See see the day by sable Clouds orespread And bids us Weep for Caryl now is dead But by and by do's seem to say This Globe Could not detain him from his patient Job Calamy went before but there 's no odds Since each design'd to be a Child of God's Observe the hours how striving to retire Caryl and Comfort seeming to expire Bids Night and Nature hang the Vniverse With Black due Obsequies for such an Herse He ne'er was cruel to exhaust a Tear All Weeping was reserv'd to spend it here Those flattering Arts which Poets use to save Decaying Reputations in the Grave Are here but vain for no Hyperbole Can tell the World how great his Merits be And Chronicles themselves can say no more Than what his Learning told the World before His Pious Sermons did declare his worth His Expositions set his Learning forth And whilst we here lament his being gone Angels with Anthems welcome him at home And I my self a Catholick could be At least to Pray to such a Saint as he Caryl whose Conversation free from ill Can be express'd but by an Angel's quill As in some mirrour you might clearly see In him a perfect Map of Piety The Beauty of whose Vertues may incite The World to imitation and delight Let us lament our loss and blame his fate For not allowing Life a longer date Reverend Caryl may his Vertues shew As bright hereafter as they 're Glorious now Who when he through this Earthly Globe had past He dy'd left he should idle grow at last For when grown Ancient he would even then Both study Piety and use his Pen He like an Artist did true Patience paint To us on earth now to some Glorious Saint He shews the same who can no longer cease That to extol as Caryl's Masterpiece His EPITAPH HEre lies the Earthly Carkass of a man Whose life too justly may be call'd a span He liv'd converting those that went astray But Death now snatcht this Heav'nly Guide away Then careful Earth unto his Corps be just A Divine Soul was once within his trust But being call'd away it now is flown From hence to take Possession of a Throne A SPIRITUAL GARDEN OF Sweet-smelling FLOWERS OR Mr. VENNING's DIVINE SENTENCES THat Soul that is settled in the love of God is blessed in the peace of Christ. When such a Soul suffereth an outward War she looseth not her inward peace No troubles whatsoever which do outwardly make a noise do violently enter into the silence of her inward repose She coveteth nothing abroad and therefore resteth wholly within by love Such a Soul the Angels do visit and honour she being the Temple of the Lord and the Habitation of the Holy Ghost Happy is that Conscience in which Mercie and Truth are met together for there Justice and Peace have kissed each other God is a God of Mercie and will take pity on him that is truly sorrowful for his sins By Mercie and Truth Iniquity is purged and by the fear of the Lord men depart from evil The Kiss of Justice is to love our Enemies to forsake Parents and Possessions for the love of God to endure with Patience injuries inflicted and in all places to flie from honours that are offered The Kiss of Peace is to invite Foes to friendship peaceably to sustain Adversaries lovingly to instruct such as do amiss meekly to comfort those that mourn and to be at amity with all men It is our Saviour's command Love your enemies bless them that curse you do good to them that hate you and pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you For all that will live godly in Christ Iesus shall suffer persecution The Almighty hath three degrees of Wrath his threatning Wrath his punishing Wrath and his condemning Wrath. Adam sinned and was cast out of Paradice the Angels sinned and were cast into Hell We have many sins to repent for viz. our Church-sins our Sermon-sins our Sacrament-sins and the sins of our very Prayers Is any man rich let him not put his trust in them for riches make themselves wings and flie away Lazarus was poor but was received into Heaven Dives was rich but however was carried into Hell Moses went up unto the Mount to pray and took the Rod of God in his hand because with that Rod God had formerly done wonderful things for his people If any mistake through a vain hope of Heaven let him be earnest in the examination of himself to be deceived in this necessitates damnation To hear Sermons to commend them or admire them and not to practice what we hear and understand is to make Sodom and Gomorrha's case at the day of Judgment better than our's Then will the world discern the Blessed from the Wretched when the wrath of God is throughly kindled Those that are now so idly busie in heaping up their Treasures of an Ant-Hillock and building up the tottering Fabricks of a child remember not that the foot of death is coming to spurn it all abroad and to trample down both you and it Let us study how to answer the great and last Question Hast thou performed the condition of the Gospel Let us search our hearts that God may finde them in a condition to receive him For thus faith the Lord I the Lord search the heart I try the reins even to give every man according to his ways and according to the fruits of his doings Make not sale of Heaven for the false pleasure of a few sins for a little delight and ease that vanisheth in a moment Repent before thou becomest Old left thy Repentance should come too late for thou leftst not thy sin but thy sin left thee Take heed of dissembling with thy God lest he so discover thy craft that thou shalt not be trusted by man Accommodate Nature withthings convenient but beware of nourishing a lust for that is to hug a Devil in thy bosom To acknowledge God to be just is good and it is just we likewise acknowledge him to be good When thou Prayest rather let thy heart be without words than thy words without an heart Prayer will make a man to cease from sin or sin will intice a man to cease from Prayer It is good to have a good Name but it is better to have a good Conscience It is good to be great but it is better to be good Teach thy heart to walk wholly with thy God as well as holily Only a profession of Christianity is not the only profession of a Christian Your words and works may satisfie the judgments of men but God is the great Judge of our hearts Pray for mercie before you receive and forget not to praise when you have received It is common to have the name of Christ in common The Swearer swears by it the Begger begs by it the Jester joyns it to his jest but wo be to them that shall tremble at it Vain sinner
travel and he begetteth a son and there is nothing in his hand 15. As he came forth of his Mothers womb naked shall he return to go as he came and shall carry nothing of his labour with him 16. In all points as he came so shall he go and what profit hath he that laboureth for the winde Agur's Prayer was Divine Two things have I desired of thee deny me them not before I dye 8. Remove from me vanity and lies give me neither poverty nor riches feed me with food convenient for me 9. Lest I be full and deny thee and say Who is the Lord or lest I be poor and steal and take the Name of my God in vain Poverty is no disgrace for when we came into the world we brought nothing with us and nothing can we carry out If we want things necessary we ought not to grumble or despair perhaps the Lord might see it necessary we should so want however we ought to use our endeavours for a lawful remedy if God bless not our endeavours we ought to bless him that knoweth what is best for us we are his Patients and therefore ought not to instruct our Physitian If thou art scandalized consult with thy own Conscience if thou findest thy self guilty thy correction is then just if thou art innocent it is a good instruction thus shalt thou suck honey out of gall and make an open enemy thy secret friend If thou hast an enemy that is hungry give him food if thirsty give him drink the Lord will reward thee and punish him The poor are the Lord's receivers and he is the best pay-Master If thou hast an Estate and wouldest improve it be charitable to the poor scattered seeds increase but those that are hoarded dye If I speak with the tongue of men and of angels saith Paul and have not charity I am become as sounding Brass or a tinkling Cymbal 3. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor and though I give my body to be burned and have not charity it profiteth me nothing 4. Charity suffereth long and is kinde charity envyeth not charity vaunteth not it self is not puffed up In all conditions Piety and Vertue must be the guides that must lead the way to Bliss God's servants are denoted by their two Vertues Humility and Charity and the Devil 's are distinguished by their opposite Vices Pride and Cruelty The only way to remember good acts is to be continually acting them Above all things have fervent charity for charity shall cover the multitude of sins Keep Faith Hope and Charity for when the World shall have an end the Angels shall sever the wicked from the just AN ELEGIE ON THE DEATH OF THAT Reverend and Pious Divine Mr. EDMVND CALAMY Late Minister at Aldermanbury ANd must our deaths be silenc'd too I guess 'T is some dumb Devil hath possest the press Calamy dead without a Publication 'T is great injustice to our English Nation For had this Prophet's Funeral been known It must have had an Vniversal groan Afflicted London would then have been found In the same year to be both burnt drown'd And those that found no Tears their Flames to quench Would yet have wept a shower his Hearse to drench A publike loss a greater loss by far One man of God than twenty men of War It was a King who when a Prophet dy'd Wept over him and Father Father cry'd O if thy Life and Ministry be done My Chariots Horse-men's strength is gone I must speak sober words for well I know If Saints in Heav'n do hear us here below A lie though in his praise would make him frown And chide me when with Iesus he comes down To judge the World This little little he This silly sickly silenc'd Calamy Aldermanbury's Curate and no more Though he a mighty Miter might have wore Could have vi'd interest in God or man With the most Pompous Metropolitan How have we known him captivate a throng And make a Sermon twenty thousand strong And though black mouths his Loyalty did charge How strong his tug was at the Royal Barge To hale it home Great George can well attest But by himself his worth is best exprest Nor did Ambition of a Miter make Him serve the Crown 't was for his Conscience sake Vnbridled Loyalty his highest reach Was to be Master Calamy and Preach He bless'd the King who Bishop him did name And I bless him you did refuse the same O had our Reverend Clergie been as free To serve the Prince without reward as he They might have had less wealth with greater love Envy like winds endangers things above Worth not advancement doth beget esteem The highest Weathercock the least doth seem If you would know of what Disease he dy'd His grief was chronical it is repli'd For had he open'd been by Surgeons art They had found London burning in his heart How many Messengers of death did he Receive with Christian magnanimity The Stone Gout Dropsie ills which did arise From Griefs and Studies not from Luxuries The Meagrim too which still strikes at the head These he stood under and scarce staggered Might he but work though loaded with these chains He Pray'd and Preach'd and Sung away his pains Then by a fatal Bill he was struck dead And though that Blow he ne're recovered For he remained speechless to his close Yet did he breath sigh out Prayers for those From whom he had that Wound he liv'd to hear An hundred thousand buried in one year In this dear City over which he wept And many Fasts to keep off Iudgments kept Yet yet he liv'd stout heart he liv'd to be Depriv'd driv'n out kept out and liv'd to see Wars Blazing-stars Torches which Heav'n ne're burns But to light Kings or Kingdoms to their Vrns. He liv'd to see the Glory of our Isle London consumed in its Funeral-Pile He liv'd to see that lesser day of Doom London the Priests Burnt-Sacrifice to Rome That blow he could not stand but with that fire As with a burning Feaver did expire Thus dy'd this Saint of whom it must be said He dy'd a Martyr though he dy'd in 's Bed So Father Eli in the Sacred Page Sate quivering with Fear as much as Age Longing to know yet loath to ask the News How it far'd with the Army of the Jews Israel flies that struck his Palsie-Head The next blow stunned him Your Sons are dead But when the third stroak came The Ark is lost His Heart was wounded and his Life it cost Thus fell this Father and we well do know He fear'd our Ark was going long ago His EPITAPH HEre a poor Minister of Christ doth lie Who did indeed a Bishoprick deny When his Lord comes then then the World shall see Such Humble ones the Rising men shall be How many Saints whom he had sent before Shouted to see him enter Heaven's door There his blest Soul beholds the face of God
Blessings of the Righteous in the the World to come 1. WIth everlasting Salvation 2. With everlasting Life 3. With everlasting Glory 4. With everlasting Honour 5. With everlasting Liberty 6. With everlasting Dominion 7. With everlasting Riches 8. With everlasting Kindness 9. With everlasting Peace 10. With everlasting Light 11. With everlasting Joy 12. With everlasting Security The Curses of the Wicked 1. Everlasting Damnation 2. With everlasting Death 3. With everlasting Shame 4. With everlasting Contempt 5. With everlasting Bondage 6. With everlasting Slavery 7. With everlasting Poverty 8. With everlasting Tribulation 9. With everlasting Darkness 10. With everlasting Sorrows To avoid the Curses We must endeavour to be Reconciled to God through Christ. We must endeavour to be really Justified and Sanctified We must endeavour to love God's Word in Sincerity We must endeavour to walk according to the Rule of it We must endeavour to have our minds fixed on God We must endeavour to trust in him effectually We must endeavour to be upright before him We must endeavour to please him in all our ways We must endeavour to do that which is good in his sight The bare Title of a Christian is not sufficient for Salvation if we are not obedient to the will of Christ we are no more Christians than a Picture is the Body of a man At the last day the Great Question will be Did you serve Christ or only pretend to do so Behold the great Assize is drawing nigh and our Judge is coming to the Court. A Crown of Glory and a consuming Fire attend for the appearance of the trembling Sinner Then the poor Soul appears to answer for what was done in the flesh At the Resurrection that power of the Almighty God that made man of nothing will new make him again Repentance and a good Faith are sure guides to Eternity Obstinate Impenitence leadeth to destruction Though it be above our powers to bring men acquainted with their hearts to assure them their Faiths are infirm and their Repentance lame the Great Judge that searcheth all mens hearts will at last convince them Though we hold the Candle of the Gospel in our hands yet the men we plead with are in the dark for they shut their eyes and will not see But the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth to shew himself strong in behalf of them whose heart is perfect towards him He is not onely an all-seeing God but he is eyes to the blind and feet to the lame God is our refuge and strength a very present help in trouble This God we should endeavour to know but many men know many things yet do not know themselves Wherefore we should return from things External to things Internal and from things Internal ascend to things Supernal So may a man know from whence he came or whither he shall go the way to know God is for a man to study the art of knowing himself By how much the more I profit in the knowledge of my self by so much the more I approach to the knowledge of God I finde three things in my mind by which I remember consider and desire God and these are my Memory Understanding and Will By my Memory I remember by my Understanding I consider and by my Will I desire and love When I remember God I finde him in my memory and that gives me an occasion to rejoyce By my understanding I consider what God is in himself what he is in his Angels what he is in his Saints what he is in Men and what he is in his Creatures In himself he is incomprehensible because the beginning and end the beginning without beginning the end without end I understand from my self how incomprehensible God is because I cannot understand my self whom he hath made In his Angels he is desireable Which things the Angels desire to look into In his Saints he is delightful for they being happy continually rejoyce in him Do ye not know that the Saints shall judge the world In his Creatures he is admirable because he Powerfully createth Prudently governeth and Sweetly disposeth of all things Every creature of God is good In men he is Amiable as he is their God and they are his people He dwelleth in them as in his Temple Ye are the Temple of the living God as God hath said I will dwell in them and walk in them and I will be their God and they shall be my people Since God is so ready to inhabit in man how happy is that man that can entertain so great and so good a Guest How great is the Humility of such an Omnipotent Creator to dwell in so poor a Cottage Why then should we despise others he doth not visit the Rich for their riches but he saveth the poor from the sword Despise no man though never so wretched but be moved toward him with a brotherly affection Think another mans miseries to be thine and take the like care to relieve them Reverence the poor for they are those that receive others into the Eternal Tabernacles If thou seest an apparent sin in another be as sorrowful for his Iniquity as if thou sawst an imminent danger of death to thine own body For one Soul wounded with sin is of more value than all the bodies in the whole world As I would be careful to defend my body from death much more I ought with all diligence to endeavour to withdraw my Neighbour from sin by my Prayers Example and Exhortations Let no man envy his Neighbours success but rather affect his good as his own and rejoyce at his welfare especially in spiritual Affairs tending to the good of his Soul Give no credit to reports but believe more good of your Neighbour than you can see with your corporal eyes Love your Neighbour as your self but not with so strong an affection but that you still keep the chief room in your heart for your God Love that man best that is most vertuous he may requite benefit for benefit and for courtesies received offer prayers to God As we have opportunity let us do good unto all men especially those who are of the houshold of Faith When you discourse with another let God be in your minde and consider he sees you and you see him as effectually as you see the person you discourse with Whatsoever you attain to acknowledge it to be the benefit of God Every good and perfect gift is from above and cometh down from the father of lights with whom is no variableness nor shadow of turning Think every man better than your self neither be proud in your own conceit for God resisteth the proud and giveth grace to the humble Give no cause of discontent to any neither be apt to commend your self
that are earthy and as is the heavenly such are they that are heavenly What God gives us for our good we ought to employ for his glory He that glorieth let him glory in the Lord. When our Saviour was buried it was the Body of the Lord not the Lord of the Body was laid in the Sepulchre If we set our affections on what we have when we have it not it adds the more to our affliction But the peace of Heaven surpasses the troubles of this world A Saint may be sad that he is no better but will inwardly rejoyce that he is no worse That man that deserves nothing ought to be content with any thing God is pleased with the free offerings of his Saints and they are pleased with the free gifts of God To be sorrowful for sin is good but that sorrow must continue or else the sorrow will be sin it self What is all this world but a world of nothing at all Whosoever can withstand the corruptions of gain gains by the corruptions Is it pleasure to the Almighty that thou art Righteous or is it gain to him that thou makest thy ways perfect The men of this world pray to one another but the children of God pray to none but to the God of men The children of this world are wiser in their generation than the children of light But the sorrow of this world worketh death Man is no sooner born but he begins to dye so uncertain is the life of man that none knows whether he that is born to day shall live till to morrow If in this life only we have hope in Christ we are of all men most miserable Trust not in endeavours lest you neglect God but use endeavours lest you despise God But work out your salvation with fear and trembling Christ is the Physitian of our Souls his comforts are cordial but miserable comforts are the Physitians of the Body So said Iob to his friends Ye are all Physitians of no value Let us beware of the evil of sin for it leads us to the evil of suffering Wherefore Follow not that which is evil but that which is good He that doth good is of God but he that doth evil hath not seen God We may do those things which please God and yet displease him in the doing But Blessed are the poor in heart for they shall see God We perform our duties in a right measure when in seeking for mercies we study to please God rather than our selves God so loves his own that he will not depart from them and they that truly fear and love him have not the power to depart from him It was holy Ioshua's resolution As for me and my house we will serve the Lord. It is at present heaven with us to enjoy God and Christ What will it then be when we worship him with his innumerable company of Angels When we pay our devotions to God we should lay aside all worldly affairs lest they distract us in our duty It is a great offence against the Almighty to be interrupted when we walk with him See then that ye walk circumspectly not as fools but as wise redeeming the time because the days are evil A Christian hath but two things to fear God and Sin As it is writ of Ioseph How can I do this great wickedness and sin against God! The three Divine Vertues are Faith Hope and Charity but the greatest of these is Charity The three humane Vertues are Friendship Credit and Conscience but the greatest of these is Conscience Conscience was Paul's glory when he said Herein do I exercise my self to have always a Conscience voyd of offence toward God and toward Men. When thou sinnest repent betimes lest thou plunge into a custom of sinning and always remember God hath a certain custom to punish sinners Thus saith the Lord of Hosts Turn ye unto me and I will turn unto you But except ye repent ye shall all perish God is the way and the life if we walk after his way we shall finde life if not we erre from the way of life Jesus saith I am the way the truth and the life no man cometh to the Father but by me Serve God in secret as well as in publike worship and he that seeth in secret shall reward thee openly What deceitful pleasures are those that require either Repentance or Damnation As the Jews did by our Saviour so should we do by the world the flesh and sin that is crucifie them They that are Christs have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts The disingenuity of others towards us is a scourge to us for our disingenuity towards God If God denies the desires of thy heart learn to want with patience it will teach thee when God is pleased to bestow his blessings to receive them with chearfulness We ask the Lord for our dayly bread but he knoweth our wants before we ask We desire Health Wealth c. but the measure of those blessings is in God's hand and he knows how to carve for us better than we could for our selves Your Father knoweth what things ye have need of before ye ask him It is the duty of a Christian to wait God's leasure there is no mercie worth the praying for but it is certainly worth the waiting for We are all born to dye let us so dye that we may be born again Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin If thou canst hear and bear the Rod of affliction which God shall lay upon thee remember this Lesson Thou art beaten that thou mayst be better There is no better defence against our own Infirmities and the scandalous reproaches of others than the Sincerity of our own hearts Grace be with all them that love our Lord Iesus Christ in sincerity God is love and we ought to serve him in fear and love No service can be better done than that which is done in love God dwelleth in that servant and that servant in him Why doth a wicked man envy the welfare of a man more righteous than himself because it is a terrour to his Conscience to see the Image of Vertue in another man he having defaced it in himself Where envying and strife is there is confusion and every evil work All the Pomps and Gayeties of this world are not to be compared to a grain of distressed Vertue Wherefore adde to your Faith Vertue and to Vertue Knowledge Though I give my body to be burnt and have not charity it profitteth me nothing but to mortifie my sins and to deny my self submitting to the will of God is more than Martyrdom Let not the world overcome you but fight under the Banner of that great Captain the Lord Jesus Christ so shall you with him overcome the world Who is he that overcometh the world but he that
must be just as well as orthodox Now therefore fear the Lord and serve him in sincerity and truth Let not the Sun go down upon your wrath go not to bed in anger lest you have a tempter to your bedfellow Wrath is cruel and anger is outragious but who is able to stand before envy One of the blessings of the Old Testament was Prosperity and one of the blessings of the new Testament is Affliction Let not sin intice you to forsake God lest it urge God to forsake you It is Solomon's advice My Son if sinners intice thee consent thou not Conversion is a fit application for the wounds of a wicked man and strengthening likewise is very apt for the converted Saith David In the day when I cryed thou answeredst me and strengthenedst me with strength in my Soul A devout Soul should not think himself secure when he is safe nor should he fear when in the greatest danger but distrust himself and always trust in God Say with Iob Though he slay me yet will I trust in him Act not against the light of Conscience lest your Light be darkned and your Conscience shipwrack't Men loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil Vertue and Vice that is Charity and Lust divide the whole life of man they are the two Trees of the Gospel that produceth fruits good and evil Study not to live long but to live well for an hour mis-spent is not liv'd but lost No man is perfect for there is none so good but he may mend Iesus said unto the young man If thou wilt be perfect go and sell that thou hast and give to the poor and thou shalt receive treasure in heaven and come and follow me The sins of a mans life are innumerable Who can understand his errours saith David cleanse thou me from secret faults The changes of a Saints condition are but so many exchanges of mercie if he thrives God is bountiful to him if he hath troubles in this world God is careful of him and provides him a portion in a better world When David was in the Cave all his comfort was in Prayer unto God I cryed unto thee O Lord I said Thou art my refuge and portion in the land of the living Troubles or Sickness when sanctified is much better than unsanctified Prosperity It is not talking of God but walking with God that makes a Christian compleat See that ye walk circumspectly not as fools but as wise Redeeming the time because the days are evil Beware of superstition for that will not teach a man to fear God but to be afraid of him Study to have Christ rather in your heart than your house for with such Habitations he is best pleased Rent your heart and not your garments and turn unto the Lord your God for he is gracious and merciful slow to anger and of great kindness The being of the Soul is rather where it loves than where it lives Let us study to love God though we do not see him rather than to see him and not love him All the pleasure of our days is grief when there is not an inward peace in the Conscience and with that all the griefs imaginable are turn'd into delight for a good Conscience is a continual feast It is good to be Learned but it is better to be Religious for Learning is but an Ornament to Religion but Religion is a Blessing to Learning One may be ever learning yet never able to come to the knowledge of the truth A man may have knowledge and no grace but he cannot have grace and no knowledge Jesus answered the Sadduces saying Ye erre not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God He that is truly Religious delights in the service of God and had rather be shortned in the comforts of his life than neglect the performance of his duty towards him Delight thy self in the Lord and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart To profess Religion is good but to practice Religion is better to profess and not to practice is to dissemble with God and Man and a cunning course it is for man to destroy his own Soul The godly man may apply the promises to himself but the wicked man may apply himself to the promises Having these promises let us cleanse our selves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit perfecting holiness in the fear of God If we would have God hear our Prayers we must have the sence of feeling them our selves Sin brought death into the world and death carried sin out of the world He that would not have Time pass swiftly away should not use much Pastime The way to understand the sweetness of God's mercie is to get a sence of the bitterness of our own misery In all concerns let God be concerned the work will be the better done and the blessing will be the larger No man can do an evil action well but a good action may be spoiled in the management The tongue is an evil member for he that hath no reputation himself is master of another man's Keep thy tongue from evil and thy lips from speaking guile The delight which a gracious Soul hath in mercies is not in the hearing of them or talking of them but in the possessing and enjoying of them God is a God that pardoneth Iniquity and retaineth not his anger for ever because he delighteth in mercie The delight of a gracious Soul is to long to be dissolved and to go to his long'd-for home that he may be with Christ. A day in thy Courts O God is better than a thousand I had rather be a door-keeper in the house of my God than to dwell in the tent of wickedness It is God's appearing gracious to our Souls that makes him appeaâ— so glorious to our eyes To the praise of the glory of hiâ— Grace wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved It is not in our power to imagine the power of God it converteth Souls and raiseth dead Bodies The Law of the Lord is perfect converting the soul the Testimony of the Lord is sure making wise the simple Iesus cryed with a loud voice Lazarus come forth And he that was dead came forth bound hand and foot with grave-cloaths and his face was bound about with a napkin Iesus saith unto them Loose him and let him go The Soul cannot be converted by the word that man speaks nor by the man that speaks the word For by grace are ye saved through faith and that not of your selves it is the gift of God By the Scriptures we learn what God hath done for us and what we are to do for God All Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine for reproof for correction for instruction in righteousness When a gracious Soul desireth a mercie of
God let him consider the value of that mercie before it comes and when it is present let him seriously value its worth before it be past When David's condition was low and mean in the world we finde to come from him many sweet breathings of his Soul and strong actings of his Faith and love I will be glad and rejoyce in thy mercie for thou hast considered my trouble thou hast known my soul in Adversitie Let me not be ashamed O Lord for I have called upon thee let the wicked be ashamed and let them be silent in the grave It is the key of Knowledge that openeth the door of Heaven it is the knowledge of the Truth that leadeth to Salvation Behold thou desirest the inward parts and in the inward part thou shalt make me to know wisdom The ill which proceeds from man must not be attributed unto God neither must the good which proceeds from God be attributed unto man There is none good but one that is God The Lord knoweth the thoughts of men that they are vain Sin hath dominion over us before conversion but being converted we have dominion over sin and whereas before we were captives unto sin we now lead sin into captivity He that is born of God overcometh the world When we have done for God all that we can our all is so little and our good deeds so ill that we are at best but unprofitable servants When ye have done all those things which are commanded you say We are unprofitable servants we have done that which was our duty to do What greater act of impiety or ignorance can there be than for a man to do ill and yet pretend or think he doeth well Who can understand his errours cleanse thou me from secret sins He that will not deny himself and his own ends for Christ will deny Christ for his own ends and will to his sorrow be denied by Christ in the end Whosoever shall deny me before men him will I also deny before my Father which is in Heaven In God there is no darkness at all for God is light in man there is no light at all for he is darkness our very light is darkness God is light and in him there is no darkness at all If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness How great is that darkness We may profess Christ but when we possess Christ then is our hope of Glory Christ is made known to us two ways by Relation and by Revelation which latter knowledge is the best If we can be of the number of Christ's little ones the mercie will be great It was our Saviour's saying Verily I say unto you Except ye be converted and become as little children ye shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven A Saint's heart is in the Law of God and the Law of God is likewise in his heart The Law of God is in the heart of the righteous none of his steps shall slide O how I love thy Law it is my meditation all the day If any man would have his child be a man of God he must teach him betimes first to become a child of God Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it He is Natures fair Picture drawn in Oyl Which time and handling oft doth spoil Let the wicked laugh at the godly for being godly rather than God should laugh at them for being wicked Ye have set at nought all my counsel and would none of my reproof I also will laugh at your calamity I will mock when your fear cometh What a choice mercie had Solomon who had the choice of mercies The reputation of a good man is to be rich in goodness not in goods Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom neither let the mighty man glory in his might nor the rich man glory in his riches but let him that glorieth glory in the Lord. He is the only wise and rich man that can learn to be content Godliness with contentment is great gain The expectation of a Saint is Eternity and the whole world is not able to answer his single expectation We may be instructed by a Prophet but it is the Spirit of God by which we profit Walk in the spirit and ye shall not fulfil the lusts of the flesh The death of Christ giveth life to them that repent and giveth them a repentance unto life not to be repented of it giveth salvation to them that believe and enables them to believe unto salvation Salvation belongeth unto the Lord. Whether God give or take it is our duty to be thankful Shall we rejoyce at Sweets and shall we lowre When God is pleas'd by his Almighty power To season them with some few grains of sour Your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things Our God is free to give and free to forgive his hand and his heart are both open to them that serve him When we draw neer to Christ he is ready to receive us nay when we fly from him he is ready to invite us Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden and I will give ye rest Many men in their doings purchase their undoings There are many devices in a mans heart nevertheless the counsel of the Lord that shall stand He that receiveth a mercie and doth not use it doth abuse it Christ dyed that we might live But now is Christ risen from the dead and become the first fruits of them that slept Live Iesus live and let it be My life to dye for love of thee If we finde not some time to serve God he will not finde any time to save us If any man serve me saith Christ let him follow me and where I am there shall also my servant be If any man serve me him will my Father honour He that hath Christ hath all things and he that hath not Christ hath nothing at all Wherefore Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and his Righteousness and all other things shall be added unto you There 's nothing in this vast Terrestrial Ball Compar'd to Christ for he is all in all Study to be altogether a Christian for if a man be but almost a Christian he is like to be but almost saved though he may think he is not far from the Kingdom of Heaven yet he will finde the Kingdom of Heaven is far from him Agrippa said unto Paul Almost thou perswadest me to be a Christian There is nothing among us more rife than the name Christian or the Christian name and nothing among us more rare than the Christian man They that are Christs have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts Though Christ was crucified to deliver us from death yet we must
wallâ— after the heart of sin Sin is contrary to God's Image wherein man was made sin is as unlike God's Image as Darkness is to Light as Hell to heaven yea and more too sin is the Devil's Image Such as the Devil and his Angels are who once knew good but now know evil both by doing it and suffering the sad effects of it Thus he that runs may read the Picture Image and likeness of the Devil in sin sinners are as like the Devil as any thing Sin is contrary to the Children of God they are near and dear to God God's heart is set upon them for good and sin sets its heart against them for evil Sin is always warring against the Seed of God in them By sins ill will God's people should neither enjoy nor do any good in the world Sin like the Devil hath not such an evil eye or aking tooth at all the sinners of the world as it hath at the Saints in the world The Devil is a Man-hater but more a Saint-hater Sin is contrary to and set against the Glory of God Faith would give Glory to God now that men may not believe sin imploys the Devil to blinde their eyes Good men would do all they do sin will let them do nothing at all to the Glory of God Sin is contrary to and opposite against the being and existence of God It makes the sinner wish and endeavour that there might be no God for sinners are haters of God And as he that hates his Brother is a murtherer so as much as in him lies he that hates God is a murtherer of God What 's said of sin is to be considered by the sinner and is meant of thine and my sin Poor Soul canst thou finde in thine heart to hug and imbrace such a Monster as this is Wilt thou love that which hates God and which God hates Wilt thou joyn thy self to that which is nothing but contrariety to God and all that 's good Oh say to this Idol yea to this Devil Get hence what have I to do with thee thou Childe yea Father of the Devil Thou that art the founder of Hell an enemy to all Righteousness that ceasest not to pervert the right ways of the Lord. Sin is contrary to the good of man it is a separation betwixt God and man The Commandment of which sin is a transgression was given not onely for God's sake that he might have glory from man's Obedience but for man's sake that man might enjoy the good and benefit of his Obedience These two were twisted together and no sooner is the Law transgrest but God and Man are joynt-sufferers God in his Glory and Man in his Good Man's suffering follows at the heels of sin yea as he suffers by so in sinning suffering and sinning involve each other No sooner did sin enter into the world but Death which is a privation of good did enter by it with it and in it For 't is the sting of Death so that sin saith Here is Death and death faith Here is Sin No sooner did Angels sin but they fell from their first State and Habitation which they had with God in Glory not a moment between their sin and misery And as soon as man had sinned his Conscience told him that he was naked and destitute of Righteousness and Protection Sin crosseth Glory and is cross to man's Happiness Sin is against the good of man's body it hath corrupted his blood and made his body mortal and thereby rendered it a vile body Our bodies though made of dust were yet more pretious than fine Gold but when we sinned they became vile bodies Before sin our bodies were immortal For death and mortality came in by sin But now alas they must return to dust and it 's appointed to all men once to dye and 't is well but once and the second death have no power over them they must see corruption or a change Sin is against the good of man's Soul 'T is not very ill with a man if it be well with his Soul but it can never be well with a man if it be ill with his Soul So that we can more easily and cheaply dye than be damned and may better venture our bodies to suffering than our souls to sinning Nothing but sin doth wrong a man's Soul and there is no sin but doth it Sin is against man's well-being in this life Well-being is the life of life and sin bears us so much ill will that it deprives us of our livelyhood Man came into the world as into an house ready furnished he had all things ready and prepared to his hands All the Creatures came to wait on him and payd him Homage but when man sinned God turn'd him out of house and home like a Pilgrim a Begger Ever since it hath been every man's lot to come into and go out of this world naked When Christ came into the world for the recovery of man and stood as in the sinner's stead he had not where to lay his head Though Christ were Lord of all yet if he will come in the likeness of sinful flesh he must speed not like the Son of God but Son of man Sin is against that good which God left us and fills it with vanity and vexation with bitterness and a curse God left Adam many Acres of land to till and husband but he hath it with a curse sweat and sorrow many a grieving Bryer and pricking Thorn stick fast to him God left him ground enough but 't is curst ground sin is so envious it would leave man nothing And if God be so good as to leave man any thing sins eye is evil because God is good and puts a sting in it Sin is against man's rest 't is a sore Travel which the Sons of men have under the Sun Man's ground is overgrown with Thorns that he hath many an aking head and heart Many a sore hand and foot before the year come about to get a little livelyhood out of this sincursed ground Sin curse and toil keep company Sin is against man's comfort and joy In sorrow shalt thou eat all the days of they life not one whole merry day The woman hath a peculiar sort and share of sorrow for the time of conception breeding bearing and birth are tedious Sin is against man's health hence come all diseases and sicknesses till sin there were no such things Let a man take the best Air he can and eat the best food he can let him eat and drink by rule let him take never so many Antidotes Preservatives and Cordials yet man is but a crazie sickly thing for all this Sin is against the quiet of a man's natural Conscience for it wounds the spirit and makes it intolerable A merry heart doth good like a Medicine no Cordial like it but a broken spirit drieth the bones and sucks away the marrow A good Conscience is a continual Feast but sin mars
and of greater value than Gold Wherefore let it be thy business and the delight of thy Soul to seek and to serve God To seek and to serve here is the way to be glorified in rejoycing and enjoying hereafter Wherefore begin betimes and be not weary of well doing for great is your reward Take hold of this present opportunity lest the sloath of your heart or the cares of this world cause you to neglect and forget the prize that is set before you Unhappy are those poor Souls whose Portion is only in this world If in this life only we have hope in Christ we are of all men most miserable The Cross of Christ is the Christians Crown the Reproach of Christ is the Christian's Riches and the Shame of Christ is his Glory God forbid that I should glory save in the Cross of our Lord Iesus Christ by whom the world is crucified unto me and I unto the world In all your actions let it be your practice to have a respect to your ends Talk not proudly let not arrogancie come out of your mouth for the Lord is a God of Knowledge and by him actions are weighed Strive to live above this lower Region that no accidents may put you out of frame nor disquiet your Soul Set your affections on things above and not on the earth If I had the wings of a Dove I would flie from the Winds the Storms and Tempests of this wicked world and rest my self in the bosom of my Father There the wicked cease from troubling and there the weary be at rest To disparage Sin and to incourage Holiness is none of the least Works of a Minister of Christ. The wicked may drink roar and swagger and sell their pretious Souls for a moments joy and make light of Damnation but let them know for all these things God will bring them to Iudgment an eternity of intolerable sorrows must pay for their short pleasures Hence it is that the serious Christian makes it his business to avoid this dreadful misery let the wicked please themselves in their sorrows he knows 't is but a little while and all will be mended and their minds changed He is willing to stay for his happiness and joys till he come to another world and he doth not envy the wicked what they do enjoy let them make the best of it The unseen world which most forget is always in the Christians eye and if he may but live happily there he passeth not if he run through reproaches injuries and a thousand Deaths to that glorious and endless Life This is the grand Reason of the Christians patience this makes him judge it no folly but the greatest wisdom to keep the commandments of God and the Faith of Jesus Those which live like Devils are not like to dye like Saints that count all their time lost they do him no service in which make a jest of Damning and are as merry within a step of Hell as if it and a Tavern were alike And yet how well are wicked men pleased and contented with their own condition and laugh at the Godly as if it were a dangerous and mad thing to go to Heaven and the truest happiness to be miserable for ever The Devil himself may as well expect to shake off his chains and be restored to his lost glory as they O be not deceived as you sow so you must reap God gives this world oftentimes to his greatest Enemies he gives glory in another world to none but his Friends and Children Nay let me speak it freely They which gain this world with their negligence of Heaven shall at their death lose both Many that would be counted wise drive a great Trade for that which is next to nothing and that lay in no better provisions than Gravel Clay or Dung when they are bound for Eternity They think they make a very wise Bargain when they sell their Conscience God and Heaven for a little of that which some call Riches O that I could but bring down the price of sublunary things and raise the things of that other world to their true worth Think not meanly of Holiness it 's the most excellent thing it is the greatest Riches and man's highest Dignity He that knows the worth of Christ and the nature of his own Soul let him not envy those that swell like bladders upon water for a moment and God puffs them off and where are they How can they look for Heaven when they dye that thought it not worth their minding whilst they lived Whatsoever men pursue below Christ will yield them but little happiness and comfort in another world Not every one that wears Christ's Livery shall have his Wages How many seeming Saints shall gain nothing at Death but a thorow knowledge of their own folly O please not your self with fancies Sickness and Death is coming and then you will know better the reason of my earnest pleading with you in this matter He that hath not got more than ever any Hypocrite could attain or shall will miss of Heaven The best of God's Children are most suspicious of themselves and afraid of their own deceitful hearts and their great request is that God would deliver them from mistakes in matters of everlasting consequence It 's a common thing for wicked men to carry their false peace along with them to the Grave How many thousands are there that dye like Lambs that are but Swine and have the Devils brand upon their foreheads Many are carried very quickly to Hell and fear nothing till they feel and are not brought to their sences till unspeakable horrour and anguish doth it It hath not a little puzled some as well as David to see the wicked dye quietly and the godly to have a strange death but God will shortly resolve this Riddle That Soul which hath seen the death of Sin is a person fit for death That man is like to be a gainer by Death who contemns Earth and makes Heaven his choice He that counts nothing worth the having except Christ and for Christ cannot be miserable when he is lodged safe in his imbraces God is oftentimes better but never worse than his word The running Christian shall at last obtain the Prize and the Crown he fights for he shall wear What though the Vessel be tost and broke it shall come safe with its rich Lading to the desired Harbour O you foolish world condemn not these spiritual wise Merchants till you know what their returns are when their burden is delivered He that is willing to dye for Christ shall live as long as Christ lives in happiness and rest Those Souls are out of Gun-shot that are instrumental for the shaking the Kingdom of Satan and weakning the interest of Hell in the world Who would not be a Christian in good earnest sure none but a mad-man or a fool The highest Worldlings are below the meanest and lowest Child of
God Christianity is a clear Demonstration of invisibles witness the many earnests of their Profession What warm refreshing Rays of Divine love break in upon their Souls what Joy what Experiments and blessed Intercourses have past betwixt God and such Souls the fire hath burnt and of a sudden the Soul hath e're it was aware been carried above the world The Spirit of Truth will not witness to a lye neither will Goodness it self put a cheat upon poor creatures Balaam's wish may throughly convince sinners that Holiness is no Madness Piety no Fancie and Religion no Delusion I am perswaded that all the Reprobates in Hell will one day justifie the Children of God for their seriousness and wish a thousand times that they had had their Scorns Losses and Torments Well then our Enemies themselves being Judges an Israelite indeed is a person of true worth and without controversie his Estate is and shall be comfortable blessed and glorious O Christian as long as God is true you shall not be deceived as long as he is happy you shall not be miserable you are well enough go on resolutely 't is but a little while and you shall see all this and more than this a thousand times Death will shortly tear off Ioshua's rags and present him before the Lord without spot or wrinkle Sin indeed accompanies the wicked to another world he rests from his pleasures and his wicked works follow him But it is far otherwise with the godly sin was his burden and death shall unload him Sin shall be confin'd to Hell Heaven entertains no such deformity This Tyrant shall no more inslave any of Christ's Subjects The house of Saul and the house of David shall no longer contend that sad conflict between the Flesh and the Spirit shall then be determined by a full Victory Death sets the Soul out of the Devils reach This Angel hath nothing to do in Heaven this Serpent shall not come into the higher Paradise nor Satan creep into this Eden O happy day when will it come when the Devil shall be as unlike to tempt as our hearts to close When we are got once safe to rest the Devil shall as easily shake God's Throne as our Happiness Death turns the key and bolts and bars this Enemy out then O then thou shalt see this Pharaoh cast dead on the shore Christian expect not as long as any of that Cainish Generation breath that thou shouldest be long secure What though the world speak great words thou shalt e're long ride in state to Glory and then let them do their worst When thou art in Heaven they may curse and encrease their own misery but they shall not in the least diminish thy tranquillity The beauty of this inferiour world will be darkned by the brightness of that light which Death leads thee into Death blows the dust out of our eyes it plucks off the vail and shews us quickly the glory of both worlds What Pen can describe the Honour and Dignities of the Sons of God! A Lazarus in stead of Beggers Cripples and Dogs had a guard of Angels waiting upon him These Chariots and Horse-men of Israel shall carry up Ioseph to his Fathers house The Souls of Believers are made perfect in Holiness at Death O then how glorious shall the Kings Daughter be when her beauty is made perfect O my Soul when will the shadows flee away when will days and nights be all at an end When will time be spent and the curtain drawn How should we think our selves if our hearts were always as God would have them Well be of good chear in Mount Zion there shall be deliverance and holiness Who that understands this would not bid death welcom That good Old Saint Simeon thought it a heaven upon earth to see Christ when his Majesty was vail'd This was but a small thing compared to the sight which they shall see when their graces shall be compleat How will the Heavens eccho of joy when the Bride the Lambs Wife shall come to dwell with her Husband for ever Christ is the desire of Nations the joy of Angels the delight of the Father What solace then must that Soul be filled with that hath the Possession of him to all Eternity Is not his Love better than Wine and a look of his Countenance to be preferred above Corn and Oyl Is not all the Glory of Heaven wrapt up in him I see now it is not for nothing that the Virgins did love him What mean the world sure they are dead blinde or mad Saints blessedness lies in this that they shall meet with all the Children of God and have communion with just men made perfect Death will bring you acquainted with all those famous Worthies of whom the world was not worthy This Porter opens the door and lets the Saints Soul into that Palace where all the favorites of that great Prince reside What would I give to see Enoch that walked with God How glad should I be to be acquainted with Elias How joyful if I might have some discourse with Paul Would it not make one couragious in the cause of God if one could hear Daniel or the three Children tell the Story of their deliverance How should one be pleased to have it from the mouth of Moses Ioshuah and Caleb what God did for Israel in the fields of Ham the Red-Sea and the Wilderness and how he brought them into the Land of Canaan Why as formidable as death looks it 's he that brings us to the speech of all these How loth are we now to part when a knot of us have got together to talk about the things of another world Heaven hath in it none but Saints and Angels and the blessed God O what acclamations of joy will there be when all the children of God shall meet together without fear of being disturbed by the Antichristian and Cainish Brood Is there not a time coming when the godly may ask the wicked What profit they have in their pleasures what comfort in their greatness and what fruit of all their labour They shall shortly know that nothing was lost which was spent for their Souls and Heaven If you would be better satisfied what the Beatifical Vision means my request is That you would live holily and go and see A further Addition is that there is no fear of loosing of it his Enemies can't rob him If the Grave were but lookt on as a chamber to rest in And if Faith could but take death to be but an undressing to put on better Raiment how contentedly then should we be uncloath'd that we might be cloathed with Immortality And if the case be so what a good condition is the dead Saint in Lazarus his Resurrection was no cheat many of the Saints arose and Christ is risen O what kinde of Greeting will these two old Companions have when they see one another in another world Never let any grutch to serve God chearfully They which
have received their wages will say that the service of God is not unprofitable But heaven is not got with a wet finger few run so as to obtain few fight so as to conquer Lazie wishes and a hazard will not do for Heaven They that dye in sin must be buried in Hell Who would be afraid of everlasting rest It is our trifling with God that makes the thoughts of our appearing before him to be so dreadful How can you live within a few inches of Death and look the King of Terrour in the face every day without some well-grounded evidence of your Interest in God's love What will become of the careless ones of the world that think little of Death and less of Eternity Mr. RYTHER's SAYINGS Concerning Mr. IANEWAY MY dear and reverend Brother deceast was delightful to me and to all that knew him when living and so desirable when dying O how often have we taken sweet counsel together his thoughts his time his study was how he should get sinners bands broken off and themselves brought into the liberty of the Sons of God Under a bodily Consumption he laboured to build up Saints that they might be kept from soul-consumption It 's high time for the world to awake out of sleep and to minde the state of their Souls God is now gathering in his labourers then who shall gather in his harvest He is putting out the lights and who shall guide them to Emanuel's land Two famous lights in one week not put under a Bushel but under a Grave-stone This present life we enjoy here is but a Voyage all Christians are homeward bound Believers when their Voyage is finisht and compleated they are with Christ. Believers are venturers their immortal pretious Souls are their ventures Onely poor sinners so living and dying make lost Voyages Alas for that Gain where estates are got and souls lost you will weep and mourn over these Gains to all Eternity In this present Voyage poor Souls meet with seas of Troubles Satan's storms of Temptation as well as storms of Affliction Do not we sail through many a Red-Sea before we arrive at our port In this Voyage you must steer by your Compass the Rule of the Word is your Compass to sail by to live by and must be your Compass to dye by and to put into your Port by In this Voyage you are accountable at your returns wicked persons must account for every idle word and for every evil action You carry necessary Provision for a Voyage O how many of us are but poorly laid in for our Voyage who knows what the latter part of our Voyage may be fill'd up withal Do we know what storms and tempests may attend our very putting in to Port Was it not so with him that is now safely arrived had not he his storms before he harboured O poor Souls you see how fast you sail down the River of Time to put into the Ocean of Eternity Paul desired to ankor and finish his Voyage Where Christ is there is no sin Saints are hous'd when they are once got to Heaven To be with Christ is to be in safe harbour When God hath in this life filled the Water-pots of his people with affliction he takes that time to take them to Heaven and turn it into the wine of Consolations Consider God hath taken away a Shepherd from his Flock that gently led the Burthened that faithfully fed the Hungry heal'd the Diseased and diligently lookt to the state of his Flock He was a faithful Watchman God's Gardens take a great deal of dressing When Dressers are taken away what danger are Vineyards in of becoming like the field of the sluggard How did this Labourer spend himself in his Masters Harvest He was a Guide in the way to Heaven And is this a small loss Is not house breaking up when a Father goes O what a stroak is this for many poor Souls to lose a Spiritual Father You have lost a Minister we who knew him have lost a fellow-labourer in the Gospel You have lost a faithful Shepherd that are his Flock we a faithful Brother that are in the Ministry the Nation a faithful Wrestler with God God pulls out stakes in Zions hedge but few are put in God did renew the Bow in his hand day by day and it abode in strength He was no dauber with untempered Morter nor sower of Pillows under Christians or Sinners Elbows He Preached to you as one in an heavenly Extasie of Love to win Souls to Christ. He lived and shone out of the Pulpit as well as in it He was not only a burning zealous light in his Doctrine but also a shining light in his Conversation SIN the Plague of PLAGUES AND The worst of EVILS But sin that it might appear sin worketh death THe Doctrine of Repentance supposeth that man hath done amiss The Doctrine of Faith is another for Righteousness and Hope concludes man to be without Righteousness and Hope in himself 'T is not the Law but Sin that works man's death and ruine Sin is contrary to God Carnal men are Enemies to God rebels and despisers of God resisters fighters blasphemers and atheists against God Sinners are actors of High-Treason against the Majesty of God and will not that he shall reign over them More particularly Sin is contrary to God's Nature he is Holy he is so and cannot but be so he is all Holy and always Holy altogether Holy And sin is sinful all sinful onely sinful altogether sinful Sin is contrary to God's Attributes it will not that the King of Kings should be in the Throne and govern this World which he hath made sin attempts to dethrone God Sin denies God's all-sufficiencie Every Prodigal that leaves the Fathers house doth practically say so Sin dares the Justice of God and challengeth God to do his worst it provokes the Lord to jealousie and tempts his wrath Sin disowns God's Omniscience Tush cry sinners God sees not Sin despises the riches of God's goodness Sin turns God's grace into wantonness Sin is the dare of God's justice the rape of his mercie the jeer of his patience the slight of his power and the contempt of his love And further 't is the upbraid of his providence the scoff of his promise the reproach of his wisdom and opposeth and exalts it self above all that is called God Sin is contrary to the works of God sin may be impleaded for all the mischiefs and villanies that have been done in the world 't is the Master of Mis-rule the Author of Sedition the Builder of Babel the Troubler of Israel and all Mankinde Sin is contrary to God's Law to all his Orders and Rules to his Appointment 'T is not onely a Transgression of but a Contradiction also to the Will of God 'T is an Anti-Will to God's Will David in fulfilling the will of God was said to be a man after God's own heart And they that obey the will of
sin are said to walk after the Heart of sin Sin is contrary to God's Image wherein man was made viz. in Righteousness and true Holiness but sin is as deformity and ugliness sin is the Devil's Image never was a Childe more like the Father than a sinner is like the Devil Sin is contrary to the People and Children of God Though sin cannot hate them so much as God loves them yet the more God loves them the more sin sets its hatred against them The Serpentine Race will not suffer the little Flock and Remnant of the holy Seed to have one quiet day The Devil is a man-hater but more a Saint-hater Sin is contrary to God's Glory Good men would do all they do to the Glory of God but sin will let them do nothing at all to God's Glory Might sins desires take place there should not be a person or thing by whom and whereby God should be pleased or glorified Sin is contrary to God's being sinners are God-haters and as much as in them lies they are God-murtherers And if its power were as great as its will is wicked it would not suffer God to be God is a troublesome thing to sinners and therefore they say Depart from us Sinners they would break Christ's bonds and make war with the Spirit of Peace Whoever thou art pause a little and consider what is said of sin it is to be considered by the sinner and is meant of thine and my sin Canst thou finde in thine heart to plead for such a Monster Wilt thou love that which God hates God forbid Oh say to this Idol yea to this Devil Get thee hence thou Childe yea Father of the Devil thou that art the founder of Hell an enemy to all Righteousness Oh think on 't what hast thou no value no regard for thy Soul Wilt thou neglect and despise it as if 't were good for nothing but to be damned and go to Hell Sin is contrary to the good of man and nothing is properly and absolutely so but sin and this results evidently from sins contrariety to God as there is nothing contrary to God but sin For Devils are not so but sin Sin being a separation between God and man an interruption of his Communion and Conformity it must needs be prejudicial and hurtful to him Man's sufferings follow at the heels of sin suffering and sin involve each other no sooner did sin enter into the world but death which is a privation of good did enter by it with it and in it for 't is the sting of death so that sin saith Here is death and death saith Here is sin Sin is against man's good here in time and hereafter in Eternity in this world which now is and in that to come Particularly Against man's body it hath corrupted man's blood and made his body mortal and thereby rendered it a vile body our bodies though made of dust were yet more pretious than fine Gold but when we sinned they became vile bodies Before sin our bodies were Immortal for Death and Mortality came in by sin but now alas they must return to dust and it 's appointed to all men once to dye and 't is well if they dye but once Sin is against the good of man's Soul too and this is much more to man's hurt 't is well with his Soul so that we can more easily and cheaply dye than be damn'd Nothing but sin doth wrong a man's Soul and there is no sin but doth that Sin is against man's well-being in this life man was born to a great estate but by sin which was and is Treason against God he forfeited all Man came into the world as into an house ready furnish'd but when man sinned God turn'd him out of all Thus by sin man that was the Emperour of Eden is banisht from his native Country and must never see it more but in a new and living way for the old is stop'd up all we have our Food and raiment is but lent us we are only Tenants at will The sin of man had left the Son of man nothing when he came into the world for the recovery of man If he will come in the likeness of sinful flesh he must speed not like the Son of God but Son of man Nay the venimous Nature of sin is such that it fills that good which God left us with vanity and vexation with bitterness and a curse sweat and sorrow many a grieving Bryer and pricking Thorn stick fast to him More particularly Sin is against man's rest 't is a sore Travail which the Sons of men have under the Sun yea he hath not rest in the night but is haunted if not frighted with extravagant and frightful dreams Man's ground is over-grown with thorns he hath many an aking head and heart many a sore hand and foot before the year come about to get a little livelihood out of this sin-curst ground The old world was very sensible of this Sin Curse and Toyl keep company Sin is against man's comfort and joy if man laugh sin turns it to madness all our sweet meats have sower sawce In sorrow shalt thou eat his bread is the bread of Affliction The Woman hath her share of sorrow for the time of conception breeding bearing and birth are tedious Sin is against man's health till sin there were no Diseases and Sicknesses let a man take the best Air he can and eat the best Food he can let him eat and drink by rule let him take never so many Antidotes Preservatives and Cordials yet man is but a crazie sickly thing for all this Sin is against the quiet of a man's natural Conscience for it wounds the Spirit and makes it intolerable A wounded Spirit who can bear This broken Spirit drieth the bones it sucks away the marrow and radical moisture A good Conscience is a continual Feast but sin mars all the mirth When Cain had killed his Brother and his Conscience felt the stroak of his Curse he was like a distracted man and mad When Iudas had betrayed his Master he was weary of his life Sin is against the beauty of man it takes away the loveliness of their Complexions and alters the very air of their Countenance it makes man vanity and his beauty vain Sin is against the loving and conjugal Cohabitation of Soul and Body Sin sowed discord between them and made them jar many a falling out there is now betwixt Body and Soul between Sense and Reason they draw several ways there 's a self-civil War The Soul is become a Prisoner to the Body Rather than a free man Too too often the beast is too hard for the man and the horse rides the Rider Sense lords it and domineers over Reason Sin is against man's relative good in the world man's weal or woe lies much in relations by sin that which was made for an help proves an hindrance Sin hath spoil'd society one man is a Woolf nay a Devil
to another Sin will not suffer Husband and Wife Parents and Children to live quietly but sets them at variance they of a mans own house and bosom that eat the bread at his Table are the worst Enemies Sin is against the very being of man Sins aim is not onely that man should not be well but that man should not be How many doth it strangle in the Womb How many doth it send from the Cradle to the Grave that they have run their race before they can go Others dye in their full strength besides the havock that is made by War Man no sooner lives but begins to dye sin lays all in the dust the Prince and the Begger sin hath reduc't man's age to a very little pittance not only to seventy but to seven for among men no mans life is valued more In a moral sense sin hath degraded man by defiling him Sin hath rob'd man of his primitive Excellencie of a Lord he is become a servant yea a slave to Devils and lusts of all sorts His body is defiled their mouth is full of cursing and bitterness with their tongues they use deceit the poyson of Asps is under their Lips their Throat is an open Sepulchre Eyes full of Adultery the Eye-lids Haughty Ears dull of Hearing yea deaf as the Adder the Forehead as impudent as a Brow of brass both Hands are imployed to work Iniquity the Belly an Idol-God the Feet are swift to shed Blood Within the Gall is a Gall of Bitterness the Spleen is infected with Envy and Malice Sin hath defil'd the Soul so that man is faln short of the Glory of God and the Glory of being Gods It must be new created or renewed till God will own it for his because till then his Image is not legible Yea the Flood which washt away so many sinners could not wash away sin the same heart remain'd after the Flood as before Sin hath made the heart of man deceitful obstinate out of the heart come vain and villanous words Sin hath defiled and spoiled mans Memory and Conscience and almost put out that leading faculty the Understanding Sin hath darkened the Understanding poor man is wise to do evil but to do good hath no knowledge Poor man is covered with Egyptian thick darkness Man now like the blinde Sodomites gropes to finde the door Man hath lost his way since he lost his eyes Poor man catches at every straw and grasps every trifle Man cannot comprehend the light though it shine In the innocent golden Age man could have comprehended the least light that came from God and have seen day at a little hole he could have looked on the Sun and his eye not twinkle But now the wisdom of God the Gospel continues an hidden thing to this blinded world Man's darkness appears by his walking in all manner of wickedness who but blinde men would walk in dirt up to the ears yea over head and ears It appears that sin hath blinded man for he knows not whither he goes Men are busie in this world like a company of Ants creeping up and down from one Mole-hill to another but are not so wise for the Ants know but poor blinde men know not whither they go whether forward or backward from home or to home DEATHS Triumph Dash'd OR An ELEGIE On that Faithful Servant of God Mr. IAMES IANEWAY Minister of the Gospel VVho Resting from his most ZEALOUS and PROFITABLE Labours fell asleep in the LORD The 12th of this Instant March 1673 4. How Janeway dead spare Lord Oh spare thy Rod 'T will else too soon compleat our Icabod If thus thou snatch the Pastors who shall keep From Romish Wolves thy pretious trembling sheep If Night be coming whither may they stray When such sure Watchmen are remov'd away We lost alas one Janeway before Oh! when shall we have two such Janeways more Men whom Heav'n fram'd and sent on purpose hither To win and bring whole crouds of Converts thither Death's now grown Rigid and intends 't should seem To make our Teachers all conform to him E're we can dry our big-swell'd eyes for one Tidings surprize us that another's gone Hush then Elegiacks 'T is in vain you come Slight Sorrows Roar but mighty Griefs are Dumb. Behold our troubled Hemispere has lost Another Star whose brightness might almost Vie Lustre with the Sun whose Heav'n-bred Rays Shot forth such Flames at Darkness that our days Vnsoil'd with shades might hope to overthrow Hells Gates and make another Heav'n below But now our Skie is darkned this bright Star Being Ravisht hence our fainting Israels Car Hath lost its nimblest Wheels we change our Light For gloomy Clouds and loose our day in night That Star's remov'd whose clear enlightned Head Gilt every Eye with Flame and often led The wandring Wise men of the world to see The Sacred Object of a bended Knee For by his zealous conduct we addrest To view a CHRIST new born in every Breast This was both his imployment and delight Oh! how like Son of Thunder would he fright A stubborn sinner and an Earth-quake raise In guilty minds reflecting on their ways But then not for to break the bruised Reed Like Son of Consolation he 'd proceed With Soveraign Remedies of Gospel-Balm To heal the wounds and such Soul-Tempests calm Thus would he wooe and plead for God and then Prove no less Orator to him for men As in the early morn a sprightly Lark Springs from some Turf making the Heav'ns her mark Shoots up her self through Clouds higher and higher As if she 'd bear a part i th' Angels Quire So would he rise in Pray'r till in a trice His Soul became a Bird of Paradise If our dull faint Devotions Prayers be We must acknowledge his an Extasie Knowledge the depth of whose unbounded main Hath been the wrack of many a curious brain And from her yet unreconciled Schools Hath fill'd us with so many Learned Fools Had tutor'd him with rules that could not erre And taught him how to know himself her Furnishing his large Soul in height of measure Like a rich Store-house of Divinest Treasure From whence as from a Sacred Spring did flow Fresh Oracles to let his Hearers know A way to Glory and to let them see That way to Glory was to walk as he Thus lab'ring as Heav'ns Agent here below For others good his wasted Spirits flow His Mortal Life be freely spent that we Might gain a Life of Immortality Still Preaching Writing every way he tryes To court the World from endless miseries Admonishes the Old instructs the Young And teaches Children to speak Sions Tongue But now his painful labours all are o're Methinks I see him welcom'd at Heaven's door By crouds of Saints sent there by him before Hush then you Sighs forbear you flowing Tears You storms and showrs of nature stop your ears Let us no more with broken grov'ling numbers Disturb his Rest now rock'd in sacred slumbers Complaints are
vain subscribe to Heaven's will When God speaks 't is mans duty to be still He 's Dead let 's imitate his Life that we Dying like him may live Eternally And Glorifie that God whose dying Breath Made Man whom Death had Conquer'd Conquer Death The Grave 's our Common and our truest Home A house of Clay best fits a Guest of Loam Death 's but the good mans sleep for as our eyes We close each night at Bed in hope to rise So should we dye for when the Trump doth blow We shall as easily awake we know And as we after sleep our Bodies finde More fresh in strength and chearfully inclin'd So after death our Flesh scatter'd and dry'd Shall rise Immortal and more purify'd This is our Port this is Sins perfect Cure Till lodg'd within a Grave there 's none secure An EPITAPH ASk you why so many a Tear Bursts forth I 'll tell you in your Ear Compel me not to speak aloud Death would then grow too too proud Eyes that cannot vent a Tear Forbear to ask you may not hear Gentle Hearts that overflow Have only Priviledge to know In these Sacred Ashes then Know Reader that a man of men Lies cover'd and Eternal Glory Makes dear mention of his story Nature when she gave him birth Open'd her Treasures to the Earth Put forth the quintessence of merit Quickned with a higher spirit Rare was his Life his â—atest breath Saw and scorn'd and Conquer'd Death Thankless Reader never more Vrge a Why thus tears runs o're When you saw so high a Tyde You might have known JANEWAY dy'd FINIS BOOKS Sold by Dorman Newman at the King's Arms in the Poultrey Folio THe History of King Iohn King Henry the Second and the most Illustrious K. Edward the First wherein the ancient Soveraign Dominion of the Kings of Great Brittain over all persons in all Causes is asserted and vindicated With an exact History of the Popes intollerable Usurpation upon the Liberties of the Kings and Subjects of England and Ireland Collected out of the Ancient Records in the Tower of London by W. Prin Esq of Lincoln-Inn and Keeper of his Majesties Records in the Tower of London A Description of the Four parts of the world taken from the Works of Monsieur Sanson Geographer to the French King and other eminent Travellers and Authors to which is added the Commodities Coyns Weights and Measures of the chief places of Traffick in the world illustrated with variety of useful and delightful Maps and Figures By Richard Blome Gent. Memoires of the Lives Actions Sufferings and Deaths of those Excellent Personages that suffered for Allegiance to their Soveraign in our late intestine Wars from the year 1637 to 1666 with the Life and Martyrdom of King Charles the First By David Lloyd The Exact Politician or Compleat Statesan c. By Leonard Willan Esquire A Relation in form of a Journal of the Voyage and Residence of King Charles the Second in Holland Mores hominum the Manners of Men described in sixteen Satyrs by Iuvenal together with a large Comment clearing the Author in every place wherein he seemed obscure out of the Laws and Customs of the Romans and the Latine and Greek Histories By Sir Robert Stapleton Knight A Treatise of Justification By George Downham Dr. of D. Fifty-one Sermons Preached by the Reverend Dr. Mark Frank Master of Pembroke-Hill in Cambridg Arch-Deacon of St. Albons c. To which is added a Sermon preached at Pauls Cross Anno 1641. and then commanded to be Printed by King Charls the First Bentivolio and Urania in six Books By Nathaniel Ingelo D. D. The third Edition wherein all the obscure words throughout the Book are interpreted in the Margent which makes this much more delightful to read than the former De Iure Uniformitatis Ecclesiasticae or three Books of the Rights belonging to an Uniformity in Churches in which the chief things of the Laws of Nature and Nations and of the Divine Law concerning the Consistency of the Ecclesiastical Estate with the Civil are unfolded folded by Hugh Davis Ll. B. late Fellow of New Colledg in Oxon. An English French Italian Spanish Dictionary by Iames Howel Observations on Millitary and Political Affairs by the Honourable George Duke of Albemarle The manner of Exercising the Infantry as it 's now practised in the Armies of his most Christian Majesty Quarto A Letter from Dr. Robert Wild to his Friend Mr. I. I. upon occasion of his Majesties Declaration for Liberty of Conscience Together with his Poetica Licentia a friendly Debate between a Conformist and a Nonconformist The Dutch Remonstrance concerning the Proceedings and Practices of Iohn de Wit Pensionary and Ruwaert Van Putten his Brother with others of that Faction Translated out of Dutch Index Biblicus or an Exact Concordance to the Holy Bible according to the last Translation by Iohn Iackson Minister of the Gospel at Moulsea in Surrey The Christian-Mans-Calling or a Treatise of making Religion ones Business wherein the Christian is directed to perform in all Religious duties Natural Actions particular Vocations Family directions and in his own Recreations in all Relations in all Conditions in his dealings with all men in the choice of his Company both of evil and good in solitude on a week-day from morning to night in visiting the sick and on a dying-bed by Geo. Swinnock Mr. Caryl's Exposition on the Book of Iob. Gospel-Remission or a Treatise shewing that true Blessedness consists in the pardon of sin By Ieremiah Burroughs An Exposition of the Song of Solomon By Iames Durham late Minister in Glasgow The Real Christian or a Treatise of Effectual Calling wherein the work of God in drawing the Soul to Christ being opened according to the Holy Scriptures some things required by our late Divines as necessary to a right Preparation for Christ and a true closing with Christ which have caused and do still cause much trouble to some serious Christians and are with due respects to those worthy men brought to the ballance of the Sanctuary there weighed and accordingly judged to which is added a few words concerning Socinianism By Giles Firmin sometimes Minister at Shalford in Essex Mount Pisgah or a Prospect of Heaven being an Exposition on the fourth Chapter of the first Epistle of St. Paul to the Thessalonians By Tho. Case sometimes Student in Christ-Church Oxon and Minister of the Gospel The Vertue and Value of Baptism By Za. Crofton The Quakers Spiritual Court proclaimed Being an exact Narrative of a New high Court of Justice also sundry Errors and Corruptions amongst the Quakers which were never till now made known to the world By Nath. Smith who was conversant among them fourteen Years A Discourse of Prodigious abstinence occasion'd by the twelve Months fasting of Martha Tayler the faim'd Darby-shire Damsel proving that without any Miracle the texture of Humane bodies may be so altered that Life may be long continued without the supplies of Meat and Drink By