blood shall not live out half his days Psal 55.23 And Cain rose up against Abel and slew him Here the Serpents seed hath bruised the heel of the womans Gen. 3.15 The seed of all true Religion slain from the beginning of the world Innocent Abel the first Martyr that suffered for Religion and lively Type of Christ of Christ the Prince of Martyrs the heel of the blessed Seed bruised a Type of what the Head himself should suffer Bloody Cain the first Apostate after that first Evangelical Promise the first builder of that spiritual City of the Wicked the Seed of the Serpent founded in his brothers blood the true portraicture whereof is Mystical Babylon or Rome founded by Romulus by the like example of fratricide in the murther of his brother Remus the Seat of the Beast and of the Whore by whose Authority Christ himself was slain since drunk with the blood of his Saints and still breathing out blood and slaughter to every Abel that refusing to communicate in her Spiritual Whoredoms will not with her offer the earthly Sacrifice of Cain the fruits of the ground which hath nothing of Faith or the Spirit in them Thus Goodness and Envy like Rebecca's Twins the one is never born without the other If God hath more respect to Abels then to his brothers Sacrifice by his brother shall himself be Sacrificed Goodness is ever accompanied with danger and he indeed is onely Martyr-proof that dares be good The wicked would be rather blinde then see Religion thrive or vertue flourish had God loved Abel less Cain would have loved him more his favor with God purchased his Brothers hate so that he needed not to have slain Abel whom he had murthered before For whosoever but hateth his brother is a murtherer 1 John 3.15 Both these Brethren did Sacrifice to the Lord yet Cain must have Abels blood for offering that in faith which himself did with a false heart How parallel doth this run to the Cains of this Age who with the faithful once walked in the House of God as Friends yet now stile them Enemies to God for the service of his House is not this to slay thy Brother Nothing acutes the Spirit of a man to assay some desperate design as desire of revenge and he that 's caught in this whirlwind lives like the Salamander in the fire 't was desire of revenge that hurld Charls the Sixth of France incens'd against the Duke of Britain into a Bedlam-Lunacy discontent and emulation beget this passion if sin get not Priority of Honor from desert desert shall have Priority of Fate Cain here in reference to his Brother Abels death deals with his Fathers Posterity in respect of Gods glory as the rich Man in Quintilian did with his garden Flowers in respect of his Brothers profit poyson them all because his Neighbors Bees should suck no more Hony from them and hazards eternal life onely to abreviate his Brothers temporal looking at him as they in Lucians Rock of Honor with an envyous eye proud of his own ruine for anothers damage Every other sin hath some pleasure in it or admits excuse envy alone wants both Angebat illum non proprium peccatum sed fratris prosperitas saith Theodoret 't was his Brothers happiness that gall'd him Presidents hereof Divine and Humane we may flye and read Jacob and Esau Saul and David Rachel and Leah Gen. 30.1 Joseph and the Patriarchs David also had a touch of this vice by his own confession in Psalm 37. but all these syllable'd to a word cannot spell Cain cursed Cain yet reprieved and life continued even for the same cause that other Murtherers lose it that he might live a stigmatiz'd example in this unpeopled condition of the worlds non-age branded to the terror of all that should afterward behold the spectacle cursed from the earth drunk with his Brothers blood now spews out his own banished the presence of God to become the lively Image of the deadly state of sinners out of Christ dead whilest alive a moving Sepulchre the Devils Captive damnations first-born Hells heir Heavens exile and the Earths vagabond his own fury a horror to himself indeed Hells Compendium O tremble then thou man of blood whosoever thou art guilty of murther either by the Tongue or Sword Tremble ye Persecutors of the Saints of God their blood shall never quench Hell sheath your malice yet swell not against conviction of Conscience for in those Orient days of Gospel-light it is not possible you can think to do God good service by slaughtering the lambs of heaven Remember God is a Spirit Infinite his very Essence proclaims what kinde of Worship he doth challenge and expect from his Creatural Image Touch not any Cains blemished Sacrifice offer with righteous Abel and if thou suffer with him Amen Welcome to the Marriage of the Lamb thy blood shall from the Altar cry for Justice not unequivalent to that on Cain when he slew his brother Gen. 4.8 The Holy VValk And Enoch walked with God Gen. 5. ver 24. ANd Enoch walked not in the counsel of the ungodly Psal 1.1 not in the ways of evil men Prov. 4.15 not in froward and strange ways Prov. 21.8 not in the broad way that leadeth to destruction Matt. 7.13 not in the way of bribery Isa 33.15 whose Tabernacles shall be consumed by fire Iob 15.34 not in the company of riotous men Prov. 28.7 not in ways seeming right onely in his own eyes Prov. 12.15 not in ways of discord but in love Eph. 5.2 not disorderly 2 Thess 3.6 not after the imaginations of a corrupt heart Ier. 9.14 not as driven with every wind of Doctrine Eph. 4.14 not as a stumbling block in the way of the blinde Levit. 19.14 not without wisdom towards them that are without Col. 4.5 not wandring from God Psal 119.10 nor turning aside from his Commandments Deut. 17.20 not walking after the flesh but after the Spirit Rom. 8.1 And With God before him with a perfect heart Gen. 17.2 in his Statutes keeping close to his Commandments Levit. 26.3 in all the ways which the Lord his God commanded him Deut. 5.33 Ier. 7.23 in the ways of righteousness wherein is life Prov. 12.28 in the good way Ier. 6.16 walking in his house with a perfect heart Psal 101.2 doing the will of God from the heart Eph. 6.6 perfecting holiness in the fear of God 2 Cor. 7.1 believing with all his heart Acts 8.37 living in all good Conscience before God Acts 23.1 always void of offence Acts 24.16 seeking the Lord with his whole desire 2 Chron. 15.15 in whose heart God hath so put his fear as that he shall not depart from him Ier. 32.40 giving himself unto Prayer Psal 109.4 continuing instant therein Rom. 12.12 meditating on Gods Precepts Psal 119.15 holding fast the mystery of Faith in a pure conscience 1 Tim. 3.9 alway speaking the truth in love Ephesians 4.15 refraining his feet from every evil way Psal 119.101
heart cashier all cowardly thoughts and such as hold correspondence with the Enemy let not Hypocrisie as a Spy sneak in and out thy Garison let the Watchword be Emmanuel and let a party of faithful Prayers be ever sallying out till Relief be sent from Heaven with a supply of Grace in a Sufficiency thereof Resist the Devil and he will flee from thee James 4.7 Balaams Ass The dumb Ass speaking with mans voyce forbad the madness of the Prophet 2 Pet. 2.16 COvetousness is sufficiently detestable in such as wait but on their private callings far more odious in those that on State-Affairs but most abominable in those that on the Altar To dishonor that God which made the earth for the dross of it is the ignoblest of ingratitudes and for the menial servants of the high Lord of heaven and earth to become the mercenary slaves of men to discredit that Master whom they pretend to serve is the inexemplariest president of the horridst rebellion Some have had a strange dream of the Resurrection of Beasts and thence most grosly held that Creatures meerly Sensitive shall rise again truly I know no better Argument to back this beast with then to interpret that opinion to be understood of this dumb Ass to rise in judgement against the madness of many the supposed Prophets of our days for though as the tree falls so he shall lie yet I cannot say That he that lives and dyes a beast shall rise so Time was I spare the present tense when many learned Prophets for a mess of pottage sold the truth to Anathematize the pillars thereof me-thinks they are somewhat excusable for they were mad the silliest of all Animals here wonderfully qualified at once both to publish and reprove their Lunacy Beware then thou that art in the Lords Embassie or oftner in thine own service under that notion make not a trade of that which may and should be bought without money neither set the gifts of God to sale be not tempted by the baits of men to tempt the Almighty to counterdict his determinate purposes neither let the rewards of the wicked ensnare thee to the prejudice of the faithful servants of God lest they condemn thee of less understanding then the Horse or Mule for The dumb Ass speaking with mans voyce forbad the madness of the Prophet 2 Pet. 2.16 The Spirits Touchstone Believe not every Spirit but try the Spirits whether they be of God or no 1 John 4.1 LOok well to thy faith there are many false Prophets risen up amongst us Anchor it on firm ground Religion blows too many ways All Prophets are not Michaiahs believe them not one Doctrine the sooner for circumcising the Text to come to the Cushion ere the matter beating it down in stead of sin and pressing it more then the Point they handle All Prophets are not Micaiahs believe them not one Corollary the sooner for Metaphisicking the Temples into Schools and learnedly confuting their own Objections to salve their own Credits more then their Auditors souls All Prophets are not Micaiahs believe them not one Sycophantick lye the sooner for their multitude or the high qualifications of their Chaplainship King Ahab had four hundred and a lying Spirit in them all Gods word is the Spirits Touchstone thereby thou mayest distinguish the Wolf from the Lamb and the Serpent from the Dove Commit not thy souls fraight to the faith of every wind nor thy faith to the wind of every Doctrine lest thou make Ship-wrack of both Believe not every Spirit but try the Spirits whether they be of God or no 1 John 4.1 Simon the Cross-bearer And as they came out they found a man of Cyrene Simon by name him they compelled to bear his cross Mart. 27.32 VVE read of no less then four Simons in the Gospel Simon Peter firnamed Bar-jona Matth. 16.17 the Fisherman-Apostle Matth. 4.18 Simon Magus the Samarian Sorcerer Acts 8.9 Simon Zelotes Luke 6.15 the Canaanite Matthew 10.4 and this Simon of Cyrene Matth. 27.32 who bare that Cross which bare that Christ who bare our Sins Isa 53.11 what a heavy weight was that were there as many worlds as atomes in this and each of them multiplyed by the highest of numbers they were all too light to ballance the least chip of this Cross To stile him the Gospel Atlas is too diminutive an Epithite What did Simon bear Christs Cross a load that would have made the very Pillars of Heaven and Earth to crack agen No Christ bare his own Cross none but himself could bear that Cross and our Curse indeed Simon bare that wooden Cross the stony Jews prepared out of Jerusalem's Oaks and Simons Apes at this day bear that Golden Cross the leaden Priests or Demetrian Romanists prepare for the Worship of their Ave-Diana If Simon had born Christs Cross he should have been Simon the Martyr of Gyrene Simon may be said to bear the Cross of Christ but not Christs Cross Thus many are erroneously supposed Christs Cross-bearers when oft-times they are no better then Christs Crucifiers And thus if a covetous wretch that is a Piety-pretender be summoned to disburse for Christs State-service he will suffer in person by imprisonment rather then in his bounty by enlargement and submit himself to be shut fast rather then his Coffers to be opened yet plead Conscience as if it were that onely which is so straight-laced whereas indeed his purss-strings are shrunk yet then proclaim himself as one of Christs Cross-bearers when mean while like Covetous Judas he is but his own Budget-bearer Monsters in nature there are if there could be Monsters in Grace the Hypocrite must be one of the ugliest All sufferers are not Christs Cross-bearers nor all dyers for Religion Martyrs But if thou suffer not in but for a good cause and for a good conscience then art thou one of Christs happy Cross-bearers if thou patiently bear reproach contempt and the scorn of men for the Gospels sake then mayest thou more properly be said to bear Christs Cross then the Man of Cyrene Simon by name whom they compelled to bear his Cross Mar. 27.32 The Soldiers Mistake They parted my garments among them and upon my vesture did they cast lots Mat. 27.35 VVAs there ever a fairer distribution of such sacrilegious plunder yet who but a Prophet could have thought that those Robes which apparelled the Son of God should ever have cloath'd such impious varlets They parted his garments among them There may be Rents Sects and Divisions in the Church among the visible members thereof but the seamless Vesture Truth the Churches pure and unblemishable Ornament maugre the prophanest violence of the rudest Soldier shall ever remain inviolably whole perfect and intire Naked wretches what covert gave these Ornaments to your shameful infidelity what beauty to your deformity what lustre to your ugliness you embrace a Shadow and let the Substance vanish No wonder the members are left naked when the body is devested But
his Profession was when he parted from sober company he asked leave of his father to take leave of himself and parted from himself when he bad reason adieu That charity begins at home was the first thought that came to the Prodigal after the Prodigal came to himself and it was a happy escape that during his desperate Lunacy for want of Acorn husks he had not made use of an Oaken bough He began to go out of himself when first he would fain be his own man but when he came again to himself he was half way home to his own happiness He begg'd heartily for his own curse when he first asked his Fathers blessing and had not the swine fared the better of the two the herd should be drowned ere himself would cry Peccavi Swine and Drunkards meet Companions Swine and Lustmongers very fit Sty-fellows Hogs and Epicures Boars and Hell-Stalions Sows and Harlots Pigs and Prodigals pity such proper English that runs so naturally should ever know any other construction then what the nature of the beast admits Though this be but a Parable yet here 's a Parent and a Prodigal a Blessing and a Curse an elder and a yonger brother a faithful and unfaithful servant a penitent childe and a pardoning Father a self-justifying servant yet a wise rewarding Master indeed the whole mystery of mans Salvation In which Parable He that hath an ear to hear let him hear what the Spirit saith unto his Conscience and unless he resolves to dye in this Bedlam and perish in the other he will be of this Prodigals minde When he came to himself and said c. Luke 15.17 The true Ornament Whose adorning let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair c. But let it be the hidden man of the heart 1 Pet. 3.3,4 HOw is not plaiting the hair a commendable Ornament with what deformed beauties then is this Age disfigured how handsomly it makes it self ugly what pains it takes to be ridiculous better the brain were out of his place then the excrescency thereof or the whole head ake then one hair not well How many happy Good-morrows might the soul bid it self by asking blessings of her heavenly Father whilst she stands sacrificing the precious Morn to the Idol in the Looking-glass how many Virgin-Oraizons might be early up at heaven whilst the ingenious fancy is so zealous at new-modelling that careful careless Love-lock or the Woodcocks snare as if there were some Gordian Magick in each curl But doth this refer onely to the Feminine then is this Age Hermophrodited is not he the most admired Comet that can be most fantastick Some are so well read in the Glass and Comb as to divide a hair and again reconcile them with a wet finger others curl them with a powder doubtless both these do stand very much on their heads no wonder their Brain-shell is so addle when the choycest of their Intellects walk with its heels upward that the whole Microcosm can espy no other Horoscope then that of the Antipodes You may guess the substance of what 's within by the dust of what 's without and if ever a Wit did put a Solecism upon his own brain 't was when he first went to School to adorn his head on the outside for every sober man wears his head with the wrong side outward but he whose head came newly out of a Mill-sack makes more of the offals of his Cranium then the brain it self is worth And is this then the grave Christians Ornament Away you that profess piety blazon no more vanity such dusty cob-webs are no mettal for the Helmet of your Salvation be not so vainly ingenious in dressing but a Virmins Forrest with such odoriferous curls 't is but a spans length off and other Virmin by the dust and oyncture of your own rottenness shall do it for you Shall not he that covereth himself with a cloud Lam. 3.44 that putteth on the garments of vengeance for clothing and is clad with zeal as with a cloak Isa 59.17 send baldness in stead of well-set hair Isa 3.24 and smite with a scab the crown of the head ver 17. he that clothes the grass of the field shall strip thee naked If ever therefore thou hopest to put on the garments the four and twenty Elders wear about the Throne Rev. 4.4 or if ever thou expectest to be clothed with immortality of bliss away with the bravery of your tinckling Ornaments with the wimples and the crisping pins Isa 3.18,22 the Prophet there compares your Cauls and Tyres to the Moon no wonder sober mindes conclude you Lunatick And you that are the Amazons of the Age but of the Masculine-Gender that take your pastime in War yet walk as if shod with the preparation of the Gospel of Peace if you must needs wear Arms in Halcyonian days put on the Shield of Faith the Breast-plate of Righteousness and the Helmet of Salvation Belt your selves with the Girdle of Truth but do not draw the Sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God out of any other Scabbard then the Scriptures This is that true Ornament which becomes every sober wise grave modest and true Christian Whose adorning let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair c. But let it be the hidden man of the heart 1 Pet. 3.3,4 News from the Grave They have taken away the Lord out of the Sepulchre and we know not where they have laid him John 20.2 TAken him away did the high Priests bribed Soldiers tell her so what incredible News is this none but a Sadduce will believe it Thou art mistaken Mary the Lord was never there there 's no circumscription by a Sepulchre of him that fills Heaven and Earth though a Manger cradled the Babe no Grave can comprehend the Lord was this Sepulchre larger then Solomons Temple or will he whom the Heaven of Heavens cannot contain 1 Kings 8.27 be confined by a few clods of earth Indeed the Angel bad the two Maries See the place where the Lord lay Matth. 28.6 but the Lord himself told the Thief To day shalt thou be with me in Paradice Luke 23.43 Thus the body of the Lord was in the Grave but not the Lord of the Body If the Resurrection be such a mystery of Faith to such as were Co-temporaries with the First-fruits thereof Acts 23.26 no wonder now 't is such a miracle of Grace to practice the Faith thereof If the case of non-Resurrection doth undistinguish the reasonable soul from Bruits no marvel the Sadduces of this Age are such beasts to deny it yet if Christs own Disciples in this high point of Faith could scarce believe their eyes 't is more then an O Altitudo of Mercy if the news at Jerusalem pass for currant at the other end of the world 'T is an unsavory Quaere to ask with what body Lots wife shall arise and but a shallow Hypothesis whether Aarons Rebels or Aarons two Sons shall rise first He that surfets himself to death with the luscious Mummia of another mans Corps shall doubtless bring out of the Grave as much as he carried in yet the other rise never the leaner Though he surfeted with the others Epigastrium or happily dyed with a piece of his belly in his mouth yet do not think that he shall rise with two Diaphragmes or the other be answerable as a Murtherer for the body he destroyed after he was dead The veriest Cannibal in all Tartary shall rise but with one body though a thousand be incorporated with him and if ever there come any Feminine Mummia out of Egypt to the Drugsters shambles thou mayest eat it without the least danger of rising an Hermophrodite That such Parables are incredible with the highest meer Naturalists is no news to the weakest Christian who hath more grace then to doubt what he hath no reason to believe If there be such a Sadduce in England as to deny the Resurrection he must needs be beholding to a Pythagorian Metempsycosis to bespatter one Heresie with the dirt of another for admiting that ridiculous old Fable of the Souls progress from one body to another by Traduction from such absurd premises might possibly follow the conclusion of the worlds non-conclusion to the perpetuation thereof to prevent a Resurrection It is not without all controversie whether the Christian demi-Jews of late or the Jewish demi-Christians of old are deepest buried in the Ignorance of a Resurrection they took our Savior to be John the Baptist or Elias or one of the Prophets as if one of their souls were passed by a kinde of Transmigration into our Saviors body these take Paul or Apollo or Cephas to be our Savior as if his very Personality were passed by a Mystical Union into one of their Souls Thus the naked Ignorance of any Fundamental Truth ever ends in Heresie which Heresie persisted in ever concludes in blasphemy It was Mary's complaint here upon a mistake That they had taken away the Lord out of the Sepulchre and she knew not where they had laid him Me-thinks I hear Mary's eccho at this hither end of the world may it be but the like mistake resounded by many of us that pretend to look so much after him viz. That they have taken away the Lord out of the Sanctuary and we know not where they have laid him FINIS Imprimatur 1º Martii 1649. Joseph Caryl
in a stews and fornicates with hell who thus becomes his self-destroyer is a Rebel to that God that made him a Vagabond from his presence for ever is an Enemy proclaim'd in Hell to all Religion is a Traytor to Reason â—n Apostate to Sence a Fool â—o the very Bruits and a Slave to the Devil Who shall shed his blood that hates his brother for he 's a murtherer too 1 John 3.15 that restrains charity or usurps revenge the Prerogative Royal of the most High Who shall shed that Pastors blood that starves his Flock or erroneously mis-guides them by his life or Doctrine like Sheep unto the slaughter who shall shed that Lawyers blood that most butcherously cuts his innocent Clyents throat by betraying his righteous Cause for a bribe ore-ballancing an honest Fee prostrating the nakedness of truth to the foul insultings of corrupt injustice that with-holds the truth it unrighteousness that Janus like looks both ways at once and hath an Ambodextrous tongue to suck blood from both yet distribute right to neither Who shall shed that Empericks blood that kills others that himself may live that practises on the Bodies of men with less conscience then he takes fees and destroys more lives by his desperate ignorance then the Judicious Phisitian by his Chymical Practice Who shall shed the Machivilians blood that like the Wolf in the Breast gnaws out the bowels of his Countrey and to feed his vulturous designs preys on that State that bred and foster'd him and rather then have his invisible projects countermin'd will cap in hand petition the Devil to summon a Councel in Hell that may furnish him thence with Auxiliary Legions to come in for his assistance Lastly Who shall shed the Usurers blood that sucks out the Vitals of his Neighbors Estate with Jewish Exaction and then extorts his very Liberty from him even Natures Prerogative till the last gasp of all his Fortune be conveyed him and having onely reserved to himself for term of life a few years of beggary and too late repentance entails the remainder of his misery to his injured innocent Posterity whilest his own sad soul to prevent the gastly hungerbits of merciless Famine does oft career on the resolves of some desperate courses to the Shipwrack of his Conscience that so being now undone in soul and body state and posterity he may go to his grave if it be his happiness to have one compleatly miserable But let none of these forget That there is a God that judgeth the earth and hath enacted That whosoever sheddeth mans blood by man shall his blood be shed Gen. 9.6 Babel Go to let us go down and there confound their Language Gen. 11.7 BUt yet one Century of years expired since the Deluge and behold the Sons of men ripe for a second confusion they are now scaling Heaven not by Faith but Presumption are daubing up a stately Mole-hill as if they meant to ore-top the most High over-power the Almighty mighty parley with their Creator go to Heaven in a carnal way or at least secure themselves from future Deluges by erecting this Castle in the ayr for a place of retreat but the Lord descends from on high blows off the Pyramide of their Pride by sweeping away their Cobweb Edifice with the besom of Confusion Of these proud Masons oNimrod was the chief the Captain the Master Workman the first Tyrant and as some suppose the first that brought Idolatry in fashion indeed he erected a very stately Idol for such ambitious fools to worship as imitate the vapour of his brain To establish themselves a Name in all the Earth was their grand design they would fain be great and high enough to peep into heaven but the dissipation they doubted was the judgement they suffered their attempting the prevention of what they feared prevented their accomplishing of what they projected and the foundation they had laid whereon to build their greatness became the ground-work of their ruine They call'd a general Councel or rebellious Confederacy and voted for a Tower whose top should reach unto Heaven A Fabrick of that heighth would require a Basis deeper then the Earth but he that will ascend Heaven must not lay his foundation in Hell no question but this ambitious rout in the results of their desperate resolves were as well compact as their building and that as uniform as their Language but as they went up the Lord came down scattered the one and confounded the other Had these men been at Jerusalem when the Apostles inspired with the gift of Tongues became such expert Linguists they might have seen the like power in a contrary effect to this of Babylon this came by the sin of man that by the mercy of God the one from Babylon the other from Jerusalem No marvel then that at this day are such audacious Theomachists in mystical Babylon where that proud Antichristian Nimrod exalting himself above God sits in the Temple as God Indeed the whole Christian Earth was once of one Language and of one Speech but when Babylon sadled her Ass and took a Journey to Rome when they said Go to Let us make Martyrs and burn them throughly when they took the brick of their own inventions in stead of Sions Stone a tryed and precious Stone Isaiah 28.16 and the frothy slime of their own brain for the well-tempered morter of the infallible word and said Go to Let us build us a City of Spiritual Whoredoms and a Tower of Merits whose top may reach unto Heaven no marvel then I say that the Lord should at the brightness of his coming scatter those Idolatrous Vermin or Jesuitical Imps like dust before the wind upon the face of all the earth and with the Spirit of his mouth confound the Language of the beast 2 Thess 2.8 Abram's Call Now the Lord had said unto Abram Get thee out of thy Countrey and from thy kindred and from thy fathers house unto a Land that I will shew thee Gen. 12.1 IT is the perfect freedom of a childe of God to come and go at his Command out of whose service to be manumitted is the dishonorablest Vassalage under the Sun Our obedience to God admits not the Sophisms of flesh and blood to debate the point of obedience with God by delays is to enter our selves the Devils slaves without dispute He that asks leave of his lust to part with it in obedience to God seems to take leave of his God and part with him in obedience to his lust Nay if the Land of thy Nativity or the vastness of thy Possessions if the honors of thy State-Offices or the Profits of thy Corruption therein if the quality of thy Birth or the vanity of thy pleasures if the exquisiteness of thy Endowments or the popular Hosanna's of Idolatrous Flattery if the Wife of thy Bosom or the issue of thy Loyns if all or any of these counterballance the least of Gods Commands in the scale of thy judgement or
affection go sacrifice to thy God of flesh and be thine own slave for thou art not yet selfess enough to be imployed in the service of the Most High indeed God is able of the stones to raise up children unto Ahraham so there may be hope of thy heart but till with him thou canst deny thy self the present possession of the whole earth for a bare reversion of Heaven till with him thou canst answer Gods Call and exchange thy Countrey here for a better hereafter thy Fathers House below for those Mansions prepared above thou mayest not expect a Canaan in his bosom Luke 16.22 God in the Mount OR In the Mount of the Lord it shall be seen Gen. 22.14 NOt in the Mole-hills of men God never trifles away his Miracles he works no wonders beneath the highest pitch of Humane power A Miracle doth presuppose impossibility in all below that power which wrought it where the power of the Creature ends the Almightiness of the Creator begins Miracles of Mercy are not wrought till the exigency of the Creature calls for the mercy of a Miracle it stands not much with Gods honor to interpose his power in doing that for the Creature which he hath impower'd the Creature to do for himself should God come in to mans help before the cure is past the help of man the goodness of his mercy would anticipate the glory of his power and the freeness of his love obstruct the actings of Faith In the Mount of the Lord it shall be seen Therefore not in the Valley of Despair nor on the Pinacle of Presumption unless to cut off the one Numb 15.30 or destroy the other Mat. 27.5 When therefore Poverty doth pinch or nakedness benumb when Persecutions flames threaten either to scorch thy soul or burn thy body when the floods thereof menace either shipwrack to thy Conscience or a Land-deluge to all thy sublunar interests when the proud Nimrods of the earth first foam out their Juliantick rancor to poyson thy sacred chastity with their Scorpion-Blasphemies and then ingulph thee lock'd in irons to suffocatethee with milder damps in their hell-typifying dungeons the portraict of their own black souls when such Tyrants prodigal of their Engines and their grand Master by the juncture of all his infernal Imps call a Councel in hell to persecute thee on earth Cast not away thy confidence the Saints themselves were under a Cloud before thee and it was Israels Proverb The Lord will be seen in the Mount Gen. 22.14 Modest Contentation I have enough my Brother keep what thou hast unto thy self Gen. 33.9 THe gift of refusing gifts is a gift greater then man can give he that can shut his hands against the rich will open them to the poor It is a subtile piece of thriving policy to repulse some advantages of gain and the speediest way to abound in every thing is to be self-denyingly contented with any thing No man thinks he hath enough but he that knows he hath more then he doth deserve and no man enjoys what he doth possess but he that covets no more then he doth enjoy he that can repulse the temptations of gain gains by such temptations whilest the assaults of the repulsed Enemy recoyls to the damage of the Assaylant The minde contented is a fortress impregnable it is not whole vollies of Bribes nor the Canon of Commands Royal though charg'd with the highest Titles of Honor or Provenues of State-offices can make the least breach on the naked out-works of his unprojecting and well-contented minde but the unsatiable and idolatrous wretch supposing gain to be godliness acknowledgeth no other Infinite then his own unplenable desire whilest the other in every estate practising Pauls well learn'd Lesson of Contentment subscribes to godliness as his greatest gain he takes possession of his own heart and enjoys himself he is tenant to no mans estate for term of lust he is under his high Lord his own heart-Lord and thence can command his desires to do homage to none but the Providence of God This disposition unkennels the greedy dogs as the prophet Isaiah speaking of blinde watchmen Isa 56.11 stiles them That can never have enough and shews us the hideous darkness of the infathomable gulf of the ravenous desires of the Canibals of this age Prophane Esau now no more rough but courteous Esau may rise in judgement against the Wolves of this Generation for he so far abhorred such violence that he modestly refused even what was freely presented him and said I have enough my brother keep what thou hast unto thy self Gen. 33.9 I am that I am Exod. 3.14 TO define God is more properly a Paradox then a Precept in Divinity indeed a secret too Mataphysical for the most Logical eye-sight of any created understanding What God is not we know what God is we know not If thou wouldst fain sublime thy self to a sight of him who is invisible look with the eye of Faith through the prospective of Christ and the best way to define God is to endeavor the practice of that description he makes of himself in the Mystery of his Word and Volumn of his Works To define an Infinite is a kinde of Blasphemous Contradiction and he that thinks he can suppose an exact definition of God is one of the Fools that says in his heart There 's none Canst thou finde out an end for Eternity or beginning for Sempiternity art thou too strong for Omnipotency canst thou circumcircle Immensity canst thou confine Ubiquity or confute Omnisciency canst thou exclude Omnipresency then mayest thou in part tell me what God is Beware of limiting the Holy One of Israel if thou canst see of God more then his back-parts thou hast better eyes then Moses had whose Commission if the Israelites question behold it ratified by that eternal Subscription I am that I am Exod. 3.14 Loyal Disloyalty They feared God and did not as the King of Egypt commanded them but saved the men children alive Exod. 1.17 TO obey Caesar for God is the Subjects duty to obey him for himself the Salves vassalage To obey the commands of Caesar wherein he disobeys the Commands of God is to make thy Loyalty to thy Prince guilty of rebellion to thy God To obey God for Caesar is Mercenary Religion to obey him for himself is Filial Obedience To obey the Commands of God wherein they contradict the Commands of Caesar is to render thy fear of God unguilty of over-honoring thy Prince To have absolute command over all the Creatures is onely the Creators Prerogative-Royal to obey this absolute Monarch above all Sublunary Potentates is the Christians Prerogative-Loyal When Humane Laws jarring with Gods make a discord in Heaven thy obedience to the former may not make it harmony on earth Our Allegiance to Caesar must swear fealty to Gods supremacy that if at any time thy obedience to God be unduly convicted of disloyalty to thy Prince thy Appeal lies to the Chancery of
persecuted stand still keep an eye to the promise and be strong in the faith Art thou fortune-fallen become poor and through no default of thine cast into prison stand still remember the Lord heareth the poor and despiseth not his Prisoners Psal 96.33 Art thou ingaged in any combate at home with Monsters like Pauls Ephesian Beasts or in any desperate hazard of life stand still never forgetting who it is that hath calculated even the very hairs of thy head Thus what once Moses said to the unbondaged yet murmuring Israelites let me say to the Redeemed yet distrustful people of God when pursued by the heart-hardned Pharaohs of this age Fear ye not stand still and see the Salvation of the Lord Exod. 14.13 Let me alone Let me alone that my wrath may wax hot c. Exod. 32.10 TO will and to do are all one with God it is the Prerogative-Royal onely of the Almighty to be able to do whatsoever he pleaseth to will whatsoever he will he doth but all that he can he doth not Now the power of the Creature flows from that in the Creator hence it is that the more we are formed into his likeness the more prevalency we have with him and the more victory over our selves A just man is a wonderful strong Creature I can do nothing to Sodom saith God to Lot till thou be gone thence Gen. 19.22 Thus the free condescendency of the Highest vouchsafes such a voluntary restraint of his Justice as the prevalent integrity of a righteous man in favor with God seems to over-power even the Almighty The faithful are Gods favorites rather then their Petition shall be laid aside his own Mercy shall say Amen unto their Prayers Faith is such a solicitous grace such an importunate beggar as it will never leave God alone yea the very wicked of the Earth fare the better for the Prayers of the godly see it in the case of Sodom Gen. 18. and here those Israelites might have been led to the slaughter like the Calf they worshipped had not this Moses refusing to be the Adopted Grandchilde of the King of Egypt though his Daughter might have challeng'd him by Providence Exod. 2.5 now become such a Favorite in the Court of Heaven that God himself must as it were importune him to slack his importunity and sue to him to withdraw his suit and say Let me alone that my wrath may wax hot against them and that I may consume them and I will make of thee a great nation Exod. 32.10 The right Interpretation of Scripture Ye shall put nothing to the word which I command you neither shall ye take ought therefrom Deut. 4.2 VVHen thou readest the Scripture let the Text interpret the Text and grope not to winde thy self out of the Labyrinth of those sacred Oracles by the clue of thine own private spirit nor conceit thy self wiser then the Omniscient To wrest Scripture is to father a lye on the Spirit of Truth and he that betrays the Word to a sense the Spirit never meant it Sophisticates the great Seal of Heaven and hath no share therein the Plagues therein denounced onely excepted Whether then thou readest to thy self or expoundest to others do not gloss the holy Text with unintelligible notions the Bastard-comment of a Weathercock-faith nor bespatter the splendor of such a glorious Light with the scarce vapor-proof atomes of an erroneous muddy judgement Many Revelations are arrived of late some no question came from beyond the world are Commissioned from Heaven have the Seal of the Spirit indeed whose authority admits not of dispute such onely are the faithful interpreters of the holy Language other Revelations there are which came from below the world are Commissioned from Hell have the Seal of the Beast on them these also pretend a title to our faith but believe not every Spirit 1 John 4.1 To take the crutch from the Lame by the impudent assertions of a blinde yet wilful judgement is the inhumanest piece of imperious ignorance in the world and to mis-guide the doubtful Pilgrim under pretence of a more compendious way to the New Jerusalem then was ever yet discovered is to incur the curse of Heaven the thanks of Hell and the blackest guilt of the highest murther No Scripture may be construed by the corrupt Dictionary of any ill-byass'd Spirit or according to the Analogy of private interests he that strains the Scripture to a note the Spirit never tuned it perverts it to his own destruction Ye shall put nothing to the word which I command you neither shall ye take ought therefrom Deut. 4.2 The Foundation of Knowledge The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom Prov. 1.7 OF all creatures Sub-angelical Man is the noblest of all the parts of Man the Soul of all the faculties of the Soul the Understanding which if not exercised about her genuine object the Gospel-fear or true worship of her Creator merits not the name of Sense and he that bottoms his knowledge or lays the Foundation of his wisdom on any other Basis builds but on the sand with hay and stubble and shall finde the edifice soon prove more brittle then the shell of that brain which built it Christ the wisdom of the Father is the Corner-stone of ours and if other Foundation any man hath laid the structure if it prove not his Babel in this world will undoubtedly a Tower of Shilo in that to come Whose wisdom begins not with the fear of God ends in his eternal displeasure If our wisdom commence with the fear of the Lord his grace will accompany the progressions thereof and his glory crown the event Without this fear there may be wit not wisdoâ—… the gravest Sages without 〈◊〉 are but the most decent fools and the choicest extractions of their unsanctified brain but the Chymistry of vaporing prophaneness or at best the high Magick of most learned Lunacy For the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom Prov. 1.7 The poor Mans Advocate Withhold not good from them to whom it is due when it is in the power of thy hand to do it Prov. 3.27 ROb not the Poor of the Tribute of thine Alms lest at the general Assize or Grave-delivery they indict thee of Sacriledge The poor mans Box is Gods Exchequer and he that adds not to it takes from it There is not a mite given in charity on earth but is recorded for a pound in Heaven yea a Cup of cold water flowing from the bowels of Compassion may so swell that out of his belly shall flow even Rivers of Living water There 's not a poor man that asks a peny of thee but thou art so much indebted to him that in case he commence his Suit in Forma Pauperis and prefer a Bill in the Chancery of Heaven by way of Petition against thee it may be feared an Ite Maledicti may issue forth to thy everlasting and inevitable ruine Thou owest God more for the
most powerfully press the point of Parental Providence and oft prevents the husband from turning Infidel or worse her tenderness doth teach him kindeness and when she preaches love to him she takes the Text out of her own Obedience The practice of her subjection to him doth Preach the duty of his to Christ and indeed he preacheth best that best practiceth To practice the Sermon we hear is the best way of repeating it but to repeat the Sermon we see is the ready way to practice it Such a visible Sermon is every graceful action proceeding from a vertuous and obedient wife and if ever the devout Conversation of the wife prove the savour of life unto life for the husband if ever the wife of his bosom procure him a place in Abrahams all her piety to her God must be attended on with discreet loyalty to her husband else in vain had the Apostle injoyned Wives to be in subjection to their own husbands that if any obey not the word they might without the word be won by the conversation of the wives 1. Pet. 3.1 Crums from the Table But he answered and said It is not meet to take the childrens bread and cast it to dogs And she said Truth Lord yet the dogs eat of the crums which fall from their masters table Matth. 15.26,27 CHrists Offals are a feast to the humble soul where there is a hungry faith whereas his rarest dainties are but nauciated by the proud and full-fed Christian Faith without humility flies up the soul to the Pinacle of Presumption and humility without faith oft lights it in the Valley of Despair The children and the dogs must not sup at one Table Christ is no Gospel-pearl for Swine Legion is more welcome to such a Heard then he to such a Legion To this latter Age of ours indeed times dotage to this old decrepid bow-back'd world is served in Christs second course the choicest rarities of Gospel-truths but we have so apishly alamoded even our very pallates and so adulterated the substantial food of wholesome Doctrine by the leaven and sawcy Compounds of our own Traditions that our poor souls do even starve whilest our consciences surfeit such is the scarcity of nutrifactive Truths under such plentiful varieties of new-dress'd dispensations When servants feast it wo be to the childrens bread when Stewards feast dogs with the childrens bread who hungers for the masters crums where 's now the Masters Table who keeps forth the Lords house is there no provision made for the Lords Table where are the Stewards is there a dearth in Heaven is not that sheet which epitomized the Creation for Peters appetite Acts 10.11,12 broad enough to cover the Lords Table for our faith or are there no Guests at leisure to sup with the Lord happily this man hath bought a piece of England that man a yoke of Offices the third happily hath married a wife of his own canonizing but are there no poor souls in the high-ways no maimed consciences that on their recovery would rejoyce at the crums which fall from this Table its worth our tears to acquaint the Master how those sharp-set dog-like appetites which were not worthy the crums of his Table have in revenge snarl'd his Table into crums yet It is not meet to take the childrens bread and cast it to such dogs though the dogs eat of the crums which fall from their masters table Matth. 15.26,27 The Camel travelling through the needles eye It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle then for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God Matth. 19.24 IS Heavens gate less then a needles eye no wonder few there be that finde it Matth. 7.14 or is it the rich mans greatness that obstructs his passage and denyes him entrance indeed our Savior entitles the Poor to a propriety in this Kingdom Luke 6.20 and it s the onely inheritance that usurping Ahabs could never yet plunder from our poor and innocent Jezreelites But why so difficult a thing for rich men to enter heaven because so facile a thing for hell to enter them Though it be even a Proverb with Solomon Prov. 14.20 That the rich hath many friends yet he may not expect to be Abrahams bosom-friend there 's not a drop of water for him in heaven who hath not a crum of bread for Lazarus on earth 'T is possible that Creatures of a larger bulk then Camels may by the dexterity of the Artist pass through a needles eye in some exquisite acupicture piece so you may finde the Portraict of a rich man in the picture of a parable but a great gulf-wide from heaven It is the invelleity of the Creature which oft times renders that impossible which in it self is feazible and if Heaven were an earthly Paradice or Eternity could be rated and purchasable at twenty years value the rich being here but Tenants at Will at most for Term of Life it should cost them an Hospital but their souls should have a reversion in Heaven were that transparent anonimity 1 Cor. 2.9 and 2 Cor. 12.4 but penetrable by such blunt and sensual dross Go to now ye rich men weep and howl c. Jam. 5.1 Indeed without are dogs Rev. 22.15 what sad news is this news more desperate then a Bankrupts debt Is there no possibility of entrance into heaven for the rich hath that Saint whom the Romanists idolize as the Clavis of Heaven wept out all his Apostacy yet no room but at the Italian Ephisus for a little bribery have the Mammonists on earth nothing to do with Heavens Exchequer dare we say such a man is not in Heaven because he dyed rich God forbid our Savior never superfluated any Truth he saith A rich man shall hardly enter into heaven Matth. 19.23 but all difficulties imply a possibility and if but a grain of faith can cause Mountains of earth to skip into the Sea Matth. 17.20 21.21 can it not as easily convey a few earth-worms into heaven onely it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle then for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God Matth. 19.24 Rabbi Rabbi Then spake Jesus to the multitude and to his Disciples saying The Scribes and Pharisees sit in Moses seat c. and love the uppermost rooms at feasts and the chief seats in the synagogues and greetings in the markets and to be called of men Rabbi Rabbi Matth. 23.1,2,6,7 AS there is not a vainer puff of pride then hypocritical humility so there is not a more ridiculous piece of folly then a serious affected gravity where ambition is worn with the wrong side outward The Peoples Hosanna bred Vermin in Herod that he became even worms-meat above ground Acts 12.23 and 't was the Scribes impudence to have that Chair for their Pulpit which cost the ambitious Sons of Levi a Journey under ground Numb 16.32 Though it be not denyed but they were learned
Heaven Gods Will is a Law yet his Peoples Obedience no Slavery but perfect Freedom the Prince his Will is a Law too where he hath none but Slaves to His Subjects Where the Engines of State-policy make the wheels of the Peoples Obedience run Counter to the Primum Mobile or main Spring of Gods revealed pleasure it may be feared lest the frame of the whole work and the body of the Land retrograde to the first Chaos of Confusion Obedience to man rather then God is as the sin of Witchcraft yea the Prince who delivers not his Commands from God or derives not his Commission from Heaven neither fears God nor honors himself and whosoever obeys him in such Commands is guilty of that obedience as Treason against the highest Majesty A special Command from God legitimates a thing unlawful in it self it had not been murther in Abraham to have slain his Son but thus it is not with Princes on Earth therefore the Egyptian Midwives approved their loyalty to God by their disloyalty to Pharaoh for They feared God and did not as the King of Egypt commanded them but saved the men-children alive Exod. 1.17 Heavenly Eloquence Go and I will be with thy mouth and teach thee what thou shalt say Exod. 4.13 THe Spirits dictates are the Saints best Rhetorick the plainest Language where the Spirit is Orator is too profound for the deepest apprehension of meer natural judgements not he that hath most learning but he that hath most grace is best learn'd he that is seen in all Arts Sciences is held an able man but he that hath learn'd Christ is the best Schollar A poor weak Christian that doth practice Christ speaks his Language with more grace then the most exquisite Orator of meer nominal Christians and hath more perswasive Rhetorick in his sweet Conversation then many of our learned Gown-men in their life and Doctrine There are a Generation of men in this refined and new-modell'd Age that have fled exceeding high in their expression some think they have out-shot all objects of reason to comprehend and of faith to believe as if too mysterious to make reasonable sense of and too superluminary to conclude non-sense this is not heavenly Eloquence Others there are that draw their Language to so fine a thrid that it oft breaks in the spinning and nought but a Spider crawls from the Web sometimes it breaks into sense ridiculous and sometimes into errors venimous now into self-interest and anon into faction or if the thrid hold it serves onely to sâ—w Pillows under the drowsie declensions of most uncorrupted Patrons neither is this heavenly eloquence The great Doctor of the Gentiles Paul that Gospel-Orator accosted not the Corinthians with the perswasible inticements of mans wisdom but in demonstration of the Spirit and of Power and this was heavenly Eloquence for when the Spirit prompts the heart the tongue cannot but speak eloquently the volubility whereof flowing onely from some principle of nature is but as the wagging of an Apsenleaf compared with the Seraphick Language of a gracious heart where the Spirit giveth utterance Such Language Christ promised his Disciples when called to attest his Truth and such Language God promised Moses when he imployed him as his Agent into Egypt to uninslave his bondag'd people saying Go and I will be with thy mouth and teach thee what thou shalt say Exod. 4.13 Jehovah-nissi Exod. 17.15 THey who in their spiritual warfare list themselves under Gods Command to fight the Lords Battels not onely have Christ for their Captain but even the Lord of Hosts for their Jehovah-nissi the Lord for their Banner Suppose the Generalissimo of all the infernal Janizaries muster up all his Forces and draws them into Battalia against thy naked soul ranking the honors profits and pleasures of this life on the right wing the hideous troops of all thy fearful sins on the left placing thy most conquering lusts in the main body keeping whole Regiments of that gallant Brigade of most specious Sanctity whose leader is Spiritual pride for a Reserve with divers ensnaring temptations lying in Ambush with as many occasions and opportunities of sinning as so many Scouts to discover the state posture and motion of thy soul all this supposed yet the being on thy side thou needest not to fear For in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength Isa 26.4 He is the Church-Militants Banner against which the gates of hell shall not prevail To the wicked the Lord is a consuming fire dissolving them like the fat of Lambs but his Church like Moses his Bush is preserved in the midst of fiery persecutions to lustre forth as well the glory as the power of the Almighty The Church never yet fought with the Prince of the Ayr but either won the day by being victorious or gained by being persecuted And why because the Lord was her Banner and indeed where the Lord of Hosts leads the Van Victory must needs attend the Rere When that stripling David was to Duel that monstrous Goliah he advanced towards him onely in the name of the Lord of Hosts 1 Sam. 17.8 Whilest Moses's supported arm was Gods Standard Joshuah defeated the uncircumcised Amalekites Therefore Moses built him an Altar and called it Jehovah-nissi Exod. 17.15 Stand still Fear ye not stand still and see the Salvation of the Lord Exod. 14.13 DIstrust the Brat of slavish fear is the first step leads downward to Despair he that will not trust God on his word will scarce confide in his miracles To fancy safety out of Gods protection is an argument of wretched security and little policy but to doubt his protection in the midst of his encompassing mercies an argument of more ingratitude and less faith As it is most desperate presumption and an ungracious tempting of God to stand still when he opens us a door of flight and as it were bids us fly for our life either by revealing us his Will by his Word or by whispering it in our hearts by his Spirit or by proclaiming it by his past or present deliverances so is it a no less desperate Cowardise and most Atheistical distrust to fly when God bids us stand either by shutting against us the door of escape or by giving us pledges of victory or promises of protection It had been a strange piece of self-enslaving and rebellious madness in Peter to have staid in prison when the Angel unshackled him and opened the door yet but an ill-purchas'd freedom in Paul to have bribed Felix Cesaria's Governor for his enlargement In our inevitablest straights we are in all humble observance and faithful patience to attend the pleasure of God without disputing the Justice of his Providence and by a holy recumbancy without the least murmuring distrustfulness to acquiesce in the Faith of his Promises The invisible Politician may and is oft brought to his wits end but a just man is never at his Faiths end Art thou degraded in the world and undeservedly