earthly eternity but the longest life is less then a drop to that Ocean Yet alas the most are blown off in the spring and few continue to fall off in Autumn Plutarch compareth Galba Otho and Vitellius in regard of their short reign to Kings in Tragedies which last no longer then the time in which they are represented on the Stage The River Hypanis in Scythia bringeth forth every day little bladders out of which come certain Flies which are bred in the morning fledg'd at noon and dye at night Man cometh up like a flower and is cut down he fleeth as a shadow and continueth not Job 14. 2. This short time posteth away with speed How soon do our days vanish Iob tells us that his little time made great haste to be gone My days are swifter then a Weavers shuttle Job 7. 6. The Weavers shuttle is an instrument of very swift motion and so swift that it is used for a Proverb for all things that are swift and speedy Radius Textoris dictum Proverbiale Radio velocius The Latines express it by a beam of the
his duty and leaves all to his father who knoweth what he hath need of But the Covâ—tous who like the barren womb hath never enongh pines with fear of want can neither eat nor drink nor sleep quietly lest he should lose what he hath or not have sufficient to hold out nay he will not allow himself convenient food or raiment though he have never so much but like a beast feeds on thistles when he hath all sorts of provision upon his back Temperance hath health and strength with it and thereby renders the other comforts of this life savoury and comfortable so also Chastity But â—luttony and Drunkenness and Whoredom bring weakness and sickness on mens bodies and imbitter all other blessings besides the fear of being discovered to the shame and disgrace of the Authors which tormenteth not a little There is comfort in dealing honestly and righteously but if a man will cheat and cozen and filtch and steal no wonder if he tire his head with plots and projects â—o carry it on cunningly and secretly and terrifie his heart with apprehention that it will be known and then he shall be branded for a knave or suffer the penalty of law in a more severe degree The sinner is hurried hither and thither by his opposite Lords and contrary lusts and torn piecemeal by them as a man by beasts which draw the parts of his body contrary ways The Commands of sin are harsh and heavy No Tyrant ever put his subjects upon more crabbed painful work But the Commandments of God are not grievous 1 Joh. 4. 3. Sin is sâ—avery and its servants worse then those that row in Turkish Gallies but Gods law is a law of liberty and they walk at liberty who seek his precepts The ways of sinners are called crooked ways rugged ways which are unpleasant to travail in but the ways of God are called strait ways plain paths which are delightful to passengers I am confident the true Christian hath more true pleasure in suffering for Christ or one act of mortification or victory over one lust then the highest earthly Potentate hath in his largest dominions in the multitude of his subjects in the richness of his kingdoms and in all the honour that is done him or good things enjoyed by him all his days 3. It is the most profitable Calling Reader this argument is Achilleum or instar omnium the strongest argument and instead of all with most men gain is the great God of this world that commandeth all their heads and hearts and hands to whom they bow down the knees both of their bodies and souls The theif murderer are quickened by this to their hellish trade Come let us lay wait for blood let us lurk privily for the innocent without cause We shall find all precious substance we shall fill our houses with spoil Prov. 1. 9 10. The Sechemites upon this ground will endure the pain of Circumcision and throw up their former religion Shall not their beasts and their cattel and their substance be ours The Soul for this will scale the Walls and leap upon the Pikes and run upon the Mouth of the Cannon The Husband-man for this will rise early go to bed late eat the bread of carefullness toyl and moyl all day and make a drudge a slave a pack-horse of himself all the year The Merchant for this will plough the Ocean dance upon the surging billows suffer many dangers and deaths through his whole voyage The Shop-keeper for this will croud into any hole of the City break his sleep waste his health run about hither and thither early and late Gehezi Achan Iudas Balaam for this will venture their bodies their souls any things all things Profit is such a bait that all will bite at The Devil that Arch Politician who hath had so many thousand years experience besides his extraordinary natural knowledge could not judge any Topicks more likely then this to take with our blessed Saviour All these things will I give thee if thou wilt fall down and worship me The gods themselves were said by the Athenians to be corrupted with Philips gold that their Oracles still were in favour of him Money is the absolute Monarch which can put men upon the most dangerous defignes Therefore Cassius surnamed the Severe one of the wisest of the Roman Judges in all doubtful Causes that came before him would demand Cui bono Who gained or had the profit well knowing that that is the bias which turneth men aside to wrong others and the heady wanton horse which breaks through the fence to trespass upon neighbours Now Reader If profit will prevail with thee Godliness with contentment is great gain All the gold of the world is dross all the diamonds of the world are dirt all the gaines of the world are loss to this gain of Godliness Egypt watered by Nilus hath four rich harvests say some in less then four months Solinus saith the Egyptian fig tree beareth fruit seven times in a year Godliness brings forth 30 60. 100. fold increase It giveth an hundreth fold in this world and in the world to come life everlasting After ye had your fruits unto holiness in the end everlasting life Mat. 19. 29. Rom. 6. 22. Did the sinner but believe Scripture that speaks the infinite reward of holiness he would quickly set up this trade Pinder the Poet saith in regard of the fertility of Rhodia and the wealth of the inhabitants that it rained gold in that country The fruit of wisdom is better then silver and the gain thereof then fine gold She is more precious then Rubies and all thou canst desire is not to be compared to her Prov. 3. 14 15. Lucian fancieth all the Heathen gods and goddesses sitting in Parliament and each making choice of that tree which best pleased them Iupiter chose the Oak for its strength Apollo the Baytree for its greeness Neptune chose the Poplar for its length Iuno chose the Eglantine for its sweetness Venus chose the Myrtle-tree for its beauty Minerva sitting by demanded of her Father Iupiter why since there were so many fruitful trees they all had chosen barren ones He answered Ne videanâ—ur fructu honorem vendere Lest they should seem to sell honour for fruit Minerva replied Well Do what you please I for my part make choice of the Olive for its fatness and fruitfulness They all commended her choice and were ashamed of their own Folly This fiction doth fitly represent the foolishness of men at this day in chusing the honours and preferments and glory of the world which are barren and unfruitful things of no wâ—rth in the other world before that honour which is from God and the eternal weight of glory and also the convictions of their consciences another day which will force them to be ashamed of their own folly and to commend the choice of a Christian for preferring grace and godliness which will stand him in stead in an hour of
defence Though others like the old world are drowned are destroyed in these waters yet thou shouldst ride safely in a well pitcht Ark and to free thee from any fear of miscarrying the Lord himself would shut thee in When others are in the open air on whom storms and tempests have their full force thou shouldst be housed in Gods presence-chamber and kept secret by his side As Gideons fleece thou shouldst be dry when all about thee are wet The whale of destruction may digest thousands of Mariners but one godly Ionah is too hard for him The torrent of fire that ran from AEtna and consumed the Country yet parted it self to safeguard them that releived their aged parents When the Grecians had taken Troy and given every man liberty to carry out his burden they were so taken with the devotion of AEneas in carrying out first his houshold gods and upon a second licence his old Father Anchises and his Son Ascanius instead of treasures which others carried out that they permitted him to carry what he would without any disturbance Ieremiah in the Babylonish captivity was tendered and regarded highly by the King of Babylon When Sodom was destroyed Lot was preserved It was storied of Troy that so long as the Image of Pallas stood safe in it that City should never be won It is true of godliness so long as the fear and love of thy God are within thee so long as thou makest religion thy business nothing shall hurt thee every thing shall help thee godliness will bring in all gain and at all times No good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly A Child of God by adoption is in some sense like the Son of God by eternal generation heir of all things 1 Cor. 3.30 31. Whether Paul or Apollo or Cephas or Life or Death or things present or things to come all is yours and ye are Christ's and Christ is God's Nay the Christians riches are not onely unsearchable Ephes. 3. 8. but also durable Prov. 8. 15. When a wicked man dieth all his riches dye with him His treasue is laid up on earth therefore when he leaves the earth he leaves his treasure Psa. 49. 17. When a godly man dyeth his riches follow him Rev. 14. 13. His treasure is in heaven and so when he dyeth he goeth to his gains O Reader what an argument is here to provoke thee to piety godliness is profitable in all conditions in all relations in both worlds In prosperity t will be a sun to direct thee in adversity a shield to protect thee in life t will be thy comfort and which is infinitely more in death that hour of need 't will be thy enlivening cordial The smell of Trefoil is stronger in a cloudy dark season then in fair weather The refreshing savour of the sweet spices of grace is strongest in the Saints greatest necessities When Death the King of terrors comes to enter the list and fight with thee for thy soul and eternal salvation for thy God and Christ and Heaven and happiness when all thy Riches and Honours and Friends and Relations would leave thee in the lurch to shift for thy self as Dogs leave their Master when he comes to the water Godliness would be thy shield to secure thee against its shot and make thee more then a conquerour over it Thou mightest call thy dying bed as Iacob the place through which he travailed Mahanaim a Camp for there Angels would meet thee to convey thee safe through the Air the enemies country of which Satan is Lord and Prince to thy Fathers houses where thou shouldst be infinitely blessed in the vision and fruition of thy God and Saviour for ever Godliness would be the Pilot to steer the vessel of thy soul aright through those boysterous waters to an happy port The Arabick Fable mentions one that carried an Hog a Goat and a Sheep to the City the Hog roared hideously when the other two were still and quiet and being asked the reason gave this account of her crying The Sheep and Goat have no such cause to complain for they are carried to the City for their Milk but I am carried thither to be killed being good for nothing else The Ungodly person may well cry out sadly when sickness comes for then guilt flyeth in his face and conscience tells him death will kill him he is good for nothing but to be killed with death Rev. 2.25 he never honoured God in this world and God will force honour out of him in the other world He may well screech out dreadfully at the approach of death whose body death sends to the grave and his souls to intolerable and unquenchable flames but the godly man may bid death welcom knowing it will be his exceeding gain and advantage Reader When others like the Israelites are afraid and start back at the sight of this Goliah thou mightest like little David encounter him in the name of the Lord and overcome him Thou mightest triumphantly sing in the ears of death O death where is thy sting O grave where is thy victory The Lord of life would sweeten death to thee and subdue it for thee nay make it at peace with thee that thou mightest say to death as Iacob to Esau I have seen thy face as if it had been the face of God who hath made thee to meet me with smiles instead of frowns Death would help thee to that sight to that knowledge to that state and degree of holiness for which thou hast prayed and wept and fasted and watched and laboured and waited many a day as it s said of Iob there was none like him in the earth so I may say of this calling there is none like it upon the face of the earth the very enemies of it in their hours of extremity being judges Ah who would not work for God with the greatest diligence and walk with God in the exactest obedience and wait upon God with the greatest patience when he is assured that in the doing of his commands there is such great reward and those that sow to the spirit shall of the spirit reap life everlasting The Conclusion Reader I have now ended this Treatise but whether thou if a stranger to this calling wilt put an end to thy carnal fleshly ways and begin this high and heavenly work or no I know not If thou art ambitious thou hast here encouragement sufficient godliness will ennoble thee and render thy blood not only honourable but royal If thou art voluptuous here is a bait which may take thee godliness will bring thee to a river of pleasures to such dainties and delights as take the hearts of perfect and glorious Angels If thou art covetous here is a golden weight to turn the scales of thy desires and endeavours godliness is profitable unto all things it hath the promise of this life and of that which is to come when thy house and lands and honours and neighbours and
Did not ye hate me and expell me out of my Fathers house why are ye come unto me now ye are in distress Didst not thou hate me and expell me out of thy heart and house didst thou not deride and jeer and persecute me against all the commands and threatnings and promises and intreaties of God and his word and why art thou come to me now thou art in distress I must tell thee thou wilt then weep and howl and lament to God as the Israelites did in their extremity Deliver us only we pray thee this day Lord help me Lord save me Deliver me this day from the jaws of the roaring Lion Lord let not hell shut her mouth upon me Who can dwell in everlasting burnings who can abide devouring flames But thou mayst expect the same answer which God gave them Go and cry to the gods which ye have chosen let them deliver you in the time of your tribulation Go to the flesh and the world Go to thy riches and honours and sinful delights which thou hast chosen and preferred before me and let them deliver thee in this time of thy tribulation Where are those gods the rocks in which thou trustedst Let them rise up and help thee and be thy protection Iudg. 11. 6 7. Iudg. 10. 15 32. Deut. 37. 38. A Saint can sing in such a day of trial knowing that death is come to him as the Angel to Peter striking on his side not to hurt but to awaken him to beat off his fetters and set him in the glorious liberty of the children of God The Saint and the Sinner never differ so much at least in open view as in their ends Sin in the bud is sweet but in the fruit bitter and holiness though at first draught seems not so pleasant yet afterwards is all sweetness Though the path of sin be smooth and pleasing to thy flesh yet thou wilt find it slippery and killing to thy spirit It s like an evening star to usher in a night of blackness of darkness for ever The way of holiness is more harsh to the body but the onely Nectar of the soul Ah Reader if thou wilt but choose it thou wilt find by experience that t will be like Hannibal's passage over the Alpes a way which will require some pains but t will lead thee into the heavenly Paradise at that did him into the worlds garden Italy Reader Let me therefore bespeak thee or rather God himself Thus saith the Lord of Hosts Turn unto me saith the Lord of Hosts and I will turn unto thee saith Lord of Hosts Zach. 1. 3. After all thy neglect and contempt of God and his word after all thy wandrings and wickedness thou hast one call more to turn and live In which thy Maker doth three times pawn and interpose the authority of his name to confirm his word The Lord of Hosts three times he doth as it were bring his Angels his Hosts with him in this precept and promise as once to Sinai at the delivery of the law 1. As witnesses of his truth 2. As avengers of him on them that despise his call 3. As rejoycers for those that turn unto him O friend Consider it that God who might have turned thee into hell commandeth thee now after all thy folly and lewdness to turn to him yea he promiseth that if thou dost come at his call he will meet thee half way and turn unto thee It is not for his own sake that he is so earnest with thee for he can be happy without thee he hath no addition by thy salvation he suffereth no diminution by thy damnation but he calleth on thee for thy good that thou mightst be happy in his favour It was the saying of Antigona that she ought to please them with whom she hoped to remain for ever Ah doth it not concern thee to please that God upon whom thoâ— dependest for thy eternal weal or wo When Antiochus was in Egypt in armes against the Romans they sent P. Popilius with other Ambassadours to him where when he had welcomed them P. Popilius delivered some writings to him containing the mind of his Masters which he he commanded Antiochus to read which he did Then he consulted with his friends what was best to be done in the business Whilst he was in a great study P. Popilius with a wand that he had in his hand made a circle about him in the dust saying Ere thou stir a foot out of this circle return thy answer that I may tell the Senate whether thou hadst rather have war or peace This he uttered with such a firm countenance that it amazed the King wherefore after he had paused a while he answered I will do what the Senate hath written or shall think fit Reader I shall onely allude to it and conclude Thou art if in thy natural estate a rebel against God thy heart is full of enmity and thy life of treason against his blessed Majesty thou art daily discharging whole vollies of shot against him he hath sent me as his Embassadour to offer thee terms of peace and to require thee in his name to throw down thine armes and to submit to his mercy I know thou art ready to consult with thy seeming friends but real enemies the world and the flesh what thou wert best to do in this case but whilst thou art thus musing I charge and command thee in the name of God and by his authority who sent me to thee that before thou closest the book thou returne to thy Maker in thy conscience thine answer whether thou hadst rather have peace with him whose wrath is infininety worse then death and whose favour is better then life or war If considering the excellency necessity and profit of godliness thou sayst I will through the help of Christ do all that the Lord hath written or thinketh fit to be done in order to my recovery out of this estate of woe and misery I shall inform thee that God is ready to receive thee the Spirit to assist thee thy Saviour to embrace thee the rich and precious promises of the Gospel containing pardon love peace eternal life are all ready to welcome thee But if thou deniest thy God thy real able and faithful friend and wilt gratifie thy profest though politick enemy the Devil so much as to continue in thine ungodly courses I must assure thee that Phrygan like thou wilt repent when it is too late and be taught by woful experience that it had been far better to have hearkened to the Counsels and Commands of God that with prudent Prometheus thou mightst have forseen a danger and shund it then to walk on in the broad way to hell with foolish Epimetheus without any consideration till thou art unconceivably and irrecoverably miserable and plunged in that lake and amidst those dreadful torments of which there is no FINIS AN Alphabetical Table OF THE Chief Heads contained in the foregoing
so often to remember his latter end because the meditation of it is so gainful to him The first day man was made he was called to think of his last day God minded him of death in the Tree of Knowledge and the threatning annexed to the Prohibition that he might thereby keep him from sin Satan could not prevail with Eve to taste of that killing fruit till he had prevailed with her to distrust that threatning of death ye shall not surely dye Gen. 3. 4. After the fall God reneweth this meditation by turning the conditional into an absolute commination Dust thou art and to Dust thou shalt return and though the Holy Ghost omitteth many particulars about Gods carriage with the long-lived Patriarchs and their holy conversation before him yet he is exact in registring their deaths And he died and he died of every one Gen. 5. to quicken us to fear God because we are but dying frail men There is hardly any thing about which we deal but God gives us by it a Memento of Death Our Cloaths are all fetcht out of Deaths wardrobe our food out of deaths shambles The Sun is an emblem of lifes posting the night of the chambers of darkness the year hath its autumn the day its night Our candles should mind us of the wasting of our days the evening of the shadow of death our undressing of our putting off our earthly tabernacles and our lying down in our beds of our lying down in our graves If thou wouldst make Religion thy business and main work think often and seriously of thy death and departure of this world He that guides and steers the ship aright sits in the stern or hinderâ— most part of it He that would order his works his way according to God must be frequent in the meditation of his end The end of his days must be at the end of all his thoughts Zeno Cittiaeus consulted with the Oracle how he might live well and received this answer If he would be of the same colour with the dead Reader if thou wouldst live much and well get thy heart as much affected with godliness in health as it will be in sickness Have the same thoughts of it the same seriousness about it the very same carriage towards it whilst the world salutes thee with its smiling face and bewitching features which thou wilt wish thou hadst had when thou shalt come to take thy leave of it and lye upon thy dying bed Be of the same colour with the dead O what thoughts have the dead of godliness and of making it ones business The dead in Christ and the dead out of Christ have both other manner of thoughts of Religion and making it ones occupation then thou canst possibly imagine Those who while they live delay repentance and dally about Religion minding it as if they minded it not who neither in their dealings with men nor duties towards God nor in their relations nor vocations make it their business but mispend their precious time misimploy their weighty talents neglect God and their eternal welfares as if they had not been made to mind either when they come to dye and perceive in good earnest that that surly Serjeant Death will not be denyed but away they must go into the other world and fare well or ill for ever according as their hearts and lives have been godly or ungodly good or bad here good Lord what thoughts have they then of godliness How hearty are their wishes that they had made it their business What Worlds would they give that Religion had been their principal work What prayers and tears do they poure out for a few days to mind it in What sighs and sobs and groans that they have neglected it so long What purposes do they take up what promises do they make if God spare them to follow hard after holiness and make it their onely business A Philosopher asking Euchrites which of the two he had rather be Craesus one of the richest and most vicious in the world or Socrates one of the poorest and most vertuous Eucrites answered Craesus vivens Socrates moriens Craesus while he lived and Socrates when he dyed The Cuckoe when wearing away changeth her noat The worst men when they come to dye alter and change exceedingly It is worthy our observation that those who are greatest strangers to death are most familiar with the works of darkness No place abounds more in Wolves no person in wickedness then where this Mastiff is wanting Jerusalem hath greivously sinned her filthiness is in her skirts she remembreth not her last end therefore she came down wonderfully 1 Lamen 8. 9. Jerusalem hath greivously sinned hath sinned sin Heb. Hath committed a great or greivous sin so the Chaldee Behold here the colour of her sin is was not of an ordinary dye but of a black a bloody an heinous nature Her filthiness is in her skirts Lo here her carriage after her sinning she made of it an open shew so far was she from shame It is a term taken from prostituted Strumpets or monstrous women saith Diodat The outward looks of the former bewray her inward lusts and the marks of the latters defilement are visible on her garment thus the shew of Ierusalems countenance did publiquely evidence her crime She did as clearly by her skirts proclaim her filth as if it had been written on her face and engraven on her forehead Here was impiety in her practice Ierusalem hath greivously sinned and impudency to purpose Her filthiness is in her skirts But what dust was that which bred such vermine what polluted seed was that which begat such a poisonous serpent Reader if thou wouldst know the Mother which brought forth and bred up this ugly Monster She remembreth not her last end therefore she came down mightily It was her forgetfulness of death which nourished and cherished her wicked deeds They who mind not their reckoning care not how much they riot and revel They who put far away the evil day cause the seat of violence to come near Amos 6. 3. The further we drive death from our thoughts the nearer we draw to sin They who fancy their foe to be very far off will not prepare and make ready to fight Men that are young do not consider that the old Ass often carrieth the skin of the young to the Market that death comes like a Thunderbolt and Lightning and blasteth the green corn and consumeth the strongest buildings if they did they would flee youthful lusts He who seeth death at his door will be most diligent about his duty A serious consideration of the death of the body will be a soveraign though a sharp medicine to kill the body of death The Naturalists tell us that the ashes of a Viper applied to the part which is stung draweth the venome out of it They who look on themselves as Pilgrims and strangers will abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the