will not reject such And now what place is there left for your doubting If God do not shine upon you by the light of his Countenance yet is he your loving Father reconciled to you in his Son A Father is a Father still though he do not alwayes smile on his Son Go you on in your Christian course of Godliness serve the Lord with chearfulness and believe that your poor services shall and do find acceptance with Christ Observe that in Lev. 1. 7. So much as is said of the offering of the poor Mans Sacrifice which was but two young Pidgeons Another to the same Person IAm distressed for you What shall I do for you Oh thou afflicted tossed with tempest and not comforted How shall a man comfort a Soul that refuseth to be comforted Your case is like Hagars in the Wilderness who was ready to perish through drought when there was a Well of Water by her but she saw it not till God opened her eyes Gen. 21. 9. like Mary Joh. 20. 15. who stood weeping for Christ who stood by her but she knew not that it was Jesus You have the Well of Water in you springing up to Eternal Life you have Christ in you the hope of Glory but your eyes are held that you perceive him not Like those two Disciples that went to Emanus Luk. 24. 16. You are in Christ there is no curse condemnation or wrath to come belonging to you you are washed you are sanctified you are justified in the name of our Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God All things are yours Christ with all his benefits the Covenant of Grace with all its priviledges all the great and precious promises of the Gospel which are yea and Amen in Christ sealed in his Blood confirmed to you in the Sacrament of the Lords Supper God is your God your loving Father in Christ Heaven and Eternal Life is yours Fear not poor Soul it is your Fathers good pleasure to give you the Kingdom What shall I say more What can you desire more except you would have your name put into the Scripture promises You believe you shall dye because it is appointed for all men once to dye your Name is not there You believe the Resurrection of the Body because it is written There shall be a resurrection of the just and unjust yet your Name is not there The Scripture saith Whosoever believeth in Jesus Christ shall be saved i. e. Whosoever being truly humbled for sin disclaims all opinion of his own Righteousness and with Paul desireth to be found in his Righteousness only he truly believeth And so do you therefore you shall certainly be saved The Scripture saith Whosoever confesseth and forsaketh his sin shall find mercy Whoso loveth God the same is beloved of God Prov. 8. 17. He that loveth the Brethren is translated from death to life If you say these are general Promises How shall I gather assurance from them concerning my personal estate I Answer By looking into your own heart where if you find you are so qualified and have these Graces of the Spirit wrought in you viz. Faith Repentance Love to God and all Saints you may be assured of your Salvation as certainly as if Christ had said to you by name as he did to the Man that had the Palsie Matth. 9. 2. Son be of good comfort thy sins are forgiven or to Mary Magdalen her sins which are many are forgiven Mar. 7. 47. As to your vain Thoughts I can say no more but what I have said that neither they nor any other sin of infirmity which is your burden and trouble shall hurt or indanger your Salvation It 's the common lot of all Christians to suffer Afflictions outward or inward and sometimes both 2 Cor. 7. 5. We were troubled on every side without were fightings within were fears God is only wise knoweth how to order all for the good of his people Wait on him with patience until he shine on your Soul with the light of his Countenance and fill you with Joy and Comfort according to the promise Blessed are they that mourn for they shall be comforted Beware of unbelief which maketh God a lyar 1 Joh 5. 10. Believe his Promises believe his Prophets so shall ye be established 2 Chron. 20. 20. Beware of entertaining hard thoughts of God dark misgiving thoughts as you seem to do when you fear lest God swear in his wrath against you he did so against murmuring rebellious Israel who despised the pleasant Land and would appoint a Captain to lead them back into Egypt What is this to your case God is good and doth good is Love Light Life Grace to all that trust in him Read Dr. Mantons first Sermon on Psal 119. 68. where he gives a check to such as yours Page 473. You say true I have not prayed for you of late more carnestly because I hoped you had been more settled and at peace hearing nothing from you to the contrary Now I shall tender your condition I cannot as yet promise you a solemn day I have been very ill since I wrote to you and am yet far from well I pray you have patience and when God makes me able I hope to see you I am hasting apace to the Grave my Legs swell which together with old Age tell me the Grave is ready for me God grant I may be ready for it I pray read these Lines peruse them and ponder them in your heart and pray that the Holy Spirit may let you know the things that are freely given you of God Yours J. H. Mar. 9. 81. IAm not without hope to fall to work again shortly I pray therefore in your next let me understand whether you continue in the same mind to have a day kept on your account or whether you have found him whom your Soul loveth whether the Son of Righteousness be risen in your heart with healing in his wings or the Day-Star from on high hath visited your Soul I pray you let me ask you one Question Have you not received the Sacrament of the Lords Supper and that worthily i. e. In a due manner becoming that Holy Ordinance with Gospel preparation and communing with your own heart in secret I know you have many times Now what is a Sacrament a Seal of the Covenant of Grace is it not Well then there must be mutual Sealing on both parts You put to your Seal that you will receive Christ with his yoke of Obedience with his Cross Persecution Did you not mean thus sincerely with a good and honest heart This is your Covenanting for your part which you will indeavour to perform faithfully all the dayes of your life though in many things you fail as in vain thoughts and divers other things And God Sealeth to you for his part that he will be to you a God allsufficient will give you his Son with forgiveness of Sins and all things pertaining to Life and Godliness
encreased Grace Victory what gain Glory to God Edification to others what Almes What shall I render Further in his Private Notes A Catalogue of Sins Sins in Youth In another place Sins to be reformed by Grace walk humbly thankfully watch return not to folly after peace spoken May 16. 1658. If overtaken with Anger after a Sacrament A note thereon and once followed with a Miserere mei Deus These are things that discovered Grace and were exercises of it I now come to Experiences mentioned in his secret Record Octob. 27. 1658. I was not well had a pain in my Belly from side to side in the beginning of the Night I feared falling into Sickness Communed with my heart upon my Bed had thoughts of Death my Conscience spake peace to me the light of Gods Countenance shone into me I was fully assured of Gods Mercy to me if I had dyed at that time I had no doubt of my eternal happiness for which Mercy I give God praise and desire to record it with much thankfulness But I slept well that night was well next day continued well for which Mercy double Mercy the Lord be magnified January 1650. By night on my Bed I awaked had sweet comfort the King led me into the Wine-cellar Bless the Lord O my Soul April 10. A Communion in nostro Thalamo i. e. in our Bed-Chamber April 8. We fasted I was in a reasonable good frame but had some disturbance April 9. I was very dull no quickening no comfort I read I reviewed the Catalogue of my Sins but was still dull After five a Clock I went to secret Prayer for less than half an hour after which I was chearful full of comfort so continued that night and next day much enlarged in comfort God spake peace to my heart I was lively in Prayer in Administration in the whole Service Bless the Lord O my Soul August 2. 1664. I went to Bed with some pain slept not had no ease walked in the House all night dull at first but after chearful had some good thoughts the light of Gods Countenance shone on my Soul all night I was willing to dye not questioning my estate but if I dyed I should be happy About four a Clock in the Morning I had ease was well presently after fell to work all day at Night voided a Stone slept all Night very well so continue to this day August 10. Immortal Praise be to God that healeth me but I render not to God according to his benefits Decemb. 2. 4. 8. 1664. We sought God received Sacrament returned Praise I was dull before was graciously enlarged in Prayer in Administration had Comfort in Receiving I was dull again before Thanksgiving Read a while in Baxter and Harris and much enlarged in Duty had sweet Peace at Sacrament and after Praise the Lord sealed to me Jesus Christ Covenant of Grace and Pardon of Sin O bless the Lord O my Soul March 1. 1664. We spent some time in Humiliation at our House by Night was in some good measure enabled in the Morning in a good frame poured out my Heart in secret had much Comfort and Peace bless the Lord O my Soul and so have had ever since Also at Sacrament April 2. 1665. What shall I render So January 16. 1665. At Sacrament much enlarged in Administration and Comfort Praise to God June 6. 1666. Early at five I awaked had sweet Meditations of Gods Love and great Comfort after some clouds and scruples God enlarged my Heart and put gladness more then when Corn and Wine encreased Lord grant I may abide in his Love April 2. 1667. An Ague siezed me after four fits sent for Mr. Cranwell he gave me a bitter Draught which sweat me an hour before the Fit I had no more Fits nor Relapse I bless God In the beginning dull and dark but after a Night or two sweet Comfort and so continueth to this day blessed be God May 2. 1667. I returned thanks among Christians on this Text Psal 103. 3. Who healeth all thy diseases July 5. 1668. A Sacrament at our House I was much enlarged in Administration in Receiving in Meditation Examination a day or two before had sweet peace and full assurance Praise be to God March 3. 1668. I awoke at four in the Morning had sweet Meditations and Communion with God Peace and full assurance Blessed be God Feb. 11. 69. I awoke at six in the Morning had Peace full Assurance Joy in the Holy Ghost that God was mine all his Attributes Christ his Blood Holy Ghost Word Promises Providences Comfort in all in Death it self and Christs coming to Judgment What shall I render to the Lord. Feb. 8. 12. 1671. I prepared according to my wonted manner was assisted enlarged had a good day Praise to God May 12. 1672. I meditated on Gods Presence was Chearful and Heavenly enlarged in Heart all day it was Lords day Praise to God June 30. A Sacrament enlarged much had a good day Praise to God August 31. At Morning Prayer in the Parlour I was much enlarged with broken-heartedness had Joy and Peace of Conscience graciously Ever bless the Lord O my Soul Aug. 3. 1673. Sacrament as also April 13. in both I was much enlarged had sweet peace a good day Ever blessed be God Praise the Lord. And watch O my Soul against passion idle words vain thoughts in Prayer Novemb. 2. God graciously enlarged me in Administration Sealed me c. What shall I render to the Lord O bless the Lord my Soul See walk worthy of God So in Feb. 8. 1673. and May 24. 1674. and August 16. God was gracious to me then Decemb. 6. 1674. How excellent is thy loving kindness A good day Praised be God Jan. 11. 1676. A blessed day Praise to God June 13. 1680. A joyful day Praise to God These are some hints But Oh that I had his enlargements upon them to impart Surely these things are like small Points and Marks in Maps that stand for Towns and Countries But Spiritual Eyes can in these discern what Spirit Mr. John Hieron was off A Man that lived near himself by Observation and near God by Communion A great receiver from God and yet never so much as fingering any part of the Honour due to God CHAP. IX Of his drawing to his end of the Sickness of which he dyed of his Death and Burial DEath threw not this good Man down the stairs but he was led down by many declining steps He had little Deaths that were forerunners of great Death decayes before dissolution The foundation of his Distempers began in that sore Feaver which he had in Winter 1661. which followed an ill Fit which he brought upon himself by overdoing in Jan. 1655. The Feaver did in the thoughts of some endanger him but he broke through that brunt He had a second fit of the Stone 1664 and a third 1665. In April 1667. some fits of an Ague In March 67 68. Not
well after his pains had two fits of an Ague yet in a Fortnights time returned to his work and Preached twice on 15 March and the 22th he spent himself that he quite lost his Voice In Feb. 68. 69. Humours stirred as the year before his pains made his Throat sore and the Ague was feared but by Gods Blessing on some means used prevented It was observed about this time of the year he could worse bear his pains than at other times Jan. 77. Want of Health forced him to take up and to Preach but once a day March 78. He swooned once or twice was sick after had two Ague fits was for some time disabled wholly April 81. An Ague though not many fits July 27. A sore Ague fit but it was but an Ephemeris as the Physitian called it but had no more fits August 7. He returned to Preaching once a day and so continued though under an Epidemical Distemper which was in October till the 26th of February when he preached his last Sermon For March 2. he was forced to rise to get breath The humours that stirred in former years at Spring in Agues now appeared in a worse form differing from former Distempers Some thought it a Dropsie some a Tympanites but Judicious Mr. Cranwell said from the beginning it was a decay of Nature whereby his Blood was stagnated and so it proved All Winter before his death he came down stairs puffing and blowing and said one Morning when disturbances in Religious Exercises were much expected If they will let me alone a while I shall not trouble them long His greatly concerned Society came to his House and spent a day in Prayer his weakness would not admit him to be in the room with them yet would he come to crave a Blessing and did so and then said to them If you put up any Petition for me Pray that God would give me Patience we are apt to faint under long weakness And then left them and returned to pronounce the Blessing and gave them this farewel Speech I thought to speak to you it griâ—ves me for your sakes But if God have any more work for me to do he is able to raise me up again if not as David said here I am let him do with me what seemeth him best I desire to submit to his will whether for Life or Death but I would have you still be earnest after the Word and if you cannot enjoy it powerfully Preached at home you must be content to take pains for it as an hungry man will do if he want bread travel for it and do not think your labour ill bestowed Remember you have enjoyed the Word along time Now twice seven years and upwards I have been continued with you and for the most part with great liberty and I hope not without some good effect Oh bless God that you have enjoyed the Gospel so long It hath been your priviledge to have the Word nigh you when others have travelled for it and now if it be your lot to take pains be not weary of well-doing knowing that in due time you shall reap if you faint not Go on as you have begun The Promise is to them that continue in well doing Be faithful unto Death and I will give thee a Crown of Life This was June 21. 82. June 22. He had an ill fit of the Stone which he never recovered but declined fast after it much faster than any time before June 25. He had a touch of the Apoplexy or Palsie for his Speech faltered He spake not right 26. He was dull and sleepy 27 On 30. an ill fit of the Stone Beginning of July grows restless weary of all postures Sleep went away Hands swelled looked blackish his Pulse so low that it was not perceived weary of bed weary up A Neighbour bidding him farewel and wishing him a good night he added himself aâ—d an happy dissolution when the Lord pleaseth Thus it was 1. 2. 3. 4. of July the 5th they expected that watched he would have dyed went not to Bed the 6th he blew short ask'd how he did he said weak Asked his dear Mrs. Anne Taylor will you go to Prayer which they did and returning found him in appearance as we left him but he changed his Colour suddenly and dyed in his Chair something before Nine in the Morning being within Two Moneths of Seventy Four Years of Age. He dyed in the Commencment Week when he had been Master of Arts just Fifty Yeaâ—s and an Ordained Minister above Fifty Two Years in which time he hath Preached at Sixty Six Churches and Chappels in Derbyshire and at Thirty out of Derbyshire And at little Sanctuaries since his exclusion from the publick exercise of his Ministry who knows how many He lyes Interred in the Chancel at Heanor where Jesus Christ is the guardian of his Dust till the Resurrection of the Just to consummate Happiness of his whole Person Thus is his course fulfilled his good fight is fought he so run that he hath obtained he iâ— gone into that Heaven which came down into him here He lived not to be restored to Breadsall Parsonage but he is preferred to a Dignity far exceeding all Ecclesiastical Dignities here He hath a City instead of a Country Town He hath a Rectory over many Cities Luâ—e 19. 17 19. For he was a good and faithful Servant he had Talents and improved them for his Master He did win Souls and now wears a Crown He was disseaised of a good Ministerial encouragement but preached on laboured on and now he hath a Prophets Reward Matth. 10. 41. He abounded in the work of the Lord and now God hath his Medals for such Dan. 12. 3. high degrees of Glory He was a Vessel of big size and bore He had a great measure of Grace and laboured much in the Lord and for the Lord and therefore his measures of Glory his Reward is accordingly 1 Cor. 3. 8. Every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labour not only in kind but degree He was a plentiful Seedsman and his reaping is accordingly He hath passed the pikes served the will of God in his Generation he is fallen asleep he is gathered to his Fathers He was not found naked but in the Ornaments of Christs Righteousness and Grace and therefore we may express a confidence concerning him that he is cloathed upon in his Soul with his House from Heaven and that his Dust rests his Flesh rests in hope c. Non-Conformity cast him out of the Publick Service of the National Church but is no bar to his admission into Heaven for he did assent throughly and consent cordially to the Covenant of Grace He did depend on Christ entirely did obey sincerely and the Covenant of Grace like the Ark standing in Jordan till all the Israelites were passed over hath landed him safe in Heaven The sure Mercies of David have not failed him nor will fail us if we
these words Do not hearken to Satans suggestions to the contrary he is an Adversary If he cannot hinder your Salvation he will do what he can to damp your joy and peace in believing You ought not to give heed to him but to repel him as our Saviour did Get thee behind me Satan Your own unbelieving Heart for Faith is mixed with unbelief even in Gods Children also will raise Objections against you thus I have many Corruptions in me unruly Passions I am hasty to Anger Ignorant have little Knowledge considering the time and means I have enjoyed I am dull in Duty I Pray without any life or heat I am cold in love to God and Jesus Christ I grow not in Grace I am blockish and remember nothing I hear And many such things you have to say against your self To which I Answer Grant all this to be true These are Sins of Infirmity which may consist with true Grace Psal 40 12. David saith My sins are more then the hairs upon my head Psal 73. 22. So foolish was I and ignorant even as a beast before thee Read Heb. 5. 11 12. Ye are dull of hearing c. whom yet he highly commends Heb. 3. 1. and 6. 10. So long as sin reigneth not hath no dominion over you you need not question your interest in Christ and you may know that sin reigneth not when you are grieved for it confess and bewaâ—l it and pray for grace and help against it strive and watch against it and do what you can to keep your self from your iniquity Psal 18. 23. Consider that none are justified or saved because they are sinless pure and perfect but blessed are they whose sins are forgiven Psal 32. 1 2. And to him that worketh not but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly his Faith is counted for Righteousness Rom. 4. 5. What was the end of Christs coming but to take away sin Mat. 1. 21. Joh. 1. 29. Also a chief branch of the Covenant of Grace in Heb. 8. 12. I will be merciful to their unrighteousness And therefore be not faithless but believing as Christ said to Thomas John 20. 27 28 And let your heart make the same Answer that he did My Lord and my God It may be that your present condition is a grief to you that you cannot worship God as you desire or as in your Health you can do God no service Let not your heart be troubled at this for God requires no more than he gives And it may be no small comfort to you that you were diligent to attend upon God in your Health and when you had Legs you used them to Gods glory And now you are serving God in another way in the way of Passive Obedience in which if you submit to Gods will with Meekness and Patience you may do God as good service as they that preach or hear or travel far to the Word â— will conclude with those sweet words of Christ John 14. 1. Let not your heart be troubled Believe that God is yours Christ is yours the Covenant of Grace is yours your Sins are forgiven the Promises are yours even the great Promise 2 Cor. 6. 18. I will be a Father to you And that also Rom. 8. 28. We know that all things shall work together for good to them that love God Even all the exceeding great and precious promises in Christ 2 Pet. 1. 4. which are yea and Amen true and faithful O bless God that ever you were born Spiritually that you were born again Say and sing with David Psal 103. 1. 2 3. Bless the Lord O my Soul And Psal 32. at the latter end Rejoyce in the Lord ye righteous and shout for joy all ye that are upright in heart Psal 48. 14. This God is our God for ever and ever he will be our guide unto death And with the Church Isa 25. 9. Lo this is our God we have waited for him and he will save us This is the Lord we have waited for him we will be glad and rejoyce in his Salvation But I may save further labour and indeed might have spared this pains for you have a Book by you which contains all that I now write and much more to the same purpose The scope and substance of it is to chear up and comfort poor Souls that walk sad and sorrowful when they have no other cause but to rejoyce and serve the Lord with gladness in which kind of service the Lord is well pleased I pray you peruse it and read it through till you have got your Heart into a joyful frame Now I pray and let it be your Dayly Prayer That the God of Love fill you with Joy and Peace in believing to whose Grace I commend you Yours Vnfeignedly IT grieves me much for your sake that the hand of the Lord is gone out against you in so dreadful a â—rovidence that it puts me hard to it how to minister a word of Consolation to you in this your sad condition A wise Son maketh a glad Father but a foolish Son is the heavyâ—ess of his Mother I have no greater joy than to hear that my Children walk in the Truth So I know no greater affliction that can befall Parents then to have Children walking contrary to the Truth and dying in their Sins Yet is not your Case in this respect singular No Temptation hath befallen you but what is common to men to good men witness Aaron Ely David with many others whom I could name known both to you and me You are to acquiess in Gods Providential Administrations and not to disquiet your Soul with the doubtfulness of his Eternal Estate But to ascribe Righteousness to your Maker and say with the Psalmist Righteous art thou O Lord and upright are thy judgments How unsearchable are his judgments and his â—aâ—es past finding out Take the Example of the Prophets and other Holy Men in Scripture for an example of suffering Affliction and of Patience Set before you the Patience of Job who besides the loss of so great an Estate lost all his Children seven in number cut off by untimely death yet how Religiously doth he demean himself how Patiently to admiration Two of Aarons Sons in the flower of their Age and in the beginning and very first entrance upon that Sacred Function perish by fire from Heaven a heavy stroke arguing great indignation yet mark the Fathers pious behaviour under such a mark of Gods displeasure Aaron held his Peaâ—e As for Davids lamentation over Absalom it is not to be drawn into imitation For the bottom of his grief was not purely nor chiefly as far as appears sorrow for his sin and the eternal condition of his Soul but rather proceeded from Natural Affection and over much fondness and indulgence because of his exquisite Beauty which the Scripture doth highly extol For he takes not one sigh at the death of Ammon who also dyed in his sin and also by a violent
Now is not here strong Consolation for a Believer an Heir of the Promises one of Gods Covenant people Away then with all doubtiug and unbelief God is a faithful God he keepeth Covenant and Mercy with them that love him and keep his Commandments Can you desire better assurance that God is your God Christ is your Saviour that your Sins are forgiven That is one branch of the Covenant Heb. 8. 12. This Covenant is an everlasting Covenant ratified and confirmed by the Bloud of Christ and the Seal of the Sacrament Think you that vain thoughts for which you are grieved and count them your great burden that they can disannul or make void the Covenant so established Come Come take hold of Gods Covenant which God that cannot lye hath made with you in Christ who though you be never so unworthy in your own apprehension in all your slips and failings have recourse to the Covenant in all your wants and defects of Grace apply your self to this Covenant and it will afford you relief Be not faithless but believe consider and meditate well on this I say though you know it already yea ruminate on it again it is of great concernment Now the God of Peace and Consolation grant you Peace and Joy in believing to whose Grace I commend you J. H. MY hearts desire and prayer to God for you is that you may be saved And that is the very end of these lines to contribute my best endeavour to the salvation of your immortal Soul And if you will but joyn with me to lend an eâ—r and the Lord please to open your heart as he did â—ydia's to attend to wholsome advice I hope by Gods blessing the issue may be comfortable So as I shall have no cause to repent of my labour in writing nor you in reading according to words of truth and soberness You have been known to me these many years at least thirty years last past You have requested a share in my Prayers that was your own expression in a letter from you above twenty years ago You have been a great promoter of Religion by your pains and purse and constant endeavour to get a good Minister setled at the place where you live You have been reputed a sober man and a godly Christian by all that knew you Thus you did run well You were in a right course you were fair for the Kingdom of Heaven But how is it with you now It is no good report that I hear of you you are I hear become an Ale house hanter a company keeper Can sit and tipple with drunkards Seem to take delight in bad fellowship Else you would not visit the Ale-house several times in a day and neglect your business at home you decline in goodness and decay in your outward estate If this witness be true as I am credibly informed then are you to be sharply rebuked that you may be sound in the faith O foolish man who hath bewitched you that you should not obey the truth you did run well who did hinder you having begun in the spirit are you now made perfect in the flesh Have you done and suffered so many things in vain if it be yet in vain Thus you lose the things you have wrought and fall short of the reward of godliness for want of perseverance and holding out to the end Remember I pray you whence you are fallen and repent and do the first works You had better not to have known the way of righteouss then after you have known it to turn aside from the holy Commandment delivered to you better not to have been washed then return to the wallowing in the mire and lick up your vomit again Apostacy is so fearful a sin that I tremble to think of the heinousness of it how many woes and threatnings are upon record in scripture Read and tremble Prov 14. 14 Psal 101. 3. 125. 5. Ezek. 16. 24 33. 13. Heb. 6. 6. 10. 26. 39. 2 Pet. 2. 20 21. Mat. 2. 45. What iniquity have you found in the ways of God that you have forsaken the good path the holy Brethren for the pleasures of sin which are but for a season for you cannot serve two Masters You cannot keep integrity and take pleasure in sinful courses which are as contrary as light and darkness fire and water By your present practise you proclame to world that you upon long experience and having made tryal of Religious courses find no profit no comfort in them And so renounce your part in God and Christ heaven and happiness and resolve to take your lot and portion with drunkards and ungodly siners both in this world and that which is to come Do you tremble at such a thought This is the language of your Ale-house hanting O what dishonour is this to God that one that hath been his Servant so many years should now at last revolt from him and turn on the Devils side and to professe to like the Devil better then God his work better then Gods his wages better then God hell better then heaven the company of Drunkards better then the society of Saints For a Christian to turn Drunkard is the worst turn that can be If you conceive this charge be to heavie consider that God makes no difference between drunkards and the companions of drunkards Compare Mat. 24. 44. and Luke 12. 41. To sit to eat and drink with the drunkard is all one with to eat and drink and to be drunken And the punishment of both is alike The Lord of that Servant will come in an hour when he looketh not for him and shall cut him asunder and appoint him his portion with hypocrites there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth So in Prov. 23. 20. 21. Be not among wine bibbers c. for the drunkard shall come to poverty By which it is plain that it is all one to be among wine bibbers and to be a drunkard keeping company with wicked men is forbiden as well as wickedness it self Psal 1. 1. A godly man who is the only blessed man is one that hath no fellowship with the ungodly Psal 26. 4. 5. I have not sat with vain persons neither will I go in with desemblers I have hated the Congregation of evil doers and will not sit with the wicked Prov. 13. 20. He that walketh with the wise shall be wise but a companion of fools shall be destroyed Psal 119. 63. I am a compainon to them that fear thee I need not multiply texts in so plain a case And do I need to add how offensive Ale-house hanting is to others It brings reproach upon profession it verifies the prophane proverb a young Saint an old devil it gives occasion to the adversary to blaspheme it rejoyceth the ungodly and hardeneth their hearts and strengtheneth their hands that they should not return from their lewd ways It grieveth the good spirit of God it makes sad the hearts of those that fear God it