therefore eye your self less and your High-Priest more in all your Duties especially considering that 't is he who carries the names of all the Tribes of Israel upon his Breast-plate into the Holy of Holies Exod. 28. 29. 'T is he who must present your person with acceptance to his Father saying Lo here am I and the children which thou hast given me Hebr. 2. 13. Yea and 't is He that must present your actions too or they will never come with acceptance upon Gods Altar Isa 60. 7. 'T is Christs work to pick out the Weeds from the Flowers in all our Duties he takes away the Iniquity of our holy things and what Flowers and Fragrancies of his own Spirit he finds in our Duties Cant. 4. 16. those he binds up in Nosegays and so presents them to the Father for us He Eekes out all our defects with his own fulness of sweet odours Revel 5. 8. and 8. 3 presenting nothing to God but what is pleasing to him as perfumed by his Merit 12. The eighth Deceit is You may be puffed up with Pride after enlargement of Duty When Spiritual Fire is at any time vouchsafed to be sent down from Heaven upon your Heart in Duty then is Satan's time in tempting you unto Self-admiration whereby you may forfeiâ— the heart-warming presence of God at anotheâ— time This is Satan's Chymistry to bring evil out of good to wit Spiritual Pride ouâ— of a divine enlarging presence which iâ— quite contrary to God's Chymistry in bringing good out of evil to wit a sanctified Use of temporal trouble Indeed God would never suffeâ— any sort of evil Natural or Moral to be in thâ— world if he knew not how to extract somâ— good out of all evil The spirit of or spiritual Pride is the worst sort of Pride as thâ— spirit of poison is the worst sort of poyson Corruptio optimi est pessima As this sort oâ— pride is the corruption of the best thing to wiâ—â— divine Duty so it becomes to be of the worâ—â— nature Morbus Satanicus the Devils Disease 'T is the worst kinde of Theft as it is a stealing from God his declarative Glory 't was Bernard's Descant Vxor gloria viri gloria uxor Dei as the Wife is the glory of man 1 Cor. 11.7 so Glory is the wife of God and therefore God is as jealous of his Glory as a man is of his wife His Glory he will not give to annother Isa 42. 8. 12. Will a man rob God Mal. 3.8 't is as sublime an Impudence as to rob the King of his Queen and yet this you may do in robbing God of his Glory the chiefest Flower and Jewel of his Crown when you exalt your self after enlargement more than your God which is a grosser and greater Crime than that which proud Haman was charged withal Will he force the Queen before my face Esth 7. 8. Hence arose that harsh-sounding Sentence of Austin Duty damus more than Sin and Duty damus more than it saves the sound sense whereof must be this When men are found priding for duty and resting in duty the Devil deceives them and so far their duties have accidentally a damning nature especially when they are deceived with seeming for saving Duty As the Witches in Lorain which Dr. Preston speaks of were deceived by some seeming broad pieces of Gold which proved at last no better than an heap of yellow dryed leaves of the Aspin-tree thus when we write up service and God writes it up sin Satan cheats us with seeming Service and in this sence Duty accidentally madamn Duty indeed saves none that â—â— Christs work to save and not the work oâ— Duty Duties be good Evidences as Grace be but both be bad Saviours 13. Thus far of the first thing to wit the Malady The second particular is the Remedâ— briefly Would you have relief against those deceits aforesaid then take these following Rules Rule the 1. Minde the Principle youâ— act from in Duty God looks more at the principle of Duty than at the performance or Duty it self he looks not so much at what you do as with what spirit you do your duty Alas a Cain may offer sacrifice as well as an Abel Gen. 4. 3 4. and a Doeg may step as far into the Sanctuary as a David I Sam. 21. 7. yea a proud Pharisee may step far further into the Temple than a penitent Publican Luke 11. 10 11. 13. yet with differing spirits and principles All your Deeds and Duties should be made manifest that they are wrought in God Joh. 3. 21. that is from a good principle as well as from a good End Jehu did excellent things for God 2 King 10. 16. yet that which spoiled all was that all his high and noble exploits did spring from a low and ignoble spirit and principle in not pursuing Gods praise so much as his own promotion The 2. Rule is Go forth in the strength of the Lord into every Duty Psal 71. 16 Take heed of fetching Materials of Duty from your self making Duty a matter of Wit of Memory and of natural Abilities Alas this is but a lifting up your own tool upon Gods Altar which will not polish but pollute it Exo. 20. 25. Duties that are made up of parts words and wit as Abanah and Parphar rivers of Damascus may indeed scour but 't is Duty done in Gods strength as Israel's Jordan can cure the Leprosie 2 Kin. 5.12 14. As Elisha's staff in the hand of Gehazi cannot cure 2 Kin. 4. 29 31. so Duties performed never so gloriously by our own abilities cannot help what cares Satan for all their Adjurations Act. 19. 13 14 15. where he sees not feels not the evidence and demonstration of God 14. The third Rule is Never sit down satisfied in Duty without the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ Phil. 1. 19. who must help your infirmities Rom. 8. 26. Gre. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 lift with you as at a log and bearing up the heavier end of Duty for you God said betimes 'T is not good for man to be alone Gen. 2. 18. 'T is not good that man should be alone at any time but especially in Duty he stands in as much need of an helper for his Soul as he doth for his Body Martha would not serve Christ alone but she would have Christ to bid her Sister Mary help her Luke 10. 40. So do not you serve Christ alone in Duty but desire him to bid his Spirit help you therein Christ tells you 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 seorsim a me without me and my Spirit you can do nothing Joh. 15. 5. you cannot pray as you ought Rom. 8. 26. As you must do Duty from a principle of Life habitual Grace or a renewed frame of heart in Faith and Love so you must call in the help of the Spirit to excite that spring and principle crying Awake O North-wind come thou South blow upon my Garden c. Cant. 4.
to wrong healers and be nothing the better but rather the worse for them you may not onely take much pains but also suffer much pain to no purpose as the Woman did and yet go to everlasting pains if you hit not of the right healer and helper Mark 5. 26. 5. The fifth Soul-awakening Consideration is you are naturally afar off from this right healer and helper Eph. 2. 13. as all Unregenerate proud ones are Psal 138. 6. God the mighty healer Jehovah Rophekah the Almighty Physician Exod. 15. 26. knoweth the proud afar off as loathing to come near such loathsome Lepers having the botch of pride putrifying breaking and running with loathsome matter Hence God stands off from such as odious and abominable he cannot endure the sight of them The Chaldee Paraphrase is Superbos à Coelo longè propellit he thrusteth the proud far enough off from Heaven yea he driveth them down to Hell to their Father Lucifer that King of all the Children of Pride as Leviathan is called Job 31. 34. every one in the faln natural unrenewed estate is a proud Creature and would through the instigation of the Devil Gen. 35. be a God to himself and would lick his own deadly wound whole as the beast did Revel 13. 3. and so not be beholden to Christ for any Cure You must therefore be called by Grace to come near to your right healer Psal 148. 14. and be cloathed with humility 1 Pet. 5. 5. as the Woman with the issue in the Gospel was who came trembling behind her Saviour as if ashamed both of her Disease the effect and of her sin the cause of her misery and as if she would have stoln a Cure which would have been but pium latrocinium an holy stealth not wronging the owner although relieving the taker The filling of a Vessel lessens not the Fountain 6. The sixth heart-rouzing Consideration is that Christ the Christians true All-heal hath many followers and but few touchers when the Multitude throng'd him and press'd upon him there was but one to wit this Woman with her running issue that touch'd him this brings you to the remedy of the Malady which is twofold First you must get a believing touch of Christ and secondly you must keep your heart with all diligence otherwise your treasonable and treachorous heart can never be cured your issues of sin will continue running without check and controlment till your dying day and so undo you to all Eternity the first of those Remedies respects the treasonableness of your heart more especially as the second doth its treachery first of the first of them in general the Woman in the Gospel had both a long and a loathsome disease she had lavished Money out of the bag as Isa 46.6 to purchase some cure but had procured none nay she had suffered many things of the Physicians who had well-nigh officiously killed her and had utterly and altogether exhausted her she had spent all she had upon them for their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doses which signifies gifts for which she had notwithstanding paid dear even her all for them when her own means and all other means and help fail her she repairs to Christ and not before and there by a touch of faith was healed for nothing she had nothing left her to give Christ for her cure A full Christ and a nothing-creature corresponds best together 7. As the Malady of this Hemeroisse or Woman with the Bloody Flux is proportionably and mystically yours so her Remedy must be yours also if you do the like that she did you may have the same help that she had her practice must be your pattern first she is sensible of her sore sickness so must you be of the plague and filthiness of your heart 1 Kin. 8. 38. secondly she seeks and sues to the Physician so must you do the whole need not the Physician but the sick Matth. 9. 12 13. onely sensible sinners for none are truely whole though Justiciaries proudly conceit themselves to be so are capable of Cure and Comfort such as see themselves Christless Creatures cry Lord save me I perish Matth. 8. 25. and Lord be merciful unto me heal my Soul for I have sinned against thee Psal 41. 4. The Physician hath onely the face of a Man when he comes to visit you while in health but if he do so when you are sick he hath then the face of an Angel Oh welcome welcome is Christ to a sin-sick Soul till then you need not the Physician and the Physician hath as little need of you Thirdly she came humbly to him even behind him as unworthy to come before him having a legal uncleanness upon her Levit. 15. 25. so neither fit was she to touch any or to be touched by any without pollution Thus must you come in all self-abhorrency to Christ who hath respect to the lowly Psal 138. 6. but resists the lofty Jam. 4. 6. This made Augustine cry out saying Ecce magnum Miraculum c. behold a great Miracle God is on high Man lifts himself up in pride and God flyeth from him Man bows himself down in Humility then God descendeth to him the lowly he raiseth higher the lofty he thrusteth lower 8. And fourthly she came believingly to him saying If I may but touch I shall be whole This is a coming rightly to Christ to believe you shall be better by him for he proportions his performing unto your believing Mat. 8.13 As you believe so shall it be done unto you Faith hath evermore an happy hand and always speeds in one kind or other it ever hath what it would have either in Money or in Money-worth either in kind or in equivalency always ad salutem according to your weal though not always ad voluntatem according to your Will He that believeth shall not be confounded 1 Pet. 2. 6. no nor so much as ashamed Rom. 9. 33. through any disappointment this good Woman doth not onely touch Christs Garment with her bodily hand but himself also with an hand of Faith and her Faith was a very glorious Faith not much inferiour to that of the Centurion Matth. 8. 10. Go and do you likewise When you are made sensible of sin and feel the bloody flux of natural filth issuing out at your eyes mouth hands and other parts run to Christ and touch him by Faith then shall you find that Vertue comes out from him to heal your Soul but stay not afar off out of reach and touch of our Blessed Saviour 9. Having your eyes through Grace in some measure opened to behold the filthiness and treason of the hidden Man of your Heart for what signifies a Looking-glass to those that are blind in the Looking-glass of the Word then take these following Encouragements that you may come more believingly for a saving-touch to the Lord Jesus The first is That Christ was given as a Covenant or as the Angel of the Covenant Mal. 3.
beginning Joh. 8. 44. for Ahab-like he first kills and then takes possession he first Murders Gods Image in Man and then possessing himself he stamps his own fowl Image in the place of Gods glorious Image but particularly he takes possession 1. By original propagation faln Adam begets a Son in his own Image Gen. 5. 3. not onely like him as a Man but also like him as a sinful Man Job 14. 4. all elect as well as reprobate are born Children of wrath Eph. 2. 3. the Apostles we there includes all yea both Jew and Gentile all are lost in Adam till found in Christ Phil. 3. 9. 2. By actual transgression which lets down indeed the draw-bridge to let Satan enter Joh. 13. 27. getting a fuller possession of him than before Satan hath something in us though he had nothing in Christ Joh. 14. 30. that gives him possession of us The manner 3ly of Satans keeping possession of us as his own is by Conquest or rather by Cozenage he pleads prescription for it if it be asked him How long hath thy tenure been he answers Even of a Child Mark 9. 23. hence is he Lord Paramount and plays Rex in the Heart till Christ serve a Writ of Ejectment on him CHAP. IV. Of the Hearts Treachery 1. AFter 1. the Matter and 2. the Manner follows 3. the Measure how much the Heart is corrupted with Treachery and Deceitfulness the Prophet Jeremy tells you gnacob ha leb mi col 't is deceitful above all whether persons or things 1. Let me shew you how the Heart of Man is more deceitful than any deceitful person in Scripture-Record and 2. how 't is more deceitful than any deceitful thing that the Holy Scripture doth mention First of persons and they are two fold 1. Male 2. Female first of the Males and the first instance to exemplifie it by way of Allusion is Jacob and the rather because the Prophet useth the same word gnacob from whence Jacob call'd in Hebrew Jagnacob had his name Jer. 17. 9. whereby is most graphically and aptly deciphered and described that the fleshly Heart doth the same thing to the Spirit in doing of good which Jacob did to his Brother to wit catch it by the heel and supplant it as the word gnacob signifies while it is running the race of Christianity set before us Hebr. 12. 1. 1 Cor. 9. 24. Though David was as wise as an Angel of God 2 Sam. 14. 20. yet it deceived him and tripped up his heels as the word imports Psal 39. 1 2 3. and so it did Peter Joh. 13. 37 38. though he were a pillar of the Church Gal. 2. 9. yet this supplanting heart supplanted and over-turned this very pillar Oh little did those two great and good Men imagine that their own hearts had been so treacherous and deceitful 2. Therefore Jacob or Hebr. Jagnacob is the first and most fit Scriptural Allusion to demonstrate the Hearts deceitfulness as you have the name Jacob many times in Scripture so sometimes the Etymology of the name especially upon three occasions 1. From his strugling with his Brother in his Mothers Womb 2. From his beguiling him of the birth-right and then 3ly of the Blessing First of the first of thos◠The word gnacab signifies Calcaneariu◠or an Heel-Catcher and because he not onely strugled with his Brother in Rebecca's Womb for priority but also catch'd his Brother by the heel or foot-sole there as if he would have turned up his Brothers heels or at least have pull'd him back and so got to the goale of the birth before him Gen. 25. 22 26. Hosea 12. 3. therefore did his Father call him Jacob a strange presage of what he should do in supplanting Esau which signifies perfect because born with a Beard as some say or however with hair so grown as if he had been a Man already rather then a Child he was factus perfectus pilis and yet encountred by this supplanter at his Birth Thus both of them brought their own Names along with them into the World Conveniunt rebus nomina saepe suis Oftimes Names and Natures answer each other 2. Though he could not bring down his Brothers head by tripping up his heels in the Womb yet he supplants him in the World gaining the birth-right by subtilty when he was grown up which he got not by striving and strugling with him before he was born Gen. 25. 29 33. Hebr. 12. 16. 3. And then thirdly in beguiling him of the blessing as well as of the birth-right whereupon Esau himself gives the Interpretation of Jacobs Name Hache Karah Shemo Jagnacob Vajegnekebéni Zeh pagnamaiim is he not rightly called Jacob for he hath Jacobd me these two times he first supplanted me of the birth-right and now of the blessing Gen. 27. 36. yea and the good old Man his Father saith in v. 35. Thy Brother came in subtilty and hath taken away thy Blessing Esau's Gloss or Allusion may be read word for word thus My Brother may well be called an Heeler for he hath heeled me these two times that is he hath come behind me set his foot before me as runners in a race play fowl play to each others and tripped up my heels twice just so and much more than so dealeth your Gnacob or deceitful heart as the Prophet calls it with you As there was a strugling in Rebeckahs Womb so there is a Conflict in the Soul of the Elect what can you see in the Shulamite or one brought into Gods peace by Christ as the word Shulamite signifies but as it were the company of two Armies Cant. 6. 13. the Army of the flesh and the Army of the spirit both strugling for the birth-right and how doth the fleshly Heart take hold of the heel of the Spirit its Brother they are ut fratres simul jacentes in eodem utero as twinns lying both together in the same Soul This Holy David complained of and groaned under Psal 49. 5. gnaven gnakebi the same words with the Prophets Jer. 17. 9. Jesubeni The iniquity of my Heels or Supplanters do surround me with their snares alas the best of Men have some dirt of iniquity cleaving to their heels some deceitfulness of sin Hebr. 3. 13. he that is already washed needeth not save to wash his feet Joh. 13. 10. or his heel of the unrenewed part which will be playing fowl play trip up his heels and cast him down too Psal 18. 23. 4. And that not onely Zeh pagnamaiim two times as Jacob did his elder Brother who was the Priest of the Family by his birth-right but even ten times yea times without number oh how oft hath the iniquity of your heels or this Heeler your supplanting heart catched hold of your heel and pulled you back from duty not onely from the new-birth but also to hinder your growth in Grace and in your passage and progress towards Heaven nay how oft hath it tripped up your heels and brought down
than to be polluted Oh that you may imitate that little creature so devoted unto cleanness as to part with her liberty yea life rather than with her purity 11. The second thing is the Remedy against the treachery of your heart in Adversity Solomon bids you In a day of affliction consider Eccles 7. 14. that is you must when you are alone sit down pawse and ponder those things The first thing for you to consider as a good Help and Remedy is Who is the Authour of your Adversity It springs not out of the dust Job 5. 6. There is no evil in the City which the Lord hath not done Amos 3. 6. Now could you but make a believing use of the Soveraignty Justice and Graciousness of this Lord of yours from whence your Affliction cometh as his Messenger this would wonderfully hedge in your treacherous Heart from deceiving you As you must believe that your Lord is too kinde to do you harm and too just to do you wrong So likewise that he hath a Soveraign Power and Authority over you and is not bound to give an account of any of his matters unto you Job 33. 13. Oh consider that while the rod lies on your back yet 't is still in a Fathers hand He is called Pater Misericordiae a Father of Mercy but never Pater Vindictae a Father though he be called a God of Vengeance For although those whom God loves he chastens yet God doth not love to chasten He afflicts not willingly or from his heart Hebr. Lam. 3. 33. It goes as much against the heart with Him as against the hair with you hence Acts of Justice are called strange Acts with God Isai 28. 21. therefore cample not against God whose Will alone is the supreme Reason of all and 't is not only Right but 't is also the Rule of all Right Rom. 9. 20. Jer. 12. 1. 12. The second helpful Consideration is What is the End as well as Who is the Authour This Father of Spirits never chastens his Children for his own pleasure as fathers of the flesh often do â—venting their choler and disburthning themselves of that displeasure which perhaps without cause they have conceived against their children Hebr. 12. 10. But the Lord never doth so for Fury is not in him Isai 27. 4. He is a God and not man Hos 11. 8 9. Man is an angry vindictive Creature but God is full of Compassion abundant in Goodness and slow to Anger Exod. 34. 6. Nahum 1. 3. Yea a None-such God for a none-such sinner Mic. 7. 18. Though God may do with his own what he pleaseth yet doth he never over-do with them 't is a pain to him to be punishing of them In all their Afflictions he is afflicted Isa 63.9 He therefore never corrects for his own pleasure but for our profit the ground always is displeased Love and the end is always fuller embracements You may not pore upon the matter of your Adversity more than upon the end of Gods inflicting Affliction his end is always a gracious end unto a gracious Soul 't is to do you good in the latter end Deut. 8. 16. and to make you more a partaker of his Holiness Hebr. 12. 10. and of the peaceable fruits of Righteousness vers 11. to wit increase of Grace an heart left in a better frame than 't was found in which is call'd a coming out as Gold Job 23. 10. A Physician gives his Patient physick that makes him sick purges him even unto a leanness and bleeds him usque ad deliquium animi until he swoon away yet these are not the end of his undertaking but 't is to recover a more healthful state with better blood and nobler spirits accordingly may God deal with you when he findes you under a surfet of prosperity The cup your Father gives you drink it John 18. 11. that bitter potion brings sweet health 13. Consider thirdly the Measure of it as well as its End and Authour Your God will certainly correct you in measure Jerem. 30. 11. you shall not have one lash more than needs yea he will suit your burden to your back and your stroke to your strength The Jews with their Whip of three cords would rather give the Offender one lash too few than one too many that they might not exceed the number of forty stripes which were limited them by the Law Deut. 25. 3. as appears in Paul's case 2 Cor. 11. 24. They are Bastards and not Sons that have not any stripes Hebr. 12. 7 8. But there was never any son that had too many of them God had one Son only to wit Christ sine flagitio without the guilt of sinning but he never had any Son no not Christ himself sine flagello without the whip of suffering The Jews also fitted their whip to the strength or weakness of the person corrected even so doth God 2 Sam. 7. 14. beshebet Anashim Hebr. Virgâ senum aut hominum debilium I will â—hasten him with the rod of men the word signifies of old and weak men or such as are sickly who cannot strike hard and God will not do so though he can though he will be faithful to your soul yet will he not be cruel to your body for 't is but chastizing with rods not scourging with Scorpions 't is to break your sin but not your soul therefore he doth it in measure 1 Cor. 10. 13. and only by peck-peck as the Hebrew signifies Isai 27. 8. not whole bushels at once he will stay the rough wind that his tender plant may not be blown down you shall not have the whole weight of his mighty hand upon you either to crush you to pieces or to grinde you to powder 14. The fourth helpful Consideration is What is the cause or occasion of your Affliction This was it that puzzell'd Job as before Job 10. 2. You must labour to spell out Gods minde in every trouble that by his Providence befals you and hear the voice of his rod Micah 6. 9. never being satisfied with dumb crosses they have always a voice if you have but an ear they are not dumb if you be not deaf God many times points out to Man his very sin by the rod and writes his sin upon his very punishment Judg. 1. 7. that Lord of Bezek had learnt so much ingenuity as to acknowledge Gods art of Justicing in a most exact way of Retaliation his punishment did to an hair correspond with his sin The Apostle tells you that unworthy communicating was the sin which was the procuring cause of the great Mortality at Corinth 1 Cor. 11. 30. for God will be sanctified of all that draw nigh to him Levit. 10. 3. Sin is ever the occasion of Sickness and Suffering when possibly it may not be the immediate and particular cause and Sin is the cause in general when this or that particular sin is but the occasion Job's Affliction was not for a punishment of this