profession turn aside and desert the cause of Christ 2 Tim. 2. 19. 5 When God hides his face in a suffering hour Ier. 17. 17. 6 When Satan falls upon us with strong temptations to question the grounds of our sufferings or the Souls interest in Christ Now t is heard to keep the heart from turning back and the steps from declining Gods ways The eleventh question then shall be this 11. Case How the heart may be kept from relapsing under the greatest sufferings for religion If the bitterness of sufferings at any time cause thy Soul to distaste the way of God and take up thoughts of forsaking it stay thine heart under that temptation by propounding these 8. questions solemnly to it 1. Quest. What reproach and dishonour shall I pour upon Christ and religion by deserting him at such a time as this This will proclaim to all the world that how much soever I have boasted of the promises yet when it comes to the tryal I dare hazard nothing upon the credit of them and how will this open the mouths of Christs enemies to blaspheme O better I had never been born then that worthy name should be blasphemed through me shall I furnish the triumphs of the uncircumcised shall I make mirth in Hell O if I did but value the name of Christ as much as many a wicked man values his own name I would never endure to see it exposed to such contempt will proud dust and ashes venture death yea Hell rather then a blot upon their name and shall I venture nothing to salve the honour and reputation of Christ 2. Quest. Dare I violate my conscience to save my flesh who shall comfort me when conscience wounds me What comfort is there in life liberty or friends when peace is taken away from the inner man when Constantius threatned to cut off Samosatenus his right hand if he would not subscribe somewhat that was against his conscience he held up both his hands to the messenger that was sent saying he shall cut off both rather then I will do it farewel all peace joy and comfort from that day forward â—ad Zimri peace that slew his master said Iezebel so say I here had Iudas peace had Spira peace and shall you have peace if you tread in their steps O consider what you do 3. Quest. Is not the publick interest of Christ and religion infinitely more then any private interest of my own T is a famous passage that of Terentius Captain to Adrian the Emperour he presented a petition to Adrian that the Christians might have a temple by themselves to worship God apart from the Arrians the Emperour tore his petition and threw it away bidding him to aske somewhat for himself and it should be granted but he modestly gathered up the pieces of his petition again and told him if he could not be heard in Gods caâ—se he would never ask any thing for himself Yea even Tully though an Heathen could say ne immortalitatem quidem contra rem publicam he would not accept even of immortality it self against the Common-wealth O if we had more publick we should not have such cowardly spirits 4. Qu. Did Iesus Christ serve me so when for my sake he exposed himself to far greater sufferings than can be before me His sufferings were great indeed he suffered from all hands in all his offices in every member not only in his body buâ— in his Soul yea the suffâ—rings of his Soul were the very Soul of his sufferings witness the bloody sweat in the garden witness the heart melting and heaven rending outcry upon the crâ—ss My God my God why hast thou forsaken me and yet he flinched not he endured the cross despising the shame Alas what are my sufferings compared with Christs he hath drunk up all that vinegar and gall that would make my suffeâ—ings bitter When one of the Martyrs was asked why he was so merry at his death Oh said he it is because the Soul of Christ was so heavy at his death did Christ bear such a burden for me with unbroken patience and constancy and shall I shrink back for momentary and light affictions for him 5. Qu. Is not eternal life worth the suffering of a moments pain If I suffer with him I shall raign with him O how will men venture life and limb for a fading crown swim through seas of blood to a throne and will I venture nothing suffer nothing for the Crown of Glory that fadâ—th not away my dog will follow my horses heels from morning to night take many a weary step through mâ—re and dirt rather then leave me though at night all he gets by it is but bones and blows If my Soul had any true greatness any sparks of generosity in it how would it despise the sufferings of â—he way for the glory of the end how would it break down all difficulties before it whilâ—st by an eye of faith it sees the forerunner who is already entred standing as it were upon the walls of Heaven with the Crown in his hand saying he that overcometh shall inherit all things come on then my Soul come on there is eternal life laid up for them that by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory honour and immortality Rom. 2. 7. 6. Qu. Can I so easily cast off the socieâ—y and company of the Saints and give the right hand of fellowship to the wicked How can I part with such lovely companions as these have been how often have I been benefited by their counsels Ezra â—0 3. how oâ—ten refreshed warmed and quickned by their company Eccles. 4. 10 11. How often have I fasted and prayed with them what sweet counsel have I taken with them and gone to the house of God in company and shall I now shake hands with them and say farewell all ye Saints for ever I shall never be among you more come drunkards swearers â—â—asphemers persecutors you shall be my everlasting companions O rather let my body and Soul be rent a sunder then that ever I should say thus to the excellent of the earth in whom is all my delight Quest. 7. Have I seriously considered the terrible Scripture Comminations against back-sliders O my heart darest thou turn back upon the very points of such threatnings as these Ier. 17 5 6. Thus saith the Lord cursed be the man that trusteth in man and maketh flesh his arm and whose heart departeth from the Lord for he shall be like the Heath in the Desart and shall not see when good cometh i. e. the curse of God shall wither him root and branch And Heb. 14. 26 27. If we sin wilfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth there remaineth no more Sacrifice for sins but a certain fearful looking for of Iudgement and fiery indignation which shall devour the adversaries And again verse 38. If any man draw back my soul shall have no pleasure in him as if he should say take
him World take him Devil for your own I have no delight in him O who dare draw back when God hath hedged up the way with such terrible threats as these Quest. 8. Can I look Christ in the face at the Day of Iudgment if I desert him now He that is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful Generation of him shall the Son of man be ashamed when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy Angels Mark 8. 38. Yet a little while and you shall see the sign of the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with Pâ—wer and great Glory the last Trump shall sound the dead both small and great even all that sleep in the dust shall awake and come before that great white Throne on which Christ shall sit in that day And now do but imagine thou saw'st the trembling knees and quivering lips of guilty sinners imagine thou heardest the dreadful sentence of the Judge upon them Go ye cursed c. and then a cry the weeping wailing and wringing of hands that there shall be wouldst thou desert Christ now to protract a poor miserable life on earth If the word of God be true if the sayings oâ— Christ be 〈◊〉 and â—aithful this shall be the portion of the Apostaâ—e 'T is an easie thing to stop the mouth of Conscience now but wilâ— it be easâ—â— to stop the mouth of the Judge then Thus keep thy heart that it depart not from the living God Seas 12. The twelfth season of looking diligently to our hearts and keeping them with greatest care is the time of sickness When a Child of God dâ—aws â—nigh to eternity when there are but a few sands more in the upper part of his Glass to run down Now Satan busily bestitâ—s himself of him it may be said as of the natural Serpent nunquaem nisi moriens producitur in longum he is never seen at his full length till dying and now his great designe since he cannot win the soul from God is to discourage and make it unwilling to go to God though the gracious soul with Iacob should then rouse up its self upon a dying bed and rejoyce that the marriage day of the Lamb is now almost come though it should then say with dying Austen Vivere renuo ut Christovivam I despise life to be with Christ. Or as dying Milius when one asked him whether he were willing to dye O said he Iâ—â—ius est nolle mori qui nolit ire ad Christum let him be unwilling to dye who is unwilling to go to Christ. But O! what shrinking from death What loathness to depart may sometimes indeed too frequently be observed in the people of God How loath are some of them to take Death by the cold hand If such a liberty were indulged to us not to be dissolved till we dissolve our selves when should we say with S. Paul I desire to be dissolved Well then the last Case shall be this Case 12. How the people of God in times of sickness may get their hearts loose from all earthly ingagements and perswade them into a willingness to dye And there are seven arguments which I shall urge upon the people of God at such a time as this to make them cheerfully entertain the messengers of death and dye as well as live like Saints and the first is this 1. Argu. First the harmlesness of death to the people of God Tâ—ough it keep its dart it hath lost its sting a Saint to allude to that Isai. 11. 8. May play upon the hole of this aspe and put his hand into the Cockatrices den Death is the Cockatrice or Aspe the grave is his hole or den a Saint need not fear to put his hand boldly into it it hath left and lost its sting in the sides of Christ 1 Cor. 15. 55. O death where is thy sting why art thou afraid O Saint that this sickness may be thy death as long as thou knowest that the death of Christ is the death of death indeed if thou didst dye in thy sins as Ioh. 8. 21. If death as a King did reign over thee Rom. 5. 14. if it could â—eed upon thee as the Lyon doth upon the prey he hath taken as Psal. 49. 14. If hell followed the pale horse as it is Rev. 6. 8. Then thou mightest well startle and shrink back from it but when God hath put away thy sins from thee as far as the East is from the West Psal. 103. 12. As long as there is no other evil left in death for thee to encounter with but bodily pain as long as the Scriptures represent it to thee under such harmless and easy notions as the putting off thy cloaths 2 Cor. 5. 2. And lying down to sleep upon thy bed Isai. 57. 2. Why shouldest thou be afraid there is as much difference betwixt death to the people of God and others as betwixt the Unicorns horn when it is upon the head of that fierce beast and when it is in the Apothecaries shops where it is made salubrious and medicinal 2. Arg. Thy heart may he kept from shrinking back at such a time as this by considering the necessity of death in order to the full fruition of God Wheâ—her thou art willing to dye or no I assure thee there is no other way to obtain the full satisfaction of thy Soul and compleat its happiness till the hand of death do thee the kind offiâ—e to draw aside the curtain of flesh thy Soul cannot see God this animal life stanâ—s betwixt him and thee 2 Cor. 5. 6. Whilest we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord. Thy body must be refined and cast into a new mould else that new wine of heavenly glory would break it Paul in his highest rapture 2 Cor. 12. 4. when he heard things unutterable was then but as a stander by a looker on not admitted into the company as one of them but as the Angels are in our assemblies so was Paul in that glorious assembly above and no otherwise and yet even for this he must as it were be taken out of the body uncloathed for a little time to have a glimpse of that glory and then put on his cloathes again O then Who would not be willing to dye for a full sight and enjoyment of God Methinks thy soul should look and sigh like a Prisoner through the Grates of this Mortality O that I had wings like a Dove then would I fly away and be at rest Most men need patience to dye but a Saint that understands what death admits him to should rather need patience to live methinks he should often look out and listen on a death-bed for his Lords coming and when he receives the news of his approaching change should say The voice of my Beloved behold he cometh leaping over the Mountains skipping over the Hills Cant. 2. 8. Arg. 3. Another Argument perswading to
A Saint Indeed OR The great work of a Christian Opened and Pressed from Prov. 4. 23. BEING A seasonable and proper expedient for the recovery of the much decayed Power of Godliness among the Professors of these times By Iohn Flavell M. of the Gospel Unusquisque a deo constitutus est sui cordis tanquam castri custos defensor contra suos hostes Si argo non implorato auxilio non exspectato succursu adeo ad primam obsidionis castrametationem castrum tradat hosti crimen admittit prodition is manifestum quid igitur dicendum de traditione clavium bujus castri antequam obsidione prematur clavis est cogitato haec enim cor aperit cogitationem velvere est clavem cordis ad apertionem ipsius torquere ut tandem re seratur Ames de Conscien p. 154. LONDON Printed by W. R. and are to be sold by Robert Boulter at the Turks head in Bishops-gate street near the Great Iames. 1668. The Epistle Dedicatory To my dearly beloved and longed for the Flock of Jesus Christ in Dartmouth over whom the Holy Ghost hath made me an Overseer sound judgment true zeal and unstained purity is heartily wished My Dear Friends THere are three sad sights with which our eyes should continually affect our hearts The 1 Is to behold in every place so many prophane and dissolute ones who bear the very image of Sathan the face of whose conversation plainly discovers what they are and whither they are going Philip. 3. 18. 19. These look like themselves the Children of wrath The 2 is to see so many cursed hypocrites artificially disguising themselves and with marvellous dexterity acting the parts of Saints so that even a judicious eye may sometimes mistake the Similar Workings of the Spirit on them for his saveing workings on others to hear such a person conferring praying bewailing his corruptions and talking of his experiences would easily perswade a man to believe that he hath the heart as well as the face of a sincere Christian For Sic oculos sic ille manus sic ora ferebat So the people of God doe speak so they pray and even so they open their conditions these look like Saints but are none The 3 Is to see so many real Saints in whom the Spirit of truth is who get through the impetuous workings of their corruptions and neglecting of the watch over their hearts doe often fall into such scandalous practises that they look like hy pocrits though they are not so These are 3 sad sights indeed and oh that my head were waters and mine eyes fountains of tears that I might weep abundantly over them all For the first I would mourn heartily considering that they so continsing must be damned eternally 2 Thes. 1. 8 9. 1 Cor. 6. 9. For the second I would both weep and tremble considering that they so abideing must be damned doubly Matth. 24. 51 And for the third no less than any of the rest because though they themselves may and shall be saved yet their examples make fast the bonds of death upon both the former Matth. 18. 7. 2 Sam. 12. 13. 14. Alas that ever they should shed the blood of others souls for whom Christ shed his own blood that ever they should be cruel to others who have found Christ so kind to them I know they dare not doe it directly and intentionally but so it proves occasionally and eventually suffer me here to digress a little and expostulate with these prejudiced and hardned Souls I will presently return to you again O why doe you mischief your own Souls by other mens examples because they stumble and break their shins will you fall and break your necks I desire all such as harden themselves by these things and take up a good opinion of their own deplorable condition would soberly consider and answer these three Queries 1. Qu. Doth religion any way countenance or patronize the sinful practises of its professors or doth it not rather impartially and severely condemn them it is the glory of the Christian Religion that it is pure and undefiled Jam. 1. 27. no doctrine so holy Psal. 19. 8. nor doth any make more provision for an holy life Titus 2. 11 12. Indeed there is a case wherein we may charge the evil practices of men upon their principles but that is when their practices naturally flow from and necessarily follow their principles as for example if I see a Papist sin boldly I may charge it upon his principles for they set pardons to sale and so make way for looseness If I see an Arminian â—light the grace of God and proudly advance himself I may cry shame upon his principles which directly lead to it but can I doe so where such practices are condemned and provided against by their own avowed principles that commit them 2. Qu. Is it not a most irrational thing to let fly at religion because of the scandalous ways of some whilst in the mean time you wholy slight and overlook the holy and heavenly conversations of many others are all that profess godliness loose and careless in their lives no some are an ornament to their profession and the glory of Christ and why must the innocent be condemned with the guilty why the eleven for one Iudas 3. Qu. If you condemn religion because of the scandalous lives of some that profess it must you not then cast off all religion in the world and turn down-right Atheists surely this is the consequent of it for what religion is there but some that profess it walk contrary to that their profession and then as Constantine told the Novatian you must set up your ladder and goe to heaven by your self But alas it is not our printed apologies for religion but the viâ—ible reformations of its professors that must both salve its honour and remove those fatal stumbling blocks at which the blind world strikes and falls into eternal perdition Now there are two ways by which this may be effected First by convincing the consciences of professors of their miscarriages and the evil and agravations of them Secondly by medicateing the heart and cleansing the fountain whence they proceed in the first of these a worthy and eminent servant of Christ bath lately laboured holding a clear Gospel glasse before the faces of professors which truly represents their spots and blemishes If he that reads it will consider apply and practise it shall doubtless turn to his salvation but if it turn to no good account to him that reads it I know it shall turn to a testimony for him that wrote it The second is a principal design of this small treatise the subject whereof is exceeding weighty and of daily use to the people of God though the manner of handling it be attended with many defects and weaknesses every one cannot be excellent who yet may be useful I will exercise your patience no longer than whilst I tell you 1. Why I published it to
the view of the world 2. Why I direct it particularly to you First for the publication of it take this sincere and brief account that as I was led to this subject by a special providence so to the publication of it by a kind of necessity the providence at first leading me to it was this A dear and choyce friend of my intimate acquaintance being under much inward trouble upon the account of some special heart disorder opened the case to me and earnestly requested some rules and helps in that particular whilst I was bending my thoughts to that special case divers other cases of like importance some of which were dependent upon that under consideration occurred to my thoughts and this scripture which I have insisted upon presented it self asa fit foundation for the whole discourse which being lengthned out to what you see divers friends requested me to transcribe for their use divers of the cases here handled and some others begd me to publish the whole to which I was in a manner necessitated to save the pains of transcribing which to me is a very tedious and tiresome work and just as I had almost finished the copy an opportunity presented and that somewhat strangely to make it publick So that from first to last I have been carried beyond my first intentions in this thing Ob. If any say the world is even cloyed with books and therefore though the discourse be necessary yet the publication is needless Sol. 1. I answer there are multitudes of books indeed and of them many concern not themselves about root truths and practical godliness but spend their strength upon impracticable notions and frivolous controversies many also strike at root truths and endeavour to undermine the power of godliness and some there are that nourish the root and tend to clear and confirm to prepare and apply the geart truths of the gospel that they may be bread for souls to live and feed on now though I could wish that those that have handled the pen of the scribe had better imployed their time and pains then to obtrude such useless discourses upon the world yet for books of the latter rank I say that when husbandmen complain of too much corn let Christians complain of too many such books 2. And if you be so highly conceited of your own furniture and ability that such books are needless to you if you let them alone they will doe you no hurt and other poor hungry souls will be glad of them and bless God for what you despise and leave Ob. If it be said that several of the cases here handled touch not your condition I answer Sol. 1. That which is not your condition may be anothers condition If you be placed in an easie full and prosperous state and so have no need of the helps here offered to support your heart under pinching wants others are forced to live by faith for every daies provision If you be dandled upon the knee of providence some of your Brethren are under its feat If you have inward peace and tranquility of Spirit and so need not the Councels here given to ward off those desperate conclusions that poor afflicted souls are ready to draw upon themselves at such a time yet it may be a word in season to them and they may say as David to Abigail blessed be thou of the Lord and blessed be thy advice 2. That may be your condition shortly which is not your condition for present say not thy Mountain stands strong thou shalt never be moved there are changes in the right hand of the most High and then those truths which are little more esteemed than Hedge fruits will be as Aples of Gold in Pictures of Silver In Jer. 10. 11. The Prophet there teaches the Jews who then divelt in their own Houses how to defend their Religion in Babylon and what they should say to the Caldeans there and therefore that verse is written in Caldee So much for the reasons of its Publication Next for the Dedication of it to you I was induced thereto by the Consideration 1. Of the relation I have to you above all the people in the world I look upon my gifts as yours my time as yours and all the Talents I am entrusted with as yours It is not with you as with a woman whose Husband is dead and so is freed from the Law of her Husband the relation still continues and so do all the mutual duties of it 2. By the consideration of my necessitated absence from you I would not that personal absence should by insensible degrees untwist as usually it doth the cord of friendship and therefore have endeavoured as absent friends use to do to preserve and strengthen it by this small remembrance It was Vespatian's answer to Apollonius when be desired access for two Philosophers My Doors said Vespatian are alwaies open to Philosophers but my very Breast is open to thee I cannot say with him my Doors are open for the free access of friends being by a sad Providence shut against my self But this I can say my very breast is still open to you you are as dear to me as ever 3. Another inducement and indeed the main was the perpetual usefulness and necessity of these truths for you which you will have continual need of and I know few of you have such happy memories to retain and I cannot be alwaies with you to inculcate these things but litera scripta manet I was willing to leave this with you as a Legacy as a testimony of sincere love for and care over you This may councel and direct you when I cannot I may be rendred useless to you by a civil or natural Death but this will out live me and Oh that it may serve your souls when I am silent in the Dust To hasten now to a conclusion I have only these three requests to you which I carnestly beseech you not to deny me Yea I charge you as ever you hope to appear with comfort before the great Shepherd do not dare to slight these requests 1. Above all other studies in the world study your own hearts waste not a minute more of your precious time about frivolous and sapless controversies it is repoted even of Bellarmine how truely I examine not quod à studiis scholasticae theologiae averteretur ferè nauseabundus quoniam succo carebant liquidae pietatis i. e. â—e turned with loathing from the study of School Divinity because it wanted the sweet juice of piety I had rather it should be said of you as one said of Swinckfeedius He wanted a regular head but not an honest heart then that you should have regular heads and irregular hearts My dear Flock I have according to the grace given me laboured in the course of my ministry among you to feed you with the heart strengthening bread of practical doctrine and I do assure you it is far better you should
liberty or esâ—ate are hunâ—ed after and I cannot secure them O let me leave them in thy hand the poor leaveth himself with thee and doth his God fail him no Thou art the helper of the fatherless Psalm 10. 14. that is thou art the helper of the deâ—â—â—ute one that hath none to go to but God And that is a sweet Scripture Psalm 112. 7. He shall not be afraid of evil tidings his heart is fixed trusting in the Lord he doth not say his ear shall be priviledged from the report of evil tidings he may hear as sad tidings as other men but his heart shall be priviledged from the terrour of those tidings his heart is fixed 11. Rule Consult the honour of Religion more and your personal safety lesse Is it for the honour of Religion think you that Christians should be as timerous as Hares to start at every sound will not this tempt the World to think that whatever you talk yet your principles are no better than other mens O what mischief may the discoveries of your â—ears bâ—fore them do 'T was a noble saying of Nehemiah Chap. 6. 11. Should such a man as I flee and who being as I am would flee Were it not better you shâ—uld dye than that the World should be prejudiced against Christ by your example for alas how apt is the World who judge more by what they see in your practises than by what they understand of your principles to conclude from your timâ—râ—usness that how much soever you commend Faith and talk of Assurance yet you dare trust to these things no more than they when it comes to the tryal O let not your fears lay such a stumbling-block before the blind World 12. Rule He that will secure his heart from fear must first secure the eternal interest of his soul in the hands of Iesus Christ. When this is done then you may say now World do thy worst You will not be very solâ—citous about a vile body when you are once assured it shall be well to all eternity with your precious souls Fear not them saith Christ that can kill the body and after that have no power that they can do The assured Christian may smile with contempt upon all his enemies and say is this the worst that you can do what say you Christians are you assured that your souls are safe that within a few moments of your dissolution they shall be received by Christ into everlasting habitatious Well if you be sure of that never trouble your selves about the instruments and means of your dissolution Object O but a violent death is terrible to Nature Answ. But what matter is it wâ—en thy soul is in Heaven whether it were let out at thy mouth or at thy throat whether thy familiar friends or barbarous enemies stand about thy dead body and close thine eyes alas it is not worth the making so much ado about nihil corpus sentit in nervo cum anima sit in coelo thy soul shall not be sensibâ—e in Heaven how thy body is used on earth no it shall be swallowed up in life 13. Rule Learn to quench all slavish Creature fears in the reverential fear of God This is a cure by diversion 't is a rare piece of Christian Wisdom to turn those passions of the soul which most predominate into spiritual Channels to turn natural anger into spiritual zeal natural mirth into holy chearfulness and natural fear into an holy dread and awe of God This method of Cure Christ prescribes in that fore-mentioned place Mat. 10. like to which is that in Isa. 8. 12 13. Fear not their fear But how shall we help it Why sanctifie the Lord of Hosts himself and let him be your fear and your dread Natural fear may be allayed for present by natural reason or the removal of the occasion but then 't is but like a Candle blown out with a puff of breath which is easily blown in again but it the fear of God extinguish it then 't is like a Candle quencht in water which cannot easily be re-kindled 14. Rule Lastly Pour out those fears to God in Prayer which the Devil and your own unbelief pour in upon you in times of danger Prayer is the best out-let to fear where is the Christian that cannot set his probatum est to this direction I will give you the greatest Example in the World to encourage you in the use of it even the example of Jesus Christ Mark 14. 32. when the hour of his danger and death drâ—w nigh he gets into the Garden separates from the Disciples and there wrestles mightily with God in Prayer even unto an Agony in reference to which the Apostle saith Heb. 5. 7. Who in the dayes of his flesh when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong cryes and tears to him that was able to save him from death and was heard in that he feared he was heard as to strength and support to carry him through it though not as to deliverance or exemption from it Now Oh that these things might abide with you and be reduced to practise in these evil dayes that many trembling souls may be established by them 5. Seas The fifth Season to exert this diligence in keeping the heart is the time of straits and outward pinching wants although at such times we should complain to God and not of God the Throne of Gracâ— being erected for a time of need Hâ—b 4. 16. yet when the waters of relief run low and wants begin to pinch hard how prone are the best hearts to distrust the Fountain When the Meal in the Barrel and oylin the Cruse are almost spent our faith and patience are almost spent too Now 't is difficult to keep down the proud and unbelieving heart in an holy quietude and sweet submission at the foot of God 'T is an easie thing to talk of trusting God for daily bread while we have a full Barn or Purse but to say as the Propher Hab. 3. 17. Though the Fig-tree should not blossome neither fruit be in the Vine c. yet will I rejoyce in the Lord. Sure this is not easie The fifth Case therefore shall be this 5. Cafe How a Christian may keep his heart from distrusting God or repining against him when outward wants are eithâ—r felt or feared This Case deserves to be seriously pondred and especially to be studied now since it seems to be the design of Providence to empty the people of God of their creature-fulness and acquaint them with thâ—se straits which hiâ—herto they have been altogether strangers to Nâ—w to secure the heart from the fore-mentioned dangers attending this condition these follâ—wing Consiâ—erations through the blessing of the Spirit may prove effectual And the first is this 1. Consid. That if God reduce you to straits and necessities yet he deals no otherwise therein with you than he hath done with some of the choicest and holiest men that ever lived Your
this willingness is the immediate succession of a more excellent and glorious life 'T is but wink and you shall see God your happiness shall not be deferred till the Resurrection but as soon as the body is dead the gracious soul is swallowed up in Life Rom. 8. 10 11. When once you have loosed from this shore in a few moments your souls will be wafted over upon the wings of Angels to the other shore of a glorious eternity Phil. 1. 23. I desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ Did the Soul and body dye together as Beryllus taught or did they sleep till the resurrection as others have groundlessly fancied it had been a madness for Paul to desire a dissolution for the injoyment of Châ—ist For if this were so he injoyed more of Christ whilst his Soul dwelt in its flâ—shly Tabernacle then he should out of it There are but two waies of the Souls living known in Scripture viz. the life of faith and the life of vision 1 Cor. 5. 5. those two divide all time both present and future betwixt them 1 Cor 13. 12. If when faith fails Sight should not immediately succeed what should become of the unbodied Soul but blessed be God this great heart-establishing truth is evidently revealed in Scripture Luke 23. 43. â—ou have Christs promise Iohn 14. 3. I will come and receive you to my self O what a change will a few moments make upon your condition rouse up dying Saint when thy Soul is come out a little farther when it shall stand like Abraham in its tent door the Angels of God shall soon be with it the Souls of the elect are as it were put out to the Angels to nurse and when they dye these Angels carry them home again to their fathers house if an Angel were caused to fly swiftly to bring a Saint the answer of his prayer Dan. 9. 21. How much more will the Angels come post from Heaven to receive and transfer the praying Soul it self 4. Arg. Farther It may much conduce to thy willingness to dye to consider that by death God oft times hides his people out of the way of all temptations and troubles upon earth Rev. 14. 13. Write from henceforth blessed are the dead that dye in the Lord. T is Gods usual way when some extraordinary calamities are coming upon the world to set his people out of harms way before hand Isai. 57. 1. Merciful men are taken away from the evil to come So Mich. 7. 1 2. When such an evil time comes as is there described That they all lye in wait for blood and every man hunts his brother with a net before that God by an act of favour houses his people before hand dost thou know what evil may be in the earth which thou art so loath to leave thy God removes thee for thy great advantage thou art disbanded by death and called off the field other poor Saints must stand to it and endure a great fight of afflictions T is observed that Methusala dyed the very year before the flood Augustin a little before the sacking of Hippo. Paereus just before the taking of Heidelberg Luther observes that all the Apostles dyed before the destruction of Ierusalem and Luther himself before the wars brake out in Germany it may be the Lord sees thy tender heart cannot endure to see the misery or bear the temptations that are coming and therefore will now gather thee to thy 〈◊〉 in peace and yet wilt thou cry O spare me a little longer 5. Arg. If yet thy heart hang back consider the great advantage you will have by death above all that ever you enjoyed on earth And that 1 As to your communion with God 2 As to your communion with Saints 1. For your communion with God the time of perfecting that is now come thy Soul shall shortly stand before the face of God and have the immediate emanations and beamings forth of his glory upon it here thy Soul is remote from God the beams of his glory strike it but obliquely and feebly but shortly it will be under the line and there the sun shall stand still as it did in Gibeon there shall be no cloudings nor declineings of it O how should this wrap thy Soul with desires of being uncloathed 2. As for the injoyment of Saints here indeed we have fellowship with them of the lower form but that fellowship is so dissweetened by remaining corruptions that there is no satisfaction in it as it is the greatest plague that can befall an hypocrite to live in a pure Church so t is the greatest vexation to the Spirit of a Saint to live in a corrupt and disordered Church But when death hath admitted you into that glorious assembly of the Spirits of just men made perfect you shall have the desire of your hearts here you cannot fully close one with another yea you cannot fully close with your own Souls O what discords jarrings censurings are here what perfect blessed harmony there in Heaven each Saint loves another as himself thâ—y are altogether lovely O my Soul hast thee away from the Lyons dens from the mountains of Bether from divided Saints to those mountains of Myrhe and hill of Frankinsense thou art now going to thine own people as the Apostles phrase imports 2. Cor. 5 8. 6. Arg. If all this will not doe Consider what heavy burdens death will ease thy shoulders of In this Tabernacle we groan being burdened 1 With bodily distempers how true do we find that of Theophrastue the Soul pays a dear rent for the tenement it now lives in but glorified bodies are clogged with no indispositions death is the best Physician it will cure thee of all diseases at once 2 With the indwelling of sin this makes us groan from the very bowels Rom. 7. 24. But he that is dead is free from sin Rom. 6. 7. Hath justification destroyed its damning power and sanctification its Raigning power so glorification destroyes its very being and existence 3 We groan under temptations here but as soon as we are out of the body we are out of the reach of temptation when once thou art got into Heaven thou mayest say now Sathan I am there where thou canst not come for as the damned in Hell are malo obfirmati so fixed in sin and misery that their condition cannot be altered so glorified Saints are bonâ— confirmati so fixed in holiness and glory that they cannot be 〈◊〉 4 Here we groan under varioâ—â— trâ—ubles and afflictions but then the days of our mourning are ended God shall wipe away all tears from our eyes O then let us hast away that we may be at rest 7. Arg. If still thou linger like Lot in Sodom then lastly examine all the pleas and pretences for a longer time on earth Why art thou unwilling to dye 1. Object O I have many relations in the World I know not what will become of them when I am gone Sol. 1. If
majestick beams of holiness shining from their heavenly and serious conversations shall awe the world and command reverence from all that are about them when they shall warm the hearts of those that come nigh them so that men shall say God is in these men of a truth Well such a time may again be exspected according to that promise Isai. 60. 21. The people shall be all righteous But till we fall closer to this great work of keeping our hearts I am out of hopes to see those blessed daies I cannot exspect better times till God give better hearts doth it not grieve you to see what a scorn religion is made in the world what objects of contempt and scorn the professors of it are made in the world Professors would you recover your credit would you again obtain an honourable testimony in the Consciences of your very enemies then keep your hearts watch your hearts t is the loosness frothiness and earthliness of your hearts that â—ath made your lives so and this hath brought you under contempt of the world you first lost your sights of God and communion with him then your heavenly and serious deportment among men and by that your interest in their Consciences O then for the credit of religion for the honour of your profession keep your hearts 7. Mot. By diligence in keeping our hearts we should prevent and remove the fatal scandals and stumbling blocks out of the way of the world Wo to the world saith Christ because of offences Matth. 18. 7. doth not shame cover your faces doe not your hearts bleed within you to heare of the scandalous mâ—scarriages of many loose professors could you not like Shem and Iaphet goe backward with a garment to cover the shame of many professors how is that worthy name blasphemed 2 Iames 7. 2. Sam. 12. 13 14. the hearts of the righteous sadned Psal. 25. 3. Ezek. 36. 20. by this the world is fearfully prejudiced against Christ and religion the bonds of death made fast upon their Souls those that had a general love and likeing to the ways of God staâ—tled and quite driven back and thus Soul bloud is shed wo to the World Yea how are the Consciences of fallen professors plunged and even overwhelmed in the deeps of trouble God inwardly excommunicating their Souls from all comfortable fellowship with himself and the joys of his salvation infinite are the mischiefs that come by the scandalous lives of professors And what is the true cause and reason of all this but the neglecting of their hearts were our hearts better kept all this would be prevented had David kept his heart he had not broken his bones a neglected careless heart must of necessity produce a disorderly scandalous life I thanke God for the freedome and faithfulness of a reverend brother in shewing professors their manifold miscarriages and from my heart doe wish that when their wounds have been throughly searched by that probe God would be pleased to heal them by this Plaister O professors if ever you will keep religion sweet if ever you hope to recover the credit of it in the world keep your hearts either keep your hearts or lose your credit keep your hearts or lose your comforts keep your hearts least ye shed Soul bloud what words can express the deep concernments the wonderful consequences of this work every thing puts a necessity a solemnity a beauty upon it 8. Mot. An heart well kept will fit you for any condition God casts you into or any service he hath to use you in He that hath learnt how to keep his heart lowly is fit for prosperity and he that knows how to use and apply to it Scripture promises and supports is fit to pass through any adversity he that can deny the pride and selfishness of his heart is fit to be imployed in any service for God such a man was Paul he did not only spend his time in preaching to others in keeping others vineyards but he lookt to himself kept his own vineyard 1 Cor. 9. 27. Least when I have preached to others I my self should be a cast away and what an eminent instrument was he for God he could turn his hand to any work he could dexterously manage both an adverse and prosperous condition I know how to abound and how to suffer want let the people deifie him it moves him not unless to indignation Let them stone him he can bear it if a man purge himself from these saith he 2 Tim. 2. 21. He shall be a Vessel unto honour sanctified and meet for the masters use and prepared unto every good work First the heart must be purged and then t is prepared for any service of God when the heart of Isaiah was purified which was the thing signified by the touching of his lips with a coal from the Altar Isai. 6. 7. then he was fit for Gods work here am I send me v. 8. a man that hath not learned to keep his heart put him upon any service for God and if it be attended with honour it shall swell up and overtop his spirit if with suffering it will exanimate and sink him Jesus Christ had an instrumental fitness for his fathers work above all the servants that ever God imployed he was zealous in publick work for God so zealous that sometimes he forgat to eat bread yea that his friends thought he had been besides himself but yet he so carried on his publick work as not to forget his own private communion with God and therefore you read in Matth. 14. 23. that when he had been labouring all day yet after that he went up to a mountain apart to pray and was there alone O let the keepers of the vineyards look to their own vineyard we shall never be so instrumental to the good of others as when we are most diligent about our own Souls 9. Mot. If the people of God would more diligently keep their hearts how exceedingly would the communion of Saints be thereby sweetnedâ— How goodly then would be thy tents O Iacob and thy tabernacles O Israel then as t is prophesied of the Jews Zech. 8. 23. Men would say we will go with you for we have heard that God is among you T is the fellowship your Souls have with the Father and with the Son that draws out the desires of others after fellowship with you 1 Ioh. 1. 3. I tell you if Saints would be perswaded to take more pains and spend more time about their hearts there would quickly be such a divine lustre upon the face of their coversations that men would account it no small priviledge to be with or near them T is the pride passion and earthliness of our hearts that hath spoiled Christian fellowship whence is it that when Christians meet they are often jarring and contending but only their unmortified passions whence are their uncharitable censures of their brethren but only from self ignorance why are they so rigid