Pibble with the price of which I can purchase a Jewell That which the bountious hand of God gives for a Pension that the covetous heart of man takes for a Portion These foolish Travellers are so taken with their Inn that they forget their home Well you sow the seeds of industry to reap the Harvest of vanity I confesse God hath not made all the Trees in his Garden forbidden fruit Doe you thinke he would spread a Table before us and bind us up with a touch not tast not handle not Godlinesse will allow us to taste of the world as sawce but not to feed on the world as meat Outward mercies are not so low as to be peremptorily deserted nor so high as to be primarily desired If they be seducements from the Mercy-seat they will be indictments at the Judgement-seat I may say of the earth as the Philosopher said of the City of Athens that it was a City Ad peregrinandum jucunda but ad in habitandum non tuta Pleasant for journying but not safe for dwelling Outward plenty it may be a comfortable Ship for indigence to sail in but a dangerous Rock for confidence to trust in Many so they may have but something of earth in their hands care for nothing of Heaven in their hearts Ah what fools are they that are so diligent about what is temporal and so negligent about what is spiritual so careful about decaying vanities and so sloathful about enduring excellencies When Crates threw his Gold into the Sea he cryed out Egoâ—perdam te ne tu perdas me I will destroy thee that thou mayst not destroy me If men do not put the love of the world to death the love of the world will put men to death Then thou wilt say as Cardinal Woolsey when he was cast out of his Princes favour and left to his enemies fury If I had served my God as faithfully as I have served my King he would not have left me thus O how many men are there that drops into perdition meerly for a Posy to smell on in their Road to Execution It was a notable speech of Erasmus That he desired wealth and honour no more then a feeble beast desired a heavy burden How are cares bound to crowns anxiety disfigures the face of prosperity and makes it like a Christall glasse blown on by an impure breath that retains little or nothing of its native lustre How far may a man goe before he can see the silver picture of a comely body set into the Golden frame of a gracious soul Work out your salvation with fear and trembling or else you will both fear and tremble for not working out of your salvation Most men are like that silly woman that when her house was on fire so minded the saving of her goods that she left her child rosting in the flames at last being put in remembrance of it she cryes out O my child my child Thus sottish sinners whilest they are scraping for a little substance their soules are consumed in flames and being in Hell they cry out O my soul my soul What got Sisera by his Milk and his Butter when he tasted of the Nail and the Hammer O how curious are men of their Out-wards and how carelesse are they of their In-wards What pains do they take to cover their flesh from nakednesse when their Spirits are not cloathed with the Robes of righteousnesse In a vigorous well complexioned flourishing body there 's a feeble languishing and consuming soul The evil disposition of the latter spoils the good composition of the former For a man to be true to that part that is without him and false to that part that is within him what 's this but as if a Husband-man should gather in his stubble and leave out his corn or as if a Gold-smith should weigh his drosse and disregard his gold Wilt thou trim up the Scabbard and let the Blade of admirable Mettal to gather Rust this is Jacob like to lay the right hand upon the younger and the left hand upon his elder child If there be nothing done by your souls on earth there will be nothing done for your souls in Heaven There 's such an eagernesse in contending for the wealth that 's given to the sons of men that there is no earnestnesse in contending for the faith that 's delivered to the Saints of God Ah what pity is it to see those spirits that came down from Heaven to loose their way up to heaven that ever that should go down to misery that came down from glory That 's the Eighteenth 19. Principle that beleevers should walk by is this That integrity is the best security Dogs that have no teeth may bark but cannot bite and Serpents that have no stings may hiss but they cannot hurt A naked man with innocency is Integer vitae scelerisque purus Non eget Mauri jaculis nec arcu Nec venenatis gravida sagittis fusce pharetrâ c. Hor. lib. 1. Ode 22. better armed then Goliah in brasse and Iron And who is he that will harme you if ye be followers of that which is good 1 Pet. 3. 13. As no flattery can heale a bad conscience so no cruelty can hurt a good conscience As steps in the wayes of righteousness are the most gracious so stripes for the works of righteousnesse are the most glorious A pious Martyr is more renowned then a bloody persecutor Righteousnesse is a brest plate to a man in doing and it 's a Crowne to a man in suffering Our integrity will not secure us Falsa crimina piis objectat et impingit Diabolus eosque suspicione et infamiâ aspergit Abel ubi prius pag 259. from infamy the choicest professors have had black markes in the worlds Calenders but though it do not keep us from being shot yet it will keep us from being hurt The Lord taketh my part with them that help me therefore shall I see my desire upon them that hate me Psal 118. 7. God will either find a hand to hold off suffering or an arme to uphold in suffering Though you be as sheep amongst wolves he will keep you from rending and though you be as Ships amongst waves he will keep you from drowning be not too quick to bury Christus quidem rex ille gloriae magnificum palatium scil Ecclesiam in pâ—trâ firmissimâ aedificavit et circuit muro divinae protectionis Idem pag. 252. a church before she be dead it 's time enough to dresse your selves in sables when you are invited to her funeralls Consult that saying Isa 43. 3. For I am the Lord thy God the holy one of Israel thy Saviour I gave Aegypt for thy ransome Aethiopia and Seba for thee God will pluck up the tares to preserve the wheat as he ript up the womb of Egypt to secure the fruit of Israel as Constantine impoverished all his Empire to enrich Constantinople Noah was sound alone when the
foul one God likes no such bargains Lord I am willing to serve thee but unwilling to suffer for thee I will go to sea but on condition I shall meet with no storms I will enter the war but on condition I shall have no blows They would fain be wafted to the point of felicity in such vessels as might not be tossed on the waters of calamity Such think much to borrow a thorn though it be taken from their Saviours Crown Some there are that will sacrifice a stout heart to a stubborn will And will rather dye as Martyrs for errors then bow as servants to truth How shall they ever stand for Christ who did never stand in Christ But beleevers study more how to adorn the cross then how to avoid the cross as deeming it better to be saved in rough waters then drowned in a calm ocean Temporary Professors are like Hedge-hogs that have two holes one to the North the other to the South when the South wind suns them they open to the North and when the North wind chills them they go to the South They will lose their activity to finde their security It was the saying of the King of Navar to Beza That he would in the cause of Christ sail no further then he might retreat safe to the shore Man is a life-loving creature he is afaid to follow truth too near at the heels lest it should lift up his foot and dash out his brains Weak grace will do for God but it must be strong grace that will dye for God A true Christians will lay down his lusts at the command of Christ and he will lay down his life for the cause of Christ The trees of righteousness the more they are shaken by the wind the faster they are rooted in the ground What art thou a member of Christ and yet afraid to be a Martyr for Christ Si beati sunt qui moriuntur in Domino quam beati sunt illi qui moriuntur pro Domino If they be blessed that die in the Lord how blessed are they that die for the Lord What though the flesh do return to dust so the spirit do return to rest what is the body of Adam for a soul to live in to the bosom of Abraham for a Saint to lye in Righteous Abel the first Soldier in the Church Militant was the first Saint in the Church Triumphant He offered up a Sacrifice when the Altar was sprinkled with his own blood But as his body was the first that ever took possession of earth so his soul was the first that ever had a translation to heaven Should such a man as I flie saith Nehemiah A man that hath been so much honoured and a man that hath been so much used It is better to dye a Conqueror then to live a Coward They who will be no less then combatants they shall be more then conquerors None are so couragious as those who are religious A Christian if he lives he knows by whose might he stands and if he dies he knows for whose sake he falls Where there is no confidence in God there will be no continuance with God When the wind ceases to fill the sails the ship ceases to plough the seas The taints of Ishmael shall never make an Isaac out of love with his inheritance If a righteous cause brings you into sufferings a righteous God will bring you out of sufferings Christ is beholden to his enemies as well as to his friends Their malicious opposition wrought out his glorious exaltation The worst that men can do against Beleevers is the best that men can do for Beleivers The worst that they can act against them is to send them out of earth and the best they can do for them is to send them up to heaven It was the expression of one of the Martyrs to his Persecutors You take a life from me that I cannot keep and bestow a life upon me that I cannot lose which is as if you should rob a man of counters and furnish him with gold He that is assured of a life that hath no end cares not how soon this life is at an end All this is come upon us yet have we not forgotten thee neither have we dealt falsely in thy covenant Our heart is not turned back neither have our steps declined from thy way Though thou hast sore broken us in the place of Dragons and covered us with the shadow of death Psal 44. 17 18 19. Beleevers are like the moon that wades out of her shadows by keeping her motion and leaves not her shining for the barking of dogs Shall we cease to be Professors because others will not cease to be Persecutors by the seed of the serpent the heel of the woman may be bruised but by the seed of the woman the Serpents head shall be broken Christians see you good times prepare for bad times there is no spring without its fall no Summer but hath its Winter he never reaped comfort in the night of adversity that did not sow it in the day of prosperity Many waters cannot queneh love neither can the floods drown it Cant. 8. 6. The fire of affection is not quenched by the water of affliction But if the trade of piety cannot be peaceably driven Formalists will shut up their shop-windows They will rather tarry out of the land of Canaan then swim to it through the red sea But a beleever never falls asleep for Jesus till he falls asleep in Jesus If it be thou bid me come to thee on the water Matth. 14. 18. Love can walk on the water without drowning and lie in the fire without burning It s said of the Serpent that he cares not to what danger he exposes his body so he secures his head Thus it is with a Christian he cares not to what hazard he exposes his substance so he may but enjoy his Saviour None of these things move me neither count I my life dear to my self so I may finish my course with joy Act. 20. 24. A Saint is inwardly pious when he is not outwardly prosperous The sharper such Physick is in its taking the sounder the Patient is for its working The higher the floods swell on earth the nearer the Ark mounts up to heaven God can strike strait strokes with crooked sticks and make the Devils dross to fetch off the rust that cleaves to his gold Christians are crucified by the world that they might be crucified to the world God makes it to be an enemy to you that he might make you an enmy to it Remember Christians that Religion is that Phoenix that hath always flourished in her own ashes Magistrates they defend the truth with their swords but Martyrs they defend the truth with their bloods And the losing of their heads makes way for the receiving of their crowns How should we land at the haven of rest if we vvere not tossed upon the seas of trouble If Joseph had not
are more scandalous but inward lusts are more dangerous If you would know the heart of your sins you must then know the sin of your hearts Out of the heart proceed evil thoughts murders adulteries fornications thefts false witness blasphemies Mat. 15. 19. Cor ut est sons vitae itactiam omnium pravarum cogita ionum Diaholus adjutor incensoresse potest non autem eaâ—um aâ—ctor Chem. Hat Evan. p. 15. 28. Those streams of defilement that are in your lives do but shew what a fountain of wickedness there is in your hearts As a little ware you lay on your stalls shews the great abundance you have in your shops The thought of foolishness is sin Prov. 24. 9. Mercury is poyson in the water distilled as well as in the gross body Repentance though it be mans act yet it is Gods gift The same power goes to the hearts melting that goes to the hearts making yet a heart that is broken is better then a face that is brazen Supernas enim beatorum mansiones attingit â—ern in Cant. ser 10. poenitentiae odor Though we are faln from a state of Poenitentia est lordaâ—'s flâ—vius in quo Naa maa mundatur Mare ruburm in quo Aegvptii submerguntur Gor. in â—â— aâ— 5. 4. innocency yet we should rise to a state of penitency Those sins shall never make a hell for us which are a hell to us Others they do nothing more then make work for repentance and yet do nothing less then repent of their works They have sin enough for all their sorrows but they have not sorrow enough for all their sins Their eyes are casements to let in lusts that should be flood-gates to pour out tears Those men will hardly stave off new sins that did Quem conscientia recentis et crudi sceleris sollicitat fortius tonaâ—i us amplectitur pietatem c. Bapt. Fer. orat 2. p. 4. never grieve for old ones but when sorrow has possession of the house it will shut sin out of the doors Thou breakest the heads of Leviathan in the waters Psal 74. 14. T is usually allegorized of great sins that are weakned and washed away with tears Gorr in 5. Mat. 4. and Playf in his Mean mourn there must be a falling out with our lusts before there be a falling off from our lusts a loathing of sin in our affections before there be Dolorem tanquam gladium arripimus quo peccatum interimimus Stella a leaving of sin in our conversations A hearty mourning for our transgresgressions makes way for a happy funeral of our corruptions You that have filled the Book of God with your sins should fill the bottle of God with your tears When Christ draws the picture of the new creature his first pensill is steeped in water Except ye repent ye shall Christus nos omnes ad poenitentiam suadet si perire nolumus haec enim est secunda tabula post naufragium Stella in l c. all likewise perish Luk. 13. 3. Is it not better to repent without perishing then to perish without repenting Your sins have been your greatest traytors and your sorrows will be your choycest When Alexander had read a long Epistle written by Antipater against his mother Olympias he said unto him Ignoras in finitas epistolas unicâ matris lachrymâ oblilaerari Plut. in vita Alâ—x helpers Godly sorrow it s such a grace as without it not a man shall be saved and with it not a man shall be damned Is it not better swiming in the water works of repentance then its burning in the fire-works of vengeance Or will the tears that in hell are offered put out the flames that in hell are suffered Him hath God exhalted to be a Prince and a Saviour to give repentance to Israel and the remission of sins Acts 5. 31. As a Prince he gives repentance as a Priest he gives indulgence Our humiliation is the fruit of his exhaltation as he was abased for the creatures exaltment so he was exalted for the creatures abasement Remember sinner if thy heart be not broken in thee thy guilt is not broken from thee If you lay not your sins to your hearts that you may be humbled he will lay your sins to your charge that you may be damned Repentance though it be not a pardons obtainer yet it is a pardons forerunner He that lives in sin without repentance shall dye in sin without forgiveness There is no coming to the fair In catalogo beatorum scribuntur stentes Stel. in Luc. 6. 21. haven of glory without sailing thorow the narrow straits of repentance Blessed are they that mourn for they shall be comforted Mat. 5. 4. Out of the saltest water God can brew the Flebile prencipium melior fortuna secuta est Ovid. Lib. 7. Metam sweetest liquor As the Bee gathers the best honey from the bitterest herbs when the cloud hath been disolved into a shower presently there follows a glorious sun shine the more a stone is wounded by the hand of the Ingraver the more beauty is superinduced upon it By groans unutterable God doth usher in joyes unspeakable Haee poenitentia scil te peccatorum fluctibus mersum perlevabit in portum divinae clementiae protelabit Tert. lib. de paenit None do more sing in the possessing of Christ then they who do most sigh for the forsaking of Christ usually their liftings up are commensurate to their castings down a tender heart is like melting wax ah what choice impressions is there stampt upon such dispositions A Christian should mourn more for the lusts of the flesh then for the works of the flesh the sin of our natures transends the nature of our sins carnal sins they defile the soul by the body but spiritual sins they defile the soul in the body Others they can mourn over a body from whom a Siquem detuis charis mortali exitu perdidisseâ— ingemisteres dolenter flere Animam tuam misere perdidisti non acriter plangis non jugiter ingemiscis Cypryan de lapsis soul is departed but they cannot mourn over a soul whom God hath deserted Alas what 's the biting of a Flea to the stinging of a Scorpion or a spot in the face to a stab at the heart Inward diseases though they are least palbable yet they are most miserable needs must they end in that which is mortal that begin on that which is vital a man may dye of the plague whose spots are never seen It s sin in the soul that 's like Jonah in the ship which turnes the smoothest Seas into the curledst waves Sola penitentia superest quae satisfaciat Id. Ibid. They shall look upon me whom they pierced and they shall mourn for him as one mourneth for his onely son and shall be in bitterness for Beati sunt qui in hâ—c Lacry marum valle ipsis etiam lachrymis palcuntur Stella in Luc.
the King If you will needs be Judges sit upon your own benches I shall ever esteem such to be but lepers that care not for looking-glasses He that doth not mind what he hath done Self-examination is the beaten path to perfection its like fire which doth not only try the gold but purifies the gold The sight of your selves in grace will bring you to the sight of God in glory The Heathens tell us that Nosce teipsum was an Oracle that came down from heaven Sure I am it is Oracle that will lead us up to heaven The plague of the heart is not every mans plague but the plague of the soul is every mans plague though there be no vision that 's less pleasurable yet there 's no vision that 's more profitable till you know how deep the pit is in to which you are faln you will never seek to get out of it again The bottom of our diseases lies in not searching our diseases to the bottome so we have but some raggs to cover our nakedness we seek not a remedy to cure our naughtiness He that trusts his heart is a fool and yet such fools are we as to trust our hearts the heart it s that which God searches by his Omnisciency and its that which man should search by his industry if a man would know whether the sun shines it s better viewing its beams on the pavement then its body in the firmament The readiest way to know whither or no you are in Christ is to know whither or no Christ is in you for the fruit is more visible then the root that 's the Seventeenth 18. Singular thing is to set out for God at our beginning and to hold out with God unto our ending to be amongst the first that seeks God and amongst the last that serve him First to set out for God at our beginning remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth while the evil days come not nor the years draw nigh when thou shalt say I have no pleasure in them Eccl. 12. 1. In the stilling of strong waters the first thats drawn is fuller of spirits then the rest that follows The first of the first fruits of thy land thou shalt bring into the house of the Lord thy God Exo. 23. 19. The way to have the whole harvest of your lives sanctified by God is to have the first fruits of your lives dedicated to God I remember the kindness of thy youth the love of thine Espousal Jer. 2. 2. God prises a Christian in the bud and likes the blossomings of youth above the sheddings of age We should pay our tribute as soon as ever our money comes out of the Mint Is it not pitty that plant should grow in Egypt that will thrive so well in Canaan Your Naturalists tels us that the most orient pearls are generated of the morning due They who are in Christ before us are like to be in Christ above us The way to keep a field from overgrowing with weeds is to pluck them up in the spring If youth be sick of the will nots old age will dye of the cannots Under the law they who gathered not Manna in the morning found none all the day if when you have seasons and want hearts the time may come when you may have hearts but want seasons Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the Leopard his spots then may ye also do good that are accustomed to do evil Ier. 12. 23. He is a bad husband that hath money to spend on company abroad but none to lay out for provisions to keep his family at home Yet one accustomed to Drunkenness will rather strarve his posterity then be bound in the cords of Sobriety It s hard casting off the Devils yoaks when we Quod in morbis accidit cum invaluere per longas moras ut Serò medicina paretur idem judicandum nisi quis a puero rectam viam meat et eidem assuescat Riveâ— in Ps 119. 9. have worn them long upon our necks can a man be born again when he is old grace seldome grafts upon such withered stocks An old sinner is nearer to the second death then he is to the second birth It s more likely to see him taken out of the flesh then to see the flesh taken out of him his body is nearer to corruption then his soul is unto Salvation Where the Enemy is the stronger there the victory is the harder Usually where the Devil pleads antiquity he keeps propriety As there 's none so old as that they should dispaire of mercy so there 's none so young as that they should presume on mercy if Gods To day be too soon for thy repentance thy To morrow may be too late for his acceptance Mercies clock doth not alwayes strike at our beck The longer poyson stayes in the stomack the more mortal Jesus Christ he had two Disciples whom he highly prized the one who was young for Comming so soon to him the other who was old for staying so long with him O how amiable are the golden apples of grace in the silver pictures of age God prizes a young friend but punishes an old Enemy Old sinners are like old serpents the fullest of poyson It s a rare spectacle to view the Antient of dayes in those who are not antient in days To see green peeces of Timber hewing and squaring that they might be laid in the celestial building when nature is in its minority to see grace in its sincerity Ps 119. 99. I have more understanding then my teachers Ex disci pulo doctorem me fecisti etiam eorum qui doctores meifuâ—runt Rivet in loc his youth was wiser then others age his dawning was brigher then their noon tyde and this was the more admirable because t was in his youth for when our lives are the most vigorous our lusts are the most boysterous You teach a dog whilst he is a whelp and break a horse whilst he is a Colt A plentiful harvest is the issue of an early seed time Thou writest bitter thing against me thou makest me to possess the sins of my youth Job 13. 26. Needs must that Iron gather rust that is not often filed Remember children your youthful sins layes a foundation for aged sorrows You have but one arrow to hit the mark and if that be shot at randome God will never put another into your bow I am Alpha and Omega the beginning and the ending or as some the first and the last Rev. 1. 8. He that is the first and the last will be served from the first to the last you can never come to soon to him who is your beginning and you can never stay too long with him who is your ending The flower of life it s of Christs setting and shall it be of the Divels cropping But what 's seting out without holding out Mutability is at best but the badg of infirmity Letters ingraven in
sitteth on the right hand of God Col. 3. 1. The same pen writes fair or blots as his skill or rudeness is that handles it The same strings make a pleasant musick or a jarring discord as they are set and fingured So our affections according to their objects about which they are conversant become either like fiery chariots to carry us to perfection or like Pharoahs chariots to hurry us to perdition There is no need of blotting out these Characters but of writing of them in fair papers nor of drying up of these waters but of diverting them into their proper channels nor of plucking up of these plants but of setting them in a right soil Solum dispicit qui coelum aspicit He that looks upon heaven with desire will look upon earth with disdain Our affections were made for the things that are above us and not for the things that are a out us What is your earthly Manors to your heavenly Mansions As carnal things seem small to a man that is spiritual so spiritual things seem small to a man that is carnal Ignoti nulla cupido there are no movings after things beyond the sphear of our knowledge Heaven is to them as a mine of gold covered with earth and rubbish or as a bed of pearl inclosed in a heap of sand If they had the eyes of an eagl to see it they would wish for the wings of an eagle to flie unto it How little would the great world seem to us if the great God was not little in us Either men have no thoughts of a future state or else they have low thoughts of a future state If we had souls without any bodies then there would be no need of earth to keep us if we had bodies without any souls then there would be no need of heaven to crown us But such as have no present holiness are for a present happiness There be many that say Who will shew us any good Psal 4. 6. any good will serve the turns of those that know not the chiefest good But Lord lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us O how sordid is it to prefer the garlick and onyons of Egypt before the milk and honey of Canaan Visible things to them is better then invisible They mind the world that is come so much as if it would never have an ending and the world to come so little as if it would never have a beginning Why should you be so taken with your riches that shall be taken from your riches or dote upon a flower which a day may wither They that are travelling beyond the world they shoulst be trading above the world but such are not easily awakened that fall so fast asleep on the worlds pillow But now they desire a better Country that is a Tunc ut fama est primum gustantes vinum ex â—taliâ delatum sic illius admiratione amentes facti sunt omnes ut collectis armis c. quaesicrint eam terram in quá hujusmodi fructus oriratur Plut. in vit Camil. heavenly Heb. 11. 16. The Gauls when they had tasted the sweet wine of Italy asked where the grapes grew and would never be quiet till they came there O that I had the wings of a Dove that I might fly above and be at rest A beleiver is willing to lose the world for the reception of grace and he is willing to leave the world for the fruition of glory As the worst on this side hell compared with that is mercy so the best on this side heaven compared with that is misery There is no more comparison to be made between heaven and earth then there is between a peice of rusty iron and a peice of refined gold St. Austin saith Spes vitae immortalis est vita vitae mortalis The hope of life immortal is the life of our lives mortal It s the expectation of their future heritage which is the Saints Jacobs staff to walk through this dark pilgrimage If in this life only we have hope in Christ we were of all men the most miserable but because we have hope in Christ after this life we may be of all men the most comfortable for in this we groan earnestly desiring to be cloathed upon with our house which is from heaven 2 Cor. 5. 2. A beleever longs to be there most of all where he shall be best of all He is not only one that grows in what is gracious but he is one that groans for what is glorious Perfection is the boundary of expectation as it likes no other so it looks no further every thing in Eternity is wound up to its highest capciaty Behold I see the heavens opened and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God Act. 7. 56. A beleiver can sweetly see with an eye that is purified what he shall shortly see with an eye that is glorified Here it is that mercy is received unmixed and majesty is viewed unvailed What 's a Pebble that is worthless to a Pearl that is matchless Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord O what joy enters into the beleever when he enters into the joy of his Redeemer The vessels of mercy shall then swim in the ocean of glory Come ye blessed of my father inherit the kingdom prepared for you before the foundation of the world Mat. 25. 34. That which makes hell so full of horror is that it s below all hopes That which makes heaven so full of splendor is that it s above all fears The one is a Ibi erit verè maximum Sabbatum non habens vesperem Aug. de civ deil 22. c. 30. night that shall never see any day appearing the other is a day that shall never have any night aproaching Who would not work for glory with the greatest diligence and wait for glory with the greatest patience seeing we advance the interest whilst we stay for the principal There are some deluded Professors that aspire after earthly scepters as if the place where Saints are to be crucified were the place where Sts. are to be glorified then certainly the Church here should rather be in a state triumphant then in a state militant In heaven the crown is made for them and in heaven the crown shall be worn by them St. Austin presents us with two parts of the Church Vna in tempore perigrinationis altera in aeternitate mansionis We are not speaking of that part which is established above temptations but of that part which is encompassed about with temptations and its hard finding of this ark without moving on a tumultuous deluge In my fathers house are many mansions I go to prepare a place for you Joh. 14. 2. Our Redeemer is our Forerunner he that takes possession of us on earth takes possession for us of heaven As they are not long here without him so he will not be long there without them Here all the earth is not enough
our life to a day Infancy is as it were the day breake youth is the Sun rising full growth is as the Sun in it's Meridian and old age is as the Sun setting by the light of the day let us doe the worke of the day O that thou hadst known in this thy day the things that doe belong to thy peace but now they are hid from thine eyes Luk. 19. 42. The dews of grace is falling whilst the day of grace is dawning O how just is it that they should misse of heaven at the last that never seek for Heaven till the last That God should deny them his grace to repent that abuse his grace to sin It 's a Maxime Omne principiatum sequitur naturam principiorum every thing hath an aptitude of returning into the Principle of its beginning as the Rivers that have their eflux from the Sea have their reflux to the Sea Out of the dust man was formed and therefore into the dust man is turned Sirs How much of your lives is gone and yet how little of your works are done You tender plants will you spend your youthfull lives in following of your youthfull lusts will you hang the most sparkling Jewells of your yeares as pendents in the Devils ears The Aegyptians sold their funerall balms in the Temple of Venus to shew that where they prayed for their nativity they might not forget their mortallity O you fresh pictures will you not be hung in Heavens gallery do you not know that the blossome is as subject to nipping as the flower to withering and the spark to extinguishing as the flame to expiring Veins brimmed full with blood may be emptied by an accident as soon as those that are leakish with old age As there 's none too old for eternity so there 's none too young for mortallity In Golgotha there are sculls of all sizes You are but green enough for reformation that are gray enough for dissolution tell me how wilt thou live when thou diest that art dead whilst thou livest every step that your bodies take it 's towards the earth O that euery step your souls take might be towards Heaven We sin as well in not doing the good commanded as in doing the evil prohibited The Vine that bringeth forth no Grapes shall be cut down as well as the Vine that bringeth forth wild Grapes There 's no countermining against the death of the body without us but by undermining of the body of death within us O how sad is it to be taken out of the world before we are taken off from the world To day if you will hear his voice harden not your hearts Heb. 3. 7. We have but a day wherein we are called to repent and therefore should repent whilest it is called to day None sings so sweetly as the Turtle upon the Churches Walls and all that he may even constram sinners unto himself He is the deafest Adder that stops his ears to the voice of the sweetest Charmer The Lord hath made a promise to late repentance but he hath not made a promise of late repentance If the Tap be not now thawed it may be for ever frozen A pardon is sometimes given to a Thief on the Gallows but he that Quòspectas quò te extendu Omnia quae ventura sunt in incertojacent Seneca ubi prius trusts to that sometimes hath a Rope for his wages Boast not of to morrow for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth Prov. 27. Man is such a pur-blind creature that he cannot unerringly see a day before him O see the ending of one day before thou gloriest in the beginning of another Many a mans dayes deceives him they passe away like a shadow by Moon-shine that then appears longest when it s nearest to an end Thou mayest not have halfe a day to live Dum floret aetas dum viget animus operemur bonum cùm enim vita ista transierit auferetur tempus operandi Arbor in cap. 6. ad Gal. ver 10. who thinks thou hast not lived out halfe thy dayes up and be doing least you be for ever undone The night cometh wherein no man can work The Grave is a Bed to rest in but not a Shop to trade in There 's no setting up under ground for those that have lost their time above ground When the soul in death takes its flight from its loving maite they shall meet no more till the general Assises 2 Cor. 6. 2. Behold now is the acceptable Vide Gor. Arboreum in loc time behold now is the day of salvation Now is the time for grace to accept of you and now is the time for you to accept of grace Opportunities they are for eternity but opportunities they are not to eternity Mercies Clock doth not strike at the sinners beck Where the means of grace is greatest there the day of grace is shortest Thou mayest be unhappy all thy dayes for the neglect of this dayes happinesse It was the sad cry of one My life is done but my work is undone O that you would imploy the small remnant you have of opportunity for the obtaining of the whole peece of felicity Make Hay whilest the Sun is shining and hoyse up Sails whilest the wind is serving Let this be thy living day the next may be thy dying day Seek the Lord whilest he may be found call upon him whilest he is near Isa 55. 6. Sirs The sufferings of eternal death are but the Issue of the slightings of eternal life Methinks the worth of such Pearls of price should sparkle in your eyes Will you let such a Sun set on earth by the beams of which you should walke to Heaven No disease is more fatal then that which doth reject Cordials What asad thing is it that such rich Mines should be opened and not a penny of this treasure fall to your share Some are gone so far in the way of sinning that there 's small hopes of their returning How much time did God bestow upon you before ever you returned any of that time to him It 's good to have an Ark prepared before a Deluge come in which you may be overwhelmed Man must do what he can and leave God to do what he will Though you cannot create the breath of the Spirit yet hang out your Sails to entertain it Though you cannot make the Pool of Bethesda healing yet lye at its mouth and wait for its stirring The longer a building goes to ruin the more cost it requires for reparation Remember that God can as easily turn you into the dust as he could take you out of the dust Delayes are numerous O but delayes are dangerous Who will look for water from a drained River Or that wealthy Grapes should grow upon a withered Vine For a man to make his best work to be his last work what 's this but as if an Husbandman should be putting in of his Plough for the sowing of his
liquor from it though the Author be contemptible yet the matter is considerable God lookes not for what he gives not As well as I am able I have from this Scripture drawn you a Beleevers Picture and according to this Glass doubt not but your selves will dress If these bellowes keep the vestall fire alwayes burning upon the Altar and your graces have their advancement I shall have my contentment I have here laid the Rods of correction on the backs of offenders and given the words of Instruction to the hearts of believers Worthy Sirs Compare what is spoken in the books of men with what is written in the Book of God that the Bristoll stone may not passe for the sparkling Diamond noâ— Brasse and Copper goe as currant as Gold and Silver I would lay no other burdens upon your backs then I would carry upon my own shoulders nor would I have you make any brick but with Gods straw Mans fault cannot prejudice Gods right though we have lost our abillity of obeying yet he hath not lost his Authority in commanding By how much the greater you are then others by so much the better you should be then others where Divine Providence advances to honourable dignity there Divine precepts ingages to proportionable duty on earth it 's your businesse to serve God in Heaven it will be your blessedness to see God Many by feeding upon one dish grow to maturity when they that sit down to a multitude are surfited with variety When others grumble to look upon rich mens estates doe you tremble to think upon rich mens accounts and as the earth will doe you no good when you dye so let it do you no hurt whilst you live They that are in the right way to Paradise should greeve at every thing that hinders their progresse There are many are the Pictures of piety but I wish you may be the patterns of piety Alas what 's the reflection in the glass to the complexion in the face or the form of godlinesse upon us to the power of godlinesse within us such Jonah's in the lading of our Vessells doth but fill the Seas with stormes and tempests You Worthies have almost stretcht your lives to Davids standard and who knowes how soon such may meet with the death of the body that are incompassed with the body of death Whilst you are descending to the bottom of the hill of nature I wish you may be ascending to the top of the hill of grace that the nearer your bodies draw to the pit of corruption the nearer your souls may draw to the place of perfection that your declining Sun may not set under a cloud that hath so long shined in a clear sky Vsually their durations are the shortest whose possessions are the greatest But you have had as larg a share of being as you have had of blessing My hearts desire and prayer to God for both you and yours is that you may be as glorious in Heaven as you have been prosperous on earth that you may be such jewels of grace as may be lockt up in the Cabinet of glory that such silver Cups may be found in the mouths of all your sacks that the word which hath brought salvation to your souls may bring your souls unto salvation that as your children sit like Olive plants about your Table so you and your children may sit like Olive plants about his Table that your little family below may make up that great family above that when others as chaffe are thrown into the fire you as wheat may be gathered into the Garner That you may live long on earth profitably and for ever in Heaven joyfully is the Prayer of Your Humble Servant William Secker The Author to the Reader CHRISTIAN READER WE live in age that is most censorious and yet in age that is least religious where there are any faults men are more skilful to find them then careful to mend them But shall we turn the Sun into darknesse because of its moats or the Moon into blood because of her spots It s in vain to look for clear light where God himself will have a shaddow Good meats displease none but distempered palats and must wholesome dishes be barr'd the Table because they offend aguish stomacks To serve mens necessity is charitable to serve mens conveniency is warrantable to serve mens iniquity is damnable but to serve mens purity is honourable Grace needs a Spur to prick it on as well as Vice needs a Bridle to hold it in The design of this Peece is not the ostentation of the Author but the edification of the Reader I hope none will blow out such a Candle upon earth by the light of which themselves may see the way to Heaven The face of none is so comely in a Saints eyes as the face of Christ and the voyce of none is so pleasant in a Saints ears as the voyce of Christ The Manna of spiritual influences doth usually fall in the Dew of spiritual Ordinances To set them up was a work of mercy in God to us and to keep them up is a work of justice in us to God Whilest we suck at these Breasts they will stream warm Milk into our mouths Dear Christian In this Subject I have given thee a breviary of Religion The works injoyned in it are weighty and ponderous and the wages annexed to it are mighty and glorious Christianity is here cloathed in its white Linnen of purity Wouldst thou obtaine that happinesse which the promise confirms thou must espouse that holiness which the precept injoynes The best way to greaten your felicity is to heighten your activity Grace as it makes our comforts sweeter so it makes our Crowns greater And as it begins in the love of God to us so it ends in our love to God Those children that are found moving in the Orbes of obedience shall have the beautiest Sunshine of their Fathers countenance Christians Be sure to lay your superstruction upon an unmoveable foundation and propagate such a businesse as hath an immediat tendency to blessednesse It 's an unparalel'd mercy to be kept free from corruption in a time of infection It 's better to be innocent then it is to be penitent To prevent the malady then to invent the remedy Christians As you have not a Lease of your lives so you have not a Brace of your lives That that which is corrupted in the former may be corrected in the latter Had we not need to take heed how we shoot that have but a single Arrow to direct to the mark No time is ours but what is present and that 's as soon past as present We had need improve that with the greatest diligence that glides away with the speediest nimblenesse Shall our rests steal away one half of our time and our lusts the other O Sirs The more you have of good in you the more you shall have of God with you yea spiritual actions they will make
he carries with him The Disciples of Christ as they are more then others so they should do more then others A Heathen may move beyond a Sodomite but a Christian must move beyond an Hypocrite Though the naturally dead can do nothing yet the spiritually dead may do something Though they can do nothing as to the obtaining of the grace of life yet they may do something as to the using of the means of life Cicero complains of Homer that he taught the gods to live like men but grace teaches men to live like gods Great persons they are like bells which whilst they are rising strike apace but when they are up are set and strike no more or like flowers which by change of soil degenerate into weeds Thus the highest mountains are the barrenest grounds It s sad that we should live so long in the world and do so little good or that we should live so little in the world and do so much evil All creatures have their several essences according to the creatures essence is the creatures actings Trees are in their bearing as they are in their being Other creatures are not more below a sinner then a Saint is above a sinner Man is the excellency of the creature the Saint is the excellency of the man Grace is the excellency of the Saint Glory is the excellency of Grace Believers are among others as Saul among the Israelites higher by the head and shoulders They are but base-born to them that are twice born What is the lowest shrubs in the bottom of the valleys to the highest cedars on the tops of the mountain Stars that are placed in the highest orbes give the clearest lights Trees planted by the rivers of water yield the choycest fruits They who look for a heaven made ready should live as though they were in heaven already Grace doth not only make a man more a man but it makes him more then a man The primitive Christians were the best of men though they were but men at the best None were more lowly in their dispositions and none more lovely in their conversations Noah was a just man and perfect in his generation Gen. 6. 9. He was not a sinner amongst those that were Saints but he was a Saint amongst those that were sinners Who would ever have looked for so fair a bird in so foul a nest In a field of wheat there may spring up tares A Saint is not free from sin that 's his burthen a Saint is not free to sin that 's his blessing Sin is in his soul that 's his lamentation his soul is not in sin that 's his consolation And the Lord said unto Satan Hast thou considered my servant Job Job 1. 8. Why what was there in Job that was so considerable there is none like him in all the earth Though there was none so bad as Job in heaven yet there was none so good as Job on earth He was a man so like unto God that there was never another man like unto him Beleivers in the world they are the Non-such's of the world It was the saying of a gracious soul hearing of the far goings of Hypocrites Let Hypocrites go as far as they can in that which is good I will follow them and where they can go no further I will go beyond them A Christian is not only to do more then all other men will do but he is to do more then all other men can do Whatsoever is not above the top of Nature is below the bottom of grace Some there are that believe and work not others there are that work and believe not but a Saint must do both He must so obey the Law as if there were no Gospel to be beleived and so believe the Gospel as if there were no Law to be obeyed It s by faith that our works are justified but it s by works that our faith is testified A Christians work doth not lie in beleeving or in doing but in beleiving and in doing There are Four sorts of things First Some things that are neither good nor pleasant as envy and detraction The eclipsing of anothers sun will never make our own to shine with brighter beams O pare off those envious nails that are ever scratching those faces that are fairer then your own Why do you wound your selves with those plaisters that are laid upon your brethrens sores Or weep at every showre of rain that falls besides your own corn Who would grudge an Ox its fat pasture which doth but fit it for the slaughter Or the Malefactors progress through the meadows which conducts him to the gallows Thou hast never the less for others having of the more and others have never the more for thy having of the less Leahs fruitfulness was not the spring of Rachels barrenness Secondly Some things are pleasant but not good as sin and transgression This Bee carries honey in its mouth but a sting in its tail When Jael brings forth her milk and her butter then beware of the nail and the hammer Death is in the pot whilst you are tasting of the broth The fish by leaping at the bait is catcht upon the hook If the cup be sinful we must not taste it if the cup be lawful we must not carouze it Reason forbids either the tasting of known poyson or the being drunk with pleasant wine Sin it is like a river that begins in a quiet spring but ends in a tumultuous sea Thirdly Some things are good but not pleasant as sorrow and affliction Sin that 's pleasant but unprofitable sorrow that profitable but unpleasant God by affliction separates the sin that he hates so deadly from the soul that he loves so dearly They are not to take our spirits out of our flesh but to take our flesh out of our spirits They are not to pull down the tabernacle of Nature without us but to rear up the temple of Grace within us Waters are purest when they are in their motion and Saints are holiest when they are in affliction A foul feskue may point us to a fair lesson Some children never learn their books but when the rod is on their backs By the greatest affliction God doth give the sweetest instruction Though you may resist the Judgements that are laid before you in the word yet you cannot resist the Judgements that are laid upon you by the rod. The purest gold is the most ductible that 's a good blade that bends well without retaining its crooked figure Fourthly Some things that are both good and pleasant and they are gracious operations A Beleivers bed of graces is more fragrant then a bed of spices He that gives his Image to us he loves his Image in us Finally my brethren whatsoever things are true whatsoever things are honest whatsoever things are just whatsoever things are lovely whatsoever things are of good report if there be any vertue if there be any praise think on these things Phil. 4. 8.
That ye may approve things that are excellent Phil. 1. 10. But because you cannot see so well by a candle inclosed in a lanthorn as by a taper burning in the candlestick I shall crack the shell that you may tast the kernel There are two channels that I shall cut out for these Chrystal streams to run in First I shall speak to the Explication of what is Doctrinal Secondly To the Application of what is Practical The former is like the cutting out of the suit the latter is like the putting it upon the back First I shall speak to the Explication of what is Doctrinal And that I may not sluce in a sea of water into a little river I shall make a double banck First Why it is that the Disciples of Christ must do more then others Secondly What it is that the Disciples of Christ must do more then others I begin with the first why it is that the Disciples of Christ must do more then others Now that these nails may stick the faster I shall drive them home with an eight fold hammer 1. Because more is done for Beleevers then is done for others therefore more must be done by Beleivers then is done by others God gives favours not for their sakes that receive them but for his sake that bestows them Now where there is a superaddition to our priviledges there must be a superaddition to our practices You do not look for so much splendor from the burnings of a candle as from the beamings of the Sun Nor for so much moisture from the dropings of a bucket as from the disolving of a cloud The Philosophers rule is true Quicquid recipitur recipitur ad modum recipientis The heat which melts the wax hardens the clay The juyce that goes into the Rose makes it sweet but that which goes into the Nettle makes it stink The mercies of God if they be not loadstones to draw us to salvation they will be milstones to drown us in perdition To whom much is given of Quò plura accepisti gratias eò majores gloriamque daâ—ori referre obligaris Rous inter reg Dei p. 153. them much shall be required God doth not exact much where little is bestowed nor except little where much is received A drop of praises is not commensurate to a sea of favours Hear ye the word of the Lord O children of Israel you only have I known of all the families of the earth Amos 3. 2. They were more known to God then others therefore they must more acknowledge God then others They can never speak good enough of God who have tasted the goodness of God It s but reason that they should bless most who are the most blessed Nature hath made other Creatures but Grace hath made you Christians In Creation God hath given us to our selves but in Redemption he hath given himself to us It s a greater favor to be converted then it is to be created yea better have no being then not to have a new being Now differencing mercy calls for differencing duty They who hold the largest farms they should pay the greatest rents Where he sows the preciousest seeds there he looks for the fruitfulest harvest When we were full of blood then he was full of bowels When thou wert setting sail to the Devil God blew with a contrary wind and altered thy course Now will I sing to my beloved a song of my beloved touching his vineyard My wel-beloved had a vineyard in a very fruitful hill and he fenced it and gathered out the stones thereof and planted it with the choycest vine and built a tower in the midst of it and also made a wine press therein Isa 5. 1 2. Here is an Inventory of the goodness of God to his vineyard now what follows He looked that it should bring forth grapes and it brought forth wilde grapes He looked that they should be better to him then others because he had been better to them then he had been to others The flowers of Paradise are seated in a better soil then the weeds of the wilderness When others are the Devils throughfare these are Gods enclosure God hath kissed you that are believers over many shoulders You are like Dyals in the sun on which the beams of the sun of Righteousness do shine How is it that thou wilt shew thy self to us and not to the world who mightst have shewn thy self to the world and not to us Joh. 14. 22. He hath exalted you above others who are of the same mould with others Hath God shewn himself to you and not to the world and will not you shew your selves for God and not for the world It lies as a great blemish upon Hezekiah that his returning was not answerable to his receiving If God do great things for beleivers he will not accept of small things from believers 2. Christians they should do more then others because they stand in a nearer relation to God then others The nearer the relation the greater the obligation In this respect believers on earth have a greater honor then the Angels in heaven Christ is related to them as a Lord to his Servants but he is united to these as a head to the members There is no glased eyes that is set in our Redeemers head there is no wooden legs that are united to his body there is no barren branches that grows upon the Tree of Life The Lord Jesus is as far from being the head of a body that 's ulcerous as he is from being the head of a body that 's monstrous The everlasting Father Isa 9. 6. Others they are made of God but these are born of God A son honoreth his father and a servant his Master If then I be a father where is my honor if a master where is my fear Mal. 1. 6. As a Father so he will be reverenced for his goodness as a Master he will be feared for his greatness Give unto Caesar the things that are Caesars and unto God the things that are Gods If honor be not due to him let it not be bestowed if it be due to him let it not be denied We are all born to serve God and better we had never been born then that we should not serve him As A. Fulvius said to his Son when he found him in the conspiracy of Cataline Non ego te Catilinae genui sed patriae This is the speech of God to every man I gave thee not a body and a soul to serve sin withal but to serve me withal Do but see the great out-cry that God makes against his own sons Isa 1. 2 3. Hear O heavens and be astonished O earth for I have nourished and brought up children and they have rebelled against me Where the relation is nearest there the provocation is greatest It s a more pleasing spectacle to see Rebels becoming children then it s to see children becoming rebels When Caesar was wounded by the Senators
Conduit is walled in how shall we judge of the Spring but by the water that runs out of the pipes A Sinner may shew the good he wants but a Saint cannot hide the good he hath When Saul was made a Soveraign he had another spirit poured out upon him a spirit of Government for a place of Government When a sinner is made a Saint he hath another spirit poured out upon him As he is what he was not so he does what he did not It s reported of a Harlot when she saw one with whom she had formerly committed folly she renewed her inticements to whom he answered Ego non sum ego though she was the same woman she was yet he was not the same man he was For him that is more then a man to do no more then a man where is the Christian Are ye not carnal and walk as men 1 Cor. 3. 3. If men act like beasts God will call them beasts and if Christians act like men he will stile them men There is no passing for currant coyn on earth without having of the stamp of heaven That 's the sixth 7. The Disciples of Christ are to do more then others because they are to be judges of others If you consult sacred Records you shall find that both God and Christ and the Saints are said to judge the world the ordination is Gods the execution is Christs the approbation is the Saints When the Apostle would stop the sinful suits among the Corinthian brethren that did not want men of Eminency to put a period unto controversie Do ye not know that the Saints shall judge the world and if the world shall be judged by you are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters 1 Cor. 6. 2. If you shall judge in causes between God and man how much more in causes between man and man if about matters that are eternal then about matters that are external fellons may be jovial in the prison but they tremble at the Bar. When wicked men come like miserable captives out of their holes how shall the Saints rise out of their graves like morning suns Enoch the seventh from Adam prophesied saying Behold the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his Saints to execute judgement upon all Jude 14 15. This shall no more derogate from Christs Office then the Session of the Justices doth from the authority of the Judge they are Co-operators though not Coadjutators in that peculiar act When the Son of Man shall sit in the throne of his glory ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones judging the twelve Tribes of Israel Matth. 19. 28. Now the world judges the Saints but then the Saints shall judge the world the act of the head is imputed to the members and the act of the members is acknowledged by the head Now shall there be no difference between him that sits on the Bench and him that stands at the Bar How will you be able to pass a righteous sentence upon others for those evils you are guilty of your selves In maxima fortuna minima licentia In the greatest majesty there is the smallest liberty As he said to Caesar Caesari cum omnia licent propter hoc minus liceat Seeing all things are lawful for Caesar to do it is therefore the less lawful for Caesar to do them By faith Noah built an Ark by which he condemned the world Heb. 11. 7. The Saints judge the world not only by their faith but by their facts In the innocency of your lives you should shew the world the filthiness of theirs Thou art more righteous then I. What is the usual prejudice that the world hath against Religion but this that it makes no man better though it makes some men stricter Do not we see that they who profess against pride more then others are themselves as as proud as others These people they often meet together to be better but they are never the better for their often meeting together do but take away their profession and you take away their Religion They have nothing of the sheep but the skin Do but see how the God of Israel doth upbraid the Israel of God Hath a Nation changed their gods which are yet no gods but my people hath changed their glory for that which doth not profit Jer. 2. 11. Here is a professing people out-gone by a people that made no profession The Heathens if they take up their gods they will keep up their gods They were true to their false gods when these were false to the true God Hear O heavens and be astonished O earth Isa 1. 2. Why what is the matter the ox knoweth his own and the Ass his Masters crib but my people doth not know and Israel doth not consider God did not call down a Jury of Angels to condemn them but empannels a jury of Oxes and Asses to pass sentence upon them O that Oxes and Asses should be more religious then those who do profess Religion In their kind they are more kind for if the owner feeds them the owner rides them That is the seventh 8. Reason why the Disciples of Christ should do more then others because they expect more then others And every man that hath this hope purifies himself as he is pure 1 Joh. 3. 3. Hope its too pure a plant to grow in an impure soil You must not look to dance with the Devil all day and sup with Chrâ—â—â— at night or to go from Dalilahs lap to Abrahams bosom If falvation were easily come by it would be slightly set by It s the not raigning of sin in our mortal bodies which makes way for the raigning of our immortal souls Grace is such a pilot as without its stearage you will suffer shipwrack in your voyage Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God Matth. 5. 8. A dusty glass will not represent the face We do not look for a Turkish Paradise but for a sinless state nor to bathe our selves in carnal pleasures but to be consorts of the Immaculate Lamb. Giving thanks to the Father who hath made us meet partakers of the inheritance of the Saints in light Col. 1. 12. You season the vessel with water before you trust it with wine God will season the vessel with the water of grace before he pours into it the wine of glory It s hard to say whether God discovers more love in preparing of glory for Saints or in the preparing of Saints for glory Beleevers let youâ— present deportment be suitable to your future preferment There is no living a life that is vicious and then dying a death that is righteous As Justice crushes none before they are corrupted so Mercy crowns none before they are converted Follow peace with all men and holiness without which no man shall see the Lord Heb. 12. 14. Holiness though it be that which a sinner scorns yet it s that which a Saviour crowns The soul of man that is the cabinet
18. 4. If Rome have left us in the foundation let us leave them in the superstruction Where they are fallen from God there let us fall from them Where such worms breeds in the body of a Nation they will be sure to eat out the bowels of Religion Not to take away such traytors is to make a nest wherein to hatch their treasons That is the fifth 6. Singular thing is this To chuse the worst of sorrows before you commit the least of sins Others they chuse the greatest sin before the smallest suffering which is like the fish that leaps out of the broyling-pan into the burning flame by seeking to shun an external calamity they rush Thus Spira by labouring to preserve his outward estate indangered the loss of his immortal soul into eternal misery What is this but as if a man to save his hat should lose his head Or to sink the ship that is sailing to avoid the storm that is rising It is better to have the flesh defaced then Peccatum inter omnia mala existimare debemus maximum malum Chem Evan. har p. 878. it is to have the spirit defiled Though man be the Butt yet it is sin that is the mark at which all the arrows of divine vengeance are shot These spiders weave their own webs and then are intangled in them Our own damnation is but the product of our own transgression Wherefore doth a living man complain a man for the punishment of his sins Lam. 3. 39. When man had no evil within him man had no evil upon Peccatum omnia mala habet sibi adjuncta eorumque sons origo existit id ibid. him He began to be sorrowful when he began to be sinful When the soul shall be fully released from the guilt of its impieties the body shall be wholly delivered from the grief of its infirmities Sorrow shall never be a visitant where sin is not an inhabitant the former would be a foraigner if the latter were not a sojourner God is as far from beating his children for nothing as he is from beating his children to nothing There is no way to calm the sea but Si serpentem negligis basiliscus fiet si parvae navis foramina non abturas â—qua paulatim acrescens submerget navens Stapl. p. m. p. 443. to excommunicate Jonah from the ship Kill the root and the branches wither Diminish the spring and the streams will fail Remove but the fuel of corruption and you extinguish the fire of affliction The wages of sin is death Rom. 6. 23. The works of sin are hateful and the wages of sin are mortal The corruption of nature is the cause of the dissolution of nature The candle of our lives is blown out by the wind of our lusts that is the weed that overtops the corn the smoak that depresses the flame and the cloud that over-shadows the sun Were it not for sin death had never had a beginning and Supersint in nobis peccati reliquiae adhaerentes carni nostrae donee sâ—mus in hâc vâ—tâ at hae reliquiae mortâ— tollâ—atur â—â—use â—oc 〈◊〉 de â—em pec p. 53. were it not for death sin would never have an ending Man as a creature is a debtor to Gods Soveraignty commanding but man as a sinner is a debtor to Gods severity condemning What is so sweet a good as Christ and what is so great an evil as lust Sin hath brought many a Beleever into suffering and suffering Afflâ—ctiones sunt reâ—edia peccatorum ut peccata sunt causae afflictionum Stap. promp Mor. p. 197. hath kept many a Beleever out of sin It is better to be preserved in brine then to rot in honey The bitterest Physick is to be chosen before the sweetest poyson Sicut aurum reprobum igne consumitur probum vero igne declaratur In the same fire where the dross is consumed the gold is refined How many thousands of souls had never obtained the hopes of heaven if they had not sailed by the gates of hell As every mercy is a drop derived from the ocean of Gods goodness so every misery is a dram weighed by the wisdom of Gods providence When Eudoxia threatned Chrysostom with banishment Go tell her saith he Nil nisi peccatum timeo I fear nothing but sin And indeed nothing but sin is to be feared Before we lanch out into any undertaking it behoves us to ask our selves what is our tackling if a storm should overtake us in our voyage A bad conscience imbitters the sweetest comforts when a good conscience sweetens the bitterest crosses Et quantam in conscientia relinquent cicatricem vitia vel aetate tenerrima perpetrata He that is not afraid to do evil will be afraid to suffer evil But what need he fear a cross on the back who doth feel a Christ in Afflictio pins non constituit infaelices aut miseros uti humana judicat ratio sed contra felices aâ—beatos Lau. â—â— Ep. Iac. p 78. the heart It s the water without the ship that tosses it but it s the water within the ship that drowns it It s better to have a body consumed to ashes then a soul that shall dwell with everlasting burnings Though we cannot Diligo quidem pati sed nescio an dignus sim Ignat in Ep. ad Trall live without afflictions yet le ts live above afflictions Our Patmos is our way to Paradise Non nisi per angusta ad augusta Suppose the furnace be heated seven times hotter it is but to make us seven times better They that are here crossed for well doing shall be hereafter crowned for well-dying There is none so welcome to the spiritual Canaan as those that swim to it through the red sea of their own blood Christian when thou comest into the world thou dost but live to die again and when thou goest out of the world thou dost but dye to live again What is the grain the worse for the fan by which it is winowed or the gold for the fire by which it is purified Pendleton promised rather to fry out a fat body in flames of martyrdom then to betray his Religion but when the trial approacht he said As he came not frying into the world so he would not go flaming out of the world They who will not part with their lusts for Christ will never part with their lives for Christ But Paul and Silas they had their prison Thus that undaunted champion of Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. frumentum Dei dentibus ferarum molar ut mundus panis Dei inveniar Ign. in Ep. ad Rom songs in the midst of their prison-sufferings These caged birds sang as sweetly as those that have skie freedom I have read a story of a woman that being in travel in prison a little before her death she cried out of her sorrows The Keeper askt her how she could indure the fire that made such a
noise at the bringing forth of a child Well enough saith she for now I suffer for my sins but then I shall suffer for my Saviour There is more evill in a drop of corruption then there is in a sea of affliction In suffering the offence is done to us in finning the offence is done to God In suffering there is an infringement of mans liberty in sinning there is a violation of Gods authority The evil of suffering is transient but the evill of sin is permanent In suffering we lose the favour of men in sinning we hazard the favour of God The rose is sweeter under the Still where it drops then on the stalk where it sprouts The face of godliness is never so beautiful as when its spit upon The best corn is that which lies under the clods in snowy weather It was a brave saying of Vincentius to his persecutors Rage and do your worst you shall finde the Spirit of God more strengthening the tormented then the spirit of the devil can strengthen their tormentors Let but Professors do their best and then let persecutors â—eâ—cussâ—res nihil moraâ—amur praeseâ—tim â—um moriendum esse nobis sciamuâ— Justin 2. Defens ad Anâ—on 〈◊〉 do their worst Though you may feel their might yet you should not fear their malice Nil desperandum Christo duce auspice Christo It s storied of Hooper when he came to suffer O Sir saith one have a care of your self life is Thus the Proconsul perswaded and besought the noble German who suffered under Verus Vt quoniam admodum juâ—enis in flore esset sui ipsius misereretur Euseb Hist Eccl. cap. 15. sweet and death is bitter Ah saith he this I know but the life to come is more full of sweetness and the death to come is more full of bitterness A man may suffer without sinning but a man cannot sin without suffering When Philip asked Demosthenes If he was not afraid to lose his head No saith he for if I lose my head the Athenians will give me one immortal Do but listen to the language that drops out of the mouthes of those three children or rather of those three Vos occidere quidem potestis nocere non potestis â—ust ubi prius champions Dan. 3. 17 18. We are not careful to answer thee in this matter if it be so our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace and he will deliver us out of thy hand O King But if not be it known unto thee O King that we will not serve thy gods nor worship the golden image that thou hast set up Either they must sin fouly or they must suffer sadly Either they must bow to a golden Image or burn in a fiery furnace Yet they were as far from worshipping of his gods as he Thus Polycarpe was assaulted by Herod and Nicetes who said Quidnam mali fuerit dicere Domine Caefar sacrificareque conservari But he answered Facturus non sum quod consulitis and chose rather a flaming fire then to consent unto their fawning words Euseb ubi prius was from worshipping of theirs And Daniel chuses the den of the lions before he will forsake the cause of the Lamb. Shall not we for his sake bear the wrath of man who for our sakes did bear the wrath of God Though obedience be better then sacrifice yet sometimes to sacrifice a mans self is the best obedience He that loses a baser life for Christ shall finde a better life in Christ Chusing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God then to enjoy the pleasures of sin which are but for a season Heb. 11. 25. What is a cup of physick that takes away the disease to a cup of poyson that takes away the life They that live upon God in the use of the creature can live upon God in the loss of the creature It was a brave expression of one What I receive thankfully as a token of Gods love to me I part with all contentedly as a token of my love to him For a good man one will even dare to dye Rom. 5. 7. Will one dare to die for a good man and shall we be afraid to die for a good God And others were tortured not accepting Melius est mibi emori propter Christum Iesum quam imperare sinibus terrae Ign. ad Rom. deliverance that they might obtain a better resurrection Heb. 11. 35. Some would have used any pick-lock to have opened a passage to their liberty but they knew too much of another world to bid so high a rate for this world It is storied of Hormisdas a noble man of Persia who was degraded of all his promotion because he would not alter his professions afterward they restored them all again and sollicited him to deny Christ but he rent his purple robe and laid all his Honours at the feet of the Emperor saying Siideo me sperasti pietatem deserturam habe tibi donum tuum una cum impietate If you think to make me deny Christ for The like constancy and resolution you may read of in the noble Suenes and the zealous Benjamin both barbarously used by the same Prince Id. ibid. the obtaining of my honours take them all back again He thought that Christ without his honors was better then his honours without Christ It is storied of one of the Martyrs going to the stake a Noble man wisht him to have a care of his soul So I will saith he for I give my body to be burned to keep my soul from being defiled How many are there that had rather have sinful self satisfied then to have sinful self crucified As grace comes in at one door vice goes out at another as in a well when one bucket comes up full the other returns down empty The only way to have the house of Saul weakened is to get the house of David strengthned Those Philistims that could not stand before Sampson in his health how scornfully did they dance about him in his sickness O remember sin it is that which in this life doth debase us and it is that which in the next life doth destroy us Those whose end is damnation their damnation is without end No condition is so intolerably easeless as that condition which is unalterably changeless One seeing a woman going chearfully to prison O saith he you have not yet tasted of the bitterness of death No saith she nor never shall for Christ hath promised that they who keep his sayings shall never see death A beleever may feel the stroke of death but he shall never feel the sting of death The first death may bring his body to corruption but the second death shall never bring his soul to damnation Though the cross may be endured by them yet the curse is removed from them Though they may live a life that is dying yet they shall not dye a death that is
He that promises to cover the sincere souls infirmities threatens to disclose the Hypocrites impieties O remember Judas who purchased nothing by his deceitful dealing but a halter in which his body was hanged and a fire in which his soul was burned that 's the tenth 11. singular thing is to be more afflicted with the Churches heaviness then we are affected with our own happiness When we suffer not from the Enemies of Christ by persecution we should suffer with the friends of Christ by compassion wherefore the King said unto me Why is thy countenance sad seeing thou art not sick Nehemiah 2. 2. Sadness is the fruit of sickness What sad when the Kings cup bearer and wine so neare the third verse informes you the reason why should not my countenance be sad when the City the place of my Fathers Sepulchres lieth wast and the gates thereof are consumed with fire Let not Sions sons be rejoycing whilst their mothers mourning are not her breaches like the Sea and there 's none to heal them though you cannot make up her breaches yet let your hearts break for her breaches Have pitty upon me have Non oportet nos laetari in malis proximorum sed compati Stel. in Luc. 1◠3. pitty upon me O me my friends for the hand of God hath touched me Job 19. 21. It s observed of the Bees that if one be sick the other will lament Christianity strips no man of humanity some observe in Swine that there is a sympathy when one is killed the rest are troubled and shall that be lost amongst men which is found amongst Swine Will you see the Church bleed to death and never ask balm to cure her wounds how can such rejoyce in her standing that do not mourn for her falling Others what they do not feel by sence that they will not feel by Sympathy Nero could be playing when Rome was burning we may Suet. in vit Ner. Thus the killing of the infants was Spectaculum Herodi jucundum quia luctuosum Bap. Ferra. Orat. 5. draw up that charge against many persons Amos 6. 4 6. They lye upon beds of Ivory and stretch themselves upon their Couches and eat the Lambs out of the flock and the Calves out of the midst of the stall that drink wine in bowls and anoint themselves with the chief oyntments but they are not grieved for the affliction of Joseph They can weep for the◠dying groanes of a child but not for the dying grones of a Church their love unto their relations transcends their love unto their Religion But he that hath a stock going in the Churches ship cannot but lament at every storme I should be jealous that thats but a silver eye in the head an Ivory tooth in the Mouth a Wooden Leg in the body that is unsensible of its sorrows I will know that the Churches Enimies though they may be Waves to toss her yet they shal never be rocks to split her It s only such fabricks as are bottomed upon the sands that are overturned by the wind he that is a well of water within her to keep her from fainting is a wall of fire about her to keep her from hurting Though he may scoure his plate and his Jewels yer ye will throw such wispes on the dunghills yet Enemies will be found pushing as far as their short hornes are reaching Sion like a bottle may be dipt in the water but she shall never be drownd in the water Many had rather see a Churches Expiration then see a Churches reformation they had rather view her as one thats nullified then view her as one that 's purified they care not how many Tares spring up amongst Gods Wheat When the Churches adversaries make long furrows upon her back we should cast in the seed of tears Saul Saul why persecutest thou me Thus the head cryes out in heaven whilst the Toe is trod upon on earth Jesus Christ though he hath altered his condition yet he hath not altered his affection Death took away his life for us but it did not take away his love from us he that loves to see the face of his Church beautiful eare long will wipe away those bloody teares that run trickling down her cheeks the prise of her redemption is already paid and the Lords will not require that debt again Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem and cry unto her that her warfare is accomplished that her iniquity is pardoned Isa 40. 2. When we see the Church pledgin her beloved in the cup of affliction we should drink to her in the cup of consolation a heavy burden is easile born by the assistance of many shoulders others they are like Galeo that care for none of those things Nay when they should be Sympat hisers with them in their miserie Temerarium judicium est quod ex levi conjecturâ levibusque signis colligitur Stapl. in Dom. 1. post Pent. they are Censurers of them for their misery they judge the golds not good because it s tryed and the grounds is naught because it s plowed It s dangerous smitting them with our tongues whom God hath smitten with his hands Christ himself because he suffered for transgressors was therefore numbred with transgressors What 's this but to give the sharpest Vinegar where we should give the sweetest wine Pour out thine indignation upon them and let thy wrathful anger take hold of them Psal 69. 24. But what 's their sin 26. verse for they persecute them whom thou hast smitten and they talk to the grief of those whom thou hast wounded Sympathy is a debt which we owe to sufferer and creature comforts will fit those seasons no better then a Silver lace would do a Mourning sute a particular loss it s but like the putting of out a candle which brings darkness to a room but a general loss is like the Eclipsing of the Sun which overshadows the whole Hemisphear Pliny tels us of two Goats meeting together on a narrow bridge when the one could not get forward nor the other go backwards the one lay down that the other might go over him How much of men were there in these beasts but how much of beasts are there in some men It s better to be in the humble posture of a mourner then in the proud gesture of a scorner Have mercy upon me O Lord thou Son of David my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil Mat. 15. 22. The childs malady was the parents misery the tortures of the daughter was the torment of the mother as if the one had been possessed till the other was dispossessed The righteous When Alexanders Army was ready to perish with thirst he himself refufed water that was proffered to him with this Heroick Ipeech Nec solus bibere sustineo nec tam ex iguum dividere omnibus possum Quin. Curt. l. ◠Sect 5. perish and no man lays it to heart Isa 57. 1. Sympathy with others makes an estate
there is oft a vast distance and difference between the face of the work and heart of the worker But a soul acted by God in service though he may have self at the hither end he will have God at the higher end A Christian is more in love with his present duty then he is in love with his future glory St. Paul was contented to stay a while out of heaven that he might bring other souls into heaven To me to live is Christ and to dye is gain Phil. 1. 21. His life to them was most useful but his death to him was most gainful by dying he had injoyed his recompence sooner but by living he made his recompence larger Were it possible to divorce those things asunder which God himself hath linked together a Christian had rather be holy without any happiness then be happy without any holiness Luther hath this expression Mallem in inferne esse cum Christo quam in coelo sine Christo I had rather be in hell with Christ then in heaven without Christ And indeed hell it self would be a heaven if God were in it and heaven would be a hell if God were from it A gracious man makes this the request of his soul Lord let me rather have a good heart then a great estate Let me rather be pious without prosperity then prosperous without piety Though you may love many things beside Religion yet you may not love any thing above religion The earth that is our work-house but heaven that is our storehouse This is a place to run in and that is a place to rest in Yet a Beleever on his dying pillow being asked how he did O saith he sorry for nothing but that I am going to that Country where wages are received and no works performed That is the sixteenth 17. Singular thing is To be more in searching our own hearts then we are in censuring others states They are too busie Bishops that lord it over others Diócesses We are to allow beleevers for their failings though we are not to allow beleevers in their failings Be thou diligent to know the state of thy flocks and look well to thy heards Prov. 21. 23. It s of greater concernment to know the state of our hearts then to know the state of our flocks It s the expression of Seneca Vtimur perspicillis magis quam speculis Men are more apt to use spectacles to see other mens faults then looking-glasses to view their own Plato entertaining some friends at a neatly spread table Diogenes coming in tramples upon it saying Calco fastum Platonis I trample upon the pride of Plato to whom he answered Yea At cum majori fastu but with a greater pride He that is without sin let him throw the first stone They are fittest to finde fault in whom no fault is to be found and to blame others who are blameless themselves There is no removing of blots from the paper by laying upon it a blurred finger Thou hypocrite first cast out the beam out of thine own eye and then shalt thou see clearly to cast the moat out of Illud quasi cacoethes penitimmè inssium est ut cum in gravissimis nobis ipsis nimium facilè indulgentur ignoscimus aliorum tamen judices inclementissimi censores rigidissimi sumus Chem. Evan. Har. cap. 51. thy brrthers eye Mat. 7. 5. What dost thou get by throwing of stones in at thy enemies windows whilst thy own Children look out at the casements He that blows in a heap of dust is in danger to put out his own eyes Is not the worst mens practices a comment on the best mens principles Are there not the same lusts lodging in your hearts that are reigning in their lives The reason why there is so little self-manifestation is because there is so little self-examination For want of this men are like Travellers skilled in other Countries but ignorant of their own It is a sign they are sunk in their estates who are afraid to look into their books The trial of our selves is the ready road to the knowledge of our selves He that buys a jewel in a case deserves to be couzened with a Bristol stone Many think themselves as surely going to heaven as if they were already dwelling in heaven Christians would you see God then cast your eyes upwards would you see your selves then cast your eyes inward Contemplation that is a perspective glass to see our Saviour in but examination that is a looking-glass to see our selves in Bring your selves to the standard and see whether you be in the narrow way that leads to life or in the broad way that leads to death whether your spirits be chairs for vice to sit in or thrones for grace to rule in whether you be one of Christ Spouses or one of the Devils harlots Nero thought no person chast because Nero impurissimus neminem à libidine purum judâ—cabat himself was unchast Such as are troubled with the Jaundise see all things yellow But such as are more religious are less censorious Why dost Temerarium â—st judâ—cium cum in illo nâ—l lam jurisdictionem habeas Gor. in loc thou judge another mans servant Rom. 14. 4. They that are fellow-creatures with men should not be fellow-judges with God What will it advantage you to search anothers wounds and let your own bleed to death Take heed your own cloaths be not full of dust when you are brushing others garments or complaining of dirty streets when heaps lie at your own doors Many are never well longer then they are holding their fingers upon others sores such are no better then crows that fasten only upon carrion Let every man prove his own works so shall he have rejoycing in himself not in another Gal. 6. 4. For want of this men have their accounts to cast up when they should have their accounts to give up They have their evidences of grace to seek when they should have their evidences of grace to shew They lye down with such hopes in their beds of rest which they dare not lye down withall in their beds of dust Because he considereth and turneth away from all his transgressions Ezek. 18. 28. Conversion begins in consideration The hasty showr falls fastest but the soft snow sinks deepest The Mariner that is running his ship against a rock if he considers it and stears another course prevents a desperate shipwrack Examine your selves Integritatis tuae curiosus explorator vitam tuam in quotidianâ discussione examina attende diligenter quantum proficias vel quantum deficias Bern med 5. in lim whether ye be in the faith or no or whether the faith be in you or no prove your own selves know ye not your own selves that Jesus Christ is in you except you be reprobates 2 Cor. 13. 5. See whether your hearts be the cabinets of such a jewel A true Subject dares not deny any coyn which bears the image of
Indifferency in Religion is the next step to apostacy from Religion But though Christians be not kept altogether from falling yet they are kept from falling altogether they may part with Christ for a time but they shall not depart from Christ for ever The trees of righteousness may have their autumne but they shall have their spring There is never so low an ebb but there 's as high a tyde Christians are like crocodiles that are growing till they are dying or like the Moon that increases in her beauty till she arrives at the full of her glory take heed of putting off the robes of piety whilst you are on this side eternity You must hold the Scepter of grace in your hands till God set the Crown of glory upon your heads If the service of God be bad why do you set forth in it if the service of God be good why do you shrinck back from it usually they who ride fastest at their first setting forth are soonest tired in their journies it s the sparkling Diamond that is set in the Apostiles Crown 2 Tim. 4. 7. I have fought a Absque perseverantid nec qui pugnat victoriam nec palmam victor consequitur Bern. Ep. 12 good fight I have finisht my course I have kept the faith his work was done before his life was done henceforth their is laid up for me a crown of glory There 's many persons that layes a foundation that never raises up a super structure But Jesus Christ is never a Father to abortive children where he gives strength to conceive he gives strength to bring forth he turnes the bruised reed into a brazen pillar and the smoaking flax into a Triumphant flame that is the 18th 19. Singular action that must be done by singular Christians is To take all the shame of their sins unto their selves and to give all the glory of their services unto Christ Others they take all the glory of their services to themselves and lay all the shame of their sins on him as if he that dyed on earth to redeem us from them should live in heaven to confirm us in them The Devil may flatter us but he canot force us he may tempt us unto sin but he cannot tempt us into sin He is but the Father begeting the evil heart is the Mother conceiving and in this sence the Father can do nothing without the Mother the fire is his bvt the tinder is ours he could never enter into our houses if we did not set open our doors Many complain for want of liberty who thrust their feet in Satans fetters the woman thou gavest me she gave me of the tree and I did eat Gen. 3. 12. I took that as a gift from her whom thou gavest as a gift to me its ill putting of sins brats to suck at Gods brest they may receive their punishment from him but they shall never receive their nourishment from him He cannot be the unrighteous upholder of what he is the righteous avenger O Blasphemy canst thou charge the Sun with darkness by whom the heavens are inlightned or the Sea with dryness by whom the earth is moistened Our Impiety is as truly the off-spring of our souls as our posterity is the off spring of our bodys Every good and perfect gift comes from above from the father of light with whom is no varyableness or shadow of turning Jam. 18. 17. Whatsoever is truly good hath its emanation from God Now the same spring cannot send forth both sweet and bitter waters T is a known rule contraria multuose tollunt contraries destroy each other Many have more leaves to cover the naughtiness of their works then they have cloths to cover the nakedness of their backs How many lay the bastards of Heresie at the door of the Sanctuary calling diabolical soductions Evangelical revelations as if the father of light could bring forth the issues of darkness What 's this but to set a crown of Lead upon a head of gold We can defile our selves but we cannot cleanse our selves The sheep can go astray alone but can never return to the fold without the asistance of the Shepherd till we tast the bitterness of our own misery we shall never relish the sweetness of Gods mercy till you see how foul your faces are you will never pay tribute to Christ for washing of them He that creates us in his image he restores us his Image If we were left to our selves but a moment we should destroy our selves in that moment We are like glasses without a bottom that as soon as ever they are out of the hand are broken Others they greaten themselves to make Christ little but we should lessen our selves to make Christ great Nevertheless I live yet not I but Christ lives in me Gal. 2. 20. A beleiver is willing to stand for a Cypher so Christ may go for a figure well may we abase our selves for his exaltment that abased himself for our establishment Prorsus Sathan est Lutherus sed vivat regnet Christus Let Luther be accounted a Devil so Christ may be exalted as a God said that flaming Seraphim of himself Without me ye can do nothing Nisi tanquam palmites in me qui vera sum vitis insâ—ramini nec multum nec parùm sed nihâ—l potestis in spiritualibus Dav. deter 9. p. 48. Joh. 15. 5. The pen may as soon write without the hand that holds it as grace can work without the Spirit that moves it Not onely the enjoyment of our talents is from God but the improvement of our talents is from God Luk. 19. 16. Lord thy pound hath gained me tenpounds It s not my pains that hath done it but it s thy pound that hath done it Men should not glory in what they have received but they should give glory for what they have received The grace of God without the God of grace it s but like a clock that stands still when all its weights are down Did not our hearts burn within us Luk. 24. 32. But how long did that flame last all the time he talked with us When his bellows gave over blowing their fuel gave over burning Graces in our hearts are like stars in the heavens that shine not by their own splendor but by borrowed beams from the Sun of Righteousness He that takes the brick must give the straw that makes it There is no water except he smites the rock nor fire except he beat the flint If he call us to the work of Angels he will supply us with the strength of Angels For when we were without strength in due time Christ dyed for the ungodly A Soul that is Christless is a Soul that is strengthless Man is beholden to God for what he hath but God is not beholden to man for what he doth But of him and through him and to him are all things to whom be glory for ever Amen Rom. 11. 36. The humble heart knows no fountain
but Gods grace and the upright man knows no end but Gods glory Waters will rise as high as they fall whatsoever action hath God for its author hath God for its center as a circular line makes its last ending where it had its first beginning Take heed of turning a sacred priviledge into a privy sacriledge If he give the grace that is not due to us shall we deny the praise that is due to him Others they make their end their God but we must make God our end The firmament is made more glorious by one sun then by all the stars that are seated in their several orbs And Jesus Christ from one Saint hath more glory given to him then he receives from all the world besides him The silver shrines of divine praises they ard passively pared off from the beings of other creatures but they are actively given up from the beings of the New creature Whether you eat or drink or whatsoever you do do all to the glory of God 1 Cor. 10. 31. From the lowest act of nature to the highest act of grace there is no plea for the pride of man but for the praise of God Not unto us not unto us but unto Varâ—s vos Deus cum â—at bonis quidni in laudes ejus erumpamus Sibel conc 3. in lim thy name be the glory If he make our natures gracious we should make his name glorious God sets many dishes upon our table but we must set this dish upon his table He that would be fingering the honor of a God is not fitting for the honor of a man As he said Aut Caesar aut Nullus Either I will be Caesar or nobody So the Lord saith Aut Deus optimus Maximus aut nullus Either I will a great God or else I will be no God That man disparages the beauty of the Sun that lays it level with the lesser stars The glory of God must be the golden Butt at which all the arrows of duty are shot or else they fall short of their mark Go forth O ye daughters of Sion and behold King Solomon with the crown wherewith his mother crowned him in the day of his Espousals Cant 3. 11. The body it hath two eyes but the soul must have but one and that so firmly fixt on Christ as it must never glance beside him A single eye is fittest for a single object When the people saw what Paul had done they lifted up their voyces saying The Gods are come down to us in the likeness of men Act. 14. 11. But do they take that glory to themselves that 's given to them from others No v. 1. Why do you these things we also are men of like passions with you We are so far from the perfections of God that we are cloathed with the passions of men But do others so The people gave a shout saying It is the voyce of God and not of men Act. 12. 22. What the people gave foolishly he took fearlesly vers 23. And immediately the Angel of the Lord smote him because he gave not God the glory and this same worm-eaten wretch was a wretch eaten up of worms Every little river pays its tribute to the great sea The blessings of God are to be magnified but the being of God is it I may so speak to be omnified Magnus gratiae oceanus est Deus ad quem per canalem gratitudinis beneficia quae ex ipso manarunt refluere atque reverti debent We have no way to turn the streams unto God the ocean of bounty but through the channel or conduitpipe of gratitude Giving thanks to the Father who Sibel con 9. juâ—â— med hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the Saints in light Col. 1. 12. It s very meet that he should be magnified by us that Aeqâ—itâ—tem om nâ—m abâ—â—â—e runt qui tot tantisqueâ—eneficiis ornati graâ—os se bene factori non praebent Id. concâ—â— in miâ— makes us meet to be glorified with him The whisperings of the voyce are ecchoed back in an exact concave The body of man if it be sound can stoop for a pin as well as for a pound As the best of means should make us fruitful so the least of mercies should make us thankeful The four and twenty Elders fall down before him that sate on the Throne and worshipt him that lives for ever and ever and east their crowns before the throne Rev. 4. 10. A divine soul knows that whatsoever oyntment is poured out upon Christs head runs down to the skirts of his garment What he gives to him in copper shall be returned to him in silver yea the onely way of keeping our Crowns on our heads is the casting our Crown at his feet Joseph of Arimathea he builds a sepulchre for Christ and he makes use of it for three days and returns it again perfumed Well may we give all our glory unto him who hath given all his glory unto us A Christian as he lays up himself in God so he lays out himself for God and is wllling to dedicate to God that perfume of prayses which ariseth from his beds of spices 20. Singular thing is To value a heavenly reversion above an earthly possession Others say that a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush but we say that such a bird in the bush is worth two in the hand They that adore the streams its an argument that they are ignorant of the spring Socrates being askt what Countryman he was answered Civis sum mundi The whole world is my Country But a Christian being askt what Countryman he is answered Civis cum coeli Heaven is the region that I am free of Beleevers build their tombs where others build their Tabernacles The men of the world fix upon the things of the world that is the shrine and cabinet wherein they lock up all their jewels Though God hath given the earth to beasts yet such beasts are they as to give themselves to the earth It was the saying of a cursed Quis non illius vitae desiderio praesentem vitam despiciat Quis non illius aâ—undantiae deâ—ectamento divitâ—as teâ—poris labentis exhor reat c. Fulg. in Epist 6. ad Theodor. Cardinal That he preferred his part in Paris before his part in Paradice That is but a cock of the worlds dunghil that prises a barly corn before a jewel What is the glimering of a candle to the shining of the sun or the value of brass and copper to the worth of gold and silver Yet children are taken more with present counters then with future Crowns Thus whilst the shadow is imbraced the substance is neglected and men court the vail when they should kifs the face That man that is a labouring Bee for earthly prosperity will be but an idle drone for heavenly felicity If you be risen with Christ seek those things which are above where Christ
your consciences the black hand must then part with the white glove That Day will be too criticall for the Hypocriticall You that are now coloured for show shall ere long be showne in your colours 3. Principle that you should walke by is this That God beares a greater respect to your hearts then he doth to your workes God lookes most where man looks lest My Son give me thy heart Prov. 23. 26. We cannot trust God with too much nor our selves with too little The first is our keeper the last is our Traitor Here you have the dignity with which a beleever is invested and the Duty to which a beleever is invited The God of Heaven and Earth sues from Heaven to Earth He that is all in all to us would have that which is all in all in us We commit our estates into the hands of men but we must commit our hearts into the hands of God There 's none of our spirits so good but he deserves them there 's none of our spirits so bad but he desires them On whom do parents bestow their hearts but upon their children and on whom should children bestow their hearts but upon their parents but man hath no mind to give what God hath a mind to have This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth and honoureth me with their lips but their heart is farre from me Matthew 15. 8. Heartlesse operations are but hearty dissimulations You may keepe your works to your selves if you doe not give your hearts to him He that regards the heart without any thing he regards not any thing without the heart I beseech you therefore Brethren by the mercies of God that you present your bodies a living sacrifice holy and acceptable to God Rom. 12. 1. He that makes 〈◊〉 hath must have all he makes The Formalist he is all for outward activity the sensualist he is all for inward sincerity The one hath nothing within therefore he is for what is outward the other hath nothing without therefore he is for what is inward But it is not the pretence of inward sincerity that can justifie outward impiety nor a shew of outward piety that will excuse inward hypocrisie Though the braine be the spring of sensitive motion yet the heart is the Originall of vitall motion The heart its Primum vivens ultimum moriens it s the first that lives and the last that dyes O Jerusalem wash thy heart from wickedness how long shall vain thoughts lodge within thee Jer. 4. 14. Vaine thoughts defile the heart as well as vile thoughts as snails leave their slime behind them as well as Serpents If the Leprosie takes a single thred it spreads over the whole peece Though you cannot keep sinfull thoughts from rising yet you should keep sinfull thoughts from reigning Though these birds may hover over your houses yet let them not build their nest in its heaves The Devill knows if there be any good treasure it is in our hearts and he would faine have the key of this Cabinet to rob us of our Jewells A heart that is sanctified is better then a tongue that 's silvered he that gives but the skin of worship receives but the shell of comfort It is not the bare touching of the strings that is the making of the musick A spirituall man may pray carnally but a carnall man cannot pray spiritually If our duties doe not eat out the heart of our sins our sins will eat out the heart of our duties A worke that is heartlesse is Quando ea quae per se quidem et suo genere bona sunt fiant si non recte nec bene fiant non placent Dep. Chem. Evan Har. cap. 51. a worke that is fruitlesse God cares not for the crazy Cabinet but for the precious Jewell It 's said of Haniball that prime Captaine that he was Primus ingressus ultimus egressus The first that went into the Field and the last that came out of the Field Thus should it be in all the operations of a Christian The heart should be the first that comes into Duty and the last that goes out of Duty In prayer the heart should first speak the words and then the words should speake the heart All the inferiour Orbes they follow the motion of the superiour ones If the heart be inditing of a good matter the tongue will be as the pen of a ready writer It 's observed of the spider that in the morning before she seeks her prey she mends her broken webb and in the doing of it she alwayes begins in the middle Christians before you pursue the profits and the pleasures of the world you should mend the broken webbs of your lives and in the doing of it you should alwayes begin at the heart If you would have the Cocks to run wholsome water you must looke well to the springs that feeds them The heart is the presence Chamber where the King of glory takes up his lodgings That which is most worthy in us should be given to him that is most worthy of it Good words without the heart are but flattery and good works without the heart are but hypocrisie Though God pities stumbling Israelites yet he punishes halting hypocrites It 's reported of Cranmer that after his flesh and bones were consumed in the flames his heart was found whole A gracious soule is cloathed with sincerity in the midst of it's infirmities God is a Spirit and they that worship him must worship Indicat quod Deus incorporeus est oportet igitur et incorpoream ejus culturam esse hoc est per animam et intellectus puritatem nos es offere Aquin. in loc him in spirit and in truth John 4. 24. You can never give him the heart of your services unlesse you give him your heart in your services It 's his heart that speaks a mercy saving and it is our hearts that makes a duty pleasing It 's said of the Lacedamonians that were a poor people and of the Athenians that were a rich people the former offered up leane sacrifices to Apollo the latter fat ones Yet in their warres the Lacedamonians were alwayes conquerours and the Athenians were alwayes conquered whereupon they went to the Oracle to know the reason why they should speed worst that gave most The Oracle gave them this returne The Lacedamonians were a people that gave their hearts to their Gods but the Athenians did only give their gifts to their Gods Thus a heart without a gift is better then a gift without a heart Religion that 's a sacrifice but the heart that 's the Altar upon which it must be offered As the body is at the command of the soule that rules it so should the soule be at the command of God that gives it For a man to send his body to the service of God and leave his soul behind him it 's as if a man should send his cloath's stuff't with straw instead of a
personall appearance 4. Principle that you should walk by is this There 's more bitternesse following upon sins ending then ever there was sweetness flowing from sins acting The Devils Apple though it may have a fair skin yet it hath a bitter core Me thinks this flaming sword should keep us out of the forbidden Paradice and make our hearts like wet Tinder to all the sparks of Satans fire Per delictum morti regnum datur nec potest regnare in aliquo nisi jus regni accipiata delicto Orig l. 5. in Epist ad Rom. You that see nothing but weal in its commission will suffer nothing but wo in its conclusion The wages of sin is death Romans 6. 23. He that likes the works of sin to do them will never like the wages of sin to have them Yea who would do those works that are but drudgery for those wages that are but misery Though all sins are not equal yet all sins are mortall The candle of ourlives is blown Nonne per peccatū mors et per mortem omnes ejus comites paenae cruciatus et miseriae hujus vitae omnes porro peccatum toti mundo detrimentum adfert Stap. in Dom. 5. Post Epiph. Tex 4. out by the wind of our lusts The corruption of nature tends to the dissolution of nature as the Leprosie got into the wals occasioned the demolishing of the house Sin it stands as a But at which God may shoot every Arrow till he hath emptied his whole Quiver We began to be mortal when we began to be sinful If man had had nothing to doe with sin Peccatum aculeus mortu dicitur non quia peccatum per mortem sed per peccatum Mors in mundum intravit Fulgent de Incam et Grat. Christi cap. 14. death had had nothing to do with man Our impiety forfeited the priviledg of our immortality Sin it s like a Serpent in the bosome that 's stinging or like a Theif in the Closet that 's stealing or like poyson in the stomack that 's paining or like a sword in the bowels that 's killing It s like Johns Book sweet in the mouth but bitter in the belly this fare faced Rachel will be found but a blear eyed Leah Knowest thou not that it will be bitternesse in the latter end The dregs lye in the bottome of the Cup. That which is now like a Rose flourishing in your bosome ere long will be like a Dagger drawn against your breast The Ivy though it embraces the Oak yet it eats out its heart Sin it s a thing that 's delightful O but its a thing that 's deceitful it s like Judas that at first salutes us but at last betrayes us it shews the bait but hides the hook it represents the amiability but covers the obliquity it s like a River that begins in a quiet spring but ends in a tumultuous Sea Do men gather Ex his spinis colligitur non laetitia conscientiae sed labruscae remorsus interioris non retributio gloriae sed labruscae Gehennae Gorran In locum Grapes of Thorns or Figs of Thistles Mat. 7. 16. The grapes of tranquility grows not upon the Thorns of impiety Heart peace is espoused to heart purity The way to keep conscience untormented is to keep conscience undefiled A Saint cannot so sin as to destroy Vide Bzoviu Conc. 24. Excellentissimè de hac re disserentem his grace but a Saint may so sin as to disturb his peace The Spider cannot kill the Bees but if she gets into the Hive she spoils the Honey If you will be nibbling at the bait the hook will enter into your bowels O think of that time wherein you shall be ashamed of nothing but your wickednesse and glory in nothing but your holinesse You may be eternally sinful but you cannot be eternally joyful In Hell all the Sugar will be melted in which this bitter pill was wrapped that 's too hot a climate for wanton delights to live in The pleasures of sin are suddenly abortive but the pains of sin are eternally extensive How soon did our first parents eat their forbidden fruit Esus vetiti illius pomi omniū malorum sons et orīgo fuit Bzovius in Con. 24. p. 229. De malis a peccato allatis vide Bzovium loco jam citato but the world to this day cannot rid it selfe of the miserable consequences of that woful banquet Even in laughter the heart is sorrowful and the end of that mirth is heaviness Proverbs 14. 13. The Serpent of sensual delight alwayes carries a sting in its taile In such golden cups there are deadly draughts Will Gaul and Wormwood ever make you pleasant wine Such thick and muddy vapors will never yeeld any sweet and pleasant showers You that sin for your profit will never profit by your sins O that England would look with Scripture Spectacles upon all it s rased Tabernacles and say if sin had not been there these had not lain here It s better to take up our lodging in a bed of Snakes then to take up our lodging in a bed of lusts who would spread such silken Sails upon a Pirates ship When the pale horse of death goes before the red horse of wrath doth follow after When the body goes to Worms to be consumed the soul goes to flames to be tormented It s better here to forgoe the pleasures of sin then hereafter to undergoe the pains of sin Your ill doing will be your undoing What fruit had you of those things whereof you are now ashamed Romans 6. 21. What advantage doth Dives reap in hell of all the delicate banquets that he had on earth What taste hath Cleopatra now of her draught of dissolved Pearls The stench and torment of everlasting burnings will take away the sweetest perfumes that ever sin was powdered with How can I doe this wickedness and sin against God Gen. 39. 9. It doth not grieve a Saint so much for this that God is displeased with him as it grieves a Saint for this that God is displeased by him He mourns not so much for the evil which sin doth bring as he mourns for the sin which doth bring the evill When Craesus son saw them go about to kill his father he cryed out O kill not King Craesus Did Christ open his veins for our redemption and shall not we open our mouths for his vindication The Crown is fallen from our heads wo unto us for we have sinned Lamenta 5. 16. Sin it doth not only unman us but it doth uncrown us Yea it doth not only take the Crown from off a sinners head but it layes a curse upon a sinners back There 's many think the fountain of their lusts are quite dryed up when the streams are turned into another Channel A hand taken off from sinful practises without a heart taken off from sinful principles it s like a peece of ground which having long lain fallow
within the fight of the shoare have quitted the bottome of merit to saile in the bark of mercy crying out Tutissimum est in sola Dei misericordia acquiescere Most that perish it is not their disease that kills them but their physitian they think to cure themselves and that leaves themselves incurable Good works are so indigent as no man can be saved Bona opera sunt necessaria ad salutem ratione praesentiae at non efficientiae Id. in Cont. 11. De hâc re vid Davent de just act cap. 31. conclus 4 5 7. pag. 402. c. by them and yet they are so excellent as no man can be saved without them It should be with Christs members as it is with the skilfull Mariners Oculus ad Coelum manus ad clavum we should have our eyes on the Stars but our hands on the sterne Man is a creature apt to hug himselfe in his Religious dutyes but he will run himself into new debts that thinks thus to pay off old scores Now we know that whatsoever things the Law saith it saith to them that are under the Law that every mouth may be stopped Rom. 3. 19. How shall any Nolo meritum quod gratiam excludat horreo quicquid de meo est ut sim meus c. Bern. in Cant. Ser. 67. mouth be opened when every mouth is stopped wilt thou plead innocency to him who sees thy black flesh under thy white feathers and your fowle hearts under your faire acts Good works they are our Jacob's staffe to walke Per scalam meritorum nemo potest ascendere in caeâ—um nisi ea servetur integra et ab imo ad summum minimè intercisa aut interruptâ— Davent ubi prius with upon earth but not our Jacobs ladder to clime with to heaven To lay the salve of our services upon the sore of our sinnes is as if a man that is stung with a wasp should wipe his face with a Nettle or as if one should goe about to support a tottering fabrick with a fire-brand When the river failes us in it's water we then look up to the clouds for moysture Duties if Christ breaths not in them a Christian growes not under them Pure Elements yields no pure nourishments It was not the clay and the spittle that cured the blind man but Christs Lutum solet magis excaecare Aquin. in loc anoynting his eyes with them that was more likely to make a seeing man blind then to make a blind man see It was not the troubling of the water in the Pool of Bethesda that made them healing but the coming down of the Angell That stomack will remain unsatisfied that feeds on the dish instead of the meat If the Sun shine the Dial may direct us but if the Sun be downe the Diall cannot instruct us When the lightnings of Divine fury flashes in our eys and the Cannons of the Laws curses thunders in our eares as fast as you lay on your own plaisters a convinced conscience will rub them off againe Man may spread the net of duty but it 's God must make the draught of mercy Others they walk by this principle That much is too little for themselves but a little is too much for God But as you can never see him according to the greatnesse of his Majesty so you can never serve him according to the goodnesse of his mercy St. Paul when he writes about the reception of a runaway servant Phillemon 19. Thou owest to me thine own self We do not only owe our services to God but we owe our selves to God Good workes though they be Adjudicat caelum devs ut operuÌ„ mercedem piis et fide libus non tamen virtute meriti humani sed promissi divini Dav. cap. 33. temporal in their performing yet they are eternall in their rewarding The body may as well live without any diet as the soul can live without any duty But none of those things move me neither count I my life dear to my self so that I may finish my course with joy Acts 20. 24. Did Christ lay downe his life to obtaine the purchase of Heaven and shall not we lay out our lives to obtaine the possession of Heaven Is it worth his passion and is it not worth our action Alass what 's our sweat to his blood What could he do more then dye for us and what can we do less then live to him To whom much is given of them much shall be required You that are Christians can you find me out that good that is not given to you or that evill that is not forgiven in you God he deserves more from every Christian then he demands from any Christian And as duties can never have too much conscience used about them so they can never have too little confidence placed on them So likewise ye when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you say we are unprofitable servants we have done that which was our duty to doe Luk. 17. 10. Not only when all is to be done but when all hath been done God hath no need of us for he is from everlasting without us blessed but we have need of God for we are to everlasting without him cursed We must live in obedience but we must not live on obedience Duties they are via ad regnum Opera bona haereditatem nobis in caelis paratam tantummodo ut via ac conditio in haeredibus requisita praecedunt Synop. par Theol in disp de bon oper Vide etiam Rivet in Ps 32. vers 1. juxta fin not causa regnandi Feare not little flock it 's your Fathers good pleasure to give you a Kingdome Luke 12. 32. Heaven is not the product of mans labour but it 's the product of Gods pleasure The Marriners will row hard in a storme to get to the shoare by their own power before they will awake him with a save us Master or we perish He becomes a Malefactor Dignitas bonorum operum non ex illorum merito sed ex sola dei gratiâ aestimanda est nam si Deus illa secundum legis suae rigorem examinaret censurâ potius ob imperfectionem suam digna essent quam favore ac beneficio ipsius that comes not to a Mediator All our operations are cloath'd with imperfections there 's aliquid infectivum and aliquid defectivum Our most sublime and spiritual duties are not wound up to the height of a Command They are all tainted with a disproportion to the Golden Rule as the Moon shines in a lower and inferiour Chamber to the Sun If you lay too much weight upon the pillars raised by your own hands you will pull the whole building upon your own heads So then it s not of him that willeth nor of him that runneth but of God that sheweth mercy Romans 9. 16. It s not of him that wils though it be never so heartily
carnal man and what he can do that he will not take a Christian man what he would do that he cannot Now impotency shall be pityed when obstinacy shall be punished God hath mercy for cannots but none for will nots Adams want was rather will then power but our want is rather power then will Psal 119. 5. O that my wayes were directed Emitto vocem cupientis et antrelantis Donec liberati simus semper clamabimus utinam Suspirabimus ex sensu imbecilitatis nostrae Donec gaudium plenum sit infruitione Rivet in loc that I might keep thy statutes A Saints will begins where his work ends Lord I beleeve help my unbeliefe Lord I see enlighten my darkness I hear but cure my deafness I move but quicken my dulness I desire but help my unwillingness I remember but remove my forgetfulness In the playing of a Lesson a single string may jarr and slip and yet the main be musicall It were a folly indeed to think our fields had no corn because there is chaff or that the pile had no Gold because there is Dross In Heaven there 's service alone without any sin In hell there 's sin alone without any service but on earth there 's sin and service in the same heart as there is Wine and Water in the same Cup. To condemn thy evil is good but to condemn thy good is evil Here beleevers are like the Israelites that in their darkest night had a pillar of fire and in their clearest day had a pillar of a cloud Above us there 's light without any darkness below us there 's darknesse without any light but here it s neither day nor night but in the evening it shall be light Though the lowest beleever be above the power of sin yet the highest beleever is not above the presence of sin It s in a living man that lust is mortified but it s in a dying man that lust is nullified When the body and the soul are separated by mortality sin the soul are separated to eternity though a forced compulsion is sufficient to testifie a Tyrant yet its ready obedience that proves homage to a King Sin never ruins but where it reigns It s not destroying where it is disturbing Lust its least hurtful where it is most hateful The more evil it receives from us the lesse evil it doth to us it s only a murderer where it is a Governour But the Rose is a fragrant flower though it be surrounded with prickles The Passover was a feast though it was eaten with sowre Hearbs There 's much of the wild Olive in him that 's ingrafted into the true Olive Our graces are our best Jewels but they do not here yeild their full lustre The Moon when it shines brightest hath its spots and the fire when it burns hottest hath its smoak I said in my hast I am cut off from before thine eyes nevertheless Intalem stupori excessum adductus fui ut mihi viderer projectus a conspectu praesentiae tuae tu verò exaudita mea oratione quanto ejus ad fuisti per subventionem et consolationem misericordiae tuae Titelman in Locum thou heardest the voice of my supplication Psal 31. 22. Who would have thought that ever those prayers should have had any prevalency that were mixed with so much infidelity Sin is an enemy at our backs but not a friend in our bosomes Although beleevers should be mournful because they have infirmities yet they should be thankful because they are but infirmities It is not the Interposition of a cloud that makes a night but the departing of the Sun Take the best beleever that breaths and he is fuller of his sins then he is of his prayers There is too much of earth in our imployments for Heaven But as he that drew Alexanders picture when there was a scar on his facedrew him with his finger upon the scar so Jesus Christ when he draws the picture of the Saints excellencyes layes his finger upon the scars of the Saints infirmities He looks over what is his and overlooks what is theirs Where there is no sins of allowance in them there shall be grains of allowance to them he will not throw away his Pearls for every speck of dirt Christ honours grace in its maturity yet he owns it in its minority O thou of little faith wherefore didst thou doubt They had faith enough to keep them from damning but they had not faith enough to keep them from doubting The least buds draw sap from the root as well as the greatest branches Though one Star exceed another in magnitude yet both are alike seated in the Heavenly Orbe Though one member of the body be larger then another yet each hath an equal conjunction with the head The Rind of good actions is tainted by infirmities but their Core is rotted by hypocrisie Jacob halted and yet was blessed as his blessing did not take away his halting so his halting did not keep away his blessing Hagar will have a room in Sarahs house till death turne her out of doors Death as it leaves the body soul-lesse so it leaves the soul sinlesse For if there be first a willing mind it is accepted according to that a man hath and not according to that he hath not 2 Cor. 8. 12. He doth not look that the Cock should run water when there 's none put into the Cistern Jesus Christ doth not put out a beleevers Vae nobis si secundum firmitatem fidei Deus nobiscum agere vellâ—â— Chem Har Evan cap. 83. p. 15. 85. Candle because of the dimness of its burning nor overshadow a beleevers Sun because of the watriness of its shining Though that Vice may be found in us for which he might justly damn us yet he hath not lost that grace by which he can as easily save us He comes not with water to put out the fire but with wind to drive away the smoak The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord Pro 15. 8. because the Incense stinks of the hand that offers it Not only the wickeds plotting against the Godly is sinful but also the wickeds praying unto God is sinful but what follows The prayer of the upright is his delight If the vessel of the heart be clean he will taste of the liquor that 's drawn from it O my Dove that art in the clefts of the Rocke in the secret places of the Stareâ— lee me see thy countenance let me hear thy voice for sweet is thy voice and thy countenance is comely 2 Canticles 14. That 's the ninth 10. Principle you should walk by is this That inward purity is the ready road to outward plenty That 's but a Hell-bred Proverb â—lain dealing is a Jewel but he that uses it shall dye a beggar Religion though it be against our ease yet it s not against our interest O what clusters of Grapes hang all along our way to
Canaan It s a true expression of Tertullian Major esset authoritas imperantis quamutiliâ—as servientis That Divine authority should be of greater force then humane utility But Religion is so bountiful a Master that none need be afraid of becoming its servants But seek ye first the Kingdome of God and his righteousnesse and all these things shall be added unto you Matthew 6. 33. Our work below is the best done when our work above is the first done Do you make Heaven your Throne to serve it and God will make the earth your footstool to serve you The young Lyons lack and suffer hunger Psal 34. 10. The young Lyons that have old ones to provide for them that will have it if it be to be had but they that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing As you would have no evil things so you shall want no good things He that opens the upper will never close the lower springs There shall be no silver lacking in Benjamins Sack whilest Joseph hath it to throw in grace is no such beggarly blaze as will not pay for its owne blowing when the best of beings is adored the best of blessings are convayed Whilest the rough Esau's of the time hunt after the Venison the smooth Jacobs carry away the blessing For the Lord God is a Sun and Eum qui tam pretiosa largitur qualiter pigebit erga voselementiam exercere Aquin in 8. ad Rom. v. 32. a Shield the Lord will give grace and glory and no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly Psal 84. 11. What need he fear darknesse that hath a Sun to guid him Or they dread dangers that have a shield to guard them O Christian the God whom thou servest is so excellent that no good can be added to him and so infinite that no good can be diminisht in him he makes happy and yet is not the less happy he shews mercy to the full and yet remains full of mercy Did a man beleeve that the Lord would not fail his body how chearfully would he look after his soule Sinners they look upon times of obedience as upon times of hindrance they trust to their own unutterable toylings and not to his unalterable undertakings they drive such a trade on earth as makes them break in their merchandize for Heaven But what the Philospher said Solus sapiens dives That only the wise man is the rich man That may I say Solus sanctus dives Though every rich man be not one that 's truly godly yet every Godly man is one that 's truly rich The Sun can as easily display its Beams over the whole world as shed its Rayes upon a single field What God receives from man makes him never the richer and what man receives from God makes him never the poorer his goodnesse is capable of imparting but his goodnesse is not capable of impairing If the fountain be still running why shouldst thou fear the want of filling The Lord is my sheepheard I shall not want Psal 23. 1. The sheep of Christ may change their pasture but they shall never want their pasture Is not the life more then meat and the body then rayment Matthew 6. 25. If he trust us with the greater shall we distrust him for the lesser He that hath given us our beings will give us our blessings the great husband-man never over-stocked his owne Commons Jehu had an external Kingdom that served God but in hypocrisie but they shall have a heavenly Kingdome that serve God in sincerity if he valued counterfeit coyne at so great a rate how highly will he esteeme of true gold If he drops so much into a vessell of wrath what will he do into a vessell of mercy If he doe so much for a slave of hell what will he do for a son of Heaven O Generation see the word of the Lord Have I been a wildernesse unto Israel a land of darknesse Wherefore say my people we are Lords we will come no more unto thee Jer. 2. 31. God was not a wilderness to Israel when Israel was in the wildernesse when they wanted bread he gave them Manna from Heaven to satisfie their hunger when they wanted water he broacht a Rock to quench their thirst and though they had no new cloaths provided for them yet their old cloaths did not weare out upon them but as some think as their backs grew so their cloaths grew yea when they were put to their hardest pinch he made a dry lane with watery walls through the deepe channells of the Red Sea They were never better liking then when they were at his immediate finding O how good is a beleevers God! that doth not only shorten his pilgrimage for him but sweetens his pilgrimage to him Christians if they had too much in temporalls might then have too little in spiritualls The three children Daniel 1. 15. did thrive better with their pulse then the rest with the royall allowance O how safely have some men rowed in a narrow river that have been cast away in the large Ocean Little is sufficiency to him who with it enjoyes Alsufficiency Christian get a holy heart and thy estate in Heaven shall be transcendent yea thy estate on earth shall be sufficient Naked piety is a good commodity but Religion is a cloud that will water our gardens Let the people praise thee O God yea let all the people praise thee What then Then shall the earth yield her increase and God even our God shall blesse us Psal 67. 5 6. It 's our unthankfullnesse that is the cause Gratiarum aâ—â—io ampliora a Deo beneficia impetrat Stapl. in Dom. 3. post Epip tex 5. of the earths unfruitfullnesse Whilst man is blessing of God for his mercies God is blessing of man with his mercies Trumpeters repeat their sounding where an eccho is returning What 's the reason that men are so afraid of godlinesse but because they thinke that when they seek for heavenly Manna they shall loose their earthly Mammon That piety is the only enemy of prosperity Could they but reap profit by praying they would take pleasure in praying What is the Almighty that we should serve him and what profit should we have if we pray unto him Job 21. 15. Alas Who would set those plants about him that will yield no fruits unto him The world they look upon gain as the highest godlinesse and not upon godlinesse as the highest gaine As if a worldly substance would make amends for a wounded conscience I am afraid that this worme that is gnawing will bring you to a flame that 's everlasting But godlinesse is profitable unto all things having the promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come 1 Tim. 4. 8. Who knows how many sweet productions are in the wombe of this morning Sun So that men shall say verily there is a reward for the righteous verily there is a God that
judgeth the earth Psal 58. ult There 's no work that is done in vaine but that work that is vainly done Wealth and riches shall be in his house and his righteousnesse indures for ever Psal 112. 2 3. Doe but you take care of all that belongs to God and God will take care of all that belongs to you For all other gaines whilst we live we lose them or when we dye we leave them to whom we know not but it may be to them we would not Inkeeping of thy Commandements there is great reward Psal 19. 11. There is not only a reward for keeping of them but there 's a reward in keeping of them In other services the Master hath all the profit and the servant none but in this the servant hath all the profit and the Master none 2 Sam. 6. 11. And the Arke of the Lord continued in the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite for three months and the Lord blessed Obed-Edom and all his houshold The Ark was not blessed for the sake of the houshold but the houshould was blessed for the sake of the Arke The Arke of God payes for its entertainment wheresoever it comes We say that those have decayed limbes that must be helped on with crutches Such are they that will side with resigion when they may live upon it but will shrink from Religion when it must live upon them But that maxime is still ture that Godliness with contentment is great gain 1 Tim. 6. 6. It 's only the Christian man that is the contented man and what is our enjoyments without contentment what 's abundance of possessions if linked to abundance of vexations Wicked men make this world their treasure and God makes this Fiunt instrumenta paenarum quae scilicet divitiae fuerant oblectament◠culparum Innocent world their torment When they want estates they are troubled for them when they have estates they are troubled with them when they should drink of the river God disturbs the water Sinner remember when thou diest thou wilt find godlinesse needfull and whilst thou livest thou wilt find godlinesse gainfull The purest honey is ever gathered out of the hive of holiness O that my people had hearkened unto me and Israel had walked in my wayes Psal 81. 13. But what had they got by it vers 16. He should have fed them also with the finest of the wheat and with honey out of the rock should I have satisfied thee The wayes of iniquity are the wayes of beggery It 's but equal that God should fall out with them in the course of his providence that falls off from him in the course of their obedience that they should have nothing from him in a way of bounty that will doe nothing for him in a way of duty If you make your Tabernacles leprous God will make your Tabernacles ruinous Length of dayes is in her right hand and in her left hand riches and honour Prov. 3. 16. Look to which hand you will and yet you shall find that both are full It 's storied of Synesius a Minister that living near Evagrius a philosopher This story you may read larger just after Mr. Baxter's Preface to his book called the Crucifying of the world and had often perswaded him to be a Christian O but saith the Philosopher if I become a christian either I must lose all for Christ or else I may lose all for Christ to whom the Minister replyed what you lose for him he will pay you againe O but saith the philosopher will you be bound for Christ that if he do not pay me you will Yes saith he and so became a surety for his surety and the philosopher became a Christian When this person came to lye upon his dying pillow he sent for this Minister saying here 's your bond Christ hath paid me all he hath left nothing for you to pay It was a vaine conceite of that potentate who refusing the name of Pius would be called Faelix Inward piety is the best friend to outward felicity though outward felicity be many times the worst enemy to inward piety That 's the tenth The eleventh Principle that you should walk by is this That all the time that God allows us is little enough to fulfill the task that he allots us Man that is borne of a woman is few of dayes and full of troubles Job 14. 1. The creatures life and existence is of a very short and small continuance Natures womb somtimes proves natures tombe and swallows up her own Vitae hujus principium mortis exordium est nec priùs incipit augeri aetas nostra quam minui Prosp de vocat Gen. lib. 2. c. 20 issue With many it's ebb water before the tide be at the full the lamp of their lives is wasted even as soon as it is lighted the sands of their hour-glasse are quite run out when they think it is but newly turned When men feele sicknesse arresting then they feare deaths approaching But we begin our dying as soon as ever we begin our living and how much the longer our time hath been so much the shorter our time shall be Every mans passing-bell hangs in his own steeple Take him in his four elements of Earth and Aire Fire and Water In the Earth he is like dust that 's scattering in the Aire he is like a vapour that 's vanishing in the water he is like a bubble that 's breaking in the Fire he is like smoak that 's consuming Seneca said truly Maximum vivendi Sen. de brevit vitae cap. 9. impedimentum est expectatio quae pendet in crastino the greatest hinderance of well living is the expectation of long life Therefore men so little prepare for death because they so little think on death they think not of living any better till they think not of living any longer Did you but walke by this principle though much of your time be past yet would no more of your time be lost you would this moment make sure of God because the next moment you are not sure of your selves One to-day is worth two to-morrows you know not how soone the sails of your lives may be rowled up or how nigh you are to your eternall haven O ply your Oares dilligently lest the vessell doe miscarry everlastingly What will you doe if you begin to dye naturally before you begin to live spiritually if the Tabernacle of nature be taken down before the Temple of grace be raised up if your paradise be laid wast before the Tree of life be set in it if you give up the Ghost before ever you have received the Holy Ghost if the Sun of your lives set within you before the Sun of righteousness shine upon you if the body be sit to be turned into the earth before the soul be fit to be taken into Heaven If the second birth have no place in you the second Death shall have a power over you One excellently compares
seed when he should be thrusting in of his Sickle for the reaping of his Harvest Know that there is but one Heaven miss of that and where wilt thou take up thylodging but in Hell A vicious man expires and goes out like a Tallow Candle leaving a stench behind him A gracious man expires and goes out like a Wax Candle that leaves a sweet perfume behind him That 's the Eleventh 12. Principle that you should walk by is this That there can never be too great an estrangement Naufragium sanè paté meretur qui valido spirante vento et toto aequore acerbâ tempestate jactato Marē se tamen vult committere e◠vel expandere c. Sic à Deo deteri et vel in peccatum cadere vel peccato insistere et immergi meretur qui ventos et tempestates tentationum et occasionum peccati vitare cùm potest non contendit c. Stapl in Dom 11. Post Pent. Text. 5. from defilement He who now gives way to sin ere long may be given up to sin We are never far enough from lust whilest we are on earth nor near enough to Christ till we be in Heaven A sound eye cannot endure the least Moat nor a sound heart the least spot O stand off from the Devils mark unlesse you would be hit by the Devils Arrows Abstaine from all appearance of evil 1 Thes 5. 22. The closing with the appearance of evil is the next way to the accomplishing of apparent evil A spark of fire will easily catch in a box of Tinder The Picture in the glasse may as well inflame as the picture in the face Little streams will find a passage to the great Sea Restriction is a good chain to transgression Why shouldest thou venture on slippery places that canst Quantum possumus a lubrico recedamus in sicco quoque parum firmiter stamus Sen Epist 116. hardly stand upon the firmest ground As faith is a grace that feeds all the rest so fear is a grace that guards all the rest That man who is the most watehful that man is the least sinful He may quickly be cast down by a sinful temptation that is already prepared for it by a sinful occasion And who will pity him whose house is blown up with Powder that keeps his Barrels in the Chimney corner Yet so much monstrous wickednesse is there lodged in the hearts of men that they adde spurs and whips to that Horse that of himself rushes too fast into the Battel When the stream and current of their own lusts do carry them too swiftly before yet they hoyse up Sails to entertain the Devils winds as if they had not a Title strong enough to Hel except they bargained for it a new and bound themselves by solemn Obligations never to part with it again The Fowler spreads his Net but it s the wings of the bird that carryes her to it The way to keep temptations from entring into our souls is to Instrantibus tentationibus resistamus quia facilius non recipiuntur quam exeunt et paulò post nobis quia non est regredi facile optimum est omnino non progredi Idem Ibid. keep our souls from venturing upon temptations Dost thou murmur for want of liberty and yet surrender up thy self to flavery They who wil play with wantonness will quickly learne to play the wantons If you will not step into the Harlots house you must not go by the Harlots door If you would not gather the forbidden fruit you must not look on the Tree on which it grows To pray against temptations and yet to rush into occasions is to thrust our fingers into the flaming fire and then pray they might not be burned with its heat The Fable saith That the Butterfiye aske the Owle how she should do with the Candle that had singed her Wings who counselled her not so much as to behold its smoak If you hold the Stirrup no wonder if Satan get into the Saddle Temptation is a Tap to give vent to corruption Whilest a mans cloaths are on the scars of his body remain unseen If you would keep the Fort Royal of your souls look well to the Out-works of your sences Preserve your eyes that they be not windows to let in lusts that should be flood-gates to powr out tears a carelesse eye doth oft declare a gracelesse heart Remember the whole world dyed by a wound in the eye Who knows what defilements are conveyed through these Casements O the eys of a Christian should be like Sun-flowers that should not open to every blaze but to the beams of the Sun of righteousnesse Preserve your ears To keep our eyes and not to regard our ears is as if a man should shut the casements of his house and leave the doors open The ear is an instrument that the Devilloves to play on Your ears as they are joyned to your head on earth so let them be fastned to him who is your Head in Heaven Preserve your tongues least that which should be tuned for Gods glory be not turned into your own shame By the striking of these Clappers we guesse the mettle of the Bell Thou art a Galilean thy speech bewrays thee As every idle word shall be arraigned so every evil word shall be condemned A soul without its watch is like a City without its wals exposed to the in-road of all its enemies We need a Sun to dispel our darknesse we are so ignorant and we need a Shield to repel our dangers we are so impotent The earth is not so apt to be over-run with Thorns as the heart is apt to be overgrown with sins If you would not fall into the bottom of the River take heed of walking on the Brink thereof The Note that comes into the Margent will soon skip into the Text it selfe T is storied of Alexander that when Darius his wife a beautiful Lady was taken by his Army he refrained from often visiting of her least he should be insnared by her Those matches can never be compleated where all treaties are rejected He that crushes the Egg need never fear the flight of the Bird. He that would not drink of the wine must not taste of the grape And he that would not hear the Bell must not finger the Rope A man that carries Gun-powder about him can never stand too far from Sparkles If we go with sin one Mile it will compel us to go with it twain It will swell like the Cloud Eliah saw from the bigness of a mans hand to such an expansion as to cover the sky If thou canst not step over the narrow Brook why dost thou imagine it so easie to stride over the swelling Ocean Let him that thinks he stands take heed least he fall 1 Cor. 10. 12. You will quickly loose your standing if you do not fear your falling He that will abstaine from nothing that is lawful will soon be brought to something that is
return to God evil for good When we gather the fruit we should cast our eyes upon the root when we are refreshed by the flowing stream we should reflect upon the springing fountain A load of earth hath sunk many a man down to hell and the richer he hath been without doors the poorer he hath been within Your estates if they be not wings to mount you up to Heaven they will be weights to sink you down to Hell That 's a serious observation of a great Traveller that notwithstanding all the Religious pretences of the Conclave of Rome that the Indians have brought more of the Spaniards to worship their gold then ever the Spaniards have brought of the Indians to worship their gods The former have made more infidels then ever the latter made Christians The mercies that God gives to our bodies are but baits that are laid to catch our souls He tries the vessel with water that he may fill it with wine Every stream leads a beleever Fideles singuli beneficio aliquo accepto oculos mox animosque sursium ferunt ac benefactori gratias agunt Sibel con 8. in to the fountains head The more Gods hand is enlarged in blessing of him the more his heart is enlivened in the blessing of God Where the sun of mercy shines hottest there the fruits of grace grow fastest In the book of nature we may view the God of nature The creatures are like an Instrument ready tuned to praise God but it 's a beleevers hand that must make Musicke upon them A Saint as he hath a heart to seek God for what he promiseth so he hath a hand to serve God with what he possesseth The greater wages he receives the better work he performs The more a Merchant adventures at Sea the greater returns he expects at Land They that hold the largest Farms they should pay the greatest Rents the tallest Vines should ever yield the sweetest grapes and it is sad that ever that should prove a true prediction Qui majores terras possident minores sensus solvunt that they who have the largest crops should send into Gods house the fewest Tythes There is a retaliation of good for evill this is admirable of evill for good this is abominable of good for good this is laudible of evill for evill this is blameable The Aprill showers that makes the grasse grow and the flowers sweet do likewise cause many croaking frogs to come forth Those Rivers that receive their rise from the Sea return their waters back again into the lap of the Ocean All you have is derived from God let all you have be returned to God Gen. 38. 28 29. And it came to passe when she travelled that the one put out his hand and the midwife took and bound upon his hand a scarlet thread saying this came out first and it came to passe as he drew back his hand that behold his brother came out Beloved we have not longer enjoyed our blessings then we have abused our blessings which gives us cause to fear though the child of mercy hath put out his hand yet it will goe back into the womb again and the child of judgment will come Ingratitudo est ventus urenssiccans fontem pietatis rorem misericordiae fluema gratiae Ber. Ser. 51 super Cont. forth in its stead 'T is a divine saying of devout Bernard That ingratitude is a parching wind which dries up the spring of bounty the dew of mercy and the current of clemency Man he was made the last of all the Creatures that he might contemplate the rest of all the creatures When you lift up your eyes towards the heavens and see them hung with lights O think if there be so much beauty in the Suburbs what is there in the City what 's the footstoole which he makes to the Throne on which he sits when you see the evening starres that are in the skies think of that morning Star that is in your hearts When you sit down to your dishes let this be the first of your messes how happy are all the kindred of Christ that shall eat bread in the kingdome of Christ Those are the rarest feasts where there are the Royallest guests When you see the fowls of the aire how swiftly they glide through the yielding elements and the waters in the river hasting to their Originall Ocean O then think with how much speed the little rivers of opportunity are posting to the great Sea of eternity When thou art cloathing of thy body with variety reflect how the eternall word put on the suit of thy humanity how mercy undrest it self to cover thee with its garments When you are casting off your cloaths think of the putting off your Tabernacles be going to your beds as if you were going to your graves and so close your eyes in one world as you would open them in another when you are creeping between the sheets then think of your winding sheet When you view the plants that are in your orchards then think of the plants that are in Christs Orchard It 's not more delightsome to see plants bearing of fruits to us then it is to see Saints bearing of fruits to him When thou beholdest the stately buildings the shady groves the Cristal brooks the pleasant meddows of wicked men then think with thy self if sinners goes away with such large messes what shall be the Benjamin's portion If the children of the concubines have so great a gift what shall be the inheritance of the children of promise if the dogs fair so well under the Table how are the children feasted that sit at the Table Give me that eye that can see God in all and that hand that can serve God with all That 's the thirteenth 14. Principle that we are to walk by is this That we are to speak well of God whatsoever ill we bear from God The mud whilst the water is quiet lyes at the bottome but when it is stirred creeps up to the top Every Cock-boate can swim in a shallow River but it must be a strong Vessel that ploughs the curled ocean Job nihil attendens proprium solam domini respicit et commemorat voluntatem talem suae gratiarum actioni terminum ponens sit nomen domin benedictum Titeiman in loc The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away and blessed be the name of the Lord Job 1. 21. He gives before he takes and he takes but what he gives The hourglasse of outward happiness is soon run out to day Job is the richest man in all the east to morrow Job is the poorest man in all the world yet his heart was like a fruitfull Paradise when his estate was like a barren wildernesse though God burnt up his out-house yet he left him his pallace standing Outward mercies they are like the Sea that have their flowing tides and their ebbing waters or like the skie that sometimes is full of clearness and at another time is
Ring of a gracious heart Riches have made many good men worser but they never made any bad man better Hence it is that if we observe but a little sparke of piety in great persons we are ready to behold it as a blazing Commet and to cry it up in the Superlative degree Though a Christian be made happy in the world yet a Christian is not made happy by the world Give me those judgements that are the births of mercy rather then those mercies that are the births of judgement There are many that are temporally miserable that are eternally happy and there are many that are temporally happy that shall be eternally miserable If want could bring a man to Heaven how many poor men would then be saved And if wealth could free a man from Hell how few rich men would then be damned Beleevers they are the common Buts at which the world doth shoot its poysoned Arrowes They that go about to pull the Cross out of the Regnum Christi estregnum crucis ipsius subditi insignes sunt duobus coloribus rubrâ— et candido in scutis suis oftentant crucem rubâ—am conspicuam in areâ candidâ hoc est laeta puraque conscientia Sibel Conc 25. in cap 16. Matth. p. 324. Christians Arms spoyl the whole Court if I have any discovery of Scripture Heraldry He makes his sun to shine upon the evil and upon the good and his rain to fall on the just and upon the unjust Matth. 5. 45. The Sun of prosperity shines upon the Dunghil as well as upon the Bed of Spices and the rain of adversity falls upon the fruitful garden as well as upon the barren wildernesse The mercies of the one are but golden chains to bind them on earth and the miseries of the other are but fiery Chariots to carry them to Heaven Ye have called the proud happy yea they that work wickedness are set up yea they that tempt God are delivered Malacha 3. 15. Gods Jewels are here trampled under feet If you look for a Saint you may sooner find him cast on a heap of dust then lapt in a bed of Down Poor Lazarus gets to Heaven when rich Dives goes to Hell For outward blessings whilest wise men beat the Bush fools catch the Bird and whilest valiant minds crack the Nuts Cowards eat the Kirnels Benjamin was not less regarded by Joseph because the silver Cup was found in the mouth of his Sack We must not infer the absence of Gods affections from the presence of our afflictions When the cold wind blows the Sun beams shines Those stones which are designed for building are hewn and squared whilest others lye in neglected heaps A Saint is as glorious in his greatest Attende duos de divite et Lazaro loquitur unum in divitiis et sanitate misorum alterum in agestate et vulnere multùm beatum Fulgent Epist 2. ad Galla p. 642. misery as a sinner is miserable in his greatest glory The curiousest pearls are here inclosed in the ruggedst shels You may see a Joseph in Prison whilest Pharoah keeps the Court and a Julian on the Throne swaying the Scepter when a Job is on a Dunghil bewayling his Ulcers Judge not according to appearance but judge righteous judgement They who judge according to appearance do not judge according to righteousness How apt is the Candle of God shining upon a sinners Tabernacle to offend a Saints eyes as if we envied them a little light that are to be shrouded up in everlasting darkness every man can find sticks to cast at laden boughs Will you read a peice of Davids Letany Psal 17. 14. From men which are thy hand O Lord from men of the world which have their portion in this life whose belly thou sillest with thy hid treasure The things of the world are all the happinesse of the men of the world all their flowers grows out of Paradice They live not without those creatures by which their bodies are succoured but they dye without that Christ by whom their souls should be saved Sirs A mans condition in this life may be honourable and yet his state as to another life may be damnable For this purpose have I raised thee up that I might shew my power upon thee The Sun of outward splendor cast its Rayes upon him only to warm his head against a storm The stalled Ox would not set so high a rate upon his Pasture did he know that it was but to fit him for the Butcher The same hand that now powres out his mercies on wicked men like Oyle will pouâ— down his wrath upon them like Water Under all their wealth their hearts are sinful and after all their wealth their states are doleful It 's better through the valley of Baca to go to Zion then to pitch our Tents in the Plains of Sodom It 's an expression of Luther That Mica quam Pater familias canibus projicit the great Turkish Empire was but a Crust that God throws unto the Dogs It was a sweet saying of a holy man I had rather have St. Pauls Coat with his Heavenly graces then the Purple Robes of Princes with all their Kingdoms God sometimes least riches should be counted evil in themselves Per se nec miseros homines possunt facere nec beatos Fulg ubi priús gives them to thosâ— that are good and sometimes least they should be counted the chiefest good gives them to 〈◊〉 that are evil They are oftner the portion of his enemies then they â—re of his friends What is it to receive and not to be received To have no other dews of blessing but such as may be followed with showers of Brimstone They may fleet the Cream of earthly enjoyment that did never taste of the Milk of Heavenly refreshment I have heard that there is in Scotland a floating Island which if the Sea man cast Anchor there the Land will probably carry away the Ship this is true of this world it 's a floating Island and never any cast Anchor here but it carryed away their soules God and all that he hath made is not more then God without all that he hath made and he can never want treasure that hath such a golden Mine God is enough to us without the creature but the creature is not enough to us without God It 's better to be a Wooden Vessel filled with Wine then a Golden Vessel filled with Water That 's the Sixteenth 17. Principle that Saints should walk by is this That we should cleave the closest to that good which is the choicest Do they beleeve it 's worth the while to sell all for the Pearl of price who when they have done think themselves miserable after the bargain Then said Jesus to the twelve will ye also go away John 6. 67. Peter as the mouth of all the rest speaks the mind of all the rest Lord to whom shall we go thou hast the words of eternal life
A soule that 's changed is not for changing there cannot be a better being for us then for us to be with thee What we that have left all to follow thee should we follow all to leave thee You cannot tread in the steps of Christ but you will taste of the Cups of Christ The nearer you are to such a spring the clearer will be your streams yea when every Gourd is withered here 's a shaddow that will yeeld you shelter How precious are thy thoughts unto me O God how great is the sum of them If I should count them they are more in number then the sand when I awake I am still with thee Psal 139. 18. As soon as ever he crept out of his warm Bed he crept into Gods warm bosome Beleevers are wont to leave their hearts with God in the evening that they may find them with him in the morning David he was least alone when he was most alone his heart was like the Needle in the Compasse that still points to the Northern Totus in te Deus optime transit affectus cordis mei ad eo ut nihil prorsus sit in universâ Coelorum amplitudine quod ipsum possit oblectare vel â—â— reficere nisâ— tù c. Titelmâ— in locum Pole Whom have I in heaven but thee and there is none upon earth which I desire besides thee Psal 73. 25. Let a Beleever search Heaven and Earth yet he will find nothing comparable with God as Judah said of Jacob His life is bound up in the life of the Lad so may I say of a Christian His life is bound up in the life of God To be neer to him is our happinesse and to draw neere to him is our holinesse I cannot but sadly reflect on the unstableness of rotten Professors An applauded Christ shall have many Hosanahs when a condemned Christ hath many Crucifiges but a true Christian can as well go with Christ to the Cross where he is to be crucified as he can go with Christ to the Throne where he is to be glorified He will not turn like a shadow from him in whom there is no shaddow of turning Tell me soul was there nothing within thee that could draw thee to him and is there any thing without thee that shall draw thee from him Who would leave a substance to court a shaddow Or prize the Picture to the disdain of the person Can any thing do you so much good as his presence or so much hurt as his absence What a dreadfull darkness must needs be expected when the beams of so bright a Sun are eclipsed It 's better to part with a thousand worlds were there so many for one Christ then it 's to part with one Christ for a thousand worlds Every step that you take to him is a step to Heaven and every step that you take from him is a step to Hell And he was sad at that saying and went away grieved for he had great possessions Mark 10. 22. This poor rich man or this rich poor man which you will call him for both you may call him As he came hastily to Christ so he goes heavily from Christ why what 's the matter Goe sell all that thou hast and give it to the poor and thou shalt have treasure in Heaven Christ was for the selling of all and he was for the saving of all If he may not have God and Mammon he will leave God for Mammon Thus will such as make a God of nothing make nothing of a God When he cast his weights into the carnal Scales his corruptible silver did weigh down an incorruptible Saviour Observe the policy of Diabolus quando decipere quenquam quaerit in varias sese transmutat formas jam in leoninam jam in vulpinam aliquando saevit ut terreat Nonnunquam blanditur ut fallat Sibel in cap. 16. Matt. conc 20. p. 256. the Prince of darkness that makes use of the men of the world as instruments to drive us from God and of the things of the world as inticements to draw us from God The Lord is with you whilest you are are with him and if you seek him he will be found of you but if you forsake him he will forsake you Never was man forsaken of God till God was forsaken of man he sticks close to us whilest we stick close to him Truly that good was never worth the getting which was never worth the keeping Thus saith the Lord what iniquity have your fathers found in me that they are gone far from me Jeremy 2. 5. Corruption is a good ground for declension if we saw iniquity in him we might make an apostacy from him for its ill being where sin hath a being but if you can find no fault in God why will you commit such a fault as to depart from God Can any rational man deem it good to shake hands with goodnesse Let me say to such sinners as Saul said unto his servants Hear now ye Benjamites will the son of Jesse give every one of you fields and vineyards and make you all Captains of thousands and Captains in of hundreds 1 Sam. 22. 7. Thus say I to you Can sin Satan or the world doe that for you that God can It 's only the best of beings that can bestow the best of blessings He that hath the Keyes of Heaven can only open the doors of Heaven it s through him that we have an admittance into our choicest inheritance What 's our life but a war-fare and what 's the world but a thorow-fare can the world do more for you without God then God can do for you without the world If that be most potent then leave God for the worlds sake but if he be more potent then leave the world for Gods sake Know it sinner in forsaking of a Saviour thou loosest grace which is the brightest Star on earth and glory which is the fairest Sun in Heaven No men are in more danger of loosing what they have then those men who are contented with what they have A drop is easier dried up then a River and a spark sooner extinct then the fire I will never leave you nor forsake you Heb. 13. 6. Better our goods should goe and leave God behind them then that our God should goe and leave our goods behind him It 's not the brightest Stars that can make it day when the Sun is setting nor the thickest clouds that can make it night whilest the Sun is shining That 's the seventeenth 18. Principle that you should walk by is this That it is our present businesse to make sure of our future blessednesse It 's the Wisemans expression Eccle 6. 7. That all the labour of a man is for his mouth This is not for Heathens to turn Christians but for Christians to turn Heathens That Hawke that flies after the worlds prey will hardly stoop to Gods lure Why should I lay out that for a
heated in the Mid-night of adversity Afflictions are not a fire that 's consuming but a flame that 's refining they are like the prick at the Nightingales breast that awaken her and put her upon her delightful singing Many Saints are like Topps that goes best when they are lasht most For Ireckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us Romans 8. 18. These fall as far short of glory as the smallest fraction of the greatest number or as the least filings of Gold of the riches of the whole Indies If the early glimmerings of our Lord Jesus Christ shroud so much joy and strength within their own beams as over-powers the cross what will his Meridian Rayes of glory doe when they are revealed Will you cast them both into the scales of the Sanctuary 2 Cor. 4. 17. For our light affliction which is but for a moment worketh for us a more exceeding and eternal weight of glory How light is a dram of reproach to a weight of glory and how short a Minute of pains to an Eternity of pleasures He said excellently Bene fertur Calumina cúm acquiritur Corona He need not be weary of the Crosse that 's sure of the Crown After the Cup of affliction comes the cup of salvation The Wine-presse prepares for the Wine-cellar After the pangs and throws comes the child birth O clear up your interest in God A pardon may be past the Princes Seale that is not put into the Prisoners hand Things that are exceeding sharp calls for much Sugar to make them sweet Death is a thing that hath the most ungrateful taste to the creatures pallate Now Grace is baptized with a double name It 's called The first-fruits of the spirit Romans 8. 28. It 's called The earnest of the spirit 2 Cor. 1. 22. It 's a tast to shew us the sweetnesse of eternal life and it 's a pledge to shew us the sureness of eternal life Our Heavenly Physitian will keep us no longer in Physick but till we are thorowly purged Our merciful refiner will detain us no longer in the Furnace but till we are sufficiently purified Patience for sowing the seeds of sorrow on earth shall reap a golden crop of joy in Heaven We may talk of the greatnesse of our future recompence but we shall never know the weight of our Crowns till they be set on our heads nor the worth of our Robes till they be worn on our backs then the pricking Thorn shall be turned into a precious Gem. As darknesse is the absence of light when the Sun is removed from its Horizon so is death the privation of life when the soul is removed from its Prison we have here but jus ad rem there we shall have jus in re Here we have an expectation of our fruitions there we shall have the fruition of our expectations Chear up brave spirits your Wildernesse Nunc deprimuntur et calcantur electi ut olim assurgant et extollantur ad instar palmarum Drex Christian Zod. Sig. 5. p. 42. journeys will soon be periodized The cloth must be cut in peeces before it can be made up in garments The hewing of the timber is for the erecting of the structure The new corn that lives in Summer is produced from the old corn that dyed in the Winter We should willingly embrace death though we should not desperately rush upon it you will be like Civet that 's when it 's taken out of the Box leaves a sweet savour behind it Shall Christ willingly come down from Heaven to earth to dye for us and shall not we willingly go up from earth to Heaven to live with him A Saints loathnesse to expire doth not spring from this root because they judge that death is not good enough for them but it 's a sprig that grows upon this root because they judge thēselves not good enough for death But remember the edg of this keen sword is blunted since the sides of Christ was the scabbard in which it was sheathed When the Ship is in the Haven its Erras mi Christiane erras sicogitas te integrum et non bene contusum perventurum ad coelum Drex loc citat past all storms but by induring storms it at last arriveth at the Haven When we come to Glory there will be no temptations to endure but it s by enduring of temptations that we come to glory When the body and the soul shall part asunder the soul and God shall meet together The sharper your sorrows are here the sweeter will be your joyes hereafter let me allude to that Psal 68. 13. Though ye have lien among the Pots yet shall ye be as the wings of a Dove covered with silver and her feathers with yellow gold All the Grapes in Christs Vineyard must passe thorow the Wine-presse Health is most acceptable after the sharpest sicknesse and liberty most sweet after a rigorous bondage and the harbour most welcome after turbulent storms How pleasant soever a sinners beginning is his ending is dolorous how troublesome soever a Saints beginning is his ending is joyous The fresh Rivers of carnal pleasure run into a salt Sea of despairing tears when the wet seeds-time of a pious life ushers in the Sun-shiny Harvest of a peacefull death When Craesus askt Solon who he Dicique beatus ant◠obitum nemo supremaque funera debet Horat. thought happy he told him one Tellus a man that was dead Happinesse doth not goe before death but death goes before happinesse It 's storied of Adrianus that seeing many Christians put to such cruel and bitter deaths he askt some of them what it was that they suffered such cruel torments for to whom they answered Speramus illa bona quae oculus non videt auras non audivit in cor hominis non ascenderunt We hope for those things which eye hath not seen nor ear heard nor ever entred into the heart of man to conceive They who are born blind are unable to judg of that glory that dazles the very eyes of the Angels One smile in Gods face will dry up all the tears in their eyes When beleevers change earth for Heaven they do not loose their blessednesse but compleat their blessednesse as fishes dropping out of the narrow Brook into the wide Ocean do not leave their Element but are more in it then they were before A beleevers dying is resembled to a burnt-offering now in a burnt-offering when the ashes falls to the earth the flame ascends to Heaven Thus have I set twenty Diamonds in your Golden Ring And so much for the first thing Namely The erection of singular Principles I come now to the last stage for the direction of singular practises Here I shall spread but six Sails and make to the shoar 1. Would you do more then others then you must know more then others I may say of Divine
be thrown into the water whole it swims if broke it sinks Or like the Mary-gold that opens with the shining and shuts with the setting of the Sun of righteousnesse Love it puts not off its pursuits of Certe amor Dei tam efficax est ut effectus potius quam affectus dici debeat plus enim facit quam afficit Stapl in Dom. Pen. Tex 1. duty till it attains the possessions of glory There 's no rocking this child to sleep till it be laid in the Cradle of the Grave A soul that loves much is a soul that works much The commands of the Gospel are not grievous to them but precious to them The highest graces are fit for the hardest duties As God is not so much displeased at our having of sin as he is displeased at our loving of sin so he is not so well pleased at our doing of service as at our loving of service Different movings express different beings When a Christian yields obedience to Christ out of a principle of love he so serves Christ as none but a Saint can serve Christ When thou saidst seek ye my face my heart answered thy face I will seeke Psal 27. 8. The heart of obedience is the obedience of the heart That 's the second 3. Would you do more then others then pray more then others Our daily bread calls for daily prayers because new wants are created when old wants are supplyed The Garden of the Church is watred by the River of Prayer Are you called by the name of Christ and will you not call upon the name of Christ Take away spiritual breathing and you take away spirituall living a child that 's still born was never a childe that 's new borne Who would not stretch forth a Beggars hand to receive a Jewel of greater vallew then the world With what boldnesse may they appear at the Court that are assured of the ear of the King We shall soon give up the Ghost if God doe not give in the Holy Ghost to stop our breath is the way to loose our life You may pray alwayes and yet not allwayes be at prayer Thou allowest thy body daily sustentation O allow thy soule daily supplication Prayer it s like Noahs Dove though it goe forth of the Arke yet it will return againe with an Olive-branch of peace in its mouth In Gods injoyning our supplications there 's the shewing forth of his greatnesse in Gods fulfilling our supplications there 's the shining forth of his goodnesse Prayer never did man rightly make it but God did quickly grant it It 's no more a duty for Saints on earth to give over praying then it is a duty for Saints in Heaven to give over praising If you would speed in the injoying of mercy you must speak for the obtaining of mercy If man lets God goe without any begging God will let man goe without any blessing I am sadly sensible how many there are that cast off this duty But it is not because the lameness of their leggs is cured but because they are ashamed to make use of crutches Christians let not your want of accomplishments create in you any discouragements Dumbe beggars have got almes at Christs gates by making of signes The waters of life are sweet O what pity it is that God should turne the cock for want of pails to set under Take a dry spunge and throw it into the river and it will suck it self full of water As he prayed the forme of his countenance Christus cum oraret transfigurabatur ita in oratione magnae fiunt in anima mutationes quia lumen animae est oratio quae saepiuâ— eum quem invenit desperantem relinquit exultanter Ger. med 25. was altered and his rayment was white and glistering Luk. 9. 28 29. Christ had the brightest Sunshine of his fathers affection when he was moving in the Orbe of supplication Tell me Sirs is not that mercy worth the breath of a sinner which was worth the blood of a Saviour then to pray we can do no more to the removing of our own miseries and we can do no less for the obtaining of Gods mercies methinks man should never cease asking till God cease granting Lord what wilt thou give me seeing I goe childless So say you Lord what wilt thou give me seeing I goe gracelesse Prayer is the souls trading to Heaven Oratio justi clavis est caeli ascendit precatio et descendit Dei liberatio Id ibid. for such commodities as are only locked up in Gods Treasuries By fasting the body learns to obey the soul but by praying the soule learns to command the body Dumbness should never seize on the lips of man till deafnesse seize on the ears of God Shall God in Heaven want a man that is praying whilst man on earth wants not a God that is hearing Christians though your relations are excellent yet your conditions are indigent No Christian hath so little of Christ but he hath matter for praise and no Christian hath so much from Christ but he hath matter of prayer every day we find it a great worke to accomplish a little work every new act of obedience calls for new strength and assistance as our receits are greater then our desarts so our wants are larger then our receits Ask and ye shall receive that your joy may be full Spirituall supplication is the channell of spirituall consolation you must be full of prayers if you would be full of joyes now none are more fruitfull in divine labour then those who are most joyfull in divine favour Death that shortens our way on earth and makes it nearer but delight that sweetens our way to heaven and makes it fairer The neglect of the flowers will but administer advantage unto the growth of the weeds a little Ship with a strong wind moves faster then a greater Vessell with slacker gailes I never expect that a branch which receives no sap from the Vine should beare any fruit in the Vine Si ascendat oratio descendet gratia when prayer mounts upon the wing to God then favours come upon the spur to Non verbe de precantis deus intendit sed orantis cor aspicit Bern. de inter domo cap. 48. man The gift of prayer may have praise from men but it is the grace of prayer that hath power with God a few grapes prove the plant to be a Vine and not a thorne Prayer is Gods due as a Creator though truly performed to him as a Father None can pray aright but those that are new Creatures but all ought to pray because they are creatures Christians can never want a praying time if they do not want a praying frame in the morning this is a golden key to open the heart for servise and in the evening it is an iron lock to shut the heart from sin As the raine comes down from Heaven fruitfully so let prayer go up to Heaven fervently Peter
was kept in prison but prayer was made without ceasing for him Act. 12. 5. And prayer fetcht an Angel out of Heaven to fetch Peter out of prison If the oven be quite cold it requires more wood to heat it again there 's more strength exercised in the raising of a Bell then in the ringing of a Bell it 's not the dog that cryes the loudest that catches the haire but he that follows the Chase Beleevers should not only pray one with another but they should pray one for another next to the breach of piety in Religion we should abominate the breach of charity in communion that 's a sad spectacle to see men upholding an abominable oftentation by a more abominable separation It 's weak conceptions that are the Parents of strong delusions that 's true they who cannot know our hearts should not judge them and they who should not judge our hearts cannot know them but when such Vessells gives over sailing we may conclude that divine gails hath given over blowing Christians He that is omniscient to see your wants is omnipotent to grant your suits there 's no mercies so little as to be gotten without prayer there 's no mercies so great as not to be given unto prayer Are you made spirituall Priests and will you not offer up spirituall sacrifices Si fidelis humilis et fervens oratio fuerit caelum sine dubio penetrabit unde certum est quòd vacu◠redire non poterit Ber Ser. 4. de Quadrag ult verb. Our affections should fly like an Eagle when our expressions creep like a snaile What 's the reason there are so many empty Casks in Gods Cellar but for want of prayer Pray continually though you be not continually at prayer 1 Thes 5. 17. If the lesson be not alwayes playing yet the instrument must be kept in tune They should never be dying Petitioners that have an everliving Intercessor It matters not how often you carry an empty pitcher to so full a River And this is the confidence that we have in him that if we ask any thing according to his will he hears us 1 Joh. 5. 18. That soul shall have its will of God that desires nothing but what God wills The intercession of Christ is a golden Censor and can we desire him to offer up our drossy prayer for incense It was an expression of Luthers Fiat voluntas mea Domine quia tua let my will be done mine Lord because it is thine because it fixed in the same Center he was bold to call for the fulfilling of it The Covenant of grace without us turns precepts into promises but the spirit of grace within us turns promises into prayers Take with you words and turn unto the Lord say unto him take away all our iniquity and receive us graciously Hosea 14. 2. O how willing is God that we should hit the mark when he teaches us how to direct our arrowes What desires are there in him that we should prevail when he shews us how we should wrestle Spirituall breathings are more potent then carnal roarings none but such desires as want good aimes doe want good issues nothing will get up to Heaven but that which doth come down from Heaven Deny not God faith in prayer and God will not deny a faithfull prayer That is the Third 4. Would you do more than others then beleeve more then others It 's the Lamp of fidelity that 's filled with the oyl of activity This is a grace that is the most needful and this is a grace Vt sol radios suos longè lareque per totum terrarum orbem diffundit sic fides in hominecredente vires sua efficacitèr exerit Sibel in Mat. 16. 16. conc 13. in mi◠that is the most fruitful If there be life in the body the pulse will be beating and if there be faith in the soul the man will be working all other graces thrives in the soul as this grace thrives in the soul as the watering of the roots makes the flourishing of the Trees What doth it profit my Brethren if a man say he hath faith and hath no works can faith save him Jam. 2. 14. An idle faith is an evill faith yea a faith that works not is a faith that saves not This is a faithfull saying and this I will that thou affirme constantly that they which have beleeved in God might be carefull to maintaine good works Titus 3. 8. It 's reported of the Christall that there 's such a vertue in it that it will quicken all other stones and put a beauty and lustre upon them I am sure it 's true here there 's such a divine virtue and power in faith that it quickens and casts a lustre upon all our other graces Perceiving of Christ speaks a Christians knowledge but it 's a receiving of Christ that speaks a christians faith To as many as received him to them he gave power to become the Sons of God even to as many as believed on his name Joh. 1. 12. Faith doth not only looke upon Christ as a fountain of living water but layes pipes to convey it to its own Cisterne The Window irradiates the house not by any light of its own but as a medium to let in the beams of the Sun without Christ faith can doe nothing and against Christ faith will do nothing A true and Scripturall affiance is as the spring in the watch that moves all the golden wheels of obedience The father of the child cryed out with tears I beleeve help my unbelief Mark 9. 24. Though his tears dropt down to the earth yet his faith reacht up to Heaven Faith is able to swim upon those deep seas with delight which the line of reason could never fathom He that is highest in his diffidence is lowest in his obedience he could not do many mighty works there because of their unbelief that which hinders Christ from working for Christians that will hinder Christians from working for Christ It is as naturall for a beleeving man to be a working man as it is for the Sun to shine or the fire to burne The people of Israel stood in the outer Court but the High Priest entered within the Vaile Thus other graces Sic fides inter virtutes sure suo pri matum obtinet stand but in the outer court it 's faith that enters within the Vaile The Devill if he can but undermine the foundation he will soone overthrow the building as take away the corner stone and yon indanger all the other stones Bernard hath an excellent saying Increduli timent diabolum quasi leonem at qui in side fortes despiciunt eum quasi vermiculum whilst unbeleevers fear the Devill as a Lion the faithfull contemne him as a worme Christians he that here lives by faith which doth admit of doubting shall hereafter live by sight which doth not admit of clouding There 's no landing at the shoare of felicity without sailing in
mud-wall rise and swell because the beames of a beautiful sun shine upon it Gold in your bags may make you greater but its grace in your brests that will make you better Goodness without greatness shall be esteemed when greatness without goodness shall be confounded Proud sinners are fit companions for none but proud devils The more prosperity man enjoys the more humility God enjoyns Nature teaches us that those trees bend the most freely which bear the most fully A proud heart as it loves none but it self so it is beloved by none but by it self Consider in adversity as thou art a man thou art no less then him that is greatest and in prosperity as thou art a man thou art no more then him that is meanest Who would climb those pinacles that never any went up without They are like the inhâ—bitants of Asia who as Agesilaus affirmes si libertate fruerentur mali si servirent boni essent Plut. Apoth sec 84. fears or got down without falls Carnal persons they are never good but when they are under the rod and then not because God is displeased with their disilements but because they are overawed by his judgments It s written of Timotheus the Athenian when he had given an account to the State of his Government he often interlaced this speech In this Fortune had no hand After which he never prospered in any thing which he attempted When men disown God and cast off him God disowns men and casts off men It s storied of Philip of Macedon that after an unexpected victory he looked very sadly more like a mourner then like a triumpher He knew that what was got by the sword was subject to be lost by the sword God will not indure that any man should think well of himself but himself and when they are glorying in all their pride he is staining the pride of all their glory It is hard for any to be great in others eyes and little in their own Most Christians they are like Chamelions that when they take in the air they presently swell As that is a naughty heart which the world can soil so that is an empty heart that the world can fill Prosperous winds soon fill the sails but blowing too strongly overturn the ship Give me that brave person that in the midst of all his honours is rather pressed down with the weight of them then puffed up with the blasts of them You see your calling brethren how that not many wise men after the flesh not many mighty not many We may say of such as Luther said of Elizabeth Q. of Denmark a pious Princess Christus aliquando voluit Reginam incaelum vebere noble are called 1 Cor. 1. 26. You Nobles I call you to see how few Nobles are called He doth not say not any such are called but he saith Not many such are called A rich man is a rare dish at Gods table It s observed by those that are experienced in the sport of angling that the little fishes bite more then the great ones Oh how few great fish do we finde so much as nibling at the Gospels book When King James's Tutor lay upon his expiring pillow his Majesty sent to see how he did Go saith he and tell him that I am a going to a place where few Kings are coming Under the Law the Lamb and the Dove were offered when the Lion and the Eagle were rejected In Heraldry they say that the plainest coats are the richest arms Usually the poorest on earth are the richest in heaven The tree of life is seldom planted in a terrestrial Paradise The shining diamond of a great estate is often found upon the stinking dunghil of a wicked heart St. Bernard saith of riches Non tam bona quam minora mala They are not so much good things as they are Sapiùs ventis agitatur ingenis Pinus celsae graviore casu decidunt turres feriuntque summos Fulmina montes Hor. Lib. 2. Ode 10. lesser evil things Where there is the most prosperity there is the least security The tallest Cedars are more subject unto boysterous blasts then the lowest shrubs The little Pinnace rides safe by the shore when the gallant ship advancing with its top-sails is cast away Sheep that have the most wool upon their backs are soonest robbed of their suits The worlds fawning is worse then the worlds frowning Poverty is its own defence from robery Who will disturb those nests in which there are hatcht no birds In our days Malignants could not make estates but yet estates could make Malignants If they took away their lives it was but to get away their lands These Hounds though they could finde nothing against them worth the barking yet they found something amongst them worth the taking But I shall leave them in their dregs that are left in the sudds hoping that the hands of Justice will restore what the hands of Violence did impair Others when their estates are low their hearts are high but Believers when their estates are high their hearts are low Then went King David in and sate before the Lord and said Who am I O Lord God and what is my house that thou hast brought me hitherto 2 Sam. 7. 18. The weighty clusters humbled the branches of this royal vine He doth not quarrel with God for mercies denied but adores God for mercies bestowed Humility it looks with one eye on grace to keep it thankeful and with another eye on vice to keep it mournful As the Peacock by viewing of its black feet puls down its plumed feathers Theodosius thought it more honour to be a member of the Church then to be a Monarch of the world Wilt thou set thy heart upon that which is not Every thing will come to nothing but he that made every thing on t of nothing Many think it shall go well with them hereafter because it is so well with them here As if silver and gold which came out of the bowels of the earth had wings to carry a soul into the bosom of heaven The gates of the new Jerusalem though they stand open to gracious hearts yet they are not got open by golden keys A man may lie Perunt illa congregata sed pejus perit congregator eonum si non in Deo dives suerit Id. 1 bid in the bosom of the creatures for a time and yet lye in the bosom of the Devil for ever The worm of pride is such a gnawing vice that it crops the sweetest flowers of grace Either shut this sin out on earth or else this sin will shut you out of heaven The bowing reed is preserved whole when the stirdy oke is broke to pieces A proud person thinks every thing too much that is done by him and every thing too little that is done for him God is as far from pleasing him with his mercies as he is from pleasing of God in his duties Behold his soul which is
lifted up in him is not upright Hab. 2. 4. When we see a man blown up and swelled with the dropsie we can tell his blood is naught and waterish without opening a vein for the trial I will not say a good man is never proud but I will say a proud man is never good That is the nineth 10. Singular thing is To be better inwardly in our substances then we are outwardly in our appearance For he is not a Jew which is one outwardly neither is that circumcision which is outward in the flesh but he is a Jew which is one inwardly and circumcision is that of the heart in the spirit whose praise is not of men but of God Rom. 2. 28 29. We do not use to set our hands to blancks though we set our seals to bonds Formality often takes its chambers next door to integrity and so marches under its Mask the soul not suspecting that hell should aproach so neer heaven but of the two give me a substance that makes no show rather then a show that hath no substance he that gives truth to our inward parts he loves truth in our inward parts A rotten post though guilt with gold is fitter for the burning of the fire then for the building of the Fabrick Where there is a pure conscience there will be a pure conversation as the Index showes what 's in the book so the actions show what 's in the heart It s a vain thing to say its day when there is nothing but darkness in the sky but a man cannot tell alwayes what 's a clock in a mans breast by the dyal of his face the humblest looks is somtimes linked to the proudest hearts unclean spirits may have the chambers when they look not out at the windowes an hypocrite he is both the fairest and the foulest creature in the world he is the fairest outwardly to the eyes of man but the foulest inwardly to the eyes Cygnus plumas habet omni nive candidiores sed carnem nigram sic bypocrita sub verbis mellitissimis venenum alit Stapl. in Dom. 5. post Pent. of God who will baptize them with the name of Satan though shrouded in the mantle of Samuel Many appear righteous who are onely righteous in appearance But such as deceive others with the false shows of holiness deceive themselves with the false hope of happiness Some would not seem evil and yet would be so others would seem good and yet would not be so Either be what thou seemest or else seemwhat thou beest Having a form of godliness but denying the power thereof from such turn away 2 Tim 3. 5. Though they who have the power of godliness cannot deny the forme yet they who have the forme of godliness can deny the power Hypocrites are like looking-glasses that present the faces that are not in them Oh how desirous are men to draw the fairest gloves over the fowlest hands To put the goodliest paints upon the rottenest posts and to Enamel a dunghil with sun beames to counterfeit the coyne of heaven is Treason against the King of Heaven who would spread such curious Carpets over a dusty Table If a man set forth in an unsound bottom he may lose himself in the voyage either get oyl into your lamps or else part with your lamps there 's no such Blacka-mores in the eyes of the Deity as those which paint for spiritual beauty Hypocrita inverbis sanctus est in corde vaâ—us Stapl. Ib. Others they are better in their outsides then they are in their in But Christians are better in their insides then they are in their out they are not like painted Tombs that make an inclosure of rotten bones The Kings daughter is all glorious within her cloathing is of wrought gold Psal 45. 13. She is all glorious within though within is not all her glory I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews and and are not but are the Synagogue of Satan Rev. 2. 9. A false friend is worse then an open enemy A painted Harlot is better then a painted Hypocrite A treatcherous Judas is more abhorred by God then a bloody Pilat Christians remember that the sheeps coat shall be taken off from the woolfs back The velvet plaister of profession shall not always cover the stinking ulcer of corruption There is no sailing in the ship of formality to the shore of felicity The blasing lamps of foolish Virgins will never light them to the Bridegrooms chamber Either get the nature of Christians within you or else never take the honour of Christians unto you The Hypocrites purpose is not virtutem colere sed vitia colorare not to embrace vertue with a good intention but to paint over vice with a fair complexion Oh what a vanity is it to lop the boughs and to leave the roots that can send forth more or to empty the cistern and leave the fountain running that can fill it again Such persons may swim in the pond of the visible Church but when the net is drawn to the shoar they shall be cast away as stinking fish How pious and devoute did the Pharisees seem before men the people thought them the only Saints upon earth they judged their insides by their out but God judged their outside by their in And he said unto them ye are they which justifie your selves before men but God knoweth your hearts for that which is highly esteemed amongst men is abomination in the sight of God Luk. 16. 15. There shows of holiness before men was but holiness in show before God A man may be a God in the eyes Hypocrita veste virtutis induitur coram hominibus veste impietatis coram Deo Stapl. in Dom. 1. post Pent. of men and yet be a Devil in the eyes of God The conversation may be civilized when the affections are not sanctified There is as vaste a difference between nature restrained and nature renewed as there is between the shinings of a gloworm and the beamings of the sun Malus ubi bonum se simulat tunc est pessimus A bad man is certainly worst when he is scemingly best What is it to have the scabbard trimming if the sword be rusting To have hands as white as wool and hearts as black as hell such professors are like curious bubles smooth and clear without but nothing save wind within a man may wear Christs livery and yet do the Devils drudgery The skin of an apple may be fare when its rotten at the Coar Though all gold do glister yet all that glisters is not gould Aurichalco Hypocrita proprie assimilatur auri colorem non valorem habet Stapl. dom 5. post Pent. Men views your acts but God views your hearts Who would not prize a vessel in the Cellar full of generous wine before a guilt Tun that hangs up at the door for a sign He that walketh uprightly walketh surely but he that perverteth his ways shall be known Prov. 10. 9.