into the grave if hee had not fallen into transgression Man dyed not because his nature was subject to corruption but because sin had corrupted his nature Man was wholly a stranger to death till acquainted with sin There is no man that lives that shall not see death Death will finde every man and connive at no man The glorious end wee should aim at in life is not to study how wee might injoy the comforts of life but how wee may overcome the discouragements of death Death is alwayes drawing nearer and nearer whether you improve your time or throw away your time Men ordinarily leave the earth when they are most busie about it Those must dye that shall not bee damned It is a good minde in a man to bee content to dye and willing to live but to bee willing to dye and content live is the minde of a strong Christian To labour not to dye is labour in vain to live without fear of death is to dye liveing The comforts of life are no rational comforts till you bee freed from the terrours of death What comforts of life can bee sweet when a man is afraid of death and uncertain of life Seldome doth hee dye well that lives ill They are fools that give away their souls for nothing Prevention is better than confusion Hee lives twice that bestows the fore part of his time well That man that lives to dye shall dye to live The way to dye well is to dye often often and seriously think of dying and then sin if thou canst A dram of grace will bee more worth to you when you come to dye than a sea of gifts A man may live by a form hee cannot dye by a form Remember this the bellows of death will blow the spark of sincerity into a flame and the blaze of formality into nothing Hee neither fears nor feels death that hath his hopes in heaven Though death bee terrible yet innocency is bold Christ by death in death delivers us from death If hee dyed that you might live with him do not desire to live long from him 1 If you would live well take heed where you live even the place of pleasure is dangerous 2 In learning to live study how to dye hee loses all his time that knows not how to end his time 3 Dye you must bee active for God whilst you live You that must dye shortly had need to live strictly The way to have great confidence when you dye is to get and keep a good conscience whilst you live Mans life may bee very short it cannot bee long the time of man is a long death but it is but a short life Mens principles speak the shortness of life but their practises speak the eternity of life Time is but short but eternity is long If a wicked man would bee happy hee must make time long and eternity short As time is the measure of his sin so eternity is the measure of his punishment Prepare for an enemy that is alwayes getting ground of you not only the approaches of death are perpetual but insensible Make sure of death that you bee not miserable in death and after death When I was a young man saith Seneca my care was to live well and when age came I studied how to dye well The right way to dye well is to live well and the right way to live well is to dye betimes to sin the world and self You must dye make sure of an interest in the death of the Lord Jesus Christ Christ will do you good when you come to die so will the power of godliness AFter death comes Judgement At that day the wicked shall know Gods forbearance is no acquittance Wicked men are surely ordained to punishment as godly men are ordained to deliverance Though the Saints may bee losers for Gods word yet they shall lose nothing by God It cannot bee long before the worlds Funerals and the birth day of Judgement Though wee sleep in sin judgement slumbers not The Lord Jesus Christ hee is judge not onely of the fact but of the heart Make the Judge your friend Get him that is your Judge to bee your Advocate It is not the varnish of profession Christ will respect at that day unless hee see the workmanship of the Holy Ghost in the heart The wicked may drink a sea of wrath but they shall not sip one drop of injustice The sinner beeing self-condemned shall clear the Judge Christs first coming was to unite his second coming shall bee to separate That heart that would not break with sorrow for sin shall now bee rent thorow with despair They that would not weep for their sins shall now barn for their sins To bear this will bee intollerable to avoid this will bee impossible Sinners they must come to the Bar and they are sure to bee cast at the Bar. If you have not a part in the blood of the Lamb you shall bee sure to have a part in the wrath of the Lamb. But if thou hast no sins of allowance thou shalt have grains of allowance One dram of grace is too good to go to hell ALL that will expect to bee saved must wait upon the foolishness of preaching The creature as a creature is indispensibly bound to serve God Pray privately hear publickly God never comes so nigh to the soul as when hee enters into the ear It is preaching that brings hearing and hearing that brings faith and faith salvation As God will bee worshipped in Spirit so in truth not onely in opposition to the Ceremonial Law but in opposition to the hypocrisie of the heart That man never received the word in the power of it that never received it in the perpetuity of it Instability is alwayes a sure note of insincerity God looks more at the manner of the duty than the matter it is not what you do but how you do not how much but how well As God will have you holy because hee is holy so you must worship him in spirit because hee is a Spirit What is the reason that men sleep so securely after so many Sermons they say with Samuel It is onely mans voice The outward teachings of man is of no power without the inward teachings of Gods Spirit Christ revealed to us differenceth us from Pagans Christ revealed in us severeth us from Reprobates It is not thy hearing of mans voice but thy subjection to Gods voice that begets thee anew to God As hee sins that gives not God the hearing so hee sins that only gives God the hearing The word is never spoken in vain though it may bee often heard in vain it either purifies or consumes Gospel-ordinances you will finde either ripen your graces or ripen your corruptions The word of God is an enemy to none but them that are enemies to themselves No worship is a breach of the first Commandement false worship is a breach of the second Commandement Will-worship is alwayes false
A Dying Fathers Living Legacy to his Loving SON OR Lively RULES from the Rule of Life to bee lived by every Mothers Childe Prov. 4.1 Hear O yee Children the instruction of a Father and give ear to learn understanding By F. S. Gent. Printed for the Authour And are to bee sold by Elisha Wallis at the gilded Horse-shooe in the Old Bayley 1660. Dear Childe I Have been at work for thee heart and hand it lieth upon thee as a duty now to perfect what I have begun to get these notions into thy heart by prayer and let others read them in thy life by practise The Speculative part of Religion is not comparable to the practical Begin in the Spirit oh but take heed you end not in the flesh Satan is subtile I know his devices the world is tempting take heed of its flatteries the heart is naught beware of its deceits Keep thy heart with all keeping and yet do what thou canst Corruption will break out but let not sin have a free passage to go in and out at pleasure Mind nothing but the one thing necessary union with Christ and never let it be thy aim to make thy self glorious in the world but to glorifie God in the world They only that follow holiness in this life shall attain to happiness in the life to come Be as holy as ever thou canst the more holy here the more happy hereafter without holiness no happiness It is not thine but Christs Thou wilt finde an opposition in the practice of Religion when you think your self surest then suspect your self most though thou shouldest get a foyl yet lay not down thy weapons and say I will fight no more Hee that continues faithful unto the death shall receive a crown of life Get wisdome and get understanding the fear of the Lord that is wisdome and to depart from iniquity that is understanding so shalt thou crown the work and not only rejoyce the heart of thy Father on Earth but our Father in Heaven and Elder Brother and Sweet Comforter Unto whose protection I leave thee F. S. Reader THese sententious words or proverbial sentences are left as a Legacy by a dying Father to his Son Expect not Method but apply thy self to meditation which was by the Author chiefly intended Youth is active It is good for us to busie them in the best things to write our children copies to write after or write over A good life is better than good lines Most men especially young men are led much by example It is best so to walk before our children as that they may see Christ in us and follow him Christ is the best copy to write after and the best pattern to follow Christianity is more than Christ to bee known it is the life of Christ to bee followed The Author is not willing to have his name known for reasons best known to himself and yet both reason and Religion too put him upon the work having his own experience to witness such beginnings successeful If through goodness it prove profitable either to thee or thine Let God have all the glory but let not prejudice hinder from closing with truth What is Manna the worse for being brought to thee in an earthen vessel The Apostle rejoyced that Christ was preached though they that preached him did it out of envy Here is my rejoycing that what I have done was out of pure love to poor souls and not to seek or purchase a fame among men Help mee with thy prayers that all these truths might bee put in practice by thee and mee thine and mine so wilt thou not onely ingage the Authour but many more to subscribe themselves Thine in the Lord F. S. A Dying Fathers Living Legacy to his loving Son REligion is necessary not in the way of nature to our beeing but in the way Grace to our well-beeing In all matters of Religion get Jesus Christ to bee thy Partner Reason perfects us as wee are men Religion as wee are Christians With God it is not how Rational but Religious Religion doth not consist in externals but in the motion of the soul after God God will not bee content with outsides The saving light of the Spirit is when that which is light in the head is heat in the heart and light in the Conversation Common light comes from the Spirit but saving light is that which is with the Spirit Do not determine thy estate by head-illumination but by heart-illumination Many Christians are in the dark meerly from their light True light where ever it is there is a desire after more light the light of the righteous shineth more and more Where ever this true light is it layes hold on Christ for life as it leads us unto Christ by faith so it leads us after Christ by practice They onely that live to Christ shall finde Christ to bee gain to them at death To mee to live is Christ to dye is gain Phil. 1.21 BEfore you put your hands into the worlds bosome put your heart into Gods hands As God hath bound you by precept to pray so hee hath bound himself by promise to hear Though prayer can make no change in God yet it may make an alteration in you Wee come to learn our duty from our request Wee pray not that Gods will may bee altered but accomplished not to alter his counsel but his sentence Though God bee resolved to shew mercy yet hee requires submission Though duty doth not merit mercy yet duty is Gods order to mercy Do not rest without prayer Oh but take heed do not rest in prayer External duties are means to convey grace but no arguments to prove the truth of grace The performance of duty is no sure sign of a mans acceptation with God but the neglect of duty is a sure sign of a mans abomination unto God However all external duties are as nothing so long as a man is an old man yet the nothingness of a duty that arises from the doer must bee no prejudice to Gods Authority or breach of mans duty A new creature is not so all in all that external duties must bee neglected seeing they are means appointed by God to make him more a new creature YOur prayers must not bee offered up as righteousness but with righteousness You cannot pray without a promise Gods promises are the Saints best prayers All things promised must be prayed for under the notion of promised things Promises are the ground of prayer and the ground of faith in prayer Promises are the rules of what wee may pray for in faith and faith is the ground of what wee may expect with comfort As God gives promises to ground faith so hee addes providences to build it up As the soul lives by faith so faith lives by promise Promise A Promise is a word-revelation arising from meer mercy out of the purposes of Gods heart concerning good to fallen man in Christ Jesus You had never known Gods
heart is then most fit to pour out a prayer to God when it is lowest in the apprehensions of misery When you hear David praying for mercy it is a sign he is in misery There is no want so great but prayer will help Prayer is the most efficacious Engine a man can work by for what is in the power of God the same is in man by prayer Prayer is a calling upon God Prayer AS Christs prayer was not so ours must not be a bare manifestation of our mindes unto God but a holy arguing with God No natural man can pray he is muzzled You may be able to word it in prayer but you cannot have a prayer in the sight of God as well as in the sight of man without the Spirit of prayer Do not judge of your having the Spirit of prayer by your freedome of utterance in prayer by your constant performance of prayer nor by your extraordinary inlargements under prayer but by the inward reaching of your heart after God It is the panting soul that is the praying soul Watch unto prayer not onely to keep off drowsiness but to eye providence To pray and do nothing else is in effect to do nothing less Let not your practice bee a confutation of your prayers lest the day of supplication prove a day of provocation Remember this If you regard iniquity in your heart God will not hear your prayers Then is a good prayer when God doth not onely confirm thy hopes in prayer but conform thy life to prayer In duties wee can do nothing with God as they are our duties but God will do something in us If stoln waters bee sweet to wicked men begged meat is much more sweet to godly men Wee are too ready after wee have done well to lye down and catch cold When wee have pleased the Lord in lawful duties to please our selves in unlawful liberties ASk thy self often what sin have I left It is not the converting but the converted sinner that is the true penitent All that are converted shall bee saved but all that shall bee saved are not converted Hee that confesseth his sin and turns to it again repents of his repentance Hee that repents provides for after repentings God gives heaven to a man that is fit for heaven there is no aptness in a sinner for heaven that repenteth not Repentance REpentance is an universal turning from all sin even unto God Though repentance and turning from sin doth not deserve heaven yet it fits us for mercy and pardon It is against the Justice of God to give pardon without repentance though repentance doth not profit God yet repentance pleaseth God Such as are kinde and merciful to their sins that love not their sins should bee spoken against never repented Health and freedome from sickness is a great mercy pardon of sin is a greater for this is the ground of the other Take heed of sinning lest you teach God to punish you When you see a man sinning at a high rate do not sensure him but say Why am I so low in grace To delight in mens sins is the sport of Devils Recovery from those sins is the joy of Angels The eye of the Lord is more upon the root of sin than upon the act of sin Nature makes a soul sensible of the act of sin the Spirit of the root of sin Nature presents to us the painfulness of sin the Spirit the sinfulness of sin Nature makes sensible of gross sins the Spirit of the least sin as well as the greatest The Spirit teaches to measure every sin by the greatness of God and so no sin is little If you would keep from the act of sin avoid the occasion of sin They that confess and forsake not are onely dog-sick when they have disgorged their stomachs they will return to their vomit Every sin a beleever commits deserves damnation but no sin shall condemn but the living and continuing in it As it is not the falling into the water that drowns but lying in it so it is not the falling into sin that damns but dying in it Neither good nor bad at the last day shall bee judged by every one of his actions but by all not according to his steps but according to his wayes There will bee every dayes pollution let there bee every dayes purifying The Devil will bee at his work bee you at your work To him that knoweth to do good and doth it not to him it is sin It is not the body that sins it is the soul that sins A Christian should alwayes have this care that the iniquity of his hands may bee cleansed and the filthiness of his heart purged The Spirit of God loves clean hands and the holiness of God loves a pure heart To bee alwayes suffering and never repenting is the property of infernal spirits Wise men that set themselves against God they very wittily go to hell Could you but think what bitter pains your sweet sins will cost you would bee provident you durst not but bee innocent Sin drives a man from himself and from God Conversion it brings a man to himself and unto God when the Prodigal was come to himself hee returned to his Father Wee never go below our selves but when wee sin Wee do not go below our selves when wee suffer Holiness hath a silent excellency in it Sin hath a secret deformity No person in the world that sin doth so much defile as a childe of God and no person in the world that sin doth so ill with as a childe of God It is a spotting time let the Saints take heed The eclipse of the Sun is more observed than the shining of the Sun Sin becomes no man more ill becomes a wise man Finde out your sins before Gods judgements find you out It is good to bee beforehand with God If you are inclined to intemperance take heed of ill company When drunkenness sayes Come say No I have got a new acquaintance Wee must consider our own wayes before wee can turn our feet to Gods testimonies The house of God is the worst place to sin in The Lord is in the middest of his people there must bee no hypocrite there The City where God dwells must bee a holy City and the Mountain a holy Mountain Holiness becommeth thy house O Lord for ever There is nothing that the Law can call sin but the Gospel can pardon Do your sins reach as high as Heaven Christ is above them Christ hath as much compassion as thou hast iniquity Christ is sensible of a sinners condition every sin-labouring soul is a welcome guest to Christ But remember this sin cannot bee killed without the death of Christ nor mortified without the Spirit of Christ Conversion is your first work then mortification However Christ makes intercession in heaven for his own people hee doth not speak a word for the wicked AS the thread followeth the needle so death followeth sin Man had never fallen