a tree must first liue afore it beare and no man is vnfruitfull but because hee is destitute of the worke of Gods spirit so forming him into a new creature because hee hath neglected or resisted it Now it is certaine that whosoeuer hath the spirit of sanctification in him is a true Christian he that hath it not is none Wherefore from ones being fruitfull or not fruitfull it may be infallibly concluded whether he be true or hollow Againe no man bringeth forth the fruit of good liuing vntill the word of God haue entred into his heart and taken deepe roote in the very bottome of his soule and contrarily where this fruit doth not shew it selfe there the Word of God did neuer enter into the soule neither was soundly rooted therein and it is doubtlesse that if GODS Word haue copious dwelling in vs we be true Christians if not we bee but dissemblers Wherefore the bearing or not bearing of fruit is a sound proofe of truth or want of truth Againe looke we to the effects of fruitfulnesse or its absence and it will vndeniably appeare that these two doe best distinguish betwixt the sincere and hollow hearted for the ground that bringeth fruit must obtaine a blessing The reward of a good life here is eternall life hereafter but the end of the ground that beareth not fruit is cursing and burning and euill-led life shall end in death eternall Now none can be saued but the true Christian and no Christian is damned but the false wherefore from this point the most essentiall and formall difference of Christians the branches in Christ must be taken CHAP. XV. Shewing what this fruitfulnesse is SO wee haue proued the point in hand It is needfull that wee doe soundly explaine it also that it may be truely vsefull vnto vs. For this explication What fruitfulnesse is one thing alone is necessary namely to declare plainely what fruitefulnesse is Concerning which wee say in generall In generall a godly life that fruitefulnesse is the same thing which the Apostle meaneth when hee tells vs 2. Tim. 3.12 of liuing godly in Christ Iesus and againe of hauing our conuersation as beseemeth the Gospell of Christ Iesus Philip. 1.27 Not the doing of an action now and than good and commendable for the matter of it as giuing almes labouring in ones calling dealing iustly or the like is to bee called fruitefulnesse but the leading of a godly course of life and of an holy conuersation But more particularly that you may be thorowly informed in this point Fruitefulnesse must bee set forth vnto you in the matter motiue end and properties thereof any of which foure if it bee wanting the rest are also wanting indeed though an appearance of them may be present In speciall and the true nature of fruitfulnesse is not to be found For the first of these The matter of fruitfulnesse the matter of fruitfulnesse is A desire and endeauour to know and to doe the whole will of God reuealed in his Word Euery word that wee haue vsed in this description would be marked and considerd of A desire First I call it a desire a firme and stedfast bending of the will and inclination of the heart to the thing desired For a good man must bee measured and is by God accepted more according to the desires of his heart and the earnest propension and mouing of his soule than according to the effect therof In action he comes far short of what he should in the desire purpose carnest and sound inclination of his soule he doth reach after the perfection required of him by God and for this cause is accepted and accounted in Christ as if he were perfect Hee would be void of al sin he would be rich in euery good work he would haue euery thing within him and euery thing that comes from him perfectly conformable to the will of God and acceptable to his Maiestie In the depth of his soule these hearty wishes are found continually working Psal 119.5 10.32.57.93.106 173.40 O that my wayes were directed to keepe thy statutes O let mee not wander from thy commandements I will runne the way of thy commandements I haue said that I will keepe thy words I will neuer forget thy precepts I haue sworne and will performe it that I will keepe thy righteous iudgements I haue chosen the way of truth I long for thy precepts and many such like This is the disposition of his will these the determinations resolutions conclusions of his soule thus hee saith to and within himselfe that doubtlesse he will depart from the pathes of wickednesse and that hee will walke in the waies of righteousnes and thus is he busied in renewing and establishing the purposes of his soule to walke with his God And though he find no meanes to performe according to his desire yet still his desire standeth to the law of the Lord. And this desire being a true and setled desire And endeauour must needs be seconded with endeauour It is not a poore faint sluggish wishing and woulding by which a man as it were betwixt sleeping and waking doth thinke t were well if I did and sure I will and I would if I could as a sluggard lieth stretched in his bed and faintly wisheth O that I could arise It is not I say such a feeble powerlesse auert desire as this which is but as one would say the tenth part of the consent of the will to the thing willed but it is a desire so mighty and effectuall as doth bring forth an endeauour It makes a man put forth himselfe to essect the thing desired Hee wisheth to obey as a resolute souldiour wisheth victory so as he will fight for it and draw his weapon and meete his enemy in the face and hazard limme and life and giue and receiue blowes and leaue nothing vndone that his wit serues him to thinke of for the atchieuement of victory A coward also would faine diuide the spoile and feede himselfe with the fatnesse of a good booty but his wishes do not dispearce themselues into his hands and legges nor stirre vp his spirits and his limmes to be entring battaile and to ioyne hand to hand with the foe so a good mans desire of obedience sets his head and heart and hand on worke to the attainement of obedience He thinkes Ah that I could be good according to Gods commandement And further hee thinketh What may I doe to get power against such a sinne to attaine strength to doe such duties And when hee sees what is to be done he sets about it he calles vpon himselfe he calles vpon God he vrgeth his owne heart hee entreates the Lord Iesus for helpe he blames himselfe hee condemnes himselfe hee inforceth vpon himselfe the remembrance of Gods commandements Gods iudgements Psalm 25 9.48 Gods promises and as Dauid saith he lifts vp his hands to the Law of God which hee hath loued He is
that liueth in the Church out of these naturall desires that are inseparably vnited to his reasonablenesse doth incline himselfe in some things to yeeld to the Doctrine of Religion that so he may serue his owne turne in fulfilling his owne desires this is false goodnesse goodnesse alone to the eye it is called goodnesse as a false shilling is called a shilling because it looketh like a shilling hauing the same stampe and a little filuer at top though in ths middest it be nothing but brasse or some such base and vnworthy matter If a man I say be moued for his owne credit or ease sake yea or for his owne faluation sake to be willing to do some good that God in his word commandeth and to forbeare some euill in the same Word condemned and not to be willing to doe all good commanded and auoyde all euill forbidden this is but guilefull hollow imperfect dissembled goodnesse so esteemed by men and so appearing to them that can looke alone vpon the bark and outer rinde of things not so appearing to the pure eyes of God nor so accounted in his true iudgement that searcheth into the marrow and pith and depth of all things For God himselfe is the chiefe good and in a manner the onely good neither is any thing good but by participation from him and so that goodnesse which is not as it were deriued from him as from the originall of it nor directed to him as to the scope and end of it because it hath nothing to doe with him therefore indeede is not goodnesse whatsoeuer shew it may carrie to the world So that as true goodnesse is will to bee good in all things for Gods sake so is false goodnesse a will to seeme good in some things for ones owne sake Ease may moue a man to doe some good and auoyde some euill so may credit so may profit Now if any of these things doe chiefly and principally worke vpon our wills as the motiues and ends of our actions then is that goodnesse but hypocrisie and seeming goodnesse and that man who liuing in the visible Church suffers this vice of being induced but to some good things not all and withdrawne but from some euill not all for his owne credite profit ease or the like cause not Gods sake onely or principally to sway and beare rule in him he is an hypocrite Hypocrisie ruleth where it is not seene and lamented But when and in whom doth this vice preuaile may some man say I answere euen then and in that man where and in whom it is not seene opposed resisted by the spirituall weapons of frequent confessions hearty petitions earnest lamentations and diligent application of the word of God against it for to beate it downe for all vices must be distinguished into two kindes some are more fleshly and grosse as I may terme them that doe follow the temperature of the body and their strength and weakenesse doth much what depend vpon the constitution thereof such are wrath and choller gluttony and filthinesse and diuers other like Now it is not of necessitie that these vices bee actually in all the corrupt generation of Adam alone they are in euerie one as I may terme it virtually so that if the same soule were put into another body whose temperature would fit the turne of those vices it would be as plentifull in them as any other man is or as it selfe is in any other vice Now there are other vices of a more spirituall nature as I may terme it I meane more immediatly and principally flowing from the corruption of reason and of will and from the natiue defilement of the soule in its chiefe faculties such as are pride vnbeliefe forgetfulnesse of GOD vnconscionablenesse and by name this hypocrisie And these last kind of vices are in all men indifferently since the first sinne of Adam by whom all became dead in sinnes and trespasses though it must not bee denyed that in some they grow more head-strong than in others and doe more manifestly and violently shew themselues according as they are more or lesse nourished with meanes and occasions and as it were soyled with helpes and opportunities fit for them And as for all these vices there doe they preuayle and there they must be called predominant where they are not obserued bewailed acknowledged oppugned and that by spirituall weapons and that constantly For it is most vndeniable that whersoeuer any vice is there it ruleth vnlesse it be mortified and crucified by the spirit that is by spirituall means and ordinances faithfully vsed wherewith Gods Spirit faileth not to worke and it is as certaine that this grand member or lim rather of the body of death which we all bring into the world with vs I mean hypocrisie is in euery man wherefore it hath dominion in him vnlesse it be as was formerly spokē discerned and oppugned And therefore also it is great reason that such one should receiue his name from hypocrisie be intituled an hypocrite And so I would think An hypocrite is a professor of Christianitie that doth not see and resist his hypocrisie an hypocrite maybe fitly called a professor of religion that doth not see bewaile and fight against his owne hypocrisie that is his aptnes to make a shew of goodnes by doing onely some things that are commanded and auoyding onely some things that are forbidden for his owne sake not indeuouring to doe and auoyd all such things for Gods sake Not the hauing but the not oppugning of hypocrisy makes an hypocrite And this thing is worthy to be diligently marked that I spake of the predominancie of vice because it is of maruellous great vse for the true triall of our felues according to those things that afterwards shall be set downe for that purpose For not euery one that feeleth in himselfe some of these signes and effects of hypocrisie that shall be named is by and by an hypocrite but he that hath them in him and takes no care to find them out or if hee must needes find them out continueth not to make warre against them by prayers and teares the sword of the spirit and the like weapons of our Christian warfare And of the description of an hypocrite hitherto I goe forwards to shew you the sorts or kinds of hypocrites for well may wee say that a notable difference in degrees may giue iust occasion of distributing the things so differing into diuers kinds as the Scripture diuideth the heauenly Bodies into the greater light for the day and the lesser light to rule the night CHAP. IIII. Of the diuers sorts of Hypocrites AND of hypocrites within the Church Of hypocrites there are two kinds the grosse hypocrite and the close hypocrite we shal find two kinds the greater hypocrite the lesser hypocrite the grosse hypocrite the close hypocrite both well called hypocrites because in both that vice preuayleth and yet the one distinguished from
other side a worse and more likely signe of a man wholy sold ouer into the hands of guile we can scarce meet with then this to be vnmoued in the hearing of such threats to haue no risings of feare and doubt and suspition nor no troublesome conceits of his owne estate either such man is so abundantly and extraordinarily sanctified as that the ouer-euident proofe of his vprightnesse doth presently secure him from such thoughts or else he is wholly buryed and bound hand and foot in the hollow graue of guile and therefore cannot feele it because hee is altogether vnder the power of it For this is the nature of these darke and hidden vices they are euer the lesse felt by how much they doe more strongly preuaile euen as the pangs of death are least troublesome when they haue quite ouercome the strength of nature Wherfore nothing fearing any danger that may come vnto the true hatred by this earnestnes let me yet once againe settle vnto those that be dissemblers adiure protest and call Angels men and Christ God and their owne soules and all things that are to witnesse against them that vnlesse they wil open their eyes see themselues to be in a damnable estate they shall surely be damned You may perhaps maruel that we should presse the poynt so hard but the cause is we know the Hypocrite to bee the most noysome weed in Gods garden and faine would we make him see his danger that he might escape it Yea we know that hypocrisie doth harden and deadden the hart aboue all other sins that nothing in the world is more difficult then to make him see and feele his perill who will rather thinke any man yea all men Hypocrites then himselfe although by this his ouer-aptnesse to thinke so hardly of others hardnes to be made conceiue so hardly though truly of himselfe he might if he were not blind discerne himselfe to be as hee is But now if thou beest such and so proued by what hath been formerly spoken how good soeuer thou hast been to see to and beest still how full soeuer of knowledge and of zeale blazing outward how glad soeuer to God and heare Sermons how able soeuer to pray and to repeat Sermons how well soeuer accounted of by others and by thy selfe and how strongly soeuer perfwaded and in that perswasion ioyed of thy being Gods child and being saued as all this may befall thee and yet the former notes discouer thee to be but hollow I doe now in Gods name adiudge thee and preiudge thee vnlesse thou repent to cutting off to burning to eternall death lo here is the portion of thy cup At length Gods arme and axe shall fell thee and grub thee vp by the roots if thou wert as tall as the Cedar of Lebanon and as tough as the Oakes of Bashan and as strongly rooted as the tree that groweth neere a rocke CHAP. V. Containing the third vse viz. An exhortation to the Hypocrite to come out of his hypocrisie Vse 3 BVt to what purpose doe we thus earnestly fight against Hypocrites with the sword of Christs mouth Let the Hypocrite bee carefull to come out of hypocrisie which he hath put into our mouthes Onely onely at least chiefly if it may be to conuert him and to make him cease to be an Hypocrite when he sees the lamentable condition of such kind of men It is your conuersion which we wish O all yee that haue been dissemblers and your reformation which wee aime at which we are well assured can neuer bee effected but by shewing you the woe which is comming vpon you Now therefore seeing the case of counterfeit Christians is so bad so hard so intolerably so desperately so ineuitably wretched but by turning wee beseech you suffer your selues to be wrought vpon to be conuerted to become true and to receiue the Spirit of vprightnesse which the Lord of heauen is now ready to powre forth vpon you Be it knowne vnto thee O thou that hast been hither to but an Hypocrite that thy case is not altogether irrecouerable but that thou maist if thou wilt not at this time also refuse Gods gracious offer bee made sincere and so bee receiued into grace For brethren be ye well assured of this truth that when the Lord of heauē sends his seruants vnto you in his owne name to call vpon you to performe any good duty tending to your owne saluation that then he is also present in his ordinance by the gracious cooperation of his good Spirit to inable you with strength from himselfe to performe that duty For Gods ordinances are not idle neither shall his VVord returne in vaine but shall be effectuall for all for which hee sendeth it and he that desireth not the death of the sinner but rather that he may turne and liue will effectually turne him from his euill way if he doe not wilfully harden himselfe therein and euen refuse to be conuerted Be willing therefore to be made vpright that thou maist be so indeed and be it for certaine deliuered vnto thy soule that thou shalt bee made able to become such if thou doe not stiffen thy selfe in the naturall vnwillingnesse of thy corrupted nature I demand therfore of thee in the same question that our Sauiour vsed to the sicke man that lay at the Poole of Bethesda Wilt thou be made whole If thou be willing now the waters are stirred now the Spirit of God is come downe in this ordinance now thou mayest bee put into these waters and now thou shalt bee made whole If thine answere bee that thou art willing then I say vnto thee make it appeare that thou art so in very truth and that thou dost not onely say thou art so for many a mans words and meaning are farre distant each from other many a man affirmeth with loud voyce and open profession of speeches that hee is willing to receiue that grace which hee is not willing to receiue There is a faint motion of the will which is rather an act of the vnderstanding conuinced that one should be willing to get a thing thē any true and earnest working of the will towards that thing and this kind of willingnesse must men take for a true being willing But heerein they doe much deceiue themselues for a man may bee inforced to acknowledge that hee ought to bee willing to get such or such a thing and withall finde in himselfe some slothfull wishes to haue the same and yet be destitute of that stedfast and fixed resolution of the will which is indeed the motion of the will required to be in vs if we will receiue good from the Lord. But how shall it be made manifest whether a mans willingnesse bee settled or ouert well grounded or shallow Surely he that indeed bendeth his will to any thing will be contented to deuoure the paines of seeking and striuing after it as he that would be rich
but from gracious acceptation of them in that blood by dipping wherein the spots of them are done away For there is I thinke none of vs which denyeth but that God accepting our workes as perfect in Christ doth reward vs for them as if they were perfect but seeing the reward becomes due in Christ and not by the workes themselues wee thinke it a foolish pride to maintaine the stately name of merit of workes when wee are faine to beg the reward for anothers sake and cannot chalenge it simply for the workes sake Thus this truth inforceth them after much turning and winding in effect to confesse it though the truth is they would not haue it seeme so for feare of a sore losse that might follow thence vnto their Clergies kitchin and manger I meane their liuing and pompe But let them passe There is a second errour of heretickes 2. Of perfection of holinesse in this life dreamed of by the ancient Puritans so they may well be called no lesse dangerous yea verily I suppose much more dangerous then the former of old condemned vnder the name of Puritans from a conceited and imaginary purity or absolute freedome from all sinne whereof they boasted and now as the speech goes reuiued in some parts of this Land This is that the Saints of God in this life may attaine to such perfection as not at all to commit any sinne with such gay fancies they please to seed themselues and their seduced followers Now it is most certaine that these men are the most abominable and dissembling hypocrites in all the world or else the most besotted and benummed spirits for their owne whole carriage and continuall experience doth confute them euen to themselues and yet they will not see themselues confuted If euer any of you meet with any foolish Hypocrite offering to tel you a tale of such perfection that he hopes to get or that he hath gottē or that may be gotten by any in this life as neuer to sinne any more neuer any more to need repentance doe no more but turne him to Saint Iohns Epistle and tell him that he that saith he hath no sinne deceiueth himselfe and the truth is not in him Bid him consult with Salomon againe who propoundeth the question as of a thing impossible Who can say his heart is pure and tell him againe that the same Salomon knew what he said when he said that there is a generation which is pure in their owne eyes but are not cleansed from their filthinesse and tell him that those branches in Christ which need no pruning are sure like a branch ouerladen with Grapes through the conceit of their much fruitfulnesse broken off from him for he saith that euery one remaining in him needeth and receiueth pruning which were not needfull if he were faultlesse And so leaue the fond deceiued and selfe-conceited Hypocrite vnto himselfe and haue no more to doe with him For either he speaketh altogether against his owne heart or else his heart is nought worth as Salomon saith of the wicked yea more hope is there of the saluation of the most desperate sinner aliue then of such an one For Christ alwayes 〈◊〉 the full empty away and pronounceth a 〈◊〉 vpon these spiritually rich persons Seest thou a man wise in his owne eyes saith Salomon there is more hope of a foole then of him Surely he is wise in his owne eyes that thinketh he hath no sinne wherefore we can haue little hope of him This errour is so contrary to all the feeling and sense of all Gods Saints who are faine still to say with Dauid Lord who can know his errors as that a man would maruel how any man in whom there was euer any knowledge of the Word and any shew and beginning of goodnesse should bee so farre seduced and drawne away as to entertaine such an opinion But the cause is manifest hypocrisie is alwayes accompanied with pride and the growth of hypocrisie breeds also a growth of pride and pride swels out the eyes that a man cannot see the cleerest truthes And thus haue we briefly discouered vnto you these errours to rectifie your iudgements For if the words of Christ be true these opinions that are directly opposite vnto the truth contained in them must needs be false Now heare some other vses to rectifie your practice also CHAP. VIII Containing a second vse of the poynt stirring vp the seruants of God to an holy longing for death Vse 2 SEE heere 〈◊〉 how great cause wee haue to follow the Apostle Paul We should long for the time of our dissolution when we shall be perfectly freed from sinne and to long that wee were once dissolned and perfectly vnited vnto Christ that as hee prayes for vs being where he is and seeing his glory we might be perfectly like him in a spotlesse purity and holinesse Impatient folkes are many times so tormented with worldly crosses made so troublesome vnto them alone by their owne folly and pride whereby they neglect to see God and to stoope vnto him in crosses that they are euen altogether weary of their liues because of them and our of a kind of stomackfull sullennesse against God as once Ionas or else a feeble sinking vnder the burthen of misery as once Eliah they euen thinke with themselues I would I were dead and are bold to trouble God with that vnsauoury petition of making an end of their daies that they may be rid of their crosses which they haue neither patience enough to beare for the present nor hope enough to looke for a good issue out of for the time to come But my brethren consider Haue you not other and worse things to be weary of then crosses and for which if for any thing to be weary of life also as of a burthen which you long to be remoued from off your shoulders Hast thou not pride passion worldlinesse ambition lust enuie vaine-glory blindnesse hollownesse deadnesse of heart and a thousand more besides these corruptions within thee which giue thee farre iuster cause of panting for the period of thy dayes and wishing that thy life heere might bee but short then the frowardnesse of a yoke fellow the stubbornnesse of a child the meannesse of thine estate the falsenesse of thy friends the power and fury of thine enemies or any other crosse if any be worse then these Ah wee haue not sufficiently informed our selues of the loathsomnesse of sin neither are we sufficiently heauie laden with the sense thereof if the cumbersomnesse of this doe not cause vs euen in the time of our greatest immunity from other miseries to couet our departure hence If sicknesses make men cry for death because they be terrible to the body how should not the sicknesses of the soule make vs much rather to seeke for it seeing wee shall not cease to suffer the fits of this disease till death be sent to seuer our soules from our bodies and both from our
corruptions But death at once with a most happy paricide as I may terme it kils both it selfe our last foe and sinne its mother our first foe and sorrow its sister our daily foe That one pang which puls away the soule from the body doth also pull away sinne both from the soule and the body O most desireable pang and worthy to be thirsted after more then any earthly thing Iob when his body was full of botches could say with much vehemency of passion Why dyed I not from the wombe why gaue I not vp the ghost when I came out of the belly then should I haue lyen still and beene quiet I should haue slept then had I been at rest Hee could in elegancy of speech commend death and say There the wicked cease from troubling and there the weary be at rest there the prisoners rest together and heare not the voyce of the oppressour yea hee saith that a miserable man would long for it and dig for it more then for hid treasures and would reioyce exceedingly and be glad if he could find it This impatiency of life is no way worthy commendation it sauours too much of selfe loue to be good and allowable But if out of an holy impatiency of sinne wee could as feelingly take vp speeches of a like nature O how truly might it witnesse with vs that we did hate sinne that we were enemies to the lusts of our hearts that our corruptions were to vs as imprisonment sicknesse paine captiuity and so that wee were sure of our part in Christs goodnesse who comes to preach liberty vnto the captiues Verily our soules are as full of hotches many of them as Iobs body and it will hardly bee better with many of vs so long as we abide in these earthly tabernacles were we as full of spirituall life as hee of naturall and our soules as truly indued with holinesse as his body with sense we should complaine of this burthen with much bitternesse and say O that I could tell where to seeke death O that I might finde the graue and come to those quiet regions where worldlinesse and pride and wrath shall no more torment mee and where my will shall be no more carryed away with any fleshly perturbation I confesse that this is the least part of the good that death bringeth vnto the Saints that it doth vtterly dismisse them from the seruitude of the flesh but were we so thorowly spirituall as we should be this would seeme of so great worth with vs as wee would preferre it before all that the world counts delightfull The Bridegroome would rather go to his graue then to his bride-chamber the traueller would rather lye downe in his bed of earth then in a bed of downe and euery man would bee of Salomons minde and count the day of death better then the day of birth I confesse that wee must so farre resigne our willes to Gods will as with all contentednesse of minde to weare out the dayes of our apprentiship and pilgrimage For so long as God hath any seruice for vs to doe any where though the place and company be full of troublesomnesse yet should wee force our willes to doe him seruice with our owne disquietment but yet a vertuous desire of being separated from this vnhappy condition of life wherein wee shall neuer fully be separated from the sinne that cleaueth so fast would be very commendable and very profitable The gavvdes of this vvorld vvould not so easily beguile vs the cumbers of this vvorld vvould not so frettingly gawle vs if wee did dis-sweeten the one with making our selues to taste the bitternesse of our sinne and dis-imbitter the other with feeling the far greater bitternesse of that which is as farre more harmefull then it as lead is heauier then corke Then should wee proue our selues to bee men and women of a discerning spirit that can know of things what is good what is bad and of bad things what is more what is lesse bad Then should we shew our selues to approch neere that height of grace which the blessed Apostle had who in relating of bonds imprisonment hunger thirst nakednesse whipping stocking shipwrack and daily dying neuer bursts forth into lamentations but rather recounts with ioy that which was so painfull to suffer and seemeth to bee glad of life for nothing else but that by suffering more of those troubles hee might doe more seruice to the Church and honour to Christ but when he hath occasion to declare his sinfulnesse the body of death the law of his members the rebellion of his flesh then onely is heard bewailing and crying out O miserable man that I am who shall deliuer me from this body Let therefore the feeling of sinne make our desires so earnest after full freedome from it that we may for this cause euen breathe after death when there are none other aduersities to distaste the comforts of this life vnto vs that by it wee shall be set at liberty from the diuels tentations the worlds affrightments allurements but specially from the corrupt lusts which we both doe and whilest we lodge in this dungeon shall carry about with vs. And let each of vs say often to himselfe O that I were parted from husband and wife from children from friends from lands and goods and from this world and all that in this world is counted worth hauing so that I might also bee parted from my corruptions and neuer more hereafter stand in need of pruning Fasting and prayer will purge the Word and Sacraments will cleanse and all Gods ordinances and all our Christian indeuours will helpe to lop off these disordered passions that are within vs. But this is alone a cleansing in part a paring off some euill and leauing much behind onely the last blow of death will make a full riddance of all that is euill in vs and after that blow giuen there shall nothing remaine behinde that may call for any more purging This is the soueraigne medicine that will consummate the cure of our diseased soules which till then shall neuer bee deliuered from all diseases though wee bee in Christ as the Vine and haue God the Father for our Husbandman O then Lord send thou this last enemy which may doe mee more good then all the former friends I meet with can doe euen worke a dissolution of my soule from my body and of my sinne from them both Let it come Lord let it come speedily doe thou hasten it in due season and take away all sinne by taking away this life of nature to make way for a farre more excellent life of glory Desire of death is then only warrantable when a desire of Gods full presence and of sinnes perfect absence be the causes mouing that desire CHAP. IX Containing the third vse of the poynt viz. an exhortation and direction how to keepe downe our corruptions whilest wee liue Vse 3 BVt as wee should moderately wish for death We