so doing he shall greatly increase his knowledge and lessen his vites In â— few dayes he may read it and ever after be the better for it But me thinks I am too like a carelesse Porter which keepes the guests without doors till they have lost their stomacks wherefore I will detain you no longer in the Porch but unlock the door and let you in THE BENEFIT OF AFFLICTION and how to husband it so that with blessing from above the weakest Christian may be able to support himself in his most miserable Exigents CHAP. 1. Why the Lord suffers his children to be so traduced and persecuted by his and their enemies and first That it makes for the glory of his power IN the former Treatise I have proved that there is a naturall enmity and a spirituall Antipathy between the Men of the World and the children of GOD between the seed of the Serpent and the seed of the Woman And that these two Regiments being the Subjects of two severall Kings Satan and Câ—rist are governed by Laws opposite and clean contrary each to the other whereby it comes to passe that grievous temptations and persecutions do alwayes accompany the remission of sins That all men as Austine speaks are necessitated to miseries which bend their course towards the Kingdom of Heaven For godlinesse and temptation are such inseparable attendants on the same person that a mans sins be no sooner forgiven and he rescued from Satan but that Lion fomes and roares and bestirs himselfe to recover his losse Neither can Gods love be enjoyed without Satans disturbance Yea the World and the Devil therefore hate us because God hath chosen us If a Convert comes home the Angels welcome him with Songs the Devils follow him with uproar and fury his old acquaintance with scorns and obloquie for they think it quarrel enough that we will no longer run with them to the same excess of riot 1 Pet. 4.4 That we will no longer continue miserable with them they envy to see themselves cashiered as persons infected with the plague will scoff at such of their acquaintance as refuse to consort with them as they have done formerly It is not enough for them to be bad themselves except they rail at and persecute the good He that hath no grace himself is vexed to see it in another godly men are thorns in wicked mens eyes as Iob was in the Devils because they are good or because they are deerly beloved of God If a mans person and wayes please God the world will be displeased with both If God be a mans friend that will be his enemy if they exercise their malice it is where he shews mercy and indeed he refuseth to be an Abel whom the malice of Cain doth not exercise as Gregory speaks for it is an everlasting rule of the Apostles He that is born after the flesh will persecute him that is born after the Spirit Gal. 4.29 not because he is evil but because he is so much better then himself 1 John 3.12 Because his life is not like other mens his wayes are of another fashion Wisdom 2.15 I have also shewed the Original continuance properties causes ends and what will be the issue of this enmity and therein made it plain that as for the present they suit like the Harp and the Harrow agree like two poysons in one stomack the one being ever sick of the other so to reconcile them together were to reconcile Fire and Water the Wolfe and the Lambe the Windes and the Sea together yea that once to expect it were an effect of frenzie not of hope It remains in the last place that I declare the Reasons why God permits his dearest children so to be afflicted The godly are so patient in their sufferings With other grounds of comfort and Vses and first of the first The Reasons why God suffers the same are chiefly sixteen all tending to his glory and their spiritual and everlasting good benefit and advantage for the malignity of envy if it be well answered is made the evil cause of a good effect to us God and our souls are made gainers by anothers sin The Reasons and Ends which tend to Gods glory are three 1 It makes for the glory of his Power 2 It makes for the glory of his Wisdom 3 It makes much for his glory when those graces which he hath bestowed upon his children do the more shine through employment It makes for the glory of his power Moses having declared in what manner the Lord permitted Pharaoh to oppress the children of Israel more and more still hardning his heart shews the reason of it in these words That I may multiply my miracles and wonders in the land of Egypt That I may lay my hand upon Pharaoh and bring out mine Armies even my people by great judgements that my power may be known and that I may declare my Name throughout all the World Exod. 7.3 4. 9.16 When that multitude of Ammonites and Moabites came to war against Iehosaphat and the children of Israel intending to cast them out of the Lords inheritance and utterly destroy them to the dishonour of God the Lord by delivering them from that sore affliction gained to himself such honour and glory That as the Text saith the fear of God was upon all the Kingdoms of the Earth when they heard that the Lord had fought so against the enemies of Israel 2 Chron. 20.19 The judgement was upon some the fear came upon all it was but a few mens loss but it was all mens warning 1 Cor. 10.11 When the Lord brought again the Captivity of Sion saith the Psalmist then said they among the Heathen The Lord hath done great things for them Psal. 126.1 2. God provides on purpose mighty adversaries for his Church that their humiliation may be the greator in susteining and his glory may be greater in deliverance yea though there be legions of Devils and every one stronger then many legions of men and more malicious then strong yet Christs little Flock lives and prospers And makes not this exceedingly for our Makers for our Guardians glory Gods power is best made known in our weakness 2 Cor. 12.9 And our deliverance is so much the more wondred at by how much the less it was expected Impossibilities are the best advancers of Gods glory who not seldom hangs the greatest wâ—ights upon the smallest wiers as he doth those bottles of Heaven being of infinite weight and magnitude in the soft air where no man can make a feather hang and the massie substance of the whole Earth and Sea upon nothing Job 26.7 8. Yea the whole frame of the Heavens have no other Columnes or Supporters to lean upon than his mighty and powerful Word Gen. 1.6 7 8. For what we least believe can be done we most admire being done the lesser the means and the greater the opposition the more is the glory of him who by little means doth
thou on thy face said God to Ioshua Israel hath sinned up search diligently c. Iosh. 7.10 11. What evill hast thou done said the Mariners to the distressed Prophet that this evill is come upon us Let every such Ionas reflect upon himself and say What evill have I done What sin have I committed or admitted or what good have I omitted or intermitted be it but one single sin whether spiritual pride or railing upon honest men in an handsome Language or the like and having found out the cause grieve for it turn from it One flaw in a Diamond takes away the lustre and the price one man in Law may keep possession one Puddle if we wallow in it will defile us one piece of Ward-land makes the Heire liable to the King one sin keeps possession for Satan as well as twenty one poison-full Herb amongst many good ones may put death in the pot and so take away the goodnesse from the rest as if there were none in it wholesome Besides how were the Angels in heaven punished for one fault Achan for one sacriledge Miriam for one slander Moses for one unbelief Ananias for one lie Ely for his Indulgence onely David for his love to Bathsheba onely c. wherefore look to it for if we spare but one Agag it may cost us a Kingdome and such a Kingdome as is far better than the Kingdome of Saul 1 Pet. 1.4 Neither say of thy sin as once Lot of Zoar Is it not a little one for though men may yet God will not wink at small faults especially in his own A little prick being neglected may fester to a gangrene As what is a mountain of Earth but an accumulation of many little dusts or what is a flood but a concurrence of many little drops a small leak will sink the Vessel unstopt whereas a great one will not do it if well kalked The weakest Instrument be it but a Bodkin can pierce the flesh and take away the life unarmed whereas Armour of proof will even beat off Bullets Besides whereas our greatest goodnesse merits not the least glory our least wickednesse deserves great pain The wages of sin small or great is death Rom. 6.23 bad work sad wages Wherefore let his correction bring forth conversion cleanse your hands ye sinners and purge your hearts ye double-minded Jam. 4.8 Not your hands onely with Pilate but your hearts with David yea and your eyes too with Mary Magdalen if it be possible though dry sorrow may be as good as wet whose eyes were a Laver and hair a Towel to wash and wipe the feet of Christ. Humble thy self like the Ninevites Ionah 3.6 Who put sackcloth upon their loins and ashes on their heads as those that had deserved to be as far under ground as they were now above it An humble submission is the only way to disarm Gods indignation and be rid of his Rod 1 Pet. 5.6 By such a course as this Iacob appeased that rough man Esau Abigale diverted David from his bloody purpose the Syrians found favour with Ahab that none-such as the Scriptâ—re stiles him 1 Kings 20.32 33. Sin bringeth judgement and onely Repentance preventeth it Thy sin hath kindled the fire of Gods wrath and only Repentance is as water to quench this fire King Edward the First riding furiously after a servant of his that had displeased him with a drawn sword in his hand as purposing to kill him seeing him submit and upon bended knee sue for his life not onely spared him but received him into favour Go thou and do the like be thou but throughly sorry for thy sin my soul for thine God will be throughly satisfied yea grow better by it and God will love thee the better for it As Lovers are wont to be best friends after falling out for as bones out of joynt joyned again are stronger then before so when God and we are reconciled by repentance his affections are stronger to us then before The repenting Prodigal received such tokens of favour as his elder brother who never brake out into that Riot never did And whom did Christ honour with his first appearance but Mary Magdalen and the Angel but Peter Go saith he and tell his Disciples and Peter that he will go before you into Galilee Mark 16.7 Though Peter had sinned above the rest yet repenting he is named above the rest Otherwise Contrition without reformation which is but like the crouching of a Fox that being taken in a snare looks lamentably but it is only to get out will not prevail with God he will never leave pursuing thee till the traitors head be thrown over the wall None so lewd but will seem conformable when apprehended or if they Riot in the Goale of their durance yet when the Sessions comes they begin to be a little calme put off their disguises of dissolutenesse and put on some modesty and semblance of humiliation yea then they change their apparel their garbes their looks and all to appear civil Or let the Fox be chained up he will no more worry the Lambs Pharaoh could relent when he felt the plagues but when they were over so was his repentance but what saith the Scripture He that confesseth and forsaketh his sinne shall finde mercy Prov. 28.13 Confession and confusion of sinne must go together yea there must be a parting with the right Eye in regard of pleasure and the right Hand in regard of profit As for example hast thou swallowed some unlawful gain and wouldest thou pacifie God and thy Conscience Vomit it up again by restitution for where is no restitution of things unjustly gotten their sins shall never be forgiven as Saint Augustine speaks Non tollitur peccatum nisi restituitur ablatum For repentance without restitution is as if a thief should take away thy purse ask thee pardon say he is sorrie for it but keeps it still in which case thou wouldst say he did but mock thee But Pallas with all the graces may call Briareus with his hundred hands to binde this Iupiter and all in vain Wherefore I proceed The skilful Chirurgion when he is lancing a wound or cutting off a limbe will not hear the patient though he cry never so until the cure be ended but let there be once a healing of thy errours and the plaister will fall off of it self for the plaister will not stick on when the sore is healed If the Fathers word can correct the child he will fling away the rod otherwise he must look to have his eyes ever winterly Thus as the two Angels that came to Lot lodged with him for a night and when they had dispatched their errand went away in the morning So afflictions which are the Angels or the Messengers of God are sent by him to do an errand to us to tell us we forget God we forget our selves we are too proud too self-conceited and such like and when they have said as they were bid then
tryumphed over his enemies when most they seemed to tryumph over him Col. 2.15 And the Martyrs who are said by the holy Ghost to overcome the great Dragon that old Serpeut called the Divell and Satan in that they loved not their lives unto the death Rev. 12 11. Their conquering was by dying not by killing and can the back of Charity now bare no load are the sinews of Love grown so feeble And holy David who when he had Saul at his mercy in stead of cutting off his head as his servants perswaded him only cut off the lap of his garment and after thought that too much also And at another time when the Lord had closed him into his hands finding him asleep in the Fort in stead of taking away his life as Abishai counselled him he took away his Spear and in stead of taking away his blood from his heart he takes a pot of water from his head That this kinde of revenge for a man to finde his enemy at an advantage and let him depart free is generous and noble beyond the capacity of an ordinary man you may hear Saul himself confesse 1 Sam. 24.17 to 23. Again when the King of Syria sent a mighty Host to take Elisha and the Lord had smote them all with blindnesse and shut them into Samaria what doth the Prophet slay them No indeed the King of Israel would fain have had it so his fingers itcht to be doing but Elisha commanded bread and water to be set before them that they might eat and drink and go to their Master 2 King 6.22 So a Christian truly generous will omit no opportunity of doing good nor do evil though he have opportunity for to may and will not is the Christians laud. Which yet is not all for besides that it is the most generous noble valiant wise divine and Christianlike revenge to passe by and forgive injuries our Saviour Christ in whom is the fountain of all wisdome and knowledge as all the senses are in the head Zach. 4.12 allowes none for magnanimous but such as together with forgiving blesse those that curse them and do good to such as hurt them Matth. 5.44 The case of Moses Steven and many others as I shall shew in Chapter 31. which is true generosity indeed But how contrary is the opinion of the World to the judgment of God and the wisest of men concerning valour For should the greatest and gravost Divine in the Land preach this our impatient Gallants would not beleeve but that it consists in a brave revenge and that an humble patience is an argument of basenesse and that every wrong or disgracefull word is quarrell just enough to shed blood And lest there should want offences or they give place unto wrath as the Apostle adviseth Rom. 12.19 they will strive for the way or contend for the wall even to the death which proves them to be as wise as a wall for they come short of the wisedom of beasts Pliny tells us of two Goates Mutianus being an eye-witnesse which meeting on a straight and narrow bridge that the one could not passe by the other nor turn aside to return back again neither made his way by overturning the other but the one lay down that the other might go over him I pray God their too much turning to the right hand before man cause them not to be set at Christs left hand with those Goates which are destined to everlasting fire But certainly if they amend not their course God shall condemn them for invading his office for vengeance is his and that they call courage he shall judge outrage Woe is me into what unhappy times are we fallen and how hath the devill blinded and bewitcht our Gallants that the wretchedest and basest cowardise should ruffle it out in the garb of valour while the truly valiant passe for and are reputed cowards And how great is the corruption of mans heart which is not ashamed of things shamefull and yet ashamed of things wherein they ought to glory Is this courage to kill one another for the wall as though either of their honours were of more worth then both their souls Yea suppose they overcome is not this power of theirs the greatest infirmity for whether they thus die or kill they have committed murther if they kill they have murthered another if they die they have murthered themselves Surviving there is the plague of conscience dying there is the plague of torments if they both escape yet it is homicide that they meant to kill O that they would take notice of this and lay it to heart But what 's the reason of this their mistake what makes them judge Iob a fool and count David a coward for their humble patience this is the difference there was the faith and patience of the Saints here is the infidelity and impatience of sinners whom the Devill hath bewitcht to glory in their shame or in plain English a reprobate judgment is the only cause for with them every vertue is counted a vice and every vice a vertue as their own words witnesse in nicknaming each vice and grace with opposite titles But as when it was objected to a Martyr that his Christ was but a Carpenters sonne he answered yea but such a Carpenter as built Heaven and Earth so we grant we are Cowards as they tearm us but such cowards as are able to prevail with God Gen. 32.26 28. Exod. 32.10 And overcome the World the Flesh and the Devill 1 Joh. 5.4 Gal. 5.24 1 Joh. 2.14 which is as much valour and victory as we care for CHAP. XIX That suffering is the only way to prevent suffering 3. BEcause suffering is the only way to prevent suffering Revenge being one of those remedies which not seldom proves more grievous than the disease it selfe When once Xantippe the wife of Socrates in the open street pluckt his cloak from his back and some of his acquaintance counselled him to strike her he answers You say well that while we are brawling and fighting together every one of you may clap us on the back and cry Hoe well said to it Socrates yea well done Xantippe the wisest of the twain When Aristippus was asked by one in derision where the great high friendship was become that formerly had been beâ—ween him and Aeschiâ—es he answers It is asleep but I will go and awaken it and did so lest their enemies should make it a matter of rejoycing When Philip of Macedon was told that the Grecians spake evil words of him notwithstanding he did them much good and was withall counselled to chastise them he answers Your counsel is not good for if they now speak evil of us having done them good only what would they then if we should do them any harm And at another time being counselled either to banish or put to death one who had slandered him he would do neither of both saying It was not a sufficient cause to condemn him and
if they be angry they turn their malice from the person which punisheth them to the sinne by which and for which he came to have leave and power to punish them and to themselves for committing such sins The cause of their suffering doth more vex them than the things which they suffer and they grieve more for the displeasure of God than for the stripes of his displeasure It is not the punishment but the cause of it makes them sorrowfull And indeed to speak home to every mans conscience why are we patient or impatient it is worth the noting when sinne lyes light then reproaches and contempt lye heavy whereas if we truly feel the weight of sinne all indignities will be as nothing Or thirdly In case they do return an answer it is after the manner of Epictetus who would not deny the sins his enemy taxed him with but reproves his ignorance rather in that being unacquainted with the infinity of his crimes he layes only two or three to his charge whereas indeed he was guilty of a million Or as Latymer was wont who rejoyced when any objected indiscretion against him in his Sermons saying he knew by that that they could not object against the matter it self Or according to Philip of Macedon his example who would not punish Nicanor although he openly spake evill of him saying when he heard thereof I suppose Nicanor is a good man it were better to search whether the fault be in us or no so no sooner shall an holy mans enemy accuse him of hypocrisie pride passion covetousnesse c. but he will go to God and accuse himself and complain I am so indeed yea with Paul I am the chief of all sinners I am more vile than his termes can make me and I much marvell my punishment is no greater then to hear a few ill and bitter words And indeed one would think whatsoever is not pain nor sufferance or admit it be pain and sufferance so long as it is not a curse but a crosse may well be born without grumbling What said that Gentleman in Athens to his friends when Ashuerus came and took away half his plate as he was at dinner with him they admiring that he was not a whit moved thereat I thank God quoth he that his Highnesse hath left me any thing Yea suppose we lose all we have our goods are furthest off us and if but in these we smart we must confesse to finde favour Or admit they hurt our bodies or kill us which they may soon do if God but give leave for our life even the best of us is but like a bubble which boyes blow up in the ayre and presently again blow into meer ayr Caesar goes an Emperour to the Senate is brought a Corps home again What ever I say befals us this would be our meditation he that afflicted me for a time could have held me longer he that touched me in part could have stricken me in whole he that laid this upon my body hath power to lay a greater Rod both upon my body and soul without doing me the least wrong That all crosses and curses temporall spirituall and eternall even from the pains of the damned to the very Itch as Moses sets down Deut. 28.27 are deserved and come not upon us against equity equity I say in respect of God not in respect of men they come from a just Author though from an unjust instrument And that sinne is the ground of all our griefs the source of all our sufferings wickednesse the root of our wretchednesse that we are disciplin'd is from our defects is a truth undeniable appears plainly for first God affirms it Deut. 28. Isa. 57.17 Hos. 13.9 Jer. 30.15 and 4.18 Secondly His servants confirm it 1 Chron. 21.17 Isa. 64.5 Dan. 9.7 8 c. Lam. 1.5 8. and 3.39 c. Ezra 9.13 Luk. 23.41 Thirdly Good reason makes for it sinfull men smite not their dogs much lesse their children without a cause and shall we think the just God will smite without just cause his judgements saith a Father are sometimes secret alwayes just No misery had ever afflicted us if sinne had not first infected us What 's the reason we all die it could not be in justice if we had not all sinned and so of all other evils even sicknesse originally proceeds from sinne and all weaknesse from wickednesse one man languisheth of a Consumption another laboureth of a Feaver a third is rackt with the Gout a fourth swoln with the Dropsie a fift hath his soul let out with a sword every one hath a severall way to bring him to the common end death but sinne is the universall disease Death passed upon all for all have sinned Rom. 5.12 Iames 3.2 Yea as we brought a world of sinne into the world with us so since each man hath broken every one of Gods ten Laws ten thousand times and ten thousand wayes which is far from a privative holinesse in reforming that which is evill and a positive holinesse in performing that which is good Eph. 4.22 23. and every sin helps for as originall sin is the originall cause of death so actuall sins hasten it But to conclude in generall that sin is the cause we suffer is not sufficient for commonly no judgement comes from God but some particular provocation of man went before it the hand of Divine Iustice seldom makes us smart without some eminent cause foregoing therefore David seeing a famine in the Land inquires for the particular provoking sin 2 Sam. 21.1 so when we suffer our question should be What have we done yea what have we done in the same kinde for oftentimes we may read our sin in our punishment as it fared with Adonibezeck Judg. 1.7 and many other mentioned in Scripture Sodom was burnt with fire unnaturall as they burned with lust unnaturall Absoloms chief pride lay in his hair and that became his halter Salomon dividing Gods Kingdom had his own Kingdom divided David hath slain Vriah with the sword therefore the sword shall not depart from his house Dives would not give Lazarus a crum Lazarus shall not bring Dives a drop Iudas was the instrument of his Masters death he shall be the instrument of his own death Proud Bajazet vowes to imprison Tamberlaine in an Iron Cage and carry him about the world in triumph But Tamberlaine having conquered that bragging Turk carried and carted him through all Asia to be scorned of his own people For instance Is any one censured reviled and persecuted of lewd men for being religious Let him reflect upon his life past and happily their revilings and persecutions will bring to his remembrance that he himself before his conversion hath likewise censured reviled or persecuted others It may be his naturall spirituall or politicall parents in some kind or other as who can plead innocency herein and he that is not humbled for his sin is not yet justified from his sin Yea so often as
us is to look at those below us But leaving the application until the conclusion CHAP. IX FIfthly Consider but seriously who they are that hate scâ—ff and jeer you and that have persecuted the Saints before you and mockt at holiness and 〈◊〉 exceedingly to support you against whatever you shall hear or 〈◊〉 As first What is their Character in Scripture are they not 〈◊〉 A company of hypocrites Psal. 35. Hypocritical mockers v. 16. 〈◊〉 Drunkards Psal. 69. I am a song of the Drunkards vers 12. a sort of vicious persons following their lusts 2 Pet. 3.3 There shall come mockers walking after their own lusts A company of abject persons Psal. 35 15. like those enemies Acts 17. Lewd fellows of the baser sort ver 5. A â—ou of prophane godless irreligious Atheists and ignorant fools that do no more know the power then Turks and Heathens know the truth of godliness Psal. 14 1. to 6. And it is a shrewd suspition that he who is a mocker is an Atheist It well becomes him to mock at Religion that denies a God And it is evident enough that he denies a God that mocks at godlinesse But secondly Experience sufficiently acquaints us what they are and the examples before rehearsed for such as Cain and the Sodomites and Ishmael and Esaâ— and Haman and Eliab and Goliah and Michal and Doeg and Shemei anâ— Rabshekeh and Ahab and Iezabel and Tobiah and Sanballat and Pashur and Zedekiah and Herod and Iudas and S. Paul before his conversion and Ananias the High Priest and Demetrius the silver-smith and Alexander thâ— Copper-smith and Elimas the Sorcerer such as these I say are the men whâ— amongst us do the like things that they did And will any wise man stumb at Religion for such mens scoffs and reproaches what better can be expected from them What said the Orator to Salust It cannot be but he thaâ— lives thy life should speak thy language yea a man would choose his Religion by such mens enmity and it is a great honour to Religion that it hath such adversaries For as the Primitive Christians used to say when Noâ— persecuted them they that know him must needs think it some great goâ— which Nero so hated and condemned so every wise man will love Religiâ— the better and take it for a great honour to the Saints that hypocrites drunkards vitious followers of their lusts base and lâ—wd fellows godlesse Atheists and blind Sensualists are her scoffing adversaries And scarce do I know a better argument to perswade to love and imbrace it then that such men hate 〈◊〉 deride it neither can it be the true Religion which is not every where 〈◊〉 spoken against Act. 28.22 But CHAP. X. SIxthly and lastly Observe but the reasons why they do it and this will notably confirm and strengthen you against their scoffs and scorns Convert Have they any reason for their so doing Minist Not properly For as the Prophet very often complains they 〈◊〉 mine enemies without a cause and they hate me without a cause c. Psal. 7. and 69.4 though they pretended many causes So they have no 〈◊〉 nor reason to hate censure ard slander us as they do for no evil deed 〈◊〉 a good reason yet they do it not without many by reasons and felt and 〈◊〉 First The main aâ—d most material cause why wicked men so mortally 〈◊〉 the godly and which breeds so many quarâ—el is the contrariety of the 〈◊〉 tures being as contrary one to the other as are God and the devil the 〈◊〉 ing the children of God and partaking of the divine nature aâ— being one 〈◊〉 Father and the Son 2 Cor. 6.18 Gal. 3.26 Joh. 1.12 and 17.14 〈◊〉 4. being like God in holiness 1 Pet. 1.15 Brethren of and heirs annexed Christ Rom. 8.17.29 Members of his body 1 Cor. 12.27 Bone of his bone and 〈◊〉 of his flesh Eph. 5.30 having his spirit dwelling in them Rom. 8 9-16 〈◊〉 Temples of the holy Ghost 1 Cor. 6.19 Jam. 1.18 Joh. 〈…〉 And the other being the seed of the serpent and children of the devil and so partake of his nature as is plain by 1 Joh. 3.8 10 12 14. and 6.70 and 8 44. Matth. 13.38 39. 2 Cor. 4.4 2 Tim. 2.26 Gen. 3.15 and 5.3 Eph. 2.2 c. Which being so how is it possible they should ever agree although God had not proclaimed an enmity between them For there can be no amity where there is no sympathy no reconciling of the wolf and the lamb the winds and the sea no neighbourhood no alliance no conjunction is able to make the cursed seed of the serpent and the blessed seed of the woman ever agree For fire and water light and darkness heaven and hell are not more contrary One bloud one belly one â—ouse one education could never make Cain and Abel accord Iacob and Esau Isaac and Ishmael at one Yea though they be man and wife parent and childe yet if they be not like they will not like 2 Cor. 6. 14 15. As how many a wife is so much the more hated because a zealous wife how many a childe lesse beloved because a religious childe how many a servant lesse respected because a godly servant And no marvel for though they dwell in the same house yet they belong to two several Kingdoms and albeit they both remain upon earth yet they are governed by two several Laws the ones Burguship being in heaven Phil. 3.20 and the other being a Denizen belonging to hell as Irish men are dwellers in Ireland but denizens of England and governed by the Statutes of this Kingdom And indeed what is the corporal sympathy to the spiritual antipathy Can there be such a parity between the parent and the childe the husband and the wife as there is a disparity between God and Satan no certainly A wicked man can agree with all that are wicked be they Papists or Turks or Atheists Prophane or Civil man for all these agree with him in blindness and darkness and are all seed of the same Serpent but with sincere Christians and practisers of piety he can never agree the religious shall be sure of opposition because their light is contrary to his darknesse grace in the one is a secret disgrace to the other Yea let wicked men be at never so much odds one with another yet they will concur and joyn against the godly Acts 6.9 The Sadduces Pharisees and Herodians were Sectaries of divers and adverse Factions all differing 〈◊〉 from another yet all joyn together against our Saviour Matth. 22. â—â—erod neither loved the Iews nor the Iews Herod yet both are agreed to â—ex the Church Yea Herod and Pilate two enemies will agree so it be against â—hrist they will fall in one with another to fall out with God CHAP. XI NOr is this of theirs an ordinary hatred but the most bitter exorbitant unlimited and implacable of all others No such concord no such dis 〈◊〉 saith one of the
he promised to bless the merciful man in his temporal civil spiritual and eternal estate Is there no such way to grow rich as by being bountiful to the poor Is it the most certain and infallible way never to want Is sparing in this case the worst thrift Wil with-holding from the poor bring a man to poverty Shal we have the benefit of their prayers and their loins to bless us Is this the Way to obtain God's blessing upon our persons whereby we shall be kept in perpetual safety delivered from the malicious practises of all our enemies Will God hear us and send us succor in all times of need as we hear and pity the poor and even make our beds when we are sick Wil what we have this way distributed stand us in more stead at the hour of Death and Day of Iudgement then all the Wealth in the World Shall the merciful be rewarded with illumination and conversion Wâ—â— these Works of Mercy bring such joy and peace confirm our hope and sweeten all our afflictions Are they evident signs of saying Graces And do they assure us of our future reward and fruition of God's presence hereafter Is it the onely way to an honourable and honest repute and report living and dead procuring all love and respect from good and bad Will God bless the merciful man with an happy match a godly offâ—spring Shall what we give be paid again unto our children and posterity with an addition of all other blessings who otherwise shall not prosper but be Vagabonds and beg their bread Is it a thing so pleasing to God that he accounts what is given to them as lent to him And so acceptable to Christ by reason of the near union that is between him the poor and us being but one mistical body whereof he is the Head that what we do to them his members he takes as done to himself and will accordingly reward it or plague the neglect thereof both upon us ours here and our bodies and souls hereafter Is it so that what we disburse in this World we shall receive again by Bill of Exchange in Heaven And that it is not so much given as laid up insomuch that we may truly say What we gave that we have If besides all this God hath promised to reward a little mony meat clothes with an infinite Eternal Kingdom of glory have the poor as true a right to it as we have to the residue Are we no less beholding to the poor then they are to us Would we were it our case think the contrary very unequal For if we look on the sufferings of others as heavier then our own this will beget thankfulness if we look on the doings gifts and graces of others as better then our own this wil beget humility Shall they thereby be the better able to serve God in their several stations Shall they have cause to pray for and praise God for us Will it stop our enemies mouths and make them think the better of our Religion and happily win them to imbrace the truth at least seeing our good works they will glorifie our Father which is in heaven Whereas the Poore shall onely have some outward relief and comfott thereby Shall wee fare the better for it in our souls bodyes names estates and posterities with many the like which might be added for our eâ—couragement to this duty Then they should serve as one would think as so many effectual and strong arguments to move every Christian to the diligent and frequent doing of them Yea by this time as I hope I have made some way in the Worldlings heart to rellish the relieving of the poor at least it concerns men to urge and press these motives upon themselves until they have compell'd their unwilling wils to resolve to interest themselves into so many promises and blessings and to shun the danger of so many threats and judgements as the neglect thereof will incur As did we thus hide the Word of God in our hearts and particularly apply these things to our Consciences it would work this Grace in us all Which otherwise will prove no other then as a sweet harmony of Musick to â— deaf man It is not unknown to us that Nathan wrought more upon David by a particular private admonition then all the Lectures of the Law could do for three quarters of a year together Yea let but this be done or indeed do but wel weigh what hath been said and it will be sufficient to perswade any covetous Nabal alive if he hath either heart or brain or indeed any care of or love to himself or his to become as liberal as Zacheus himself However I doubt not but some wil be so wise as to consider the premises thereupon to give as God in his Word injoins And that others will do the same if it be but meerly out of self-love for there cannot possibly be more rational or strong inducements more rare remarkable Benefits and Promises to any duty then is propounded to this particular Grace Wherefore if there be any consolation in Christ if any comfort of love if any fellowship of the Spirit if any compassion and mercy towards your selves or others think of these things accept of these blessings rush not upon so many Curses but break off your sins and former unmercifulness by righteousness and your iniquity by shewing mercy towards the poor Dan. 42 Distribute to the necessities of the Saints minister unto them of your Substance like Mary Magdalen Ioanna the wife of Chuza and Susanna And give your selves to Hospitality Rom. 12.13 Luke 8.2.3 Suffer not the naked to lodge without garment and without covering in the cold Job 24.7 Yea if thou dost but wel weigh what benefit it will bring to thee by being bountiful to them thou wilâ— be glad to meet with and invite such an object or opportunity of doing good and be thankful for it even as Zerxes the Persian Monarch said when Themistocles came to him being banished his own Countrey Let the Athenians send us more of such guests And indeed if men will not be moved nor drawn to good with the threefold cord inerrableness of Precepts innumerableness of Examples inestimableness of rewards and yet here is more then a sevenfold Cord no hope that any means should prevail with them as St. Austin speaks If Othniel be told what preferment he shall get for taking Kiriath Sephar he will undertake that difficult task Iosh. 15 16 17. And if David does but hear what shall be done to the man that kills Goliah he dares accept the challenge of that terrible Champion 1 Sam. 17. If Moses hath once respect unto the recompence of the reward he will be content to suffer affliction with the People of God Heb. 6.11.25 26. And if the Apostles expect to receive some great thing of Christ they will soon forsake all and follow him Matth. 19.27 28. We should therefore
of God but it would be against reason for in reason if he hath vouchsafed us that great mercy to make us his own he hath given the whole army of afflictions a more inviolable charge concerning us then David gave his Host concerning Absalom See ye do the youngman my son Absalom no harm Now if for the present thou lackest faith patience wisdom and true judgement how to bear and make this gain of the cross Ask it of God who giveth to all men liberally and reproacheth no man and it shall be given thee Jam. 1.5 For every good giving and every perfect gift is from above and commeth down from the Father of lights Verse 17. 6 Use. 6 Sixthly for this point calling more for practice then proof it behoves us to be larger here briefer there If that which is one mans meat proves another mans poison let it be acknowledged that the fault is not in the meat but in the stomach and that it is the wickedness of our hearts want of a sincere endevour to make good use of Gods corrections which causeth him to withdraw his blessing from them Wherefore let it provoke us as we love our selves as we love our souls through all the transitory temporary momentany passages of this World first to strive after and then to preserve the life of our lives and soul of our souls sincerity and inegrity Again if afflictions which are in their own nature evil and unto others strong temptations to sin by the goodness of God do make so much for our advantage and benefit here and hereafter If our Heavenly Father turns all things even the malice of Satan and wicked men yea our own sins to our good Rom. 8.28 If for our sakes and for his Names sake he even changeth the nature and property of each creature rather then they shall hurt us as it is the nature and property of fire to burn yet that vehement â—ire in Nebuchadnezzars Furnace did not burn the three servants of God It is proper to the Sea to drown those that be cast into it yet it did not drown the Prophet in the very depth of it It is proper for hungry ravenous Lions to kill and devoure yet they did Daniel no harm And the like when we need their help It is proper for the Sun to move yet it stood still at the prayer of Ioshua proper for it to go from East to West yet for Hezekiahs confirmation it went from West to East It is proper for Iron to sink in the water yet it swom when the children of the Prophets had need of it In like manner It is proper for affliction to harden and make worse as well as for riches and prosperity to ensnare But as some Simples are by Art made medicinable which are by nature poisonable So afflictions which are in nature destructive by grace become preservative And as evil waters when the Vnicorns horn hath been in them are no longer poisonable but healthful or as a Wasp when her sting is out may awaken us by buzzing but cannot hurt us by stinging so fares it with affliction when God pleaseth to sanctifie the same as he doth to all that loue him Rom. 8.28 For of God it is without thanks to Affliction or our selves or our sins that we are bettâ—â—ed by them All the work is thine let thine be the glory But lastly for though we can never be thankful enough for this yet this is not all that we should finde him a Saviour whom our enemies finde a just revenger That we should be loosed from the chains of our sins and they delivered into the chains of Plagues That the same Christ should with his precious blood free us that shall with his Word sentence them Again if we were by nature the Seed of the Serpent children of the Devil and Subjects to that Prince which ruleth in the air even that spirit which now worketh in the children of disobedience Ephes. 2.2 We may learn by it to be humble and thankful if changed to be the womans seed children of God and members of Christ since we were once in so vile a condition for God found nothing in us but Enmity 1 Cor. 15.10 Rom. 7.18 25. We are not born but new-born Christians and whereas he might have left us in that perishing condition being bound to none and have chosen others he hath of his free grace adopted us and left others What 's the reason surely no reason can be given but O the depth only this I am sure of it is a mercy beyond all expression O my soul thou hast not room enough for thankfulness Wherefore let it provoke us so to love him that we shew forth the vertues and fruits of him that hath called us and done all this for us 1 Peter 2.9 But I fear we forfeit many of Gods favours for not paying that easie rent of thankfulness For conclusion If we be the seed of the Woman and our enemies the Seed of the Serpent let us go before them in goodness as far as God hath preferred us before them in mercy let us be able to say of our enemies as Iob of his I have not suffered my mouth to sin by wishing a curse unto his soul Job 31.30 Yea let us send down water from our compassionate eyes and weep for them by whom we bleed In brief let us hate their opinions strive against their practice pitty their misguidings neglect their censures labour their recovery and pray for their salvation CHAP. 34. That though God disposeth of all their malice to his Childrens greater good yet they shall be rewarded according to their mischievous intentions Ob. IF it be so that the malice of wicked men makes so much for the behoof of Gods people and that whatsoever they do unto us is but the execution of Gods will and fâ—ll accomplishment of his just decree it may seem to make on their side and not only extenuate their evil but give them occasion of boasting Ans. Although God disposeth it to the good of his children that he may bring about all things to make for his own glory yet they intend onely evill in it as namely the Dishonour of God the ruine of mens souls as I have proved in the Drunkards Character and the satisfying of their own serpentine enmity and thirst of revenge We must therefore learn to distinguish betwixt the act of God and of an enemy as indeed Gods people do When ye thought evil against me saith Ioseph to his brethren God disposed it to good that he might bring to passe as it is this day and save much people alive Gen. 50.20 God had no hand in doing the evil but God will have a hand in the disposing of it When Satan and wicked men have their wills even therein also is Gods will fulfilled for Gods will is the highest cause of all things Psal. 115.3 4. Yea the holy God challengeth to himself whatsoever is done in the City Amos
any case let us not bee without correction for as Mariners at Sea find that of all stoâ—ms a Calme is the greatest so wee that to bee exempt from misery is the most miserable condition of all other Object But thou fearest that Gâ—d hath not pardoned thy sins and this makes him so severe against thee Answ. Many timeâ— after the remission of the sin his very chastisements are deadly as is cleer by Davids example and Lots who had a sharp misery clap on the heels of a sweet mercy for hee that was so beloved of God that hee saved a whole City could not save his own Spouse When God delivers us from destruction hee doth not secure us from 〈◊〉 affliction Grace was never given us for a Target against externall evills Though wee bee not condemned with the world yet wee may bee chastened in the world Neither the truth nor strength of Iobs faith could secure him from the outward and bodily vexations of Satan against the inward and spirituall they could and did prevail so no repentance can assure us that wee shall not smart with outward affliction that can prevent the eternall displeasure of God but still it may bee necessary and good wee should bee corrected our care and suit must bee that the evills which shall not bee averted may bee sanctified CHAP. 38. That Christ and all the Saints are our Partners and partakers with us in the Cross yea our sufferings are nothing in comparison of theirs 4 WEe shall bear the Cross with more patience and comfort if wee consider that Christ and all the Saints are our partners and partakers therein yea thy sufferings are nothing in comparison of what others have suffered before thee Look upon righteous Abel thou shalt see his elder brother Cain had dominion and rule over him by Gods appointment Gen. 4.7 Yea in the next ver thou shalt see him slain by his brother After him look upon Noah a most calamitous person as ever lived as the Chronologer computes him as for Lot hee had his righteous soul vexed from day to day Look upon Iob. thou shalt see that miseries do not stay for a mannerly succession to each other but in a rude importunity throng in at once to take away his children substance friends crediâ— health peace of conscience c. leaving him nothing but his wife whom the Devill spared on purpose to vex him as the Fathers think so that in his own apprehension God was his mortall enemy as hear how in the bitterness of his soul hee complains of his Maker saying Hee teareth mee in his wrath hee hateth mee and gnasheth upon mee with his teeth he hath broken mee asunder taken mee by the neck and shaken mee to pieces and set mee up for his mark his Archers compass mee round about he cleaveth my reins asunder and doth not spare to pour out my gall upon the ground he breaketh me with breach upon breach and runneth upon me like a Giant Iob 16. Now when so much was uttered even by a none-such for his patience what may we think he did feel and indure Look upon Abraham thou shalt see him forced to forsake his Countrey and Fathers house to go to a place he knew not to men that knew not him and after his many removes he meets with a famine and so is forced into Aegypt which indeed gave relief to him when Canaan could not shewing that in outward things Gods enemies may fare better than his friends yet he goes not without great fear of his life which made it but a dear purchase then he is forced to part from his brother Lot by reason of strife and debate among their Heardsmen after that Lot is taken prisoner and he is constrained to wage Warre with four Kings at once to rescue his Brother then Sarah his wife is barren and he must go childlesse untill in reason he is â—ast hope when he hath a Son it must not onely die 〈◊〉 himself must slay him Now if that bosom wherein we all look to rest was assaulted with so many sore trials and so diverse difficulties is it likely we should escape Look upon Iacob you shall see Esau strive with him in the wombe that no time might be lost after that you shall see him â—lie for his life from a cruel Brother to a cruel Uncle with a 〈◊〉 goes hee over Iordan alone doubtful and comfortlesse not like the son of Isaac In the way he hath no bed but the cold earth no pillow but the hard stones no sheet but the moist aiâ— no Canopy but the wide Heaven at last he is come far to finde out an hard friend and of a Nephew becomes a servant after the service of an hard Apprenticeship hath earned her whom he loved his wife is changed and he is not onely disappointed of his hopes but forced to marry another against his will and now he must begin another Apprenticeship and a new hope where he made account of â—ruition all which fourteen years he was consumed with heat in the day with frost in the night when he hath her whom he loves she is barren at last being grown rich chiefly in wives and children accounting his charge his wealth he returns to his Fathers house but with what comfort Behold Laban follows him with one troop Esau meets him with anotherâ— both with hostile intentions not long after Rachel the comfort of his life dieth his children the staffe of his age wound his soul to death 〈◊〉 proves incestuous Iudah adulterous Dina is ravished Simeon and 〈◊〉 are murtherous Er and Onan are stricken dead Ioseph is lost Simeon imprisoned Benjamin his right hand endangered Himself driven by famine in his old age to die among the Aegyptians a people that held it abomination to eat with him And yet before he was born it was Iacob have I loved and before any of this befell him God said unto him Bee not afraid I am with thee and will do thee good Gen. 28.15 And did so even by these crosses for that 's my good saith the Proverb that doth me good Now what Son of Israel can hope for any good daies when he hears his Fathers were so evill It is enough for us if when we are dead we can rest with him in the Land of Promise Again hear what David saith of himself Thy arrows sâ—ck fast in me and thy hand presseth me sore Psal. 38.2 And see what cause he had so to say what were these Arrows To let passe those many that Saul shot at him which were sharp and keen enough and those other of Doeg when he slew fourscore and five of the Priests and the whole City of Nob both man and woman child and suckling for shewing him kindness Likewise Shimâ—iâ— carriage towards him also his distresse at Ziglag and those seventy thousand which perished by the Pestilence upon his numbering the people and the like First Nathan tells him from the Lord that the sword should houseâ—
Israel that rather then he would be saved without them he desired the Lord to blot him out of the Book of life Exod. 32.32 And Paul to this purpose saith I could wish my self to be separated from Christ for my brethren that are my kinsmen according to the flesh meaning the Iews Rom. 9.3 And indeed all heavenly hearts are charitable Neither are we of the Communion of Saints if we desire not the blessednesse of others it being an inseparable adjunct or relative to grace for none but a Cain will say Am I my brother's keeper Yea where the heart is thankful and inflamed with theâ— love of God and onr neighbour this will be the principal aim As by my sins and had example I have drawn others from God so now I will all I can draw others with my self to God Saul converted will build up as fast as ever he plucked down and preach as zealously as ever he persecuted And we are no whit thankful for our own salvation if we do not look with charitie and pitie upon the gross mis-opinious and misprisions of our Brethren And what though we cannot do what we would yet we mnst labour to do what we can to win others not to merit by it but to express our thanks Besides it were very dishonorable to Christ not to do so Did you ever know that wicked men Thievs Drunkards Adulterers Persecuters false Prophets or the like would be damned alone no they mis-lead all they can as desiring to have companions Yea. the Pharisees would take great pains compass sea and land to make others two-fold more the children of hell then themselvs as our Saviour expresly witnesseth Mat. 23.15 which may cast a blush upon our cheeks who are nothing so industrious to win souls to God And what a shame is it that our God should not have as faithful servants as he hath unfaithful enemies That wicked men should be at more cost and and pains to please an ill master then we can afford to please so good a God so gracious and so loving a Father Shall they labour so hard for 〈…〉 will but inhance their damnation and shall we think any pains too much for that which will add to the weight of our eternal glory and salvation And what though their case be not onely desperate but almost hopeless as in reason that sin is past cure which strives against the cure nor would these drowning men refuse help were they noâ— wilful murtherers of their own souls yet there is a mercie due even to them And it is our duty to use the means leaving the issue to him who is able to quieken the dead and to make even of stones children to Abraham Witness Manasses in the Old Testament and Paul in the New Yea I suppose that this their sad condition calls for our more then ordinarie compassion Since they have precious souls that must everlastingly live in bliss or wo. And hence it is that the Angels are said to rejoice more at the conversion of such a sinner then for the building up of ninety and nine that are already converted Luk. 15.7 because he to whom God hath given a new heart and spiritual life will be sure to seek out for and use the means of growing in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Iesus Christ. Whereas the former are not onely dead in sin but so buried in the grave of long custome that they cannot stir the least joint no not so much as feel their deadness nor desire life but resist all means tending thereunto Insomuch that the conversion of such an one is held by Divines a greater work or Miracle then the creating of the whole World For in every New Creature are a number of Miracles A blinde man is restored to sight A deaf man to hearing A man possest with many Divels dif-possest Yea A dead man raised from the dead and in every one a stone turned into flesh in all which God meets with nothing but opposition which in the Creation he met not with Wherefore you that by calling to mind your own former blindness and bondage are able to know how it fares with them and accordingly to pity them you that fear God or have any bowels of compassion towards their precious souls use your utmost indeavour to reduce them earnestly admonish them draw them to hear some Boâ—nerges that preaches with power and authority and not as the Scribes Perswade them also to read Books that are convincing c. So shall you discharge your Duty to God shew your love to them your thankfulness to your Redeemer and not a little pleasure your selves For if you do gain them you shall shine as the stars in Heaven for ever and ever Dan. 12.3 Or in case you cannot reclaim them yet he who requires it at your hands Wil return the same into your own bosomes Isai 49.4 5. Prov. 11.18 and 25.22 But I were as good knock at a deaf mans door as press or perswade the most to this duty though thus necessary for those two Idols Discretion cursed Covetousness beare a greater sway with the common Prosessors of this Age then either their Maker or Redeemer Though confident I am others will do more then Isay Phile. 21. Melancthon having found the Word most easily to prevail with him doubted not but his Preaching should do wonders upon otheps but having tried he found and confest That old Adam was too strong for young Melancthon Many Lepers were in Israel in the time of Elizeus the Prophet but none of them was cleansed saving Naaman the Syrian Luke 4.22 to 29. Many are called but few are chosen Matth. 22.14 FINIS Printed by I. Bell and are to be sold by Iames Crumpe in Little Bartholomew Well-yard who will also shew the other Books and tell the place where 〈…〉 Of these Enchiridions a Repenting Prodigal upon occasion of his late return thinks himself bound to give ten thousand for others good and takes it for an incomparable favour that it came into his heart so to do Yielding a threefold reason thereof First because it is probable that that Medecine which hath cured one desperate Patient if it be communicated may work the same effect upon others and that those thoughts which our experience hath found comfortable and useful to our selves should with neglect of all censures be communicated to others Secondly because the retribution of his obedience may in some proportion answer his offence as was that of Pauls who as he had done more evil to the Saints then all the rest of the Apostles so he laboured more then they all in adding to the Church such as should be saved 1 Cor. 15.10 Act. 9.16 Thirdly for that as exemplary offendors leave their inventions and evil practises to posterity whereby they cease not to sin though they cease to live for when dead they are still tempting and still sin so long as they cause sin yea how should not every Turke
that perisheth by Mahomets jugling add to the pilâ— of his unspeakable horrors So if we sow good works succession shall reap them and we shall be happy in making others so Good Report from Bad men no mean disparagement TOGETHER With a Cordial for Christians when they receive evil for well doing BEING An Arrow drawn forth of that Sententious Quiver Intituled A Christian Library or a pleasant and plentifull Paradise of practical Divinity SECT I. Convert REverend Sir when by a providence you heard me swear and curse you gave me a printed Paper to convince me of that fowle audacious provoking and yet unprofitable sin and withall intreated me to read three larger Tracts viz. A short and sure way to grace and salvation The hearts Index with A serious and pathetical description of Heaven and Hell This to me whom you had never before seen seemed no less absurd then strange and having a darke heart in stead of great love and thanks I returned you a most churlish and uncivil answer and accordingly when I met with my drunken consorts I read it with no less scorn then ignorance but before I had done it made me tremble nor could I rest until I had perused the other three Books which have so represented the very thoughts secrets and deceitfulness of my heart unto my conscience that I could not but say of them as the woman of Samaria once spake of our Saviour They have told me all things that ever I did John 4.29 Which made me conclude with that Vnbeliever 1 Cor. 14.24.25 That the hand of God was in the contriving of them Nor could they ever have so done if they were not of God as the young man in the Gospel reasoned with the Pharisees touching Iesus when he had opened his eyes that had been blind from his birth John 9.32.33 Which is such a mercy that no tongue is able to express for till then I went on in the broad way and worlds road to destruction without any mistrust What change they have wrought in me with Gods blessing upon the means and how greatly I have longed to see you again I forbear to mention Onely this when I had read them in reference to Levit. 19.17 and in compassion to their pretious soules who are neither able nor willing to help themselves I have and not without some comfortable success taken up your trade in giving the Papers and mentioning the Books to all that I hear blaspheme my Maker or belch out their spleen against goodness As well considering that one soule is of more worth then the Indies And indeed whose heart would it not make to bleed to see what multitudes there are that go blindfold to destruction and no man offer to stop or check them before they arrive there from whence there is no redemption Matth. 7.13.14 1 Iohn 5.19 Revel 20.8 and 13 16. Rom. 9.27 2 Tim. 2.26 2 Cor. 4.4 Ephes. 2.1 to 4. Iohn 8.44 And certainly it more then behoves me as being my self snatcht out of the fire Jude 23. to do what I can to draw others of my brethren after me in imitation of Andrew John 1.41 and Philip v. 45. and the women of Samaria John 4.28 to 41. and Peter Luke 22.32 Acts 2.41 4.4 c. 3. and of Moses Exod. 32.32 and Paul Rom. 9.3 Neither are we of the communion of Saints if we desire not the salvation of others Yea how could I be thankful to my Redeemer that hath done and suffered so much for me or in the least love God and my Neighbour if I should not thus resolve as by my sins and bad example I have drawn others from God so now I will all I can draw others with my self to God yea what a shame were it If I should not be as faithful a servant to my Saviour As I have formerly been to Sathan Saul converted will build up as fast as ever he pulled down and preach as zealously as ever he persecuted Onely there is a great rub in the way which makes me fear I shall not be able to hold out for I am so scoft and scorned where ever I come both by Parents Friends and Enemies for giving these Papers that they make me even weary of my life as the daughters of Heth did Rebecca Gen. 27 46. And yet I dare not leave off since our Saviour saith expressly that he will be ashamed of such at the latter day who are now ashamed for his sake to bear a few scoffs and reproaches from the World Marke 8.38 Nevertheless I am in a wonderful strait for if I seek to please God and discharge my conscience I displease the world and that will hate and vex me if I seek to please the world I displease God and he will hate and condemn me Now though the case be plain enough for better it is to have all the world mine enemies then my Maker my Redeemer and my Conscience Acts 5.29 Yet it almost beats me off from being religious back to the world And certainly he must be more spirit then flesh that can contentedly make himself contemptible to follow Christ be pointed at for singularity indure so many base and vile nicknames have his Religion judged hypocrisie his godly simplicity silliness his zeal madness and the like malicious and mischievous constructions made of whatsoever he speaks or does For my part I could better abide a stake God assisting me then the mocks scoffs and scornes which every where I meet withall Its death to me to be mockt as it fared with Zedekiah Jer. 38.19 Now could you cure me of my cowardliness as you have of my cursing and swearing I should have cause indeed to bless the time that ever I saw you and why not Since God hath given you the Tongue of the learned to administer a word in season to them that are weary Esay 50.4 Sect. 2. Minister If you would shake off this slavish yoke of bondage and fear in which Satan for the present holds you and be rid of this bashful devil Search the Scriptures and they will both inform your judgement and confirm comfort and strengthen you against the worlds hatred and calumny though there needs no more then Ephes. 6.11 12 James 3.6.2 Tim. 3.12 Matth. 5.10 11 12 and 10.22 and 24.9 Luke 2.34 35. and 4.29 John 15.20 Gen. 3.15 1 John 3.13 1 Pet. 4 1â— 13 14. Luke 14.27 and 6.26 Philip. 1.28 29. Revel 2.13 Do but seriously ponder these few places and consider by whom they were spoken and then certainly you will confess that if there be any nectar in this life t is in sorrows we endure for righteousness And methinks when I hear goodness calumniated I bear it the easier because the servants of vice and none else do it But the better to help and further you in this great work take these ensuing Notions Aphorisms and conclusions which perhaps alone may both imbolden you and stop many of their mouths that scoff you First
observation Sacrilege is the greatest theft yet of it men make the least conscienceâ— But lastly You make your selves not only guilty of persecution theft sacrilege of murdering bodies and souls of provoking God to send a famine of his Word and the like but you become by it guilty of high treason against God in thus using his Ambassadors and against Christ and all his members For besides that all the disgraces and wrongs that are done to Christs Ministers redound to him and he that â—raduceth or any way wrongs a Minister for the discharge of his place his envy strikes at the Image of God in him as a world of places prove So the very root or spring of this their spight and enmity against the Ministry is an inbred enmity and hatred against God himself As when Satan slew Iobs sons and servants his malice was against Iob Or as when Saul darted a spear Ionathan his spight was against David And accordingly God takes what is done to his messengers as done to himself as in that case of David sending his Ambassadors to the King of Ammon 2 Sam. 10.6 7. They have not cast thee away says God to Samuel but they have cast me away that I should not reign over them 1 Sam. 8.7 You are gathered together against the Lord and what is Aaron that ye murmure against him Numb 16.11 and the like Exod. 16.7 8. Luke 10 1â— Ioh. 15.23 24. Ioh. 7.7 He that despiseth you despiseth me 1 Sam. 17.45 Isa. 37.23 Saul Saul why persecutest thou me Acts 9.4 Rev. 16.9.11 Psal. 89.23 9 ¶ Which being so how does it behove you to look to your selves and bewail this sin this horrible and desperate sin Was there ever any that was stout against the Lord and prospered as Iob speaks Iob 9.4 When the Pitcher contends with the Rock straw with the fire it is easie to judge who will come by the worst And certainly if most men were not both blinde and mad they would more respect the Ministry For if I understand any thing of the Word of God or know what rectified reason is there is not a sin in the Nation that so hinders the blessings or pulls down the judgments of God upon us as does this very sin And yet it is not more provoking then it is a common sin How it will be answered to their Lord and master at the great day I tremble to think Can you answer it then with flashes of wit or carnal reasons as you do now I beseech you look to it Nor is our love or hatred to God any way better known then by our respect to and usage of his Ambassadors Lip-love is but lying love If you love me keep my commandments says our Saviour Ioh. 14.15 Wherefore let my counsel be acceptable Break off your sins by repentance kick no more against the pricks Refrain your selves from these men and let them alone lest ye be found even fighters against God Acts 5.38 39. Nor will it ever repent you if you come in Heaven that you were stopt in this your way to destruction Yea let the consideration of what you have already done make you sink down with shame and tremble for astonishment to think that notwithstanding you have been so many years in arms against your Maker and Redeemer and most spightfully and maliciously persecuted his Ambassadors that came to rescue you from the subtlery and slavery of Satan that bloody devouring Dragon and vowed enemy of all mankinde yet God hath no taken the advantage of casting you into Hell but of his never enough admired mercy hath spared you to this hour whereas he might most justly have prevented all in sending you body and soul into everlasting torments when you were but a span long For know this that we need no more to condemn us then what we brought into the world with us Yea we were condemned so soon as conceived And that you and I are not at this present frying in Hell-flames never to be freed no reason can be alâ—â—adged but O the depth Wherefore take heed in time and as you tender the good of your own souls defer not a minute but study and bestir your selves how you may make your peace with God Yea do it while the yerning bowels the bleeding wounds and compassionate arms of Iesus Christ lie open to receive you whiles ye have health and life and means and time to repent and make your peace with God As you tender I say the everlasting happiness and welfare of your almost lost and drowned souls As you expect or hope for grace or mercy for joy and comfort for heaven and salvation for endless bliss and glory at the last As you shall escape the direfull wrath of God the bitter doom and sentence of Christ the never dying sting and worm of conscience the tormenting and soul-scorching flames of Hell and everlasting separation from Gods blissfull presence abjure and utterly renounce this accursed sin Oh get an interest in Christ For till we become members of his mystical body by regeneration and a lively faith we even the bâ—st of us are as Traitors condemned to suffer eternal torments in Hell-fire â—eing onely reprieved for a time O bless God all the dayes you live yea to eternity that the gate of mercy yet stands open 10 ¶ But withal take hold of the opportunity before the Draw-briâ—ge be taken up lest you never have the like again Do not dally with God and your own souls for if this warning be slighted never look for the like For warning such a warning not taking is a certain presage of destruction Pro. 29.1 1.24 25 26. The sons of Eli would not hearken unâ—â— nor obey the voice of their Father why because saith the Text the Lord was determined to destroy them 1 Sam. 2.25 I know saith the Prophet to Amaziah the Lord hath determined to destroy thee because thou hast done this and hast not obeyed my counsel 2 Chron. 25.16 20. Whereas contrarily the Ninevites by hearkning to Ionah and those very murtherers of the Lord of life by listening to Peter were converted and saved Acts 2.36 37. O take heed of preferring your own carnal reason before the written were of God And that what is spoken of Babel may not be verified in you We would have cured him but he would not be cured lest you be given to destruction as she was What sayes our Saviour This is the condemnation noâ— like this that light is come into the world and men love darkness rather thâ—â— light because their deeds were evil Iohn 3.19 20. Indeed if you will rather beleeve Satan or his sollicitor the Flesh or be led by the perswasions of your own flattering heart which is deceitfull above all things and most desperately evil Ier. 17.9 No marvel you should be deaf to all hath been said 〈◊〉 thinking your selves already good enough and then farwel all hope of being better For the opinion of mens being wise and
good enough is the sole and onely cause of their being no wiser nor better Yea therefore are millions Christians in name onely because they think themselves Christians indeed And who is there in all this Nation that thinks not himself a Christian though they are able to yeild no reason except this They are neither Turks nor Iews nor which is worse then either as they suppose Round-heads A strong argument I promise you able to move the gentlest sâ—le 〈…〉 iâ— this Yet all the reasonings of Carnal men are thus weighty As let me give you a few instances 11 ¶ They will say they love and â—ear God as they ought when what he commands they do the contrary are flint unto God wax to Satan have their ears always open to the Temper shut to the Maker and Redeemer when they are Traitors to him and take up arms against him A good sign they serve God and Christ when Satan the World and the Flesh have more command of them when they so far are from loving and serving him that they hate those that do it and that for their so doing and from fearing him that they more fear the worlds scorns then his anger They will in like manner pretend they love Christ that died for them when they hate all that resemble him in holiness They are Christians in name when they will scoff at a Christian in deed and are enemies to the cross of Christ Love a form of godliness but hate the power of it They will do what God forbids yet confidently hope to escape what he threatens will do the Devils works yet look for Christs wages Expect that Heaven should meet them at their last hour when all their long-life they have gallopped in the beaten road towards Hell Expect to have Christ their Redeemer and Advocate when their consciences tell them that they seldom remember him but to blaspheme him and more often name him in their oaths and curses then in their prayers Will persecute honest and orthodox Christians and say they mean base and dissembling Hipocrites think they do God good service in killing his servants Ioh. 16.2 as Paul touching Stephen and the Iews touching Christ Boast of a strong faith and yet fall short of the Devils in believing Iam. 2.19 These are some of their syllogisms or arguings I could even tire your ears with the like But what doting blockish and brain-sick Bedlâ—m Positions are these Could rational men ever argue in this manner had not the God of this world blinded their eyes that the light of the Gospel of Iesus Christ should not shine unto them 2 Cor. 4.3 4. 2 Thes. 2.9 10. Did not their deceitfull hearts damnably delude them as in that case of Leah Gen. 30.18 and of Saul 1 Sam. 23.7.21 and of Micah Iudg. 17.13 Turn to the places for they are rare to this purpose If this be Reason it is Reason frighted out of its wits Yet this is every wilfull sinners case yea of every unregenerate man in some measure As I 'll but give you an instance more to clear it You shall have them maintain with incredible impudence accompanied with invincible ignorance That if a man make scruple of small matters or of those sins or sinfull customs which they allow of and will not do as they do That he is over-precise Though they may as soon finde Paradiseâ—word â—word Hell as any Text in the Bible that makes for loosness or against circumspeâ—â— walking Yea who would dream that so gross blockishness should find harâ—or in any reasonable soul as to think that God should like a man the worse for his being the better or for having a tender conscience or look for 〈◊〉 fear reverence and obedience from his servants then we do from our servants And yet the same men will grant that a servant can never be too 〈…〉 Natural men are blinde to spiritual objects as the Apostle speaks 1 Cor. 18.20 2.14 and so no more fit to judge of them then blinde men aâ— fit to judge of colours And hence it is that they have the basest thoughâ— of the best men making ill constructions of whatsoever they speak or do as the Scribes and Pharisees dealt by our Saviour Until we are borâ— again we are like Nicodemus who knew not what it was to be borâ— again Iohn 3.4 Until we become zealous our selves we are like Festâ—â— who thought zeal madness Acts 26.24 Until we be humble our selves we are like Michal who mocked David for his humility and thought hiâ— a fool for dancing before the Ark 2 Sam. 6.16 For to carnal-minde men all Religion seems foolishness 1 Cor. 1.18 It faring between thâ— Sensual and Spiritual as it does between Youth and Age For as Younâ— men think Old men to be fools but Old men know the Young to be fools so Worldlings think the Religious fools but the Religious know them to be fools because they have had the experience of both conditions 〈◊〉 the old have been young but the other are utterly unacquainted witâ— what they see and know Besides the one make the Word their rule iâ— every thing for they live and believe and hear and invocate and hope and fear and love and worship God in such manner as his Word prescribes The other do all as the flesh leads them and according to the customs anâ— rudiments of the world 12 ¶ Now lay all together and you will think it no whit strange thaâ— notwithstanding their condition is so miserable they should yet be so joâ—cund confident and secure that they should neither be sensible of their present condition nor afraid of future Judgment Security makes worldâ—lings merry and therefore are they secure and merry because they are ignorant A Dunce we know seldom makes doubts yea a Fool sayâ— Solomon boasteth and is confident Pro. 14.16 Ignorance is a veil or curtain to hide away their sins Our knowledge saith one of the Learned dotâ— but shew us our ignorance And Wisdom says another is but one of manâ— greatest miseries unless it be as well able to conquer as to discern The next thing from being free from miseries is not to be sensible of them Erasmus could spie out a great priviledge in a blockish condition Fool saith he being free from ambition envy shame and fear are neither troubled in conscience nor macerated with cares And Beasts we see are not ashamed of their deeds Where is no reason at all there is no sin where no use of reason no apprehension of sin and where no appreâ—hension of sin there can be no shame Blinde men never blush neither are Worldlings ashamed or afraid of any thing because for want oâ— bringing their lives to the rule of Gods word they perceive not when they do well when ill The Timber not brought to the Rule may easily appear straight when yet it is not Whereas every small sin to a holy and regenerate man that weigheth his sin by the ballance of the Sanctuary iâ—
succession shall reap them and we shall be happy in making them so so on the contrary wicked men leave their evill practises to posterity and though dead are still tempting unto sin and still they sin in that temptation they sin so long as they cause sin This was Ierobâ—ams case in making Israel to sin for let him be dead yet so long as any worshiped his Calves Ieroboam sinned Neither was his sin soon forgotten Nadab his son and Baasha his successour Zimri and Omri and Ahab and Ahaziah and Iehoram all these walked in the wayes of Ieroboam which made Israel to sin and not they alone but millions of the people with them So that it is easie for a mans sin to live when himself is dead and to lead that exemplary way to Hell which by the number of his followers shall continually aggravate his torments As O what infinite torments doth Mahomeâ— indure when every Tuâ—k that perisheth by his jugling does dayly adde to the pile of his unspeakable horrors And so each sinner according to his proportion and the number of souls which miscarry through the contagion of his evill example And look to it for the bloud of so many souls as thou hast seduced will be required at thy hands and thou must give an account for the sins perhaps of a thousand Thou doest not more increase other mens wickednesse on Earth then their wickednesse shall increase thy damnation in Hell Luk. 16. 9. § It were easie to goe on in aggravating thy sinne and wretchednesse and making it out of measure great and the souls that miscarry through the contagion of thy evill example numerous For is not the Gospell and the name of God blasphemed among the very Turks Iews and Infidels and an evill scandall raised upon the whole Church through thy superlative wickednesse and other thy fellows Yea does not this keep them off from embracing the Christian Religion and cause them to protest against 〈…〉 and all such wicked and prophane wretches are not like dirt in the house of God thrown out into the street by excommunication Or as eâ—â—ovements and bad humours in mans body which is never at case till it be thereof disburthened as Austin well notes That they are not marked with a black coal of infamy and their company avoided as by the Apostles order they ought Rom. 16.17 2 Thess. 3.6 14. Eph. 5 5 7. 1 Cor. 5.5 11. 1 Tim. 1.20 That they are not to us as Lepâ—rs were among the Iews or as men full of plague sores are amongst us We well know the good husband man weeds his field of â—urtfull plants that they may not spoil the good corn And when fire hath taken an house we use to pull it down lest it should fire also the neighbours houses Yea the good Chirurgion cuts off a rotten member betimes that the sound may not be endangered Nor will the Church of England ever flourish or be happy in her Reformation until such a course is taken MEMB. 4. Swearer Sir I unfainedly blesse God for what I have heard from you for formerly I had not the least thought that swearing by faith â—roth or any other creature was so grievous a sin â—s you have made it appear from the Word And I hope it shall be a sufficient warning to me for time to come 1. § Messenger If so you have cause to blesse God indeed For all of you have heard the self-same Word but one goes away beâ—tered others exasperated and inraged wherein Will only makes the difference And who makes the difference of Wills but God that made them He that creates the new heart leaves a stone in one bosome puts flesh into another 2. § Of hearers there are usually four sorts Mat. 13.19 to 24. as first an honest and good heart will not return from hearing the word unbettered Yea he will so note what is spoken to his own sin that it shall increase his knowledge and lessen his vices As who by looking in a Glasse shall spy spotâ— in his face and will not forthwith wipe them out A wise man will not have one sin twice repeated unto him And these may be resembled to wax which yeeldeth sonner to the seal then steel to the stamp But 3. § Secondly others are like Tullies strange soil much rain leaveâ— them still as dry as dust Or the Wolfe in the emblem which though she suckt the Goat kept notwithstanding her wolvish nature still For speak what can be spoken to them it presently passes away like the sound of a Bell that is rung Let testimonies and examples nâ—ver so much concern them they prove no other then as so many characters writ in the water which leave no impression 〈◊〉 hinde them Who may be resembled to an Hour-glasse or Conduâ—t that which in one hour runneth in the same in another hour runneth out again Or the Smiths Iron put it into the fire it is much sofined again put it into the water 't is harder then before Yea let them never so much smart for their sins they will return to them again untill they perish Resembling some silly flye which being beat from the candle an hundred times and oft singed therein yet will return to it again untill she be consumed Prov. 23.35 All those Beasts which went into the Arke 〈◊〉 came likewise ou◠〈◊〉 4. § Thirdly another sort will very orderly hear the Word and delight in it so long as the Minister shall rove in generalities preach little or nothing to the purpose But if once he touch them to the quick drive an application home to their consciences touching some one sin of theirs as John Baptist served Herod then they will turn their backs upon him and hear him no farther as those Jews served our Saviour Ioh. 6.66 The Athenians Paul Acts 17.16 to 34. and Ahab Micaiah 1 King 22.8 5. § Sore eyes you know are much grieved to look upon the Sun Bankrupts cannot abide the â—ight of their counting books nor doe deformed faces love to looke themselves in a true Glasse For which read John 3.19 20 2â— But let such men know that to flye from the light and reject the means puts them out of all hope That sin is past cure which turns from and refuseth the cure Deut. 17.12 Prov. 29.1 As what is light to them that will shut their eyes against it or reason to them that will stop their Ears from hearing it If those murtherers of the Lord of life Act. 2.23 had refused to hear Peters searching Sermon in all probability they had never been prickt in their hearts never been saved ver 37 38. And take this for a rule if ever you see a drowning man refuse help conclude him a wilfull murtherer 6. § Fourthly and lastly for I passe by those blocks that goe to Church as dogs do only for company and can hear a powerfull Minister for twenty or thirty years together and minde no more what they hear then the seats they
as she held it in her armes Heliogabalus was slaine upon a Privy Antiochus the Tyrant rotted alive Herennus the Sicilian being taken prisoner fall downe dead with very feare of what he should suffer being a co-partâ—er â—n the conspiracy of Cajus Gracchus And Plautinus the Numidian at the very sight of his dead Wife took it so to heart that he fell upon her and rose no more I have read of a Captaine that having murthered many on hors-back was killed with his owne sword falling out of his scabbard as he did alight Bibulus riding through Rome in triumph a tyle stone fell from the roofe of a house and killed him And the like of King Pyrrhus Tullius Hostilius was slain with a Thunder bolt How easily may some sudden sickenesse an Impostum or the like cut in two the threâ—â— of life when we thinke the least of death There be as many little Sculs as great ones in Golgotha sayes the Hebrew Proverb for one Apple that falleth from the tree ten are pulled before they he ripe And the parents mourn for the death of their children as oft as the children for the death of their parents Which were it well considered would make men more wise then so to value the things of this life and under-value those of the next For that which the sterne is to the ship the eye to the body the Compasse to the Pilot the same is the consideration of his end to a wise Christian. Or 3. If he still enjoyes his wealth together with his life for many yeares yet what will it profit him when sicknesse comes All the wealth in the world will not remove paine neither will honour or greatnesse if they be added to wealth It is not the imbroydered slipper that will drive away the painfull gowt Nor the golden Diadem the cruell head ache nor the Diamond ring the angry Whitflow nor the long Velvet Roab the burning Feaver Yea the aking of a tooth the pricke of a thorne or some passion of the minde is able to deprive us of the pleasures of the whole worlds Monarchy Whence all earthly enjoyments are so often called vanities because they are vain things to trust to or dote upon they cannot profit or deliver in time of sickness or death 1 Sam. 12.21 4. And lastly he cannot carry the leaft part of his riches away with him For as with Iob he came naked into the world so he shalt returne naked out of it onely his evill deeds and his accusing conscience if he repents not shall beare him company Bona sequuntur mala persequuntur Be not thou afraid saith the Psalmist when one is made rich and when the glory of his house is encreased For he shall take nothing away when he dyeth neither shall his pompe descend after him Psal. 49.16 17. And also Solomon As he came forth of his mothers belly he shall return naked to go as he came and shall beare away nothing of his labour which he hath caused to passe by his hand Eccles 5.15 And likewise the Apostle We brought nothing into the world and it is certaine we can carry nothing out of it 1 Tim. 6 7. Oh my brethren think of it it is but a poor comfort to have wealth and want grace It is far better while our health lasteth to sow the seed of godly actions in the field of this world that at the Autumne or end of our age we may reap the fruit of euerlasting comfort For to every man that doth good shall be glory and hunour immortality and eternall life to the Iew first and also to the Gentile Rom. 2.10 And so on the contrary For unto them that do not obey the Truth but obey unrighteousness shall be indignation and wrath tribulation and anguish upon every soule that doth evill of the Iew first and also of the Gentile vers 5. to 10. God hath said it and they shall finde it And that is it to flourish for a time and perish for ever Whence let us learne this lesson That Iustice hath lincked as with 〈◊〉 iron chaine goodnesse and blessednesse sinne and punishment together 〈…〉 the cause and the effect as the body and the shadow as the worke and the wages as the Parent and the Childe one begettiâ—â— another He that sowes the seed of godly actions in the field of a repentant heart shall at the Autumn or end of his life reap the fruits of everlasting comfort and so on the contrary And so much of the time when we are to give I should now come to tho meanes enabling thereunto which are principally two Labour Industry in lawfull getting and frugality or thriftinesse in spending our goods lawfully gotten that so having greater plenty we may be the richer in good works according to the French proverb A seasonable gathering and a reasonable spending make a good house-keeping But of these I have spoken in the means to attain riches Chap. 32 33. beginning at page 50. Onely I will add a few lines CHAP. XLI First touching Labour or Industry in lawfull getting and encreasing by all lawfull meanes in our Callings that it enables a man to perform this duty the Apostle sheweth in prescribing it to the Ephesians as a means of bounty and beneficence Let him that stole steale no more but rather let him labour working with his owne hands the thing which is good that he may have to give to him that needs And Solomon describing the vertuous woman saith in the first place that she seekes wool and flaxe and workes willingly with her hands that she layes her hands to the spindle and her hands hold the distaffe and then that she stretches out her hands to the poore yea she reaches forth her hands to the needy And St. Luke having testified of Dorcas that she was full of good works and almesdeeds which she did He soone after sheweth the meanes and fountaine of her beneficence to wit her labour and industry in making coats and garments So Peter Martyrs Wife is commended for having been a prudent and painfull housewife and bountifull to the poor and needy the former good quality enabling her to the latter Be we therefore painfull and industrious in our severall callings that GOD may prosper and replenish us with good things that so we may the better communicate them tâ— others Secondly Frugality or thriftinesse in spending our goods lawfully gotten For thrift which is a due saving from sinfull and needlesse expences must be as the purveyor for liberality Be sparing in unnecessary expences that thou mayest be liberall in good uses and this will mightily manifest thy heart to be right The fuell of charity is frugality and the flame piety as we may see in Boaz whom we finde to be thrifty religious charitable For as by lopping off the superfluous branches a good tree is made more fruitfull So by cutting off all needlesse expences a liberall man abounds more in good works Whence observe that rule of our
thou seest no possibility of increasing thy wealth by giving away a great part of it unto the poor I answer And what more reason hast thou by the collection of Sence that thy seed which thou sowest should be multiplied which thou castest away and lettest to rot in the earth unless thou hast learned it by experience And is not God's Word a more infallible Teacher and surer ground for thy faith to rest on especially when thou art not without experience of the like increase springing from the sowing of the seeds of thy beneficence To conclude this point if thou doubtest of these promises of God made unto those who relieve the poor because thou seest not how or when they are performed why dost thou believe the Remission of thy sins Salvation by Christ and everlasting life when as thou seest none of these nor hast any other ground but God's promise even as thou hast for the reward of thine Alms-deeds And therefore it thou doubtest of the one thou doubtest of the other and were not the profession of thy faith concerning those spiritual things good cheap but that it should cost thee as dear as the giving of Alms thou wouldst doubtless discover and proclaim thy infidelity there as well as here and plainly shew that it was in meer formality and hypocrisie Methinks our mistrust or at least the smal confidence we have in what God speaks in his Word especially touching temporals is the greatest wonder in the world And certainly if we cannot trust him for our bodies how do we or how can we trust him with our souls which is the greater trust But beloved what I speak I speak not to all for we have perswaded our selves better things of you and such as accompany salvation though we thus speak Heb. 6.9 And so I have finished what at first I promised with an overplus in behalf of the Poor But as Iohn could onely Baptize with water so I can but teach you with Words and when God withholds his contemned Grace Paul himself cannot move a soul. If the Holy Ghost shall set it home to your hearts that you may so meditate on what hath been spoken and so practise what hath been prescribed that God in Christ may be pacified your sins by free grace pardoned and your souls eternally saved That while you are here you may enjoy the peace of God which passeth all understanding Philip. 4 7. and when you depart hence you may arrive at the Haven of all happiness in Heaven where is fulness of joy and pleasures for evermore blessed and happy are yee Psal. 16.11 Which being my praier and hope I shall not onely take my work off the Loom or turn my Pinnace into the Harbor by making a conclusion of this subject as well considering that those who are most insatiable in other things will soonest be cloied with Mannah but likewise take leave of the Press and that for these Reasons First according to my scantling I have said something if not sufficient in one or other of my Six and thirty Pieces to each soul seduced or afflicted Secondly which would by the Reader be considered As he gathers that reads so he spends that writes and who so spends ere he gathers shal soon prove Bankrupt Thirdly because the Bow that is alwaies bent will soon grow weak and sluggish Fourthly I have bestowed so many years and taken so much pains in gleaning ears of corn with Ruth grinding at the Mill with Samson in binding Sheaves carrying to the Mill Barn Garner in threshing Winnowing Garbling Kneading it into Paste making it into Loaves and baking it into Bread that so I might have fine Manchet to set before you my most welcome Guests that with Martha in entertaining her Saviour I have wearied my self And the truth is no mony could have hired me to have taken the pains had not an earnest desire and hope of the common good continually spurred me to go on Onely for this cause and the great pleasure I have taken in the work or imploiment I would not for a world have been debarred from it This may seem a Paradox but it is the immediate gift of God to those that he imploies in such his service thus to counterpoise their labour with more then answerable delight Now unto the King Everlasting Immortal Invisible unto God onely Wise be Honour and glory for ever and ever Amen 1 Tim. 1.17 If you cannot remember all that I have said yet at least remember what the Holy Ghost says in these ensuing places Godliness is profitable for all things and hath the promises both of this life and of the life to come 1 Tim. 4.8 The Lyons do lack and suffer hunger but they that seek the Lord shall want nothing that is good Psalm 34.9 10. Many sorrows shall be to the wicked but he that trusteth in the Lord mercy shall compass him about on every side Psalm 32.10 He that giveth to the poor shall not lack Prov. 28.27 All things shall work together for the best unto those that love God Rom. 8.28 FINIS The sad and doleful Lamentation of ORIGEN after his Fall Set up as a Sea-Mark to make others beware of doing the least Evil that good even the greatest good may come of it BEing much affected with this Example of Origen as deeming it exceeding rare remarkable forcible to make others beware I have much desired that some Stationer would print it with some other small piece for the common good and thereupon I engaged first one and after that another who were to print Spira that they would add this of Origen unto it leaving my Copy with them but neither of them kept their promise because forsooth that of Spira alone would sell for six pence and both together for no more A solid reason while a little gain shall be more stood upon then the glory of God and good of Souls Yet this is the worlds method and as common as cursed and barbarous All which considered none of them I hope can justly blaâ—â— me for filling up the void pages of this sheet with that which may pleasure thousands For I dare say there is not one Reader of fourty that have formerly met with the same in any Author IN the days of Severus lived Origen a man famous for Learning and in mental excellencies most rare and singular he was bold and fervent under the reign of Severus Maximinus and Decius in assisting comforting exhorting and cherishing the Martyrs that were imprisoned with such danger of his own life that had not God wonderfully protected him he had bin stoned to death many times of the heathen multitude for such great concourse of men and women went daily to his house to be catechised and instructed in the Christian Faith by him that Souldiers were hired of purpose to defend the place where he taught them Again such search sometimes was set for him that neither shifting of place nor Countrey could hardly serve him
Cor. 4.12 4. § But this is not one half of thine offence For whom doest thou curse Alas the Creatures that displease thee are but Instruments thy sin is the cause and God the author 2 Sam. 16.11 Psal. 39.9 10. Gen. 45.8 Ioh 1.21 from whom thou hast deserved it and ten thousand times a greater crosse but in stead of looking up from the stone to the hand which threw it or from the effect to the cause as Gods people doe thou like a mastiff â—og settest upon the stone or weapon that hurts thee But in this case Who are you angry withall Does your horse the dice the rain or any other creature displease you Alas they are but servants and if their Master bid smite they must not forbear they may say truly what Rabshekeh usurped Isa. 36.10 Are we come without the Lord and all that hear thee may say as the Prophet did to Senacherib 2 King 19.22 Whom hast thou blasphemed and against whom hast thou exalted thy self even against the Holy One of Israel 5. § Besides why dost thou curse thine enemie if he be so but because thou canst not be suffered to kill him For in heart and Gods account thou art a murtherer in wishing him the pox plague or that he were hanged or damned Nor will it be any rare thing at the day of judgment for cursers to be indicted of murther For like Shimei and Goliah to David thou wouldst kill him if thou durst thou doest kill him so far as thou canst I would be loath to trust his hands that bans me with his tongue Had David been at the mercie of either Shimei or Goliah and not too strong for them he had then breathed his last Nor is it commonly any sin committed or just offence given thee that thou cursest Who could have lesse deserved those curses and stones from Shimei then David Yea did not that head deserve to be tonguelesse that body to be headlesse that so undeservedly cursed such an Innocent as after it fell out For the curses and stones which Shimei threw at David rebounted upon Shimei and split his heart yea and at last knockâ— out his brains and the like of Goliahs curses which is also thy very case For 〈…〉 Curser meant it Prov. 26.2 yea though thou cursest yet God will blesse Psal. 109.28 â—ut thy curses shall be sure to rebound back into thine own brest Psal. 7.14 15 16 Prov. 14.30 Cursing mouths are like ill made Piâ—â—eâ— which while men discharge at others recoil in splinters on their own faces Their words and wishes be but whirlwinds which being breathen forth return again to the same place As hear how the Holy Ghost delivers it Psal. 109. As he loved cursing so shall it come unto him and as he loved not blessing so shall it be far from him As he cloathed himself with cursing like a garment so shall it come unto his bowels like water and like oil into his bones let it be unto him as a garment to cover him and for a girdle wherewith he shall always be girded v. 17 18 19. Hear this all ye whose tongnes run so fast on the Devils errand you loved cursing you shall have it both upon you about you and in you and that everlastingly if you persevere and go on for Christ himself at the last day even he which came to save the world shall say unto all such Depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the Devill and his Angels Mat. 25.41 Where they shall do nothing but curse for evermore for they no farther apprehending the goodnesse mercie and bounty of God then by the sense of their own torments the effects of his justice shall hate him and hating him they shall curâ—e him Rev. 16.11 They suffer and they blaspheme there is in them a furious malice against him being cursed of him they re-curse him they curse him for making them curse him for condemning them curse him because being adjudged to death they can never find death they curse his punishments because they are so unsufferable curse his mercies because they may never taste them curse the bloud of Christ shed on the Crosse because it hath satisfied for millions and done their unbeleeving souls no good curse the Angels and Saints in heaven because they see them in joy and themselves in torment Cursings shall be their sins and their chief ease Blasphemies their prayers Lacrymae their notes Lamentation all their harmony these shall be their evening songs their morning songs their mourning songs for ever and ever And indeed who shall go to Hell if Cursers should be left out Wherefore let all those learn to blesse that look to be heirs of the blessing 7. § But to be in Hell and there continue everlastingly in a bed of quenchlesse flames is not all For this is the portion even of Negative and vicelesse Christians if they be not vertuous Of such as do not swear exexcept they fear an oath That abound in good duties if they do them not out of faith and because God commands them that he may be glorified and others edified thereby Whereas thou doest supererogate of Satan in damning many souls besides thine own Thou hast had a double portion of sin to other men here and therefore must have a double portion of torment to them hereafter The number and measure of thy torments shall be according to the multitude and magnitude of thine offences Rev. 20.12 13. 22.12 Luk. 12.47 Mat. 10.15 Rom. 2.5 6. And those offences if I could stand to aggravate them by their severall circumstances would appear 〈…〉 With thy swearing and cursing thou doest not only wound thine own soul worse then the Baalites wounded their own bodies for thou wilfully muâ—therest thine own soul and that without any inducement as hath been proved But thou art so pernicious that this is the least part of thy mischief for thou drawest vengeance upon thousands by thy infectious and damnable example as how can it be otherwise Thou doest not only infect thy companions but almost all the heaâ— or come near thee Yea little children in the streets have learnt of thee to rap out oaths and belch out curses and scoffs almost as frequently as thy self and through thy accustomary swearing learned to speak English and Oaths together and so to blaspheme God almost so soon as he hath made them And not only so but thy example infects others and they spread it abroad to more like a malicious man sick of the plague that runs into the throng to disperse his infection whose mischief but-weighs all penalty It is like the setting a mans owne house on fire it burnes many of his neighbours houses and he shall answer for all the spoil So that the infection of sin is much worse then the act 8 § Nor wilt thou cease to sin when thou shalt cease to live but thy wickednesse will continue longer then thy life For as if we sow good workâ—