conducing to life eternal The proposall of Rewards and punishments very usefull to the bringing into Christ. A Spouse that is considering with her self Whether she should marry such a Husband or not beginneth to consider What she should be without him and what she shall have with him she considers him perhaps as one that will pay her debts and make her Honourable c and yet it may be she considers not the Man all this while however these considerations are good preparatives to draw her on to give entertainment to him but after some converse and acquaintance with the person she comes to like the Man himself so well that she is content to have him though she have nothing with him and so she gives her full and free consent to him and the match is made up betwixt them out of true and sincere free love and liking Thus it is that the proposals of Rewards and punishment are as it were a beginning a Prodromus a good introduction to the full sight and fruiâ—ion of God When it is that Men begin at first to consider their own misery most and that if they should apply themselves to other things as remedies they would be still to seek For there is a Vanity in all things And if to themselves that they cannot help themselves in time of Trouble therefore they judge that they must go to Almighty God who is able to do more than all and to rid them out of misery And they consider that going to him they shall have Heaven besides yet all this while they consider not the Lords power however this consideration makes way that God and they may meet and speak together it brings their hearts to give way that the Lord may come to them it causeth them to attend to him to look upon him to converse with him to admit him as a Suitor and to be acquainted with him And whilest they are thus conversing with him God reveals himself And then being come to the knowledg of him in himself they love him for himself are willing to seek his presence to seek him for a Husband though all other things were removed from him And now the Match is made up and not till now and then they so look upon him that if all other advantages were taken away they would yet still love him and not leave him for all the Worlds enjoyments No Man a loser by giving up himself unto God IT is said of Vapours that arising out of the Earth the Heavens return them again in pure water much clearer and more refined then they received them Or as it is said of the Earth that receiving the Sea water and puddle-water it gives it better then it received it in the Springs and Fountains For it strains the water and purifies it that whereas when it came into the bowels of the Earth it was muddy salt and brinish it returns pure clear and fresh as out of the Well-head waters are well known to come Thus if Men would but give up their hearts desire and the strength of their affections unto God he would not onely give them back again but withall much better then when he received them their affections should be more pure their thoughts and all the faculties of Soul and Body should be renewed cleansed beautified and put into a far better condition then formerly they were Ignorance and Wilfulnesse ill-met IT is a Maritime observation that if a thick Fogg darken the ayr there is then the great God of Heaven and Earth having in his providence so ordered it no storm no Tempestuous weather And if it be so that a storm arise then the sky is somewhat clear and lightsome For were it otherwise no Ship at Sea nor Boat in any Navigable River could ride or sayl in safety but would clash and fall foul one upon another Such is the sad condition of every Soul amongst us wherein Ignorance and Wilfulnesse have set up their rest together And why because that if a Man were Ignorant onely and not Wilfull then the breath of wholesome Precepts and good Counsell might in time expell those thick mists of darknesse that cloud his understanding And were he Wilfull and not Ignorant then it were to be hoped that God in his good time would rectifie his mind and bring him to the knowledg of himself but when the storm and the fogg meet when Wilfulnesse and Ignorance as at this day amongst the Iews and too too many Christians do close together nothing without the greater Mercies of God can befall that poor Shipwrack't Soul but ruine and destruction Unsteadfastnesse giddinesse c. in the profession of Religion reproved IT is said of an intoxicated Man who the liquor being busie in his brain fancied himself at Sea in a great storm in present danger of Shipwrack and thought there was a necessity of lightning the Ship and throwing some of the lading over-board and so threw the goods of his house out at the Windows Thus it is that this Age hath been taken with an unhappy Vertigo which hath made some Men not keep the ground they first stood upon and wanton delight hath possessed many Men to be medling trying of experiments and ringing changes Nay so distempered have divers been that like the drunken Man they have fancied a great necessity of abolishing and throwing away what they would have done better to have kept Men in the midst of their Worldly contrivances prevented by Death AS it is with a Man being come to some great Fair or Market with a con siderable summe of money about him who whilest he is walking in the throng considering with himself how he should lay out his money to the best advantage some sly fellow either cuts his purse or at unawares dives into his pocket and there 's an end of all his marketting So it is with the most of Men that whilest they are in the midst of all their secular employments and as it were crowded in the throng of Worldly contrivances how to secure such a Ship advantage trade compasse such and such a bargain purchase such and such Lands c. things in themselves with necessary cautions not unlawful in steps Death cuts the thread of their life spoyls all their Trade and layes their glory in the dust Riches their uselesnesse in point of Calamity NUgas the Scythian King despising the rich Presents and Ornaments that were sent unto him by the Emperour of Constantinople asked him that brought them Whether those things could drive away sorrow diseases or Death looking upon them as not worthy presenting that could not keep off vexation from him And such are all the Riches and glories of this world they cannot secure from the least calamity not make up the want of the least Mercy It is not the Crown of gold that can cure the head-ache not the gilded Scepter that can stay the
peace it being done without the wit of the King So it is with sin in Gods children it breaks not the peace betwixt God and them because it is but a Rebel and they agree not to it There is a difference betwixt entertaining of sins as Theeves and Robbers and as guests and strangers Wicked men entertain sin as a guest the godly man as a Robber the one invites it as a friend and acquaintance the other throws it off as a rebellious Traitor Immediate addresses unto God by prayer find acceptance CUshai and Ahimaaz ran a race who should first bring tidings of Victory to David Ahimaaz though last setting forth came first to his journeys end Not that he had the fleeter feet but the better brains to chuse the way of the most advantage For the Text saith So Ahimaaz ran by the way of the plain and overwent Cushai Prayers made to God by Saints fetch a needless compass about that is but a rough and uneaven way The way of the plain or the plain way both shortest and surest is Call upon me in the day of trouble such prayer though starting last comes to the mark first Sacriledge never thrives Coepio a Roman Consul with his Souldiers robbed the wealthy Temple of Tholouse a City of Narbon in France neer the Pyrene mountain but of those that had a share of any of those goods not one ever prospered It was so generally observed that it occasioned a Proverb If any man what by means soever decayed were fallen into poverty they would say of him Aurum habet Tholosanum He hath some of the gold of Tholouse The endowment of all other Churches whereof many have been plundered of rich Chalices and other utensils in sacrilegious times are like the gold of Tholouse that brought ruine to them and their Families If any man thriveth with them that holdeth them by a wrong tenure he hath better luck then any such Malefactor before him How many sacrilegious persons have utterly ruinated themselves as it is easie to find in many Monuments of learning how a Canker hath eaten their estates as a Gangrene did their consciences but see the Chronicle search the histories of sundry Nations both antient and modern and find me out but one Church-robber here that hath thrived past the third generation A seeming Religion no saving Religion WAndring Empiricks may say much in Tables and Pictures to perswade credulous people their Patients but their ostentation is far from apprehension of skill when they come to effect their cures How many Ships have suffered shipwrack for all their glorious names of the Triumph the Safe-guard the Good-speâ—â— he Swift-sure Bona-venture c. So how many souls have been swallowed up with the fair hopes of mens feigned Religions such as have at that very time the Deâ—il in their hearts when they seem to have nothing but God at their tongues end The vanity of needless and intricate questions CAmbden in his History of the life of Q. Elizabeth relateth how Captain Martin Forbisher fetched from the farthest Northern parts a Ships-lading of as he thought mineral stones which afterwards were cast out to mend the high-ways Thus are they served and miss their hopes who long seeking to extract hidden mysteries out of nice questions leave them off at last as altogether uselesse and unnecessary The life of Man subject to all sorts of Calamity IOnah's condition was but bad at the best as to be rocked and tossed to and fro in a dangerfull Ship the bones whereof aked with the violence of every surge that assailed it the Anchors Cables or Rudders either thrown away or torn in pieces having more friendship preferr'd him then he had hap to make use of and at length to be cast into the Sea a merciless and implacable Sea roaring for his life more then ever the Lion roared for his prey the bottom thereof seeming as low to him as the bottomless pit and no hope left to escaâ—e either by Ship or by Boat no Tabula Naufragii no plank or peice of board appearing whereby to recoâ—er the land besides all these to make the measure of his sorrows up to the brim the burning of God's anger against his sins like a River of brimstone This is the case of us all in the whole course of our lives as Ezâ—chias sang in his song From day to night thou wilt make an end of me We are tumbled and tossed in a vessel as frail as Ionah's Ship was which every stream of Calamity is ready to dash in pieces every disease is able to fillip on one side or other where neither Anchor nor Rudder is left neither head nor hand nor stomack is in case to give any comfort where though we have the kindness of Wife and Friends the duty of children the advice of Physitians we cannot use their service where we have a grave before us greedy to receive and never to return us till the worâ—s and creepers of the Earth have devoured us but if the anger of God for our sins accompany all these it will be a woful adventure for that Man when the sins of his soul and the end of his life shall come so neer together as the trespasse of Ionah and his casting out of the Ship Sacriledge cursed with a curse IT was usual in former times when any thing was given to the endowment of the Church it was done with a curse against all such as should ever presume to alienate or take them away Whether Mans curse shall take hold on such Church-robbers is wholly in the disposition of God and a secret But sure it is that God himself hath openly cursed all those how many or how great soever they be that rob him of Tythes and Offerings Yea cursed them with a curse redoubling the words not without great cause but emphatically to signifie that they shall be cursed with a strange curse such a curse such a signal curse that he that hears of it his ears shall tingle and his knees smite one the other God the proper object of Man's memory SEneca writeth of himself that he had a very flourishing memory being able to recite by heart 2000 names in the same order they were first digested Portius Laâ—ro writ that in his mind which others did in Note-books He was a man of cunning in History that if you had named a Captain unto him he would have run through all his acts presently a singular gift from God But as Tully comparing Lucullus and Hortensius together both being of a vast memory yet he preferreth Lucullus before Hortensius because he remembered matter this but words Thus certainly as the object about which memory is conversant is more principall so the gift more commendable And the most excellent object of all others either for the memory to account or for any part of the soul to conceive is God the Lord for he
the Farms the pleasures the profits and preferments that men are so fast glued unto that they have hardly leisure to entertain a thought of any goodness Goodness and Greatness seldom meet together IN our natural bodies the more fat there is the lesser blood in the veins and consequently the fewer spirits and so in our fields aboundance of wet breeds aboundance of tares and consequently great scarcity of Corn And is it not so with our souls The more of God's blessing and wealth the more weeds of carnality and vanity and the more rich to the world the less righteous to God commonly What meant Apuleius to say that Ubi uber ibi tuber but to signifie that pride and arrogance are companions to plenty And what made Solomon to pray against fulness Prov. 30. but to shew that as they must have good brains that will carry much drink so they must have extraordinary souls that will not be overcome with the world Goodness and greatness do seldom meet together as Asdrubal Haedeus said in Livy Rarò simul hominibus bona fortuna bonaque mens datur Who is the man except it be one of a thousand Cui praesens faelicitas si arrisit non irrisit but if the world ran in upon him he would soon out-run it Perseverance is the Crown of all good actions WHatsoever is before the end it is a step whereby we climb to the top of salvation but it is not the uppermost griece whereby the highest part of the top may be taken hold of A man may be tumbled down from the ladder as well when he is within a round or two of the top as when he is in the midst or below the miâ—st And a man may make Shipwrack when he is within ken of land as when he is a thousand miles off What had it profited Peter to have escaped the first and second Watch if he had stuck at the iron gate and had not passed through that also VVho maketh account of land-oats that shead before the Harvest or of fruit that falls from the tree before it be ripe It is not to begin in the spirit and end in the slesh not a putting of the hand to the Plow and looking back but a constant perseverance to the end that shall be crowned Prayers of the godly the unanimity of them WE read of Ptolomeus Philadelphus King of Egypt that he caused the Bible to be translated by seventy Interpreters which seventy were severally disposed of in seventy several cells unknown each to other and yet they did so well agree in their several translations that there was no considerable difference betwixt them in rendring the Text an argument that they were acted by one and the same spirit Surely then it must needs be a great comfort to all good Christians when they shall call to mind what seventy nay seventy times seventy yea seventy hundreth yea seventy thousand which are peaceable in Israel which on the bended knees of their souls pray daily unto God for peace And though they know not the faces no not the names of one another have neither seen nor shall see one another till they meet together in Heaven yet they unite their votes and center their suffrages in the same thing that God would restore peace and order both in Church and State and to every particular member therein that we may yet live to have comfort one of another who no doubt shall have a comfortable return of their prayers in Gods due time The powerful effects of Rhetorical Elocution THe breath of a man hath more force in a Trunk and the wind a louder and sweeter sound in the Organ-pipe then in the open air So the matter of our speech and theam of our discourse which is conveyed through figures and forms of Art both sound sweeter to the ear and pierce deeper into the heart there is in them plus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 more evidence and more efficacy they make a fuller expression and deeper impression then any plain rough-hewen long-cart-rope speeches or language whatsoever can do A Caveat for unworthy Communicants MR. Greenham in one of his Sermons speaking of Non-residents wisheth that this Inscription or Motto might be written on their study-doors without and walls within on all their books they look in beds they lie on tables they sit at c. The price of blood The price of blood The like were to be wished for to all that have been bad Communicants that in great letters it were written on their shop doors without walls within on all their doors on their day-books and debt-books and whatsoever objects are before their eyes The guilt of blood the guilt of blood even the guilt of the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ who dyed for them Every good Minister to speak a word in season opportunely EVery Husbandman as he hath so he observeth the seasons to sow his seed and his ground to cast his corn into some he soweth in the Autumn fall of the leaf some in the Spring and renewing of the year some in a dry season some in a wet some in a moist clay some in a sandy dry ground as the Holy Ghost speaketh He soweth the Fitches and the Cummin and casteth in Wheat by measure Esay 28. 25. Thus the spiritual Husbandman dealeth with the husbandry of his God he hath his seed for all seasons and for all grounds and all hearts some for the time of judgement some for the time of mercy some for the season of mirth and mourning as wet and dry seasons some for the birth and burial as for the Spring and Fall some for them who sorrow in Sion and some for them that rejoyce in Jerusalem Esay 6. 2. Pardon of sins the onely comfort A Traitor that is condemned to death may have the liberty of the Tower to walk in and provisions of meat and drink appointed at the States charges yet he takes little comfort in either because his Treason is not pardoned and he expects daily to be drawn to execution Thus a man that hath the advantage of all these outward things if he want assurance of the pardon of his sins and of Gods love in Christ Jesus to his soul they will be but as miserable comforters to him and he cannot take any true delight in them The difference betwixt Sermons preached and Sermons printed SErmons preached are for the most part as showres of rain that water for the instant such as may tickle the ear and warm the affections and put the soul into a posture of obedience hence it is that men are oft-times Sermon-sick as some are Sea-sick very ill much troubled for the present but by and by all is well again as they were But printed sermons or other discourses are as snow that lies longer on the Earth
cause quoth he wherefore your fellow was condemned to death and therefore you must dye and to the third You Centurion because you have not learned to obey the voice of your General shall dye also for company Excogitaverat quomodo tria crimina faceret c. He devised how he might make three faults because he found not one But the just Iudge of all the world needs not do so with us no beating of his brains to invent an accusation against us he needs not draw three faults into one or find one where there is none there 's matter enough within us to condemn us our thoughts our words our deeds do yield him cause enough to pronounce the sentence of death upon us The giving up of our selves an acceptable Sacrifice to God IT is reported of Aeschines when he saw his fellow Scholars give great gifts to his Master Socrates he being poor and having nothing else to bestow did give himself to Socrates as confessing to be his in heart and good will and wholly at his devotion And the Philosopher took this most kindly esteeming it above all other presents and returned him love accordingly Even so the gratious disposition of our heavenly Father taketh in far better part then any man can take it the laying down of our souls the submitting of our selves unto his direction the melâ—ing of our wills down into his Will The Widows two mites were welcome into his Treasury because her heart was full though her purse were empty He accounteth that the best sacrifice which is of the heart External things do well but Internal things do far better Heaven worth contending for IF a man were assured that there were made for him a great purchase in Spain Turkey or some other parts more remote would be not adventure the dangers of the Seas and of his Enemies also if need were that he might come to the enjoyment of his own Well behold Iesus Christ hath made a purchase for us in Heaven and there is nothing required on our parts but that we will come and enjoy it Why then should we refuse any pains or fear any thing in the way nay we must strive to get in It may be that we shall be pinched in the entrance for the gate is strait and low not like the Gates of Princes lofty roof'd and arched so that we must be fain to leave our wealth behind us and the pleasures of this life behind us yet enter we must though we leave our skins nay our very lives behind us for the purchase that is made is worth ten thousand Worlds not all the silks of Persia â—ot all the spices of Egypt not all the gold of Ophir not all the Treasures of bot\â—h Indies are to be compared to it Who therefore would not contend for such a bargain though he sold all to have it Adoption of God's children known by their Sanctification FIre is known to be no painted or imaginary fire by two notes by heat and by the flame Now if the case so fall out that the fire want a slame it is stil known by the heat In like manner there be two witnesses of our adoption or sanctification Gods spirit and our spirit Now if it so fall out that a man feel not the Principal which is the spirit of adoption he must then have recourse to the second VVitness and search out in himself the signs and tokens of the sanctification of his own spirit by which he may certainly assure himself of his adoption as fire may be known to be fire by the heat though it want a flame The danger of Worldly mindedness IT is seen by experience that a man swiming in a River as long as he is able to hold up his head and keep it above water he is in no danger but safely swimeth and cometh to the shore with good contentment but if once his head for want of strength begin to dive then shaketh he the hearts of all that do behold him and himself may know that he is not far from death So is it in this wretched world and swimers of all sorts if the Lord give us strength to keep up our heads i. e. to love God and Religion above the world and before it and all the pleasures of it there is then no danger but after a time of swiming in it up and down we shall arrive in a firm place with happiness and safety but if once we dive and the head go under water if once the world get the victory and our hearts are set upon it and go under it in a sinful love and liking of it O then take heed of drowning Gods delight in a relapsed Sinners repentance AS a Husbandman delights much in that ground that after long barrenness becomes fruitful As a Captain loves that Souldier that once fled away cowardly and afterwards returns valiantly Even so God is wonderfully enamoured with a sinner that having once made shipwrack of a good Conscience yet at last returns and swims to Heaven upon the plank of Faith and Repentance Vnworthy Communicants condemned CHildren when they first put on new shooes are very curious to keep them clean scarce will they set their foot on the ground for fear to dirty the soles of their shooes yea rather they will wipe them clean with their Coats and yet perchance the next day they will trample with the same shooes up to the ancles Alas childrens play is our earnest On that day we receive the Sacrament we are often over-precise scrupling to say or do those things which lawfully we may But we who are more then curious that day are not so much as careful the next day and too often what shall I say go on in sin up to the ancles yea our sins go over our heads Psal. 28. 5. A sense of the want of Grace a true sign of Grace IT is the first step unto Grace for a man to see no Grace and it is the first degree of Grace for a man to desire Grace as no man can sincerely seek God in vain so no man can sincerely desire grace in vain A man may love gold yet not have it but no man loveth God but is sure to have him Wealth a man may desire yet be never the neerer for it but grace no man ever sincerely desired and missed it and why It is God that hath wrought this desire in the heart and he will never frustrate the desire that himself there hath wrought Let no man say I have no Faith no Repentance no Love no fear of God no sanctifying no saving grace in me Doth he see a want of these things in himself yes that is it which so grieves him that he cannot love God stand in awe of him trust in his mercy repent of sin as he should yea but doth he seriously and unfeignedly desire to do thus yes he desires it above all
by the best Translators Chamois by some others Camelo-pard a kind of Camell that hath an Horses neck an Oxes foot a Camells head and is spotted like a Panther or a Leopard Just such are all hypocriticall wretches they have many shapes wherein to act the part of their deep dissimulation If you look upon their devotion they appear to be Saints in their dealings you shall find them Devills Oracles in their discourse Goats in the bed snares at the board heavy censurers of others for sleight faults boasters of their own goodnesse the beating of whose pulse in matters of piety is unequal In publick actions hard strong and quick in private matters weak soft and dull shrinking in persecution for painted faces cannot endure to come nigh the fire Scripture-knowledge and Scripture-practice to go together ERasmus in a Dialogue makes mention of a swaggering Ruffian that would be thought a good Christian whom he calls Cyclops Evangeliophorus and saies of him that he had hanging at his girdle on one side a new Testament fairly gilt and bossed on the other side a bottle of rich Sack To convince him he is asked What if he were tyed to carry that bottle alwaies at his girdle and never to taste of it or to taste it onely and never to drink it down were not this a punishment as reall as that of Tantalus was poetical But what if he did as his manner was drink soundly of it would it not then warm his heart quicken his spirits and chear his countenance Yes But much more would that Book do so if he would but spiritually feed thereon concoct digest and turn it into nutriment in his life and conversation Otherwise it was but a poor use and benefit that he made of his Bible when one day in a rage he broke a fellowes head with it that inveighed against the Gospell Thus alas to carry a Bible in our hands and not to have a lesson of it in our hearts not to be mindfull of the doctrin in our practise were but to be like that Asse that carries rich burthens and feeds upon thistles In effect a man knowes no more than he does Two things are the Esse of a Christian Profession and Practise of the truth The best argument of our conversion is our good conversation The Apostles did not onely preach heavenly Sermons but did gracious deeds and thereupon a whole Book was written of them called The Acts of the Apostles Eloquence if not affected an excellent gift of God IT was certainly a great fault it Spyridon Bishop of Cyprus though otherwise a very godly man that when Triphilliâ—s his brother Biâ—hop more eloquent haply then himself was preaching on that Text of the Paralytick Take up thy bed and walk Mar. 2. 4. where in stead of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he read 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the words being synonymous not brooking that he should vary the least tittle of the Text though for another of the self-same signification said unto him What art thou better than Christ himself that used the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And thereupon rose up off his seat and departed in great discontent This was somewhat too much for certainly there is some latitude some Christian liberty left wherein to expatiate Eloquence without all doubt is a singular gift of God if not affected idolized abused and becomes no man better then a Divine whose part it is by the tongue of the Learned to time a word and to set it upon its circumferences to declare unto a man his Righteousnesse when not one of a thousand can do it like him to seek to find out acceptable words such as have goads and nails in them being neither lecta nor neglecta too curious nor too carelesse because that Gods holy things must be handled sanctè magis quam scitâ— with fear and reverence rather then with wit and dalliance Profession without Practice signifieth nothing WHen we see an Image stand still without motion be it the effigies or portraiture of any Emperour or King or if possible to be contracted within the bounds of humane limits the picture of some Common-wealth exquisitly graven in mettall or painted out in lively colours we know that for all the eyes and mouth and nose that it hath it hath no life in it So when we see professors of religion without the powerfull practice of godlinesse and supream Officers of State without the administration of Iustice we know and can safely conclude that the life of God is not in them that they are not acted by any divine principle within but are meer Idolls and Images of vanity The heart of a true Christian restlesse without Christ. THe Sea works the Heavens move the Fire is active onely the Earth stands still Thus the heart of man is alwaies in motion and never rests sleeping or waking it fancieth more in a moment then all the men in the world are able to compasse in many years Lust enticeth it vanity possesseth it curiosity leads it away anger disquiets it concupiscence polluteth it pleasure seduceth it envy torments it sorrow and sadnesse vex and molest it Atque hisunt manes quos patitur for having set it self upon the right object Christ Iesus it is despersed and scattered through many things seeks for rest and finds none till it return back unto him that is the true rest indeed A bâ—sie-body described THe Squirrell as Naturalists say is a witty nimble creature and some write of her that because she cannot swim well when she would crosse a brook she gets a piece of the bark of a Tree puts it into the water and her self into it as in a bâ—at and then holds up her bushy tail instead of a sail that so the wind may drive her over A busie active creature it is And thus the pragmaticall bâ—sie-body hath an â—ar in every mans boâ—t an eye on every mans window is here and there and every where but where he should be is still busie but never hath any thanks for his labour God rewarding the least of faithfull service done unto him NEbuchâ—dnâ—â—â—â—r the tyrant going upon Gods erâ—and shall have Egypt as his pay for his pains at Tyre and Simon of Cyrene for that involuntary service he did our Saviour in carrying his Crosse shall not onely himself but his two sons also Rufus and Alexander have a nail and a name in Gods house better then that of sons and of daughters How much more then will God gratifie graciously accept and liberally reward the small offerings of his wâ—ak â—ervants when he sees them to proceed from great love He takes goats hair from some hands as well as Iewells and two â—â—tes from a mean body in as good part as two millions from those that are more able to note that a ready heart â—ets an high price with him upon a low present Doth Iob
to be as tickle as Eli's stool from which he may easily break his neck that he must drink wormwood in a cup of gold and lie in a bed of Ivory upon a pillow of thorns so that he may well say of his glory as one said of his roab O nobilem magis quam felicem pannum or as Pope Urban said of his Rochet That he wondered it should be so heavy being made of such light stuff Prayer turning Earth into Heaven IT is said of Archimedes that famous Mathematician of Syracuse who having by his Art framed a curious Instrument that if he could but have told how to fix it it would have raised the very foundations of the whole Earth Such an Instrument is Prayer which if it be set upon God and fixed in Heaven it will fetch Earth up to Heaven change earthly thoughts into heavenly conceptions turn flesh into spirit metamorphose nature into grace and earth into heaven To passe by the offences of our Brethren DAvid was deaf to the railings of his enemies and as a dumb man in whose mouth were no reproofs Socrates when he was abused in a Comedy laughed at it when Polyargus not able to bear such an indignity went and hanged himself Augustus sleighted the Satyrs and bitter invectives which the Pasquills of that time invented against him and when the Senate would have further informed him of them he would not hear them Thus the manlier any man is the milder and readier he is to passe by an offence as not knowing of it or not troubled at it an argument that there is much of God in him if he do it from a right principle who bears with our infirmities and forgives our trespasses beseeching us to be reconciled When any provoke us we use to say We will be eeven with him but there is a way whereby we may not onely be even but above him and that is forgive him We must see and not see wink at small faults especially Qui nescit dissimulare nescit vivere may with some grains of allowance passe current He that cannot dissemble is not fit to live Kingdomes and Common-wealths their successions from God THe Romans closing in with that permanent errour of Mankind to mistake the Instruments and secundary Agents in Gods purposes for the main Efficient were wont variously to distinguish the derivation of their Empire as by force so Iulius Caesar was invested by the Senates election so Tiberius by the Souldiers so Severus and by Inheritance so Octavius Augustus But most true it is that to what means soever they imputed their Emperours were it Birth or Election Conquest or Usurpation 't is God who gives the Title to Kingdoms and Commonweales by the first and it is he also that directs and permits it by the last The whole Heart to be given to God SOme great King or Potentate having a mind to visit his Imperiall City the Harbinger is ordered to go before and mark out a house suitable to his Retinue and finding one the Master of that house desireth to have but some small chamber wherein to lodge his wife and children It is denyed Then he intreats the benefit of some by-place to set up a Trunk or two full of richer goods then ordinary No saies the Harbinger it cannot be for if your house were as big again as it is it would be little enough to entertain the King and all his royall train Now so it is that every mans body is a Temple of God and his heart the sanctum sanctorum of that Temple His Ministers are sent out into the world to inform us that Christ is comming to lodge there and that we must clear the rooms that this great King of glory may enter in O saies the Old man carnall yet but in part renewed give me leave to love my wife and children No it cannot be having wife and children he must be as having none Then he desires to enjoy the pleasures of the world That 's denyed too he must use this world as if he used it not not that the use of these things is prohibited not that the comfortable enjoyment of our dearest relations is any way to be infringed but the extraordinary affection to them when they come into competition with the love that we owe unto God For he will have the whole heart the whole minde the whole soul and all little enough to entertain him and the graces of his holy Spirit which are attendant on him Nec mihi nec tibi sed dividatur was the voice of a strange woman and such is that of this present world But God will take nothing to halfs he will have the whole heart or nothing The good Christians comfort in time of the Churches trouble MArtin Luther perceiving the cause of the Church to go backward puts pen to paper and writes to the Elector of Saxony where amongst other expressions this was one Sciat Celsitudo tua mhil dubitet c. Let your Highnesse be sure that the Church's businesse is far otherwise ordered in Heaven than it is by the Emperour and States at Norimberg And Gaudeo quod Christus Dominus est c. I am glad that Christ is King for otherwise I had been utterly out of heart and hope saith holy Myconius in a letter to Calvin upon the view of the Church's enemies Thus it staggers many a good Christian at this day to see Sion in the dust the Church under foot the hedge of government and discipline broken down all the wild beasts of Heresie and Schism crept in such as labour to root out true Religion to dethrone Christ and to set up the idle fancies and enthusiasticall conceits of their own phanatick brains some crying out against the Church with those Edomites Down with it down with it even to the very ground others casting dirt upon her harmlâ—sse ceremonies But let the Churches friends rest assured that God sees and smiles and looks and laughs at them all that the great counsell of the Lord shall stand when all 's done that Christ shall reigne in the midst of his enemies and that the stone cut out of the mountains without hands shall bring down the golden Image with a vengeance and make it like the chaff of the summer floor Dan. 2. 35. The sad condition of People under Tyrannicall Government IT was a just complaint of Draco's Lawes in Lacedemonia that their execution was as sanguin as their character for they were written in bloody letters And the Romans lamented the cruelty of those Tribunalls where the cheap proscription of lives made the Iudgement-seat little differ from a Shambles A Man made Offender for a word Poor Men sold for shooes Or as the Turks at this day sell heads so many for an Asper Such is the condition of People under Tyrannicall government under
at first spread his glorious banner Act. 11. 26. that they might freely meet there and publiquely joyn together in the service of their God The motion he could not but know must be exceedingly unwelcome to the Emperor because he was an Arrian and so it proved For the Emperor tore his Petition and bade him ask something else but Terentius gathered up the torn pieces of the paper and said Hoc tantum desidero c. This I ask as a reward of my service and I will ask nothing else Here was a â—ree spâ—rited Man a true Christian Souldier that sum'd up all his service for the publique in an humble Petition for the Churche's good Dic mihi Musa virum Sâ—ow me such another Do men improve their Interest in great ones and make such use of opportunities as may conduce to the good of Gods cause and Religion They do not It is too too apparent that Men are too much byassed too much 〈◊〉 ended seeking quae sua non quae Christi their own things not the things of Iesus Christ preferring their own private gain and Worldly profit before the advancement of Gods true Religion Gods Omnipresence the consideration of it to be a restraint from Sin IT is the perswasion of Seneca to his Friend Lucilius for the better keeping of himself within compasse of his duty to imagine that some great Man some strict quick-sighted clear-brain'd Man such as Cato or Laelius did still look upon him And being come to more perfection would have him to fear no Mans presence more then his own nor any Mans testimony above that of his own Conscience and addes this Reason because he might flee from another but not from himself and escape another's censure but not the censure of his own Conscience Thus did but Men set God before their eyes and alwaies remember that his eyes are upon them it would be a notable bridle to pull them back and to hold them up when they are ready to fall into any Sin it would make them to watch over themselves that they did not do any wickednesse in his sight who is greater then their Consciences and so upright in his Iudgments that though Conscience may be silenced for a time and give no evidence or be a false Witnesse to the truth yet it is impossible to escape his sentence either by flight or any appeal whatsoever The holy Scriptures to be valewed above all other Writings JOsephus in his book of the Antiquities of the Iews maketh mention of one Cumà nus a Governor of Iudea that though he were but an Heathen and a Wicked Man yet he caused a Souldier to be beheaded for tearing a Copy of the Book of Moses Law which he found at the sacking of a Town And venerable in all Ages and amongst all Nations have been the books that contained the Laws either of their Belict or Politie as the Jews their Talmud the Romans the Laws of the twelve Tables the Turks their Alcoran and all Pagans the Laws of their Legislators And shall not Christians have then an high esteem of the holy Scriptures and deem them as the good old Christians did to be the Miroir of divine Grace and Mans misery the Touchstone of Truth the Shop of remedies against all evill the Hammer of Hereticks the Treasury of Virtue the Displayer of Vanities the Ballance of Equity and the most perfect Rule of all Truth and honesty Men to be forward in frequenting the Ordinances of God IT is a note of Mr. Calvin's upon that Text Seek ye my face Psal. 27. 8. That Superstitious People will go on Pilgrimage to the Image of such a Lady or such a Saint or to visite the Monument of the Sepulcher at Ierusalem and they will go over Mountains and through strange Countries and though they be used â—ardly and lose much of their estates sometimes in perils of false brethren other times in the hands of Arabian Robbers they satisfie themselves in this I have that I came for Alas What came they for the sight of a dumb Idol a meer nothing If they then will endure such hardship for the sight of a meer empty shadow How much pains should we take to see God in his Ordinances What though the way to Sion lie through the valley of Bacha Surely when God moves the hearts of Men to joyn with his People a little difficulty cannot hinder them they will be content to go through the valley of tears so as they may appear before God in Sion they will go through thick and thin rather then not go to Church at all And thus as it is prophesied of the Church of God that she should be called Sought out i. e. sought unto or sought after Esay 62. 12. It is heartily to be wished that it might be so a place had in high estimation and regard which out of respect and devotion Men would repair and resort unto encouraging others also so to do saying Come let us go up to the Mountain of the Lord that our hearts may be refreshed with the consolations of our God in the way of his Ordinances Experimental Knowledge the onely Knowledg IT is well known that the great Doctors of the World by much reading and speculation attain unto a great height of Knowledge but seldom to sound Wisdome which hath given way to that common Proverb The greatest Clerks are not alwaies the wisest Men It is not studying of the Politiques that will make a Man a wise Counsellor of Estate till his Knowledge is joyned with experience which â—eacheth where the Rules of State hold and where they fail It is not book-knowledge that will make a good General a skilfull Pilot no not so much as a cunning Artizan till that knowledge is perfected by practice and experience And so surely though a Man abound never so much in literal knowledge it will be far from making him a good Christian unlesse he bring precepts into practice and by feeling experience apply that he knowes to his own use and spirituall advantage The Church of the Gospel it 's amplitude above that under the Law THe Samaritans Inne was called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because it gave entertainment to all strangers Luk. 10. 34. In S. Peter's sheet were all sorts of Creatures four-footed Beasts and creeping things Act. 10. 11. The Net mentioned in S. Matthews Gospel caught all kind of Fish Chap. 13. 47. Ahashueru's Feast welcom'd all comers Esth. 1. 4. Such is the Church of the Gospel in its amplitude The Prophetical Gospel was hedg'd in and limited within the pale of Palestine but the Apostolical Gospel is spread over the face of the whole Earth Then it was lux modii a light under a bushell now lux mundi the light of the World Then the Prophets sang In Iudaea natus est Deus In Iury is God known his Name is great in Isâ—ael but now
God are conditional made up with Provisoes As there is a reward promised so there is a Condition premised It must be our Obedience first and then comes in Gods recompence Our devotion goes before and his Retribution followes after To be careful of Vowes and Promises made in the time of Extremity THeodoricus Archbishop of Colen when the Eâ—perour Sigismund demanded of him the directest and most compendious way how to attain to true happinesse made answer in brief thus Perform when thou art well what thou promisedst when thou wast sick David did so he made Vows in Warr and paid them in Peace And thus should all good Men do not like the cunning Devill of whom the Epigrammatist thus writeth Aegrotat Daemon Monachus tunc esse Volebat Convalâ—it Daemon Monachus tunc esse nolebat Well Englished The Devill was sick the Devill a Monk would be The Devill was well the Devill a Monk was he Nor like unto many now adayes that if Gods hand do but lie somewhat heavy upon them O what Promises what engagements are there for amendment of life How like unto Marble against rain do they seem to sweat and melt but still retain their hardnesse let but the Rod be taken off their backs or health restored then as their bodies live their Vows die all is forgotten Nay many times it so falleth out that they are far worse then ever they were before The good Christian's absolute Victory over Death WHen the Romans had made Warre upon the Carthagenians and often overcaâ—â— them yet still within eight of ten years or lesse they made head again and stirred up new Warrs so thaâ— they were in successive combustion And it hath been the same in all the Nations of the World he that was erst an underling not long afâ—er becomes the Commander in chief and the same thing that the Lord hath now made the â—ayl may be the head in time to come As for Example Cerealis gets a great Conquest over the Cymbrians and the Tutons and shortly after Sylla had the like over him And Sylla no sooner shines out to the World but is eclipsed by Pompey And Pompey the glory of his time is by the conquering hand of Caesar outed both of life and honours And Caesar in the height of all his pompous state falls by the hands of bloody Conspirators in the Senate-house Thus in the course of this World As one Man is set up another is pull'd down the Conquerour is oft-times conquered himself but in the Victory that every good Man hath over Death it is so absolute that it is without any hope or comfort on Death's part and without any fear or suffering on their part For it is so taken away as if it had never been and that which had the greatest triumph the mightiest Trophies in the World unto which all Kings and Princes have bowed their heads and laid down their Scepters as so many morselsâ—o â—o â—eed on shall by the hand of Iesus Christ be turned into nothing shall have no Name or nation and be berâ—ft of all hope of recovery 1. Cor. 15. To be alwaies prepared for Death WHen Harold King of Denmark made Warr upon Harquinus and was ready to joyn battel a dart was seen flying into the ayr hovering this way and that way as though it sought upon whom to rest when all stood wondring to know what would become of this strange Prodigy every Man fearing himself at last the dart fell upon Harquinus his head and slew him Thus Death shoots his arrowes amongst us here he hits one that is Rich there another that is poor Now he shoots over at one that is elder then our selves Anon he shoots short at one that is younger Here he hits one on the right hand our equal another on the left inferior And none of us know how soon the Arrow may â—all upon our own heads our turn will come let it be our care then we be not surprised on a sodain Religion pretended Mischief intended CElsus the Philosopheâ— upon his defence of Paganism setteth an Inscription oâ— the Word of Truth Manicheus that blasphemous Heretick taking in hand to write to the Church his damnable Paradoxes doubteth not to begin thus Manicheus Apostolus Iesu Christi c. Manicheus the Apostle of Jesus Christ The 〈◊〉 Hâ—reticks were alwayes saying Nos rectaâ—fide iâ—cedimus We waâ—k in 〈◊〉 right Faith All of them seeking the cloak and coverture of Religion It is the old Proveâ—â— In nomine Domini incipit omne malum well Englished In my name have they prophesied lies Ier. 23. Thus it was with them and is it not the â—ame â—ay worse considering the abundance of means afforded to be better with us now and but some few years ago Parsons that Arch-traytor when he was hatching misâ—hief against his Prince and Native Country set forth as if he had been wholly made up of devotion that excellent piece of Christian Resolution And now For Sioâ—s sake I will not hold my tongue sayes one c. So sayes another and so a third Sion at the tip of the tongue but Babel at the bottom of the Heart Religion preteâ—ded Mischief intended like Sons of Simon rather then children of Sion writing Pâ—â—rmaca medicines where they should write venena poysons And by this means they do sugar the brims of their intoxicated cups that Men the more grâ—edily and without suspition may suck in their venomous doctrines that are administred unto thâ—m therein Why God suffers his Children to be in a wanting condition SEverus the Emperour was wont to say of his Souldiers That the poorest were the best For when they begun to grow rich then they began to grow naught Hence is that of the Poet Martem quisquis amat C. If you will bring up a boy or young Man to be a Souldier learn him first to endure poverty to â—â—e hard and fare hard and to encounter all the hardship that Necessity can present unto him and then hee 'l deal the better with his Enemies So in the School of Christ the Lord suffers his People to be in a wanting condition not because he doth not intend to supply them not because he cannot provide for them but the reason is to bring them up in the discipline of Warre to train them up as weaned Children lest they should be taken off with the things of this World and as it were drowned in the vanities of this life and so forget God and their own Soul's health which is most of all to be regarded All Men alike in Death LUcian hath a Fable the Moral is good Menippus meeting with Mercury in the Elizian-fields would needs know of him which amongst all thâ— ghosts was Philip the great King of Macedon Mercury answers He is Philip that hath the hairlesseâ—scalp Menippus replyes Why they have all bald heads Merc. Then he with the flat
her patience her bottle and her hope were both out together O what must she do What Why there was upon the very place and that near at hand comfort enough a Well of water to refresh her had she but had her eyes open to have seen it Gen. 21. 19. Thus it is that in the midst of Aâ—â—lictions and distresse Men whine and repine as if they were quite lost they eye tâ—e empty bottle the crosse that is at present upon them but for want of spirituall sight they see not the Fountain of living waters Christ Iesus with the open arms of his Mercy ready to relieve them they as it were groan under the heavy burthen of oppression but for want of coming to Christ and believing on him they misse of that speedy refreshing which otherwise they might happily enjoy The supernatural workings of the Spirit PHilosophers observe that the ebbing and flowing of the Sea is by virtue of the Moon she flings her fainting beams into the Sea and being not able to exhale them as the Sun doth she leaves them there and goes away and that drawes them and when they grow wet they return again so that the Sea ebbs and flowes not from any principle in its self but by virtue of the Moon Thus the heart of every poor Creature is like the Water unable to move towards Heaven to think a good thought much lesse 〈◊〉 act any thing that is good till the holy Spirit of Grace bring in its beams and leave a supernaturall virtue by them upon the Soul and thereby drawes it up to it self Afflictions Not to be altogether taken up with the sense of them IT is very observable of Iacob That when his Wife dyed in Childbirth she called the child Benoni that is a son of sorrowes But Iacob in all probability thought thus with himself If I should call this Child Benoni every time that I name him it would put me in mind of the death of my dear Wife which will be a continual affliction to me and therefore I will nor have my child of that name but will from henceforth call him Benjamin that is the son of my right hand And this of Iacob may serve to shew us thus much That when Afflictions befall us we should not give way to have our thoughts continually upon them alwayes poring on them ever thinking and speaking of them but rather to have our thoughts on those things that may comfort us or that may stirre up our thankfulnesse to God for mercies even in the very midst of our Afflictions afforded unto us To suffer any thing for the Cause of Christ. IT is said of Hormisda a Nobleman of great eminency in the King of Persia his Court that because he would nor deny Christ he was degraded of all his honours stript out of his Lordly habit cloathed with sordid rags and so turn'a out to keep the Camels After a long time the King seeing him in that base slavish condition and remembring his former estate took pity on him caused him to be brought into his Pallace suited him like himself in rich attire and then perswadeth him to deny Christ at which he rent his silken cloaths and said If for these silly things you think to have me to deny my Faith in Christ take them again I le none of them And so with great scorn and reproach he was the second time cast out Thus it is that all of us should be ready to suffer any thing for the cause of Christ be contented to be made a by-word and laughing-stock for Christ and to bear with willing shoulders the most disgraceful things that can by the malice of Men and Devils be put upon us for Christ nay to bear up our spirits though all the World should frown upon us cast us off scorn us and accompt us as a disgrace unto them The sins of our Religious duties corrected by Christ and then presented to God the Father AS a Child that is willing to present his Father with something or other that might please him as a Poesie or Nosegay goes into the Garden and there for want of judgment gathers sweet smelling Flowers and noysome stinking weeds together but coming to his Mother she picks out the weeds and thus it is that whether we pray unto God or hear God speak unto us in his Word or are otherwise employed in the performance of any Religious action Christ comes and picks out the weeds takes away the iniquity of our holy things observes what evil or failing there is in duty and draws it out and so presents nothing but flowers nothing but what is pleasing and acceptable to God his Father The comfortable sight of Christ Iesus crucified to the poor Repentant Sinner IMagine that you saw some Malefactor led along to the place of Execution wailing and weeping for his mis-spent time for his bloudy acts for his heynous crimes and that his wailings and his weepings were so bitter that they were able to force tears from others and to make all eyes shoot and water that did but look upon him but then if this Man in this case should sodainly see his King running and riding towards him with a pardon in his hand What a sight would this be Surely none like it Thus thus it is with Man sorrowing and repenting for Sin Whilest he is weeping over the sadnesse of his condition and confessing what a little step there is betwixt him and damnation as if he were even dropping into Hell in a maze he looks up unto Christ whom he sees with a Spear in his side with thorns in his head with nayles in his feet and a pardon in his hands this were a sight indeed a most pleasant ravishing Heavenly sight such as all the rich and curious sights on Earth not all those glittering spangles in Heaven could afford the like Heart-Communication the want therof deplorable IT was the ingenuous confession of a learned Divine sensible of his neglect but more especially of the difficulty of the duty of Heart-communication I have lived said he Forty years and somewhat more and carried my Heart in my bosome all this while and yet my Heart and I are great strangers and as utterly unacquainted as if we had never come near one another Nay I know not my own Heart I have forgotten my Heart Ah my bowels my bowells that I could be grieved at the very Heart that my poor Heart and I have been so unacquainted Thus he then in a pious and conscientious manner expressing himself but mutato nomine it is the condition of most Men now in this Athenian age of ours such as spend their time in nothing more then in telling and hearing news How are things here how there how in this place how in that None almost enquiring how things are with their poor hearts few or none debating the matter nor holding
to use her endeavours to gather and to glean it and bear it out too when shee had gleaned it Thus God gives grace and the knowledg of his Truth as Boaz gave Ruth corn not but that he can if it so please him give knowledg by immediate Revelation and Grace by immediate infusion yet he will have us to use the means of hearing reading conference c. and so leave the issue of all our labours and endeavours to his good Will and pleasure The great benefit of Hearing and practising Gods Word AS we see in the siege of some strong hold when Men have been long coop'd up and have not had meat to eat they have come out like so many dead carcases as it were so many Sceletons so weak so poor with such gastly looks as it were enough to scare any Man with the sight of them But now eating mends all this upon eating follows strength to walk and strength to work upon eating follows fatnesse and goodnesse of Complexion And thus it is upon eating of the Word when Men with râ—adinesse and forwardnesse receive the Word of God and practise what they hear then it is that they have strength in their Souls to walk in the wayes of God then it is that they grow up as Calves of the stall full of good fat and flourishing and then it is that they have fair and good complexions their Wisedome and other Graces cause their faces to shine in the fair and lovely carriage of their lives and conversations Meditation the difficulty in the first entrance thereupon AS in the heating of an Oven the Fewel is set on fire yet not without some pains to blow it up into a flame but afterwards when the Oven begins to be somewhat hot the Fewel will catch and kindle of it self and no sooner is it thrown in but it is all in a blaze on a sodain Such is the difficuâ—â—â— of Meditation at the first When there is but as it were a little spark of Love in the heart it will cost a Man some pains to blow it up into a Flame but afterwards when the heart is once heated with those flames of Love then it will enflame all the thoughts and set the affections on fire In so much that the duty of Meditation will not be onely easie and delightfull but so necessary that a Man cannot tell how to avoid it Sathan's subtilty to ensnare THere is a story of an excellent Painter that to shew the rarily of his Art drew a white line so small that it could hardly be discerned Whereupon another that was looked on as a very able Artist to shew that he could excel him drew a black line through the middle of it so exactly that it required an exquisite sight to discern either Thus it is that the Devill slily insinuateth into and craftily worketh upon the hearts of the sons of Men the thread of his Policy being so finely spun the train of his subtilty so privily laid and the black line of his Temptations made so small that it is almost impossible to discover the secret destruction that runs through the plausibility thereof Purity of Heart no comfortable sight of god without it AS the eye that hath dust in it without or thick vapours stopping the nerves within cannot see except it be cleansed from the one and purged from the other And as the Glasse on which there is a thick mist does not represent ones face clearly before it be wiped off So neither can we see God in his Creatures in his Word in his Sacraments or in those secret inward and sweet manifestations of comfort and joy whereby he often reveals himself even in this life to them that love him so long as there is any impurity cleaves to us The pure in Heart are the onely ones that shall see God Matth. 5. 8. It is not Learning nor a clear understanding not Religious education not any one of these not all of these together but holinesse and purity of Heart that fits a Man for such a blessed Sight at God is Active Christian the best Christian. PLutarch speaks of two Men that were hired at Athens for some publique work whereof the one was full of tongue but slow at hand and the other blanck in speech yet an excellent Workman Being called upon by the Magistrates to expresse themselves and to declare at large how they would procâ—ed When the first had made a large speech and described it from point to point the other seconded him in few words saying 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ye Men oâ— Athens What this Man hath said in words that will I Make 〈◊〉 in true performance And as he was adjudged the better Artisan so is the Man of action the better Christian It is not the Man of words but the Man of deeds not the learie but the fruitfull not the discoursing but the doing Christian that shall be blessed here in this world and happy in that which is to come The good Christians Hope at the death of a Child of God AS Papinius Statius reports of the old Arcadians That mourning all night for the setting of the Sun they were comforted notwithstanding at the break of day when they saw him in his sphere again And as the People enraged at the death 〈◊〉 â—omulus were quieted by and by with Proculus his newes that he saw him in glory riding up to Heaven So it is that such as are without Hope are extreamly troubled at the death of their intimate Friend and acquaintance as if he were lost and they should never see him again but the good Christian remaines full of Hope at the death of any Child of God well knowing that Mors janua vitae he had no way but by this Mortality to cloath himself with Immortality and that as he is gone before into glory they shall both meet in Heaven with comfort Blessing of God attendant on People listning to the doctrine of their own Minister PHysitians say That the Mothers milk though not so weighty as anothers if no noxious humour be tasted in it is more proper for the Child then any strangers can be because it is more natural And certainly it would not be an error if a Man should say as much of the milk which the Minister gives to his own Flock and that a People conscientiously lying at the breasts of their own Minister if the milk he gives be wholesome the doctrine preached be sound and Orthodox may expect the blessing of God for their nourishment though it hath not so much lushiousnesse to please the curious raster so much of Rhetorick to tickle the itching car as some others have State of Nature an absolute state of impotency IF a Ship that is lanch'd rigg'd and with her sayls spread cannot stirre till the wind comes fair and fills them much lesse
Sayest thou so replyed the King then thou art he that art worthy to govern the whole Covent Thus it is that every good Man is contented to be in his station to sit below till he hear the Governours voyce calling unto him Friend sit up higher to walk before God in the light of his own candle to keep in the warrantable circuit of his Vocation and if he see dangerous honours pursue him he flyes for it and with David wishes that he had the wings of a Dove that he might flye away and be at rest But what a sad thing must it needs be then to see Ministers Men in holy orders greedy after and trucking for Church-preferment ravelling out their lives in progging after great Friends and Fortunes as if Godlinesse were a Bustrophe a course of going backward and forward to the right and left hand for advantage sake God onely able to perswade the Heart fully A Smith that undertakes to make a Key to open such a lock that is out of order must of necessity first know all the wards else he may make a key that will not fit he may endeavour but not be able to turn the lock Thus it is that whereas there are in the heart of Man so many windings so many turnings such a Labyrinth such a depth in it that in the eye of humane reason there 's no possibility to find out the bottom thereof How then is it to be imagined that the most knowing quick-sighted Man should be able fully to persâ—ade the Heart He cannot that 's peculiar to God onely He is that great 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that onely knowes all the inwards all the secret passages all the cunning contrivances and all the crosse-wards of the Heart to him onely belongeth that especiall key of David It is he that can best unlock the Heart answer all objections enlighten all the corners turn all the wheels of the Soul suit and fit the Heart with such arguments as shall be effectual to Perswasion Ingratitude condemned PHilip of Macedon hearing of one in his Kingdom that refused most unthankfully to receive a stranger of whom he had been formerly succoured in a time of extream need as having lost all he had by a wrack at Sea caused him to be worthily punished by branding in his Forehead these two letters J. H. i. e. Ingratus Hospes The unthankful guest Now if every unthankful Man were thus used there would be many a blistered Fore-head amongst us O the unthankfulnesse that we shew unto God who when we were strangers to him ship-wrackt even in an Ocean of Sin sent his Son Christ Iesus to deliver us yet we refuse to receive him to relieve him in his distressed Members and to be obedient to his blessed commands And then our Ingratitude to one another is such that though we come off with smooth fronts here in this World yet such characters of shame and confusion are engraven on our Souls that Men and Angels shall read them with amazement when the books shall be laid open Dan. 7. 10. The unhappinesse of a disordered Family IT is said of that right Religious and worthy George Prince of Anhalt That his very Bed-Chamber was a Church a University and a Court wherein besides the dispatch of civil businesse there was daily praying reading writing yea and preaching too so that it cannot be imagined that the noble Earl having a Church for God in his Chamber should suffer a Temple to Bacchus in his Cellar But which is to be lamented in too too many Families Venus hath her Altar in the Chamber and Bacchus his Sacrifice in the Buttery which two having shared their Devoto's What a poor third must be left for God and his People to delight in Ioshua's resolution for the better ordering his houshould and Davids vow for reformation of his Family are little set by Let but a servant fail in the neglect of his Masters profit or in the carelesse performance of his place what ado is there yet in the mean time though the same servant be ignorant scandalous and what not altum silentium there 's no notice taken of it at all Signs of Heaven as Sun Moon with their Eclipses c. as we are not to be dismaied at them so not to be contemners of them PEricles the great and famous Athenian who in the beginning of the Peloponesian war being ready with a great Fleet of an hundreth and Fifty Ships to Loyse up sail was presented even as he went up into his Gally with a great and terrible Eclipse of the Sun which made the sky so dark that some of the bigger Stars appeared At which the Governour of the Ship was sore affrighted and the reupon with therest of the company refused to set sail which when Pericles perceived either truly contemning the threatnings of the Stars or fearing that the hearts of his Souldiers should fail he put his cloak for a while before the Governours eyes and then by and by taking it away again asked him If that which he had done with his Cloak portended any thing To whom the Governour answered No No more saith he maist thou think is signified by this Eclipse though the Moon be now betwixt the Sun and our sight Which being said he commanded that they should hoyse up Sail and be gon about the intended expedition But this of Pericles was surely an overbold presumption as in the end appeared there being soon after not onely misery brought upon his own Country and dishonour upon himself but all Greece wasted under the sad calamity of a long lasting War Thus it is that as the signs of Heaven such as the Eclipses of the Sun and Moon Comets c. are not things whereat we should after an Heathenish manner be dismaid so should we not contemn them nor the signification intended by them they are called by the name of influences Iob 38. 31. from the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 super et fluo that is to flow into or upon they must needs then have some object to flow into or work upon and by their working they speak to all those who will but lend an Ear to hear them that is to us who are here below who inhabit this dull dark Globe of Mortality over whose heads they hang that casting our eyes upon them we may not onely behold them but according to that Wisedome which God hath given us look into their significations by considering their motions configurations Risings Settings Aspects Occultations Eclipses Conjunctions and the like The severall books of God slighted and neglected by the most of Men. IT is usual and well-known that Children sport themselves and play with the pictures in a book gaze upon the golden cover and admire the Silken strings but all this while they little mind what is in the
How to know whether a Man be Heavenly or earthly-minded 459. Christians having an eye upon the Heavenly reward not to be daunted at any outward troubles 462. God onely able to perswade the heart fully 654. How the heart of Man may be kept up steady in troublous times 549. The heart of Man the â—eed-plot of all sin 597. Heart-communication the want thereof deplorable 634. A good heart is a melting heart 7. Remedy for a hard heart to cure it 145. Heart and tongue to go together 166. God will have tâ—e whole â—eart in his service 182. 310. Gods tryal of his children by cleansing their hearâ—s 215. The Christian's heart never quiet till it be in Christ 217. The heart of Man author of all good and bad actions 276. The heart of a true Christian restlesse without Christ 284. The heart of a worldly-minded Man never satisfied 572. No comfortable sight of God without purity of heart 637. A faint hearted Christian described 139. 594. No return from Hell 670. A wicked Man believes not that there is a Hell till he be in it 69. Wicked Men take great pains to go to Hâ—ll 475. Eternity of punishment in Hell 97. Fear of Hell to be a restraint from the least sin 382. One Man is to help another as God hath enabled him 162. 254. Job's true Heraldry 135. Heresies and moral vices to be timely avoided 90. The benefit of History 527. Holinesse an excellent thing 366. Honour and greatnesse the vanity of them 369. Hopes of Heaven are the good man's encouragement 104. Hope well and have well 180. Hope in God the best hold-fast 318. Hope of future joy sweetneth present sorrow 486. Hope to be kept up in the midst of all perplexities 505. The good Christian's Hope at the death of a child of God 637. Honesty the best policy 679. Hospitality commended 67. The want thereof reproved 587. The Christians humiliation the Christians exaltation 53. No harm in humility 125. An humble heart is a contented heart 135. Humility the way to glory 195. Gods dwelling in the humble heart 501. How to be truly humble 239. Humility occasioned by the consideration of our former and present condition 269. The true nature of humility 567. Humility advanced 271. The excellency of humility 568. To appear before God in all humility how high soever our condition be 343. Humility appeaseth Gods anger 386. 510. 593. The soveraign virtue of Humility 571. Humility exalted 574. Husbands to bear with their Wives infirmities 34. 433. Not to be uxorious 290. The head of the Wife 497. Husband and Wife each others Crown 581. Husband and Wife to bespeak one another kindly 596. Husbands to love their Wives as they are Wives 604. Gods Husbandry 90. The unthankfull Husband-man condemned 223. Hypocrisie may passe for a time undiscovered 66. Hypocrisie the generality of it 230. The Religious Hypocrite discovered 661. The comfortlesse Hypocrite 669. Hypocrites discovering their own shame 607. How it is that the Hypocrite deceives himself in seeking after God 360. The wayes of Hypocrite not easily traced 227. Hypocrites in their saying well and doing ill condemned 51. The Hypocrites inconstancy 52. How to judge of an Hypocrite 124. The Hypocrite described 169. The Hypocrites discovery of himself 174. 626. Hypocrisie discovered 206. When the Hypocrite is discovered 214. The Hypocrite characteristically laid open 232. 283. The subtile Hypocrite 384. The Hypocrite being true to none is beloved of none 424. I. AN Idle Man subject to the least Temptation 7. 348. All men to be highly affected with the Name of Iesus 320. Ignorance of Gods mind will not excuse us at the last 197. Ignorant worldly purchasers 494. Ignorant upstart Preachers reproved 604. Ignorance especially in the wayes of God reproved 609 611. God not to be set out by any representation or Image to the eye of Man 425. The strength of Imagination demonstrated 196. How it is that the strength of Imagination prevails so much in matters of Religion 323. Not onely the good but the bad also are imitable in what they do well 96. An impatient condition is a discontented condition 42. The sad condition of all impenitent Sinners 328. Mans Inconstancy 228. The unresolved Mans inconstancy 336. Inconstancy in the wayes of God reproved 563. No such thing as Independency in this life 83. Men to bear with one anothers infirmities 255. The Saints infirmities 622. Every Christian to be an ingenuous Christian 57. The basenesse of Ingratitude 11. Ingratitude of England unto God 189. The Ingrateful Christian reproved 218. Gods goodnesse and Mans ingratitude 236. Ingratitude reproved 261. 655. Peoples ingratitude to their Minister condemned 277. The monstrous sin of Ingratitude 643. Inhumanity condemned 404. Innovations in Church or State very dangerous 444. Condonation of the Injured is a conquest over the Injurious 12. Forgetting of Injuries past required upon the making of Peace 23. The glory of a Christian to passe by Injuries and offences 56. Forgetfulnesse of Injuries commendable 85. Injuries not onely to be forgiven but forgotten also 97. Courts of Iudicature to be free from all Injustice 381. Interest in Christ best of all 145. A good Christian will rather part with his life then his Integrity 467. Ioy how to be regulated 220. Ioy comes in the midst of Affliction 319. God's judgment not as Man's judgment 600. Men usually judging others to be like themselves 528. Men though differing in judgment yet not to differ in affection 45. Mans coâ—rupt Iudgment upon the bare appearance of things condemned 150. Prejudice in judgment very dangerous 232. Difference of judgment hath and ever will be in the minds of Men and why so 305. Men of corrupt Iudgments 618. Minding of the great Day of Iudgment a great means to live godlily 229. 595. Iudgment-day the terrours of it to the Wicked 257. The day of the last Iudgment a terrible day 527. The state of a Kingdom or Common-wealth best known by the administration of Iustice 3. Not to be over-hasty in the desire of Iustice for wrong sustained 7. Magistrates to be impartial in justice 526. Excellency of the robe of Justice 38. 627. Judges and Magistrates are to be the Patrons of Iustice 121. Magistrates to be advised in the point of Iustice 124. Magistrates to do Iustice and right 132. Magistrates to be alwayes ready to do Iustice 157. 268. Iustice described 176. Iustice commutative to do as we would be done by 404. Iustice duly administred to the People the benefit thereof 615. Iustice moderated 657. Iustice to be duly administred 673. The Iust man's joy is more inward then outward 54. 215. Not to be dejected though the joy of the Iust be not perfect in this life 519. Iustification by Christ the extent thereof 231. K. KIlling of Men heretofore made ordinary 24. King Princes c. good and bad their difference 546. To be regarded by those that are under them 648. King and Corrivals are inconsistent 204. Cares attendant on the Kingly office