of others do speak aloud in thine ears that health and rest are mercies O how shouldst thou adore that God who distinguisheth thee thus graciously from others Mayst thou not think with thy self Here is a person full of pain the day is full of darkness to him and wearisome nights are appointed to him Lo his Wife and Children and Friends are weeping about him but cannot relieve or redress him all the comforts of this life are unâ—avoury to him His aches and grief and diseases hinder him much in spiritual performances and in the prosecution of a better life how much aâ— I bound to the Lord that it is not so with me I can relliâ—h outward mercies and am refreshed with bodily comforts I have no such distemper or pain to take me off from prayer or Scripture but I may be as frequent and as urgent as I will about my soul and eternal concernments Bless the Lord O my soul and all within me praise his holy name Surely health is the Prince the first-born of outward blessings Though foolish men deprive themselves frequently of it for the satisfaction of a sensual wanton appetite yet it s more worth then a thousand of those brutish transitory delights A Stomach is of more value then meat and a good digestion then raiment Men think not much to part with much of their wealth in their sickness for a little health O it deserves thy prayers to God for it with submission to his will when thou wantest it and thy praysing of God for it with enlarged affections when thou hast it 3. In observing the necessity of a timely repentance and its difficulty on a dying bed How unfit is a man to begin to live when he is wracked with pain and going to die The dolour and trouble of his body are great impediments to the good of his soul. When the outward man is in great distress and the inner man sympathizing with it the best words are often wasted and thrown away and the mind is unfit either to receive counsel or comfort Further How irrational is it to give Satan our prime our health or strength and God our weak and consumptionate and dying parts to present our enemy with our quick and nimble and active faculties and members and to put off our best friend with a body full of sores and a soul full of sin Besides the longer men continue in sin the more difficult their conversion will be He that hath wandred or travelled out of the right way all day will hardly be perswaded to go back all the way and set out again at night Where Satan hath dwelt long he will hardly be removed A Ship the longer it leaketh the harder it is to be emptied The fâ—rther a nail is driven in the more trouble to get it out The longer my soul continueth in disobedience the harder it will be to bring it to repentance The more sin is riveted and habituated in me the more pains and toyl and grief it will cost to get it subdued and slain 4. In learning more the excellency of grace and an interest in Christ and God which will do a man good in a day of â—ickness and an hour of death He is a friend indeed that is a friend in a day of adversity The sinners folly in neglecting durable riches teacheth the Christian wherein true wisdom consisteth and the worth of it That it consisteth not in heaping up such treasures or getting such friends as will be useless and unprofitable in a time of need but in laying up a treasure in Heaven and ensuring eternal comforts Cold â—harp weather sheweth the value of an healthy constitution A storm will speak the worth of a sure Anchor and a skilful Pilot. The excellency of grace and holiness and Christ and God are not fully known till we come into the other world where all sublunary comforts are wanting But the more any condition in this world resembleth that and the nearer we approach that the more visible is the value of divine and lasting blessings A Cordial is not esteemed till we come to fainting fits A soul that in time of health and wealth and outward prosperity made the fear and ways of God and the estate of the godly the object of his scorn and contempt when he comes to be awakened by the alarum of death and to look into the other world will make them the object of his choice and give a world if he had it for them A Good Wish about the visitation of the sick wherein the former heads are applied THe righteous Lord and God of all grace who for sin afflicteth man with sickness yet in the midst of judgement remembreth mercy intending his instruction not his destruction by it having designed such afflictions as rods to whip men to himself to make them out of love with sin the spring of all their sufferings and sorrows and to wean them from the earth who otherwise would make it their Heaven and hath also appointed men to be the means through which these mercies shall be conveyed and sicknesses sanctified to them I Wish in general that I may never omit to visit those Neighbours with pity whom God hath visited in fury muchless insult as the Edomites over the afflicted Israelites and persecute them whom God hath smitten drawing blood from those wounds which are already blew with the blows of the Almighty but may be faithful to the precept and purpose of my God in this particular and adopt my second table duties into the Family of the first table by visiting the sick not out of common civility but out of charity and in obedience to the God of my health It is my priviledge that my Almes may become Sacrifice my Courtesies worship and in paying that debt of love which I owe to my Neighbour I may pay that duty which I owe to my Maker O that in all my common transactions I might move upon principles of reason and especially in works that have a tendency Godward act upon grounds of Religion Lord thou hast an eye to my good in all thy providences and dealings why should not I have an eye to thy glory in all my practices and actings Cause thy fear so to possess my heart that I may visit the sick out of conscience and let thy grace so assist and accompany my endeavours that thou mayst visit them to their eternal comfort I Wish that the Command of my God may be a sufficient Motive and warrant to make me set about the practice of this work It is my duty to visit them that are sick as I am the Lords Servant I disown his authority I deny his Image if I do not sympathize with others in misery Nature it self commandeth me to be affected with the conditions of such as are afflicted All creatures will commiserate those of their rank and order that are in misery Bees will rather stay and starve with those of their kind that
it by thy providence water it with the showres of thy grace and so quicken it with the beams of thy favour that it may bring forth much fruit to thy glory I Wish that I may like Enoch walk so with my God in all my actions whilst I walk amongst men that in thy good time my soul may be translated and I may not see death either as the wicked in this World do with terrour or as the damned in the other World do in torment to their everlasting woe Lord thou art Jehovah Tsidkenu the Lord my righteousness be pleased to cloath my person with the robe of thy Sons imputed righteousness that my nakedness may not appear before Men and Angels to my eternal shame let all my actions be covered with the garment of thy Spirits imparted righteousness that they may be acceptable and amiable in thine eye Let thy grace so fill my heart that godliness may be visible in my hands and I may thereby draw others towards Heaven Thou hast said Behold I make all things new what wilt thou then do with this old corrupt nature of mine O Renew that or nothing will be new to my comfort O God create a clean heart and renew a right Spirit within me I know the time will come that thou wilt create new Heavens and new Earth wherein shall dwell righteousness My body is the Earth and my soul is the Heaven which thou hast already made but might thy servant prevail with thy Majesty to create my soul thy new Heavens and my body thy new Earth wherein may dwell righteousness how infinitely should I be bound tâ— thy distinguishing mercy Thy hands have made me and fashioned me O give me understanding that I may keep thy Commandements Were my soul bespangled with the glorious stars of thy graces and my body embroydered and curiously wrought so as to be the Temple of thy Spirit then indeed thou mightest reâ—lect upon what thou hadst made with complacency for behold it would be very good Hast thou not made the great World for man and the little World Man for thy self When shall I be so pure as to invite thy presence and so sanctified as to be set apart from all others and to be only for thy service O make it appear that I am thy workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works which thoâ— hast before ordained that I should walk in them If thou pleasest to set forth this Heaven and Earth this little Epitome of the creation in a new edition I know it would be done in so fair a Character as to delight thine eyes and to raviâ—h the hearts of all that behold it T is confest the Copy was perfect when it came out of thy hands there was no unrighteousness or impatience not the least blot or blemish in it but my Parents who transmitted the book to the world through their unfaithfulness filled it from the beginning to the end with errors Adam begat a Son in his own likeness after his Image The first sheet went off the press through his cursed falseness and negligence imperfect and full of faults and the many millions that followed have still retained the same defects Yet Lord since thy Son was at the cost of a new impression Let it please thee for his sake to be at the pains of correctâ—ing this volume so effectually that those who look into it may read righteousness courtesie meekness faith humility patience heavenly-mindedness printed in so large a Letter free from the former errors that they may so like it as to embrace and imitate it O then I shall be assured that at the general Resurrection when thy last hand shall pass on me and I shall be published in the newest and last edition none of those blots and blurs wherewith I have defiled it shall be found in it but thy Image shall be printed on me in such a lovely Character and in so perfect a manner that thou wilt delight in me and I in thee for ever and ever Amen CHAP. II. How Christians may exercise themselves to Godliness in the Choice of their Companions SEcondly Thy duty is to make Religion thy business and to exercise thy self to Godliness in relation to thy Company Man saith the Great Philosoper is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 natures good-fellow as one Englisheth it a creature in love with Company Cosmographers observe that the farthest Islands of the World are so seated that there is none so remote but that from some shore of it another Island or Continent may be discovered as if nature hereby invited Countries to mutual commerce God never intended that the World should be a wilderness nor the chief inhabitants thereof as barbarous Beasts to live alone lurking in their Monksâ— and Nuns and Hermits who under pretence of Sanctity sequester themselves from all society are so far from more holiness and being better Christians then others that they seem to have put off the very humane nature and not to be so much as Men. Vnclean nasty persons love to be always private and by their good will would neither seeâ— nor be seen of others Birds of Prey flye always alone and Ravenous Brutes come not abroad till others are retired Psa. 104. 23. Our very senses speak that God would have us sociable nay it s the natural voice of our tongues for our speech and hearing and sight would be in a great degree lost and our Makers end in giving us those Organs and Instruments for converse much frustrated if every man should immure himself in his own Cell The graces and spiritual riches of Saints would in some measure be useless if they did not deal with some to whom they might distribute them The Law of man condemneth ingrossers of external goods and the Law of God condemneth ingrossers of spiritual good things They who study to Monopolize all to themselves undo others As the World shall never want poor men that the wealthy may always have objects of Charity and opportunities of laying out and improving those talents which are committed to their trust so the world shall never be without needy Christians that those who are rich in grace may have fit objects and occasions of imploying their gifts The Moralists axiom is right Omne bonum quo communius eo melius Every good thing is so much the better as it hath many sharers in it In this sense there is a truth in that It is not good for man to be alone Not that it was a formal evil but inconvenient Infinite wisdom hath so dispenced his gifts and graces that no man is so sterile but he hath something wherewith to profit others nor any man so furnished and fruitful but he standeth in need of others help The Head cannot say to the Foot much-less the Foot to the Head I have no need of thee The King himself who seemeth to have least want cannot subsist without the meanest workmen even them that grind
holiness Even Benhadad the King of Syria an enemy to the Prophets and People of God in his health will send a Prince to Elisha with a large present and most submissive expressions thy Son Benhadad in his sickness 2 King 7.9 Sickness gives men a double advantage for holiness 1. It takes off their hearts from creatures by teaching them experimentally what a poor weak cordial the whole creation is to sick or dying men When men are strong and lusty they can taste and savour earthly things carnal comforts hinder their endeavours after spiritual They take up with creatures as Esau and say they have enough but sickness makes them know the emptiness of all sublunary things When men are sick they cannot rellish the worlds dainties and delicates The preferments and riches and pleasures of the earth are all unsavoury and uncomfortable to them They now see the vanity of those things which heretofore they so much idolized how unable they are to revive their fainting spirits or to allay their pain or purchase them the least ease or procure them the least acceptance in the other world and hence the price of the worlds market falls abundantly in their judgements Bernard tells us of a Brother of his that when he gave him many good instructions and he being a Souldier regarded them not he put his finger to his side and told his Brother One day a Spear shall make way to this heart of thine for admonition and instruction to enter 2. In sickness conscience is usually allowed more liberty to speak its mind and men are then more at leasure to hear it In health their callings or friends or lusts or sports or some carnal comfort or other take up their hearts and time that conscience must be silenced as too bold a Preacher for offering to disturb them in their pleasures or if it will use its authority and continue to speak in Gods name and forbid their foolishness and Atheism and sensuality and prophaness they are deaf to its calls and commands and drown its voice with the noise of their brutish delights But in sickness they are taken off from their trades and pastimes and merry meetings and jovial companions when their bodies are weak their fleshly lusts are not so strong as formerly whereby conscience hath a greater opportunity to tell them of their miscarriages and wickedness and they themselves are more attentive to its words and warning Reader It s a special peice of wisdom to improve such a season for the good of thy Neighbours soul. When the Wax is softned then we clap the Seal upon it lest it harden again and be incapable of any impression When the hand of God hath by sickness made the heart of thy wicked friend or brother soft and tender then do thy utmost to stamp the Image of God upon it Paul would preach whilst a door was opened and there was likelyhood of doing good It s a great encouragement to work when the subject upon which we bestow our pains seems capable of what we prosecute and probable to answer our labour We have some heart to strike a nail into a bâ—ard because there is hope it will enter but no list to drive a nail into a flint because we despair of effecting it The Smith strikes when the Iron is hot he knoweth if he should stay till it is cold his labour would be in vain Friend take the advantage of others bodily sickness to further their spiritual health lest they either die in their sins or harden upon their recovery Opportunity is like a joynt in some part of a fowl which if we hit upon we may easily carve and divide the fowl but if the Knife fall on this side or that side of the joynt we do but mangle the meat and take pains to no purpose It is the speech of Master Richard Rogers in his seven Treatises I have visited some persons that have been condemned to die in whom through the blessing of God upon his endeavours I have found as good signs of saved persons as of any that died in their beds not having tasted of repentance before 2. It s a special opportunity of Receiving good We are taught more effectually by the eye then by the ear The sight of a sick or dying person hath often a strange and a strong operation upon the beholder When the Father heard of one that sinned notoriously he cried out I may be as bad as this man is When thou seest one dangerously sick thou mayst think with thy self I must â—e as this man is sick unto death when none of my Relations or Possessions can afford me the least comfort and O how much doth it concern me to prepare before-hand for such an hour If this mans work be now to do when his life is ending how sad is the condition of his precious soul O that I were wise to consider timely and to provide seasonably for my latter end The sight of a dead man was instrumental to the spiritual life of Waldus The sight of others sickness may well quicken me to the greater industry and diligence after spiritual health Do I behold my Neighbour whose Sail formerly sweld with a full gale of worldly enjoyments now wind-bound chained to his chamber or fettered to his bed unable to rellish his food or take any comfort in his friends Do I see him full of Aches and Pains Tossings and Tumblings crying out in the evening Would God it were morning and in the morning Would God it were evening because of the anguish of his Spirit Do I behold his cheeks pale his eyes sunk his lips quivering his loyns trembling his heart panting and nature striving and strugling with the disease to keep its ground and yet at last forced to quit the field and leave the victory to its adversary how many excellent observations may I draw from such a Text What a fool am I to trust the world which leaves this man in his greatest want How mad am I in loving sin which is the cause of all these crosses and miseries and which makes death so mortal to poor souls Of how much worth and value is the blessed Redeemer who will comfort a Christian in such a time of need and carry him through his last conflict with joy and conquest How careful should I be to get and keep a good conscience which in such a day of extremity will yeild me true courage and confidence The wise man doth not without cause tell us It is better to go into the house of mourning to the terming or charnel-house then to the house of feasting for that is is the end of all men and the living will lay it to heart Eccles. 7. 2. Men in a house of feasting are apt to be forgetful of their duty to God themselves and their Neighbours Isa. 22. 13 14. Amos 6. 3 6. Isa. 5. 11 12. When the body is filled the soul is often neglected Iob was afraid of this in
evil Company consisteth First if thou wouldst exercise thy self to Godliness in evil society Labour to keep thy self unspotted from their sins Ungodly men are called filthy and compared to Swine that are apt to defile all that have to do with them They as the Night are dark and full of unwholsom vapours it concerns thee therefore to be well fenced that thy spiritual health may not be impared by them Be careful that they hurt thee not either inwardly or outwardly Thou art in a double danger amongst sinners thou art in danger of having thy soul wounded and also of having thy name and estate blasted There is a necessity therefore of a double guard of a guard upon thy soul that it may not be wronged and of a guard upon thy tongue that thy outward comforts may not be ruined I say 1. Be watchful over thy soul that thou contractest no guilt It s hard to be near those that are dirty and defiled and yet to keep our Garments unspotted and clean Wicked men as Diers and Painters who use colours are usually besmeared themselves in their hands and habits and they also besmear others The Lake of Sodom is called Asphaltides or the Dead Sea because of the venemous vapours which arise out of it insomuch that Birds which flye over it fall down dead and beasts that drink of it sicken and dye Some men have found evil society as poisonous to their souls as brutes have found the Dead Sea to their bodies Pope Nicholas the thirds Concubine by looking on a Bear frequently was brought abed of a Monster Thy frequent vision of their wicked actions may cause too great a likeness in thy conversation But the Saint should resemble the Carbuncle which being cast into the fire is nowhit defiled or impaired thereby but therein shines most brightly If it be closed fast say some in a ring of Lead and cast into the fire we may see the Lead molten but the Carbuncle not so much as mollified or in the least blemished Thy watchfulness friend must be great if thou wouldst keep thy self unspotted from the World Jam. 1. ult Rust will fret into the hardest steel but not into the Emerald Sin will fiâ—d speedy acceptance with a prophane sinner but not with a preciouâ— Saint Ioseph kept his Chastity though often in the company of his wanton Mistress Lot did not lose his sanctity though he dwelt amongst ungodly Sodomites The Arch-Angel disputed with the Arch-Divel yet was not infected by his poisonous breath Satan did set upon the blessed Saviour but could not fasten the least sin upon him Naturalists tell us that the Diamond if true will lie in the â—ire and not consume the Herb Narcissus or Yellow Crowbellies flowreth in February and keepeth its Flower under the Snow The Olive Tree in the midst of the Flood kept its branches green The Christian ought so to converse with the wicked that his grace may neither waste nor his conscience be wounded Thy Duty is as Cloaths well dyed to keep thy colour in all Weathers and as a good constitution to retain thy spiritual health in the most unwholsome Aires The Apostle writes to the Corinthians 1 Cor. 5. 11. Not to company with any that are called brethren and are fornicators or covetous or idolaters or railers or drunkards or extortioners The word in the Original is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 both in the 9 and 11. verse which signifieth not to mingle with them They may be amongst them but they may not mingle with them that which mingleth with any filthy thing receiveth of its filth and though it were pure before is polluted thereby The people of God ought not in this sense to mingle with the world but to keep themselves though not untoucht yet untainted It s storied that the Rivers of Peru run into the main Sea twenty or thirty miles and yet are not mingled with the Sea but continue fresh water So the River Rodanus is said to run purely through the Lake Lemanus without mixture of waters It s also reported of the River Dee in Merionithshire in Wales that running through Pimbe Meer it remaineth entire and mingleth not with the waters of the Lake Thus should the people of God those Chrystal streams though they are necessitated sometimes to meet with keep themselves entire and not mingle with the puddle water of unclean persons Pliny reports of a Family near Rome that could walk on live coals and not be burnt It s honourable to keep thy self pure among them that are evangelically perfect but to preserve thy self from pollution amongst them that are prophane is Heroical It s the excellency of a Christian to hold on his course without slipping or falling when many rubs and hinderances are laid in his way And it s the glory of grace to keep its beauty and lustre notwithstanding the attempts of the World and the Wicked one to soil it It was a notable speech of the Souldier that Erasmus speaks of who being told of a numerous Army coming against him answered Tanto plus gloriae referemus quanto sunt plures quos superabimus The more famous our opposition the more illustrious our Conquest That Great Commander had never been so renowned if he had not eaten his way over the Alpes that were supposed inaccessible The greater our difficulties and the more greivous our enemies the greater our valour and the more glorious our victory That expression concerning Asia hath some worth Though it be no praise never to have seen it yet to have lived soberly and temperately in it is praise-worthy indeed The Holy Ghost giveth thee wholsom counsel Be not partaker of other mens sins keep thy self pure 1 Tim. 5. 22. It may be Reader thou art called sometimes amongst Swearing Drunken and Ungodly persons Well thou art in more danger then in a Pest-house therefore look well to thy self Satan thinks though he could not conquer thee amongst the Saints that now he hath caught thee amongst a Company of venemous Serpents one or other of them will sting thee and then he hopeâ— to overthrow thee Watch thy self narrowly if thou wouldst be safe Be not partaker of other mens sins It may be as bad to have communion with others sins as to commit sin in thy own person He that is Surety for another is as liable to the debt as the Principal and we count him most foolish that takes anothers debt upon himself Indeed Satan hath this for his comfort that hereby he hath the more in bonds to the Laws Curse Three ways thou mayst partake of those sins which are committed in thy Company I shall not speak of thy commanding men to sin so David was guilty of Vriahs death though the Sword of the Ammonites slew him â— Sam. 12. 3. Nor of counselling men to sin so Ionaciaâ— was guilty of Ammons incest 2 Sam. 16. 21. Nor of comâ—ending others for sin so a man may be accessory 〈◊〉 the fact Rom. 1.
quickening comforting day all his life time Fifthly By good Company much sin hath been prevented Christian society is like the pulse which ariseth from the heart and hath a double Motion of contraction and dilatation both for the expelling of noxious fumes through the insensible pores of the flesh and for the drawing in of cool air to refresh the heart and vital parts It s useful to increase grace Sothern-wood groweth best in Gardens where its first planted Grace shoots up most in Gods Vineyard amongst his Plants The out-lying Dear that leave the Herd seldom thrive Those parts dye that are severed from the body It s useful to prevent vice That deformed Harlot hath been ashamed to appear in such honest Company The Romans durst not call for their obscene Plays in Catos presence When David was like to be slain Abishai came and rescued him good company hath prevented the Christians falling from Christ. Peter confest Christ among the holy Apostles though he denyed him among the ungodly Servants of the High Priest If one prevail against a man two shall withstand him and a threefold cord is not easily broken Eccles. 4. 12. Two streams united into one channel may bear up a Vessel of some burthen Iunius being much tempted to Atheism profest himself very much helpt against it by discoursing with a plain Countryman near Florence Naturally saith Chrysostom A man hath but one head to advise him one tongue to speak for him two hands to work two feet to walk and two eyes to see for him Now saith he had a man that skill and cunning to make that one head many and that one tongue many and so his eyes and feet and hands many he would hardly be circumvented by any carnal policy Good Company doth this it makes that one head many that one tongue many those two hands eyes feet many for Saints study for others good as well as their own their eyes their tongues their hands and feet are always imployed for the benefit of their companions Now in many Counsellours there is much safety He that hath many eyes to watch for him is likeliest to be kept from falling No Vessels are in such hope of security and to be defended from Pyrates as those that sail with so strong a Convoy As God hath set conscience to watch over the inner man and by reason of that help we avoid much unholiness so God hath set Christians to watch over one anothers outward man and truly these eyes being over us may prevent the commission of much evil The society of Saints is sometimes in Scripture compared to a Garden It hath fruits and drugs in it of all sorts some for food some for Physick some for corrosives some for Cordials some to warm the frozen Saints some to cool the fiery sinner some are profitable for one purpose some for another For as we have many members in one body and all members have not the same office So we being many are one body in Christ and we all members one of another Rom. 12. 5 6. A company of Christians is a great Fair where all sorts of provision both for necessity and delight is to be had Hence Satan is so busie and diligent if it be possible to prevent Christian Communion I was coming once and again but Satan hindered me 1 Thes. 2. 18. And his servants have learned this of their hellish Master Iulian the Apostate and the Heathen Emperours banished Christians into Islands where they could not have access one to another being suspicious that their mutual communion would tend much to their mutual comfort and confirmation Bradford was accused to do more hurt in prison by his Letters and Speeches then in the Pulpit by his Preaching One Christian cometh to another as Paul to his Romans with the fulness of the blessings of the Gospel of Christ. Therefore as Cato would often make division amongst his Servants judging their union to tend to his disadvantage so Satan soweth discord amongst Christians knowing their concord would tend to the throwing down his Kingdom Surely of all fellowships this is the onely good fellowship Next to communion with God there is no communion like the communion of Saintâ—â— The World doth but catechrestically name their rabble of drunken swearing and riotous wretches Good Fellows No otherwise then the Atheistical Popes are termed Pii the greedy cormorants called Innocents and the earthly Muck worms Caelestines The conjunction of sinners is a combination with Divels The Prince of darkness is the head of their league and they all wear his black colours But the communion of Saints is a fellowship with God he is the foundation of their union These things write I unto you that ye may have fellowship with us and truly our fellowship is with the Father and Iesus Christ his Son 1 Joh. 1. 3. What fellowship can in any respect compare with theirs who have fellowship not only with Christians the highest and most excellent of Men or with Angels the noblest and most honourable of creatures but even with God himself the Fountain and Ocean of all honour and perfection O how happy is that company which hath his presence how amiable is that Council which hath such a President and how desireable is their amity who are united under this blessed and glorious Potentate May it not be said of such Companions what Zeba and Zalâ—unna spake of Gideons brethren Each one resembled the child of a King Judg. 8. 18. Their Parentage is so great their society is so gracious and their priviledges are so glorious that if a man purchase his freedom of a Company in one of our Cities at so dear a rate what should he not give or do to be free of this Corporation He that hath but an eye of faith to see the glory â—nd magnificence of this Society may well express himself as Titus the Emperour when he saw the remainder of the Sanctum Sanctorum Now I well perceive that this is none other then the house of God and the dwelling of the God of Heaven neither was it for naught that the Iews stood so earnestly in the defence thereof For great is the glory of this Temple The splendour thereof is without compare SECT II. SEcondly Consider Wicked men joyn together to advance the Kingdom of Satan and to provoke one another to lewdness and wickedness and shall not Saints unite to exalt the interest of Christ and to provoke one another to love and to good works There is so much monstrous emnity in the hearts of carnal ones against God and holiness that when the tide of their own lusts and the stream of their headstrong passions would carry them swiftly towards Hell yet as if this were too little they hoise up sail and help one another forward with the strong winds of provocation They encourage themselves in an evil matter they commune of laying wait privily Psa. 64. 5. As Sampsons Foxes they joyn tayl to tayl
my self when any reprove me for the evil in me let me accept it with thanks Make me able to say with that sweet singer of Israel Let the righteous smite me it shall be a kindness and let him reprove me and it shall be an excellent oyl it shall not break my head I Wish that I may by no means repine but always rejoyce at the gifts and graces of others If the other members of the body thrive the heart doth not grieve but is glad at it It s ordinary for younger brothers to boast and glory in the large estate and great possessions which their elder brothers have left them by their Fathers Why should not my soul be joyful at the great share of spiritual riches which the onely wise God hath given some of my brethren If a man love sweet smels the greater degree of them he observeth in any place the moâ—e he is refreshed with them He that delights in Pictures if he see one in a room exactly and exquisitely drawn above all the rest that shall have more of his eye and his heart Is not grace compared to sweet Oynments and shall not I be comforted the more for the greatness of its savour Is not the Image of my God amiable in mine eye and ought I not to delight most in that Copy which is nearest the Original Surely if I envy any their spiritual excellencies I shew my self too like a Child of the Devil There is hardly any worm that gnaweth that unclean spirit more painfully then the grace which God gives his Children Their sins are his utmost joy their graces are his extream greif Would I be found in Satans livery at the last O that I might be so far from murmuring at that double portion of the Spirit which my God bestoweth upon some of his people that I might bless God heartily for it and beg of God to add to it an hundred fold how great soever it is The pretty Birds sing the more merrily the higher the Sun mounteth in the Heavens I have cause to be the more chearful the nearer any ascend to Heaven and the higher they mount in holiness My love to my God to my Brother nay to my self all command me to it My love to my God He that loves his Soverain will rejoyce that he hath any Subjects eminent above others for duty and loyalty They that have much spiritual strength will do my God much spiritual service The more grace they have the more glory they bring to God It s an honour to the Father of Spirits when his Children keep open house according to their estates cloathing the naked feeding the hungry soul and relieving liberally such as are in want I am no Christian if I be not tender of my Gods honour and joyful when that is exalted in the World Besides Love to my brother should quicken me to this duty If I love him as my self I shall both grieve at his soul-losses and rejoyce at his spiritual gains Love delighteth in the welfare of the party loved The hotter the beames of grace are in the party beloved the more they rejoyce the heart of the lover Why should any mans eye be evil towards his Brother because Gods is good to him Have others the less because some have so much Or is it not my own fault that I am not as holy and gracious as he God is a Fountain of grace always running over but he derives it to us according to our capacities If I go to the Well of Salvation and receive but little of the water of life I may know the cause my Vessel was no bigger Nay Love to my self may make me glad at others gifts and graces The greater the Saints estate is the more he will relievâ— others As the Earth though it sucketh in so much water as will give her self a competent refreshment conveyeth many springs through her veins for the cherishing and refreshment of others So the Saints do not onely advantage their own but also others souls Lord though in Hell there be little else but murmuring and repining at the good of thy chosen yet in Heaven there is no emptiness in themselves no envying at others every Saint there hath his joy doubled for anothers joy and is glorified in anothers glory Suffer not thy Servant to make his heart a little Hell by filling it with grief at the good of thy chosen But O make it thy lesser Heaven be thou pleased to dwell in it and then I shall begin the work of eternity in time magnifie and bless thee for thy love to them and praise and bless them for their likeness to thee Finally I Wish that I may so carry my self in all my converses with the Children of God here that I may meet them in the Fathers house and sit down with them at the Supper of the Lamb. Lord if Communion with thy Saints be so pleasant and delightful on earth how pleasant and delightful will it be in Heaven Here my communion with them is imperfect my flesh will not suffer me to receive the good I might from them nor their flesh allow them to do the good they might to me But there shall be no evil no occasion of evil no appearance of evil no sin shall clog the chariots of our souls no flesh shall fetter us from running to embrace and delight in each other but all shall be free to rejoyce and refresh one another Every Saint shall be as it were a fountain of Communion in the sweetest mannerâ— and fullest measure from every one shall flow Riâ—ers of water of life and every one enlarged to rellish and receive If Jonathan beholding a little grace in David on earth loved him as his own soul how doth he love him in Heaven Here our Communion is much lamed by the defects in our bodily organs we cannot impart our minds without our members which being defective make our Communion so but there we shall be as Angels seeing each other without eyes hearing each other without ears and embracing each other without hands Here our Communion is interrupted our particular callings our eating our drinking our sleeping our many occasions call us from it But there is no calling but our general calling of worshipping and enjoying our God no feeding but on the tree of life that groweth in the midst of Paradise no drinking but of the Rivers of Gods own pleasures and no night no sleeping but that rest which remaineth for the people of God O what darkness what night can be there where all the righteous shall shine infinitely brighter then the Sun in his noon day lustâ—e Here our Communion is hindered by the differences that frequently arise â— like Children of the same Father we quarrel and wrangle but there they will all be like-minded having the same love being of one accord and one judgement There indeed Jerusalem is a City compact together and at unity within it self There Pauls desire is granted
ever with Ierusalem they shall be born upon her sides and dandled upon her knees they shall suck and be satisfied with the breasts of her consolation they shall milk out and be delighted with the abundance of her glory Amen CHAP. V. How a Christian should exercise himself to Godliness in Solitariness As also a Good Wish about that Particular THirdly Thy duty is to exercise thy self to Godliness in Solitude A gracious person is not onely consciencious in company but also when he is alone His whole life is nothing else but a walking with his God When I awake I am still with thee saith David Psa. 139. 18. He no sooner opened the eyes of his body in the morning but he was lifting up the eyes of his mind to Heaven When he was alone in his bed he was in company with his God As God was still with him so he was still with God Nevertheless I am continually with thee Psa. 73. True sanctity is visible in secresie to him that is Omniscient The Saint is many times most busie when he hath nothing to do and may say more truly then Scipio the African Nunquam minus solus quam cum solus I am never less alone then when alone The pulse of the body beats as well in solitariness as in company and so doth the pulse of the gracious soul towards his God and Saviour It s said of Domitian that he did one hour in a day sequester himself from all persons to no purpose for it was to catch flies which was the original of that answer to one that asked Whether any body were with the Emperour Ne musâ—a quidem No not so much as a flie A Believer hath business of great weight when he withdraweth from the press of the world it is that he might draw nearer to the Lord. Isaac goeth into the Fields to meditate of God Christ goeth into the Mountain apart to pray to God Daniel to the Rivers side Peter to the house top The Church to the secret place of the stairs and all to enjoy communion with their God Gen. 26. Mark 1. 35. Cant. 2. 4. Dan. 8. 2. and 10. 4. Act. 10. A Saint therefore sequestreth himself from the noise and clamour of company and worldly businesses that he might have the more free and intimate converse with his Redeemer A forced banishment from Men to dwell among Beasts hath been bewailed as a great misery but a free retirement from creatures to enjoy more of the blessed God is a great felicity Woodrow an hearb of an extraordinary pleasant smell delighteth in dark and shadowy places So the Christian who in company refresheth others with the fragrancy of his graces loveth sometimes to be obscure and in secret Many of the Heathen were so affected with the vanity and vexation of the world that they wilâ—lingly left their pleasures and preferments in Courts to live privately in the Country Sylla Felix laid aside his dictatourship to lead a retired life Dioclesians two and twenty years raigne could not make him out of love with a solitary life but he voluntarily left the Empire and could not be prevailed with to reassume it though he was threatned to it Demosthenes would shave his beard half off and all his hair from his head to necessitate his stay within doors and his abode amongst his Books Thales left the affairs of state that he might have time for Contemplation Cato in his old age wiâ—hdrew from Rome to live as he used to say out of the crowd of the world And the Romans were so much convinced of his prudence herein that as they passed by his house to which he retired they would ordinarily cry out Iste solus scit vivere This man alone knoweth how to live Old Similis having lived long in the Wars and afterwards for seven years devoting himself to solitariness when he died left this Epitaph behind Here lieth old Similis yet one that lived but seven years Hiero the Tyrant of Syracuse gave over his Kingdom to live a solitary life Others out of a deep melancholly have avoided all society and delighted onely like the Shrick Owl and Bittern in desolate places and Monuments of the dead Zeph. 2. 14. Socrates in his Ecclesiastical History Lib. 4. Cap. 18. speaks of some so strangely averse to all correspondence with men that they have immuted themselves in Cels and Silence for sixty and ninety years together even as long as they lived But Reader I would not advise thee to such continued retirement nor to any at all upon such low mean grounds Those voluntary sequestrations of deluded Votaries amongst the Papists from humane society are I dare say as unacceptable to God as uncomfortable to themselves Such solitary persons bring little comfort to their own souls little honour to God and do no good at all to others By how much as doing God great service is better then doing him little as doing good to many is better then doing good onely to my self so much is Company before solitariness But the most publique Christians have their times for privacy It s no mean misery to be either always alone or never alone He that is always crowded with Company can neither enjoy himself nor his God as he ought SECT I. I Shall first lay down some Motives and then shew wherein we should exercise our selves to Godliness when we are alone 1. To quicken thee to exercise thy self to godliness in solitude Consider The benefit of solitude well improved solitude is a good opportunity for godliness Seneca was wont to say that he seldom went into company that he came not home worse then he went out Society as it hath much gain so much perplexity Solitude is a release to the soul that was imprisoned in Company To be much in Company tires and wearies us We are prone to count it a bondage and the persons we associate with our fetters Retiring seasonably from them sets us at liberty and giveth us freedom to mount up to Heaven at our pleasure Scipio would tell his friends I have never better company then when I have no company for then can I freely entertain my own thoughts and converse with all the learned that have been in former ages Hierom speaks better Sapiens nunquam solus esse potest â—abet enim secum omnes qui sunt qui fuerunt boni si bominum sit inopia loquitur cum Deo A wise man can never be alone for he hath ever with him all the good men that are or have been and if he find any want of men he can converse with God It was a custome among the Indians when their King went to bed to pray with piping acclamations that he might have happy dreams and withal consult well for the good of his Subjects As ifâ— the silent secret night had been a friend to wisdom One of the best Kings that ever the world had tells us My reins instruct me in the night season
mischief they conceive for lack of the Midwifery of fit instruments and opportunities to bring it forth Good men are unable to act all the good they would because they want power and ability for Execution As Paul acknowledgeth that he was better at willing then performing but every man hath liberty to devise and meditate to study and contrive what he willâ— Though a mans hand or actions may be over awed and over-ruled against his own will yet his heart and thoughts cannot As he thinks in his heart saith the wise man so is he Pov. 13. 7. Practiceâ— may be swayed by outward ends but the thoughts are always genuine and natural Violence may cause the former but love carrieth the latter in its own way Hence good men have been signalized for Saints from the holiness of their thoughts They thought upon his name they meditate in his law day and night and they have even appealed to God with comfort upon their confidence of their uprightness from the goodness of their thoughts Try me O God and know my thoughts as being the purest and most unfeigned issues of the soul Mal. 3. 17. Psalm 1. and such as have least danger of infection from forreign aimes It s observable also that wicked men are set forth by this secret mark They devise mischief they imagine wickedness the thoughts and imaginations of his â—eart are evil God is not in all his thoughts because as Adam begat a son after his own likeness so doth the heart of every man beget thoughts according to its own likeness whether it be spiritual or carnal The Bowl runs as the Bias inclines it The Ship moves as the Râ—dder steereth it and the mind thinketh according to the predominancy of vice or vertue in it The more the fire of grace burns clear in the soul the more of these sparks will ascend towards Heaven The more earthly a soul is the more his thoughts will tend downward the more he will mind earthly things Philip. 3. 17 18. Naturalists tell us of the Gnomon commonly called the Mariners needle that it always will turn to the Northâ—star though it be closed and shut up in a Coffer of Wood or Gold yet it loseth not its nature So the true Christian is always looking to the star of Iacob whether he be shut up in a Prison or shut himself up in his Closet he is ever longing after Jesus Christ. A true lover delights most to visit his friend alone when he can enjoy privacy with him Our blessed Saviour doth not without cause call the Pharisees Hypocrites though they faâ—ted and prayed and gave much almes because they performed those duties chiefly if not onely in company and to be seen of men The applause of others was the weight that set their clocks a going when that was taken off as when they were alone they stood still Therefore Christ adviseth his Apostles to take another course if they would evidence the truth of their Christianity Enter into thy closet shut thy door and pray to thy father in secret One fervent prayer in secret will speak more for our sincerity then many in publique Mat. 6. â—â—it When a Prince passeth by in the streets then all even strangers will flock about him and look upon him but his Wife and Children think not this enough but follow him home and are not satisfied unless they can enjoy him there A false Christian and one that is a stranger to God if he have but a superficial view of him in his Courts is pleased but the true believer and one that is nigh to him in Christ must have retired converses with him in his Closet or he is not contented SECT III. I Come now to shew how a Christian should exercise himself to godliness in Solitude 1. If thou wouldst exercise thy self to godliness when thou art alone guard thy heart against vain thoughts This is the first work to be done without which all that I have to commend to thee will be in vain It s to no purpose to expect that a glass should be filled with costly wine when it s filled already with puddle water When the house before-hand was taken up by strangers there was not room for Christ himself in the Inne If such flies be suffered and allowed in our hearts they will spoil our best pots of Oyntment Some persons though poor when they are solitary delight in the fancies and imaginations of great preferments and pleasures and riches as if they were real whereas they are the meer Chimera's and Fictions of their own brains and have no existence but in their thoughts No wonder our Saviour saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Out of the heart of man proceedeth madness Mark 7.21,22 Such thoughts are distracted thoughts and sutable to those that are out of their wits who please themselves in thinking that their filthy holes in Bedlam are stately Palaces that their nasty rags are royal robes that their iron fetters are chaines of gold and the feathers stuck in their caps are imperial Crowns As the Spanish Page in an high distemper of fancy imagined himself to be some great Emperour and was maintained in that humour by his Lord so some foolish men build these Castles in the air and then allow themselves a lodging in them Others please themselves in the thoughts of sinful sports or cheats or unclean acts and sit brooding on such Cockatrice eggs with great delight It is their meat and drink to roul those sugard-plums under their tongues Though they cannot act sin outwardly for want of strength of body or a fit opportunity yet they act sin inwardly with great love and complacency As Players in a Comedy they act their parts in private in order to a more exact performance of them in publique Others entertain themselves with needless and useless thoughts such as tend neither to the informing the mind nor reforming the heart or life Like vagrants a man meets with these in every place but can neither tell whence they come nor whither they go they have neither a good cause nor do they produce any good effect Such thoughts might be in a Davids heart but they were the object of his hate Psa. 119. 103. I hate vain thoughts The best Christians heart here is like Solomons ships which brought home not onely Gold and Silver but also Apes and Peacoks it hath not onely spiritual and heavenly but also vain and foolish thoughts But these latter are there as a disease or poison in the body the object of his grief and abhorrency not of his love and complacency Though we cannot keep vain thoughts from knocking at the door of our hearts nor from entering in sometimes yet we may forbear bidding them welcome or giving them entertainment How long shall vain thoughts lodge within thee Jerem. 4. 14. It s bad to let them sit down with us though but for an hour but its worse to let them lye or lodge with us It s
whole world and lose his own soul or what will a man give in exchange for his soul If the gaining a little silver or gold be worth so much time and pains how much is holiness and heaven worth surely ten thousand times more Art thou in the day to take a journey thou mayst consider I am but a Pilgrim and Stranger in this earth I am every day travelling towards my long home I have no abiding City here but look for one that is to come whose Builder and Maker is God O that I could prepare for it and daily make some progress towards it Art thou to spend the day in thy Shop or fields and about many businesses think on that of Christ Martha Martha Thou art careful and troubled about many things but one thing is needful and Mary hath chosen the good part which shall never be taken from her This Reader were an excellent improvement of thy time in solitude by such occasional meditations which are obvious to ordinary understandings SECT V. THirdly If thou wouldst exercise thy self to godliness in solitude Mind solemn and set meditation In the former head I advised thee to Occasional in this to Deliberate meditation Hereby thou wilt not onely prevent those covetous ambitious lascivious thoughts which otherwise might crowd in upon thee and pollute thee but also exceedingly further thy soul in holiness Occasional meditations do some good but these much more as making a greater impression upon the soul and abiding longer with it They differ as a taste and a full meal as a sip and a good draught Occasional meditations are like loving strangers that afford us a visit but are quickly gone Deliberate meditations are as inhabitants that dwell with us and are longer helpful to us The former as the morning dew do somewhat moysten and refresh the earth but quickly passeth away The latter as a good showre soaks deep and continueth long Because this is of great weight I shall acquaint thee what solemn meditation is and then give thee a pattern of it Solemn meditation is a serious applying the mind to some sacred subject till the affections be warmed and quickened and the resolution heightned and strengthned thereby against what is evil and for that which is good There are five things in this description 1. It is an application of the mind The understanding must be awake about this duty it is not a work to be done sleeping If the mind be not stirring the affections will be nodding The understanding in this is as it were the Master-workman if that be out of the way or missing the servants of the affections will be idle and stand still T is by this Sun that heat is conveyed to the lower world Darkness like the night is accompanied with damps and cold The Chariot of light is attended with warming and quickening beams 2. It is a serious applying the mind Too quick digestion breeds crudities in the mind as well as in the body and doth often more distemper then nourish There must be a retentive faculty to hold fast that which nature receiveth until a through concoction be wrought or little strength will be gotten by it Hereby it differeth from occasional meditation which is sudden and soon vanisheth this calls at the door salutes us and takes its leave that comes in and stays some time with us Occasional meditation is transient like the dogs of Nilus that lap and are gone set meditation is permanent it as the Spouse beg'd of Christ lodgeth all night between the breasts This duty cannot be done unless the mind be kept close to it the person that is negligent cannot do this work of the Lord. Things of importance are not to be hudled up in haste Loose thoughts as loose garments hinder us in our business We need as much our hearts united to think of God as to fear God Short glances do little good it is the abiding influence of the sun that turns the earth into silver and golden mettal It is not once dipping the stuff into the Dy-fat but frequent doing it that giveth the pure scarlet colour The true Mithridate which is so cordial and opening is long a making The yellow wax lyeth long in the beams of thâ— Sun before it changeth its colour and attaineth a virgin-like whitness and purity He that rides post though he wearies himself in travelling from place to place is less able to give an account of the Country through which he passeth then he that is more slow in his course but more constant in his abode Omnis festinatio caeca est saith Seneca T is much blowing that makes the green wood to flame 3. It is about some sacred subject As good meat and drink breed good blood so good subjects will breed good thoughts There is abundant matter for our meditation as the Nature or Attributes of God the States and Offices of Christ the three-fold state of man the four last things the vanity of the creature the sinfulness of sin and the love and fulness of the blessed Saviour the Divine Word and Works out of these we may chuse somtimes one thing sometimes another to be the particular subject of our thoughts Exo. 15.11 Ps. 1.1 and 119.148 Pro. 6.22 1 Tim. 4. 13. To undertake more then one at a time will deprive us of the benefit of all Too much food will rather destroy then encrease the natural heat A little wood may help that fire to burn which a great quaintity would smother Whilst the Dog runs after two Hares now after one and presently after the other he loseth both Many subjects as a press or crowd of people do but hinder one another Those streams are strongest which are most united Greediness of appetite and receiving too much food weakeneth digestion Simples are most operative mixtures and compositions are often used to allay their force When thou hast fixt upon the subject meditate if it may be on its causes properties effects titles comparisons testimonies contraries all will help to illustrate the subject and to quicken and advantage thee they do all as so many several windows let in those beams which both enlighten the mind and warm the affections but they must be considered in their places and methodically The parts of a Watch jumbled together serve for no use but each in their order make a rare and useful peice 4. It is that the affections may be warmed and quickned Our hearts and affections should answer out thoughts as the eccho the voyce and the wax the character in the seal If our meditations do not better our hearts they do nothing Whilst they swim in the mind as light things floating on the waters they are unprofitable but when they sink down into the affections as heavy and weighty things making sutable and real impressions there then they attain their end Our design in meditation must be rather to cleanse our hearts then to clear our heads Whilst I was musing the fire
and serving his God and his soul as well as his family and body in those interjections The wheel of a chariot though it be in motion all the day and turning about on the ground yet it s but a small part of it that toucheth the earth at one time the greatest part of it is always above it so the true Christian though he be all the day busie about earthly affairs yet it s but his body his lesser part that is employed about them his soul his affections which are his greatest part are always about them SECT I. I Shall first offer thee two quickening Motives and then acquaint thee wherein thy daily exercise to Godliness consisteth First Consider Any day may be thy last day and therefore every day should be an holy day with thee I mean not an holy day for play or recreatâ—on but for the work of Religion He that knoweth not how soon his Master will come and reckon with him had need to be always employed about his Masters business Because there is no time of life in which thou art secure from death therefore every day of thy life thou oughtest to be about thy duty Prov. 27.1 Boast not thy self of to morrow thou knowest not what a day may bring forth Every day is big-bellied and hath more in the womb of it then any man knoweth he that salutes the morning with a smiling aspect may bid the world good night for ever before the evening The candle of thy life may be blown out on a sudden before its half burnt out The Poets fable that Death and Cupid lodging together at an Inn exchanged arrows whereby it hath since come to pass that old men â—â—ote and young men die Death cometh up to the young and strong old and weak men go down to Death Thou mayst be called forth to that war in which there is no discharge and not have an hours warning to prepare thy self for a march Sturdy trees are overturned by an unexpected wind lusty men by violent feavers or outward accidents our enemies are strong our earthly houses weak the coming of our Landlord is unknown the lease of our lives is uncertain we are every moment liable to be ejected and shall we not be so employed that our Lord when he comes may find us well-doing I remember I have in some Author read that the invention of clocks was not primarily to mind us of the Suns posting in the heavens but of our Lives passing on earth It was Calvins reason for his unweariedness in his studies when his friends urged against it the injury it did his body Would ye have my Lord when he cometh find me idle It will be woful for that servant whom his Lord when he cometh shall find doing evil or doing nothing But and if that servant say in his heart My Lord delayeth his coming and shall begin to beat the men-servants and maidens and to eat and drink and be drunken The Lord of that servant will come in a day when he looketh not for him and in an hour when he is not aware and will cut him asunder and will appoint him his portion with unbelievers Luk. 12. 45 46. In which words we may observe 1. The sin of the unfaithful servant 2. The severity of his Lord. In the sin we may take notice 1. Of the nature of He bâ—ats his fellow-servants and eats and drinks and is drunken He gives himself up to all manner of wickedness He is unrighteous to his fellow-servants he beats them and unfaithful to his Master he abuseth his goods he eats and drinks and is drunken Sin doth not lie skulking in the â—ecret trenches of his heart but appeareth boldly in the open field of his life T is a sign an enemy hath great power when he sheweth himself openly 2. The occasion of it His Plea for it His Lord delayeth his coming Because he hath not a speedy reward he layeth aside all good works because of Gods gracious forbearance he argueth a general acquittance for all his evil works He makes bold to riot because he is not called to a speedy reckoning We tremble not at the noise of those Cannons which we fancy to be a great way off That which is lookt upon at a distance seems small and so is despised though the same beheld near appears great and terrifieth us In the severity of the Lord we may read 1. How sore his judgement is He shall cut him asunder and give him his portion among unbeleivers These two expressions speak the dreadfulness of his doom though no words can speak fully how woful it is He shall cut him asunder An allusion to some tortures then in use amongst the Heathen to shew the exquisite pain which his body shall suffer And give him his portion among unbeleivers Because the hottest Hell is reserved for such The wrath of God abideth on them Joh. 3. ult to note the extream punishment which his soul shall undergo 2. How sudden it is unexpected evils are most dreadful The Lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him Sudden frights overwhelm the spirits Those miseries which seen at some distance have been entertained with patience surprising men on a sudden have â—triken them into despair Death comes sometimes like a Thief up into our windows coming in at the door is ordinary but coming in at the window is unlookt for Ier. 19. 21. As the snare secretly and unexpectedly seiseth the silly Bird so doth a day of death the simple Children of men Luk. 21. 35. Our Saviour speaks of his coming in the second or third watch of the night which the Jews called Intempestum Gallietnium not in the first and fourth because saith Theophilact they are the dead time of the night when men are in their soundest sleep to shew us how suddenly and unexpectedly he shall surprise most men Luk. 12. 38. Reader This present days work may be the last act of thy life it behoveth thee therefore to do it well When thou art in thy Closet thou mayst think with thy self I may possibly never pray more never read the word of God more how reverently uprightly graciously should I therefore pray and read When thou art eating or drinking or refreshing nature thou mayst consider for ought I know this may be the last time that I may use these creatures of God how fearful should I be of abusing them how should I eat my bread as before the Lord. When thou art in thy Shop or about thy calling thou mayst ponder this Possibly my last sand is running and I must this day bid adieu for ever to Wares and Shops and Flocks and Fields and all civil commerce O how heavenly should I be about these earthly affairs How spiritual about these temporal things Who would not do his last work well Ah how holy should he be at all times who hath cause every moment to expect the coming of an holy and
savour of it So if godliness and the immediate worship of God do first in the morning possess my soul my natural and civil affairs will probably rellish of it Again Mens hearts are generally upon that in the morning which they esteem their happiness and portion The covetous Muck-worm no sooner openeth his eyes but his â—eart is tumbling in his heaps The voluptuous beast no sooner wakes but he is sporting in sensual waters The ambitious Peacock no sooner is able to think but his gay Feathers and gaudy dress for that day come into his mind and why should not my heart send its first thoughts into Heaven Whom have I in Heaven but thee and there is none upon Earth that I desire in comparison of thee The Birds early in the morning salute the rising Sun with their sweet notes and shall not I the Sun of righteousness Further My wants my mercies call for morning duties I walk in the midst of deaths of dangers every day and shall I dare to travail without my defence Men cloath their bodies against the sharpness of the weather and why not their souls against the assaults of the flesh the world and the wicked one There is no safety without this breast-work If Satan take me out of my trenches and strong holds as Joshua did the men of Ai it will be no wonder if he roâ—t and ruine me If I do not bless God in the morning how can I expect that he should bless me in the day Is any earthly Prince so prodigal of his favours as to throw them away upon those that esteem them unworthy to be desired If I do not serve the Precepts of God I am presumptuous to look that his providence should serve meâ— Should I undertake my affairs on earth before I have dispatched my business with heaven I am a notorious Cheat and Theif I am a Theif to God by robbing him of his glory and that natural allegiance which I owe to my Maker I am a Theif to my self in robbing my self of that blessing which I might have on my callings and undertakings O that prayer might be the girdle to compass in the whole body of my natural and civil dealings and concernments And that I could every day of my life forestal the worlds market by setting early about closet and family duties Suitors find it fittest to wait upon and dispatch their business with great persons betimes in the morning Lord freedom of access to thy throne of grace is an unspeakable favour Access is hard to earthly Princes No worldly Court is so open as to admit all comers Those that with much difficulty present their Petitions are often against all reason denyed Thy gates are open night and day all that will may come and be welcome Thou invitest souls to come into thy presence and delightest to hear and grant their prayers Thine eares are more open and ready to hear then their mouths to ask Thou pressest upon many undesired blessings but denyest none who ask not stones instead of bread Importunity never angers thee the more fervent and frequent my soul is with thee the more prevalent Thou fillest the hungry with good things and dost not send any that desire thy grace empty away from thy gate What care I how little notice or knowledge the Nobles of the earth will take of me when I can speak so freely to their better their Soveraign and not fear a repulse O teach me the right art of begging and then I need not be afraid of poverty If I be but skilful to follow that trade my returns will be both â—â—re and large Thy mercies are renewed upon me every morning so are my necessities O let my prayses and prayers be as frequent and early I will bless the Lord at all times his praise â—hall be continually in my mouth O God my God early will I seek thee my soul thirsteth for thee in a dry and barren Wilderness where no water is My voice shalt thou hear in the morning O Lord in the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee and will look up I Wiâ—h that having done with the more immediaâ—e service of my God in Praying and Reading both in my Closet and Family I may proceed to serve him in my Shop and Particular Calling When God saith Man is born to labour I must not sing with the fool Soul take thine ease An idle person is like Caterpillars and Mice that devour Gods creatures and do no good to others It s pity he ever lived the book of whose life is filled up with nothing but Cyphers Nature never intended men to be drones to feed on others labours nor bats to spend their lives in the company of sleep the brother of death My God my soul my family my country do all call upon me to be diligent in that calling whereto he hath called me My God is a pure act himself and hath capacitated all his creatures for action He created all men but never made a sluggard The idle person wholly degenerates from the end of his being and receiveth his faculties in vain The command for civil labour hath the same divine stamp as that for sacred rest I have also his pattern for my encouragement as well as his precept for my warrant Hitherto my father worketh and I work My soul also stands in as much need of exercise as my body Idleness is the door at which diseases enter into both Rust eats up vessels that are laid by and unused The mind is never more bright then when it is in imployment from doing nothing we proceed to do evil Idleness is not onely a vice it self but also hath this unhappiness to usher in all other This is the least advantage of industry that it gives the soul no leasure to play with sin or to entertain the wicked one Standing waters do not sooner putrifie then lazy souls T is action that preserves the â—oul in health As Gâ—ats dance up and down in the Sun and then sit down and sting the next hand they seize upon So they who have no time to work have much to imploy in slandering and backbiting others One sin never goeth alone Again my Family may well rouze me out of the bed of laziness If I expect supply of their wants it must come in with Gods blessing at the door of diligence I am stealing from my wife and children all the while I am loytering The Heavens may cause seed sown to ripen into a joyful Harvest but untilled land will afford no crop save of weeds or stones Once more My Country commands me to my calling I am but an ill member in the body Politique if as a diseased part I take of its nourishment but rather hinder its growth then contribute to its health A jarring string is not more prejudicial to the rarest Viol in the hands of a skilful artist then an idle person to the musick and composure of the universe The most venemous
days in the Kalender of their lives for Festivals and make them all Play-days as if there were never a working day among them that are as busie and tedious in dressing their worm-eaten bodies as Children in dressing Babies and are more troubled at the smallest disorder in their hairs then the greatest disorder in Church and State would give up all and much more if they had it for a little time Then the Nobles and Kings and Emperours of the world will disesteem their honours and height and trample upon their Robes and Scepters and â—rowns for a little time Then they who dally with their days of grace and delay the preparation of their souls for death and judgement as if time were at their command and they could force it to attend their leasure that live as if Death were their servant and must wait on them till they thought fit to come to their graves will find that time was time indeed O my soul of what worth will time be at that day and wilt thou waâ—te it at this day Alas how little is that time which thou hast to improve for thine unchangeable estate My life is but a shadow that is gone when the Sun hides his head A Bubble that vanisheth when a small breath of wind appeareth A day that is soon overtaken by a night a span nothing Thou hast made my days as an hand-breadth mine age is nothing unto thee Wert thou able to secure a long life though thou hâ—sâ— work enough of infinite weight to imploy it all yet thou mightest have more colour of reason for being lavish but when thy time is little and thy business of such consequence what unspeakable madness is it to be wasteful of it He that hath thousands of acres of Land will spare some for a Park some for a bowling-green some for a court-yard some for pleasure and pastimes but he that hath but a little land upon which himself and his family must live and by which they must be maintained can spare none at all for vain pleasures but must improve all to real profit Man that is born of a woman is but of few days He comes up as a Flower fleeth as a shadow and continueth not and wilt thou O my soul revel and riot away this poor pittance in which thou shouldst work out thy salvation O that I could value this jewel in some measure answerable to its worth and do the work of the day in the day allotted me for work Time rightly husbanded is acceptable time a day well imployed is a day of salvation Lord though my journey be great my time is little Nay how much of that little time have I lost A considerable part of it hath been taken up with my Infancy and Child-hood wherein I did little above a Beast My youth hath been squandred away in trifles and vanity and too much of it in lust and iniquity Much of what remains if thou shouldst add a few more days to my life must be spent in eating and drinking and sleeping and necessary natural actions and shall I not redeem it to my power for the service of my Saviour O affect my soul throughly how Eternity rides upon the back of time that I may prize time highly redeem it carefully and improve it so faithfully that eternity may be my friend and when time shall have an end I may enjoy that joy which hath no end I Wish that I may every day so cast up my accounts that I maybe always ready for the great Audit-day Wise Stewards do not write down great sums in gross which they have disbursed for their Lords at several times but set down the particulars whereby they are prepared for a general reckonning and enabled to justifie their accounts My trust is more weighty then of any Princes Steward on earth my Master will be more exact then the severest humane Lord and am I not then concerned so to number my days as to reckon every day what I receiâ—e from my Lord what I disburse for my Lord and at the foot of every day to write the total sum How foolish is he that rejects his books till his bookâ— reject him 〈◊〉 is it not better for me to look over the book of my conscience and observe what blots and errors are there whilst I have licence and liberty to correct them then to neglect them till those eyes which are purer then to behold iniquity come to look it over and leave be denyed of ever amending what he finds amiss O my soul this evening now I am writing this page I must send to thee Amaziah's challenge of Joash Come let us see one another in the face Why should we that are so near together be such strangers to each other I must ask thee as Elisha did Gehezi Whence comest thou Where hast thou been What hast thou done this day for God and thy self Hast thou lived or onely been in the world this day Doth thy soul work thine eternity work go forward or backward Hast thou lived as if thou wâ—rt going to die and walked in the fear of the Lord all the day long Hath the awe and dread of the divine Majesty all along possessed thee Dost thou consider that thou hast one day less to live and one day more to account for Suppose God should come to thee this night as he did to Belshazer with a Mene Mene It is numbred It is numbred Thy days are told God hath counted them up and finished them thou shalt not live to see a morrow Thy days are extinct the grave is ready for thee Art thou ready for thy grave If God should say to thee as that Lord to his Servant Give an account of thy Stewardship for thou shalt be no longer Steward Are thy accounts and Gods even Dost thou reckon as he doth What do all the actions of this day stand for in thine account Figures or Ciphers somthing or nothing What were thy first thoughts in the morning Was he who came first to thee with his morning mercies first served by thee How didst thou pray in thy Closet and Family What sorrow accompanied thy confessions Was thy heart broken that thou hast broken his holy laws What faith and fervency did accompany thy requests Was the heat of thy affections answerable to the weight of thy petitions Didst thou present thy petition to the Master of Requests the Lord Iesus Christ by him to be delivered to the Father What spiritual joy and delight didst thou find in Thankesgiving Didst thou wonder at that infinite cost which the glorious God is at with such an unworthy wretch How didst thou râ—ad the word this day Did it come with power and authority to thy conscience was it mingled with faith Didst thou hide it in thy heart Hadst thou any resolution to make it thy rule and Counseller and Comforter and to order thy conversation according to it How didst thou eat and drink this day Didst thou feed
discern and discover the secret lusts which are hugd in their hearts Besides their consciences being defiled as well as other faculties are not so true to them as to convince them powerfully of that pride hypocrisie unbelief impenitency atheism and ungodliness which they are guilty of And Satan hath a strict watch over them to keep them asleep in sin not caring so men go to hell whether they go thither in the dirty road of scandalous and crying crimes or in the cleanly path and through the fair Meadows of Civility Whether the person be scandalous or civil it will be needful to let in light at some crevice and not to leave the sinner wholly in the darkness of despair The good Samaritan poured Oyl as well as Wine into the wounds of him that fell among Theives A little hope may melt that heart which despair would harden Sturdy Theives have wept at the news of a Reprieve that have stormed and raged at the sentence of Condemnation But this is wisely to be done lest the sinner be encouraged to presume Lenity is to be joyned with Severity Let there be love but not emboldening them to sloth let there be terror but not driving them into a fury saith Gregory If the sick person be one that is judged a true member of Christ then speak to the excellency of Grace and Christ and Heaven to the certainty and worth of those promises that are entailed on beleivers to make his passage into the other world as comfortable as thou canst It will be fit also to speak to those graces of Faith Patience Love Heavenly-mindedness and Ioy in God which should be minded and exercised in a time of sickness how the time of affliction is the spring the special time wherein those graces should shoot up and shew themselves that God expecteth some service from him under his fickness and that his last works should be better then his first If he be under doubts and fears for Satan will take the advantage of his sickness to assault him with his fiery darts and Saints are too apt to Question Gods love when they feel his hand the weakness of the body discomposing the mind and denying it the free exercise of spiritual judgement then advise him to review his former experiences of divine goodness and trials of divine grace within him to hold fast on Jesus Christ and to consider that sickness is common to men good as well as bad that though they differ vastly in the other world yet not at all in their passage thither Singular Saints have been afflicted with the sorest sickness Iob was a none-such for sanctity yet full of sores It s a question whether he were more eminent for corporal distempers or spiritual health Hezekiah David Asah Paul Epaphroditus were all thus chastened of the Lord but not condemned with the world Whatsoever the sick person be whether gracious or graceless it will not be amiss to mention the three great lessons which God would teach every one by affliction 1. The emptiness of the world appearing in its inability to afford the least ease to the body or comfort to the soul of the sick how little worth is that which fails a man in his greatest need 2. The preciousness of Christ and Grace and the Promises of the Gospel which can enliven and encourage a dying person that can cause light in darkness joy in sorrow and life in death that can enable a Christian to rejoyce in tribulation and to welcome pain and sickness nay and the very King of terrors and to look into the other world with comfort and confidence 3. The sinfulness of sin which is the original of all diseases and aches and greif and separation of friends and losses and miseries whatsoever The Rabbies say that when Adam tasted the forbidden fruit his head aked T is clear sin is the original of sickness The body is the instrument of unrighteousness therefore the subject of diseases For this cause many are weak and sick 1 Cor. 11. 30. All the evil in this and the other world are the issue and off-spring of sin Ah! what a root of bitterness is that which brings forth such bitter fruit Be sure to take the thoughts of the sick off from resting in Physitians or any means used for their cure Thâ—s was the fault of good Asah 2 Chron. 16. 12. Let them know that it is God that wounds and he onely that can heal and therefore he must not be tempted either by despiâ—ing those helps which his providence giveth or by relying on them Hippocrates gave this counsel to all Physitians that when they went upon any occâ—sion to visit their Patients they should consider first of all whether there was not divinum aliquod in morbo something of God in the disease if so he held the Patient to be desperate and his recovery impossible Cujus contrarium verum est If it were the hand of God that smote them the same hand can help them for with him nothing is impossible Let them understand that sickness hath a supernatural as well as a natural cause That all diseases are like the Centurions Servants at the command of God He saith to one Go and it goeth to another Come and it cometh to a third Do this and it doeth it God would have the Israelites know that not onely Sword and Famine and Captivity but also Pestilence Consumptions Feavers and Burning Agues are sent from Heaven Deut. 28. 21 22. He causeth those stormes and tempests and quarrels and contentions that are between the humours in our bodies to their disturbance and destruction therefore Moses beholding the whole body of the Jews except two renowned members corrupted for he lived to see all that came out of Egypt besides to die cryed out Thou turnest man to destruction and â—ayst Return ye children of men SECT V. 3. DEal closely and faithfully with him Let not fear of giving distaste or hope of some advantage to thy self make thee false to the soul of the sick Do not play the part of a Mountebank in using palliating medicines to allay the distemper or Anodynes to stupifie the patient and neglect the root of the malady Alas carnal wretches are prone enough of themselves to deceive and flatter their own souls till it be too late for second thoughts and the wicked one will be at their beds side to hinder if it be possible all means from awakening and undeceiving them be careful therefore lest thou shouldst be any way accessary to Satans design Sin is like the little Serpent Aspis which stings men whereby they fall into a pleasant sleep and in that sleep die sinners need all the rouzing and affrighting considerations that may be He that gives a potion which instead of furthering health procureth death is a Murderer The Flatterer is like the worm Terendo mentioned by Pliny in Nat. Hist. as soft as Silk in the feeling of the hand but it biteth so hard with the
answerable to my peril and my danger Lord when that day and hour draweth near that I must go hence and be no more seen do thou draw near in boundless mercy to my poor soul When I must enter into the Chambers of death and make my bed in the grave save me from the paws of Satan and the power of Hell that the bottomless pit may not shut her mouth upon me and give me to triumph in that hour of tribulation as knowing that neither tribulation nor persecution nor principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come nor life nor death can seperate me from thy love which is in Christ Jesus my Lord. I Wish that when I am going to the place of silence I may speak the excellencies of my God and make his praise glorious It is the unhappiness of worldlings and wicked men that they cannot when they dye commend the principles whence they have acted nor the vain pleasures which they have minded and pursued How many of them whose lives have been nothing but a bundle of false-hood and lies when God hath called them to leave the world have spoken truth and told their Friends and Relations that sin is an evil and bitter thing that carnal pleasures are guilded poisons that the greatest and choicest of worldly comforts though they may have honey in their mouths have a sting in their tailes and what a vain empty nothing the whole creation is How often have they complained how the world hath deceived them the flesh deluded them and Devil beguiled and destroyed them It is my priviledge as well as my duty to extol my Master whom I have served to commend the sweetness of his ways the pleasantness of his worship the reasonableness of his precepts the richness of his promises and the vastness of that portion which he hath laid up for his Children when they come to age I have sometimes tasted his work and ways to be sweeter then the honey and the honey comb I have viewed by faith his reward to be vastly glorious and beyond all apprehensions excellent O why should I not diswade others from their eager pursuit of foolish fading shadows and perswade and encourage them to earnest endeavours after real substance and durable riches The sinner who hath wallowed all his life time in the mire of filth and wickedness will when he comes to dye and begins to return to his wits from his own experience of the emptiness and unprofitableness of his ungodly courses and from the convictions of his natural conscience acknowledge a sober sanctified conversation to be safest and the ways of God to be most gainful and upon these accounts advise his friends and relations to forsake and abandon the lusts of the world and flesh and to follow after holiness as they would be happy eternally And have not I much more cause to shew my abhorrency of sin and love to my Saviour and his image when I am entering into my Fathers house The sinner hath onely found at last a fleshly life to be vain and fruitless and is like to pay dear for his learning but I have known the paths of piety to be paths of pleasantness and rejoyced more in them then in all riches The sinner hath onely the dim light of nature to shew him the loathsomness of vice and the loveliness of grace but I have the holy Spirit of my God to enlighten my mind in the knowledge of both The sinner hath only a carnal love to his Neighbours and Kindred he knoweth not what it is to love them in Christ and for Christ I have some knowledge of the love and Law of Christ of the worth of their souls of the price paid for them by the Lord Iesus and their unchangeable conditions in the other world O that my language to them might be somewhat answerable to the love of Christ to me Lord It is unrighteousness to die in debt to man and not to endeavour to make them satisfaction according to my power I am sure to dye in thy debt for I am less then the least of all thy mercies and unable to requite thee for the smallest of thy favours It is my comfort that all the recompence thou expectest is a thankful acknowledgement and hearty acceptance of thy grace and good will O what injustice and ingratitude were I guilty of should I deny thee so small a request Be pleased to help thy servant in his last hours both to accept unfeignedly of thy grace for his own good and to acknowledge thy good will and bounty and faithfulness to thy glory for the good of others I Wish that my lost breath may be drawn Heaven-ward I mean that I may enter praying into the house of blessing and praise I am no Christian if I do not give my self to prayer whilst I live It is one choice piece of my spiritual Armour whereby I have often assaulted and conquered my soul-enemies It is the Ambassadour which I have many a time sent to the heavenly Court that always received a favourable Audience and obtained his errand It is the Vessel which hath brought me food from far and ever returned richly laden if it were not my own fault It is the element in which I live the aliment by which I subsist the pulse the breath of my soul without which it must needs dye On my death-bed I have as much need of its succour as at any season My adversaries will then imploy their greatest power and policy to rout and ruine me I am but weak flesh and blood altogether unable to combat with Principalities and Powers and how can I expect supplies from the Lord of Hosts unless I send this Messenger to intreat it My wants and weaknesses at such a time will be more then ordinary Faith must then be acted in spight of all the frights and fears which a malicious Devil and an unbeleiving heart from the number and nature of my sins the strictness of the law and the justice of God may put me to Repentance must then be exercised and my sins lye nearer my heart then my sharpest diseases In patience I must possess my soul under all the pains and pressures which the wise God shall lay upon me I must then chearfully submit to the divine pleasure and by my willingness to leave all the world to go to Christ shew that I hate Father Mother Wife Child House Lands Life and all for Christ. Those graces and many other must be put forth at suâ—h a time none of which I can do by my own power and therefore have abundant cause to fetch help from Heaven by prayer Besides the distempers of my body will discompose my soul and unfit it in a great measure for all holy service Again my Benefactors my near Friends and Relations the poor afflicted Church of God do all call aloud to me to pray for them as the last kindness I shall ever do for them I profess
I love them how can I manifest it better then by commending them to God in prayer Should I leave them thousands of silver and gold if I were able it would not all amount to the price of one fervent prayer My riches might wrong them through the deceitfulness of their hearts and cause them to be contented short of Heaven but my prayers cannot prejudice them but may much further their eternal welfares Men whose natures are crabbed and cruel have granted the requests of their dying children when they have been contrary to their own humours How much more will God the Father of mercies whose nature is Love whose bowels are infinite satisfie the desire of his dying children when they fall in with his own design and desire If Joab had hopes to speed in his supplication for Absolom because he knew the Kings heart was more for it then his own may not I be confident to speed when I beg that he would pay my debts in spirituals with interest to those who have bestowed carnals on me for his sake when I ask that my Children and Relations may love and fear and worship his Majesty and be his workmanship created in Christ Iesus unto good works and when I intreat that he would accomplish all the great and good things which he hath promised to his Church the purchase of his Christ knowing that his heart is infinitely more for these things then mine can be Lord when I dye I shall no more put up prayers for my self or other particular persons My natural obligations to my Kindred and Relations my civil ingagements to my Friends and Benefactours besides my spiritual bonds to them and thy whole Israel may well provoke me to be fervent and instant with thy Majesty at such an hour on their behalves My Redeemer before his death wrought hard at this duty He offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears Ah how should I pray for my self and others when I am taking my leave of prayer O let thy spirit of supplication be so poured down on me that I may poure out my spirit in supplication unto theeâ— for my own and others souls through thy Son with the greatest success I Wish that the night of my death may shine gloriously with the sparkling stars of divine and heavenly graces In particular I desire that when the time of my combat with my last enemy and my last combat with any enemy shall come I may above all take the shield of Faith whereby I shall be sheltered against the sting of death and quench the fiery darts of the wicked one The wise Mariner perceiving a storm approaching makes hast to fasten his Vessel with Anchors that it may be steady and not altogether at the mercy of the winds I must expect the greatest tempest when I am entering into my eternal Haven then all the powers of darkness will conjure up their strongest winds if possible to shipwrack the vessel of my soul Ah how much doth it concern me to put forth this grace the anchor of my soul both sure and stedfast and which entereth into that within the vail and thereby to fasten on the rock of Ages If I fail in this I fall I miscarry for ever God is a severe judge to condemn all guilty Malefactours Without his Son I am cloathed with guilt and so under his boundless wrath When Adam had disrobed himself of original righteousness by disobeying the law he fled from God and dreaded the summons of offended justice There is no appearing in the Fathers sight with acceptance but in the garments of his Son None can have boldness to enter into the holy of holies but by the blood of Iesus It s Faith onely that interesteth in this blood I know that through the red Sea of this blood I pass may safely though enemies pursue me hard into the Land of promise Lord I confess through an evil heart of unbeleif I have many a time departed away from the living God yet Lord I believe help mine unbeleif O Lord of life be not far from me when Devils and death are near me Help me with thy servant Stephen to see Heaven open by faith and the Son of man at thy right hand Enable me to disclaim whatsoever duties I have performed or graces I have exercised and to rely alone on a crucified Christ for pardon and life Though thou killest me let me dye trusting and clinging on and cleaving to Iesus Christ Let this Pilgrims staff of faith be never out of my hand till I come to my joâ—rneys end Thou art the Lord of Hosts and the Captain of my salvation O help me to put on the whole armour of God grant me such skill to use it that I may be able to stand in the evil day Teach thou my hands to war and my fingers to fight that through thee I may do valiantly and through thee may tread down mine enemies Grant me so to finish my course to fight the good fight of faith that at death I may receive the crown of righteousness which the righteous judge shall give to all that love his appearing I Wish that my faith may ripen into full assurance that thereby I may depart with joy and an abundant entrance may be ministred unto me into the Kingdom of my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Moses and Simeon could sing at their own funerals The great Apostle could call to be put to Bed expecting thereby his sweetest eternal rest How many Martyrs have gone more joyfully to dye then ever Epicure did to dine and leaped when they drew near the Stake believing that they drew near their home their happiness their heaven What is it O my soul that makes thee start and flinch back at the sight of this bug-bear What is there in death that is so dreadful to thee Is it the sweetness of life or the pain of death or thy future estate after death Consider them all seriously and then judge rationally whether any of these should make the sigh so loath to depart First The love of life need not make thee so backward to obey the call of death If all thy time were made up of Holy-days death would bring thee greater advantage The Garlick and Onions of Egypt are nothing comparable to the Clusters of Canaan But alas its far otherwise thy whole life is a civil death Thou art born to sorrow as the sparks flye upward Thy days are few but full of trouble The earth to thee is a valley of tears the cross is thy daily companion which accompanieth thee where-ever thou goest The sufferings of thy flesh are neither few nor small How many diseases in thy body losses in thy estate how much disgrace ignominy slander oppression art thou liable to The sufferings of thy spirit are more and greater Thine own sins the provocations of others the dishonour of thy God the wants and weaknesses and oppression and persecution of the Church
of Christ do all give thee daily occasion to mingle thy bread with ashes and thy drink with weeping What is this world that thou art so fond of it Thy God calls it a Sea of glass mingled with fire Rev. 15. 2. A Sea for its turbulency it s never at rest but ebbs and flows continually though sometimes more sometimes less Its work is to bubble up mire and dirt especially on them who are chosen out of the world A Sea of glass for its fragility All its pomp and pride on a sudden vanisheth Glass is both easily and irrecoverably broken in peices A Sea of glass mingled with fire for the fiery and dreadful miseries that befal men in it All its apparent comforts are mingled with real crosses In Heaven there is solace without the least grain of sorrow In Hell there is mourning without the smallest dram of mirth but on Earth there is no estate without mixture The Saints have joy in God but if need be they are in heaviness through manifold tribulations 1 Pet. 1. 6. The merry sinners in the midst of their pleasures have their hearts heavy Some of the wiser Heathen were so sensible of humane miseries that one of them when Ancient told his Scholar that if it were offered him to be young again he would not accept if Saints of all men must expect a large draught of sufferings The world is their enemy and raiseth all its forces against them If I be a Disciple I must look to follow my Master in bearing his Cross O my soul why shouldst thou hug that which hates thee and doat on this world which is neither a fit match for thee as being unsutable to thy nature nor if she were can be faithful to thee being made up of wavering and inconstancy Or secondly Is it the pain of death that thou art so frighted at Surely the fear of it is the greatest torment How many have felt greater pain in divers diseases as in the Stone or Strangury or Collick then in a dying hour Some of Gods Children have felt very little pain in the judgement of those that have seen them dying The waters of Jordan though rough to others have stood still when the Ark was to pass over But though I were sure my pain should be sharp yet I am as sure it shall be short In a moment in the twinckling of an eye I shall be transported over the gulp of misery into endless glory My pangs will be almost as soon gone as come Sorrow will endure but for a short night joy will come in the morning If I were assured of a great purchase made for me in Spain or Turky which upon my first comming over I should enjoy would I not adventure a passage through the boistrous Ocean to take possession My Saviour hath made a larger a better purchase for me in Heaven He is gone before to prepare a place for me My passage thither though it may be more painful is less perillous It s impossible for me to miscarry in it O why am I so slothful to go in and possess the good Land Surely the pleasures of the end may well sweeten the ways to it were they never so bitter With what chearfulness do some women undergo their sharp throws and hard labours supported with this cordial that a child shall thereby be born to them O how infinitely inferiour is the joy of a man child brought forth into this world to the joy of a sanctified soul brought out of this world into Heaven Again I have a tender Father who knoweth my frame and will lay no more upon me living or dying then he will enable me to bear He hath said it I will never leave thee nor forsake thee O my soul thou hast little reason to dread a contest with this enemy for this cause Thou mayst contentedly undergo a little pain to go to thy dearest Lord when many a sinner hath suffered greater to satisfie his hellish lust Thirdly Is it thy future condition that makes thee unwilling to dye Dost thou not know that death is thy portal through which thou shalt pass into the true Paradise It s the straight gate through which thou shalt enter into life Though its the wicked mans shipwrack which swalloweth him up in an Ocean of wrath and torment yet it s the Saints putting into harbour where he is received with the greatest acclamation and richest welcom imaginable Travellers who have met with many dangers and troubles in their journeys rejoyce when they come near their own Country I am a Pilgrim here and used or rather abused as a stranger shall I not be glad when I come near my blessed home my eternal happy habitation Children in some parts when they first behold the Stork the messenger of the Spring testifie their joy with pleasant and loud shoutings O why shouldst not thou lift up thy head with joy when sickness the fore-runner of death is come to bring thee tidings that the Winter of thy misery and cold and hardships is past and the Summer of thine eternal light and joy and pleasure is at hand Thy death may well be a Free-will-offering considering that though the ashes of the sacrifice thy body fall to the earth yet that divine flame thy immortal spirit shall ascend to Heaven In death nothing dyeth of thee but what thou mayst well spare thy sin and sorrows When the house is pulled to peices all those Ivy roots in the wall shall be destroyed The Egg-shell must be broken that the little chick may slip out Thy body must be dissolved that thy â—oul may be delivered Yet thy body doth not dye but sleep in the bed of the grave till the morning of the resurrection That outward apparel shall not be utterly consumed by the moth of time but lockt up safe as in a chest to be new trimmed and gloriously adorned above the Sun in his greatest lustre and put on again when thou shalt awake in the morning never never to put off more O that I could so live that I might not only be always ready but also when God calls me desirous to dye If I borrow any thing of my Neighbour I pay it back with thanks My life is Gods he lends it me for a time Why should I not when he calls for it restore it with thanks that he hath been pleased to lend it me so long Lord thy Children love thee dearly and believe that when they come home to thee thou wilt entertain them kindly yet their flesh like Lots Wife is still â—ankering after the Sodom of this World and loath they are to leave it though it be for their exceeding gain Give thy servant such true faith in thy Son that I may neither love life nor fear death immoderately but as the heart of Jacob revived when he saw the Wagons which Joseph sent to fetch him to Egypt so my heart may leap for joy to behold the heavenly Chariot which the Son of
not another though my reins be consumed within me Though thou art sown in dishonour thou shalt be raiâ—ed in glory though thou art sown in weakness thou shalt be raised in power though thou art sown a natural body thou shalt be raised a spiritual body and fashioned like unto the glorious body of Christ himself Thy dust shall live and thou shalt arise and be joyned to this soul and both joyn with the great assembly of the sirst-born in singing the praises of thy Master and Husband The Souldier is glad when he is called to receive his pay though the ways be deep and dirty through which he travelleth to the the place of Muster The Husbandman rejoyceth when his Fields are white to Harvest and with piping and shouting accompanieth his last load 〈◊〉 the barn O that my life might be so sanctified 〈◊〉 devoted to my God that at my death he may be my solace Ah Lord it matters not who be failing to visit me on my sick bed so thou be present with me Nay though mine enemies come and say When shall he dye and his name perish An evil disease cleaveth to him now that he lyeth down he shall rise up no more If thou pleasest to visit me with thy saving health I shall not be afraid when I walk in the valley of the â—hadow of death O when the Sun of my life shall be setting let the Sun of righteousness so arise upon me that I may be delivered from the power curse and sting of death and may find it through his merits to be my haven of rest after all my foul weather a bed of ease after my sore labour a release out of prison and my Iubilee to give me possession of an inheritance undefiled incorruptible that fadeth not away which is reserved in heaven for me Amen CHAP. IX Means whereby Christians may exercise themselves to Godliness A good Foundation Lâ—ving by Faith Setting God always before our eyes I Come now to the second thing promised namely to lay down the Means whereby Christians may come to make Religion their business First If thou wouldst exercise thy self to Godliness be sure that thou layest a good foundation in a renewed heart and nature I begin with this because it is the chiefest requisite and the baâ—is of all Godliness must first spring up in the heart before it can overflow in the life Other means are like those parts of the body the want of which may be supplied by others but this is like the heart which if wanting nothing can make up its want A dead man will as soon arise and walk as an unsanctified person make Religion his business Every thing will act according to that principle which is predominant in it Though for a time it may by violence work contrary to its natural inclination yet it will endeavour the removal of that force and return to its old course Fire moveth upwards and earth downwards both strâ—ving to overturn what standeth in their way because the place of fire is above of earth beneath A river may be stopped and hindred in its current but it will never cease till it hath overborn the dam and attained its former passage Water that is naturally sweet may be made brackish by the over-flowing of salt water but it will not leave till it hath workt out that saltness and returneth to his natural sweetness so every man whether good or bad will act according to his nature whether gracious or vicious A good man may be hindred in his holy course by temptations and the violence of the flesh but because his nature is gracious he will never be at rest till he hath forcibly broke through those impediments and got into his former way of Godliness An evil man may step into the path of piety through the example of others or good education or some slender convictions of a natural conscience but he will quickly be weary he will not hold out in it he will break through those obstacles because his nature the stream of his heart runs another way The Heart of man is like the Spring of the Clock which causeth the wheels to move right or wrong well or ill Hence it is that Gods precept is to this Make you a new heart and a new spirit and his promise of this I will put my fear into their hearts and they shall never depart away from me The fear of God in the heart will bind thee fast to God in thy life If the heart be throughly drawn to him the tongue and hand will not depart from him If the heart once set forward for God all the members will follow after the mouth will praise the ears will attend to him the eye will watch him the seet will go after him all the parts like dutiful handmaids in their places will wait on their Mistris There was a great Master among the Jews which bid his Schollars to consider and tell him What was the best thing or the best way in which a man should always keep One said A good Companion was the best thing in the world another said A good Neighbour was the best thing he could wish A third said A wise man or one that could for esee future things A fourth said A good eye that is a liberal disposition At last came one Eleazer and he said A good heart is better then them all True said the Master thou hast comprehended in two words all that the rest have said For a good heart will make a man both contented and a good companion and a good neighbour and help him to foresee things that are to come that he may know what is on his part to be done Indeed without this there can be no godliness all professions and performances are but a shew a shadow and where there is this there is all godliness in all manner of conversation As the King of France said of Dover that it was the key of England and if his son who then invaded the Britains had not that he had nothing So it may be said of the heart It is the key of the whole man it opens and shuts the door to Godliness and Wickedness and if grace hath not this it hath nothing The Philosopher when he would perswade the King to settle his residence in the midst of his Dominions and thereby keep all his people the better in subjection took a Bulls hide ready tanned upon which when he stood on any side of it still it rose up on the other but when he stood on the middle he kept down all alike The onely way to subdue sin is to do it in the heart that commands all otherwise though one unruly passion may be kept down another will rise up The Heart is the great Work-house where all sin is wrought before it s exposed to open view It s the Mint where evil thoughts are coyned before they are currant in our words or actions Out of the heart proceed
is by Faith that Water is turned into wine temporal mercies into spiritual advantages Faith worketh by love and draweth men with the Cords of love T is by faith that men are so fruitful in their lives Heb. 11. 32 33. and so chearful in their deaths Rom. 8. 37 38. O Reader above all thy gettings get faith and above all thy keepings keep faith For it must be faith that must keep thee from falling in an hour of temptation and from fainting in an hour of persecution The unbeleiver is fitly called an unreasonable man because its unreasonable that the God of truth should not be credited and that he to whom it is impossible to lye should be distrusted and also an absurd man because its absurd for a workman to go without his tools which he shall every moment have need of It s said of the Serpent that of all her parts she is most careful of her head well knowing that though she be mangled and cut never so much in her body yet if her head be whole that will cure the wounds of all her other parts Let thy great work be to â—ecure thy faith if that be whole all will be well what ever decays there may be in other graces this will help them to shoot forth again Thirdly If thou wouldst exercise thy self to Godliness set God always before thine eyes Subjects will carry themselves handsomly and loyally when they are before their Soveraign They who walk before God will be upright His eye is the best Marshal to keep the soul in a comely order Let thine eye be ever on him whose eye is ever on thee The eyes of the Lord are in every place beholding the evil and the good Prov. 15. 9. Seneca perswaded his friend Lucilius for the keeping him within compass to imagine that some grave man as Laelius did still look upon him Reader couldst thou walk ever as in Gods presence thou wouldst keep close to his precepts Consider therefore that in all places in all companies at all times the eye of God is on thee and he takes exact notice of all thy thoughts words and actions that he knoweth thy natural parts In his book were all thy members written which in continuance were fashioned when as yet there was not one of them that he knoweth all thy moral passages thou understandest my thoughts afar off and art acquainted with all my ways There is not a word in my tongue but thou O Lord knowest it altogether There is no drawing a curtain between God and thee He seeth thee thorough and thorough far more perfectly then thou canst the clearest Chrystal Darkness hideth not from thee but the night shineth as the day to thee the darkness and the light are both alike The darkness of the air may hide thee from men and the darkness of thine understanding may hide thee from thy self but there is no darkness nor shadow of death where the workers of iniquity can hide themselves from him Neither the ring of Gyges nor the helmet of Pluto can hide thee from Gods eye Observe how strict God is in observing thy ways Thou numbrest my steps dost thou not watch over my sin Job 14. 16. By steps is understood inward Motions and outward actions whatsoever is done either in the retiring room of the heart or common hall of the life To number the steps notes an exact account we say of a man that goeth very leasurely and softly Such a man telleth his steps God is said to tell or number our steps because he is so exact in his observation of and so severe in his inquisition into all our thoughts words and deeds He is supposed to be void of shame that doth not fear to sin before many witnesses Though thou art in secret consider conscience is present which is a thousand witnesses and God who is a thousand consciences The Italian was somewhat conceited who wrote a supplication to Candle light to disclose to him the secrets of his Kingdom It s thought the light of the Candle seeth more wickedness then the light of the sun but to God the day and night darkness and light are both alike he seeth all things in all places and at all times It was a prety fancy of one that would have his chamber painted full of eyes that which way soever he lookt he might still have some eyes upon him and he fancying himself according to the Moralists advice always Sub custode Paedagogo under the eye of a keeper might be the more careful of his carriage And it was a wise answer of Livius Drusus when an Artist offered him so to convtrive his house that he might do what he would none should see him No saith Drusus Contrive it so rather that all may see me for I am not ashamed to be seen If the eyes of men make even the vilest to forbear their beloved lusts for a while that the Adulter watcheth for the twilightâ— and they that are drunk are drunk in the night how powerful will the eye and presence of God be with those that fear his anger and know the sweetness of his favour Moses forsook the sinful pleasures of Pharaohs Court not fearing the wrath of the King for he saw him that was invisible A good commander causeth good government in a Town or City This truth wrought home and set close to the heart would cause good orders good government in it The thought of this Omnipresence of God will affrighten thee from sin Gehezi durst not ask or receive any part of Naamans Presents in his Masters presence but when he had got out of Elisha's sight then he tells his lye and gives way to his lust Men never sin more freely then when they presume upon secrecy They break in peices thy people O Lord and afflict thine heritage They slay the Widow and Stranger and murder the Fatherless yet they say The Lord doth not see neither shall the God of Jacob regard it Psa. 94. 5 6 7. Eliphaz though falsly accused Iob as guilty of the same crime upon the same account Iob 22. 5 6 7 13 14. They who shut God out of their hearts shut him also out of the world through their atheism and then are at liberty for all manner of wickedness They who abounded in abominations said The Lord seeth us not the Lord hath forsaken the earth Ezek. 8. 9 10 12. The wise man diswadeth from wickedness upon the consideration of Gods eye and Omniscience And why wilt thou my son be ravished with a strange woman and embrace the bosome of a stranger For the ways of a man are before the eyes of the Lord and he pondereth all his goings Prov. 5â— 20 21. Ioseph saw God in the room and therefore durst not yeild but his Mistris saw none but Ioseph and so was impudently alluring and tempting him to folly I have read of two religious men that took contrary courses with two lewd women whom they
concern thee to watch Consider 1. His Power Your adversary the Devil It is not a weak man but a mighty Devil Thou art not called to wrestle with flesh and blood but Principalities and powers Is man a match for a Devil or a stripling nodding fit to enter the Lists with Goliah What is a Pigmie to a Giant or a a dying creature to the Prince of the powers of the air Had David been asleep when the Lion out of the wood came against him the Lion had sooner tore him by the throat then he had taken the Lion by the beard The cobweb may as soon withstand the broom in the maids hand and the dust oppose the force of a violent wind as a nodding secure Christian the temptations of Satan 2. His Policy Seeking whom he may devour Had our enemy strength without craft there were not so much danger nor cause of vigilancy but when he hath seven heads as well as ten horns and exceeds us in subtilty as much as in power it concerneth us to be watchful He that playeth with a cunning Fencer will heed his wards the more Reader the Devil hath a shrewd guess what Dalilah is most likely to entice thee and deprive thee of thy spiritual strength and if amongst all the uncircumcised there be any that will fit thee thou shalt not want her He hath not walked too and fro in the earth so long for nothing but he knoweth what weeds will take best and thrive most in the soil of thy heart be confident he will help thee both to the seeds and plants of them The subtle serpent that could wind himself into Paradise knoweth surely how to wind himself into thee If he were too crafty for man when he was perfect much more is he for man polluted And can such a strong politick foe be resisted when thou art lazing upon thy bed of security 3. His Industry Your adversary the Devil goeth about He is a diligent servant never from your elbow As Ioseph's Mistris when denied still sollicited and Sampsons Harlot pressed him with continual importunity night and day that his very soul was vexed unto death So the Devil serveth men he will never forsake them but follow them with his darts and assaults till they are safe in heaven from hiâ— or safe in hell with him He is called the Prince of the powers of the air and his Angels spiritual Wickednesses in high places the air is the seat of his Empire and truly as ravenous foul hover up and doâ—n in the air to catch and kill little chickens and though they be frighted away by any one yet they lye near at the catch and the person is no sooner gone but they are descending to destroy them So those infernal spirits are hovering up and down walking too and fro to defile and destroy souls and though they are resisted and foiled yet they impudently continue their former endeavours to undo us Now hath he any time for sleep that is every moment in such danger 4. His Cruelty As a roaring Lion seeking whom he may devour The Lions of the Forrest have no pitty Lest he tear my soul like a Lion renting it in peices Psal. 7.2 The Lions brake the bones of Daniels accusers before they came to the bottom of the Den But the Lions of hell have much less pity his tender mercies are cruelties indeed it is not the loss of thy life but of thy soul and thy God and thy Christ and that for ever which he looks after The racking of thy body and renting thy bones is nothing to the flames and whips and torments which he makes men suffer and that not for a day or week or year or age but to all eternity Reader is there not infinite reason for watchfulness Had not the Apostle ground enough for his precept Be sober be vigilant when our adversary is so strong a Devil so sedulous going about so cruel as a roaring Lion and so crafty seeking by all means whom he may devour Yet alas this is not all Go where we will we see abundant cause to look well to our feet Every place we come into is a net to ensnare us we cannot look out of our eyes but we see a baited hook nor open our ears but we hear the Syrens songs we cannot put forth our hands but we touch pitch nor set our feet but in the midst of nets every part of the body is a Iudas a Traytor to the soul. Our crosses and afflictions if we be secure will be to us as the Goal to a prisoner filling us with Vermine Our greatest earthly comforts if we be not watchful prove but like traps set for vermine pleasant and killing When the world sings most sweetly in our ears she doth but like Orpheus with his pipe endeavour to lead us by the ears into unquenchable flames Theives with provender in their hands catch horses to steal them The world allures our hearts by its pleasures and profits and steals them from God Our own hearts are Iacobs Supplanters of us deceitful and desperately wicked As the water-foul in Friezland will decoy other wilde foul in a net and then give a watchword to their Master to seise on them so officious will our own hearts be to the Devil And shall we not watch and pray that we enter not into temptation Sleep is the great Leveller which makes all equal The strongest Sampson is as liable in his sleep to be slain as the smallest infant When a deep sleep from the Lord had seised on Saul and his Souldiers how easily might David if he had pleased have killed them He took away Sauls Spear and Cruse of Water to assure him that he could have taken away his life Ah! how soon may the Devil or World or Flesh defile deceive and destroy a sleeping soul Bees that have many enemies Mice Spiders Drones Hornets Birds and Beasts never dare say Naturalists to give themselves to security but night and day have their Scouts and Centinels and Corp-du-guard to keep watch and ward lest some of their many enemies should on a sudden surprise them The Christian may learn this duty from such creatures Spiders weave their Cobwebs near the Flowers where the Bees use to gather and also just over the passage out of their Hives that so at their going out but especially at their comming in laden and weary they may catch them and make a prey of them David saith In the way wherein I walked have they privily laid a snare for me So mayst thou Reader say In the way wherein I daily walk doth Satan privily lay Baits to catch me at my Table in my Closet in my Shop in my Bed in the Streets in all places where I go he hath laid snares for my soul. If there be a snare and such danger in all things then let me advise thee if thou woulst avoid them in the words of Paul to Timothy Watch thou in all things 2 Timoth. 4. 5.
take thy leave of hours and days and months and years and time and to sail into the boundless Ocean of Eternity Suppose thou sawest death creep in at thy Chamber window come up to thy Bed-side draw the Curtain take thee by the hand and tell thee that he is come from the Infinite Almighty jealous most holy God to fetch thee immediately into his presence there to answer for all thy thoughts words and deeds and to receive either matchless and endless pain or unchangeable and unconceiveable pleasures according as thy practices have been What wouldst thou think at such a time of godliness Good Lord what a price wouldst thou set upon it what wouldst thou not do or give for it Then godliness will be godliness indeed as little and as lightly as thou settest by it now And why is it not worth as much now Dost thou not see death like a Mole digging thy grave under thee Dost thou not feel that worm within thee which will ere long consume thee Beleive it thy death may be nearer then thou dreamest the glass of thy life may be almost out though thou thinkest it s but new turned The Murdering-peice which kills thee parting thy soul and body may be discharged with white powder give thee no warning at all The next Arrow which is shot may hit thee The next time the Bell goes may be to tell others that thou art dead The next time the Earth is opened may be to receive thy body in Thou seest some fall on thy right hand some on thy left hand some of thy very age and of greater strength and health and canst thou esteem thy self shot-free Is not every carcass a cryer and every Tomb a teacher calling upon thee to number thy days and apply thine heart unto wisdom Silly man is like the foolish Chicken though the Kite comes and takes away many of their fellows yet the rest continue pecking the ground never heeding their owner nor minding their shelter Death comes and snatcheth away one man here a second there one before them another behind them and they are killed with death undone for ever Rev. 2. 23. yet they who survive take no warning but persist in their wicked and ungodly ways They are destroyed from morning to evening they perish for ever without any regarding it Doth not their excellency which is in them go away they dye even without wisdom Job 4.20 21. It is the saying of an Heathen That it is impossible for a man to live the present day well who doth not purpose to live it as his last I may say to thee Friend It is impossible for thee to live the present day ill if thou wilt but live it as thy last day If thou dost but consider Well this place may be the last place I shall come into shall I pollute it with sin or shall I not rather perfume it with sanctity This expression may be the last that ever I shall speak shall it â—e tainted with vice or shall it not rather be seasoned with grace This action may be the last that ever I shall do and shall it be a deed of darkness or shall it not rather be a work of the day of the light This Sermon may be the last that ever I shall hear and shall I now be heedless After this I shall never more have a call from Christ and â—hall I now be careless This Prayer may be the last Prayer that ever I shall poure out to God if God deny me now I am damned and undone for ever and shall not my head and heart and will and mind and all be working that it may be a prosperous a prevalent prayer This Sabbath may be the last Sabbath that ever I shall sanctifie I may from henceforth and for ever be deprived of all such opportunities of getting and increasing grace of serving and honouring my Saviour and of working out my own salvation If I sow not now good seed I must never expect an happy harvest If I buy not now the market will be quickly over Shall I lose any precious minute of this holy day Is it time now to trifle about the affairs of my soul and eternity Well I will through Christ take heed how I hear I will hear in hearing I will pray in praying I will hear and hearken cry and call with all my heart and strength and soul and mind that if it be possible the Lord may not leave me without a blessing When the Oratour thinketh he is at the close of his Oration then he useth his chiefest Art and Rhetorick to move his Auditors affections he would have his last part his best part O Reader if thou wilt but often wind up this weight of thine approaching death it would keep thy soul in a quick spiritual and regular motion at all times As ashes preserve fire and keep coals from going out so the thought that we shall ere long be turned into ashes will preserve the fire of grace alive and in action Sixthly If thou wouldst exercise thy self to godliness Mind a daily performance of sacred duties He that hath nothing of his own whereupon to live must be frequently fetching in provision from the Shops or Market where it is to be had The Christians life is maintained not by himself but by what he receiveth from God Not that we are sufficient of our selves our sufficiency of God therefore there is a necessity of daily converse with God by holy Ordinances and of waiting at his gate as the beggar who hath neither a bit of bread nor a penny to buy any at the rich mans door for supply Our spiritual strength is like Israels Manna rained down daily we are kept by a divine power and allowed but from hand to mouth that we might continually depend on and resort to the Lord Jesus for our allowance Paul speaks in some places of his great disbursements how much he laid out for God and his people that he laboured more then all the Apostles but you must think Whence had Paul such a spiritual stock that he was able to outvy all others in his expences he tells you that the Son of God kept house for him and that he was the Steward to spend of his treasure and thence his disbursements were so large I live yet not I but Christ liveth in me and the life that I live in the flesh is by the faith of the Son of God Gal. 2. 20. As the Plant Mistel having no root of its own both grows and lives in the stock or body of the Oak So the Apostle having no root of his own did live and grow in Christ. As if he had said I live I keep a noble house am given to Hospitality above many in labours more abundant in watchings in fastings more frequent in perils and dangers and deaths often but the truth is I do all this at anothers cost and charge not at mine own I am beholden to Christ for
would not fall down the Hill we must beware of coming near the brow of it Keep thee far from an evil matter Children which in frost venture upon the Ice may possibly be safe but yet many times they break their limbs and sometimes lose their lives It s possible for a Saint to come off safe from occasions of sin but is very seldom seen A fair booty makes many a man a Theif who otherwise might have lived honest It was counted therefore a great part of wisdom in Alexander when he had taken the beautiful daughters of Darius Prisoners not to see the fair Ladies lest their beauty should have enticed him to folly The same word in Hebrew signifieth both an eye and a fountain to shew that from the eye as from a fountain sin doth too often flow Iobs practice was such that he would not look on a Maid lest he should lust after her And Davids prayer was Turn away mine eyes from beholding vanity We take the wind of those that are infected with contagious diseases The wise man gives notable counsel to men if they would avoid drunkenness Look not upon the wine when it is red when it casteth its colour in the glass Prov. 23. 31. When it laughs in thy face then shut thine eyes lest it steal into thy heart We are ready to think what hurt what danger is there in beholding the wine in the glass sparkling and brisky But Solomon knew that from looking on it men come to like it from liking to tasting from tasting to a draught from one draught to another till the man is metamorphised into a beast Gen. 39. 10 Psa. 119. 37. The wise Socrates could advise men to beware of those meats which would entice men without hunger to eat and those drinks which would entice a man without thirst to drink knowing that if men come within those traps and baits they are easily taken A guest may easily be kept out of the house at first but if once entertained its hard to turn him out of doors When a Governour of a Fort once comes to parley with the enemy that besiegeth him there is great fear that the place will be surrendred I have read of one that having a great mind to go to Rome yet knowing it to be a corrupt place and a corrupter of others entered the City with his eyes close shut neither would he be perswaded to see any thing there but Peters Church which he went to visit Solomon perswades his Son if he should not be enticed by the Harlot that he would not come near her house Remove thy way far from her and come not near the door of her house Prov. 5. 8. He that carrieth always along with him an heart ready to break out into a flame prone to all wickedness had need to take heed of those Bellows that will help to blow up the fire I more fear saith Luther that which is within me then that which is from without When a distempered stomach comes to meet with tossing waves sickness ensueth though the prime cause is not from the Billows without but Choler within Occasion and the heart are like Dinah and Sechem if they meet they usually part not till folly is committed Those that desire to hinder the generation of Vice that brat of Hell must keep the Male occasion and the Female a wicked heart asunder one from the other They who have bodies always ready to take infection must be more careful of their diet and company then others Insensible Vapours bring forth horrible Tempests Behold how great a matter a little fire kindleth The best heart is like a flint there is fire in it though it doth not appear occasion is the steel that fetcheth it forth which being let alone would be quiet Bees in winter being sensible of their weakness keep their hives and will not expose themselves to the sharp air and bitter frosts lest thereby they sicken and dye Alas how weak is man how unable to resist the occasions of sin no more then the Hound can forbear pursuing the Hare before his eyes and therefore it concerns him to avoid them A candle newly extinguished will quickly be lighted again Powder meeting with a light match presently takes fire For this cause it was ordained of God in the law of the Nazarite who did for a time specially consecrate himself to God that besides his not coming to the dead and suffering his hair to grow he should abstain from these things 1. from wine and strong drink 2. From the vinegar of wine or strong drink 3. From any liquor of grapes though it were but the water wherein they were steeped 4. From the green or moist grape 5. From the dried grape or raisin 6. From the husk or kernel of them Numbers 6.3,4 Had the Nazarite eaten but the skin of the grape or raisin he had broken the law Hereby the holy Ghost would teach us that those who separate themselves from the world to be in a special manner serviceable to the Lord must avoid not onely plain sin but the appearance of sin and all occasions of it though we may look upon them but as the husks of grapes to be of small moment and little danger Beza giveth this reason why the Levite when he saw the man that fell among theives passed on the other side of the way Ne cadaveris contactu pollueretur Lest he should be defiled with the touch of the corps He would be so far from touching a dead carkass that he would pass on the other side of the way when he saw one dying Enter not into the path of the wicked and go not in the way of evil men avoid it pass not by it i. e. come not not near it turn from it and pass away Prov. 4. 14 15. He that will do all he may will quickly do what he may not It s lawful to enjoy bodily pleasures and delights but not to buy them with hazard to our souls Souldiers in a Garrison that venture to the outmost line are often snapt up by those that besiege them We sometimes when in danger of a siege burn down those houses in the skirts of the City which might be serviceable to us when we cannot well defend them lest they should prove helpful to our enemies against us Theseus is said to cut off his golden locks lest his adversaries should in fight take hold of them Even in things lawful its commendable for Christians to deny themselves when there is danger by taking liberty therein of gratifying the enemies of their souls Cotis King of Thracia manifested possibly more prudence then prodigality in breaking the cupboard of curious glasses presented to him lest his nature being extremely cholerick he should deal too severely with his servants in case they had broken any of them Aristotle hath a story of Satyrus that being a pleader and knowing himself passionate and in that drunkenness of the mind apt to commit many
indecencies and to rush into foul extravagancies he used to stop his ear with wax lest the sense of ill language should move him to choler Reader as thou wouldst shun sin in the action shun it in the occasion remember thou carriest thatch about thee and therefore oughtest to avoid the least sparks A little wind will drive a ship with the stream and tide and a small temptation may carry thee that way which thy wicked heart inclines thee A little pulling will draw a strong man whether he is willing to go its safest therefore to be out of harms way and the greatest magnanimity to flye from the sight of such an enemy as sin is He hath most true courage who makes a timely retreat before he be wounded CHAP. XII Means whereby Christians may exercise themselves to Godliness An humble frame Suppressing sin in its first rise the knowledge of God TEnthly If thou wouldst exercise thy self to Godliness Walk humbly with thy God A tree the more deeply its rooted the more it groweth under ground the more upward in fruitfulness The Christian will find that by growing in humility he shall thrive in godliness He that turneth his eyes upward is ready to stumble at every rub that lyeth in his way but he that looketh downward seeth and avoideth those stones A proud man is like a little man with an high-heeld-shooe raised thereby in his own conceit above others of the same rank but it fits him with many a fall The proud person giveth not glory to God and therefore must not expect that God should give grace to him But the humble man honoureth God and sanctifieth his name and sets the Crown on his head and so may expect because God hath promised that God should honour him and sanctifie his soul God resisteth the proud but giveth grace to the humble He leaves those high hills barren but makes the valleys to abound in Corn. T is in vain to undertake to pour liquor into a full Vessel it will all run over but the empty Vessel will receive it The proud person is full still of self and so will not be thankful for an almes but the humble man is empty hungring and thirsting and he shall be satisfied Proud Vashti divorceth her self and provoketh her Lord to disown and disclaim her but humble Hester is thought worthy of a Crown and admitted into the Kings embraces The fig-tree that blooms not at all brings forth most pleasant fruit when the Sallow which hath most glorious palms is barren Hypocrisie kills the flower of grace at the root Pride nips it in the bud Sincerity like Paul planteth grace Humility like Apollo watereth it and helpeth it to flourish We may take notice all along in Scripture that the humblest men were the holiest men and those that were eminent for any grace were eminent for Humility The deepest streams were most silent and made the least noise Abraham was famous for Faith strong in Faith he beleived in hope against hope but loe how lowly was he Behold I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord who am but dust and ashes So Iacob named Israel by God himself for his fervency and prevelancy in prayer I am less then the least of all thy mercies David that man after Gods own heart I am a worm and no man as a Child weaâ—ed from his mothers breasts for humility So Asâ—ph Psa. 23. 21. Agur Prov. 30. Isaiah Isa. 6. 3. The Virgin Mary the Centurion the Syrophenician Paul all like full vessels sounded not their own praise and like Stars the higher they were in holiness the less they appeared When Elizabeth had conceived she hid her self three months they who are the most fruitful in holiness make the least boasting of it Lord said holy Hooper I am Hell but thou art Heaven I am full of sin but thou a gracious God Bradford would subscribe his Letters The most miserable unthankeful hard-hearted sinner John Bradford The greater the fire of grace the less the smoke or shew of it to the world The weightiest Wheat seeks for the lowest place when the light chafâ— flyeth in the Air. Wheâ— the Sun is at the highest the shadow is the least and the more directly the Sun shineth on uâ— the less our shadow is so the higher Christians are in Gods favour the lower they are in their own eyâ—s The more God exalted David the more he debased himself What am I and what is my Fathers-House that thou hast brought me up hitherto and yet thou speakest of thy servants house for a great while to come 2 Sam. 7. 18 19. This was Davids language when Nathan brought him word that God would build him a sure house Those trees which spread much and grow low near the ground most commonly bring forth more and larger fruits then high trees that aspire up into the air The highest trees are barren so the proud and high-minded man but with the lowly is wisdom The humble Christian is nearer God then others and so must needs thrive above others though God beholdeth the proud afar off he dwelleth in the humble heart The lowly Christian is most lovely in his eye and shall have most of his company God appeared to Moses not in a lofty Cedar but in a low mean â—bject bush If he that walketh with wise men becomes wise and is the better for such good company what good doth the humble Christian get by walking with his God Pride is like the Remora to a ship which will arrest it under full sail hinder the Saint in his heavenly passage when he is making the greatest speed it s like those weeds which are of so poisonous a nature that they will suffer no good hearbs to grow near them The servant that hath been trusted and honoured by his Lord if he prove a Theif and steal from his Lord provokes him to take his stock out of his hands and to trust him no longer The proud man steals from God and robs him of that glory which is due to him and therefore it s no marvail if he deny to trust such an unfaithful servant with any more spiritual riches 'T is the empty Barrel that makes the greatest sound The poor women that have nothing but a few Matches or Pins or Band-strings or Thread-laces the men that have onely a few Brooms or some Small-coal or Roots make a great stir and loud noise about the City and would have every body acquainted with their ware When the great Usurer that is worth thousands in Bills and Bonds and the rich Shopkeeper whose estate swelleth to a vast bulk never proclaim what they are worth but rather endeavour to hide it Those that have least spiritual riches are most guilty of boasting Laodicaea bragged much that was poor and miserable and blind and naked and worse then naught They who are fullest of Faith and richest in good works make the least sound When their hearts and lives like the face of Moses