you need him most so that you shall get more of a suddain by Prayer then you could in all your life before A suffering Christian has his peculiar advantge let him but open his mouth heaven-ward and 't is fild presently let his heart be at his mouth and the holy Ghost wil be at his heart all upon wing and wrapt up in the third Heaven when the body in Hell Long suffering and joy are very neere as neere as night and morning if misery makes the night joy makes the morning and if the night cannot aske for the morning yet the morning will come of it selfe joy comes in the morning If a long sufferer be â—o worne so depressed with his burden that he be not able to pray not able to aske for joy and for comfort yet his joy will be ful 't will come of it selfe as things that are joyn'd together will call in one another long suffering with joyfulnesse Duties are immergent one springs and bubbles out of the belly of another all patience brings forth long suffering long suffering bringes forth joyfulnesse this is Divine Genealogy they are plac'd here by the holy Ghost according to their line as persons so vertues are noted according to their Genealogy Every grace beares patience brings forth long suffering long suffering joy joy brings forth Heaven now the Sun is up in the soule and begets Cardinall vertues glorious graces it makes the very emblem of Heaven in the heart The holy line must not be broken as things have their order in their owne nature so they must have their course in the soule long suffering for truth must bring forth joy and not griefe a Jacob must hold an Esau by the heele joy must embrace rough usage out of the sowerest stock ar't should make sweet fruit come out of long-suffering for Christ joy Duties are innocent graces are so ordained to move as best to speake out mans simplicity and Gods glory long suffering is not to leaven and sowre the soule to make it regurgitate bitterly in the afternone when things have lai'n long in the stomack but it is to give advantage to a Christian fully to speake forth his owne integrity and Gods glory Long suffering with joy is a full expression of mans simplicity and Gods Glory Long suffering in any cause hath its integrity as the heart is free from repining under it which it is when 't is meate and drinke to suffer for Christ joy to beare and to beare long Grace should move in grace that 's long suffering with joy grace should move to a Christians grace and to GODS glory that 's long suffering with joyfulnesse Vse Christians you see your lesson t is set very high can you play it What artists are you in your calling Can you make good Musick upon a bad instrument Can you make an instrument goe well that hath hung long by Can you play wel when the strings be broke When the back when the belly of the instrument is broke Can you sing the songs of Zion in a strange Land Can yee make melody in your spirits when never a whole piece in your flesh some of you it may be have never a peny in your purse scarce any rag to weare no house to put your head in but live upon the meere mercy of friends for giving testimony to Christs cause can yee joy now Christ hath mingled your drinke with weeping can yee drinke off this Cup with joy Suffering is suffering indeed when it goes quite through the man body and spirit body without all joy and soule too A man is plundred indeed when he is plundred in his estate within and without plundred of mony and goods and plunderd of peace and joy too no comfort without nor none within neither Ah Lord here 's a man quite undone indeed her 's a man all over miserable soule and body bleeding can there be any gathering to relieve this man I have heard many complaine that they are quite undone the expression hath cut me to the heart to heare it their faces all over blacknesse not one line drawne similingly You have lost all joyes without why but there are joyes within which the World cannot give nor take have you lost these too did the Cavaleers take away all together mony and plate and Christ too Ah! poore man thou art quite undone indeed certainly the divel was in those Cavaleers I would speake to such from this point which are quite undone which have lost all money and joy too which have many sufferings upon them for Christ but can make no joy out of them Surely I can guesse your paine you are blind you know not who hath strip't you nor when he will returne it againe 'T is impossible for a man to joy under long suffering unlesse a man can looke to the end of it This makes heavy afflictions light long afflictions short to look where they end Our light afflictions which endure but for a moment worke about a farre more exceeding and an eternall weight of glory Long suffering is but a moment when compared with eternity of glory The great Heaven at a distance makes a little Heaven at present a Heaven in hell to that soule which hath it in its eye as these lower Heavens give a great lustre and vigour at a distance to beholders and raise much so doth the Heaven of Heavens 'T is a Heaven to behold Heaven a farre off where ever the body be 't was Canaan to Moses Ab extremis miseriae quies to see Canaan a far off The sight of the end shortens the way suffering is deadly long when a man can see no end when a man is in darknesse and can see no light 't is hard to bring the soule to joy in such darkenesse A man must looke upon affliction from one end to to'ther that would fetch in joy to his soule from suffering At one end of long suffering for truth is a father at the other end a reward which if seen well will make the longest suffering very short and very sweet Can you make no joy out of your long sufferings for truth I can guesse your paine there is something heavier then your temporall losse that lies upon you Surely you have lost your state and found sinne death has a sting death of a mans body yea and death of a mans estate has a sting A little guilt is heavier then a great deale of misery then all the afflictions of this World When bare misery goes over a mans head though never so much hee may well stand under this but when misery clothes it selfe with guilt and goes over a mans head as Iniquity this makes the burthen too heavy to be borne when the apprehension of sinne startes out of misery and stares upon the soule this killes all joy dead and the man is not able to beare up if hee had all the World to comfort him The cause may be good and the man bad 't is hard
the Iewes seeing thou doest all these things Ezek. 16.30 the worke of an imperious whorish Woman So may I say of many Christians how weake are your hearts seeing you doe all these things play the worldlings as doe others play the time-servers as doe others you can turne and winde your lives and consciences as you list ah Lord what strength of God is in such soules You have lost assisting power by your loosenesse and basenesse you had beene better have lost your lives yea ten thousand lives you had beene better have died any death and never have seen that day nor houre in which you began to decline to sinne to greive and lose that power and strength of God which wrought in you Unwarranted courses strip the heart of Divine strength Light will have no fellowship with darkenesse God doth not strengthen to sinne Man stript of God is deadly weake he runnes to any course When God leaves a man man becomes a beast Why you are so easily drawne to sinne you may see by this point the power of God is gon from your soules your Delilah hath cut off your strength your exorbitancy to this and that hath checkt grieved and killed the working of a lively power This heavy stroke is not a first but a last stroke for thine unrulinesse Sampson had many brunts about his Delilah before that deadly brunt that gave him up Thou hast had other punishments for thy Delilah without ere it came to this heavy stroke within hadst thou made a right use of them this last and deadliest stroke might have beene saved Ah! forsaken soules 't is a thousand pities that things had not beene timely lookt to ere they came to such an inward extremity to such a soule-blow to such a spirit-woūd Things thus far run a man recovers not in hast it may be not all a mans life to be as he was and to enjoy divine power working so lively and sweetly as it did Repenting and doing a mans first workes is a likely way to doe well but whether it shall rise to be as well with the soule as 't was that rests wholly upon divine pleasure what divine engagement the soule can plead for this would be worth his best search We finde David praying hard for wonted favour but whether granted that 's doubtfull Strengthening power lost the soule hath lost its soule the spirit of man hath lost the spirit of God God doth not breath in the heart the man cannot live not live a jot better then hee does though reproved by his dearest friends every houre That which did this great mischiefe that which made this soule-death was no small sin it must be sought out and cryed out of above all evills bloud guilt that one sin that killed two Vriahs body and Davids soule O how he cryes out of this sin at the throne of grace This bloudy sin that hath killed thy soule separated betweene God and thy soule this must thou with all fervency cry out upon and with all care renew faith in an ever-bleeding Saviour all will be little enough to keepe thee from bleeding to death by despaire One thing is all if thou canst receive it O forsaken soule thou art made Thou must obey divine injunction believe and expect good even in thy bad state Let Israel hope in the Lord for with the Lord there is mercy and with him is plenteous redemption and he shall redeeme Israel from all his iniquities A more deserted state then Israels was and is cannot be yet faith and hope are both by Divine command to be exercised in this forlorne condition with promise of full mercy and he shall redeeme Israel from all his iniquity Psal 130.7.8 Whatsoever thy sin hath been whatsoever the punishment of thy sin is hope in the Lord as the expression here is that is trust in Christ and expect good in this way and he shall redeeme thee from all thine iniquity even from that iniquity which hath killed the working of Gods strengthening and relieving power in thy soule I judge the expressions of the Psalmist to have such wide scope given them of purpose that any deserted Christians whatsoever might suck relief and support from them Power relieving and strengthening is sometimes lost not really but seemingly Cautio est that is according to a tempted soules apprehension this must bee lookt to that so none judge worse of their condition then 't is and lay load needlessly upon themselves Power relieving is consistent with power invading and tempting and yet when this is violent a poore soule overlookes him that stands by him and mournes and prayes as if nothing were his that is Gods God was faine in a temptation to tell the Apostle Paul what hee enjoyed which was all the answer he could have And he said unto me my grace is sufficient for thee and my strength is made perfect in weakenesse 2 Cor. 12.9 Soule-anguish with strength of temptation and strength of desire to have it removed made him over-looke that mighty aid of God by which he was enabled to stand under all which is many a tempted soul's case he cannot see the reliefe and strength he hath because he hath not totall freedome from the evill he groans under This temptation must be observed God will otherwise bee a loser and man too God will lose the glory of his grace and man the comfort Is it not reliefe and strength that thou art upheld to encounter in any measure with strong temptation That thou art taken from them into the armies of Christ though they not from thee from the evill of temptation though not simply from temptation it selfe This was that power which Christ did principally pray for not to take out of a wretched World and wretched condition but to uphold in it I pray not that thou shouldst take them out of the World but that thou shouldst keep them from the evill c. Object If I were so relieved and strengthened in my temptations as kept and borne out against sin I should acknowledge a strengthening power of God working in me but alas when I am tempted I am overcome Sol. 1 It is one thing to sin it is another thing to be overcome by sin Christians which thus complaine should well observe how Christ keepes their will and affections a man is lost when these are won and not before The Apostle Paul did eye this in the like conflict what he was in will when nothing in deed He found God in affection though sin in action the heart may be sound when more externall and inferiour parts are not What J doe I allow not what I would that doe I not but what I hate that doe I and upon this ground comforts himselfe in a sad condition and disclaimes sin as none of his though acted by him Tempted soules must remember this The heart kept all is kept what is done against this by meere strength of corrupt nature 't is sins 't
the eare but now mine eye seeth thee I abhorre my selfe in dust and ashes and repent Job 42.5 6. Whil'st Iob had not such an apprehension of Divine power as it was the lesse sinfull that his soule did not stir in reference to it as he ought but assoone as hee rightly understood it all other powers stirr'd thoroughly and Iob answerably repented and went about his businesse to stoop to that power which he saw above him Every faculty must have the honour of its place Divine Ordination must have the honour of its end or the man dies for it When you see these things say that winter is neare c. Saith the Scripture That is make use of what you apprehend and answerably stir and prepare or you wil perish with the world So you shall have expressions frequent when you heare this or that then doe thus and thus That is when one faculty does its Office let all the rest doe so too or else you are lost men If any sentinell shoot off and be not regarded the whole army dies for it Any soule-power misworking overthrowes all so any soule-power disobeyed in working by other powers overthrowes all If apprehension bee blinde and sleepy the soule is undon If apprehen sin see and speake in and by conscience and yet the heart lie still all will miscarry by surprise Apprehension is a power placed to prevent surprise Sad things concerning man by Divine Ordination worke at a distance for a time that man has his eyes in his head that sees this saith Solomon that is apprehension discharges its office if this Office and power bee sleighted by other powers in the heart all is taken by surprise I thinke apprehension now does its Office in most of you how is it obeyed in heart in other maine powers of the soule Surely now no man but must needs apprehend that hee may want much of God speedily as much as the Apostle apprehended these might doe much might all might now what stirring of heart under all that you apprehend yee are convinced are yee converted Doe yee stir now for your selves as the Apostle did for these Doe yee wrestle hard with God for all that yee apprehend yee may need Can yee apprehend the necessity of much and be stirr'd little Can yee see bloud and death in the Land and lay nothing to heart Can'st thou see better bloud then thine own shed and yet make no preparation for the losse of thine Though many be slaine yet shall not I ah Lord that soule is slaine already 't will be wofull when that body comes to be slain too Dost thou see a Sword in the land separating between soule body and doest thou not yet set to separate between sin and thy soule Art thou resolved to die in thy sinne wilt thou bleed to death in thy sinne this will make every drop of bloud that comes from thee as gastly as Hell What a deadly bleeding is that when soule and body bleed to death together when the soule bleeds as fast with wounds from conscience as the body with wounds from man When soule and body bleed mortally together ah Lord let mee not be neere that man how will hee sigh how will hee looke speak gaspe and groan and yet many such sad sights may be for ought I can discerne in many mens preparations to this houre Sinners God deales with you now as with Balaam he stands before you with a drawen sword hee threatens your bloud your death if yee make a step further yee cannot but apprehend this now as well as I Balaam and his Asse too must needs see it now What now will yee doe will yee make no use of such palpable apprehension How exceeding sinfull wil that sin become which rids it out now against bloud and death and will live when the man must no longer live I beseech you all consider the dealings of God and consider your eternall state Christians what doe yee see what doe yee doe yee see bloud good bloud a great deale of good bloud fall does good bloud stir in you You see death most deadly comming towards you upon the point of a mercilesse sword as mercilesse I dare say you Londoners shall finde it if it prevaile as ever was drawn doe yee fit and prepare for it to be hewed to pieces drag'd to death trod to death under Horse-feet yee cannot but apprehend that things may goe very bad and that yee may need very much speedily does apprehension make due impression Doe yee worke out Heaven-ward as the Apostle doth here answerable to what yee apprehend you and yours may want Sinne is in great power where the soule will not give up when he sees God comming against him Thy love to sin will be an everlasting love that dies not to sinne now thou and it will goe to Hell together Affection to evill becomes Almighty unconquerable and there is no way but one with the man Man must die or his sinne that justice is at worke which will kill one or tother I bleed and mourne to see how some men sinne in the face of Justice at swords point sweare curse and drinke drunk and yet going about deadly workes I see plainly now that a man may see misery and yet not seeke out to be blessed hee may see himselfe and others very open to and very neere upon deadly danger and yet neither seeke out for himselfe nor others why else doe we see so many continue still yet as they were Pauls spirit surely is few mens happinesse to stir effectually towards God as they apprehend just cause Apprehension workes divinely upon affection as it keepes it selfe pure from unbeliefe and no otherwise Unbeliefe is full of shift and evasion the life of apprehension dies in this Apprehension made from the Word of God or works of God workes no longer nor no stronger then as faith workes with it Why doe such mighty apprehensions as wee raise sometimes by the word die and come to nothing but because faith dies men believe but whilst they see us and heare us speake Keepe faith alive you will else see Hell often and feele it too and yet doe nothing to shun it Yee will see misery and yet not prepare for it yea yee will see judgement at the doore and yet scoffe at it so did they of the old World and another old World is this Apprehension workes divinely upon the heart as the will is subdued A stubborne man fights against all apprehension he does not like he shootes at God a great way off and kills him before he can come neere the heart to doe any good there I will not heare him say's Ahab hee never prophesis good to mee A stubborn heart does prejudge kill things before they can come neere him Apprehensions worke as wee manage them the strongest are quickly kill'd if wee fight against them the truest quickely made delusive if an unsound heart be in us Apprehensions are best and worke best
a glorious power This is spoken in the generall I would have every one of you in particular to take notice what power works in and by you and call it as it works Are yee selfe-condemned call that a convincing power Are your hearts prickt and wounded call that a terrible power Are your hearts inflam'd with love to Christ call that a glorious power Divine power condemning executing to wit torturing must be look't to betimes 'T is time to shake off sin when hell is come home come into a mans soule ere the soule be gon out of the body A power working meerly convictive is a sad and black not a glorious power Such a man should know that life and death are neere him he may live or he may die as he stoopes to that power which hath seis'd upon his soule Where power works meerely convictive that man is endited for his life if he can believe he will doe well if not his wounds will bleed to death No power workes so black and sad in the soule but faith alters it and makes it a glorious power The goings of God in the soule are suited to faith still Believe O selfe condemned soule and thou shall see the glory of God a glorious power working in thee Out of faith springs love out of love Heaven Heaven felt and then and not till then a Christian calles the power that workes in him a glorious power all is glorious in Heaven The soule quickly calles power as it feeles it worke and very hardly otherwise Wee call the Sun glorious when we see it and feele it smiling warming â—omforting of us Other celestiall powers which blow blast nip and pinch we call not glorious powers Power is glorious and confessed glorious as it does it's most glorious works in the heart Christians yee are too far from Heaven to call the Sun glorious too few glorious works in you to call power glorious Were ye strengthened with all might ye could not but as the Apostle here doth call power glorious FINIS USEFULL INSTRUCTIONS FOR THESE Evill Times COLOSS. 1.11 According to his glorious power or according to the force of his glory Doct. DIvine things are so mentioned as to make best impression upon the solue of man The Holy Ghost speaks as one in Heaven to make his auditors so he speakes gloriously to take to raise to ravish dead dull man to worke and force way for Christ into every heart according to the power or force of his glory T is an expression of energy and divine force moulded and shaped with such glittering letters and words with such varnish and beauty from Heaven as to take and carry every heart thither Words of glory and workes of glory all things of glory are of great power and force with fallen man in a glorious stile therefore doth the Holy Ghost here speake according to the power of his glory The Holy Ghost doth speake as like himselfe and to man as like himselfe Hee speakes as one in Heaven as one wrapt up in God and in glory to whom the language of the holy Land is naturall and he speakes to man as on earth in earth wrapt up soule and body in earth cold dull heavy and hard to be lifted up to Heaven unlesse Heaven and glory be brought to his doore to his eye and eare if anything be of power and force upon a dead creature this will according to the force or power of his glory God speakes to man as man yet moves according to the ruines and remainders of his first state Mans first state was glory and he is a creature leaning and strugling that way still to get and make a state of glory he gropes after it in every thing and as any thing carries glory and lustre to any sense eye or eare so hee lookes after it and hearkens to it Things of naturall glory of glory to the sense they are very swaying with a broken glorious creature This the Divell knowes right well and therefore hee bespangles his expression with Heaven and glory and the state of a God when he has to doe with man So he did to the first Adam so he did to the second Adam hee shewed him all the Kingdomes of the World and the glory of them saith the Text he knowes words and works inlaied with glory are very working and winning upon humane nature who ever weare it Therefore doth he at this day gild all his deadly pils and makes them golden and glorious things to looke upon and daily workes in his best apparrell as an Angel of light he puts faire white sleeves upon his arms when he is going to butcher the soule he makes every toole and instrument of death looke as glittering and as glorious as may be hee hath had long experience that golden glorious things are of great force upon a broken glorious Creature As Satan doth speake and worke towards man as man moves according to the remainders of his first state so doth God Hee knowes that fallen man is much leaning and gropeing after glory and therefore shall yee finde the Holy Ghost so leaning to this way of speaking in the word and working in the World namely to cloath expression with words of glory and actions with workes of varnish and glory As when Christ was to come in the flesh and sent his Herauld's to the Shepards The glory of the Lord shined round about them saith the Text. Man is taken with a surrounding glory once he had such a glory in Christ he was to have it againe therefore came the message so visibly and so strongly instructing this way Glory to any sense workes mightily and be but glory to the eare glorious words but glory round to eare to eye to many senses at once this makes Heaven and carries all before it swallowes up the soule So when Christ shall appeare againe you have the Holy Ghost telling man that he shall appeare in glory The Holy Ghost knowes that man is a creature much taken with glory therefore doth he cloath his actions and words with glory according to his glorious power God speakes to man as to a creature of state Persons of state and majesty mind glory as their neerest kins-man and take in things onely as they come in glory and cannot stoop to owne and embrace any else as Kings and persons of state can embrace nothing but what comes in state and presented with glory suitable to their majesty Man is a creature of state of a big spirit of a very big spirit in a very bad sense words must be big when the spirit is big or else they will not beare down all before them One spirit speakes high and loftily to another man will not open the everlasting-doores unlesse the King speake and speake as a King in state in glory and therefore doth he so speake according to his glorious power The Holy Ghost speakes so to man as to make man know his distance he so as
to keepe up a bad heart though the suffering be good there be so many by-things besides the cause breake in guilt doth so speake stare and teare in such a soule when any bodily misery growes great and long Long suffering turnes a guilty soule into hell a hell in the flesh may be borne with joy but not a hel in the spirit Plundered persons complaine they art quite undone sinne hath done this fall out with that not with Cavaleers they could not have stript you of all not of your joy by taking away your goods no not by taking away your limbes no not by taking away your life had not you wounded your soules with sinne neither men nor divels could have strip't you of your joy the wounds which you have made in your spirits not those which they have made in your flesh have quite undone you these are the wounds that have bled to death your joy Thou hast beene the cruellest Cavaleer to thy selfe O sinner Can'st thou make no joy out of thy sufferings for truth I can guesse the cause thy sufferings worke no grace in thee Wee glory in tribulation knowing that it workes this and that grace saith the Apostle that is takes off the soule from the Creature sets it upon God and eternall things Thy sufferings are meere sufferings they worke no grace if they did thou must needs joy in this to see how a fiery Charet carries thy soule to Heaven No affliction is joyous or can be but as it brings home the soule to God the Prodigall home to his Father When afflictions doe barely afflict and onely afflict this must needes leave the soule in a very ill frame to joy There is no joy in eating of huskes Barren cloudes doe not make the Earth smell and smile barren afflictions afflictions which make no grace can make no glory joy is an afflicted soules Glory As the vessell comes into forme by beating so comes in delight as gold appeares by fire as Christ is seene in the furnace so is joy there Suffering long and the heart hold it's owne in sinne Ah Lord her 's a soule in hell indeed is it possible for such a soule to make joy in such suffering suffering long and the heart hold it's owne in sinne this sets the soule at a greater distance from joy then ever as one that is wicked and will be so there is no peace nor joy to the wicked when will there when can there to him that is wicked and ever will be so that short suffering long suffering no furnace can melt nor purifie This soules suffering is and will be of the same nature with theirs below there is long suffering and no Joy without possibility of Joy so will it be with every wicked man Sinners tell mee what doe yee see what doe yee feele sorrow but no joy why that 's right write Lord have mercy upon mee my hell is begun my body is desolate my soule is desolate so 't 'as been long so 't will be for ever because my misery has not better'd me What no enquiry no panting for Christ yet will yee rub along through one hell till you come to another O God! when shall Christ be in request bodies bleed soules bleed and yet is not a bleeding Saviour sought after that a bleeding condition may bee made blessed and Joyous Sinners you are insnared in an evill time Did you dreame of long suffering what dayes are come upon you what rack't soules are within you when will this end So 't is so it must be till one deepe swallow up another till the lowest Hell swallow up this nether-most Hell Reade my Text once more God is to be admir'd so is this point and I thinke this Text to be concluded How tender is God of the felicity of man hee does much to destroy his sinne but nothing to destroy his joy when hee makes him suffer long he would have sinne die all sinne but no joy no not a dram but rise to an exceeding height Rejoyce and bee exceeding glad saith Christ All that God does the worst that God does to a Christian is to make him a Heaven and to encrease it it should make ones heart leape to thinke of it If he cast downe 't is to raise up if he humble 't is to exalt if he empty 't is to fill if he kill 't is to make alive if he make misery long without 't is to make joy strong within still he ha's a tender care of mans joy This is the Benjamin about which Gods bowells beate let my child suffer any thing but nothing in his joy O deare father who can conceive thy bowells to thy children Lord what is man that thou art so mindfull of him and so tender of his joy He that is in Heaven can speake nothing but Heaven he that is never without joy would never have us without joy although we be never without sin no not then when wee doe and suffer most and longest for him when hee speakes of long suffering he ends it with joy nay he meanes it all a long with joy Christians admire love God does nothing to make you miserable all that is done this way you doe it your selves Hee has beene a Father of children of many children this many thousand yeares yet never was knowen to doe any thing to take away the joy of any God is very tender of your joy be you so he does nothing to kill your joy doe not you make any thing he does doe it When hee makes you suffer much and suffer long doe not you make it kill your joy this is to turne long suffering into long sinning yet flesh and bloud is apt to this I 'le therefore speak a word to this point Our sufferings looke as if they would be long they have a long visage in my eye as I told you last day how long soever they stretch out themselves yet I would have you manage them as the holy Ghost here speakes with a spirit of joy I will give you three or foure things to helpe raise your hearts to suffer and to suffer long and all along with joy You shall be the death of insolent wickednesse Should be the joy of a child of God to suffer long to kill the least sinne 't is so killing to his father how much more to kill a Goliah that is up in defiance against him You shall kill wickednesse in Armour wickednesse with a brazen face wickednesse with a head-peece back-peece belly-peece wickednesse wrapt up in Iron in armour from head to foote wickednesse growen so wicked that thinks she hath made her selfe musket-proofe Cannon-poofe against the Almighty Should it not joy a man to suffer long to kill such wickednesse to kill wickednesse that thinks to out-live all goodnesse wickednesse that dares GOD teares God sweares curses blaspheames at every word wickednesse set all on fire of Hell should it not joy a man to quench such fire with his bloud should it
the exercise of al I dread to thinke what this presages Wee shal see poverty and heare cursing see bleeding and heare blaspheming and both in one house yea both in one person Wee shal see bodies wounded and soules breathing themselves through these wounds in the face of God and man because in a helpelesse state This grieves me no man layes to heart what God already suffers in these evil dayes from impatient spirits I have heard some as I have gon along the streets breake forth most bitterly against the most religious of the Kingdome as the cause of al our misery laying bloud at innocent mens doores great ones doe thus against conscience poore ones doe thus out of ignorance as rich mens echo being their creatures made through feare or hope or both all sides I am sure breath not forth al but little very little patience Ah! yee of little patience what doe yee meane to make a miserable condition remedilesse a state miserable damnable will you sin in poverty that wealth may never returne will you sin in War that you may never have peace wil you sin in bloud and death that Hell may follow Because men have killed your Trades your States your Bodies shall the devil have your Soules Is there any evil in the City or Country which God hath not done God takes away much to save the maine and you make the losse of much the losse of all the losse of your soules through impatience A rod should humble you and your skin swells with stripes Gods Hand on your back should make your hand on your mouth and you curse you curse and God curses surely you wil be cursed you sweare and stare because you have lost your peace your temporall respect and God sweares you shall neither have temporall nor eternall rest Ah Lord what hath this soule done murmured and sworne himselfe out of al for ever Yee men of no patience have you no light no conscience no soule doe yee sinne against no light no soule no God are yee heathens are yee worse I will tell you the evils of impatience that you may dread it and every degree of it and make them as I name them motives to endeavor after all Patience i a heart freed from all impatience The first evil is this so farre as the soule is impatient so farre 't is set at a distance from God Impatience grieves God grieved withdrawes So farre as Saul rages so farre is the Spirit of God gon So farre as the soule is shut out from God 't is shut out from al. A bedlam is put alone and there chained and whipt he is fit for no company but forlorne spirits like himselfe a Legion of these possesse every impatient soule No soule hath lesse fellowship with God then passionate God cannot dwell in fire nor worke in fire any otherwise then to torment the tormented Froward children are frowned upon and kept at a great distance 'till their hearts come downe A soule that hath little of God hath much of the devil if you would see the devil face to face looke a passionate man in the face you shall see the devils eyes his browes his tongue his mouth al as blacke as horrid as firey as Hell A second evill of impatience is this Impatience maimes parts gifts graces and makes a man otherwise able feeble and uselesse The counsells of the froward are carried head long saith the holy Ghost if their counsels how much more then those things they doe without counsell and thus most an end doe passionate men doe all they doe Passion puts out a man's eyes cuts-off a man's armes it thrusts a man in hast still to the wrong doore to the wrong end of his busines Passion cannot observe modus nor media agendi 't wil up to the top of the house presently before there be any staires made 't wil run and leave tools behind yea 't will run and leave God behind and so buries her honour still in an untimely birth A passionate man hath Reubens judgement written in his forehead never to excell Thirdly impatience is the mother of al evil 't is a sin-teeming temper it brings forth children to old Age and then most of al passion in old Age brings forth by troopes Impatience 't is a spirit set on fire of Hell prepared and ready to every hellish worke to sweare to curse to kill to speak evil to doe evil t is a short possession a man mad for so many houres that will not stick at any thing that the devil and deprav'd nature bid him doe he wil flee in the face of servants children wife magistrate God any one 't is a Snake whose tongue is his sting his teeth poyson he takes in and casts up venome by mouthfuls his heart brings forth sinnes by troopes he speaks as many sinnes as words he burnes al black with too much heat he over-heats words workes the wheeles light a fire still in carriage especially when loaded with any heft and burne cart and carriage both Passion 't is the devils glasse-house black fire workemen are at it in this soule day and night t is the devils sinne-moul'd to make many sins quickly many great sins on a sudden Impatience puts a price onely upon praesentia * Appetitui apta carnal present things a measse of potage at present better then birth-right although Christ and Heaven be wrapt up in it Tell an impatient man of things to come Heaven and Glory Praesentibus futura majora and the like he cannot stay so long Heaven a great way off is no Heaven to him he must have a Bird in the hand a Heaven here or else Heaven and earth shall ring of him he must have what he wil and when he wil or he wil make the house too hot for al that are in it This renders an impatient person utterly uncapable of the great'st blessings because these are longest a comming and he cannot waite Le ts have a golden Calfe as for this Moses we know not what 's become of him nor when he will come a golden glittering Calfe at present better then to stay for Moses though hee brought the beames of God the glory of Heaven shining in his face Le ts eate and drinke for to morow we die Magna â—â—â—antiâ nulla Impatience must have a Heaven at present a belly-heaven as for a soule heaven a heaven in promise t is a dead thing This renders an impatient man utterly below motive our greatest Gospel motives are fetcht from great things to come in another World and the greatest things are nothing at such a distance to this man hee cannot waite so long for a Heaven though hee lose his soule There is no divine contemplation in an impatient heart which is that that makes Heaven here So that an impatient man loses his Heaven here-after and here too Impatience 't is a soule still in a hurry never at home never at leisure to goe to
out more love more joy then Corne and Wine then any thing can doe 't is so fully soule answering Electing love is a transcendent love stronger then that which is borne to all the Creation besides so it makes a transcendent love a love stronger to Christ then to any thing My love is white and ruddy faire yea fairest of ten thousand A man whom Christ loves cannot see such another as Christ is as the Apple-Tree among the Trees of the Wood so is my beloved among the Sonnes Electing love is separating I have chosen you out of the World The body in the World but the soule out of it off of it i in esteeme all earthly things dung stinking Earth that which is taking to a carnall man is stinking to a Christian Earth is base to a heavenly soule thick clay a loade yea the very flesh upon the back a load to a divine spirit life this life but a death The best house here but a groaning house in this house wee groane panting after another better built A house from Heaven Christ finds men lost in the Creature but leaves them lost in himselfe I esteeme all losse but Christ A choyce person hath a choyce affection he can put no prize upon any thing but Christ A Christian is the worst bidder for the World in the World A Judas bidds basely for Christ A Paul bids basely for all besides Christ he bids nothing hee esteemes all dung he prizes it at no rate onely worthy of strong contempt The glory of this World takes not a glorious soule I am crucified to the World and the World to me Paul had nothing of the World nor cared for nothing there was as little of the World in his heart as in his hand as little in his spirit as in his purse Divine love is very estranging from worldly things knowes nothing no no person after the flesh A brother is nothing a sister a mother nothing divine things All 't was so with Christ 't is so with a Christian All Christs children take after him Whether chosen of God whether singl'd out by love now speake Whom love hath not singled out wrath now will Justice hath no other Butt to shoot at but a rejected soule Mercy sets her children under her wing Justice killes her children with death yee rejected soules what will yee doe The great Shepheard is separating between sheepe and swine tares shall no longer stand amongst the Wheat plucking up by the rootes is come Bleed under your condition sinners the quarrell at this day in the Land is betweene Christ and rejected persons there should not a stroke be struck more in the Land were it not to cut off that which is cast off Every Souldier is Gods bloud-hound you will see wrath single out the stoutest Goat in the heard and pull him by the throate Justice drinke the bloud of every Judas and make Filii perditionis filii perditi the greatest men in misery as deepe as their merit persons cast off by GOD cut off by Man Justice is going once againe to give every Cain his marke Not a rejected person through the Land but shall feele the power of Gods Wrath. Yee forlorne Soules what will yee doe Shall your sinne finde you out Will you goe on in your sinne till God make your rejection visible and write your doome in your bloud for posterity to reade and tremble Is it a small thing that you have lost your name and honour with men Will you desperately lose your honour eternally with God Yee Malignants yee seede of the Serpent you say you have but a life to lose I say you have Soules to lose You say you will honour the King so doe but honor God too or else the King of Kings will crush you all I conclude this point Duty with a word to Gods chosen ones your Duty your safety lies in this point Love singles out her beloved Who hath made us meete c. You are of this little Number admire love this is the use made in the Text. Give thankes to the Father who hath made us meete c. What knotty pieces hath God hewed and made fit for himselfe That Gods Love should center any where but in himselfe aâ—l the Creation should admire that God will foule his hands to mould and make up Earth for Heaven for ever admire mans love is all from motive Gods love from none God layes out cost on a dunghill and makes it a stately Throne Things which so move that wee can see no spring their very forme set's us into admiration Divine Love moves thus altogether singles out kisses embraces and no spring nor principle but it selfe loves because it loves can you reach this reason No why then admire and adore that love that has your Soules in her Armes to carry them to Heaven Safety Your safety is in this point Whom Love hath singled out wrath shall never wrong The favour of God is a sufficient defence against the frownes of the greatest man Love is as tender to keepe as choyce to take into protection shee commandes men shee commands Angels shee commands the whole Creation to serve her Beloved A man ha's the Munition of Rockes that is in the Armes of Christ A Christian cannot object his sinne to turne of this consolation from him Divine love beganne freely it goes on so it chose out the man freely it chooses out mercies for the man freely A man is Universally made that is chosen out by God to bee happy hereafter happy here happy in every condition here happy Christ leaves none to the hazard of sinnes or times hee secures his choyce as his owne eternall felicity Hee bindes them up as His Jewels sets the Righteous apart As for Himselfe All. Your safety your All is in this point 'T is your Spring of supplies 't is a Fountaine open Free-Love is a Canaan of blessings Milke and Honey Flowing Free-Love 't is infinite mercy set to make you her Heire to bestow all shee hath upon you and yours Would yee have your selves blessed the Kingdome blessed Free-Love hath in it to doe all Free-Love hath a long Arme and a full Hand mercie for thousands and from Generation to Generation FINIS USEFULL INSTRVCTIONS FOR THESE Evill Times COLOSS. 1.12 Giving thanks to the Father who hath made us meete to be partakers of the inheritance of the Saints in light Doct. LOve workes freely Christ chuses what persons he pleases to advance Who hath made us c. Love works fully What persons Christ chuses to worke upon hee makes thorough worke in he renders them meete fit sufficient the Originall word will beare all these to be partakers of the inheritance of the Saints in light Sinne hath it's fitting and finishing and then it brings forth its end Sinne finished brings forth death c. The Divell is a thorough worke-man where hee layes a foundation he raises up the building till all be fit for himselfe and
love According to designed office and this binds to fit and finish for Heaven Hee is the Author and finisher of our Faith and this by office Christ also workes according to a proper principle in himselfe to wit love which cannot be quiet nor leave off working till every person foreknowne be fully fitted to love and for love Love is an untired principle in Christ though not so in us this makes him an everlasting Father a worker as a Father without cessation till children be fit to be taken home to enjoy their inheritance fit for him who tooke such a knowledge of them Christ moves as an everlasting father he layes out and layes out hee 's at cost and paines this yeare next Yeare to give breeding high breeding suitable to fortune and never leaves off till the child be fit for his inheritance Christ is an everlasting Father as well as a Prince of Peace he has love proper love in him as well as proper duty and office devolu'd upon him Office bindes to finish for Heaven love more I thinke 't is proper to say Christ moves more naturally then obligedly to fit lost man for his eternall home Bonds were voluntarily taken up and taken up from love love is the natural motion of Christ this works and never leaves working till the soule upon which it seiseth be fit for Heaven Vse I am led by this point very seasonably to aske you this question Are you fit to die are you fit to live againe are you prepared for Heaven you see how things goe upon Earth The way of God is deadly her 's deadly doings here below How doe your soules stir about eternity Sinners what doe you doe What will you doe God is giving to all what is fit for them Sinners are yet asleepe Ah Lord When will they awake What a harvest will Hell have in these bleeding times What preparation for Heaven do you see men make more then they did Hee that was filthy is so still he that was an Earth-Worme is so although God be treading Wormes to death and crumbling Earth to dust Though person and state lie open to death yet no man mends his pace for life What shall I thinke of such a Generation My bowels rend to looke some of you in the face to behold how like your selves you still looke and what a deadly visage your life still carries What you were you are what men are now for sinne surely they shall be Justice is at worke to perpetuate misery to thousands to harden Pharaohs and then cut them off to fit Vessels for wrath and then fill them up with it as full as they 'l hold to fit men for their place and then send them thither a pace Sinners you heare all this can you beare all this do not your soules yet stir Are they not then white to harvest fit to be cut off by that sword of wrath which is going about An unstirred soule is fit for nothing but Justice 't is death in strength upon the soule 't is the soule in grave and a stone roul'd upon the doore What you are fit for that you shall now have Justice is commanded to go over the Land and single out every wretch and give him his own I think there is scarce a sinner amongst us but Justice ere it hath done with us will make him eat of the fruit of his way Doth not wrath make misery begirt us Doth it not cut down dry Trees every where fuell fit for the fire doth she not set a fire and cast into everlasting burning And yet are not your souls a fire to be fit for Heaven such whose soules stir not now there is just cause to feare that they are left as fit fuell for wrath Obduratio I will give you the properties of a man fitted for wrath The first is obduration A stone is fitted to descend 't 'as its property to beare down-ward Hardnesse maks fitnesse to judgment The way to Hell is from burning to burning from a seared conscience to a damn'd soule Justice blasts the soule in the body ere it burnes it out A fitted soule for wrath 't is one with his Eyes out 't is one that can see no evill making towards him although himself very evill one that cannot see Justice though very visible nor sin though very palpable Justice works within and then without she spends her selfe most fiercely within her last and least breathings and blastings are without she first puts out a mans eyes with the sin he loves and then comes as a snare against the sinner I sit as a Queene and shall see no evill and yet this Quâ—ene a Queane and very evill that 's a Swans song before death now is the soule fit for Justice and wrath and never so fit as now When a sinner sings a requiem soule take thine ease he is fit for yea very neare to wrath this night saith Christ in such a case they shall take away thy soule A man hath sinned himselfe to Hell-doore which hath sinned his soule blind and secure * A man is fitted for wrath indeed when he stands at Hell-door readdy to goe in Setling upon the lees and judiciary visitation they are joyn'd both together as neare Neighbors and as belonging to one thing and this by resolute will I will visit those that are setlâ—d upon their lees Wrath is comming towards you yee blind soules doe yee see it no There is none Why therefore 't will certainly come you are the onely persons fit to be visited I will visit those which are settled upon their lees whom ever I passe by A Horses Eyes out and the next worke he is fit for is grinding Justice sets sinners to grinding their own soules when they cannot see their own sinnes Wrath certainly will not suffer that man to live long which hath kil'd his soule with sinne Alienatio A second property of a man fitted for wrath is this alienation No blessed fellowship speaks separation to wrath A King cals home his Embassadors when he meanes War and Judges a Kingdome fit for nothing but the Sword Casting off fits to cutting off The spirit of God departs when the man is rejected Alienation is great still before desolation Saul shall have no answer no where no whispering from any but from Hell when given up as only fit for that place Light hath no fellowship with darkenesse but when 't will have nothing to do with darkenesse to make it light the state is desperate 't is a signe that the soule is fitted for utter darknesse There are but two steps to death the first is this The sinner say's he will have no fellowship with God the second is God say's he shall have none Now is the sinner judged how fit for Hell then now judge yee execution only is wanting and the Devill is not usually back-ward to discharge his office the man is upon the gallowes he wants but turning off how things may turn
his best blessings to wit in the bosome of the best persons Heaven is the inheritance of Saints Doct. Divine fruition is still made according to capacity Men many times give place and honor where there is no capacity nor fitnesse but Christ never doth Christ brings not hell to Heaven wickednesse inherits wrath grace onely inherits glory Heaven is hell to a depraved state As guilt shunes Justice so doth sinne holinesse A wicked man would not be where sinne is punished nor where grace is onely practized He is as unwilling to Heaven as to hell yet to one he must Christ casts hell upon many against their will but Heaven upon none but upon such who are both willing and capable Holinesse makes capacity of happinesse purity will bosome purity Christ puts no Toads in his bosom but Saints Inheritance of Saints c. Corruption cannot inherit incorruption Heterogeneals will not incorporate Choyce flowers will not grow by stinking weeds Capacity is absolutely necessary respecting the inheritance above If Sinners would into Heaven they cannot Light and darkenesse are inconsistent Fire and water oppose God and ungodly men cannot live neare Justice will fight it out with sinne to the death Without holinesse man cannot see God without this God cannot endure to see the man There be thousands and ten thousands in Heaven but not one sinner amongst them all the Land will not beare Snakes Toades Serpents no poysonous creatures only Saints Inheritance of Saints Justice makes exact distinction Sheep and Goates though many yet all parted Not a Goate upon Christs right hand Every attribute is exact at it's Office mercy brings her children from the foure winds of the Earth to Heaven and leaves not one short nor brings not one over Justice gathers her brats too from the foure Winds and leaves not one for any higher preferment then hell will afford The Lord knowes who are his that 's the Seale of Heaven A Seale is for exact distinction What a seale is unto us for exact distinction that is Christs knowledge to him hee doth as firmely as lastingly as exactly distinguish by vertue of this all persons in the World as wee doe by our seales and Markes distinguish amongst multitudes of things Though the devill have many thousands here below and Christ but a few and these tumbled up and downe amongst the wicked yet Christ knowes which is which and who are his And onely his shall have all hee hath Saints inherit God moves in relation Children only inherit bond servants have a little and turned off when their time is out If children then heires joynt heires with Christ This Hypothesis is a Thesis onely in a Saint Hee is a child of God out of question the nature of God is only manifest in a Saint A holy man plainly and without controversy speakes out himselfe to be a Sonne of God Jus legale carries the inheritance to him The wicked are of their father the Devill they may not lay claime to Heaven upon paine of hell If they touch the tree of Life they die when they promise Heaven wrath then smokes and hell never so neare as now Bondslaves doe not inherit nor bastards doe not inherit the case is the same of either respecting Heaven No Bastard Christians no Bastard Saints but Saints indeed inherit Vse Let every man looke to his sanctity It doth not merit but it doth entitle to the inheritance If children then heires A man may looke into his bosome and tell what he shall be for eternity Know your hearts and know them throughly you cannot doe well else 'T is death to mee to smell the breath of some of you your inwards are so rotten and yet I feare I feare you take notice of nothing My Quaere to you all is what have you to take to for eternity Heaven How doe you make that good Can you make demonstration of a holy state Yes I live justly I pray to God I heare his Word This is not infallible demonstration of sanctity Civill conscience calls and thrusts to all these as 't is so principled and under such a government A man may be just to men and not just to GOD. Heathens have beene as just as any of you all That yong man which came to Christ when the Law was read hee should not kill nor steale but love his Neighbour c. All this have J done from my youth .. He was exact for Justice and yet but in a sorry state for Heaven if one may belâ—eve his owne words Drawing neare to God in duties is a better demonstration of sanctity and yet this may be done with the lips when the heart is far from God They draw neare and sit before mee as my people saith God But their hearts goe after their covetousnesse A mans devotion may be hot for the Temple of the Lord the Temple of the Lord And yet himselfe the Temple of the devill strict for new moones and solemne feasts and Gods soule loath all both men and their devotion There is blind devotion profane holinesse I will give you two or three principles demonstrative of it for I feare there are some deluded soules amongst you Out-side holynesse how splendid so ever it lookes is profane holinesse The heart denominates action The Pharisee was for Temple praying for lifting up of eyes and hands but no heart A meere image drawne out in such a posture with his eyes and hands inclining upwards and Christ made basenesse of this best piece God is worshipped in spirit If holinesse reach not this 't is grosse profanenesse Holinesse is spirit yielding to spirit bad to good 'T is a pure heart a heart captivated with Christ and spending it selfe upon him Holynesse 't is everlasting doores within doores of the soule that everlasting thing opened to a King of glory T is affection catched with truth one spirit bound by an other a bad spirit by a good and carried whither that list It is a flame and an Angell ascending in it A spirit a fire and ascending upward A man upon his knees and his heart upon his lips taking rise for Heaven from this advantage Profane holynesse is holinesse meerely formall piety suited to policy to things on this side Christ and truth My father did so my grand-father did so the most doe so therefore 't is best to doe so and 't is idle to doe otherwise Many mens sanctity is a meere piece of antiquity A humour to weare such an old fashion No devotion but Schisme that is not in this old habit No holinesse but faction that cannot be clasp't up within the covers of a Common-Prayer Booke Wednesdayes and Frydayes the onely dayes for Prayer The printed liturgy an onely forme for Prayer Ah Lord What is Bishops holinesse onely blessed holinesse Did not their bloudy zeale lie here What a curse is blind devotion The things that dame them are deare True holinesse is regulated by truth and not by persons nor time Sanctifie them with thy truth