not be perswaded nor gathered to him but reject and contemn him and take Counsel against him They bid him stand off and depart they deâ—ire Job 21. 14. not the knowledge of his ways abuse his Ambassadors Acts 26. 18. 2 Tim. 2. 26. Psal 139. 21. Job 8. 44. that are sent to treat of Peace and List themselves under the Command of Gods utter Enemy the Devil and rise up in Arms â—nd open Rebellion against him When God is for Peace they â—re for War 2. On Gods part Who as he is a just Enemy so â—ver an Enemy to all impenitent â—inners He is strange to them â—eeps at a distance and withâ—raws from them knows them afar off and is Angry Isa 57. 17. Ps 138. 6. Psal 7. 11. Ps 18. 26. Isa 1. 11. 59. 2. Psal 5. 5. 11. 5. Psal 146. 9. Psal 1. ult 2 Cor. 5. 19. Prov. 15. 8. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with them Curses their Blessings rejects their Services and counts them an Abomination hates them and walks contrary to them has a Controversie with them Proclaims his Hos 5. 6. Jer. 25. 31. 1 Pet. 5. 5. Displeasure against them and reâ—sts them in open Battel array turns their way upside-down and causes it to perish They are Outlaw'd Enemies God had no Friends among Men untill he made Friends out of Enemies He was in Christ reconciling the World unto himself 3. Darkness Adam at first was made a Son of Light the Candle of the Prov. 20. 27. Monstrum ingens cui lumen ademptum Eph. 4. 18. Lord was put into him but affecting the Tree of Knowledge above that of Life he brought Darkness upon himself and all his Posterity All that are brought out of this state are Light in the Lord they Eph. 5. 8. were blind but now they see John 9. 25. but they that are not are Darkness Rev. 16. 10. in the Devil the Prince of Darkness whose Kingdom is full of Darkness they are not onely dim of sight but stark blind Children of Darkness doing the works of Darkness which lead to Eternal Darkness 4. Poverty Adam at first was the Rich Heir Rev. 3. 17. of the World and Lord possessor of all but by sin he became a Bankrupt and then Justice seized on him as the Creditor on his Debtor and turn'd him the unjust Minimè natus at maximè dilectus Possessor out of all he was not the first-born yet had a double Portion but by losing all at one cast he fell into decay and became the first-born of the Poor Isa 14. 30. He was undone and all his Posterity had been ruin'd with him had not Christ the Jewel of the Imperial Crown been parted with to discharge the Debt All that are brought out of this Rev. 3. 18. state are Rich and have all things but they that are not are indigent Beggars without substance Isa 40. 20. or true Riches having no Oblation to offer unto God nor any thing of their own to satisfie that double Debt which they owe viz. of Obedience as Creatures and of Satisfaction as Sinners 5. Nakedness Adam at first was arrayed with Ezek. 16. 7. Rev. 3. 17. the resplendent Robe of Righteousness he wanted neither external nor internal Ornaments but sin the Mother of shame defiled them both and the Devil as a Conquerour with his Captive in War stript him of all those Ornaments and left him naked All that are brought out of this state are clothed with the Robes of Christs Righteousness Solomon in all his Glory was not arrayed Mat. 6. 29. like one of these but they that are not are in the Raggs of Nature filthy Raggs which as filthy defile and as Raggs cannot hide nor cover the shame of Rev. 3. 18. their Nakedness Sin left us and Christ found us as the Man in the Gospel Naked and out of our Wits 6. Bondage Adam at first had perfect freedom Acts 8. 23. and was in bondage to none but Sin brought him and all his Gal. 4. 4. Posterity into it a Yoak that neither he their Father was nor they his Children are able to bear All that are brought out of this state are made Free by Christ John 12. 31. the Devil is cast out and Rules not as a King though sometimes he may as a Tyrant but they that are not are Slaves not onely near to Slavery but actually in it they may say with the Jews that they were never in Bondage to any but they are and that in Soul and Body too The Moralist says if the great ones of the World were divested of their Robes it would plainly appear what Slaves they were but all both great and small high and low with all their outward Ornaments are Slaves they were so before they came out of the Prison of the Womb and greater when out of it than when there to Sin and the Devil 1. To Sin Not onely Pride but every sin else as a Chain compasses them Psal 73. 6. about for they are in the Bond of Iniquity sold under it and Bond-servants to it So many Lusts so many Masters and every one give contrary Commands 2. To the Devil John 14. 30. Acts 26. 18. Eph. 2. 2. 2 Cor. 4. 4. 2 Tim 2. ult He is the strong Man and Prince of this World that has Snares by which he takes them Captive and a Power by which he Rules over them as a Tyrant over his Vassals from whom he exacts Tribute as a Master over his Servants who are under his Command as a Conquerour over his Captives who are led by him at his will and as a Father over his Children from whom he expects Obedience they are not onely Children of the Devil but 1 John 3. 10. Slaves to him They are his by possession though Gods by right 7. Death Adam at first was alive but when the Devil the first-born of Death as Prince of Death and first Condemn'd to it devour'd Job 18. 13. 38. 17. his strength the Gates of Death viz. present and certain Death Temporal on his Body and Spiritual on his Soul were opened to him and but a step there was Rom. 5. 12. betwixt him and Eternal Death All that are brought out of this Gal. 2. 20. Eph. 2. 1. Rom. 6. 11. Ma. 8. 22. Rom. 7. 9. Rev. 3. 1. state are alive in Christ alive by him and alive to him but they that are not are dead not onely sick weak or diseased but dead They may be indeed alive as to their own Opinion so Paul for a time was and in the Opinion of others so the Church of Sardis was and may be alive as to sinful works living in them and to them but this their Life is their Death for it is not a Physical Death which is a loss of the Faculties but a Moral one which is a loss of the goodness of them Sin cast Adam and
to cure you 4. Poverty So great is the Poverty you are fallen under by sin and so low are you brought by it that all the Creatures on Earth are not able no nor all the Angels in Heaven to raise you or set you up again nothing less than the Riches of Heaven and Treasures of a Deity can and Christ onely has them who became poor for our sakes that we through his poverty might be rich and therefore to 2 Cor. 8. 9. Rev. 3. 18. him you must go that you may be enriched by him Of other Riches the promise is conditional onely but of these it is absolute but then you must come and buy them and you need not Isa 55. 1. fear for it is a buying without Money all the price is a will to accept them 5. Nakedness Tamar when deflowred rent 2 Sam. 13 18 19. her Virgin Robe and sin by defiling the Soul rent off the beautiful Garment that Virgin Robe of Innocency with which it was cloath'd but Christ is not onely Armour for defence against weakness an Ornament for Beauty against Deformity but a Vesture for covering against Nakedness and therefore you must by Faith put him on if you would be cloathed with Salvation not for Rom. 13. ult an out-side Garment of Profession onely or in shew but in reality not as a covering for sin but for Righteousness in Justification and for Holiness in Sanctification as a defence against the guilt and power of it that your nakedness may not be uncovered nor your shame seen Your own Righteousness like the curtail'd Clothes of David's 2 Sam. 10. 4 5. Ambassadors sent to Comfort Hanun is imperfect scanty and too short to do it Christ's Righteousness onely can and without it you can never obtain the Blessing Gen. 27. 15 27. for as you came Spiritually naked into the World so if you go out so you will be covered Dan. 12. 2. with everlasting shame Onely this you must remember that though Christs Righteousness is a Garment large enough to cover you yet the Rags of Nature must be pull'd off before that Robe will come on for it will come upon none but a naked Soul 6. Bondage A cruel Bondage worse than that of the Israelites in Egypt for it is to Sin and the Devil the worst of Tyrants and without the least degree of Ease or Liberty He in the Gospel that was Mark 5. 3 4. Luke 4. 13. possessed could break all Chains asunder but those of the Devil and from other Bondage you may be able to redeem your self but from this you cannot either by your self or others but by Christ onely the Angel of Redemption 1 Pet. 1. 18 19. and great Redeemer that paid the price of your Ransom You are not free-born but made so and by none but by him John 8. 36. and therefore you must by Faith go unto him that you may be so if he make you free you shall be free indeed but unless he do you must be a Slave for ever Other Slaves after their Service have Freedom or by Death obtain it but they that die in this are so for ever their Chains are Jude 6. everlasting You must be either a King to Rev. 5. 10. God or Slave to the Devil 7. Death Sin 's sickness was to Death but Christ the Heavenly Physician came down to raise the dead in sin to life again you were kill'd in the first Adam and may be made alive in the second but not untill by Faith you receive him for he that hath not the Son of God hath 1 John 5. 12. not life It is the life of Heaven in you that will bring you to that Heavenly Life and therefore without this Life of Grace you can have no sure hope of the Life of Glory the Title to that is by Christ and the Title to Christ is by this so that unless here you are Spiritually alive by him you John 3. 3. cannot hereafter live with him All that dye in sin are buried in Hell 8. Wrath. Not the wrath of Men no not of the greatest of them nor of Devils but of God a wrath that cannot be withstood for it Psal 90. 11. is irresistible nor endured for it is intolerable it cannot be comprehended much less endur'd nor either avoided or appeased but by Christ who came to deliver from it and to be as a shadow 1 Thes 1. 10. 5. 9. Cant. 2. 3. from the scorching heat of it There is no way to Mercy but by deliverance from wrath nor any way to that but by laying hold on Mercy nor any way to Quarendus est Deus in Pradicamento relationis Mercy but by Christ for God is the Father of Mercy as he is the Father of Christ and therefore Luke 3. 7. if you would flee from this wrath you must flee to Christ who appeas'd it and brank that bitter Cup off to the bottom that you might never taste of it Mat. 26. 39. Nothing but his Blood could quench that flame of wrath 3. Duty when recovered out of Misery All Priviledges whether Temporal or Spiritual Civil or Religious oblige to Duty in themselves they are engagements to it and should be so to all that are Interested in them Spiritual Priviledges are of all the highest and most obliging they are given to engage to Duty they afford the best means and advantages to it they aggravate sin and become a Curse instead of a Blessing where they are not effectual to it for as Mercy abounds so sin against Mercy abounds also A change in state calls for a Nova vita novos mores postulat change in Life and a new condition requires a new conversation If then you are cleansed by the Blood of Christ from all sin keep your self pure and unspotted from James 1. ult sin and the world If the Enmity betwixt God and Eph. 2. 16. you upon the account of sin is slain by Christ be subject to Rom. 8. 7. his Laws and live as one reconciled to him that all your Services Prov. 15. 8. may be accepted by him He that will not accept a gift Mat. 5. 23 24. of one at enmity with his Brother will much less accept it from any at enmity with himself If you are called out of darkness into his marvellous light 1 Pet. 2. 9. Eph. 5. 8. shew forth the praises of him who has called you out of darkness by walking as a Child of light If through his poverty you are 2 Cor. 8 9. 1 Tim. 6. 18. Prov. 14. 21. made rich be rich in good works and have mercy on the poor If you are released from your spiritual Bondage stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ has made you free and be not intangled again with the Yoke of Bondage Gal. 5. 1. to sin and the lusts of Men. If by Faith you have received Christ
World or as the three stretches of the Prophet Elijah or 1 King 17. 21 22. the Widow of Zarephaths dear Son a means to put Life into them who by Nature are as truly dead Spiritually as that Child was Naturally 1. Knowledge of Misery Sense of sin and Misery by i◠alone will do no good nor any thing without it for the foundation of Happiness is laid in it◠The knowledge of a Disease make◠way to a Cure and sense of Misery is the first step to Mercy we usually say it is most miserable to have been happy but in this it is the happiness of sinners to know their misery and their greatest misery if they do not 2. Knowledge of the way or means of recovery out of Misery None but Sinners need Mercy and none but sensible sinners will seek for it but yet they cannot seek it aright unless they know the way to it no more than they can find it unless they seek it the Diseased Woman in the Gospel Mat. 9. 20 21 22. was sensible of her Bloody Issue before she came to Christ and came to him before she was healed by him it was not barely the apprehension of her Disease but the apprehension of her Disease and of Christ her Physician that cured her None so fit to seek for Mercy as humbled sinners and none but such will but yet unless they do they cannot have it 3. Knowledge of Duty when redeemed from Misery Conversion is a change from one contrary to another not from one sin to another that is Hypocrisie but from 〈…〉 contrary one to another from the privation to the habit from Darkness to Light and from Death to Life this new state calls for a new life and all that are brought into such a state must live sutably to it they must not be always 1 Thes 2. 12. Eph. 5. 8. 1. Pet. 2. 9. sinners because they were sometimes so for once is above any Indulgence granted 1. Knowledge of Misery Sense of Misery is necessary not to merit Mercy but to qualifie for it not to fit the God of Mercy to give it but the necessitous sinner to receive it Now the misery of all by Nature is best known as one contrary compar'd with another by considering the happiness of Man in his state of Innocency When God had made the World and richly furnish'd it with all things for Necessity and Delight he then made Man not in the Image of any inferior Creature Gen. 1. 26. but in his own which Image was both outward and inward consisting partly in his Body and partly in his Soul Partly in his Body As it was So admirable a Structure that Galen a Heathen made a Hymn of Praise to God that made it an Instrument of Righteousness and a frame of admirable composure containing so many Miracles as Members so many perfections as parts and in some degree resembling the Majesty of God Partly and chiefly in his Soul by an inward resemblance of it to God not onely in the Spiritual Nature of the Soul but in the Natural Faculties Properties and Endowments of it viz. Knowledge Righteousness and True Holiness 1. Knowledge in his Understanding Of all that was needful for his state of Perfection and Happiness viz. A knowledge of God and his Excellencies of himself as to the Nature of every Faculty of his Soul and both the temper and use of every Member of his Body and of all other Creatures both as to Nature and Kind and how to carry himself uprightly to God and them 2. Righteousness in his Will A Natural Inclination with a power perfectly dispos'd to the whole will of God and to every thing that was just right and good without any reluctancy and of himself to will nothing that was not so 3. Holiness in his Affections Being free from all Disorder Sin and Impurity rejoycing in the love and bounty of God loving him as the chiefest good in himself and as the Author of all his As soon as Adam was made God planted a Garden in Eden in Gen 2. 7. 8. 15 16 17. which was every Tree pleasant to the sight and good for Food the Tree of Life also in the midst of the Garden and the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil and put him into it to dress and keep it and entred into a Covenant of Life with him called a Covenant of Works upon condition Gal. 3. 12. of perfect Obedience forbidding him to eat of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil upon pain of Death God might have dealt with him in a way of absolute Soveraignty and required Obedience from him without any promise of Reward but he did not for he entred into a Covenant with him containing a Precept Threatning and Promise A Precept requiring perfect and perpetual Obedience A Threatning denouncing death if he did not obey it A Promise assuring Life if he did and though the promise is not so clearly expressed as the threatning yet as strongly and truly imply'd for if Adam must die if he disobeyed he should certainly live if he did not The Death threatned was Temporal Spiritual and Eternal the first in the separation of the Soul Gen. 2. 17. 3. 19. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In dying thou shalt dye and all kinds of Death were threatned from the Body the second in the separation of the Soul from God the third in the separation of the Soul and Body from God for ever one from the presence of his Grace here the other from that of his Glory hereafter The Life promised imply'd a continuance of his present Life and the assurance of one to come a confirmation of his present happiness and a translation at last to a greater and better The present Life enjoy'd was two-fold one as a Man and a Creature the other as a perfect and upright Man The first consisting in the Union of Soul and Body the second in a Union betwixt God and the Soul The Life to come was a perfect immutable and eternal happiness both of Soul and Body with God through a perfect likeness to him and an immediate vision and fruition of him in Heaven to all Eternity Adam being a glorious and excellent Creature by Creation and endow'd with a power and will to obey stood bound to obey both by the Law of Nature and the Rom. 2. 14 15. positive Law and Command from God which obliged him to it But being made with a freedom of will viz. a liberty of its own accord to choose or refuse to do or not to do to stand or fall at his own choice without constraint or force from any and being mutably good his will though naturally dispos'd to good only yet being mutable and changeable it might be altered and become evil as it did for through the Temptation of the Eccles 7. 29. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Devil the perswasion of Eve and Pride a desire to be as
semper incipit à fine 1 Cor. 10. 31. let it be so to you mind it as your chief good the supream end and chief good are one refer all the general and particular actions of your Life to it ultimately the end makes the means lovely make all other Finis dat amabilitatem medis finis impeliit agentem finis est summe appetibilis finis ultimus dat ordinem mensuram Prov. 6. 21. Ps 63. 8. Numb 6. 14 24. Eccles 9. 10. Rom. 12. 11. 1 Tim. 5. 10. Mat. 6. 33. Psal 63. 1. things subservient to it and let this as Commander in Chief give Laws to all carry the remembrance of it always in your mind place it next to your Heart and uppermost in your thoughts be diligent in it and prosecute the Interest of it both fully and earnestly not as the last and least business of your Life but as the first and greatest viz. in order and dignity not secondarily but primarily before all other things and above them Two principal ends can never consist together Two things may encourage you to this work and in it 1. Strength is promised to it 2. A Reward attends it 1. Strength is promised to it Tripho the Jew in his Dispute against Justin Martyr tells him that those Precepts Christ left about the Duties of Religion were so harsh and burdensome that he would have but few if any Disciples and many there are that either through mistake think they find this stumbling-block in the way of Religion and cannot get over it or lay it there and will not it is true to carnal minds by reason of the contrariety of their Nature to Religion through Rom. 7. 14 22. the corruption that is in them and by reason of custom in sin which makes the contrariety stronger the work 's difficult and uneasie but to them that are renewed it is not or if so at first yet by use it becomes pleasant and delightful for Christs Yoke by constant wearing grows easie Mat. 11. 29. Grave dum tollis suave cum tuleris But if it were not so yet strength shall be given to it that will make it so In the Body where there is a vein to convey Blood there is an Artery to convey Spirits and in the Scripture Deut. 10. 16. 30. 6. Phil. 2. 12 13. where there is a Command to work there is a promise of strength to it what is a Command in one place is a Promise in another Now difficult work and easie are both alike if a sutable and proportionable strength be given Ezek. 18. 31. 36. 26. to the performance of it 2. A Reward attends it viz. Of Honour Pleasure Profit and Peace 1. Of Honour There was no way to the Temple of Honour among the Romans Psal 45. 9. 149. 9. but through the Temple of Vertue nor is there any coming to Honour now in the Prov. 13. 5. 14. 34. 1 Thes 4. 4. Rom. 6. 21. broad way of sin but in the narrow way of Religion for as the future issue of sin is Death so the present fruit is shame Indeed the Enemies of Religion who fetch their Scutcheon out of the Devils Herald-Office count sin their Honour and glory in their shame but God who is the Fountain of all true Honour Prov. 21. 21. places it in Righteousness and Holiness he is Glorious in Holiness and if it be his Honour it may well be esteemed yours this is John 5. 44. the onely true Honour and it cometh from God only and if by 1 Sam. 2. 30. this you Honour him you shall be everlastingly honoured by him a Spirit of Glory shall rest on you 1 Pet. 4. 14. here and a Crown of Glory be put upon you hereafter All seek Honour and some to Honor calcar babet the loss of their Lives and Souls but none but the Religious truly find it 2. Of Pleasure The Enemies of Religion think if once they espouse the profession of it that all Joy and Mirth must be cast out as the Minstrels were by Christ out of the Rulers House when he came to raise his Mat. 9. 23 25. Daughter to Life but they are much mistaken for Christ the increated wisdom of the Father 1 Cor. 1. 24. Prov. 3. 17. says that the ways of wisdom have pleasure in them not the end onely but the way and not some one way onely but all the ways and every step in them are not onely pleasant but pleasantness yea pleasantnesses having all pleasures that are good both as to kind and degree in it The Sheep has delights as well as the Swine though it wallows not with the Swine in the mire and the Religious their pleasures though none that are vain and sensual All look for pleasure in Life and most think there is no Life without it but the Religious only find it 3. Of Profit Religion brings gain this the Job 1. 9. 10. 1 Tim. 6. 6. Devil could not deny when he accused Job of Hypocrisie now the praise of an Enemy is as Aristotle Psal 37. 4. says a universal good Report and this God has assured Mat. 19. 28. 29. Mark 10. 29 30. to all the sincere Professors and Friends of it and that no ordinary gain neither but an increase greater than the World can promise or secure for it is a hundred fold not ten in the hundred but a hundred upon ten a hundred to one use upon use viz. either in kind or vertue in this World and in the World to come Life eternal You may lose something for Mat. 6. 33. 1 Cor. 3. 22 23. Religion but you shall never lose any thing by it for if God be yours all things are yours all things conditionally if he absolutely The Offerings of Old increased 2 Chron. 31. 9 10. their store 4. Of Peace The Enemies of Religion talk Prov. 3. 7 17. Psal 119. 165. much of their Peace but without any Reason for there is no Peace to them in that they are Enemies to the God of Peace without the Spirit of Peace and therefore without Peace the fruit of Isa 48. 22. the Spirit and Fighters against Christ the Prince of Peace who speaks Peace not to his Enemies that commit folly but to his Subjects Psal 85. 8. that return no more to it Joy as the Philosopher says is the shadow of all Vertue as inseparable perhaps from it as the shadow from the Body and the fruit of Righteousness as the Apostle says is Peace there is James 3. 18. Rom. 3. 17. no Peace without it and all true Peace in it and it is worth the having for it abides not onely in Life but at Death too The end of the upright is Peace Psal 37. 37. Peace in Life is a rare Blessing but at Death a greater and was there no other benefit in this World to be got by Religion it is
turn not from their Sins they shall dye in them but if they are not warned by you their Blood will be required at your hands The Jews brought a Curse upon themselves and their Posterity by crying out His Blood be upon us and our Children and so will you upon your self and Children by your neglect of them Do you think you shall not have Sins enough of your own to answer for that by your Sin bring the Guilt of theirs upon you Is there no Devil to tempt them to sin or do you think he cannot effectually do it unless you assist him in it Is it a Reproach to be the child of a Whore and is it none to be a Child of the John 8. 44. Devil Is the Birth of such infamous in the eyes of the World and should not the Life of the other be much more so in yours Is there no hand to murder them but your own nor any other way to shew your Love to them but by destroying them and your self too Are Harlots condemned by all for destroying the Bodies of their Children and should not those wicked Parents be so too who through a neglect of them murder their Souls Was it an act of Cruelty to drive Children into the Fire and Water as the Lev. 18. 21. Ezek. 16. 20 21. Jews did to Molech and the Heathen to Saturn and is it none by sacrificing them to the Devil to drive them into Hell is there no love but in going to Hell together or will it not be enough that they go thither unless you go too for company will it be any pleasure to hear them when there telling you what a bloody and cruel Father you was to them in not shewing them the evil of Sin and the misery that did attend it If now you cannot well endure to hear them cry do but think how much less able you will be to hear it in Hell for ever You may then when too late with a little Variation complain and speak truly what Lamech did scoffingly that Gen. 4. 23 24. you have slain Children to your wounding and young Children to your hurt therefore that you may not be careful to make your Family as a Nursery for Heaven Ps 127. 3. and educate your Children as God's Heritage that you may say Gen. 33. 5. with comfort at the great day Lord here am I and the Children which thou hast graciously given thy Servant It is one thing to be blessed with Children and another thing to be blessed in them THE POSTSCRIPT MAny more things I had prepar'd for you but the Book being already bigger than at first I thought it would have been I shall only here give you the Heads of some of them Life is the Crown of all earthly Blessings as Health is the fairest and brightest Jewel upon that Crown a Blessing that none but God can give Pharaoh's Magicians Ex. 8. 18. could not give Life to a Louse a Blessing that any thing will be given to secure when in danger Job 2. 4. of being lost all that a man has will he give for his Life and that all both Good and Bad Rich and Poor Young and Old sooner or later greatly value and unwillingly part with yet I would not have you with Herodotus do nothing else but attend the Health of your Body nor be so busie about the good of a natural Life as to neglect the Concerns of that which is eternal nor yet to neglect it or willingly to do any thing that may destroy it for this would be to sin against your Soul as well as your Body and to do that viz. to please the Devil at your Death which all wicked Men do in their Lives Therefore Phil. 1. 23. Nec propter vitam vivendi perdere causam neither on the one hand over-value it nor on the other hand neglect it but be thankful for it and make good use of it and this by living to the end of living Then a temporal Life is well improv'd when spent to secure the Life that is eternal There is nothing will make you more useful while you live than Learning Paul was the most learned of all the Apostles and God made most use of him and there is nothing I desire more as to this world than that you may attain to an Eminency in it and that you may you must diligently seek after it for it will not be got without much labour He that would be a good Scholar must as Isocrates says have six Properties He must be one of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 good Parts of a strong Memory a Mover of Doubts a Listner to the Sayings or Speeches of others a Delighter in his Studies and laborious in it All excellent things are fenced about with difficulty Plato is said to have brought Vtrumque jungendo perfecisse laudatur Philosophy to perfection by joyning contemplative and moral Philosophy together in which Pythagoras and Socrates excell'd and the Philosopher makes it the most necessary Head and first Principle of Philosophy to know how to use Principles and it will be your Wisdom and therefore should be your Design in all your Studies to bring them to practice that you may not be upbraided as the Athenians were by Anacharsis for using their money only to count and their Knowledge only to know Practice will be blind unless Idem est non habere non uti it see with the eyes of Knowledge and Knowledge will be useless unless it walk on the feet of Practice like his Musick that was understood by none but himself Make the Stock Learning and you may graff what you will upon it but if you will take my advice let it be Divinity When God sent his Son into the Luk. 4. 18. World he sent him to Preach and had I never so many I should esteem it my greatest Honour as well as theirs if they were qualified for that Office truly call'd to it and faithful in it Two things made Christ a Minister Isa 61. 1. Joh. 6. 27. viz. Unction and Commission and no less makes one now for None are truly call'd to it unless qualified for it nor though qualified for it are any of Christ's Ministers unless authoriz's to it Therefore 1. Before you enter upon that Office be qualified for it and called to it Gifts qualifie for it You cannot teach others unless you be first taught your self A Call commissionates to it Without a Call you will like hasty Ahimaaz run without your 2 Sam. 18. 19 20. 29. Errand 2 When you have entred upon the Office be faithful in it Do not enter upon the Office Sacerdos 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sacerdotium otium as of old the Eccho sounded as a Trade to get by nor through Idleness neglect it when you have entred upon it but out of a Zeal Mat. 5. 14. 2 Corin. 12. 15. for God and the Good of Souls be
willing to spend and be spent like a Taper that consumes it self by giving Light to others A good Minister is a Light and his Motto must be Lucendo pereo or that of the Phoenix Dum pario pereo Qui sibi nequam cui bonus Heb. 13 4. Be a good Minister for the good of others and a good Man for your own Marriage is honourable in all and Parentage Parts and Portion are good Ingredients in a Match but not the principals to guide your choice let not therefore your Affections so far bribe your Judgment as to put you upon the choice of a Wife for Money or Beauty only but for Religion the best and strongest Marriage-knot so strong that it cannot be cut asunder for they that are thus joyned together neither Life nor Death can part Never pawn your Honesty to please your Fancy If you marry and live to have Children and have any thing to give them give them what you can spare while you are alive or at last they will thank Death for it and not you If you have nothing to give them or whether you have or have not leave them under God's Blessing and you will leave them rich A Table though never so richly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 adorn'd and furnish'd with Food differs according to the Greek Proverb nothing from a Manger therefore how meanly soever your Table is furnish'd with Food let it be furnish'd with good Discourse that all that come there may fare as of old they did at Plato's Banquets the better for it afterwards The Ear trys Words as the Job 12. 11. Mouth tasts Meat In two things the Philosopher Pythag. says we are like to God viz. in speaking the Truth and in bestowing Benefits God is a God of Truth he cannot lye and they that are like to Titus 1. 2. him will not God is good and does good Isa 63. 8. Ps 25. 8. Exo. 34. 6. he is abundant in it and the more any exceed in Bounty which is Goodness enlarged the more like to him they are Therefore When God enlarges his hand in Bounty to you do you enlarge yours in Bounty to others Charity may begin at home but it must not end there Dr. Taylor 's Advice to his Son was that if God did bless him with the things of this World he should count it his chiefest Riches to be rich in Alms and it will be your Wisdom to believe so some indeed think it is the next way to be undone for what is thus given they conclude is thrown away but they are mistaken that think so for it is a way not only to secure what you have but to encrease it in that whatever you thus give you lend and that not Prov. 28. 27. to a Bankrupt but to God who has all the Riches of Heaven and Prov. 19. 17. Earth and stands Principal in that Bond which secures the payment back again of what you thus lend in this Life and of something better in the Life to come I had rather you should want an Estate than a heart to be charitable a Capacity this way to do good than a Will or an Inclination to it The holy Scriptures contain'd in the old and new Testament are the Word of God the Statute-book 2 Tim. 3. 16. of Heaven the Will of your heavenly Father the Advice of Christ your heavenly Physician the Counsel of him your Advocate Phil. 2. 16. Act. 13. 26 Rom 10. 8. 2 Tim. 3. 15. Eph 1. 13. the Word of Life and Salvation the Word of Faith and Truth therefore Believe it firmly Here let the Ark of your Faith rest Read it daily and diligently That you may find Christ the rich Treasure in this Field Hear it attentively The more heed you give to Act 16. 14. Heb. 2. 1. what you hear the more you will remember Love it sincerely There is no Love like that to God and his Word and such as your Love is to his Word such is your Love to him Meditate on it constantly Psal 1. 2. The Blessing is entail'd upon them that meditate on it day and night Contend for it earnestly It is the Word of Faith and Jude 3. you must be a Defender of it Obey it faithfully You neither read hear understand nor believe aright any more than what you practice Action is the best part of Jam. 1. 22 23. a Christian and there is no doing like to that of the Word The Work of Creation being 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gen. 2. 2. 3. He sanctify'd it or set it apart and appointed it to be a holy rest for his Worship ended on the seventh day God rested on that day from all his Work which he had made and blessed the seventh day and sanctified it He sanctified it by Institution that the Jews might sanctifie it by Observation he by setting it apart to a holy use that they might by keeping it so Now as the first day on which the work of Creation was finish'd was consecrated and set apart for a holy Sabbath to God so the first day on which the work of Redemption was perfected was set apart as a holy rest unto him that was as Athanasius says the end of the first Creation and this the beginning of the second Creation and as that was kept holy to God so this as appears by the Act. 20. 7. 1 Cor. 16. 12. Rev. 1. 10. practice of the Apostles and by the universal Practice of the Christian Church has ever since for many hundred Years been kept holy to him in the Christian Church both by converted Jews and gentile Christians And I can assure you from my own Observation I never yet knew any but the more strict they were in the profession of Religion the more strict they were in the Observation of this day Besides there are two reasons to oblige you to the keeping of this day that the Jews had not to oblige them to the keeping of their Sabbath viz. The Resurrection of Christ John 20. Luke 24. from the dead on this day and The Descension of the Holy Ghost Since then there are such Reasons to enforce the practice of it let it be your great care to sanctifie this day and that 1. By ceasing From all evil Works which are Sins on other days and double Sabbatum Satana Sins on this From all Works of Recreation Sabbatum Aurei Vituli or Pleasure viz. such as are not natural and necessary but voluntary and needless From all Works of Labour that Sabbatum Tyri are not Works of Necessity Piety or Mercy nor tending thereunto 2. By doing all the Works of Piety both publick and private which are the proper Works of this day and not barely doing of them but by doing of them with Exactness Constancy and Delight The Sacrifices of old were double Num. 28. 9 on the Sabbath-day and God requires more Service
on this day than on others and an extraordinary exercise of Grace in them The whole day is his and unless works of Necessity and Mercy Mat. 127. relating either to Man or Beast intervene it must be wholly denoted to him The Duties of the day are not all of a sort but various there are all the means and ways of Communion with God on this day to take off Tediousness and promote Delight in them If you come with rejoycing Ps 122. 1. you will go away so Christ's coming in the Flesh was the fulfilling of the Law the coming down of his Spirit on this day was the fulfilling of the Gospel then he took our Nature on this we were made Partakers of his when he died he shed his Blood effectually for our Justification on this he shed abroad his Spirit abundantly for our Sanctification on this day he arose and then his Spirit quicken'd his natural Body on this day his Spirit descended and quicken'd his mystical Body when he ascended he carried our Nature up to Heaven and on this day he sent down his Spirit to us Now my Prayer for you shall be That the same Spirit that descended this day may sanctifie you that you may sanctifie this day and that you by it may be made holy that you may keep this day holy to God that made it so that keeping this day of rest here you may at last be taken up into his Rest that remains for ever hereafter Heb. 2. 9. Live to the Honour of that worthy Name in which you were baptiz'd and by which you are Jam. 2. 7. called Baptism is a sacred Flood sent not to drown but to save the World but then you must be in Christ the Ark and walk worthy 1 Thess 2. 12. of him that as you are in the Bond of the Covenant you may be also under the Blessing of it The outward Baptism of Water will avail you nothing Mat. 3. 11. without the inward Baptism of the Spirit The Sacrament of the Lords Supper was instituted by Christ and appointed as a standing Ordinance Matth. to the end of the World for the commemoration of Christs Death and his great Love in it and for the Confirmation of all those Blessings obtain'd by him to them that believe in him They only that are in the Covenant have a right to the Seal of it Some seldom receive it some never living in a wilful breach and contempt both of God's Law and Mans some are careless and negligent when they do receive But do you 1. Duely attend upon it 2. Come worthily to it 1. Duely attend upon it While you live in the neglect of it you reject not only motives but instituted means to subdue your Corruptions and strengthen your Graces question God's Wisdom as if he had ordain'd a needless and superfluous thing contemn Christ and his Love as if they were not worth the remembring and live in disobedience to a Gospel Command and thereby become liable to the Wrath of God He that came to the Feast Mat. 22. 3. 4 5 6 7 11 12 13. without a wedding-garment was destroy'd and so were they too that did not come 2. Come worthily to it The Sacrament is a Feast the Souls Exceedings if you come not to it you will starve your Soul if you come unworthily you will poison it eating Damnation as surely as you eat Bread and 1 Cor. 11. 29. drinking a Cup of Wrath instead of a Cup of Blessing and therefore do what you can to come in a worthy manner viz. With hungring and thirsting after Righteousness Unless you come empty you Mat. 5. 6. Luk. 15. 3. wil be sent away so With Faith without which Christus fide digerendus though you eat you will never be nourish'd You may touch the Body but you will receive no Vertue from it With inflamed Love to God for giving Christ to you and to Christ for offering up himself for you He is the Founder of the Feast and died to make it With a Heart deeply humbled for Sin that you may not crucifie him afresh but mourn over him Heb. 6. 6. who was crucified for you and by you A broken Saviour must be received with a broken Heart With Humility and lowliness of mind as unworthy of the Crums that fall from his Table much more as a Guest to sit there The more humble the more welcome With Praise and Thanksgiving The Feast is all of free-cost and you can do no less than take the Cup of Salvation Ps 116. 13 and bless him for it In the Sacrament Christ's death is shewn forth and in a holy Conversation his Life now when in that you have shewn forth his Death go and shew forth his Life in the Holiness of yours that it may appear you have an interest in the Power of his Cross as well as in the Merit of it Sin is an Impostor it comes of a cheating kind by the Fathers and Mothers side viz. the Devil and your Heart he is the Incubus and that the Womb. The first Sin by which you may judge of all the rest came into the World by a cheat and all whether Angels or Men that ever had any thing to do with it have been deceived by it your great wisdom Pro. 11. 18 therefore will be to understand the deceitfulness of Sin and Heb. 3. 13. to watch against it Our first Parents expected Gen. 3. 5 6 7. to be as Gods but they became as Devils Unbelief is a Sin That gave life to the first actual Sin and ever since gives life to Gen. 3. all and maintains the life of them in the Judgment as in a Castle in the Heart as in a Closet and in the Life as in a Trade All Grace acts in the strength of Faith and all Sin in the strength of Unbelief A Sin that puts God in the Devils place and the Devil in God's for By dis-believing God you believe the Devil A Sin that binds the Guilt of all other Sins fast upon you they deserve Punishment but this binds you over to it Hell seems to be prepar'd on purpose for Unbelievers and Hypocrites as the chief of Sinners I hope you have so much Faith Heb. 3. 12. Quantò magis à Deo recedimus tantò minus sumus as to believe this that you may take heed and beware of an evil Heart of Unbelief in departing from the living God By going from a living God will go to a killing Devil Pambo was thirty years as he says learning how to rule his Tongue and yet had not perfectly learn'd that Lesson and Saint James tells us the Tongue is an unruly Member not easily tamed yet an endeavour to do it is not more difficult than necessary for without it your Religion is Jam. 3. 8. 1. 26. vain The Sins of the Tongue are many but I shall here only advise you in an