6. 21. him as one that is in bitterness for his first born Zach. 12. 10. The nailes that pierced his hands shall now pierce their hearts they shall wound themselves with their sorrows which have wounded him with their sins That they have grieved his spirit it shall grieve their spirits A beleiver puts on his mourning garment for puting off his wedding garment As the Suger-loaf is disolved and weeps it self away when it s dipt in wine so do our hearts disolve and melt themselves away in the sweet sence of Divine love and our refusals of it O that ever I should be so bad a child to him that hath been so good a Father Of sin because they beliive not in me John 16. 9. Unbelief it s a sin that least visible and yet a sin that 's most damnable Not to fetch our lives from Christ is to bring the greatest death upon Christ Insidelity is the greatest robbery it frustrates not onely all the actions of Christ in doing but all the passions of Christ in dying Other persons are like Lapwings that flutter most at the greatest remoteness from the nests if they have teares for their outward losses but none for their inward lusts they can mourn for the evil that sin brings but not for the sin which brings the evil As Pharoah more lamented the hard strokes that was upon him then the hard heart that was within him Esau mourned not because he sold the Birthright which was his sin but because he lost the blessing which was his punishment This is like weeping with an Onion the eye sheds tears because it smarts A Marriner casts over those goods in a Tempestuous season that he courts a return off when the winds are silenced many complain more of the sorrows to which they are born then of the sins in which they are born The venome of sin is not ever distastful when the vengeance of sin is affrightful The sinners in Sion are affraid fearfulness hath surprised the Hypocrites Why what 's the matter Who amongst us shall dwell with the devouring fire who amongsts us shall dwell with everlasting burnings Isai 33. 14. They fear corruption not as it is a cole that is blacking but as it is a fire that is burning A stroke from Justice brake Judases heart into despaire but a look from mercy melted Peters hearts into teares There are two things in our sins There 's the devillishness of them and the dangerousnes of them Now take a Saint and a sinner Quid feci quò me praecipitaveram nisi mihi Dei misericordia subveniret Cal. inst l. 3. c. 3. sec 15. the one saith what have I done the other what must I suffer the one mourns for the active evil that hath been committed by him the other mourns for the passive evil that shall be inflicted on him The former grieves because his soul is defiled The latter grieves because his soul is condemned Water may gush from a Rock when is smitten by a rod But such heartless humiliations are hearty dissimulations Did sin bring sorrow into the world O let sorrow carry sin out of the world Whilst the vessel is leaking the Pump is going it s too early to wipe Tota vita vestra poenitentia sit haec enim vita locus est poenitentia Stel. in Luc. 3. 3. away tears from your eyes till God sweep away dust from your hearts It s better to go to heaven sadly then to go to hell securely Give me a melancholy Saint rather then a merry devil nothing can quench Magni igitur constat poenitentiae Ferrar. the fire that sin hath kindled but the water which repentance hath caused Did the rocks rend when Christ dyed for our sins and shall not our hearts rend that have lived in our sins If we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to clense us from all unrighteousness 1 John 1. 9. Do but you acknowledg the debt and he will cansel the bond Is it not better to be savedby Divine mercy then to be sued by Divine Justice do you open the Offensum se Deus obliviscitur si nos offensi cum dolore recordemur Drex Christi Zod. p. 115. ulcer that is paining and he will apply the plaister that is healing till we are opressed with our own burdens we shall never be eased by Christs Shoulders Where misery passes undiscerned there mercy passes undesired behold I stand at the door and knock if any man hear my voice and open the door I will come in to him and sup with him and he with me Rev. 3. 20. Christ doth many times come unto the door when he doth not come into the house but how willing is he to be received who is unwilling to be denied as you knock at his doors for audience so he knocks at your doors for entrance if you shut out his person he will shut out your Prayers the onely way to have our will of God is to do the will of God A Saints tears are better then a sinners triumps Lachrymae poenitentium Bern. serm 30. super Cant. sunt vinum Angelorum A sinners repenting is the Angels rejoycing and give me such a mourning on earth as creates Musick in heaven if you would not sin in your griefs then grieve for your sins Why should God shew him mercy that doth not acknowledge himself guilty how many are there that are battered as lead by the hammer that were never bettered as gold by the fire Look to it least your repentance of dead works be not it self a work that 's dead that you shed such tears as need no tears for the sheding of them Usually that repentance that begins in the fears of hell ends in the flames of hell that 's the eighth 9. Singular thing is to keep our hearts lowest when God raises our estates highest charge them that are rich in this world that they be not high-minded nor trust in uncertain riches 1 Tim. 6. 17. Sinful arrogance doth usually attend sinful considence Worldly wealthyness is a great quill to blow up the bladder of high-mindedness when mens estates are lifted up then mens hearts are pussed up Oh how proud is thin dust of thick clay Pride breeds Thus Romulus secundis rebus elatus tumidus m nime serendam superbiam contumaciam sumebat Pâ—â—t in vita Rom. in great estates as wormes do in sweet fruits but Christians if you be poor in the world you should be rich in faith but if you be rich in the world you should be poor in spirit the way to ascend is to descend the deeper a tree is in its rooting the larger a tree is in its spreading The face of prosperity shines brightest through the Mask of humility As none have so little but they have matter for blessing so none have so much that they have matter for bosting shall the stage-player be proud of his borowed robes or the
18. 4. If Rome have left us in the foundation let us leave them in the superstruction Where they are fallen from God there let us fall from them Where such worms breeds in the body of a Nation they will be sure to eat out the bowels of Religion Not to take away such traytors is to make a nest wherein to hatch their treasons That is the fifth 6. Singular thing is this To chuse the worst of sorrows before you commit the least of sins Others they chuse the greatest sin before the smallest suffering which is like the fish that leaps out of the broyling-pan into the burning flame by seeking to shun an external calamity they rush Thus Spira by labouring to preserve his outward estate indangered the loss of his immortal soul into eternal misery What is this but as if a man to save his hat should lose his head Or to sink the ship that is sailing to avoid the storm that is rising It is better to have the flesh defaced then Peccatum inter omnia mala existimare debemus maximum malum Chem Evan. har p. 878. it is to have the spirit defiled Though man be the Butt yet it is sin that is the mark at which all the arrows of divine vengeance are shot These spiders weave their own webs and then are intangled in them Our own damnation is but the product of our own transgression Wherefore doth a living man complain a man for the punishment of his sins Lam. 3. 39. When man had no evil within him man had no evil upon Peccatum omnia mala habet sibi adjuncta eorumque sons origo existit id ibid. him He began to be sorrowful when he began to be sinful When the soul shall be fully released from the guilt of its impieties the body shall be wholly delivered from the grief of its infirmities Sorrow shall never be a visitant where sin is not an inhabitant the former would be a foraigner if the latter were not a sojourner God is as far from beating his children for nothing as he is from beating his children to nothing There is no way to calm the sea but Si serpentem negligis basiliscus fiet si parvae navis foramina non abturas â—qua paulatim acrescens submerget navens Stapl. p. m. p. 443. to excommunicate Jonah from the ship Kill the root and the branches wither Diminish the spring and the streams will fail Remove but the fuel of corruption and you extinguish the fire of affliction The wages of sin is death Rom. 6. 23. The works of sin are hateful and the wages of sin are mortal The corruption of nature is the cause of the dissolution of nature The candle of our lives is blown out by the wind of our lusts that is the weed that overtops the corn the smoak that depresses the flame and the cloud that over-shadows the sun Were it not for sin death had never had a beginning and Supersint in nobis peccati reliquiae adhaerentes carni nostrae donee sâ—mus in hâc vâ—tâ at hae reliquiae mortâ— tollâ—atur â—â—use â—oc 〈◊〉 de â—em pec p. 53. were it not for death sin would never have an ending Man as a creature is a debtor to Gods Soveraignty commanding but man as a sinner is a debtor to Gods severity condemning What is so sweet a good as Christ and what is so great an evil as lust Sin hath brought many a Beleever into suffering and suffering Afflâ—ctiones sunt reâ—edia peccatorum ut peccata sunt causae afflictionum Stap. promp Mor. p. 197. hath kept many a Beleever out of sin It is better to be preserved in brine then to rot in honey The bitterest Physick is to be chosen before the sweetest poyson Sicut aurum reprobum igne consumitur probum vero igne declaratur In the same fire where the dross is consumed the gold is refined How many thousands of souls had never obtained the hopes of heaven if they had not sailed by the gates of hell As every mercy is a drop derived from the ocean of Gods goodness so every misery is a dram weighed by the wisdom of Gods providence When Eudoxia threatned Chrysostom with banishment Go tell her saith he Nil nisi peccatum timeo I fear nothing but sin And indeed nothing but sin is to be feared Before we lanch out into any undertaking it behoves us to ask our selves what is our tackling if a storm should overtake us in our voyage A bad conscience imbitters the sweetest comforts when a good conscience sweetens the bitterest crosses Et quantam in conscientia relinquent cicatricem vitia vel aetate tenerrima perpetrata He that is not afraid to do evil will be afraid to suffer evil But what need he fear a cross on the back who doth feel a Christ in Afflictio pins non constituit infaelices aut miseros uti humana judicat ratio sed contra felices aâ—beatos Lau. â—â— Ep. Iac. p 78. the heart It s the water without the ship that tosses it but it s the water within the ship that drowns it It s better to have a body consumed to ashes then a soul that shall dwell with everlasting burnings Though we cannot Diligo quidem pati sed nescio an dignus sim Ignat in Ep. ad Trall live without afflictions yet le ts live above afflictions Our Patmos is our way to Paradise Non nisi per angusta ad augusta Suppose the furnace be heated seven times hotter it is but to make us seven times better They that are here crossed for well doing shall be hereafter crowned for well-dying There is none so welcome to the spiritual Canaan as those that swim to it through the red sea of their own blood Christian when thou comest into the world thou dost but live to die again and when thou goest out of the world thou dost but dye to live again What is the grain the worse for the fan by which it is winowed or the gold for the fire by which it is purified Pendleton promised rather to fry out a fat body in flames of martyrdom then to betray his Religion but when the trial approacht he said As he came not frying into the world so he would not go flaming out of the world They who will not part with their lusts for Christ will never part with their lives for Christ But Paul and Silas they had their prison Thus that undaunted champion of Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. frumentum Dei dentibus ferarum molar ut mundus panis Dei inveniar Ign. in Ep. ad Rom songs in the midst of their prison-sufferings These caged birds sang as sweetly as those that have skie freedom I have read a story of a woman that being in travel in prison a little before her death she cried out of her sorrows The Keeper askt her how she could indure the fire that made such a
personall appearance 4. Principle that you should walk by is this There 's more bitternesse following upon sins ending then ever there was sweetness flowing from sins acting The Devils Apple though it may have a fair skin yet it hath a bitter core Me thinks this flaming sword should keep us out of the forbidden Paradice and make our hearts like wet Tinder to all the sparks of Satans fire Per delictum morti regnum datur nec potest regnare in aliquo nisi jus regni accipiata delicto Orig l. 5. in Epist ad Rom. You that see nothing but weal in its commission will suffer nothing but wo in its conclusion The wages of sin is death Romans 6. 23. He that likes the works of sin to do them will never like the wages of sin to have them Yea who would do those works that are but drudgery for those wages that are but misery Though all sins are not equal yet all sins are mortall The candle of ourlives is blown Nonne per peccatū mors et per mortem omnes ejus comites paenae cruciatus et miseriae hujus vitae omnes porro peccatum toti mundo detrimentum adfert Stap. in Dom. 5. Post Epiph. Tex 4. out by the wind of our lusts The corruption of nature tends to the dissolution of nature as the Leprosie got into the wals occasioned the demolishing of the house Sin it stands as a But at which God may shoot every Arrow till he hath emptied his whole Quiver We began to be mortal when we began to be sinful If man had had nothing to doe with sin Peccatum aculeus mortu dicitur non quia peccatum per mortem sed per peccatum Mors in mundum intravit Fulgent de Incam et Grat. Christi cap. 14. death had had nothing to do with man Our impiety forfeited the priviledg of our immortality Sin it s like a Serpent in the bosome that 's stinging or like a Theif in the Closet that 's stealing or like poyson in the stomack that 's paining or like a sword in the bowels that 's killing It s like Johns Book sweet in the mouth but bitter in the belly this fare faced Rachel will be found but a blear eyed Leah Knowest thou not that it will be bitternesse in the latter end The dregs lye in the bottome of the Cup. That which is now like a Rose flourishing in your bosome ere long will be like a Dagger drawn against your breast The Ivy though it embraces the Oak yet it eats out its heart Sin it s a thing that 's delightful O but its a thing that 's deceitful it s like Judas that at first salutes us but at last betrayes us it shews the bait but hides the hook it represents the amiability but covers the obliquity it s like a River that begins in a quiet spring but ends in a tumultuous Sea Do men gather Ex his spinis colligitur non laetitia conscientiae sed labruscae remorsus interioris non retributio gloriae sed labruscae Gehennae Gorran In locum Grapes of Thorns or Figs of Thistles Mat. 7. 16. The grapes of tranquility grows not upon the Thorns of impiety Heart peace is espoused to heart purity The way to keep conscience untormented is to keep conscience undefiled A Saint cannot so sin as to destroy Vide Bzoviu Conc. 24. Excellentissimè de hac re disserentem his grace but a Saint may so sin as to disturb his peace The Spider cannot kill the Bees but if she gets into the Hive she spoils the Honey If you will be nibbling at the bait the hook will enter into your bowels O think of that time wherein you shall be ashamed of nothing but your wickednesse and glory in nothing but your holinesse You may be eternally sinful but you cannot be eternally joyful In Hell all the Sugar will be melted in which this bitter pill was wrapped that 's too hot a climate for wanton delights to live in The pleasures of sin are suddenly abortive but the pains of sin are eternally extensive How soon did our first parents eat their forbidden fruit Esus vetiti illius pomi omniū malorum sons et orīgo fuit Bzovius in Con. 24. p. 229. De malis a peccato allatis vide Bzovium loco jam citato but the world to this day cannot rid it selfe of the miserable consequences of that woful banquet Even in laughter the heart is sorrowful and the end of that mirth is heaviness Proverbs 14. 13. The Serpent of sensual delight alwayes carries a sting in its taile In such golden cups there are deadly draughts Will Gaul and Wormwood ever make you pleasant wine Such thick and muddy vapors will never yeeld any sweet and pleasant showers You that sin for your profit will never profit by your sins O that England would look with Scripture Spectacles upon all it s rased Tabernacles and say if sin had not been there these had not lain here It s better to take up our lodging in a bed of Snakes then to take up our lodging in a bed of lusts who would spread such silken Sails upon a Pirates ship When the pale horse of death goes before the red horse of wrath doth follow after When the body goes to Worms to be consumed the soul goes to flames to be tormented It s better here to forgoe the pleasures of sin then hereafter to undergoe the pains of sin Your ill doing will be your undoing What fruit had you of those things whereof you are now ashamed Romans 6. 21. What advantage doth Dives reap in hell of all the delicate banquets that he had on earth What taste hath Cleopatra now of her draught of dissolved Pearls The stench and torment of everlasting burnings will take away the sweetest perfumes that ever sin was powdered with How can I doe this wickedness and sin against God Gen. 39. 9. It doth not grieve a Saint so much for this that God is displeased with him as it grieves a Saint for this that God is displeased by him He mourns not so much for the evil which sin doth bring as he mourns for the sin which doth bring the evill When Craesus son saw them go about to kill his father he cryed out O kill not King Craesus Did Christ open his veins for our redemption and shall not we open our mouths for his vindication The Crown is fallen from our heads wo unto us for we have sinned Lamenta 5. 16. Sin it doth not only unman us but it doth uncrown us Yea it doth not only take the Crown from off a sinners head but it layes a curse upon a sinners back There 's many think the fountain of their lusts are quite dryed up when the streams are turned into another Channel A hand taken off from sinful practises without a heart taken off from sinful principles it s like a peece of ground which having long lain fallow
heated in the Mid-night of adversity Afflictions are not a fire that 's consuming but a flame that 's refining they are like the prick at the Nightingales breast that awaken her and put her upon her delightful singing Many Saints are like Topps that goes best when they are lasht most For Ireckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us Romans 8. 18. These fall as far short of glory as the smallest fraction of the greatest number or as the least filings of Gold of the riches of the whole Indies If the early glimmerings of our Lord Jesus Christ shroud so much joy and strength within their own beams as over-powers the cross what will his Meridian Rayes of glory doe when they are revealed Will you cast them both into the scales of the Sanctuary 2 Cor. 4. 17. For our light affliction which is but for a moment worketh for us a more exceeding and eternal weight of glory How light is a dram of reproach to a weight of glory and how short a Minute of pains to an Eternity of pleasures He said excellently Bene fertur Calumina cúm acquiritur Corona He need not be weary of the Crosse that 's sure of the Crown After the Cup of affliction comes the cup of salvation The Wine-presse prepares for the Wine-cellar After the pangs and throws comes the child birth O clear up your interest in God A pardon may be past the Princes Seale that is not put into the Prisoners hand Things that are exceeding sharp calls for much Sugar to make them sweet Death is a thing that hath the most ungrateful taste to the creatures pallate Now Grace is baptized with a double name It 's called The first-fruits of the spirit Romans 8. 28. It 's called The earnest of the spirit 2 Cor. 1. 22. It 's a tast to shew us the sweetnesse of eternal life and it 's a pledge to shew us the sureness of eternal life Our Heavenly Physitian will keep us no longer in Physick but till we are thorowly purged Our merciful refiner will detain us no longer in the Furnace but till we are sufficiently purified Patience for sowing the seeds of sorrow on earth shall reap a golden crop of joy in Heaven We may talk of the greatnesse of our future recompence but we shall never know the weight of our Crowns till they be set on our heads nor the worth of our Robes till they be worn on our backs then the pricking Thorn shall be turned into a precious Gem. As darknesse is the absence of light when the Sun is removed from its Horizon so is death the privation of life when the soul is removed from its Prison we have here but jus ad rem there we shall have jus in re Here we have an expectation of our fruitions there we shall have the fruition of our expectations Chear up brave spirits your Wildernesse Nunc deprimuntur et calcantur electi ut olim assurgant et extollantur ad instar palmarum Drex Christian Zod. Sig. 5. p. 42. journeys will soon be periodized The cloth must be cut in peeces before it can be made up in garments The hewing of the timber is for the erecting of the structure The new corn that lives in Summer is produced from the old corn that dyed in the Winter We should willingly embrace death though we should not desperately rush upon it you will be like Civet that 's when it 's taken out of the Box leaves a sweet savour behind it Shall Christ willingly come down from Heaven to earth to dye for us and shall not we willingly go up from earth to Heaven to live with him A Saints loathnesse to expire doth not spring from this root because they judge that death is not good enough for them but it 's a sprig that grows upon this root because they judge thēselves not good enough for death But remember the edg of this keen sword is blunted since the sides of Christ was the scabbard in which it was sheathed When the Ship is in the Haven its Erras mi Christiane erras sicogitas te integrum et non bene contusum perventurum ad coelum Drex loc citat past all storms but by induring storms it at last arriveth at the Haven When we come to Glory there will be no temptations to endure but it s by enduring of temptations that we come to glory When the body and the soul shall part asunder the soul and God shall meet together The sharper your sorrows are here the sweeter will be your joyes hereafter let me allude to that Psal 68. 13. Though ye have lien among the Pots yet shall ye be as the wings of a Dove covered with silver and her feathers with yellow gold All the Grapes in Christs Vineyard must passe thorow the Wine-presse Health is most acceptable after the sharpest sicknesse and liberty most sweet after a rigorous bondage and the harbour most welcome after turbulent storms How pleasant soever a sinners beginning is his ending is dolorous how troublesome soever a Saints beginning is his ending is joyous The fresh Rivers of carnal pleasure run into a salt Sea of despairing tears when the wet seeds-time of a pious life ushers in the Sun-shiny Harvest of a peacefull death When Craesus askt Solon who he Dicique beatus ant◠obitum nemo supremaque funera debet Horat. thought happy he told him one Tellus a man that was dead Happinesse doth not goe before death but death goes before happinesse It 's storied of Adrianus that seeing many Christians put to such cruel and bitter deaths he askt some of them what it was that they suffered such cruel torments for to whom they answered Speramus illa bona quae oculus non videt auras non audivit in cor hominis non ascenderunt We hope for those things which eye hath not seen nor ear heard nor ever entred into the heart of man to conceive They who are born blind are unable to judg of that glory that dazles the very eyes of the Angels One smile in Gods face will dry up all the tears in their eyes When beleevers change earth for Heaven they do not loose their blessednesse but compleat their blessednesse as fishes dropping out of the narrow Brook into the wide Ocean do not leave their Element but are more in it then they were before A beleevers dying is resembled to a burnt-offering now in a burnt-offering when the ashes falls to the earth the flame ascends to Heaven Thus have I set twenty Diamonds in your Golden Ring And so much for the first thing Namely The erection of singular Principles I come now to the last stage for the direction of singular practises Here I shall spread but six Sails and make to the shoar 1. Would you do more then others then you must know more then others I may say of Divine
Brutus also gave him a stab with that he looks upon him and saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 What thou my son Brutus Sueâ—onius juxta finâ— vitae Iuâ— Caes What mother can endure to see those lips that drew her brests suck her blood The unkindness of a friend hath the most in it of an enemy When others appear before God as prisoners appear before a Judge Beleevers appear before him as children do before a Father The Roman Censors took such a distaste at the son of Africanus that they pluckt the ring from off his figner in which his fathers image was engraven They would not suffer him to wear his Fathers picture who was so unlike his Quin familiaribus quaeren tibus vellet n Olympiae in stadio decurrere eraâ— enim pedibus velor soquidem respondit reges sunt meum dâ—certaturi Plut. in ini â—vit A. lex Q. Curt. â— 1. fathers person God will not suffer any man to wear the livery of Christ upon him who wants the likeness of Christ within him When his companions would have Alexander that was swift on foot to run in the Olympick games I would saith he so there were but Kings and Princes to run with me Give me such a Saint as will do nothing upon earth that is unsuitable to his birth from heaven What shall he walk in darkness whose father is light Shall that tongue be found lying so constantly to men that was found praying so earnestly to God or those eyes be found gazing on sinful objects that were found reading of sacred Oracles The remembrance of our dignity should engage us to the performance of our duty It is not for Kings O Lemuel it is not for Kings to drink wine nor for Princes strong drink Prov. 31. 4. Such a sin is bad in a Subject but worse in a Soveraign As a spot in scarlet is worse then a stain in russet That 's the second 3. Christians should do more then others because they profess more then others As plants are known by their fruits so Saints are known by their works Shall such as have received Christs press-money fight under Satans colours Though there be many Professors that are no Beleevers yet there are no Beleevers but are Professors They profess that they know God but in works they deny him being abominable and disobedient and to every good work reprobate Tit. 1. 16. A man is not what he says but he is what he does To say what we do and not to do what we say is to be like trees that are full of leaves but empty of fruits Or like a barn wherein there is much chaff but little corn It s better never to shine then not to be gold What is it to put off your old manners and to keep on the old man A snake may change her coat and yet keep her sting The Gospel professed that lifts a man unto heaven but it s the Gospel practised that leads a man into heaven To be a Professor of piety and a Practiser of iniquity it s so far from advancing your commendation that its an encreasing of your condemnation Why call ye me Lord Lord and do not the word that I say Either obey my commands more or else call me Lord no more Either take me into your lives or cast me out of your lips Our Lord Jesus disdains to have his name seen on as Princes scorn to have their Effigies stampt on base mettals Let every one that names the name of the Lord depart from iniquity If godliness be evil why is it so much professed if goodliness be good why is it so litle practised Who hath saved us and called us with an holy calling 2 Tim. 1. 10. A holy calling should be attended with a holy carriage It s a greater glory to us that we serve God then it is to God that we serve him It is not he that 's made happy by us but it s we that are made happy by him He needs not such servants as we are upon earth but we need such a Master as he is in heaven A man may finde many that talks of grace but he shall find but a few that tastes of grace Every one doth no live like a Christian that looks like a Christian Thou that makest thy boast of the Law through breaking the Law dishonorest thou God! Rom. 2. 23. It s monstrous to see that Christians tongues should be larger then their hands That they should carry a lanthorn before others and yet tread in the dark themselves A vicious patern more infects then a vertuous doctrine instructs he that gives good precepts and then sets bad paterns is like a man that first blows the fire to kindle it and after casts water to quench it again These Physitians whilest they give cordials to others they faint themselves I may say of such Professors as he said of a vicious Preacher That when in the Pulpit it was pity he should ever come out he was so good in his instructions but when out of the pulpit that it was pity he should ever come in again he was so bad in his conversation We must not be offended at the profession of Religion because all are not religious that make a profession The sheep doth not despise his fleece because the Woolf hath worn it Who blames a chrystial river because some melancholly men have drowned themselves in its streams The best Drugs have their adulterate What though you have been cheated with false colours yet disestimate not them that are dyed in grain He is a bad husband that having a spot in his coat will cut off the cloath when he should wash out the dirt But when you make a good profession be sure to make your profession good 4. The Disciples of Christ are to do more then others because every Beleever is to be conformed to his Redeemer Jesus Christ as he is the principle of excellency to which all must come so he is the patern of excellency to which all must conform As he is the root on which a Saint grows so he is the rule by which a Saint squares God hath made one Son like unto all that he might make all his sons like unto one He 〈◊〉 to teach us how to live and he died to teach us how to die Yea as he lived and died for our good so he lived and died in our stead It s a rule Primum unoquoque genere est mensura reliquorum That which is the first in any kind c. Learn of me for I am meek and lowly Matth. 11. 29. Never was Nature better graced and never was Grace better natured Well may the Stars be obscured when the Sun was eclipsed For I have given you an example that you should do as I have done to you Joh. 13. 5. If the life of Christ be not your patern the death of Christ will not be your pardon The Lord Jesus though he was a man of sorrows
yet he was not a man of sins Though we cannot equalize his holiness yet we should imitate his holiness As it is the same light which shines from the body of the sun in its meridian and which breaks forth in the dawnings of the morning There 's the same water in the streams that bubbles up at the spring-head Summa religionis est 〈◊〉 eum quem colis Lactant. There should be such a conformity between the life of Christ and the life of a Christian as there is between the Counterpain and its Original As face answers to face in the water so should life answer to life in the Scripture What he was by nature that we should be by grace He that was a way to others never went out of the way himself A holy life is a chrystal glass wherein Jesus Christ beholds his own face In our Sacramental participations we shew forth the death of Christ but in our evangelical conversations we shew forth the life of Christ An excellent Christ calls for excellent Christians And why should we â—ay his yoke is heavy when he says his yoke is easie He went about doing good Acts 10. 38. As he was never ill imployed so he was never unimployed Jesus Christ submits his person to be judged by his actions If I do not the works beleeve me not If I act not like a Saviour do not take me for a Saviour Thus should it be with a Saint Never take me for a Christian if I act not like a Christian If men finde no more among Saints then they find among men they will say Here is a man and a man and not a man and a Christian Man naturally is an aspiring piece and loves to be nearest to those that are highest Now a Christ that did more then others calls on Christians to do more then others Methinks you should take as much delight in those precepts that enjoyn holiness as in those promises that assures happiness and be as willing to be ruled by Christ as you are willing to be saved by Christ To the Saints that are in the earth and to the excellent in whom is all my delight Psa 16. 3. Was it so in his time and shall iâ— not be so in our time The New Testament out-shines the Old as much as the splendor of the sun doth the brightness of the stars If you live under more glorious dispensations you should have more gracious conversations As he is so are we in this world 1 Joh. 4. 17. As he was so should we be on earth and as he is so shall we be in heaven If there be no congruity between Christ and you in holiness there will be no society between Christ and you in happiness That 's the fourth 5. The Disciples of Christ must do more then others because they are more lookt upon then others If once a man be a Professor the eyes of the whole world are placed upon him Because our profession in the world is a separation from the world Beleevers should condemn those by their lives who condemn them with their lips Teach me thy way O Lord and lead me in a plain path because of mine enemies Psal 27. 11. Heb. Because of my observers or propter insidiatores meos because of those that lye in wait for me If you walk in the unpaved road of licentious loosness the world will not go backwards like Shem and Japhet to cover your nakedness but they will march forward like cursed Cham to uncover your nakedness They make use of your weakness as a shield to defend their own wickedness Men are merciless in their censures though God hath more equitable scales and wil give grains of allowance to his own gold A true Christian though he be a Dove in Gods eyes yet he is a Raveâ— in theirs An unholy conversation pâ—lls off the jewels from the beautiful Queen of Religion Sin allowed of in a Saint it s like a slit in a piece of cloth of gold or like a crack in a silver bell The foulest spots are soonest seen in the fairest cloaths The world will sooner allow its own enormities then of your infirmities The loose walkings of Christians are the reproaches of Christ Si Christus sancta dâ—â—uisset sancta à Christianis fierent qualis secta talis sectatores Quomodo bonus magistor eujus tam pravos videmus Discipulos as Lactantius brings in the Heathens ubraiding the Nations So much malice is there lodged in sinners as to reproach the rectitude of the rule for the obliquity of their lives who swerve and vary from it Now your pure lives should hang a padlock upon their impure lips who throw the dirt of Professors upon the face of Profession One hour of the suns eclipsing attracts more eyes to view it then all its illustrious shinings Dr. Whitaker reading that fifth of Matthew breaks forth into these words Aut hoc non est Evangelium aut nos non sumus Evangelici Either this is not Gospel that we Christians profess or else we are not Christians that profess the Gospel The curelty of the Spaniards to the Indians made them cry out Quam malus Deus iste qui habet tam malos servos What an evil God is this that hath such evil servants Gods Jewels should cast a sparkling lustre in the eyes of others One scar may stain the beauty of the fairest face It was a glorious Encomium given of Zachary and Elizabeth They were both righteous before God walking in all the commandmâ—nts and ordinances of the Lord blam â—â—ss Luk. 1. 6. As they were harmless in their actings so they were blameless in their walkings Pure Religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction and to keep himself unspotted from the world Jam. 1. 2. If you would keep your selves unspotted from the world you must keep your selves unspotted in the world Christians such even threads should be spun by you as none might fasten a snarl upon you That 's the fifth 6. Ground is Because if you do no more then others it will appear that you are no more then others Vna actio non denominat fidelem It is not one action that makes a Beleever no more then its one Swallow that makes a Summer As there is none so evil but may do some good so there is none so good but may do some evil Every being nath its proper acting and where we do not finde the working we may deny the being You would be thought to be more then Publicans and Sinners what and yet act no more then Publicans and Sinners Ye shall know them by their fruits Mat. 7. 20. By the leaves the tree is seen but by the fruit the tree is known The hand of the Dyal is without in going as the wheels of the clock are within in moving Where the heart is of a good constitution the life will be of a fair complexion When the
noise at the bringing forth of a child Well enough saith she for now I suffer for my sins but then I shall suffer for my Saviour There is more evill in a drop of corruption then there is in a sea of affliction In suffering the offence is done to us in finning the offence is done to God In suffering there is an infringement of mans liberty in sinning there is a violation of Gods authority The evil of suffering is transient but the evill of sin is permanent In suffering we lose the favour of men in sinning we hazard the favour of God The rose is sweeter under the Still where it drops then on the stalk where it sprouts The face of godliness is never so beautiful as when its spit upon The best corn is that which lies under the clods in snowy weather It was a brave saying of Vincentius to his persecutors Rage and do your worst you shall finde the Spirit of God more strengthening the tormented then the spirit of the devil can strengthen their tormentors Let but Professors do their best and then let persecutors â—eâ—cussâ—res nihil moraâ—amur praeseâ—tim â—um moriendum esse nobis sciamuâ— Justin 2. Defens ad Anâ—on 〈◊〉 do their worst Though you may feel their might yet you should not fear their malice Nil desperandum Christo duce auspice Christo It s storied of Hooper when he came to suffer O Sir saith one have a care of your self life is Thus the Proconsul perswaded and besought the noble German who suffered under Verus Vt quoniam admodum juâ—enis in flore esset sui ipsius misereretur Euseb Hist Eccl. cap. 15. sweet and death is bitter Ah saith he this I know but the life to come is more full of sweetness and the death to come is more full of bitterness A man may suffer without sinning but a man cannot sin without suffering When Philip asked Demosthenes If he was not afraid to lose his head No saith he for if I lose my head the Athenians will give me one immortal Do but listen to the language that drops out of the mouthes of those three children or rather of those three Vos occidere quidem potestis nocere non potestis â—ust ubi prius champions Dan. 3. 17 18. We are not careful to answer thee in this matter if it be so our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace and he will deliver us out of thy hand O King But if not be it known unto thee O King that we will not serve thy gods nor worship the golden image that thou hast set up Either they must sin fouly or they must suffer sadly Either they must bow to a golden Image or burn in a fiery furnace Yet they were as far from worshipping of his gods as he Thus Polycarpe was assaulted by Herod and Nicetes who said Quidnam mali fuerit dicere Domine Caefar sacrificareque conservari But he answered Facturus non sum quod consulitis and chose rather a flaming fire then to consent unto their fawning words Euseb ubi prius was from worshipping of theirs And Daniel chuses the den of the lions before he will forsake the cause of the Lamb. Shall not we for his sake bear the wrath of man who for our sakes did bear the wrath of God Though obedience be better then sacrifice yet sometimes to sacrifice a mans self is the best obedience He that loses a baser life for Christ shall finde a better life in Christ Chusing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God then to enjoy the pleasures of sin which are but for a season Heb. 11. 25. What is a cup of physick that takes away the disease to a cup of poyson that takes away the life They that live upon God in the use of the creature can live upon God in the loss of the creature It was a brave expression of one What I receive thankfully as a token of Gods love to me I part with all contentedly as a token of my love to him For a good man one will even dare to dye Rom. 5. 7. Will one dare to die for a good man and shall we be afraid to die for a good God And others were tortured not accepting Melius est mibi emori propter Christum Iesum quam imperare sinibus terrae Ign. ad Rom. deliverance that they might obtain a better resurrection Heb. 11. 35. Some would have used any pick-lock to have opened a passage to their liberty but they knew too much of another world to bid so high a rate for this world It is storied of Hormisdas a noble man of Persia who was degraded of all his promotion because he would not alter his professions afterward they restored them all again and sollicited him to deny Christ but he rent his purple robe and laid all his Honours at the feet of the Emperor saying Siideo me sperasti pietatem deserturam habe tibi donum tuum una cum impietate If you think to make me deny Christ for The like constancy and resolution you may read of in the noble Suenes and the zealous Benjamin both barbarously used by the same Prince Id. ibid. the obtaining of my honours take them all back again He thought that Christ without his honors was better then his honours without Christ It is storied of one of the Martyrs going to the stake a Noble man wisht him to have a care of his soul So I will saith he for I give my body to be burned to keep my soul from being defiled How many are there that had rather have sinful self satisfied then to have sinful self crucified As grace comes in at one door vice goes out at another as in a well when one bucket comes up full the other returns down empty The only way to have the house of Saul weakened is to get the house of David strengthned Those Philistims that could not stand before Sampson in his health how scornfully did they dance about him in his sickness O remember sin it is that which in this life doth debase us and it is that which in the next life doth destroy us Those whose end is damnation their damnation is without end No condition is so intolerably easeless as that condition which is unalterably changeless One seeing a woman going chearfully to prison O saith he you have not yet tasted of the bitterness of death No saith she nor never shall for Christ hath promised that they who keep his sayings shall never see death A beleever may feel the stroke of death but he shall never feel the sting of death The first death may bring his body to corruption but the second death shall never bring his soul to damnation Though the cross may be endured by them yet the curse is removed from them Though they may live a life that is dying yet they shall not dye a death that is