wonder Saint Paul was willing to be bound and dye for Christ Acts 21.13 when he knew that Christ loved him and had given himself for him Gal. 2.20 Though I will not say Paul was proud of his chain yet he was glad of it he wore it as a chain of pearle Quest Quest But how shall I get this jewel of assurance Answ Answ 1. Make duty familiar to you when the Spouse sought Christ diligently she found him joyfully Cant. 3.4 The Ordinances are the Lattice where Christ looks forth and gives the soul a smiling aspect As Christ was made known to his Disciples in the breaking of bread Luke 24.35 so in the use of holy Ordinances in the breaking of bread Christ makes a glorious discovery of himself to the soul Christs parents found him in the Temple Luk. 2.46 They who would find Christ with comfort and have the kisses of his lips shall be sure to meet with him in the Temple 2. Preserve the virginity of conscience when the glass is foule you will not poure wine into it but when it is clean so when the soul is cleansed from the love of every sin now God will poure in the sweet wine of assurance * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Socrat. Hebr. 10.22 Let us draw near in full assurance of faith having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience Guilt clips the wings of joy he who is conscious to himself of secret sin cannot draw near to God in full assurance he cannot come with boldness but blushing he cannot call God Father but Judge assurance is a flowre that grows only in a pure heart before David prayes for joy he first prayes for a pure heart Psal 51.10 Create in me a clean heart O God 3. Be much in the actings of faith the more active the childe is in obedience the sooner he hath his fathers smile if faith be ready to dye Rev. 3.2 if it be like Armour hung up or like a sleepy habit in the soul never look for assurance God will not speak peace to thee when thou art asleep it is the lively faith which flourisheth into assurance Abraham had a vigorous sparkling faith Rom. 4.18 who against hope believed in hope That is against the hope of sense he believed in the hope of the promise and how sweetly doth God manifest himself to Abraham he calls him his friend he makes him of his Cabinet-counsel Gen. 18.17 Shall I hide from Abraham the thing which I do Wouldst thou have Christ reveal his love to thee kâ—ep faith upon the wing this is the Bird which soars aloft and plucks a bunch of grapes from the true Vine 4. If Christ be all then make him so to Branch 4 you 1. Make Christ all in your understanding be ambitious to know nothing but Christ 1 Cor. 2.2 For I determined not to know any thing among you save Jesus Christ The Greek word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I judged not I did not think any thing in my judgement worth knowing in comparison of Christ Austin saith of Cicero he liked his eloquence but he could not take so much delight in reading him quia Nomen Christi non erat ibi because he could not finde the Name of Christ there what will all other knowledge avail a man at his death who is ignorant of Christ Si Christum nescis nihil est si coetera noscis What is it to have knowledge in Physick to be able with Esculapius and Galen to discourse of the causes and symptomes of a disease and what is proper to apply and in the mean time to be ignorant of the healing under Christs wings What is it to have knowledge in Astronomy to discourse of the Stars and Planets and to be ignorant of Christ that bright morning star which leads to heaven what is it to have skill in a shop and ignorant of that commodity which doth both enrich and crown what is it to be versed in Musick and to be ignorant of Christ whose blood makes atonement in heaven and musick in the conscience what is it to know all the stratagems of War and to be ignorant of the Prince of peace O make Christ all be willing to know nothing but Christ though you may know other things in their due place yet know Christ in the first place let the knowledge of Jesus Christ have the preheminence as the Sun among the lesser Planets This is the crowning knowledge Prov. 4.18 The prudent are crowned with knowledge 1. We cannot know our selves unless we know Christ he it is who lights us into our hearts and shews as the spots of our souls whereby we abhor our selves in dust and ashes Christ shews us our own vacuity and indigency and untill we see our own emptiness we are not fit to be filled with the golden oyle of mercy 2. We cannot know God but through Christ 2 Cor. 4.6 Out of Christ God is terrible he is a consuming fire it is through Christ that we know God as a friend oh then treasure up the knowledge of Christ he is the golden ladder by which we ascend to heaven to be ignorant of Christ is as if a man were poysoned and there were an herb in the garden could cure him but he is ignorant of that herb 2. Make Christ all in your affections 1. Desire nothing but Christ he is the accumulation of all good things Ye are compleat in him Col. 2.10 Christ is the Christians perfection what should the soul desire less what can it desire more * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ignatius Psal 73.25 Whom have I in heaven but thee and there is none upon earth that I desire besides thee David had his Crown and his Throne to delight in I but it was the presence of Christ he chiefly thirsted after without Christ all his other comforts were not only emptiness but bitterness 2. Love nothing but Christ love is the choycest affection it is the purest stream of the soul it is the richest jewel the creature hath to bestow oh if Christ be all love him better than all let your Rivers still run into this golden Sea Every mans heart is set upon his treasure in Christ there are unsearchable riches Ephes 3.8 Though the Angels have lived so long in heaven yet to this day they know not how rich Christ is Take the most precious pearle or Diamond that is and the Jeweller can set the full value of it he can say This is worth so much and no more but the riches of Christ are unsearchable it cannot be said he is worth so much and no more neither man or Angel are able to set the full value of the pearle of price and shall not Jesus Christ lie nearest our hearts shall he not have the cream of our love Consider 1. If you love other things when they dye your love is lost but Christ lives for ever to requite your love 2. You may love other things in the excess but you cannot
not like the Medlar which is never good till it be rotten A covetous man may be compared to a Christmas-box he receives money but parts with none till death breaks this box in pieces then the silver and gold comes tumbling out Give in time of health these are the Alms which God takes notice of and as Calvin saith putteth into his book of accounts 6. Give thankfully They should be more thankful Rule 6 that give an Alms than they that receive it We should saith Nazianzene give 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a thank-offering to God that we are in the number of Givers and not Receivers Bless God for a willing mind to have not only an Estate but an Heart is matter of gratulation MATTH 5.8 Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God CHAP. XVI Describing Heart-purity THE holy God who is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity calls here for heart-purity and to such as are adorned with this jewel he promiseth a glorious and beatifical Vision of himself they shall see God Two things are to be explained 1. The nature of Purity 2. The subject of Purity The nature of Purity 1. The nature of Purity Purity is a Sacred refined thing it stands diametrically opposite to immunditia or whatsoever defileth we must distinguish of purity 1. There is a Primitive Purity which is in God Originally and Essentially as light is in the Sun Holinesse is the glory of the Godhead * Septuag Exod 15.11 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Glorious in holiness God is the Pattern and Prototype of all holinesse 2. There is a created Purity Thus holinesse is in the Angels and was once in Adam Adams heart had not the least spot or tincture of impurity We call that wine pure which hath no sophistication and that gold pure which hath no drosse mingled with it Such was Adams holinesse it was like the wine which comes from the grape having no mixture but this is not to be found on earth we must go to heaven for it 3. There is an evangelical purity when grace is mingled with some sin like Gold in the Oare like aire in the twilight like wine that hath a dash in it like fine cloth with a course list like Nebuchadnezzars image part of silver and part of clay Dan. 2.35 This mixture God calls purity in a Gospel-sence as a face may be said to be fair which hath some freckles in it Where there is a study of purity and a loathing our selves for our impurity this is to be pure in heart Some by pure in heart understand chastity others sincerity Psal 32.2 But I suppose purity here is to be taken in a larger sence for the several kinds and degrees of holiness they are said to be pure who are consecrated persons having the oyle of grace poured upon them This Purity is much mistaken 1. Civility is not Purity a man may be cloath'd with moral vertues justice prudence temperance yet go to hell 2. Profession is not purity a man may have a name to live and yet be dead Rev. 3.1 He may be swept by civility and garnished by profession yet the Divel may dwell in the house The blazing Comet is no Star The Hypocrites tongue may be silver yet his heart stone Purity consists in two things 1. Rectitude of minde a prizing holinesse in the judgment Psal 119.30 2 Conformity of will an embracing of holinesse in the affections Psal 119.97 A pure soil is cast into the mould of holinesse holinesse is a blood runs in his veines The subject of Purity 2 The subject of purity The Heart Pure in heart Purity of heart doth not exclude purity of life no more than the pureness of the fountain excludes the purenesse of the stream But it is call'd Purity of heart because this is the main thing in Religion and there can be no purity of life without it A Christians great care should be to keep the heart pure as one would especially preserve the spring from being poysoned In a Duel a man will chiefly guard and fence his heart so a wise Christian should above all things keep his heart pure take heed the love of sin doth not get in there lest it prove mortal Doctr. Christians should above all things breath after heart-purity 1 Tim. 3.9 Holding the mystery of faith in a pure conscience justification causeth our happinesse sanctification evidenceth it Reasons for 1. Purity 2. Heart-purity 1. Reasons for Purity The Reasons for Purity are 1. Purity is a thing called for in Scripture 1 Pet. 1.16 Be ye holy for I am holy It is not only the Minister bids you be holy but God himself calls for it what should the holy God do with unholy servants 2. Because of that filthy and cursed condition we are in before purity be wrought in us we are a lump of clay and sin mingled together sin doth not only blind us but defile us it is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 filthiness James 1.21 And to shew how befilthying a thing it is 't is compar'd to a plague-soar 1 Kings 8.38 To spots Deut. 32.5 To a vomit 2 Pet. 2.22 To the infants tumbling in blood Ezek. 16.6 To a menstruous cloath Isa 30.22 which as Hierom saith was the most defiling thing under the Law All the legal washings which God appointed were but to put men in mind of their loathsomnesse before they were washed in the blood of Christ If all the evils in the world were put together and their quintescence strain'd out they could not make a thing so black and polluted as sin doth a sinner is a Divel in mans shape When Moses his Rod was turn'd into a Serpent he fled from it would God open mens eyes and shew them their deformities and damnable spots they would be afraid and flie from themselves as Serpents This shews what need we have of Purity When grace comes it washeth off this hellish filth of Ethiopians it maks us Israelites it turns Ravens into Swans it makes them who are as black as hell to become white as snow 3. Because none but the pure in heart are interested in the Covenant of Grace covenanted persons have the sprinkling with clean water Ezek. 36.25 Now till we are thus sprinkled we have nothing to do with the new Covenant and by consequence with the new Jerusalem If a Will be made only to such persons as are so qualified none can come in for a part but such as have those qualifications So God hath made a Will and Covenant that he will be our God and will settle heaven upon us by entaile but with this clause or proviso in the Will that we be purified persons having the clean water sprinkled upon us Now till then we have nothing to do with God or mercie 4. Purity is the end of our election Ephes 1.4 He hath chosen us that we should be holy not for holinesse to holinesse Rom. 8.29 Whom he did foreknow he also
a man a fearful man is versed in no posture so much as in retreating Oh take heed of this be afraid of this fear Luke 12.4 Fear not them that can kill the body Persecutors can but kill that body which must shortly dye the fearful are set in the fore-front of them that shall go to hell Rev. 21.8 Let us get the fear of God into our hearts as one wedge drives out another so the fear of God will drive out all other base fear 3. Take heed of a facil spirit a facil-spirited man will be turned any way with a word he will be wrought as wax he is so tame that you may lead him whither you will Rom. 16.18 With fair speeches they deceive the hearts of the simple A facil Christian is malleable to any thing he is like wool that will take any dye he is a weak reed that will be blown any way with the breath of men one day you may perswade him to engage in a good cause the next day to desert it he is not ex quercu sed ex salice he is made of willow he will bend every way Oh take heed of a facil spirit 't is not ingenuity but folly to suffer ones self to be abused A good Christian is like Mount Sion that cannot be moved Psal 125.1 He is like Fabricius of whom it was said a man might as well alter the course of the Sun as turn him aside from doing justice A good Christian must be firme to his resolution if he be not a fixed he will be a falling star 4. Take heed of listning to the voyce of the flesh St. Paul conferred not with flesh and blood Gal. 1.16 The flesh will give bad counsel first Saul consulted with the flesh and afterwards he consulted with the Divel he sends to the Witch of Endor oh saith the flesh the Cross of Christ is heavy there is a nail in the yoke which will tear and fetch blood be as a deaf Adder stopping your ears to the charmings of the flesh 3. Promote those things which will help to suffer 1. Inure your selves to suffering 2 Tim. 2.3 As a good Souldier of Christ endure hardship Jacob made the stone his pillow Gen. 28.18 'T is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth Lam. 3.27 The bearing of a lighter cross will fit for bearing an heavier Learn to bear a reproach with patience and then you will be fitter to bear an iron chain * Quid iste faceret in igne qui Christum rubuit in nube Saint Paul did dye daily he began with lesser sufferings and so by degrees learned to be a Martyr as it is in sin a wicked man learns to be expert in sin by degrees * Nemo repente fit turpis first he commits a lesser sin then a greater then he arrives at custome in sin then he grows impudent in sin then he glories in sin Phil. 3.19 so it is in suffering first a Christian takes up the chips of the Cross a disgrace a prison and then he carries the Cross it self Alas how far are they from suffering who indulge the flesh Amos 6.4 that lie upon beds of Ivory and stretch themselves upon their Couches a very unfit posture for suffering That Souldier is like to make but poor work of it who is stretching himself upon his bed when he should be in the field exercising his Arms * Quid dicam de his quibus cura est ut vestes bene oleant ut crines calamistro rorentur ut digiti a nulis radient si via humi dior fiat vix in cam pedes compriment Hier. What shall I say saith Hierom to those Christians who make it all their care to persume their cloaths to crisp their hair to sparkle their Diamonds but if sufferings come and the way to heaven hath any water in it they will not endure to set their feet upon it Most people are too effeminate they use themselves too nicely and tenderly those delicatuli those silken Christians as Tertullian calls them that pamper the flesh are unfit for the School of the Cross the naked breast and bare shoulder is too soft and tender to carry Christs Cross inure your selves to hardship do not make your pillow too easie 2. Be well skil'd in the knowledge of Christ a man can never dye for him he doth not know 2 Tim. 1.12 For which cause I suffer these things for I know whom I have believed Blinde men are always fearful a blinde Christian will be fearful of the Cross enrich your selves with knowledge know Christ in his Vertues Offices Priviledges see the preciousness in Christ 1 Pet. 1.7 To you that believe he is precious his Name is precious 't is as oyntment poured forth his Blood is precious 't is as balm poured forth his Love is precious 't is as wine poured forth Jesus Christ is made up of all sweets and delights Ipse totus desideria he is light to the eye honey to the taste joy to the heart get but the knowledge of Christ and you will part with all for him you will embrace him though it be in the fire an ignorant man can never be a Martyr he may set up an Altar but he will never dye for an unknown God 3. Prize every truth of God the filings of gold are precious the least ray of truth is glorious Prov. 23.23 Buy the truth and sell it not Truth is the object of faith 2 Thes 2.13 The seed of Regeneration Jam. 1.18 The spring of joy 1 Cor. 13.6 Truth crowns us with salvation 1 Tim. 2.4 If ever you would suffer for the truth prize it above all things he that doth not prize truth above life will never lay down his life for the truth The blessed Martyrs sealed to the truth with their blood There are two things God counts most dear to him his glory and his truth I will saith Bishop Jewel deny my Bishopwrick I will deny my name and credit but the truths of Christ I cannot deny 4. Keep a good conscience if there be any sin allowed in the soul it will unfit for suffering A man that hath a Bile upon his shoulders cannot carry a heavy burden guilt of conscience is like a Bile he that hath this can never carry the Cross of Christ if a Ship be sound and well rigged it will sail upon the water but if it be full of holes and leaks it will sink in the water If conscience be full of guilt which is like a leak in the Ship it will not fall in the bloody waters of persecution An house will not stand in a storm the pillars of it being rotten if a mans heart be rotten he will never stand in a storm of tribulation how can a guilty person suffer when for ought he knows he is like to go from the fire at the stake to hell-fire Let conscience be pure 1 Tim. 3.9 Holding the mystery of faith in a
Anselm say Let me rather fall into hell than sin wouldst thou keep thy heart environ it with love death cannot break this fence 3. Faith this is call'd a shield Ephes 6.16 The shield Fence 3 fenceth the head guards the vitals this blessed shield of faith preserves the heart from danger The shield defends all the Armour the Helmet and Breast-plate The shield of faith defends the other graces the Breast-plate of love the Helmet of hope the Girdle of truth When Satan strikes at a Christians heart faith beats back the blow and wounds the head of the old Serpent 1 Pet. 5.9 Whom resist stedfast in faith faith is the best safeguard faith brings in peace Rom. 15.13 Peace in believing And peace fortifies the heart Phil. 4.7 The peace of God shall keep your heart 4. A good conscience The heart is placed in the midst Fence 4 of the body and as it is strongly secured with ribs about it so it hath a film over it in which it is kept call'd by the Greeks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 To the ribs about the heart which fence it I may compare the graces to the film in which the heart is kept I may compare a good conscience this keeps the soul that nothing can annoy it Murus Aheneus esto c. Good conscience is a brazeen wall about the Castle of the heart these are the fences that keep the heart Answ 9 9. If you would have your hearts kept beg of God that he would keep them for you set not about this work in your own strength but look higher go to God he is the great Lord-Keeper Psal 121.5 The Lord is thy Keeper * Utinam ut mihi semper à dexteris fis bone Jesu Bern. it is good to go alwayes with such a Keeper this is the reason none of the Saints are lost because the Lord is their Keeper 1 Pet. 1.5 Who are kept by the power of God Every Ward hath a Guardian to keep him choose God for thy Guardan they are safe whom God keeps lock up thy heart with God and give him the Key Motives to heart-custody The Motives that may perswade us to look after the keeping of our hearts are these 1. If we do not keep our hearts the Divel will keep them shall we let Satan have them when a rude Army gets into a Town what work do they make what Rapines Plunders Massacres when Satan possesseth hearts he carries them at last violently as he did the Swine into the Sea Satan is first crafty then cruel 1. He is crafty his work is to fish for hearts and he is very subtile he hath his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his policies and stratagems 2 Cor. 2.11 1. He observes the humours of the body and layes sutable baits the Divel cannot know the heart but he may observe the temper and constitution * Novit Diabolus cui illecebras carn◠ingerat cui virus invi diae insundat omnium discurit mores Leo. he tempts a sanguine man with beauty a covetous man wich gold as the Husband-man knows what ground is fit for Barley what for Wheat Satan hath not been a Tempter so long but by this time hath gained experience having commenced Master of his black Art 2. Satan baits his hook with Religion he tempts to sin under a pretext of piety thus transforming himself into an Angel of light He tempts some to make away themselves that they may not live any longer to sin against God Who would suspect Satan when he comes as a Divine and quotes Scripture Thus cunningly doth the Divel angle for hearts 2. Having once gotten his prey he is cruel his cruelty exceeds the rage of all Tyrants we read of Hannibal Antiochus Nero who caused the Christians to be put in Coats laid over with pitch and brimstone burning all night that they might be a living Torch to them that passed by this is nothing to the unparallel'd barbarisme and cruelty of Satan his name is Apollyon Devourer he rent and tore the man in whom he was and threw him into the fire Matth. 17.15 If he was so fierce when he was chained what will he do when he hath full power when he had taken away all Jobs Estate smitten his body full of soars and thrown the house upon his children yet all this was in the Divels account but a touch of the finger Job 1.11 If the touch of his finger be so heavy what will the weight of his loyns be Oh then if Satan be so subtile in fishing for hearts and so savage when he gets mens hearts let us have a care to keep our hearts if we do not keep them Satan will keep them for us and then see what havock he will make 2. He that keeps his heart keeps his peace whence are our perturbations and disquiets but from the neglect of our spiritual watch he that keeps his heart all day may lie down in peace at night Psal 4.8 What a comfort will this be to a Christian in every condition in a low condition when he thinks thus with himself Though I have lost my friends and estate yet I have kept my heart in a sick condition we shall shortly be chained to a sick-bed but when a Christian shall keep his bed it will be no small comfort to him that he hath kept his heart in a dying condition death may take away the life but not the heart that jewel God layes claim to and it is kept for him The heavenly race 1 COR. 9.24 Know ye not that they which run in a race run all but one receiveth the prize So run that ye may obtain REligion is a business of the greatest importance the Soul which is the more Noble and Divine part is concern'd in it and as we act our part here so we shall be for ever happy or miserable the advice of Solomon in this case is most seasonable Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do do it with thy might for there is no work nor device nor wisdom in the grave whither thou goest Eccles 9.10 The business of Religion requires our utmost zeal and intension Mat. 11.12 1. Sometimes the work we are to do for heaven is set out by striving Luke 13.24 Strive to enter in at the strait gate 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 strive as in an agony strive as for a matter of life and death so Cornelius à lapide though we must be men of peace yet in matters of Religion we must be men of strife 't is an holy strife a blessed contention indeed the Apostle saith Let nothing be done 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 through strife but though strife doth not do well among Christians yet it doth well in a Christian he must strive with his own heart or he will never get to heaven 2. Sometimes our work for heaven is compared to wrestling Ephes 6.12 We wrestle not against flesh and blood but against principalities and powers c. Our life is a
Tell them in what a sad condition they are in the gall of bitterness Shew them their danger they tread upon the banks of the bottomless pit if death gives them a jog they tumble in and we must dip our words in honey use all the mildness we can 2 Tim. 2.25 In meekness instructing c. Fire melts oyntment mollifies words of love may melt hard hearts into Repentance this is soul-mercy God made a Law Exod. 23.5 that whosoever did see his enemies Ass lying under a burden he should help him On which words saith Chrysostom We will help a Beast that is fallen under a burden and shall we not extend relief to those who are fallen under a worse burden of sin 3. Soul-mercy is in reproving refractory sinners there is a cruel mercy when we see men go on in sin and we let them alone and there is a merciful cruelty when we are sharp against mens sins and will not let them go to hell quietly Lev. 19.17 Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thy heart thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy neighbour and not suffer sin upon him Fond pity is no better than cruelty Titus 1.13 Rebuke them sharply 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cuttingly the Chyrurgion cuts and lanceth the flesh but it is in order to a cure they are healing wounds so by a cutting reproof when we lance mens consciences and let out the blood of sin we exercise spiritual Chyrurgery this is shewing mercy Jude 23. Others save with fear pulling them out of the fire If a man were in the fire though you did hurt him a little in pulling him out he would be thankful and take it as a kindnesse Some men when we tell them of sin say O this is bitternesse no it is shewing mercy If a mans house were on fire and another should see it and not tell him of it for fear of waking him were not this cruelty when we see others sleeping the sleep of death and the fire of Gods wrath ready to burn about their ears and we are silent is not this to be accessory to their death 4. Soul-mercy is in praying for others This is like physick used in a desperate case and oft it recovers the sick patient James 5.16 The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much as it cures the sick body so the sin-sick soul There is a story of one who gave his soul to the Divel who was given in to the prayers of Luther When Eutychus fell down from an high loft and was taken up dead Paul fell on him * Affectus vehementia Beza that is he did effectually pray over him and he prayed him alive Acts 20.9 11. By sin the soul is fallen from an high loft viz. a state of innocency now fervent prayer oft-times fetcheth life in such a dead soul Use 1. See what a blessed work the work of the Ministry Use 1 is The preaching of the Word is nothing but shewing mercy to souls This is a mighty and glorious engine in the hand of the Lord of Hosts for the beating down of the Divels strong-holds The Ministry of the Word doth not only bring light with it but eye-salve anointing the eyes to see that light It is a sin-killing and a soul-quickning Ordinance it is the power of God to salvation What enemies are they to their own souls that oppugne the Ministry They say the people that live under the line curse the Sun and are glad when the sun sets because of its burning heat Foolish sinners curse the Sun-rising of the Ministry and are offended at the light of it because it comes near their sins and scorcheth their consciences though in the end it saves their souls Use 2 Use 2. It reproves them that have no mercy to souls Reproof 1. Evil Magistrates 2. Evil Ministers 1. Evil Magistrates who either take away the Key of knowledge * Luke 11.52 or give a Toleration to wickednesse suffering men to sinne by a Licence The meaning of Toleration is this if men will to hell none shall stop them Is not nature enough poyson'd Do not men sin fast enough but must they have such political engines as scrue them up higher in wickednesse Must they have such favourable gales from the breath of great ones as serve to carry them full sail to the Divel This is far from soul-mercy * Meminerit princeps non solum quantum sibi commissum sed quatenus permissum fit Cicero What an heavy reckoning will these Statists have in the day of the Lord 2. Evil Ministers 1. Such as have no bowels to the souls of their people They do not pity them pray for them they seek not them but theirs they preach not for love but lucre their care is more for Tythes than souls How can they be called spiritual fathers who are without bowels These are mercenarii not ministri 2. Such as feed not the souls of their people with solid truths When Christ sent out his Apostles he gave them their Text and tells them what they must preach Matth. 10.7 Preach saying the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand Upon which place saith Luther the Ministers of Christ must preach quae ad regnum coelorum conducant Things that pertaine to the Kingdom of God pardon of sin sanctification living by faith ne aliter ex ecclesiâ faciant politiam They are unmerciful to souls who instead of breaking the bread of life fill their peoples heads with very speculations and notions who rather tickle the fancy than touch the conscience and give precious souls rather musick than food 3. Such as darken knowledge with words and preach so as if they were speaking in an unknown tongue Some Ministers love to soar aloft like the Eagle and flie above their peoples capacities endeavouring rather to be admired than understood They are like some crabbed Authors which cannot be read without a Comment Indeed God calls his Ministers Ambassadors 2 Cor. 5.20 but they must not be like those Out-landish Ambassadors that cannot be understood without an Interpreter 'T is unmercifulnesse to souls to preach so as not to be understood Ministers should be Stars to give light not clouds to obscure the truth Saint Paul was learned yet plain Clearnesse and perspicuity is the grace of speech 'T is cruelty to souls when we go about to make easie things hard This many are guilty of in our age who go into the Pulpit only to tie knots and think it their glory to amuse the people this savours more of pride than mercifulnesse 4. Such as see others going on in sin but do not tell them of it When men declare their sin as Sodom it is the Ministers duty to lift up his voice like a trumpet and shew the house of Jacob their sin Isa 58.1 Zeal in the Ministry is as proper as fire on the Altar he who lets another sin and holds his peace is a man-slayer That Sentinel deserves death who sees the enemy
Judges 11.35 Alas my daughter thou hast brought me very low so may the soul say Alas my sin thou hast brought me very low thou hast brought me almost to the gates of death 3. Sickness doth eclipse the beauty of the body This I ground on that Scripture Psal 39.11 When thou with rebukes dost correct man thou makest his beauty to consume away like a Moth. The Moth consumes the beauty of the cloth so a fit of sickness consumes the beauty of the body Thus sin is a soul-sickness it hath eclipsed the glory and splendor of the soul it hath turned ruddiness into paleness that beauty of grace which once sparkled as gold now it may be said How is this gold become dim †* Lam. 4.1 That soul which once had an orient brightness in it it was more ruddy than Rubies its polishing was of Saphyr the understanding be spangled with knowledge the will crowned with liberty the affections like so many Seraphims burning in love to God now the glory is departed Sin hath turned beauty into deformity as some faces by sickness are so disfigured and look so ghastly they can hardly be known So the soul of man is by sin so sadly Metamorphiz'd having lost the image of God that it can hardly be known Joel 2.31 The Sun shall be turned into darkness Sin hath turned that Sun of beauty which shined in the soul into a Cimmerian darkness and where grace is begun to be wrought yet the souls beauty is not quite recovered but is like the Sun under a cloud 4. Sickness takes away the taste a sick man doth not taste that sweetness in his meat so the sinner by reason of soul-sickness hath lost his taste to spiritual things The Word of God is pabulum animae it is bread to strengthen wine to comfort but the sinner tastes no sweetness in the Word A childe of God who is spiritualized by grace tastes a savouriness in Ordinances the promise drops as an honey-comb Psal 19.10 but a natural man is sick and his taste is gone since the tasting of the forbidden Tree he hath lost his taste 5. Sickness takes away the comfort of life a sick person hath no joy of any thing his life is a burden to him So the sin-sick soul is void of all true comfort and his laughter is but the pleasing dream of a sick man he hath no true title to comfort his sin is not pardoned he may be in hell before night for any thing he knows 6. Sickness ushers in death it is the prologue to death sickness is as it were the cutting of the Tree and death is the falling of the Tree so this disease of sin if not cured in time brings the second death 2. What the diseases of the soul are Adam by breaking the box of original righteousness hath filled the soul full of diseases the body is not subject to so many diseases as the soul I cannot reckon them all up Psal 19.12 Who can understand his errors * Psal 40.12 Only I shall name some of the worst of these diseases Pride is the tympany of the soul lust is the feaver error the gangrene unbelief the plague of the heart hypocrisie the scurvy hardness of heart the stone anger the phrenzy malice the Wolf in the breast covetousness the dropsie spiritual sloth the green sickness apostasie the epilepsie here are eleven soul-diseases and when they come to the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the full heigth they are dangerous and most frequently prove mortal 3. The third thing to be demonstrated is that sin is the worst sickness To have a body full of plague sores is sad but to have the soul which is the more noble part spotted with sin and full of the Tokens is far worse as appears 1. The body may be diseased and the conscience quiet Isa 33.24 The Inhabitant of the Land shall not say I am sick He should scarce feel his sickness because sin was pardoned but when the soul is sick of any reigning lust the conscience is troubled Isa 57. ult There is no peace to the wicked saith my God When Spira had abjured his former faith he was put IN LITTLE EASE his conscience burned as hell and no spiritual physick that Divines did apply could ever allay that inflammation 2. A man may have bodily diseases yet God may love him Asa was diseased in his feet 2 Kings 15.23 He had the Gout yet a Favourite with God Gods hand may go out against a man yet his heart may be towards him diseases are the Arrows which God shoots pestilence is called Gods Arrow Psal 91.5 This Arrow as Gregory Nazianzene saith may be shot from the hand of an indulgent father But soul-diseases are symptoms of Gods anger as he is an holy God he cannot but hate sin he beholds the proud afar off Psal 138.6 God hates a sinner for his plague-sores Zach. 11.8 My soul loathed them 3. Sickness at worst doth but separate from the society of friends but this disease of sin if not cured separates from the society of God and Angels The Leper was to be shut out of the Camp this leprosie of sin without the interposition of mercy shuts men out of the Camp of heaven Rev. 21.8 This is the misery of them that dye in their sins they are allowed neither friend nor Physitian to come at them they are excluded Gods presence for ever in whose presence is fulness of joy Use 1 1. See into what a sad condition sin hath brought us it hath made us desperately sick Inform. nay we dye away in Branch 1 our sickness till we are fetch'd again with the water of life O how many sick bed-rid souls are there in the world sick of pride sick of lust sin hath turned our Houses and Churches into Hospitals they are full of sick persons What Davids enemies said reproachfully of him is true of every natural man Psal 41.8 An evil disease cleaveth fast unto him He hath the plague of the heart 1 Kings 8. And even those who are regenerate are cured but in part they have some grudgings of the disease some ebullitions and stirrings of corruption nay sometimes this Kings Evil breaks forth to the scandal of Religion and from this sin-sickness ariseth all other diseases * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrys de poen hom 5. Plague Gout Stone Feaver 1 Cor. 11.29 30. He that eateth and drinketh unworthily eateth and drinketh damnation to himself for this cause many are weak and sickly among you Branch 2 2. If sin be a soul-sickness then how foolish are they that hide their sins it is folly to hide a disease * Insipientium malus pudor ulcera celat Job 31.33 40. If I covered my transgression as Adam by hiding my iniquity in my bosome let thistles grow instead of wheat c. The wicked take more care to have sin covered than cured if they can but sin in private and not be suspected they
pure conscience A good conscience will abide the fiery trial this made the Martyrs flames beds of Roses good conscience * Murus abaeneus esto Nil conscire sibi is a wall of brass with the Leviathan it laughs at the shaking of a Spear Job 41.29 Let one be in Prison good conscience is a Bird can sing in this Cage Austin calls it the Paradise of a good conscience 5. Make the Scripture familiar to you Psal 119.50 The Scripture well digested by meditation will fit for suffering The Scripture is a Christians Palladium his Magazine and Fort-royal it may be compar'd to the Tower of David on which there hang a thousand Bucklers Cant. 4.3 From these brests of Scripture divine strength flows into the soul Col. 3.16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly Hierom speaks of one who by frequent studying the Scripture made his breast bibliothecam Christi the Library of Christ The blessed Scripture as it is an honycomb for comfort so an armory for strength first the Martyrs hearts did burn within them by reading the Scripture †* Luke 24.32 and then their bodies were fit to burn The Scripture armes a Christian both against tentation and persecution 1. Against Tentation Christ himself when he was tempted by the Divel ran to Scripture for armour it is written Three times he wounds the old Serpent with this sword Hierom saith of Saint Paul he could never have gone through so many tentations but for his Scripture-armour Christian art thou tempted go to Scripture gather a stone hence to sling in the face of a Goliah-temptation art thou tempted to pride read that Scripture 1 Pet. 5.5 God resisteth the proud art thou tempted to lust read James 1.15 when lust hath conceived it bringeth forth sin and sin when it is finished bringeth forth death 2. Against persecution When the flesh draws back the Scripture will recruit us it will put armour upon us and courage into us Rev. 2.10 Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer behold the Divel shall cast some of you into prison that ye may be tried and you shall have tribulation ten dayes be thou faithful unto death and I will give thee a Crown of life O saith the Christian I am afraid to suffer Feare none of those things thou shalt suffer But why should I suffer I love God and is not this sufficient nay but God will try your love it is that ye may be tried Gods gold is best tried in the Furnace But this persecution is so long No it is but for ten dayes it may be lasting but not everlasting What are ten dayes put in the ballance with eternity But what am I the better if I suffer what comes of it I will saith God give thee a Crown of life Though thy body be Martyr'd thy soul shall be Crown'd But I shall faint when trials come My grace shall be sufficient 2 Cor. 12.9 The weak Christian hath Omnipotency to under-prop it 6. Get a suffering frame of heart Quest What is that Quest Answ A self-denying frame Answ Matth. 16.24 If any man will come after me let him deny himself and take up the Cross Self-denial is the foundation of godliness and if this be not well laid the whole building will fall If there be any lust in our souls which we cannot deny it will turn at length either to scandal or apostasie Self-denial is the thread which must run along through the whole work of Religion the self-denying Christian will be the suffering Christian let him deny himself and take up his Cross For the further Explication of this I shall do two things 1. Shew what is meant by this word deny 2. What is meant by self 1. What is meant by deny the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to deny signifies to lay aside to put off to annihilate ones self Beza renders it abdicet seipsum let him renounce himself 2. What is meant by self Self is taken four wayes 1. Worldly self 2. Relative self 3. Natural self 4. Carnal self 1. A man must deny worldly self that is his estate Matth. 19.27 Behold we have forsaken all and followed thee The gold of Ophir must be denied for the pearle of price Let their money perish with them said that noble Marquess of Vico who esteem all the gold and silver in the world worth one houres communion with Christ 2. A man must deny RELATIVE SELF his dearest Relations if God calls if our nearest alliance father or mother stand in our way and would hinder us from doing our duty we must either leap over them or tread upon them Luke 14.26 If any man come to me and hate not father and mother and wife and children c. he cannot be my Disciple Relations must not weigh heavier than Christ 3. A man must deny natural self he must be willing to become a sacrifice and make Christs Crown flourish though it be in his ashes Luk. 14.26 Rev. 12.11 They loved not their lives unto the death Jesus Christ was dearer to them than their own heart-blood 4. A man must deny carnal self this I take to be the chief sense of the Text. 1. He must deny self-ease the flesh cries out for ease it is loth to put its neck under Christs yoke or stretch it self upon the Cross the flesh cries out there is a Lyon in the way Prov. 22.13 We must deny our self-ease they that lean on the soft pillow of sloath will hardly take up the Cross 2 Tim. 2.3 Thou as a good Souldier of Christ endure hardness We must force a way to heaven through sweat and blood Caesars Souldiers did fight with hunger and cold 2. A man must deny self-opinion every man by nature hath an high opinion of himself he is drunk with spiritual pride and a proud man is unfit for suffering he thinks himself too good to suffer What saith he I that am of such a noble descent such high parts such repute and credit in the world shall I suffer a proud man disdains the Cross oh deny self-opinion how did Christ come to suffer He humbled himself and became obedient unto death Phil. 2.8 Let the Plumes of pride fall 3. A man must deny self-confidence Peters confidence undid him Matth. 26.33 34. Though all men shall be offended because of thee yet will I never be offended though I should dye with thee yet will I not deny thee How did this man presume upon his own strength as if he had more grace than all the Apostles besides his denying Christ was for want of denying himself oh deny thy own strength Sampsons strength was in his locks a Christians strength lies in Christ he who trusts to himself shall be left to himself he who goes out in his own strength comes off to his own shame 4. A man must deny self-wisdom †* Renunciet proprio ingenio Beza We read of the wisdom of the flesh 2 Cor. 1.12 Self-wisdom is carnal