rowl of the righteous At this let all thy practice let all thy pleasure levell at this so shalt thou be certain to attain that blessing of which thou canst not say how much thou dost attain so shalt thou be made both an heire of the earth and have a title of inheritance in heaven 76. DIsdain not those that are most neerly linked and allied unto thee though never so mean but let kinred perswade and procure kindness but succour them and befriend them whereinsoever thou mayest do them good as the Law of nature teacheth and Christian duty bindeth count them not a blemish to thy blood nor a burden to thy state the one argues thy scornfulnes the other thy miserableness Disdain rather the cursed condition of those monsters in nature so visible daily before our faces who being in place and power exalted warme and well furnished with all comforts yet not only affect their own flesh and blood least and most unnaturally prefer strangers before them but herein worse than Heathen and Savages can see and suffer without compassion their neerest allies by nature to abide wants and indure extremities 77. KNow thy place and maintaine the honour of thy place but by discretion not by disdaine but by making a just and meek account of others if thou wouldst be had in account by others For otherwise every one doth beare a Kingdom in his breast howsoever his outward obedience or reverence may be wrested from him Remember that thy neighbours body was framed out of the same dust and his soul breathed into him by the same God as thine was consider that you were both redeemed with the same price are subject to the same law and belong to the same master and yet all that is not all the relation between you but you are much neerer yet even members of the same mysticall body whereof Christ Jesus is the head yea members one of another Be thy place therefore never so high yet look not upon thy inferiours with so great strangeness as if the ey had never seen the foot or the heart never known the leggs 78. LOve not any worldly blessing too much of what account soever it be lay it not too neer thy heart take not too much comfort and delight in it love it with unfeignedness but notwith unmeasurableness Thou holdest it but at the will and pleasure of the great and high Landlord of all the world what knowest thou how soon it may be taken away May not the true and absolute owner of all the good things thou enjoyest do what he wil with his own So love it that thou desire not to part with it if God so please yet so love it that thou canst be content to part with it if God so please 79. GEt heavenly graces which make their possessours the better rather than earthly riches which often make men worse and seek to be furnished inwardly more than outwardly what though thy greatnes vanish thy maintenaÌ„ce decrease thy strength decay thy friends forsake thee as what in this world is not mutable what though all worldly things remaining cannot secure thy heart from griefs and fears from troubles and vexations or from thy adversaries violent pursuings and villanous practices as in such cases like Jobs friends what miserable comforters are they commonly found yet thy god iness thy wisedom thy love thy humility thy mercy patience gentleness temperance and the like will abide with thee and stand to thee and suffer no misery to seize upon thee 80. BE not like those gormandizers those slaves to their appetites whose God is their belly and whose felicity is meat and drink but retain temperance and soberness and discretion in thy repasts live not to eat and drink but eat and drink to live that thy body may not faint in the middest of necessary dutyes that thou mayest be the better able to imploy thy self in thy vocation Feed thy body to serve and not to rule to obey and not to lead the Spirit lest as we also say of fire water and money of a bad servant it prove a worse master Full meals make foggy minds and fat bodyes make lean souls 81. IF thou desire and hope for Gods blessing upon thy own labours defraud not any other any way of the fruit of his labours Restrain thy heart from coveting thy eyes from desiring thy hands from handling thy house from holding other mens substance lest whilst thou likest that which belongeth by just right to thy neighbour thou lose for ever that which is thine own lest if thou reap where another hath sown another thresh that which thou hast reaped 82. WHatsoever bad practices now adayes are every where to be seen Howsoever some closely thrive like motes in books and garments by others losses and some openly make no scruple to take bread by force out of other mens mouths corrade not possessions lands or revenews by sacrilege treason depredation plundering oppression stealth or fraud or by any indirect and unwarrantable dealing Make stay of purloyning goods unjustly but make no stay of discharging thy hands justly of them Enrich not thy self by the spoyl of others nor fill thy house with the furniture of iniquity lest thou fill it also with the vengeance of God which is the reward of iniquity Live and give of thy own substance which thou hast gotten by lawfull means though never so mean It is better vertuously to want than viciously to abound 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 There is more comfort in a little honestly gotten and heartily given than in great riches and incomes of the wicked and mighty that carry with them Gods marks and curses being wrongfully obtained and wilfully retained 83. CAst not conscience over-board though it be to reach the port of the greatest worldly contentment Let not present gladsomness abolish all thought of future happiness Account this world but an Inne to lodge in not an house to dwell in Alwayes prepare for removing here is no place for remaining 84. MAny would be at the rich mans table in this world and in Abrahams bosome in another Many would be Demas while they live and Paul when they are dead but that thou mayest be in Abrahams bosome and with Paul at thy death Be not a Dives be not a Demas whilst thou livest He that lives ill seldom dyes well but he whose life is good his death is sure not to be bad (b) Non potest malè mori qui benè vixit vâ—x potest benè mori qui malè virit Aug. de Doct. Christi 85. IN buying of truth and heavenly matters offer not slowly or niggardly be not too base a bidder but in worldly wares and earthly commodities be not too franck a chapman part not with the fear of God and faith in his providence for vanity of vanities and only vanity pay not too dear for wealth though thou win it or for preferments though thou purchase them compass not any thing with disturbing
which he useth of his goodnes towards us to convey to our feebleness good things and to make us more secure of his love They are the King of Kings gracious pardon to confirm the weakness of our faith to make good the truth of his own promises to seal up unto us forgiveness of sins Being then by Gods institution very available frequent them with a feeling of thy wants with a reverence of his ordinances with hungring after his graces with calling upon his Name to fit thee and prepare thee for that heavenly work 90. DEceive not thy own heart with a Zodiack of false signes Rest not thy self in seeking after common gifts general knowledge and illumination diversity of tongues and interpretation of tongues all which are common to all sorts of men both good and bad but labour and covet to be partaker of such gifts as are peculiar and proper to the elect do always accompany salvation and eternal life but labour to feel a certain knowledge of thy reconciliation to God in Christ the gifts of regeneration a dying unto sin and rising up to newness of life the grace of hearty prayer meekness in bearing rebukes delight in those that excel in vertue comfort in distresses and such like which the elect of God find in some measure wrought in them If these be in thee and abound thou shalt have that peace of conscience through them that passeth all understanding but if these be not in thee whatsoever knowledge thou hast besides though thou hast tasted of the heavenly gift been inlightned by the Spirit been partaker of the holy Ghost tasted of the good word of God and received the Gospel with joy thou shalt find no more sound comfort in them than many most wicked men have had who were enlightned by God but shall never be saved who attained to great and high knowledge but never grew so high as faith 91. ACcording to the truth of the Word in mercy revealed unto thee grow in grace more and more and make every day some progress to the Kingdom of heaven still press and indeavour onwards to obtain it Thou shalt find many lets and hinderances in the way which to pass over may seem to be hard in the beginning especially if they be looked upon with an eye of flesh but a setled course and continuall practice of faith and repentance will within a while make all that was laborious lightsome the matter easy and evident and the way plain and comfortable A scorner seeketh wisedome and findeth it not but knowledge is easy to him that understandeth (w) Prov. 14.6 that understandeth to desire it and humbleth himself 92. THink not thy self discharged either by Gods soveraigne or by the Priests subordinat working but that thou must also put to thy help and work out not the price but the assurance of thy own salvation (x) Philip. 2.12 but that thou must also by using the appointed means by walking in all the Commandments of God without reproof and continuall increasing in sanctification which is a signe and seal of our justification procure to thy self an assurance of thy election (y) a Pet. 1.10 but that thou must also by fighting the good fight and keeping the faith put thy self into an expection of the Crown of righteousness (z) 2 Tim. 4.8 If thou wouldst be sure to have salvation follow then must holy and carefull serving of God go before 93. HAst thou but little abilities and few gifts either of nature art or grace bestowed upon thee beholdest thou a double portion in others and a poor pittance in thy self yet be not dismay'd be not out of heart but in an humble cōtentation devout thankfulness proceed according to thy power and thy labour shall not be in vain in the Lord God desireth not toreap where he hath not sown nor requireth he much but where he hath given much He looketh not for labouring beyond thy strength nor travailing further than thy gifts can reach When Ezechiah pray'd for the people that the Lord would pardon every one that prepared his heart to seek the Lord God of his Fathers though he were not cleansed according to the purification of the Sanctuary the Lord heard him and harkened unto him and healed the people (a) 2 Chro. 30.18 19 20. 94. COntent not thy self with knowledge and understanding with utterance and discourse or with ability to dispute and determine many difficult points of Religion though these faculties be in thee very eminent and singular but consider what faith thou hast to believe and conscience to perform obedience but look what power Gods Spirit hath in thee to sanctification of life to amendment of errours and misdoings of the Spirit illuminating the fruits are often given to the wicked Balaam and Saul may Prophesie Caiphas may have some transient revelations but the fruits of the Spirit sanctifying are vouchsafed to none but onely to Gods Elect Not he that knoweth most but he that maketh best use of what he knoweth is the man whom God will know and prefer in the day of eternal retribution in the day of his glorious appearance when he shall destroy all the wicked and make happy his own for ever 95. THe free-hearted Jews stil brought either gold or silver or pretious stones or fine linnen or spices or silk or hair or one thing or other to the building of the material tabernacle and they left not building till they were prohibited by proclamation In building thy spiritual tabernacle to the Lord leave not praying reading hearing learning meditating applying practising till thou be stayed by death In thy spiritual progress repine not at thy pains past neither think much of that which is to come but keep on still Be not weary of good intents and gracious imployments 96. LEt the examples of thy neighbours dying round about thee daily thy own decaying in strength and health the many calamities in this dangerous world incite thee to apply whilst thou hast time both thy body and mind to do good stir thee up to prepare thy self both in profession and practise for thy departure so shall neither life nor death no not sudden death part thee from thy Saviour so shall death be unto thee nor death indeed but a bare name and no worse so shall death not be terrible unto thee but as welcome as quiet sleep to a wearied and over-wearied traveller 97. BE not so heartless as to fear death nor yet so senseless as to pray for death before the time appointed by the Lord thy Governour It is a sin to work thy death before men and it is a sin to wish thy death before God Indeed death which bringeth the dissolution of nature and is a passage to a better life is a welcom guest to them that are the Lords all the godly do make themselves ready to receive him to meet and intertain him Death to the wicked cometh with a sting but to the godly
hath lost it O death where is thy sting O Hell where is thy victory (b) 1 Cor. 15.55 Christ hath both abated the sting of the pain and increased the strength of the patient Joyful and glorious is the happyness to be with God but ask not thy wages before thou hast done thy work and who can tell when he hath done all that God may have something more for thee to dispatch There may be some further office of a good servant designed for thy part to perform amongst thy fellow servants It is better to live to God than to be with God If thou be with God thou shalt be glorified but if thou live to God God shall be glorified It was the Spirits special warrant that made old Simeon desire to depart If we have not the like warrant It is a great weakness to desire not to be rather than to be in misery Petition not to dy but to live and declare the works of the Lord and labour further in his imployments Ask not seek not for any means of death but seek and sue for a blessing upon all those good means that may maintain thy life to do more good therein to the Church of God 98. LEt not any of Gods Judgments either seen or heard pass without heedfulness or be observed without usefulness Let his vengeance justly fallen upon others though it do not toucht thee yet teach thee and stir thee up to amendment of life God smiteth a few to warn many and sometimes punisheth but one to profit all what a happyness shall it be if by Gods grace we so consider others punishment that we our selves may never be made examples of punishment unto others 99. MAke what use thou canst of Gods Judgments upon others and learn at their charge and by their stripes to get some instruction to thy self Meditate often upon the fearful Judgments of God which he bringeth upon the world that they may bring thy heart to a greater dread and reverence of his holy Majesty but especially ponder upon the last judgment in the end of the world and of thy particular judgment at the hour of death that so having made thy peace before hand with God by the mediation of thy blessed Lord and Saviour thou mayst be sure to escape Gods wrath and be saved for if the tree fal towards the South or towards the North in the place where the tree falleth there it shall be (c) Ecclesi 11.3 As the tree falleth so it must ly whether it be to the North of Gods Judgments or to the South of his mercy If the tree fall towards the South if a man dy in faith or towards the North without faith there it lyeth As God doth find thee when he doth call thee so doth he judge thee 100. DAily consider and daily practise to mind thy eternall life in this thy temporal life and have thy conversation in heaven whil'st thou walkest upon the earth by using this world as though thou didst not (d) Phil. â— 20 use it (e) 1 Cor. 7.31 having another respect in the use of it than for it self and not only thinking or talking or wishing of heaven not only meditating or discoursing of God but doing Gods will as the Angels in heaven readily willingly faithfully without let murmur or deceipt by seeking those things which are above where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God by setting thy affections on things above not on things on the earth (f) Coloss 3.1 2. whatsoever thou wouldst do at the last gasp and groan when thou art dying do the same every day whilst thou art living He that would live when he is dead must dy when he is alive Proverbs 4.13 TAke fast hold of instruction let her not go keep her for she is thy life 2. Epist of John vers 9. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ He hath both the Father and the Son Cyprianus Epist Lib. 1. Epist 4. Humanos errores mendâ—â—â—â— relinquamus in veritate Dei maneamus Let us leave the errours and lyes of men and abide in the truth of God FINIS
of his Saviour to his soule as the medicine to the malady 53. IF the departing of others from their faith whom thou conceivedst more likely to have departed from their lives Sathans alleging and aggravating thine infirmities affronting affrighting thee with Gods Justice troubles and persecutions one after another like Job's messengers shake and stagger thee make thee question thy own faith yet if with thy faith in God thou feelest in thy self a hatred of sin and a desire of righteousness which refraineth thee from much wickedness and stirreth thee up to some works of vertue although there remain in thee the relicts of sin yea a motion unto sin contrary to the Spirit of God which also breaketh out sometimes into actuall sins yet if thy conscience shall not upbraid thee with sin wilfull and presumptuous if thy hearts delight hath always been in Gods Statutes thy study to thy strength to abandon all iniquity soundly without guile and humbly without pride It is a hand and seal unto thy soule to make it sure thou shalt be saved 54. DOst thou doubt and fear that thou truly lovest not grace and salvation and yet lovest all the ordinances of God for mans salvation and yet hungrest and thirstest after the word and Sacraments and all other Christian exercises Be not deceived be not discouraged These are sure effects of sincerity These things make it apparent that thy doubts are of no weight and thy fears frivolous Thou couldst not with so great care and circumspection seek if thou wert not willing to find Thou couldst not with so great speed and resolution travell if thou hadst not hearty mind to thy journeys end even the salvation of thy soul [d] 1 Pet. 1.9 55. DOst thou feel sometimes a dolefull change in thy mind Is thy soul cast down and disquieted within thee Doth thy faith sometimes fearfully stagger Art thou ready to give over thy hold of God Yet out of his gracious goodness will he never give over the hold that he hath of thee His anchor is so firmly setled and fixed upon the ground of thy heart that no stormes or tempests can shake or loose it Art thou prone sometimes to leave God yet is he resolved not to leave thee or to lose thee The Lord hath bought thee at too high a price to part upon such low termes from thee 56. SEest thou the wicked so forward to put evill motions in practice that they no sooner apprehend them but approve them no sooner approove them than execute them yea proceed and continue in them cheerfully and constantly Tell not them of Beares or Lyons in the way They are busy in pursuing their game and they will get it whatsoever it cost them for they have so decreed and set it down Oh be thou as ready to intertaine the good motions of Gods holy Spirit Esteem of them highly and imbrace them heartily practise them freely and faithfully and return the strength to the giver so shal God plentifully powr down his grace upon thee so shall thou never want favour after favour God will never fail to add good to him who imployes that good which he hath received Imploy all those gifts thou hast and look for more Imploy them not and look to lose what thou hast whosoever hath to him shall be given and he shall have more abundance [e] Matth. 13.12 and whosoever hath not from him shall be taken even that which he seemeth to have [f] Luke 8.18 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 57. BE not a sluggard in any good calling and much less in thy calling to Christianity notwithstanding all discouragements temptations and oppositions to the contrary that may stand up in the way to hinder thee The calling of a Christian can least of all others stand with idleness If the idle mans belly shall be pinched and starved for want of food [g] Prov. 6.11 and his back cloathed with raggs [h] Prov. 23.21 If by doing nothing he shall bring himself to nothing and having no calling poverty have a calling to arrest him How shall the idle Christians soule speed what regard what intertainment shall that have wish not only for grace and salvation but work out thy salvation with fear and trembling [i] Philip. 2.12 If every languishing and lazy flash of every wisher and woulder were enough there would be swarmes of reprobates in heaven flocks and flights of people would never fall into destruction if words and desires without religious and righteous deeds would preserve them from it Balaam that wretched covetous hypocrit wished that he might dy the death of the righteous [k] Numb 23.10 but he took no care to live the life of the righteous which might have assured him of dying well The foolish Virgins would have gladly gone in with the Bridegroom they hoped after oil of the wiser Virgins and begged hard to be let in if that might have prevailed But they bewailed their want and went to buy oil for their Lamps when it was too late but they would not be at the paines and charges to provide themselves of oil in due time but they had it not in readiness when the Lord came suddenly in the night and therefore they reaped the soure fruit of their sweet security they had the gates of the Bridegroom and the door of eternall life shut up against them and were excluded into perpetuall darknes where is weeping and gnashing of teeth [l] Matth. 25.2 3 c. 58. IN all the actions and transactions of thy life Let thy projects be pious and righteous and thy practices proportionable and allowable to aime at the best ends by by-wayes is schismaticall to walk in the most worthy wayes to wry intents is hypocriticall to desire neither lawfull works nor lawfull wayes is Atheisticall but to labour at least for the right prize by the right path is alwayes both comfortable and commendable is both the office and wisdom of a Christian 59. LEt there be in thy purpose sincerity in thy practice integrity in thy disposition diligence in thy proceeding perseverance Let thy dutyes both to God and man be without dissembling without diminishing without repining without revolting 60. BE alwayes rich in the work of the Lord [m] 1 Cor. 15.58 ready to distribute willing to communicate [n] 1 Tim. 6.18 Be ready to every work [o] Titus 3.1 which either the common duty of Christianity or thy own private calling requireth of thee or with such sacrifices God is well pleased [p] Heb. 13.16 and faith very probably prooved The historicall faith or faith of miracles may appear without good works as in the Devils who have one of them and in Judas that damned reprobate who had both of them but the true justifying faith that ingraffs thee into Christ that reconciles thee to God that quits thy sin and saves thy soul can never be known to others nor to thy self but by good works There may happily
look back upon Peter with his Spirit as well as with his ey thereby to work upon his conscience He was not moved He was not touched with compunction He had no heart at all to go out nor will to mourn and weep bitterly for his sins 83. SEest thou thy neighbour drawn into a dangerous sin draw not out thy stilletto of final condemnation upon him look not upon him without hope deprave not his former graciousness as though it had never been real nor conclude his future reprobation as though he could never be righteous what knowest thou but that he that is fallen may rise again as a member that is out of joint may be set in again And what knowest thou but that the same which is to day his sin may be to morrow thy wickedness reprove him and admonish him thou mayest and must according to thy office and opportunity So thou begin and proceed with a charitable construction and Christian compassion but to aggravate and amplify slips or falls as worldlings use to do and to sentence offendours to the pit of hell that is a power for the potter not for the clay (o) Non est judicium luti sed figuli Aug. de correp grat cap. 5. Thou hast no part nor fellowship in that authority 84. BEholdest thou any slain together in the field or drowned together in the Sea or any way els come to the same destruction together yet conclude them not equally vertuous or vicious or their rewards after death alike happy or miserable For their lives may be contrary though their deaths be the same or though they agree a long time in their race yet may they differ before their races end The two malefactours that suffered with our Saviour on the Cross had the like external punishment but not the like eternal condemnation in their death they were not divided they both dyed a violent death but in their souls they were plainly parted the one went to heaven the other to hell 85. JUdge not any man by his distemperature in his sickness but by his disposition in his health or by the strangenes of his death but by the strictness of his life whereof the constant course is the best rule whereby to conjecture his future estate unless thou wilt be judged thy self to be full of malice and empty of charity They are usual mischiefs and not extravagant misdemeanours No not raving and blaspheming in case of violent disease disturbing the head and brain that can make any probable argument or likely signe of a son of perdition 86. ABhor that pe remptory censure that this man is a Saint and that man is a sinner he the servant of God and he the child of the Devill For who is able without special revelation to say determinately and assuredly touching another that he is the child of the Devill or that he is the Child of God cannot grace easily cut off the oldest and strongest entail of wickedness Are there not many Wolves within the very Church whose hypocrisy the Lord will in time discover and are there not many sheep without the sheepfold of Christ which God in his time will call (p) August hom 45. upon John What man is there of so weak a faith or so wicked a life but that one day Christ out of his infinite goodness may call him and heal him How far was Paul out of the way and in what wrong and violent course in his former years He breathed out threatnings and slaughter against the Disciples of the Lord (q) Acts 9.1 he was a blasphemour and an oppressour (r) 1 Tim. 1.13 But was he so alwayes Did not God reduce him and reform him in his later years whilst he was striking was he not stricken into his conversion and of a ravenous and most cruell wolfe was he not made first a mild sheep and then a most diligent and excellent shepheard And where is he that dare take upon him so to judge of another mans future estate as to say certainly that he is damned or he is saved Is it not more than he hath any warrant for Who art thou that so judgest anothers servant Is it not to his own master only who perfectly knows him to whom he stands or falls and not to thee who art not able to know his heart Is not his own master only that one Law-giver who is able to save and to destroy (s) James 4.12 Who art thou that takest such authority and severity upon thee that dealest so unmercifully with thy brother He is a sinner and so art thou a sinner so either thou art or hast been or mayest be Judge thy self try and examin thy own works search and sift them Judge thy self and judge not him lest thou be condemned of the Lord for not judging and judging 87. BEfore thou receive the holy Sacrament whose price is unvaluable and the vertue no less than the Communion of the Body and Blood of Christ (t) 1 Cor. 10.16 To the partaking whereof no man should rashly and rudely thrust himself or come without religious fear and trembling lest instead of a seal of Gods mercy he receive a pledge of his wrath if thou be not fit for such a favour of so high and holy a nature endeavour to make thy self fit and the way to make thy self fit is examination of thy self in what case thou standest Examin thy repentance whether it be sincere thy purpose whether it be stedfast thy faith whether it be lively thy thankfulness whether it be real and thy charity whether it be generall 88. BE frequent and forward in coming to the holy Sacrament a visible pledge of Gods grace and holy covenant with thee a Seal to assure thee of the performance of the gracious promises made to thee in the Word a part of the most delicate and delightful souls food that ever was tasted or that can be in the world Deprive not thy self of so excellent a help both to provoke obedience and to strengthen faith and to increase the comfort of the inward man Make preparation but make not excuse Thou wouldst think thy self wrong'd if having furnished thy table and provided liberally for thy guests any one of them frowardly should reject thy kindness what a wrong is it then to refuse the table and feast of Almighty God It is no less danger to abstaine from the Lords Supper wilfully than it is to receive it unworthily 89. WHat though Gods gifts be sure without sealing as he himself is sure without changing what though the Sacraments of themselves cannot confer grace ex opere operato by the work wrought that is by force and vertue of the work and Word done and said in the Sacrament as the Papists affirm (u) Conc. Trident. Sess 6. cap. 8. Rhem. Acts 22. Sec. 1. Ro. 6. Sect. 5. blasphemously giving that power to the creature which belongeth only to the Creatour yet are they instruments of Gods merc es
watching when the burdens were increased and the straw was taken away then came Moses [k] Exod. 5.20 when the Israelits were hedged in on either side with mountains when they had the Sea before them and the Egyptians marching behind them and there appeared no way no remedy no hope of subterfuge in the sight of man when Moses warrant might seem now to express rather a dream of desolation than a day of deliverance Then did the Lord cause the Sea to part in two and stand like walls on the right hand and on the left till the Israelites had passed over on dry land and when Pharao followed he made them joyne againe and drowned him and all his Then did God oh admire both his might and his mercy save his servants and destroy their enemies [l] Exod. 14.30 to the terrour of all those that shall persecute the Church of God and his people 93. SEest thou a man in distress in troubles crosses dangers If thou knowest him not censure him not censure not his manners by his misery remembring and considering that neither all wicked men are so punished nor all so punished are wicked men I meane wicked above others By prophaneness judge of calamities not by calamities of prophaneness 94. MUrmur not in troubles storm not in afflictions as many do knowing from whom they come and to whom they oft'nest come better than many do Do'st thou know they come from God darest thou once repine Do'st thou know how the like are accomplished in all the Saints which are or have been or shall be in the world and darest thou look to be spared who in these thoughts would grudge that his case is no better and not rather comfort himself that it is no worse who would not rest contented with that which is the pleasure of his Father and the portion of all his brethren 95. IN all thy afflictions howsoever suppullulating one after another and exceeding each other in degrees bristle not up thy affections against the pleasure or proceeding of the Almighty whose judgments thou hast so many times deserved Look not so much upon thy sorrowes as upon thy sins and freely acknowledge that not only in that manner but in a greater measure God might justly punish thee He might plague thee more severely because thou art sinfull but he punisheth thee mildly because he is mercifull because his judgments are alwayes mingled with mercy because his justice and goodness go still together 96. AS God chastiseth thee because he loveth thee because he would separate from thee that which he misliketh the dross of thy corruptions as gold is fined in the fornace so love thou him because he chastiseth thee There is no surer signe of thy having the spirit of patience and of thy being translated from death to life than when his mercy bringeth forth fear in thee and his justice love He loveth the party heartily that can love him when he wrongeth him though God can do us no wrong He loveth God unfeignedly that can love him when he scourgeth him 97. WHatsoever Sathan often suggests to men beset and encompassed with any trouble conclude not the estate of the wicked to be the better because they live for the present in pleasure and prosperity Neither esteem the condition of the godly to be the worse because they abide for a while under adversity For if the gold must pass the furnace shall not the dross be rejected If the good corn must be ground in a rough Mill and baked in a hot oven before it become good bread shall not the chaff be burned up with fire unquenchable Conflicts and cares fightings without and fears within m 2 Cor. 7.5 The outward and inward molestations of good men do not bring them behind the wicked but rather shew that the sufferings and sorrowes of the wicked are yet behind 98. IF thou seest any mourn more than is meet or more impatient than thou hast commonly seen for the loss of their yoak-fellowes or children brethren or kinred more weakly complaining that they are gon than wisely considering whether they are gon Yet cast them not off with thy uncharitable censures lest thou condemn the righteous with the wicked but bear a part of their burdens upon thy Christistian counsels and comforts and contribution if thou be able and they want it or at the least upon thy prayers that they with thee and thou with them like feeling members of the same infirmities may sustain your crosses by your mutuall supplications and obtain your assistance by the precious blood of your blessed Saviour 99. BE not willing to sin nor unwilling to suffer for sin Be not impatient if God punish thee a little when thou hast provok'd him much but be drawn and driven by it neerer unto God and unto his Word but humble thy self with thankfulness under the mighty hand of God that out of his great indulgence his afflicting of thee is tolerable that he doth not exercise that extremity upon thee which he justly might and ingenuously confess with holy Jeremy that it is of the Lords mercyes that it ariseth from the abundance of his favour that thou art suffered still to enjoy the benefit of life that thou art not utterly consumed a Lament 3.22 that thou art not according to thy deserts strucken dead upon a sudden for thy transgressions 100. ARt thou troubled and grieved vexed and oppressed with changes and armyes of sorrowes Doth thy heart in the judgment of flesh so faint within thee with pinching fear and pensive heaviness that knowing not how much thou art able to bear by the mediation and strength of CHRIST thou thinkest thou canst no longer hold out unless God help thee by such a season Now what is the wisest man that he should presume to assigne unto the only wise God his stemming Is it meet that man should direct God as if it were his duty to minister to him or as if there wanted discretion in him to know when to measure out his favours Doth not the governour of all the world best discerne his own opportunities as for justice and judgment so for mercy and compassion It is good saith the Prophet that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord [o] Lament 3.26 prescribe not unto the Lord the time of thy deliverance but patiently leave it to his determination Fit not the time to thy self but fit thy self to the time that he hath appointed APHORISMS OR BREVIATS of Speculations THE SECOND CENTURIE 1. HAving sincerly prepared and devourly disposed thy self according to thy skil and power for how dare any man speak to Almighty God without premeditation Be not out out of heart or hope but make thy addresses in the Name of Jesus to the Throne of Grace with an humble confidence and holy cheerfulness Let thy prayers proceed from a lively faith against all faintness from a stirring zeal against all slackness from a
faithfull may also be prosperous in effecting their purposes so a lay-man may become a beneficiall Church-man so a private person may do good service to his soveraigne and all within the precincts of his jurisdiction 10. IT is not onely not orderly but very odious for mean men to pry too far into the counsels or practices of Princes of which for want both of knowledge and warrant they are not meet to be judges It is his protestation that had the holy Ghost that his heart was not hauty nor his eyes lofty neither did he exercise himself in great matters or in things too high for him but he behaved and quieted himself as a child that is weaned of his mother [d] Psal 131.1 2. But art thou therefore free from regarding any publick affaires Is there no kind of inquiring after them required of thee beeing a private man Now be thou never so meane yet art thou bound both in duety and wisdom as far as thou canst by good means attain unto it to inform thy self of states-matters that are not impertinent unto thee not out of meer curiosity like the heathen Athenians whose eares itched after strange and new reports who gave themselves to little els to nothing els as too many do now but to hear and tell newes but the better to direct thy prayers according to the occurrences both for State and Church Not out of envy to either Not out of a plotting humor how to dispose of the Scepter but out of an earnest desire that the Scepter may rightly dispose of thee and thine being assured that Princes are fingers of that great hand that governeth all the world 11. HOwsoever the persecutors of these times pretend piety and the destroyers boast of devotion Howsoever they bear themselves in hand or would make others believe that they are the onely children of God and truly religious yet never think them truly reconciled to God who hate or wrong any of his servants He that loveth not his brother abideth in death whosoever hateth his brother is a murtherer and ye know that no murtherer hath eternall life abiding in him [e] 1 John 3.14 15. They that are reconciled to God against whom they formerly contended and are at variance with sin with whom they formerly conjoined cannot but be sound and kind and peaceable and and favourable towards all those who are sins foes and Gods followers 12. BElieve not all those seeming sanctificeturs who count zeal superstition and dutifull adoration idolatry those who detest the errours of Popery who loath to be accounted Papists and would take it as a great injury done them to be so termed for many such now adayes if we weigh their practices live more like unto Atheists conceive not all those to be truly righteous who cry out against idolatry who would think themselves greatly slandered to be reputed worshippers of a false God for many such in these times if we look to their fruits are found rather to worship no God at all 13. ACcount it not enough to keep thy self from idols or to abhor Idols if thou keep not thy self from sacrilege and coveting of goods set apart to holy use for els thou runnest but from one rock unto another from loving the false God to the spoyling of the true God which seemeth to be much worse than the worshipping of Images and giving our selves to the sin of idolatry 14. TAke heed and beware of covetousnes saith our Saviour [f] Luke 12.15 As if he had said it is a subtill Serpent it assaulteth secretly it entereth like a friend it hath pretences many and fair but how much more than hadst thou need to beware of sacrilege which is a fruit of extreme covetousnes and which is the main engine the Devill hath to overthrow the Churches If thou hast never been sacrilegious pray God thou never mayest If thou hast add not thirst unto drunkenness wallow not in the mire any more labour to get pardon in the merits and glorious righteousnes of Jesus Christ repent restore ask mercy and never be sacrilegious again It was a meek and pious resolution of Elihu one of Jobs friends If I have done wickedly I will do no more [g] Job 34.32 will many a mean Christian rather starve than steal then will a constant convert a resolute professour say I will begg I will starve I will rather dy than be sacrilegious for the which sin the wrath of God shall surely demolish all my oother estate and I in mine or I and mine be sure to come to ruine Achan dreamed of a golden day when he had gotten a goodly Babylonish garment two hundred shekels of silver and a wedge of gold of fifty shekels weight which should have been all delivered into the Lords treasury which God had set apart for himself and would not have converted to the private profit of any He thought to have been rich upon a sudden He thought to have benefited himself and his children for ever by so brave a booty but it fell out to his own destruction and the destruction of all that belonged unto him but he with all his were stoned with stones and burned with fire for his labour [h] Joshua 7.24 25. 15. THe name of a traitour is most odious amongst all men heathens [i] Cicer. Catil 4. Valer. Max. lib. 9. Tacit. Annal lib. 1. as well as Christians no man can abide to be so accounted Beware then especially that thou be not a traitour to God by unfruitfull purloining and obstinate detaining any thing that is his It is a vain thing to say thou thou art not a traitour thou hatest the very name of treason if thou nourishest open rebellion against God who is the King of Kings such as lard their leaner revenews with fat collops sacrilegiousle cut out of the sides or flanks of the Church such as perpetually defraud God of his revenews his tithes and offerings and peremptorily live upon his dues and ancient demeanes are without question rank traitors and we need crave no pardon if we boldly avouch and aver them to be children of rebellion Neither yet if we say that if we consider them unpassionately Theudas and Judas of Galilee [k] Act. 5.36 37. shall be justified as no rebells in comparison 16. THink not with the new-fangled in these dayes that the abuse of things ought alwayes to take away the use that every thing abused by wicked men is therefore not to be used by sober men for then the Sun the Moon and the Starrs should be pulled out of heaven in as much as the whole host of heaven hath been worshipped as Gods [l] Deur 4.19 Jer. 7.18 Then the holy Scriptures must be forsaken which the tempter abused and holy prayers which the Pharisees abused and the holy Sacraments Baptism and the Lords Supper which the Corinthians abused Then Civill conversation of life and holy Christian exercises reading meditation conference fasting almes should be cast