to say All that is truly mine I carry with me They desire not so much to lay up treasure for themselvs upon earth but to lay up for themselvs in Heaven as their Lord and Master hath commanded them Matth. 6.19 20. What saith the Apostle Let not covetousness be once named among Saints Ephes. 5.3 As if that world which many prefer before Heaven were not worth talking of All worldly things are but lent us our houses of stone wherein our bodies dwell our houses of clay wherein our souls dwell are but lent us honours pleasures treasures money maintenance wives children friends c. but lent us we may say of them all as he said of the Ax-head when it fell into the water 2 Kings 6.5 Alasâ— they are but borrowed Only spiritual graces are given of those things there is only a true donation whereof there is a true possession worldly things are but as a Tabernacle a moveable heaven is a mansion Now put all these together and they will sufficiently shew that he is a fool or a mad man that prefers not spiritual riches which are subject to none of these casualties before temporal and transitory And so at lenght I have shewn you what it is not and what it is to be rich And I hope convinced the worldling that the richest are not alwayes the happiest Yea that they are the most miserable who swim in wealth wanting grace and Gods blessing upon what they do possesse while that man is incomparably happy to whom God in his love and favour giveth only a competency of earthly things and the blessing of contentation withall so as to be thankful for the same and desire no more I will now in discharge of my promise acquaint you how of poor melancholy and miserable you may become rich happy and cheerful CHAP. XXVIII THe which I shal do from the Word of God Nor need it seem strage that for the improving of mens outward estates I prescribe them rules and directions from thence For would we be instructed in any necessary truth whether it be Theological concerning God Ecclesiastical concerning The Church Political concerning The Common-wealth Moral concerning Our neighbours and friends Oeconomical concerning Our private families Monastical concerning Our selves Or be it touching Our Temporal estate Civil estate Spirituul estate Eternal Souls Bodies Names Estates Posterities We need but have recourse to the written Word For that alone is a magazine of all needful provision a store-house of all good instructions And let a man study Machiavel and all the Machiavilians and State-politicians that ever wrote he can add nothing or nothing of worth to what may be collected thence touching this subject Wherefore if any of poor would become rich let him use the means which tend thereunto observe and follow those Rules and Directions which God hath prescribed and appointed in his Word which are principally six For as the Throne of Solomon was mounted unto by six stairs so is this Palace of Plenty and Riches ascended unto by six steps set upon this ground already laid For I find in the Word six infallible wayes to become rich or six sorts of men whom God hath promised to bless with riches and all outward prosperity That is to say 1 The Godly 2 The Liberal 3 The Thankful 4 The Humble 5 The Industrious 6 The Frugal These of all other men in the world are sure never to want And these are the main heads unto which I will draw all I shall say upon this Partition or Division CHAP. XXIX FIrst if any of poor would become rich let him become religious for Godliness hath the promises of this life as well as of the life to come 1 Tim. 4.8 Yea all temporall blessings that can be named are promised to the godly and their seed and to them only as both the Old and New Testament does plainly and plentifully prove As for instance in Deuteronomy the 28th God hath promised that if we will hearken diligently unto his voice observe and do all his Commandements and walk in his wayes we shall be blessed in the city and blessed in the field blessed in our going forth and in our comming home blessed in the fruit of our bodies and in the fruit of our ground and in the fruit of our cattel the increase of our kine and the flocks of our sheep That he will bless us in our store-houses and in all that we set our hands unto and make us plentiful in all good things and that we shall have wherewith to lend unto many and not borrow Verse 1 to 15th and Chap. 7.11 to 19th To which may be added many the like places As Blessed is the man that feareth the Lord and delighteth greatly in his commandements wealth and riches shall be in his house Psal. 112. Verse 1 to 4th Wait on the Lord and keep his way and he will exalt thee to inherit the land Psal. 37.34 The Lord will with-hold no good thing from them that walk uprightly Psal. 84.11 Delight thy self in the Lord and he shall give thee thine hearts desire c. Psal. 37. 3 to 7. Fear ye the Lord ye his Saints for nothing wanteth to them that fear him The Lions do lack and suffer hunger but they that seek the Lord shall want nothing that is good Psal. 34.9 10. Whatsoever we ask we receive of him because we keep his commandements and do those things which are pleasing in his sight 1 John 3.12 What rare and precious promises are these to which I might add very many of like nature All which David had the experience of who tels us that he greatly rejoyced in the strength and salvation of the Lord and the Lord gave him his hearts desire and did not with-hold the request of his lips Yea he prevented him with the blessings of goodness and set a crown of gold upon his head Psal. 11.1 2 3 4. And the like of Abraham and Lot and Iob and Solomon Let us first seek the Kingdom of God and his righteousness and all other things shall be ministred unto us or come in as it were upon the bargain as our Saviour hath assured us Matth. 6.33 Talis est ille qui in Christâ— credit die qua credidit qualis ille qui universam legem implevit saith Hierom We have a livery and seisin of all the precious promises both in the Law and Gospel in the first moment of our faith Yea even an earnest and partly a possession of Heaven it self Ephes. 2.6 Neither are these promises made only to the obedient themselves but riches and all earthly blessings are entailed upon their seed also Psal. 112. His seed shall be mighty upon earth the generation of the righteous shall be blessed Verse 2 3. Nor is riches and outward prosperity promised to the godly and their seed as others usually enjoy them that is single and barely but they have a promise of them with a supply and addition of all other good
so doing he shall greatly increase his knowledge and lessen his vites In â— few dayes he may read it and ever after be the better for it But me thinks I am too like a carelesse Porter which keepes the guests without doors till they have lost their stomacks wherefore I will detain you no longer in the Porch but unlock the door and let you in THE BENEFIT OF AFFLICTION and how to husband it so that with blessing from above the weakest Christian may be able to support himself in his most miserable Exigents CHAP. 1. Why the Lord suffers his children to be so traduced and persecuted by his and their enemies and first That it makes for the glory of his power IN the former Treatise I have proved that there is a naturall enmity and a spirituall Antipathy between the Men of the World and the children of GOD between the seed of the Serpent and the seed of the Woman And that these two Regiments being the Subjects of two severall Kings Satan and Câ—rist are governed by Laws opposite and clean contrary each to the other whereby it comes to passe that grievous temptations and persecutions do alwayes accompany the remission of sins That all men as Austine speaks are necessitated to miseries which bend their course towards the Kingdom of Heaven For godlinesse and temptation are such inseparable attendants on the same person that a mans sins be no sooner forgiven and he rescued from Satan but that Lion fomes and roares and bestirs himselfe to recover his losse Neither can Gods love be enjoyed without Satans disturbance Yea the World and the Devil therefore hate us because God hath chosen us If a Convert comes home the Angels welcome him with Songs the Devils follow him with uproar and fury his old acquaintance with scorns and obloquie for they think it quarrel enough that we will no longer run with them to the same excess of riot 1 Pet. 4.4 That we will no longer continue miserable with them they envy to see themselves cashiered as persons infected with the plague will scoff at such of their acquaintance as refuse to consort with them as they have done formerly It is not enough for them to be bad themselves except they rail at and persecute the good He that hath no grace himself is vexed to see it in another godly men are thorns in wicked mens eyes as Iob was in the Devils because they are good or because they are deerly beloved of God If a mans person and wayes please God the world will be displeased with both If God be a mans friend that will be his enemy if they exercise their malice it is where he shews mercy and indeed he refuseth to be an Abel whom the malice of Cain doth not exercise as Gregory speaks for it is an everlasting rule of the Apostles He that is born after the flesh will persecute him that is born after the Spirit Gal. 4.29 not because he is evil but because he is so much better then himself 1 John 3.12 Because his life is not like other mens his wayes are of another fashion Wisdom 2.15 I have also shewed the Original continuance properties causes ends and what will be the issue of this enmity and therein made it plain that as for the present they suit like the Harp and the Harrow agree like two poysons in one stomack the one being ever sick of the other so to reconcile them together were to reconcile Fire and Water the Wolfe and the Lambe the Windes and the Sea together yea that once to expect it were an effect of frenzie not of hope It remains in the last place that I declare the Reasons why God permits his dearest children so to be afflicted The godly are so patient in their sufferings With other grounds of comfort and Vses and first of the first The Reasons why God suffers the same are chiefly sixteen all tending to his glory and their spiritual and everlasting good benefit and advantage for the malignity of envy if it be well answered is made the evil cause of a good effect to us God and our souls are made gainers by anothers sin The Reasons and Ends which tend to Gods glory are three 1 It makes for the glory of his Power 2 It makes for the glory of his Wisdom 3 It makes much for his glory when those graces which he hath bestowed upon his children do the more shine through employment It makes for the glory of his power Moses having declared in what manner the Lord permitted Pharaoh to oppress the children of Israel more and more still hardning his heart shews the reason of it in these words That I may multiply my miracles and wonders in the land of Egypt That I may lay my hand upon Pharaoh and bring out mine Armies even my people by great judgements that my power may be known and that I may declare my Name throughout all the World Exod. 7.3 4. 9.16 When that multitude of Ammonites and Moabites came to war against Iehosaphat and the children of Israel intending to cast them out of the Lords inheritance and utterly destroy them to the dishonour of God the Lord by delivering them from that sore affliction gained to himself such honour and glory That as the Text saith the fear of God was upon all the Kingdoms of the Earth when they heard that the Lord had fought so against the enemies of Israel 2 Chron. 20.19 The judgement was upon some the fear came upon all it was but a few mens loss but it was all mens warning 1 Cor. 10.11 When the Lord brought again the Captivity of Sion saith the Psalmist then said they among the Heathen The Lord hath done great things for them Psal. 126.1 2. God provides on purpose mighty adversaries for his Church that their humiliation may be the greator in susteining and his glory may be greater in deliverance yea though there be legions of Devils and every one stronger then many legions of men and more malicious then strong yet Christs little Flock lives and prospers And makes not this exceedingly for our Makers for our Guardians glory Gods power is best made known in our weakness 2 Cor. 12.9 And our deliverance is so much the more wondred at by how much the less it was expected Impossibilities are the best advancers of Gods glory who not seldom hangs the greatest wâ—ights upon the smallest wiers as he doth those bottles of Heaven being of infinite weight and magnitude in the soft air where no man can make a feather hang and the massie substance of the whole Earth and Sea upon nothing Job 26.7 8. Yea the whole frame of the Heavens have no other Columnes or Supporters to lean upon than his mighty and powerful Word Gen. 1.6 7 8. For what we least believe can be done we most admire being done the lesser the means and the greater the opposition the more is the glory of him who by little means doth
overcome a great opposition yea it is greater glory to God to turn evils into good by over-mastering them than wholly to take them away Now if thy very enemies thus honour thee how should thy friends bought with thy precious blood glorifie thee But the sweetest of Honey lieth in the boâ—tom I pass therefore from the first to the second Reason CHAP. 2. That it makes for the glory of his Wisdom 2 SEcondly it makes for the glory of his marvellous and singular Wisdom when he turneth the malice of his enemies to the advantage of his Church I would saith Paul ye understood brethren that the things which have come unto me are turned rather to the furthering of the Gospel So that my bonds in Christ are famous throughout all the judgement-hall and in all other places insomuch that many of the brethren in the Lord are emboldned through my bonds and dare more frankly speak the Word Phil. 1.12 13 14. The Apostles imprisonment was not the Gospels restraint but inlargement In all other cases a gentle resistance heightens the desire of the seeker in this the strength of opposition meeting with as strong a faith hath the same effect Again how admirably did the Lord turn the malice of Iosephs brethren when they sold him into Egypt And that devillish plot of Haman against Mordecai and his people to the good of his Church in general and of Ioseph and Mordecai in particular Gen. 45.8 11. Hester 9.1 2 3. Their plots to overthrow Ioseph and Mordecai were turned by a divine Providence to the only means of advantaging them And herein was that of the Psalmist verified Surely the rage of man shall turn to thy praise Psal. 76.10 He who can do all things will do that which shall be most for his own honour And it is not so much glory to God to take away wicked men as to use their evill to his own holy purposes how soon could the Commander of Heaven and Earth rid the World of bad members But so should he lose the praise of working good by evil instruments it sufficeth that the Angels of God resist their actions while their persons continue Yea as in the Creation out of that confused Chaos he drew forth this orderly and adorned World so still out of Satans Tragedies and Hurliburlies he brings forth sweet order and comeliness for God many times works by contrary means as Christ restored the blinde man to his sight with clay and spittle he caused the Israelites to grow with depression with persecution to multiply Exod. 1.12 The blood of the Martyrs is the seed of the Church Persecution enlargeth the bounds of it like as Palms oppressed and Camamile trod upon mount the more grow the faster Yea it is admirable to consider how the Gospel grew maugre all the adverse blasts and floods which the billows of Earth and bellows of Hell could blow or poure out against it in those sanguinary Persecutions The more we are cut down by the sword of Persecution the more still we are sayes Tertullian of the Christians in his time Yea the sufferings of one begat many to the love of the truth we read that Cicilia a poor Virgin by her gracious behaviour in her Martyrdom was the means of converting four hundred to Christ. The spectators made contrary constructions to what their Persecutors intended witness Iustine Martyr Who when he saw the Christians suffer such great things so cheerfully said Surely these men have more in them then the men of the World they have other principles and thereupon enquired what manner of people they were and so came to embrace the truth Whence Master Iohn Lindsey a friend to Bishop Bettoune upon the burning of Master Patrick Hamilton said to him My Lord if you burn any more let them be burnt in hollow Cellars for the smoak of Master Hamilton hath infected as many as it blew upon Master Knox in his History of Scotland And as touching Iulians in particular Italy never more abounded with Students then when he had shut up all the School-doors and turned Learning into exile And so on the contrary the very means which wicked men use to establish their own power proves by Gods providence the only means of their ruine Those Babel-projectors would build themselves a Towre whose top should reach unto Heaven lest they should be scattered abroad which act of theirs proved the only cause of their being scattered and dispersed all the World over Gen. 11.4 8. Iosephs brethren sold him into Egypt that so they might prevent his reigning over them but God made it the only means of his reigning over them Genesis 37.20 36. Pharaoh and his deep Counsellours would deal wisely in oppressing the Israelites lest they should multiply and get out of his Land but by this they multiplied the more and got out the sooner even to the ruine of him and his Countrey Exod. 1.9 10 11 12. The chief Priests and Pharisees would most wisely put Christ to death lest all men should believe in him Iohn 11.47 48 53. When thereby chiefly all came to believe in him For saith he when I am lifted up from the Earth I will draw all men unto me Iohn 12.32 And not seldome doth the Lord thus turn the deepest counsels of Haman and Achitophel into foolishness Witness the Prelates caetera Oath He that could prevent our sufferings by his power doth permit them in his wisdom that he may glorifie his mercy in our deliverance and confirm our faith by the issue of our distresses 'T is as easie for God to work without means as with them and against them as by either but assuredly it makes more for the Makers glory that such an admirable harmony should be produced out of such an infinite discord The World is composed of four Elements and those be contraries the Year is quartered into different Seasons the minde of man is a mixture of disparities as joy sorrow hope fear love hate and the like the body doth consist and is nourished by contraries how divers even in effect as well as taste wherein variety hits the humour of all are the Birds and Beasts that feed us And how divers again are those things that feed them How many several qualities have the Plants that they brouze upon Which all mingled together what a well tempered Sallad do they make Thus you see that though faith be above reason yet is there a reason to be given of our faith Oh what a depth of wisdom may lie wrapt up in those passages which to our weak apprehensions may seem ridiculous CHAP. 3. That the graces of God in his children may the more shine through employment 3 THirdly it maketh for Gods glory another way when those gracâ— which he hath bestowed upon his children do the more shiâ— through employment and are the more seen and taken notice â— by the World surely if his justice get such honour by a Pharaoh mucâ— more doth his mercy by a Moses now
even the sins of our youth There needs no â—ther art of memory for sin but misery Satans malice not seldome proves the occasion of true repentance and so the Devil is overshot in his own Bowe wounded with his own weapon I doubt whether that Syrophenician had ever enquired after Christ if her daughter had not been vexed with an unclean spirit yea whether the Devil had been so effectually cast out if he had with less violence entred into her Mark 7. Our afflictions are as Benhadads best Counsellours that sent him with a cord about his neck to the merciful King of Israel The Church of God under the Cross is brought to a serious consideration of her estate and saith Let us search and try our wayes and turn again to the Lord Lam. 3.40 Manasses also the King of Iudah that horrible sinner never repented of his Idolatry Murther Witchcraft c. till he was carried away captive to Babel and there put in chains by the King of Ashur But then saith the Text he humbled himselfe greatly before the God of his Fathers 2 Chron. 33.11 12. Yea read his confession for he speaks most feelingly and you shall see that the prison was a means of his spiritual enlargement Even Vipers being lasht cast up all their poison The body that is surfetted with repletion of pleasant meats must be purged with bitter pils and when all outward comforts fail us we are willing to befriend our selves with the comfort of a good conscience the best of blessings Affliction is the Hammer which breaks our rockie hearts Adversity hath whipt many a soul to Heaven which otherwise prosperity had coached to Hell was not the Prodigall riding post thither till he was soundly lasht home again to his Fathers house by those hard-hearted and pittiless Nabals which refused to fill his belly with the husks of the swine And indeed seldome is any man throughly awakened from the sleep of sin but by affliction but God by it as it were by a strong purge empties and evacuates those supeâ—fluities of malice envie pride security c. wherewith we were before surcharged For as Alloes kils worms in the stomack or as frost and cold destroyes Vermine so doth bitter afflictions crawling lusts in the heart The Serpents enmity may be compared to the Circumcision-knife which was made of stone unto Rubarb which is full of Choler yet doth mightily purge Choler or to the sting of a Scorpion which though it be arrant poison yet proveth an excellent remedy against poison For this or any other affliction when we are in our full career of wordly pomp and jollity pulleth us by the ear and maketh us know our selves My wants saith one kill my wantonness my poverty checks my pride my being slighted quels my ambition and vain glory And as for sickness it cuts the throat of vices Many saith Saint Augustine have been wickedly well that have been innocently and piously sick Yea I may call it the summe of Divinity as Pliny calls it the summe of Philosophie for what distressed or sick man was ever lascivious covetous or ambitious He envies no man admires no man flatters no man dissembles with no man despiseth no man c. That which Governours or friends can by no means effect touching our amendments a liltle sickness or trouble from enemies will as Saint Chrysostome observes Yea how many will confess that one affliction hath done more good upon them then many Sermons That they have learned more good in one dayes or weeks misery than many years prosperiâ— could teach them Untouched estates and touched consciences seldom dwell together and it is usuall for them that know no sorrows to know no God repentance seldom meets a man in jollity but in affliction the heart is made pliable and ready for all good impressions True if gentleness would serve we should not smart for God like a good Chyrurâ—ion first strokes the arm before he opens the vein he sends for us by his Ambassadours of the Ministery yet we come not Let him fiâ—e our field as Absalom did by Ioab we come presently Or perhaps he afflicts another to fright us as great mens children are corrected by seeing others whipt or as Apolonias would tame Lions by beating Dogs before them For as God preacheth to us no less in his judgements than his Word so when he strikes offendors he would warn the standers by and a wise man sees himself faln or beaten in his neighbour Yea generous and ingenuous spirits desire to be taught abide not to be forced It is for Tyrants to compel for Asses to be compelled saith Erasmus A good natur'd Horse saith Seneca will be governed even by the shadow of the wand whereas a resty jade will not be ordered by the spur But if his Word will not rule us as many till God come with a strong hand will hold their corruptions as fast as Pharaoh the Israelites his Rod shall or if his Rod will not yet serve his sword shall be drencht in our gall and bathed in our blood Deut. 32.41.42 Or if we scape for a time yet our preservation from one judgement is but our reservation to seven more Levit. 26. Yea he will send a succession of crosses seven more and seven more and seven to that to the conversion of his own and the confusion of his enemies Vers. 14 to 39. when singing will not still the Child the Rod must Hard knots must have hard wedges strong affections strong afflictions great corruptions great calamities to cure them So that God through thy stubbornness is forced to let loose Satan and wicked men upon thee lest thou shouldest sleep in security till thou didst sleep in death eternally even for thy good And affliction is but the shepherds Dog as Chrysostome speaks to fetch us into Christs fold perhaps by barking onely and then we are more scar'd than hurt perhaps in his mouth and then the poor sheep thinks he will surely worry it but he is taught to fetch onely and therefore gripes not but onely carries and delivers it to his Master When children have done a fault Mothers use to fright them with Bull-beggers the childe thinks surely they will have him but the Mother hath a double policy viz. to make them hate the fault and love them the better for they run to the laâ— to hide them and then will she make her own conditions And so the very end which God aimes at in setting those Adders upon thee is that thou shouldest turn thine Eyes inward that thou mayest see for what thou sufferest pry narrowly into thine own forepast actions which if thou dost an hundred to one thou wilt finde sin it may be this very sin the cause of thy present affliction and until thou doest sift and try thine own heart for this Achan and finde out which is thy Isaac thy beloved sinne look for no release but rather that thy sorrowes should be multiplied as God threatened Eve Wherefore liest
cold doth keep in and double their inward heat And so of mans body the more extream the cold is without the more doth the natural heat fortifie it self within and guard the heart The Corn receives an inward heat and comfort from the Frost and Snow which lieth upon it Trees lopt and pruned flourish the more and bear the fuller for it The Grape when it is most pressed and trodden maketh the more and better Wine The drossie gold is by the fire refined Windes and Thunder clears the Air Working Seas purge the Wine Fire increaseth the sent of any Perfume Pounding makes all Spices smell the sweeter Linnen when it is buckt and washt and wrung and beaten becomes the whiter and fairer the Earth being torn up by the Plough becomes more rich and fruitful Is there a piece of ground naturally good Let it lie neglected it becomes wilde and barren yea and the more rich and fertile it is of it self the more waste and fruitless it proveth for want of Tillage and Husbandry The Razor though it be tempered with a due proportion of Steel yet if it pass not the Grindstone or Whetstone is never the less unapt to cut yea though it be made once never so sharp if it be not often whelted it waxeth dul All which are lively emblemes of that truth which the Apostle delivers 2 Cor. 4.16 We faint not for though our outward man perish yet the inward man is renewed daily Even as a Lambe is much more lively and nimble for shearing If by enmity and persecution as with a knife the Lord pareth and pruneth us it is that we may bring forth the more and better fruit and unless we degenerate we shall bear the better for bleeding as Anteus every time rose up the stronger when Hercules threw him to the ground because he got new strength by touching of his Mother O admirable use of affliction health from a wound cure from a disease out of grief joy gain out of loss out of infirmity strength out of sin holiness out of death life yea we shall redeem something of Gods dishonour by sin if we shall thence grow holy But this is a harder Riddle then Sampsons to these Philistims CHAP. 6. That it stirs them up to Prayer 3 THirdly because they quicken our devotion make us pray unto God with more fervency Lord saith Isaiah in trouble they will visit thee they poured out prayers when thy chastening was upon them Isay 26.16 In their affliction saith Hosea they will seek thee diligently Hosea 5.15 That we never pray so feelingly fervently forcibly as in time of affliction may be seen in the examples of the children of Israel Judges 3.9 15. Elisha 2 Kings 6.18 Hezekiah 2 Kings 19.15 16. Stephen Acts 7.59 60. And lastly in Iehosaphat who being told that there was a great multitude coming against him from beyond the Sâ—a out of Aram it follows That Jehosaphat feared and set himself to seek the Lord and proclaimed a Fast throughout all Judeah Yea they came out of all parts and joyned with him to enquire of the Lord 2 Chron. 20.3 4 13. Neither doth it make us alone which suffer earnest in prayer but it makes others also labour in prayer to God for us 2 Cor. 1.10 11. Acts 12.5 12. As what true members participate not some way of the bodies smart It is only a Nero can sit and sing while Rome burns Whence we are taught to pray in the plural number Our Father and certainly he cannot pray or be heard for himself that is no mans friend but his own No prayer without faith no faith without Charity no Charity without mutual intercession But I proceed Crosses are the files and whetstones that set an edge on our Devotions without which they grow dull and ineffectual Ionah sleeps in the Ship but prays hard in the Whales belly Prayer is the wing of the soul wherewith it flies to Heaven as meditation is the Eye wherewith we see God But our hearts are like flint-stones which must be smitâ—en ere they will send out these sparks of devotion Christ never heard of the Canaanitish woman until her daughter was miserably vexed with a Devil but then she comes to him and doth not speak but cry need and desire have raised her voice to an importunate clamour The God of mercy is light of hearing yet he loves a loud and vehement solicitation not to make himself inclinable to grant but to make us capable to receive blessings And indeed the very purpose of affliction is to make us importunate he that hears the secret murmurs of our grief yet wil not seem to hear us till our cries be loud and strong as Demosthenâ—s would not plead for his Client till he cried to him but then answered his sorrow Now I feel thy cause Prayer is as an arrow if it be drawn up but a little it goes not far but if it be pâ—ll'd up to the head flies strongly pierces deep if it be but dribled forth of careless lips it falls down at our feet the strength of our ejaculations sends them up into Heaven and fetches down a blessing The Childe hath escaped many a stripe by his loud crying and the very unjust Iudge cannot endure the widows clamour So unto fervent prayer God will deny nothing Whereas heartless motions do but teach us to deny Fervent suites offer violence both to Earth and Heaven So that if we ask and miss it is because we ask amiss we beat back the flame not with a purpose to suppress it but to raise it higher and to diffuse it We stop the stream that it may swell the more and a denial doth but invite the importunate as we see in the Canaanitish woman Matth. 15. Our holy longings are increased with delayes it whets our appetite to be held fasting and whom will not Need make both humble and â—loquent If the case be woful it will be exprest accordingly the despair of all other helps sends us importunately to the God of power but while money can buy Physick or friends procâ—re enlargement the great Physician and helper is not sought unto nor throughly trusted in It is written of the children of Israel that so soon as they cried unto the Lord he delivered them from their servitude under Eglon King of Moab yet it is plain they were eighteen years under this bondage undelivered Iudges 3.14 15. Doubtless they were not so unsensible of their own misery as not to complain sooner then the end of eighteen years the first hour they sighed for themselves but now they cried unto God They are words and not prayers which fall from careless lips if we would prevail with God we must wrestle and if we would wrestle happily with God we must wrestle first with our own dulness Yea if we felt our want or wanted not desire we could speak to God in no tune but cries and nothing but cries can pierce Heaven The best mens zeal is but
like a fire of green wood which burneth no longer than whiles it is blown Affliction to the soul is as plummets to a Clock or winde to a Ship holy and faithful prayer as oars to a Boat And ill goeth the Boat without Oars or the Ship without winde or the Clock without plummets Now are some afflicted in reputation as Susanna was others in children as Eli some by enemies as David others by friends as Ioseph some in body as Lazarus others in goods as Iob others in liberty as Iohn In all extremities let us send this messenger to Christ for case faithful and fervent prayer if this can but carry the burthen to him he will carry it for us and from us for ever Neither can we want encouragement to ask when as the sick of the Palsie but asked health and obteined also forgiveness of sins When Solomon but desired wisedome and the Lord gave him wisedome and honour and abundance of wealth When Iacob asked but meat and cloathing and God made him a great rich man When Zacheus desired only to have a sight of Christ and was so happy as to entertain him into his house into his heart yea to be entertained into Christs Kingdom We do not yea in many cases we dare not ask so much as God is pleased to give Neither doest thou ô Saviour measure thy gifts by our petitions but by our wants and thine own mercies True if the all-wise God shall fore-see that thou would'st serve him as the prodigall son served his father who prayed but till he had got his patrimony and then forsook him and spent the same in riot to the givers dishonour as too many use the Ocean of Gods bounty as we do the Thames it brings us in all manner of provision cloaths to cover us fuel to warm us food to nourish us wine to chear us gold to enrich us and we in recompence soil it with our rubbish filth common shoares and such like excretions even as the Cloud that 's lifted up and advanced by the Sun obscures the Sun In this case he will either deny thee in mercy as he did Saint Paul 2 Cor. 12.8 9. and our Saviour himself Matth. 26.39 or grant thee thy request in wrath as he did a King to the Israelites and Quails wherewith he fed their bodies but withall sending leanness into their souls Psal. 106.15 And well doth that childe dâ—serve to be so served who will lay out the money given him by his father to buy poison or weapons to murther him with Wherefore let thy prayers not onely be fervent but frequent for thy wants are so And be sure to ask good things to a good end and then if we ask thus according to Gods will in Christs Name we know that he will hear us and grant whatsoever petitions we have desired 1 Iohn 5.14 15. CHAP. 7. That it weanes them from the love of the world 4 FOurthly our sufferings wean us from the love of the world yea make us loath and contemn it and contrariwise fix upon heaven with a desire to be dissolved Saint Peter at Christs transfiguration enjoying but a glimpse of happiness here was so ravished and transported with the love of his present estate that he breaks out into these words Master it is good for us to be here he would fain have made it his dwelling place and being loath to depart Christ must make three tabernacles Mat. 17.4 The love of this world so makes us forget the world to come that like the Israelites we desire rather to live in the troubles of Egypt then in the Land of Promise Whereas S. Paul having spoken of his bonds in Christ and of the spirituall combate concludeth I desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ which is best of all Phil. 1.22 23. Yea it transported him to Heaven before he came thither as Mary was not where she was but where her desire was and that was with Christ. Prosperity makes us drunk with the love of the world like the Gadarens who preferred their swine before their souls or him in the Parable that would go to see his farmâ— and lose Heaven or the Rich Gluâ—ton who never thought of Heaven till he was in Hell and thousands more who if they have but something to leave behinde them 't is no matter whether they have any thing to carry with them But as sleep composeth drunkenness so the cross will bring a man to himself again for when the Staff we so nourish to bear us becomes a cudgel to beat us when we finde the world to serve us as the Iews did Christ carry us up to the top of the hill and then strive to throw us down headlong Luk. 4.29 When the minde is so invested with cares molested with grief vexed with pain that which way soever we cast our eyes we finde cause of complaint we more loath the World than ever we loved it as Amnon did his sister Tamar yea when life which is held a friend becomes an enemy then death which is an enemy becomes a friend and is so accountted as who having cast Anâ—hor in a safe Road would again wish himself in the storms of a troublesome Sea Yea in case we have made some progress in Religion and found a good conscience sprinkled with the blood of Christ the marrow of all comforts and resolved with Ioseph to forsake our coat rather than our faith yet if the World make new offers of preferment or some large improvement of profits and pleasures we begin to draw back or at least we know not whether to chuse like a horse that would and yet would not leap a ditch And after a little conflict having half yielded to forsake that with joy which cannot be kept but with danger we resolve thus The same God which hath made my crosses chearful can as well make my prosperity conscionable Why then should I refuse so fair an offer but alas having made choice it is not long ere these pleasures and honouâ—s these riches and abundance prove as thorns to choak the good seed of Gods Word formerly sown in our hearts as it is Matth. 13.22 For prosperity to Religion â—s as the Ivy to the Oake it quickly eats out the heart of it yea as the Misselâ—o and Ivy sucking by their straight embraces the very sâ—p that only giveth vâ—getation from the roots of the Oake and Hawthorn will flourish when the Trees wither so in this case the corruption of the good is alwayes the generation of the evil and so on the contrary crosses in the estate diseases of the body maladies of the minde are the medicines of the soul the impairing of the one is the repairing of the other When no man would harbour that unthrift son in the Gospel he turned back again to his Father but never before Lais of Corinth while she was young doted upon her Glass but when she grew old and withered she loathed it as much which made
her give it up to Venus When Satan is let loose upon us to shew us our sins and the danger we are in then farewel profit farewel pleasure treasure and all rather then I will endure such a rack such a hell in my conscience Whereas if we should only hear of misery or read what is threatned in the Word though it might a little fright us it would never amend us Birds are frighted at first with the Husbandmans scar-crowes but after a while observing that they stir not are bold to sit upon them and defile them Thus as harmonious sounds are advanced by a silent darkness so are the glad tydings of salvation The Gospel never sounds so sweet as in the night of persecution or private affliction When Vertue came down from Heaven as the Poets feign rich men spurned at her wicked men abhorred her Courtiers scoft at her Citizens hated her and being thrust out of doors in every place she came at last to her sisters poverty and affliction and of them found entertainment When it ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of the World she conceived Isaac so when it ceaseth to be with us after the manner of the Worlds Favourites we conceive holy desires quietness and tranquillity of minde with such like spiritual contentments Yea we make faith our only option whereas before we kept open house for all vices as the States are said to keep open house for all Religions or if not it fares with piety as with holy water every one praiseth it and thinks it hath some rare vertue in it but offer to sprinkle them with the same they shut their eyes and turn away their faces and no marvel for we never taste this Manna from Heaven until we leave the leaven of this Egypt Now better the body or estate perish then the soul though we are too sensual to consent unto it Plùs Pastor in vulnere gregis sui vulneratur The loss of a graceless childe cannot but grieve the father though the father him self were in danger of mischief by that childe as David mourned for Absalom that would have cut his throat True prosperity is hearty meat but not digestible by a weak stomack strong wine but naught for a weak brain The prosperity of fools destroyeth them Proverbs 1.32 So that all temporall blessings are as they hit but if the minde do not answer they were better mist. The more any man hath the more cause he hath to pray Lord lead us not into temptation for we cannot so heartily think of our home above whiles we are furnished with these earthly contentments below but when God strips us of them straightwayes our minde is homeward Whiles Naomies husband and sons were alive we find no motion of her retiring home to Iudah let her earthly stays be removed she thinks presently of removing to her Countrey a delicious life when every thing about us is resplendent and contentful makes us that we have no minde to go to Heaven wherefore as a loving mother when she would wean her childe from the dug maketh it bitter with Wormwood or Aloes so dealeth the Lord with us he maketh this life bitter unto us by suffering our enemies to persecute oppress us to the end we may contemn the World transport our hopes from Earth to Heaven he makes us weep in this veil of misery that we may the more eagerly long for that place of felicity where all tears shal be wiped from our eys Our wine saith Gregory hath some gall put into it that we should not be so delighted with the way as to forget whither we are going And this is no small abatement to the bitternesse of adversities that they teach us the way to Heaven for the lesse comfort we finde on earth the more we seek above and the more we esteem the best things and we are very ungratefull if we do not thank him for that which so overcomes us that it overcomes the love of the world in us Experience shewes that in Countreys where be the greatest plenty of fruits they have the shortest lives they do so surfet on their abundance Sicily is so full of sweet flowers if we believe Diodorus Siculus that dogs cannot hunt there and it is questionable whether the enjoying of outward things or the contemning of them be the greater happinesse for to be deprived of them is but to be deprived of a Dye wherewith a man might either win or lose yea doth not a large portion of them many times prove to the owner like a treacherous Dye indeed which flatters an improvident Gamster with his own hand to throw away his wealth to another Or to yield it the uttermost gold may make a man the richer not the better honour may make him the higher not the happier and all temporal delights are but as flowers they onely have their moneth and are gone this morning in the bosome the next in the Besome The consideration whereof made the very Heathen Philosophers hate this world though they saw not where to finde a better Yea it made Themistocles so under value transitory things in comparison of vertue that seeing rich Bracelets of precious stones lie in his path he bade his friend take them up saying Thou art not Themistocles And indeed it is Heaven onely that hath a foundation Earth hath none God hath hanged it upon nothing and the things therein are very nothing Nothing feeds pride nor keeps off repentance so much as prosperous advantage 'T is a wonder to see a Favourite study for ought but additions to his Greatnesse God shall have much ado to make him know himself The cloth that hath many stains must pass through many larthers If Musk hath lost its sweetness there is no way to recover it except you fling it into the sink among filth No less then an odious leprosie will humble Naaman wherefore by it the only wise God thought meet to sawce the valour dignity renown victories of that famous General of the Syrians If I could be so uncharitable as to wish an enemies soul lost this were the only way let him live in the height of the worlds blandishments for how can he love a second Mistresse that never saw but one beauty and still continues deeply inamoured on it Why is the Lapwing made an Hieroglyphick of infelicity but because it hath a little Coronet upon the head and yet feed◠upon the worst of excrements The Peacock hath more painted Plumes yet is the Eagle accounted the Queen of Birds because she flieth neerest heaven We often see nothing carries us so far from God as those favours he hath imparted to us 'T is the misery of the poor to be neglected of men 't is the misery of the rich to neglect their God The Badger being wounded with the prickles of the Hedghog his invited guest whom at first he welcomed and entertained in his Cabbin as an inward friend mannerly desiring him to depart in kindnesse
was first got asleep Wouldest thou not be overcome be not secure Fly from the works of darkness at a great distance and consider as well the bitterness of what will follow as the sweetness of a momentany pleasure not unlike a great personage of this Land who said to his Lady offering him a bribe in behalf of a suppliant Gentle Eve I will none of your Apple Yea in vigilancy and watchfulness imitate the Nightingale which sleeps with her brest upon a thorn for fear of the Serpent which continually studies her ruine We would not willingly a Tempest should take us without our Cloaks Seneca reports of Caesar that he did quickly sheath the sword but he never laid it off the sight of a weapon discourages a Thief While we keep our Iavelins in our hands we escape many assaults so that a Christians resolution should be like King Alfrids Si modò victor eras ad crastina bella pavebas Si modò victus eras ad crastina bella parabas If we conquer to day let us fear the skirmish to morrow If we be overcome to day let us hope to get the victory to morrow An assaulted City must keep a careful watch or it will not long hold out Yea the provident Fen-man mends his banks in Summer lest his ground be drowned in Winter And we must so take our leaves of all afflictions that we reserve a lodging for them and expect their return And so much the rather because what hath been long expected falleth the easier and evils precogitated strike â—ut weakly CHAP. 9. How it discovers whether we be true Believers or Hypocrites 6 SIxthly that we may experimentally know our selves and be known of others whether we be true Believers or Hypocrites First our selves divers play Alexander on the Stage but few or none in the Field Many can suffer Martyrdom in speculation who being put to it cannot concoct a foul word We are all valiant Souldiers till we come to fight excellent Philosophers till we come to dispute Good Christians till we come to master our own lusts but it is opposition that gives the trial when corruptions fight against the graces and cause Argent to seeme more bright in a sable field Many while wealth lasts are very honest men and square dealers at least seem so yea they will maintain that all hardnesse is to be endured rather then Conscience violated or God offended but fall they into poverty and then that they may maintain themselves they will lie deceive steal prostitute their Chastity sell their Consciences and what not Even Hazael before he met with an opportunity could say What is thy servant a dog And Balaam could brag Though thou wouldest give me thine house full of gold I would not c. Yet when it came to the triall he did as bad for little or nothing but a man is indeed what he is in triall If with the Pome-citron Limon and Orenge-tree we are alwayes green and fruitfull Summer and Winter if our souls shall like of Christ for a suitor when we finde no other Ioynture but the Crosse we are sure we are Christians 2. That others may know us A Souldier is best known in the front of a Battel A Pilot in a storm a nimble active man in a Race and a Champion in the lists How well the strings of an instrument are tuned and set is best known when they are touched by the hand of a skilfull Musician There must be differences amongst you saith Saint Paul that the approved may be known 1 Cor. 11.19 For as Thrashing separates the straw and Winnowing the chaff from the Corn So Persecution separates the Hypocrite from the company of beleevers Luke 22.31 When a serving-man follows two men walking together we cannot tell which is his master till they part so when the Gospel and outward prosperity go together it is hard to judge which is most respected Our Churches are full blessed be God but come we not to please others as the Poet made his Plays or as Simon Magus was christened for company or is it not more for fear of the Law then for love of the Gospel It is a great question until persecution arising because of the Word puts it out of question but then is that of Claudius Taurinensis more then verified They worship the dead Saints in a cold profession while they worry the living in a cruel persecution so that if the Bramble had been the King of Trees the Vine could not have met with worse usage We all call our selves Christians Why it is an honourable thing to be so accounted but who are such is known onely where the power of godliness is in contempt Where as Saint Augustine speaks a Christian in name will scoff at a Christian indeed for Christ saith Nazianzen is stoned by many that are called Christians though no otherwise then the Heathen Images are called gods as Iustine Martyr notes or as another hath it many superstitiously adore the Crucifix that are enemies to the Cross of Christ. That Childe saith old Simeon meaning Christ is appointed for a sign to be spoken against that the thoughts of many hearts may be opened Luke 2.34 35. O how wicked men manifest their hatred and enmity against God and his people so soon as Persecution ariseth because of the Word Yea it would put a wise man into an extasie to think how prophane men in such times will rail upon those whom one day they will wish they had imitated as Iustin Martyr speaks But it 's well enough for by this means both the malice of Satan and the World are better known and avoided Demetrius the Silver-smith resisted Paul perhaps not so much for great Diana's sake as the little Silver Shrines by which his gain came in The carnal Capernaites followed Christ while he fed them Iohn 6.26 Pamachius an Heathen could say to the Pope Make me a Bishop and I 'le be a Christian. Aygolandus the better to make his peace with Charles the Great would become a Christian and be baptized But when he came to the Court where he saw at a table in a room thirty poor people in mean habits and at ordinary fare which the Emperour told him were the Servants of God he replyed That if God kept his servants so poorly he would be none of his servant Iudas can be content to bear the cross so he may bear the bag but Iob will trust in God though he kill him Iob 13.15 and David in deepest distress or desertion will hang on still Psal. 43.5 Now who will not say Give me the Bird that will sing in Winter and seek to my window in the hardest frost There is no trial of friendship but in adversity he that is not ashamed of my bonds not daunted with my checks not alienated with my disgrace is a friend for me one dram of that mans love is worth a world of inconstant formality But that friend is fals-harted who observes me
thou remembrest thy sinâ— without grief so often thou repeatest those sins by not grieving Dion of Syracusa being banished came to Theodorus Court a suppliant where not presently admitted he returned to his companion with these words I remember I did the like when I was in the like dignity He called his deeds past to a new reckoning So when thou receivest an injury remember what injuries thou hast offered look not to be exempt from the same wrongs which thou hast done for he that doth wrong may well receive it we may well suffer patiently when we know we suffer justly To look for good and to do bad is against the Law of retaliation Or secondly Is any one wronged in his good name without giving the least cause of scandall either at present or heretofore which troubles him above measure let him neverthelesse reflect upon himself and perhaps he shall finde the cause lie lurking in his own bosome as thus it may be thou hast not defamed thy neighbour but hast thou not delighted to hear others speak evil of him Hast thou been tender of his reputation and as much as thou couldest vindicated his good name Or thirdly Doth not a proud heart make thee over apprehensive of the wrong Does not the injury seem great to thee because thou seemest great to thy self If so be but little and lowly in thy own eyes and the wrong will seem lesse for no man can sweetlier put up disgraces from others than he who hath first learned to despise himself Yea this Straw-diadem hurts none but the proud and impatient for suppose thou findest here but hard fare and as ill drest a poor hungry humble soul will down with all well enough Or fourthly Hath not self-conceitednesse broken thy credit probably if thou wouldest think worse of thy self thou shouldest be better thought of But commonly all is well while we are well esteemed yea with many their reputation is more cared for than their God Neither would he be censured for sin that fears not to be damned for it If this hath been thy case henceforward let it trouble thee more to do a fault than to hear of it and when thou art evill spoken of by another call thy self to account before him it may be thou deservest it be more sorry that it is true than that it is known Or lastly Admit men charge thee wrongfully and thou canst not finde out thy sin by thy punishment yet know that what thou sufferest is most just in respect of God who is the Author and who does not alwayes punish sin in kinde As for example how many Murthers have been punished in a mutinous word the tongue in some rash language hath scourged the iniquity of the hand One hath done many robberies scap't many searches at last when all hath been forgotten he hath been hanged for accessary to a Theft he never knew Suspected felony hath often paid the price of an unknown Rape And they that have gone away with unnaturall filthinesse have yet clipt oft their dayes with their own Coyn so that still Gods judgements are just even when mans may be unjust which in all cases would be acknowledged as the godly ever do Mauricius that good Emperour when he his wife and his five sons were taken his wife and sons put to death and himself waiting for the like fatall stroke could conclude thus Iust art thou O Lord in all thy wayes and holy in all thy works as it is in the Psalms And a Martyr when he was burning at a stake Welcome flames my sin hath deserved more than here I can be able to suffer And certainly they are angry with Heaven for justice that are angry with them for injustice Wherefore if thou hast been heretofore so simple as to return like for like henceforward lay thy hand upon thy mouth and say with Iob Once have I spoken but I will answer no more yea twice but I will proceed no further Job 40.4 5 I will not so much consider how unjust man is that gives the wrong as how just God is that guideth it And this would be our meditation in all other cases namely to think whose hand strikes whether by a Plurisie or a Feaver or a Sword or whatever the Instrument be and to conclude the blow is Gods whatsoever or whosoever is used as the weapon Yea it comes not without our desert for God is just nor shall be without our profit for God is mercifull And he that doth not argue thus comes short of the very Heathen For Socrates could tell the Athenians when they condemned him to die that they could do nothing but what the gods permitted and nature had before ordained And in common reason can a Clock go without a weight to move it or a Keeper to set it No. Now this being premised namely that we endure nothing from our enemies but that we have justly deserved from God Yea that we are more beholding to our greatest enemies touching the knowledge of our selves than the best friends we have how should we not with David refuse to revenge our selves in case any wicked Shemei rayl curse or cast stones at us have we never so much power and opportunity to do it Yea admit some Abishai would do it for us how should we not say Let him alone suffer him to curse for the Lord hath bidden him 2 Sam. 16.11 Again secondly If we make this use of our sufferings what more preciouâ— than the reproaches of an enemy for thereby we shall sooner and more plainly hear of our faults than by a friend although neither in a good manner nor to a good end We have great need quoth Diogenes of faithfull friends or sharp enemies Every one hath use of a Monitor but friends in this kinde are so rare that no wise man would willingly forego his enemy at any rate Wherefore saith one He shall be no friend to me that is a friend to my faults and I am no friend to my self if I think him my enemy that tells me of them CHAP. XXI They are Patient because their sufferings are counterpoysed and made sweet with more then answerable blessings 5. HE beareth the Crosse patiently because it is counterpoysed and made sweet with more than answerable blessings Satan and the world may take many things from us as they did from Iob viz. health wealth outward peace friends liberty credit c. but they can never take God from us who gives all and at the same time supplies the want of these with comforts farre â—urpassing and transcending them And therefore in the midst of misery we say with Iob Blessed be the name of the Lord. Quest. But with what comforts doth the Lord supply our losses Answ. The assurance of the pardon of sinne alone is able to cleer all storms of the minde it teacheth misery as sicknesse poverty famine imprisonment infamy c. to laugh not by reason of some imaginary epicycles but by naturall and palpable reasons
to good men as Alexander used to speak of Kings Yea saith Epictetus It is the highest degree of reputation for a man to hear evill when be doth well And Iob is of his judgment which makes him say If mine adversary should write a book against me would I not take it upon my shoulder and binde it as a Crown unto me Yes I would c. Iob 31.35 36 37. And who having the use of Reason especially sanctified will not conclude that Religion and Holinesse must needs be an excellent thing because in hath such enemies as wicked men and wicked spirits What saith that Ethnick in Seneca in this behalf Men speak evill of me but evill men It would grieve me if Marcus Cato if wise Laelius if the other Cato or either of the Scipioes should speak so of me but this as much comforts me for to be disliked of evill men is to be praised for goodnesse And Luther the like I rejoyce saith he that Satan so rages and blasphemes It is likely I do him and his Kingdom the more mischief whence Ierom told Austin It was an evident sign of glory to him that all Hereticks did hate and traduce him Indeed to hear that a good man speaks evil of us as its possible though rare for him to credit a false report and so crediting it to report it too goes to the very heart and fetcheth from thence tears into the eyes and into the mouth words of passion and admiration As when Caesar saw that Brutus was one of them that helped to stab him with bodkins in the Senate house he cry'd out And art thou there my Son but if a hundred other men do the same if wise we value it not Why O happy art thou saith Pious Mirandula who liv'st well amongst the bad for thou shalt either win them or silence them or exasperate them if thou win them thou shalt save their souls and add to thine own glory if thou silence them thou shalt diminish of their torment and prevent the contagion of their sin if thou exasperate them thereby to hate and traduce thee for thy goodnesse then most happy for thou shalt not only be rewarded according to the good which thou do'st but much more according to the evill which thou suffer'st And St Peter If any man suffer as a Christian that is for righteousnesse sake let him not be asham'd but let him glorifie God in this behalf 1 Pet. 4.15 16. The reason is given by St Austin with whom this speech was frequent They that backbite me c. do against their wils increase my honour both with God and good men Alas the durty feet of such Adversaries the more they treâ—d and rub the more lustre they give the figure graven in gold their causelesse aspersions do but rub our glory the brighter And what else did Iudas touching Mary when he depraved her in our Saviours presence for powring that precious oyntment on his feet Joh. 12. which was the only cause that in remembraâ—ce of her it should be spoken to her praise wheresoever the Gospel should be preached throughout the whole world Mar. 14.9 O what a glorious renown did the Traytors reproach occasion her like as the treason of Pausanias augmented the fame of Themistocles Yea their evill report may possibly enrich a man A friend of mine came to preferment by being reproached for his goodnesse in the presence of a religious Gentleman And this is the hurt which lewd men do to the godly if they are godly wise that hear them when they think to tax and traduce they do in truth commend us and we may say of their words as he said of good fellowes the better the worse and the worse the better Indeed swinish men may beleeve their misreports because they are Iudges which for the most part will enquire no further but beleeve at first but the wise know their tongues to be no slander yea they will either smell out the Serpents enmity in the relator or spy out in his lyes one lame leg or other as lyes are rarely without And indeed if ill tongues could make men ill good men were in a bad taking Now to make some use of this point If the language of wicked men must be read like Hebrew backward and that all good men do so for the most part it being a sure rule that whosoever presently gives credit to accusations is either wicked himself or very childish in discretion then let us count their slanders scoffs and reproaches the most noble and honourable badges and ensignes of honour and innocency that can be And in case we are told that any such person doth rail on us let our answer be He is not esteemed nor his words credited of the meanest beleever which understands any thing of Satans wiles Secondly Care not to have ill men to speak well of thee for if thou wâ—rt worse thou shouldst hear better if thou wouldst be as lewd as they are thou shouldst never hear an ill word from them Thirdly Look not to have every mans good word since some are as deeply in love with vice as others are with vertue Besides a man may as well draw all the aire into his mouth with a breath and keep it as purchase every mans good word Indeed if a man were able and willing to be at the charge he might stop their mouthes with money for Philip of Macedon having given a great reward to one that spake evill of him was after that highly praised by him which made him conclude that it lieth in our selves and in our own power either to be well or ill spoken of but this is not a remedy of Gods prescribring besides a man had better endure the soar than be at such cost for a plaister And thus we see that a man of a good life needeth not fear any who hath an evill tongue but rather rejoyce therein for he shall be praised of Angels in Heaven who hath by renouncing the world eschewed the praises of wicked men on earth CHAP. XXVII Because our enemies may learn and be won by our example 4. IN the fourth place one Reason why we bear injuries so patiently is That our enemies and others may learn and be won by our example which oft prevailes more than precept As how many Infidels were won to the Christian Faith by seeing Christians endure the flames so patiently when their enemies were forc't to confesse flain they are but not conquered Those whom precepts do not so effectually move we see them sometimes induced by examples Sozomen reports that the devout life of a poor captive Christian woman made a King and all his family imbrace the Faith of Iesus Christ. Eusebius from Clement reports that when a wicked accuser had brought St Iames to condemnation seeing his Christian fortitude he was touched in Conscience confessed himself a Christian and so was taken to execution with him where after confession and forgivenesse they kissed and prayed for
upon it Neither let Satan perswade you to defer your repentance no not an hour lest your resolution proves as a false conception which never comes to bearing Besides death may be suddain even the least of a thousand things can kill you and give you no leasure to be sick Thirdly If thou wilt be safe from evil works avoid the occasions have no fellowship with the workers of iniquity neither fear their scoffs for this be sure of if your person and waies please God the world will be displeased with both If God be your friend men will be your enemies if they exercise their malice it is where he shews mercy But take heed of losing Gods favour to keep theirs Beda tels of a great man that was admonished by his friends in his sicknesse to repent who answered He would not yet for that if he should recover his friends and companions would laugh at him but growing sicker and sicker they again prest him but then his answer was that it was now too late for I am judged and condemned already A man cannot be a Nathaniel in whose heart there is no guile but the world counts him a fool But Christ saies Verily except ye be converted and become as little children ye shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven Mat. 18.3 Again Satan and your deceitfull heart will suggest unto you that a Religious life is a dumpish and melancholy life but holy David will tell you that light is sown to the righteous and joy to the upright Psal. 97.11 Isa. 65.14 And experience tells that earthly and bodily joys are but the body or rather the dregs of that joy which Gods people feel and are ravished with As O the calm and quietnesse of a good conscience the assurance of the pardon of sin and joy of the Holy Ghost the honesty of a virtuous and holy life how sweet they are Yea even Plato an Heathen could say That if wisdom and virtue could but represent it self to the eyes it would set the heart on fire with the love of it And the like of a sinners sadnesse as hear what Seneca saies if there were no God to punish him no Devil to torment him no Hell to burn him no man to see him yet would he not sin for the uglinesse and filthinesse of sin and the guilâ— and sadnesse of his conscience But experience is the best informer wherefore take the counsell of holy David Psalm 34.8 O tast and see that the Lord is good blessed is the man that trusteth in him To which accordeth that of holy Bernard Good art thou O Lord to the soul that seeks thee what art thou then to the soul that finds thee As I may appeal to any mans conscience that hath been softned with the unction of grace and truly tasted of the powers of the world to come to him that hath the love of God shed abroad in his heart by the Holy Ghost whether his whole life be not a perpetual halellujah in comparison of his natural condition Whence they are able to sleight all such objections as he did you tell me that scrupling of small matters is but stumbling at straws that they be but trifles When I know your tongue can tell nothing but truth I will believe you Fifthly Beg of God that he will give you a new heart and when the heart is changed all the members will follow after it as the rest of the creatures after the Sun when it ariseth But without a work upon the heart wrought by the Spirit of God it will follow its own inclination to that which it affecteth whatsoever the judgment shall say to the contrary That must be first reformed which was first deformed It is idle and to no purpose to purge the channell when the fountain is corrupt Whence the Apostle orderly bids us first be renewed in the spirit of our minds and then let him that stole steal no more Eph. 4.23 24. Yea it is Gods own counsell to the men of Ierusalem Jer. 4. Wash thine heart from wickedness that thou maist be saved ver 14. It is most ridiculous to apply remedies to the outward parts when the distemper lies in the stomach To what purpose is it to crop off the top of weeds or lop off the boughs of the tree when the root and stalk remain in the earth as cut off the sprig of a tree it grows still a bough an arm still it grows lop of the top yea saw it in the midst yet it will grow again stock it up by the roots then and not till then it will grow no more Whence it is that God saith Give me thine heart Prov. 23.26 Great Cities once expunged the dorpes and Villages will soon come in of themselves the heart is the treasury and store-house of wickedness Mat. 12.34 such as the heart is such are the actions of the body which proceed from it Mat. 12.35 Therefore as Christ saith Make clean within and all will be clean otherwise not Mat. 23.26 Therefore Davids prayer is Create in me a new heart O Lord and renew a right Spirit within me Psal. 51.10 do thou the like importune him for grace that you may firmly resolve speedily begin and continually persevere in doing and suffering his holy will desire him to inform and reform you so that you may neither misbelieve nor mislive to change and purifie your naure subdue your reason rectifie your judgment reform and strengthen your will renew your affections and beat down in you whatsoever stands in opposition to the Scepter of Iesus Christ. Sixthly and lastly If you receive any power against you former corruptions forget not to be thankefull yea study all possible thankfulness For that you and I are not at this present frying in Hell flames never to be freed that we have the offer of grace here and glory hereafter it is his unspeakable goodness And there is nothing more pleasing to God nor profitable to us both for the procuring of the good we want or continuing the good we have than thankfulness He will sow there and there onely plenty of his blessings where he is sure to reap plenty of thanks and service but who will sow those barren sands where they are sure not only to be without all hope of a good harvest but are sure to loose both their seed and labour Consider what hath been said and the Lord give you understanding in all things And so much for the Second Part. An Appendix followes wherein you have instances of all sorts how sin besots men THE TRYALL OF TRUE WISDOM WITH How to become Wise indeed OR A Choice and Cheap Gift for a Friend both to please and pleasure him Be he inferior or superior sinful or faithful ignorant or intelligent By R. Younge of Roxwel in Essex Floreligus Add this as an Apendix or Third Part to The Hearts Index And A short and sure way to Grace and Salvation Section 41. LUcian tells of an Egyptian King
minde as the Iewes to this day believe that his Disciples stole him out of the Sepulchre Matth. 28.15 to the hardning of many in their Atheism and Unbelief For what should hinder When Naboth was proved to be a blasphemer of God and Susanna a whore upon oath and the same recorded to posterity when Ieremiah was reported to be an enemy to the State Paul a polluter of the Temple Steven a destroyer of the Law All the Disciples deceivers and Christ himselfe a wine-bibber a Sabbath-breaker a seducer of the people a Belzebub c. So we may perhaps under-goe the like in one kind or other as the Devils servants want neither wit nor malice to devise But what need it trouble us so long as it shall add waight to our Crowns For if we any way suffer for Christ be it but rebuke for his sake happy are we here and great shall our reward be in heaven Mat. 5.11 12. VVherefore let us never be ashamed of our Masters service nor of their censures No matter what Iudas saith touching Maries ointment so long as Christ approves of it Did our Saviour Christ forbear to heal on the Sabbath day because the Scribes and Pharisees took it ill no but rather did it the more Luke 6.7 to 12. and Luke 13.31 32. VVhen Peter and Iohn were charged to speak no more in the name of Iesus their answer was We cannot but speak that which we have heard and seen Acts 4.20 VVhen Michol scoft David and called him fool for his dancing before the Arke His answer was I will be yet more vile and more lowly in mine own eyes He knew that nothing could be more heroical then this very abasement And it is our very case Every scoffing Michol for none else will do it every drunken sot derides our holy profession but with God and the gracious we shall be had in honour Yea our very malicious and scoffing adversaries shall honour us by deriding us Their dispraise is a mans honour their praise his dishonour VVherefore let us imitate St. Austin who as he feared the praise of good men so he detested that of evill and ungodly men And take our Saviours counsel seek to justifie our judgements to the children of wisdome of whom she is justified and not to fools by whom she is daily crucified Neither let any think the better of such whom they extoll for the blinde eat many a flie § 61. Thirdly are the one regenerate the other carnall the one of this world the other chosen out of it the one children of light and of the day the other blinde and in darknesse the one Christs friends the other his enemies do the one live after the flesh the other after the spirit Gal. 5.25 1 Pet. 4.2 Then look we for no love from or peace with them Different dispositions can never agree There can be no amity where there is no sympathy Athens and Sparta could never agree for that the one was addicted to serve Minerva the other Mars Yea when it was said of Phocian and Demosthenes that they could never agree it was answered No how should they when the one drinks water and the other wine Much more may it be applyed to these when the holy Ghost sayes 2 Cor. 6. What communion between light and darknesse what peace between the Believer and the Infidel or unbeliever vers 14 15. And in another place Know ye not that the amity of the world is the enmity of God And that whosoever will be a friend of the world maketh himselfe the enemy of God Jam. 4.4 And again He that is borne after the flesh will persecute him that is born after the Spirit Gal. 4.29 Yea Solomon tels us directly and in plain terms That a wicked man is abomination to the just and that he who is upright in his way is abomination to the wicked Pro. 29.27 Even our very ways which God hath commanded us to walke in are abomination to them VVhence it is that the Naturall man can agree with all that be naturall be they civill or prophane Turkes or Iewes Papists or Atheists because all these agree with him in blindnesse and darknesse But with a sincere and holy Christian a practicer of piety he can never agree because his light is contrary to the natural mans darknesse Grace in the one is a secret disgrace to the other VVherefore to be without enemies or to have such our friends we may rather wish then hope yea once to expect it were an effect of frenzy not of hope Onely let not us by our offending God or jarring amongst our selves put weapons into their hands to wound us withal and then we are sure to have Christ who is able enough to vindicate all our wrongs to assist us and prevent our Enemies § 62. Fourthly If none be truly wise but such as have pass'd the second birth and that this wisdome which makes us differ cometh downe from the Father of lights and that we cannot have it except God vouchsafe to give it us it may teach us to be humble Job 42.6 And not like the Ape that is proud of his Masters jacket And thankefull for Heavenly notions grow not in us wee spin them not out of our own breasts Nor was there any thing in us that makes us differ we slept nigh half our time in ignorance and that wee ever awakened it was onely Gods infinite goodnesse and free grace VVhat cause have we then to blesse the giver And to become suiters to our Saviour in their behalf who are not yet awake That he will be pleased to open their eyes and remove that vail which is laid over their hearts in their hearing the Gospel 2 Cor. 3.14 15 16. And in the mean-time let us condole their disastres and drop some teares in pity and compassion for their great and grievous misery Fifthly and lastly If with God one spark of spiritual experimental and saving knowledge be of more worth then all humane wisdome and learning then strive we after that knowledge that will make us for ever blessed Let us so be learned that we may be saved Let us not in our hearing reading and communication do as little children that looke onely upon the babies in a Booke without regard to the matter therein contained But like men in yeares have more respect to the pith and solidity of the matter then to the phrase and to the profit of our souls then the pleasing of our senses Yea let us so minde what we either hear or read that if any vertue be commended we practice it if any vice condemned we avoid it if any consolation be insinuated we appropriate it if any good example be propounded wee follow it Yea so minde wee what we hear or read as if it were spoke onely to each of us in particular which to do is to be for every happy Good counsell for our young Gulls who will hear no other Ministers but such as flatter sinne and flout
most dreadful part of the curse lies upon them in spirituals there being few of Chams posterity in any age of the world that have ever been taken into the Church Wherefore take heed of mocking or scossing at Religion or the Religious For as the Serpents hissing sufficiently betrayes his malice so that viz. scoffing alone infallibly declares you to be the Serpents seed and children of the Devill Act 13.10 Gen. 3.15 Nor is it you but the Devill in and by you as you may see by Gen. 3.1 to 6. Eph. 2.2 Matth. 16.22 23. 1 King 22.22 23. Iohn 13.2 Acts 5.3 And none but a Cain or a devill in condition will envy because his owne works are evill and his brothers good 1 Iohn 3.12 1 Pet. 4.4 But they will not believe that are ordained to perish Prov. 29.1 1 Sam. 2.25 And as good admonish a bruit beast as a scorner Prov. 12.1 13.1 19 29. For scorners are upon the very Lukeâ—6 â—6 31 2 Chr. 25.16 As how dreadfully does St. Peter speak of such his words are these and the like They walke after the flesh in the lust of uncleanness they are presumptuous and self-willed they speak evill of the things which they understand not they sport themselves in their owne deceivings they are reserved uuto the day of Iudgement to be punished yea saith the Apostle as naturall bruit beasts they are made to be taken and destroyed mark that they are made to be taken and destroy'd and shall utterly perish in their own corruption and shall receive the reward of unrighteousness to whom the blacknesse of darkness is reserved for ever 2 Pet. 2.9 to the end O wofull and dolefull condition Beware then of scoffing at goodness for there cannot be a greater argument of a soul soule given up to Satan the God of this world 2 Tim. 2.26 Eph. 2.2 2 Cor. 4.4 And to prove you a Souldier belonging to that great Red Dragon that fighteth against Michael and his Angels Rev. 12. Who when his hands are bound casteth a flood of reproaches out of his mouth against the Church and the remnant of her seed which keep the Commandements of God and have the testimony of Iesus Christ ver 15 16 17. Because sentence against an evill worke is not executed speedily therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evill Though a sinner do evill an hundred times and his dayes be prolonged yet surely I know that it shall be well with them that feare God c. Eccles. 8.11 12. LONDON Printed by T. R. for Iames Crump Preparation to Conversion Or Faith's Harbinger In a rare Epistle writ by a Person of Quality before his death to his surviving Friends Shewing That Satan prevails most by deception of our Reason That the beauty of Holiness and true Wisdom is unseen to the World That ingrateful persons are as witless as wicked Why most men hear the Gospel year after year and are never the better With wholsom instruction to prevent destruction All richly fraught with choise and pithy Sentences Similitudes Examples Metaphors Rhetorical and pointed Expressions Which being thought by many worth the Transcribing at no small charge is now committed to the Press by R. Young of Roxwel in Essex Much Respected IF you ask Why I take this pains Turn to Levit. 19.17 Heb 3.13 and you have there both my answer and warrant for I do but supply with my pen what I was bound to perform with my tongue If for a President Take that of Photian who when a Friend of his would have cast himself away suffered him not saying I was made thy Friend to this purpose And he that loves not such a Friend hates himself If why I have been silent so long These are the only reasons Want of courage fear to displease and lest you should think me to have had more Zeal then Wit and more Religion then Discretion A case too common which makes me fear that what our Saviour says Mar. 8.38 Whosoever shall be ashamed of me c. will prove a dreadful Text to a great many For who almost does not make a very Idol of Discretion and more fear the censures of men then the displeasure of God Men owe God some good will but like those Rulers Ioh. 12.42 they dare not shew it They would please him yet so as they might not displease others nor themselves Never considering that he who bears with his Friends vices makes them his own Now in case you shall with those Gentiles Rom 10.20 receive more good by it then you desire admire the providence and free grace of God who will shew mercy to whom he will shew mercy Exod. 33 19. Rom. 9.15 That little which Croesus learnt of Solon saved his life And had Pilate taken that fair warning his wife gave him it might have saved his soul. Nor am I without hope to prevail with some of you since Nathan wrought more upon David by one private particular Admonition then all the Lectures of the Law could do for three â—arters of a year together However it were happy for millions were they so plainly dealt withall Wherefore be perswaded to hearken a while unto me as you would 〈…〉 will even refer the point to your selves to determine As let me propound your case in the person of another as the disguised Prophet dealt with Ahab 1 King 20. v. 39. to 43. Or as Christ dealt with the Priests Scribes and Elders Luke 20. v. 1 to 20. The case is this 2 ¶ God in great love sent Sampson to deliver the men of Iudah from the slavish thraldom of their enemies but they in requital binde him in whom all their hope of deliverance lay and deliver him up to those enemies that kept them under to the end they might slay him and still make slaves of them Iudg. 15. Again after this God sent unto their successors the Iews his onely Son to the end he might heal their diseases feed their bodies inlighten their mindes and save their souls And they in requiral of all hate revile scourge and crucifie him though in killing him they did their utmost to split or sink the onely ship that could save them Two rare and remarkable Examples Now tell me what you think of these blockish Iews Were they more wicked or witless or ingrateful I know you will answer me You cannot tell as the Priests Scribes and Elders did our Saviour when the conscience of their own guiltiness had stopt their mouths Luke 20.1 to 8. Or if you do make a satisfying answer it shall be like David's answer to Nathan's parable wherein he pronounced sentence of death against himself 2 Sam. 12.1 to 8. For it is your very Case if you had but eyes or the wit to see it I mean all you who any way misuse or are ingrateful to your Ministers whom God out of his infinite love hath sent to be your Deliverers from the grievous slavery and thraldom you are
among Bears they know no other dialect then roaring swearing and banning It is the tongue or language of hell they speak as men learn before hand the language of that Country whether they mean to travel By wine and surfetings they pour out their whole estates into theâ—â— bellies The father went to the devil one way and the son will folloâ— him another and because he hath chosen the smoother way he makâ— the more hast The father cannot finde in his heart to put a good morsel into his belly but lives on roots that his prodigal heir may feed 〈◊〉 Phesants he drinks water that his son may drink wine and that 〈◊〉 drunkenness The one dares not eat an egge least he should lose a chicken and goes to hell with whay and carrots the other follows after with Canary Partridges and Potatoes These are Epicures indeed placing Paradise in their throats and â—â—aven in their guts their shrine is their Kitchin their Priest is their â—â—ok their Altar is their table and their belly is their God By wineâ—â—d â—â—d surfeiting they pour out their whole estates into their bellies yet nevertheles complain against nature for making their necks so â—â—â—rt Aristippus gave to the value of sixteen shillings for a Patridge his clownish neighbor told him he held it too dear at two pence Why quoth Aristippus I esteem less of a pound then thou dost of a penny the same in effect sayes the prodigal son to his penurious father for how else could he so soon bring a noble to nine pence an inheritance of a thousand pounds per annâ—m to an annuity of five hundred shillings besides the one obtains a thousand pounds with more ease then the other did a thousand pence and by how much the less he esteems of money by so much the more noble and better man he esteems himself and his father the more base and hereupon he scorns any calling and must go apparelled like a Prince God hath inacted it as a perpetual law In the sweat of thy face beit brow or brain shalt thou eat bread till thou return to the earth Gen. 3.19 And for the best Gentleman to despise honest callings mental or manual is a pride without wit or grace Even gallant Absalom was a great sheepâ—master the bravery and magnificence of a Courtier must be built upon the ground of frugality Besides exercise is not more wholsome for the body then it is for the minde and soul but this vain glorious Cox-combe is all for sports and pleasure and seldom ceases hunting after sports as Esau for venison untill he hath lost the blessing But he should O that he would consider that medicines are no meat to live by Thâ—n for his pride in apparel you may know that by this he is like the Cinamon tree whose barke is of more worth then his body or like the Estridge or Bird of Paradise whose feathers are more worth then her flesh Or some Vermine whose case is better then her carcass And yet this swells him so and makes him look as big as if the river of his blood could not be bancked within his veins and shift his attire he must like the Islanders of Foolianna the ficle or that King of Mexico who was wont to change his cloths four times a day and never wear them again imploying his leavings and cast suits for his continual liberalities and rewards and who would also have neither pot nor dish nor any implement in his Citchen or on his table be brought twice before him Indeed he cannot shift himself out of the Mercers books untill he hath sold the other Lordship perhaps a dinner or supper at some Tavern may cost him ten pounds or more for he must pay the whole reckoning that he may be counted the best man Yea when the shot comes to be paid for any man to draw in his company is a just quarrel and use hath â—â—de is unpleasant to him not to spend and yet a â—aâ—â— head in the streets does him more good then a meals meat He hath the Wolfe 〈◊〉 vaine glory and that he feeds untill himself becomes the food Nor 〈◊〉 it be long first for an excessive and successive impairing alwayes impâ—â—â—teth a final dissolution Nor hath he ever the wit to think upon sparâ—â— till he comes to the bottom of the purse resembling Plautus that famâ—â—â— comical Poet born in Vmbria who having spent all he had on plaâ—â—â— apparel was forced for his living to serve a Baker in turning a haâ—â— millpunc Like an hour-glass turned up he never leaves running till all 〈◊〉 out He never looks to the bottom of his patrimony till it be quite unravelled and then too late complains that the stock of his weaâ—â—â— ran coarse at the fag end His father had too good an opinion of the world and he too much disdaines it onely herein he speeds as he thinks a little the better for that those who barked at his father like curs faune upon him and lick his hand like spaniels He bestows upon his inferiors liberal gifts thinkiâ—â— it good gain to receive for it good words and your Worship Thus by the frequent use of substracting pounds out of hundreds shillings out of pounds and pence out of shillings the end of his account proves all Cifers Ideness is the Coach that brings a man to Needam prodigality the posthorse His father was no mans friend but his own and he sayes the proverb is no mans foe else be he never so old he never attaineâ— to the yeers of discretion And in case providence do not take him ward his heirs shall never be sought after His Vessel hath three leaks a lascivoious eye a gaming hand a deified belly and to content these he can neither rule his heart his tongue nor his purse He never proves his own man till he hath no other and then perhaps when want or good counsel or time hath made him see as much as his father did at last he sues for a Room in an Almeshouse that his father built else when he feels want for till then he never sees it he complains of greatness for ingratitude that he was not thought of when promotions were a dealing Yet seeing there is no remedy but patience when his last Acre lies in his purse he projects strange things and buildâ— houses in the aire having sold those on the ground Not that he is a man of parts for he is onely witty to wrong and uâ— doe himself Ease saith Solomon slayeth the foolish and the prosperity of fools destroyeth them Prov. 1.32 CHAP. XVIII MAny an one hath his father unfeathered to warm him 〈◊〉 pride drunkenness gamming c. plucks them away againâ—â— fast that he soon becomes naked and bare He is like a barren plot of ground for let him receive never so much seed and manuring Sun 〈◊〉 showers he remaines ever dry and fruitless and no marvail when 〈◊〉 â—nely his lâ—ud and vicious courses bring Gods curse upon all
rich Land-lord that envied his poor tenant because he heard him sing every day at his labour yet had scarce bread for his family while himself wanting nothing was full of discontent One advised him to convey cunningly into his Cottage a bag of money he did so the tenant finding this mass so great in his imagination left off his singing and fell to â—arking and caring how to increase it Crescentem sequitur cura pecuniam The Land-lord fetcheth back his money the Tenant is as merry as ever he was Which shews that there is no riches comparable to a contented minde as Plutarch is of opinion That there are poor Kings and rich Coblers as wise Solon seemed to insinuate to the King when he was vaunting of his greatness For it was Iris a poor beggar that he told Croesus was the happiest man in his Dominions And when King Agis requested the Oracle of Apollo to tell him who was the happiest man in the world expecting to hear himself nominated the answer was Aglaion who was a poor Gardiner in Arcadia that at sixty years of age had never gone from home but kept himself and his family with their labour in a fruitful plot or garden as Livius relates Pyrrhus opened himself to his friend Cineas that he first intended a war upon Italy and what then said Cineas then we will attempt Cicile and what then then we may conquer Carthage and Affrica and what then said Cineas Why then quoth Pyrrhus we may rest and feast and sacrifice and make merry with our friends to which Cineas replied as every servant of God would do in the like case and may we not enjoy all this sweetness now and that without all this ado But natural men are mad men Yea were great men though good men but asked the question their consciences could not but acquaint us if they would speak out that true contentment seldom dwels high whiles meaner men of humble spirits enjoy both earth and heaven However not a few of them have freely acknowledged it as I have largely related in my second Part of Philarguromastix Wherefore be pleased ô God to give me a contented minde and then if I have but little in estate I shall have much in possession Fiftly mean ones with their poverâ—y misery ignominy are often saved whiles others with their honour and opulency go to hell When we are judged we are chastened of the Lord that we may not be condemned with the world 1 Cor. 11.32 Riches do so puff up some men that they even think it a discredit to their great Worships to worship God Nothing feeds pride nor keeps off repentance so much as prosperous advantage The Prodigal never thought of his father till he wanted husks We serve God as our servants serve us of whom many have too good clothes others too much wages or are too full fed to do work As a woman finding that her hen laid her every day an egg for all she was very lean had a conceit that if she were fat and lusty she would lay twice aday whereupon she fed and cram'd her thoroughly but in a short space she became so fat that contrary to her expectation she left laying altogether Who so nourisheth his servant daintily from his childhood shall after finde him stubbron Prov. 29.21 Sixtly they fix their affections upon heavenly riches and not upon the temporary and transitory riches of this world because in sicknesse when they stand in the greatest need of all they will not do them the least good Your gold will not bribe a disease your bags will not keep your head from aking or your joynts from the Gout a loathing stomach makes no difference between an earthen dish and one of silver Riches can no more put off the stone or asswage grief or thrust out cares or purchase grace or suspend death or prevent hell or bribe the Devil then a sattin sleeve can heal a broken arm Indeed the foolish Prior in Melanâ—thon rolled his hands up and down in a bason full of Angels thinking by this means to cure his Gout but it would not do Yea thou that placest thy happinesse and puttest thy confidence in a little white and red earth and dotest so upon the world tell me When the hand of God hath never so little touched thee what good thy great wealth will do thee Therefore ô vain desires and impotent contentments of men that place their happinesse in these things will not this your fair Herodias appear as a stigmatized Gipsie Will not all the toil and cost you haue been at to get riches appear as ridiculous as if a countryman should anoint his axle-tree with Amber-greece or as if a travaller should liquour his boots with Balsamum Yea your wealth will not only not save you from evils but help to make you more miserable and not only here but hereafter Psal. 49.6 7 8. Why then do you set so high a price upon them and so shamefully undervalue the riches of the minde which will much mitigate your grief and increase your comfort in what condition soever you are But Seventhly they little set by the wealth of this world because their riches may soon leave them When with the Spider we have exhausted our very bowels to contrive a slender web of an uncertain inheritance one puff of winde and blast blown upon it by the Almighty carries all away What sayes Solomon Prov. 23. Cease from thy wisdome wilt thou cast thine eyes upon that which is nothing for riches taketh her to her wings as an Eagle and flyeth away Verse 4 5. and Ier. 17.11 Isaiah 33.1 Prov. 12.27 Yea all riches are uncertain but those that are evil gotten are â—ost uncertain as examples of all ages witnesse The first of these was verified in Iob who lived to see himself poor to a Proverb and fell from the want of all misery to the misery of all wants And Dionysius who fell from a Tyrant over men to be a Tutor over boyes and so to get his living And Perses son and heir who was fain to learn an Occupation the Black-smiths trade to relieve his necessity And Henry the Fourth that victorious Emperour who after he had fought two and fifty pitcht Battails became a Petitioner for a Prebendary to maintain him in his old age And Geliner that potent King of the Vandals was so low brought that he intreated his friend to send him a harp a spunge and a loaf of bread an Harp to consort with his misery a sponge to dry up his tears and a loaf of bread to satisfie his hunger Yea how many have we known in this City reputed very rich yet have broken for thousands There are innumerable wayes to become poor a fire a thief a false servant suretiship trusting of bad customers an unfaithful factor a Pyrate an unskilful Pilate God wines sands a cross gale a wind and many the like hath brought millions of rich men to poverty And yet this is the
advanced to a vast estate and as one vexed with an evil spirit or troubled with a tormenting conscience to such a blessed peace as the world can neither give nor take away John 14.27 As thus Would you quiet your clamorous conscience that will not be friends with you unlesse you be friends with God The ayer is not so cleer when the clowde is dissolved by rain as the mind is when the clowdes of our iniquities are dissolved by the rain or tears of true repentance These waters are the red sea wherein the whole Arm of our sinnes is drowned As O the calm spirit of a godly man his very dreams are divine When Ptolomy King of Aegypt had posed the Seaventy Interpreters in order and asked the nineteenth man what would make one sleep quietly in the night he told him the best way was to have divine and celestial Meditations and to use honest actions and recreations in the day time The godly man enjoyes Heaven upon earth peace of conscience and joy in the Holy Ghost 1 Thes. 1.6 Nor is joy lesse when it is least expressed as it fares with grief but as the windowes of the Temple were narrow without but broad within so is the joy of our hearts greater than it does outwardly appear to the world Again It is as false a slander as common that when once a man imbraceth Religion farewell all joy and delight For virtue hath neither so crabbed a face nor so stern a look as men make her Pleasure is not gone when sinne is gone It is not Isaac that is sacrificed that is our laughter and mirth but the Ramme that is the bruitishnesse of it The soul of joy lies in the souls joy What saies holy David Be glad ye righteous and rejoyce in the Lord and be joyfull all ye that are upright in heart Psal. 32.11 It was not the Eunuchs riches nor honours but his faith which set him on his way rejoycing Act. 8.39 In this rejoyce not saith our Saviour that the spirits are subdued unto you but rather rejoyce that your names are written in Heaven Luke 10.20 Yea there is even joy in grief where the sorrow is for sinne Besides how can men partake of that fountain of joy and rejoyce not He is no good Christian that is not taken with the glory he shall have and rejoyce that his name is written in the Book of life The worldly man hath joy in prosperity the Child of God in adversity The believing Hebrews suffered with joy the spoyling of their goods knowing that they had in Heaven a better and more enduring substance Heb. 10.34 Yea let the worst that can come they are still merry and joyfull as hath been observed in sundry of the Martyrs who clapt their hands for joy even in the midst of the flames And reason good when all things shall work to their good that are good and when the very draught and abridgment of Heaven is in every sanctified heart upon earth Then live religiously and thou shalt both live and die comfortably For live in grace and die in peace is a rule that never fails Only this hinders our joy our love to spiritual things is too defective of worldly things too excessive Earthly goods are earnestly and eagerly sought after Heavenly not once thought upon Much travell taken for the body little or no care used for the soul. It would be otherwise if with Paul at his conversion they had those scales taken away from their eyes by some godly Ananias some faithfull Minister of the Gospel which during their natural condition covers their eyes from seeing things spiritual It is a sad thing to see what fools men are that walk according to the flesh and how they are gulled by the God of this world and their own deceitfull hearts The covetous man is like a mad man that loves and is unmeasurably delighted with the sight and gingling of those chains wherewith he is fettered and tormented He hugs them I mean his money and adores them and even makes them his god that occasion him all his grief But had he once tasted how good and bountifull the Lord is to those that set their delight on him 1 Pet. 2.3 If he did grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Iesus Christ 2 Pet. 3.18 If the Lord would once incline his heart unto his testimonies and not to covetousnesse Psal. 119.36 he should soon know and find that things themselves are in the invisible world in the world visible but their shaddows only That wicked men injoy whatsoever they have viz. wealth honour wisdome pleasure c. but as it were in a dream They dream they are rich wise happy and the like as a begger may dream he is a King Or one that is ready to starve that he is richly furnished with all manner of meats and drinkes but when once he is awake he findes himself grossely mistaken All worldly happinesse hath its being only by opinion whence St Luke calls all Agrippa's pomp but a fancy Act. 25.23 a meer conceit or supposition The sweetnesse of sinne is but as the sweetnesse of poyson sweet only in the mouth in the belly bitter and deadly Stolen bread is sweet sweet in the obtaining bitter in the account and reckoning Yea this last dish will spoyl all the feast and make it but like a drop of pleasure before a river of sorrow and displeasure Whereas whatsoever the godly feel is but as a drop of misery before a river of mercy and glory CHAP. XI The way of Wisdome and Holinnsse is the way of Pleasure Prov. 3.17 As O that all covetous miserly muckworms did but know what pleasure is in the peace of conscience which passeth all understanding and the joy of the Holy Ghost what a sollace it is to be the Sonne of God an Inhabitant of Heaven to live by faith amp c. Then would they think it more worth than all the worlds wealth honour and pleasure multiplyed as many times as there be stars in the firmament that any thing that every thing were too small a price for it Then would they change these broken wormeaten and poysonfull pleasures of sinne for the pleasures of Gods House of Gods Spirit and those other pleasures at Gods right hand for evermore Psal. 16.11 God made the world of â—aught because men should set it at naught as did the Apostle the better to prevail with others who after he had been wrapt up into the third Heaven reckoned of all earthly things riches honours pleasures but as drosse and dung in comparison of the knowledge of Iesus Christ and him crucified And what saith holy David a man of a most brave and divine Spirit I have had as great delight in the way of thy testimonies as in all riches They are more to be desired than gold yea than fine gold sweeter also than the honey and the honey-comb Psal. 19.10 And again How sweet are thy words unto my mouth
pounds for a falling Band five pounds for a Tulip ten twenty pounds for a yard of Lace But will Christ take this well and count them good Stewards when he shall sit upon his Throne and judge every man according to his deeds Matth. 25.31 to the end To these might be added the vast sums of mony that are lavisht out without measure in needless and unnecessary Buildings and trimming of houses as if the owners were to dwell for ever in this world So many Walks and Galleries Turrets and Pyramides such setting up pulling down transposing transplacing to make gay habittations for the memory and honour of mens Names So much yearly bestowed in costly furniture with which their houses were well stuft and filled before whereas multitudes of people by reason of the late civil wars are driven to wander about as having no certain dwelling-place yea no other house then the wide world no other bed then the hard ground and no other Canopy then the wide Heaven And so I might go on to many hundreds spent in Law-suits for the satisfying of a self-will so much spent in sports and needlesse Iourneys in Gaming and Revelling in kindnesses to Friends and Neighbours and many the like Whereas they should be sparing in other things that they might be the more bountiful in this duty They spend where they should spare and spare where God biddeth them spend Yea whereas the godly man spareth not onely from his superfluities but even from very necessaries that he may have the more to spend in bounty and beneficence These only spare in the works of mercy that they may have the more to spend upon their sinful Vanities But as the niggard that soweth not shall not reap so the prodigal Worldling that soweth onely to the flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption as it is Gal. 6 8. Now for conclusion of this point if Frugallity and saving be so great an help to bounty and liberality let it be our care to practice it avoiding both the extreams Prodigality on the one side and Avarice on the other for this as all other vertues is placed between two extreams as the Planet Iupiter between cold Saturn and fiery Mars Let it be used as a razor of all wicked and superfluous and as a rule of all good and necessary expences For that stock is like to last that is neither hoarded up miserably nor dealt out indiscreetly We sow not the furrow by the sack full but by the handful and the wise man knows it is better looking through a poore Lettice-window then through an Iron Grate Let it quite shave off all expenses about Surfeiting and Drunkenness Harlotry and Wantonness with other debauched courses which many amongst the Heathens have been ashamed of and therefore should not be once named among Christians Eph. 5.3 Nomina sunt ipso pene timenda sono And let it also moderate and diminish those excessive charges which too commonly men are at about things lawful and commendable because if men would so do the poor would be richly provided for As how much might be saved how many millions of money every year and how abundant might we be in works of mercy and yet be never the poorer at the years end Yea how would they praise God and pray for their bountiful Benefactors And how would God bless us in our souls bodies names estates and posterities As he hath abundantly promised in his Word CHAP. XLIV AND so much of the means enabling to this duty Now of the ends we are to propound to our selves in the doing of it wherein I wil bebrief Fourthly As our Alms or Works of mercy should flow from faith obedience charity mercy unfeigned love c. which are proper onely to true believers and such as in Christ are first accepted because as a woman that abides without an Husband all her fruit is but as an unlegitimate birth So until we be marryed to Christ all our best works are as bastards and no better then shining sins or beautiful abominations as the Apostle telleth us Heb. 11.6 Rom. 14.23 So our aim and end must be the glory of God the good of our brethren who are refreshed with our Alms the adorning of our Profession with these fruits of Piety the edification of others by our good example the stopping of the mouths of our Adversaries our own present good both in respect of temporal and spiritual benefits and the furthering and assuring of our eternal salvation all which shews that howsoever any man may give gifts out of natural pity yet onely the Christian and godly man can rightly perform this duty of Alms-deeds for it is a good work and there are none do good but those that are good neither is it possible that there should be good fruit unless it sprung from a good Tree Charity and Pride do both feed the poor the one to the praise and glory of God the other to get praise and glory amongst men in which Case God will not accept but reject a mans bounty As when one sent a Present to Alcibiades he sent it back again saying He sendeth these Gifts ambitiously and it is our ambition to refuse them The Hypocrite aimeth chiefly at his own glory and good either the obtaining of some worldly benefit or the avoiding of some temporal or everlasting punishment or finally that he may satisfie God's justice for his sins make him beholding unto him and merit at his hands everlasting happiness But the Christian doth these works of mercy with great humility remembling that whatsoever he giveth to the poor for Gods sake he hath first received it from God with all other blessings which he enjoyeth In which respect when he doth the most he acknowledgeth that he doth far less then his duty and that with much infirmity and weakness and therefore in this regard he humbly confesseth that his Almes are sufficiently rewarded if they be graciously pardoned the which as it maketh him to carry himself humbly before God so also meekly and gently towards the poore And indeed our axes saws hammers and chisels may as well and as justly rise up and boast they have built our houses and our pens receive the honor of our writings as we attribute to our selves the praise of any of our good actions And it were as ridiculous so to do as to give the Souldiers honor to his sword For of him and through him and for him are all things to whom be glory for ever Amen Rom. 11.36 If we have any thing that is good God is the giver of it if we do any thing well he is the Author of it Ioh. 3.2 Rom. 11.36 1 Cor. 4.7 11.23 We have not onely received our talents but the improvement also is his meer bounty Thou hast wrought all our works in us saies the Prophet Isaiah Chap. 26. ver 12. We do good Works but so much as is good in them is not ours but God's We for these things magis Deo