that while upon the Tree Whereupon they both agreed to unite their strength and joyn their forces together the whole-blind Man took the well-sighted-lame Man upon his shoulder and so they reached the Apples and conveyed their Masters fruit away but being impeached for their fault and examined by their Master each one framed his own excuse The blind Man said he could not so much as see the Tree whereon they grew and therefore it was plain he could have none of them And the lame Man said He could not be suspected because he had no limbs to climb or to stand to reach them but the wise Master perceiving the subtle craft of the two false servants put them as they were one upon the others shoulders and so punished them both together Thus it is that Sin is neither of the body without the Soul nor of the Soul without the Body but it is a common act both of Body and soul they are like Simeon and Levi brothers and partners in every mischief like Hippocrates twins they have idem velle et idem nolle they do commonly will and nill the same thing and therefore God in his just Judgment will punish both body and Soul together if they be not repaired and redeemed by Christ. How Christ by his death overcame death IT is said of the Leopard that he useth a kind of policy in killing such Apes as do molest him First he lyeth down as dead and suffereth the Apes to mock him trample upon him and insult over him as much as they will but when he perceiveth them to be weary with leaping and skipping upon him he revives himself on a suddain and with his claws and teeth tears them all in pieces Even so our Saviour Christ suffered the Devill and death and all the wicked Iews like so many Apes to mock him to tread upon him and trample him under foot to crucifie him to bury him to seal up his grave and set a guard of Souldiers to watch him that he should not rise any more and did indeed what they list with him but when he saw they had done their worst and that they could do no more Then he awaked as a Giant out of sleep and smoâ—e all his Enemies on the cheek-bone spoyl'd Principalities and powers led Captivity captive and brought them unto shame and confusion of face for ever Confession of Sins irk some to the Devill THere is a story how that on a time a Sinner being at Confession the Devill intruded himself and appeared unto him And being demanded by the Priest Wherefore he came in made answer That he came to make Restitution being asked What he would restore He said Shame For it is shame that I have stollen from this Sinner to make him shamelesse in sining and now I am come to restore it to him to make him ashamed to confesse his sins And thus it is that he deals with the most of Men he makes them shamelesse to commit sin even with Absolon in the sight of all Israel and in the sight of the Sun but he makes them ashamed to confesse any sin he perswades them to commit sin and he also perswades them to conceal sin he cannot endure by any means that they should confesse their sins And why but because God is merciful and just to forgive them To depend upon Gods All-sufficiency in time of trouble ABraham considering that God ws El Shaddai a God of All-sufficiency did assure himself that although Sarah's womb was dead yet God was not dead but was as able to raise him a living son out of her dead womb as he is to raise out dead bodies out of the senselesse Earth So Moses when he had six hundred thousand People and upward to provide for in a sandy desart which yielded them neither bread nor water considering the power of God did believe that he could bring drink out of the Rock as out of a River and meat out of the clouds as out of a Cubbard So Ionathan when he went against the Philistins that were thousands had this resolution for his encouragement That God could deliver with few as well as with many And so Asa went as far as he when he had a huge Army of Ethiopians consisting of thousand thousands besides three hundred Chariots the greatest Army that ever was read of come against him he cryed unto the Lord his God and said Lord it is nothing with thee to help whether with many or with them that have no power c. And so it is that every Man should depend upon his God who can help with few Friends or no Friends with small means or no means as well as if he had all the means or all the Friends in the World And therefore let no Man be dismay'd in the time of Affliction nor faint in the hour of temptation but if his troubles be great let him remember that God is greater If his Enemies be mighty let him know that God is mightier then they his hand is of Iron and his feet of burning brasse not onely to tread upon but trample under foot the Enemies of his Church and People Simplicity of Men to be more affected with the losse of things temporal then spiritual IT is said of Honorium a Roman Emperour that when one told him Rome was lost he was exceedingly grieved and cryed out Alas Alas for he supposed it was his Hen so called which he exceedingly loved but when it was told him it was his Imperial City of Rome that was besieged by Alaricus and was taken and all the Citizens rifled and made a prey to the rude enraged Souldier then his Spirits were revived that his losâ—e was not so great as he imagined Now can it be otherwise thought but that this disposition of Honorius was most simple and childish yet the most of Men are under the same condemnation as being too too much affected with the losse of a poor silly Hen with the deprivation of things temporall nothing at all minding the want of those which are spiritual If they lose a little wealth the least punctilio of Honour a little pleasure a little vanity things of themselves good for nothing because of themselves they can make nothing good and then as the Proverb goeth That is too dear of a farthing that is good for nothing yet for these things they will vex and fret weep and wail and their mourning shall be like that of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddo but when they lose their pretious Souls in the desarts of Sin and God for Sin when they are rifled and strip'd naked of Grace not having the least rag of Christ's Righteousnesse to cover them then with the Israelites they sit down to eat and drink and rise up to play so foolish are they and ignorant even as the beast which perisheth Psalm 49. 20. The sufferings of Christ as so
Horse would needs have him foaming at the mouth but could not by any means do it Whereupon in a great rage he took the sponge wherewith he made his pensils clean and thrâ—w it at the picture intending to have utterly defared it but it so fell out that the spunge having sucked in severall sorts of colours effected that by chance which the Artist by all his industry could not compasse Thus it is with them that strive to make themselves great and eminent in the World How do they cark and care flatter lie and dissemble and all to be thought some body amongst their fearful Neighbours But all in vain this is not the way to do it for as Charles and Fifth told his sonne That Fortune was just like a Woman the more you woe her the further she flings off Let every good Christian then take up the spunge of contempt and throw it at these outward eminencies Moses did so and found to his exceeding joy that the abjection of vain glory was the acquisition of that which was true and reall The difference of good and bad Men in their preparation for Death A Wife that hath been faithfull to her Husband and waits his coming home let him knock when he will she is alwayes ready to open the door unto him but another Woman that is false to her husband and hath other Lovers in the house if her husband chance to knock at the door she does not immediately go to the door and let him in but there is a shuffling up and down in the house and she delayes the time till she have go the others out of the way Thus it is when Death knocks at the door of these Earthly Tabernacles of ours here 's the difference A good man is willing and ready to open to Death his Heart is in such an Heavenly frame that he is alwayes prepared for Death and seeing 〈…〉 Death that so he may take possession Whereas the Atheist he dares not die for fear of a Non esse that he shall be no more the prophane Person is afraid of Death because of a male esse to be made miserable and every wicked ungodly Man is loath to die for having espoused himself to the things of this World he shrinks at the very thought of Death and cryes out to his Soul as sometimes Pope Adrian did O my Soul whither goest thou thou shalâ— never be merry more Or as those ten Men Stay us not for we have Treasures in the Field of Wheat and of Barley and of Oyl and of Honey c. Jer. 41. 8. Christ to be the summe of all our Actions THere is mention made of one in the Primitive times who being asked What he was answered A Christian. What is thy name he answered Christian. What is thy Profession He answered Christian. Wâ—at are thy thoughts He answered Christian. Thy words and deeds What are they He answered Christian. What life leadest thou He answered still Christian. He had so digested Christ into his Soul by Faith that he could speak nothing but Christians And thus it is that Christ is to be made the summe and ultimate of all our actions we must labour that Christ may be made one with us and we with him that in all our Works begun continued and ended we may still conclude with that expression of the Church Through Iesus Christ our Lord. Gods Immutability A Man travelling upon the Road espies some great Castle sometimes it seems to be nigh another time afar off now on this hand anon on that now before by and by behind when all the while it standeth still unmoved So a Man that goes in a boat by water thinks the shore moveth whereas it is not the shore but the boat that passeth away Thus it is with God sometimes he seemeth to be angry with the Sons of Men another time to be well pleased now to be at hand anon at a distance now shewing the light of his Countenance by and by hiding his face in displeasure yet he is not changed at all It is we not he that is changed He is Immutable in his Nature in his Counsels and in all his Promises whereas all Creatures have and are subject to change having their dependance on some more powerfull Agent but God being onely independent is as the School-men say omninò immutabilis altogether immutable The Godly Man rejoycing in Death IT is storied of Godfrey Duke of Boloigne that when in that his expedition to the Holy Land he came within view of Ierusalem his Army seeing the high Turrets goodly Buildings and fair fronts though but as it were as so many Skeletons of far more glorious bodies being even transported with the joyfulnesse of such a sight gave a mighty showt that the Earth was verily thought to ring with the noyse thereof Such is the rejoycing of a Godly Man in death when he doth not see the Turrets and Towers of an Earthly but the spirituall building of an Heavenly Ierusalem and his Soul ready to take possession of them How doth he delight in his dissolution Especially when he sees Grace changing into Glory Hope inâ—o fruition Faith into vision and Love into perfect comprehension such and so great are the exultations of his Spirit such mighty workings and shoutings of the Heart as cannot be expressed Sin to be looked upon as the cause of all sorrow IN the course of Justice we say and say truly When a Party is put to death that the Executioner cannot be said to be the cause of his death nor the Sheriff by whose command he doth it neither yet the Iudge by whose sentence nor the twelve Men by whose verdict nor the Law it self by whose Authority it is proceeded in for God forbid that we should endite these or any of these of Murther Solum peccatum Homicidae Sin and sin onely is the cause and occasion of all sorrows It is not the looking upon any accidentals any Instrumentals of our Miseries and vexations but upon the principal the prime Agent and that 's Sin to take a wreak or holy Revenge upon that to send out an enquiry in our Souls after that and having found it to passe sentence thereupon The Good Mans comfort in matter of Worldly losse IT was a handsome conceit of a great Duke of Florence that had for his Arms a fair spread Tree having one branch onely lopped off with this Motto Uâ—o avulso non deficit alter intimating thereby that as long as the Trunk or body of the Teee was well rooted there was no fear though a branch or two were withered Thus a good Man bears up himself in the matter of temporal losse As to the matter of Government if a David be gathered to his Fathers a Solomon may succeed him in his Throne If a Iohn be cast into Prison rather then the Pulpit shall stand empty a greater then
back again unto him Evolve librum Platonis et nihil amplius est quod desideres Read saith he but Plato upon the same subject and you will desire no more The Roman returned him answer Evolvi iterum atque evolvi c. I have read it over saith he again and again but I know not whence it is when I read it I assent unto it but I have no sooner laid the book out of my hand but I begin to doubt again Whether the Soul be Immortal yea or no. So it is with all perswasion from Natural principles as to that extent of Doctrine it would perswade us of the perswasion that ariseth from them is faint and very weak It is true that Nature hath principles to perswade the Soul by to some kind of assent As that there is a God and he must be worshipped Look upon me saith Nature I have not a spire of grasse but tells thee there is a God See the variety greatnesse beauty of my work Read a great God in a great Whale or Elephant A beauteous God in a glorious flower A wise God in my choyce of Works Behold a God in the order thou hast seen in me See him in my Law written in thy heart From these and such like things Nature bequeaths a kind of Faith to the Soul and learns it Credere Deum to believe that there is a God but this is far from Credere in Deum Faith in the point of true believing Christ's Humanity asserted AS Alexander the Great however the Popular sort deified him yet having got a clap with an Arrow said Ye style me Jupiter's son as if immortal sed hoc vulnus clamat me esse hominem this bloud that issues from the wound proves me in the issue a Man this is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the bloud of Man not of God and smelling the stench of his own flesh asked his Flatterers If the gods yield such a sent So it may be said of Iesus Christ our Saviour though Myriads of Angels and Saints acclaim he is a God ergo Immortal And a crew of Hereticks disclaim him to be a Man as the Manichees denying the truth of hiâ— Humanity the Marcionites averring that he had a phantastical body Apeâ—â—es who conceived that he had a sydereal substance yet the streams of bloud following the arrow of Death that struck him make it good that he was perfect Man of a reasonable Soul and humane flesh subsisting Sinners crucifying the Lord of life daily THere is a story of one Clodoveyus a King of France that when he was converted from Paganism to Christianity while Rhemigius the Bishop was reading in the Gospel concerning the Passion of our Saviour and the abuses he suffered from Iudas and the rest of the Iews he brake out into these words O that I had been but there with my Frenchmen I would have cut all their throats In the mean time not considering that by his daily sins he did as much as they had done And thus it is that most of Men all sinfull Men condemn the crucifiers of Christ for their cruelty but never look into themselves who by their daily sins make him to bleed again afresh The proud Man plats a Crown of thorns upon his sacred Head the Sweater nails his hands and feet the Scorner spits upon him and the Drunkard gives him gall and Vinegar to drink Our Hypocrisie was the kisse that betrayd him the Sins of our bodies were and are the tormentors of his body and the Sins of our Souls were they that made his Soul heavy to death that caused the withdrawings of his Father's love from him and made him in the heavinesse of his panged Soul to cry out My God my God Why hast thou forsaken me To blesse God for the Revelation of himself in the Scripture IT is recorded of Ptolomey King of Egypt that however he had then gleaned up two hundred thousand Volumes he sent Demetrius the Keeper of his Library to the Iews to have a Copy of their Law the Book was sent and Seventy learned Men along with it that they might translate the same into Greek Ptolomey sets them to work puts them into severall Cells or Chambers that they might not converse together After some time and large expence every one returned his papers not varying in the least from the truth of the Original Such was the Love that Ptolomey had to the Law of God at that time that he spared no cost or pains till he had it being called the Septuagint at this day But how are we then bound to blesse God that we need not send so far or spend much to have the Book of the Law and the Gospel too the whole Scriptures not onely in our houses but in Gods house where they are read and orthodoxally expounded that it is but opening the casement and light flowes in upon us so that if the height of our thankfulnesse to God and the best of our desires be not thereto to know and to do we are not worthy the name of Christians Ranters Roaring boys c. their conversion not confusion to be endeavoured THeodoret maketh mention of the antient Donatists that they were so ambitious of Martyrdome as they accounted it that many of them meeting with a young Gentleman requested of him that he would be pleased to kill them He to confute their folly condiscended to their desire on condition that first they would be contented to be all fast bound which being done accordingly he â—ook such order that they were all soundly whipt but saved their lives Thus when we hear such as they call Ranters Roaring Dammy-boyeâ— c. wish that God would damn sink or confound them hope that God will be more mercifull then to take them at their words and grant their desires and withall heartily desire that he would be pleased sharply to scourge them and soundly to lash them with the frights and terrors of a wounded Conscience the pain whereof would be so grievous unto them that they would without all doubt revoke their wishes as having little list and lesse delight to â—aste of Hell â—ereafter Christ the true Light THe Rabbines have a conceit concerning Noah that whilest the window of the Ark was shut he made use of some resplendent stone by whose rayes the objects of the sights presented themselves to the Organ of the eye being as it were the light of some Lamp or Candle unto them However the conjecture may be curious yet true it is that Christ is that stone which albeit the builders refused is now become the head of the corner a bright shining stone at whose presence the Moon is darkned and the Stars withdraw their light he is that lux illuminans at whose approach the light of the Moon becomes as the light of the Sun lux innata that true light that light of life not lux
time yet he will return at last he may in his great Wisdome for a time hide his face yet at last he will in mercy lift up the light of his Countenance to the great joy of that poor Soul that seems to be deserted and make bare the arm of his power for comfort Men to be active in regaining their lost Souls IT is said of Xerxes the greatest of the Persian Princes that when the Graecians had taken from him Sardis a famous City in Asia the lesse in S. Iohn's time one of the seaven Churches charged That every day at dinner some one or other speaking with a loud voice should remember him that the Graecians had taken the City of Sardis from him But what shall poor Sinners do that have lost more then a City even their pretious Souls which are of more worth then all the World besides Let them then give their Redeemer no rest by incessant Prayers till he deliver them and repair their ruines let them still be calling upon him to remember his losse and theirs for theirs are his till they have regained by him that which was at first taken from them by the Enemy â—ven the Image of their God after which they were created Hypocrites discovering their own shame IT is said of the Peacock whose pleasant wings as holy Ioh calls them chap. 39. 16. are more for ostentation then for use For whiles he spreads out his gaudy plumes he displayes the uglinesse of his hinder parts Such are many Hypocritical dissembling wretches aâ— this day who yet differ from the Peacock in this that whereas he is said to have Argus his eyes in his tail they it should seem have them in their heads else how could they espy so many faults in others none in themselves yet whilst they spread out their gay plumes whilst they simper it devoutly and rail Jesuitically against Church and State whilst they hear Sermons pray give Alms make a sowre Lenten face all to be seen of Men What do they else but discover their own shame shew the uglinesse of their hinder parts bewray the fearfulnesse of their latter end Sin the chief cause of a Nation or Cities ruine PHysitians make the Threescore and third year of a Mans life a dangerous Climacterical year to the body Natural And Statists make the Five hundreth year of a City or Kingdome as dangerous to the body Politick beyond which say they Cities and Kingdomes cannot stand But which is matter of Wonder Who hath ever felt a Cities languishing pulse Who hath discerned the fatal diseases of a Kingdome found out their Critical daies Do they wax weak and heavy and old and shriveld and pine away with years as the body of Man No they may flourish still and grow green they may continue as the daies of Heaven and be as the Sun before the Almighty if his wrath be not provoked by their wickednesse So that it is not any divine aspect of the Heavens any malignant Conjunction of Stars and Planets but the Peoples loose manners ungratious lives and enormous Sins which are both the chief cause and symptome of a Kingdome or Cities sicknesse and they indeed soon bring them to a fearful end and utter desolation Wherein the poysonfull Nature of Sinne consisteth IT is credibly reported That in some parts of Italy there are Spiders of so poysoâ—ous a Nature as will kill him that treads upon them and break a glasse if they do but creep over it This shews clearly that the force of this Poyson is not in measure by the quantity but in the Nature by the quality thereof And even so the force of Sin consists not in the greatnesse of the subjâ—ct or object of it but in the poysonful Nature of it For that it is the breach of the Law violation of the Iustice and a provocation of the wrath of God and is a present poyson and damnation to Mens Souls therefore as the least poyson as poyson being deadly to the body is detested so the least sin as sin being mortal to the Soul is to be abhorred Our own Natural corruption the cause of Sin AS corruption and infection could not by the heat of the ayr ambient enter into our bodies if our bodies did not consist of such a Nature as hath in its self the causes of corruption No more could Sin which is a generall rot and corruption of the Soul enter into us through the allurements or provocation of outward things if our Souls had not first of themselves received that inward hurt by which their desire is made subject to Sin as the Womans desire was made subject to her Husband and as the Philosophers say the Matter to the Form The causes of Sin are to be ascribed to our own Concupiscence the root is from our own hearts It is confessed that Sathan may instill his poyson and kindle a Fire of evil desires in us yet it is our own Flesh that is the first Mover and our own Will which sets the Faculties of the Soul in combustion Death of the Soul more to be lamented then the death of the body ST Augustine confesseth That in his youth as many Wantons do he read that amorous discourse of Aeneas and Dido with great affection and when he came to the death of Dido he wept for pure compassion But O me miserum saith the good Father I â—ewailed miserable Man that I was the fabulous death of Dido forsaken of Aeneas and did not bewail the true death of my Soul forsaken of her Jesus Thus it is that many unhallowed tears are sacrificed to the Idols of our eyes which yet are as dry as Pumices in regard of our Souls We bewayl a body forsaken of the Soul and do not grieve for the Soul abandoned by God Hence we are to learn from every Corps that is buried what the daughters of Israel were to learn from Christ crucified Weep not for me but weep for your selves Luke 23. 28. not so much for the losse of your bodies as for the death of your immortal Souls Not to wait Gods good pleasure in times of Affliction very dangerous A Man that is unskilful in swimming having ventured past his depth and so in danger of drowning hastily and inconsiderately catcheth at what comes next to hand to save himself withall but it so happeneth that he oft layeth hold on sedgy weeds that do but intangle him and draw him deeper under water and there keep him down from ever getting up again till he be by that whereby he thought to save himself drown'd indeed Thus it is that whilest many through weaknesse of Faith and want of Patience are loath to wait Gods good pleasure and being desirous to be rid in all haste of the present Affliction they put their hand oft to such courses as procure fearful effects and use such sorry shifts for the relieving of themselves
with the vicissitudes he had run through being asked by one by what meanes he preserved his fortune he replyed that he was made ex salice non ex quercu of the pliant Willow not the stubborn Oak alwaies of the prevailing Religion and a Zealous Professour Thus it is that the wicked State-Polititian sides with all parties If Religion be fashionable you can scarce distinguish him from a Saint He will not onely reverence Godly Ministers but if need be he will preach himself If cunctation prevail he acts Fabius If the buckler must be changed for a Sword he personates Marcellus If mildnesse be usefull Soderini of Venice was not more a Lamb then he If Severities are requisite Nero's butcheries are Sanctities compared with his Thus like a subtle Proteus he assumes that shape which is most in grace and of most profitable conducement to his ends onely he hath so much advantage of the Camelion that he can turn himself into white For he is often to be found wearing the Vest of innocency to conceal the uglinesse and blackness of his attempts Tyrants raysing themselves by a seeming compliance with the People A Thenaeus tells a pretty story of one Athenion born obscurely who as long as he was private and poor excel'd in a soft and tractable disposition but when by jugling he had obtained the Athenian government there was none more odious for a cruell barbarous covetous Tyrant Nero's quinquennium will never be forgotten not that which is reported of Caligula that there was never a better servant and a worse Master Thus it is by wofull experience made out that Tyrannically-minded Men personate goodnesse till they have accomplished their ends make a shew of all goodnesse till they have wrought themselves into the good liking of all those whom they intend to deceive And then off goes the Vizard of dissimulation and they appear in their native colours what indeed they are bloudy barbarous inhumane True Obedience IT is reported of the old Kings of Peru that they were wont to use a Tassell or Fringe made of red Wool which they wore upon their heads and when they sent any Governour to rule as Vice-roy in any part of their Countrey they delivered unto him one of the threads of their Tassell and for one of those simple threads he was as much obeyed as if he had been the King himself yea it hath so happened that the King hath sent a Governour onely with this thread to slay Men and Women of a whole Province without any further Commission For of such power and authority was the Kings tassell with them that they willingly submitted thereunto even at the sight of one thread of it Now it is to be hoped that if one thread shall be so forcible to draw Infidel-obedience there will be no need of Cart-ropes to hale on that which is Christian Exemplary was that Obedience of the Romans which was said to have come abroad to all men Rom. 16. 19. And certainly Gospell-obedience is a Grace of much worth and of great force upon the whole Man For when it is once wrought in the heart it worketh a conformity to all Gods will be it for life or death one word from God will command the whole Soul assoon as Obedience hath found admittance into the Heart The true improvement of Peace IT is observeable in Scripture that Moses Altar was but five cubits in length and five in bredth and three in heigth but Solomons Altar was much larger Now the reason hereof seems to be this because Moses was in a warfar in an unsetled condition in the Wildernesse in continual travel full of troubles and could not conveniently carry about an Altar of that bignesse But Solomon was on his Throne in a tranquill estate setled in quiet possession of his Kingdome and as his name was so was he a true Solomon that is Peaceable Thus it ought to be with all good Men that when they have more Peace and prosperity then others their service of God should be proportionable Solomons Temple must out-strip Moses his Tabernacle in beauty and glory and Solomons Altar must exceed the bignesse of Moses his Altar In their Peace and plenty their holinesse should out-shine others that are in want and misery when God layes not so much sorrow upon them as upon others they should lay the more duty upon themselves If God send them fewer Crosses and more comforts they are to return more service and commit lesse evill The true Christians confidence and contempt of Death OBservable is that speech of King Agag when Samuel sent for him Surely the bitternesse of Death is past Now the ground of this speech was either his â—alse hope as thinking that the worst was past because he was fetched off the Kings guard of Souldiers and brought to Samuel the Prophet who was Vir togatus a Man of Peace Or else if the Messengers did tell him why he was sent for then he set a bold face upon it and spake out of stomach intimating his resolutenesse and contempt of Death that he was resolved to die bravely and like himself This now was carnall gallantry And thus many a man may Agag-like contemn Death and all Gods judgments out of stoutnesse and stiffness of heart But all true believing Christians may and do gratiously despise Death and say thus from a principle of Faith and cerâ—ain hopes of Heaven Surely the bitternesse of Death is past certainly Christ by his Death hath taken away the bitterness of Death and hath sweetly perfumed our graves by the burial of his own blessed body so that we shall taste nothing but the sweetness of Death and may now couragiously and triumphingly sing and say not as Agag did Surely the bitternesse of Death is past but as S. Paul did O Death where is thy sting c. and to me to dye is gain Phil. 1. 21. Mans Nothingnesse JOsephus Phavorinus a learned Physitian of Italy marvelled at nothing in the World but Man and at nothing in Man but his mind And Abdala the Saracen King of Toledo being asked what he most wondred at upon the stage of the World answered Man One calls God an immortall Man and Man an immortall God Another sets him out as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a little World and the World 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a great Man Now these Men were not certainly so well-knowing of Gods word and Mans sin and of the matter that Man was made of as they should have been Whereas such as know God in his most excellent glory and Man in his best estate to be but Vanity turn'd from his Innocency to Iniquity must and do acknowledg themselves to be less then the least of Gods mercies such as he created being Nothing recreated being worse then nothing and without great Mercy on his part are like to fall again to Nothing Men of corrupt
story How that upon a time a Complaint was sent from the Islands of the Blessed to the Judges of the superiour Courts about certain Persons sent thither who formerly had lived impiously humbly intreating that this abuse thus offered unto them might speedily be redressed Whereupon these impartiall Iudges taking the businesse into their considerations found not onely the complaint to be true but withall the reason and cause thereof which was that Iudgment and sentence was passed upon them here below in this life Whereupon it oft fell out that many Persons cloathed with Honourable titles Riches Nobility and other like dignities and preferments brought many Witnesses with them who solemnly swore in their behalf that they deserved to be sent to the Islands of the Blessed when the truth was they deserved the contrary To avoid which inconveniency it was decreed by an eternal doom that for the time to come no Iudgment should be passed till after death and that by Spirits onely who alone do see and plainly perceive the spirits and naked Souls of such upon whom their sentence and Iâ—dgment was to passe that so of what estate and condition soever they were they might receive according to their works Here now was a great deal of light in a dark vault the divine eye of a meer naturall Man discovering an Heavenly truth which is That definitive sentence is not to be passed upon any here below not that any whosoever shall receive his full Reward of what he hath done whether it be good or bad till after this life be ended Good meanings of bad Men destructive THe Poets prate much of Plato's Ferry-boat that never rested to carry Men through the infernall River to the infernall place So that what was then feigned is now verified For if there be any Ferry-boat to Hell it is the thing that Men call a good Meaning This is that which carries Men and Women down to Hell by multitudes by Millions There cannot be found so many Passengers in all the boats upon any River as there are in this one Wherry wafted down to the pit of perdition Many in all Ages have had their good meanings and to this day the Iews Turks Pagans Papists the worst of them all do not want for good meanings It is the good meanings of bad Men that brings them to an evill end they think they do God good service by abusing his People but they are sure to find and feel one day what disservice they have done to God and their own Souls for ever and that their good meanings before Man shall never excuse their bad actings before God Gods readinesse to maintain the cause of his Church AS in publique Theaters when any notable shew passeth over the stage you shall have all the spectators rise up off their seats and stand upright with delight and eagernesse that so they might take the better notice of the same Thus it is that though by an article of our Faith we are bound to believe that Christ sitteth at the right hand of God the Father Almighty as a Iudge to pronounce sentence Yet he is said in the Scripture to stand upright at the sufferings of his People as at the stoning of S. Stephen either as an Advocate to pâ—ead the Church's cause or as one in a posture of readinesse to take revenge upon all her Enemies Men not to be proud of Honours and Preferments IT is Pliny's observation of the Pidgeons that taking a pride in the excellency of their feathers and the height of their flying they towr it in the ayr so long that at last they become a prey to the Hawk whereas otherwise if they would but fly outright they are swifter of wing then any other bird Thus Men that take a pride in the height of that honour whereunto they are advanced are many times made a prey to the Devil and a laughing stock to Men whereas did they but moderate their flight and make a right use of their preferments they might become serviceable to God and their Country Moderation the fore-runner of Peace IT is the observation of S. Hilary that Salt containeth in it's self the element both of Fire and Water and is indeed saith he a third thing compacted out of both It is water lest we should too much be incensed unto heat and passion It is Fire lest we should grow too remisse and chill with neglect and carelesnesse Hence is that advice of our Saviour to his Disciples Have salt in your selves and peace one with another that is as S. Paul interprets Let your speech be alwayes with grace seasoned with salt let it not be rancid or unsavoury larded with bitter and unchristian Invectives but tempered alwayes with sobriety meeknesse and temperance And then when the salt is first set upon the Table Peace as the best and choycest dish will follow after The Saints Infirmities AS all Men dwelling in houses of clay and carrying about them the earthly Tabernacles of their bodies between whiles will they nill they sleep by reason of bodily infirmity and by a kind of unwelcome heavinesse nod towards the Earth as it were pointing at their natural Element whereunto they must in a short processe of time be reduced So even the best of Gods children compassed with Flesh and bloud cannot but at times bewray their folly and unsteadfastnesse The best Artist hath not alwayes his wits about him quandoque bonus dormitat Homerus and the most watchful circumspect Christian doth not alwayes stand so fast upon his guard of Faith and a good Conscience but he may at one time or other be taken napping God onely to be trusted unto in time of distresse AS when little Children do first learn to go alone and feeling the weaknesse of their feet Nature â—eacheth them to thrust out the hand to the Wall and trust it onely for a stay unto them And thus it is that especially in times of distresse Nature and Religion teach us to trust to a stronger then our selves that we shall have help at Gods hands and that without him there is no reall true help at all none in the smooth tongue of Man nor in his fair looks not in the strength of Man nor in his Riches nor in the wit of Man that may be turned into Foolishnesse but in God alone who is able and willing to relieve his People in the time of their distresse The great heat of Ambition IT is reported of Iulius Caesar that as he passed over the Alpes in his journey to Spain he took up his quarters one night in a little poor inconsiderable Village where one of his Company came unto him asked him merrily If he thought there would be any contention in that place for the Soveraignty Whereunto he made this stout answer I had rather be the first Man here then the second at Rome Now
savour above all Worldly contentment to a godly Man 7. Content is a great blessing of God 29. To be Content with our present condition 41. A contented Christian is a couragious Christian 66. A contented Man no base spirited Man 105. Contentment brings in all things on a sudden 106. Contentment keeps up the Soul in the saddest of conditions 107. A contented mind suits with all conditions 2â—0 Consideration of the brevity of life to wâ—râ— the heart of Man to contentment 392. To rest contented with Gods good will and pleasure 422. Content with Gods good pleasure a great blessing 481. Men to argue themselves into a mood of Contentment 501. The quietnesse of Contentment 502. The spiritual benefit of divine Contentment 504. A little with content sufficient 519. No true content in the things of this World 564. Commandements of God the reasonablenesse of them 251. The commands of God to be obeyed not questioned 582. To compassionate others miseries 528. 301. 613. How far there may be a lawful compliance with men of other Judgments 405. The pain of a wounded Conscience greatned by the folly of the patient 563. Greatnesse of the torture of a wounded Conscience 565. Peace of Conscience not to be wrought out by Company c. 567. Not to regard what men say ill if Conscience say well 315. Conscience to be looked on as a Register of all our actions 307. To blesse God for the peace of Conscience 33. The security of a good Conscience 55. The Hell of a guilty Conscience 75. The terrours of a guilty Conscience 151. The sad effects of a wounded Conscience 199. The great comfort of a good Conscience 270. Conscience spoils the wicked Mans Mirth 376. Good Conscience a Mans best Friend at the last 415 507. The most silent Conscience will speak out at last 502. Not to consent unto Sin 480. Consideration to be had in all undertakings 169. Consideration of eternal pain to deter from the commission of Sin 122. Consideration of Gods omnipresence to be the sinners curb 128. Consideration of death will cure all distempers 134. God to be consulted with upon any great undertaking 148. Controversies especially in matters of Religion dangerous 294. Corrections Instructions 141. Correction of children and servants how to be moderated 445. No true comfort but in God 166. A godly Christian is a constant Christian 41. The danger of Conventicles 115. The hardnesse of a Rich mans Conversion 562. Conversion of Heathens to be endeavoured 36. Conversion of a Sinner wrought by degrees 188 305. The meditation of Death profitable to the Souls conversion 282. Conversion of a Sinner painfully wrought 283. Conversion of a Sinner is matter of great rejoycing 312. The serious confession of one sinner to another may be the Conversion of one the other 346. The Ministers joy in the Conversion of Souls 640. More Converts made by Preaching then by reading 545. A covetous Man good for nothing till he be dead 67. Ministers and Physitians of all Men not to be covetous 72. Covetousnesse and contentment inconsistent 199. A Covetous Man never satisfied 317. Covetousnesse in the Cleargy condemned 590. A great comfort to have a Faithfull Counsellour 54. To make God our Counsellour 229. Every thing in specie made perfect at one and the same time in the Creation 500. God to be seen in the works of the Creation 643. Man since the fall of Adam subject to the Creatures 255. No true happinesse to be found in the best of Creatures 368. Vanity of the Creatures without God 642. All Creatures subject to God pleasure 166 609. All the Creatures are at peace with good men 96. The Use of the Creatures is conditional 102. Not so much to eye the Creature as the Creator in all occurrents 170. Gods power Wisedome c. to be seen in all the Creatures 205. The Creature moves not but in and by God 59. Cares and Crowns inseperable 202. Curses usually falling on the Cursers head 298. Custome in sin makes content in sin 90. Custome of sin no excuse for the committing of sin 276. Men hardly drawn out of old customes and forms in Religious worship 344. Custome in sin causeth hardnesse in sin 350. Hard to be drawn from custome in sin 366. 479 630. D THe true Christians safety in danger 214 490. To be careful in the prevention of danger 248 That it is lawful to praise the dead 45. A Man dead in Sin is a senselesse Man 45. To speak well of the dead 206. Dead Men soon forgotten 623. Commonnesse of the death of others taking away the sense of Death 477. How it comes to passe that Death is more generally excused then accused 325. Death strips us of all outward things 33 123 Encompassed by Death on all sides 39. To look on every day as the day of Death 66. In death there is no difference of persons 84. At the time of Death to be mindfull of Heaven 103. To be mindful of the day of Death 119. An argument of extream folly not to be mindful of death 121. Death the good Mans gain 123. A good Man is mindful of his death 126. Extream folly not to be mindfull of death 137. Death is the true Christians advantage 153. How the good and the bad look upon death in a different manner 159. To be alwayes prepared for death 182 298 492. Meditation of death the benefit thereof 254. Insensibility of death reproved 255. Hoâ— it is that wicked Men are said to hasten death 260. All alike in death 261 493. Death the end of all 263. To be mindfull of death at all times 265. Whether it be lawfull to desire death 266. Every Man to be perswaded of his own death 297. The impartiality of death 301. Every day to be looked on as the day of death 324. Frequent meditations of death the great benefit thereof 369. Men not to hasten their own deaths but submit to the Will of God and why so 370. The generality of Men nothing mindfull of death 376. The day of death made the good Mans comfort 396. The day of death better then the day of life 407. The good Man's comfort in death 417. A Child of God triumphing over death 487. The good Christians absolute victory over death 492. Christians to be carefull that they may find comfort in death 508. The smallest pâ—at of ground sufficient for the greatest landed Man at the time of death 562. The generality of Men not enduring to hear of death 579. Death of the Soul mere to be lamented then the death of the body 608. The true Christians confidence and contempt of death 618. Death put off from one to another 673. Christ by his death overcame death 676. The pooâ— Debtors comfort 306. To beware how we come into the debt of sin 556. Not to admit of delayes in Religious performances 592. Deliberation to be used in all our wayes 458. God is the onely object of his childrens Delight 23. God is the onely delight
of his childre 139. The Soul's delight once set upon God hardly to be removed 183. Gods time the best time for deliveâ—ance 5. God doth not onely deliver but comfort his Children 25. In all deliverances spiritual and temporall to give God the glory 339. God raising up Instruments for the deliverance of his people 551. The workings of God in the deliverance of his people various 648. Spiritual desertions no distractions to the child of God 49. How it is that there may be partial desâ—rtions of spirituall grace in the Souls of Gods dearest children but never totall nor final ones 383. Gods love to his children in the midst of spiritual desertions 395. Gods comfortable presence in the midst of spiritual desertions 397. Not to be over-hasty in the desire of Justice for wrongs sustained 7. The godly Man's desires are above his reach 122. The true Christian's desires are all for Heaven 394. Desperation the complement of all sins 317. The desperate Sinner's madnesse 454. Dâ—struction is from our selves 164. 659. Not so much the quantity as the quality of Devotion acceptable to God 15. The great benefit of devotion at bed time 247. The Devil a deceiver deceived by Christ 30. The Devil suiting himself to all humours 48. Satan's restlesse uncessant employment 49. Satan tempteth by degrees 68. Despâ—rate Devils 85. Satan subdued by Christs death 126. His policy to defile the Soul with sin 289. The Devill rewarding his servants 500. The Devils cunning to deceive 578 637. The Devils rage and arguments of the Judgment day at hand 626. Why it is that the children of God die usually sooner then others 522. All must die 341 522. We dye daily 162. Wisemen dye as well as Fools 478. Many seem to be willing yet are loath to dye 64 76. Man alwaies in a dying condition 12. We must learn to live well before we desire to dye 65. Dâ—scretion the guid of all Religious actions 574. A main part of true Wisedome 650. Discord ill-becomes the Disciples of Christ 43. Discord in Church or Common-wealth prejudicial 58. The deepest dissembler at one time or other discovered 478. Civill Dissention attended by uncivill destruction 13. Dissention the Fore-runner of confusion 626. Distractions will prove destructions 8. Englands distractions to be Englands peaceable directions 193. Dangerous to interpose with a divided People 74. Division amongst Christians is the disgrace of Christians 44. All divisions are against Nature 75. The danger of Divisions 94 317. Divisions usher in destruction 204. The evill of Division 474. Divisions in Church and State to be prevented 559. The stuâ—y of Divinity necessary 220. The study of School-divinity not altogether necessary 241. False doctrine is treason against God 44. To do as we would be done by is praise-worthy 163. Dreams not altogether to be sleighted 1. The right use that is to be made of Dreams 237. A drunkard hardly to be reclaimed 87. Drunkennesse condâ—mned 140. Drunkennesse the shame of England 190. The encrease of drunkennesse in England 206. Drunkennesse Whoredome c. the generality of them 281. The scoffing drunkards sad condition 472. To be careful of extraordinary drinking 474. Excessive drinking condemned 475 580. Drunkennesse a great punishment of it self 483. To be carefull of our Duty of God and Man 10. Not to rest in outward performance of duty because dangerous 178. Compleat Christian duty 383. Neglect of the main duties of Christianity reproved 388. Men to be constant in performance of holy duties 396. Constancy of holy duties makes the performance of thâ—m easy 442. Holy duties call for holy preparation 469. The sins of our Religious duties corrected by Christ and then presented to his Father 633. E GOds decree of Election not to be made the proper objâ—ct of Faith 656. Mans happinesse consistech onely in Gods free Election 288. The true comfort of Election 586. How to be assured of our Election 586. Election known by Sanctification 76. Gods fundamentall love of Election and actuall love of Adoption how distinguished 261. To make our calling and Election sure 488. Eloquence if not affected an excellent gift of God 284. Eloquence not to be abused 306. Good endeavours assisted by God 157. All endeavours to be sanctified by prayer 551. The Churches Enemies in Gods hands 13. A Forreign Enemy to be prevented 34. To love our Enemies and do them good 73. How it is that we may hate our Enemies 138. 112. The great good which cometh by Enemies 112. Not to envy each others gifts and prefermenâ—s 29. The great power of Envy 173. The destructive quality of Envy 518. The incorrigibility of Errour 184. To beware of erronious doctrine 243 417. The obstinate Sinner deserving Eternity of punishment and why so 12. Eternity of punishment in Hell 97. to be considered 442. In all our doings we should have our eye uppon Eternity 103 443. Not to serve time but Eternity 202. Nothing but Eternity will satisfy the gratious Soul 438. In the midst of worldly enjoyments to mind Eternity 440. The evill of Excesse 616. A wicked Man hardly drawn to examine himself 107. Daily Examination of our selves the comfort of it 294. Gods choice of eminent persons to be Exemplary to others 13. Rulers actions Exemplary 32. A good Man will be a good Example to others 127. The dangerous Example of wicked Governours 192. The prevalency of a good Example 256. Christ to be our Example and pattern of imitation in life and death 484. Wicked men reserved for exemplary judgment 507. Magistrates and men in authority to be exemplary to others 516 531. Christ to be our example in bearing the Cross 624. The sufferings of Christ as so many Examples to teach us how to suffer 677. Experience of Gods love to be a motive unto better obedience 126. The experimented Christian the onely undaunted Christian 596. Mans extermity Gods opportunity 408. F. A Factious-spirited Man unfit for the work of the Ministery 21. Ring-leaders of Faction and Schism their condition deplorable 391. Factious hearers of the Word condemned 460. The happy succession of a Christian Family 423. Wicked persons may be in a good Family 461. The unhappinesse of a disordered Family 655. How to make tryall of Faith whether it be perfect or not 644. The great benefit of Faith truly appropriated 665. Faith and love inseperable 671. Complaint of the want of Faith an argument of true Faith 35. More comfort in a strong Faith then a weak one 435. The life of Faith the happy life 40. Faith is the Fountain of all Graces 51. The gradation of Faith 53. The tryall of Faith is the enlargement of Faith 74. Justifying Faith accompanied with good works 98. The certainty of Faith 111. Faith makes partakers of every good thing in Gods ordinances 113. Faith in the time of tryall needful 150. How Faith justifieth alone 163 151. The power of Faith reviving the deadly sin-sick Soul 177. The great power of Faith seated in the heart of Man 229. The least measure
take up our lodging in hell to all eternity Christ and the good Christian are companions inseperable IT was the pride of Seneca and he boasted much Ubicunque ago Demetrium circumfero That wheresoever he went he bare Demetrius with him O that we could but say the like of God Ubicunque ago Deum circumfero Wheresoever I go I bear Christ Iesus with me not in a materiall Crucifix or a visible Picture of him wrought in gold or framed in silver but the sweet remembrance of my blessed Saviour that is ever with me the print of his love the example of his vertue the image of his goodnesse the record of his mercy all the miracles that he wrought for my conversion all the miseries that he endured for my liberty all the indignities that he sustained for my salvation the power of his death the triumphs of his Crosse the glory of his rising the comfort of his appearing is that which I lay as Camphire between my breasts that which I hugge with all my soul wheresoever I go whatsoever I do Christ is still with me saith the devout soul as the lot of mine inheritance as the crown of my felicity How the Spirit is said to be quenched in our selves and in others Quench not the Spirit 1 Thess. 5. 19. Nec in te nec in alio saith Aquinas Quench it not in your self by forbearing to hear the Word preached quench it not in others by discouraging them that do preach for so St. Chrysostom understands the place taking an example from the Lamp that burnt by him whilst he was preaching You may quench saies he this Lamp by putting in water and you may quench it by taking out the oyl So a man may quench the Spirit in himself if he smother it or suffocate it with worldly pleasures and profits And he may quench it in others if he withdraw the favour or the maintenance which keeps the Preacher in a carefull discharge of his duty To be carefull in the choice of a Wife IT was the advice of the late E. of Salisbury to his son That as in a project of War to be foâ—led once by the Enemy it would be very hard to recruit so in the choice of a Wife to err but once is to be undone for ever and the rather because as in a Lottery there may be an hundred blanks drawn before one prize many a bad Wife made choise of before one that may become a fit helper is so much as thought on Contemplation and Action are requisite for every good Christian. Noah is commanded to make a window in the top of the Ark and a dore in the side of it a window is for the eye to look out at a dore is for the whole body to go out And he that will ever be a good Christian must not onely make a window for contemplation as Daniel did at which he prayed thrice a day but a dore for action as Abraham did at which he sat once a day At the window of contemplation he must meditate with a very good heart to keep the Word at the dore of action he must go out to bring forth fruit with patience No quietnesse in the soul till it come to Christ. NIcaula the Queen of saba could never be quiet in her own Country till she came to Solomon but when she saw his glory and heard his wisdome then her heart failed her she had enough she could desire to see and hear no more So the soul of a true Christian can never be quiet in the strange Country of this world till it come to Christ the true Solomon the King and Prince of peace eternall The true Christian takes no comfort in this World EDward the third having the King of Scots and the French King his prisoners here in England both together at one time held royall Justs in Smithfield the Just being ended he feasted both the Kings sumptuously at supper after supper perceiving the French King to be sad and pensive he desired him to be merry as others were To whom the French King answered Quomodo cantabimus cantica in terra aliena How shal we sing songs in a strange land If the French King after all this princely pastime and stately entertainment took it so heavily to heart that he was kept prisoner out of his own Country great then must needs be the mourning of every good Christian for his captivity here in this world that he is forced to sojourn in Meseck and live in the tents of Kedar that he must make his abode here below especially seeing that he neither hath such welcome in the world as the French King had in England neither yet is England so far from France as Heaven the place of his desires is from them both Man's nature is altogether sinfull THe Irish History tells us that the City of Waterford gives this Posie in her Armes Intacta manet because since it was first conquered by Henry the 2 d. it was never yet attainted no not so much as touched with treason It is said also that the Isle of Arren in that country hath such a pure aire that it was never yet infected with the plague It cannot be said thus of the Nature of man that it is either so clear from treason as that City or that it is so free from infection as that Island is for our very reason is treason our best affection is no better than infection if it be well sifted in the sight of God In many things we sin all Iam. 3. 2. The Law of God a perfect Law THere is a saying New Lords new Lawes Good Lords make good Lawes Tyrants make cruell Lawes and Fooles make absurd Lawes Inerrability is not tyed to the chair of the best Law-giver Councills though Oecumenicall may and have erred That Law which was suitable to former times is repealed in these and these may not hereafter be approved in those that follow But the Law of God is a perfect Law ever in force unalterable so full that it needeth not to be eeked out by any Traditions or human inventions whatsoever which to do were in effect no more than to add supernumerary limbs to a compleat body The guilt of Innocent blood crying to Heaven for vengeance IT is reported of Philip the 2 d. King of Spain that besieging the Town of St. Quintin and being to make a breach he was forced with his Cannon to batter down a small Chappell on the Wall dedicated to St. Lawrence in reparation to which Saint he afterwards built that famous Chappell in the Escuriall in Spain for workmanship one of the wonders of the world Most sure it is that many Churches and Chappell 's of the God of St. Lawrence have been laid waste by the late Warrs of Christendome and which is more and more to be lamented many living Temples of
his pleasure Thus God raiseth up a good Ruler a good Magistrate a good Minister such as are eminent for wisdom exemplary in life these he sets up in a Kingdom in a County in a Parish or Neighbourhood as lights to walk by How then should we improve such opportunities and walk by the light while we have it for the Sun of such examples will set and it is then night in such a Kingdom such a County such a Township such a Family when a good Governour a good Magistrate a good Minister a good Friend Parent or Master is by death removed Discord ill beseemes the Disciples of Christ. ALexander Severus seeing two Christians contending one with another commanded them that they should not take the name of Christians any longer upon them For saies he you dishonour your Master Christ whose Disciples you professe to be Most sure it is that divisions whether of Church or State forraign or domestick are very dishonourable to Christ. And were it that they darkened our names onely it were not so much but that which darkens up the glory of Christ should go something near us The Soule 's comfortable union with Christ. ARtemisia Queen of Caria shewed an act of wonderfull passionate love toward her husband Mausolus for death having taken him away she not knowing how to pull the thorns of sorrow out of her soul caused his body to be reduced to ashes and mingled them in her drink meaning to make her body a living Tomb wherein the reliques of her husband might rest from whom she could not endure to live separated Thus the true child of God when there is any thing that may seem to preserve the memory of God in his soul how doth he embrace the very invention of it he becomes a true Mausolean tomb indeed he hath a comfortable and true conjunction with Christ eating his flesh and drinking his blood and these two can never be separated again False Doctrine is Treason against God AS he is a Traitour to his Prince who taketh upon him to coyn monyes out of a base mettall yea although in the stamp he putteth for a shew the image of the Prince So he that shall broacâ— any Doctrine that commeth not from God whatsoever he say for it or what gâ—osse soever he set on it he is a Traitor unto God yea in truth a cursed Traitor though he were an Angel from Heaven Gal. 1. 8. How the Soul lives in Christ onely IT is commonly known that the branches have all their sap from the root of the Tree it is that which makes them flourish and grow but if you cut them off from the root they wither presently So it is with the Spirit with the soul of man if God do but a little withdraw himselfe let sin but make a separation betwixt God and the soul it is like a withered branch it hath nothing of its selfe to revive its selfe because it is divided from the root which is Christ At the least it is with the Soul as it is with a Tree in the dead of winter though the sap remain in the root so though it remain in union with the root yet the moysture is gotten into the root iâ— self and doth not now infuse it selfe into the branches Yet withall it is confessed that the servant of God which is once united to Christ shall never be separated the union is now and alwaies shall be but neverthelesse the sap and comfort of the Spirit it may remain in the Head our life may be hid in Christ and may not appear in us at all and we are then in that estate as if we were branches cut off so that whatsoever life and comfort and strength of spirit we had it was from Christ and by the influence and working of his gracious Spirit Division amongst Christians is the disgrace of Christians ONe Bidulph in the relation of his travells to Ierusalem reporteth That the Turks were wont to wonder much at our Englishmen for pinking and cutting their cloaths counting them little better then mad-men for making holes in whole cloath which time of it selfe would tear too soon But how foolish and how mad in the eyes of all good Christians do the cuts and the rents and the slashes that are in men's spirits the divisions that are amongst us at this day how uncomely do they render us and the Religion that we take upon us to professe God's Eternity MErchants and Shop-keepers to procure a better sale and greater credit to their severall Stuffs call them Sempiternum Perpetuana Durance c. but how soon doth the moth fret them and they are gon nothing left but the bare name But God he is the true eternall Beeing All Creatures have a lasting Angels have an outlasting but god hath an everlasting Beeing He onely is Alpha and Omega before the beginning and beyond all ending from everlasting to everlasting the King eternall immortall c. Ill company to be avoided WHen Cerinthus came into the Bath Iohn the Evangelist got him out and called to his fellowes that they should come away with haste from the company of that companion lest the house should fall upon them he thought that place was guilty which received a man that was guilty and that the house was in danger which harboured a man obnoxious Here let them then look about them who not onely without all care do sort themselves with all commeâ—s not fearing the faults of others but are glad they can meet with such companions Vices and vitious persons are alike dangerous He that walketh in the Sun shall be tan'd and he that toucheth pitch shall be defiled and he that associateth himself with the ungodly will soon be tainted with their company That it is lawfull to praise the Dead IT is said of the Aethiopians that they make Sepulchers of glasse for after they have dryed the corps they artificially paint it and set it in a glased coffin that all that passe by may see the whole frame and lineaments of the body and this is commended in them But surely they deserve better of the dead and more benefit of the living who draw the lineaments of their minde and represent their vertues and graces in a Mirrour of Art and Learning And they are as much to blame on the other side that out of the purity of their precise zeal ita praecidunt so neer pare the nails of Romish superstition that they make the fingers bleed who out of fear of praying forsooth for the dead or invocating them are shie in speaking any word for them or sending after them their deserved commendations It is pâ—ety to honour God in his Saints it is justice suum cuique tribuere to give every one his own it is charity to propose eminent examples of heavenly graces and vertues shining in the dead for the imitation of the living and then you cannot praise
let them stay at Iericho till their beards be grown till they be well principled and enabled for the great work of the Ministry Many seem to be willing yet are loath to die A Gentleman made choice of a fair stone and intending the same for his grave-stone caused it to be pitched up in a field a pretty distance off and used often to shoot at it for his exercise Yea but said a wag that stood by you would be loath to hit the mark Thus many men build their Tombs prepare their Coffins make them death's-headrings with memento mori on them yet never think of death and are very unwilling to die embracing this present world with the greater greedinesse A Minister to be able and well furnished CAleb said to his men I will bestow my daughter upon one of you but he that will have her must first win Kiriath Sepher i. e. a City of Books he must quit himself like a man he must fight valiantly And certainly he that will be one of God's Priests an Ambassador of Christ a true Minister of the Word and Sacraments must not be such a one that runs before he is sent that hath a great deal of zeal but no knowledge at all to guid it But one that is called of God that hath lain long before Kiriath Sepher that hath stayed some time at the University and commeth thence full fraught with good learning such a one and such a one onely is a fit match for Caleb's daughter fit to be a dispencer of God's Word and Sacraments Dangerous to be sed uced by fals-Teachers ARistotle writeth of a certain Bird called Capri-mulgus a Goat-sucker which useth to come flying on the Goats and suck them and upon that the milk drieth up and the Goat growes blind So it befalls them who suffer themselves to be seduced by hereticall and false Teachers their judgment is ever after corrupted and blinded And as it is said in the Gospel If the blind lead the blind both fall into the ditch Tongue-Prayer not the onely Prayer IT is said that David praised God upon an Instrument of ten strings and he would never have told how many strings there were but that without all doubt he made use of them all God hath given all of us bodiâ—s as it were Instruments of many strings and can we think it musick good enough to strike but one string to call upon him with our tongues onely No no when the still sound of the heart by holy thoughts and the shrill sound of the tongue by holy words and the loud sound of the hands by pious works do all joyn together that is God's consort and the onely musick wherewith he is affected The way to have our Will is to be subject to God's Will IT is reported of a Gentleman travelling in a misty morning that asked a shepheard such men being greatly skilled in the Phyâ—iognomy of the Heavens what weather it would be I will be said the shepheard what weather pleaseth me and being courteously requested to express his meaning Sir â—aith 〈◊〉 it shall be what weather pleaseth God and what weather pleaseth God pleaseth me Thus a contented mind maketh men to have what they think fitting themselves for moulding their will into Gods will they are sure to have their will The excellency of good Government IT hath been questioned and argued Whether it were better to live under a Tyrannous government where everâ— suspition is made a crime every crime capital or under an Anarchy where every one may do what he lift And it hath been long since over-ruled That it is much better to live under a State Sub quo nihil liceat quà m sub quo omnia A bad government rather then none So then if the worst kind of government be a kind of blessing in comparision What then is it to be under an able Christian Ruler One that doth govern with counsel and rule with wisdom and under such Judges and Magistracy that do not take themselves to be absolute the Supream Authority but confesse themselves to be dependant that they are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 like the Centurion in the Gospel and to give an account not onely to him that is Judge of quick and dead but also to the higher Powers on Earth if they should chance to forget themselves We must learn to live well before we desire to die AS old Chremes in the Comedy told clitipho his son a young Man without discretion who because he could not wring from his Father ten pounds to bestow upon his Sweet-heart had no other speech in his mouth but emori cupio I desire to die I would I were dead But what saies the old Man first I pray you know what it is to live and when you have learned that then if you be a weary of your life speak on Thus they that are so hasty to pronounce the sentence of death against themselves that wish themselves in their graves out of the world must first know what belongeth to the life of a Christian why it was given them by the Lord of life to what end he made them living souls what duties and service he requireth at their hands by that time these things are rightly considered they will be of another mind A negligent Christian no true Christian. IF a man should binde his son Apprentice to some Science or occupation and when he had served his time should be to seek of his Trade and be never a whit the more his Crafts-master in the ending of his years then he was at the beginning he would think he had lost his time and complain of the injury of the Master or the carelessness of the servant Or if a Father should put his Son to school and he alwaies should continue in the lowest Form and never get higher we should judge either great negligence in the Master or in the Scholar Behold such Apprentices or such Scholars are most of us The Church of God is the School of Christ and the best place to learn the Science of all Sciences Now if we have many of us lived long therein some of us twenty some thirty some fourty some fifty years c. and some longer and we no wiser then a child of seven Were it not a great shame for us What no forwarder in Religion then so O disgrace And may we not be condemned of great negligence in the matters of our salvation Hypocrisie may passe for a time undiscovered MAud Mother to King Henry the second being besieged in Winchester Castle counterfeited her self to be dead and so was carryed out in a Coffin whereby she escaped Another time being besieged at Oxford Anno 1141. in a cold Winter with wearing whitâ— â—pparel she got away in the snow undiscover'd Thus some Hypocrits by dissembling Mortification that they are dead to the world and by professing a snow-like purity
in their conversations may pass away a while undiscovered but time will come that their vizards shall be pulled off their faces they may go for a while muffled up in their cloaks of pretended sanctity and zeal for the publique good but all will be revealed at the last if not here hereafter Though the graces of godly Parents cannot avail for bad children yet their good example may prevail with them IT was a custom amongst the Indians after the death of any worthy man to inscribe his name and his act upon the doors of his house for the ennobling of his issue So it was ever esteemed no mean blessing to be well descended to be born of Noble Christian Parents And though the Fathers goodness shall avail thee little if thou beest not good thy self Nihil mihi conducit Martyr pater si malè vixero said Origen What if my Father for the testimony of a good conscience gave his body to be burnt it shall do me no good if I live wickedly yet for all that it availeth much to make a man good there being no way more expedite of instruction to good life than by the knowledge of things past and of the worthy acts of true Christian Parents their Histories being our instruction and their honours our incitements to goodness To look upon every day as the day of death THe Rich man in the Gospel was a bad accomptant when he set down a false summe to his soul saying Thou hast much goods laid up for many years Luk. 12. he sets down years for dayes nay years for hours like the deceitful Trades-man that sets down pounds for shillings Thus many men that would seem to be cunning in the practice of this faculty are out of their reckonings and much deceived they busie themselves in Addition and Multiplication and dream of many years that they are to live whereas they should be careful to practise Substraction and diminution know that every day nay every hour every moment calleth off a part of their lives A contented Christian is a couragious Christian. IT is reported of the Eagle that whereas all other birds make a noise when they are hungry he is never heard to make any noise at all though he be very hungry indeed and it is from the magnitude of his spirit that whatsoever befals it yet it is not alwayes whining and repining as other fowles will do when they want their food it is because it is above hunger and above thirst So it is an Argument of a gratious magnitude of spirit that whatsoever befals it yet it is not alwayes whining and complaining so as others are but goes on still in its way and course and blesses God and keeps in a constant tenour whatsoever thing befals it such things as cause others to be dejected and fretted and vexed and takes away all the comfort of their lives makes no alteration at all in their spirits Many are the troubles of the Righteous IF they were many and not troubles then as it is in the Proverb The more the merryer or if they were troubles and not many then The fewer the better chear But it hath so pleased the Almighty God to couple them both together Many and Troubles in nature troubles in number many that through many tribulations we might enter into the Kingdom of Heaven Hospitality commendable IT is reported of Mr. Thomas Willet a grave Divine and father of the indefatigable Dr. Andrew Willet who also in his younger years was sub-Almoner unto that reverend Prelate Dr. Cox Eleemosynary and Schoolmaster unto King Edward 6 th then England's young Iosiah that having two Benefices Barley in Hertfordshire and Thurkiston in Liecestershire a Living of good value where having provided a sufficient Curat for the place once or twice a year he came and spent the means amongst them relieving some way or other every one of them the better sort of them by hospitality and entertainment the poorer by his almes all of them by his prayers remembring the Apostle's exhortation to be given to hospitality and fearing as Hierom said of himself Nè Maria cum Ioseph locum in diversorio non inveniat c. lest Mary and Ioseph should want room in the Inne or Iesus himselfe excluded might say another day I was a stranger and ye took me not in he refused no guest that came A happy man in making himself so happy a president of piety and pitty to succeeding times But where is the charity the hospitality the tenderness of bowells the largeness of heart in these strait-laced times of ours Here is fasting and prayer amongst us but where are the Almes that must go along with them It was not the prayers of Cornelius alone but the prayers and alms of Cornelius together that went up into the presence of God Let but a despised member of Christ not to speak of common Mendicants whose wants are smothered up in a modest silence whose looks and cloaths and All speak for reliefe let I say but such a one appear what 's the answer I have not for you and I think so too not a heart to do any good â—od bless you God comfort you be warm'd be filled and yet give them nothing This is the charity of these uncharitable times And indeed if men could but eat precepts and drink good counsell they would soon find hospitality in abundance A covetous man good for nothing till death IT is a common saying that a swine is good for nothing whilst he is alive not good to bear or carry as the horse nor to draw as the ox nor to cloath as the sheep nor to give milk as the cow nor to keep the house as the dog but ad solam mortem nutritur fed onely to the slaughter So a covetous rich man just like a Hog doth no good with his riches whilst he liveth but when he is dead his riches come to be disposed of The riches of a sinner are laid up for the just Others Harms to be our Arms. THe Lacedemonians were wont to make their servants drunk and then to shew them to their children that they then beholding their frantick sits and apish behaviour once seeing might ever shun that beastly vice Our sins have made this Land which formerly was our faithfull servant drunk with blood It is to be hoped that our children seeing the miserable fruits and effects thereof will grow so wise and wary by their father's folly as for ever to take heed how they engage themselves in such a civill war again The vanity and danger of 〈◊〉 Repentance IT is an exorbitant course while the Ship is found the tackling sure the Pilot well the Sailors strong the gale favourable the Sea calm to lye idle at Rode carding dicing drinking burning seasonable weather and when the Ship leaks the Pilot is sick the Marrinâ—rs â—aint the storm boisterous and the
Sea tumultuous then to lanch forth and 〈◊〉 up sail for a Voyage into far Countries And yet such is even the skill of evening-repenters who though in the morning of youth and soundness of health and perfect use of Reason they cannot resolve to weigh the Anchor and cut the Cable that withdraws them from seeking Christ nevertheless they feed themselves with a strong perswasion that when their wits are distracted their senses astonied all the powers of the mind and parts of the body distempered then forsooth they think to leap into heaven with a Lord have mercy upon me in their mouths to become Saints at their death however they have demeaned themselves like devils all their life before The Saints knowledge of one another in Heaven MRs. Willet made a quaerie unto her Husband Dr. Willet then lying on his death-bed touching the mutual knowledge that the Saints in glory have one of another such another question being proposed to Luther a little before his death he resolves her with the words of Luther unto which Chemnitius and many others do subscribe That as Adam in the estate of innocency when God first presented Eve unto him whom he had never seen before asked not whence she came but said This is bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh Even so the Saints of God in Heaven beatifically illuminated with knowledge beyond Adam's in his first condition shall know not onely those whom here they knew not but even those whom before they never saw Satan tempteth by degrees IT is observed of the Crocodile that he cometh of an egge no bigger then a Goose-egge yet he groweth till he be fifteen cubits long Pliny saies thirty he is also long lived and which is much encreaseth as long as he liveth This setteth forth the manner of the encreasing of Sathans Kingdome and how cunningly he disposeth of his temptations First he beginneth with small matters and so by degrees to greater from thought to consent from consent to action from action to custom from custom to a habit of sin Iudas is first inured to theft and trained up in another false trick as in repining at the box of ointment poured on Christ at the length he is brought to betray his Master Thus was the gradation of Peters sin first lying then cursing after swearing c. National Iudgements call for National Repentance SUppose that the Sea should break forth in this Land as such a thing might soon come to passe were not the waters thereof countermanded by God's Prerogative Royal it is not the endeavour of a private man can stop it What if he goes with a Faggot on his back and a Mattock on his shoulder and a spade in his hand his desire is more commendable then his discretion it being more likely the Sea should swallow him then he stop the mouth of it No the whole Country must come in Children must bring earth in their hats Woemen in their aprons Men with Hand-barrows Wheel-barrows Carts Carrs Wains Waggons all must work lest all be destroyed So when a general deluge and inundation of God's anger seizeth upon a whole Kingdom when he breaks in upon a Nation like the breaking forth of waters it cannot be stop'd by the private endeavours of some few but it must be an universal work by a general Repeâ—tance all must raise banks to bound it till this be done no hope of Peace no hope of Reconcilement at all How Christ's sufferings are made ours AS the Burgess of a Town or Corporation sitting in the Parliament-House 〈◊〉 the person of that whole Town or place and what he saith the whole Town saith and what is done to him is done to the whole Town Even so Christ upon the Cross stood in our place and bare our persons and whatsoever he suffered we suffered and when he dyed all dyed with him all the faithful dyed in him and as he is risen again so the faithful are risen in him A Worldly-minded man speaketh of nothing but worldly things WHen a clock within is disordered and the wheels out of frame the hammer and bell must needs give an uncertain sound so when our hearts are inwardly disordered and corrupted with worldliness and prophanenesse our speech outwardly accordeth with them The door-keeper said unto Peter Thou art surely a Galilean thy speech bewraieth thee And whosoever he be that hath his mind taken up and chiefely delighted with the Worlds musick hath his tongue also tuned to the same key and taketh his joy and comfort in speaking of nothing else but the World and worldly things if the World be in his heart it will break out at the lips A worldly-minded man speaketh of nothing but worldly things Censurers not to be regarded LAnquet in his Chronicle relateth that in Frizland there was a phantastical Prophet named David George who calling himself God's Nephew said Heaven was empty and that he was sent to chuse the children of God that the great work of Election was left unto his disposal to appoint such as he thought fit to be saved Thus in our time there be many such Prophets electing and damning whom they please deifying this man and devilifying that man but sure it is they have no more authority to make devils then the Pope hath to make Saints As then a number of his Saints are in Hell so questionless many of their devils are glorious Saints in Heaven The certainty of God's will and purpose THe Wheels in a Watch or a Clock move contrary one to another some one way some another yet all serve the intent of the work-man to shew the time or to make the Clock to strike So in the World the providence of God may seem to run crosse to his promises one man takes this way another runs that way good men go one way wicked men another yet all in conclusion accomplish the Will and center in the purpose of God the great Creator of all things A wicked man believes not there is a Hell till he be in it TOstatus observeth out of Pliny that the Mole after he hath long lived under ground beginneth to see when he dyeth oculos incipit aperire moriendo quos clausos habuit vivendo he beginneth to open his eyes in dying which he alwaies had shut whilst he lived This is the true State of a wicked earthly-minded man he neither seeth Heaven nor thinketh of Hell tell him that the wicked shall be turned into hell and all that forget God it is but as brutum fulmen a meer scare-crow he feareth not God nor man all his life-time till he approacheth to judgement and then too soon he beginneth to feel that which he could not be brought to believe The World 's dangerous allurements THere is a kind of Serpent called by the Greeks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which when she cannot overtake the fleeing Passingers doth with her beautiful
may not think them other then Stars in this lower firmament but if they fall from their holy station and embrace this present vvorld whether in judgement or practice renouncing the truth and power of godliness we may then conclude that they never had any true light in them and were no other then a glittering composition of Pride and Hypocrisie A vain rich Man AS a Brook with a fall of Rain-waters swells and as it were proud of his late encrease makes a noyse nay runs here and there to shew it selfe till by running it hath run out all that ever it had Even so some rich men upon some fall of wealth begin to swell as if they were little Seas then make a noyse of ostentation and because they have but one tongue of their own they get the eccho of some soothing flatterers they over-flow the lower grounds the poor and spread their names in letters of bloud in the end after some short noyse as the brook leaves nothing but dirt and mire behind so do they leave nothing at their death to themselves but confusion before God and men Reason must submit to Faith VVHen three Ambassadors were sent from Rome to appease the discord betwix Nicomedes and Prusias vvhereof one vvas troubled vvith a Megrim in his head another had the Gowt in his Toes and the third was a Fool Cato said vvittily That Ambassage had neither head nor foot nor heart So that man vvhosoeever he be shall never have a head to conceive the truth nor a foot to vvalk in the vvayes of obedience nor a heart to receive the comfortable â—ssurance of salvation that suffers his Reason Will and Affections to usurp upon his faith Qui se sibi constituiâ— slultum habet magistrum He that goes to school to his own reason hath a fool to his Schoolmaster and he that suffers his faith to be over-ruled by his Reason may have a strong Reason but a weak faith to rely upon The patience of God provoked turns to fury AS a child in the Mothers wombe the longer it is in the wombe before it comes forth the bigger the child will be and the more pain it will put the Mother unto Thus it is with God though he hath leaden feet yet he hath iron hands the longer he is before he strikes the heavier the blow will be when he strikes the longer he keeps-in his wrath and is patient toward a People or a Nation the bigger the child of wrath will be when it comes forth and the greater will be their misery and affliction Distrustfull cares reproved LOok on the Robin-red-breast pretty bird how cheerfully doth he sit and sing in the Chamber window yet knows not where he is nor where he shall make the next meal and at night must shrowd himselfe in a bush for his lodging VVhat a shame is it then for Christians that see before them such liberall provisions of their God and find themselves set warm under their roofs yet are ready to droop under a distrustful and unthankful dulness and are ready to say Can God make windows in Heaven 2 King 7. 2. Can God prepare a Table in the Wildernesse Psal. 78. 19. No harm in Humility A Man goes in at a door and he stoops the door is high enough yet he stoops you will say he needs not stoop yea but saith Bernard there is no hurt in his stooping otherwise he may catch a knock this way he is safe Thus a man may bear himselfe too high upon the favour of God having some good measure of sanctification and of assurance of eternal life it will be hard not to be proud of it Pride hath slain thousands O but spiritual pride hath slain her ten thousands Humility never yet did harm to any there is no danger in stooping It is better to be an humble servant of the Lord than a great Lord of many servants the lowest of Gods friends then the highest amongst his enemies Mortality of the sinners life to be considered and deplored IT is reported of Xerxes that having prepared 300000. men to fight with the Graecians and having mustered them up into a general Rendezvous and taken notice of their strength and the greatness of their number he fell a weeping out of the consideration that not one of them should remain alive within the space of an hundreth years Much more ought we to mourn then when we consider the abundance of people that are in England and the abundance of sin perpetrated amongst us and what shall become not onely of our bodies within these few years but what shall become of our souls to all Eternity Satan subdued by Christ's death IT is written of the Camelion that when he espies a Serpent taking shade under a Tree he climbs up the Tree and le ts down a thread breathed out of his mouth as small as a Spiders thread at the end whereof there is a little drop as clear as any Pearl which falling on the Serpents head kills him Christ is this Camelion he climbs up into the Tree of his Cross and le ts down a thread of blood issuing out of his side like Rahab's red thread hanging out at the window the least drop whereof being so prestious and so peerless falling upon the Serpents head kills him The experience of God's love is to be a motive of better obedience THere is a famous History of one Androdus the Dane dwelling in Rome that fled from his Master into the Wilderness and took shelter in a Lions den The Lion came home with a thorn in his foot and seeing the man in the den reached out his foot and the man pulled out the thorn which the Lion took so kindly that for three years he fed the man in his den After three years the man stole out of the den and returned back to Rome was apprehended by his Master and condemned to be devoured by a Lion It so happened that this very Lion was designed to devour him The Lion knows his old friend and would not hurt him The people wondred at it the man was saved and the Lion given to him which he carryed about with him in the streets of Rome from whence grew this saying Hic est homo medicus Leonis hic est Leo hospes hominis Well most true it is that the great God of Heaven hath pluckt out many many a thorn out of our feet hath delighted himself to do us good let then the experience of such love prick us on to better obedience not to bring forth thorns and bryers to him not to have our hearts barren and dryed up as the thorny ground not to kick against him with our feet whilst he is pulling out the thorn that troubles us A good Man is mindful of his latter end WE read that Daniel strewed ashes in the Temple to discover the footsteps of Bells Priests which did eat up the
those times when the Roman Common-wealth was almost consumed with mutuall and civill jars he would have built a Temple Iovi positorio wherein men should have deposited and layen down all heart-burnings all quarrells before they entred the Senate How necessary were such a place for the Magistrates Ministers and People of these times For Magistrates before they come into any places of publique judicature where they may meet and lay down all private thoughts all prejudicate opinions that so Iustice and Iudgement may be duly and conscionably administred For Ministers before they preach in publique where they may teach themselves the lessons of self-denial and self-seeking that so the Kingdom of Iesus Christ may be advanced For People before they touch the Mount before they come to hear the word preached or to partake of the blessed Sacrament where they may lay aside all carnall and worldly thoughts all prejudices of the Ministers and Ordinances that so the word of God and the professors thereof be not evil spoken of That Magistrates Ministers and People may be so peaceably minded that the God of peace may delight to dwell amongst them How it is that we may hate our Enemies IT was a true Norman distinction that William the first made when he censured one that was both Bishop of Bayens and Earl of Kent And his Apology to the Plaintiffe Pope-ling was this That he did not medle with the Bishop but with the Earl Thus in the matter of hatred and envy We must hate our enemies as David did his How is that Odio perfecto with a perfect hatred love their persons but hate their vices medle not with them as they are friends or acquaiutance but abhominate their uncleannesse c. Riches ill gotten never prosper SAlis onus unde venerat illuc abiit saith the Latin Proverb The burthen of Salt is returned thither from whence it came The occasion was this A Ship laden with Salt being torn by wrack let the Salt fall into the Sea from whence it was first taken So for the most part Goods gotten by spoil or plunder are usually lost in the same way Vespasian's Officers that by rapine and exaction filled themselves like spunges after they were full were squeezed by the Emqerour And it is dayly seen that the spoiler is himselfe spoiled and that which was gathered by the hire of a Whore returneth to the wages of an Harlot Mich. 1. 7. The excellent connexion of the Scriptures of God THe Heathen said That there were three things impossible to be done Eripere Iovi fulmen Herculi clavam Homero versum to pull Iupiters Thunder-bolt out of his hand Hercules Club out his hand and a Verse from Homer for they thought there was such a connexion between Homers Verses that not one Verse could be taken away without a great breach in the whole Work But this may much more be said of the Scriptures of God there is such a coherence such a connexion such a dependance that if you take away but one Verse the whole will be marred all the Books of Scripture being like a chain linked together except the Book of Solomons Proverbs which is like a bag full of gold Rings every verse being one entire and distinct sentence God the onely delight of his children LEt Iacob but hear that Ioseph his son is yet alive he hath enough If the King come home with freedom honour and safety Ziba may keep the Land let him take all Mephiâ—oshtch is satisfied Could but the son of Hamor match with Dina his Circumcision shall be endured and though the daughters of the Country be denyed him yet shall he be well contented Give but Rahell children and she will not dye And let Simeon see his Saviour and he will dye Thus let God's children enjoy but him the subject of their affections tide life tide death come what can come whatsoever befals them they are contented he is the onely object of their love and he it is in whom their soul principally delighteth wherefore in the enjoyment of him they have all they would have A faint-hearted Christian described SOme freshwater Souldier standing upon the shore in a fair day and beholding the Ships top and top-gallant in all their bravery riding safety at Anchor thinks it a brave thing to go to Sea and will by all means aboard but being out a league or two from the Harbour and feeling by the rocking of the Ship his stomack begin to work and grow sick and his soul even to abhor all manner of meat or otherwise a storm to arise the wind and the Sea as it were conspiring the sinking of the Vessel forthwith repents his folly and makes vows that if he but once be set ashore again he will bid an eternal farewel to all such Voyages And thus there be many faint-hearted Christians to be found amongst us who in calm dayes of Peace when Religion is not over-clouded by the times will needs join themselves to the number of the people of God they will be as earnest and as forward as the best and who but they yet let but a Tempest begin to appear and the Sea to grow rougher than at the first entry the times alter troubles raised many cross minds of opposition and gain-saying begin to blow they are weary of their course and will to shore again resolving never to thrust themselves into any more adventures they would have Christum but not Christum crucifixum Christ they would have by all means but Christ crucified by no means if the way to Heaven be by the gates of Hell let who will they will not go that way but rather sit down and be quiet Diligence in our callings commendable PLiny relateth of one Cressinus who from a very little piece of ground gathering much wealth and much more then his neighbours could from a greater quantity of land was thereupon accused of Witch-craft But to defend himself he brought into the Court his servants and their instruments of labour and said Veneficia mea Quirites haec sunt My witch-crafts O ye Romans are these these servants and these working tools are all the witch-craft that I know of I say not to my servants go and do this or that but come let us go do it and so the work goes on Well it is the deligent hand that maketh rich It is diligence and industry that makes any man excellent and glorious and chief in any condition calling or profession Seest thou a man diligent in his way he shall stand before Princes Different measures of Grace in different persons AS Abimelech's Souldiers some cut down greater branches some lesser according to the proportion of their strength And as St. Paul's Mariners some were saved on boards some on broken pieces of the Ship Even so amongst Christians some in their approaches unto God carry a greater some a lesser confidence
in such and such Psalms such complaints and workings of spirit I had never understood the practice of Christian duties had not God brought me under some affliction And it is very true that God's rod is as the fescue is to the child pointing out the letter that he may the better take notice of it and to point out to us many good lessons which we should never otherwise have learned Vnworthy Communicants condemned ABraham when he went with his servants to sacrifice Isaac said unto them Abide you here with the Ass and I and the lad will go yonder and worship and come again to you Thus too too many do with their sins when they come to the Sacrament they do in effect say to their sins and lusts Stand you a while aside I must go to the Sacrament and receive the Communion do but stand by a while and when the Sacrament is over or at farthest as soon as the Sacrament-day is over I will come again to you thus the duty once over and the Sacrament a little forgotten they and their sins are hail fellow well met upon all occasions Religion not Reason is the square of good actions A Carpenter when he is working doth see by his eye when he applyeth the square to the wood whether it be straight or not but yet his eye without the which he cannot see is not the Iudge to try whether the tree be straight or not but onely the square is the Iudge So Reason in man without the which he could not judge is not the square to try what is right or wrong in ordine ad Deum in order to salvation but Religion the word of God it self is tâ—e onely Rule and square For instance Reason cannot consider how faith justifieth a man or whether works be an effect of faith or not but Reason can conclude ex concessis of things granted If faith be the cause and works the effect then they must necessarily go together and Reason can go no higher God chastiseth his childrens security A Bsolon sends once or twice to Ioab to come and speak with him but when he saw that Ioab would not come he commands his Corn-field to be set on fire and so he fetched him with a witness So the children of God when they stand off upon tearms and will not see his face the fire of affliction will make them seek him early and diligently It is the custom of our Gallants when their horses be slow and dull to spur them up If Iron grow rusty we put it into the fire to purifie it And so doth God in our backwardness to duties he pricks us on or being in our filthiness purifies us by casting us into the hot coals of tribulation Christ in all his Excellencies to be the Christian's Object A Woman in travel being delivered if she should desire but to see the feet onely of the Babe and not the head face and body would she not be accounted a strange foolish and wicked woman So man being in travel and sorrow under sin but salvation having appeared by the Coming of Christ into the World Is it sufficient for him to look onely upon the death of Christ it being the last extream or foot as it were of his sufferings and passion No it is not he will behold the dignity of his Nature he being God the preheminence of his government he being the head of his Church the beauty of his goodness he having love and mercy shining in his face the painfulness of his labour he sustaining and bearing all in his body The convenience of Virginity THere are none but Beggars that desire the Church-porch to lodge in which others use onely as a passage into the Church So Virginity is none of those things to be desired in and for it self but because it leads a more convenient way to the worship of God especially in time of persecution and trouble For then if Christians be forced to run races for their lives the unmarryed have the advantage lighter by many ounces and freed from much incumbrance which the marryed are subject to who though private persons yet herein are like Princes they must have their Train follow them The certain prevalency of Prayer IT is reported of a Nobleman in this Kingdom that had a Ring given him by the Queen with this promise That if he sent that Ring to her at any time when he was in danger she would remember him and relieve him This was a great priviledge from a Prince yet it is known to many what that was subject unto he might be in such distress as the Queen could not be able to help him or though she were able as she was in that case yet the Ring might be sent and not delivered Now then consider what the Lord doth to us He â—ath given us this priviledge he hath given us Prayer as it were this Ring he hath given us that to use and tells us whatsoever our case is whatsoever we are whatsoever we stand in need of whatsoever distress we are in do but send this up to me saith he do but deliver up this message to me of Prayer and I will be sure to relieve thee And most certain it is whatsoever case we are in when we send up our prayers to God they are sure to be conveyed for we send them to one that is able and ready to help us which a Prince many times is not willing or not able to perform Infirmities to be in the best of God's children and why so THe Merchants of London petitioned Qu. Elizabeth that they might but have liberty to levell the Town of Dunkerk a place at that time very obnoxious to the safety of the Merchants trade and they would do it at their own charges The Queen by the advice of her Councel returns them an answer in the Negative She could not do it What not suffer them to beat hers and their enemies not to fire such a nest of Hornets not to demolish such a Pyraticall Town as that was No it must not be And why She knew well that it would not do amiss that they should be alwayes sensible of so neer and so offensive an Enemy and so be alwayes preparing and prepared to defend themselves and the State of the whole Kingdom which took a right effect for hereupon all turn men of War hardly a Boat but is man'd out for service which otherwise might have either rotted in the Harbour or ridden security at Anchor Thus God when his dear children cry out unto him to be delivered from the body of sin that sin may not raign in their mortal bodies he so far granteth their requests that by the special dispensations of his holy spirit sin shall not prevail over them not but that sins of infirmity shall still cleave to the best of his children here in this world Why because they shall be still
are very rare Companions The event of War uncertain A Murath the first Emperor of the Turks after he had got the field against the Christians at Cassova came to view the dead bodies which lay on heaps like Mountains on a sudden one of the Christian Souldiers that lay sore wounded amongst the dead seeing Amurath raised himself as well as he could and in a staggering manner made towards him falling for want of strength divers times in the way which when the Captains saw they would have put him back but Amurath commanded him to approach thinking that he would have done him honour and have kissed his feet but the Souldier being drawn nigh him suddenly stab'd him in the belly with a short dagger that he had under his coat and thus the Conqueror was conquered and died presently Did not the poor wounded Chaldeans such as were thrust through and through with the sword gasping for life rally again to the ruine of their enemies And thus when God seeth his time even a few poor despised men wounded and half dead even sinking in despair of better times at such uncertainty runs that alea Martis that die of War may recover the battel that was lost and cry Victoria having spoiled the spoylers strucken down the chiefest and the strongest and the choisest men that before prevailed and had the upper hand No true comfort but in God WHen a man walketh in the Sun if his face be towards it he hath nothing before him but bright shining light and comfortable heat but let him once turn his back to the Sun what hath he before him then but a shadow And what is a shadow but the privation of light and heat of the Sun yea it is but to behold his own shadow defrauding himself of the other Thus there is no true wisdom no true happiness no real comfort but in beholding the countenance of God look from that and we lose these blessings and what shall we gain a shadow an empty Image instead of a substantial to gain an empty Image of our selves and lose the solid Image of God yet this is the common folly of the world men prefer this shadow before that substance whereas there is not the least appearance of any true comfort but in God onely Heart and tongue to go together IT is well worth the observation what is written of the Peach namely that the Egyptians of all fruits did make choice of that principally to consecrate to their Goddesse and for no other cause but that the fruit thereof 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is like to ones heart 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the leaf like to ones tongue What they did like Heathens let us do like Christians for indeed when the heart and the tongue go together then is the Harmony at the sweetest and the service best pleasing both to God and Man All Creatures subject to Gods pleasure GOd is in Heaven he doth whatsoever he will There is not any in the Heaven or Earth or Sea be it body or spirit which is not at his deâ—otion and waiteth not at his beck the greatest do him homage the smallest do him service what is greater then the Heaven yet if Ioshua pray unto him that ever-wheeling body shall cease his diurnal motion The Sun shall stand still in Gibeon and the Moon in Ajalon That which cometh forth as a Giant and rejoyceth to run his course to satisfie Hezekiah and to confirm his faith shall flie back as a Coward ten degrees at once as then it appeared by the Dyal of Ahaz What is ruder or more unfit to be dealt withal then the Earth yet at his pleasure he shaketh both Earth and Sea What is more pure a more excellent and subtile essence then the Angels yet he hath bound up four of them in the River of Euphrates and although they be prepar'd at an hour and at a day and at a moment and at a year to slay the third part of men yet these Angels cannot stir until that they be loosed by his special commandement Unconceivable is his Majesty unestimable is his power the highest things and the lowest the greatest and the weâ—kest do obey him The inconsiderate Multitude WE see by experience that dogs do alwayes bark at those they know not and that it is their Nature to accompany one another in those clamours And so it is with the inconâ—iderate multitude who wanting that vertue which we call honesty in all men and that especial gift of God which we call Charity in Christian men condemn without hearing and wound without offence given led thereunto by uncertain report onely which K. James truly acknowledgeth for the father of all lies The great goodness of God in sending his Son Iesus Christ to save sâ—â—ners WIcked Haeman procured letters from Ahasâ—uerosh for the destruction of the Iews men women and children all that were in his dominions this done Hester the Queen makes request to the King that her people might be saved and the letters of Haman reversed she obtains her request freedom was given and letters of joyful deliverance were dispatched with speed to all those provinces where the Iews inhabited whereupon arose a wonderful joy and gladness amongst that people and it is said that thereupon many of the people of the land became Iews But now behold a greater matter amongst us then this There is that Chirographum that hand-writing of Condemnation the Law and therein the sentence of death of a double death of body and soul and Sathan as wicked Haman accuseth us and seeks by all means to make good his charge against us But yet behold not any earthly Hester but Christ Iesus the Son of God is come down from his Father in heaven hath taken away this hand-writing of condemnation cancelled it on the Cross and is now ascended into Heaven and there sits at the right hand of his Father and makes requests for us and in him is his Father well pleased and yieldeth to his request on our behalf let us then as the Persians the people of that Country became Iews in life and conversation become Christians turn to Christ embrace his doctrine and practise the same unfeigâ—edly Wantonness in Apparel reproved SUrely if it be a shame for a man to wear a paper on his hat at VVestminster-Hall to shew what he hath done it is then as reprâ—achful to wear vain garments on ones back As for a man to be like a fantastical Antick and a woman like a Bartholomew baby what is this but to pull all mens eyes after them to read in Capital letters what they are vain foolish ridiculous It were to be wished that such back-papers Apparel in excess might be as odious in the eyes and hearts of men and women as those hâ—t-papers be at VVestminster and elsewhere for certainly the one tellas foul tales as the others do and could
Commonwealth doth prosper but no sooner doth the Subject break these bonds but a civill putrefaction enters which maketh way to the ruine of a State whoreth every mans particular interest is hazarded with the whole the remedy where of is the work of judgement but it must be attended with Justice also not the Kings affections but his Lawes must moderate his Iudgement and the medicine must be fitted to the Disease otherwise if the scales of Iustice do not firft weigh the merits of the cause the Judgement will as much disquiet the State as discontent the party judged All have not the same measure of Christ. CHrist hath the fulnesse of Grace we but every one his proportion according to our capacities even as from the Sun every man receives a beam of the same kind though not the same beam or from a tree every Man gathereth an apple though not the same apple or out of a River every Man drinketh a draught of the same water but not the same draught of water Even so all do partake of the same Christ but not in the same measure And no Man whole Christ by whole I mean totum Christi though every man doth receive him whole that is totum Christum Every man hath Christ alike intensivè though extensivè all have him not alike and yet extensivè too every Man hath his full measure as it was in Manna He that gathered more had not too much and he that gathered less had enough Ministers to teach as well the practice as the knowledge of Religion A Discreet School-master doth not only teach his Schollers Grammer rules whereby for example true Latine may be made but he teacheth them also to make true Latine according to those Rules neither doth he think his paines bestowed to any purpose till his Schollers can do that Even so a discreet Minister must teach his people not onely how to know but how to do their duty to turn their Science into Conscience so to learn Christ as to become Christians Christians in S. Paulâ— sense For certainly he is a very trewant in Christ's School whose life doth not expresse his learning that is not a doer as well as a hearer of the Word Iustice described TRavailers write Nath Chytreus by name that in Padua Iustic◠〈…〉 in a publique place between a pair of scales and a sword aâ—cording to the old manner with these two Verses proceeding from her mouth Reddo cuique suum sanctis legibus omne Concilio mortale genus ne crimine vivat The Verses are but clowter-like unworthy such an University as Padua is renowned to be but the sense is good and for the shortnesse of them they may be the better remembred I give saith Iustice to every man his own I prâ—cure and win all men to be subject unto godly Lawes left otherwise they should prove criminall that is grievous transgressors Were it otherwise Servants would be on horse-back and Masters even Princes on foot Like People like Priest Like Buyer like Seller Like Borrower like Lender as Esay again saith Nay then no buyer no seller or borrower or lender but all upon snatching and catching and rifling and plundering and rapine and wrong and blood touching blood The Minister's labour though in succesful yet rewarded by God THe Minister's labour whether it hit or miss is accepted of the Lord l For as he who perswadeth to evill be it Heresie or Treason is punished accordingly although he do not prevail because he intended it because he did labour it So he that doth his best to win Men to Heaven though he effecteth not what he desired though he hath laboured in vain and spent his slrength in vain yet he shall be accepied and his reward shall be with his God The happy meeting of Body and Soul in the Resurrection WHen we pluck down a house with intent to new build it or repair the ruines of it we warne the Inhaditants out of it least they should be soyled with the dust and rubbish or offended with the noise and so for a time provide some other place for them but when we have new trimmed and dressed up the House then we bring them back to a better habitation Thus God when he overturneth this rotten roome of our flesh calleth out the Soul for a little time and lodgeth it with himselfe in some corner of his Kingdom but repairesh the bracks of our bodies against the Resurrection and then having made them decent yea glorious and incorruptible he doth put our Soules back again into their acquainted Mansions The Popes policy to advance his Holiness ONe Psapho dwelling in the parts of Lybia desirous to be canonized a God took a sort of prating birds and secretly taught them to sing this one note Psapho is a great God and having their lesson perfectly let them fly into the woods and hills adjoyning where continuing their song other birds by imitation learned the same till all the hedge-rowes rang with nothing but Psapho's diety The Country people hearing the Birds but ignorant of this fraud thought Psapho to be a God indeed and began to worship him The same is the Popes practice desirous to effect his ambition and shew himselfe to be a God he maintaines a sort of discontented English fugitives in his Seminaries as it were in so many cages where dyeting them for the nonce he easily teaches them what tune he pleaseth and having so done takes off their bâ—lls and sends them home again where filling every hedge and outhouse with their tunes no marvail if other birds of the samefeather and as wise as themselves by conversing with them do the like The power of Faith reviving the deadly sin-sick soul. VVHen the Israelites were in burying a Man for fear of the Souldiers of the Moabites they cast him for haste into the sepulchre of Elisha Now the dead Man assoon as he was down and had touched the body of the Prophet he recovered and stood upon his feet So let a Man that is dead in sin be cast into the grave of Christ that is let him by faith but touch Christ dead and buried it will so come to passe that he shall be raised from death and bondage of sin to become a new man To sin against the mercies of God is to double our Sins HE that sins against the mercies of God fights against God with his own weapons which must needs provoke God Suppose a Man should come into a Smiths shop and take up the Smiths own Hammer and knock him on the head this were to commit a double sin not onely to kill the Smith but to kill him with his own Hammer Such a double sin are they guilty of who the more wit they have the more they plot against God and the more wealth and health and honour they have the more they despise God and his Commandements with
set before Christ in the Courts of Heaven and there serve up to him that cup of praise but much fuller and much sweeter for ever and ever but if the ravenous bâ—rds of wandring thoughts do devour these Meditations intended for Heaven it is hard to say but that so far as they intrude they will be the death of that service if not of that soul they thus infest God gives warning before he smites NOn solet deus subrepere c. saith Chrysostom God when he doth any great work in the world stealeth not upon the world he giveth a warning piece before he dischargeth his arming piece so did he before he brought on the flood before he delivered his People out of Egypt before he gave the Iewes over unto the Babylonian captivity We cannot read these stories but we must needs find in them Gods palpable Harbingers so that if men be surprised it is not because they are not forewarn'd but because they will take no warning Excess of Apparell condemned IT was an arrogant act of Hubert Arch-bishop of Canterbury who when King Iohn had given his Courtiers rich Liveries gave his servants the like wherewith the King was not a little offended But what shall we say to the riot of our age wherein as Peacocks are more gay than the Eagle himselfe every ordinary subject out-vies his Soveraign what fancies and fantasticall habits are daily seen amongst us The dangerous example of wicked Governours JErâ—boam the Son of Nebat is never mentioned in the Scripture never read or heard of in the Chronicles of Israel but he draweth a tayl after him like a blazing Star who made Israel to sin A sick head disordereth all the other parts and a dark eye benights the whole body It is said Facile transitur ad plures People are apt to flock after a Multitude And it is as true Facilè transitur ad majores Men are apt to imitate great Authority whether good or bad Evill behaviour in Men of high degree corrupteth as it were the air round about which the People drawing in over-hastily are made like to themselves in all manner of lewdness How to use Riches VVHen a Man taketh a heavy Trunk full of Plate or Money upon his shoulders it maketh him stoop and boweth him towards the ground but if the same weight be put under his feet it lifteth him up from the ground In like manner if we put our Wealth and Riches above us preferring them to our salvation they will press us down to the ground if not to Hell with their very weight but if we put them under our feet and tread upon them as slaves and vassals to us â—nd quite contemn them in respect of Heavenly treasure they will raise us up towards Heaven The great danger of concealed knowledge CArdanus tells of one that had such a Receipt as would suddainly and certainly dissolve the Stone in the bladder and he concludes of him that he makes no doubt but that he is now in Hell because he never reâ—ealed it to any before he dyed This was something a hard sentence but what shall we think then of them that know of the remedy of curing souls such as have receipts for hard and stony hearts yet do not reveal them nor perswade Men to make use of them Is it not Hypocrisie to pray daily for their conversion and salvation and never once endeavour to procure it And if Hypocrisie then what is the reward of hypocrisie there 's none so ignorant but knows it How the Gospel propagateth it selfe AS the scope of the Sun is in all the World and yet at one time the Sun doth not shine in all the parts thereof it beginneth in the East and passeth to the South and so to the West and as it passeth forward bringing light to one place withdraweth from another So it is in regard of the Sun of Righteousness the sun-shine of the Gospel he hath jus ad omnem â—eâ—ram but he hath not at the same jus in omni terra the Propriety of all is his but he taketh possession of it all successively and by partâ—s the Eastern Churches the Southern have had his light which now are in darkness for the most part and we that are more Northerly do now enjoy the clearest Noontide but the Sun beginneth to rise to them in the West and it is too to plain that our light beginneth to grow dim it is to be feared that it hasteth to their Meridian and whether after their noon it will set God knoweth yet the cause hereof is not lest we mistake in the Sun of Righteousness as the cause why all have not light at one time is in the corporal Sun The corporal cannot at one time enlighten all the Sun of Righteousness can But for the sins of the People the Candlestick is removed and given to a Nation that will bear more fruit We interpose our Earthliness between our selves and the Sun and so exclude our selves from the beams thereof Englands distractions to be Englands peaceable directions AUlus Gellius tells of certain Men that were in a ship ready to perish by reason of a great Tempest and one of them being a Philosoper fell to asking many trifling questions to whom they answered 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we are a perishing and dost thou trifle So it may be said of us Is England a sinking and is this a time to be raising of unnecessary Disputes to be wrangling in Controversies about points of Church-Government when God knows whether we shall have any Goâ—ernment either in Church or State at all when there is Hannibalad portas a generation of Men crying out No Governours no Church no Ministers no Sacrament As Elisha said to Gehezi Is this a time to receive money so it may be said again â—eâ—us sic stantibus Is this a time to divide Is such a time as this a time to trouble England with new opinions Is this a time to divide Nay is it not rather a time to unite and to have quiet hearts and peaceable dispositions one towards another that so the God of peace may delight to dwell amongst us Deformity of body not to be contemned AN Emperour of Germany coming by chance on a Sunday into Church found there a mis-shapen Priest poené portentum Naturae insomuch as the Emperour scorn'd and contemned him But when he heard him read these words in the Service For it is he that made us not we our selves the Emperour checked his own proud thoughts and made enquiry into the quality and condition of the man and finding him on Examination to be most learned and devout he made him Archbishop of Colen which place he did excellently discharge Mock not at those then who are mis-shapen by Nature there is the same reason of the poor and of the deformed he that despiseth them despiseth God that made them A poor man is a Pictture of Gods own
making but set in a plain frame not gilded And a deformed man is also his Workmanship but not drawn with even lines and lively colours The former not for want of wealth as the latter not for want of skill but both for the pleasure of the Maker and many times their Souls have been the Chappels of Sanctity whose bodies have been the Spitals of deformity Profession and Practice to go together THe Prophet Esay chap. 58. 1. is willed to lift up his voyce like a Trumpet there are many things that sound lowder than a Trumpeâ— as the roaring of the Sea the claps of Thunder and such like yet he sayes not Lift up thy voyce as the Sea or lift up thy voyce as Thunder but lift up thy voyce as a Trumpet Why as a Trumpet Because a Trumpeter when he sounds his Trumpet he winds it with his mouth and holds it up with his hand And so every faithfull heart which is as it were a spirituall Trumpet to â—ound out the prayses of God must not onely report them with his mouth but also support them with his hand When Profession and Practice meet together quà m benè conveniunt What a Harmony is in that Soul When the tongue is made Gods Advocate and the hand Executor of Gods will then doth a Man truly lift up his voice like a Trumpet All men and things subject to Mortality VVHen the Emperour Constantius came to Rome in triumph and beheld the Companies that entertained him he repeated a saying of Cyneas the Epirote that he had seen so many Kings as Citisens But viewing the buildings of the City the stately Arches of the Gates so lofty that at his entrance he needed not to have stooped like a Goose at a barn-door the Turrets Tombs Temples Theaters Aquaeducts Baths and some of the work so high like Babel that the eye of Man could scarcely reach unto them he was amazed and said That Nature had emptied all her strength and invention upon that one City He spake to Hormisda the Master of his works to erect him a brazen horse in Constantinople like unto that of Trajan the Emperour which he there saw Hormisda answered him that if he desired the like horse he must then provide him the like stable All this and much more in the honour of Rome At length he asked Hormisda What he thought of the City who told him that he took no pleasure in any thing there but in learning one lesson That men also dyed in Rome and that he perceived well the end of that Lady City which in the judgement of Quintilian was the onely City and all the rest but Towns would be the same with all her Predecessors the ruines whereof are even gone to Ruine this is the doom that attendeth both Men and Places be they never so great and stately The consideration whereof made a learned Gent. close up that his admirable History of the World in these words O eloquent just and mighty death whom none could advise thou onely hast perswaded what none hath dared thou hast done and whom all the world hath flattered thou onely hast cast out out of the world and despised Thou hast drawn together all the far-stretched greatness all the pride cruelty and ambition of Man and covered it over with these two narrow words HIC JACET Faith in Christ the onely support in the time of Trouble IN that famous battle at Leuctrum where the Thebans got a signall Victory but their Captain Epaminondas his deaths wound It is reported that Epaminondas a little before his death demanded whether his Buckler were taken by the enemy and when he understood that it was safe and that they had not so much as laid their hands on it he dyed most willingly and cheerfully Suâ—h is the resolution of a valiant souldier of Christ Iesus when he is wounded even to death he hath an eye to his shield of faith and finding that to be safe out of the enemies danger his soul marcheth couragiously out of this world singing S. Paul's triumphant ditty I have finished my course I have kept the faith Henceforth is laid up for me a crown of righteousnesse 2 Tim. 4. 7. 8. Nothing but Christ to be esteemed as of any worth AS the Iewes use to cast to the ground the book of Esther before they read it because the Name of God is not in it And as St. Augustine cast by Tullies works because they contained not the Name of Christ. So must we throw all aside thâ—t hath not the Name of Iesus on it If honour riches preferment c. come not in the â—ame of Iesus away with them set them by as not worth the taking up give them no entertainment further than as they have reference to Christ and Eternity Humility the way to Glory WE say in our Creed that Christ descended into hell descendit ut ascendat He took his rising from the lowest place to ascend into the highest And herein Christ readeth a good lecture unto us he teacheth us that humility is the way to glory and the more we are humbled the more we shall be exalted Adam and those once glorious Angells were both ambitious both desired to climb but they mistook their rise and so in climbing both had grievous falls If we then would climb without harm we must learn of Christ to climb so shall we be sure to tread the steps of Iacob's ladder which from earth will reach even to the highest heavens A Kingdome divided within it self cannot long stand MElanchton perswading the divided Protestants of his time to peace and unity illustrateth his argument by a notable parable of the woolves and the dogs who were marching onward to fight one against another The woolves that they might the better know the strength of their adversary sent forth a master-woolf as their scout The scout returns and tells the woolves That indeed the dogs were more in number but yet they should not be discouraged for he observed that the dogs were not one like another a few mâ—stiffs there wâ—re but the most were little currs which could onely bark but not bite and would be affraid of their own shadow Another thing also he observed which would much encourage them and that was That the dogs did march as if they were more offended at themselves than with us not keeping their ranks but grinning and snarling and biting and tearing one another as if they would save us a labour And therefore let us march on resolutely for our enemies are their own enemies enemies to themselves and their own peace they bite and devour each other and therefore we shall certainly devour them Thus though a Kingdom or State be never so well provided with Men Arms Ammunition Ships Walls Forts and Bulwarks yet notwithstanding if divisions and heart-burnings get into that Kingdom that State or that City like a spreading gangreen they will
place Who that is not Royall should seek in honour to precede them How Enemies are to behated IF a Generall of an Army laying siege to some great Fort or Castle and being upon the storming of it the guns from off the walls playing fiercely upon him should do abundance of execution were it not madnesse in him upon goining of the place to cast away those guns It were so VVhat doth he then He le ts flie at the gunner that fired them but preserves the guns as serviceable for himself Thus must we deal with our enemies They abuse us they evilly entreat us they spitefully use us they seek to destroy us and utterly to ruine us What shall we hate them abuse them again No we must love them and do good unto them preserve the guns but destroy the gunner love their persons they may be afterwards instrumentall to Gods glory but hate their vices that will be the undoing of our souls This is that perfect hatred wherewith David hated his enemies Psal. 139. 22. The great good which commeth by Enemies IT was the saying of Socrates that every man in this life had need of a faithfull friend and a bitter enemy the one to advise him the other to make him look about him In dealing with a friend a man is often deceived but if he have to do with an enemy then he is wary of his proceedings and placeth his words discreetly Hence is it that much good commeâ—h by enemies and a good use may be made of them They are the workmen that fit us and square us for God's building they are the rods that beat off the dust and the skullions that scoure off the rust from our souls Were it not for enemies how could we exercise those excellent graces of love and charity of patience and brotherly kindnesse Had it not been for enemies where had been the crown of Martyrdom Yet further Enemies are the fire that purgeth the water that cleanseth the drosse and filthinesse of our hearts Much every way is the good that commeth by enemies if we make a right use of them Prayers for the Dead unavailable LOok but upon one that plaies a game at bowles how no sooner than he hath delivered his bowle what a screwing of his body this way and that way what calling doth he make after it that it may be neither short nor over nor wide on either side but all in vain the bowl keepeth on his course and reacheth to the place not where the mind but the strength of the bowler sent it Thus it is with those that pray for the dead they pray and call unto God and sing Requiems and Diriges for the soules of men departed that they may be sent into Purgatory not Hell a course altogether unwarrantable unavailable For as the body is laid down in the dust so the soul is gone to God that gave it there to receive according to the deeds done here in the flesh whether it be to life or death eternall Knowledge without Practice reproved IT is by some observed that the Toad though otherwise an ugly venemous creature yet carries a pretious stone in his head which for the excellent vertues thereof is worn in gold-rings and otherwise Such Toads such ugly creatures are most of men they have the excellent jewell of Knowledge in their heads they can speak well O but they act ill they live not according to that knowledge their life and conversation is rotten and infectious to the whole neighbourhood about them Blamelessnesse of life enjoyned A Certain Roman the windowes of whose house being so very low that every one which passed by might easily see what was done within being profered by a workman at such a rate to make his windowes higher and so more private replyed I had rather give thee as much again to let them alone for I do nothing in my house but what I care not who knowes it And such an one ought every good Christian to be so to carry himself as that he need not blush to tell his very thoughts if he were asked of them and so to demean himself as if he had pectus fenestratum a glasse-window in his bosom that every one might read his mind there The tedious length of Law-suits AS Ioshua said of the building of Iericho He shall lay the foundation thereof in his first-born and in his youngest son shall he set up the gates there of So there may be a Suit at Law commenced in the birth of our first-born and yet our youngest son shall not see the gates thereof that is the end of it The true Christians safety in danger VVHen the Grecians had won Troy before they fell to plunder it they gave every man leave to bear his burthen out of what he would and first of all AEneas marched out carrying his houshold gods which when they saw and that he did them no great dammage thereby they bad him take another burden which he did and returned with his old father Aâ—chises on his back and his young son Ascanius in his hand which the Grecians seeing passed by his house as Ioshua did by the house of Rahab saying That no man should hurt him that was so religious And thus that man that hath his mind set on his God shall receive no hurt by his enemy When his waies please the Lord his very enemies shall become his friends Nay he shall be in league with the stones of the field and the beasts of the wood shall be at peace with him And which is yet more God will break the bow and the sword and snap the spear assunder He will make all those terrible instruments of war so unserviceable that they shal lie down quietly by him not offering the least hurt that may be Godlinesse the best friend SUppose a man be cast in prison for some notorious crime and is thereupon sentenced to death he sends for one of his friends intreating him to sue to the King for a pardon He answers He cannot do it This he will do for him he will give him a winding-sheet and a coffin Then he sends to another he tells him All that he can do for him is to see him buried But a third goes to the King and gets a pardon for him Even so riches they can do nothing for us but give us a winding-sheet and a coffin and our friends they can onely see us buried But Godlinesse is the true fast-friend at a dead lift that gets us a pardon for our sins having the promise both of this life and that which is to come When the Hypocrite is discovered AS long as the Hedge-hog lies on the dry ground she showes nothing but her prickles but put her into the water then she showes her deformity Thus an hypocrite so long as he is on the dry ground of prosperity
that at the noyse of Thunder they are oft-times even terrified unto death insomuch that they which keep them use to beat a drum amongst them that they being accustomed to the softer noyse of the drum may not be daunted with louder claps of Thunder Thus it is with incorrigible sinners of all sorts they are so affected with the whisperings of wordly pleasures so taken up with the jingling noyse of Riches so delighted with the empty sound of popular applause and secular preferments so sottish and besotted are they that they are not sensible of Gods anger against them the very custome of sinne hath taken away the sense of sin that they do not so much as hear that which all the world besides heareth with trembling and amazement the dreadful voyce of Gods wrathful and everlasting displeasure Regeneration the onely work of Gods spirit IT is said of the Bear that of all Creatures she bringeth the most ugly mishapen whelps but by licking of them she brings them to a better form yet it is a Bear still Thus all of us are ugly and deformed in our inward man 'T is true good breeding learning living in good Neighbourhood may lick us fair and put us into a better shape but shall never change our nature without the operation of the blessed Spirit A Man may be able to discourse of the great mysteries of Salvation yet not be changed may repeat Sermons yet not renewed pertake of the Ordinances yet not regenerated not any of these nor any of all these put together will stand in stead till it hath pleased God to square them and fit them and sanctifie them unto us by the blessed assistance of his holy Spirit Scripture-comforts the onely true comforts IT is storyed of an ancient and Reverend Rabbi who that he might by some demonstration win the People to look after Scripture-knowledge put himselfe into the habit of a Mountebank or travelling Aqua-vitae man and in the Market-place made Proclamation of a soveraign Cordial or Water of life that he had to sell Divers call him in and desire him to shew it whereupon â—he opens the Bible and directs them to several places of comfort in it And to say truth there is the greatest comfort to be had being the word of the everliving God The waters of life which are to be thirsted after whereby we may learn to live holy and dye happy The deaths of friends and others not be sleighted THe Frogs in the Fable desire a King Iupiter casteth a stock amongst them which at the first fall made such a plunge in the water that with the dashing thereof they were all affrighted and ran into their holes but seeing no further harme to ensue they came forth took courage leapt on it and made themselves sport with that which was first their fear till at length Iupiter sent a Stork among them and he devoured them all Thus it is that we make the death of others but as a Stock that somewhat at firstâ— affecteth us but we soon â—orget it until the Stâ—rk come and we our selves become a miserable prey Do they who close the eyes and cover the faces of their deceased friends consider that their eyes must be so closed their faces thus covered Or they who shrowd the Coarse remember that they themselves must be so shrowded Or they who ring the knell consider that shortly the bells must go to the same tune for them Or they that make the grave even while they are in it remember that shortly they must inhabite such a narrow house as they are now a building Peradventure they do a little but it takes no deep impression in them Prayers to be made unto God in Christs name JOseph gives strict command unto his brethren that if ever they looked for him to do them any good or to see his face with comfort they should be sure to bring the lad Benjamin their brother along with them Thus if ever we expect any comfortable return of our Prayers we must be sure to bring our elder Brother Christ Iesus in our hearts by faith and to put up all our requests in his Name They of old called upon God using the names of Abraham Isaac and Iacob three of Gods friends Afterwards they entreated God for his servant Davids sake Others drew up Arguments to move God drawn from the Creation of the World and from his loving kindnesse These were very good wayes then and very good to engage the great God of Heaven to us But unto us is shewed a more excellent way by how much the appellation of an onely begotten Son exceeds that of friend and servant and the benefit of Redemption excells that of creation and favour Dulce nomen Christi O the sweet name Iesus Christ no man ever asked any thing of God truly in that Name but he had his asking To be mindfull of Death at all times THere was once a discourse betwixt a Citizen and a Marriner My Ancestors sayes the Marriner were all Seamen and all of them dyed at Sea my Father my Grand-father and my Great-grand-father were all buried in the Sea Then sayes the Citizen what great cause have you then when you set out to Sea to remember your death and to commit your soul to the hands of God yea but sayes the Marriner to the Citizen Where I pray did your Father and your Grand-father dye Why sayes he they dyed all of them in their beds Truly then sayes the Marriner What a care had you need to have every night when you go to bed to think of your bed as the grave and the clothes that cover you as the Earth that must one day be thrown upon you for the very Heathens themselves that implored as many Deities as they conceived Chimaera's in their fancies yet were never known to erect an Altar to Death because that was ever held uncertain and implacable Thus whether it be at Sea or Land that Man is alwaies in a good posture of defence that is mindfull of death that so lives in this World as though he must shortly leave it that concludes within himselfe I must dye this day may be my last day this place the last that I shall come in this Sermon the last Sermon that I shall hear this Sabbath the last Sabbath that I shall enjoy the next Arrow that is shot may hit me and the time will come how soon God knows that I must lay aside this cloathing of Mortality and lie down in the dust Scripture-knowledge to be put in practice MUsicall Instruments without handling will warp and become nothing worth a sprightly horse will lose his Mettall by standing unbreathed in a Stable Rust will take the sword that hangs by the walls The Cynick rather then want work would be still removing his Tub Thus it is not Gods meaning that any Grace should lie
dead in us much lesse the knowledge of divine Truth that should break out into practice for happinesse is not entitled to those that know but those that do what they know Gods Omniscience PLiny makes mention of a silly Bird that if she can but get her head into a hole she thinks no body sees her and that all 's safe whilst she becomes a miserable prey to her common Adversary And this is the folly of many Men amongst us such as would be counted wiser than indeed they are close Polititians that digge deep in their Counsells and draw the Curtains over their deeds of darknesse subtile Machiavillians that spin their mischievous design as fine as a Spiders web and many times under the veyl of Religion too Painted Hypocrites that under the pretence of gravity think they dance in a Net unseen of all Men Prostitute strumpets that first sacrifice and then commit lewdnesse foul Dissemblers that under the pretence of long Prayers devour Widows houses And such as with demure looks think to deceive Christ Iesus himself But let such know that God can find Ionah in the bottom of the ship and Ieroboams wife in her disguise he sees and knows of the diversity of Weights and Measures in Tradesmens shops and Warehouses the least dash of an erring pen in the matter of Accompts the least sin of loosenesse And on the other side our Alms though perhaps they make no great noyse in the World are in debentur with him he hath a bottle for our teares a book for our deeds whether good or evill The whole world is to him as a Sea of glass Corpus diaphanum a clear transparent body There is nothing hid from his eyes so that find but out a place where he sees not then sinne and spare not Worldly things cannot really help us IT was wittily painted by way of Emblem upon the Dutch Ambassadours Coach A woman sitting in a forlorn posture close to the body of a Tree on the shady side the Sun shining out in the strength of its heat with this Motto Trunco non frondibus intimating thereby that she was more beholden to the Trunk then the leaves of that Tree for succour Thus it is that all good Men make God onely to be their support in the midst of danger their refuge in time of trouble the Rock of defence and their strong Tower whereas others cleave close unto the leavy Creature trust in uncertain Riches put their confidence in an arm of flesh and bear themselves high upon their friends in Court their preferments in the State and such like miserable comforters which will nothing avail them in the day of wrath when they should have most need of them Whether it be lawfull to desire Death IT is written of Martyrius that being on his Death-bed he desired that God would be pleased to release him out of the miseries of this sinful World but his Auditors standing by said What will become of us and our poor souls when you are gone your losse will be a great prejudice to us you cannot conceive what hurt we shall receive by your death Well saies he if my life may be profitable to Gods people I will do any thing that he will have me to do He desires to live so as it may stand with Gods good pleasure And a man may wish to die for it is good or sinfull so to do as the the grounds are whereupon the desires are setled It is an expression of faith to be freed from sin and to have a more neer communion with God Thus it is that the Bride in the Revelation saies Come and the Spirit saies Come and both the Spirit and the Church take hands together and say Come Lord Iesus come quickly No man saies Christ can see may face and live O then saies the Church let me die that I may see thy face But such is the frailty of man that even strong desires and unadvised wishes are to be found amongst the people of God such as wish for death in regard of carnall ends thus Eliah because of Iesabels frownes cries out Lord take away my life c. and Ionah in a pettish humour thinks it better to die than to live not considering that Patience is the daughter of Hope and grandchild of Faith so that he that believeth maketh noâ— haste There is Heaven saies Hope It is mine saith 〈◊〉 Yea but saith Patience I will wait till Gods appointed time come Knowledge in Politicall affairs very uncertain THe Chirurgion that deals with an outward wound can tell whether he can cure it guesse in what time but the Physician that undertakes the cuâ—e of a feavour can neither see the time of his patients recovery nor assure him that he shall be recovered at all The Artizan with his convenient shop tools can make up his daies work if he be not hindered but the Merchant Adventurer can promise to himself no such matter he must have one wind to carry him out of the Haven another to carry him about to the lands end and perhaps another to drive him to the place of traffick so that he can promise nothing neither for the time of his return nor the vending of his commodity but as the wind and the weather and the marriners and the Seas and the time of trade will give him leave Thus the uncertainty of our knowledge in secular and politicall businesse doth appear the most wise God hath hidden from us the event of things Caliginosa morte premit All politick successes are conjecturall not demonstrative they stand in need of the concurrences of many things and causes which are casuall and of many mens minds which are mutable and of many opportunities which are accidentall so that we cannot build upon them There 's no policy so provident no providence so circumspect but is subject to errour and much uncertainty Sacramentall Bread and Wine how differenced from others AN Instrument or Conveyance of Lands from one party to another being fairly engrossed in parchment with wax fastned unto it is no more but ordinary parchment and wax but when it comes once to be sealed and delivered to the use of the party concerned then it is changed into another quality and made a matter of high concernment Thus the Elements of Bread and Wine are the same in substance with the othâ—r bread and wine before and 〈◊〉 the Administration is past the same in quality the bread dry the wine moist the same in naturâ— the bread to support the wine to comfort the heart of man But being once seperated not by any Spells or signing with the signe of the Crosse not by any Popish carnall sensuall Transubstantiation nor any Lutheran Consubstantiation from a common to a holy use when Christs Name is set on them in regard of Institution consecration operation and blessing attending
understand him And the other remembring that he was a Minister stood not alwayes upon the pureness of his style but was farre more solicitous of his matter then of his Words Thus as Children use money to jingle with and Men use flowers for sight and scent but Bees for hony and wax not to gild their wings as the butterfly but to fill their Combs and feed their young In like sort there are those that tip their tongues and store their heads some for shew and some for delight but Ministers above all men have these talents in trust that therewith they may save themselves and those that hear them they must condescend to the capacities of their Hearers stoop to the apprehensions of the meanest become all things to all Men in S. Pauls sense that they may win some Hence was that saying of a reverend Bishop Lord send me learning enough that I may preach plain enough The Sinners wilfull blindness condemned THe Lionesse will not company with the Lyon after her commixtion with the Leopard till she wash her selfe in water unwilling that her Adultery should be manifested by her scent And the Viper is so wise that before its copulation with the â—ish Muraena it first vomits and casts out all the pernicious and venemous poyson that is within it But O the wilfull blindnesse of poor sinfull Man by nature more adulterous than the Lionesse more venemous than the Viper going a whoring after every sort of vanity full of hatred and malice suffering strange Lords to tyrannize over him without repugnancy yea and such cowardly Lords that if but resisted would flee from him yet he gives way to them not fearing that his disloyalty shall be perceived and revenged by his Righteous Lord and Master whose patience will at last break out into fury and break him too into a thousand pieces The hasty unexpected death of friends not to be matter of excessive sorrow A Bijah the Prophet meets with Jeroboams wife and tells her that he was sent with heavy news and with that especially Thy childe shall die And which might add the more unto her sorrow Thy childe shall die assoon as thou enterest thy foot into the City so that she could not so much as speak to him or see him alive And it was so which was the occasion of a Nationall mourning there being in him bound up the hopes of all Israel And thus it is that many judge it very heavy tydings to hear of the early untimely deaths of friends and acquaintance that like grapes they should be gathered before they be ripe and as Lambs slain before they be grown But why should they judge so Why take on so with grief and sorrow It is true that Tears are sutable to an house of mourning so that Moderation lends a Napkin to dry up the excess of weeping Consider then that nothing hath befallen them but that which hath done may do and often doth betide the best of Gods dear Children No Man grieves to see his friend come sooner then ordinary more speedily then usually others do to be Rich and Honourable or to see his friend or childe outstrip others in learning and wisdom to have that in a short time which others long labour for Why then should any Man be troubled but rather count it matter of joy when their Children or friends by death obtaine so speedily such a measure of spirituall Riches and such a height of heavenly glory in so short a time besides they have this benefit before those that live longer they are freed from the violence of the Wine-press that others fall into and escape many storms that others are fain to â—ide through Death the meditation thereof profitable to the Souls conversion THere is a story of one that gave a young Gallant a curious Ring with a Deaths head in it upon this condition That for a certain time he should spend one hour every day in looking and thinking of it He took the Ring in wantonnesse but performed the condition with diligence it wrought a wonder on him and of a desperate Ruffian he became a conscionable Christian. It were to be wished that Men of all sorts would more think of death then they do and not make that the farthest end of their thoughts which should alwayes be the nearest thought of their end but to spend some time fixedly every day on the meditation of death and then by Gods grace they would find such an alteration in their lives and conversations that there would be gladnesse in the Church peace in their own souls and joy before the Angels in heaven for their Conversion The great usefulnesse of Scripture-phrase IT is very remarkable how God himself the greatest Master of speech and maker of it too Exod. 4. 11. When he spake from Heaven at the Transfiguration of his Christ our Iesus made use of three severall texts of Scripture in one breath as in Mat. 17. 5. This is my beloved Son Psalm 12. 7. In whom I am well pleased Esay 42. 1. Hear ye him Deut. 18. 15. No doubt but God could have expatiated as he pleased but this may reprove the curious queaâ—inesse of such nice ones as disdain at the stately plainnesse of the Scripture and to shew of what authority Scripture-phrase is with God Happy then is that man that Minister that can aptly utter his minde in pure Scripture-phrase in that heavenly dialect the language of Canaan It is not the froath of words nor the ostentation of learning though usefull in its time and place nor strong lines that will draw men up to Heaven but strong arguments and convincing â—own-right truths drawn out of the treasury of Gods Word as when a Sermon is full of the â—owells of Scripture so that God and Christ may as it were seem to speak in the Preacher Conversion of a sinner painfully wrought IF a woman cannot be delivered of her child which she hath carried but nine months in her womb without pain and perill of life though she conceived it in great pleasure we must not think then to be delivered of sin which is a man an old man a man that we have carried about in our hearts ever since we were born without any spirituall pain at all The conversion of a sinner is no such easie matter there must be the broken heart the contrite spirit the mourning weed the pale countenance the melting eye and the voyce of lamentation pain for sins past pain for the iniquities of the wicked pain for the abominations of the land and place where they live pain to see the distractions both of Church and State and finally pain for their absence from their heavenly country These are the pangs and throws of the second birth the dolours that attend the conversion of a sinner The Hypocrite characterised THere is mention made of a Beast called
in his eyes besought his covetous subjects to lend him supplies They pleaded poverty protested they had it not that they were grown poore for want of Trade And thus for want of what they might have well spared both they and their City were lost a City of that great wealth that it is a Proverb amongst the Turks at this day if any Man grow suddainly rich He hath been at the sacking of Constantinople Such was the State of Constantinople then and such will be hereafter the condition of any place or People when like silly Passengers they shall more regard their trifling Fardels then the Ship they go in fortiùs diligentes res suas quâ—m seipsos loving their wealth more then themselves more then their lives their wives their children their country nay more then the Gospel it selfe keeping their goods for their Enemies to make merry withall refusing to part with any thing for their just defence it is just with God that they should be exposed to all sorts of misery The Devils policy to defile the Soul with Sin IT is said of the Badger otherwise called a Brock or a Gray that the Fox and he cannot agree together by any mans for the Fox will have him out of his hole and what he cannot compass by might he doth it by slight The Badger is no sooner gone out of his Den to seek his food but the Fox goes in and pisseth there whereupon the Badger returning and smelling out the Foxes basenesse leaves his Den to him who enters and brings up all his Cubs there such is the policy of the Devill to defile the Soul of Man he goeth about like a roaring Lion seeking whom he may devour his main design is to throw Christ out of the Soul which is Gods Den Gods Temple Gods House and Gods dwelling place but because he cannot put him out by force he therefore dealeth craftily by defiling the Soul with noysome lusts such as are a stink in the nostrils of God whose pure eyes can endure no uncleannesse so that he departing thence the Devill enters therein bringing forth sin upon sin till all be brought to shame upon shame and in the end confusion of face for ever Reconciliation with God in Christ to be made sure A Runnagate Sonne leaving his Father and living in forraign Countries was brought to want and finding little charity among strangers he was driven to work for his living Industry brought in gains and the sweetness of gain whetted on Industry soon he grew Rich became a Merchant and dealt in Traffick with divers Nations and among the rest with some of that Nation where his Father lived hearing news how potent and opulent his Father was grown of his wealth and Authority in the City he resolves to steere his course thitherward Four businesses he put into his head One was to congratulate with his friends and Allyes another to be merry with his old companions the third to gather up his debts thâ— last and principall to be reconciled to his Father Being arrived there he follows his three former employments close he fails in none of them but these did so wholly take up his time that he quite forgot the main the Reconcliation to his Father The Marriners on a suddain call aboard the Tyde tarries no Man presently he must be ship'd and so leaves that businesse utterly undone 〈◊〉 we are all strangers on Earth our Father is the Almighty King of Heaven we are charged but with four businesses here in this World First Honestly to provide for our selves and families Secondly To perform all just duties to our Neighbours Thirdly To solace our hearts with the sober and thankfull use of Gods Creatures Fourthly and chiefly of all To serve our Maker in all holy obedience to acknowledge our sins with humble penitence to get his pardon through the merits of his Son Iesus Now so it is that we are diligent in the rest we heap up Riches we saâ—e our selves with Pleasures we are indalgent to our bodies But for the matter of most moment that of greatest concernment The pleasing of God the saving of soules c. we are as negligent as if they were not things considerable Death calls us aboard carries us away in his deep bottom and the main businesse we came about is left unâ—ffected We cannot but confesse all this let us then amend it and whatever become of our Riches of our Pleasures of our bodies let us be sure of our Reconciliation made with God in Christ Iesus Husbands not to be Uxorious HIerom reporteth out of Senecâ— of one that was so uxorious that when he went broad he would gird himselfe with his Wives hose-garter and could not â—ndure her out of his sight and must by all means drink of that side of the cup that she drank of as the Poet said of Paris Et quâ 〈◊〉 biberas hac ego parte bibi Where thou laist thy lips there will I drink also but the good old Father concludes thus Sapiens â—ir judicio debet amare non affectu A wise man must not love by fancy and affection but by judgement and discretion Thus as the Proverb is A Man may love his house well but not ride on the ridge of it he may delight in the beauty and accept of the person of his Wife and say of her as the friend of the Spouse in the Canticles O thou fairest among women but he may not idolize her he must not be so uxorious as Sampson was that was so besotted with foolish fondnesse to his wife that he opened unto her the secrets of his heart to his own confusion Restitution the necessity thereof THere is a story of a Man that gave much Alms to the Poor who walking one day very solitary an Angel met him in likeness of a Man walking along with him brought him at last to a deep valley where was a pit burning with fire and brimstone and therein three gibbets upon one of them did hang a man by the tongue upon another a man by the hands on the third hung no man at all The good man much marvelling at the strangenesse of such a sight asked the Angel what the men were that hanged in those tormenting flames He told him that he which hanged by the tongue was his grandfather which purchased the land and house wherein he now dwelt by false oaths lying and perjury and was therefore hanged by the tongue and that the other was his own father who by strong hand kept that which his father before him had wickedly gotten and that the third gallowes was prepared for him unlesse he made restitution and so the Angel vanished The man being left alone went sadly home and the next day sent for the true owners and restored the lands unto them whereat his wife and children were much amazed saying That he would make them all beggers O saies he
Berengarius So may we say of the Publicans prayer much more of the Lords prayer set in flat opposition to the Heathenish Battologyes and vain repetitions of some that would be held good Christians It is not the length but the strength of Prayer that is required not the labour of the lip but the travell of the heart that prevails with God The Baalites prayer was not more tedious then Eliah's short yet more pitthy then short Let thy words then be few saith Solomon but full to the purpose Take unto you words saies the Prophet neither over-curious nor over-carelesse but such as are humble earnest direct to the point avoiding vain â—ablings needlesse and endlesse repetitions heartlesse digressions tedious prolixities wild and idle impertinencies such extemporary petitioners as not disposing their matter in due order by premeditation and withall being word-bound are forced to go forward and backward just like hounds at a losse and having hastily begun they know not how handsomly to make an end Division the great danger thereof IF two ships at sea being of one and the same squadron shall be scattered by storm from each other how shall they come in to the relief of each other If again they clash together and fall foul how shall the one endanger the other and her self too It was of old the Dutch device of two earthen Pots swimming upon the water with this Motto Praâ—gimur si collidimur If we knock together we sink together And most true it is that if spleen or discontent set us too far one from another or choller and anger bring us too near it cannot be but that intendment or designe whatsoever it be like Ionah's gourd shall perish in a moment especially if the viperous and hatefull worm of dissention do but smite it Desperation the Complement of all sins THere is mention made in Daniel's prophecy chap. 7. of four beasts the first a Lion the second a Bear the third a Leopard but the fourth without distinction of either kind or sex or name is said to be very fearfull and terrible and strong and had great iron teeth destroyed and brake in pieces and stamped under his feet and had horns c. Such a thing is desperation others sins are fearfull and terrible enough and have as it were the rage of Lions and Bears and Leopards to spoil and make desolate the soul of man but desperation hath horns too horns to push at God with blasphemy at his brethren with injury and at his own soul with distrust of mercy Desperation is a complicated sin the complement of all sins The greatest sins are said to be those which are opposed to the three Theologicall Vertues Faith Hope and Charity infidelity to faith desperation to hope hatred to charity amongst which infidelity and hatred the one not believing the other hating God are in themselves worse but in regard of him that sinneth desperation exceedeth them both in the danger that is annexed unto it for Quid miserius misero non miseranti seipsum What can be more miserable what more full then for a poor miserable wretch not to take pitty of his own soul. A covetous man never satisfied IT is said of Catiline that he was ever alieni appetens sui profusus not more prodigall of his own as desirous of other mens estates A ship may be over-laden with silver even unto sinking and yet compasse and bulk enough to hold ten times more So a covetous wretch though he have enough to sink him yet never hath he enough to satisfie him like that miserable Cariff mentioned by Theocritus first wishing Mille me is errent in montibus agni That he had a thousand sheep in his stock and then when he has them Pauperis est numerare pecus He would have cattle without number Thus a circle cannot fill a triangle so neither can the whole world if it were to be compassed the heart of man a man may as easily fill a chest with grace as the heart with gold Non plus 〈◊〉 cor aâ—ro quam â—orpus aura The air fills not the body neither doth mony the coâ—â—â—tous mind of man A true child of God half in Heaven whils the is on Earth TEnorius Arch-Bishop of Toledâ— making question whether Solomon were saved or damned caused his picture to be drawn in his Chappell half in Heaven and half in Hell Now what was painted of Solomon imaginarily may be said of Gods children truly though they dwell upon Earth yet their Burgesship is in Heaven Earth is patria loci but Heaven patria juris just like Irishmen that are dwellers in Ireland but Denisons of England half in Heaven and half on Earth in Heaven by their godly life and conversation in Heaven by reason of their assurance of glory and salvation But on Earth by reason of that body of sin and death which they carry about them having the flesh pressing with continuall fight and oppressing with often conquest Hope in God the best hold-fast FAmous is that history of Cynegirus a valiant and thrice renowned Athenian who being in a great sea-sight against the Medes spying a ship of the Enemies well man'd and fitted for service when no other means would serve he grasped it with his hands to maintain the fight and when his right hand was cut off he held close with his left but both hands being taken off he held it fast with his teeth till he lost his life Such is the hold-fast of him that hopes in God dum spirat sperat as long as there is any breath he hopes The voice of hope is according to her nature Spes mea Christus God is my hope In the winter and deadest time of calamity Hope springeth and cannot die nay she crieth within her self Whether I live or die though I walk into the chambers of death and the doors be shut upon me I will not loose my hope for I shall see the day when the Lord shall know me by my name again righten my wrongs finish my sorrowes wipe the tears from my cheeks tread down my enemies fulfill my desires and bring me to his glory Whereas the nature of all earthly hope is like a sick mans pulse full of intermission there being rarely seen sperate miseri on the inscription but it is subscribed Cavete foelices An account of Gods knowledge not to he made out by the wisest of men THere is a place in Wiltshire called Stonage for divers great stones lying and standing there together Of which stones it is said That though a man number them one by one never so carefully yet that he cannot find the true number of them but finds a different number from that he found before This may serve to shew very well the crring of mans labour in seeking to give an account of divine wisdom and knowledge for all his Arrowes
force he never suspected to be surprised by the treachery of his own family Every peaceable frame of Spirit and confident perswasion of Gods love is not a sure testimony that such a one is in the state of Grace IT is St. Pauls saying of himselfe That he was alive without the Law i. he had great quietnesse and ease of mind all things went well with him he was Cock a hoope sound and safe he thought himselfe in a sure and sâ—fe way but alass this was his ignorance his blindnesse just like a Man in a Dungeon that thinks himselfe safe when there are Serpents and poysonous Creatures round about him onely he doth not see them Or as a Man in a Lethargy feels no pain though he be at the selfe same time near unto the gates of Death And such is the condition of many persons They thank God they have no trouble their Soul is at much ease and quietnesse they doubt not of Gods favour and love unto them hence in the midst of their afflictions when they are but as it were peeping into the furnace of tryall they will say I thank my good God this is his doing I will submit thereunto c. When alass here 's nothing but words no assurance and it may be said of such as Christ of the Iews You say he is your Father but you have not known him so they know nothing powerfully and practically concerning the Mercies of God in Christ Iesus True comfort in the Word of God onely SEneca going about to comfort his friend Polybius perswades him to bear his afflictions patiently And why but because he was the Emperours favourite and tells him That it was not lawful for him to complain while Caesar was his friend cold comfort was this a poor Cordiall God wot to raise up a drooping spirit Good reason too For Caesar himselfe a little while after was so miserable so destitute of all outward comforts that he had not a friend to relieve him in the midst of his greatest extremity much lesse was he able to help his friend O but the sure word of God affords a better Cordiall that which is true comfort indeed It bids every true Child of God not to be over-much dejected under the greatest of afflictions because he is Gods favourite Gods Iewell Gods child Gods Inheritance It tells him that it is not lawfull for him to complain while God is his friend his refuge his Rock of defence his safeguard his What-not in the way of reliefe and succour and the Promises of God are his rich portion and inheritance so that like Iob though he lose all that he hath yet he loseth nothing because he loseth not his God in having of whom he hath all things God afflicting his Children for the improvement of their Graces IT is reported of the Lionesse that she leaves her young whelps till they have almost kill'd themselves with roaring and yelling and then at last gasp when they have almost spent themselves she relieves them and by this means they become more couragious And thus it is that God brings his children into sadnesse sorrow nay even into the very deeps of distress he suffers Ionah to be three dayes and three nights in the belly of a Whale David to cry out till his throat be dry his Disciples to be all the night in a great storme till the fourth watch and then it is that he rebuketh the winds and relieveth his children by which means he mightily encreaseth their Patience and dependance upon him improveth their Graces and enlargeth their faith and hope in Christ Iesus The readinesse of God to pardon poor Repentant Sinners IT was a custome amongst the ancient Romans that when the Judges absolved any accused person at the Barre they did write the letter A upon a little Table provided for that purpose i. Absolvimus We absolve him If they judged him guilty they writ C. i. Condemâ—amus We condemn him And if they found the cause difficult and doubtfull they writ N. L i. Non Liquet We cannot tell what to make of it not much unlike unto the term Ignoramus in our Common Law which the grand inquest writes upon a bill of Inditement when they mislike their Evidence as defective or too weak to make good the presentment But it is otherwise with the all-knowing God with whom we have to do he cannot be said to be ignorant of the many sins wherewith we provoke him dayly Abraham may be ignorant of us and Israel acknowledge us not but he knoweth us and all things else he knoweth us to be wretched and miserable so that he may well write Condemnamus and doom us to perpetuall torments with the Devill and his Angels yet such is his mercy to poor Repentant sinners that he invites and woes them to come in that they may be saved and so ready to pass by offences that instead of Condemnamus he takes up the Pen and writes Absolvimus My Son be of good chear thy sins be forgiven thee How it is that Ministers find so little success of their labours in Preaching the Gospel AS the Husbandman though he should be never so laborious in ploughing sowing and fitting the ground though he be never so careful to provide precious and good seed yet it the nature of the ground be barren as it will bear no seed or cause it to degenerate into Cockle all the labour is in vain Or as the Gardiner though he water and dress never so carefully yet if the Tree be dead at the root it is all to no purpose So though the Ministers of God are very earnest in praying preaching informing rebuking yet when the ground is barren the Tree dead at the root if the People be of a froward and indisposed temper if the God of this World hath blinded their eyes that they do not see nor understand nor feel the power of God working upon their souls What hope is or can there be of such a People Christ the eternall Son of God properly and significantly called The Word Iob. 1. 1. FIrst because his eternall generation is like the production of a Word For as a word is first conceived in the mind and proceeds thence without any carnall operation So the Son of God had his conception in the understanding of the Father and proceeded thence without any corporeall emanation 2. As a word is immateriall and invisible for no Man can see verbum mentis the Word of our thought So Christ is immateriall and invisible in regard of his divine Nature for no Man hath seen that at any time 3. As a Word if you take it for verbum mentis cannot be separated from the understanding but as soon as there is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Understanding there must be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Word So Iesus Christ the second person
in the blessed Trinity cannot be separated from the Father but soon as even there was a Father if it may be so spoken of Eternity there was necessity of a Son and so he is co-eternall with him 4. As a Word is not expressed till it be cloathed with Air and articulated by the Instrument of speech So the Word of God which is the second person in the â—rinity was not manifested to the Sons of Men untill he was cloathed in flesh and born of the Virgin Mary True Christians are fruitfull Christians LOok where you will in Gods Book you shall never find any lively member of Gods Church any true Christian compared to any but a fruitfull Tree Not to a tall Cypress the Emblem of unprofitable honour nor to the smooth Ash the Emblem of unprofitable Prelacy that doth nothing but bear keyes nor to a double-coloured Poplar the Emblem of Dissimulation nor to a well-shaded Plain that hath nothing else but forme nor to a hollow Maple nor to a trembling Asp nor to a prickly Thorn nor to the scratching Bramble nor to any plant whatsoever whose fruit is not usefull and beneficiall but to the fruitfull Vine the fat Olive the seasonable Sapling planted by the Rivers of waters Yet it is most true that the goodly Cedars strong Elms fast-growing Willows sappy Sycamores and all the rest of the fruitfull Trees of the Earth i. all fashionable and barren Professors whatsoever they may shoot up in heighth spreadâ—ar â—ar shew fair but what are they good for Yes they may be fit for the forrest the ditches the hedge-rowes of the world not for the true saving soil of Gods Israel that 's a soyl of use and fruit that 's a place for none but Vines for trees of righteousnesse fruitfull trees fruitfull Christians He that abideth in me bringeth forth much fruit saith our Saviour Ioh. 15. 5. Christ making himself and all that be hath over to the good of his Church and People WE read in our Chronicles that Edwardâ—irnamed â—irnamed Ironside in whom England was lost and Knute the first Danish King after many encounters and equall fights at length embraced a present agreement which was made by parting England betwixt them two and confirmed by Oath and Sacrament putting on each others apparell and arms as a ceremony to expresse the attonement of their minds as if they had made transaction of their persons each to other Knute became Edmund and Edmund Knute Even such a change as it may be said is of apparell betwixt Christ and his Church Christ and every true repentant sinner he taketh upon him their sins and putteth upon them his righteousnesse He changeth their rags into robes their stained clouts into cleaner clothing He arraies them with the righteousnesse of the Saints that two-fold righteousnesse imputed and imparted that of Iustification and the other of Sanctification that is an under-coat this is an upper that clean and pure this white and bright and both from himself who is made unto them not onely Wisdom but Righteousnesse Sanctification and Redemption Yet further He puts upon his Church his own comelinesse decks his Spouse with his own Jewells as Isaac did Rebecca cloaths her with needle-work and makes her more glorious than Hester ever was in all her beauty and bravery rejoyceth over her as the Bridegroom over his Bride yea is ravish'd in his love to her with one of her eyes lifted up to him in prayer and meditation with one chain of her neck that very chain of his own graces in her How it is that every man hath one darling sin or other IT is a Maxim in Philosophy That though all the Individualls of one kind agree in one specificall Nature yet every one hath a particular difference whereby it is distinguished from another which is called Hecciety And so it is that though Originall sin be the seed of all kind of wickednesse and there cannot be an instance given of any horid crime in the world but this would carry a man unto it Yet this poyson in every man vents it self rather in one way then another so that there may be many sins acted in common by all yet severall men have their severall particular corruptions their Dalilahs their beloved sins which like the Prince of devills command all other sins As in every mans body there is a seed and principle of death yet in some there is a pronenesse to one kind of disease more then other that may hasten death So though the root of sin and bitternesse hath spread it self over all yet every man hath his inclinations to one kind of sin rather then another and this may be called a mans proper sin his evill way which unrepented of will inevitably draw down vengeance upon his head that hath it How to make a right use of Gods Promises IT is said of Tamar that when Iudah her father in law lay with her she took as a pledge his signet bracelets and staffe and afterwards when she was in great distress and ready to be burn'd as an Harlot she then brought out her staff and signet and bracelets and said By the man whose these are am I with child and thereby she saved her life So must all of us do in the time of health study our interest in the promises of the Gospell and in time of sicknesse live upon that we have so studied Then it is that we must bring forth the staff the signet and the bracelet produce our Evidences rely and make use of the Promises as so many spirituall props and butteresses to shore us up and keep us from falling into dispair of Gods mercies and love unto us in Christ Iesus God looking upon His Church with a more speciall eye of Providence THere is much waste ground in the world that hath no owner our Globe can tell us of a great part that hath no Inhabitant no name but Terra incognita unknown But a Vineyard was never without a possessour Come we into some wild Indian Forrest all furnished with goodly Trees we know not whether ever man were there Gods hand we are sure hath been there perhaps not mans But if you come into a well dressed Vineyard or Garden there you may see the hillocks equally swelling the stakes pitched in a just heighth and distance the vines handsomely pruned the hedge-rowes cut the weeds cast out Now we are ready to conclude as the Philosopher did when he found figures Here hath been a man and a good husband too Thus it is that as Gods Israel Gods Church is a Vineyard so we may safely conclude that it is Gods vineyard Gods Church God's in a more speciall manner It is true that there is an universall providence of God over all the world but there is a more especiall hand and eye of God over his Church in it God challengeth a peculiar interest Solomon may let out
and stand still Oh Whaâ— a puddle of sin will the Heart be How rusty and uselesse will our Graces grow How unserviceable for Gods Worship how unfit for Mans by reason of the many spirituall diseases that will invade the Soul Just like Schollers that are for the most part given to a sedentary life whose bodies are more exposed to ill humours then any others whereas they whose livelihoods lye in a handicraft Trade are alwayes in motion and stirring so that the motion expells the ill humours that they cannot seize upon the body So in the Soul the lesse any Man acts in thâ— matter of its concernment the more spirituall diseases and infirmiâ—ies will grow in it whereas the more active and industrious Men are the lesse power will ill distempers have upon them The true Repentant sinners encouragement notwithstanding all his former wickedness IT is very observable in the Genealogy of Christ that there are but four women mentioned it being not usuall to mention any and the blessed Spirit of God sets a mark of infamy upon them all The first is Thamar Mat. 1. 3. She was an incestuous Woman for she lay with her Father in law Gen. 38. 38. The second is Rahab vers 5. she was an Harlot Heb. 11. 31. The third is Ruth vers 5. she came of Moab the Son of Levi by incest begotten of his own Daughter Gen. 19. 37. The fourth is Baâ—hsheba vers 6. she was guilty of Adultery And why was this so done but for the comfort of the most infamous Sinners to come in to Christ and to take notice for their better encouragement that though they have been above measure sinfull yet by their conversion to God and aversion from Sin by a serious and hearty Repentance all infamy of their â—ormer wayes is quite taken away and their names entered in the book of life and eternall Salvation Not to be troubled at the Prosperity of the Wicked And why so VVOuld it not be accounted folly in a Man that is Heir to many thouâ—ands per annum that he should envy a Stage-player cloathed in the habite of a King and yet not heir to one foot of Land Who though he have the form respect and apparel of a King or Nobleman yet he is at the same time a very begger and worth nothing Thus wicked Men though they are arrayed gorgeously and fare deliciously wanting nothing and having more then heart can wish yet they are but onely possessors the godly Christian is the Heir What good doth all their Prosperity do them It doth but hasten their ruine not their reward The Oxe that is the labouring Ox is longer lived then the Ox that is put into the pasture the very putting of him there doth but hasten his slaughter And when God puts wicked Men into fat pastures into places of Honour and power it is but to hasten their ruine Let no Man therefore fret him because of evil doers nor be envious at the Prosperity of the wicked For the Candle of the wicked shall be put out into everlasting darknesse they shall soon be cut off and wither as a green herb Psalm 37. 1 2. Godly and wicked Men their difference in the hatred of Sinne. AS it is with two Children the one forbears to touch a coal because it will black and smut his hand the other will not by any means be brought to handle it because he perceives it to be a fire-cole and will burn his fingers Thus all wicked and ungodly Men they will not touch sin because it will burn They may be and often are troubled for sin but their disquietnesse for sin ariseth more from the evill of punishment the effect of sin then from the evill that is in the Nature of sinne They are troubled for sinne but it is because sinne doth destroy the soul and not because sinne doth defile the soul because God pursueth sinne not because he hates sinne more because it is against Gods justice that is provoked then because it is against the Holinesse of God which is dishonoured because God threatens sinne not because God doth forbid sinne because of the Hell for sin not because of the Hell in sin But now on the other side all good and godly Men they hate and loath sinne because it is of a smutting and defiling nature because it is against the nature of God because God loathes and hates it more because it is a-against Gods command then because God doth punish it not because of the damning power of sin but because of the defiling power of â—in c. Custome in Sin causeth hardnesse in Sin LOok but upon a Youth when he comes first to be an Apprentice to some Artificer or Handy-craft Trade his hand is tencer and no sooner is he set to work but it blisâ—ers so that he is much pained thereby but when he hath continued some time at work then his hand hardens and he goes on without any grievance at all It is just thus with a Sinner before he be accustomed to an evill way Conscience is tender and full of Remorse like a queazy stomack ready to keck at the least thing that is offensive O but a continued Custome and making a Trâ—de of sin that 's it that makes the Conscience to be hard and brawny able to feel nothing As it is in a Smiths forge a Dogge that comes newly in cannot endure the fiery sparks to fly about his ears but being once us'd to it he sleeps securely So let wicked men be long used to the Devils Work-house to be slaves and Vassails to sinne the sparks of Hell-fire may fly about them and the fire of Hell flash upon their souls yet never trouble them never disturbe them at all and all this ariseth from a continued custome in a course of evill The more a Man is now troubled for sinne the lesse shall he be troubled hereafter And why so IT is well known that if a Land lord take a great Fine at the first coming into the house he doth take the lesse Rent for the future Thus as Land-lords deal with their Tenants so God with his people He puts them to a great Fine at the first he makes Sin cost them many a â—ear many a nights trouble many a dayes disquiet many a â—igh many a groan in the Spirit but here 's the comfort The greater the Fine the lesser the yearly Rent the more a Man is troubled for sinne at the present the lesse fear and perplexity shall be his portion hereafter for he shall have the joy and comfort of believing he shall have the more perfect peace at his death so that when he comes to dye he shall have little else to do but to lye down and dye committing his Soul into the hands of a faithfull Creator and Redeemer How it is that the singling out of one beloved Sin makes way to a full sight of all sin
they serve them to little other purpose then as Salt to keep their bodies from stinking Honour and Greatnesse the Vanity of them IT was foretold to Agrippina Neroe's Mother that her Son should be Emperour and that he should afterward kill his own Mother to which Agrippina replyed Occdat modò imperet Let my Son be so and then let him kill me and spare not So thirsty was she of Honour Alas what are swelling Titles but as so many rattles to still Mens ambitions And what is Honour and Greatnesse in the World Honour is like the Meteor which lives in the Ayre so doth this in the breath of other Men It 's like a gale of Wind which carries the Ship sometimes this Wind is down a Man hath lost his Honour and lives to see himself intombed sometimes this Wind is too high How many have been blown to Hell while they have been sailing with the Wind of popular applause So that Honour is but magnum nihil a glorious fancy Acts 25. 23. It doth not make a Man really the better but often the worse For a Man swel'd with Honour wanting Grace is like a Man in a dropsy whose bignesse is his disease Present Time to be well husbanded AS it is observed of the Philosopher that fore-seeing a plentifull year of Olives he rented many Olive-yards and by that demonstrated that a learned Man If he would aim at worldly gain could easily be a rich Man too It is noted as an excellent part of Wisedome to know and manage time to husband time and opportunity For as the Rabbi said Nemo est cui non sit hora sua Every Man hath his hour and he who overslips that season may never meet with the like again The Scripture insists much upon a day of Grace 2 Cor. 6. 2. Heb. 13. 15. The Lord reckons the times which passe over us and puts them upon our account Luk. 13. 7. Rev. 2. 21 22. Let us therefore improve them and with the impotent persons at the pool of Bethesda to step in when the Angel stirs the water Now the Church is afflicted it is a season of prayer and learning Mic. 6. 9. Esay 26. 8 9. Now the Church is inlarged it is a season of praise Psalm 118. 24. I am now at a Sermon I will hear what God will say now in the company of a learned and wise Man I will draw some knowledg and counsell from him I am under a Temptation now is a fit time to lean on the name of the Lord Esay 50. 10. I am in place of dignity and power Let me consider what it is that God requireth of me in such a time as this is Esth. 4. 14. And thus as the Tree of life bringeth fruit every Moneth Rev. 22. 2. so a wise Christian as a wife husbandman hath his distinct employments for every Month bringeth forth his fruit in its season Psalm 1. 3. Frequent Meditation of Death the great benefit thereof IT is said of Telephus that he had his Impostume opened by the dart of an Enemy which intended his hurt Roses they say are sweetest which grow near unto Garlick so the nearnesse of an Enemy makes a good Man the better And therefore the wise Roman when Carthage the Emulous City of Rome was destroyed said Now our affairs are in more danger and hazard then ever before When Saul Davids Enemy eyed and persecuted him this made him walk more circumspectly pray more trust in God more He kept his mouth with a bridle while the wicked were before him Psalm 39. 1. An hard knot in the Wood drives a Man to the use of his Wedges A malitious Enemy that watcheth for our halting will make us look the better to our wayes And so it is that Death by the nearnesse thereof and by the frequent meditation thereupon makes us more carefull of our great accompt more sollicitous to make our peace with God to wean our hearts from Worldly and perishing comforts to lay up a good Foundation for the time to come that we may obtain eternal life to get a City which hath Foundations whose builder and maker is God The great difference betwixt life naturall and life Spirituall THe ordinary Manna which Israel gathered for their daily use did presently corrupt and breed worms but that which was laid up before the Lord the hidden Manna in the Tabernacle did keep without putrefaction So our life which we have here in the Wilderness of this World doth presently vanish and corrupt but our life which is kept in the Tabernacle our life which is hid with Christ in God that never runs into Death Naturall life is like the River Iordan empties it self into the dead Sea but spirituall life is like the waters of the Sanctuary which being shallow at the first grow deeper and deeper into a River which cannot be passed thorow Water continually springing and running forward into eternall life So that the life which we leave is mortall and perishing and that which we go unto is durable and abounding Joh. 10. 10. Men not to hasten their own Deaths but submit to the Will of God And why so IT is observeable that when of late years Men grew weary of the long and tedious compasse in their Voyages to the East-Indies and would needs try a more compendious way by the North-West passage it ever proved unsuccessefull Thus it is that we must not use any compendious way we may not neglect our body nor shipwrack our health nor any thing to hasten Death because we shall gain by it He that maketh hast even this way to be rich shall not be innocent Prov. 28. 20. For our times are in Gods hands and therefore to his holy providence we must leave them We have a great deal of work to do and must not therefore be so greedy of our Sabbath day our rest as not to be contented with our working day our labour Hence is it that a composed frame of Heart like that of the Apostles Phil. 1. 21. wherein either to stay and work or to go and rest is the best temper of all Assurance of Gods Love the onely Comfort IT is commonly known that those who live on London Bridge sleep as soundly as they who live at White-Hall or Cheapside well knowing that the Waves which roar under them cannot hurt them This was Davids case when he sang so merrily in the Cave of Adullam My heart is fixed my heart is fixed I will sing and give praise Psalm 57. 7. And what was it that made him so merry in so sad a place He will tell you vers 1. where you have him nestling himself under the shadow of Gods loving wings of Protection and now well may he sing care and fear away Thus it is that a Man perswaded and assured of Gods love unto him sings as merrily as the Nightingale with
a true value upon them make a true estimate of them and as much as in us lyeth to be mindfull of them comfortable to them and willing on all occasions to do them good Love Vnity and Peace the best supporters of Kingdoms Common-weals c. THere is mention made of a dispute betwixt Mars and Pallas which of them should have the honour to give the name to the City of Athens at length it was resolved That he should give the name who could find out that which might most conduce to the benefit of the City Hereupon Mars presents them with a stately horse which signified Wars Divisions Tumults c. but Pallas came in with an Olive branch the Emblem of Peace Love and Unity the City chose Pallas to be their guardian rightly apprehending That Love unity and peace would make most to their prosperity and safety And questionlesse great must needs be the happinesse of that Nation Kingdom or Common-weal where they are made supporters Love and Unity to cement all affections and Peace to compose all differences that can be found amongst them Self-seekers reproved IT is reported of one Cnidius a skilfull Architect who building a sumptuous house or Watch-tower for the King of Egypt to discover the dangerous rocks by night to the Mariners caused his own name to be engraven upon a stone in the wall in great letters and afterwards covered it with Lime and morter and upon the out-side of that wrote the name of the King of Egypt in golden letters as pretending that all was done for his honour and glory But herein was his cunning he very well knew that the dashing of the water would in a little time consume the plaistering as it did and then his name and memory should abide and continue to after-generations Just thus there are many in this Nation of ours who in their outward discourse and carriage pretend to seek onely the glory of God the good of his Church and the happinesse of the State but if there were a window to look into their hearts we should find nothing there written but self-love self-interest and self-seeking Many such would be found out who instead of loving God to the contempt of themselves love themselves to the contempt of God Many who seek their own and not the things of Jesus Christ or which is as bad if not worse who seek their own under the hypocritical pretence of seeking the things of Iesus Christ. How it is that Men are so much mistaken in the thoughts of long life IT fareth with most Mens lives as with the sand in an hypocritical hour-glasse look but upon it in outward appearance and it seemeth far more then it is because rising up upon the sides whilest the sand is empty and hollow in the midst thereof so that when it sinks down in an instant a quarter of an hour is gone in a moment Thus it is that many men are mistaken in their own accompt reckoning upon threescore and ten years the age of a Man because their bodies appear strong and lusty Alas their health may be hollow there may be some inward infirmity and imperfection unknown to them so that Death may surprize them on a sodain The generality of Men nothing mindfull of Death THere is a Bird peculiar to Ireland called The Cock of the wood remarkable for the fine flesh and folly thereof All the difficulty to kill them is to find them out otherwise a mean marks-man may easily dispatch them They fly in woods in flocks and if one of them be shot the rest remove not but to the next bough or tree at the farthest and there stand staring at the shooter till the whole covey be destroyed yet as Foolish as this bird is it is wise enough to be the Emblem of the wisest Man in the point of Mortality Death sweeps away one and one and one here one and there another and all the rest remain no whit moved or minding of it till at last a whole generation is consumed and brought to nothing Beloved Sins hardly parted withall LOok but upon a Rabbets skin how well it comes off till it come to the head and then there is haling and pulling and much ado before it stirs So it is that a Man may crucifie a great many lusts subdue abundance of imperfections and may perform many good duties and all this while come smoothly off but when it comes once to the head to the Dalilah the darling the bosome beloved Sin then there is tugging and pulling great regret loath to depart but if God have any interest interest in such a Soul he will pull the skin over his ears either break his neck or his heart before that any such Sin shall reign in his mortal body or have any dominion over him The Wicked Rich Mans sad condition at the time of Death IT is observable That a Sumpter-horse or a pack-horse which all the day long hath gone nodling with abundance of treasure hath at night all taken from him and been turn'd a grazing or put into a stable so that all the benefit he hath gain'd by it is that he hath onely felt the weight of it and probably got a gall'd back for his labour Thus many rapacious wretched rich Men such as are little better then pack-horses that all their lise long carry the things of this World lade themselves with thick clay rise early and late and eat the bread of carefulnesse to get a little pelf and a gall'd Conscience to boot are on a sudden either for ill using or ill getting their wealth turned unlesâ—e God be more mercifull into a filthy stable into Hell where their pay is everlasting torment Conscience spoils the wicked Mans mirth THere is a story of one who undertook in few daies to make a fat sheep lean and yet was to allow him a daily and large provision of Meat soft and easy loding with security from all danger that nothing should hurt him This he effected by putting him into an iron grate and placing a ravenous Woolf hard by in another alwaies howling fighting senting scratching to come at the poor sheep which affrighted with this sad sound and worse sight had little joy to eat lesse to sleep whereby his Flesh was sodainly abated And thus it is that all wicked Men have the terrours of an affrighted Conscience constantly not onely barking at them but biting of them which spoils all their mirth dis-sweetens their most delicious pleasures with the sad consideration of the Sins they have committed and punishment they must undergo when in another World they shall be called to an accompt for what they have done here in the Flesh. Sathans subtilty in laying his Temptations AN Enemy before he besiegeth a City surroundeth it at a distance to see where the wall is the weakest best to be battered lowest easiest to be scaled
ditch narrowest to be bridged shallowest to be waded over what place is not regularly fortified where he may approach with least danger and assault with most advantage So Sathan walketh about surveying all the powers of our Souls where he may most probably lay his temptations as whether our Understandings are easier corrupted with errour or our Fancies with levity or our Wills with frowardnesse or our Affections with excesse c. How it is that Soul and Body come to be both punished together IT is mentioned of two Travellers that walked together to the same City whereof the one was wise the other foolish And when they came where two wayes met the one broad and fair the other strait and foul the Fool would needs go the broader way but the Wise man told him though the narrow way seemed foul yet was it safe and would bring them to a good lodging and the other seeming fair was very dangerous and brought them to a desperate Inn yet because the Fool would not yield to any reason but believed what he saw with his eyes rather then what he heard with his ears The Wise man for companies sake was contented to go the worser way and being both robbed by thieves detayned in their company and at last apprehended with the Robbers and carried before the Magistrate these two began to accuse one another and each to excuse himself The Wiseman said he told his fellow the dangers of that broad way and therefore he onely was to be blamed because he would not yeild unto his Counsell but the Fool had so much wit to reply That he was a very silly Creature and knew neither the way nor the dangers of the way and therefore â—e was to be excused and the wise Man to be condemned because he would follow such a Fools counsell Whereupon the Judg having heard them both condemned them both the Fool because he refused to follow the Counsell of the Wise and the Wise Man because he would not forsake the Fools Company So it is that when the Soul which is the Wise man and doth know the dangerous issues of the wayes of death and Sin and the pleasant fruits of Vertue and goodnesse will notwithstanding follow the vain delights of Foolish Flesh and walk in the paths of unrighteousnesse no marvell if the righteous Judg condemn both body and Soul together A blessed thing to have Riches and a Heart to use them aright IT is credibly reported of M. Thomas Sutton the sole Founder of that eminent Hospitall commonly known by his name that he used often to repair into a private garden where he poured forth his prayers unto God and amongst other passages was frequently over-heard to use this expression Lord thou hast given me a liberall and large estate give me also a heart to make good use thereof which at last was granted to him accordingly And thus without all doubt a great blessing it is for any Man to have Riches and a heart to use them aright to be rich as well in Grace as in Gold rich in good works as great in riches not so much a Treasurer as a Steward whose praise is more to lay out well then to have received much otherwise he may have Riches not goods not blessings his burthen would be greater then his estate and he richer in sorrows then in mettals The great danger of Use in jesting at Religion and Piety WHen Iulian the Apostata had received his deaths wound he could not but confesse that the fatall arrow which shot him came from Heaven yet he confessed it in a phrase of scorn Vicisti Galilaee The day is thine O Galilean and no more not as he should have said Thou hast accomplished thy purpose O my God O my Maker O my Redeemer but in a style of contempt Vicisti Galilaee and no more And thus it is that many who have used and accustomed their mouths to Oaths and blasphemies all their lives have made it their last syllable and their last gasp to swear they shall dye And others there are too that enlarge and ungird their wits in jesting at Religion and Goodnesse but what becomes on 't they passe away at last in negligence of all spiritual assistances and scarcely find half a minute betwixt their last jest here in this life and their everlasting earnest in that which is to come Service of God perfect Freedome AS a Man that buyeth Freehold-land though he pay dear for it yet it is accompted cheaper and a far better purchase then if he had laid out his money upon that which is held by Coppy of Court-role And why so because it freeth him from many services and duties which Coppy-hold-Land is obliged unto all which the Lord of the Mannour may justly challenge according to custome So it is that the service of God is perfect freedome and will free a Man from all other services whatsoever so that be but a true servant of God whosoever thou art thou art free indeed free from the service of Sin and Sathan and free from all those domineering lusts that would fain be ruling in thy mortall body but on the contrary if thou be not a true servant of Jesus Christ thou shalt be a slave to every thing besides him Either thy belly will be thy God or thy Gold will be thy God Pleasures Profits Preferments all that is besides God will put in to make up a God And then O quam multos habet ille Dominos qui unum non habet How many Lords must that Man needs have that hath not God for his Lord and Master The excellency of Resolution in the cause of God EXcellent is the story of St. Basil who when the Emperour sent to him to subscribe to the Arrian heresy The Messenger at first gave him good language and promised him great preferment if he would turn Arrian To which Basil replied Alas these speeches are fit to catch little Children withall that look after such things but we that are nourished and taught by the Holy Scriptures are readier to suffer a thousand deaths then to suffer one syllable or tittle of the Scripture to be altered The Messenger offended with his boldnesse told him he was mad He answered Opto me in aeternum sic delirare I wish I were for ever thus mad Here was a stout resolved Christian that Luther-like opposed all the World of contradiction And such another was Nehemiah who met with so much opposition that had he not been steeled by a strong and obstinate resolution he could never have rebuilded the Temple but would have sunk in the midst of it Such a one was David that would not be hindred from fighting with Goliah though he met with many discouragements And it is heartily to be wished that God would make us all such i. e. resolved Christians to put on divine fortitude and Christian resolution which if
tormented The great danger of not reconciling our selves unto God SIr Thomas Moor whilest he was a Prisoner in the Tower would not so much as suffer himself to be trimmed saying There was a controversie betwixt the King and him for his head and till that was at an happy end he would be at no cost about it Let us but scum off the froth of his Wit and we may make a solemn use of it For certainly all the cost we bestow upon our selves to make our lives pleasurable and joyous to us is but meer folly till it be decided what will become of the Suit betwixt God and us what will be the issue of the Controversie that God hath against us and that not for our heads but Souls whether for Heaven or Hell Were it not then the wisest course to begin with making our peace and then we may soon lead a happy life It is said He that gets out of debt growes rich Most sure it is that the pardoned soul cannot be poor For as soon as the Peace is concluded a Free Trade is opened between God and the Soul If once pardoned we may then sail to any Port that lies in Gods dominions and be welcome where all the Promises stand open with their treasure and say Here poor Soul take full lading in of all pretious things even as much as thy Faith can bear and carry away Ringleaders of Faction and Schism their condition deplorable VVHat would the Prince think of that Captain who instead of encouraging his Souldiers to fall on with united Forces as one Man against the Common enemy should make a speech to set his Souldiers together by the ears amongst themselves surely he would hang him up for a Traytor Good was Luther's prayer A Doctore glorioso à Pastore contentioso et Inutilibus quaestionibus liberet Ecclesiam Deus From a vain-glorious Doctor a contentious Pastor and nice questions the Lord deliver his Church And we in these sad times have reason to say as hearty an Amen to it as any since his age Do we not live in a time when the Church is turn'd into a Sophister's School where there is and hath been such a wrangling and jangling that the pretious truths of the Gospel are lost to many already whose eyes are put out with the dust these contentions have raised and they have at last fairly disputed themselves out of all their sober Principles as some ill husbands that light among cunning Gamesters and play away all their money out of their purses Woe then to such vile Men who have prostituted the Gospel to such Divellish ends God may have mercy on the cheated Souls to bring them back to the love of the Truth But for the cheaters such as have been the Ring-leaders into Faction and Schism they are gone too far toward Hell that we can look for their return When it is that a Man is said to thorowly forsake his Sin EVery time a Man takes a journey from home about businesse we do not say he hath forsaken his house because he meant when he went out to come to it again No but when we see a Man leave his house carry all his goods away with him lock up his doors and take up his abode in another place never to dwell there more this Man may very well be said to have forsaken his house indeed Thus it is that every one of us are to forsake sin so as to leave it without any thought of returning to it again It were strange to find a Drunkard so constant in the exercise of that Sin but sometimes you may find him sober and yet a drunkard he is as if he were then drunk Every one hath not forsaken his Trade that we see now and then in their Holy-day Suit then it is that a Man is said to forsake his Sin when he throwes it from him and bolts the door upon it with a purpose never to open any more unto it Ephraim shall say What have we to do any more with Idols Hos. 14. 8. Mortification the excellency thereof THere is mention made of one of the Cato's That in his old age he drew himself from Rome to his Country-house that he might spend his elder years free from care and trouble And the Romans as they did ride by his house used to say Iste solus scit Vivere This Man alone knowes how to live What art Cato had to disburthen himself by his retirement of the Worlds cares is altogether unknown But most sure it is that a Man may go into the Country and yet not leave the City behind him his mind may be in a crowd while his body is in the solitude of a wildernesse Alas poor Man he was a stranger to the Gospel had he been but acquainted therewith it could have shewed him a way out of the crowd of all Worldly employments even in the midst of Rome it self and that is by mortifying his heart to the World both in the pleasures and troubles thereof And then that high commendations That he alone knew how to live might have been given him without any hyperbole at all For to speak truth He onely knowes aright how to live in the world that hath learnt to die to the World such is the excellency of Mortification Consideration of the brevity of life to work the heart of Man to Contentment IF a Traveller hath but enough to bring him to his journeys end he desires no more We have but a day to live and perhaps we may be now in the twelfth hour of that day And if God give us but enough to bear our charges till night it is sufficient Let us be content If a Man had the Lease of an House or Farm but for two or three dayes and he should fall a building and planting would he not be judged very indiscreet So when we have but a short time here and Death calls us presently off the stage to thirst immoderately after the World and pull down our Souls to build up an estate were it not extream Folly Therefore as Esau said once in a prophane sense concerning his birth-right Lo I am at the point to die and what profit shall this birth-right do to me So let us all say in a Religious sense Lo I am even at the point of Death my grave is going to be made and what good will the World do me If I have but enough till Sun-setting I am content The Scripture discovering Satan and Sin in its colours IT is reported That a certain Iew should have poysoned Luther but was happily prevented by his picture which was 〈◊〉 to Luther with a warning from a Faithfull friend that he should take heed of such a Man when he saw him by which he knew the Murtherer and so escaped his hands Thus it is that the Word of God shews us the face of those lufts which
therefore be a scandal to our Calling not a reproach to our own Names but let us be mindfull of our Vow and duty so oft as our Names are mentioned and as ready to answer to our Faith as to our Names Negligence in the wayes of God reproved THere is mention made of a Prince in Germany who being invaded by a more potent Enemy then himself yet from his Friends and Allies who flock't in to his help he soon had a goodly Army but had no money as he said â—o pay them but the truth is he was loath to part with it For which cause some went away in discontent others did not vigorously mind his businesse and so he was soon beaten out of his Kingdome and his coffers when his Pallace was rifled were found to be thwack't with treasure And thus was he ruin'd as some sick Men dye because unwilling to be at cost to pay the Physitian Now so it is that few or none are to be found but would be glad their Souls might be saved at last but where is the Man or Woman that makes it appear by their Vigorous endeavour that they mean in earnest What Warlike-preparation do they make against Satan who lyes between them and home Where are their Arms where their skill to use them their resolution to stand to them and conscionable care to exercise themselves daily in the use of them Thus to do is a rarity indeed if woulding and wishing would bring them to Heaven then they may likely come thither but as for this diligence in the wayes of God this circumspect walking this Wrestling and fighting this making Religion our businesse they are far from these as at last in so doing they are like to be from Heaven No way to Happinesse but by Holinesse ONe fitly compares Holinesse and Happinesse to those two sisters Leah and Rachel Happinesse like Rachel seems the fayrer even a carnal heart may fall in love with that but Holinesse like Leah is the elder and beautifull also though in this life it appears with some disadvantage her eyes being bleared with tears of Repentance and her face furrowed with the works of Mortification but this is the Law of that Heavenly Country that the younger sister must not be bestowed before the Elder We cannot enjoy fair Rachell Heaven and Happinesse except first we embrace tender-eyed Leah Holinesse with all her severe duties of Repentance and Mortification If we will have Heaven we must have Christ If Christ we must like his service as well as his Sacrifice there 's no way to Happinesse but by Holinesse Men deluded by Satan in not taking the right notion of Sin IT is with men in sinning as it is with Armies in fighting Captains beat their Drums for Voluntiers and promise all that list pay and plunder and this makes them come trowling in but few consider what the ground of the War is or for what Thus Satan enticeth Men to Sin and giveth golden promises of what they shall have in his service with which silly Souls are won but how few ask their Souls Whom do I sin against What is the Devills design in drawing me to Sin Shall I tell thee Dost thou think 't is thy pleasure or profit he desires in thy sinning Alas he means nothing lesse he hath greater plots in his head then so He hath by his Apostacy proclaimed war against God and he brings thee by sinning to espouse his quarrel and to jeopard the life of thy Soul in defence of his pride and lust which that he may do he cares no more for the damnation of thy Soul then the great Turk doth to see a company of his slaves cut off for the carrying on of his design in the time of a siege If therefore thou wilt not be deluded by him take the right notion of Sin and labour to understand the bottome of his bloudy design intended against thee Gods love to his Children in the midst of spirituall desertions And how so AS Ioseph when he spake roughly to his brethren and made them believe he would take them for spyes still his heart was toward them and he was as full of love as ever he could hold he was fain to go aside and weep And as Moses his Mother when she puâ— her child into the Ark of bul-rushes and went a little way from it yet still her eye was toward it The babe wept I and the Mother wept too So God when he goes a side as if he had forsaken his children yet he is full of sympathy and love towards them It is one thing for God to desert another thing to dis-inherit How shall I give thee up O Ephraim Hos. 8. 11. This is a Metaphor taken from a Father going about to dis-inherit his Son and while he is going to set his hand to the deed his bowels begin to melt and to yearn over him though he be a prodigall child yet he is a child I will not cut off the entail So saith God How shall I give thee up though Ephraim hath been a Rebellious Son yet he is my Son I will not dis-inherit him Gods heart may be full of love when there is a vail upon his face The Lord may change his dispensation towards his children but not his disposition So that the believer may confidently say I am adopted and let God do what he will with me let him take the rod or the staff 't is all one to me so long as he loves me The day of Death becomes the good Mans comfort And how so THe Persians had a certain day in the year which they called Vitiorum interitum wherein they used to kill all Serpents and venemous Creatures Such a day as that will the Day of Death be to a Man in Christ this day the old Serpent dyes in a believer that hath so often sâ—ung him with his Temptations this day the sins of the Godly these venemous Creatures shall all be destroyed they shall never be proud more they shall never grieve the Spirit of God more the death of the body shall quite destroy the body of death so that Sin which was the Midwife that brought Death into the World Death shall be the grave to bury sin O the priviledg and comfort of a true believer he is not taken away in his sins but he is taken away from his sins and death is made unto him advantage Heavenly happinesse not to be expressed NIcephorus tells us of one Agbarus a great Man that hearing so much of Christs fame by reason of the Miracles he wrought sent a Painter to take his picture and that the Painter when he came was not able to do it because of that radiancy and divine splendor which sate on Christs face Whether this be true or no penes sit authorem but to be sure there is such a brightnesse on the face of Christ glorified and that Happinesse which
Saints shall have with him in the highest Heavens as forbids us that dwell in mortal flesh to conceive of it aright much more to expresse it 't is best going thither to be informed and then we shall confesse we on Earth heard not half of what we there find yea that our present conceptions are no more like to that vision of glory we shall there have then the Sun in the Painters Table is to the Sun it self in the Heavens Men to be constant in the performance of holy Duties IT is observable That many who have gone into the Field and liked the work of a Souldier for a battel or two but soon have had enough and come running home again from their Colours whereas few can bear it as a constant Trade War is a thing that they could willingly wooe for their pleasure but are loath to wed upon what terms soever Thus many are soon engaged in holy duties easily perswaded to take up a Profession of Religion and as easily perswaded to lay down like the new Moon which shines a little in the first part of the night but is down long before half of the night be gone the lightsome Professors in their youth whose old age is wrapt up in thick darknesse of Sin and wickedness O this constancy and persevering is a hard word this taking up the Crosse daily this praying alwayes this watching night and day and never laying aside our cloaths and armour i. indulging our selves to remit and unbend in our holy waiting upon God and walking with God this sends many sorrowful from Christ yet this is the Saints duty to make Religion his every-dayes work withouâ— any vacation from one end of the year to the other How it is that there are so many Professors of Religion and so few Christians and Practisers of Religion ALl Israel came joyfully out of Egypt under Moses his conduct yea and a mixt Multitude with them but when their bellies were a little pinched with hunger and their greedy desires of a present Canaan deferred yea instead of peace and plenty nothing but Warr and penâ—ry appeared they like white-liver'd Souldiers are ready to fly from their colours and make a dishonourable retreat into Egypt Thus the greatest part of those who professe the Gospel when they come to push of pike to be tried what they will do deny endure for Christ grow sick of their enterprise Alas their hearts fail them they are like the waters of Bethlehem but if they must dispute their passage with so many Enemies they will even content themselves with their own Cistern and leave Heaven to others that will venture more hardly for it Gods comfortable presence in the midst of spiritual desertions THe Gardiner digs up his Garden pulls up his fences takes up his plants and to the eye seems to make a pleasant place as a waste piece of ground but every intelligent Man knowes that he is about to mend it not to mar it to plant it better not to destroy it So God is comfortably present with us even in our spirituall desertions and though he seem to annihilate or to reduce his new Creation yet it is to repair its ruines and to make it more beautifull and glorious Or as in the repairing of an house we see how they pull down part after part as if they intended to demolish it quite but the end is to make it better it may be some posts and pillars are removed but it is to put in stronger It may be some lights are stopped up but it is to make fairer So though God take away our props it is not that we may fall but that he may settle us in greater strength he batters down the life of sense to put us upon a life of Grace And when he darkens our light that we cannot see it is but to bring in fuller light into our Souls As when the Stars shine not the Sun appears repairing our losse of an obscure light with his clear bright shining beams So that though God do forsake his people yet not totally not for ever not ceasing the affection of Love but the acts of Love for some time And when he seems to be turning a Man into a desolate and ruinous condition yet even then is he building and preparing him to be a more excellent structure The Christians spiritual growth when seemingly dead and declining AS in the lopping of a Tree there seems to be a kind of diminution and destruction yet the end and issue of it is better growth And as the weakning of the body by Physick seems to tend to death yet it produceth better health and more strength and as the ball by falling downward riseth upward and Water in pipes descâ—nds that it may ascend So the Christians spiritual growth when seemingly dead and declining and to stand a stay is still carried on by the hidden method of God to encrease For every true Christian is a member of a thriving body in which there is no Atrophie but a continual issuing of spirits from the head so that life being wrought by the Spirit of life never dyeth but is alwayes upon the growing hand ripening and encreasing even in the midst of tentations and trouble Backwardnesse in the service of God reproved AStone needs not to be driven downward because that motion is suitable to it and it affects the Centre the Eagles fly willingly to their prey an hungry Man needs not either perswasion or compulsion to eat his meat So did but Men delight in God What means their hanging back from him How is it that the Counsels and thoughts of their hearts the pressing perswasions of the Word the strong motions of the Spirit the shining Examples of the godly the wise advice of Faithful friends the sweet inducements of pretious Promises the sad menaces of fearfull Evils yea the heavy strokes of an angry God yea the tender Mercies of a melting Father yea the bleeding wounds of a crucified Redeemer How is it that none of these do more prevail with them to a more ready walking with their God Surely such backwardnesse such unwillingnesse in the service of God cannot but be hatefull unto him Religion consisting in duty both to God and Man AS the Boat cannot move rightly when the Oars onely on one side are plyed Or as the Foul if she use onely one wing cannot fly up So Religion consisteth of duties to be performed some to God and some to Man some for the first Table of the Law some for the second otherwise that Religion will never profit that hath one hand wrapped up that should be towards Man in all offices of Charity though the other be used towards God in all offices of Piety The paucity of true Believers IT is the observation of a Learned Man That if the World were divided into thirty equall parts nineteen
Patient it may be impatient of anguish and pain cryes out to have it removed No sayes the Surgeon it must stay there till it have eaten to the quick and effected that throughly for which it is applyed commanding those that are about him to see that nothing be stirred till he come again to him In the mean time the Patient being much pained counts every minute an hour till the Surgeon come back again and if he stay long thinketh that he hath forgotten him or that he is taken up with other Patients and will not return in any reasonable time When as it may be he is all the while but in the next room to him attending the hour-glasse purposely set up till the Plaisâ—er have had its full operation Thus in the self-fame manner doth God deal oft-times with his dearest Children as David and S. Paul The one was instant more then once or twice to be rid of that evil and the other cryes out as fast Take away the plague from me for I am even consumed c. but God makes both of them to stay his time He saw in them as in all others much dead flesh much corrupt matter behind that was as yet to be eaten out of their Souls he will have the Crosse to have its full work upon us not to come out of the fire as we went in not to come off the fire as foul and as full of scum as we were first set on Resurrection of the Just asserted TRees and other Vegetables in the Winter time appear to the eyes and view of all men as if they were withered and quite dead yet when the Spring time comes they become alive again and as before do bring forth their buds blosâ—oms leaves and fruit the Reason is because the body grain and arms of the Tree are all joyned and fastned to the root where the sap and moisture lies all the Winter time and from thence by reason of so â—ear conjunction it is derived in the Spring-time to all the parts of the Tree Even so the bodies of Men have their Winter also and that is in Death in which time they are turned into dust and so remain for a time dead and rotten yet in the Spring-time that is in the last day at the Resurrection of all Flesh then by means of the mysticall Union with Christ his divine and quickning Virtue shall stream and flow from thence to all the bodies of his Elect and chosen Members and cause them to live again and that to life eternall The inestimable valew of Christ Jesus CHarles Duke of Burgundy being slain in battell by the Swissers at Nantz Anno 1476. had a Iewel of very great valew which being found about him was sold by a Souldier to a Priest for a Crown in money the Priest sold it for two Crowns Afterwards it was sold for seven hundred Florens then for Twelve thousand Duckets and last of all for twenty thousand Duckets and set into the Popes triple Crown where it is to be seen at this day But Christ Iesus is a commodity of far more value better then Rubies saith Solomon and all the things that may be desired are not to be compared to him He is that Pearl of price which the Merchant purchased with all that ever he had No Man can buy such gold too dear Ioseph then a pretious Iewell of the World was far more pretious had the Ishmaelitish Merchants known so much then all the Balms and Myrrhes that they transported and so is Christ as all will yield that know him To depend upon Gods bare Word THe Earth that we tread on though it be a massie dull heavy body yet it hangeth in the midst of the ayr inviron'd by the Heavens and keepeth its place steady and never stirreth an inch from it having no props or shores to uphold it no beams or barrs to fasten it nothing to stay or establish it but the Word of God In like manner must we learn to depend upon the bare Word of God And when all other ayds and comforts have taken their leaves of us then to rest and relye upon God himself and his infallible unfailable Word of promise not on the outward pledges and pawns of his Providence nor on the ordinary effects and fruits of his favour so shall we see light even in the midst of darknesse and be able to discern the sweet Sun-shine of his blessed countenance through the thickest clouds of his fiercest Wrath and displeasure The day of Death better then the day of life PLato maketh mention of Agamedes and Trophonius who after they had builded the Temple of Apollo Delphicus they begged of God that he would grant to them that which would be most beneficiall for them who after this suit made went to bed and there slept their last being both found dead the next Morning Whereupon it was concluded That it was better to die then to live Whilest I call things past to mind said that incomparable Q. Elizabeth I behold things present and whilest I expect things to come I hold them happiest that go hence soonest And most true it is that Death being aeterni Natalis the birth-day of Eternity as Seneca at unawares calls it And if Death like unto the gathering Hoast of Dan come last into the Field to gather the lost and forlorn hope of this World that they may be found in a better needs must then be the day of Death better then the day of life Therefore as a witty Man closed up a paper of Verses concerning Worldly calamities and naturall vexationâ— What then remains but that we still should cry Not to be born or being born to dye Men to be prepared for Crosses Afflictions Troubles c. IN or about the year 1626 A book formerly printed and entituled A preparaâ—â—on to the Crosse of Christ composed by Iohn Frith Martyr was brought to the Mâ—rket in Cambridge in the belly of a Fish and that a little before the Commencement time when by reason of the confluence of much People notice might be given to all places of the Land which as a late Reverend Divine observed could in his apprehension be construed for no lesse then an Heavenly warning and to have this voice with it England prepare for the Crosse A great work of God it was to be sure and a fair warning to us of this Nation before the sad dayes of trouble came had but Men made good use of it but surdo narratur No Man prepar'd for the Crosse since which time here hath been enough of the Crosse Crosse-doing and Crosse-dealing one with another and much ado hath been about pulling down and defacing material Crosses such as in themselves were but Civill not Religious marks as that Princely Iob defin'd them when they should rather have been busied in pulling down the old Man out of their hearts and so made way for
so about building a Vessel of such bulk and bignesse to prolong his life for so short a time And if it must needs be done I may go and take pleasure for these hundreth years yet and then set upon it twenty or ten years before and get more help then and dispatch it the sooner But Noah did not he could not he durst not defer the doing of it but fells his wood sawes out his planks hewes out his timber and so falls to work The same case is ours God foretells us that a second general destruction shall come not by Water but by Fire the fiercer Element of the twain which even Heathens have taken notice of And that none shall then be saved but those that have a spirituall Temple or Sanctuary built in their Souls an house for the blessed Spirit to dwell in as hard and difficult a work as ever the making of the Ark was For before the spiritual building can be raised we must pull down an old Frame of the Devills rearing that standeth where it must stand and rid the place of the rubbish and remainders of it Let us then fall to work betime we are so far from being able to promise to our selves a hundreth years that we cannot assure our selves of one hour no not of one minute Likenesse to be a motive to lovelinesse THe Naturall Philosophers and others write of a monstrous bird called an Harpy which having the face of a Man is of so fierce and cruel nature that being hunger-bitten will seize upon a Man and kill him but afterwards making to the water to quench her thirst and there espying her own face and perceiving it to be like the Man whom she had devoured is so surprized with grief that she dies immediately Thus our likenesse to Christ and his likenesse to us in all things sin onely excepted ought to be an argument of Love not of hatred Birds of a feather will flock and keep together Beasts though by Nature cruel yet will defend those of their kind How much more should one Man love another bear with one another and stand by one another in the midst of any dangâ—r or difficulty whatsoever they being all fellow-members of that mystical body whereof Christ Iesus is the Head Spirituall and corporall blindnesse their difference A Blind Boy that had suffered imprisonment at Glocester not long before was brought to Bishop Hooper the day before his death Mr. Hooper after he had examin'd him of his Faith and the cause of his imprisonment beheld him very steadfastly and tears standing in his eyes said unto him Ah poor boy God hath taken from thee thy outward sight upon what consideration he in his Divine wisdome best knowes but hath given thee another sight much more pretious For he hath endued thy Soul with the spirituall eye of understanding O happy change doubtlesse there is a wide difference betwixt corporeall and spiritual blindness though every Man be blind by Nature yet the state of the spiritually blind is more miserable then that of the other blind The bodily blind is led either by his Servant Wife or Dogg but the spiritually blind is mis-led by the World the Flesh and the Devill The one will be sure to get a seeing guide but the other followes the blind guidance of his own lusts till they both tumble into the ditch The want of corporal eyes is to many divinum bonum albeit humanum malum but the want of Faith's eyes is the greatest evill which can befall Man in this life For Reason is the Soul 's left eye Faith the right eye without which it is impossible to see the way to God Heb. 11. 6. Good Conscience a Mans best Friend at the last IT is a witty Parable which one of the Fathers hath of a Man that had three Friends two whereof he loved intirely the third but indifferently This Man being called in question for his life sought help of his Friends The first would bear him company some part of his way The second would lend him some money for his journey and that was all they would or could do for him But the third whom he least respected and from whom he least expected would go all the way and abide all the while with him yea he would appear with him and plead for him This Man is every one of us and our three Friends are the Flesh and the World and our own Conscience Now when Death shall summon us to Judgment What can our Friends after the Flesh do for us they will bring us some part of the way to the grave and further they cannot And of all the Worldly goods which we possesse What shall we have What will they afford us Onely a shrowd and a coffin or a Tomb at the most But welfare a good Conscience that will live and die with us or rather live when we are dead and when we rise again it will appear with us at Gods Tribunal And when neither Friends nor a full purse can do us any good then a good Conscience will stick close to us The captivated Soul restless till it be in Christ Iesus THere is mention made of a certain Bird in Egypt near the River Nilus called Avis Paradisi for the beauty of its feathers having in it as we say all the colours of the Rainbow the Bird of Paradise which hath so pleasant and melodious notes that it raiseth the affections of those that hear it Now this Bird if it chance to be any way ensnared or taken it never leaves mourning and complaining till it be delivered Such is the Soul of every Regenerate Man if it be taken by Sathan or overtaken by the least of Sins weaknesse or infirmity it is restlesse with the Spouse in the Canticles no sleep shall come into the eye nor any slumber to the eye-lids till Reconciliation be made with God in Christ Iesus Sin of a dangerous spreading Nature A Mongst many other diseases that the body is incident unto there is one that is called by the name of Gangrena which doth altogether affect the joynts against which there is no remedy but to cut off that joynt where it settled otherwise it will passe from joynt to joynt till the whole body is endangered Such is the nature of Sin which unlesse it be cut off in the first motion it proceedeth unto action from action to delectation from delight unto custome and from that unto habite which being as it were a second Nature is never or very hardly removed without much prayer and fasting Lex talionis MAxentius that cruel Tyrant coming with an Army against Constantine the Great To deceive him and his Army he caused his Souldiers to make a great bridge over Tyber where Constantine should passe and cunningly laid planks on the Ships that when the Army came upon the planks the ships should sink and so
the Southwind of Prosperity blowing honours riches and preferment into his lap had need of a good Pilot the special Counsel of God to lead him and the extraordinary mercies of God to support him if ever he intend to arrive at the port of eternall blisse Whereas he that sets out whilest the North-wind of Adversity and trouble beats fiercely upon him minds his way rides through the storm well knowing that the way to Heaven is by the gates of Hell and that by many tribulations he must and shall at last enter into happinesse Every Wicked Man a curse to the place he lives in BIas the Philosopher being at Sea in a great Tempest with a number of odd fellowes some of them very rake-shames and naught they began as men in such a case usually do to call upon the gods which he perceiving comes to them and saith Sirs hold your peace lest the gods take notice that you are here and so not onely you but we also suffer for your sakes And it is observed that S. Iohn leap'd out of the Bath because Cerinthus was there his reason was leâ—t the Bath should fall for his sake onely being a wretched blasphemous Heretick Thus it is that a Wicked Man though he thinks he hurt no body but himself is a Plague and a curse to the place he lives in let him be never so Noble never so Honourable potent or wealthy if he be a prophane Man a lewd loose Libertine he engageth the place of his abode to the wrath of God and hastneth his Judgments thereon The Souls restlesnesse till it be united unto Christ. A Virgin being espoused to one that is shipt for the East-Indies or some such long-winded Voyage if she do indeed faithfully and unfeignedly affect him though she joy to read a letter or to see some token from him yet it is nothing in that kind that can give her contentment Nil mihi rescribas nothing will serve her turn but his presence O how she hearkens after the Ships for his return and joyes to think of that day wherein they shall be so fast knit together that nothing shall separate them but Death Thus the Christian Soul contracted to Christ may receive many favours and love-tokens from him such as are all the blessings she enjoyeth whether spiritual or temporal yet they cannot all of them give any true contentment but help rather to enflame her aâ—â—ection towards him and make her if she sincerely love him as she professâ—th and pretendeth to do the more earnestly and ardently to long for that day wherein she shall be inseparably linked unto him and everlastingly enjoy his personal presence which above all things she most earnestly desireth Partiality of affection in hearing Sermons condemned A Scholler coming to Paul's Church-yard asked a Book-seller Whether he had Abulensis Works and the Man said No but he had Tostatus which was as good The Scholler replyed Tostatus would do him no good unlesse he had Abulensis which indeed was the same book Alphonsus Tostatus being Episcopus Abulensis Bishop of Avila in Spain Thus it is with the partiall and prejudicate opinions and fancies of many Men and Women when they rather respect quis praedicat then quid praedicatur who preacheth then what is preached For if the self-same Sermon were preached by divers Men the Sermon should never be respected according to its worth but according to the fancy opinion and affection which they hear unto the deliverer because commonly they know no other difference but the names voyces and faces of their Teachers Sure it is that Christ made the best Sermons that ever were preached and yet they were not best liked because they liked not the Preacher Every Man to confesse that his own Sin is the cause though not alwaies the occasion of punishment IT is said of Prince Henry that delitiae generis humani that darling of Mankind as it was once said of Titus Vespasianus whose death was then to this Kingdom as so much of the best blood let out of the veins of Israel When it was told him That the sins of the People caused that affliction on him O no said he I have sins enow of mine own to cause that So should we all confesse though God take occasion by another Man's sin or by the neglect of another person to fire my house yet the cause is just that it should be so and that I my self have deserved it whatsoever the occasion be God had cause against the seventy thousand that dyed of the Plague though Davids sin were the occasion yet the meritorious cause was in them therefore whensoever it pleaseth God to lay his hand of anger upon us though another may be the occasion yet Ille ego qui feci let every Man in particular acknowledge that it is he that hath sinned and so justifie God in his sayings and clear him when he is judged Ministers of the Gospel to be of godly lives and conversations AS the Iews in their preparation to the Passeover did for four hours search out all leaven out of their houses and then for two hours cast it out and lastly cursed all the Leaven that they had not seen and could not find So let all the Priests of the Lords house all the Ministers of the Gospel of Iesus Christ be carefull to search to purge and to execrate all the leaven of wilful and reigning Sin and to oppose and mortifie the least sins that so they may be Priests after Gods own heart Stars in Gods right hand such as Greg. Nazianzene of whom Basil speaks that he did thunder in his doctrine and lighten in his conversations and that having an inward principle of the light of Holinesse in them from Christ they may shine out holily unto others not onely in the Pulpit and prayer but in the whole course of their life 's also The right use of humane Learning MAgnus a Roman Orator accused S. Hierome for bringing too many uncircumcised Greeks into the Temple and by that means defiling candorem Ecclesiae sordibus Ethnicorum the unstained candor of the Church of Christ with the impure sentences of Heathen Orators But the good Father with sufficient Reason doth clear himself from those aspersions And so it is to be desired that every one may do the like and not to shew themselves to be greater disciples of Nature then Schollers of Grace or to have studied more in the School of Humanity then in the University of Divinity because humane Learning is to be used not as the means to satisfie our stomach but as the sauce to provoke our appetite not to adde strength unto the Truth but ornament to our speech being as it were Trimming to a plain suit and garnish to a good dish of meat And indeed to speak the best of it It is but a learned kind of Ignorance which yet being guided and bridled by the Spirit of
his brother ran in unto him and shewed them that he had but one hand and that he lost the other in defence of his Countrey whereupon there was none that would throw a stone at him And thus it is that Reproaches and Sufferings in the cause of Christ are notable marks to safe-guard us in the time of trouble It was Ieremiah's plea O Lord thou knowest remember me and visit me know that for thy sake I have suffered rebuke This is the evidence that a gracious heart hath to its self that God will spare him when others shall suffer from his wrath For the more any Man is called to suffer in the cause of God and when he finds his heart ready and willing to yield to God in suffering the more evidence he may have to his Soul that when others be called to suffer from wrath he shall be spared this being the bottom of the Psalmists prayer Remember Lord the Reproaches of thy servants how I do bear in my bosome the Reproach of thy mighty People Mercies of God to be particularly recorded to Posterity THe Iews as the Rabbines do observe the night before the Passeover are wont to confer with their Children on this wise The Child said Why is it called the Passeover The Father answered because the Angell passed over and destroyed us not The child said Why do we eat unleavened bread The Father answered Because we were forced to make haste out of Egypt The Child said again Why eat we sowr herbs The Father said To put us in mind of the afflictions in Egypt c. Thus ought we to deal in all the great and marvellous kindnesses of God to speak publiquely of them for the generations to come with David to tell what God hath done for our Souls to declare his glory among all Nations and his wonders amongst all People The Prince must speak of them to his subjects the Minister to his People the Master to his servants and the Father to his Children Parents not to be forsaken though they be Infidels and Wicked WHen S. Iohn had baptized Chrysippa the Governour 's Wife of Pathmos she presently thereupon would forsake her unbelieving husband By no means that must not be S. Iohn told her that he had a Commission to joyn her to Christ but no warrant to keep her from her husband and therefore he suffered her not to depart but commanded her to return unto her house again It is also written of S. Martin that he lived with his Parents that were Gentiles and performed all good offices to them as became a good Christian Child because the Church of God when she receiveth any one to Christ doth by no means acquit the obligation of that Law which bindeth a Sonne unto his Father Thus we are not with the Prodigal to run out of our Fathers house not to contemn them that begat us but to condemn their impiety if they seek to mislead us For it is not to be believed that God which commanded us to honour Father and Mother would ever bid us to forsake them And therefore if any Man hath an Infidell to his Father let him not be perswaded by him to do any disservice unto God but continue his obedience to him and in so doing he shall receive the reward of his duty and the Father shall find the punishment of his Iniquity The Martyrs Wellcome to Heaven WHen a Father sends his Sonne abroad about some earnest businesse and he meet with much difficulty in the way and come home in rainy tempestuous weather How gladly doth he entertain him the whole Family are ready to tend upon him one makes a fire another gets him dry cloaths a third is busie in preparing somewhat to comfort his wearâ—ed spirits And thus the People of God when they meet with hardship in the Pilgrimage of this World and suffer even unto death for Righteousnesse sake whether they be Martyrs in will and in deed as S. Stephen In will and not in deed as S. Iohn In deed but not in wil as the Innocents When they come and meet with Christ for whom and in whose cause they have suffered How shall they be received With what wellcome shall they be entertained What Riches of glory shall they enjoy in the highest Heavens for evermore They shall have Crowns upon their heads palms in their hands long white robes upon their backs and shall sit at the right hand of God when all their Persecutors shall stand like so many base unworthy Creatures before them The Formal Christian discovered LOok but upon a Pageant on some triumphant day what a goodly shew it makes without how it is carried on Mens shoulders Oh but look then again within it and you shall find little substance onely a few gilded laths and pastboards things of small concernment Then again a May-pole stands on high deck'd with ribbons and garlands on the top gazed upon by all Men O but it hath no rooting no sap to preserve it Such are all Formal Christians top and top-gallant they have fair gilded out-sides some certain general notions swimming in their heads but as the Apostles phrase is they are not rooted not principled their heads are uncatechised and their hearts unsanctified they make a goodly shew have abundance of form but no power of Godlinesse in them The Printing of Learned Mens Works instrumentall to Gods glory IT is the opinion of some Learned Men that the Saints who are now triumphing in Heaven have an augmentation of glory bestowed on them according to the good they do after their deaths as by Sermons preached or books printed while they were living Instance is given in the Apostle S. Paul whose glory in Heaven say they is increased according as Men are converted by reading of his Epistles Which doctrine if it be true will be a mightâ—y encouragement to perswade the Friends of deceased Ministers and other Learned Men to publish the Sermons and Works they leave behind them Howsoever whether this be true or no sure it is that by the publishing thereof especially when perfected after their deaths much glory is brought unto God and much benefit to the Souls of the living Reproaches and Sufferings made Honourable by God IT is said of Ioan Conntesse of Shrewsbury that in the midst of a dance at Court she let her garter sall at unawares and blushing at the accident the King took it up in his hand whereat the Nobility smiled Well sayes he I will make this an honourable ornament ere long and upon that came the Order of the Knights of the Garter the Garter being an Ornament of the highest Nobility such as Kings wear about their necks as an Ensign of their Princely Order Thus if Man can put honour upon such mean things then God mucâ— more It is he that ennobleth Reproaches and sanctifieth Afflictions to his Children and maketh the sufferings of his servants
rain and made great cracks of Thunder Above that was placed a great Throne glistering with all the Art that Nature could afford This might be sufficient for an Heathen that knew no better things But how sad is the condition of a Company of drossy-spirited Men that with that Duke of Bourbon in France who if he might but have his Palace in Paris would not change it for Paradise can be content to take the things of this World for their portion If they had but this or that thing it were Heaven to them It argues they have low thoughts of an Immortal Soul and are ignorant of what an immortal Soul is capable of that can think themselves satisfied in any Creature and have loose thoughts of God as if there were no Treasures in him but onely a few temporary Earthly delights as Meat and Drink and Sports and whatsoever the vanity of this world calls delightfull Afflictions if any thing will make us seek God THe Persian Messenger though an Heathen as Aeschiles in one of his Tragedies observeth said thus When the Graecian Forces hotly pursued our host and we must needs venter over the greaâ— Water Strymon frozen then but beginning to thaw when a hundred to one we had all dyed for it with mine eyes I saw saith he many of those Gallants whom I had heard before so boldly maintain There was no God every one upon his knees and devoutly praying that the Ice might hold till they got over And Pharaoh was at high terms with God but when Extremity came upon him then he was humbled Thus it is that many Men like the Dromedary of exceeding swiftnesse the Female especially run over hill and dale take their whole swing of pleasure and snuff up the ayr of all sensual delights Age death and sicknesse are afar off Youth health and strength possesse them there 's no coming to them then no medling with them till their Month come till Winter come a day of sorrow and distress overtake them then they will seek unto God And herein is Folly condemned even of her own Children and Wisdome justified of her very Enemies That they that greedily seek sin are at last glad to be rid of it and they that merrily scorn Religion at last are glad to be sheltered under the protection thereof Deceipt and Unfaithfulnesse in Trade and Commerce condemned LYsander the Lacedemonian held for a main Principle of his Religion that Children were to be deceived with trifles as rattles and guegawes but old Men were to be gulâ—'d with oaths and held on with fair promises And it is now almost grown a Trade for Men to be so slippery in their dealings one with another that they can find loop-holes to wind out of the most cautelous contracts for advantages break faith promises bonds run away with Mens goods so that Turks and Iews are more trusty then such hollow shifting Christians And hence it is that Gods Iustice and his just revenge on all Trades at this day is such that scarce any prosper in them God having divorced his blessing from them because they have turned their Trades into crafâ—s not for the help but the overthrow one of another The great danger of living in any one known Sin THere have been Prodigalls in all Ages such as having a fair Inheritance have lost it all upon one cast of the dice A man may escape many wounds and shots in the Wars and yet may be kill'd at the last with the stab of a pen-knife or the prick of a pin or needle It is reported of Sir Francis Drake that having compassed the World and being in a Boat upon the Thames in a very rough tide said What have I escaped the violence of the Sea and must be now drown'd in a Ditch Thus many a Man that hath escaped many grosse sins may by some little secret lust be deprived of the glory of the Kingdom of Heaven Moses came within the sight of Canaan but for one Sin not sanctifying Gods Name at the water of Meribah he never set foot within it A great Affliction it was no dâ—ubt uâ—to him to be so near and yet so far off from entring And no lesse will it be to any Man that for one Sin not sanctifying the Name of God as he ought shall come short of Heaven not but that there may be some remainders of sin and yet the Heart be taken off from every Sin but if there be any secret closing with any one Sin all the profession of Godlinesse and leaving all other Sins will be to no purpose nor ever bring a Man to happinesse Rich Men to be mindfull of what they have received at Gods hand ST Gregory confesseth thus much of himself that never any sentence entred â—o deep into his Soul as that Text Fili recordare c. Son remember that â—hou in thy life-time receivedst thy pleasure or good things and likewise Lazarus pains And that as surgite mortui was ever in S. Hierom's ear and non in commessationibus not in surfetting in S. Augustine's by which he was first converted For he sitting in the See of Rome when it was grown rich and of great revenue was as he saith still afraid of this Text Whether his exalting into that chair might not be his recompence at Gods hands and all that ever he should receive from him for all his service mercedem non arrham his portion of Earth not the earnest of Heaven Thus did the good Father And would God his example herein might make a due impression and work the like fear in so many as havâ— in the eyes of all Men received the good things of this life For it is too apparent that divers that have so received and that in a measure even heaped up and running over carry themselves so without remembrance of themselves as if no such Simile were in all the Bible as that of the needles eye no such Example as that of the rich Glutton no such Memento as that of Abraham to him but that they have learned a point of Divinity such as Abraham never knew Balaam'â— divinity it is to be feared to love the wages of unrighteousnesse and yet they must needs into Abraham's bosome dye the death of the Righteous Sin unrepented of heavy upon the Soul at the time of Death A Massy piece oâ— Timber floating upon the water may be easily drawn towards the shore so long as it swimmeth any one may turn it this way or that way at pleasure but if it be once grounded not many Men can move it but with great pains and industry Thus Man's life is the water Death the shore and Sin the piece of Timber Whilest we live in strength and health born up â—y the streams of Worldly pleasure and delight Sin seems but light unto us great Sins appear as little Sins and little sins
as no sins at all but at the time of our dissolution when we are ready to touch upon the brink of Death then sin appears in its colours in its true proportion small ones so great in the magnitude light ones so ponderous in the weight that the poor miserable Sinner finds them a burthen unsupportable too heavy for him to bear and looking about for help cryes out with S. Paul Miserable Man that I am Who shall deliver me c. Rom. 8. Godlinesse a very gainful Trade A Merchant that drives a rich Trade will by a bargain in one Morning get an hundred pounds or more whereas many other poor People are fain to work hard to get a shilling or eighteen pence a day Now every one would be of the gaining side It is the common voice of Nature Who will shew us any good How shall we come to be Rich Oh prize the Trade of Godlinesse then therein is great gain to be had As for the Works of Morality and common grace they are like the Trade of the poor labouring Man that earns some small matter that works hard and gets onely some outward blessings from God but Godlinesse is a full Merchants Trade that brings in hundreds and thousands at a clap and such a Trade God would have us set our hearts upon to look after great and glorious things As Cleopatra that Egyptian Princess said to Marcus Antonius It was not for him to fish for gudgeons but for Towns Forts and Castles so it is not for those that are acquainted with the wayes of Godlinesse to be trading for poor things for temporal transitory trash but for eternal life glory and Immortality Consideration of our secret Sins a motive to Compassionate others WE may read of a Iudge in the Primitive times who when he was seriously invited to the place of Judgment to passe Sentence upon another withdrew himself and at last being earnestly pressed came with a bag of sand upon his shoulders to the Iudgment Seat saying You call me to passe Iudgment upon this poor Offender How can I do it when I my self am guilty of more sins then this bag hath sands in it if the World saw them all This was not so well done as a publique Magistrate being invited to do Iustice yet as becoming a Conscionable Christian. And thus ought all good Men to do the consideration of their bosome Sins should work in them Compassion towards others saying within themselves Can I be as Judah to cry out upon Tamar Let her be burnt when I remember the Ring and the Staffe laid in pawn to her in secret How can I be extream against my weak brother when if my faults were written on my forehead I might deserve as severe a censure my self Ministers to preach the Gospel notwithstanding the discouragements of their Auditory And why so TUlly maketh mention of Antimaâ—hus a famous Poet of his time who having penn'd some excellent quaint Piece read it openly before a Iudicious Auditory but whether through disaffection to the Person or disregard of the Poem they all left him except Plato which he perceiving resolved to go on with this confidence that Plato being there alone he cared not though all the rest were absent Thus Ministers are to preach the Gospel of Christ though they 〈◊〉 with many discouragements to the work of their Ministery though the Congregation be so thin that there may seem to be more Pews and Pillars in the Church then People and they as stupid and senselesse in the matter of attention as the Seats they sit on some high-way side some thorny some rocky hearers yet for all that there may be one Plato one good grounded Hearer who may prove the Crown of all his labours and in whose conversion he shall have much cause of rejoycing before Men and Angels in Heaven The mis-giving Thoughts of a Worldly-minded Man in reference to the enjoyment of Heaven A Begger asking an Alms if a Man put his hand in his pocket and take out a penny or two pence he hath hope to have that but if he chance to pull out a piece of gold then his heart fails because it is too much Cast a bone to a dog he falls to it presently but for a joynt of meat before him well drest in a fair large dish he dares not venture upon that So for these sublunary things as Riches Honours and preferments such as God casts many times to dogs Worldly men may fall upon them and think they are for their â—ooth but when they come to the dainties and infinite treasures of God Can a Drunkard that prizeth nothing but a little swilling drink Can a swinish filthy base low-spirited Man that never minded any thing but the satisfying of his unclean lusts think that God should make it the greatest work that he hath in the World to communicate the Riches of his goodness and grace to such a one as he is He cannot but have mis-giving thoughts and think that he hath no part in them An Heavenly-minded Man looks through and beyond Afflictions TRavellers tell us that they that are on the top of the Alpes may see great showns of rain fall under them which they over look but not one drop of it comes at them And he that is on the top of some high Tower mindeth not the croking of Frogs and Toads the hissing of Serpents Adders and the like venomous Creatures they are below Thus an Heavenly-minded Man who dwells in Heaven on Earth looks through and beyond all Troubles and Afflictions rides triumphantly through the storm of disparagements nay he boldly stares Death in the Face though never so ugly disguised as Anaxarchus said to the Tyrant Tunde tunde Anaxarchum non tundis beat him and bruise him and kill him it may but he will keep up his Soul in the very ruines of his Body Deliberation to be used in all our wayes HE that is to climb up some high ladder must not think that setting his Foot upon the lowest rownd he can skip over all the rest and be at the top without evident danger to himself Such is the course of our life just like a Ladder of many rownds set up to some high place the first step is or of necessity should be the thought of God and goodnesse and the last step the full assurance of Heaven but there are in the middle many other steps as of means consideration deliberation c. how to love God above all things and our Neighbours as our selves and how to demean our selves in the midst of a crooked and froward generation which if we miss and step over no marvel if we never come to the top but perish in the mid-way to all Eternity Heavenly mindednesse of a Child of God IT is recorded of Edward the First that he had a great desire to go to the Holy-Land but being
Iohn even Christ himself will begin to preach What if a Sulpitius die at Rome a Tully is left behind What though a good King a good Minister a good Magistrate be removed he chears up himself that as good may succeed however he lies down with patience expecting the event If God take away his estate in this World manet altera caelo he looks for a better in Heaven If he be traduced by Men he shall be cleared by God If he lose his life here he shall find it hereafter Men upon hearing of the joyes of Heaven to be much taken therewith THe Gaules an ancient People of France after they had once tasted of the sweet wine of the grapes that grew in Italy inquired after the Country where such pleasant liquor was and understanding of it they made towards the place and never rested till they came thither where such pleasant things grew Thus when the Minister hath endeavoured to lay open the rich and pretious things of God and brought unto our Souls some of the clusters of Canaan and some of that Wine which is to be drunk in the Kingdom of Heaven let it be our parts to close in with him in the pursuit after such good things and not to let out Hearts rest till we come to taste the sweet and enjoy the benefit thereof Order to be in the Church of God AS there is an Order in God himself even in the blessed Trinity where though the Persons be co-eternal and co-equall and the Essence it self of the Deity indivisible yet there is the first second and third Person And as in God so in the whole Creation Angels have their Orders Thrones and Dominions Principalities and Powers and an Arch-angel that at the last shall blow the Trumpet So it is amongst the Saints the Souls of Just men perfected all of them have enough none of them want yet there 's a difference in the measure of their glory because every one hath his own Reward according to his labour Stars are not all of one Magnitude one differs from another in glory As for things below some have onely a being some being and life others being life and sense and others besides all these have Reason and Understanding All Arts and Sciences before they can be learned must be reduced into Order and Method A Camp well disciplined is a perfect pattern of good Order Nay there is a kind of Order even in Hell it self a place of disorder and confusion And shall then God and Belial Angels and Men Saints and Devils Heaven and Earth be all in Order and the Church out It cannot be The Church is to be as an army with banners to consist of Governors and governed some to teach and some to hear Ordine quisque suo all in decency and in Order How the Humane nature may in some sort be said to excell the Angelical A Chain that is made up of coorse gold may in some sense be said to outvalue that which is made up of â—iner not in respect of the Nature and perfection of the gold but because there is a very rich Iewell fixed unto it So the Angelical nature may in respect of its pure and undefiled quality be said to excell that which is humane yet the humane in another way excells it because there is that sparkling Diamond of the Divine Nature fastned unto it Verbum caro factum The Word made Flesh the Son of God made like unto the Son of Man in all things Sin onely excepted passing by the Angels taking the seed of Abraham Heb. 2. 16. Mention of the joyes of Heaven to be a winning subject upon the Souls of Men. IT is reported of Adrianus an Officer unto Maximinianus the Tyrant that seeing the constancy of Martyrs in suffering such grievous things for the cause of Christ was very earnest to know what was that which caused them so willingly to undergo such exquisite torments One of them there being at that time two and twenty under the Tormentors hands made answer in that text of St. â—aul Eye hath not seen ear hath not heâ—rd neither hath it entred into the heart of Man to conceive what is laid up for them that love God Upon the hearing whereof Adrianus was converted to the Christian faith and sâ—aled the profession thereof with his bloud Thus ought the very mention of the joyes of Heaven to be as a winning argument to work upon the Souls of Men not to â—it down contented with the greatest things in the World if they once appear in competition with the things of Heaven Shall Mens hearts stirre when they hear of Gods wrath and dreadfulnesse of his displeasure against Sin And shall not their hearts burn within them for joy when they hear of the goodnesse of God and of the Riches of the grace of God and of the wonderfull thoughts that he hath for the everlasting good of Mankind Reverence to be used in the Worship of God WHen Moses had received the Law from the mouth of the Law-giver himself and had published the same and finished the Tabernacle of the Ark and Sanctuary he musters up all the Tribes and Families of Israel from twenty years of age upwards The number of the whole Army was six hundred and three thousand five hundred and fifty Men of War besides Women and Children and strangers that followed out of Egypt these he divides into four grosse and mighty Battailions In the midst of them the Tabernacle as it were a portable Temple was carried being surrounded by the Levites and the Levites by the other Tribes so that not onely the Pagans and Heathens were forbidden accesse unto it but the sentence of death passed upon every Soul of the Israelites themselves that durst be so bold as to approach it such who were not Levites to whom the charge was wholly committed So sacred was it and with such reverence guarded and regarded that two and twenty thousand Priests were dedicated to the service and attendance thereof which was performed with such dutifull observance in the preserving and laying up of the holy vessels the solemn removing together with the prudent and provident defence of the same that it might well procure all due reverence to the holy things of God and encrease zeal and devotion in such as drew near unto him This was their devotion to the Ark of God then and afterwards to the Temple and ought to be continued amongst all good Christians to the house of God the house of Prayer now in times of greater light But which is to be lamented whereas most of our Châ—rches have two doors Superstition crept in long since at the one and Prophanesse hath of later dayes shouldered in at the other so that had there been more fear and Reverence in the hearts of Men towards the worship of God and the parts
besiege the Segdians a People who dwelt upon a Rock or such as had the munition of Rocks for their defence they jeered him and asked him Whether his Souldiers had wings or not Unlesse your Souldiers can fly in the ayr we fear you not Such is the safety of Gods people he can set them upon a Rock so high that no ladders can be found long enough to scale their habitations nor any Artillery or Engine strong enough to batter them down so that unlesse their Adversaries have and those more then Eagles wings to soar higher then God himself they cannot do them the least annoyance Their place of defence is the munition of the Rocks safe enough from all dangers whatsoever Not to Consent unto Sin WHen Lucretia that gallant Roman Lady was ravished by Tarquin Augustus makes this observation Duo fuerunt et unus adulterium admisit there were two persons and but one Adulterer a conjunction of bodies but a distraction of minds This is the direct condition of every Regenerate Man Sin is rather done on him then of him there will be sensus but his care is that there shall not be consensus not the least Consent unto sin Though lust yield and Sin must be bred yet he is sure to lock up the Midwife of Consent that it may prove an abortive brood be stifled in the womb and still-born And thus ought all of us to do If Sinners entice us not to consent unto them All of us have lust about us a very body of death Sathan the Father is ready Lust the Mother is willing keep away Consent the Midwife that though Sin be done upon us we may have this inward comfort that we consented not Children to submit to their Parents Correction IT is said of Aelian that after he had been long absent from his Father and being asked What he had learned answered He should know that ere long and in the mean time his Father correcting him he took it in good part and said Sir you see I have learned somewhat For I have learned to bear with your anger and patiently to endure what you please to inflict upon me Thus it is that Children should shew their obedience in quietly bearing their Parents Corrections The Rod of Correction being Monile ingenuorum such a Jewel that it makes Gods Iewels of so many as willingly submit thereunto It is the unum necessarium a most necessary lesson to be learned necessary for Parents because they are bound to do it and for Children because they are by God commanded to suffer it The different effects of the Gospel preached AS the same light of the Sun offendeth weak eyes but comforteth those that are stronger sighted And as the heat thereof hardens clay but softens wax Or as the same Starre is to some 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to others 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to some a Morning Star ushering in light and day and to others an Evening Star bringing darknesse and Night So the Gospel is preached indifferently to all manner of Persons 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to all People but it works in a different manner it hath not the like effect on all People Forasmuch as being received by the Faithfull it produceth in them life and salvation as containing all the causes thereof in its self but being rejected by unbelievers it becometh in them the occasion of a greater condemnation and makes their perdition inevitable to some it is a comfort to others a terrour the rise of one Man and the fall of another Luc. 2. 34. Content with Gods good pleasure a great blessing VVHen Aesop with the rest of his Fellow-slaves were put to carry burthens to a City One chose to carry this Merchandize another that every one had his choyce and Aesop chose to carry the Victualls Every one laught at this that he being the weakest had elected the heaviest burthen Away they went together and after some miles they went to breakfast his buâ—then was the lighter for that Then to dinner it was lighter still then to supper now it was easie the next day they had eaten up all his burthen and he went empty to the City whither they being laden could not reach Thus it is in the World the Covetous Man chooseth gold for his burthen the Proud fine cloaths the Ambitious Mountains of honour every Worldling his several luggage but a Child of God contents himself with Gods good pleasure and sets up his rest with that of S. Paul If he have food and rayment therewith to rest contented and so he goes the lighter to Heaven Children to be carefully educated by Parents IT was a saying of Alexander that he was as much beholden to Aristotle for his breeding as to Philip his Father for begetting him For the one said he gave me a being the other a well-being S. Paul was brought up at Gâ—â—naliel's feet Timothy was instructed in his youth And King Saul tells David that Goliah was a Man of Warr from his youth up All this to shew that Children should be carefully and Religiously educated by their Parents For they can never fight the Lords battels as they should that are not sworn Souldiers in their very swadling clouts What a guard lies that Man open at that wants manners and Religious education Every one espies and either jeers or pities his breeding every step he treads and word he speaks bewrayes him to a kind of Nothing in the habit of Some-body He is commonly used like a Whetstone for every one to sharpen their wit upon And if at any time he counterfeit and look big yet he may be easily discovered to be an Asse for all the Lyons skin that he stalks in God loveth a cheerfull giver IT is Pliny's observation that never any good came to a Man by offering a beast in Sacrifice renitentem et se trahentem ab aris such a one as violently drew back from the Altar and could not be brought to it but as it is said like a Bear to the stake with much force Thus it is in the matter of Charity and Liberality that which is extorted from a Man he properly giveth not Liberality implyeth liberty and Necessity and Liberty in this kind cannot well stand together God loveth a cheerfull Giver because he gives his heart first to him before he give his Alms to the poor and giving that with lightsome countenance he more refresheth the Receiver giving him hope of future bounty Bis dat qui citò dat said the Heathen He that gives quickly gives twice first to the expectation then to the necessity of his wanting brother and with such a Giver God is well pleased An uncharitable Rich Man no Heavenly-minded Man VVHen Dionysius the Syracusian Tyrant saw what heaps of gold and silver his Son had hoarded up in his Closet he asked him What he meant to let it lie there and
Text Nay quoth the Servant it was began before I came in What was then his conclusion He answered I came out before it was done But what said the Preacher in the midst Indeed I was asleep in the midst Thus many there are that crowd to get into the Church but make no room for the Sermon to get into them commend the Preacher to other mens ears but commend it not to their own hearts audiunt sonum sed nullam vocem they hear a sound but for sound doctrine that 's the least part of their attention God himself to be only expected as a Reward of all good endeavours THe Doctors of Doway in their edition of Thomas of Aquines Summs have pictured him on the Title page kneeling before a Crucifix which they feign to speak unto him thus Bene scripsisti de me Thoma c. Thou hast written well of me Thomas Say what reward wilt thou have To which he seems to reply Nullam Domine nisi teipsum None Lord but thy self Now quod illi pictiè et fictè that which they forge and feign of Aquinas must be true of every one of us thus far We must expect and desire no other Reward for all our service of God both in life and in death but onely God himself for he is all in all Hope of future joy sweetneth present sorrow THe slaves that serve the Turks in their gallies if they could but think that at seven years end some Christian would come and redeem them they would be better affected and tugg at the Oar with more chearfulnesse and alacrity of spirit especially if they could be assured of their delivery If Iacob serve the churle Laban seven years longer if he think he shall have Rachel at the end of it it will be but as seven dayes and he goes on with comfort and is content that God shall use him to his hand as it pleaseth him Thus it is that the hope of better things sweetneth the present sadnesse of any outward condition There is no grief so heavy but if a Man tye Heaven at the end of it it will become light put but them together and the one will be swallowed up in the other If the times be bad hope for better the expectation whereof will be an excellent lenitive to allay the smart of present calamity The Law abused by Libertinism AS upon some great Solemn Feastival day the bells in all Steeples are rung but then the Clocks are tyed up there is great untun'd confusion and clangour but no Man knows how the time passeth away So at this time in the universal allowance of Liberty by the Gospel which indeed rejoyceth our hearts had we the grace of sober usage the clocks that should tell us how our time passeth Truth and Conscience which shew the bounded use and decent form of things are tyed up and cannot be heard Men give so general an acclamation to the Gospel and the salvation by it that they keep not the Law at all How to think of God in Prayer THere is mention made of a Gentile and a Christian and the Christian being upon his knees unto God in Prayer the Gentile using to have the Image of his false God before his eye asked him Who do you pray to The Christian replyed That he knew not How sayes the Gentile pray to you know not whom O sayes the Christian Ideo adoro quia ignoro I do therefore adore him because I am ignorant of him For could I but either apprehend or comprehend him he were not worthy of Prayer he should be my God no longer Thus when we make our addresses unto God in Prayer we must have a care that we do not frame any thing in our thoughts of his Essential property that were to set up some Idolatrous Image in our hearts but to think of him in his Attributes especially those of his Majesty goodnesse power mercy such as may raise our confidence to draw more nigh unto him And then being as it were in a divine rapture non-plus'd and overwhelmed with admiration of him is the only time of adoration and supplication unto him A Child of God triumphing over Death IT hath been an ancient Proverb when a Man had done some great matter he was said to have pluck'd a Lyon by the beard but when a Lyon is dead even to little Children it hath been an easie matter As boyes when they see a Bear a Lyon or a Woolf dead in the streets they will pull off their hair insult over them and deal with them as they please They will trample upon their bodies and do that unto them being dead which they durst not in the least measure venture upon whilest they were alive Such a thing is Death a furious beast a ramping Lyon a devouring Woolf the helluo generis humani eater up of Mankind yet Christ hath laid him at his length hath been the death of Death so that Gods Children triumph over him such as those refined ones in the oare of the Church those Martyrs of the Primitive times who cheerfully offered themselves to the Fire and to the sword and to all the violence of this hungry beast and have played upon him scorned and derided him by the Faith that they had in the life of Christ who hath subdued him to himself To be diligent Hearers of the Word of God and remember what we hear IT is said of our Country That we have fair houses but bad Chimneys because there is so little smoke of Hospitality And it may as truly be said That we have excellent ears but bad Memories quick conceptions bad retentions Not a Nation under Heaven hears so many good Sermons not a Nation under Heaven sooner forgets them Many Arts are taught amongst us of quick-reading of short-writing where by Brachygraphical characters they will take a Sermon verbatim But there is one Art it were heartily to be wished that some good body would teach it us It is the Art of Memory That as Sermons are taken word for word in our papers so they might be written sense for sense in our hearts Reconciliation to be made with all Men. SUppose a Creditor to whom a Man is engaged by bond or otherwise and upon Forfeiture should put the bond in suit the Law is open the Judge must do right the penalty is Imprisonment Were it not then an high part of Wisdome by way of arbitration or otherwise to come to some agreement before the matter come to tryall that so by withdrawing the Action the Party concerned may be drawn out of danger The like is every Mans case here in this World in the point of brotherly Reconcilement whether thou be wronged or have wronged seek peace and ensue it and that now in the acceptable time speedily without demurs For thou art way-lay'd by Death and knowest not how soon thou shalt be arrested If thou come
God are conditional made up with Provisoes As there is a reward promised so there is a Condition premised It must be our Obedience first and then comes in Gods recompence Our devotion goes before and his Retribution followes after To be careful of Vowes and Promises made in the time of Extremity THeodoricus Archbishop of Colen when the Eâ—perour Sigismund demanded of him the directest and most compendious way how to attain to true happinesse made answer in brief thus Perform when thou art well what thou promisedst when thou wast sick David did so he made Vows in Warr and paid them in Peace And thus should all good Men do not like the cunning Devill of whom the Epigrammatist thus writeth Aegrotat Daemon Monachus tunc esse Volebat Convalâ—it Daemon Monachus tunc esse nolebat Well Englished The Devill was sick the Devill a Monk would be The Devill was well the Devill a Monk was he Nor like unto many now adayes that if Gods hand do but lie somewhat heavy upon them O what Promises what engagements are there for amendment of life How like unto Marble against rain do they seem to sweat and melt but still retain their hardnesse let but the Rod be taken off their backs or health restored then as their bodies live their Vows die all is forgotten Nay many times it so falleth out that they are far worse then ever they were before The good Christian's absolute Victory over Death WHen the Romans had made Warre upon the Carthagenians and often overcaâ—â— them yet still within eight of ten years or lesse they made head again and stirred up new Warrs so thaâ— they were in successive combustion And it hath been the same in all the Nations of the World he that was erst an underling not long afâ—er becomes the Commander in chief and the same thing that the Lord hath now made the â—ayl may be the head in time to come As for Example Cerealis gets a great Conquest over the Cymbrians and the Tutons and shortly after Sylla had the like over him And Sylla no sooner shines out to the World but is eclipsed by Pompey And Pompey the glory of his time is by the conquering hand of Caesar outed both of life and honours And Caesar in the height of all his pompous state falls by the hands of bloody Conspirators in the Senate-house Thus in the course of this World As one Man is set up another is pull'd down the Conquerour is oft-times conquered himself but in the Victory that every good Man hath over Death it is so absolute that it is without any hope or comfort on Death's part and without any fear or suffering on their part For it is so taken away as if it had never been and that which had the greatest triumph the mightiest Trophies in the World unto which all Kings and Princes have bowed their heads and laid down their Scepters as so many morselsâ—o â—o â—eed on shall by the hand of Iesus Christ be turned into nothing shall have no Name or nation and be berâ—ft of all hope of recovery 1. Cor. 15. To be alwaies prepared for Death WHen Harold King of Denmark made Warr upon Harquinus and was ready to joyn battel a dart was seen flying into the ayr hovering this way and that way as though it sought upon whom to rest when all stood wondring to know what would become of this strange Prodigy every Man fearing himself at last the dart fell upon Harquinus his head and slew him Thus Death shoots his arrowes amongst us here he hits one that is Rich there another that is poor Now he shoots over at one that is elder then our selves Anon he shoots short at one that is younger Here he hits one on the right hand our equal another on the left inferior And none of us know how soon the Arrow may â—all upon our own heads our turn will come let it be our care then we be not surprised on a sodain Religion pretended Mischief intended CElsus the Philosopheâ— upon his defence of Paganism setteth an Inscription oâ— the Word of Truth Manicheus that blasphemous Heretick taking in hand to write to the Church his damnable Paradoxes doubteth not to begin thus Manicheus Apostolus Iesu Christi c. Manicheus the Apostle of Jesus Christ The 〈◊〉 Hâ—reticks were alwayes saying Nos rectaâ—fide iâ—cedimus We waâ—k in 〈◊〉 right Faith All of them seeking the cloak and coverture of Religion It is the old Proveâ—â— In nomine Domini incipit omne malum well Englished In my name have they prophesied lies Ier. 23. Thus it was with them and is it not the â—ame â—ay worse considering the abundance of means afforded to be better with us now and but some few years ago Parsons that Arch-traytor when he was hatching misâ—hief against his Prince and Native Country set forth as if he had been wholly made up of devotion that excellent piece of Christian Resolution And now For Sioâ—s sake I will not hold my tongue sayes one c. So sayes another and so a third Sion at the tip of the tongue but Babel at the bottom of the Heart Religion preteâ—ded Mischief intended like Sons of Simon rather then children of Sion writing Pâ—â—rmaca medicines where they should write venena poysons And by this means they do sugar the brims of their intoxicated cups that Men the more grâ—edily and without suspition may suck in their venomous doctrines that are administred unto thâ—m therein Why God suffers his Children to be in a wanting condition SEverus the Emperour was wont to say of his Souldiers That the poorest were the best For when they begun to grow rich then they began to grow naught Hence is that of the Poet Martem quisquis amat C. If you will bring up a boy or young Man to be a Souldier learn him first to endure poverty to â—â—e hard and fare hard and to encounter all the hardship that Necessity can present unto him and then hee 'l deal the better with his Enemies So in the School of Christ the Lord suffers his People to be in a wanting condition not because he doth not intend to supply them not because he cannot provide for them but the reason is to bring them up in the discipline of Warre to train them up as weaned Children lest they should be taken off with the things of this World and as it were drowned in the vanities of this life and so forget God and their own Soul's health which is most of all to be regarded All Men alike in Death LUcian hath a Fable the Moral is good Menippus meeting with Mercury in the Elizian-fields would needs know of him which amongst all thâ— ghosts was Philip the great King of Macedon Mercury answers He is Philip that hath the hairlesseâ—scalp Menippus replyes Why they have all bald heads Merc. Then he with the flat
an Army of Miseries like the troop issuing from the womb of the Trojane horse invaded the World by opening the box of Pandora by tasting the apple of Eve that if the Mercy of God had not left us Hope solam solantem spem in the bottom such a Hope as should be able to buoy us up out of the depth of misery wherein we were involved our case had been most desperate let us therefore keep up our Hope in the very midst of all Perplexities whatsoever The losse of the Soul irrecoverable ST Chrysostome hath well observed with the Anatomists Omnia Deus dedit duplicia God hath in the frame of Mans body given him two eyes two ears two hands two feet and the like that the failing of the one might be supplyed by the help of the other Animam verò unam yet he hath given him saith he but one Soul so that if It be lost there is no supply to be had Nebuchadnezzar may lose his Kingdom and it may be restored Ioh his health and wealth and they may be recovered Chap. 2. 7. ch 42. Lazarus his life and he may be râ—vived But for the losse of the Soul Nullo modo sarciri nullo pretio redimi potest No means can repair it no price can redeem it all the World cannot recompence it being once lost it is lost irrevocably The Hypocrite and true Christian their difference in growth of Grace A Poysonful weed may grow as much as the Hysope or Rosemary the Poppy in the Field as the Corn the Crab as the Pear-main but the one hath a harsh sowr taste the other mellowes as it grows Thus an Hypocrite may grow in outward dimensions as much as a Child of God He may pray as much prosess as much but he grows onely in magnitude he brings forth sour grapes his duties are leavened with Pride the other ripens as he growes he grows in love humility Faith which do mellow and sweeten his duties and make them come off with a better relish Christ Jesus the good Mans chief portion WHen Alexander the Great passed into Asia he gave large donatives to his Captains and Men of merit insomuch that Parmenio asked him Sir What do you keep for your self He answered Hope And Iohn of Alexandria sirnamed the Almoner did use yearly to make even with his Revenues and when he had distributed all to the Poor he thanked God that he had now nothing left him but his Lord and Master Christ Iesus to whom he longed to fly with unlimed and untangled wings Thus we can want nothing if we want not Christ he is the good Mans chief portion Crosses calamities poverty may take from us all the goods of this World or our Charity may give them away The Worldlings ask us VVhat we have left for our selves We answer Onely Iesus Christ and in him we have all things The Soul not to be starved in the want of means IT was a poor equivocating trick of the Duke D' Alva at the Fuyck Sconce before Harlem when having promised the Souldiers their lives he caused them to perish with hunger and being challenged with his promise answered That he had given them assurance of their lives but never promised that they should have meat or drink And such is the Folly of him that talks of saving his Soul and yet denyes unto it the means of Salvation being negligent in hearing of the Word cold and carelesse in Prayer remisse in the actions of Mortification and dull in the entâ—rtainment of those Christian duties and Graces whereby the pretious Soul is not onely preserved and nourished but also adorned and beautified Sicknesse immediately inflicted by God HIppocrates gave this Counsel to all Physitians that resorted unto him that when they went upon any occasion to visit their Patients they should consider with themselves Whether there were not Divinum quiddam in morbis the stroak of God in the sicknesse because then as it should seem he held the cure to be desperate and that it was but in vain to administer any Physick Well! This was but one Doctors opinion And by the leave of so eminent a Man the disease was not Mortal For then no Sicknesse were curable because that in every disease there â—s the stroak of God Quicquid patimur venit ab alto There is no Siâ—knesse so lâ—â—tâ—e but God hath a Finger in it though it be but the a king of the little Finger And though there be in the body but onely one disease that is called sacer morbus yet is it most certain that there is sacrum quiddam in omni morbo the hand of God in every Sicknesse and yet every sicknesse is not unto Death as Christ himself tâ—stifieth Ioh. 11. 4. Good and bad Hearers of the Word their difference TWo walking together found a young Tree laden with fruit both did gather and satisfie themselves for the present One of them took all the remaining fruit and carried it away with him the other seeing him gone with the Fruit took up the Tree it self and planted it in his own ground where it prospered and bore plentifully every year The first had more fruit at the present but the other sped best For he had Fruit when the other had none Thus it is with Men at the hearing of Sermons some have large Memories and can gather many Observations which they keep awhile to rehearse not to practise Another hath a weaker capacity but he gets the Tree it self the root and substance of the Text plants it in his Heart feeds on the Fruits with comfort and his Soul is thereby nourished unto life eternal The Soul's Safety and Danger THe Fowl that flyes low is quickly taken but that which soars aloft nec laqueis capitur nec visco fallitur is neither entrapped in the snare nor entangled in the lime-bush So the Soul whilest it is hovering about these Earthly vanities and stooping down to catch at Wordly preferments is easily and quickly ensnared by Sathan but when it soars and mounts aloft in divine Meditations is seldome taken in the snares of Temptation Wicked Men reserved for Exemplary punishment THere is a story of a bloody Murtherer that after the fact went to sleep under a rotten wall all night but had a Vision presented unto him to bid him awake and begone for fear of further danger which he did and presently the Wall fell The Murtherer thereupon thought that his fact was acceptable with God The next night following he had another Vision and heard a Voyce saying O Wretch thinkest thou that I care for Wicked Men No I would not have thee die sleeping but have reserved thee for a halter whereby thou shalt end thy dayes with puâ—lique shame and disgrace and so it happened accordingly Thus many notorious Malefactors who draw Iniquity with cords of vanity and sin as it were with a Cart-rope contriving
mischief on their beds and committing all uncleannesse even with greedinâ—sse ofâ—en escape great dangers in their drunkennesse and other outrages yet in the â—nd some Fearful and Exemplary Iudgment overtakes them Youth to be seasoned with Grace not giving the least way to the Devill THere was an Abbot of this Land which desired a piece of ground that lay conveniently for him The owner refused to sell it yet with much perswasion was contented to let it The Abbot hired it for his Rent and covenanted onely to farm it for one Crop He had his bargain and sowed it with Acorns a Crop that lasted three hundred years Thus Sathan begs but for the first crop let him sow thy youth with Acorns they will grow up with thy years to sturdy Oaks so bigg bulked and deep-rooted that they shall last all thy life Sin hath a shrewd title when it can plead prescription And Sathan thinks his Evidence as good as eleven points at Law when he hath once got possession let him be sure of thy Youth he will be confident of thy Age Poma dat Autumnus he well knowes that the blossoms in the Spring are the Fruit in Autumn and that in thy Youth thou art not Cloath but Wooll so that the deepest Purple sins are those which are died in the Wooll Let thy Soul therefore like Gedeon's fleece drink up betimes the dew of Grace Judg. 6. 37. For younger years well led are as the sweetnesse of a Rose whose smell remains in the dry leaves Take then the first opportunity of Gods gracious motions and monitions or if thou have omitted the first embrace the second or if many have passed by unanswered of thee embrace the present Invitation and even now with Faith and Repentance turn unto God thy Maker A good Conscience the best Friend WOrldly Friends are uncertain they go and come and stand afar off when they should be most near they love not in time of trouble they are loath to come to a sick Man's bed side or if so they cannot abide to hear his groans And by no means to see a dead Man at the most they can but follow one to the grave and there leave him But a good Conscience will make one's bed in sicknesse and cause him to lye the softer will stand by him when he groans and do him comfort will hearten him upon Death when it 's coming and say Thy Redeemer liveth will whisper to him when departing and say Thy Warfare is accomplished will lodge the body in grave as in a bed mann the Soul to Heaven and make it able to look God in the face without any terrour yea so fast a Friend is a good Conscience that when Riches Husband Wife Parents Friends Breath Life nay Patience Hope Faith have left us in some measure it will stick close unto us Christians to be carefull that they may find comfort in Death ORators though in every part of their speech they use great care and diligence yet in the close of all they set forth the best of their art and skill to stirre up the affections and passions of their Hearers that then they may leave at the last the deepest impression of those things which they would perswade Thus ought all of us to do our whole life being nothing else but a continued and perswasive Oration unto our God to be admitted into his Heavenly Kingdom but when we come to the last act and Epilogue of our age then it is that we must especially strive to shew forth all our art and skill that so our last words may be our best words our last thoughts our best thoughts our last deeds our best deeds whereby stirring up as it were all the affections of God and even the bowels of Compassion unto us we may then as the Sun though alwayes glorious yet especially at its setting be most resplendent when we draw near unto our Western home the house appointed for all living Purity and the Heart of Man seldome meet together IT is observed of the word Conscientia that it ever had ill luck in the Church and could never be found at once in full syllables Conscientia altogether may be called Devotion take away the first syllable it is Scientia Knowledg cut off the next it is Entia Means or Worldly maintenance First in the time of Prophanenesâ—e there was Sci and Entia Learning and Living Knowledg and Maintenance but Con was left out Devotion was wanting they were ungodly Men In the next Age there was Con and Entia Devotion and Exhibition a Rich and Religious yea a superstitious number but Sci Knowledg was wanting they were none of the learned'st Clerks In the third Age Con and Sci Learning and Devotion were both lost and onely Entia was left they had the Honors and Mannors the fat of this Land But now in this last Age it is come quite round We have and not long since in a better measure had Con and Sci a Learned and Religious Clergy onely Entia is taken from them their livelihood and subsistence is by sacrilegious hands exhausted The like Fortune hath a Pure Heart in the VVorld Purenesse goes one way and the Heart another way and these two have much ado to meet There is no lack of Hearts every Man hath one some have more then one And for Purenesse it abounds proud Dames will have pure houses pure cloaths pure meat c. Hypocrites will have pure eyes pure tongues pure habits garbs and gestures And the Prophane sort are all for brave Hearts they make a pish at Purenesse This is the Devils plot to keep purenesse and the Heart asunder Purity will do well in nothing without the Heart the Heart can be happy in nothing without purity It is great pity two such sweet Companions should be kept asunder The God of all purity bring them together Sin of the meanest Man in a Nation may be the destruction of it EVery particular individual Man is a part of the City and Kingdom wherein he was born be it never so ample as a lâ—ttâ—r is part of a word Some be like to Câ—pital or Text-letters as great Men some to smaller characters as Men of low degree some be like to Vowels as Men in Authority some to mutes and liquids as the Vulgar sort All Men go to the making of a City or Kingdome as all letters go to the making up of words And as in a Word if one letter be amisse though but a Mute it may indanger to marre the word though not so much as if a Vowell be defaced So in a City or Nation if any one Man be blotted with Sin let it be but a mean Man it may bring a destruction to that place yet not so soon as if a Man of higher place were blurred with iniquity The Secure carelesse Sinner IT is said of those that are taken with the Phrenetique disease that by
as maintain him though he were a Papist in the matter of his Religion yet this unthankfull Fellow went about to betray him to death but the Merchant having escaped his hands meerly out of love to his Soul used all means to be Friends with him again and invited him to his house All this would not do his heart was so embittered that he would shun the way of him and not so much as look at him It fell out so at length that he met him in such a narrow lane that he could not balk him but must needs talk with him The good Merchant takes him to him tells him he was glad he had met with him and wondred that he was grown so strange What said he do you think me your Enemy If I were Could I not crush you with a word speaking Alas I am not offended with you if you be not with me and for all your treachery against me will forgive and forget it These kind words were no sooner spoken but the Cobler melted into tears and falling down upon his knees confessed his villany and repenting of it told him This love of yours shall bind me to you for ever to serve you in all that I may or possibly can This Popish Cobler is the heart of every child of Adam this Royall Merchant is the great God of Heaven this narrow lane is the streight of Conscience beset with sins and curles this kind behaviour is the tender of Grace Let us not then be worse to our poor Souls then the Cobler was to his but break our hearts by Repentance and sorrow for our sins that ever we should offend so good a God so gratious and loving a Master and with Saul to David say Where shall a Man find such love as to spare his Enemy when he had him in his hand and to be content to cut off onely a lap of his garment to correct him here in this World with some temporary Iudgment when he might have cut his throat and cast him into Hell-torments for evermore God raysing up Instruments for the deliverance of his People MEmorable is that Vision of Zachary I lift up mine eyes said the Prophet and saw and behold four horns Chap. 1. vers 18. And the Lord shewed me four Carpenters vers 20. Now what were these four horns What but the Enemies of the Church vers 19. Horns so called for their power and said to be four in reference to the four parts of the World East West North and South from all which they came And what are the Carpenters Why Instruments raised up by God to break and batter those horns to oppose to overthrow that adverse power vers 21. and they are said to be four to import an equality of strength and power Thus when God hath a work to do be it to beat down Babylon or build up Ierusalem he can raise up Carpenters Instruments that shall be sufficient for the work though never so mean yet they shall effect great work Trumpets of Rams horns if they do but blow down go the walls of Jericho with a Vengeance Nay though Instruments fail yet the promise shall not fail though the Carpenters should not strike one stroke yet God hath waies to take off the horns of his enemies though his People should be destitute of all humane protection yet he will find out a way to deliver and secure them no Temptation no crosse no trouble shall so far seize upon them but he will find a way to esape that they may be able to bear it All endeavours to be sanctified by Prayer THere was a certain Husbandman that alway sowed good seed but never could have any good corn at last a Neighbour came unto him and reasoned What should be the cause he sowed so good seed and râ—aped so bad corn Why truly said he I give the Land her due good tillage good seed and all things that be fit Why then replyed the other It may be you do not steep your seed No truly said he nor ever did I hear that seed should be steeped Yes surely said the other and I will tell you how It must be steeped in Prayer When the Party heard this he thanked him for his good counsel put it home to his Conscience reformed his fault and had as good corn as any other Man whatsoever Thus it is that if ever we look to have a good improvement of our labours and to have a blessing upon what we undertake we must have recourse unto God by Prayer Otherwise we may trade and trasfick fight and warre and get nothing Nay let us get ever so much it is all in vain because we ask not aright Iam. 4. 2. Universal Obedience unto God injoyned AN Instrument if one onely string be out of tune although the rest be well set yet that one keeps such a jarring and harsh sound that the lesson plaid thereon will relish as unmusically in a skilful ear as if all the strings were out of tune And thus if a Man should abstain from swearing and drunkennesse yet if he were given to lust or if from those three and yet addicted to Covetousnesse it comes all to one reckoning Let every Man therefore look into his bosome sin observe diligently that one jarring string and never leave screwing and winding of it up till it be brought into right tune and if that cannot be effected break it pluck it out For God will have a compleat harmonious consent a resolution for Universal obedience otherwise no acceptance To be more careful for the Body then the Soul reproveable THe Iews have a Story of a Woman that took two Children to nurse the one a very mean deformed crooked blind and not likely to live long the other as goodly a child as may be beautifull well-favoured and likely to be long-liv'd Now this foolish Woman bestowing all her care and diligence pains and attendance upon the worst child never so much as minding the best must needs be ignorant and very foolish in so bad a choyce and of so great neglect Thus it is that the most of Men are herein to be reproved who having taken two Children to nurse their bodies and their Souls and well knowing that the Soul is infinitely far better then the body more beautiful and of longer continuance yet like the foolish Nurse they bestow all their care labour and pains for the worst they make provision for the Flesh pamper up the body which must ere long lye down in the dust and starve the Soul which doth and must live for ever The great danger of Repentance put off till old age HE cannot be otherwise looked on then as a very Unwise Man that having made a burthen of sticks and finding it too heavy for his shoulders should lay it aside and go and cut down more and adde unto it And him little better then a Mad-man that
recorded of one Sir William Champney in the Reign of King Henry the third that living in Tower street London he was the first Man that ever builded a Turret on the top of his house that he might the better overlook all his Nâ—ighbours but it so hapned that not long after he was struck blind so that he which would see more then others saw just nothing at all A sad judgment And thus it is just with God when Men of towring high thoughts must needs be prying into those Aâ—cana Dei the hidden secrâ—ts of God that they should be struck blind on the place and come tumbling down in the midst of their so curious enquiry At the Ascension of Christ it is said that he was taken upo in a Cloud being entred into his presence Chamber a curtain as it were was drawn to hinder his Disciples gazing and our further peeping yet for all that a Man may be pius pâ—lsator though not temerarius scrutator he may modestly knock at the â—ounsel door of Gods secâ—ets but if he enâ—er further he may assure himself â—o be more bold â—hen welcome Gods comfortable appearance to his People in the hour of Death MAster Dering a little before his death being raised up in his bed and seeing the Sunshine was desired to speak his mind said There is but one Sâ—n that giveth light to the whole World but oâ—e Righteousnesâ—e one Communion of Saints As concerning Deaâ—h I see such joy of spirit that if I should have pardon of life on the one side and sentence of Death on the other I had rather choose a thousand times to dye then to live And another one Mr. Iohn Holland lying at the point of Death said What brightnesse do I see and being told it was the Suâ—shine No saith he My Saviour shines Now farewell World welcomâ— Heaven the Day-star from oâ— high hath visited me Preach at my Funeral God dealeth comfortably and familiarly with Man I feel his Mercy I see his Majesty whether in the body or out of the body I cannot tell God he knoweth but I see things that are unutterable Thus it is that the People of God have the comfortable appearance of him self at the time of their dissolution the door of Heaven standing then as it were a charr they are ravished with the very glimpse of those things that are at Gods right hand Whether they look up to God wâ—om they have offended or downward upon Hell which they have deserved backward upon Sins committed forwards upon Iudgments to be feared the Spirit helpeth their Infirmities Christ intercedeth for them and God standeth by with the arms of his Mercy ready open to receive them A good Man denominated from the goodnesse of his Heart IT is one of Aristotles axiomes that the goodnesse or badnesse of any thing is denominated from its Principle Hence it is that we call that a gooâ— Tree that hath a good root that a good house that hath a good foundation that good Money that is made of good Mettal that good cloth that is made of good â—ool But a good Man is not so called because he hath good hands a good head good words a good voice and all the lineaments of his body similar and composeâ— as it were in a Geometrical symmetry but because he hath a good Heart good affections good principles of Grace whereby all the faculties both of Body and Soul are alwaies in a posture of readinesse to offer up themselves a living and acceptable Sacrifice unto God Almighty Faith and Repentance to be daily renewed and encreased AS the natural life of Man doth consist upon that which by the Physitians is called Humor radicalis and Calor naturalis Natural heat and radicall moysture for indeed all life is sustained by motion and motion is between contrarieties So in the life spiritual there must be of necessity two contrary qualities Repentance continually to put off our own Unrighteousnesse and Faith to put on Christ's the one to work upon the other so to preserve life by motion Not to sit down with those Anabaptistical and fanatick spirits that limit a certain time for sorrow and Repentance for the best of us all are but leaking Vessels and we must ply the Pump daily for fear of drowning as long as there is excesse of evill and defect of good within us Repentance must be renewed and Faith increased daily Death onely being the end and complement of our Repentance and Mortification even as our Râ—surrection shall be the period and ultimate of our Faith and Vivificatiâ—n To be much more carefull of the Soul than body IT was provided in the old Law that the weight of the Sanctuary should be double to the ordinary weight and that the shekell of the Sanctuary should be worth as much again as that of the Common-wealth which was valued at Fifteen pence And all this to hint out unto us that God must have double weight in matters that appertain unto him in the salvation of our Souls double care double diligence that is twice as much care of our Souls as of our bodies begging oftner for Spiritual then temporal things hence is it that there is in the Lords prayer but one Petition for Earthly things and two for Heavenly linked as it were together but one for daily bread and two for pardon of sins and Graces to fight against them The Crown of Perseverance S. Chrysostome makes mention of the Women of Corinth who had a custome to set up lights or tapers at the birth of every child with proper names and look what name the taper bare which lasted longest in the burning they transferd that name to the Child But the Lord doth put up a perpetual burning lamp to be as a Monument for all those that shall persevere in well-doing to the end It is not enough to begin in the spirit and end in the flesh It is not for him that runneth but for him that runneth so that runneth to the end that persevereth that the Crown is reserved It is he that shall eat of the hidden Manna he that shall have the white stone and in the stone a new name written which no Man knoweth saving he that receiveth it Rev. 2. 17. How to discover our thoughts in Preparation to Prayer IN the Levitical Law things that crept upon all four were forbidden yet if they had feet to leap withall they were judged to be clean Even so howsoever some of our thoughts are taken up about the things of this World our trades and businesse yet if we have leggs to leap up with that we can raise up our hearts to God and better things when we come to pray and prostrate our selves before him it is not to be condemned they may passe for clean well enough But if they alwayes creep on the ground if never raised higher then the Earth if no good
the Church of Rome attribute the glory of Conversion and enlightning and restoring of limbs would if they were living rather say These Men had no eyes of Grace at all no lineaments of Piety then that any light was given them any health restored out of their dead dusts or painted resemblances The great danger of the least Sin A Dram of poyson diffuseth it self to all parts till it strangle the vital spirits and turn out the Soul from the body How great a matter a little fire kindleth Iam. 3. 5. It is all one whether a man be killed with the prick of a little thorn or with the hewing of a broad sword so he be killed We have seen a whole arm impostumated with the prick of a little finger A little Postern opened may betray the greatest City Thus a little Sin infects a great deal of Righteousnesse If Sathan can but wound our heel as the Poets feign of Achilles he will make shift to kill us there even from the heel to send Death to the heart If the Serpent can but wriggle in his tayl by an ill thought he will soon get iâ— his head by a worse action hence is it that Christ calls hatred murther a wanton eye adultery because that besides the possibility of the Act they are the same in the intention of heart let no tang of corruption come to the least part iâ— thou desirest to preserve the whole The Heart of Man the very seed-plot of all Sinne. THat which we call Gun-powder is made of the salt and fatter Earâ—h in the ground are the materialls which when Art hath concocted chym'd prepared charged and discharged it overturns Towns and Towers Forts and Cities So the Heart of Man is the Seminary of all mischief the seeds of all Sins are naturally in us not so much as Treason Murther Perjury but are in us quoad potentiam yea quoad naturam et propensionem there is in our Nature a proclivity to them Nay the Heart is so apt ground to produce and mature these innata mala inbred seeds to Actualls that without the preventing grace of God unlesse the reason of a Man and Religion of a Christian keep them under from eruption there 's no avoiding of them The vanity of Man in seeking after great things condemned VVHen Pyrrhus King of Epirus was solicited by the Tarentines and other People of Italy to be the head of their League against the Romans whilest he sate musing on these affairs Cineas his great Favourite came in upon him and desiring to be acquainted with his thoughts to which he was never made a stranger Pyrrhus gives him notice of the Embassee of the Tarentines and asketh his advice yet his purpose was to joyn with them against the Romans and doubted not but to prevail The Orator demands If he should have the battel What would he do then He answered That then Sicilia and Sardinia would be at his command The other consented but still asked What then should be done He then replyes that Africa could not hold out but might be easily conquered But Cineas still pursued him with his old question What he would do then He again answered That when all these Countries were subdued Graecia would soon come in But being again demanded What he proposed to do then He apprehending the Orators intention and smiling replyed Then Cineas we will rest and be merry The Orator answered That he might do so presently witâ—out any trouble to himself or others if he would but sit down and be contented with his own This Heathen by the light of Nature and Reason easily saw and excellently taught the miserable Folly of wicked Men who projecting beyâ—nd the Moon seeking great tâ—iâ—gs and vexing themselves and thousands of others by their wicked engagements at length with much fishing catch a Frog and attain no more then what they might have long enjoyed with lesse labour and trouble to themselves and others All Sin must be hated and why so THere is mention made by a good old Christian of a certain Dog whose Master being slain by one of his Enemies he lay by him all the night with great lamentation howling and barking In the morning many came to see the dead Corps amongst the rest he also came that slew his Master The Dog no sooner saw the Homicide but made at him and held him fast whereby the wickednesse of so close a Murther was discovered See here the Love the Faithfulnesse of a poor brutish Creature for a piece of bread that was so incensed against the Murtherer of his Master And shall poor sinfull Man make much of those Enemies those Sins that kill'd his Lord and Master Christ Iesus cherish those Sins that apprehended him that bound him that scourged him that violently drew him to the Crosse and there murthered him It was neither Pilate nor the Ieâ—s nor the Souldiers that could have done him the least hurt had not our Sins like so many butcheâ—s and hangmen come in to their assistance Let therefore our Fury be whetted against all Sin let that be the Object of our hatred be sure to be the death of that that hath been the death of so good a Master and will if not prevented be the death of thy poor Soul to all Eternity The sad condition of borrowing upon Usury LOok but a silly Sheep how it makes for succour and shelter under a thorny bush in the midst of stormy and tempestuous weather but still as she goeth away she leaveth part of her Fleece behind and the oftner she goeth the barer and nakeder she is so that at last she is able to abide neither bush nor storm Such a bush of thorns is every griping Usurer to the poor borrower he will leave him at length no Fleece on his back no house over his head no money in his purse no bed to rest upon no Flesh on his bones no credit with the World Christians to walk worthy the Name of Christ. IT is said of Alexander the Great that spying in his Army a lusty proper fellow yet when he came to tryall he proved a very Coward he asked him What was his name He answered Alexander Nay then said Alexander either deny thy name or by some valorous exploit or other redeem thy credit I will not have a Coward of my name Thus it may be said of many Christians such as by outward profession are so accompted If ye be Christians Why are ye drunk Why are ye covetous Why are ye proud envious malicious uncharitable Aut occultetur nomen aut mutentur mores either wave your names or change your manners in life and conversation Afflictions Gods Love-tokens A Gentleman hath a Hawk which he prizeth highly he feeds her with his own hand is very carefull in the pluming of her feathers sets her upon his Fist and taketh great delight in the sight of her but for all this he puts
he is certainly called it matters not much for the time when nor the place where both of them being so uncertain The Ministers Calling full of labour and toil THe Vocation of an Husbandman admits of little or no Vacation from his daily labour the end of one work is but the beginning of another every season of the year bringeth its several travel with it And the harvest Labourers are of all other the sorest Labourers no labour more toilsome then theirs Such is the Calling of every Faithfull Minister Hath he broke up the fallow ground of his Peoples hearts then must he sow the pretious seed therein Hath he sowed seed then he must water what he hath set and sowed yea tares and weeds will grow and soon sprowt up sleep he never so little and therefore great need of daily weeding so that surely the sweat of the Ministery be it followed as it ought exceeds the sweat of other Callings and with the sorest labour doth the Minister eat his bread in the sweat of his brows his Calling is not easy but painfull and laborious as it is an honour so it is a burthen and such an one too as requireth the strength of Angels to bear it True brotherly Love scarce to be found HIstories make mention of one Ursinus a Christian Physitian who being to suffer Martyrdome for the Gospell of Christ began to waver and faint Which when Vitalis a holy Man saw he step't to him And though he knew it would cost him his life comforted and encouraged him saying Whaâ— have you been heretofore so industrious to preserve Mens bodies and will you now shrink at the saving of your own Soul Be couragious c. For which Faithfull Counsell he also was condemned to death and suffered accordingly But now so it is that brethren have forgot that they are brethren and almost every Man stands aloof when necessity requires his succour they flinch away as Demas and others did from Paul leaving him to answer for himself Few such Friends as Vitalis are to be found that will lay down their lives or hazard them to the relief of their distressed brother Men to be Compassionate one towards another And why so IT is observed of the Bees that aegrotante unà lamentantur omnes when one is sick they all mourn And of the Sheep that if one of them be faint the rest of the flock will stand between it and the Sun untill it be revived Thus it is that God hath hewen us all out of one Rock tempered all our bodies of one â—ay and spirited all our Souls of one breath We are all Sons of one Father members of one body and heirs of one Kingdome in respect of which near linking together there should be Compassion and sympathy betwixt us If one Member do but grieve all suffer with it When a thorn is got into the foot how is it that the back bows the eyes pry into the hurt and the hands are busied to pluck out the cause of the anguish And we being Members of one another should bear with and forbear one the other the not doing whereof will stick as a brand upon our Souls that we are of the number of them that have forsaken the fear of the Almighty Ioh 6. 14. Men to be at Peace one with another IT is reported of two Noble Lacedemonians that being at mortall hatred were met by Archidamus their King in the Temple of Minerva he requires them to put the matter to an indifferent Umpire They choose the King himself He makes them swear to abide his order which accordingly they do Now saith the King I order that you shall not go out of this Temple untill you be Friends And so they patted Friends For an Oath taken in that Temple was unlawfull to be broken Now it were heartily to be wished that we who are the Temple of God and such as usually meet in the Temple of God and there partake the holy things of God would keep the Unity of the Spirit in the bond of Peace not to be unpeaceable with the peaceable which argues a devillish mind not unpeaceable with the unpeaceable which argues a corrupt mind nor yet content our selves in that we are peaceable with the peaceable which argues but a civill mind but if it be possible and as much as in us lyeth to be peaceable with the unpeaceable which is that that argues onely a true Christian and Heroicall mind And so should we make it good that we are endowed with true Grace and are true Subjects of that Kingdome which is the Kingdome of Peace whose King is Peace Men to labour that they be Regenerated S. Augustine relateth of the Serpent that when she groweth old she draweth herâ—self through a narrow hole and by this means stripping off her old skin she reneweth her age Thus it is our Saviours directions to be as wise as Serpents Math. 20. 6. and if in any thing then sure it is in this that we should follow their Wisedome that forsaking the bâ—oad waies of vices we may passe through the narrow and strait way of Repentance and leaving off our old Coat of Sin we may be cloathed anew with the Rich garments of Righteousness and so become new Men in Christ Iesus The Ministers and Magistrates duty in the suppression of Vice IT was a good Christian resolution of S. Basill who writing to Amphilochius Bishop of Iconium hath these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The People through ambition are fallen into grievous Anarchy Whence it comes to passe that all the exhortations of the Rulers are in vain No man will submit but all would reign being puffed up with pride growing from ignorance Shall I then keep silence I may not Though some supplant others insult over me being down and the rest applaud them that do insult How can it be otherwise since Charity is decayed Hence some sit no lesse implacable and bitter examiners of things amisse then unjust and malevolent Iudges of things well-done so that we are become more bruit then the very beasts for they are quiet amongst themselves but we wage cruel war against each other Shall I then hold my peace Charity will not suffer me The Children in Babylon discharged their duty though they were but three Having God then for my Patron and Protector I le not be silent c. And thus it is that both Minister and Magistrate in their respective places are to beat down the vices of the time Where the reins of Government lye â—lack upon the People shoulders there they must needs be straitned Where wickednesse and Sin have put on a Whores forehead it is high time to unmask them Nay if Gods people and the house of Iacob will be doing that which is not right it is the Ministers duty to set up his throat and tell the one of
that one slender word all the greatness of the rest is included the King being the Fountain of Honour from whence all their glory is derived Thus it is that if all the created goodnesse all the Priviledges of Gods children all the Kingdomes of the Earth and the glory of them were to be presented at one view they would all appear as nothing and emptiness in comparison of the excellency and fullness that is to be found in Christ Iesus The Ministers joy in the conversion of Souls IF it cannot but delight the Husbandman when he seeth his plants grow his fruits ripen his Trees flourish If it must needs rejoice the Shepheard to behold his sheep sound fat and fertile If it glad the heart of a Schoolmaster or Tutor to observe his Schollers thrive in Learning and encrease in knowledg It must needs be matter of abundant joy to any Minister of the Gospell when People are brought to Fellowship with God in Christ Iesus when they are as it were snatched out of the slavery of sin the jaws of Death and Hell and brought into the glorious liberty of the Sons of God then it is that he may be said to reap the fruits of his labours in the great comfort of his own Soul Gods pardoning other Repentan◠Sinners a great motive to perswade us that he will pardon us also IF one should come to a Physitian of whom he hath had a large report of his skill and should meet with hundreths by the way such as were at that time his Patients and all of them should tell him how he hath cured and healed them of their severall infirmities this must needs encourage him to go on with confidence of his skill that he will recover him also So should every Repentant Sinner run to Christ the great Physitian of his Soul because so many thousands have been healed so many great Sinners have been forgiven such as Manasses Mary Magdalen S. Paul c. This may be a great motive to perswade us all that upon Repentance he is and will be ready to forgive us also according to that of the Apostle He hath shewed Mercy unto me that others might believe in God Men to be carefull in the triall of their Faith Whether it be sound or not IF one be told that his Corn is blasted that all the Trees in his Orchard are dead that all his Money is counterfeit that the deeds and Evidences upon which his Lands and whole estate depend are false it must needs affect him much and make him look about him to see if these things be so or no. And shall not Men look then to the Faith they have upon which depends the eternall Welfare of their immortall Souls seeing God accepteth none except it be sound effectuall lively and accompanied with good works such a Faith as worketh by love purifieth the heart and shews it self in fruits worthy amendment of life 1 Thes. 1. 3. Men not to be ashamed of their Godly Profession though the Wicked speak evill of them SUppose a Geometrician should be drawing of lines and Figures and there should come in some silly ignorant fellow who seeing him should laugh at him Would the Artist think you leave off his employment because of his derision Surely no For he knows that he laughs at him out of his ignorance as not knowing his Art and the grounds thereof Thus let no Man be ashamed of his godly Profession because Wicked Men speak evill of it And why do they so but because they understand it not it is strange to them they see the actions of Godly Men but the rules and principles that they go by they know not and hence is it that they throw dirt in the face of Religious profession but a Wife man will soon wipe it off again God ordering all things for the good of his Church PUt the case all were turned upside down as it was in the confused Chaos wherein Heaven and Earth were mingled together and the waters overcoming all the rest yet as when the Spirit of the Lord did but move upon the Waters many beautifull Creatures wee produced and the Sea divided from the rest so that those waters which then seemed to spoil all serve now to water all without which 〈◊〉 cannot possibly subsist Even so were the Church in never so confused 〈◊〉 yet God will in his great Wisedome so order the things that seem to undo us that they shall make much for us and bring forth something of speciall use for the Churches good something to water and make fruitfull the house and People of God Sin the godly Mans hatred thereof IT is said of the Dove that she is afraid of every Feather that hath grown upon on Hauk and brings as much terrour upon her as if the Hauk were present such a native dread is as it seems implanted in her that it detests and abhors the very sight of any such feather So the Godly man that hath conceived a detestation against Sin cannot endure any thing that belongs to it or that comes from it No not the least motion or inclination though it bring along with it never so fair pretences never so specious shews shall have the least welcome or entertainment Vanity of the Creature without God TAke a beam of the Sun the way to preserve it is not to keep it by it self the being of it depends upon the Sun take the Sun away and it perisheth for ever but yet though it should come to be obscured and so cut off for a while yet because the Sun remains still therefore when the Sun shines forth again it will be renewed again Such a thing is the Creature compared with God If you would preserve the Creature in it self it is impossible for it to stand like a broken glasse without a bottom it must fall and break It is well known that the being of an accident is more in the subject then in it self insomuch that to take away the subject the very separation is a destruction to it So it is with the Creature which hath no bottom of it self so as the sepaeration of it from God is the destruction of it as on the contrary the keeping of it close unto God though in a case that seems to be the ruine of it is its happinesse and perfection How it is that God is to every one of his Children alone IT is observed That a Mathematicall point hath no parts it is one indivisible For let a thousand lines come to one point every one hath the whole and ye◠there is but one that answers all because it is indivisible and every one hath all So it is with God though there be many thousands that he loves dearly yet every one of them hath the Lord wholly For that which is infinite hath no parts and therefore he bestowes himself
of the inferiour Members be cut off yet the body may live and do indifferently well but if the Head be taken off if the King be set aside actum est de Republica that Kingdome that People cannot long stand Christ the proper object of the Soul THere is no Agent that takes any rest or contentment but in its proper Object If a man had all the Musicall raptures and melodious Harmony in the whole World before him he could not hear it with his eyes because it is the proper object of the Ear If never so triumphant shews or Courtly Masques he could not see them with his Ears because they are the proper Object of the Eye So it is with the Soul of Man if it were possible that all the treasures pleasures honours preferments and delights which the World doth affect were presented and tendered to the Soul yet would they not afford unto it any true satisfaction because they be not the proper Object and Center of the Soul it is the Lord onely or as a godly Martyr said once None but Christ can compasse the Soul about with true content and comfort Sathans aim at those that have most of God and Religion in them PIrats and such as are Robbers at Sea slightly passe by smaller Vessels that are but poorly fraighted whilst ships that are richly laden and furnished with Merchantable commodities become the object of their greedy thoughts at whom they make the strongest opposition and for the gaining of whom rather then fail they will hazard their lives to the utmost of danger imaginable Thus it is that Sathan that Arch-Pirate lets poor silly ignorant Souls alone such as by their own defaults are but as so many empty Vessels floating on the Sea of this World Oh but when he spies out a rich Soul laden with the fruits of the Spirit that hath much of god Christ and Heaven in it there it is that he bends all his Forces and against such a Soul it is that he raiseth all his strength that so if possible he may bring it under his more then miserable subjection Sin to be abhorred as the cause of Christs Death AFter Iulius Caesar was treacherously murthered in the Senate-house Antonius brought forth his coat all bloudy cut and mangled and laying it open to the view of the People said Look here is your Emperours coat and as the bloudy-minded Conspirators have dealt by it so have they also with Caesars body whereupon they were all in an uproar crying out to slay those Murtherers then they took the Tables and stools that were in the place and set them on fire and ran to the houses of the Conspirators and burnt them down to the ground But behold a greater then Caesar even the Lord Iesus himself all bloudy rent and torn for the Sins of the World How then when we look on Sin as the cause of his death and seriously consider that Sin hath slain the Lord of life should our hearts be provoked to be revenged on Sin How should we loath and abhor it as having done that mischief that all the Devills in Hell could never have done the like A lesser Sin given way unto makes way for the committing of greater IT is S. Augustines story of Manicheus that being tormented with flies was of opinion that the Devill made them and not God Why then said one that stood by If the Devill made flies then the Devill made Worms True said he the Devill did make worms But said the other If the Devill did make worms then he made birds beasts and Man He granted all And thus saith the good old Father by denying God in the fly he came to deny God in Man and consequently the whole Creation And thus it is that the yeilding to lesser Sins draws the Soul to the commission of far greater as in these licentious dayes of ours is too too apparent How many have fallen First to have low thoughts of the Scripture and Ordinances of God then to slight them afterwards to make as it were a Nose of Wax of them and in conclusion to cast them quite off lifting up themselves their Christ-dishonouring and Soul-damning opinions above them so that falling from evill to evill from folly to folly and as it is in all other cases of the like Nature from being naught to be very naught and from very naught to be stark naught till God in his most just Judgment sets them at nought for ever Men to prefer suffering before Sinning IT is reported of that eminent servant of God Marcus Arethusus who in the time of Constantine had been the cause of overthrowing an Idoll-Temple but Iulian coming to be the Emperour commanded the People of that place to build it up again all were ready so to do onely the good Bishop dissented whereupon they that were his own people to whom he had formerly preached and who as in all probability any one would have thought might have learn't better things fell upon him strip't off all his cloaths then abused his naked body and gave it up to children and School-boyes to be lanched with their penknives but when all this would not do they caused him to be set in the Sun having his naked body anointed all over with honey that so he might be bitten and stung to death by Flies and Wasps and all this cruelty they exercised upon him because he would not do any thing towards the re-building of that Idol Temple Nay they came so far that if he would give but an half-penny towards the charge they would release him but he refused all though the advancing of an half-penny might have been the saving of his life and in doing thus he did but live up to that principle that most Câ—ristians talk of and few come up unto And thus it is that all of us must chuse rather to suffer the worst of torments that Men and Devills can inflict then to commit the least Sin whereby God should be dishonoured our Consciences wounded Religion reproached and our Souls endangered Discretion a main part of true Wisedome A Father that had three Sons was desirous to try their discretions which he did by giving to each of them an Apple that had some part of it rotten The first eats up his Apple rotten and all The second throws all his away because some part of it was rotten But the third picks out the rotten and eats that which was good so that he appeared the wisest Thus some in these daies for want of Discretion swallow down all that is presented rotten and sound together Others throw away all Truth because every thing delivered unto them in not Truth but surely they are the wisest and most discreet that know now to try the Spirits whether they be of God or not how to chuse the good and refuse the evill The difference betwixt true and feyned
fair impression once so visibly seen may not at present appear yet all this marrs not the evidence nor ought to weaken the assurance of Heaven for there it shall go currant and hold out in the matter of right as a greater fairer and fuller because it was once as good as any and once loved ever loved to the end Christ a sure pay-master IT is reported of a certain godly Man that living near to a Philosopher did often perswade him to become a Christian Oh but said the Philosopher If I turn Christian I must or may lose all for Christ To whom and to which the good Man replyed If you lose any thing for Christ he will be sure to repay it an hundred fold I but said the Philosopher Will you be bound for Christ that if he do not pay me you will Yes that I will said the other So the Philosopher became a Christian and the good Man entred into bond for performance of Covenants Some time after it so fell out that the Philosopher fell sick on his death-bed and holding the bond in his hand sent for the party engaged to whom he gave up the bond and said Christ hath paid all there 's nothing for you to pay take your bond and cancel it Thus it is that Christ is a sure willing able Pay-master whatsoever any Man ever did for him hath been fully recompensed and put the case so far that a Man should be a loser for Christ yet he shall be no loser by Christ he will make amends for all in the conclusion The Soulâ—s neglect condemned THere is a story of a Woman who when her house was on fire so minded the saving of her goods that she forgot her onely child and left it burning in the fire at last being minded of it she cryes out Oh my child Oh my poor child So it is that the most of Men here in this World scrabble for a little pelf and in the mean time let their Souls be consumed with cares and then at the time of their death cry out Oh my Soul Oh my poor Soul so mad are they so bewitched with the things of this life that while they pamper their bodies they starve their Souls great care is taken to neatiâ—ie the one when the other goes bare enough not having one rag of Righteousnesse to cover it so that many times under a silken and Sattin Suit there 's a very coorse Soul in a clean house a sluttish Soul under a beautifull face a deformed Soul but all such will one day find that he that winneth the world with the losse of his Soul hath but a hard bargain of it in the conclusion How our love to the Creature is to be regulated RIvers that come out of the Sea as they passe along do lightly touch the Earth but they stay not there but go on forward till at last they return again into that Sea from whence they first came Thus it is that our love must first come from God to the Creature yet being so come it must not rest and settle there however like a River it may in passage touch it no it must return back again into that infinite Sea even God himself whence it first came All Creatures therefore are to be loved in God and for God onely so that the love of the Creature must be so far from taking any thing from the love of God that rather it must confirm and encrease the same And then is the love of the Creature truly regulated when it is referred to the Creator when it may be said We love not so much the Creature as the Creator in the Creature How to demean our selves after we are sealed by the Spirit LOok but upon a poor Countryman how solicitous he is if it be but a bond of no great value to keep the Seal fair and whole But if it be of an higher nature as a Patent under the broad Seal or the like then to have his box his leaves and wooll and all care is used that it take not the least hurt And shall we then make slight reckoning of the Holy Ghost's seal vouchsasing it not that care do not so much for it as he for his bond of five Nobles the matter being of such high concernment Let us then being well and orderly sealed by the Spirit be careful to keep the signature from defacing or bruising not to suffer the evill Spirit to set his mark put his print with his image and superscription upon it then not to carry the seal so loosely as if we cared not what became of it And whereas we are signati to be close and fast not to suffer every trifling occasion to break us up not to have our Souls to lye so open as all manner of thoughts may passe and repasse through them without the least reluctation Rulers Magistrates c. to stand up for the cause of the Poor and needy IT is an Honourable memorial that Iames the fifth K. of Scots hath left behind him that he was called The poor Man's King And it is said of Radolphus Habspursius that seeing some of his Guard repulsing divers poor persons that made towards him for relief was very much displeased and charged them to suffer the Poorest to have accesse unto him saying That he was called to the Empire not to be shut up in a chest as reserved for some few but to be where all might have freedom of resort unto him And thus as great Persons are in Scripture expressed by the Sun which affordeth his influence so well to the lowest shrub as to the tallest Cedar shines as comfortably upon the meanest Cottage as the stateliest Pallace that amongst other good things done by them they may be renowned to Posterity for being the Poor man's Advocate eyes to the blind feet to the lame alwayes ready to right and relieve those that have no other means to right and relieve themselves but by flying to them for shelter The Vanity of all Worldly greatnesse AS it is in a Lottery the Place with the great basin and ewer make a glistering shew and are exposed to the publique view of all and if a Man by chance light on a prize it is usually no great matter onely it is drummed out and trumpetted abroad to tell the World and this is the glory of it Even so if some of those many that venture hard for Honours and struggle for greatnesse do speed it is no such great matter onely the businesse is trumpetted out told abroad and the World hath some apprehension of it but the wisest of Mortals found this also amongst other things to be vanity a supposed excellence which hath no true being accompanied with cares and cumber the object as well of Envy as esteem the happinesse of all such greatnesse consisting in this that it is thought happy rather then that it is so indeed The
the matter of Society laid open 337. The sincere upright man described 604. The scarciâ—y of such 612. How to deal with sin being once committed 603. Wherein the poysonfull nature of Sin consisteth 608. Sins lethargy 629. Sin to be removed as the cause of all sorrow 636. Sinne the godly Man's hatred thereof 642. The woful gradation of Sin 659. The best of Men not free from sin in this life 470. 548. Sin of the meanest Man in a Nation may be the destruction of it 509. The extream folly of Sin 510. Sin may be excused here in this World but not hereafter 514. Insensibility of Sin the sadnesse thereof 521. Sin in its original easie to be found 582. How sins may be said to ouâ—-live the Sinner 585. Sin the strange nature thereof 596. All Sinne mâ—st be hated and why so 598. God not the author of Sin 599. How it is that the singling out of one beloved Sin makes way to a full sight of all sin 351. Sin committed with deliberation premeditation c. greatly provoketh the Holy Spirit of God 353. To take heed of smaller sins as bringing on greater 354. 649. Men covering their Sins with specious pretences reproved 361. To beware of masked specious sins 368. Beloved Sins hardly parted withall 376. When it is that a Man is said throughly to forsake his Sin 391. Men deluded by Satan in not taking the right notion of Sin 395. Every Man to confesse that his own Sin is the cause though not always the occasion of punishment 421. New inventions of Sin condemned 453. The great danger of living in any one known sin 456. Sin unrepented of heavy upon the Soul at the time of death 456. Consideration of our secret sins a motive to compassionate others 457. No Man able to free himself from Sin 240. The great danger of sleighting the least Sin 256. 597. Sin not consented unto excusable before God 271. Sins of infirmity how to be known from other sins 273. Great Sins attended by great Judgments 286. Sin of a destructive Nature 288. 531. 607. To be affected with the falling of others into Sin 296. The great danger of Sin unrepented of 298. How it is that every Man hath one darling sin or other 327. The distemper of Sin not easily cured 332. Godly and wicked Men their difference in the haâ—red of Sin 350. The more a Man is now troubled for Sin the lesse shall he be troubled hereafter and why so 350. The sad condition of adding Sinne to sinne 237. The least of Sinnes to be prevented 46. 593. Sin to be renounced as the cause of Christ's death 59. 649. Sin onely is the godly Mans terrour 132. Sins of Infirmity in the best of Gods Children 143. Sin overthrowes all 1â—7 The retaining of one Sin spoyleth a greaâ— deal of good in the Soul 149. One Sin never goes alone 172. Strange Sinnes strange punishments 183. Not to be in love with sin 199. One foul sin spoyleth a great deal of Grace 203. When sins are at the height they come to destruction 205. The great danger of little sinnes 218. 367. 659. The sense of sinne is from God onely 221. Sinne of a dangerous spreading nature 415. How it is that one Man may be said to be punished for another Maâ—â— sin 419. Sin to be looked on as the cause of all sorrow 464. The slavery of Sinne to be avoided 499. 625. Sin to be looked on as it is fierce and cruell 535. Sin and the Sinner very hardly parted 536. Some one sinfull quality or other predominant 548. The great danger and guilt of lying under the guilt of any one eminent sinne 600. The sinsulnesse of sin 601. As to beware of all sins so of beloved sins 602. The growth of Sin to be prevented 10. How Sin is made the prevention of Sinne 39. Sin trampleth on Christ 50. Little Sins if not prevented bring on greatâ—r to the ruine of the Soul 56. Sense of Sin is an entrance to the sâ—ate of Grace 56. Impossible for a Man to know all his sins 57. The difference of Sins as they are Men regenerate and unregenerate 60. The weight of Sin to be seriously peysed 77. Remembrance of sins past the onely way to prevent sins to come 83. Relapses into sin dangerous 89. Every impenitent Sinner is his own tormentor 50. A sinful Man is a senselesse Man 80. The Sinners estate miserable 89. A gracelesse Sinner will continue to be a sinner still 92. The wrath oâ— God best appeased when the Sinner appearâ—th with Christ in his arms 99. The Devils charge and the Sinners disâ—harge 131. The Sinner's Memeâ—to 204. Desperate madnesse 639. The Sinner's security 216. God's acceptance of Sinners through Christ 217. The incorrigible Sinner's stupidity 264. His desperate condition 590. The secure carelâ—sse Sinner 509. Sinners crucifying the Lord of life daily 537. The Devil 's hard dealing with the ensnared Sinner 594. How the wounded Sinner is to be cured 595. An ungrations Son not worthy to be his Fathers heir 40. The excellency of Sonday or Lords Day above other dayes 539. To be more strict in the holy observation of Sonday or Sabbath then heretofâ—re And why so 540. Sorrowes of this life not comparable to the joyes of another 162. The best improvement of Worldly sorrow 185. Sorrow that is true is for the most part silent 293. The excellency of godly sorrow for Sinne 362. For a Man to be sorry that he cannot be sorry for sin is a part of godly Sorrow for sin 519. The least proportion of godly sorrow for sin accepted by God 520. Sorrow for sinne must be in particulars 559. Must be proportionable 560. Other mens sins are the good mans sorrow 581. A meer Souldier an enemy to peace 107. The truly noble Souldier 336. The Soulâ—ier's Calling honourable 415. Whereiâ— the true valour of a Captain or Souldier in War consisteth 544. The devout Soul will admit of none but Christ 10. More care for the body then the Soul condemned 11. No quietnesse in the Soul till it come to Christ 19. If the Soul be safe all 's safe 42. The Souls comfortable Union with Christ 44. How the Soul lives in Christ onely 44. The Souls sleighting of Christ offering mercies condemned 37. The winning of a Soul unto God very acceptable unto God 153. The health of the Soul is the true health of the body 162. To be careful for the Souls good 182. To take especial care for the Souls safety 348. 458. Men living as though they had not Souls to save reproved 368. How it is that Soul and body come to be both punished together 377. 675. The captivated Soul restless till it be in Christ Jesus 415 420. The Souls comfortable enjoyment of Christ 419. The Soul of Man pretious in the sight of God 462. Excellency of the Soul of Man 502. A foul polluted Soul the object of Gods hatred 503. The high price of the Soul 503. The folly of Men in parting with their
Souls for trifles 504. The Soul not to be starved in the want of means 506. The Souls safety and danger 506. To be carefull in the keeping and presenting our Souls clean at the time of death 514. Neglect of the Soul reproved 528. 666. To be much more careful of the Soul then body 555. Men to set an high value on their Souls 566. Christ the proper object of the Soul 648. The welfare of the Soul to be preferred before any Worldly enjoyment whatsoever 668. How the Spirit is said to be quenched in our selves and in others 18. Every Man haunted with one evill spirit or other 208. The silent coming of Gods Spirit into the heart of Man 215. The blessed guidance of Gods holy Spirit to be implored 322. A reprobate and regenerate Man their different enjoyment of the motions of the holy Spirit 353. The motions of the Spirit in wicked Men tend onely to outward formality 354. How it is to be understood that the holy Spirit dwelleth in us 354. The comfortable art of spiritualizing the severall occurrences of the World and observing Gods providences therein 343. The supernatural workings of the Spirit 632. How to demean our selves after we are sealed by the Spirit 667. The danger of Stage-Playes 197. The lawfulnesse of Stage-Player questioned 274. The sins of swearing and blasphemy the commonnesse of them 122. Gods goodnesse to us to be a motive from vain swearing 451. To suâ—â—er any thing for the cause of Christ 633. Men to prefer suffering before sinning 650. T. A Man full of Talk full of Vanity 235. Dangerous to be seduced by false Teachers 64. More Teachers then Learners 428. Repentant tears purging the heart from pollutions of sin 295. The condition of Temporizers 25. The Temporiser described 93. Temperance cannot preserve a Mans life when God calls for it 171. To be temperate in meat and drink 429. An idle Man subject to the least Temptation 7. No Man free from Temptations 373 Sathan's subtilty in laying his Temptations 377. Temptations from within and without how to be dealt withall 672. Reall Thanksgiving to be made unto God for benefits 553. How to be truly thankfull unto God 448. Impossible but that a true Christian will be a thankfull Christian 21. Gods goodnesse satisfied with Mans thankfulâ—esse 37. The not returning thanks for Grace received is the ready way to be gracelesse 83. To be thankfull unto God at all times especially in the time of Prosperity 181. Gods goodness ought to procure Mans thankfulnesse 183. To be thankfull unto God in all Conditions 201. 225. 468. The true cause of Christian thankfulnesse 277. Good Christians are alwayes thankful unto God 279. To commit our selves to God in all things and to be thankfull to his holy Name 331. Men to be thankfull for the liâ—tle strength of Grace that God affordeth 371. Woâ—ldly thoughts and distractions in the time of Prayer condemned 2. How to discover our thoughts in preparation to Prayer 556. The very thoughts of former pleasures add to preâ—ent sorrows 86. The misgiving thoughts of a Worldly-minded man in reference to the enjoyments of Heaven 458. How the Devil is said to know our thoughts 461. Wicked thoughts to be carefully washed off from the heart 620. God's time the best time for deliverance 5. Time to be well uâ—ed 18. Shortnesse of Time will not admit of long discourse 40. Time well spent 120. Time ill-spent 128. No time to be mis-spent 587. Not to make use of the present Time dangerous 133. Gods time the best time 140. Time to be well husbanded 161. 270. Multitudes of Time-servers 200. Time present to be well husbanded 210. To take time while time serves 244. The least moment of time cannot be assured 250. Present occasion of time to be made use of 358. 369. Time mis-spent to be carefully redeemed 438. 664. How it is that a prudent Man may lawfully comply with the times 335. Government of the Tongue required 22. 372. An ill Tongue never speaks well of any one 55. Tongue prayer not the onely prayer 64. Study of the learned Tongues to be encouraged 99. A Tongue nimble to evill slow to goodnesse reproveable 103. Government of the Tongue commendable 146. The Tongue is the hearts interpreter 205. The original and excellency of the Hebrew tongue 403. The tongue for the most part a mischievous member 440. To be careful how we come under the reviling of an evil tongue 444. Men to be as well industrious in their trades and Callings as zealous in their devotions 539. Every Man to follow his own Trade 84. 33. Diligence in Trades and callings required 139. Trades and Occupations the Wisdome of our Forefathers in the invention and keeping them up 308. The poorest Man in his Trade or calling may do very good service unto God 423. Deceipt in Trade and commerce condemned 455. The danger of loose travell into forraign parts 156. The just reward of Treachery and false dealing 304. One God and three Persons in the Trinity faintly demonstrated 46. The blessed Trinity co-operating in the Righteous mans prayer 30. The myâ—â—ery of the blessed Trinity unconceiveable 286. Shadowed out in familiar resemblances 462. Many are the Troubles of the Righteous 67. Troubles not so much to be questioned how we came into them as how to get out of them 79. The Souls breathing after Christ in time of trouble 186. Faith in Christ the onely support in time of trouble 194. Easie to come into trouble hard to get out 204. Men not to run themselves into trouble 246. Troubles and vexations of spirit not to be allayed by wrong meanes and wayes 345. God onely to be sought unto for safety in time of trouble 360. Why God suffers his Children to be in want and trouble 493. Times of trouble and danger distinguishing true Profâ—ssors from false ones 562. To depend upon Gods All-sufficiency in time of trouble 676. The danger of trusting to Worldly greatnesse 6. To take heed whom we trust 82. To trust God who is the great Lord Proâ—â—ctor of â—is people 190. To trust in God onely 255. 623. God onely to be trusted unto in time of distresse 622. What it is to trust in God really and truly 643. Man not to be trusted unto 660. Every Man to speak Truth to his Neighbour 11. Truth seek no corners 140. Ministers to stand up for the Truth 147. Truth beloved in the general but not in particular 243. The telling of tâ—uth begets hatred 245. Men of all sorts of stand up for the Truth 246. God fetching testimonies of Truth out of the very mouthes of his Adversaries 498. Truth commended Falshood condemned 588. How it is that Truth doth not alwayes appear 674. Tyranny oppression murther c. are not long-lived 9. The sad condition of people under Tyrannical Government 310. Tyrants Infidels c. forced to acknowledg God 583. Tyrants raising themselves by a seeming compliance with the People 617. How it is that Tyrants are usually long-liv'd