Selected quad for the lemma: water_n
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A78214
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The practical Christian: or, A summary view of the chief heads of practical divinity in order to the begetting, preserving, and increasing the life and power of godliness in the hearts and lives of professors; laid down in a plain and succinct manner, by way of meditation. Drawn up, and principally intended for the use and benefit of the citizens of Exeter; and especially those that were his peculiar flock. By J.B. once their pastor.
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Bartlet, John, fl. 1662.
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1670
(1670)
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Wing B983A; ESTC R229515
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180,069
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335
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to make provision for him at last falling sick and drawing towards his end a Servant of his came to visit him and asking him how he did Oh saith he I am going to another World Master said he you were wont here to send Provision before you to your Houses here have you done so for another House your eternal House Oh no said he that is my folly and misery 3. He is a fool that will hazzard and adventure his life for a toy and a trifle and put off a business for the present of greatest consequence to another day when yet he knows not whether he shall have another day and yet this is the greatest folly of worldly wise men though they hear often that there 's but one thing necessary in the World in comparison whereof all other things are unnecessary viz. the Salvation of the Soul yet will hazzard that to gain the World and put off that to the last and weakest hour when they can scarce think upon any thing else but pain and then when 't is too late lament their great folly and madness in it Thirdly Meditate on the duties you ow to God for the Creatures and the uses you are to make of the Creatures I shall but name a few As 1. To contemplate those glorious Attributes of God which shine forth in the Creatures as his Eternity Omnipotency infinite Wisdom and unsearchable goodness to Mankind in making a World and all things in it for him and him for himself and that first Because it 's expresly commanded Eccles 7.13 Job 37.14 2. The practise of the Saints Psal 77.11 12. Psal 143.5 6. all Gods People Psal 111.2 3. Because it 's the end wherefore God made Man and gave him a reasonable Soul not onely that he should barely view the Creatures but contemplate his glorious Attributes that shine forth in them There 's no skilful Artificer that will take it well to have his skill not taken notice of in the works he doth much less will God and it will exceedingly agravate mens sin and condemnation at last that they have so much taken notice of and admired the works of men and so little taken notice of the great and glorious Works of God in the Creation of this glorious Fabrick of Heaven and Earth 2. Duty to learn those good things in the Creatures which they do teach us in and by the instinct of Nature for all the World is but a great School to teach us the knowledge of God Rom. 1.20 Creatio Mundi Scriptura Dei Universus Mundus Deus Explicatus as one saith well The whole Creation is a Scripture of God the Heaven the Earth and the Sea 3. Great Leaves of that Book the Creatures contained in them as so many Lines by which God would read a Divinity-Lecture to us all the Creatures but a Ladder made of many steps to raise us up to God and as it were a pair of Spectacles whereby we may read God and the invisible things of God more clearly and plainly Jenkins on Jude But what are those things the Creatures teach us They all teach us Obedience Love Unity and dependance upon God a desire of freedom from that bondage our sin hath brought upon them 1. They all teach us Obedience to God for they all keep their station in which God hath set them they all do what God commands them and leave undone what he forbids them 1. They all keep their station the Sun rejoyceth to run its course the Sea keeps within its Banks the Earth standeth fast upon her Foundation onely Man is fallen from it 2. They do whatsoever God commands them Psal 19.1 The Heavens declare the Glory of God c. the Sea and the Winds and all fulfil his Word Psal 148.8 3. They leave undone what he forbids them the Fire burns not the Sea stands on heaps the Sun stands still and goes backward ten degrees the Fire descends and the Water ascends at his command all the Creatures have an ear to hear their Creator only Man is deaf Yea and mark farther they not onely obey their Creator but they obey him in a right manner For 1. they serve him only and not us any further and longer then we serve him therefore he is called the Lord of Hosts because all is at his command to teach us as to obey him so him only and men no further then they obey God 2. They serve him chearfully Psalm 19. The Sun rejoyceth as a Gyant to run his course and so ought we for the abundance of all his goodness to us or else are threatned to serve our enemies in the want of all things Deut. 2.8 3. They serve him constantly day and night and are never weary of doing him service so neither ought we 1 Cor. 15. last Be stedfast unmoveable c. Gal. 6.9 Be not weary of well doing c. 4. They serve the Lord freely by the instinct of Nature how much more should we by the instinct of Grace 5. They waste and consume themselves in the service of us to teach us to spend our selves and be spent for God 2. They all teach us to love God as being all fruits and tokens of his love to us and refuse to love us if we neglect to love him the Sun denies its Shine the Clouds their Rain and the Earth its Fruits they teach us also as to love God so to love others for God's sake especially those that are nearly related to us for they generally love those of the same kind and are very tender over their Mates and to their young ones 3. They all teach us unity amongst our selves for they all combine and conspire in one for the good of the whole they all prefer the good of the whole above their own particular the Fire will descend and the Waters ascend rather then there shall be a vacuum in Nature though they be of contrary qualities yet they do not trouble but help one the other the Fire warms the Air the Air preserves the Water the Water moistneth the Earth one Element is a good Neighbour to the other and all to teach us we should not be hurtful but helpful one to another and prefer the publick before our own private good 4. They all teach us dependance on God for being and well-being Psal 147.9 10. The eyes of all things look up to thee c. To teach us to look up to God and to have our dependance upon him for our selves and ours and to be careful about nothing Phil. 4.7 Matth. 6.26 to the end 5. They all teach us a desire and longing to be freed from that bondage our sins have brought upon them and our selves Rom. 8.19 22. And shall the Creatures sigh and groan under our burdens and we not under our own A third Duty is this To bewail the first sin of ours which brought such vanity and vexation upon the Creatures God at first looked down upon all that he had made and loe
Lord under the consideration of it Secondly As there followed guilt so filth or the defilement of the whole Man with sin original and actual and here to meditate what these are and what special things in them are to be meditated on for the humbling of our Souls and the keeping us from closing with Temptations to them First What sin is viz. The transgression of the Law of God either revealed in the Word 1 Ep. Joh. 3.4 or written in the heart Rom. 2.14 15. and here about sin to take notice and meditate on the ugly filthy hurtful hateful nature of it 1. For the ugly nature of sin it is not only evil but the worst of all evils and the cause of all other evils that it is most contrary to God's most Holy Nature that which made the Devil a Devil and Hell to be Hell without which the Devil would be a blessed Angel and Hell would be Heaven that also that could not be expiated and done away by the death and blood-shed of all the Creatures but only by the precious heart-blood of the Lord Jesus Christ Secondly Meditate on the filthy nature of it as it is compar'd to the Excrements of Man Isai 4.4 and called the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Excrement of Excrements or superfluity of naughtiness James 1.21 yea not only filthy in the concrete but filthiness it self in the abstract 2 Cor. 7.1 Q. But how doth this appear A. In that it defiles a man in all and all to him 1. It defiles him in all every faculty of Soul every power of Body Mat. 15.19 20. whence Solomon calls the sinner a loathsome Person Prov. 15.3 because sin is that which makes him loathsome to all to God and Man and Himself 1. To God Zach. 11.8 my Soul loatheth them 2. Loathsome to Men especially good Men Psal 15.4 Prov. 29. last Isai 66.24 3dly That which makes men loathsome to themselves when God once opens their Eyes to see it and brings them home to himself by Repentance Ezek. 36.31 Job 42.6 Rom. 6.21 Secondly As it defiles a Man in all so all to him all his Relations all his Enjoyments all his Actions natural civil religious Titus 1.15 To the impure all things are impure the Word is a killing Letter the Sacraments Seal up Damnation in short of so defiling a nature as all the Water of the old World could not wash away the stain of it nor all the Fire of the last Judgment and of Hell will be able to burn up the dross of it Thirdly Meditate on the hateful nature of sin how hateful it is to God and good men 1. To God it is the only object of his hatred he hates nothing but as it is sinful not the Devil but only as sin made him a Devil 2. That it is so hateful to God appears in that he hates it where-ever he sees it Even in his own Son who knew no sin yet because he took our sin upon him he so manifested his hatred of it as he would not spare the severe punishment of it in him because the Creatures could not strike a stroke hard enough he was pleas'd to bruise him Isai 53.16 and to lay upon him the fierceness of his wrath Lament 1.12 Secondly As hateful to God so to all good men Psal 139.21 Do not I hate them O Lord that hate thee search me and try me c. Psal 119.128 I hate every false way the Martyrs so hated sin as they chose rather to burn at the Stake and undergo any torment than give way to any sin Anselm Arch-Bishop of Canterbury was wont to say that if he saw Hell on one side and sin on the other and he must of necessity choose one he would rather choose Hell without sin and no wonder for where there is no Sin there is no Hell Fourthly On the hurtful nature of sin this appears 1. In that it is the greatest Enemy to God to Christ to the Spirit to Us 1. To God it 's that which seeks to un-Throne Him and un-God Him and there is no true and loyal Subject but will endeavour the death of him that seeks the death of his Soveraign Lord and King Secondly The greatest Enemy to Christ that which brought him from Heaven to the Cross made Him sweat Blood under the apprehension of his Father's wrath due to him and to cry out on the Cross to the amazement of Heaven and Earth My God my God why hast thou forsaken me Thirdly The greatest Enemy to the Spirit of God that which quencheth and grieveth and vexeth and resists him makes him to leave his Habitation and when he goes out the Devil comes in with seven worse Spirits than ever Mat. 12.45 Fourthly The greatest Enemy to Us that which deprives us of all good Isai 59.2 and exposeth us to all evil Rom. 2.8 9 10. pulls down all manner of Judgments on Persons Families Towns Cities Kingdoms Countreys Prov. 8. last Rom. 1.16 Eph. 5.5 That which makes every man to come in with a Cry and go out of the World with a Groan So much of Sin in general Secondly For Original sin that you may be effectually humbled under it to take notice of and meditate on these things 1. What it is 2. The several Titles given to it with the Reasons of them 3. The Parts of it 4 The extent of it And 5. The fruits of it First What it is for the understanding of this you are to Note that Original sin is taken either actively or passively First Actively for the sin of Adam in eating the forbidden fruit and is call'd by Divines Peccatum Originans the beginning-sin or the sin giving a beginning to all other sins Secondly Passively for the corruption of nature flowing from that first sin of Adam and is call'd Peccatum Originatum or sin taking a beginning from that first sin of Adam and this is that which we are to speak unto and may be described thus A privation of Original righteousness and a depravation of the whole Man with unrighteousness Justly deriv'd from the loins of our first Parents unto all their Posterity by reason whereof every Man and Woman is conceiv'd and born in sin brings into the World with them the Seeds of all sin is inclin'd to all evil and averse to all that is good 1. There is a deprivation of Original righteousness wherein Man was created Rom. 3.10 There 's none righteous no not one Secondly A depravation of the whole man with unrighteousness Gal. 3.22 The Scripture hath concluded all under sin not only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all Men but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all things in man for the word is in the Neuter Gender and it is further evident by the Apostle's Prayer for Universal Sanctification 1 Thes 5.23 Implying an Universal Corruption Thirdly I say justly deriv'd from the Loins of our first Parents to all their Posterity as you may see Gen. 5.3 Adam begot a Son in his own likeness that is