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A30702 Cosmo-meros, the worldly portion, or, The best portion of the wicked, and their misery in the enjoyment of it, opened and applyed together with some directions and helps in order to a heavenly and better portion, enforced with many usef[ul] and divine considerations / by Seth Bushell ... Bushell, Seth, 1621-1684. 1682 (1682) Wing B6237; ESTC R40782 133,437 408

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in comparison than the length of a Cane or Trunk through which a man looks on the Heavens or some vast country And ever the greater Magnitude or light there is in a body the smaller will the medium or distance seem from it The reason why a Perspective Glass draws remote Objects close to the eye is because it multiplies the Species We then by Faith apprehending an infinite and everlasting Glory must needs conceive any thing through which we look upon it to be but short and vanishing And therefore though the promises were a far off in regard of their own existence yet the Patriarchs did not only see but embrace them their Faith seemed to nullifie and swallow up all the distance Abraham saw Christs day and was glad Joh. 8.56 He looked upon those many ages which were between him and his promised seed as upon small and inconsiderable distances in comparison of that endless Glory into which they ran they were but as a Curtai● or piece of Hangings which divide one room in a House from another Labour therefore to get a distinct view of the height and length and breadth and depth and the unsearchable love o● God in Christ and to find in thy own Soul the truth of God in his promises and that his word abideth for ever and that wil● make all the Glory of other things to seem but as grass §. IIII. Fourthly Would you have this Eternal good to be your Portion then labour to take off your Hearts from all the outward comforts that are in this present World Let not your Spirits bottom here Men naturally fix upon things that are here below and look no higher The borders of this World are the utmost confines of their thoughts they look no further All their care and study is what they shall eat Mat. 6.31 and what they shall drink and wherewithall they shall be clothed The bent of their Hearts Thoughts and Works is wholly intended to resolve the old doubts which Carnal Men do make how to satisfie the Lusts of the old man by gathering together a stock of Worldly Comforts In this bottom we find all their Hearts imbarqued But now if you have a desire to look upwards and to trade towards Eternity let your Souls loose from these outward Comforts Faith as was told you to see beyond them will loosen your Souls from them shake them off your Hearts as S. Paul did the Viper from his hand Act. 2● 5 Solatio miserorum non gaudia beatorum Aug. Epist 119. Look upon them no further than as merely serviceable to you in the way towards you● journies end whereto yet the● can contribute no further but only as a Viaticum for the body If your thoughts entertain them at any higher rate they will prove a snare and clog unto you in the way They that will be rich 1 Tim. 6.9 fall into Temptation and a snare and into many foolish and hurtfull Lusts which drown men in destruction and Perdition Know it is not necessary that you should be rich and great and eminent in this World or that you should have great Estates and incomes here that 's not necessary But it is necessary say that I should have my Heart established with grace Heb. 13.9 It is necessary that I have peace with God and that my sins be pardoned and my Soul renewed It is necessary that I should provide for my Soul and look after the things of Eternal moment but how things go here with me in this present World there is no great necessity so much to concern my self or be affected with them Thus if you will have an interest in the better Portion let your Hearts loose from Worldly Comforts Meditate often upon that saying of our Saviour Christ what shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole World and lose his own Soul Mark 8.36 Pray that the Lord would give you the true sense and understanding of this Text that you may know and inwardly digest the meaning of it and find that vertue in it as may loose your Hearts from this present World §. V. Fifthly Let the whole course of your life be carried on in the fear of God and thence seasoned with a fear lest that here should be the All that ever you are like to enjoy As this was made use of as a sign before so now as a means Let the whole course of your life be steer'd as it were with the fear of God lest that God should put you off with present things Think oftentimes with your selves what if I should never enjoy more good than here I have and that with this present life all my good should end Should God now this night take me away out of the Land of the living and give me my Portion in the Infernal Pit of darkness what would all the good of this present life avail me Had it not been infinitly better that I had never known it nor enjoyed it than thus to be put off with it and for a few transitory hours of fading comforts now to lye howling under the justly deserved wrath of an infinite God in paines unsufferable to all Eternity Often do you meditate and think upon the conditions of those how infinitely forlorn they are to whom it falls out to be their lot to have all their good things here Think with your selves that though they now abound in all wealth and store yet you even see them on slippery ground Psal 73.18 when all their good and jolly thoughts shall perish and they never like to enjoy good hereafter any more Let the course of your life be seasoned with such thoughts as these And especially you that have great Portions in this World and you know that hitherto you have done God his Church or People little or no service you have not served him in the abundance and fulness you do enjoy You know there are many poor People that live upon Almes have done God more service and have contributed more to the Honour of his name than you have done with all your wealth in all your dayes Oh you have great cause to fear lest you be the persons who may take up with this World and for whom there 's no good reserved in the World to come Rulers and governours and the great men of the World had need here be caution'd to consider as having cause to fear lest here should be their All. Oh that amidst their fulness they would mind their latter end Chrysostome on the thirteenth Chapter to the Hebrews speaking of Governours hath such a Speech as this I wonder saith he that any governer should be ●aved We will not say so But they are liable to a great deal of temptations and to assaults that are much more furious and violent to the carrying them away than others are who want those Worldly Comforts and advantages which they do enjoy And our Saviour Christ tells us that a man who has
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whilst they are in the midst of their bodies They lye down in care their rest is in unrest sleep departs from their eyes they are fraughted with fears tossed with contrivances hang in suspence and doubt fear to loose care to keep and contrivances how to encrease and augment their Worldly Good is the whole that is acted on the stage of their lives And will not all this exceedingly imbitter their enjoyments The truth is all the good things wicked men do enjoy will scarce answer the charge they will not as we may say bear charges There is so much of trouble and cumber they meet withall here in this World with their Portion that the play is not worth their candle And if so where then lies their Treasure we do not account that as any part of our treasure which is allotted for spending money by the way As if a man goes a voyage that which is to bear charges and to be spent by the way is not reckoned to be part of his Treasure Now all we have here in this World is but spending money to bear our charges whilst we are on our way towards our longer home Secondly There 's a mixture of grief and anguish in and with the Worldly Good of the wicked They meet with manifold crosses and invincible disappointments in their way their designs are frustrated purposes are broken off and their intendments fail and they being void of those Graces and Spiritual Endowments which alone enable with content to undergo cross occurrences hence they are perplexed and stumble and fall and are broken and snared and taken Isa 8.15 They cannot bear their crosses patiently they want the Grace of Patience nor can they take their afflictions humbly they know not what humility means neither can they undergo their disappointments contentedly Phil. 4.11 they ●ave not learned the way of true contentment And so they lye open to all that grief and anguish which any way can be occasionated from affliction without or that can seize upon a Soul that 's void of a Work of true Grace for so their's is within The felicity of the wicked is not therefore to be the Object of any your envy neither is their State desireable Will you envy them the enjoyment of that which is interlarded with so much anguish as imbitters all the sweet and pleasure or desire that State wherewith you must have more gall than gain more grief than glory oh the many Thornes and Briers that are with them I mean the cares and cumber and they dwell amongst Scorpions in the midst of grief and anguish Now there being such a mixture as this in all they have surely their Portion is very poor in the Earth and in their greatest fulness they can never be accounted truely happy Thirdly There 's a mixture of sin and guilt The worst of evils is intermedled with the best good things the wicked do enjoy Sin it is the worst of evils because the cause of all and sting of all There 's nothing properly that can be denominated evil but so far as sin is in it and in its respect to sin There 's sin and guilt in the enjoyments of the wicked though the gifts of God are good in themselves considered and as from him yet so far as their hand as to acquisition is found therein there is a streak that goes along They get and heap together but they heed not how they encrease but it 's that which is not theirs they enrich themselves Hab. 2.9 but it 's by violence and the spoil of the poor is in their houses Isa 3.14 They covet an evil coveteousness to their house that they may set their nest on high that they may be delivered from the power of evil and they sin against their own Soul Hab. 2.9 10. All their work is to make provision for the flesh to fulfill the lust thereof Rom. 13.14 They proceed from evil to evil and in their best enjoyments corrupt themselves Idolatry is all their worship and their lust it is their Idol their God is their belly Phil. 3.19 And as they get by wrong so they do not use aright the end of mercies is not aim'd at much less answered by them but all is perverted another way so that their course is evil Jer. 23.10 and their f●rce not right And is not here a stream of guilt going with them all along So that let the whole of their race and way be remarked from their first entry upon their portion to the time of their close and parting with it and you find sin and guilt still to attend so as every day adds new sin to the old guilt to the filling up the measure of their sin till they become out of measure sinfull Surely their condition must needs be very miserable when their Portion has sin thus for it's soul and ferment Fourthly There 's a mixture of curse and vengeance in the good things of the wicked The curse runs along with all their enjoyments though the bitterness thereof may not be felt at present yet it is gone out and shall seize at length A Portion full of deadly Poyson drunk off may not presently work so as in the very instant of its reception to put forth its venom but by and by it does appear Suppose a man have a Son that Marries richly he gets an Heir that is a very rich match and he has a large Portion with her and you go and fetch away the baggs of Gold and Silver that are her Portion and he huggs himself in his rich fortune but if it should prove that every bagg of Gold you have of your Wives Portion should have the plague in it it were but a poor Portion Certainly thus it is with all ungodly ones in the World that whatsoever they do enjoy let their comforts be never so delightfull and their enjoyments never so lovely all the while they live and continue wicked they have the curse of God that goes along and makes way for their eternal misery As true believers have a blessing of God in outward things that lead the way of their eternal good unto them So the wicked and impenitent have the curse of God mingled with a●l their Worldly Good which makes way for their eternal torment §. IX Ninthly Consider the loss unavoidably incurr'd Thou hast gotten one Portion but thou losest a great deal more Thou hast gotten the bagg of Gold but the Plague therein which shall cost thy live So as there is the loss of life with the wedge of Gold Whilst thou hast been busied about the gain and chaffer of the World Josh 7.21 thou hast lost a bargain worth ten thousand Worlds If a man should go to a Fair or Market and make some bargain about some petty thing and afterwards when he comes home knows that by not buying such a thing he hath lost a bargain that would have made him and his posterity
them●●lves and yet fall so as to rise ●o no more They are but set 〈◊〉 slippery places as the Psalmist ●eaks and then cast down into ●●struction and brought into de●●lation as in a moment they are ●terly consumed with terrours ●sal 73.18 19. Psal 73.18 19. Thus they flat●●r themselves in their own ●●es until their iniquity be ●●und to be hateful They say ●●ey shall die in their nest and ●ultiply their days as the sand ●his was the ground upon which ●ob's friends argued so strongly ●gainst him That surely God ●d not love him because it ●ent so ill with him There●re they did not speak of God ●e thing that was right measuring his thoughts by outwar● providences in this world a● modelling all their Argumen● according to this Rule Now th● is too low a way to measure th● mind of God who is infini● in knowledge and of who● understanding there is no rea● It is as high as heaven what ca● thou do deeper than hell wh● dost thou know the measure the● of is longer than the earth a● deeper than the sea Job 11. 8 ● Job 11.8 9. The Lord would teach his peop●● from the plenty of outwa●● Mercies the wicked do enjo● to look for other evidences 〈◊〉 his love evidences of anoth●● nature than these things are 〈◊〉 which the love of God may cleared up unto them T●● seems to be the carriage of t● Almighty in these his works Providence unto his peopl● You see how the draff and s● of this world is cast bef●●● them and how they wall therein and fill their bellies ●ot you look upon these things ●s arguments of my love to ●hose persons who enjoy them ●or you see what kind of crea●ures they are sometimes cast ●mong even amongst my most ●itter and cruel enemies such ●s are and will be so and who ●buse these good things to a fur●her hardening them in their ●nmity but do not you regard 〈◊〉 envy not their Portion nei●her judge their Condition ●herefore happy measure not ●ny Love by outward Mercies ●or I thus promiscuously cast ●hem abroad into the world to ●ive check to such thoughts as ●ould argue either love or ha●red from them Eccles 9.1 Sect. XII Lastly The Lord gives such 〈◊〉 large Dole of outward Mer●ies unto the wicked in this pre●ent world because this is all ●hat ever they are like to have They are never to expect any ●ore The Lord deals with them as Abraham did with t●● Sons of the Concubines whi● he had he gave them gifts a● sent them away from Isaac his s● eastward into the east-countre● but he gave all that he had un● Isaac Gen. 25.5 6. So t●● Lord gives worldly gifts un● the wicked and as it wer● packs them far away they m● have nothing to do with h● habitation and his holy plac● the Heavenly Jerusalem is rese●ved for his Isaacs the childr● of the Promise These Sons 〈◊〉 the Concubine they may t● vail into the East-countrey and there gather their gold a●● silver and precious stones ●mong the smooth stones of the stre● as the Prophet speaks in anoth●● case is their Portion Isa 57.6 And th● is all that ever they are like 〈◊〉 have they are to go their wa● and expect no more Thus dea● Jehoshaphat likewise with tho● Sons that were not to plead 〈◊〉 Title to his Kingdom inten●i●g the Throne and Crown for ●ehoram their father gave them ●reat gifts of silver 2 Chron. 21.3 and of gold ●nd of precious things with fenced ●ties in Judah but the kingdom ●ave he to Jehoram because he was ●●e first-born So God deals w●t●●any of the wicked in this ●orld as Jehoshaphat did with ●is other Sons who gave them ●heir Dole before hand in great ●ifts and so committed their ●ortion into their hands and ●hey were not to expect any ●ore the kingdom it was for the ●●rst-born Thus the wicked have ●reat gifts in this world their ●ortion is put into their hands ●nd they are to expect no more They are not from hence to ar●ue That because he hath done ●o well for them that therefore ●e will do better and intends ●hem a further good cujus con●rarium est verum Nay you may ●ather gather an Argument ●uite the other way because God intends no further good unto you hereafter therefore is you have so much now Th● we use to answer men that ha●● had their Dole already giv● them and they will come agai● Why do you come again y● have had your Dole alread● So God will answer to ma● men when they shall cry to hi● for mercy at that day W● come you to me for more y●● have had your Dole alread● Have not you had more than 〈◊〉 your work comes to Did n●● your cup overflow in your lif● time Psal 73.7 Had not you more th● heart could wish Why do yo● come again Did not I sa● God shew my self glorious 〈◊〉 mercy in your day that you b●ing so wicked as you were ha● yet so much of the good thing● of the world as you had I di● not only spare you and eke o● my long-sufferance towards yo● but I loaded you then with b●nefits and heap'd my blessing on you if so be you would ther● by have been led to repentance Rom. 2.4 ●nd therefore though you be ●enied eternal mercies hereaf●●r yet you have cause to tell ●e Devils themselves and ●mned creatures that shall be ●ur companions That God was ●ry merciful to you while you ●ed in this world You had a ●rge Portion here but here 's ●ur All. Son remember that ●ou in thy life-time receivedst ●y good things thou canst not ●pect them hereafter too CHAP. VI. ●●at the good things the Wicked do enjoy are confined to this present life and why Sect. I. THE Third Particular propounded in the handling this Point is to shew That 〈◊〉 the good things the wicked do enjoy are confined to this presen● life so as when their life ends then all their good is at an en● When the wicked man dieth he shall carry nothing away His glory shall not descend aft●● him Psalm 49.17 Naked 〈◊〉 came into the world and nake● he shall return All his go● things have their period wi●● him he cannot carry them alo●● into another world when dea● seizeth on him then he is par●ed from them And then wh● shall those things be which he h● provided Luk. 12.20 Though whiles he ●ved he blessed his soul a● his flatterers were about hi● and his cogging Parasites a● they praised him yet he s●● go to the generation of his f●thers Psal 49.18 and shall never see ligh● and then all his good thi● are concluded with him A● it is so that the Portion of t●● wicked cannot outlive b● is confined to this present lif● because First That there are some men whose names are written in ●he earth Cum homines beati esse volunt si vere volunt profecto esse
greatness and Honor is his and from them to extoll him for his grace and goodness Lastly And all this must needs ●e now to all Eternity This ●ortion as it's large and rich ●nd excellent so it 's lasting And this is the property that makes precious things to be of ●rue worth indeed when they are of a lasting Nature and will endure The Transiency of the ●weetest delights and most plea●ant enjoyments is that which ●o much in a serious Judgment derogates from their val●e and renders them less desireable in that through their fluidness they will not hold Could the wicked man in the midst of his sinfull yet most pleasing delights propound this Question to himself and rationally take and considerately weigh the answer yea but will these things hold will these sports and pastimes last will this course continue shall it be alwaies thus with mee how would this give check to his full Career and curb the rains let loose before him how would it blast and as a Worme at th● root cause all the Harvest of hi● joy to whither This would ●●tedate the Prophets threatnin● who tells him that his Harve● shall be an heap in the day of grie● and of desperate sorrow Isaiah 5 11. And that his root shall be ro●tenness and his blossom go up as dus● Isaiah 5.24 And the mo● when he considers what a Portio● he has lost which would have e●dured for ever the which ● Moth nor Rust could corrupt Math. 6.20 1 Pet. 1.4 no● Thieves break through and steal● an Inheritance Incorruptible Vndefiled and that never fades away We read that when Esau did bu● hear Isaac his Father tell what ● blessing he had given unto Jacob then Esau fell a weeping oh Esau he fell a weeping Genes 27.37 38. when he saw what a blessing he was falle● short of Oh that God would now strike upon the Hearts o● men that have so little minded any thing but the things of this present World that they may duely consider what a Blessed Portion they hazzard the Etern●l loss off Oh. thou hast cause ●o weep didst thou truely know ●hy loss and State That which ●hou hast heard of the good things ●hat the Lord hath reserved to ●ll Eternity for his Saints is but 〈◊〉 scantling hint of what might ●e given and all Infinitly short ●f such an Infinitly Blessed ●ortion Now compare but that ●ith what is thy Portion and ●hat is like to be thy Portion ●nd thou hast cause to weep §. X. Lastly What is like to be thy ●nd thou that hast all thy good ●hings in this present World That 's a matter of momentous ●onsideration If indeed thou ●ouldest ruffle it out and swag●er here and enjoy thy hearts ●esire and there an end it ●ere somewhat And alas the ●allantoe's of the World never question but that their day 〈◊〉 endure for ever that to mo●● shall be as this day and much m● abundant Isa 56.12 Oh b● there 's somewhat else remains 〈◊〉 afterwards This their swe● must have a sower sauce the● vomit up their sweet morsel● and it proves bitterness in th● latter end Take but a view ● some particulars and enter wi● David into the Sanctuary of Ge● and then you shall understand th● end 2 Sam. 4.26 Jerem. 2.19 Psal 73.17 And First Oh the perplexity o● Spirit that Worldly men hav● when they come to dye H● that has made Mammon his God when Death Arrests him and h● shall see an end of all his Worldly Comforts Quantumlibet delectant jactantia divitiarum tumor bonorum vorago popinarum bella Theatricorum c. Aufert omnia ista una febricula adhuc viventibus totam falsam beatitudinem subtrahit remanet manis saucia conscientia Aug. de Catechiz Rud. c. 16. how wi● he then be perplexed when he must bid farewell to all now farewell House and Lands and Friends and Acquaintance and al● merry Meetings I shall never have comfort in you any more Oh then Death it will be truely the King of terrors to him Job 18.14 It was so with Adrian the Emperour when he was to die Animula quae nunc abibis in loca c. O thou my Soul my Soul whether art thou going thou shalt never have more Jests nor be jocund any more O my poor pallid Soul where art thou going So a man that has all his Good in this present World may say at his Death whether is this poor Soul of mine a going I have lived here thus many years and I have had many merry Meetings I have eaten the fat and drunk the sweet and gone in the best aray I have had a day and oh that I were as in months past but now my day is gone what shall become of me I am now launching out into the black Ocean of Eternity where 's darkness and dimness of anguish oh what shall become of me what Peace have I now when all is gone Oh the perplexed cogitations confused reasonings and tumultuating thoughts that the Spirit of a Worldly Man shall be tossed withal whe● Death shall arrest and dragg him out of his dwelling Oh then what would he not give do or suffer for a little Peace but Death's answer to him wil● be like that of Jehu driving furiously to Joram's Messengers what hast thou to do with Peace turn thee behind me Little does he now think of it but the L●rd sees that his day is coming Psal 37.13 Though he see not his day a coming yet the Lord sees that day is coming Latimer hath a story in one of his Sermons that he Preached before King Edward of a rich man 2 Kin. 10.18 that when he lay upon his sick bed there came one to him and told him that certainly by all the reasons they can judge he was like to be a man for another World a dead man As soon as ever he hears but these words they are Latimer's words I onely repeat them as his words and they were before a King and so in due reverence spoke they will not be too broad words nor too rude I hope for us to hear as soon as ever he did but hear this what must I dye saith he send for a Physitian wounds sides heart must I dye and thus he goes on and there could nothing be got from him but such horrid expressions must I dye must I dye and go from all these here was all here 's the end of this man that has all his Good things in this present World Another when he lay upon his sick bed calls for his baggs and laies a bagg of Gold to his Heart and then bids them take it away saith he it will not do Another when he lay upon his sick bed his Friends came to him and said what lack you what would you have would you have any Beer would you be shift to the other side or to some other part of the bed want you any thing oh no
wicked their enjoyments If they have some litle ●efreshing before they dye some lightnings as they say before they launch out into the vast Ocean of dark ●ternity and so take an Eterna●●arewell of all their joy and ●omfort ●hall you be displeased at this When your mercies are crown'd with further mercies Pro. 20.20 their Lamp it's pu● out in obscure ●arkness when your account ●oncludes with joy theirs is ●umm'd up with a dismal total when your grace shall end in Heavenly Glory their World●y Glory shall shut up in Eternal woe and misery Oh then why ●hould you envy them their lucida intervalla a little before they dye I have read a story of a poor Souldier that was condemned to dye merely for taking a bunch of Grapes for there was a strict law that whosoever should take any thing from that place they went through should die for it Now this Souldier had taken a bunch of Grapes and was for that condemned to die and as he went to execution he went eating the bunch of Grapes and some came to him and said thou shouldest think of somewhat else he answered I beseech you Sirs do not envy me my Grapes they will cost me dear So may I say of all the men of the World we have no cause to envy them for any thing they have it will cost them dear §. IIII. Fourthly Hath God given you some Evidence of a better good reserved for you than in this world is to be enjoyed oh then study to know this good more and interest your selves therein more 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ephes 3.19 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Eph. 3.8 This good is incomprehensible the love of Christ passeth knowledge Ephes 3.19 And the riches of Christ they are unsearchable Ephes 3.8 Never think with your selves that you are sufficiently acquainted with your chief good The excellency thereof is such that it will yet be the Object of more study and yet of a further search into it and when you have done all and come to the furthest of your attainments your terme will determine in the admiration of it For any to sit down satisfied with a set measure of Grace argues they know not the Nature of Grace neither have a true work thereof upon their Hearts So to sit down with a knowledge of your Eternal Good and not press forward to know it more more fully more clearly more certainly argues you know it not at all Oh labour to know your Heavenly good things more use all good means for the advance of knowledge in this respect Pray that you may know and not barely to know but to know it as your own and your interest therein more and more to know it practically so as the knowledge thereof may have a full and thorough Influence upon your Hearts and Lives This will sweeten your knowledge to you when you know the thing as good and as your own Knowledge of a good without an interest therein is but of small Influence unless to vex and torment the mind The Devils they know but wanting interest it does but increase their torment The damned Spirits at the last day they shall see and know The rich man 't is said sees Lazarus in Abraham 's bosome Luk. 16.23 Mat. 25.41 And they shall see the Son of Man comming in the Clouds of Heaven with power and great Glory all the Holy Angels with him They shall see the Sheep on his right hand They shall hear that a Kingdom is prepared for his sheep whilst they miserable wretches must depart from him Cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels Mat. 25 41. This knowledge of theirs without interest shall gnaw their Souls in Hell Jam. 5.3 and shall eat their flesh as fire But now to know good things and to know them as our own oh this is an healing knowledge this sweetens knowledge to us Now your interest in the good things of Heaven is not so clearly apprehended by you but it may be more clear they are not so sure to you but you may come up to a further assurance of them though they be most sure in regard of promise yet Faith that laies hold upon the promise is capable of some gradual additions for the filling you with All joy and peace in believing Rom. 15.13 Therefore hath God given some Evidence of Eternal Mercies labour to clear this Evidence both more fully in respect of its Object and more particularly in regard of your personal interest and claim unto it §. V. Fifthly If you have some Evidences of an Eternal Good as your own oh then prize your Portion set a Value on that the worth whereof is beyond all value Heb. 12.16 17. Esau is branded as a prophane Person because for One morsel of meat he sold his Birth-right The Birth-right Gen. 25.34 which was attended with the Blessing he set a low price upon It was of more worth and value than so to have been despised by him But you 'l say it was for his life he was at the point to die Gen. 25.32 What then The Blessing was more worth than his Life should have been unto him he should rather have parted with his life than the Blessing of the first-born which was a Priviledge that led to Christ Afterward when he would have inherited the blessing he was rejected for he found no place of repentance though he sought it carefully with tears Oh let this sad Example of Esau be before your eyes and learn to prize your Blessing prize it above your lives And well you may for this Blessing will be Life in Death it will be unto you eternal life If Esau be called a prophane person and said to despise the blessing for parting with it when sore straited and his life in danger How much more are those justly to be accounted prophane and Despisers of their choicest good who turn their backs upon it as too many do without any necessity or force upon them Never did any Soul lose by sticking to its Portion Tho' a man lay down his life for his eternal good he loseth nothing thereby for he only changes a temporal life for an eternal a momentany and an uncertain good for a good that 's sure and abides for ever Things that are precious we do set a value on and rate them according to their worth Now what can be of more worth with us than that good which is of everlasting concernment for our Souls It is a sad thing to see how slightly the world looks upon eternal mercies what low thoughts men have of true Peace and of the things that belong unto it How are the great things of the Gospel slighted and contemned by them They deal no otherwise with them than as Swine would do with the choicest Pearls whilst in the mean time they hugg their God Mammon Oh let this their vain and wretched carelesness stir you up more seriously to consider
makes the Comparison Isaiah 38.12 Such things as may be gathered together into a narrow room Time is short that is that Time which the Lord hath spread over all Things like a Sail hath now this ●ive thousand years been rol●ing up and the end is now at hand as Saint Peter speaks ● Pet. 4.7 The Day is approaching when Time shall be ●o more And so the Words ●n the Original will well bear ●t 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The remainder of time ●s short or Time is short for so much as yet remaineth of it to be folded up and therefore we ought to behave our selves as men that have more serious things to consider of as men that are very near to that everlasting Haven where there shall be no use of such Sails any more And in the Apostle's close the same Reason is farther yet enforced For the fashion of this World passeth away 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Figure intimating that there is nothing o● any firmness Quodcunque nunc nascitur mundi ipsius senectute degenerat ut nem● mirari debeat singula in mundo caep●sse deficere cum totus ipse jam mundus in defectione sit Cyprian Cont. Dem. or solid Consistancy in the Creature it is but a Surface an Outside an empty Promise all the Beauty o● it is but skin-deep And the● that little which is desirabl● and precious in the eyes o● men which the Apostl● calls The lust of the World 1 John 2.17 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it passeth away and is quickly gon● The Word as the Learned di●ferently render it hath th●● several Arguments in it 〈◊〉 express the Apostle's Exhortation 1. It deceives or couzens and therefore use it as if you us'd it not use it as a man in a serious business would use a false Friend that profers his assistance though his Protestations be never so fair yet so employ him as that the business may be done though he should fail thee 2. Transversum agit It carries a man head-long The Lusts of the World are so strong and impetuous that they are apt to enflame the desires and even violently to carry away the heart of a man And for this cause likewise use it as if you used it not engage your selves as little upon it as you can do as Mariners in a mighty Wind hoise up a few Sails expose as few of thy affections to the rage of Worldly Lusts as may be beware of being carried where two Seas meet as the Ship wherein Paul suffered Shipwrack I mean of plunging thy self in a Confluence of many boisterous and conflicting Businesses lest for thine inordinate prosecution of Worldly Things the Lord either give thy Soul over to suffer Shipwrack in them or strip thee of all thy Lading and Tackling break thine Estate all to pieces and make thee glad to get to Heaven upon a broken Plank 3. The Fashion of this World passeth over it doth but go along by thee and salute thee and therefore use it as if thou usedst it not do to it as thou wouldest do to a stranger whom thou meetest in the way he goes one way and thou another Salute him stay so long in his company til● from him thou have received better Instructions touching the turnings and difficulties of thy own way but take heed thou turn not into the way of the Creature lest thou lose thine own home Thus if you study the nature of all Worldly En●oyments and their insufficiency as to Eternal Satisfaction you 'l find from such ●onsiderations an advantage●us Income The practical knowledge of the vanity of all ●emporal good will be one ●ood step in the way towards ●he enjoyment of Eternal §. III. Thirdly Get an Eye of Faith to look through and above the Creature A man shall never get to look off from the World til● he can look beyond it For the Soul will have hold fast of something and the reason why me●cling so much to the Earth is because they have no assurance if they let go that hold of having any Subsistance else where Labour therefore to get an interest in Christ to find an everlasting footing in the stedfastness of Gods promises in him and that will make thee willing to suffer the loss of all things Phil. 3.8 i● will implant a kind of hatred and disestimation of all the mos● precious endearments which th● Soul did feed upon before St Peter saith of wicked men that they are Pur-blind they cannot see a far off 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they can see nothing but that which is next them and therefore no marvel if their thoughts cannot reach unto the end of the Creature There is in a dim eye the same constant and habitual indisposition which sometimes happeneth unto a sound Eye by reason of a thick mist though a man be walking in a very short lane yet he sees no end of it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Arist Rhet l. 2. and so a natural man cannot reach to the Period of Earthly things Death and Danger are still a great way out of his sight Whereas the eye of Faith can look upon them as already expiring and through them look upon him who therefore gives the Creatures unto us that in them we might see his Power and taste his Goodness And nature it self methinks may seem to have intended some such thing as this in the very order of the Creatures downwards a mans eye hath something immediately to fix on all is shut up in darkness save the very surface to note that we should have our desires shut up too from those Earthly things which are put under our feet and hid from our eyes and buried in their own deformity All the beauty and all the fruit of the Earth is placed on the very out-side of it to shew how short and narrow our affections should be towards it But upward the eye finds scarce any thing to bound it all is transparent and diaphanous to note how vast our affections should be towards God how endless our thoughts and desires of his Kingdom how present to our Faith the Heavenly things should be even at the greatest distance The Apostle saith Heb. 11.1 that Faith is the substance of things hoped for that it gives being and present subsistency to things far distant from us makes those things which in regard of natural causes are very remote in regard of Gods promises to seem hard at hand And therefore though there were many hundred years to come in the Apostles time and for ought we know may yet be to the dissolution of the World yet the Apostle tells us that even then it was the last hour 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Joh. 2.18 because Faith being able distinctly to see the truth and promises of God and the endlesness of that life which is then presently to be revealed the infinite excess of vastness in that made that which was otherwise a great space even seem as nothing no more