wonder if the house be robbed where the doors stand alwaies open and all is common to every passenger Be sure therefore to keep a constant guard upon your eyes your appetites and every sense or else the world will not be Crucified Let not your eye move but by the conduct of your reason at least let it not fix upon any object till reason give it leave Taste not a bit of meat or a cup of drink till you have advised with right informed Reason and be able to justifie what you do Take an account of all that entereth at the door of any of your senses For he that must give an account to the living God had need to keep account himself 2. Keep also a constant guard upon your Thoughts as well as upon your senses As the Thoughts will tell you what is in your hearts so they will let in whatsoever bribeth them to consent The fancies of men are the garden of the Devil where he soweth and watereth the plants of impiety Yea they are a principall room in which he doth inhabite It s certain that the Devil hath readyer access to the fantasie then to the heart and that it is his shop in which he forgeth most vices and doth a very great part of his work An unclean spirit possesseth the fantasies of the unclean so that their thoughts are running upon lustful objects and they are guilty of the filthyest cogitations within when they seem to be of the chastest behaviour without and do frequently commit fornication in the heart when fear or shame doth restrain the outward practise and cover their iniquity The malicious person is possessed by a spirit of maliciousness that dwelleth in his fantasie and sets him on contrivances of cruelty and revenge and filleth his mind with thoughts of hatred and disdain The same spirit reigneth in the fancies of the Proud and setteth them upon contrivances for the advancing of their names and causeth them to thirst after the reputation of the world and filleth them with the troubled malicious thoughts of Haman when they miss of their expectations The earthly spirit possesseth the fantasies of the covetous and setteth them on contrivances for the increase of their estates Do you not feel by sad experience how many of Satans assaults are made upon your cogitations and how much of his interest lyeth there and how much of his work is there done As ever you would be Crucified to the world then set a watch upon your thoughts and keep a daily and hourly account of them and see that they be alway under the Government of faith and reason Your thoughts should be kept chast as the entrance into your hearts and not be as common harlots entertaining every comer If you feel your thoughts stepping out upon Lust or Malice look after them betime and call them in and check them sharply and lay a charge on them hereafter to be more pure If you find that they are running with Geheza after the prize and are making out after the provisions for the flesh recall them and correct them and bewail this evil before the Lord and let your watch be stricter for the time to come Believe it your hearts will be such as are your thoughts The flies that lye upon sores or dung or carrion and the worms that are bred in them will be of the nature of that corruption themselves If you would have your hearts clean and humble and heavenly let your Thoughts be clean and humble and heavenly If you will let your Thoughts run on the objects of Lust you will be Lustful And if you will Think on the enticements of Pride you will be Proud And if you will let out your thoughts on the Profits of the world no wonder if it steal away your hearts saith the Lord to the covetous and unmerciful Deut. 15. 7 8 9. If there be among you a poor man of one of thy Brethren within any of thy gates thou shalt not harden thy heart nor shut thy hand from thy poor Brother but thou shalt open thy hand wide unto him and shalt surely lend him sufficient for his need in that which he wanteth Beware that there be not a thought in thy wicked heart saying The seventh year the year of release is at hand and thy eye be evil against thy poor Brother and thou givest him nought and he cry unto the Lord against thee and it be sin unto thee Thou shalt surely give him and thy heart shall not be grieved when thou givest to him because that for this thing the Lord thy God shall bless thee in all thy works and in all that thou puttest thine hand unto For the poor shall never cease out of the Land therefore I command thee saying Thou shalt open thy hand wide unto thy brother to thy poor and to thy needy in the Land Besides the main drift of the Text mark how we are commanded to beware that a Thought of unmercifulness enter not into our hearts And when Christ doth so vehemently disswade his followers from this damning sin he doth it by setting a Law upon their Thoughts Why take ye Thought c. Take no thought c. Mat. 6. 25 27 28 31 34. Luke 12. 22 26. If the unrighteous man forsake not his thoughts he will not forsake the evil of his way Isa. 55. 7. As you love your souls then look to your Thoughts and keep them under the Government of the Lord. Would you be free from a vain and sensual mind How long then shall your vain thoughts lodge within you Ier 4. 14. 3. And see also that you make not worldly minded men your companions While they savour nothing but earth and flesh they will have no savoury discourse of any thing else And their discourse is like to be infectious to your minds As a Stews is not the best place to preserve you from uncleanness nor an Alehouse the best place to preserve you from drunkenness so the company of worldlings is not the best place to preserve you from worldliness Where you shall see or hear little but earthly things and heavenly matters can find no room It s not the safest place to fight against the Devil in the midst of his own Army but in the Army of Christ. On the contrary side be sure that you keep under mortifying means Attend to the lively preaching of the word which will disgrace the world to you and be still drawing your hearts another way Be much with God in secret prayer and be much above in Heavenly Meditation and dwell upon those Thoughts which lay the world naked to you and shew it you in its own complexion If death and judgement be seriously in your minds it will waken you from these fleshly dreams and prick the bladder of your aery minds and let out that wind which puft you up and kept out the things of God and Glory Converse also as much as you can with the most Heavenly people
world I cannot live contentedly in poverty food and rayment will not serve turn unless I fare deliciously and be cloathed neatly and be set by in the world and unless I may leave prosperity to my children when I am dead and gone If you dare not say thus do not dare to desire or think thus Mr. Robert Bolton that holy learned Divine doth use among the hainous damning sins to reckon this A desire to be râ—ch And if we hearken to the Scripture we shall find that it is not without good cause Prov. 23. 4. the command is Labour not to be rich And Prov. 28. 20. He that maâ—gth haste to be rich shall not be innocent The Syriack rendeâ—s the word 〈◊〉 and the Arabick the wicked which we here translate â—e that â—asteth to be rich And they must needs be the sâ—me men when the Apostle saith that the love of money is the râ—ot of all evil 1 Tim. 6. 10. Therefore saith Paul They that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare and into many foolish and hurtful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition 1 Tim. 6. 9. By this word they that will or are willing to be rich is meant they whose wills are set upon it and are in love with it and fain would be rich Is it fitter for God or you to determine how many talents you shall be entrusted with Do you long to have more duty and danger and a double account It s true you may desire the success of your Labours but not for the Love of Riches nor with an unmannerly peremptory desire It s true also that you must be thankful for prosperity if God give it you But as it must be with an holy jealousie so it is as true that you must be thankful also for adversity when God sends it though not for it self yet for the good that it may conduce to And therefore saith Iames 1. 9 10. Let the brother of low degree rejoyce in that he is exalted but the rich in that he is made low And Iob could say The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away blessed be the name of the Lord Iob 1. 21. 3. IF you are Crucified to the world then let it not have power to Crucifie you by putting you upon inordinate cares or sorrows Will you vex your brains with contrivings for the world and weary your mind with tearing cares and walk in sorrow because you have not your desires and yet say that you are Crucified to the world Are the dead so solicitous or is a Carkaise to be so much valued Your Passions and Endeavours will proclaim your excessive estimation of the world when you have never so long in words professed your contempt of it Alas how many that seem to know better do almost distract their minds with cares and entangle themselves in a life of so much misery as a wise man would not like for all the world If they want any thing what trouble are their minds iâ— till their wants be supplyed If they be afflicted with losses or wrongs or contempt they are troubled as if they had loâ—â— some great oâ— necessary thing A Crucified world could not make such a â—â—â—â— in your minds but doubtless it is so far alive as it thus aâ—â—â—cteâ—h you The Lord Jesus hath himself made so full and moving a Sermon to his Disciples against the cares of the world Mat. 6. and Luke 12. that its a double sin to Christians to be still so careful and earthly minded and I know not what to hope for from that man that will not be moved with such words as those from the Lord himself And yet how many professors have I known that have tormented themselves with cares and sorrows yea and cast their bodies into diseases by it and many of them have dyed of it and some it hath brought besides their wits So observable is that of the Apostle 2 Cor. 7. 10. The sorrow of the world worketh death even temporal and eternal unless we be delivered by undeserved Grace Bear all conditions then with an equal mind and let your passions shew that you are Crucified to the world 4. IF you are Crucified to the world then Let it not thrust out the service of God and be made an excuse for a negligence in Religion How rare are holy Meditations in the minds of many that think themselves Religious And it is worldly Thoughts that thrust them out and worldly businesses that are the common excuse How formal are many in the Instructing of their families how seldom and how coldly do they exhort their children or servants to make ready for death and make sure of their salvation How coldly and cursorily are family prayers and other duties slubbered over And all is because they have other things to mind the world will give them leave to do no more The decay of zeal and diligence in family-duties is the common symptom and cause too of the destruction of knowledge and godliness in the Land And all is because the world is Master and must be served before God The business of the world doth seem to them the principal business and must first be done and all thoughts and talk of Heaven must stand by till the world will give them leave to enter Men cannot have while to call upon God and instruct their families because they have their worldly works to do Go into the families of most Noblemen Knights or Gentlemen in England and see there whether God or the world be most regarded and lookt after Perhaps they may civilly yield an â—â—r while a Chaplain makes a short prayer among them but if you look after heavenly mindedness and seriousness in Religion and zeal against sin and diligence to help to save the souls that are under their charge how little shall you find Do they earnestly perswade their servants to study holy things and do they examine them about their everlasting state and call them to account of what they learn from the publick Ministry Do they shew a vehement hatred of sin and go before their families in an heavenly conversation Alas how thin are such families as these No no they are so taken up with entertaining their friends and pampering their flesh and in complements and in worldly affairs that they have little time for heavenly work And if they do for fashion sake get a godly young man to be their Chaplain he is so wearied with the sensual courses of some and the scorns of others and the vanity and worldliness and negligence of the rest that his life is a burden to him and he can no more enjoy himself in such families then in a fair or popular tumult On the other side poor men are in so much want that they think themselves sufficiently excused for the neglecting of almost all the means of their salvation They think Necessity lyeth upon them and therefore that God will not require it of them to understand the Scriptures
heaven with God The worldling is rich for himself and all that he parteth with for Gods service or the poor is but the leavings of the flesh and that which it can spare when it s own desires are satisfied for so much an Epicure may part with to good uses But the sanctified doth employ his riches for God as being Rich to him and not to his Carnal self You see by this time who they be that are the fools in Gods account And that though the children of this world are wiser in their Generation then the children of light Luke 16. 8. yet the wisdom of the world is foolishness with God and the foolishness of God is wiser then men 1 Cor. 3. 19. 1. 20 25. And you know that it is Christ that requireth you to forsake all that you have for him and dare you say that Christ commandeth you to be fools Is not that the wisest way which he requireth Obj. But Christ would not have us cast away that which he giveth us but only rather to forsake it then to forsake him and that I would do Answ. But if you forsake it not first in Affection and Resolution you will never forsake it actually when he calls you to it though you may be confident you should while you look not to be put to it In your hearts all must be now forsaken though you may keep some in your hands till God require it 2. And even in prosperity you must devote your wealth to God and use it more for him then for your selves if you will prove your selves to be his servants Quest. 2. MY second Question to you is this You that are so loath to part with the world and be Crucified to it tell me What hath it done for you that you should be so fond of it and that it should seem worthy of such estimation and affection Hath it not put you to more care and sorrow then it is worth It never gave you solid Peace it never made you acceptable to God! You are not a jot better when you are rich then when you are poor unless grace do that for you that riches cannot nay and grace must do it not only without but against your riches All that the world can do for you is but to satisfie your sensual appetite and by the superfluity to please a Covetous mind And is this a matter of so great worth A beast may have his sensual delight as well as you And if man be better then a beast do you think he is not capable of a better and higher delight then beasts Will you call your selves Men and Christians and yet take up with the pleasures of a bruit and there place your happiness If the drunkâ—rd have an hundred barrels of Ale or Wine more then he can drink this doth not so much as please his appetite but only his faâ—â—â— So if you have never so much riches more then your flesh â—â— self hath use for this only pleaseth a covetous fancy All that you enjoy is but so much as may satisfie the luâ—â—s of your flesh And I pray you tell me Whether you do not your selves believe that a sober temperate heavenly Christian doth live as comfortable a life as you And Whether they have not more peace in their minds without your sinful sensual delights then you have with them Indeed it is but the distemper of your minds that makes that so pleasant to you which another that is well in his wits would be weary of As the swine takes pleasure to tumble in the mire which a wise man would not do Do you not sin against your own experience Have you not found that the world is an unsatisfactory thing and cannot help you in a day of trouble And yet will you stick to it Quest. 3. MY next Question is What hath the world done for any other that should perswade you to set so much by it as you do Did it ever save a soul or heal a soul or make a man truly happy at the last Look back in any credible Records to the beginning of the world and down to this day and tell me where is the man that is made happy by the world And Consider what it hath done for them all He that had most of it and made the best of it for the pleasing of his flesh had but a short taste of sonsual pleasures which quickly left him worse then he was before like cold drink to a man in the fit of an Ague And will you so far lay by your reason as to go against the Experience of all the world Do they all cry out against it as Vanity and yet will you take no warning Can you think to find that by it that no man ever found before you What art have you to extract such comforts from the creature that never man could do till now It is the shame of them that spend so much cost and time and labour in seeking that seed of Gold which they call the Philosophers stone because never any that sought it could find it but have all lost their labour So is it your far greater shame to run an hazard so much greater for that which never man from the beginning of the world could find till now â—olomon went as far as any in the pleasing of his flesh with the fulness of the world and in the Conclusion he passeth this sentence on it that All is vanity and vexation of spirit Quest. 4. MY next Question to you is this What is it that you do seriously expect from the world for the time to come that should perswade you to stick so close to it as you do Some great matter sure you think it will do for you or else you would never so esteem it I pray you tell me what it is Do you think verily that it will make you truly happy Do you expect that it should bring you to heaven I suppose you do not What then will it do for you It will neither prevent a sickness nor remove it It cannot take away a tooth-ake nor a fit of the gout or stone It will not save you from the jaws of death nor keep your bodies from rotting in the grave nor bribe the worms or corruption from devouring them When your Physitian tells you that your disease is uncurable and you see that there is no way but one with you and you must be gone there 's no remedy if then you cry for help to the world it cannot help you Friends cannot save you Riches and Honours Houses and Lands cannot preserve you Death will obey his will that sendeth it and you must away O who would love that and love it at so dear a rate which cannot help you in the time of your necessity Who would serve such a Master such an Idol God as cannot relieve you in the day of your distressâ—â— When conscience is awakened and begins to stir and gripe you and the wrath