favour with God so that he can truly apply Christ and all his benefits and promises unto his own soul trusting in him and casting himself only upon him for pardon and salvation 4. He hath a sweet and sanctified peace in his conscience arising from the assured forgivenâ—sse of his sins a sound and strong joy in the Lord and in his Word through beleeving not seldom the holy Ghost inwardly setting to Gods privy seal by sudden refreshings falling like the dew upon his heart and establishing his soul before the Lord especially after holy duties yea his hope as being built upon Gods word and promises fills him with such joy unspeakable that is makes him rejoyce even in tribulation 5. He sometimes loseth the efficacie feeling and comfort of faith but the seed and habit of faith alwaies remaineth He is often and grievously assaulted with fears and doubtings but in the issue he alwaies gets the conquest and is the more asâ—ured for having been so much assaulted and does so much the more strive to make his calling and election sure and to be assured of future happinessâ— after this his earthly pilgrimage 6. Or if he have but a weak faith yet it is sound against which the very gates of hell shall never prevail for he never utterly falls away from the grace of God but perseveres in the truth and in well doing to the end and therein finds also a blessed thriving and gracious progresse in true holinesse 7. He is perfectly justified by the bloud of Christ freed from the rigour of the Law and in some good measure from the spirit of bondage is often in combate between the flesh and the spirit but the spirit in the end ever gets the upper hand CHAP. VI 1. ANd as he beleeves in his heart so he is not ashamed of the crosse of Christ but will professe the truth boldly in all estates and in times of suffering and publish what Christ hath done for his soul to Gods glory and the comfort of others yea if called to it he will God assisting him lay down his life for Christ and the Gospel and rejoyce also that he is counted worthy 2. Neither is he high-minded but more fears the want of grace then confides in what he hath for he works out his salvation with fear and trembling and trusts not in the least to his own strength but is ever jealous and suspitious lest his heart should deceive him but he resolves by Gods grace not to use any unlawfull means nor yeeld to any thing against the truth for the avoiding of what he fears be it burning at a stake as knowing and being fully perswaded that all things shall work together for the best unto him And indeed the fear of God which is his continuall guardian keeps him in some measure from the fear of death and terrour of the world for he fears not them that can only kill the body in any degree like him that after he hath killed can cast both body and soul into hell Nor does he grutch to losâ— a temporall life when in lieu thereof he shall obtain an eternall Crown of glory 3. He is wonderfully inflamed with the love and estimation of God and of Christ especially upon the retâ—rn of his prayers or the obtaining of some mercy the which he shews by his hating of evil and by his constant obedience and the delight he hath in keeping of God Commandements and by his willingnesse to be at cost or suffer for him Neither is he so in love with the world or any thing in it as that it shall diminish his love to God yea he so loves and longs for Christs appearing that he may be united to him and enjoy his presence that his daily prayer is Come Lord Jesus come quickly 4. Again He intirely loves and highly esteems Gods people not out of any carnall or selâ— ends but for their graces the truths sake and because they are born of God more loving and honoâ—ring the poor that wâ—lk uprightly then they that pervert their wayes though they be rich and loving them best that serve God most He is prone to justifie them and speak in their defence when he hears them reviled slandered or contemned by wicked and ungodly men though he incur their displeasure by it 5. He does not estrange himself from the people of God in their misery but is ready to minister unto them when they stand in need and use any means for their relief He will solicit great ones in their behalf and in Christs cause though he indanger himself thereby and can be as earnest a suitor at the throne of Grace for others that are in distresse as for himself even thirsting and studying how he may do them most good as participating and being touched with compassion and having a fellow-feeling both of the misery and felicity of others as one member hath of another especially of the Churches as a member hath of the whole body Neither can he rejoyce in his own peace and welfare while the Church and people of God are in distresse whose welfare he prefers before his own 6. He delights in the Saints company above all others as finding an heavenly sweetnesse in their conference and society where every ones words do savour of grace and wisedom and when in every company he shall either do good or receive good 7. And as he loves and delights in holy company so he loathes evil company neither will he have any fellowship with the workers of iniquity or be in league with the wicked as Swearers Drunkards Whoremongers Scoffers c. but avoid all needlesse society with them 8. He rejoyceth when the righteous are exalted and grieves when the wickâ—d bear rule He is no enemy to reformation but earnestly desires the same and furthers it all he can CHAP. VII 1. HE makâ—s conscience of sanctifying the Sabbath and sees that all under him do the same He will not give liberty to his servants â—pon the Lords day to do what they list 2. He reforms his family and sâ—ts up Gods Worship therein perâ—orming the duties of Prayer reading repeating c. and instructing his children and servants 3. He is zealous to admonish reclaim and reduce such as go astray and to save those among whom he lives out of duty and thankfulnesâ—e to God and his Redeemer and out of love to them 4. He is haâ—ed of the world for goodnesse and suffers some way for Christ at least he is evil spoken of for well doing and rejoyceth therein or in whatsoever he suffers well considering that all his sufferings in this life are not worthy that glory â—e shall enjoy in the next 5. His graces and goodnesse gains him more enemies and breeds him more danger then vice and wickednesse does another man but he is more pleased then displeased at it for he knows by the worlds hating of him that he is not of the world but that Christ hath chosen him out of
or the goods of an Heathen though it be beyond the Line without making satisfaction or reâ—urning a valuable consideration though the Laws of the Land will bear him out in it yea although he have Letters of Markq for his warrant unlesse there be some other cause If he make an oath or promise though to his and Gods enemy and to his great disadvantage he will faithfully perform it and not violate the same Before he useth the extremity either of Law or of Arms he offers conditions of peace and before he will fall to blowes he will try what reason will do soundly examine the cause and hear what the party can say for himself and after that he will rather suffer and yeeld some part of his right then do wrong contend or go to Law For he will not do all he may least evil men speak ill of him or insult as they are very prone to do by reason of their spight at religion Lastly he seldom but gets the victory yea it is rare if he be vanquisht either in going to Law or making war because he never undertakes war or suit without just cause and to a good intent Yea it is rare also if this be not the issue the lesse he covets the more he hath and the lesse he thirsts after these temporall things the more he coveâ—s spirituall things 5. Neither love nor hatred shall rob him of his judgement or make him partiall He will neither esteem father nor mother nor wife nor childe so as to disobey God in the least for their sakes He will not wrong his children by a former wife to give that which is due unto them unto the children of a second wife but he will make his first-born Heir and give him a double portion of all that he hath If his sonne be stubborn and disobedient a rioter and a drunkard he will not nourish him in it but inflict due punishment upon him according to his demerits He will not seek to save a murtherer from death least he make the whole Land guilty of bloud No be it his own sonne least in saving him from a temporall shame and punishment he should bring upon him an eternall â—nd in liew of saving his body he should destroy his soul Besides he will rather his own childe shall be destroyed then God dishonoured and his Law not executed It matters not to him what others would do nor what all the world sayes if they bring not a written word they prevail nothing he will go on in his uprightnesse and not shame to be singular as more fearing Gods anger then the worlds scorns Neither custom nor example of his fore-fathers will he follow without or against the written word No he will not follow Paul himself any farther then he followes Christ He remembers how vain ignorant and sinfull his former conversation which he received by the traditions of his fathers was and thinks it too much to continue still therein Nor will he take incouragement from the Saints falls to do the like but they shall serve him as Sea-marks to make him beware Indeed when things are of a doubtfull nature he will take the surest not the strongest side and which draws nearest to probability and where the Law written doth cease he will observe that which is allowed by the practice and custom of the godly and religious CHAP. IX 1. HE is neither Drunkard nor Glutton he neither tarries long at the Wine nor goes often to it as is the custom of too many indeed whether they are Christians or no I cannot easily be satisfied 2. He is no Health-drinker for he abhors drunkennesse as the root of all evil and rot of all good and scorns the reputation of good fellowship He is none of those that Peter speaks of who have eyes full of adultery and that cannot cease to sinne that gaze upon every fair face and lust after every beautifull woman He will not be caught nor yeeld to the imbraces of a Harlot though her lips drop like an hony-combe and her moâ—th be smoother then oyl though she offereth her self in the streets and lyeth in wait for him at every corner Yea he is wise enough to consider that it may not be a woman but the devil in the likenesse of a woman as some have thus been cheated 3. He denies ungodlinesse and worldly lusts and lives soberly and chastly in this present world keeping the members of his body holy for if he hath not the gift of continency he will marry his speech is not lewd or obscene nor useth he any lascivious behaviour nor does â—e take liberty to gaze upon bâ—â—utifull women 4. It is not his manner to curse be he never so much provoked neither will he take the Name of God in vain but reverently use his Titles in his Talk much lesse will he swear by his Name except upon urgent occasion and being lawfully called to it before a Magistrate least of all dares he swear by or invocate that which is no god â—amely by any creature or Idol which carnall men ignorantly call petty oathes No but as he will not swear so he fears an Oath 5. He will speak the truth from his heart and not willingly and premeditately either lye or equivocate much lesse will he allow himself in it or seek to defend it for such as will do so have not as yet past the second birth 6. In bearing witnesse he will speak the whole truth impartially without fearing or favouring either party that is as well what makes for the Defendant though an enemy as for the Plaintiff being his friend or Master neither will he conceal a wicked device when by revealing the same it may be prevented 7. He loves and fears and belâ—eves and serves the Lord and seeks his glory and the good of others in every thing at least he desires and endeavours so to do He will omit no oportunity of doing good nor do evil though he hath opportunity He remembers his Vow in Baptism and is carefull to â—erform what he then promised and so far as he comes short of his duty â—o far forth he will be humbled He tempteth not to evil but draweth all he can to goodnesse He will behave himself honestly and unblameably before those among whom he lives that he may not dishonour God nor offend either those that are within or those that are without He will never sufter base thoughts of God to finde harbour in his heart deal he never so harshly with him being more prone to complain of his sinne then of his punishment for he will turn his eyes inward and read his sinne in his punishment and instead of murmuring for the few things he wants be thankfull for the many things he enjoyes Whereas others that are unbeleevers will do something for God when it makes for their own ends he will suffer for him and hold out in his works where Satan dwells and keeps his throne And what they do for
the evil and not only delivers him but returns with the greater interest of joy and felicity Indeed the Lord lets him know what it is to lose his favour and makes him tugg hard by prayer and to persevere a long time in knâ—cking and asking but at length he will be sure to give him what he desires or that which is better for him for the prayer of faith from the knees of humility and a broken heart will conquer even the Conqueror Indeed the case may be such that he cannot pray or not to purpose as in time of sicknesse by reason of the extremity of pain but then he can send to the Congregations intreat them to pray for him Besides all his former prayers and meditations do serve to ayd him in his last straits and meet together in the center of his extremity yeelding though not sensible relies yet secret benefit to his soul Yea which is best of all he hath the benefit of Christs intercession in Heaven and of the prayers of all the Saints on earth 2. Tenthly The malice of Satan shall make much for his good for if Satan be sent to buffeâ— him as he did Paul or to winnow him as he would have done Peter it is that he may not be exalted his malice shall prove the occasion of much good to him as it did to the incestuous Corinthian or if God lets him loose upon him as it did upon Iob it shall but advance the glory of God manifest this Beleevers patience occasion his own shame c. so the Devil shall be over-shot in his own bow and wounded with his own weapon And so it is that to all whom God hath any interest in this Scorpion shall prove a medicine against the sting of the Scorpion For though he aym at despair and destruction yet God ayms at humiliation and conversion yea at consolation and salvation and when the sinner is sufficiently humbled Satan shall be cashiered that Horse-leach shall be taken off when he hath sufficiently abated the vicious and superfluous bloud so that he shall be healed by wounding exalted by humbling Satan shall help him to the destruction of his flesh his corruption and the edification of his soul 3. Eleventhly Death the last and strongest enemy of all shall do him the greatest good of all He may be killed but he cannot be hurt nor conquered for even Death that Fiend is to him a friend like the Red Sea to the Israelites that put them over to the Land of Promise whiles it drowned their enemies It is his bridge from woe to glory for dying he sleeps and sleeping he rests from all the travels of a toylsome life to live in joy and blisse for evermore It is to him the end of all sorrowes and the beginning of his everlasting joyes the cessation of all trouble a Superseâ—eas for all diseases the extinction of sinne the deliverance from enemies a rescue from Satan the quiet rest of the body and infranchisement of the soul CHAP. XIX A description of Heaven and Hell so farre as may be collected from the Word according to the best Expositors 1. THus as the unbeleever and disobedient is cursed in every thing and whereever he goes and in whatsoever he does Curâ—ed in the City and cursed also in the field cursed in the fruit of his body and in the fruit of his ground and in the fruit of his Cattell Cursed when he cometh in and cursed also when he goeth ouâ— cursed in this life and cursed in the life to come as is at large exprest Deut. 28. So the Beleever that obeyes the voice of the Lord shall be blessed in every thing he does whereever he goes and in whatsoever befalls him as God promiseth in the former part of the same Chapter and as I have proved in the eleven foregoing Sections Yea God will blesse all that belong unto him for his children and posterity yea many generations after him shall fare the better for his sake yea the very place where he dwells perhaps the whole Kingdom he lives in Whereas many yea multitudes even an whole Army yea his childrens children unto the third and fourth generation fare the worse for a wicked man and an unbeleever Besides his prayers shall profit many for he is more prevalent with God to take away a judgement from a People or a Nation then a thousand others And he counts it a sinne to cease praying for his greatest and most malicious enemies though they like fools would if they durst or were permitted cut him off and all the race of Gods people which is as if one with his hatchet should cut off the bough of a Tree upon which he standeth For they are beholding to Beleevers for their very lives yea it is for their sakes and because the number of Christs Church is not yet accomplisht that they are out of hell But to go on as all things viz. poverty imprisonment slander persecution sicknesse death temporall judgements spirituall dissertions yea even sinne and Satan himself shall turn together for the best unto those that love God as you have seen So all things shall turn â—ogether for the worse unto them that hate God as all unbâ—leevers do Rom. 1. 30. Ioâ—. 15. 18. even the mercy of God and the means of grace shall prove their bane and inhance their damnation yea Christ himself that only summum bonum who is a Saviour to all beleevers shall be a just revenger to all unbeleevers and bid the one Depart ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels Which shall be an everlasting departure not for a day nor for years of dayes nor for millions of years but for eternity into such pains as can neither be expressed nor conceived Iude 6. 7. Rev. 20. 10. Mat. 3012. Heb. 6. 2. 2. Wickednesse hath but a time a short time a moment of time but the punishment of wickednesse is beyond all time There shall be no â—nd of plagues to the wicked man Prov. 24. 20. Their worm shall not die neither shall their fire be quenched Isa. 66. 24. 3. Neither is the extremity of pain inferior to the perpetuity of it it is a place full of horror and amazednesse where is no remission of sinne no dismission of pain no intermission of sense no permission of comfort its torments are both intollerable and interminable and can neither be endured nor avoided when entred into Rev. 19. 20. and 20. 14. and 18. 6. Mat. 25. 30. 2. Pet. 2. 4. Heb. 10. 27. Iude 6. 4. The plagues of the first death are pleasant compared with those of the second For mountains of sand were lighter and millions of â—ears shorter then a tythe of these torments Rev. 20. 10. Iude 7. It is a death which hath no death it hath a beginning it hath no ending Mat. 3. 12. Isa. 66. 24. 5. The pain of the body is but the body of pain the anguish of the soul is the soul of