but Christ None but Christ He alone being able to quench her thirst to satisfie her hunger to grant her desires to supply her wants to cure her maladies to support her under pressures to ease her of her burdens to vanquish her enemies to resolve all her doubts to revive her in her swounings to strengthen her in her languishings to give her cordials in her faintings to secure her from her fears to comfort her in her sorrows to calm her in to sanctyfie unto her and to free her from all her troubles by confirming her faith increasing her graces multiplying her Joyes and establishing her peace in the firm assurance and cleer Evidence by his holy Spirit of his free infinite eternall unchangeable love unto her the full satisfaction given by him to the Justice of God for her and his free miraculous redemption of her from her spirituall thraldome from the curse and rigour of the Law from the raigning condemning power of sin and from Satan wrath eternal Death and Hell Thirdly Consider that these divine Treasures will afford you reall comforts in the dark cloudy showry daies of adversity yea in the saddest condition whereas all those sublâ—nary injoyments comforts and contentments which the worldly minded in their prosperity do so much admire delight and so eagerly pursue if you seek to them when you are afflicted tempted or dejected for relief deliverance or consolation will answer you as the * 2 Kings 26. 27. King of Israel did that distressed woman in the Famine of Samaria when she cryed to him as he passed by Help my Lord O King If the Lord do not help thee said he whence shall I help thee Riches will answer it is not in me to succour solace or save you Honour power pleasure c. will answer too nor in us For all we cannot make or give you an healing plaister for your hurt We cannot cure the wound which the fiery Serpent of sin hath made in your Consciences nor take out its painfull deadly sting We can neither make your peace with the Lord shield you from his mortall arrows interest you in his tender mercies procure the yearning bowels nor purchase the precious bloud of Jesus Christ to sanctifie or save to cure or comfort you Thus and no otherwise will they answer own befriend and bestead all those in the day of their visitation that have made earth their Heaven Honour their Idoll Opulency their Deity the World their God and Greatness their Happiness Fourthly Consider that you may have a Confluence of all temporall blessings and yet be both hated and Cursed of God You may have all the good things of this Life and yet be bad men You may enjoy the world and yet want Christ and so be truely eternally wretched undone ruined for all that Quid enim prodest si omnia habes eum tamen qui omnia dedit non habere 'T is not lucre but losse 't is not wealth but wants yea beggerie to have all the world from God if that God who made the World and gives us all things be not our God But if you have these spirituall treasures then you will enjoy Christ and with him all things * Rom. 8. 32. Will he who hath freely given us gold denie us clay Will he who hath bestowed pearls upon us refuse to grant pebbles to us Will he who hath cloathed us with Robes denie us Raggs will he who hath given us Diamonds denie us dust or dirt No * 1 Cor. 21. 22. 33. no do but read that great Charter of all true Christians which like the Laws of the Medes and Persians will never be altered nor repealed and there in Golden Letters you may run and read the portion priviledges and inheritance of every true beleever All is yours saith that great Apostle whether Paul or Apollo or Cephas or the World or Life or Death or things present or things to come all are yours and you are Christs and Christ is Gods So that every heavenly minded Christian as well as a holy Corinthian having a deed of Gift made to him by God written with Christs bloud sealed by his holy Spirit and witnessed by his faithful Servant pious and blessed St. Paul of such precious inestimable Riches may truly contemningly say to the World when she Courts him to imbrace covet love Idolize her and saies as the Divell did to Christ when he tempted him to worship him All these things will I give thee sugred pleasures gaudie riches glittering pomp swelling studied titles downâ—e ease rosie delights dazling Majestâ—e c. as * Dan. 5. 17. Daniel did to Belshazzer when he promised him Riches honour and promotion to interpret his Dreams Let thy gifts be to thy self and give thy Rewards to another And as †Genes 33. 9. Esau did to his Brother Jacob when he tendred his present to him I have enough keep that thou hast thy self For how can they want any thing whose Husband is not only kind loving and faithful but also both the Lord and Heir of all things and whose Father the God of truth hath promised to give to his Sons Wife every sincere Christian for a Dower or Jointure both * Psalm 84. 11 Grace Glorie and every good thing Lastly Consider that an holy greecinesse and covetousnesse after these ever enduring treasures these best gifts an indefatigable diligence to attain them a restlesse care for them and the setting of your hearts the fixing of your affections intirely upon them is both the best and surest way to provide not only for your selves but for your posteritie also For if God be your Father he will be your Childrens Guardian he will take the charge of them and care for them so that they shall neither * Psalm 37 25 want nor be wronged since the Lord is not only able but willing to protect and supply them And it 's a truth equally bright and comfortable that the Children of religious Parents who have had no other inheritance portions or legacies but their faithful prayers holy Counsells and pious Examples to settle upon them or be queath unto them to live upon and to set up withall in the World have yet prospered come to honour and been blest with both plentie and felicitie whereas the off-spring of the wicked who have been left heirs to very vast summs of money and great estates have come to a morsell of Bread by reason of Gods either secret or visible but alwaies most just curse upon what they enjoy for either their own or the sins of their fore-fathers in wickedly getting unlawfully keeping or sinfully abusing and mispending of them Male parta male et cito dilabuntur Besides Injusta lucra breves habent voluptates longos autem dolores The momentanie pleasures of unjust Gaine will be imbittered and punished with eternall pains and sorrows The Prayer O LORD so desirous art thou to save and so unwilling to destroy the miserable undone because
all transgressions pardoned and exiled persons were recalled Whoever cometh to this holy Sacrament clothed with the new and rich apparell of Christs righteousnesse and can with the hand of a justifying faith touch Jesus Christ shall be sure to find and receive comfort favor acceptance a discharge from the debt of sin liberty and inlargement from the slavery of his own Lusts and from the captivity of Satan communion with Christ here and admission into the Kingdome of Heaven out of which man was justly excluded exiled for sin and Rebellion hereafter For when by death a true Christian doth put off the Rags of his mortality God will invest him with the Robes of Glory to all Eternity The Prayer EVer blessed God such are thy tender mercies unspeakeable Love and matchlesse Bounty to thy Children upon earth that as thou hast prepared and provided for them both Mansions and a feast a Supper of Glory with the Lamb in the Kingdome of Heaven so hast thou also provided a spirituall Banquet and furnished thy Table with most exquisite curious precious and delicious dainties to refresh nourish comfort strengthen and unite them in their journey and whilest they are upon their way thither this Blessed Sacrament O Lord let not I beseech thee this Soul-feeding heart-chearing Grace-strengthening and increasing communion and Supper be neglected undervalued contemned or denyed through the corruptions contentions differences carelesnesse or ungrounded scrupulousnesse of Men. â—ut let Ministers O Lord carefully obey thy command and conscientiously discharge their own Duty in rightly and frequently administring of it to their people that thy bitter thy bloudy Death O Blessed Saviour may be constantly and thankfully remembred thy wonderful unparalleled undeserved love pity goodnesse acknowledged and thy great Name praised and glorified And let Christians O Lord come to this Holy Sacrament so qualified and prepared that their Graces may be strengthened their Souls as with marrow and fatnesse satisfied their interest in Christ cleared and confirmed their joyes and comforts multiplied their Affections inseparably united and their mutuall love to one another mightily increased Grant this O Lord for his sake who is both the maker of the Feast and the Feast himself Jesus Christ Amen Coena Domini cibus est Animae alimentum Gratiae Nutrix pietatis solaminis canalis pignus amoris condonationis sigillum et corroborationis Sacramentum XIX Of Preaching THE sacred word of God purely rightly and powerfully preached is that Bethesday wherein Mephibosheths souls lamed in their feet their affections by the fall which they had out of the arms of Adam and Eve are cured and thereby inabled to run the ways of Gods commandements 'T is the * Cantic 4. 16. and 7. 5. Garden the Gallery where Christ meeteth speaks to and walks with his people 'T is the mount of blessings conduit of faith Golden Scepter of mercy and the spirituall seed of Grace and Life 'T is the Chariot in which Christ rideth triumphantly into the Soul 'T is the hammer that breaks open the iron door of the heart the key that unlocks it T is the fire that consumeth all Satans strong holds in the spirit 'T is spirituall eye-salve that gives a blind Bartimeus his sight And 't is the voice that awakens the most drouzy deaf secure sinner a Rainold Orat. 1. p. 41. What the Orator saith de Oratione is true de praedicatione Morbis inquit animi medicinam facere debet praedicatio facit comprimendo quae tument roborando quae languent quae inflammant leniendo coercendo quae diffluunt expurgando quae redundant 'T is an Ark alwaies bringing blessings with it Nathan which wil rouse convince and humble Davids relapsing Saints T is a Peter pricking the hearts of great and grosse sinners to their conversion sanctification Salvation 'T is a messenger sent from God and bringing with it those three wonderfull glorious instimable Jewels and blessings to the soul sense of sin assurance of pardon and a through reformation both of the Heart and life It s the means which God hath promised commanded owned blessed and sanctyfied by the inward powerfull and effectual operation of his holy Spirit speaking home to the conscience stirring those healing waters of the sanctuary and accompanying the outward administration of the word most ordinarily and efficaciously to instruct the ignorant confirm the weak to warm the cold mollifie the hard melt the frozen comfort them that mourn to awaken those that are drowsie resolve those who doubt incourage and quiet such as fear guide them that erre bind up the broken hearted and to quicken those that are dead in trespasses and sins T is a Cornâ—copia of all those excellent spirituall mercies and comforts 'T is the granary of celestial food and Manna the silver trumpet of peace and the white flag of mercy to a people It 's a Nilus that softens refresheth and fructifieth barren hard and languishing hearts T is a Mary with Christ in the womb of it an Angell instructing a Philip a light in the thickest saddest darknesse and a comfortable seasonable rain in a drought 'T is both meat to the hungry water to the thirsty physick to the diseased milk to the weak a Lamp to them that wander and wine to the sorrowfull In Asia it was a custome that the Child which was not nursed by his mother should not have the goods of his Mother Those who are not nursed by that Mother the true Church of Christ with the breasts of Gods word and ordinances faithfully and duly administred are never like to have God for their Father nor to be heires of the Churches estate I mean the love promises protection grace and blessing of the Lord nor to enjoy the glorious inheritance of her Children eternall felicity hereafter The Prayer O LORD thou art so farre from desiring or delighting in the eternall Damnation of the vilest greatest grossest sinners that thou hast commanded the Gospell of Salvation to be preached to every creature both to Jews and Gentiles Yet since even this word of Life is both a dead and a killing Letter without the quickening sanctifying influence and efficacy of thy holy Spirit Grant blessed God that the Holy Ghost may both teach and speak effectually convincingly convertingly savingly to the ears and hearts of unregenerated Sinners that so the dead may both hear and feel the voice and power of the Son of God and live And be thou pleased most merciful God so to own blesse and prosper thine own Labourers in thy vine-yard that the Consciences of those who are enemies to thine own ordinances and Ministers may be convinced their spirits grieved and humbled their mouths stopped their sin and errours discovered to them hated by them and forsaken of them And that the understandings of those who hear and enjoy them may be savingly enlightened their hearts graciously changed their Lives throughly reformed and their souls everlastingly saved Let him who is the Word Jesus Christ be ushered
Loyall and impenitent truly sorrowfull for all our transgressions 3. It quickens and breatheth Life into us that were by nature dead and buried in trespasses and sins 4. It both inspires and stirreth up good motions in our soules 5. It helps our infirmities makes c Rom. 8. 26. intercession for us indites our prayers inables us to pray fervently faithfully prevailingly to God for Grace pardon and salvation 6. It comforts quiets and supports mourning doubting drooping hearts 7. It leads and keepeth Christians into and in the way of holinesse till they come to heaven and enjoy eternall happinesse 8. It sanctifieth and maketh Gods ordinances effectuall for the conviction and conversion of sinners Lastly to name no more it dwelleth and abideth in all those that truly repent believe love obey fear and serve God The Holy Ghost is compared and resembled in Scripture to divers things First it 's compared to d Jere. 23 29. Acts 2. 3. fire and that in these respects Fire first heats 2. shines 3. ascends 4. softens and 5. refines drossy and hard things so the Holy Ghost 1. inflames our frozen hearts with love to God and zeale for God 2 It makes Christians shine in works of piety justice charity mercy and in holinesse of life 3. It raiseth their naturally low-flying or rather crawling affections from earthly things and maketh them to mount and fix them upon God Christ and heavenly things 4. It turneth a heart of Adamant into a soft and tender heart of flesh 5. It purgeth away a Christians drosse it purifies him from his corruptions and filth Secondly the Holy Ghost is compared to e Ezech. 36. 25. water for as water 1. refreshes 2. quenches 3 cleanses 4. fructifies So the Spirit of God comforts cheares and reviveth troubled weary languishing hearts 2. It quencheth Gods fiery wrath kindled and flaming out against transgressors in their terrors spiritual desertion trouble anguish of soul and conscience for their sins 3 It cleanseth them from all filthiness both of flesh spirit 4. It makes them fruitful in every good work Thirdly the Holy Ghost is compared to a * John 3. 32. Dove As Doves are 1. meek for they have no gall 2. innocent and harmlesse creatures 3. Lovers of and delighted with white houses to sit and roost in Amant alba tecta Columbae So those Christians that have the spirit of God are 1. free from malice hatred sinfull anger envy or however they mourn and are exceedingly displeased with themselves for being otherwise 2. The Holy Ghost makes them not only carefull to do no hurt or wrong to any but also willing and desirous to do good unto others especially spiritually that is to their soules 3. It makes their hearts pure and white by sprinkling the bloud of Christ upon them and working godly sorrow in them without which it will neither delight nor dwell in them because sin unrepented of makes the soul black ugly and filthy Fourthly the holy Ghost is compared to * Acts 2. 3. cloven fiery tonguâ—s to teach us that our tongues must be cloven with Charity and fervency in our prayers for 1. we must not only beg earnestly for mercy but we must also praise the Lord most heartily for his mercies petition and thanksgiving must cleave them 2. We must pray for both spirituall and temporall mercies these must again divide our tongues 3. We must pray and â—ry mightily not only for pardon of sin for the removal or sanctification of afflictions for grace and prosperity to and for our selves but for all others also 4. We must pray not only that God would give us and others glory hereafter but also that we and they may honour and glorifie God here And certainly all those that have this glorious Spirit have also not only their tongues but their hearts too thus cloven with zeal I mean for God and love to their own and others souls Fifthly the Holy Ghost is compared to a * Ephes 1. 13. Seal because as Deeds and Conveyances are unable and ineffectual to settle and assure those things conteined in them being null and voyd in Law till they be fealed So we can have no sound good or clear Evidences that our sins are forgiven us that God is reconciled to us that the Lord Jesus is our Jesus and that our souls shall be saved till we be sealed by the Spirit of God Sixthly the Holy Ghost is compared to * 2 Cor. 1 22 and ch 4. v. 5. Earnest for as Earnest is an argument and proof of an agreement betwixt man and man for something to be delivered and given by one to another and also an assurance that some other and greater thing shall be made good and received when that is given and taken So by having the Earnest of the Spirit Christians are assured that now the Lord and they are agreed and reconciled that they shall undoubtedly have his favour blessing grace here and that they shall hereafter injoy eternall joy and blisse with him for ever Seventhly the Holy Ghost is compared to †John 16. 13. a Guide because as Guides do 1. Comfort 2. direct 3 defend 4. keep those they travail with from wandring 5. accompany them and bring them to their Journeys end So the spirit of God doth 1. wonderfully solace and rejoyce the hearts of tru Christians in their pilgrimage on earth 2. It directs and sheweth them which is the sure good and best way for them to go in 3. It secures and delivers them from those enemies and dangers that lye in Ambush to surprize them and are ready to seize upon them 4. It keeps them from erring and straying in the broad dangerous yea deadly ways of sin and leads them forward in the narrow but safe and happy path of life And lastly the Holy Ghost never leaves them finally but conducts them with safety joy and comfort to their earnestly longed for and desired home Heaven These and such like are the bright beautiful and refreshing Beams that ray from his glorious Sun and dart consolation exultation peace and felicity into the hearts of Gods people These are the pure reviving and pleasant streams that flow from this Fountain or rather Ocean into the fouls of true Christians These are the radiant rich yea precious and inestimable Jewels that embellish and adorn the Holy Spirits Mansion a truely Gracious heart Let us then sincerely desire fervently beg highly prize this Holy Spirit and when ever it knocks at the door of our hearts by any holy motions say as †Genes 24. 31. Laban did to Abrahams Servant Come in thou blessed of the Lord wherefore standest thou without for I have prepared a room for thee The Prayer O Eternall infinite and incomprehensible Lord God who art Three in One and One in Three most glorious Persons distinguished but not divided grant I humbly beseech thee that the Holy Ghost the Spirit of Light Truth and Life may illuminate all
those that are darkened with Ignorance and benighted in Superstition with the glorious Beames of saving knowledge Let it guide all those that wander in the by paths of Errour and Wickednesse into the safe way of Verity and Holinesse And let it quicken such as are dead in Trespasses and Sins that those dry bones those stinking Lazarusses may rise live and praise thee Let it O Lord convince convert humble purifie and regenerate those that are secure profane carnall and unclean that so being sanctified by the Spirit of Christ they may be comfortably assured they are justified by the Merits of Christ Let good God thy Holy Spirit excite perswade inable Christians to try discern and judge which is the true Spirit the Spirit of Truth that so they may not be deluded but infallibly directed by it to choose and to walk under the Câ—nduct thereof in the way of Holinesse that leads to happinesse And do thou O Lord who art the Father of Spirits give us all thy Holy Spirit whereby we may be inabled to cry Abba Father for thy Sons and our alone Saviours sake Jesus Christ Amen Sine Spiritu Sancto nec lux pax puritas Sanctitas nec gloria IV. Of Sinne and Sinners T is the true and fruitfull mother of miseries A Pandoras Box full of all reall deadly plagues and curses T is the poyson of the soul rack of Conscience the Bellows fewell oyle that blow kindle and continue the fiery wrath of God burning against all obstinate perpetrators thereof a Ho 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 632. Like Homers Thersites it's ugly without as well as within having like the subtile cruell Panther a deformed head as well as a destructive deadly paw Like Judas it kisses and betrayes us Like Ioab it embraces stabâ— and kills at once b Quint Curtius lib. 8. p. 154. Sin is like to the River Nilus whose streams do cause and produce a fruitfulnesse even to wonder but yet it abounds with crocodiles wickednesse is sometimes prosperous but it s always dangerous and without Repentance deadly It 's like the Caspian Sea which affords the sweetest waters but breeds the greatest Serpents The Preface of sin may be pleasure its Exordium delight but the Finis thereof will be punishment At sins table the first course may be contentment but the second will be death It may appear to our dim eyes a Dove but if we once lodge it in our bosomes or imbrace it we shall finde it a serpent that will both sting and kill us T is a Siren which allures us to our ruine a Thiefe that robs us of our chiefest treasures our choycest mercies Gods favour a saving interest in Christ pardon of sin peace of Conscience grace glory It 's the souls both Leprosie and murderer Like the stone by the river Maeander called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the sober stone which put into a mans bosome would make him mad it distracts us Like that deaf-stone which I have read is in Scotland that one standing at one end of it can not hear what another saith standing at the other end thereof it stops the ears of the Lord that our Prayers cannot find audience or acceptance with him * Esay 59. 1. 2. Behold the Lords hand is not shortned that it cannot save neither his ear heavy that it cannot hear But your iniquities have separated between you and your God and your sins have hid his face from you that he will not hear c Plutarch in ejus vitâ— What Phociâ—n the Athenian once said to the people of Athens viz. All that ever you say and do dislikes me God * Prov. 15 8 9. 26. saith and declareth to all wicked persons whose both prayers wayes and thoughts are abominable to him yea and their civill actions too †for the ploughing of the wicked is sin * Prov. 21. 4. Sin it blots out all the characters of beauty comelinesse and amabilitie which God at first engraved upon the soul it covers also the face of the soul which was most fair and lovely till sin did spoil blast and soil it with a black vail of deformity and renders it loathsome and ugly in the pure eye of God It defaces yea ruins the rarest piece of the whole Creation the Epitome of the Universe the wonder of Nature the miracle of the world Man It not only poysons the lower springs of earthly injoyments turns blessings into curses but like Pharaohs lean kine it devours consumes those sat ones riches health greatness peace plenty and all * Read Deut. 28. chapt worldly prosperity It also which is a mischief infinitely greater then the other dams up the current of those upper springs grace mercy speciall love salvation so that the soul like the mountains of Gilbea hath no celestiall showres of holinesse or reall happinesse rained upon it It turned Paradise into a wildernesse and makes the world a Pest-house when that too pregnant womb the heart hath conceived Sin by the Devill who is the true Father thereof it nourishes seeds and keeps it till it falls in travail of those cursed dreadful monstrous Twins Guilt and Misery and then it 's carried and laid down by death and judgment in a bed of fire and attended only with Devils and Reprobates without all possibility or hope of ever being delivered It grieves Heaven but makes Hell triumph It 's a tree that bears no other fruit but shame sorrow wrath and death Doe but wipe your eyes and behold the ugly face of sin in the Crystall glass of Gods word and also in those red mirrors the fearfull judgements the dreadful vengeance of the Lord upon those pillars of salt those miserable standing monuments of Gods hatred and detestation erected both in his word and in the world Impenitent transgressors And lastly in the bloudy sufferings of Jesus Christ and then if your hearts be not harder then an Adamant or like the * Job 41. 24. Leviathans as firm as a stone yea as hard as a piece of the nether milstone they will relent and you will mourn confesse forsake yea loath all sin †Numb 32. 23. It 's the souls bloud-hound which will hunt pursue overtake and as Acteon was killed by his own dogs as Haman was hanged upon his own Gibbet as Holofernes was beheaded with his own sword destroy it T is that Jonas in the ship of the soul which raises a terrible tempest of divine wrath against it whereby it will be not only restlesly tossed upon the briny bitter Billows of fear anguish dejection and perplexity but also before the stone cease unlesse it be thrown over board cast out of the heart and life by godly sorrow and unfained repentance it will most certainly and miserably be wrackt and perisht without hope or help in a boyling Sea of fire and brimstome which hath neither banks nor bottome For as d Leigh choyce observat in the Life of Claudius p. 102.
be merciful to sin is to be cruel to our selves since he that loves and spares it doth not only lash and wound but * O Israel thou hast distroyed thy self Hâ—sea 13. 9. murder himself Because as holiness is both a work an incomparable felicity and a reward So sin is both a Crime a punishment and an Executioner to all unconverted offenders Pharoah's sins as well as the Sea drowned him * Numb 16. 32. And Corah's swallowing down sin without repentance was the cause that the earth swallowed up him without example for never did so many of her ungracious children as he his wicked companions were who was therefore most justly by God made wofully miserable in that dreadful destruction because they was all wilfully guilty of that damnable Rebellion fall down into her gaping inlarged new made mouth slide or rather tumble head-long into her empty greedy stomack entrails or lye down alive in her cold and mercilesse bosome before O the misery and madnesse of a gracelesse Sinner How can he expect or hope to escape the dreadful vengeance of God that by his unkindnesse unthankfulnesse and undutifulnesse to his heavenly Father hath most justly provoked the God of mercy to become his everlasting enemy What the people of Rome said when they lamented the death of Octavius Augustus he will most certainly when 't is too late have cause in another sense to say Vtinam aut non l Aurel. Vict. nasceretur aut non mor eretur would he had never been born or never dyed The Prayer O LORD thou art a God infinite in all Divine perfections Thou hast all things and art all things eternally from within and unto thy most glorious self Thou dost therefore want neither the praises nor the Services of either the most gracious Christians or the most glorious Cherubims The holinesse praiers and duties of Saints or Angels can add nothing to thy most transcendently divine Excellencies Nor can the vices vilenesse crimes and Sinnes of men lessen stain or eclipse thy Glory Yet such O Lord is thy miraculous condescensiâ—n thy wonderful thy undeserved Compassion to the Bankrupted posterity of Adam that thou art pleased not only to acquaint but also to assure all those who walk humbly conscientiously holily before thee and sincerely endeavour to praise thy great and glorious name that though they be but dust ashes and worms yet they do honour and glorifie thy ever blessed Majesty And although sin be so contrary to thy holy nature opposite to thy righteous Laws and Will and loathsome in thy pure eye that even the least sin is a great yea an infinite offence injury and contempt done unto thee and doth at once vex load and grieve thee Yet such O Lord is thy never enough to be admired acknowledged or magnified mercy and patience to rebellious self-polluting poysoning self-ruining Man that thou dâ—st not only forbear to punish plague and damne him but thou art also pleased though he daily offend thee and persist in his provocations of thee and reject thy gracious tenders of peace pardon and salvation to seek unto him to intreat yea by thy Ministers to importune and beseech him that he would be reconciled to thee love accept imbrace thee and thy offered mercy that so tbou mayest forgive own delight in him deliver and save him both from Wrath and Death O Lord let the riches of thy unparallel'd goodnesse long-sufferance and forbearance lâ—â—d us unto speedy unfeigned hearty Repentance Let the serious consideration of the cursed defiling deforming damnable nature of sin the guilt whereof could not be expiated nor the filth thereof purged away with any Sacrifice but the bloud and death of the only Sonne of God Jesus Christ both God and Man make us not only fear but tremble to commit the least evill O let it pierce and break our hearts with Grief and Remorse to consider how we have pierced our Saviours very heart and broken his most just and holy Commandements by our wilfully transgressing against him Let O Lord our spirits melt mourn and bleed within us for our shedding and trampling under our profane feet without pity or sorrow that precious bloud of our dearest Saviour which alone can cleanse and cure our defiled wounded Souls Whensoever we are tempted to commit any sinne let us O Lord not only meditate and remember what it cost Christ to make our peace with a displeased God to pay our debts and to ransome our inthralled Souls but let us also set before our eyes and look upon Jesus Christ who never committed any sin sweating suffering grâ—aning wounded bleeding and lying for our Sins that so we may in his unexampled and unexpressible miseries with the eyes of detestation and lamentation behold the danger and desert of our own Iniquities Let not sin most holy God be sweet dear or delightfull to us which was Gall and Vinegar bitter painful and deadly to Jesus Christ O let the knowledge of thy power and purity awe and deterre us from evill but chiefly let our frequent serious admiring and thankfull reflexions upon the bounty mercy and long-suffering of our gracious God and the free the infinite Love of Jesus Christ prevail with us and make us both watchful and carefull to detest decline loath leave confesse forsake and crucifie all our lusts and transgressions and to love honour please praise and glorifie our God And let us not imbrace entertain or welcome sinne into our hearts and crucifie our blessed Saviour any more lest our bloudy cruelty both to him and our own souls deprive us for ever of Christ Comfort Grace and Glory Amen Peccatum lethale est Venenum Quod delectat necat V. Of the World and the brightest Jewell in its Crowne Soveraignty 'T is a fools Idol a wise mans Inne 't is a storehouse of vanities a shop full of gaudy but empty pots a fair house haunted with evil Spirits it 's a maze a desert a disguised mockery an Ocean of troubles a pitfal to the rich a burden to the poor a traducer of the good a deceiver of all that love and trust it 'T is a Garden enamelled with beautiful flowers under which lurk deadly Serpents a green soft pleasant walk covered and bespread with nets and snares a Speed Chron p. 118. a path like that of a Heliogabalus strawed with the powder and dust of Gold and silver but leading to a Gibbet A sweet spring set round with lime-twigs a stately wealthy Citie infected with the plague 'T is the body's Paradise but a Purgatory to the soul 'T is a painted treacherous Harlot which allures invites but destroys her Lovers a tender Nurse to vice dandling it upon her knees of Pleasure and Profit but a step-mother which hates and strangles vertue 'T is a dâ—ie pit a broken Cistern in a drought an empty cloud a Feast in a dream and without Christ as one said of her dead husband a cold armful And as for Soveraignty though
this eminent sweet excellent blessing by luxury by idlenesse ' gluttony drunkennesse and wantonnesse Ingage and indear our hearts by thy Love to thee make us carefull to imploy and improve all our Talents to thy Glory and grant that we may both fear scorn and hate to consume our precious time to spend our marrow to waste our strength and to destroy our health in drudging for Satan and in pleasing fewelling feeding our vain vile carnal and cursed Lusts Let our hearts be sound in thy Statutes that thou moist not punish us with rottennesse in our Bones Make us O Lord sick of sinne that sicknesse which is the fruit and punishment of sin may either be withheld or removed from us or however sanctified unto us And be thou blessed to heal our diseased souls and make us holy for otherwise healthfulnesse of Body will not be a Comfort or Mercy but a Crosse and Judgment to us Grant this for Jesus Christ his sake Amen Salus et Sal Sol est humanae vitae XI Of saving Faith and Sincere Love FAith t is a Diamond set in the Ring of the soul by the spirit of God other graces and vertues enamell beautifie it this gives worth and value to it 'T is the uppermost link in the Golden chain of Grace joyning uniting espousing a true believer to Jesus Christ 'T is the hand whereby he takes the long white Rayment of Christs Righteousnesse out of the glorious wardrobe of his infinite merits to cloath his soul withall which is stript stark naked by Adams fall and become both ugly and filthy through actual sins that so God may not behold the spots and deformity thereof to loath and abhorre it And 't is the hand also which not only receives but applies that Soveraign Plaister made of Christs precious heart-bloud to the soul for ease cure comfort 'T is the mouth that sucks the full and sweet Breasts of Divine promises to refresh feed nourish and strengthen the inward man a One saith of humane learning that if the faceâ— thereof could be seen it is fairer then the morning and evening star Aeneas Silvius in an Epistle to Sigismond Duke of Austria How infinitely more amiable delightful and beautiful then will the sight of Jesus Christ who is white ruddy yea altogether lovely Cantic 5. 10-16 by Faith here and for ever in glory hereafter be to a believing glorified Soul And saith Aug. Habet fides Oculos suos quibus quodammodo videt verum esse quod nondum videt Aug. Epi. 222. 'T is the eye by which a true beleever sees God through the thickest cloud of sin in the blackest mid-night of affliction yea in the darkest dungeon of tentation or desertion smiling upon him in the most amiable face of Jesus Christ 'T is the wing that carries Prayer to the Throne of grace and the usher that leads the soul home to Heaven and there leaves it 'T is a Peter catching hold of Christ when ready to sink in a Sea of perplexitie It 's a Sun that may be misted with fears and darkned with doubtings but can never be totally or finally eclipsed by despair for a Christian may lose his feeling but it 's impossible for him to lose his * Josuah 1. 5. compared with Hebr. 13. 15. union He may indeed want for a time the lustre but he cannot for ever be deprived of the light of Gods countenance Like a tree in winter he may seem to others yea and to himself too to be dead yet even then his root is full of sap and alive his heart hath saving grace in it for his life is hid in Christ he hath an immortall seed in him which cannot perish though like fire under ashes it may be couered and for a time not discerned either to grow or burn and therefore he will certainly like * Psalm 1. Davids tree be both green well liking and fruitful again These being truths to me like the Sun-beams when most radiant equally clear and comfortable 1. That where true and saving grace is once wrought in the heart by the spirit of God it may indeed decay but is cannot die For this Lamp will alwaies be fed with that Oyl from Heaven it may be hidden but it shal not be lost it may be wounded but it cannot be killed For though sin may blurre and fully a Christians evidences yet it cannot cancell them nor shall it ever pull off that seal which the holy Spirit hath set unto them and stampt upon them 2. That those whom God once loves with his peculiar his speciall love shal never become the eternal objects of his hatred and wrath Because whom God once loves loves he * John 13. 1. saith Saint John to the end that is for ever 3. And that none of those who by a justifying faith are espoused to Jesus Christ though they may provoke him to frown chide threaten yea punish them shall ever have a Bill of divorce given unto them by him Because all such though they be not so sanctifyed as to have no roots that bear Gall and the bitter fruits of sin in them nor so washed as to have no filth stains or soil adhere in this world unto them are fully acquitted of and discharged from that infinite debt they owed unto God by their Al-sufficient surety Jesus Christ who paid it for them so that it will never be required of them And although they be not perfectly yet they are sincerely pure and holy here and therefore shal most certainly be saved hereafter Saving faith 't is the only Receipt to cure the dead palsy of Atheisme in heart and life the Apoplexy of security and the best Aqua Coelestis the best cordial water to revive and cheer up a Soul that droops or faints under the sad apprehensions of Gods displeasure and for want of a Comfortable assurance of his Love It 's Alcinous his tree in realitie for it bears precious fruit continually 'T is like a Rod of Myrtle which saith Pliny will keep a travailer while he holds it in his hand from being faint or weary 'T is alwaies attended with her cheerful Sister and most faithful Companion Hope These two are to the Soul what Maroellus and Fabius Maximus was said to be unto Rome The Sword and the Buckler thereof b They are called uniones because they alwaies grow together by couples Heylyn Goerg p. 805. And like those Gemms called Vniones they alwaies grow together in it Faith and Hope are as it were the Breasts that nourish comfort and support the Soul affording it et tutamen et solamen as that Masculine Martyr Agatha said to Quintianus by whose barbarous command her Breasts were cut off both safety and solace in the midst of all dangers and miseries A true beleever is that beautiful * Esther 8. 4. Esther to whom Ahasuerus the great King of Saints God Almighty holds out the Golden Scepter of Mercy that he may come
and carryed to the Court to be honoured advanced so highly by the King as not only to become his Favourite but his Son and Heir also But it 's the greatest wonder of all and the highest phrensy for men to wound and poyson themselves because they may be cured to break their bones because they may chance to get them well set again to run into the fire because it 's possible their Father will pull them out and not suffer them to be burned and to love act live and persevere both in theft murder and rebellion in hope of being not only pardoned but promoted when they come to be executed And certainly it 's no lesse then the greatest folly yea madnesse and cruelty to our own Souls that we are capable either to invent act or expresse to presume and expect to obtain mercy favor and pardon from God at our death when we have knowingly wilfully and impenitently continued both robbers of God and traytors to God by sinning against him all our life For it 's most just and equall that the Lord should abhorre reject and burn the bone when the Devill hath had all the marrow The Prayer O LORD under the Law those sacrifices that were acceptable to thy Majesty were offered up with Fire but under the Gospell those Oblations those duties and services are most pleasing to thee which are presented and tendered with Water with penitentiall tears flowing from the bitter-sweet springs of a saving sight of sin and godly Sorrow for sin Grant O Lord that we may both love thee and grieve that by our Iniquities we have offended thee Let us serve thee with gladnesse of heart and yet be in bitternesse of Soul for our dishonouring of thee O give us Holy God to worship serve and pray unto thee not only with the fire of Love and zeal burning upon the altars of our inflamed hearts but also with the waters of contrition and remorse streaming out of broken Spirits Let us not seek thee and sin wilfully against thee Let us not professe repentance and practise rebellion Let us not O Lord forsake Egypt and long to enjoy it again But grant that we may never any more attempt or presume to repeat or act our former old or any new crimes And since most Holy God every known sin even the very least is a great a grievous a deep and a desperate wound to the Soul so soon as it is acted that festers in it by continuance gangrenes by delight and kills the Soul by impenitency O let all transgressing Christians speedily search their Souls and sores with the Probe of serious consideration let them behold them with the eyes of grief and humiliation let them bath and wash them with Tears of sorrow and contrition inable them by a justifying Faith to receive and apply unto them that Soveraign all-healing plaister made of that most precious Balm the bloud of Jesus Christ let them bind up their wounded spirits with the hands of compunction and self-abhorrency and grant that they may keep on their plaister both by a through reformation and a constant conscientious care willingly deliberately knowingly to sinne no more that so they may recover be healed and live Grant this great mercy O thou God of mercy unto us for the merits of Jesus Christ Amen Poenitere est vere sapere valere vivere XIII Of Prayer 'T Is that safe carefull nimble spirituall messenger and post that carries and brings letters of intelligence and love-tokens to and from Christ 'T is the language of Canaan A Christians Shiboleth 'T is the souls both Orator and Sollicitor in that great Court of Requests Heaven 'T is a Jacob wrastling with God and prevailing A Jonah though buried alive in a swimming Sepulchre though shipt in a living Vessel and carried down under Deck to the confines of Hell crying for and obtaining a safe landing on the shoar of Life 'T is a Moses begging and receiving cure of the souls Physitian of Almighty God for Miriam a leprous sinful person 'T is a Christians Forces wherewith he besieges Heaven and takes it by storm by violence 'T is the souls industrious faithfull factor in Heaven from whence it brings the precious everlasting riches and Jewell of grace forgivenesse comfort to the heart T is the key that opens and shuts Heaven Oratio justi clavis est coeli ascendit precatio et descendit Dei miseratio licet alta sit terra altum coelum audit tamen Deus hominis linguam si mundam habet conscientiam Prayer like a Hackw Apolog p. 295. histor of Flanders .. Dousa's Doves when Leyden was besieged it brings certain intelligence of relief supplies assistance coming from the Lord of Hosts to strengthen succour and deliver the soul when it 's beleaguered indangered or assaulted by sin Satan or the world What was said of Luther is true of prayer It may have almost what it will of Christ There is a kind of omnipotency in it whereby it holds hinders and with an humble holy reverence be it spoken binds the arm of Almighty God that he cannot strike Let me alone saith the Lord to Moses and get thee out of Sodome said the * Genes 19. 22. Angell to Lot for thy supplication is her preservation thy prayers and presence are her protection thy company is her security thy residence her reprieve I cannot do any thing I cannot rain down Hell out of Heaven in a fiery showre to consume her till thou beest out of her and got to Zoar. As Faith is the Emperesse of Graces so prayer is the Queene of duties The Elements of effectuall Prayer are First Faith Vt oremus credamus ut ipsa non deficiat fides qua oramus * James 5 16. Hebr. 11. 5. Oremus Fides fundit orationem fusa oratio fi dei impetrat firmitatem Faith and prayer are like the fire and fewel fire makes the fewell burn and flame and fewell feeds the fire and keeps it burning and flaming Faithlesse prayers are fruitlesse prayers or rather such supplications are provocations for God is so far from smelling a sweet savour in the sacrifices of unbelievers that he loaths them they stink in his nostrils and therefore he will cast their duties like dung into their faces 2. * James 5. 16. Fervency Qui frigide rogat negare docet prevalency is the child of importunity An * Luke 18 4 5. Atheisticall unjust judge that neither fears God nor cares for man will grant the earnest suit of a poor Widow though a stranger to him How much more then will the great judg of Heaven and earth who is not only a just but also a most gracious compassionate God and Father both hear and grant the ardent humble and hearty petitions of his own Children He that did never say to the house of Iacob seek ye my face in vain He that commands us to aske and seek and hath promised that we shall receive and find
precious a thing peace is that hath felt the extream calamities of War Famine teacheth us the worth of plenty Imprisonment indears liberty darknesse makes the light both more desirable and welcome so the burden of affliction felt and the bitternesse thereof being sweetned by being sanctified unto us will make us both highly to prize Gods great mercy in delivering us from troubles and heartily to praise him for his compassion and goodnesse in giving us songs in the night solace in the midst of our Sorrows and support under our sharpest sufferings since none will either so much value the favour and felicity of a pleasant calm or rejoyce in the security of an earnestly desired Haven as those who have experienced the amazing distracting terrours of a Cholerick furioâ—â— storm and have been exposed to the dreadful dangers 〈◊〉 an inraged Ocean whose angry cruell and remoâ—slesse Billows did seem to quarrell and contend which of them should be their Executioners and first overwhelm ingulf and bury them in the liquid bosome of their merciless Mother Christ is never so amiable dear or precious to any as he is to them who have been sensible of the weight height and smart of sin their own nothingnesse vilenesse and wretchednesse by reason thereof and his infinite undeserved Love in both freely seasonably safely bringing them by the gates of Hell to Heaven And therefore God who is not only wisdome it self but †1 John 4. 6. Love and the father of mercies who doth not willingly afflict the children of men who is grieved as well as fretted at their transgressions would not cut and lanch his people if their festered sores could be cured or the life of their souls preserved by mild unpainfull and mercifull applications He is also * John 1. 15. that husbandman who is Lord of the Vine-yard and he both takes care of it and delights in it He will not therefore cut down with the Axe of vengeance those trees that bear good though but little fruit * Revel 3. 19 but only prune them with the sharp knife of Affliction Deus paternum habet adversus bonos viros animum et illos fortius amat to operibus doloribus ac damnis exagitat ut verum colligant robur Senec. de Divin provident that so they may be more fruitfull He is not like Tyrants pleased with their sufferings for even then when his hand is whipping of them his tender Bowels like an indulgent pityful Mothers yearn toward them while he strikes he loves them yea therefore he strikes because he loves them you have his own word for it as many as I love †These are the Lots which all Kings from the first that ever was to the last that ever shall be shall most certainly draw in their courses Regnabo regno regnavi sum stâ—â—e Regno I rebuke and chasten His blows are Balm his wounds cure his anger is favour his displeasure mercy to them It 's then both the unspeakable felicity of and a prerogative Royal not only peculiar and annexed unto but also inseparable from all the Heaven-born heirs of Christs Kingdome That no condition how sad grievous or calamitous soever it be in this world either shal or can render them miserable * John 10 28. Psalm 103. 17. Because it 's beyond the power both of sin Satan sufferings and death either to extinguish the fire of Gods free love towards them or totally and finally to take away the inward soul-ravishing and reviving comforts of the Holy Spirit from them or to extirpate the root of grace out of them here or to keep them from or to deprive them of that crown of glory which the Lord hath both promised them in this life and prepared for them in the next when Angels shall carry their souls into Abrahams bosome whereas the undoubted immediate Heirs of earthly Princes are often either excluded disinherited deposed or Assasinated and so do not only lose their rights hopes honours lives and glories but become far more miserable by their being formerly so happy either in expectation or fruition We need travail no further then * Our age doth afford us the most bloudy barbarous and impious example of this kind that ever the Sun beheld viz. the horrid murther of King Charles the 1st England to fetch woful instances or examples to confirm this truth * Robert the eldest son of William the Conqueror King Henry the sixth and to name no more Edward and Richard the only Sons of King Edward 4. were disinherited deposed and murdered The first by his younger brethren William Rufus and Henry The second by Edward the 4. The other by their uncle then Duke of Glocester Thus we see that a Christians crosse is a Crown whereas an earthly Crown is but a crosse The statue of Neptune at Messina holds Scilla and Charybdis in chains with this inscription Pergite securae per freta nostra rates The Lord orders all his dispensations both of love and anger to his own glory and his peoples good so that neither prosperity nor adversity shall hurt them k Luther Quicquid enim passus est Christus idem nobis sanctificavit paupertatem ditavit ignominiam glorificavit mortem vivificavit Whatever Christ suffered that he hath sanctified He hath made poverty riches Ignominy honour and brought life out of the womb of death to and for his people l 〈…〉 â—aeom ex Arist lib. 2. Ethic. c. 5. It 's an Axiome in Philosophy Med cinae fiunt per contraria and it 's true in Divinity for the great Physitian of our souls makes miseries medicines sickness health and tribulations * Psalm 119. 71 mercies to his Children yea 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nocuments are Documents corrections * Psalm 119. 67. instructions calamities cordials and crosses comforts unto them Beleeve me there is no such joy in the World as the people of Christ have under the crosse I speak by experience said pious Mr. Philpot. m Fox B. of Martyrs vol. 3. Guy de Brez being committed prisoner into the Castle of Tournay he was visited by many persons of quality and amongst the rest by the Countesse of Ren who coming into the Prison and beholding the iron chain to which he was fastned Mr. Guy said she I wonder you can either eat drink or sleep in quiet for were I in your case the very terrour thereof would go nigh to kill me Madam said he the good cause for which I suffer and that inward peace of conscience wherewith God hath endued me makes me eate and drink with greater comfort then my enemies can which seek my life yea my chains and bonds are so farre from terrifying me or breaking my sleep that I glory and delight therein esteeming them at a higher rate then chains and rings of gold or any other precious Jewels whatsoever for they yeild me much more profit Yea when I hear the ratling of my chains me
r. thy dele own p. 19. l 3 marg r. in Trinitate p. 12. l. 14. r. covet p. 23. l. 10. r. this p. 24. l. 12. r. all miseries p 25. l. 19. r. all whose prayers p. 27. l. 7. marg r. but. p. 35. r. storm p. 44. l. 13. r. but rebellion p 49 l. 6. r. erected p. 50. l. 25. r. pittacus p. 51. l. 24. r. eutrapelus p. 51. l. 19. marg r. Frilby p. 52. l. 22. r. juvandi p. 53. l. 22. r. is l. 36. r. patientia p. 54 l. 9. r. with Isaack p. 55. l. 7. r. quest p. 56. 10. r. dum sitiâ— sitare â—item p. 57. l. 21. r. visiting p. 61. l. 36. r. dark p. 62. l. 2. r. delight in p. 68. l. 27. r. their p. 71. l. 14. r. pleased p. 76. l. 15. r sheds l. 22 r. in the Center p. 89. l. 2. r. as l. 11. God in all things ends the parenthesis p 90. l. 5. r. clean p. 94. l. 16. r. expressions p. 95. l. 12. r. which p. 103. l. 8. r. leaden p. 104. l. 20. r. a Nathan p. 117. l. 31 del that p. 122. l. 9. r. pessimus p. 132. l. 21. r. and in the margenâ— r. and articles of the Ch. of England 23. A little Box of pils p. 13. l. 29. for Varius r. Narius p. 18 l. 23. r. down Reader thou art desired to take notice that all the Pages from 48 are false folied that instead of 49 there is 45 c but we have kept them in this â—rrata as they should be that is in order MISCELLANEA OR Serious Usefull Considerations Morall Historical Theologicall I. Of God THE nature of God who is the deepest Ocean of being cannot be measured by the short the snarled line of mans shallow dark erroneous understanding nay t is equal madness and presumption to attempt it For how can that which is narrow and finite contain or comprehend that which is infinite Deus religione intelligendus est pietate profitendus sensu vero persequendus non est sed adorandus His glorious essence so dazles the purblinde eyes of reason and naturall knowledge that the more they look on him the blinder they are We can at best but spell him in his wonderfull works of Creation Providence Preservation and his Gubernation of the world as Men as Christians we may and can read much of him and see his back parts in his Attributes Word Ordinances by his holy Spirit teaching illuminating and applying the spirituall eye-salve of heavenly wisdome and saving knowledge to our bemisted darkned benighted minds But when we are Saints in Heaven the Prospectives of Glory and Immortality being given unto us we shal then see him face to face and know him as he is Here on earth where we are but strangers guests pilgrims it is our duty to serve obey admire adore him There which is our City Heaven home it will be our both delight happinesse reward and portion to behold possess enjoy him for ever and this is the very Apex and completion of a Christians felicity Here it 's presumption danger sin to peep into the secret Cabinet the Sacred Ark of his unrevealed will there God will discover and the soul will with fresh unwearied renewed desires sweetest pleasures most refined blisse purest Joies and fullest contentment without all possibility of either sorrowing sinning losing them or being satiated with them see and possesse whatever can afford it blessedness glory or satisfaction Here errors crimes miseries and judgments are the fruits effects rewards of a busy bold curious profane inquiry into the essence of that thrice blessed incomprehensible Majestie and therefore we must be sober fearful humble modest in our search of it in our approach towards it and not dare or presume to touch that glorious Mount by any irreligious irreverent unwarrantable notions opinions or expressions of this great God blessed for ever for otherwise in stead of a discovering light to guide and comfort us we shal be sure to meet with a fire that will consume us Lâ—qui volentes de Dei profundo merst sunt in profundum It is honour comfort and happinesse enough for us to know him by a justifying faith to be our God in Christ while our souls abide in the Tents of our bodies in the Wildernesse of this world and that when death hath taken them down we shall have spiritual Mansions and a glorious inheritance in the Canaan of Heaven This Almighty yet most mercifull God is the sole Landlord of the whole world we are his Tenants at will and the Rents which he requires of us and hath obliged us to pay duly truly and not only yearly but daily unto him are obedience holinesse love praises praier and thankfulnesse This God is both omniscient omnipresent omnipotent and just and pure therefore he both knoweth all those sins that are acted though never so secretly or cunningly by the sons of men abhors them and will certainly yea severely punish them Yet he is also patient pitiful gracious and merciful therefore he is not only willing but ready yea desirous to forgive them and to be reconciled to all truly penitent transgressors a Aelius Spartianus Trajane the Emperour of Rome being on horseback to go to the Warrs he alighted again to hear the complaint of a poor Romane If the Lord of Hosts be marching against a poor soul in a way of wrath he will yet both stay to hear the Petition of an humble sorrowful sinner being that God who heareth prayers and he will also turn from his fierce wrath being that God who delighteth in shewing mercy b Thucidides Admetus Molossorum Rex ignovit Hosti suo Themistocli filiolum proprium intuens quem Themistocles supplex utraque manu complexus patri ostentabat This good God who is infinitely more compassionate then the most pitifull Prince yea then the most affectionate father and which is yet more then the most indulgent tender hearted * Esay 49. 15. Mother ever was or possibly can be to the child of her own womb wil both freely and fully pardon all those who bring his own his only son Jesus Christ in the Armes of faith and love with humility and supplication unto him for the life of their souls c Marc. Aurelius in a Letter to his friend Cornelius It was a custome amongst the Romanes after they had proclaimed open wars against an Enemy and when they had sent their Armies against them for all the Romane Senatours to go into the Temple of Jupiter and in it to swear that if those enemies against whom they were going to fight did desire to enter into a league with Rome or aske pardon for their faults that then all revenge laid aside they should grant them mercy The Lord of Hosts hath proclaimed open wars * Esay 3. 11. against all impenitent Sinners who are implacable enemies to his Majesty to the Prince of Peace Jesus Christ his son and to
spiders web which either the hands of enemies or the Bâ—esome of destruction or the wind of Gods displeasure can and will both easily and certainly break sweep down and blow away That deny and deprive themselves of all Comforts to make both themselves and their posterities miserable That acknowledge as it were a statute of that morgage nay sell their souls for a little wealth that so they may buy a corruptible fading inheritance for their Children although to purchase that they are sure to forfeit and lose both Heaven happinesse and their own souls That both lay and give * Esay 9. 18. fire to a train to blow up and consume those †I do earnestly desire all covetous irreligious Parents seriously to consider of and tremble at these few amongst many places of scripture Exod 34. 7. Job 18. 19. Job 19. 10 11 â—5 22. 23. 28. houses and lands which they have built upon and bought with the ruines of others That feed their Children with poysoned dainties That * Prov. 3. 33. sow their Lands with Sinne for their off-spring while they live which will bring forth no better fruits nor yeild any other harvest but infamy beggery curses and misery unto them and intail together with their inheritance the wrath of God upon them Certainly those that do thus are equally mad and miserable for as that Blessed and Pious Martyr Bishop Hooper said the gains of the World with the losse of Gods favour is beggery and wretchednesse And all they are such and so doe who preferre Earth before Heaven plenty before piety for they will one-day to their grief shame and astonishment find that their greenest hopes will be blasted their Aegyptian reeds broken their strongest holds demolished that their honey will be turned into †Prov. 20. 17. gall and gravell and that their wealth will end in wants and endlesse misery Alexander the great going upon a hopefull expedition gave away his Gold and being asked what he kept for himself he answered Spem majorum meliorum The hope of better and greater things But these infatuated Mammonists give away their hopes of the most choice and precious things Christ Heaven Pardon a good Conscience Salvation c. and reserve nothing but their Gold and the guilt both of over-loving and sinfully getting it And although they may or doe expect a plentifull harvest after so laborious and troublesome a seed-time yet they will find that they have only plowed upon a Rock laboured in the fire sown the wind and therefore that they shall reap nothing but the whirl-wind for †Prov. 10. 2. Riches profit not in the day of wrath sayes Solomon And a greater then Solomon God himself saith * Ezech. 7. 19. their silver and their Gold shall not be able to deliver them in the day of the Lords wrath they shall not satisfie their souls neitheir fill their Bowells Let us then as we desire not to be spirituall beggers and everlastingly undone with an holy greedinesse covet the best gifts and strive to be vertuous and pious since f Plato Omne super terram et sub terra Aurum non est ex ulla parte cum virtute comparandum Let us with an indefatigable diligence labour to be rich in faith and good works And let us with an holy scorne trample upon shining dirt and that thick clay wherewith whereby and wherein so many are both soiled and suffocated defiled and destroyed remembring alwaies that man is de terra ex terra sed non ad terram nec propter terram And also seriously considering that Avarice is one of the Divells strongest toiles wherein he takes a Drag-net wherewith he catches and a pioner whereby he both undermines and kills the soul Superbia clausit Diabolo coelum Gula primo parenti abstulit par adifum Avaritia diviti aperuit infernum All covetous persons are spiritual Idolaters i Heylyn Geog p. 790. so that what the people of Brasile said to the Spaniards holding up a wedge of Gold g viz. Behold the God of the Christians may truly and sadly be objected to and charged upon all avaritious men and women for they make goods their God account gain godliness and so do treasure up wrath instead of Wealth * Prov. 3 33. Curses instead of Riches to themselves and their posterities Having thus presented to your view though very unskilfully an Anatomy of that loathsome meagre unsavory unprofitable carcasse worldly mindednesse together with a true though unlively picture of the folly indigency slavery and misery of all covetous persons I shal now commend to your consideration a duty which Christ commands †Matth. 6. 20. But lay up for your selves treasures in Heaven c. Beg earnestly cry mightily to God for his favour and carefully endeavour to keep your selves in his Love labour for a justifying faith for purity humility and sincerity of heart for holinesse and all heavenly Graces c. For these are such Treasures to which all the Indian Mines are but dust heaps empty Exchequers or Gravel-pits and in comparison whereof the rarest the most precious Jewels in the World are but Glasse and flints As so many spurrs therefore to quicken or Arguments to perswade you to expresse your Loyalty to the King of Righteousnesse your Soveraign by your obedience and conformity to his will and Commands and also to prevail with you even for your own sakes and the eternal good of your Souls Conscientiously and carefully to put this duty the pious performance whereof you will find to be equally necessary profitable and comfortable unto you in practise consider First That these Celestiall treasures are not only permanent but they are also reall Riches such as will make you truely everlastingly great honourable wealthy happy Secondly Consider that these and only such treasures are suitable to the nature and necessities of the soul Gold they say is good Conira palpitationem cordis against that trouble called the palpitation or trembling of the heart but it cannot cure a wounded spirit nor so much as ease a heart that 's burdened with the sense and fear of Gods dreadfull wrath for sin The Soul is a spirituall substance and therefore it cannot be fed contented maintained or preserved with mundane mercies or carnal comforts though shel was Emperesse of the universe No nothing but a saving interest in Christ peace of Conscience a sweet communion with God victory over all her spirituall enemies assurance of Gods mercy in the full and free remission of all her Iniquities c. can quiet or satisfie her And therefore she cries out in her pangs wants and serious reflexions upon her self when she is either scorched with Gods hot displeasure and fiery indignation or warmed with the Beams of Love and Mercy darting from the Sun of righteousnesse and shining upon her as that Martyr John Lambert did in the fire h Fex B. of Martyrs vol. 2. p. 427. col 2. None
thâ—u resolvest wickedly to keep what thou hast sinfully gotten thy sins wil most certainly find thee out the wrath of God will pursue thee his judgments will overtake thee and his dreadful vengeance will both fall and rest upon thy soul estate name and posterity Prov. 11 7. 18. 10. 7. Prov. 3. 33 16. 8. 28. 8. Ezek. 33. 15. no restitution no remissiâ—n by consequence no salvation now by the way if this rule of St. Augustine which hath been judged esteemed Orthodox canonicall so many ages should be precisely observed and exactly conformed unto then certainly what one said of the Romane Senators viz. That if they should restore to others what they had unjustly gotten taken from them they must go to their ploughs and cottages again might truly be affirmed of and would be the condition of many thousands yea millions of great and rich men in the world And lastly a reall grieving for our sins more then for our sufferings and that we have provoked dishonoured God more then that we are punished by God are the marks the Principia constitutiva of true repentance Repentance 't is a setting of the soul again it being double dyed and twice dead in Originall and in actuall sin and pluckt up by the roots through delight and continuance therein in the rich soil of Grace and a watering of it with tears of contrition and the bloud of Jesus Christ as Hortensius did his Plane trees with wine if I may so speak without a Solecisme applyed by a justifying faith to Revivification and fruitfulnesse 'T is the condition of that Obligation without the performance whereof the Soul cannot be discharged from the debt of sin but remains lyable every moment to be arrested without all possibility of either flying hiding or defending it self by that irresistable inexorable Serjeant Death to be tryed and cast upon that Bond in the high Court of Gods Justice and after a verdict given up by Gods Law and its own Conscience against it to have judgment and execution served upon it and then to be thrown into the Prison of Hell there to lye without baile or Mainprize for ever 'T is a well of everlasting life Springing up in the heart without which there is no possibility of being holy no promise of being happy 'T is a soul in travaile of those spirituall Twinns Pardon Peace pain'd and tortured with many grievous heart-rending pangs for Gods Children have alwaies their hardest labours of their choycest sweetest greatest mercies but at length by an Almighty wonderâ—working hand and power safely seasonably joyfully delivered 'T is the plank on which the soul gets when dasht or wrackt upon the rocks of sin by the tempests of temptations and corruptions and so escapes perishing in the sea of despair distraction damnation 'T is that Aqua fortis which both eats through the very heart of sin and wherewith the characters of honesty vertue piety are engraven upon the inward man 'T is the water which both quenches the burning wrath of God cleanseth a polluted conscience and moistens the soul till it become an Eden 'T is the day-break of saving mercy with a cloudy wet morning but a bright fair pleasant afternoon and a glorious Sun-set follows it 'T is one of a Christians main deeds and best evidences for his right and title to an heavenly inheritance The Motto of a true penitent may well be like that French Ladies a watering pot dropping with this inscription Nil mihi praeterea praeterea mihi nihil He 's happier weeping then the wicked are when rejoycing for there is more true delight and joy of heart in the sorrow of Saints then in the mirth and laughter of the world Verus poenitens de peccatis dolet de dolore gaudet A true penitent grieves for his sins and rejoyceth in that grief it being his exceeding great delight and pleasure to consider that God hath given him a heart to mourn and sorrow for them The Athenians never went to conclude a peace but in mourning habits we can never make our peace with God unless we go to him with mourning hearts True repentance doth work wonders It will turn a Wolf into a Lamb an Eagle into a Dove a Thorn into an Olive a Rock into a fountain a Serpent into a Sheep a Tyrant into a Martyr a stone into a Son of Abraham a Saul into a Paul a persecutor into a worshipper of and a sufferer for Christ a cruell Jaylor into a sorrowful Confessor and a dry stick like Aarons rod into a fruitful tree Alexander the great being asked Quomodo potitus esset Graecia respondebat Nihil procrastinans Speedy hearty repentance is a sure infallible means for us to obtain more then Greece even grace pardon Heaven Optima poenitentia est nova vita saith Luther He that hath new and holy principles the new wine of Grace wrought and put into the Bottle of his renewed heart by the spirit of God will neither walk in his old wayes continue in a profane course nor hanker after nor long for the flesh-pots of Egypt again Ista est vera poenitentia quando quis sic poenitet ut non repetat A righteous Lot will run to Zoar but he will not return any more to Sodom Noah was drunk but once David was but once an Adulterer When a grievouâ— grosse sinner becomes a gracious Saint he gives this Motto Ego non sum ego and he carefully prints it in his life and actions well knowing that they only are sincere Christians do truly repent â—hat carefully resolutely constantly forsake loath and abhorre all their sins It is then our wisdome and wil be our happinesse to write with a pen of iron and with the point of a Diamond upon the stonie tables of our obdurate hearts that Golden saying viz. It is every mans duty to repent one day before he dies for we are not sure to live to morrow no nor til to morrow but we are sure if wedie before we repent to be damned And if we neglect deferre or think it too soon to repent to day it may be too late to morrow for God hath * Micah 3. 4. Jerem. 14 12. and Psalm 32. 6. threatned that he will turn a deaf ear to such desperate carelesse transgressors although they cry shed many tears and make many praiers for audience mercy and acceptance Besides how justly do they deserve to perish that will neither seek nor labour to obtain a pardon when they are reprieved that do not value it till they be going to the Gallowes to their graves And although poenitentia vera est nunquam sera tamen poenitentia sera est earo vera Though true repentance be never late yet late repentance is seldome true 'T is very rare to see a Felon though he professe and seem to be very sorry for his fact pardoned and unpinioned upon the Ladder more strange to see a condemned Traitor fetcht away from the scaffold
it be not animated by striving and resolving to please Gâ—od in all things in all his actions to honour God and so though he shoot many Bowes short yet he both reaches and hits the mark the white because his heart aimes chiefly ultimately in all his services waies and works at Gods glory who requires not of us in this world perfection but integrity He 's alwaies afraid of sinning and that prevents his both offending and suffering b Probus Mater timidi non solet flere * Vis in timore esse securus securitatem time He fears falling and by that means stands fast upon an hill of Ice the world Qui semper timet securus Hâ— will not endure a Rimmon in his heart because he knows that God like Alexander will have no Co-partner nor corrival Aut Caesar aut nullus That inscription which the Common-wealth of Venice hath politically written in their Magazine c Burt. Melanch Felix civitas quae tempore pacis de bello cogitat he hath religiously ingraved in his memory and mind and therefore 't is both his resolution and care in health to provide for sicknesse in a calm to prepare for a storme in Life for death He strives and aspires to be greater stronger higher in grace and Gods favour every day then other and gives this which was Pompeys for his Motto Ego cupio praecellere et esse supremus He can neither rest nor be quiet till like Saul he be grown taller then worldly morall hypocriticall men by the shoulders neck and head in honesty vertue piety And never as t is said of the Crocodile gives over * Psalm 92. 13. 14. Job 17. 9. growing in goodnesse and godlinesse till his death What Alexander the great said to one of his Captains named Alexander Recordare nominis Alexandri see thou do nothing that will smut stain or darken the fair the illustrious name of Alexander He being like the Ermin to whom nothing is so troublesome as to be soul for it will rather dye then be soyled indeavours carefully to observe and conscionably to perform and therefore he labours to keep himself unspotted from the world to get and to keep a pure heart and clear hands to be undefiled in Gods Law and to wash his heart from all wickednesse He doth as really endeavour never to commit sin as he doth unfaignedly desire never to be damned for sin He doth think speak and act at all times in all duties and places as under the eye and in the presence of God because he knows d Seneca Epist ad Luc 83. p. 711. Sic certe vivendum est tanquam in conspectu vivamus sic cogitandum tanquam aliquis in pectus intimum inspicere possit potest Quid enim prodest ab homine aliquid esse secretum Nihil deo clausum interest animis nostris cogitatiocibus nostris intervenit And also because he knows that although man can make no through lights to look clearly into the heart yet it lies unbowelled dissected unto his all-seeing eye to whom all things even the most dark hidden and undiscernable are both naked opened and transparent He makes God his center and so enjoyes both rest happinesse and stability in the midst of all either national or personal overturnings and shakings e Let their money perish with them who esteem all the gold in the world worth one days society with Jesus Christ and his holy spirit said that noble and pious Marquesse of Vico Gealacius Caraciolus when a Jesuit offered him huge sums of money to forsake his Religon and to turn Papist again videte jus vitam He like an Eagle disdains to pursue flies earthly enjoyments and sublunary comforts because like flies they are only to be seen and found in the sun-shine and summer of prosperity but flye away and hide themselves in the dark cloudy dayes and winter of adversity spirituall desertion and death Thou art not said Cleopatra to Mark Anthony to fish for Gudgeons and Trouts but thou art to angle for Castles and Towers and Forts and Cities When the heart of a true Nathaniel like Dinah begins to gad abroad to hanker and thirst inordinately after creature-comforts he considers and tells his Soul Soul thou wert not created by an omnipotent power nor sent into the world by an omniscient holy just glorious and dreadful God to fish for Gudgeons or Trouts for pleasure wealth honour or greatnesse to love and mind such poor contemptible empty treacherous worthlesse things as these burby faith and prayer holinesse hope and perseverance in a constant course of sanctification to angle to seek wait and labour for the impregnable Castle of a good Conscience for the strong rich and beautifull Forts of vertue and piety for the Citie of Heaven and for the Towers of glory felicity and immortality He desires and delights in the society of the brethren the people and servants of God because he sees the superscription of Caesar upon them the Image of Christ lively and truly drawn and stamped by the Spirit of God upon their souls And also because he doth experimentally find that f Socrates Bonorum conversatio est virtutis exercitatio he gets good by good company He doth with an ardent zeal and pious care set up the worship of God in his family because he knows that the prisons stink but yet not so much as those sweet houses where the fear and true honour of God is wanting As that blessed Martyr g Fox B. of Martyrs vol. 3. p. 156. Bishop Hooper said And he desires to serve God who is the purest of Spirits with spirituall puritie If the candle of the Lord shine upon his Tabernacle so that his riches or honours increase he notwithstanding both longs and seeks for higher and better things and sayes as Luther did when many of the great ones of Saxony sent very rich gifts unto him Lord thou shalt not put me off so for he will not take or accept outward things for his portion or inheritance nor exchange Heaven for earth He is the Epistle the letter of Christ wherein men may run and read saving grace written by the finger of the Holy Ghost therefore he is exceedingly yea constantly carefull to keep both his heart and life fair and free from the spots of vice and the stains of sin That King of Rivers in Germany the rhine crosseth the muddy lake of Constance with a clean cours and keeps his streams both pure and clear So a sincere Christian keeps himself free from the corruptions sins and pollutions of the world and like Lot in Sodom he is grieved for but not defiled with the crimes vices and filthy conversation of the wicked for though he be in the world yet he is not of the world He mourns for the abominations of the land wherein * Psalm 119. 158. idem ver 136. and of the ungodly amongst whom he lives He rejoyceth in the
penitent And let O Lord all thy chastisements be so sanctified unto us that our understandings may be enlightened our judgements rectified our souls humbled our corruptions mortified our consciences purified our lives reformed that thy dreadful wrath may be appeased thy unsupportable judgements removed thy tender mercies evidenced and thy loving kindnesse which is better then life vouchsafed and continued unto us Grant this O Lord for Christ his sake Amen Afflictio illuminat decet purgat eurat XVI Of Patience PAtience 't is a * Job 1. 21. Job blessing God for the losse of blessings an * 1 Sam. 3. 18. Eli kissing the Rod that drew bloud from him with that sharp lash that heavy stroke the threatned ruine of his house and posterity with the mouth of submission saying It is the Lord let him do what seemeth him good a Cedrenus in vit Mauritii Camerar It 's a holy good Mauritius who when he was not only deposed from his Empire and succeeded by one of the worst yea basest of all his subjects Phocas but also compelled to be a sad and mournfull Spectator of the bloudy butchery of all his five sweet innocent Children he meekly and joyfully kissed the hand that beat him saying Righteous art thou O Lord and just are thy Judgments 'T is a Lamb that will be both shorn and killed without crying It 's a grace that keeps the soul in a calm holy contented frame in every condition 'T is an Isaac bound and ready to be sacrificed without murmuring A stone-wall that both blunts and repels the piled arrows of the sharpest sufferings 'T is a fountain without mud and clear though stirred or troubled with the hand and rod of affliction A face without a srown and peevish tear in the greatest pain disappointment grief torment 'T is a writ of restitution when distrust frowardnesse discontentment or rash anger have ejected a man out of his right mind and Christian behaviour whereby he is again peaceably and quietly restored unto himself In your patience possesse your Souls 'T is a stream that keeps within the banks of †Psalm 39. 9. silence with David and * Philip. 4. 11. 12. an holy contentation of mind with Paul when the stormy impetuous winds of affliction poverty sicknesse or persecution doe blow upon it 'T is cooling Physick that preserves the soul from falling into the dangerous fever of an angry murmuring against Gods crossing providences 'T is one like the Camell kneeling down to take up his burden It makes a man like wheat fall down in a silent submission and a willing resignation of himself to the will and pleasure of God when he 's winnowed with the fan of adversity 'T is a clear Skie in the worst weather An Anvile unbroken with the hardest strokes of injury calamity or Tyranny b Et non sentire mala sua non est hominis et non ferre non est vir Seneca 'T is the golden meane betwixt the extreams of stupidity and repining 'T is Jonah in a Whales belly without fretting 'T is the Cradle wherein passion is rockt asleep 'T is the earnest the bond of a liberall remuneration c Hug. Grocius of the Law of War and peace ex Terâ—ul For so bounteous a rewarder of patience is God that if you commit your injury to him he is a revenger if you grief an healer if your death a reviver How great is the power of patience to have God himself a debtor to it Patience 't is a Joseph relieving maintaining providing for the soul in the Egypt of this world when afflicted with the forest famine 'T is a childe descended of a Royall family being the Daughter of that Queen mother Meeknesse 'T is an Abraham prepared resolved contented to forsake and want all countrey friends land if God will have it so 'T is a Dove without Gall A tree without knots A spirit even and planed A fresh spring and sweet water in the saltest sea of tribulation A But that receives all darts without pain hurt and death A bush burning yet not consumed Patience 't will make a man like * Esay 39. 8. Hezekiah willingly consent and as it were set his hand to Gods Deed of gift of all his yea and his posterities temporal mercies to enemies and aliens with a Good is the word and righteous is the work of the Lord. 'T is a Christians Sandale and shooe wherewith he both can and doth tread upon the nettles and bryers of injuries and reproaches without either smart or hurt and also wherewith he walks upon Gravel and thistles indureth crosses losses and troubles without fainting * Prov. 3. 15. fretting or †tyring The Prayer O LORD if thou wert as prone to revenge as we are to rebell Or if thou shouldest be as ready to destroy us as we are forward to displease and dishonour thee showers of Fire and Fury instead of dews of Grace and Mercy would daily yea hourly fall from Heaven upon our heads But such O thou God of Patience though thou art angry with the wicked every day is thy wonderfull Long-suffering towards us though we daily vex and grieve thee that thou art graciously pleased to warn us to wait on us to wooe us to strive with us and to offer both favour and forgivenesse to us O let us resolve and indeavour to learn of Christ to imitate him and to transcribe into our own actions and behaviour that Golden Copy which our blessed Saviour hath set us by being like him meek and lowly in heart And since thy holy Word assures us that a froward mouth and heart are hatefull and abominable unto thee O let us never give thee any rest till thou hast adorned us with the precious the glorious Ornament of a meek and quiet spirit That so we may lie silently under thine angry hand when corrected bear injuries affronts revilings petiently and Christianly when they are done or offered unto us wait without fretting contentedly the Lords own time and leisure for comfort and deliverance when we are afflicted distressed oppressed And though we should be wrongfully or suddainly deprived either of all our sublunary mercies or of those which we most value affect and desire that so we may possesse our souls in patience and not be angry or froward at Gods sharpest dealings with us because how great or many soever our miseries are or may be they are lesse and fewer then our iniquities deserve Grant this O Lord for Christ his sake Amen Patientia tacet adjuvat exonerat XVII Of Baptism 'T Is a Moses leading and carrying Infants out of Egypt into the Canaan of Gods true Church It 's the hand that ingrafts them into the true Vine Jesus Christ that so they may become living and fruitfull Branches and escape everlasting burning 'T is their Matriculation in the Acadamy of Christianity The Oath of Allegiance which they take to be loyall Subjects to the King of peace and righteousnesse
inauguration in Constantinople had severall sorts of stone presented to them by a Mason out of which they was to choose one to make them a Tomb to be buryed in o Joseph of Arimathea had his Tomb in a Garden and so had their great men also Mat. 27 60. 2 Kings 21. 18. The Jewes had their Sepulchers in their Gardens that so in the the midst of their delights they might remember their mortality And others have had a Deaths head served up to their Tables that they might in that perspicuous mortifying glasse behold their own frailty in the midst of their mirth pleasures jollity And certainly serious frequent and pious meditation of death will beget in us a vigilant continual expectation of death expectation of it will p Vivere in in tota vita discendum est Quod magis mirum est in tota vita dissendam est mori Seneca de brevitate vita ad Paulinam perswade and spurre us on to preparation for it so that we shall be able not only to look it in the face with comfort but triumphingly to say O Death where is thy sting c. It being nothing to such as have the Lamps of their Souls filled with saving Grace and their Garments washed white in the bloud of the Lamb but the Death and period of all their sins sorrows fears dangers troubles enemies yea and of death it self Mors vita duello conflixere mirando Rex mortuus regnat vivuâ— In hoc duello mors et vita in arenam descenderunt sed tandem vicit vita et gloriose exiit e sepulcro de morte triumphans Irrideamus ergo mortem cum Apostolo dicamâ—s Vbi mors victoria For q Quid ipsa mors quam timemus g Lips Epist p. 75. Requies gaudium et vera vita aut siquid in ea mali malis tantum What is that death which we so much fear and at the very name whereof we tremble 'T is rest joy and life or if there be any evill in it 't is only so to those that are evill And indeed 't is very sad yea wofull to all ungracious persons who have this punishment In dying they forget themselves because in their life time they forgat God But besides this grievous punishment and heavy judgment most justly inflicted by the Lord upon them because when he came to them in their health prosperity life and offered them mercy they refused with equall madnesse and cruelty to their own souls to hear and imbrace the tenders of love and salvation when their Life is lost and ended all hope comfort help all means of Grace and seasons of mercy all possibility of pardon together with the society of the Glorious Angels and glorified Saints the beatificall vision and blessed fruition of the thrice blessed Trinity and those ineffable pleasures which are prepared for all that love God will then be lost for ever Deus amissus est mors animae anima amissa est mors corporis The Death of the body is but the body of death therefore disce non metuendum existimare quae metuenda finit But the death of the Soul the losse of God and his favour is the Soul of Death Fear therefore by sin to provoke that God who can and for sin unrepented of and continued in will inflict eternal death both upon the body and soul and make all impenitent transgressors ever living objects of his never-dying wrath I shall conclude all with presenting and commending the Lord Gabriel Simeons Glasse to your view and perusall Beauty is deceitful money flyeth away Rule-bearing is odious victory doubtfull peace fraudulent old age miserable the fame of wisdome everlasting Life short death to the Godly * Mark the perfect man behold the upright for the end of that man is peace happy Psalm 37. 37 The Prayer O LORD Man hath but one Door to let him into the World by Life but there are a thousand Posterns Wickets and Passages to let him out of it by Death We are born both Mortall and Miserable O give us blessed God so to live that at the end of our daies we may be immortally happy we came into the World Sinners O grant that we may go out of it Saints We were unclean at our birth O let us be pure and holy at our dissolution The hand of every moment winds off some of the little clue of Life The string and plummet of our daies creep and descend every minute nearer and nearer to the ground our Graves The Sunne of this naturall Life never stands still but moves or rather flies from the East and morning of our birth and infancy to the South and noon of Youth and Manhood and then hastens to the West the evening of old Age. Grant therefore holy God that when this Sunne shall set in the night of Death our Soules may rise and shine with the Sunne of Righteousnesse in Glory That as we grow older we may grow holyer every day then other That we may passe the time of sojourning in these Tents of flesh in thy way and Fear that so the Conscience Evidence and Comfort of a wel-spent Life may both Antidote and Arme us against the Sting and Power of Death before it comes and free us from the Horreus and Misery of it when it doth come O let it be no Stranger to our thoughts and then it will be no terrour to our Hearts O let us get death into our mindes and that will put life into all our Actions O grant good God that our Lives may be pious and then our Death will be peaceable joyfull welcome unto us and precious in the sight of the Lord. And give us I beseech thee most mercifull Father some clusters of Grapes of the good Land of Canaan here even the Graces of thy holy Spirit and some fore-tasts of thy speciall Love in Christ while we continue in the Wildernesse of this World that when we die our Souls may enter into and for ever possesse the spirituall Canaan of Heaven Grant this O Lord for Jesus Christ his sake Amen Amen Diu vixit qui pie moritur Fructus est laboris finis operis placere melioribus FINIS Soli Deo Gloria THE CHARACTERS OF A True Beleever IN PARADOXES AND Seeming Contradictions AN ESSAY By THO. GODDARD Gent. Vetera legendo et metitando nova invenimus Quintil. Placere cupio prodesse precor laboro LONDON Printed by E. C. For Thomas Williams at the Bible in Litle-Brittain and William Thompson at Harborough in Leicestershire 1661. THE CHARACTERS OF A True Beleever In PARADOXES AND Seeming Contradictions 1. HE beleeveth that which he cannot comprehend because it is above reason That there are three distinct Persons in the Godhead yet but one God that God is the Father of Christ that the Holy Ghost proceedeth from them both and yet that they are all three Coeternall and but one in substance 2. He beleeveth that Christ who was