hee may doe that which hee hath purposed Let there bee but some frothy Minister or some foolish man or woman that will commend fashionablenesse the fashion-monger will hugge him in his armes and say Hee spake marvellous wisely to the point and very judiciously though he had not one argument whatsoever is spoken to the contrary he will not believe it but the Scripture hath no such thing for where are those words of yellow starch bands and the like Well it is sufficient that he is fashionable to the world the issue is this hee is contented to give himselfe honour and ease and liberty but hee will not content the Lord Jesus Christ and therefore I say he never had this love of God nor this saving grace in his heart Rom. 2.8 But unto them that are contentious and doe not obey the truth but obey unrighteousnesse not those that are contentious with their neighbours but against Gods truth What of them why to them shall be indignation and wrath Such were they 1 Tim. 6.4 Hee is proud knowing nothing When a man should come and joyne side with the word of truth hee is puft up in his vaine minde and hath no sound worke of grace in his heart He that wrangles against truth never loved Christ I doe not say that hee which is ignorant in any truth of Christ but hee that thus wrangles with any truth of Christ that man cannot have any sound evidence of Gods love in this blessed worke of grace and this I prove thus 2. arguments First hee that will have this evidence of Gods love must entertaine the truth aright that is in the love of it not for his own private ends aimes not because it is profitable or honourable but because it is true and he that entertaines one truth in the love of it will entertaine every truth so far as it is revealed but this hypocrite doth not entertain the truth in the love of it and therefore hee cannot have any sound evidence of Gods love Secondly never any man had as yet this worke of true grace that is not yet come from under the power of sinne and Satan for no man is come from under the power of sinne or the dominion of Satan that will joyne side with sinne and Satan against the truth but this man doth joyne side with sinne and Satan against the truth of God and therfore was never come from under the power of sin and so consequently never had this worke of grace I compare this wrangling wretch to the Merchant that will trade with other Princes but not submit to them as King so this man will trade with the Gospel but not subject himselfe unto it and therfore he is but a hang by and a retainer and one that makes a booty of the Gospel Thus much of the wrangling hypocrite The second sort is the whining hypocrite who will continue daily to abuse the Gospel and to grieve the Lord Christ and he thinkes to make up his wrongs by laying open his sorrow that he hath done so and thus he thinkes to be friends with him againe As it is with some servant whom the Master will neither let goe nor yet use as a servant so it is with these whining hypocrites they have great need of the power of the Gospel and yet they are not willing to bee under the power of it however they keepe it in and fawningly flatter it and if they come and say they are sorry for this and that then all shall be well and they entreat the Lord not to take it ill at their hands they will mend it c. so that in truth they love not the power of the Gospel but onely to make gaine of it to themselves Simile As it is with some whining debtor that partly out of covetousnesse would not and partly through indigencie cannot pay hee will come and complaine of his hard peny-worth and desire some respite not that he may give content to the Creditor but to himselfe So it is with this whining hypocrite hee will ever bee complaining but never amending I speake not against sorrow and complaining as though they should be altogether quit of the body of death and of distempers and of their cursed lusts and corruptions for if a man love Jesus Christ as much as ever any mortall man did yet he shall never be quit of this body of death so long as hee is here but I speake against those that are still complaining and vexing themselves in the outward appearance who have teares at command because of some violent passion or for some discredit to the Gospel or some disgrace to themselves and yet stand just at the same stay Oh varlets that confesse their sin to Christ and yet forsake it not that they may love him that thus they may fawne upon Christ making their sorrowes a plea for their sin and think to cry and whine it out and yet returne to their old courses againe Thus it was with Ahab 1 King 21.15 who killed Naboth for the vineyard and in the 27 verse hearing Eliah denounce such heavie threatnings against him knowing himselfe to be guilty of that sin he fasted and prayed and rent his clothes yea prayed in print as the proverbe is but yet hee returnes to his old byas again for in the next chapter he hated Michaiah still This is but the bathing of a mans sins not the drowning of them he thinks to please Christ and to keepe Christ with him because hee cannot be without him and though he sinne against him yet he thinkes to make all whole with complaining This is too ordinary in the world The rebellious hearted sinner that is crosse and peevish and froward he will be a professor in a high strain and pretend great love to the Lord Jesus Christ and complaine of his froward heart but yet he falls into passion upon every occasion and hee to by his complaints thinkes to make all whole againe This is base false hypocriticall love and not the love of the Father that will enable a man to give content in those things that he may easily doe I can hire these men from their passion for money and scare them from it by the Magistrate And shall a reward hire thee or a Magistrate scare thee and shall the Lord Jesus have no power over thee to cause thee to doe it Goe thy way thy heart is naught if thy love were sound it would worke more than all this comes to that is not love at all that is not able to doe so much as this for Jesus Christ the like I may say of the untoward doggednesse of some husbands and masters it is their life to fret and talke like mad-men and thus the cunning chapman will cheat you to day and whine to morrow and hee thinkes this pleaseth the Lord Jesus very well Shee is not accounted a loving wife but an adulteresse that when shee hath played the harlot
will come and whine to her husband and yet goe to it againe no if shee had a true heart to her husband and sought for peace she would not have returned to her vile courses againe So it is with the soule it is adulterous and base love and not the love of the Spouse of Christ to confesse and bewaile sinne and yet to commit it That sorrow which loosens the heart from sinne and makes it come neerer to God and so to be rid of corruption that sorrow I say gives content to Christ but that sorrow which indeed doth incourage a man and rather give way to the commission of sinne than loosen the heart from it gives no content to the Lord Jesus but to thy selfe and stands not with the allegeance of him but of sin but yet if thou canst say so and sorrow so as to be loosened from thy sinne then thou contentest the Lord Jesus but if thou thinkest thou hast a warrant or a privie seale for thy sinful practices because thou hast sorrowed this argues little love to Jesus Christ Object But some will say May not a man make his moane and expresse his griefe for sinne Expression of sorrow for sin limited Answ I answer Yes it is fitting and necessary yet consider these two rules 1. First make it not an ordinary table-talke for that smells too grossely of false hypocrisie as if a man did say Now I hope every man will take notice how I mourne for sin but rather if thy heart be full and surcharged with griefe inquire what is the danger of such and such corruptions and the cause of them and how thou mayst get power against them but keepe thy sorrow in secret 2. Or else in the second place thou shouldst make thy sorrow knowne to some godly Minister or faithfull Christian out of the burden of thy sin and not for fashion sake thus doe that thy heart may be loosened from thy sinne and thou see thy need of a Saviour A third sort is a new upstart hypocrite that is newly come up many of them are in other parts and some neere unto our owne selves they are such as are full of carnall confidence and are proud of their beleeving but faith shuts out boasting They are as full of hypocrisie as an egge is full of meat or a toad full of poyson Such an hypocrite I will discover to you thus Hee is a man that hath long professed the truth and hath seene his sinne and been awakened to his owne sense and hath had a kinde of attendance to the Gospel and a kinde of brainish acquaintance with the promise in Jesus Christ so that now he is fully perswaded that Jesus Christ is his and he is Christs And yet after all this when he is come thus farre he lookes no more after himselfe but lookes all to the Lord Jesus Christ insomuch that the Lord Jesus becomes a drudge to him Now the guise of this man is this he casts away all sorrow and reasons thus For me to see my vilenesse and to be sensible of the body of death and to bleed inwardly and mourne daily for my wickednesse I thinke is needlesse these are past with him for he sayth I have mourned before this day and now I have gotten Jesus Christ thus he thinks he needs not be afflicted with his sins nor mourne for his many failings but the Lord Jesus who he thinkes is at his command must doe all and thus he surfets on his sinnes still This is the root of the doctrine of the Familists that cursed hellish unconceiveable basenesse that is in them I have heard of many of them that after long profession and much zeale and exactnesse in a Christian course have fallen unto this straine and come to just nothing A poore sinfull deluded Sot thou art thou poore creature dost thou entertaine the Lord Christ as a Commander when thou wilt not have him so much as to dispose of thee but as thy drudge that thou mayst take what mercy thou wilt and leave what thou wilt They will have Christ to pardon their sinne but not to make them mourne for it as if in truth they meant that hee should stand at their beck They rest upon their faith and will not have themselves and their faith to rest upon Christ for this is their conceit they apprehend they doe beleeve and there they rest and so in conclusion they never goe to Christ to have their hearts humbled and brought under as if a man should goe and graspe with his hand and take no hold of the rocke he neither findes strength to himselfe nor any hold to his hand so they rest upon their faith and neither they nor their faith upon their Saviour Thou sinfull deluded hypocrite the Lord Jesus will make thee come under and stoope and force thee and thy carnall confidence to lye in the dust and begge for mercie Can any man in reason judge this to be love which in deed is nothing but a marvellous cursed distemper They say the law hath nothing to doe with them and they live by the law of love and yet they have not any love to the Lord Jesus Must the Lord Jesus Christ pardon thy sinnes and thou remaine in them Must the Lord Jesus seale to thy soule the forgivenesse of thine iniquities and thou dally with it No the Love of the Lord Christ will compell thee to doe any thing to give contentment to the Lord Jesus Esa 57.15 Psal 51.17 An humble heart is the onely house where Christ dwells and the onely sacrifice that he accepts of and the onely guise of spirit that Jesus Christ lookes to and if thou love the Lord Jesus thou must be sure to provide this dainty dish for him Ob. But some will say What need have I of this sorrow seeing Christ Jesus must doe all Ans I answer What need then hast thou of faith for Christ must in that do all for thee Though I doe not say thou hast as much need of sorrow and brokennesse of heart as of faith Continuall sorrow as needfull as continuall beleeving yet there is a kinde of proportionable need of a continuall sorrow as well as of continuall beleeving and that upon these grounds First thy sorrow helpes on thy faith that it may be more strongly carried to Jesus Christ for the more weight and burden of thy sinnes thou feelest the more need thou wilt see of Christ As it is with a sharpe sauce though it breed not a stomacke Simile yet it stirres up a stomacke so this godly sorrow though it is not the worke of beleeving yet it stirres up the stomacke of faith to go goe to the Lord Jesus for faith is the going out of the soule to Christ and hee that findes the burden of his sinne will be the more ready to goe out to Christ Againe this makes a man the more fit to receive the assurance of Gods love this I say makes
THE SOULES IMPLANTATION INTO THE NATURALL OLIVE By T.H. Carefully corrected and much enlarged with a Table of the Contents prefixed JAMES 1.21 Receive with meeknesse the ingraffed Word which is able to save your soules LONDON Printed by R. Young and are to be sold by Fulke Clifton on New-Fish-street-hill 1640. THE CONTENTS TWo wayes God prepareth the heart for Christ Pag. 1 It is also prepared by contrition and humiliation 2 Doct. None but a broken heart is an house for Christ 3 Two lets of faith removed by brokennesse of heart 6 By faith the soule goeth out to another for all-sufficiencie 11 Use 1. Reproofe to them that would have comfort without brokennesse of heart 15. and them that dislike broken-heartednesse in others 18 Use 2 To get comfort begin in sorrow 22 Use 3 Comfort to the broken-hearted in two respects 25 Doct. The heart must first be prepared for Christ 31 Preparation for Christ standeth in three things 35 Use 1. Those reproved who thinke to have mercie and heaven upon a sudden 40 Use 2 A miserable estate to live in the old sinnes 47 Use 3 Prepare for Christ or thinke not to enjoy him 55 Motives to prepare for Christ 56 Doct. The Ministery a speciall meanes to prepare us for Christ 68 A powerfull ministery consisteth in three things 71 How a powerfull Ministery workes upon the heart to prepare it for Christ 79 Affliction prepares the heart for the Word the Word for God 88 Use 1. Much fault in Ministers that their peoples hearts are not fitted for Christ 84 Use 2 Fearfull is their estate whom a powerfull Ministerie workes not upon 88 Use 3 Let the Word be powerfull to prepare thy heart for Christ 90 Two things keep from Christ 95 What ingraffing into Christ is 99 Doct. Christ delayes not to come into an humbled heart 106 Use 1. Great comfort to each humbled soule 114 Use 2 They are of a naughtie spirit who endure not broken spirits 118 Use 3 Chuse the broken-hearted for companions 120 Use 4 Be thankefull for this great respect of Christ to thy poore soule 122 Use 5 They that would have Christ dwell in them must be willing to be humbled 125 Christ neare the soule yet not discerned for foure reasons in us 133. and for three reasons in Christ 147 Doct. Christ takes possession of every humbled soule 157 Three wayes he disposeth the heart to himselfe 168 Use 1. Reproofe of them that keepe Christ out of possession 171 Use 2 Give all to Christ whose it is 176 Doct. Love and joy by the Spirit wrought in a broken heart for embracing mercie as it deserves 180 The reason of Gods order in working these graces 187 Gods promise the ground of our love and how 195 His love to us begets love in us toward him and how 201 Use 1. Nature breeds no love to Christ 206 Saints love not duly because they rely not on the promise 211 Use 2 Comfort to them that love Christ 213. and blessednesse 216 Notes of true love to Christ 217 Use 3 Reproofe of them that love not Christ in truth 231. sorts of them 238 Enmitie against Christ shewed three wayes 240 Glozing neuters described and shamed 243 Hypocrites enemies to Christ foure sorts of them 246 247 c. Discoveries of not loving Christ 250 Hee thas wrangles against truth never loved Christ 2. arg 254 Expression of sorrow for sin limited 258 Continuall sorrow as needfull as continuall beleeving 261 Use 4 Love the Lord Jesus in sinceritie 272. meanes 273 Three hinderances of loving Christ ibid. 274 Three things in Christ to make us love him 282 Three things done by Christ for a sinner though as yet hee want assurance 286 Two meanes to bring our hearts and the promises together 291 Doct. In greatest wants true Christians have cause enough to rejoyce in God 300 Use 1. Reteine comfort in God whatsoever thou wantest 302 Use 2 Reproof to them that grow uncomfortable for crosses 304 Use 3 Make this sure God is the God of my salvation 305 Six meanes to rejoyce in evill times ibid. Doct. The sorrowful seed-time of true Christians in the exercises of humiliation and mortification yeelds them a rich and joyfull harvest 312. 313 Causes of true joy assured by mourning 314 Use 1. Sharpe Preachers make you gainers ibid. 315 Use 2 Enemies helpe the joy of Christians 315 Use 3 Esteeme none by present grievances 316 Use 4 Sow still though in teares ibid. Use 5 Be patient in suffering for God 317 Use 6 Comfort in death our owne or friends 318 Use 7 Be painfull in thy calling ibid. Use 8 Encouragement to repent of sinne and renew our repentance 319 THE BROKEN HEART ESAY 57.15 For thus saith the high and loftie One that inhabiteth eternity whose Name is holy I dwell in the high and holy place that is in heaven which is his throne and I will dwell with him that is of a contrite and humble spirit to revive the heart of the humble and the heart of the contrite ones THere are two maine parts of the preparative worke for Christ First the manner of the worke on Gods part and this discovers it selfe in these two particulars 1. In proposing Christ in the Ministerie of the Gospell as the most beautifull object which the soule can view or affect Psal 2.12 Cant. 5.9 with 6.1 2. That God doth by an holy kind of violence plucke the sinner from sinne to himselfe as in that place Iohn 6.44 No man can come to me except the Father which hath sent me draw him The second is on our part a frame and temper of the heart that God workes upon us by this holy kind of violent drawing This discovers it selfe in these two particulars 1 Contrition 2 Humiliation For the handling of these two wee have chosen this place of Scripture And I intend not to trade with every particular in the Verse but so much in it as fitteth my intendment in hand Expos That which I aime at is in the middle of the Verse I dwell with him that is of a broken heart Give me leave to open the words The great God of heaven that inhabiteth eternity in glory for the comfort of every poore broken-hearted sinner Gods two houses saith hee will dwell with him The Lord hath but two standing houses the one is in heaven in glorie the other is every broken heart and every shivered soule How he dwels in the heart Now how doth God dwell in the heart of a poore sinner The Apostle Ephes 3.17 tells us Christ dwells in our hearts by faith and it implies the constant abode of Christ by his Spirit in the soule being received and entertained by faith So that first there must bee a broken heart before there can bee faith or before Christ will dwell in our hearts to our comfort Consider what a kind of heart it must be wherein God will dwell It must bee an humble and a shivered spirit
hearts the Lord Christs baile will be taken for more debts then you owe nay the Father desires no better surety as hee himselfe saith Mat. 3.13 This is my beloved Sonne in whom I am well pleased hee doth not say with whom I am well pleased but in whom that is in him and all that come to God the father in his name Thus the Lord Iesus Christ doth and so a sinner is freed from that wrath of the Almighty Secondly the power of Satan is crushed so that he shall never more bee able to bee Lord and Ruler over the soule truely humbled but wheresoever the Lord Iesus Christ comes Satan gives way to the supreame authority of the Lord Christ and the Lord Iesus makes all to vanish and no more to appeare or have any thing to doe in the heart as hee himselfe saith in Rev. 1.18 I have the keys of Hel and of death You know that he that hath the keyes doth all he opens and shuts he lets in and puts out whom he will so the Lord Christ hath the supreame command over hell and death and he can unlocke hell gates and bring out from the gates of death any poore sinner that is wronged by Satan and therefore when the Lord Iesus Christ arose he led captivity captive as a valiant triumphant Conquerour leades a company of poore captives Now then Christ having conquered hell and death wheresoever he comes Sathan gives way and dares not meddle there any more Therefore Christ saith in Luke 10.11 I saw Sathan fall downe from heaven like lightning that is when the Scepter of Christ was set up in the Gospel then the Devill that cruell tyrant fel down on a sudden and was faine to give way and not to lay claime to the heart Thus sinne is shaken off and comes to bee casheered from that soule for whom Christ hath undertaken Sin as it were challengeth prescription to the soule but Christ having taken possession he satisfieth all quarrels and beares all the charges of whatsoever sinne makes against the soule and when sin saith I have had a possession of his soule from his very birth to this day and why should I goe out now then the Lord Iesus saith the issue is out and thus sin challengeth a right to the heart but Christ saith it is forgiven And therefore though sin be never so violent yet the Lord Iesus saith that soule is mine and was created by mee for my owne glory and howsoever sinne hath crept in yet now depart I am come to take possession of it Rom. 8.3 there the Apostle saith What the Law could not doe in that it was weake through the flesh God sending his owne Sonne in the likenesse of sinfull flesh and for sinne condemned sinne in the flesh The phrase that fits our purpose is this the Lord Christ condemned sinne The judgement of Mr Calvin is this To condemne sinne in the flesh is nothing else but thus as it is with a man that is in law when the cause goes against a man and hee is cast in that he laid claime to we use to say hee is condemned Sinne layeth a kind of claime to the soule of a poore sinner and claimeth a kind of right upon these grounds Every sonne of Adam is a child of disobedience and so the child of wrath But that man is a child of Adam and therefore the child of disobedience and consequently death and damnation is due to that man and hereupon hee is mine Now Christ answers all these pleas of sinne and makes sin fall off from the cause and saith It is true that those that are charged with the sinne of Adam and are under the power of that corruption which they receive from Adam they are the children of disobedience and so no wonder though they are subject to wrath He grants all this but yet saith hee They for whom the sinne of Adam hath bin satisfied and from whom the guilt of it removed and they for whom Christ hath conquered sinne they ought not to be condemned for they are delivered from this wrath but such is this humble soule for whom I have undertaken Is the sinne of Adam imputed I have satisfied for it doth the sinne of Adam prevaile against him by my death I have overcome sinne and hell and hee shall haue the benefit of my victorie Now sinne falls off from the claime and loseth the day If the first Adam hath sinned against God the second Adam hath suffered if the first Adam hath polluted the sonnes of men the Lord Iesus by the power of quickning hath subdued the power of corruption so that neither the guilt of sinne can be imputed nor the power of sinne prevaile against the poore sinner for whom Christ undertaketh So then it is plaine that the Lord Iesus undertakes for the soule and provides for it as in all the three particulars this is the first particular of the possession Reas 2 Secondly Christ doth dispose of the soule for his best advantage This is one specialty that a man will dispose all his occasions for his owne convenience for his owne behoofe so farre as may be for his owne benenefit and comfort So when the Lord Iesus Christ comes to take possession he will have the rule and command of the heart But when Satan that strong man armed keepes the house and sinne rules in the soule in a mans naturall condition and that the soule is at their managing and at their framing and teaching it either lyes barren and fallow or else brings forth nothing but thornes and thistles as in Ier. 4.3 Breake up the fallow grounds of your hearts and sow not among thornes for the soule naturally being ruled by sinne is overspread with thornes and is altogether corrupt and detestable and Satan and sinne rule in the heart and affections so that now the whole frame of the soule bringeth out fruits of darknesse to Satan And hence it is that the Apostle saith Rom. 6.20 When yee were the servants of sin yee were free from righteousnesse that is when yee were under the power of sinne yee did not worke for God yee did all to satisfie your owne lusts the drunkard is free from the power of sobriety and the thiefe is free from the power of justice and so the graces of Gods Spirit rule not in a man But now when the Lord hath by the power of his grace bound the strong man and cast him out by contrition and humiliation then hee takes the soule and it is in the hands of the Lord Iesus Christ and hee disposeth of it so as may bee for the comfort of the soule and for the furtherance of the glory of his rich grace In Matth. 20.15 when the servants began to quarrell because they had but every man a penny the Master said Is it not lawfull for me to do what I will with mine owne so when the Lord hath cast out corruption and saith This heart and this hand and this tongue
the soule more ready and fit to receive the evidence of Gods love to be exprest to the soule which thou canst not have so exprest to thee except thou have this godly sorrow 1 Joh. 1.9 If wee confesse our sinnes he is faithfull and just to forgive us our sinnes and to cleanse us from all unrighteousnesse he speaks there of them that now had faith yet shewes that before the Lord would seale to the man that hath faith the assurance of the pardon of his sinnes hee will make him humble and cry and sorrow for them and as to live comfortably so sorrowfully too as 1 King 8.38 2 Chron. 6.36 If the people returne to thee in the land of their captivitie and pray unto thee saying We have sinned we have done amisse and have dealt wickedly then heare thou in heaven c. When the Lord seeth their hearts humbled for their sinnes and sorrowfull for them then hee seales up the pardon of them So then the way to have this assurance is to have this frame of spirit here spoken of Thirdly this godly sorrow ought to bee continually in such as have this love of Christ that so our hearts may be carried with a more deadly hatred of sinne These are the benefits of godly sorrow and if a man sorrow not for sinne he will not sorrow for the wrong and dishonour done to God by other sinfull men as David Psal 119.136 Rivers of waters runne downe mine eyes because they keepe not thy law EZech. 9.4 The Lord sayd to the Angel Goe and set a marke upon the foreheads of all the men that sigh and that cry for all the abhominations that be done in the midst thereof Now how can a man mourn for the abhominations of others when he hath not the heart to mourne for it in his owne soule Ob. But some will say Must we never rejoyce in the Lord Ans I answer Yes I say sorrow daily for thy sinnes and yet daily rejoyce in thy Saviour and the more thy heart is broken for the one the more thou wilt be comforted by the other Thou that makest no matter of being sensible of the body of death that hangs upon thee and hast no care to bee sensible of thy owne failings take heed that the Lord give thee not up for ever to thy owne basenesse to be rushed headlong into some vile scandalous courses and so thou perish for ever as wee finde by experience many by this meanes have growne the most profane creatures that ever lived And this is the damnable heresie of the Familists The fourth sort is the vain-glorious hypocrite and hee is marvellous zealous for God and his truth in outward appearance That God may bee honoured and his Gospel advanced it is admirable what he will do he will hazzard himselfe his life his estate and all nay be content not to live if he may but leave a little vaine breath after him Wee know what vaine-glory doth amongst the Papists who that they may be canonized for Saints will endure any thing and suffer death it selfe this vain-glory is above life and all Simile As some great Courtiers will doe by a man that they meane to make a booty of they make him their onely favorite and expresse a great deale of kindnesse to him that hee may helpe them to more honour and glory So this wretch doth lift up the Gospel that the Gospel may advance him and fill his sailes full of winde therefore he will doe great matters for this end that hee may receive glory from it Even as the Stage-player that sets up a great stage that he may be above the people Another so it is with a vain-glorious wretch prayer is a good stage and fasting and hearing and preaching are very fine stages for him upon which he acts his part that others may see him that glory may come to him and not that the glory and grace of Christ may bee extolled hee would lift up himselfe to heaven and cast downe Christ to hell Such an one was Saul when Samuel gave him the left hand and would not go with him into the Citie 1 Sam. 15.30 He said I have sinned yet honour me I pray thee before the people and turne again with me that I may worship the Lord thy God Walke with me and then the people will say Oh what good friends they bee surely hee is a good man the Prophet goes with him It is a great honour to those that are wise because they are willing to joyne side with those that are holy and gracious so Saul will honour Samuel that Samuel may honour him and that he may stand upon his shoulders as it were that the people may say See how inward they are and what a good man hee is the Prophet goes on with him but the turne and the issue of the hypocrite is this it is meerly for himselfe which will appeare thus If once the winde begin to turne and the gale of honour grow somewhat cold and other men are a little lifted up so that he may not bee in the fore-front or if his profession will not carry him out with honour but his credit is laid in the dust and hee sees hee cannot get honour his heart dies in him and he saith It is as good to leave off all and if he cannot get glory from the Gospel either hee will grow desperately wicked and oppose the Gospell and joyne side with the wicked and helpe them or else he will flagge and die in a base carnall course and come to nothing and that 's the best of him This hath been the bane of many men who when they have missed of the glory that they lookt for from the Gospel they have become persecuters These men deal with Christ as the Inne-keeper doth with his guests If a man will pay the Ordinarie Simile he is welcome but if once his money faile hee turnes him out of doores so if Christ will pay his Ordinary and if hee may have credit and honour so as men may say he hath good parts and that he fasts more than the world knowes I say if the Gospel will give him this Ordinary it is welcome and he is carried on cheerfully but if Christ and the Gospel will not give him that which hee would have hee turnes his backe upon it The Lord Jesus convince your hearts of it I take this to be the state of a great many but a gracious heart is of another straine or temper Happely God hath given a man parts and gifts and credit and yet if the Lord withdraw himselfe a good soule saith as John did Joh. 3.40 Hee must encrease I must decrease so a good heart saith If another man deserve and have more than I yet let this proud heart licke the dust and never lift up it selfe if the Lord Jesus may encrease and have his honour and glory let me be trodden in the dust this is a heart worth gold