shall be Established Prov. 16.3 and by filling thy Soul with such happy thoughts as constant Meditation or God's Word will furnish thee And Wisdom as a Monitor advises thee Ecclus. 6.37 Let thy mind be upon the Ordinances of the Lord and meditate continually on his Commandments he shall establish thine Heart and give thee Wisdom at thine own desire Overcome thine own Mind and in every thing as much as possibly thou canst subject it to right Reason and let not Affection or Passion master it 12. SET thy Mind ever upon some good to prevent the rising of evil Thoughts that the Tempter may never find thee at leisure to entertain him The Mind is naturally active and prone to thoughts Even when thou lyest Dormant it hath its Motions Imploy it then in some Business it cannot be Idle As the Earth neglected for want of Culture bringeth forth noisom Weeds so will the Mind evil and vain extravagant Thoughts if it be not duly Cultivated Often the light of Reason is Eclipsed by the mischievous interposition of vicious Thoughts Yet perplex not thy Mind with too much or too weighty Affairs Proportion thy undertakings to thy Strength The Mind requireth some intermissions and rest which otherwise like the Fields with perpetual Bearing will grow Fruitless The Unballanced Ship is easily Overset with every gust of Wind And too much Burden Sinketh her 13. THERE is an Ark of God's secret Counsel which our thoughts must not pry into There are also admirable Mysteries from whence God calleth out of the fiery Bush Exod. 3.2 5. Come not nigh hither put off thy Shoes from off thy Feet c. Resign thy Thoughts to God's Immensity It is enough to believe his Truth tho thou canst not examine his incomprehensible Secrets If thou wilt play with these Flames thou wilt burn thy Wings God hath revealed suficiently enough to make thee Happy Ambition of knowing more destroyed Mankind 14. COMMUNE with thine own Heart concerning that which may advantageously make thee Happy Divine Soliloquies are Heavenly Raptures and the Soul's prepossession of that Blessedness Inure thy Heart to ponder on good and heavenly things and such will thy Thoughts Words and Actions be The Heart of the Wise teacheth his Mouth says Solomon Prov. 16.23 Custom grows habitual therefore also the Wise man saith Wisdom resteth in the heart of him that hath Vnderstanding Prov. 14.33 If the Wicked the worst of Fools have any notion thereof it can no more rest with them than Lightning in the Air. 15. TAKE the Prophet's advice Jer. 17.10 To set God ever before thee as a Searcher of hearts And that which thou wouldst detest to speak before others abhor to think with thy self Thoughts are the words of the Heart which God heareth who therefore saith Matt. 9.4 Wherefore think you Evil in your hearts And Solomon gives us this Charge Eccles. 10.20 Curse not the King no not in thy Thought Thou must be pure in Heart if ever thou meanest to see God Let not thy Heart dissent from thy Tongue neither desire to appear more Holy than thou art if thou intendest to please him who is Omniscient 16. PRAY and beseech the Lord with the earnest Supplication of the Psalmist to Create a clean heart and to renew a right Spirit within thee Psal. 51.10 To encline thy heart unto his Testimonies Psal. 119.36 Then Pray with the Prophet Jer. 24.7 That God would give thee a heart to know him To prepare thy Heart that thou mayst truly fear him Meditate on him and Love him above all And That he who cast out the tumultuous Rabble from Jairus's House would also be pleased to cast out of thy Soul and Mind all those thoughts which offend him or hinder the raising up thy Soul to the life of Grace here whereby it may be fit for the life of Glory hereafter CHAP. VI. Of the affections of Love and Delight FOR the right governing the Thoughts arising from some particular Affections or Passions which usually discompose and render the Mind less apt for the Service of God and less comfortable to our selves we must ever have in mind the General Rule before laid down that extream and violent Passions of any kind are Distempers of the Soul which at best befool a Man if not as Hypocrates thinketh maketh him Lunatick they are like a Deluge which rather overflow and drown than refresh the Mind they are like an enraged Sea full of hazard they disturb the Intellectuals and distract the Will Behold how all things in troubled Waters seem wreathed and disordered which in the still are clearly seen so is it here The calm Affections are more fit for God's Service and our own 2. LOVE and Delight are great Actors in this present Life and every Man hath some share in them Now our main skill is to fix 'em on right Objects as God Psal. 37. and upon heavenly Things as St. Paul directs us Col. 3.1 By this means we cannot fall into any Excess but shall be undoubtedly happy that we pervert not the Order we must not delight in or love any object but God let him be our first and chief Love and Delight and we shall have Felicity in all that is subordinate 3. LET no inferiour Love or Delight allure us away from him who is perfect Love Tho there is a time place and measure for Secular Delights so far as they are subordinate to God's Will which may make us fit for his Service and administer occasion of Expressions of Thankfulness to him But if on the contrary they prove hurtful to us if God loves us he will take that away from us which else would wean us from him A necessary Rule for them to consider who too impatiently bear the loss of that they so much loved or delighted in 4. LET us neither love nor delight in any temporal things otherwise than to hold it with a loose Hand and let us follow the Apostles advice 1 Cor. 7.31 To use this World as not abusing it for the fashion of this World passeth away And St. John commands us in his first Epistle chap. 2.15 That we should not love the World nor the things that are in the World We must be contented to part with all when God in his good pleasure sees convenient It was Job's Resolution chap. 1.21 The Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away and blessed be the name of the Lord. CHAP. VII Of Joy CONCERNING Joy Rejoicing and Mirth the Rules are That God would not have us disconsolate but to rejoice and be cheerful in him evermore 1 Thess. 5.16 Melancholy Dejectedness worldly Sorrow bitterness of Spirit and secret repining against God's Providence are dangerous Symptoms of Incredulity For if as the Apostle says Rom. 5.1 Being justified by Faith we have peace of Conscience and cheerful access to God through Christ there will be joy in the Holy Ghost We shall rejoice in hope and glory in our Tribulations being assured of a blessed issue
them singly may prove pernicious but both linked together may compleat thy Happiness 4. LABOUR for true Faith in Christ who is the Propitiation for our sins 1 John 2.2 Whose Blood cleanseth us from all sin 1 John 1.7 And holding Faith and a good Conscience That we may avoid being Shipwrack'd 1 Tim. 1.19 1 Tim. 3.9 There was no cure for a wounded Israelite against the venome of Fiery Serpents but to look up to the Brazen Serpent which Prefigured Christ apprehensible by Faith the only Medicament for Sin-wounded-Consciences Permit but this very sense and apprehension of God's Wrath which now appaleth thee to induce thee the more arduously to detest all Sin and thou shalt thereby be ascertain'd that God hath wounded thee only to heal thee 5. REMEMBER that what the Law averrs it declares only to them who are under the Law not under Grace Rom. 3.19 They are under the Law who plead Not guilty and insist upon their Justification by works of the Law We are under Grace who perceiving our Sin and Misery by the Law fly wholly to him for Mercy who freely justifieth the Sinner Rom. 3.24 The Imprecations and Menaces of the Law are not to break the bruised Reed nor quench the Smoaking Flax but to depress the heart that is elevated with an opinion of self merit who safely go on to undo themselves after a presumptuous manner 6. LET thy Repentance be speedy that Sin take no root in thy heart Neither let thy Wound putrifie before thou apply the Remedy But ascend with all diligence to the Throne of Grace to implore Mercy before Wrath is gone out against thee Rely on this Second Table Repentance who hast lost the first of Innocency Condemn thy self and Christ will Justifie thee He only expects thy voice to give thee audience When thou comest with thy Accusation and confessest thou hast sinned then Christ he readily receiveth the Humble Penitent and Proclaims thy Sins are forgiven thee Observe how quickly the Pardon followed David's Confession no sooner had he acknowledged I have sinned against the Lord but Omnipotency declares by the Prophet The Lord also hath put away thy Sin 2 Sam. 12.13 St. Peter quickly Repented and as quickly found Mercy Esau stayed too long and so found no place for Repentance though He sought it carefully with Tears Heb. 12.17 If the Granado fired be suddenly retorted it proves prejudicial to the Assailant Such are the product of Satan's Fire-Works if thou cast out his Temptations and heartily repent thee where any of his Darts pierce thee 7. GIVE not thy self up to pensive Dedolency mundane Sorrow and fruitless Solitariness that will but animate the bitterness of Spirit Think not too much of thy Afflictions but dulcifie them with remembrance of God's Mercy towards thee Assume not to thy self a Worldly Sorrow that is unto death 1 Cor. 7.10 But comfort up thy self in God as David did Psal. 43.5 Why art thou so sad O my Soul and why art thou so disquieted within me Trust in God for I shall yet praise him And Solomon tells ye A merry heart doth good like a Medicine but a broken Spirit drieth the Bones Prov. 17.22 And again a merry heart maketh a Cheerful Countenance but by the Sorrow of the heart the Spirit is broken Prov. 15.13 8. BE very attentive to God's Word For he is the God of all Consolation and the Word is his Mind and Revealed Will for the benefit of our Salvation It is a full Magazine and there is no Affliction incident to frail Mortality but may there meet with a proper Antidote There thou shalt find Rules to guide thee and preserve thee from sin There thou shalt have a prospect of the Divine Mercy of God in Christ Jesus to wash away the guilt of all thy Transgressions But then appear not only to be a hearer but a doer of the Word and Treasure up those Gracious Promises in thy heart so shalt thou in due season feel the Operation of the Holy Spirit distilling the former and the Latter-Rain upon the seed whereby it may take root and be fruitful 9. LASTLY Add Zealous and Frequent Prayer as God's Servants have practised in all their distresses Psal. 6.9 And be ascertain'd that he will not leave thee Comfortless but will at length appear with great assurance of thy Salvation and will infinitely recompence thy Patience in suffering and perseverance in invocating for pardon Satan is never more baffled and infatuated in his own Stratagems than when he gains a License to wound the hearts of those who are precious in the sight of the Almighty For as Romanus the Martyr told the Tormentor Look how many Wounds thou givest so many Mouths thou settest open to cry to God for help and indeed these Jewels cannot arrive to their Glorious Lustre without being Ground hard by Affliction The Prayer O MOST Gracious and Merciful Lord God rebuke me not in thine Anger neither chasten me in thy hot Displeasure My Soul is sore vexed but Lord how long wilt thou punish me Have Mercy upon me for I am weak Lord heal my Soul and deliver it for I have sinned against thee O save me for thy never failing Mercies sake I am weary of my continual Groaning mine Eyes are consumed with my grief of Tears But Lord hear thou my Supplication and receive my Prayer 2. O Lord I am sorely afflicted but quicken me in thy Righteousness according to thy word In thy loving kindness and multitude of thy tender Mercies blot out my transgressions wash O wash me and purge me throughly from my sins and cleanse me from all my iniquities the magnitude and number being of that Extent that my guilt flyeth in my Face and I am afraid of thy Blessed Presence I acknowledge my self unworthy to look up to Heaven to appear before thee with a Petition of Mercy who have so incessantly provoked thy Justice The filthy Leprosie of my sins stink and are corrupt that they stop my own mouth but my heart readily answereth that I am of all men most unworthy of this thy Condescention in inclining thy Gracious Ear unto so wretched a Creature as I am 3. THESE Terrors of Conscience wherewith thou hast now afflicted my Soul are thy just Judgments The fears of Hell and eternal Condemnation wherewith thou hast wounded me are incomparably less than my sins have deserved But Lord remember them not who canst not forget the sufferings of thy blessed Son Jesus for them all Lord I am not able to answer thee one word of a thousand nor can thy Justice require that of me for which my Saviour and Redeemer hath satisfied Therefore I renounce my self that I may be found in a bleeding Jesus not having on my own Righteousness according to the Condemning Letter of the Law but that I may be Clothed in his Righteousness who hath long since Cancelled the Hand-writing of Ordinances that were against me and hath payed the debt for me 4. O Lord for
foolish and unhappy Owners 2. WHAT are Honors where a qualification of Mind is wanting to manage them Those Phaetons precipitate themselves and set the World on fire What are Riches without a Mind well qualified but snares and easie ways to Hell All things duly weighed to a prudent Mind which can limit it self within the desires of Necessaries a little is enough but to an ambitious Mind nothing can satisfie Alexander had a monstrous Mind when he was grieved that there was but one World for him to Conquer 'T is the Mind that maketh truly Rich or Poor That contented in every Estate aboundeth in its own Happiness but discontented can be blessed in none 3. THE way to gain Riches is not so much by adding to an Estate as by depriving the Mind of that foolish desire of having Superfluity beyond use Temporal Riches are but a burden to him who hath truly placed his Affections on Heaven where neither Moth nor Rust doth corrupt and where Thieves do not break through and steal Matth. 6.20 That which must once be lost is nothing worth which Consideration possibly made Stilpo answer like a Philosopher who when Demetrius had taken Megera and out of a noble Care to give him Protection from Plundering asked him if the Soldiers had taken ought from him he answered No for said he I saw no Man that would take any Knowledge or Learning from me 4. THE Mind is Sacred and out of the reach of violent hands so that to make thee happy which is the scope of a prudent Desire the way is not to labour so much and disquiet thy self in things External but to compose thy Mind aright to value and make a good Use of what thou hast to get true Wisdom and Understanding and well-ordered Affections quietly to endure want or enjoy plenty In which there is not only an admirable skill and strength of Mind requisite but also an holy Habit. No Precepts can suddenly make a Man practically wise or good which must make us resolve quickly to study this Divine Philosophy And indeed Experience here discovereth a marvellous Stupor and Incogitancy of most Men. In any bodily Dissection we speedily consult the Physician but in our Soul's Distempers we not only delay our seeking help but are too often impatient of offered Remedies That which thou designest to do well speedily put in practice 5. SOLOMON's advice is Prov. 4.23 To keep thine Heart with all diligence for out of it are the issues of Life Many think it enough to keep their Tongues and their Hands But it highly concerneth all Christians to keep their Hearts from Satan's Snares there he beginneth all his Stratagems which afterwards break out into Words and Actions It is true that bare Suggestions without any delight or consent of our own are no more our Sins than any Robbery or Murder committed without our Consent or Knowledge But except we are vigilant over our Thoughts and carefully stand upon our guard Satan's deluding Influences will create a Delight and excite in us a Consent and concession to them Therefore the Counsel of the Wise Man is this Prov. 7.25 Let not thine Heart decline to her ways go not astray in her paths 6. CHECK the first beginnings of Sin in thy Thoughts use them roughly at the door and think of the Prophet Elisha's saying 2 Kings 6.33 Is not the sound of their Masters Feet behind them We must there chiefly observe and extinguish Sin where 't is born and quench the Sparks before they break out into masterless Flames We must crush the Cockatrice in the Egg before it proves a fiery flying Serpent We neglect not the biting of a Serpent but presently seek remedy to keep the Venom from the Heart With how much more care and diligence should we look to the biting of the Old Dragon Rev. 12.9 who is able if a little neglected to kill Body and Soul Of evil Seeds spring evil Plants Murder from Revenge in the Heart Adultery from Lust unextinguish'd there and God justly castigateh evil Intentions though they do not always break forth into Actions 7. KEEP a good Conscience and put on Sanctity The Wicked meditate on Evil and the Prophet Esay affirms cahp. 59.7 That their Thoughts are Thoughts of Iniquity Wasting and Destruction are in their paths As our Actions follow our Thoughts so do they leave Impressions in them which prove occasions of their further Operation and Solomon tells you Prov. 12.5 That the Thoughts of the Righteous are right but the Counsels of the Wicked are deceit Love good Thoughts and thou shalt be furnished with them as Flowers spring out of Buds so good Desires flow from Celestial Thoughts We often think of those we Love and are ambitious of their Acquaintance Think often of God for his Love will cause thee to detest all thoughts of Evil and will hinder the approaches of that old malicious Serpent to thy Heart 8. FIX thy Thoughts on something certain The Heart is a spiritual Labyrinth in whose perplexed turnings we often lose our selves and the best fruits of idle and extravagant Fancies are but as the Eyes continually rolling up and down seeing nothing intentively but a wandring Mind It is a signal Token of a composed Mind if it can contain it self and not launch out into those vain Evagations and wandring Thoughts From whence waking as out of some feverish Dream after much thinking we can give our selves no true account what the Mind has busied it self about but that in long thinking we thought on nothing to the Purpose 9. THE Mind is Man's most active Faculty In a Moment with the flight of a Thought it mounts from Earth to Heaven and back again from Age to Age from Present to Future Like Lightning it shoots from East to West vanishing in the Appearance It is not a little skill to arrest it so as that we may say with David Psal. 108.1 My heart is fixed O God my heart is fixed Without this we can neither Hear nor Pray otherwise than prophane Hypocrites provoking God's Anger by drawing near him with their Lips when their Hearts are far from thinking on him 10. SEEK Peace with God through Faith in Christ for therein consists the true Composure and happy Rest of the Mind The Prophet tells you Isa. 57.21 There 's no Peace to the Wicked neither is there any true Rest out of Christ Jesus Sin is the distemper and disquiet of the Soul Until that Jonah be cast over-board we can never appease the Surges of a troubled Mind This thou mayest seek by hearty sorrow for thy Sins this restringent Acrimony shall heal the Fountains that Death and Barrenness may no more fluctuate from the Mind into thy Words and Actions 'T is a good symptom of Recovery when the Disease changeth Place So when we are pleased with Repentance who were wont to please ourselves with Sin 't is a token that Sin declineth in us 11. BY Committing thy works unto the Lord thy thoughts
thy heavy Displeasure lest I am utterly Consumed Let thy Corrections work in me a true sense and detestation of all my Sins a filial fear to offend thee and a fixed resolution to love and serve thee more carefully for the future To this end I humbly beseech thee give me assurance of my Justification by Christs Righteousness my attonement with thee and such a peace of Conscience as the world can never give nor take from me that I may adore thee above all and render thee a sincere thankfulness for all thy Mercies Temporal and Eternal Entertaining always in my Heart that assurance of my Saviour who suffered such great great things for me that he will not suffer me to fall under any of Satans Conflicts 3. LORD Sanctifie all my Afflictions to me by thy good Spirit Cast out of my Soul all those Sins and Corruptions which lye lurking to betray me to Ruin Let the sum and height of my Ambition be only to be thine give me a prudent and contented Heart in every estate and condition a faithful dependance on thy Good Providence in assurance that thou who hast promised will never fail me nor forsake me that in every Affliction I may expect thy gracious Deliverance Give me Patience and meekness of Spirit that I may in the midst of all my troubles find rest to my Soul Let not my Heart be fixed on Transitory things but on things which are above where Christ my Peace sitteth at thy right hand making Intercession for me 4. CHASE from me all Impatience bitterness of Spirit Diffidence and the secret Murmurings of Flesh and Blood Let thy Holy Spirit the Comforter dwell in me to keep and counsel me in all affairs and interests Spiritual and Temporal Let his joyful Presence so sweeten all those Marahs of Affliction which thy Providence shall appoint in my way to the Promised rest O let me ever rejoice in thee and in every Estate live cheerfully before thee untill thou in thy good pleasure bring me unto the fulness of eternal Joys in thy blessed Presence where thou wilt wipe away all Tears from my Eyes Make me glad with the light of thy Countenance and unite me to that Triumphant Society of Saints and Angels which in perfect Harmony Sing their Halelujahs to thee Eternally through Jesus Christ my only Saviour and Redeemer Amen CHAP. XVI Of Hope HE is not living in the World that is void of Hope The Child hopes to arrive to Manhood the Aged to linger out a Year longer The Poor hopes for Wealth the Sick for Health The Imprisoned for Liberty And the Afflicted that Joy may be the Scene of the Morning Hope induces the Husband-Man to Sow and Manure his Ground the weary Traveller to endure his tedious Ways and the Experienced Swimmer to spread his tyred Arms upon the Death-threatning Waves Thus is the whole Span of Man's Life Employed in Suffering and Hoping 2. BUT in Hopes there 's a vast difference As for Example the Human vain Hope is of all others the most pernicious Such a Hope is but the Denomination of an uncertain Good 't is a treacherous Guide leading to desperate Precipices the Ignis fatuus of the Mind and the Waking Man's Dream It was the Tempters Artifice first to assail Man's Innocency with vain hope grounded on a lying Promise without this flash of Vanity Satan had never gain'd so many Vassals Imprimis He sheweth the forbidden Fruit and in a wicked Elegancy Preached this Doctrin In the day ye Eat thereof ye shall be as Gods Gen. 3.5 Thus was unhappy man caught by this alluring Bait. 3. SO he Accosted the Second Adam the Lord of Glory when he represented to him the Kingdoms and Glory of the World Matth. 4.8 Satan still makes it is his Business to give us a Prospect of false Heavens to precipitate us into a true Hell suggesting vain hopes that he might deprive us of the real There is none commits the least sin but a Train of vain Hopes attends it Several instances we have as in Cain's Murder Amnons Lust Judas's Treason or Achitophel's Despair The Sinner many times hopes for some other product of his Resolutions than from the Sin he transacts 4. THE worst have not lost their hopes of some good but all their wishes are in vain For the hopes of the Wicked are often frustrated but the Justice of the most just Judge cannot We must expect from Reason's Providence and when Time's Glass is fully run there must be something future all which carries the face of Goodness yet so flattering a Liberty is Self-hopes that every man especially the Juvenile who are least acquainted with Fascination and Constant Inconstancy of the World relying much on hope and depending little on Memory promise themselves great things But when the Malignants Sing Requiems to their Souls sudden Destruction is the more terrible in its assault by Reason it poured upon them unsuspectedly The Hypocrites hope shall perish their hope shall be Sorrow of Mind Job 11.20 5. AND truly such is Worldly Confidence in an Evil Conscience However it may appear to have purchased thee A Covenant with death and an Agreement with Hell Isai. 28.15 yet it will deceive thee However it fawns and promises long Life and vigour in an Arm of Flesh and the vain Councels of Men raising thy Hopes to high Flights yet they are but Phantasms of deluded Men and create an Eruption in the midst of their full Career delivering up their Mind to dangerous Convulsions and by the Ascent is cast down from so high a Pinacle as renders the Fall the more desperate How often do despairing Wretches wish they had never hoped when the vanity of it is plainly Demonstrated like Pharoah's Chariot-Wheels they fall off where they are most deeply engaged between Floods of returning Miseries Exod. 14.25 6. NOW I come to shew you there is a hope of the Righteous which never fails this is a prudent Expectation of future Happiness fulfilling of his Promises who is Yea and Amen both in this Life and that which is to come This is a Vertue infused into our Hearts by Gods Holy Spirit who cannot deceive as the Psalmist confirms it Psal. 31.24 Be of good Courage and he shall strengthen your heart all ye that hope in the Lord. The Eye of the Lord is upon them Psal. 33.18 And they trust in him who will certainly perform his Promise And thrice happy are they in whom the Lord taketh pleasure their Expectation shall be Gladness 7. SOLOMON says They have hope in death Prov. 14.33 And the Apostle tells you they are saved thereby Rom. 8.24 Hopes in any Creature may be frustrated but hope in God maketh not ashamed for he is good to all them that trust in him Lam. 3.24 25. This hope is not Humane or Conjectural liable to Fraudulency but Theologically grounded on the infallible Word of God in whom is only our Confidence Psal. 119.81 Now the Object of this Hope is what
that condemneth not himself in that thing which he alloweth Rom. 14.22 Lastly In all thy undertakings beseech and humbly implore the Almighty to Direct Counsel and Bless thee and according to the Apostle's Direction In every thing by Prayer and Supplication let your requests be made known unto God Phil. 4.6 For he is unworthy to receive a Blessing who omits the duty of Asking A Prayer for Directions in all our Actions MOST Merciful Father who hast promised that if the Wicked turns from his Sins that he hath committed and doth that which is lawful and right he shall live and his Transgressions shall not be remembred In humble acknowledgment of our manifold sins the equity of thy Judgments to give us over to our own unhappy Ways who have so long refused to be guided by thy holy Word and our own helpless Impotency to stay our selves turn unto thee or fix our selves in any good way to Serve and Please thee 2. WE humbly beseech thee O Father for the sake of thy dear Son to pardon all our Offences and to vouchsafe to lead us in thy Paths and the way thou appointest us to walk in We have long gone astray like lost Sheep and thou best knowest O our God how dangerous Satan's Snares are to us how many the Distractions of a deceitful vain World how frail and infirm sinful Flesh and Blood and how many our Errors But O Lord thy Wisdom cannot Err which is immutable therefore renouncing our own Conduct we render our selves into thy Gracious Hands humbly beseeching thee who freely givest Wisdom to all that ask and upbraidest no Man hold thou up our goings in thy Paths that our Footsteps slide not direct all our ways that we neither incline to the right nor to the left hand to offend thee but give us the Shield of our Salvation and let thy Right hand uphold us 3. O thou that hearest the Prayers of them that call upon thee hear us for our Souls wait on thee direct and guide us keep us and counsel us in all our Actions that we neither design nor perform any thing but that which is pleasing to thee and which thou wilt bless unto us that we may walk unblamably and prudently towards all Men and in Sanctity before thee And grant that in all our actions we may Glorifie thee and adorn the Gospel of Christ by our holy Conversations give good Examples to our Neighbours and stop the Mouths of all malicious Adversaries so that when these days of Sin are ended that we rest from our Labours we may enter into that promised Rest which remaineth for thy People where shall be no more Sin Error nor Curse Hear us O Lord in these and all other things necessary for our Bodies or Souls for Jesus Christ his sake Amen CHAP. XXV Of a Wounded Spirit what it is SOLOMON tells you Prov. 18.14 The Spirit of a Man will sustain his Infirmities but a wounded Spirit who can bear The word signifies a smitten contrite or broken Spirit It is a kind of Speech borrowed from corporal Affliction by Stripes Contusions Bruises or Wounds wherein by Incision and Launcing the Sinews and Veins the Body is debilitated and endangered to Death and Disabled so that it is void of Supportation it is liable to Inflamations and Distempers that every slight touch prejudices it It depriveth a Man of Rest so that he is impatient of this present Posture and more perplexed at a Mutation To express it further it is the intense sorrow of the Soul a weak Confidence and an infeebled life of the Spirit so that God may well nominate it A wounded Spirit 2. THIS Affliction is of that Magnitude that it exceeds all other Temporal Sorrows And none can truly give their Verdict of it but they who can join and say with David The sorrows of Death compassed me and the pains of Hell gat hold upon me Psal. 116.3 Other Sorrows may be Mitigated by administring to the Afflicted something equivalent to the loss sustained as where one Treasure is lost another may be found or by some compensation or repair may be Retaliated as Job had a second Posterity and encrease of Wealth And Elkanah declared such a Medium of Consolation to Afflicted Hannah when he said to her Am I not better to thee than ten Sons Sam. 1 1.8 3. BUT these Comforts are no ways conducive to an afflicted Spirit for furnish him with Riches the company of the dearest Friends or that which might afford Relief Refreshment and Delight to others yet to him it procures no Ease no more than if you put on a rich Purple Robe upon broken Bones No no the Grief is internal and no external means can Cure it In other Crosses time will asswage by Prudence and persuasive Arguments excellent lenitives of Sorrow In some cases to divert Wine merry Society Musick or the like means may bear some part which the Wise Man accords to Give strong Drink to him that is ready to perish and Wine to those that be of heavy Heart Let him drink and forget his Poverty and remember his Misery no more Prov. 31.6 7. 4. DAVID'S Harp did for the time refresh Saul and Charm the Evil Spirit But this grief admits of no Efficacy in such Comforts In other Pressures we may receive Ease or be conducted from the Evil as St. Paul was from the Jews Conspiracy Acts 23.31 and David from Saul 1 Sam. 19.12 But there is no flying from a wounded Spirit Where ever we go our Affliction attends us even our secret Tormentor in our own Bosoms In short as it is in one sense a Separation from God so no Creature in Heaven or Earth can Cure it There is no Sanctuary for a troubled Soul but only Gods favourable Presence No other Expedient can be used till he return and Comfort it 5. SO Horrid in the mean time is this Affliction that the desperate Traytor Judas took Death for his Sanctuary as an Antidote against his guilty Conscience â— but with what ponderosity it sits upon the Hearts of God's Servants may appear by the Complaints of Job and others Wherefore is light given to him that is in Misery and Life unto the bitter in Soul which long for Death but it cometh not and dig for it more than for hid Treasures which rejoice exceedingly and are glad when they can find the Grave Job 3 2O 21 22. This was Job's Complaint And the Prophet complained of his Birth Jer. 20.14 15 16 17 18. And the Prophet Elijah being threatned by Jezebel at Beer-sheba poured out himself It is enough now O Lord take away my Life for I am not better than my Fathers 1 Kings 19.4 And Jonah at the loss of his Gourd expressed himself saying It is better for me to die than live Jonah 4.8 CHAP. XXVI What the Conscience is and the Tranquility of it THE Conscience is the Cognition of the Heart and is a divine internal Light which we cannot Extinguish a
the hazard of their Immortal Souls 4. NOW the Rules to be observed are these First Earnestly endeavour to find out and abandon all thy known Sins Secondly Rest not in outward appearances but entertain the illumination of God's Word into the secret and dark recesses of thy Heart For the Woman in the Gospel first lighted and then swept the Room Luke 15.8 Thirdly Judge thy self as impartially as thou wouldst do an Enemy Skillful Painters place their Work at some distance from 'em that they may be able to judge and amend their Errors So must thou fix thy actions upon some other Person like David who could noâ— behold his Sin in himself till Nathan shewed it him in another 2 Sam. 12. I need not instance in Judah Gen. 28. Or in Ahab 1 Kings 20.4 5. BEGIN Early and be constant in this Duty If thy Thoughts after some slender pursuit return as those Men of Jericho with a Non est Inventus Josh. 2.22 Know that thou hast more need of greater diligence to repeat often thy Examination Examin thy self by the whole Law of God And enquire what thou hast done in opposition to Sin Few wicked Men but are content to observe some of God's Laws if thou wilt grant them Naaman's Plea only The Lord pardon thy Servant in this thing And sometimes Herod Ahab and Pharaoh will have certain fits of seeming Devotion and Repentance The Brazen Serpent will not Sting And Men's Corruptions are most apparent when opportunity gives them Birth 6. NOW The Interrogatories to be propounded to thy Conscience are these First doth Sin reign in thee so that thou yieldest a willing obedience to it Or doth it bear sway and tyrannize over thee For between these there is an immense difference True it is all Men sin but Sin reigneth only in the Unregenerate Let not sin reign in your mortal Body Rom. 6.12 And St. Paul further tells ye that the Regenerate sin Rom. 7.15.19 That which I do I allow not for what I would that do I not but whâ—t I hate that do I For the Good that I do I would not But the Evil which I would not that I do From this Inference ask thy Conscience whether thou wouldst have committed this Evil which now wounds it If not it is no more thou but Sin that dwelleth in thee 7. DOST thou detest all Sin because it is contrary to God's Holy Will And rather more for the love of God than for fear of his Judgments Dost thou not only grieve for every Sin which thou hast committed but also for the â—ravity and Corruption of thy Will and the infirmities of Flesh and Blood disabling thee to the purer service of God If thou art in this State thou art not disesteemed in the Eye of the Almighty Neither will God ever Condemn thee for that which he hath given thee a competency of Grace to abhor and condemn in thy self For if we would judge our selves we should not be judged 1 Cor. 11.31 The Unregenerate Person Idolizes Sin but is afraid of the Punishment but the Regenerate abhors it therefore God will not judge him for it but will rather say what he said to the Woman taken in Adultery Neither do I Condemn thee go and Sin no more John 8.11 8. WOULDST thou embrace Sanctity and is it thy Heart's desire to serve God in sincerity So that thou can'st say with the Church Isa. 26.8 The desire of our Soul is to thy Name and to the remembrance of thee If thou dost hunger and thirst after Righteousness be assured thou shalt be satisfied Matt. 5. Dost thou in the inward Man consent to the Law of God 'T is Infallibly certain if thou dost pursue after Holiness without which none can see God thou art esteemed of the Almighty For our best Perfection at present is this not that we are throughly Pious but that we chase after it 9. HAST thou with the Kingly Prophet Psalm 119.6 a respect to all God's Commandments so that thou dost not in thy Heart dispense with any of them for Pleasures Profits or any secular Advantage but wouldst earnestly enjoy that Priviledge of keeping them all If so let not slip the Anchor of thy Hope but receive Comfort For hower Satan's Delusions may allure thee and thy own Corruptions may betray thee yet thy minor serving of thy Creator without Exemption or dispensation to any Sin concludeth thee in a State of Regeneration the Denomination following the better Part as appears in St. Paul's Expression of himself in the same case Rom. 7.25 With the Mind I my self serve the Law of God but with the Flesh the Law of Sin That is groaning under the Tyranny but not dispensing with its Reign 10. DOST thou resolve to oblige thy self to avoid Sin Then God will accept thee 2 Cor. 8.12 David said I will keep thy Statutes and I have sworn and I will perform it that I will keep thy Righteous Judgments Psal. 119 8.106 It is evident he made a breach of his Performance tho his Intentions were quite contrary 2 Sam. 12.9 Dost thou conscientiously and diligently use the means to take cognizance of thy Sins as by applying the word of God home to thy Conscience for by the Law comes the knowledge of Sin Rom. 7.7 Dost thou carefully shun all occasions and incentives moving thee and enticing thee to Sin and Wickedness It is a vanity in him to detest Drunkenness who will not restrain his boon Companions It is impossible for him to hate Adultery who fixeth his Eye upon the Lascivious and is entangled in the snare of the Adulterer Such are apt then to forget what was mentioned in our Saviour's Sermon on the Mount Matt. 5.28 Whosoever looketh on a Woman to Lust after her hath committed Adultery with her already in his Heart And Solomon's Advice is very proper Come not near the Door of her House Prov. 5.8 For Opportunity and Occasion is Lust's Pander 11. ASK thy Conscience whether it can presume to sin wittingly and willingly And whether it can be sedate in any known and unrepented Sin If it be disturbed dissipate thy Fear for this very disturbance of Conscience which so much appals thee is a principal Mark of a good Conscience It is true as the Woman sang of Saul and David 1 Sam. 18.7 Saul hath slain his Thousands and David his ten Thousands So Despair hath cast away some but Presumption Multitudes Hath not thy Conscience at some time in a particular Measure been refreshed by a Divine assurance of thy Interest in a Saviour a resolution to forsake all thy Sins Peace with God and Salvation by the Merits of Christ We commit a gross Mistake if we always judge of our State by present Sense For there are certain hours of Tentation wherein the light of Grace is obscurely Eclipsed to our Sense and the stupid or afflicted Conscience feeleth no present Illumination of God's Spirit which yet in due time shall return and compensate our Tryals with
most weak let thy Fortifications and Guards be strongest 17. FLY Idleness that lazy Matron of all Evil and Basis of Mischief Ever employ thy self about acts of Vertue and then there will be no space or room for the Tempter What advantage did he reap upon the Royal Prophet by staining so glorious a Life which was produc'd by his few hours Vacancy Dally not with Temptations for happy shall he be who parleys not with them but is Careful and Vigilant and is ready to say as Elisha said of Jehoram's Messenger 2 Kings 6.32 When he cometh shut the Door and hold him fast there Is not the sound of his Master's Feet behind him The same Remedy we must use to Satan's Messengers who are sent to Destroy us We must crush the Cocatrice Eggs lest breaking out into a fiery Serpent we cannot Conquer it but say too late as the Turk mention'd of Scanderberg This Enemy should have been Subdued in his Minority for a Attemptation is Nourished that Hour it is not Mastered 18. INVOKE the Almighty constantly and fervently use his own Words Lead us not into Temptation In many Instances these are a Divine Revenge on some precedent unrepented Sin against which the Sanctimonious frequently make their Supplications And if as often as Satan assaileth we could address our selves to earnest and zealous Prayers we should worst him at his own Weapon receive frequenter Allarms to awaken us to a stronger Guard even the shadow of the Almighty The first Enemy that assailed Israel in his way to Canaan was vanquish'd by Prayer When Moses held up his Hands Israel prevailed Exod. 17. The same repulse we must use to our grandest Enemy The Prayer O LOD God Almighty the Examiner of all Hearts and the Tryer of the Reins who knowest before we ask what our Necessities are and by thy Holy Spirit helpest our Infirmities Lord I acknowledge my Ignorance in not Praying unto thee as I ought but thou alone canst make request for me according to thy blessed Will with unutterable Groans which thou only understandest Help I beseech thee my Infirmities regulate my Devotion and restrain the busie Malice of the Tempter Direct and accept my Prayers as Incense in thy sight and let them enter thy Presence through Jesus Christ my only Redeemer and Advocate 2. THOU who art Truth it self hast promised that all things shall work together for good to them that love thee and keep thy Commandments Lord I put all my trust and confidence in thee and do stedfastly believe that it is good for me that I have been afflicted for I am assured that after the tryal of my Faith and exercise of my Patience I shall receive of thee the only giver of all good things the quiet Fruits of Righteousness But O Lord how shall frail dust and ashes appear before thee which is full of Infirmities Fears Doubtings and Failings for mine Iniquities have taken such hold upon me that l am not able to look up Nay they are more in number than the hairs on my head and my heart hath failed me Neither have I to deal O Lord with Flesh and Blood only but with Invisible Powers of Darkness which with restless encounters assault my Soul to destroy it 3. BUT O Lord God of my Salvation be not thou far from me Shew thy Power and deliver me from the Messengers of Satan which are too mighty for me O rescue me and bridle their Insolent Malice bind the Strong man and deliver thy Vessel from his Usurping Tyranny that I may in every faculty of my Soul serve and please thee Pardon all my sins for thy Blessed Son's sake who died for me Heal my wounded Soul which hath to the anguish of my heart so often sinned against thee Hide not thy face from me in time of my trouble forget not my bitter affliction which makes me go mourning all the day long while the insulting Enemy heavily oppresseth me Thou art my King O God and canst Command deliverances Lord I am poor needy and destitute of help and strength to resist the Fiery Darts of Satan 4. PUT thy whole Armour upon me I beseech thee that I may be able to stand Arise for my aid O thou preserver of all Men redeem me from the devouring Lyons Mouth and for thy Infinite Mercies sake think upon me make hast to help me and make no long tarrying O my God O suffer me not for any tryals to fall from thee Lay no more upon me than thou wilt be pleased to give me Strength Patâ—ince and Perseverance to bear Cheerfully Confirm me unto the end that I may be blameless in the day of the Lord Jesus Give me a blessed Effect and Issue out of every tryal that the more thou permittest me to suffer the more Experience I may acquire of thy Mercy and the greater assurance that thou wilt never fail me nor forsake me That I may through him who hath by suffering vanquished death hell and him who hath the power of death overcome all these Spiritual wickednesses which war against my Soul 5. LORD I have trusted only in thy Mercy thou hast ordained Strength in the Mouths of Babes and Infants O strengthen me unto the end that my heart may rejoice in thy Salvation Lord spare me that I may recover my strength Put thou a new song into my mouth that I may praise thee for my deliverance and declare unto afflicted Sinners what thou hast done for my Soul Lord hear me and have mercy upon me Thou who art ever readier to give than poor Mortals are to ask deny not the Humble and Earnest Requests of me the vilest and worst of Sinners This I beg O Lord through the Merits and Mediation of Jesus Christ my only Saviour and Redeemer Amen The Close HAVING run through the several Parts I intended I shall now Calculate the whole and give a Specimen of Reducing it into Practice Be very careful to stifle every Sin in its primitive motion and give no place to the Wiles of Satan but crush betimes the Cockatrice Egg lest it break out into a Serpent Permit not vain Imaginations to possess thy Mind which are impossible for thee to attain or unprofitable if they are attained but rather contemn and behold them as empty shadows and lighter than Vanity 2. BUT labour daily more and more to inspect into thy self that thou mayst attain to that cognizance If thou shouldst upon the Enquiry be asked what is the vilest Creature in the whole Earths Circumference thy nearest and most intimate Friend thy Conscience may report thy own self by reason of thy Sins And if on the contrary thou wert ask'd the Question What is the truest Catholicon for it Thy Heart may readily reply The Blood of Christ which speaks better things than the Blood of Abel Affect not vain Glory nor Popularity lest it prove more pernicious than Contempt and avoid entertaining a male-contented mind for that may produce thee more misery than thou
Moses Face when he talked with God became so Glorious that Israel could not behold it without a Veil 2 Cor. 3.13 What then shall our Glory be when we shall be like Christ 1 Joh. 3.2 CHAP. II. Of the Faculties of the Soul THE Faculties of the Soul are the Vnderstanding Will Memory Affections and Senses Internal and External My purpose being not to enter the List with Philosophers but to direct Christians I shall not further consider these but what concerns the Practical part and right governing the thoughts of the Heart and Mind to the Service of God and our Mortification and the means of qualifying our selves for it 2. THE Heart in Scripture often taken for the principal Seat of the rational Soul imparteth any Faculty hereof The Mind is the inward act the result and product of its Reason and Discourses the Thoughts The Learned affirm the Mind is the fountain of Counsel and Soul of Life And again we understand by the Mind and live by the Soul The Mind of Man is sometimes a Sovereign to govern in Vertue and Sanctimony it self and the Body sometimes a Tyrant and indulging to Vice which like the Worm bred in the Wood destroyeth its own Original It is often misled by tumultuous Passions Lusts Vain-desires and other Perturbations of a discomposed Mind which unthron'd Reason dangerously gains an Usurpation 3. A prudent Man whose Knowledge is his Life in the light height and use thereof differing him not only from the Brutes but ignorant Men doth principally enjoy himself in his Mind and inward Man There is indeed in humane Possessions nothing great and excellent but a magnanimous and good Mind contemning External Greatness or supposed Excellencies such as Power Strength Riches Beauty Wit c. obvious to Sense in respect of that which is within apprehensible by the enlightned Understanding 4. AND certainly the All-wise God who Created the Affections ordained them to some excellent end and use in the Soul as Hand-maids to Devotion and Religion neithere would he in our Regeneration kill but correct them by moderating them where they grow extream and retrenching them into their own Channels where they over-flow their banks like over-rank Water Sources becoming muddy and choaked up with that which they fetch in from without or reducing them where they are Exorbitant 5. ALL Extreams are foolish and dangerous A Stoical Apathie is incompatible with a well-composed Mind as a violent Passion with a Prudent The dead Calm corrupteth Air and Water and violent Blasts disturb them the moderate more safely purifie but the mean is best Affections are as it is said of Caligula There is no better Servant nor worse Master they are good commanded but mischievous reigning like Fire and Water very necessary and very destructive 6. WITHOUT Love there can be no acceptable Service without Anger no Zeal without Fear no co-ercive power in the Soul without Hope no Comfort which bringeth us to a necessary Consideration of the Hearts Corruption the vanity and exorbitancy of the Thoughts and the necessity of their Regulations by some Rules of Practice CHAP. III. Of the Hearts Corruptions THE Corruptions of the Heart are as in the Primitive Age of the World Gen. 6.5 Only evil continually The Heart is the fountain of Sin and the Evangelist tells us Mat. 15.19 from thence spring evil Thoughts Murders Adulteries Fornications Thefts false Witnesses Blasphemies all the Sins of Man All Iniquity is here forged as it is written Isai. 32.6 His Heart will work Iniquity hence words of falshood are conceived and uttered Isai. 59.13 Here the kingly Prophet declares is the root of War Psal. 55.21 And the Royal Preacher acknowledges it the seat of Mischief Prov. 6.18 Error Frowardness and that Obdurateness which excludeth all capacity of hearing God's Word and Judgments which should lead us to Repentance whereby we may be healed Psal. 95.10 Prov. 11.20 2. THE Heart is deceitful above all things who can know it Jer. 17.9 There lodgeth Hypocrisie Jer. 3.10 and many secret Sins like that unseen Multitude which rangeth through the Paths of the Deeps such are the dark Councels of the Heart of Man which Solomon informs us Prov. 20.5 Nor is this the Condition of some few but the secret Corruption of all natural Men nor are the Regenerate absolutely freed from these Pollutions being yet partly flesh We have St. Paul's word for it Gal. 5.17 For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit and the Spirit against the Flesh and these are contrary the one to the other so that ye cannot do the things that ye would 3. THE danger hereof fully appears that these are the Seeds of every Sin and fomenters thereof yea that which obstructeth Faith and Repentance for as the Physicians affirm if there be a fault in the first Concoction there will follow the like in the rest so it is here the Hearts Sickness is derived to the Tongue and all the Actions of Man It is a People said the Lord that do err in their Hearts and they have not known my ways Psal. 95.10 As the Eye is deceived through a false Medium So is the Mind through the cloud of false Opinion And the Wise Man tells us Prov. 24.9 That the thought of Foolishness is Sin into which they must needs run says the Psalmist Who set not their heart aright and whose Spirit is not stedfast with God Psal. 78.8 4. THE Almighty searcheth the Secrets of all Hearts and will at the Great Audit make all the Thoughts thereof manifest God requireth the Heart says Solomon Prov. 23.26 and David tells you If a Man regard Iniquity in his Heart the Lord will not hear him Psal. 66.18 and Wisdom expresses Prov. 16.5 That the Thoughts of the Wicked are an abomination to the Lord and they who have wicked Thoughts run swiftly to iniquity and Destruction is in their Paths Isai. 59.7 In the Corruption of the Heart the very fibrae and remainders of Sins reviving root Satan's venom remaineth The Hydra's ever-growing Heads which when occasions and ability so fail that the impious cannot serve the Devil in External Actions will shew its venom in their will to Sin 5. IN the next place it is a very difficult thing rightly to compose the Thoughts in respect of the Hearts unfathomed Deceitfulness and the Mind 's unlimited Agility in these depths of quick-shifting Thoughts Sin easily hideth it self External Sins in Words or Works are like the Plague of Leprosie Levit. 13.12 13. broken all abroad and covering all the Skin nearer the Cure and by so much the more easily amended or overcome by how much more evident they are not only to others but also to our selves 6. THE Sins of the Heart are harder to be cured the more secret and invisibly they are Committed The Thoughts are more securely Extravagant Negligent and Presuming by how much less they are obvious to any Pretender or Censurer without And where the Heart is smitten with some awful fear of
God and resolution to Repent maketh Inquest after Sin that which is in Word or Action is more easily and frequently found But the sin of the Mind like Jonathan and Ahimaaz at Bahurim is let down into the depth of the Heart whose secret Enemies are like those Ligurian Mountainers whom the Roman's Chased more hardly found than Vanquished Moreover Man's innate Self-Love and natural Complacency makes him unapt and loth to Condemn himself in any thing wherein he conjectures others cannot 7. LASTLY The restless machination of Satan is to suggest Self-delusions as he doth Temptations to Sin whereby his Baits may be swallowed His policy is to keep the Heart for his Retreat and if any reproof happily chase away Prophaneness Anger Obscenity or Calumny out of the Tongue or Adultery Theft Murther or the like from the outward Man yet if he can but foment and maintain any of these in the impure Heart he will find opportunity and diabolical Suggestions to make an Eruption Or if not he knoweth where he has Possession be the Words and Actions never so well framed that God hath no part there which brings me to the next Consideration CHAP. IV. The necessity of Governing our Thoughts THERE is great necessity of Regulating our Thoughts and Heart without which as the Prophet says Isa. 29.13 It is in vain to draw near to God with our Lips And the art of governing the Affections and Thoughts must be performed by Wisdom and Ingtegrity Wisdom is as a Mistress to tumultuous Servants at whose Presence the most Disorderly are suddenly Composed and Silenced An understanding Heart is the inward illumination of the Soul which God beholds without which all External appearances of Sanctity make formal Hypocrites no better than Aegyptian Temples grave and decent outwardly but within very ridiculous setting up for Gods Apes Serpents Cats and Crocodiles 2. SOLOMON to whom God granted a free choice of any thing he would request desired an Vnderstanding Heart 1 Kings 3.5.9.12 This was more estimable to him than Riches or Life and he whom God was pleased to make the Wisest of Men of all the Holy Pen-men gave most Precepts concerning the Heart and Mind and we are commanded for our further directions to search the Scriptures which as the Apostle tells us are only able to make us wise to Salvation 2 Tim. 3.15 And St. James requires us to ask Wisdom of God that giveth to all Men liberally and Vpbraideth not James 1.5 He that trusteth in his own Heart is a Fool Prov. 28.26 Again the Wise Man like a true Prognostick tells you That the Heart of the Sons of Men is full of Evil and madness is in their Heart while they live Eccl. 9.3 Unhappy is he who goeth on perversely in the way of his own Heart or walks contrary to the Apostle's Rule 1 Cor. 3.19 persuing the Wisdom of this World which is foolishness with God 3. WE must so compose our Hearts that they may be upright and sincere in the sight of God Without this our best actions as Prayer Hearing Repentance Alms and what-ever else we do is worth nothing O Jerusalem saith the Lord wash thy Heart from wickedness that thou mayest be Saved How long shall thy vain thoughts lodge in thee Jer. 4.14 It is but folly to labour the Cure in the outward part while the Contagion and Venom of Sin invades the inward or to wash the Eyes with floods of Tears where the sin of Judah is written with a Pen of Iron and graven with the point of a Diamond upon the Table of the Heart Jer. 17.1 4. THE Psalmist tells us Psal. 84.5 Blessed are they in whose Heart are the ways of God And that he is good unto such as are of a clean Heart Psal. 73.1 And the Prophet tells you Jer. 29.13 They shall find him who seek him with all their Heart And they that know righteousness have the Law of God in their Heart Isa. 51.7 And Psal. 37.31 Their steps shall not slide they delight to do God's Will Psal. 40.8 And Psal. 119.11 They hide up the Law of God in their heart that they might not sin against him The knowledge of God is pleasant unto their Soul Prov. 2.10 and Prov. 3.2 They shall have length of days and Peace and when they go it shall lead them when they sleep it shall keep them when they wake it shall talk with them Prov. 6.22 It is a Lamp and Light to direct them in the ways of Life to preserve them from Sin 5. NOW however the ways of an Hypocrite may seem clean in his own Eyes yet seeing the God of Justice Weigheth the Spirits Prov. 16.2 it highly concerneth every Man to look to the ordering of this inward House that it may be a clean Temple for God's Spirit to dwell in without whose guidance Man runs to Destruction both Body and Soul If we govern our Thoughts aright we have our conversation in Heaven we walk with God And in our many dangerous sicknesses of Mind sundry Distempers and Perturbations of fluctuant Thoughts the wearied Soul shall ever have recourse unto this Ark for Rest. 6. THERE are troublesome Errors of sick minds which see false Comforts instead of true There is Anxiety Impatience and Grief which devoureth the Heart There is the fire of Anger to inflame Envy and Malice to transport vain Hopes and Fears whose vicissitudes do miserably afflict the disquiet Mind There are many Perturbations which if not prudently managed will master Reason and violently carry Men into the most dangerous Precipices from whence they cannot when they would retrieve themselves All which to a wise and good Man shall prove but Exercises to make his Victory over his own Passions more Glorious 7. NOR is he less Honourable who is victor over himself than he that conquereth others The great Conquerors of Kingdoms have been overcome of their own Affections whereby they have foolishly eclipsed all the Glory of their Victories The Strong may vanquish others but only the Good can over-come themselves I shall conclude with the Saying of a Pious Man I had rather over-come my own Mind than all my Enemies and I would I were secure of my self All the Powers of Hell cannot over-come me nor make me unhappy if my own Affections betray me not CHAP. V. Rules of Practice FOR the right composure of Mind and Thoughts it is very requisite to consider those Rules of Practice which concern the same in general and then that which appertaineth to some particular Passions of the Mind First Have a care of thy Soul as thy greatest Interest and that which surpasseth all things in the World Next have a care of thy Mind which if well composed is prudently Content in every Estate without which Even Temper nothing can prove good or comfortable What is Strength Sickness may anticipate but Age must bow down to the Grave What is Beauty Why those Flowers quickly fade and many times become the Snare and Destruction of
ye on the Lord Jesus Christ and make not provision for the Flesh to fulfil the Lusts thereof Strive by a Holy imitation to follow the Example of thy Lord and Master who was meek and lowly in Heart and envied no Man Matt. 11.29 Christ loved all respectively For Love envieth not 1 Cor. 13.4 If we love for the sake of him who first loved us we shall never be perplexed for any competent Blessings he in his good pleasure bestows but should rather wish them greater We shall wash off that guilt of undervaluing others and abandon that presumption of over-rating our selves and this sort of Ambition which acts contrary to these Remedies reigns only in the Dominion of the Envious 2. THE Meek Moses was so free from Pride and Ambition that he reprehended those that Envied for his sake and wisht that all God's People could Prophesie and besought the Lord that he would put His Spirit upon them Num. 11.29 Discipline thy self in God's School for there is the best and safest cure of Emulation It was a Paradox to David Psal. 73.16 Vntil saith he I went into the Sanctuary of God then understood I their end There thou mayst learn not to value Transitory things too much to consider well his Hand which setteth up and pulleth down To refer all thy Desires to the advancement of his Glory and humbly to acknowledge and in a high manner express thy thankfulness for those favours of Providence he hath conferred on thee having the possession of these thoughts thou mayest quite Banish Envy 3. NEXT consider where thou placest thy Enmity The Psalmist found in the Sanctuary that his Enemies were not to be Envyed Surely said he thou didst set them in slippery places Thou castedst them down to Destruction Psal. 73.18 Let not this Memento flip out of thy Mind That God mixeth Bitter with Sweetness to all in this Life One hath great Riches but no Child to enjoy it nor perhaps a generous Heart to make use of those goods of Fortune God hath been pleased to bestow upon him Another is in perfect Bodily Health but his Soul may be sick unto Death Others contrive and hoard up Wealth but with such a seared Conscience that the poorest Saint is incomparably more happy Another is advanced to Honours perhaps only to make his Fall the greater Another in divers respects may be very Prosperous in the Eye of the World but may resemble the Moon who is most tenebrous towards Heaven when she Illuminates the Earth So it is with Man very observable that the greater Lustre they shine with in the Eye of the World the more despicable they are in the sight of Heaven for God abhorreth all those Pomps and Vanities and layeth up such severe Judgments for the Owners that a Soul in the midst of Torments is as proper an Object of Envy as the glittering Shadows who are hasting thither 4. O let us not forget then that we are Brethren Members of one Body whereof Christ Jesus is the Head therefore let us with all Gentleness and Meekness take St. Paul's advice Gal. 6.1 Brethren if a Man be over-taken in a Fault restore such a one in the Spirit of Meekness considering thy self lest thou also be tempted Let us support one another through Love and mutually rejoice at each others Happiness and by these means we shall cast away the works of Darkness Strife and Envy CHAP. XIII Of Impatience IMPATIENCE is a Distemper of the Mind proceeding from several Causes as Indignation Anger Envy Sorrow apprehension of Injuries Affliction deluded Hopes and the like As the diseased Body cannot endure Heat or Cold so an impatient and discontented Mind cannot comply with Prosperity or Adversity Every present Estate seemeth uneasie wanting a true relish to make it palatable it is not only a Guilt but a Punishment of the Sin of Ingratitude against God Therefore the Almighty threatned to send them trembling Hearts Sorrow of Mind and pendulous Thoughts and Fears Deut. 28.65 66 67. In the Morning thou shalt say would God it were Evening and at Even thou shalt say would God it were Morning 2. SICK of this wayward Distemper was he who being at Rome lik'd Tyber best but when at Tyber gave Rome the Preference the sick Person shifteth Rooms and Beds as the wounded Hart flieth from Brake to Brake but can find no ease whilst the fatal Arrow that Messenger of Death sticks fast in his side So it is observable Malecontents waver between contempt of the present and vain hopes of the future But Coelum non animum mut at he transmueth the Air not his Mind that crosseth the Ocean Wherever thy Progress is thy Mind bears thee company and according to its Malignancy a proportionable Remedy must be applied 3. TRIVIAL matters doth not perturb the the Healthy but a small Accident discomposeth the Sick The sound and strong Man can rest any where but to the infirm a Bed of Gold or Wood produces the same ease and a rich Palace or a poor Cottage affords him equality of rest So it is observable a fixed and stable Mind will rest contented any where he is become a Proficient and can say with St. Paul I have learned in whatsoever state I am therewith to be Content Phil. 4.11 And a Mind so serene and calm is Health to the Sick Enlargement to the Prisoner and far excells a Kingdom to the Possessor whereas the impeteous Mind is troubled and discomposed with every trifle I do well said pievish Jonah to be angry even unto death Jonah 4.9 And all this Morosety was but for a poor Gourd when at that juncture he ought to have been more concerned at so many thousand Lives which were near Destruction 4. TO cure this no Cataplasm Externally applyed can afford any Operation but it must be a Catholicon Internally used which must purge the Mind of these Malignant Perturbations which disaffect it and to strengthen it by a right Informatioâ— of the Understanding and rectifying thâ— distempered Affections untill the Mind enjoy a Calm of Patience And indeed Patience is a Magnanimous Vertue and attended with a Train of â—piritual Qualifications First It is Afflictions Cordial and Despair Antidote the Daughter and Nurse of Hope Rom. 8.25 And the Saints Communioâ— with Christ Rev. 1.9 It is the way to thâ— Inheritance Heb. 12.1 The Seal of Salvâ—tion 2 Pet. 1.10 A Symptome of Faitâ— and Hope in Christ 1 Thess. 1.3 Patiencâ— is an Equanimity in bearing Adversity anâ— a Fruit of Charity And the Apostle giâ—â— you this Certificate That the Fruit of thâ— Spirit is Love Joy Peace Long-suffering Gaâ— 5.22 And Charity suffereth long 1 Cor. 13.4 5. IMPATIENCE is a Perturbation of the Mind a Self-corroding Tormenting bitterness of the Soul proceeding from Impotency or Levity of Mind A secret contest with and repining at the Providence of God It is the absurdity of Rich Men and the vexation of the Poor The Mother of Despair and sad fury of the Internal
Consider that he suffered and underwent what thou couldst not perform yet not for himself for he knew no Sin but it was to work thine and the World's Salvation If through Faith in him thou canst have Peace with God thou shalt not only bear but rejoice in Tribulation knowing as the Apostle says that it worketh Patience Rom. 5.3 If thou wilt preserve Innocency and a good Conscience thou wilt advantageously acquire peace and contentment of Mind which shall Compose thee in the midst of Tumults in things External But as a Seditious City or a Discorded House cannot be Happy so a discorded Mind cannot be at Unity in it self 5. KEEP within the Jurisdiction of thy proper Business Employment or Calling Undertake not neither propound to thy self any thing too great for thy Management Over-grasping thy Hand Enervates it and torments it with fruitless Pain And aiming too ambitiously crucifies the Heart when they fall from the Precipice of their vain Proposals Art thou endowed with Riches Actively offer them to that use for which they were sent which is God's Glory Is thy Fortune slender Contract thy Mind within its Limits which is to Necessity not Opinion We read of a Philosopher in his Journey which drank Water in his Hand and cry'd out With how few Vtensiles is Nature content I could wish many would follow his Example that they might enjoy that Peace and Tranquility of Mind 6. BUT many become their own Tormenters and Authors of their own Discontents proposing such strange Fabricks of their Babels erecting airy Castles and Towers to Heaven adding House to House and Land to Land Province to Province and Kingdom to Kingdom chasing for their main Concernments in the dangerous attempts of doubtful Adventures Grandeur and affluence of Riches They go Remote to find that which with Prudence may be produced at Home in our own Bosoms which is to be satisfied in that which God hath allotted for us with a contented Mind 7. IT was remarked of Pyrrhus that active Epirot that Fortune made him happy enough with Sufficiency to live Peaceably at Home if he could have contented himself only with the Sovereignty over his own Subjects But his insatiable Avarice which neither the Sea Mountains Inhabitable Deserts nor the Confines which separate Asia from Europe could Limit instigated him perpetually to seek out new matter of Trouble to himself and others Which his faithful Friend Cineas did once Prudently tho without Effect intimâ—â—◠〈◊〉 him whereupon new Overtures of honourable and profitable Undertakings for the Tarentines occasioned by Cineas Quaeres Pyrrhus had said When we have Overcome the Romans there can neither Grecian nor Barbarous City in all the Country withstand us but we shall Conquer all the rest of Italy with Ease And what shall we do then said Cineas Pyrrhus replying telleth him of Conquering commodious Sicily Again he demanded That being Won shall our Wars end Pyrrhus replied The way was then open enough to attain great Conquests and who would not afterwards go into Africk and so to Carthage But when we have all in our Hands said Cineas what shall we do in the end We will then good Cineas said he be quiet and take our Ease make Feasts every day and be as Merry one with another as we can possibly Cineas having brought him to that point said to him My Lord What hindereth us now to be Quiet and Merry together since we enjoy that presently without farther Travel and Trouble which we should now go seek for Abroad with such shedding of Blood and so manifest Dangers And we know not whether we shall ever attain unto it after we have both suffered and caused others to suffer infinite Sorrows and Troubles 8. LEARN to obtain a faithful dependance on Gods Providence This ground of Content the Holy Ghost proposeth Heb. 13.5 Let your Conversation be 〈◊〉 Covetousness and be content with such things as ye have for he hath said I will never leave thee nor forsake thee When Men too much depend on second Causes they are impatient at every Cross. They would impiously prescribe God the time as Jehoram would 2 Kings 6.33 and rebellious Israel Exod. 32.1 Or in the Means as Naaman 2 Kings 5.11 But in assurance that God will never fail us we must patiently expect his help In every Affliction remember that God beholdeth thee and his Providence will give the issue with the Tryal 9. ART thou in Want which excites thy Discontent Then call to mind what thou broughtest into this World and what thou shalt carry out Thou hast not such Possessions Houses Riches Apparel as some have yet no Man liveth so poor as he was Born This was that which that Exemplar of Patience said in all his Losses Naked came I out of my Mothers Womb and Naked shall I return thither Job 1.21 So St. Paul maketh it a ground of his Exhortation to Contentedness We brought nothing into this World and it is certain we shall carry nothing out 1 Tim. 6.7 Kings and Princes are cast out Naked in the day of their Nativity and are beheld as Weeping little Masters of the World The Great Saladine will inform you what they carry hence who ordered that at his Funeral one should carry a Shirt or Winding-sheet on the Point of an advanced Lance and go before the Herse and proclaim thus Saladine the Conqueror of the East carrieth hence with him only this of all that he hath gotten 10. FEED not the bitter humour of Discontents for the growths thereof are sad and dangerous Give not over thy mind to heaviness and afflict not thy self in thine own Counsel Ecclus. 30.21 The exhileration of the Heart is the Life of a Man and prolongeth his days Some Minds are like the Sea which instantly turneth sweet Showers into its own Bitterness because they indulge to Impatience pleasing themselves with that which tormenteth them But the prudent in every Affliction elevate their Souls to God seeking Comfort in him and consider of the Life to come where there shall be no more Curse Rev. 22.3 no more Discontent but every Heart shall be filled with Joy A Prayer for Patience and Contentment MOST Gracious God I humbly acknowledge thy fatherly goodness in measuring to me those Corrections which my Sins daily provoking thy Justice most justly deserve and thy stupendious Mercy in sparing me whom in thy severity thou mightest not only have made the most Miserable of all Men living but mightest have cast me into that Lake which burns with Fire and Brimstone Lord as thou hast in a bleeding Jesus afforded me this Mercy so for his sake blot out the Hand-writing of all my Offences Lay no more upon me than thou wilt enable me to bear and never suffer me frail Dust and Ashes for any Temptation to fall from thee but give me a blessed issue out of every Tryal 2. AND O holy Father correct me not in thine Anger lest I perish in thy fierce Wrath neither chasten me in
Carefulness Psal. 127.2 That Manna which was kept all Night except only for the Sabbath was Corrupted Exod. 16.20 24. All our labour to lay up except for Salvation the eternal Sabbath is but lost Therefore Labour for the Meat which endureth to Eternal Life John 6.27 2. SET your affections on things above Col. 3.2 And study a holy Contempt of this World It is Affection creates us Care and where that is there our Cares and our Minds will be fixed 'T is the highest Prudence to lop off vain Cares that our better placed Care may be more Fruitful and to thrust out worldly thoughts As Christ did the tumultuous Company at Jairus house which otherwise like those Guests at Bethlehem would afford him no room As when the Superfluity of the Branches are pruned off the Vine is recompenced in the Fruit So it is in the cutting off vain Cares the more thou diminishest from them the more fruitfully shall thy Soul be augmented in Spiritual things As when Elijah was taken up to Heaven his Mantle fell off 2 King 2.13 So do the Cares of this World when our Hearts are addicted to Heavenly things 3. HOW properly may vain childish things like dead Leaves neer the fruitful Autumn fall off our minds when we subscribe our selves Men And when that which we have in possession is perfect how easily do our Worldly Cares wither and fall away even like the Glow-worms fraudulent Lustre which vanishes at the approach of the Morning Light In whatsoever State thou art learn therewith to be content Discontent and avaritious Desires force the heart upon the sharp Tenters of Care If a Man be content with little he will not care for much Cares follow Riches and augment with their Encreases Mat. 13.22 4. TRUST in the Lord and commit thy ways to him and he will bring it to pass Psal. 37.5 Cast thy care upon him for He careth for thee 1 Pet. 5.7 and hath Promised He will never leave thee nor forsake thee Heb. 13.5 And the Prophet declares this comfortable Report Jer. 17.7 8. Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord and whose hope the Lord is for he shall be as a tree planted by the Waters and shall not be careful in the year of drought Gods Providence is vigilant over his Servants and it can neither err nor be defeated He that gave us Life will not fail to give us Meat and Cloathing he that feeds the Fowls of the Air and adorns the fading Flowers with such varieties of Beauty will not forget to Feed and Cloath Man whom he has appointed to be Lord over them 5. HE knoweth our Necessities before we ask and that all our Care cannot add one Cubit to our Stature Riches and Honors for which men take such indefatigable care come neither from the East nor from the West nor yet from the South but it is God which both giveth and taketh away Some increase in Wealth Sleeping or Waking others with unwearied industry wax poor Labour to perform thy endeavour with Cheerfulness and commit the Issue to God By which means thou wilt avoid all Diffidence and Distracting Care 6. BE vigilant over thy Soul otherwise Cares will choak up the holy Seed of God's Word whereby it will become unprofitable to thee It will Eclipse the light of Heavenly Knowledge it will clog the Heart and creep on like an Ephialt which having seized us we groan under it and can neither shake it off nor awake to an holy Expectation of the coming of Christ. Frequently Recollect thy Mind of thy Mortality Frailty of Life and the Vanity of all Transitory things What are Riches and Magnificence in this World They are like Childrens Bubbles filled with Air which vanishes in their breaking Even such are we like Dreams or a Scene wherein our parts once Acted we must shrink into Natures Tyring-room never to return 7. IT is uncertain what hour may be our last but it is certain one must come and how nigh it may be at hand is beyond our knowledge perhaps this night the Sentence may come forth and a Writ of Alienation on thy Store laid up for many years and this harsh Summons may reach thy Ears Thou Fool this night shall thy Soul be required of thee then whose shall all those things be Luke 12.20 When the Hives in their Plenitude warn the Masters of their Republick that they want a Deduction of their Colony they Swarm and Flie But if you cast a little Dust among them they presently settle So the only Expedient to settle our Swarm of Busie Cares is the memento of our Original That Dust thou art and to Dust thou shalt return Gen. 3.19 Lastly to remember the Apostles Rule Phil. 4.6 Be careful for nothing but in every thing by Prayer and Supplication let your Requests be made known unto God Those wants and cares are happy which chase us to him Therefore let us depend and hope in him and Invocate him by Prayer The Prayer O MOST Gracious and Merciful Lord God who Feedest the young Ravens Clothest the Lillies of the Fields and fillest all things with thy Goodness Thou Governest in Heaven and in Earth and givest to every Creature Subsistence and Preservation in its kind O Lord I humbly acknowledge thy goodness towards me even from the Womb unto this present moment Thou hast preserved me when I neither knew what human necessities were nor which way to relieve them When I reposed my self thou preservedst me when I did not foresee any evil approaching thou dissipatedst it when I was kept ignorant of my Necessities thy infinite Mercies Prevented me with Blessings and Provisions when I was lost thou recoveredst me And when I was dead in trespasses and sins thou didst quicken me by thy Grace when I understood nothing of the Way of Life thou meekly didst inform me and didst guide me in the way wherein I should walk But above all before ever I was thou gavest thy Son Christ Jesus to be the Inestimable price of my Redemption 2. AND now O Lord I who am less than the least of all thy Mercies what shall I render thee Nay what can I for all thy Transcendent Blessings Thou hast not only once like the good Samaritan but many times as a God of Infinite Mercy bound up the wounds of my Soul and taken care of me O let thy Mercy still continue towards me and create O God in me a clean and a contrite heart and renew a right Spirit within me that it may express my thankfulness aright to so great a Majesty as thou art The Lyons want the Mighty suffer hunger Thou hast sent a Fire among them that live at ease and carelesly even unto the Proud and Rejoicing Cities and what am I O Lord that thou pleasest to spare me and dost not still feed me with the Bread of Anxiety and Affliction and make me drink the Waters of Astonishment 3. LORD fix my Hopes on thy Providence and give me
occasion to vex at the Levity and Vanity of thy own Mind If it be just what is the monstrous Object of thy Hatred and Malice Assure thy self the Adulteress is unhappy enough and there is no Creature on Earth more despicable and odious nor no Sin in this Life accompanied with so many varieties of Plagues and Judgments so that indeed they are great Objects of Pity if all these wretched Ingredients can render them to be so as a wounded Conscience the Devil 's Earnest to the Impenitent and assurance of Hell and Damnation 8. IN the next place my address shall be to those in whom there is occasion of Suspicion And first Let Man himself consider how odious Adultery is and out of all measure sinful for he sinneth against his own Body defileth the Temple of the Holy Ghost Cor. 6.18 19. and pierceth through his own Bowels with a Dart of Rottenness Prov. 7.23 And that which will render him in the end mournful But beyond all this in case of Impenitency which the stubborn Presumer may justly suspect it is that whereby he excludeth himself from the Kingdom of Heaven 1 Cor. 6.9 10. And in the Adulteresses Crime some Aggravations are appertaining to it as robbing her Husband of his Posterity obtruding a base and adulterous Issue and so stealing away his Estate and Inheritance by giving it to a Stranger and fixing on an indelible Character of Dishonor and Bastardy upon her Child who but for her impotent and ungovern'd Lust might have proved noble and legitimate An Injury which she can never expiate nor repair to the innocuous Son with Rivers of Tears and streams of her infected Blood This multiplied Sin is sometimes conceal'd from Men but never from the All-seeing God who is a severe Revenger of all Iniquity 9 OTHER Sins are grievous and pernicious yet neither Lying Stealing Idolatry Murder nor Witchcraft can of it self dissolve the Sacred Bond of Wedlock as this only base act of Adultery doth Therefore our Saviour admits of no Divorce but upon that occasion And it is remarkable that when God would display the loathsomness of Idolatry which most displeased him he styl'd it Whoredom and himself a jealous God and certainly though that be abolished of the bitter Water causing the Curse and rotting of the Thigh with swelling which attended that antiquated Ceremony yet the bitter Moral and Substance are not quite extinguish'd Numb 5.18 10. AVOID what you are sensible of hath created your Suspicion otherwise you are guilty if not of Adultery yet of a just Cause of Jealousie Lysander punished one of his Soldiers for going out of his Quarters resolving that he would have none of his look or go out like a Plunderer Dinah's idle visits Gen. 34.1 2. proved her dishonor effusion of guiltless Blood her Father's Trouble and her Brother's Curse The wisest of Men recordeth it as the mark of an Harlot Prov. 7.11 12. Her feet abide not in the house now she is without now in the streets lying in wait at every corner 11. IT was an Italian Severity in Sulpitius and a Diposition to part with his Wife who divorced her for going out of doors bare-headed The Law said he confined thee to mine Eyes and Approbation and not to please others The common Law noted any going out unvail'd with the odious brand of Adultery So careful were they to avoid all occasions or suspicions of that Sin However foolishly strict they were I am sure Jerom's Rules fore-noted is good Whatsoever saith he may probably be feigned be thou cautious it may not be feigned Thou owest this to thy Husband's Love thine own Indemnity and Honor and the Right and Credit of thy Children The PRAYER O Eternal and Almighty God Father of Lights and of the First-born who are written in Heaven and of the Spirits of Just Men made Perfect Thou art the Searcher of all Hearts and Reins to whose All-seeing Eye every Creature is manifest and every thought of the Heart naked and open We humbly beseech thee to take from us our stony Hearts and to give us Hearts of flesh to subdue in us by thy omnipotent Spirit the miserable remainders of the First Adam that native inclination to Sin which continually carrieth us away Captive to the Laws thereof even to that Evil which we would not commit but utterly detest and in bitterness of Soul repent of 2. LORD create clean Hearts and renew right Spirits within us root out that raging Spirit of Jealousie that infernal Fire which lies scorching in our bosoms and enlighten our Vnderstandings with a sound Knowledge of all the Mysteries of Eternal Life and Salvation Sanctifie our Wills and Affections and according to thine own gracious promise six thy Law in our inward Parts and write it deeply in our Hearts that we may know thee from the least to the greatest Heal up those Wounds which our Sins have made so wide that none but thine own Hands can close them and forgive our Iniquity and remember our Sins no more 3. O Lord thou didst by thy holy Word so heal the fountains that death and barrenness was no more therein heal we humbly beseech thee the wretched Corruptions of our hearts cleanse and sanctifie all the thoughts thereof by the sweet and blessed influence of thy Holy Spirit and so quide govern and direct us in the way which thou wilt have us to walk in as that we may in all our Thoughts Words and Actions be acceptable to thee Mortifie and subdue all our evil Desires and Thoughts and bring them all into Subjection to thy Holy Will and Pleasure that we may constantly resist all Temptations to Sin and Wickedness 4. KEEP us and Counsel us in all our Affairs Spiritual and Temporal that we may be filled with the holy Fruits of the Spirit of Sanctification appearing in new and hallowed Thoughts Words and Actions to thy glory and our farther assurance before thee so that in our Bodies and in our Spirits we may be kept blameless in this sinful and miserable World unto the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ To whom with thee O Father of Mercy and the Holy Spirit the Comforter of the Elect be rendred all Honor and Glory in Heaven and in Earth from this time forth and to all Eternity Amen CHAP. XXIII Of External Actions THE External Actions of Men are the product and fruit of their Thoughts and as we owe Sanctimony to God and our own Consciences within so do we good Examples to our Neighbors in things External And our blessed Saviour in his Sermon on the Mount excites us with this Doctrin Mat. 5.16 Let your Light so shine before Men that they may see your good Works and glorifie your Father which is in Heaven 2. GOOD Actions proceed from a sound Credence without which they cannot be good nor pleasing in the Sight of Heaven For whatsoever is not of Faith is Sin Rom. 14.23 For Faith apprehending Christ to our Justification renders our Works
Supream Court of Judicature within us and above us and a silent Register of our Thoughts and Words It is a thousand Witnesses as the Apostle says Accusing or Excusing Rom. 2.15 Such is the Impartiality of this Judge that no Bribery can tempt him to Justifie the Wicked nor Condemn the Just but he is the first Revenger of Impiety and an excluder of the Guilty from Absolution 2. IN true Tranquility of Conscience the Heart is cheerful in every Estate and Condition Rom. 5.1 3. and dreadeth no Judge nor Witness It is a continual Feast the Soul's Paradise the Mind 's fair Haven an unvaluable Possession which renders every owner Happy It is an immoveable Comfort the first Fruits of Heaven and Riches which shall never be taken away As no Wind can move or shake the Sun-beams so neither Life nor Death Prosperity or Adversity can Transfix this While this is secure tho Men receive many sharp Encounters as the Citizens of Ai did Josh. 7. Yet are they confident to resist they can resolve with that pattern of Patience Job 13.15 Tho he Kill me yet will I trust in him But if that fail and the Smoak ascendeth their Hearts are under a great Consternation Josh. 8.20 3. THE Almighty Woundeth and Healeth Deut. 32.39 Job 5.18 But it is with his Justice and Mercy The Wise Man says Prov. 6.32 33. We wound our selve by Sin and God healeth us by Afflictions as Chirurgions do with the Lancet and Cautery Sins are the Thieves which rob us and leave us wounded us by the way till the good Samaritan appears with his Wine and Oil to cleanse supple and bind up our Wounds He scourgeth the Conscience with a sense of his Anger to make us sensible of our Sins and to bring us to an abhorrence of them And thus he sometimes Disciplines us with external Afflictions 4. GOD sometimes wounds the Heart and terrifies the Conscience by the Word Preached and then we are Pricked at the Heart and with St. Peter's Auditors cry out Men and Brethren what shall we do Acts 2.37 Sometimes he smites the Conscience with an inward sense and apprehension of his fierce Wrath and severe imminent Judgments in which as the Psalmist complains of Psalm 55.4 5. An Horrible fear overtaketh them like the Earthquake at Horeb preceeding the Still small voice of Mercy 1 Kings 19.11 12. In sense of a Spiritual Desertion while he hideth away his Face Spiritual Wants or permission to some grievous Temptation cold Fits of Despair and Buffetings by the Messengers of Satan in all which tho there be means of Comfort appointed yet none can prevail till the Spirit of God the Comforter return and Heal. 5. THE same Hand giveth the Wound and prescribeth the Plaister as it was said Hos. 5.13 The Assyrians and Jareb could not heal Judah and Ephraim of their Wound so no Mortal Creature can administer Comfort whereby to heal a wounded Spirit till he who correcteth in Measure approaches and bindeth it up Jer. 30.11 c. He only he says the Psalmist Psalm 147.3 He healeth the broken in Heart and bindeth up their Wounds Even he who was Wounded for our Sins and bruised for our Iniquities and by whose Stripes we are Healed Isa. 53.5 CHAP. XXVII What things principally wound the Conscience THERE are some things which Principally afflict and wound the Conscience and comes up as the Prophet mentions 1 Sam. 13.17 like those Philistim Spoilers in three Companies to destroy and drive Men into Despair And the first Apparition and Assault is the apprehension of God's Wrath for some Hainous Sin committed An Instance we have in Cain having Murdered his Brother cryed out My Sin or Punishment is greater than I can bear Gen. 4.13 And Judas having betray'd his Lord and Master durst not approach to him to beg Mercy by reason he apprehended an implacable Anger in Christ. 2. IT is certain according to the Apostles saying That the Wrath of God cometh on the Children of Disobedience Col. 3.6 And that his Wrath is revealed from Heaven against all Vngodliness and Vnrighteousness of Men Rom. 1.18 And that the Impenitent by their hardness of Heart treasure up to themselves Wrath against the day of Wrath That theâ—e shall be Indignation and Wrath to them that obey not the Truth Rom. 2.5 8. But when thou who art of a wounded Spirit and broken Heart hast well considered perhaps thou wilt find that these things are of no Concernment to thee but to those who live in Sin 3. THE second Obstacle in wounding the Conscience is sense of Spiritual Wants as Hope Faith assurance of Salvation the Spirit of Sanctification and Prayer These being the Graces of the Almighty and the Presence of his Holy Spirit in the Regenerate may yet for the time be an hidden Treasure an Immortal Seed under the frozen Clods without any appearance of Life And the truly Devout may weep and complain like the Penitent Magdalen in the Garden for the loss of Christ when at the same season he is discoursing with them but they are ignorant of his Presence John 20.14 4. THE third Obstacle is fear of some strong Temptations and Tryals at which the afflicted and affrighted Conscience is Amazed as the Disciples were when Jesus slept in the Storm and the Ship was Over-mastered with Waves and ready to Travel to the bottom of the Sea upon Death's Errand Matt. 8.24 25. Or like St. Peter on the Water when he beheld the rough Billows come Plowing before him cryeth out Save Master we Perish Matt. 14.30 When it evidently appears they cannot Perish who are with Christ nor they cannot be Safe who are without him CHAP. XXVIII Divine Considerations of the Afflicted AS God is Just so he is Merciful he is no enexorable Radamanth but he is easie to be entreated Concerning whom we have a Word more sure than any Testimony of Man for the Almighty in Exod. 34.6 being his own Herald thus proclaims himself The Lord merciful and gracious long-suffering and abundant in Goodness and Truth keeping Mercy for Thousands forgiving Iniquity and Transgression and Sin Now if that which others report of the Kings of Israel 1 Kings 20.31 That they were merciful Kings Could perswade them to seek Mercy and to enjoy their Lives and Liberties how much more should that which God who cannot lye hath declared himself Tit. 1.2 move the afflicted Soul humbly to Petition him for Mercy who is more ready to grant it than we are or can be to entreat it for ask it we never could except his preventing Grace and holy Spirit invisibly moved us 2. GOD delights not in the Death of Sinners but in their Conversion Ezek. 18. And as it is a true Prognostick of a Guests being welcome by the good Aspects and Deportment of the Family So it is an evident signal that a Penitent Sinner is welcome to Heaven by the Angels loud Exultations If God in his good Pleasure would have destroyed thee how often
like Crimson they shall be as Wool CHAP. XXX Divine Considerations of our Repentance forgiving Enemies and the Love of God CONSIDER why Christ came into the World The beloved Disciple informs you John 3.16 Because he so loved it God sent him to save Sinners not only them who had broken some of his Commandments But as St. Paul saith He came into the World to save Sinners of whom I am chief 1 Tim. 1.15 He came to call as himself professeth Not the Righteous but Sinners to Repentance Mat. 9.13 Mark 2.17 He called the heavy laden not fallaciously but indeed to ease and disburthen them of their Sins Mat. 11.28 He saved the Publicans and notorious Sinners and to manifest the same in contempt of Pharisaical Calumnies conversed with them 2. CONSIDER that God who commanded us to forgive not only seventy times but oftner would not enjoin us that which himself could not or would not perform He is essentially and so infinitely gracious that his Mercy is more than thousands of Oceans which can never be exhausted Man hath but a slender Stock a finite Mercy at the best and such as may be diminished and vanquished by Injuries He that enjoineth Man to forgive without Exception could not in his Justice command and require Man to forgive more than himself in his abundant Mercy could or was willing to assent to Add to this a Consideration of his tender Love He hath planted a Paternal Love and Care not only in Parents for their Children but lest we should suppose it rather habitual than natural taught by Precept or Example rather implanted by the Almighty in their Natures in the very brute Beasts of the Field and Birds of the Air for the Preservation of their Young All this Love in the Creature is but momentany but in God it is Essential Infinite and Unchangeable 3. NOW consider did God give Man suppose David so much Love and Mercy as that upon the Mediation of the Tekoite he could presently be reconciled to a Rebellious Absolom hath he given thee Bowels of Compassion and an ardent Zeal for thy Childrens Good and Safety to mourn for their Transgressions and to be ready upon the least appearance or signs of amendment to enter into a Reconciliation with them and canst thou conceive that God will not be much more ready to Pardon thee if thou canst heartily Repent and Implore Forgiveness through the Merits of a Crucified JESVS the Son of his Love and in whom he hath proclaimed from Heaven He is well pleased Matt. 3.17 4. THE Custom among the Molossians was whom Plutarch mentions that the Petitioner should take up the King's Son in his Arms and so kneeling before the Altar nothing was denied for the Protection and Safety of the Suppliant So Themistocles found favour with King Admetus So likewise will our Heavenly King give Audience to our Petitions if we present him in the Arms of Faith his Beloved Son Christ Jesus with the Merits of his Death and Passion A wounded Spirit a broken and a contrite Heart is an acceptable Sacrifice to God and that which he will not despise Psalm 51.19 Thou canst not reasonably think thy Case detestable for that which God approveth and loveth in thee and hath so mercifully Cherished in those he dearly loved The Royal Psalmist the Man after his own Heart felt this which thou art afraid of My Heart saith he is Wounded within me Psalm 109.22 5. CONSIDER seriously that a calm Conscience is not always the best nor a Tempestuous the worst There is a Lethargy and Stupidity of an evil Conscience in a Carnal Security This Calm is such a Storm wherein the Soul like the Men of Laish is quiet and secure until some Spiritual Danites awake it and the Sinner goeth on like Agag thinking surely that the Bitterness of Death is past As some Heart-sick Patient in whom Nature's strength is so far decayed that he is insensible of the undiscovered approaches of Death now imminent even such is the calm Conscience of a secure Sinner 6. NOW if that Angel Guardian the Conscience which God and Nature has placed within the Breast of a Righteous Person be sometimes at Variance and upon the seasonable point of Admonition for some Sin Unrepented we may infer it to be like the Ship in which Jonah fled followed with Storms untill he was cast forth whereby his Happiness might be the greater But the danger is desperate with those when the Mind is Drowsie and will not be awakened from its Guilt and Impenitency but are given up to the Spirit of Slumber those I say if at any time their Conscience within 'em whispers and severely Checks 'em then are they ready to cry out as Ahab to Elijah Hast thou found me O mine Enemy If we are not sensible of our Wounds the sign is Mortal therefore let us not our selves remove from that wholesome Discipline or fly that Chirurgion whose Lancet threatens none but the imposthumated Parts but rather chuse wisely that main skill of knowing whether our Consciences thus lull'd up in treacherous sleep or disturbed by that Voice within us which of these two I say prognosticates the most Danger CHAP. XXXI The Examination of the Conscience concerning our Repentance c. TO this a serious Examination is requisite wherein I shall lay down these Particulars First some Reasons why we must seriously examine our Consciences Secondly The main Lets incident thereto Thirdly Certain Rules by which we may throughly Examine Fourthly Interrogatories to be proposed to the afflicted Conscience Fifthly Some Conclusions necessary to be drawn from the Whole 2. FIRST We ought to Examine our selves for certainly God hath not so often Commanded it in vain Lam. 3.40 Psal. 4.4 1 Cor. 11.28 2 Cor. 13.5 Secondly Without this we cannot know our Sins and so not Repent nor have any solid Comfort in Impenitency We are extream apt to mistake our selves which if we do we can have no sound Comfort in the Testimony of a good Conscience which presupposeth Faith and Illumination Thirdly Without this we cannot possibly know which way we are going the Broad way to Destruction or the Narrow to Salvation which were very necessary to comfort us if we go right or to recal and rectifie us if wrong Fourthly Without this we can never make a right use of God's Chastisements nor obtain any comfortable way out of 'em Neither can we distinguish his Operations of Mercy in us when he Humbleth us here that we may be Exalted hereafter 3. NOW the common Obstructions to this Duty are first an Evil Conscience which being wounded by a deep Guilt cannot endure any Searching Secondly Native Hypocrisie misrepresenting us to our selves by denominating us highly Pious and looking upon it as an important Injury not to be counted so Thirdly distracting Cares of this Life and Carnal Security which say with those Jews Hag. 1.2 The time is not come These make Men refer their Repentance to the last Hour even to
dangerously to fall or St. Peter and St. Paul is dubious except to humble them and leave us motives to Repentance and as for his Judgments be assured they are ever just 10. WHEN thou art under any Temptation examine thy self whether thou delightest in it If thou takest no pleasure in it nor consentest to it but rather startlest at it as a thing which thy Soul detests and abhorrs it shall not prejudice thee Now consider whether the Temptation which commonly assaulteth thee is such as probably ariseth from the Corruption of thine own heart which is usually inferred by the Thoughts Parley from one thing to another by direct or natural mediums But if it be a Temptation of Satan's cast into thy Soul it is vulgarly abrupt and such as thou didst not think of Incongruous Sudden Unnatural and such as thou tremblest at as Blasphemous Sanguine or Desperate Though in some Temptations he takes the opportunity of deluding our sight and hearing joyning himself with our natural inclination to sin And these are his Messengers the Apostle mentions 1 Cor. 12.21 22. Gal. 5.20 Who are like Traytors Corrupted by some Foreign State against their native Country Now if a Temptation arise of Corrupted nature the Remedy must be the depression of carnal Reason and Affections For if it be Satan's Instigations the very discovery will infer a Detestation whereby thou mayest gain the Conquest for if we yield not to his allurements he is utterly vanquished 11. WHEN any motion excites thee either Internally by Suggestion or Externally by persuasions of Men observe the Apostles Rule 1 Job 4.1 Believe not every Spirit but try the Spirits whether they are of God because many false Prophets are gone out into the World and by this thou art proved whether thou lovest the Lord thy God with all thy Heart And St. Paul tells ye there must be also Heresies among you 1 Cor. 11.19 Therefore Examine whether they bring any Propositions against Faith the substance of the Gospel Sanctimony commanded in God's Law Peace Order Charity and Unity To this end that if we discern any thing in Mens perswasions or any internal Suggestions contrary to our great Law-Giver we may conclude them Carnal Earthly Sensual and Devilish and so use our utmost endeavour to resist them which may be perform'd by the practice of these Rules following Thoughts to the Almighty in Sincere and Fervent Prayer to preserve thee from Temptations and to guide all thy Thoughts Words and Actions so that waking thou mayst walk sincerely in his presence and sleeping rest assuredly in his Protection Prepare and fortifie thy self against these encounters of Temptations with the whole Armour of God Eph. 6.12 Thou must expect Tryals for thy Adversaries are Formidable such as Flesh and Blood Principalities and Spiritual Wickednesses It is a Conflict the more terrible by being Abstruse and with an invisible puissant indefatigable and restless Antagonist with whom thou canst not Truce safely Therefore contrive before-hand like the Wise Master-Builder to fix the Basis upon a Rock against which no Winds Storms or Floods can prevail Mat. 7.24 25. 13. THE Mariner doth not design his Ship only for a Calm but also against furious Storms and rough Seas Prepare thy self with the Anchor of the Soul Heb. 6.19 Hope to lay hold on Christ who therefore suffered and was tempted that he might deliver thee from and in Temptations Next Fraught thy self with Patience and all things necessary for Tryals which thou must in reason expect before thou canst arrive at thy desired Haven It were great Incogitancy to think that Satan who could not abstain from tempting the Lord Jesus in whom was found no sin will ever give thee a Cessation from Temptations in whom he conceives some hopes of prevailing for he will endeavour to perplex thee though he cannot attain to vanquish thee 14. BE vigilant lest ye enter into Temptation Because your Adversary the Devil as a roaring Lyon walketh about seeking whom he may devour 1 Pet. 5.8 And be not less vigilant for your own Salvation Some have not observed whether a mischievous Temptation hath hurried them but hath been surprized and led into some desperate sins which upon true Opticks have abhorred and trembled at Thou must expect many assaults for Satan leaves them sometimes to return with seven worse Spirits Luke 11.26 That security may destroy thee when no other means are prevalent Be not Precipitated into any sudden undertaking but consult first the Oracles of God and there receive direction Let them be as the Cloudy Pillar to Israel and where that directeth Steer thy Course accordingly 15. FOLLOW the Apostle's advice St. James 4.7 Resist the Devil and he will flie from you If thou Surrendrest or givest him the least advantage he is Tyrannical Next observe St. Paul's Exhortation to his Son Timothy to flie youthful lusts 2 Tim. 2.22 For they are like Serpents and there 's no safe debate with them except by fasting and Prayer Therefore the exquisitest way is flight Stop thy Ears to the Enchanting Syrens and with the Patientest of Men make a Covenant with thine Eyes not to behold that which shall prejudice thee Job 31.1 Take heed of all Incentives and Inauspicious motives beware of Tamar's ways and Dalilah's Embraces Solomon's Curtisans Invitations and presented Opportunities Suspected Company Lascivious Entertainments Betraying Gifts and whatsoever may lead thee to the paths of Death 16. AS the subtile Enemy fixes his Gins according as he finds the assaulted inclinable to be ensnared so be thou careful most to fortifie thy self where thou findest him placing his main Batteries And most carefully watch over thy self where he most frequently assaileth thee In this use Perseverance which will prove an Antidote against that Malice which else would destroy thee To reckon up all the Artifices of this Tempter would be Voluminous I shall only instance some few And first he represents himself in the shape of a Serpent with his destructive Commentaries on the forbidden fruit Secondly He appears like a holy Prophet with lying Visions to Bewitch the foolish and impotent Next he comes like a Court like Sophister with ample promises of Wealth Honour and Pleasure another time he Acts the Pander and produces a Bathsheba bathing her self And lastly He hellishly studies the secret Conspirator and assists Judas in the betraying of his Lord and Master and for revenge of so horrid a Fact makes him become his own Executioner therefore search into his Gifts and whatever they are fear the Enemy As Saul said of David 1 Sam. 23.22 See his place where his haunt is for he dealeth very subtily He never pretends the least shadow of Goodness but there 's some mischief in the end of it he is studious of Men and where a Gentle disposition is evident he tempts to Luxury an Ambitious to some lofty and impious designs and the Angry to Revenge In this so important Affair thou canst not be too Politick therefore where thou art