regard any that are wise in their owne conceit Iob. 37. 24. but pronounceth a woe against them Esay 5. 21. Let therefore the same minde be in you which was in Iesus Christ who being in the forme of God thought it no robberie to be equall with God but made himselfe of no reputation and was found in shape as a seruant Philip. 2. Deck yee also your selues in lowlinesse of minde 1. Pet. 5. 5. that yee may walke worthy of the calling wherevnto yee are called with all humblenesse of minde Ephe. 4. Furthermore thinke of those things which are of good report are which and true honest iust pure pertaining to loue Philip. 4. 8. Let there not be in your heart a wicked thought Deut. 15. 9. for many minde earthly things whose God is their belly and whose glory is their shame Philip. 3. 19. But vnto him who doth thinke on good things shall be mercy and truth Prou. 14. 22. The Christians Prayer for Grace to obay this Command O Lord I am a man void of Counsell neyther is there any vnderstanding in me I am not sufficient of my selfe so much as to thinke a good thought but my sufficiency is of thee for thou Lord dost giue wisedome and out of thy mouth comes knowledge and vnderstanding thou art he who puttest wisdome into the reynes and giuest vnderstanding to them who haue erred in spirit I therefore pray thee O Lord if I haue found fauour in thy sight shew me thy way that I may know thee thy hands haue made me and fashioned me Lord giue me vnderstanding that I may learne thy commandements lighten my darknesse that being filled with the knowledge of thy will I may walke in thy light studying alwayes to doe that which is good and pleasant in thy sight through Iesus Christ. Another O Lord who didst command light to shine out of darknesse make it I beseech thee to shine in mine heart to giue me the light of the knowledge of thee my God in the face of Iesus Christ take away good Lord the vaile wherewith my mind is couered that I may behold as in a mirrour thy glory with open face and may be changed into the same Image by thy spirit let me not be of the number of those Infidels whom the God of this world hath blinded that the light of the glorious Gospell of Christ who is the Image of God should not shine vnto them but make me to abound more and more in knowledge and in all iudgement that I may discerne betweene good and euill and betweene things which differ one from another and may be kept pure and without offence till the day of Christ filled with the fruits of righteousnes which are by Iesus vnto the praise and glory of God Amen The Christians Prayer for Grace to obay this Command ONce I was darknes but now I am light in the Lord Eph. 5. 8. I walked in darknesse and dwelt in the land of the shadow of death but now the light hath shined vpon me and I haue seene light Esay 9. 2. and God hath giuen me a minde to know him who is true 1. Iohn 5. 20. for his word is my wisdome and vnderstanding Deut. 4. 6. and his commandements haue made me wiser than mine enemies for they are euer with me yea I haue had more vnderstanding then all my teachers for thy testimonies are my meditation Psal. 119. 99. I will not any more lift vp my minde vnto vanitie but I will thinke vpon God in the night Psal. 63. 6. and I will meditate in the Law of the Lord continually Psal. 119. 97. and of the beauty of his glorious Maiestie and his wonderfull acts Psal. 145. 5. And I will alwaies giue thanks to him who hath made me meet to be partaker of the inheritance of his Saints in light who hath deliuered me from the power of darknesse and hath translated me into the kingdome of his deare Sonne to whom be praise and glory for euer Amen Col. 1. 13. THE OBSERVATIONS AS in the first creation God began at the light so in the second he begins at the illumination of the mind and the mind changed and renued by the Lord worketh a change also of the will and affections Naturally the minde of man is darke proud and prophane the ignorance that is in it being both a punishment of mans first sinne a sinne it selfe and the cause of all other sinne For man aspiring to an higher knowledge then God vouchsafed vpon him lost the knowledge wherewith God endued him by creation except some generall notices of good and euill which like sparkles of fire couered with the ashes of mans corrupt nature are left in him to make him inexcusable By his first creation he was made a companion of Angels but falling from that honour hee became a companion of beasts and hath so far degenerated from that which God made him that hee hath assumed the very properties of beasts wherefore also God giues vnto him the name of a beast Quidenim an non tibi videtur ipsis bestijs bestialior homo ratione vigens ratione non viuens And now seeing restitution is proclaimed in Christ how carefully should hee take heede to himselfe that hee despise not grace which is offered by his first fall hee fell from light to darknesse his second fall shall cast him into vtter darknesse the transgression of the couenant of workes made him a companion of beasts but the contempt of the couenant of grace shall make him a companion of damned Diuels And as this ignorance is a punishment of mans first sinne so is it also a sinne as is euident out of 2. Thes. 5. 1. The Lord shall appeare in staming fire to render vengeance vnto all them that know not God Thirdly it is a cause of other sinnes as we are taught by the Apostle Eph. 4. that the Gentiles wer strangers from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them As Balaam went on blindlings in an euill course because he saw not the Angell standing with a naked sword against him so the wicked walke boldly in their sins because they know not the danger thereof A body destitute of eyes cannot discerne the day from the night a friend from a foe nor the pit from the plaine no more can a darkned minde discerne the manifold snares of Sathan but as our Sauiour saith where the blinde leads the blinde both of them must fall at length into the ditch so where a blinded minde is the directer of a corrupted will what can the end be but fearefull damnation and yet no better is mans miserable estate by Nature But this naturall ignorance is remoued in the regeneration and a holy light created in the minde of man which the Lord workes by degrees as hee opened the eyes of
things per vim potius quam virtutem by violence rather then vertue whose pleasure is to liue controling all vncontroled of any like Nimrods or the sonnes of Anak therefore they grudge as Malecontents that the law of the King is not as Anarxexes spake of the lawes of Solon like the webbes of the Ettercope through which the greater Flyes may breake at their pleasure where as among all reasonable men it hath euer been receiued as a principle beatam esse rempublicam in qualex dominatur that the common-wealth is happy in which the law hath dominion But to returne to that which of all humane testimonie is the greatest the honorable estimation his Maiestie these thirtie yeares by-gone without repenting hath had of your Lordship stands in the hearts of all his well affected subiects as a great commendation of your qualities for The pleasure of a King is in a wise Seruant said Salomon and the honour whereunto your Lordship by his Maiestie is preferred is esteemed most iustly so much the more honourable for that the Patron of vertue for vertues sake hath aduanced you to it Thus by a right Marcellus hath your way to the Temple of honour beene by the Temple of vertue For this moderation of life so euident in your Lordship as I haue said euen among the naturall Philosophers was accounted for true wisedome and learning The practise of that golden precept Nosce teipsum they esteemed to consist in the gouernment of a man his person and actions according to the rule of vertue this they called the matter of wisedome without which others were they neuer so learned were accounted to haue had but the words of wisedome such as many now a dayes we haue among vs with whom it fareth as of olde with Thales Milesius who going out on a night to his contemplation while hee gazed on the starres hee fell into the ditch Many such Disciples I say hath he left behind him who looke so high with their learning that they take no heede to their owne feete to gouerne their waies with knowledge they thinke it sufficient to commend them that they haue trauailed through many parts of the world haue read much and gotten some introduction to Sciences when as in the meane time they neuer trauailed within themselues neuer entred into their owne hearts neuer read the booke of their owne conscience and haue not learned to know farre lesse to rule themselues by wisedome But leauing them I trust your Lordship will still continue to seeke the perfection of true wisedome and knowledge there where ye haue gotten the beginnings for as the beginning of wisedome is the feare of the Lord said Salomon so said he also The end of all is feare God and keepe his commandements this is the whole duety of man For this cause haue I here presented to your Honour this Description of a Christian which not without great labour I haue collected these tenne or twelue yeares by-gone out of the word of God that in it your Lordship may see what manner of man a true Christian is how his heart is continually at his right hand his minde vpon good things his will waiting vpon his superiour how a good conscience is his Paradise on earth out of which hee will not goe how his eye is in his forehead vsing so the time present that hee prouides for the time to come thinking on his end and fore-seeing that wrath which is to fall on the wicked that he may eschew it how he refraines his speech when time of silence is how he speakes in season the words of knowledge how he pondereth his pathes and ordereth all his way with equitie In a word how he is restored by grace in the regeneration to the image of God which was his most ancient glory communicated to him by his Maker in his first creation as more particularly will appeare in the Anatomie following In reading whereof where your Lordship findes a conformity with it I am sure it will be the matter of your ioy and thanksgiuing to God for the beginnings of his grace in you where not I hope it will encrease your Christian care to proceede to a further perfection vnto the which these prayers interiected betweene Gods precepts and the Christians practise in euery Chapter for your Lordships speciall vse I trust in his grace shall be profitable for you I haue knowne by occasion that your Lordship makes conscience of the exercise of prayer in priuate and delights in it I haue therefore taken the more paines to let your Lordship see how God in his word teaches his children to pray in the language of Canaan that is in such words as are dyted by his owne Spirit and so comming from himselfe we may be sure will be the more welcome and acceptable to him againe being offered in a golden censure which is a heart purified by faith through the mediation of Iesus Christ our Lord. Accept therfore right Noble Lord this Christian Man who as one who being likest vnto that which you are at least which through grace would be lookes for protection vnder your shadow and offereth himselfe ready to recompence your Lordship with some comfort and instruction at such time as your Lorship may haue the leasure to conferre with him Thus from mine heart praying vnto God for the continuance of his fauour with you which is the fountaine of all prosperitie both in this life and in the life to come I rest Your Lordships owne to be commanded in Iesus Christ WILLIAM COVVPER Minister at Perth TO THE CHRISTIAN READER THis Treatise presents vnto thee a liuely image of a Christian man as he is delineate in the word by him who best knowes him that is by the Spirit of God that begets him wherein it shall be euident that albeit now in the world there be nothing rifer then the Christian name yet is there nothing rarer then the Christian man Concerning which a singular craft of Sathan comes to be discouered for when the Christian name which had the beginning in Antiochia came first vp in the world Sathan did what he could by false calumnies and bloudy persecution to suppresse it This sect as witnesses S. Luke euery where was spoken against and Christians were accused to be blasphemers of God troublers of Cities yea troublers of the whole world worshippers of the Sunne and of an Asses head eaters of mens flesh seditious and vile abusers of their bodies and what euer else might make them odious to the ignorant multitude By the Iewes they were called in contempt Nazariâ—…s by Iulian scornfully they were termed Gâ—…lilaeans by Ulpian vnder Seuerus impostores as if they had beene coggers and deceiuers by Demetrian whom Cyprian confuted procurers of all the plagues of God that came vpon the world Yea so farre in their ignorant malice did they proceede that it was counted a capitall crime for any man to call himselfe a Christian. A most vnreasonable thing
signified by that name In the eyes of worldlings a Christian is despised and accounted but the offskowring of the earth the cause of this contempt is their ignorance they see the earthen vessell but know not the treasure which is within it or else for loue of the treasure they would imbrace the vessell But against this contempt of men wee haue to set that honourable estimation which God hath of a Christian for the high and honourable stiles which Gods giues him testifie that in the Lords account the Christian is an high and honourable person Againe the manifold names which are giuen him declare that it is not one grace onely but manifold graces of God which must concurre to make vp a Christian and this doth teach vs that it is not so easie a thing to be a Christian as commonly is supposed Last of all the honourable stiles giuen the Christian admonish him to walke worthy of his calling that he may answere the names which God hath giuen him since hee is the free-man of God the brother and the member of Christ why shall he abase himselfe to the seruitude of Sathan and sinne The Censure But now the contrary conuersation of many proues that all haue not the Christians disposition who now vsurpe the Christian name THE SECOND PART WHEREIN IS DISCRIBED THE DISPOSITION OF HIS INWARD MAN CHAPTER I. Of his Inward Man The Lords Command MAN looketh to the outward appearance 1. Sam. 16. 7. but I am the Lord who searcheth the heart and the reynes Iere. 11. 20. therefore my Sonne keepe thine heart with all diligence Prou. 4. 23. wash it from thy wickednesse Ierem. 4. and giue it vnto mee Pro. 23. 26. Let the hid man of the heart be vncorrupt 1. Pet. 3. 4. and keepe thy selfe in thy spirit Malach. 2. 15. Cast off concerning the conuersation in time past which is corrupted and put on the new which after God is created in righteousnesse and true holinesse Eph. 4. 22. The Christians Prayer for Grace to obay this Command O Lord my God I know that thou tryest the heart and hast pleasure in righteousnesse and that the man is blessed in whose heart are thy wayes therefore O Lord take away from mee the stony heart and giue me a heart of flesh put a new spirit into my bowels let neuer mine heart be diuided from thee O my God but let it be vpright in thy statutes and faithfull before thee knit it to thee that I may feare thy Name so shall I neuer be ashamed Another O Lord my God who brought againe from the dead our Lord Iesus the great Shepheard of the sheepe through the bloud of the euerlasting couenant worke I beseech thee that which is pleasant in thy sight and grant according to the riches of thy grace that I may be strengthened by the spirit in the inward man that Christ may dwell in mine heart by faith and so my whole Spirit soule and body may be kept blamelesse to the comming of the Lord Iesus to whom be praise and glory for euer The Christians Practise of this Command I Haue prepared mine heart to seeke the Law of the Lord and to doe it Ezra 7. 10. I will not regard wickednesse in mine heart Psal. 66. 18. for I haue set the Lord as a seale on my heart and signet on my arme Cant. 8. 6. My heart abhorres all labour that is wrought vnder the Sunne Eccles. 2. 20. onely I delight in the Law of God as concerning the inward Man Rom. 7. When the Lord saith to me seeke yee my face my heart answereth O Lord I will seeke thy face Psal. 27. My heart is purified in obaying the truth 1. Pet. 1. 22. and it shall cleaâ—…e to the Lord without separation 1. Cor. 7. 35. THE OBSERVATIONS THE Christian soiourning in the body consisteth of an outward Man and an inward eyther of them hauing their owne kinde of life senses actions and operations of so contrary qualitities that as saith the Apostle when the one is decaying the other is renuing By the one he walkes among men and hath his conuersation honest in the world by the other hee walkes with God as Henoch did and hath his conuersation in heauen In all his outward behauiour hee sheweth himselfe an example of godlinesse so that euen in his countenance gesture and language hee carries a print of godlinesse as the high Priest had grauen on his fore-head holines to the Lord but his chiefe care is to deck the hid Man of the heart which before God is a thing much set by But in this age many carry the name of Christians who neuer knew what this inward Man is and farre lesse hath felt the power of his spiritual life they are not the holy temples of God which should be more beautifull within then without as was Ierusalems Temple but are painted sepulchers pleasant without full of rottennesse within hauing the faces of men and the hearts of beasts If the Lord Iesus whose eyes are like fire and who with one looke can see them both within and without come to iudge them hee will not giue sentence of them as hee did of Nathaniel Behold an Israelitie in whom there is no guile but will charge them with that which Simon Peter said to Simon Magus I see that thou art in the gall of bitternesse and band of iniquitie and that thy heart is not right in the sight of God The Censure And hereby also it may be knowne that all haue not the Christians disposition who now vsurpe the Christian name CHAPTER II. Of his New Minde The Lords Command THE light of the body is the eye if the eye be single the whole body shall be light but if thine eye be wicked then all the body shall be darke wherefore if the light that is in thee be darknesse how great is the darknesse Math. 6. 22. Take heed then that the light which is in you be not darkenesse Luke 11. 35. for yee are the children of light therefore sleepe not as others doe but watch and be sober 1. Thes. 5. 6. not as vnwise but vnderstanding what the good will of the Lord is Ephe. 5. 17. Not as other Gentiles who walke still on in the vanitie of their minde hauing their cogitation darkned and being strangers from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them Ephe. 4. 17. but be yee changed by the renuing of your minde that yee may proue what is the good and acceptable will of God Rom. 12. wise in that which is good simple as concerning euill Rom. 16. 19. But be not wise in your selues neyther high minded Rom. 12. 16. If any man thinke that hee knowes any thing the same knowes nothing as he ought 1. Cor. 8. 2. An high mind goes before a fall Prou. 29. 23. Neyther will the Lord
therefore I will reioyce in the workes of thy hands O Lord Psal. 92. 4. THE OBSERVATIONS MAn by his fall lost not the naturall affections which GOD created in him but the rectitude and holinesse of his affections which now are moued in him no otherwise then members in a paraliticke body to wit out of order Neither doth the grace of Regeneration take away from man naturall affections but onely the peruerse inclination and disordered motion of them by restoring them againe to their originall rectitude and holinesse What the Nature of ioy is may better be felt then can be defined It is an affection of the soule whereby the soule vpon knowledge of some good eyther present or to come is inlarged as saith the Apostle or exalted as saith the Psalmist Ita vt animam prope exilire ad exterior a prorumpere dicas This ioy is eyther Naturall such as is the ioy of men vnregenerate or Spirituall such as is in the regenerate The Naturall man againe hath his ioy eyther in the gifts of God wickedly abused by himselfe or else in the baites of Sathan cunningly disguised for the Naturall man doth in such sort vse the gifts of God that hee neyther seeks nor finds comfort in God who gaue them and this is Idolatry to set vp in thy affection the creature before the Creator beside this he vseth not the creature after the will of him who gaue it but after the lust of his owne will and this also is sacriledge to abuse that to wicked and prophane ends which God created good and holy And hereof it comes to passe that vnto the wicked the good creatures become the meanes of their greater condemnation yea and oft-times also of their present confusion in this life The Lord most iustly suffering them to perish in the abuse of that creature wherein they reioyced more then in him and of this daily examples haue we before our eyes Thus Haman like a foole reioyced in his preferment specially that hee was bidden to the Banquet by Queene Esther not knowing that the same was the beginning of his fall thus Achitophel thinking by his wit to beare out an euill cause was snared thereby himselfe so Absalom carnally reioycing in his beautifull haire found it at length a rope to hang himselfe so the Philistims eating and drinking before Dagon and reioycing to make a play-foole of blind Sampson had their banquetting house by him made their buriall Yet the other obiect of their ioy is worse by which they ioy in the disguised baites of Sathan couered with a shew of deceitfull pleasures that endure but for a season but vnder it lurkes the hook that slaies them to death that endures for euer here is a most lamentable case to see men with a carnall ioy swallowing vp the pleasures of sinne which will be their perdition Lachrymarum causas tripudiantes peragunt ridentes mortis negotium exequâ—…ntur In this they are like Birds which lay downe their heads to take vp the cornes of Wheat cast to them by the Fowler but see not the snare which hee hath spread ouer to take them or like the Fish in the pleasant streame of Iordan taking pleasure in that same water which carryeth them that they know not of into the salt sea where incontinent they die As also this ioy arising of the pleasure of sinne is not vnproperly compared to the light of a candle which in burning consumeth that same which nourisheth it till at length both of them die together and the light end in darknesse and stinking smoake It is euen so with carnall ioy which consumeth by degrees those same things which nourish it as outward substance and strength of bodie and then being consumed it selfe endeth in fearefull anguish and perturbation But the ioy of the man regenerate hath these three properties first it is a great and solide ioy for he neuer layes it vpon any small thing God is the matter of his ioy secondly his ioy is internall whereas the heart of the wicked euen in laughing is sorrowfull the heart of the godly in mourning is ioyfull thirdly it is eternall and endures for euer where the ioy of the wicked is but like a point wherin there is no continuance The obiects of a Christians ioy are as I said first God and then those benefits which of his loue and mercie slow from him to vs in Christ Iesus these are either principal or secondary Principall benefits wherein the Christian reioyceth are Election Calling Iustification Sanctification deliuerance in tentations which breedes experience and experience begets and encreaseth a sure and liuely hope of our Glorification which maketh our ioy to abound Secondary benefits are also the matter of the Christians ioy according to that Deu. 26. 11 Not so much for the gifts themselues as for that they are giuen of God tokens of his fatherly loue and pledges of better things to come Where it is to be marked that in one and the selfe same externall gift where the Naturall man is onely delighted with the goodnesse of the thing it selfe the Spirituall man is much more refreshed with the sense of Gods loue from which the gift came then he is with the gift it selfe The Censure But the want of this disposition proues that all are not Christians indeed who vsurpe the Christian name CHAPTER X. Of his Griefe The Lords Command BLessed are they that mourn for they shall be comforted Math. 5. The sacrifices of God are a contrite Spirit a contrite and a broken heart the Lord despiseth not Psal. 51. 17. Set a marke on the fore-head of them that mourne and cry for all the abhominations that are committed in the Citie Ezech. 9. 4. It is better to goe to the house of mourning then to the house of banquetting because this is the end of all men and the liuing shall lay it to his heart Eccle. 7. 4. Mourne yee therefore with them that mourne for if one member suffer allought to suffer with it 1. Cor. 12. 26. But be not grieued with the Lords correction for he correcteth those whom he loueth Prou. 3. 11. But concerning them who are asleepe sorrow not as others doe which haue no Hope 1. Thes. 4 13. The Christians Prayer for Grace to obay this Command O Lord thou to whom heauen is for a throne and the earth for a foot-stoole and yet hast said in thy word that thou wilt looke vnto him that is of a poore and contrite spirit and trembleth at thy words create I beseech thee in me a cleane heart and renue a right spirit within mee fill my head with water and make mine eyes a fountaine of teares that I may weepe both night and day recounting my former sinnes in the bitternesse of my heart and so may now sow in teares that after this I
is esteemed to be worse then indeed he is As a rich man will laugh if he be called poore because he knowes it is false so a Christian when he is charged with euils whereof he knowes he is not guiltie Bene sibi conscius non debet falsis moueri nec aestimare plus ponderis in alieno esse conuitio quam in suo testimonio Now as for those troubles which come immediately from God wee ought so much the more patiently to beare them whether they be in our bodies or our goods shall wee receiue good things from him and not receiue euill Moreouer we haue had fathers of our bodies who haue corrected vs at their pleasure and we haue beene subiect to them how much more should wee be subiect to the father of Spirits who alway corrects vs for our profit Yea seeing vnder hope of health wee can be content that Phisitions cut and burne our bodies let vs be ashamed to murmure when the Lord chastiseth vs seeing hee doth it for no other end but that after it wee may enioy the quiet fruit of righteousnesse But how many men shall yee nowfinde professing Christ and yet like vnto those of whom Micah said in his time the best of them are bryers they thinke it religion good inough if they be quiet when none offends them but if you touch them with the smallest iniurie yee shall finde them thistles and thornes to pricke you The Censure And of this also it is manifest that all haue not the Christians disposition who now vsurpe the Christian name CHAPTER XIII Of his Anger The Lords Command BE not of an hasty spirit to be angry for Anger rests in the bosome of fooles Eccles 7. 11. Whosoeuer is angry with his brother vnaduisedly is culpable of Iudgement Math. 5. 22. The discretion of a man differeth his anger and it is the glory of a man to passe by an offence Prou. 19. 11. The foole is knowne by his anger but the wise couereth shame Pro. 12. 16. Cease therefore from anger and leaue off wrath Psal. 37. 8. But if ye be angry sinne not and let not the Sunne goe downe vpon your wrath Ephes. 4. 26. The Christians Prayer for Grace to obay this Command O Lord thou hast formed mee for thy selfe therefore giue mee vnderstanding that I may learne thy Commandements Poure thy Spirit vpon me from aboue and teach mee in all things to doe that which is good in thy sight Thou art gracious and righteous and teachest sinners thy way specially them that be meeke wilt thou guide in iudgement Deliuer me from wrath contention and debate which are the workes of the flesh and work in me a meeke and a quiet spirit which before thee is a thing much set be so shall I shew by good conuersation my workes in the meeknesse of wisedome to the glory of thy Name through Christ Iesus Amen The Christians Practise of this Command I Am the Lords seruant I will not forget him Esay 44. 21. but will lay vp his words in my heart that I sinne not against him Psal. 119. I will not walke after the stubbornnesse of mine heart that I should not heare the Commandements of my God Ierem. 16. 12. I will not striue but will be gentle toward all men instructing with meeknesse them that are contrary minded 2. Tim. 2. For I haue no such custome as to be contentious 1 Cor. 11. 16. but I cannot for-beare them which are euill Reuel 2. 2. I cannot suffer such as deceiue the seruants of the Lord Reuel 2. 20. saying they are Apostles and are not Reuel 2. 2. for the zeale of thine house hath eaten me and the rebukes of them that rebuked thee are fallen vpon me Psal. 69. 9. Yea my zeale hath consumed me because mine enemies haue forgotten thy word Psal. 119. 139. THE OBSERVATIONS THat same holy Spirit that descended vpon the Apostles in the similitude of â—…e descended first on the Lord Iesus in the similitude of a Doue to teach vs that in some things we should be patient and meeke in others inflamed with an holy Anger and that both the one and the other are the effects of Gods Spirit In our owne particulars we should be patient in the cause of God wee should be zealous after the example of Moses who was the meekest man vpon the face of the earth but wonderfull angry when he saw God dishonoured by Idolatry hee spared not to put to the edge of the sword those people whom otherwise hee loued most dearely But alas our corruption carries vs a contrary way making vs fierie beyond measure in reuenging our owne wrongs but wondrous cold in pleading the cause of God Anger is a naturall affection by which the soule of man is commoued to remedy the euill done against the will thereof by reuenge I call it a Naturall affection such as God created in Adam in the state of innocency otherwise it had not beene in our blessed Sauiour Now there are two sorts of Anger one carnall which is the worke of the flesh and forbidden another holy which is a worke of the spirit and commanded Alia est ira quam impaâ—…ientia excitat alia quam zelus format illa ex vitio haec ex virtute For the commotion of the minde is according to the mouer thereof if the Spirit of God commoue thy minde it is an holy anger raised for iust causes and tempered in ordinate measure Affectiones dona Dei sunt cum à ratione duce ac imperatore mouentur Affections are the gifts of God when they are moued by Reason as their leader and commander and in speciall Iracundia moderate spirans Zeli est armatura moderate Anger is the armour of Zeale But if the Spirit of Sathan commoue thy minde he raiseth an anger which eyther is vniust or at least so immoderate that thou neyther canst keepe vnder it reuerence toward thy God loue toward thy nighbour nor compassion toward thy selfe This carnall Anger is a raging euill Momentanea insania a momentanie madnesse said Basil compositum malum a compound euill of many euils said Nazianzen Spirituum legio a legion of many euill spirits by which the will of him who was the first murtherer of man is satisfied and many horrible euils are effected It casteth off all reuerence of God for the man this way angry doth set himselfe in the roome of God and would haue the Lord subiect to him as his seruant to execute without delay all that wrath hee wisheth for by cursed imprecations It disioyneth a man from God and makes him like to the diuell in rerum natura quid mitissimum an non Deus quaenam natura biliosa est ea quae hominem peremit De his tibi quamvis partem elige nam vtramque non licet habere the
Sathan the Christian as he will not speake filthie language so he will not heare it As he will not murther with his hands so stops his eares from hearing of bloud Esa. 33. and as hee will not slander with his tongue so will hee not receiue in his eares a false report when another hath made it Psal. 15. For I pray you what difference is there betweene the willing reporter and receiuer of a false tale but that where the one carryeth Sathan in his tongue the other carryes Sathan in his eare The forger of falshood is the striker of Sathans coine the willing hearer is Sathans resetter and hee that after hearing reports it for a truth which he knowes not to be true is Sathans ventor this man turnes his eares into his eyes while as that which he hath heard hee giueth out for as vndoubted a truth as if he had seene it Therefore is it that as the mouth tastes the meat and lets none goe downe to the stomack vnlesse it be approued so the eare of the godly tastes words and lets none goe downe to the soule which is not from God And herein the Christian takes not so much heed to the speaker as to that which is spoken were the person neuer so honourable yea like an angell of God the heart that feares God receiues not his speech without examination so Mary discussed in her minde the words of the Angell and thought with herselfe What manner of salutation may this be And if otherwise for outward estate the person were neuer so contemptible yet if he speake the words of God he is reuerenced of the Christian for euen the feet of him that brings the glad tidings of peace are beautifull to him No man despiseth good corne because he finds it in a contemptible sack nor reiects precious pearles because they are in earthen vessels far lesse will the Christian refuse the message of grace because it is brought by a base messenger As the eare was the first port by which the Seducer entring in brought death to the soule so is it the first by which our Sauiour enters and restoreth life vnto it Hearing must goe before seeing wee must sit downe and reuerently heare the Lord on earth that wee may ascend and ioyfully see the Lord in heauen then shall wee sing that song As we haue heard so haue we seene in the citie of our God but if wee will not heare the Lord speaking in his word on earth we shall neuer see the Lord shewing his ioyfull face in heauen The Lord Iesus accounts our voyce sweet to him delights to heare it My Doue let me heare thy voyce for it is sweet Cant. 2. 14. And shall not we esteeme his voyce sweet vnto vs and delight to heare it Certainely if wee delight not in his word whereby hee speakes to vs hee shall take no pleasure in our prayers whereby wee speake vnto him For hee that turnes away his eare from hearing of the Law his Prayer shall be abhominable Yet it is not inough to heare Our Sauiour also warnes vs to take heede how wee heare Some heare malitiously such as come to trap the Preacher as the Pharisees often heard Christ that they might snare him This now is a common sinne that men resorts to preaching as if they come to amend the Preacher and not to amend themselues Others heare for curiositie seeking rather tidings of occurrents among men then the glad tidings of peace sent from God these are like vnto Herod who hauing our Sauiour Christ present before him sought a miracle to feede his curiositie but sought not grace whereby hee might be saued Some againe are not so euill disposed as any of the former two yet they heare vnpofitably for the present they are somwhat moued but carry nothing away whereby they may be mended these goe out of the Church as the vncleane beasts went out of the Arke that is they go out vncleane as they came in vncleane The Apostle compares them to vessels that runne out or to the sieue â—…ribrum which as long as it is in the water is full but if you take it vp no water remaines in it something they haue while they heare but so soone as they goe out it goes from them the remedie of this euill were to lay vp the word in our heart as Mary did The last sort of euill hearers are they who heare the word remember it and can report much of it to others but not as of a thing that concerneth their life and therefore while they speake of it to others they forget to doe it God hath placed in the body the eare the tongue and the hand not far asunder to teach vs that what wee heare with our eare and professe with our mouth we should practise with our hand The Censure And of this also it is euident that all are not Christians indeed who now vsurpe the Christian name CHAPTER III. Of his Eyes The Lords Command THe eyes of a foole are in the corners of the world Prou. 17. 24. but the wise mans eyes are in his head Eccles. 2. 14. Cast not thine eyes vpon that which is nothing Pro. 23. 5. For all that is in the world as the lust of the slesh the lust of the eyes and the pride of life is not of the father but of the world Ioh. 2. 16. As the graue and destruction can neuer be satisfied Pro. 27. 20. so the eyes of man are not satisfied with seeing Eccles. 1. 18. Let not therefore thine eyes and heart be for couetousnesse Ierem. 22. 17. neither full of adulterie Iude. 7. Haughtie eyes the Lord abhorreth Pro. 6. 17. and the high looke of the proud shall be humbled Esa. 2. 11. The eye that mocketh his father and despiseth the instruction of his mother let the Rauens of the valley pick it out and the young Eagles eate it Pro. 30. 17. Cast away therefore the abhomination of thine eyes Ezech. 20. 7. Let not my word depart from thine eyes but obserue wisedome and counsell Prou. 3. 21. that thine eyes may behold the right and thine eye-lids direct thy way before thee Prou. 4. 25. The Christians Prayer for Grace to obay this Command BE mercifull to mee O Lord and blesse mee cause thy face to shine vpon mee that I may know thy way vpon earth Let mee not be like the wicked who haue not the feare of God before their eyes But as thou hast made both the eares to heare and the eyes to see so I pray thee good Lord to teach me thy feare Turne away mine eyes from regarding vanitie and let not mine heart walk after mine eye except when I looke to my Maister and when mine eyes are toward the holy One of Israel that so I may be deliuered from euery euill worke and preserued to
and euery one edifying and confirming an other On the other extremitie are they which liue in fellowship and companie which God hath ordained but not in such manner as God hath commanded for yee shall finde few fellowships of men which are vnited and knit together by the right bands Some goe together onely of a custome and to these it is a griefe for one of them to want the companie of another Ista est amicitia consuetudinis non rationis habent illam Pecora This is a Fellowship made by custome and not by Reason a man shall see it among the bruite Beasts who because of a long time they haue haunted together haue no will to be parted or sundered one from an other Others keepe fellowship onely vpon a selfe loue so Laban loued the company of Iacob and had no will to want him not so much for loue of Iacob himselfe as loue of the gaine got by Iacob this cannot continue but in the ende is turned into inimitie for these men vse their companions as a man vseth his flower who keepes it no longer then it yeeldes a sweet and pleasant smell vnto him Others there are who are moued to keepe company by the similitude of manners and these are of two sorts some are conioyned and linkt together by the similitude of their euill manners so were Simion and Leui brethren in euill and Herod and Pilate made friends by their mutuall medling with an euill cause Thus wee see that as beasts and birds of one kinde goe together so men of one fashion and condition delight to goe together But the similitude of good manners is the surest bond of friendship and it is by this sure marke that true Christians doe make choise of their companions for hee loueth another for the grace of God that hee sees in him He maketh much of those that feare the Lord but in his eyes a vile person is contemned where he sees no grace hee lookes for no good were a man neuer so wise if hee be not godly it is great wisedome to eschew him Quis enim vtilem causae altâ—…nae iudicet quem videt inutilem vitae suae It is one of the continuall cares of a Christian to slie from euill company first for feare of the euill the wicked may doe to him for the nature of things is such that when good is ioyned with the euill the good is sooner corrupted by the euill then the euill is rectified by the good And this the Spirit of God doth teach vs both by significant Phrases and cleare examples Can a man take fire in his bosome and walke vpon coales and not be burnt Canst thou be a brother to Dragons and companion to Ostriches and not sauour of their wildnesse How often haue men of most excellent Graces and singular vertues beene snared by the Companie of the wicked In the Court of Egypt Ioseph was snared to sweare by the life of Pharaoh In the companie of the Philistims godly Dauid was drawne to be a dissembler and was forced to shew himselfe in armes against Israel though sore against his heart In the Hall of Caiaphas the Apostle Saint Peter was tempted to denie his Lord and Maister Yea as Nazianzen did warne Caesarius the least euill wee doe incurre by keeping company with the wicked we are blackt with their smoake if we be not burnt with their fire Neyther doth the Christian slye the companie of the wicked for feare of the euill they may doe to him onely but also for feare hee doe euill vnto them for wicked men when they see that godly men doe not abhorre their company are so much the more strengthened and confirmed to proceede on forward in their sinnes Finally the Christian in ioyning himselfe to any company doth euer keepe this twofold respect first to doe good if hee may secondly to get good If hee doe come into the companie of euill men hee hath a care both by admonition and conuersation to make them better if they doe blaspheme hee doth blesse if they goe to excesse hee doth conforme himselfe to sobrietie euer keeping a godly care by his example to doe them good at least that by their euill example he receiue not euill His second respect in haunting companie is to get good and therefore his delight is in the fellowship of the Saints of God He knoweth that grapes cannot be gathered of thornes nor sigges of Thistles hee hath an eye to the trees of righteousnesse which are planted in the house of the Lord that by mutuall faith hee may both giue and receiue comfort from them The Censure But now the want of this holy disposition in many professors now proclaimeth to the world that all are not Christians indeed who now vsurp the Christian name A SHORT DESCRIPTION OF THE CHRISTIANS DEPARTVRE OVT OF the Body The Christians disposition toward Death before death come FEW and euill haue beene the dayes of my pilgrimage Gen. 49. 7. I haue had as inheritance the moneths of vanitie and painfull nights haue been appointed vnto me Iob. 7. 3. And I know that hereafter there is laid vp for me a crowne of righteousnesse and not for me onely but for all them who loue the appearing of the Lord Iesus 2 Tim. 4. 8. Therefore all the dayes of my life will I waite till my changing shall come Iob. 14. 14. For I desire to be dissolued and to be with Christ. Philip. 1. I loue to remoue out of the body and to dwell with the Lord 2 Cor. 5. 8. For I know if this earthly house of this tabernacle were destroyed I haue a building giuen of God that is an house not made with hands but eternall in the heauens therefore I sigh desiring to be clothed with mine house which is from heauen 2 Cor. 5. And I heartilie looke for and doe hope that in nothing I shall be ashamed but that with all confidence Christ shall be magnified in my body whether it be by life or by death Philip. 1. 20. For whether I liue I liue to the Lord or whether I die I dye to the Lord whether therefore I liue or I dye I am the Lords Rom. 14. 8. To him therefore be praise and glory for euer Amen His willing Resolution in the houre of death I Haue foughten a good fight I haue kept the Faith 2 Tim. 4. I know whom I haue beleeued and I am perswaded that hee is able to keepe that which I haue credited vnto him against that day 2 Tim. 1. 12. The Lord will quicken my mortall body Rom. 8. and make it like to his owne glorious body Philip. 3. 20. Yea though after my skinne wormes destroy this body yet shall I see God in my flesh whom I my selfe shall see and mine eyes shall behold and none other for mee though my reynes be consumed within me Iob. 19. 26. therefore I willingly lay downe my life
feare and confidence consists not it is otherwise in the Christian. 2 As a Rocke in the Sea beaten with the waues of euery winde so is a christian in the world 3 The confidence refuge of a Christian in such troubles as come from God immediately Hosea 6. 1. Iob. 4. 4 The confidence of a Christian in such troubles as come by men Matth. 27. 5 Hee knowes the harts of men are in the hands of God 6 The confidence of a Christian in such troubles as come by Sathan 7 The confidence of worldlings is eyther in themselues Luke 18. 13. 8 Or in others without them 9 How in trouble outward and second meaâ—… are to be vsed 10 Miserable are the wicked whose confidence is not in God The matter of a Christian mans ioy is 1 The Lord our God 2 Our owne saluation 3 The prosperitie of the Church 4 Sufferings with Christ. 5 All the gifts of God The Christians ioy is tempered with feare a Psal. 89. 16. b Psal. 119. 77. c Psal. 51. 6. d Rom. 15. 13. 1 The Christian reioyceth first in God and that saluation conquered for him by the Crosse of Christ. 2 What a ioy the Christian hath in the word of God And in the house of God 3 How the Christian reioyces in well doing albeit hee should suffer euill for it The welfare of Gods Church is also a ioy to the Christian. The conuersion of a sinner reioyceth the Christian. Hee hath ioy in all Gods gifts as in the tokens of his loue 1 Man by his fall lost not the affections but the holinesse of them 2 Neyther doth Christs grace take away affections but onely rectifies them 3 The nature of ioy Psal. 89. 16. Basil. de grat Deo agendis 4 Ioy is eyther naturall or spirituall 5 The obiects of naturall ioy are Gods gifts abused Sathans bâ—…its disguised 6 How Gods gifts are abused by the wicked 7 Abuse of Gods gifts punished in the wicked 8 Naturall men haue their ioy in that which is their destruction 9 How they reioyce in the baites of Sathan disguised Gregor Moral lib. 20. Serm. 8. 10 They are like birds eating meat vnder the fowlers net 11 Their ioy compared to the burning of a Candle 12 Three properties of a Christans ioy it is 1. Solid 2. Internall 3. Eternall 13 Obiects of a Christians ioy are first God 14 Then Gods benefits principall 15 And secondarie Mourners for sin are blessed and marked of God To worldlings sinne is a ioy correction a griefe to the christian by the contrary sinne is a griefe correction a ioy a Esay 66. 1. b Psal. 51. 10. c Ierem. 9. 1. d Esay 38. 15. e Psal. 126. 5. The life of a Christian is fraughted with heauinesse that 1. For his owne sinnes 2. For his absence from the Lord. 3. For the sinnes and abhominations committed by others 4 For the trouble of the Church 5 For euery one that is in trouble 1 Our ioy in this life not without griefe 1 Pet. 1. 5. 6. 2 Comfort is sometime scant euen in the heart of the Christian. 3 Causes of griefe arising from our selues are threefold 4 A man so long as he is in his sinnes thinkes them no cause of griefe 5 An example hereof in Dauid 2. Sam. 11. 25. 6 Another in Paul 7 When God looses a man from sin he binds him to an hatred of sinne Why the memory of sinne remaineth when the guilt thereof is remoued 8 Persian Kings could suffer no mourners in their presence but it is not so with God 9 The Lord liketh our mourning countenance best Cant. 2. 14 10 The Christians tentations are a griefe to him 11 And his manifold crosses 12 And the troubles of Gods Church Nehem. 2. 3. 13 And the long delay of that promised Kingdome Aug. de sanct serm 45. Psal. 56. 14. Ioy and griefe agree not in worldlings it is otherwise in Christians Macar hom 15 Let them mark this who do think their tentations singular and that none of Gods children wer troubled euer so sore as they a Psal. 77. 7. b Esay 63. 15. c Ierem. 15. 18. d Psal. 13. 2. e Deut. 4. 31. f Esay 42. 3. g Iob. 5. 11. h Iob. 13. 24. i Lam. 1. 20. k Esay 57. 16. l Psal. 6. 2. m Ierem. 10. 24. n Iob. 7. 20. o Psal. 51. 9. p Psal. 51. 12. Euery tentation hath an issue Comfort against spiritual desertions Gods mercy to his Children is sure euerlasting 1 The greatest griefe is griefe of Conscience Prou. 19. 2 The health of conscience consists in two things 3 Where-from the disease of conscience proceeds to wit 1 When God forsakes it and takes away the sense of mercy then is the soule sore troubled 4 2. But when hee pursues it with a sense of his wrath then it is worse troubled 5 Trouble of minde distempers the whole body Psal. 32. Bern. in paruis serm 48. August in Ioan. tract 19. 6 The first of these spirituall troubles compared to a lingring disease 7 The second to a fearefull consumption Bern. in assump Mariae serm 4. 8 For three causes doth the Lord exercise his Children with these inward sufferings 9 The wicked are not grieued with the absence of God because they neuer felt the comforts of his presence The praise of Patience What neede wee haue of Patience The cause should be good for which we suffer The fruit of Patience a Psal. 115. 14. b 1 Cor. 1. 7. c Colos. 1. 10. d Colos. 1. 11. The christian waiteth on the Lord whereas the worldling runs about seeking reliefe and rest in other things but can neuer finde it 1 The Gospel a mirror wherein we see the similitude of Gods Image and are transformed into it 2 The light and goodnesse of God is extended vnto all men 3 But his Image is communicated to his children onely How wee may know whether we be Gods workman ship by the new creation or no. 4 Patience is reformed also in our regeneration 5 A description of the Nature of Patience Hebrewes 10. 6 Patience suffers not the euils of sinne but the euils of affliction 7 Patience necessary for two causes 1. Because the good that God hath pro misâ—… dis not presently performed 8 2. Because of the present euils wherwith now wee are exercised 9 No peace between the elect and reprobate But in this discord the reprobate are alwayes the persecuters 10 As a rocke in the sea so is a Christian in the earth 11 The principall praise of Patience 12 By Faith we possesse Christ by Loue our neighbour by Patience our selues 13 Patience preserues the other Graces of the Spirit Tertul. de patien 14 It mittigates euill and makes heauy crosses easie August Marc. Epist. 5. August de Patien chap. 2. 15 Three waies chiefly is our Patience impugned by Sathan Bern. in coâ—…uers Pauli 16 Troubles comming from euill men should not commoue vs and why 2. Sam. 16. 12. 17 Wicked men are but