the body than to enjoy bodily comforts and have none for the soul Jobs friends could do no less than come to comfort him yet when they came they did nothing less than comfort him 'T is very rare that God takes outward comforts from them who are not taken with their comfort but if he take them that shall be their Comfort Company Many are pleased with the company of them who are good that are not pleased with the good of the company 'T is to be feared that they that love wicked men doe not hate the wickedness of men or That they that love the company of the wicked do not hate the wickedness of the company He that loves ill company will learn it if not the ill of the company No man should do ill for company nor good onely for company Communion Communion with God is more in conversation with God than in contemplation with God That God might have communion with us Christ was made partaker of the humane nature and that we might have communion with God we are made partakers of the divine nature Complement Compleat speech is no Complement if men speak as they intend and intend as they speak Complaint Saints have not such often occasion to complain that what they have done is ill as that what they have done is ill done Many complain of their sufferings without a cause wherein they should rather rejoyce for 't is better to suffer without a cause than that there should be a cause for our sufferings Confusion That which is confusion to us is no confusion to God for God hath the ordering of and an order in all confusion Commandements All Gods Commandements are alike holy just and good and therefore we should like them all Condemnation If that servant was condemned that gave God his own what will become of them that rob God of his own Conscience A good conscience without a good name is better than a good name without a good conscience A Saint will hazard his credit to save his conscience rather than hazard his conscience to save his credit Contentation We should be so content with every condition as to think the present best yet many times it 's best to think it so but for the present Contentment without the world is better than the world without contentment The lowest condition in the world with the love of God is better than the highest condition in the world without the love of God A Saint is content not onely that the will of the Lord should be done but that it should be also done to Gods content How little soever we injoy there is great reason we should be contented and how much evil soever we undergo there 's no reason we should be discontented Conversion Before conversion men are willingly willing to sin but after conversion men are willingly unwilling to sin There are many convictions without conversion but there is no conversion without convictions Before conversion sin hath dominion over us but after conversion we have dominion over sin and we lead that into captivity which did before lead us captives Covetous Usually covetous men need money least yet most affect it and prodigals who need it most do least regard it Covenant The tie of the Covenant is sure for Christ is the surety of the Covenant In the Covenant of works God did first accept of the works and then of the person but in the Covenant of grace God doth first accept the person and then the work Contradictions It seems to many that there are contradictions in the Scriptures but they are not but so many seeming contradictions Creation In creation God gave us to our selves but in redemption he gave himself to us Creature-Comforts When we take comfort in Creatures without God he takes away the Creatures or the comfort of it Crosse Christ did bear the curse and therefore 't is but reason that we should bear the cross Crosses See Afflictions Changes of conditions are but exchanges of mercy to a gratious soul Crucified If we be not crucified with Christ Christ being crucified will not deliver us from death for we may die in our sins and be damned notwithstandihg if we do not rise with Christ Christs resurrection will not save us it is not Christ without us but Christ within us who is our hope of glory Col. 1. 27. D Death That man can never die an evill death at least no kind of death can be evill to that man who hath lead a good life Death comes in by sin and sin goeth out by death The death of the body frees us from the body of death Death hath nothing terrible in it but what our life hath made so When Saints die they leave all their bad behind and carry all their good with them but when a Sinner dieth he leaves all his good carries all his bad the one goes from evil to good the other from good to evill Our sin delivered Christ to death and Christ's death delivers us from our sin It s appointed for all men once to die and to some men its appointed to die but once the rest shall have their share in a second death wherein they shall find no rest The natural death is the separation of the soul from the body the spiritual death is the separation of the soul from God and the eternal death is the eternal separation of the soul and body from God Think of death as a thing thou must meet with and of life as a thing thou must part with and therefore not to love that life too well that keeps thee if a Saint from a better nor at all to fear that death that leads thee to a better life Deeds That deed is ill done wherein God is no sharer No evill action can be well done but a good action may be ill done Debts paying While we are paying Gods due debts we make our selves the more his debtors Lord let me be thus in debt The more we pay God the more we owe him seeing we give nothing to him but what he first gives to us Last Dayes A Christians last dayes should be his best dayes and his fruits at last more than at first Defie Deifie Many defie the devil sin and the world with their mouthes but deifie them in their lives Die He that 's fittest to die is fittest to live and he that 's fittest to live is fittest to die When a Saint comes to die his greatest grief is that he hath done no more for God and his greatest joy is that God hath done so much for him Dead-living Some are alive and dead at the same time for they that live in sin and the pleasures of sin are dead while they live Saints are living dead men Gal. 2. 19. 20. and sinners are dead living men Ephes 2. 1 2. yea they are both dead and alive alive and dead at the same time Delayes Denials Delayes are not denials and denials are not alwayes refusals
honour and not to have it is better than to have honour and not deserve it None honour God so much and God honours none so much as the humble souls Humbled ones There are many humbled ones that are not humble ones He that humbleth himself shall be exalted but he that exalteth himself shall be humbled Hypocrites Saints The great difference between Saints and Hypocrites is this that the Hypocrite hath but the expression of grace the Saint the experience of it the Hypocrite hath the notion the Saint the motion the one reads hears and speaks of it the other sees tasts and feels it I Idle It s as great fault to be idle as to work on a Sabbath day Jest Earnest As a man should not construe that in earnest which is spoken but in jest so a man should not speak that in jest which may be construed in earnest Innocency Good meaning and innocency are careless and seldome fore-think what answer to make to their accusers whence Christ said take no thought what or how you shall speak Intention Not to intend what thou speakest is to give thy heart the lie with thy tongue not to perform what thou promiseth is to give thy tongue the lie with thine actions Self-Interest Self-interest carried on by policy puts many civil men into civill or rather uncivil war Jesus Christ Jesus Christ is not the Son of God because he is the Messiah but he is the Messiah because he is the Son of God Jesus Christ lost his own life that he might save the life of his own Though it grieves a poor soul that Christ was peirced by him yet it releives a poor soul that Christ was peirced for him Joy The joy of the holy Ghost is such as that there is both want in words and want of words to express it for 't is joy unspeakable and full of glory Our Masters joy enters into us here and we shall enter into our Masters joy hereafter 'T is the Saints greatest joy to enjoy God and to joy in God Joy is as troublesome in the time of sorrow as sorrow is in the time of joy Israels God The God of Israel will doe them good that do good to the Israel of God Judging Men judge of our hearts by our words and works but God judgeth of our words and works by our hearts Some mens judgements reside more in their wills than their wills do in their judgements Justified We are not justified by believing in Christ but by Christ beleived in us as a man is not healed by the applying of a plaister but by the plaister applied faith is not our righteousness for our righteousness is by faith K Kingdom The prophesies concerning Christs kingdom will not be compleatly fulfilled till Christs kingdom be fully compleated A godly man is as willing that the kingdom of God shall come into him as he is willing to goe into the kingdome of God God knowing God doth know not onely the meaning the sense of the words which man speaks but he also knows the meaning the aim the scope and the end of the man that speaks the word Knowledge Knowledge may be without grace but grace cannot be without knowledge 'T is better to have knowledge formed in one than to have a form of knowledge Knowledge helps much to practise and practise helps much to knowledge for if any man do my will he shall know the doctrine whether it be of God We may sometimes know that by others which we would never care to utter but we should ever take care how if ever we utter that which we do not know The most perfect knowledge that we have of God is that we cannot or do not know him perfectly 'T is one thing to know Christ by a relation made of him to us another thing to know Christ by a revelation made of him within us He that knows not God knows nothing L Laity and Clergy Among them that are called the Laity you may find many children of light and among them that are called the Clergy you may find many children of darkness Laugh 'T is better that men should laugh at us for being godly than that God should laugh at us for being ungodly Least most Men are then least in their own eyes when God is most in their eyes Learned A godly unlearned man is better than an ungodly learned man and a better Scholler The greatest Philosopher that ever was is but an ignorant sot to the simplest Christian A man may know the history of Christ and yet be ignorant of the mystery of Christ Learning Learning can onely a dorn religion but religion can onely bless learning so that learning is more beholding to religion than religion is beholding to learning Leaving Saints 'T is to be feared that they who leave the Saints of God will not cleave to the God of Saints Light Darkness God is light and in him is no darkness at all and we are darkness and in us is no light at all for our light is darkness Liking No man can either like all or be liked of all Little Much. Some have the art to make much of their little but few have the heart to make but little of their much The little which but one righteous man hath is better than the riches of many wicked Psalm 37. 16. Like to God Christians are not onely like God but they are also liked of God and Christians do not onely like God but they study also how to be like God Some men instead of being like God in this world are like the God of this world Mens Lusts Mens lusts are their Gods on earth but they will be their Devils in hell Life short So short and uncertain is our life that we know not whether he that is born to day may live to day for as soon as a man is born he begins to die Life eternal Eternal life is begun in this world for this is eternal life to know God and Jesus Christ whom he hath sent John 13. 3. Living by Faith We live by faith and not by sight yet faith is seeing it is the evidence of things not seen for by faith we see the things that are not yet seen but shall be when we live by faith and not by sight Man lives by death for his natural life is preserved by the death of the creature and his spiritual life by the death of Christ Living to God They that live to God here shall live with God hereafter but they that live to the Devil here shall live with the Devil hereafter He lives long who lives well for time mispent is not lived but lost Living in sin They who live most in sin and in most sin are most dead in sin All men live move and have their being in God and yet most men are without God and strangers to the life of God Live A Saint had rather live at Gods determination than at his own choice his prayer is
you or else you are utterly lost and undone everlastingly Luke 19. 10. 3. Gods free and general offer of Christ to any that will take him by faith Iohn 3. 16. manifold promises to this purpose The ground of all Gods offers and donations of Christ being free Grace rich mercy underserved love Ephes 2. 4. to 8. Tit. 3. 4. to 7. 4. Christs sweet and gracious invitation of such to come to him as are weary of sin Matt. 11. 28. to buy as have no money no righteousness to commend them to Christ Isa 55. 1. no worth or desert in themselves 5. As sinfull vile wretches as you are have been bought of Christ and found in Christ see 1 Cor. 9. 9. to 12. 1 Tim. 1. 13. Phil. 3. 7. to 10. why may not you the more clearly you discern upon what grounds you take Christ the more clear is your title to Christ III. By surveying and observing in what manner you take Christ dayly and this by five resolves as 1. Whether you do wholly renounce all opinion and conceit of your own righteousness and desert Matt. 8. 34. Phil. 3. 7 to 10. So that you come to Christ empty of your self very vile yea nothing in your own eyes unworthy to receive Christ 2. Whether you lay hold on Christ alone with an empty hand of faith joyning nothing with Christ in the matter of salvation 3. Whether you find the Father drawing your heart after Christ Iohn 6. 44. in hungring panting desires that will never be satisfied without Christ So that the stream both of your judgment Phil. 37. 8. and affections 1 Cor. 2 2. Gal. 6. 14. run towards Christ 4. Whether you take Christ as a Lord to rule you as a Jesus to save you Col. 2. 6. As one that is all to your all your wisdom your righteousness your sanctification and redemdemption 1 Cor. 1. 30. your spiritual food Iohn 6. 36. Raiment Rom. 13. 14. Strength Phil. 4. 13. Life Col. 3. 3. Gal. 2 10. 5. Whether you seek and wait for Christ out of the sence of your spiritual penury sacraments prayer meditation conference not as they are your own works of sanctification but as they are Gods ordinances appointed of purpose for the manifestation communication of Christ to the soul frequent perusal hereof will clear to you your manner of taking Christ which wil evidence to you your right in Christ CHAP. III. LAbour to draw and derive from Christ by the pulling attractive force of faith ability sufficient for the day I. To perform all duties Phil 4. 12. II. To exercise all the graces 2 Cor. 3. 5 III. To resist and overthrow all temptations and corruptions Rom. 8. 37. IIII. To undergo all the trials afflictions thereof Phil. 4. 13. 2 Cor. 3. 5. Iohn 1. 16. Thus make your provision of grace and strength from Christ every morning fetch so much as you have occasion to use all the day long yea and upon all occasions that fall out in the day Go to Christ still for the wisdom that must direct you for the holiness that must character you for the souldier that must bear them if they be crosses for that strength that must resist them if they be temptations for ability to performe them if they be duties To this end act your faith dayly in the promises of grace and strength as Iohn 1. 16. Ezek. 36. 26 27. Isa 44. 3 Zack 10 12. which are both security given you by God that you shall receive grace and conduit-pipes or instruments of conveying the same from Christ unto you Loe this is the manner to do all in the strength of Christ and to take forth a great deal of Christ into the soul that not you but Christ may live in you Gal. 2. 20. CHAP. IV. Perform daily duties in family and closet especially these three Prayer Meditation Reading all with serious affection heat of affection deligence and delight Ier. 48. 10. Mal. 1. 14. 2 Chron. 21. 24. these three waies I. Watch to these duties H. E. keep thy heart in a good frame for them Ephes 6. 18. undefiled with sin untainted with the world II. Take the fittest time for the performance of them all when you are the least evil and sluggish Begin the day constantly with thoughts of God III. Be very reall serious and substantial with God in them IV. Indeavour to feel all duties in your heart inlivening enlarging infleming your affections These be duties of most importance and consequence commodity and comfort to the soul because they properly appear at and reach at the souls good and caelestial happiness to train up a soul of a Believer for heaven CHAP. V. FOrtifie your self every morning against your special lusts to which you are by nature most prone or shall be most tempted be it pride passion covetousness c. This must be done four waies As I. By arguments and holy reasonings within your selves drawn fom the sad effects thereof as disprofit discomfort disgrace c. to discover the unreasonableness of your sin and make your soul ashamed of it For instance Shall I be proud Then I am sure to fall and God will count me for his enemie for God resisteth the proud â—am 4 6. Shall I be angry If I let passion in I cannot keep satan out Ephes 4 26 27. I shall grieve thereby the holy spirit of God Ephes 4 30 31. Shall I be covetous I cannot but be very sinful sith the love of money is the root of all evil 1 Tim 6 10. II. By pondring in your minds precepts in the Book of God against such sins judgments threatned or inflicted Prov 6 23 24. on proud Herod Acts 12 23. voluptuous Dives Luke 16 28. churlâ—â—h Naâ—aâ— 1 Sam 25 38. III. By applying promises of mortification close to your hearts as a plaister to the sore for subduing your iniquity Mic 7 19. Rom 6 14. IV. By drawing vertue from Christs death into the soul which hath in it a killing force of sin Rom. 6 4 107. Phi. 4 10. CHAP. VI. GEt your heart strongly fixt on God by trusting on him Psal 112 7. and submitting to him 1 Sam 3 18. against all the fears cares double trialls affliction of every day for sufficient to the day is the evill thereof Mat 6 34. This must be done five waies I. Be prudent to foresee your personal tryals and troubles what ever they are like to be Prov 22 3. II Go hide and lay up your self in God run unto his name for God is a work of habitation to which a poor soul may continually resort God will give commandment to save him Psal 71 3. 1 â—et 4 19. III. Especially commit that ver thing to God put it into his hands whatsoever you desire to keep or fear to loose 2 Tim 1 12. be it life liberty name friends maintenance c. what you would have resolved if it be a doubt Psal 37 5. or supply'd if it be a want removed if it be a