transgressions have been such and so many and my ingratitude therein so great that it might have sunk me down with shame and left me hopelesse of ever obtaining pardon for them As see but some small part of my monstrous and devilish ingratitude to so good a God so loving and mercifull a Saviour and Redeemer that hath done and suffer'd so much for me even more than can either be expressed or conceived by any heart were it as deep as the Sea Touching what God and Christ hath done for me in the first place he gave me my self and all the creatures to serve for my use yea he created me after his own Image in righteousnesse and holinesse and in perfect knowledg of the truth with a power to stand and for ever to continue in a most blessed and happy condition But this was nothing in comparison for when I was in a sad condition when I had forfeited all this and my self 〈…〉 become his enemy mortally hating him and to my utmost fighting against him and taking part with his only enemies sin and Satan not having the least thought or desire of reconcilement but a perverse and obstinate will to resist all means tending thereunto he did redeem me not only without asking but even against my will so making of me his cursed enemy a Servant of a Servant a Son of a Son an Heir and Co-heir with Christ Gal. 4.7 But how have I requited this so great so superlative a mercy All my recompence of Gods love unto me hath been to do that which he hates and to hate those whom he loves Christ the fountain of all good is my Lord by a manifold right and I his servant by all manner of obligations First He is my Lord by the right of Creation as being his workmanship made by him Secondly By the right of Redemption being his purchase bought by him Thirdly Of preservation being kept upheld and maintained by him Fourthly His by Vocation even of his family having admitted me a member of his visible Church Fifthly His also had it not been my own fault by sanctication whereby to possesse me Lastly He would have me of his Court by glorification that he might crown me so that I was every way his God had raised me from a beggar to a great estate but how did I requite him I would not if possible suffer a godly and conscientious Minister to be chosen or to abide where I had to do but to bring in one that would flatter sin and flout holiness discourage the godly and incourage the wicked I used both my own and all my friends utmost ability Much more might be mentioned but I fear to be tedious Now argue with all the world and they will conclude that there is no vice like ingratitude But I have been more ingratefull to God than can be exprest by the best Oratour alive It was horrible ingratitude in the Iews to scourge and crucifie Christ who did them good every way for he healed their diseases fed their bodies inlightened their minds of God became man and lived miserably amongst them many years that he might save their souls but they fell short of my ingratitude to God in that most of them were not in the least convinc'd that he was the Messias sent from God and promised from the beginning But I have not only denied this Lord that bought me but I hated him yea most spitefully and maliciously sought on Satans and sins side against him and persecuted his children and the truth with all my might and all this against knowledge and conscience after some measure of illumination which cannot be affirmed of the Iews Yet miserable wretch that I was if I could have given him my body and soul they should have been saved by it but he were never the better for them Sect. XXXIII Lastly To tell you that which is more strange Notwithstanding all this that hath been mentioned and much more Yet I thought my self a good Christian forsooth yea with that young man in the Gospel I thought I had kept all the Commandements Nor was I a whit troubled for sin either original or actual but my conscience was at quiet and I was at peace neither 〈…〉 my self with that Pharisee Luke 18.9 to 15. and say I was not like other men not once doubting of my salvation I ever refused to do what my Maker commanded and yet confidently hoped to escape what he threatned Nor did I doubt of having Christ my Redeemer and Advocate in the next life when I had been a bitter enemy to him and his members in this life Here was blindnesse with a witnesse as it is not to be believed how blind and blockish men are that have only the flesh for their guide especially if they have hardned their hearts and seared their consciences with a customary sinning As I could give you for instance a large catalogue of rare examples how sin hath besotted men and what stark fools carnal men are in spirital things be they never so wise for mundane knowledg But least it should be taken for a digression or excursion you shall have a list of them by themselves the which I will add as an Appendix to this Discourse or Dialogue In the mean time I have given you a brief of my manifold provocations and great ingratitude to my Maker and Redeemer for otherwise I might be endlesse in the prosecution thereof It remains that I should in like manner lay open my original defilement which is the fountain whence all the former whether sins of commission or sins of omission do flow But touching it be pleased to peruse that small Tract intituled A short and sure way to Grace and Salvation Or Three Fundamental Principles of Christian Religion by R. Y. from page 4. to page 10. Sect. XXXIV Loose Libertine If this hath been your case no wonder it hath startled you for to deal plainly with you as you have done with me what I have heard from you makes me also tremble For is such honest moral men that live so unreprovably as you had done go not to heaven what will become of me that have been openly prophane and notoriously wicked all my time Yea it contented me not to do wickedly my self and so damne my own soul but I have been the occasion of drawing hundreds to Hell with me by seducing some and giving ill example to others the infection of sin being much worse than the act As how many have I drawn to be Drunkards and swearers and whoremongers and prophane persons insomuch that the blood of so many souls as I have drawn away will be required at my hands Yea my life hath been so debauched and licentious that I have brought a scandal upon the Gospel and made it odious to the very Turks and Infidels Rom. 2.24 Convert Alass what I did that was morally good or what evil I refrained was more for self-ends or more for fear of mens Laws than
thou hast added mercy to mercy For we have been no lesse rebellious unto thee then thou hast been beneficiall unto us We do daily and hourely break all thy commandements adding unto that our originall corruption which we were conceived and borne in all manner of actuall transgressions by sins of Omission sins of Commission sinnes of Ignorance sinnes of Knowledg sinnes against conscience yea sinnes of Presumption and Willfulness and that in thought word and deed We have sinned against thy Law and against thy Gospel against thy mercies and against thy judgments against the many warnings and the abundance of meanes afforded by thee to reclaime us against the spirit of grace cotinually knocking at the doors of our hearts with infinite checks and holy motions Our eares have been alwaies open to the Tempter shut unto thee we have abused our eyes to wantonnesse our mouthes to filthynesse and our feet have been swift to all evill slow to ought that is good And as wee have committed one sinne on the neck of another so we have multiplyed and many times repeated them by filling often into the same wickednesse whereby our sinnes are become for number as the sands of the Sea and as the Stars of Heaven Yet 〈…〉 Yet most most merciful Father being that thou hast given thy Son and thy Son himself for the ransome of so many as shall truly repent and unfainedly believ in him who hath for our sakes fulfilled all righteousness yea suffered on the Crosse and there made full satisfaction for the sins of all thine Elect. And seeing thou hast appointed Praier as one special means for the obtaining of thy grace unto which thou hast annexed this comfortable promise that where two or three be gathered together in thy Name thou wilt be in the midst of them and grant their requests and since our Redeemer hath assured us that whatsoever we shall ask thee in his name thou wilt give it us We are emboldened to sue unto thee our God for grace that we may be able to repent and believe Wherefore for thy promise sake for thy Sons sake and for thy great Names sake we beseech thee send down thy holy Spirit into our souls regenerate our hearts change and purifie our natures subdue our reason rectifie our judgments strengthen our wills renew our affections put a stop to our madding and straying fancies beat down in us whatsoever stands in opposition to the Scepter of Jesus Christ and enable us in some measure both to withstand that which is evil and perform that which is good and pleasing in thy sight Yea give us repentance never to be repented of and possess our souls with such a dreadfull awe of thy Majesty that we may fear as well to commit small sins as great ones considering that the least sin is mortall without our repentance thy mercy as wel fear to sin-in secret as openly since thereis nothing hid from thee as well condemne our selves for evill thoughts as evill deeds considering that the Law is spirituall binding the heart no lesse then the hands as well abstain from the occasions of sin as sin it self and consider that it is not enough to abstain from evill unlesse wee hate it also and do the contrary good And now O Lord since thou hast safely brought us to the beginning of this day we beseech the to defend and dierct us in the same and as thou hast blest us in our lying down and in our rising up so protect prosper us in our going forth in our coming home shield and deliver us from the snares of the Hunter who lieth in waite for our souls and is continually labouring our everlasting destruction And no lesse arm us against the allurements of the world wherein we shall meet with many provocations and temptations and that we may not lead our selvs nor be led into temtation give us wisdome to beware of men even of associating our selves with the vitious like Ioseph lest otherwise with David we be drawn to dissemble or with Peter to deny thee for sin is of a catching and infectious quality and our corrupt hearts are like tinder which will kindle with the least spark especially O Lord keep us from yeelding to their solicitations or following their customs of drinkâ—ing swearing slandering and making the worst construction of things of mocking and scoffing at religion or the religious let not custome and example any whit prevail with us without or against thy written Word lest we misse of the narrow way which alone leadeth unto life onely give us wisedome and grace to look upon thy Sons whole life see how he would speak and do before we speak or do anything then having thy word for our warrant and thy glory for our aime let no censures nor flowts of any discourage us Finally good Father we beseech thee inable us so to walk in thy fear that in mirth we be not vain in knowledg we be not proud in zeal we be not bitter instruct us by thy Word direct us by thy Spirit mollifie us by thy grace humble us by thy corrections win us by thy benefits reconcile our nature to thy wil teach us so to make profit of everything that we may see thee in al things al things in thee And in these our prayers wee are not mindfull of our selves alone but forasmuch as thou hast commanded us to pray one for another as being the members of one and the same mysticall body wee beseech thee to blesse thy whole Church Universall wheresoever dispersed and howsoever distressed or despised far and wide over the face of the whole earth and vouchsafe unto thy Gospell such a free and effectuall passage that it may sound throughout all Nations Yea wee humbly pray thee let it convert and reclaim the Turks Jews Infidels Indians Atheists Epicures Hereticks and Schismaticks Prevent all plots and projects against the Kingdome of thy Christ let thy Word and Spirit alone bear rule in all places Extend thy tender mercy O Lord to all Protestants beyond the Seas to all Christians under the Turks or other Infidels strengthen all such as suffer for thy cause and let thy presence with them counterpoyse whatsoever is laid upon them and inable them to continue constant in thy faith and truth to the end More particularly be good unto that part of thy Church planted here amongst us in this sinfull Land and indue us with thy grace as thou hast already with other blessings that they may not rise up hereafter in judgment against us be propitious to the Nobility Gentry and Communalty Blesse the Tribe of Levi all Ministers of thy Word and Sacraments let their lips O God preserve knolewdg and their lives righteousnesse and for ever blesse thou their labours increase the number of those that are faithfull and painfull and reform or remove such as are either scandalous or idle and for a constant and continuall supply of their mortality blesse all
succession shall reap them and we shall be happy in making them so so on the contrary wicked men leave their evill practises to posterity and though dead are still tempting unto sin and still they sin in that temptation they sin so long as they cause sin This was Ierobâ—ams case in making Israel to sin for let him be dead yet so long as any worshiped his Calves Ieroboam sinned Neither was his sin soon forgotten Nadab his son and Baasha his successour Zimri and Omri and Ahab and Ahaziah and Iehoram all these walked in the wayes of Ieroboam which made Israel to sin and not they alone but millions of the people with them So that it is easie for a mans sin to live when himself is dead and to lead that exemplary way to Hell which by the number of his followers shall continually aggravate his torments As O what infinite torments doth Mahomeâ— indure when every Tuâ—k that perisheth by his jugling does dayly adde to the pile of his unspeakable horrors And so each sinner according to his proportion and the number of souls which miscarry through the contagion of his evill example And look to it for the bloud of so many souls as thou hast seduced will be required at thy hands and thou must give an account for the sins perhaps of a thousand Thou doest not more increase other mens wickednesse on Earth then their wickednesse shall increase thy damnation in Hell Luk. 16. 9. § It were easie to goe on in aggravating thy sinne and wretchednesse and making it out of measure great and the souls that miscarry through the contagion of thy evill example numerous For is not the Gospell and the name of God blasphemed among the very Turks Iews and Infidels and an evill scandall raised upon the whole Church through thy superlative wickednesse and other thy fellows Yea does not this keep them off from embracing the Christian Religion and cause them to protest against 〈…〉 and all such wicked and prophane wretches are not like dirt in the house of God thrown out into the street by excommunication Or as eâ—â—ovements and bad humours in mans body which is never at case till it be thereof disburthened as Austin well notes That they are not marked with a black coal of infamy and their company avoided as by the Apostles order they ought Rom. 16.17 2 Thess. 3.6 14. Eph. 5 5 7. 1 Cor. 5.5 11. 1 Tim. 1.20 That they are not to us as Lepâ—rs were among the Iews or as men full of plague sores are amongst us We well know the good husband man weeds his field of â—urtfull plants that they may not spoil the good corn And when fire hath taken an house we use to pull it down lest it should fire also the neighbours houses Yea the good Chirurgion cuts off a rotten member betimes that the sound may not be endangered Nor will the Church of England ever flourish or be happy in her Reformation until such a course is taken MEMB. 4. Swearer Sir I unfainedly blesse God for what I have heard from you for formerly I had not the least thought that swearing by faith â—roth or any other creature was so grievous a sin â—s you have made it appear from the Word And I hope it shall be a sufficient warning to me for time to come 1. § Messenger If so you have cause to blesse God indeed For all of you have heard the self-same Word but one goes away beâ—tered others exasperated and inraged wherein Will only makes the difference And who makes the difference of Wills but God that made them He that creates the new heart leaves a stone in one bosome puts flesh into another 2. § Of hearers there are usually four sorts Mat. 13.19 to 24. as first an honest and good heart will not return from hearing the word unbettered Yea he will so note what is spoken to his own sin that it shall increase his knowledge and lessen his vices As who by looking in a Glasse shall spy spotâ— in his face and will not forthwith wipe them out A wise man will not have one sin twice repeated unto him And these may be resembled to wax which yeeldeth sonner to the seal then steel to the stamp But 3. § Secondly others are like Tullies strange soil much rain leaveâ— them still as dry as dust Or the Wolfe in the emblem which though she suckt the Goat kept notwithstanding her wolvish nature still For speak what can be spoken to them it presently passes away like the sound of a Bell that is rung Let testimonies and examples nâ—ver so much concern them they prove no other then as so many characters writ in the water which leave no impression 〈◊〉 hinde them Who may be resembled to an Hour-glasse or Conduâ—t that which in one hour runneth in the same in another hour runneth out again Or the Smiths Iron put it into the fire it is much sofined again put it into the water 't is harder then before Yea let them never so much smart for their sins they will return to them again untill they perish Resembling some silly flye which being beat from the candle an hundred times and oft singed therein yet will return to it again untill she be consumed Prov. 23.35 All those Beasts which went into the Arke 〈◊〉 came likewise ou◠〈◊〉 4. § Thirdly another sort will very orderly hear the Word and delight in it so long as the Minister shall rove in generalities preach little or nothing to the purpose But if once he touch them to the quick drive an application home to their consciences touching some one sin of theirs as John Baptist served Herod then they will turn their backs upon him and hear him no farther as those Jews served our Saviour Ioh. 6.66 The Athenians Paul Acts 17.16 to 34. and Ahab Micaiah 1 King 22.8 5. § Sore eyes you know are much grieved to look upon the Sun Bankrupts cannot abide the â—ight of their counting books nor doe deformed faces love to looke themselves in a true Glasse For which read John 3.19 20 2â— But let such men know that to flye from the light and reject the means puts them out of all hope That sin is past cure which turns from and refuseth the cure Deut. 17.12 Prov. 29.1 As what is light to them that will shut their eyes against it or reason to them that will stop their Ears from hearing it If those murtherers of the Lord of life Act. 2.23 had refused to hear Peters searching Sermon in all probability they had never been prickt in their hearts never been saved ver 37 38. And take this for a rule if ever you see a drowning man refuse help conclude him a wilfull murtherer 6. § Fourthly and lastly for I passe by those blocks that goe to Church as dogs do only for company and can hear a powerfull Minister for twenty or thirty years together and minde no more what they hear then the seats they
this nothing Yea others bleed we sleep others beg we abound others starve we surfet others groap in the dark our Sun still shines and shall not we rejoyce and be thankful Bless saith our Saviour when ye are cursed and shall not we bless when thus blessed Yet wo is me we forfeit many of Gods favours for not paying that easie Rent of thankfulness like those nine Luk. 17.12 to 19. we are more apt to pray then to give thanks because we are more sensible of our own wants then of Gods glory We can open our mouthes when we want any thing either to pray or at least to murmur and why should not our thanksgivings be as frequent as our blessings are The Lâ—pers voice was not more loud in his suit then in his thanks It were happy for us Christians if we could but learn of this Samaritan And thus we see that good things then appear of most worth when they are known in their wants When we have lost those invaluable comforts which we cannot well be without the minde hath time to recount their several worths and the worths of blessings appear not till they are vanisht No wonder then that our estates and conditions are so variable like the face of the Heavens or the Sea or like the weather about Michaelmass which is now fair and presently again foule or rather the hard Winter which for one fair Sun-shine day hath oftentimes ten â—oul For God sees that it is very good for us for as seeds that are deepest covered with snow in Winter flourish most in the Spring or as the winde by beating down the flame raiseth it higher and hotter and as when we would have some fires flame the more we sprinkle water upon them even so when the Lord would increase our joy and thankfulness he allayeth it with the tears of affliction misery sweetneth joy yea the sorrows of this life shall like a dark veil give a lustre to the glory of the next when the Lord shall turn this water of our earthly afflictions into that wine of gladness wherewith our souls shall be satiate for ever We deceive our selves to think on earth continued joys would please Plenty of the choicest daintie is no dainty When Pearls grew common at Rome they wore them on their shoes and they had much ado to save themselves out of the dirt as Tertullian speaks Nothing would be more tedious then to be glutted with perpetual jollities were the body tied to one dish always though of the most exquisite delicates that it could make choice of yet after a small time it would complain of loathing and satiety and so would the soul if it did ever Epicure it self in joyes I know not which is the more useful Ioy I may chuse for pleasure but adversities are the best for profit I should without them want much of the joy I have Well then art thou vexed persecuted and afflicted by some cruel and malicious Saul and is it grievous to thee for the present Why that which hath been hard to suffer is sweet to remember at last our Songs shall be louder then our cries CHAP. 15. How it increaseth their spiritual Wisdom 12 OUr sufferings make us teachable and increase in us spiritual Wisdom He delivereth the poor in his affliction and openeth their ear in trouble Job 36.15 And again He openeth the ears of men even by their corrections Job 33.16 We are best instructed when we are most afflicted Pauls blindness took away his blindness made him see more into the way of life then could all his learning at the feet of Gamaliel And what saith Naaman upon the cleansing of his Leprosie Now I know there is no God in all the Earth but in Israel O happy Syrian that was at once cured of his Leprosie and his misprision of God The prodigal son regarded not his Fathers admonition so long as he enjoyed prosperity when we smart not we believe not God is not feared till felt but that which makes the body smart makes the soul wise It is good for me saith David that I have been afflicted that I may learn thy Statutes We grow wise by evils whereas prosperity besots us Even to lose is some ways profitable it makes a man wary Yea St. Basil calls want penury the inventor of all Arts And St. Augustine the Mistress of all Philosophy The best wisdom is dearest bought Algerius the Martyr could say out of experience he found more light in the dungeon then without in all the World The Scottish King prisoner in Mortimers hole learnt more of Christ then in his Palace he could all his life Gaspar Olevianus a Germane Divine sayes I never learned how great God was nor what the evil of sin was to purpose till this sickness taught me There is a great deal of difference saith Luther between a Divine in outward pomp and a Divine under the cross neither could he understand some Psalmes till he was in affliction the Christs-cross is no letter yet it taught him more learning then all the letters in the rowe The cross opens mens eyes as the tasting of honey did Ionathans Yea what will not affliction teach us when even the savagest Beasts are made quiet and docible with abating their food and rest or by adding of stripes That Beef-brain'd Fellow in Scaliger had his eare bored with thunder when nothing else would do it Yea saith Molineus Bonifacius his silly reasons for the Popes Supremacy did well enough being propounded with a sword in the hand Even as the Clay with Water and the Iron with fire are made pliable and apt to receive impression from the workman even so when we are soaked in the floods of sorrow and softened in the fire of affliction we are aptest to receive the impression of Gods Law into our hearts when he speaks unto us by his Ministers If the Lord breaks us in pieces with the Plough of his Iustice then let the Seedsmen his Ministers sow the seed of his Word we shall receive it through the surrows of our eares into the ground of our hearts and grow up in wisdome and saving knowledge Or when the hard heart is grown'd to powder between the upper and the nether Milstone of the two Tables it will see and imbrace that counsel which before it slighted We heare and read much of the corruption of our natures odiousness of our sins necessity of a Saviour sweetness of Gods love in Christ c. but we never fully apprehend these things or taste how good the Lord is till some sharp affliction comes A man knows not where his house is ill covered tâ—ll Winter Crosses are like pinching Frosts that will search us we learn to know our selves by that wâ— suffer Yea Affliction so brings down our stomachs that we can see even matter of thankfulness where our former pride sound matter of complaining And that which formerly had no more taste then the white of an Egg viz. the
their ascent to glory Besides Elias his fiery Chariot or they which stoned Steven took no more from them than an ordinary sicknesse did from Lazarus and let death any way crumble the body to dust the Resurrection shall restore it whole again Indeed if we live and God by some lingring sicknesse shall in mercy stay till we make us ready we shall do well but if we die as the Martyrs did half burnt and half blown up we shall do better And thus much to prove that the Godly indure reproaches and persecutions patiently because God hath commanded them so to do CHAP. XXX That they are patient in suffering of wrongs for Gods glory 3. THe Children of God are patient in suffering wrongs for Gods glory lest Philosophy should seem more operative in her Disciples than Divinity in hers lest Nature and Infidelity should boast it self against Christianity It is a saying of Seneca He that is not able to set light by a sottish injury is no Disciple of Philosophy And the examples before rehearsed shew that Socrates Plato Aristippus Aristotle Diogenes Epictetus Philip of Macedon Dion of Alexandria Agathocles Antigonus and Caesar were indued with rare and admirable Patience whereunto I will add three other examples Philip of Macedon asking the Embassadors of Athens how he might 〈…〉 Athens that could be if you would hang your self yet was not moved a jot for all his might was answerable to his patience Why he cared not so much to revenge the evill as to requite the good Polaemon was not so much as appalled at the byting of a Dogge that took away the brawn or calf of his leg nor Harpalus to see two of his Sonnes laid ready drest in a silver charger when Astyages had bid him to supper And lastly when it was told Anaxagoras from the State that he was condemned to die and that his Children were already executed he was able to make this answer As touching said he my condemnation nature hath given like sentence both of my condemners and me and as touching my Children I knew before that I had begot mortall creatures But what of all this Let every naturall man know that a continued patience may be different from what is goodnesse for as Austin well There is no true vertue where there is no true Religion neither is it a naturall meeknesse which proceeds from a good constitution nor a morall meeknesse which proceeds from good education and breeding but spirituall meeknesse which is a fruit of the spirit Gal. 5.22 to 25. That is the subject of our discourse and will carry away the blessing But to give them the utmost advantage let the vertues of all these Philosophers be extracted into one Essence and that spirit powred into one man as Zeuxis pourtraying Iuno chose the five Daughters of Croton out of all the Agrigentine Virgins that from their severall perfections he might compose one excellent and most beautifull picture Yet this Philosopher must be acknowledged to fall short of a compleat Christian guided by the Spirit of God Or if you will gather out of Histories the magnanimity of Hector of Alexander of Caesar of Scipio and of Scaevola put them to the rest yet for patience and constancy they come not near that one president laid down in the example of that holy man Iob and other servants of God in succeeding ages and that in five main particulars 1. One notable difference between the patience of a Philosopher and a Christian is They lacked a pure heart truly sanctified by the holy Ghost which is the fountain of all well doing Now if the fountain be corrupt the streams cannot be pure but the best of them were but in the state of nature unregenerate and consequently unreconciled to God in Christ and so enemies to him Rom. 5.10 And our persons must first be justified and accepted of God before our actions can please him as of necessity the Tree must be good before it can bear good fruit Yea saith our Saviour as the Branch cannot bear fruit of it self except it abide in the Vine no more can ye except you abide in me Joh 15.4 Christian vertues are not naturall a man is no more born with Grace in his soul than with Apparell on his back Again the best of our Works are imperfect and mingled with corruptions and therefore cannot abide the examination of Gods exact justice till they be covered with Christs Righteousnesse and their corruption washed away with his most precious blood Neither can those works please God which are done without him for as it will be no excuse before God 〈…〉 when the matter of the work is ill to plead the goodnesse of the heart so neither when the heart is nought to plead that the matter of the work is good as many notable examples prove namely the Iews urging God with their fasting Isa. 58. and yet sent away empty And those reprobates Matth. 7. who alleadg their preaching in Christs Name casting out Devils c. but receiving that fearfull answer Depart from me ye workers of iniquity I know you not As also Cain whose outward works in sacrificing were the same with his brothers and yet St Iohn sayes Cains works were evill and his brothers good which may serve to comfort poor Publicans and confound all proud Pharisees as St Austin observes Qui viret in foliis venit a radicibus humor 2. As the Christian bears injuries patiently so he doth it and all other performances in knowledge of and in obedience to Gods Word and Commandement which obedience also proceeds from a true loue of God and an humble heart thinking when he hath done that he falls far short or performing his duty Whereas they had neither knowledge in nor love to not the least respect of God or his word in their bearing injuries and therefore as God said once to the Iews in matter of fasting Have ye fasted to me so he will say to them in the matter of suffering Have ye suffered in love and obedience to me and my word No but in love to your own credit and other the like carnall respects And indeed how can they expect a reward from God when they have done him no service If in bearing with or serving of men we serve our selves and seek our selves rather than God when we come for our reward Gods answer will be Let him reward you whom ye have served thou servedst thy self therefore reward thy self if thou wilt for I never reward any service but mine own As why will Christ at the latter day remember and reward the duties of love and liberality done to men but because they were done for his sake and as to himself Matth. 25.40 Ye have done them unto me there is the cause of the reward Whence it is St Paul willeth Christian servants yoaked with cruell heathenish Masters to be obedient unto them as unto Christ serving the Lord and not men Col. 3.22 23 24. 3. What ever they did
And the like I might shew in that man of God to Ieroboam and they that went to Heaven by that bloody way of Martyrdom who prayed for others even their persecutors and murtherers an easier passage to Heaven Yea Gods people account it a sinne to â—ease praying for their worst enemies 1 Sam. 12.23 But what do I tell them of these transcendent examples when I never yet heard or read of that Philosopher which could parallel Dr Cooper Bishop of Lyncolne in an act of patient suffering who when his Wife had burnt all his Notes which he had been eighty years a gathering least he should kill himself with overmuch study for she had much ado to get him to his meales shew'd not the least token of passion but only reply'd Indeed wife it was not well done so falling to work again was eight years more in gathering the same Notes wherewith he composed his Dictionary which example I confesse more admires me than any that ever I heard of from a man not extraordinarily and immediately inspired and assisted by the holy Ghost and sure he that could endure this could endure any thing whether in body goods or good name for of necessity there must be in that man that can patiently bear such a losse somewhat more than man I know there are some men or rather two legged Beasts that esteem no more of Books and Notes than Esops Coeâ— did of the Pearl he found and these accordingly will say this was nothing in comparison of what they suffer as when once a Hotspur was perswaded to be patient as Iob was he replied What do you tell me of Iob Iob never had any Suits in Chancery Yea indeed the meanest of Christs royall Band for patience puts down all the generation of naturall men as even their enemies will confesse Consalvus a Spanish Bishop and Inquisitor wondred how the Protestants had that Commandement Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thy self so indelibly printed in their hearts that no torture could blot it out and make them confesse and betray one another And indeed how should it be otherwise For First If Morall Principles cherished and strengthened by good education will enable the soul against vicious inclinations so that though some influence of the Heavens do work upon the aire and the aire upon the spirits and the spirits upon the humours and these incline the temper and that inclines the soul of a man such and such wayes yet breeding in the resineder sort of evill persons will nauch prevail to draw them another way what may we think of grace and faith and Gods Spirit which are supernaturall Secondly Every Christian suffering for Christs sake and for righteousnesse sake hath Gods mighty power to support him and Christ to suffer with 〈◊〉 and bear a part in his misery whereas the naturall man suffers all himself as a delinquent or malefactor whose guilty conscience adds weight â—o his punishment A woman called Faelicitas whom St Austin much praiseth being brought to bed in the time of her imprisonment for the truth and by reason of the great pains she had in her labour that she could not forbear screeâ—hing one of the Officers hearing her cry out tauntingly mockt her thus Ah woman if thou canst not bear these sorrowes without such cryings how wilt thou endure when thou shalt be burnt or cut in pieces or torn asunder what thou now sufferest is but sport but the Tragedy is to follow whom she answered Now said she I suffer for my self and for sinne but then Christ is to suffer in me and I for him And it fell out as she said for when she was thrown to the wild beasts she neither sent out schreeings nor so much as a sigh or groan but entertained death with so merry and cheerfull a countenance as if she had been invited to a Feast And thus you see in the first place that Nature hath but a slow foot to follow Religion close at the heels that grace and faith transcend reason as much as reason doth sense that patience rightly so called is a Prerogative-royall peculiar to the Saints It is well if Philosopâ—y have so much wisdome as to stand amazed at it 2. That it is not true Christian patience except 1. It flow from a pious and good heart sanctified by the holy Ghost 2. Be done in knowledge of and obedience to Gods command 3. That we do it in humility and sincere love to God 4. That it be done in faith 5. That we aim at Gods glory not at our own and the Churches good in our sufferings 6. That we forgive as well as forbear yea love pray for and return good to our enemies for their evill Which being so what hath the Swashbuckler to say for himself And what will become of him if he repent not who can afford no time to aâ—gue but to execute Yea what hath the more temperate worldling to say for himself who hath some small piece of reason for his guide arguing thus I would rather make shew of my passions than smother them to my cost which being vented and exprest become more languishing and weak better it is to let its point work outwardly than bend it against our selves and in reason Tallying of iâ—juries is but justice To which I answer it is not reason especially carnall reason but Religion which all this while hath been disputed of which is Divine and supernaturall and that teacheth how good must be returned for evill and that we should rather invite our enemy to do us more wrong than not to suffer the former with patience as our Saviours words do imply If saith he they strike thee on the one cheek turn to him thâ— other also If they sue thee at the Law and take away thy coat let them have thy cloak also Matth. 5.39 40. He speaks comparatively as if he should say Rather suffer two wrongs than do one Indeed the difficulty of the duty the seeming danger and want of faith in carnall men weakneth the force of the strongest reasons for no more among Ruffians but a word and a blow among civill men but a word and a Writ can you expect But as thrice Noble Nehemiah said to that false Belly-god betraying-Priest Shemaiah Should such a man as I flee So the true Christian will encounter all discouragements and frighting alarms thus Should such a man as I fear to do that which my Master King and Captain Christ Iesus hath commanded me which is of more necessity than life it self Yea seeing Heathens could go so farre as to subdue their passions for shame let so many of us as would be accounted Christians go further even to the mortifying of ours or if we go not before Publicans and Sinners in the Kingdom of grace Publicans and sinners shall go before us into the Kingdom of Heaven And seeing the duty of the Childe is the Fathers Honour let us that are Christians be known from worldlings by our practice as
think themselves so but weary and heavy-laden sinnâ—rs to repentance Matth. 10.6 15.24 18.11 9.12 13. 1 Tim. 1 1â— Luke 1.53 Sect. III. Again this is an infallible truth that without repentance there is no being saved and what hope of their serious and unfained repentance For sin must be seen before it can be sorrowed for A man must know himself sick before he will seek to the Physician Yea where is no discovery of the disease the recovery of the health is in vain hoped for Which makes Cyprian say that it is as meer lost labour to preach unto a man the things of God before he is humbled with the sight of his wants as to offer light to a blinde man to speak to a deaf man or to labour to make a brute beast wise Besides if wee look to be saved by any thing that we can do Christ can profit us nothing For the Son of man is come â—o seek and to save only that which was lost the lost sheep of the house of Israel Matth. 18.11 Luke 19.10 1 Tim. 115. even such as utterly despair in regard of all other helps Nor is he any way fit for absolution who findes not himself worthy of condemnation We shall find no sweetness in Christs blood till we feel the smart of our own sins Yea no men under Heaven are in so hopeless a condition as they who think to be saved by their performances or any other thing or means then by the righteousness of Christ alone It faring with them as it doth with unskillful swimmers who when they begin to sink if they catch hold of weeds in the bottom the faster they hold the surer they are to be drowned Sect. IV. Fourthly and lastly there needs no more to condemn these men then their ignorance of such saving truths especially in such glorious times of light and grace as these are wherein they may hear the Word preached every day in the week if they did not slâ—ght and disregard it which aggravates their sin exceedingly For though it be enough that God hath set down his will in his Word most plainly and we may read or hear it read were it at any rate and that the Epitomy of the whole Law is writ in every mans heart whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you even so do ye unto them Matth. 7.12 As it serves not a Malefactâ—rs turn to plead ignorantiam juris he knew not the Law of his Prinâ—â— which he hath broken for if the King have once proclaimed any thing 〈◊〉 the subject after sufficient time of notifying his will be ignorant of 〈◊〉 at his own peril be it Yet to be affectedly ignorant and to shut 〈◊〉 eyes against the light of the Gospel is by far more damnable this is a sin with a witnesse As what says our Saviour Iohn 3.19 This is the condemnation that light is come into the world and men loved darkness rather then light because their deeds were evil And so on the contrary This is life eternal to know thee the onely true God and Iesus Christ whom thou hast sent Joh. 17.3 Besides without knowledge the mind cannot be good as wise Solomon affirms Prov. 19. 2 A man may know the will of God and yet not do it but he cannot do it except he know it Neither can he be born of God that knoweth him not 1 Ioh. 4.7 not â—an he love God 〈…〉 out thy fury upon the Heathen that know thee not Psal. 79.6 And that other more terrible 2 Thes. 1.7 8. The Lord Iesus shall be revealed from Heaven in flaming fire to take vengeance on them that know not God Whence the Prophet Isaiah is peremptory It is a people of no understanding therefore he that made them will not have mercy upon them and he that formed them will shew them no favour Isa. 27.11 Observe these Scriptures you ignorant souls that think your ignorance will excuse you and let not Satan nor your deceitfull hearts so delude you as to think that God is in jest where he saith My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge and because thou hast rejected knowledge I will also reject thee Hosea 4.6 Or if you do you shall one day find him in earnest For as you know not Christ here so when you shall look for entrance into his Kingdome hereafter he shall say unto you Depart from me I know you not Matth. 25.12 41. which will be but a sad saying And far better were it that you were ignorant of all other things which makes St Paul say I desire to know nothing among you save Iesus Christ and him Crucified 1 Cor. 2.2 Sect. V. Now this being the case of millions in this City and so all the Land over what can we other then conclude That few even amongst us shall be saved as our Saviour affirms Matth 7.13 14. 20.16 And that the whole world lieth in wickedness as St Iohn speaks 1 Ioh. 5.19 And that the number of those whom Satan shall deceive is as the sand of the Sea Rev. 20.8 13.15 16 17. Isa. 10.22 Rom. 9.27 VVhich being so I hold my self bound to acquaint them what every one must of neccessity know or they cannot be saved the which I will do in a few lines that all who will may have the benefit thereof VVherefore let all such if they have ears hear what I shall say unto them out of God's Word in laying open those three Fundamental principles before mentioned Sect. VI. Touching the bounty and goodness of GOD in Man's Creation these things would be known 1. That God in the beginning made man in Paradise after all his other works that he might come as to a sumptuous palace ready furnished 2. That he was made a compendium and abridgment of all the other creatures as being a little world of himself for whereas Planets have being not life Plants have life not sense beasts have sense not reason Angels have being life reason not sence Man hath all and contains in him more generality then the Angels viz. being life sense reason 3. That as he was made Lord of and had dominion over all so he did excell all other visible creatures 1. In that he had a reasonable soul 2. In that he hath a speaking tongue 3. In that he was made upright with his face lifted up to heaven-ward 4. In that all things were made subject to him 〈…〉 More especially we are to know that as God made all things else for mans use and service so he created man male and female more immediately for his own honor and service and did accordingly adorn him with gifts and abilities above all other visible creatures For God made us had not we unmade our selves after his own Image endowing us as with reasonable and immortal souls so with perfection of all true wisdome holiness and righteousness writing his Law in our hearts and giving us ability to obey and fulfil the same in every point
we should not come far short of the Devils themselves Sect. XII And as the healthiest body is subject to the mortallest disease so there is no sin so odious unto which of our selves we are not sufficiently inclinable For Original sin in which we are all born and bred containeth in it self the seed of all sins that fearfull sin against the Holy Gost it self not excepted Such venemous natures we have that never was there any villany committed by any forlorn miscreant whereunto we have not a disposition in our selves Insomuch that we ought to be humbled even for those very sins from which we are in a manner exempt ◠For that Cain's 〈…〉 blasphemy Doegs murther Pharaohs cruelty Sodoms lust Iudas his treason Iulians apostacy c. are not our sins and as much predominant in us as they were in each of them it is onely Gods free grace and goodness For all of them should have been thine and my sins if God had left us to our selves Lord saith St Austin thou hast forgiven me those sins which I have done and those sins which onely by thy grace I have not done they were done in our inclination to them and even that inclination needs Gods mercy If we escape temptation it is his mercy if we stand in temptation it is his mercy if our wills consent not it is his mercy if we consent and the act be hindered it is his mercy if we fall and rise again by repentance all is his mercy We cry out of Cain Iudas Iulian the Sodomites alas they are but glasses to see our own faces in For as in water face answereth to face so doth the heart of man to man sayes Solomon Prov. 27.19 Even hating of God is by the Holy Ghost charged upon all men Rom. 1.30 Iohn 15.23 24 25. VVe are all cut out of the same piece and as there is the same nature of all Lyons so of all men There is no part power function or faculty either of our souls or bodies which is not become a ready instrument to dishonor God our heart is a root of all corruption a seed plot of all sin our eyes are eyes of vanity our ears are ears of folly our mouths mouths of deceit our hands hands of iniquity and every part does dishonor God which yet would be glorified of him The understanding which was given us to learn vertue is apt now to apprehend nothing but sin the will which was given us to affect righteousness is apt now to love nothing but wickedness the memory which was given us to remember good things is apt now to keep nothing but evil things c. For sin like a spreading leprosie is so grown over us that from the crown of out heads to the sole of our feet there is nothing whole therein but wounds and swellings and sores full of corruption To be short we are as Traitors condemned to suffer eternal torments in Hell fire being onely reprieved for a time Sect. XIII And so much of Original sin which is the pravity naughtiness and corruption of our Nature Psal. 51.5 Now of actual sin which is the transgression of Gods Law 1 Ioh. 3.4 when evil thoughts are consented unto and performed in outward deeds Iames 1.15 Touching which we are to know and take notice that The Law of God is spiritual and therefore requireth not onely outward obedience in word and deed but also inward in minde and heart and that chiefly neither doth it forbid onely the committing of outward sins in word and deed but also all the secret corruptions of the mind and heart Rom. 7.13 14 15. Mat. 5.21 22 27 28. 1 Iohn 3.15 Again where any duty is commanded there the means which tend thereto are enjoyned and where any vice is forbidden there the occasions provocations and Allurements tending thereto are also forbidden Again 〈…〉 it well also in regard of circumstances as namely that it flows from a pious and good heart sanctified by the holy Ghost and be done in faith obedience to the word humility saving knowledge and sincere love to God zeal of his glory and a desire to edifie and win others of which I might give you many examples as of the Iews fasting Isa. 58 3 to 8. of those reprobates preaching in Christs name and casting out devils Matth. 7.21 22 23. of Cain's sacrificing 1 Iohn 3 12. He offered and God abhorred because he cared not for the manner to do it well God cared not for his offering though the act was good Simon Magus believed Herod listned Felix feared Saul obeyed Iezabel fasted the Pharisees prayed but because they did not believe so hear so fear so obey so fast so and pray so as God required and as is before related they were never the more regarded for what they did For love is the fountain of obedience and all external obedience to God without inward love is hypocrisie whereas Christ commends to his disciples the care of keeping his commandments aright as the utmost testimony of their love unto him Ioh. 15.10 Sect. XIV VVhich being so how oft and how many wayes do we all offend For if we but narrowly look into our hearts and lives we shall easily perceive that there is not one of those righteous precepts set down Exod. 20. which we have not broken ten thousand times and ten thousand wayes Yea O God may the best of us say there is no vein in me that is not full of the blood of thy Son whom I have crucified and crucified again by multiplying many and often repeating the same sins there is no artery in me that hath not the spirit of error the spirit of pride of passion of lust the spirit of giddinesse in it no bone in me that is not hardened with the custome of sin nourished and suppled with the marrow of sin no sinews no ligaments which do not tye and chain sin and sin together Yea If we but watch over our own hearts narrowly one day we shall finde an army of unclean thoughts and desires there perpetually fighting against our souls VVhereby we are continually tempted drawn away and enticed through our own concupiscence As how many temptations come in by those Cinque ports the sences how many more by Satans injections presenting to the affections things absent from the sences but most of all by lust it self a thing not created yet as quick as thought tumbling over a thousand desires in one hour For the devil and our flesh meet together every day and hour to ingender new sins which is the reason our sins are counted among those things which are infinite as the hairs of our head the sands of the Sea the stars of Heaven VVe are swift to all evil but to all good immoveable when we do evil we do it cheerfully and quickly and easily but if we do any good we do it faintly and rawly and slackly VVe have used all our wisdom to commit the foolishness of sin our whole conversation
bloody to him to his and thine own soul none that have eyes in their heads and open can be so sottish But Sin is like the juice of poppie called Opium which if the quantity exceed bringeth the patient into a deep sleep that he never awaketh Sinners dream they are awake but indeed they are fast asleep yea with Sardis they are dead while they think they are alive And indeed this misprision or mistake this very opinion of being in ease good enough keeps a man out of all possibility of being bettered for what we presume to have attained we seek not after Yea this conceited righteousnesse is the onely cause of all unrighteousnesse and many a man had been good if he had not at present so thought himself Until Paul was humbled to the very ground trembling and astonished he never asked Iesus what wilt thou have me to do And the like of those Converts that were prickt in their hearts at Peters searching Sermon upon their being convinced that they were the murtherers of the Lord of Life Acts 2.36.37 38. Sect. XXVI In the last place touching their Election this is an infallible truth Whomsoever God hath appointed to salvation to them he hath appointed the means also which is holiness Indeed a man may be so bold of his Predestination as to forget his conversation so he may dream himselfe in Heaven and waken from that dream in Hell Gods purpose touching the end includes the means Though God had promised Paul that his company should not be drowned yet he told the Mariners that unless they kept in the ship they should be drowned Acts 27.22 23 31. as if their safety should not be without means Rebekah had Gods Oracle for Iacobs life yet she sent him away out of Esaus reach It was impossible for Herod to hurt the child Iesus yet he must flie into Egypt And so I have shown in the last place what are the conditions of the new Covenant and to whom the promises belong which is all that I undertook Now if men will yet goe on and perish in their impenitency their blood be on their own heads and not on mine I have discharged my duty Nevertheless least the single evidence that I bring from the Word of Truth should not prove sufficient to gain your credence to what hath been spoken And because examples give a quicker impression then arguments I have one thing more to crave of thee which is that thou wilt also hear the confession of two parties in the ensuing or second part of this Discourse that were lately in thy very condition though now by the Infinite goodness of God they have their eyes opened and their hearts changed to see and know both what it is to be in the state of nature and what to be brought into the glorious liberty of the sons of God that so by a three fold cord you may be drawn to accept of salvation upon Gods own terms whereas otherwise you can no way escape his eternal wrath The ensuing or second part which I would request you to read and minde is A happy Conference between a Formalist converted and a loose Libertine intituled An experimental Index of the Heart And so much of the first Part the second followeth FINIS Sold onely by Iames Crump in Little Bartholomews VVell-yard and by Henry Cripps in Popes-head-Alley At the same places there are also to be sold five and thirty other Pieces of Practical Divinity composed by the same Author 1660. This sheet and half with â—ower other sheets of as considerable matter are all to be had for a Penny at the Black Swan by Moorâ— gaâ—e AN Experimental INDEX of the HEART OR self-SELF-KNOWLEDGE In which As in a Looking-glasse the civillest of men may see what need they have of a Redeemer and that it most deeply concerns them with all speed to sue out their pardon in Christ and to rely wholly and only upon Free-grace for pardon and Salvation except they prefer an everlasting furnace of fire and brimstone in Hell before an eternal weight of superabundant glory in Heaven as all most sottishly do that by sinne and Satan are bewitched Drawn up and published for the good of all By R. Younge of Roxwell in Essex Florilegus Add this as a Third Part to the Trial of true Wisdom and those Three Fundamental Principles of Christian Religion Intituled A short and sure Way to Grace and Salvation Sect. XXVII A Loose Libertine meeting with his Friend that had lately been a Formal Christian he greets him as followeth SIR methinks I have observed in you a strange alteration since our last meeting at Middleburrough not only in your behaviour company and converse but even in your countenance What is the matter if I may be so bold Convert Truly Sir you are not at all mistaken nor am I unwilling to acquaint you with the cause if you can affoard to hear it Soon after my return into England I was carried by a Friend to hear a Sermon where the Minister so represented the very thoughts secrets and deceitfulnesse of my heart unto my conscience that I could not but say of him as the woman of Samaria once spake of our Saviour He hath told me all things that ever I did Which made me conclude with that Vnbeliever 1 Cor. 14 24 25. That God was in him of a truth nor could he ever have so done if he were not of God As the young man in the Gospel reasoned with the Pharisees touching Iesus when he had opened his eyes that had been blind from his birth Joh. 9.32 33. Whereupon I could have no peace nor râ—st untill I had further communed with him about my estate for I found my self in a lost condition touching Eternity It faring with me as it did wiâ—h those Iews Act. 2. when Peter by his searching Sermon had convinced them that Christ whom they had by wicked hands crucified and slain was the only Son of God and Lord of glory ver 36 37. And having had the happinesse to enjoy the benefit of his sage advice as I stood in need thereof God having given him the tongue of the learned to administer a word in season to them that are weary Isa 50.4 I blesse God his Word and Spirit hath wrought in me such a change and strange alteration that it hath opened mine eyes that were blind before inclined my will to obedience which before was rebellious softened my heart sanctified and quite changed my affections so that I now love that good which before I hated and hate that evil which before I loved and am delighted with those holy exercises which heretofore did most displease me and am displeased with those vain pleasures and filthy sins which in times past did most delight me Which is such a mercy that no tongue is able to expresse For till that hour I went on in the broad way and worlds road to destruction without any mistrust whereas now God hath been pleased to
how peevishly averse they are to their own eternal salvation let us pity them as being so much more worthy our commiseration as they are more uncapable of their own misery And so much of the First sort namely Sensuallists Sect. 43. SEcondly There is another degree of Knowledge that is accrued or obtained by education and learning observation and experience called natural or speculative knowledge or reason improved For humane learning is as oyl to the lamp of our reason and makes it burn cleerer but faith and illumination of the spirit more than doubles the sight of our minds as a prospective glass does the corporal sight Matth. 16.17 1 Cor. 2.7 to 17. Joh. 12 46. For as the soul is the lamp of the body and reason of the soul and religion of reason and faith of religion so Christ is the light and life of Faith Joh. 1.9 8.12 Act. 26.18 Eph. 5.14 Christ is the sun of the soul reason and faith the two eyes reason discerns natural objects faith spiritual and supernatural We may see far with our bodily eye sence farther with the minds eye reason but farther with the souls eye faith than with both And the Beleever hath the addition of Gods spirit and faith above all other men I am the light of the world saith our Saviour he that â—olloweth me meaning by a lively faith shall not walk in darkness but shall have the light of life Joh. 8.12 and more see two eyes than one yea the day with one eye does far more things descry than night can do with more than Argos eyes So that as meer sense is uncapable of the rules of reason so reason is no less uncapable of the things that are divine and supernatural Jer. 10.14 1 Cor. 2.14 15 16. Eph. 5.8 And as to speak is only proper to men so to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven is only propper to believers Psal. 25.14 Prov. 3.32 Amos. 3.7 Now of natural and speculative knowledge the wicked have as large a share as the godly but of spiritual experimental and saving knowledge which is supernatural and descendeth from above Jam. 3.17 and keepeth a man from every evil way Prov. 2.12 the wicked have no part with the godly Whence all men in their natural condition are said to be blind and in darkness Matth. 4.16 15.14 Eph. 4.18 19. 5.8 Whereas believers are called children of light and of the day 1 Thes. 5.5 1 Pet. 2.9 Nor is this kind of knowledge any way attainable but by Grace from above No learning experience or pains in studdy and Books will bring them to it Ephe. 1.17 18. 3.19 except they become new creatures have hearts eyes and eares sanctified from above and that the holy Ghost becomes their teacher Deut. 29.2 3 4. Psal. 111.10 Joh. â—â— 15 Rom. 8.14 15. Nor is it saving knowledge that they seek after For though many of them be great seekers after knowledge great pains-takers to become wise yet it is not divine and supernatural knowledge that they labor for or desire Indeed wisdom in the largest sense hath ever carried that shew of excellency with it that not only the good have highly affected it as Moses who studied for wisdom and Solomon who prayed for wisdom and the Queen of Sheba who travelled for wisdom and David who to get wisdom made the word his counsellor hated every false way and was a man after Gods own heart but the very wicked have labored for it who are ashamed of other vertues as O the pleasure that rational men take in it Prov. 2.3 10 11. 10.14 Phil. 3.8 Knowledge is so fair a virgin that every cleer eye is in love with her it is a pearl despised of none but swine Prov. 2.3.10.11 whereas brutish and blockish men as little regard it they who care not for one dram of goodness would yet have a full scale of knowledge Amongst all the trees of the garden none so pleaseth them as the tree of knowledge And as wisdom is excellent above all so it is affected of all as oyl was both of the wise and foolish virgins It hath been a mark that every man hath shot at ever since Eve sought to be as wise as her Maker but as a hundreth shoot for one that hitts the white so an hundred aim at wisdom for one that lights upon it Eccles. 7.28 because they are mistaken in the thing For as Iacob in the dark mistook Leah for Rachael so many a blind soul takes that to be wisdom which is not like Eve who thought it wisdom to eate the forbidden fruit and Absalom who thought it wisdom to lye with his Fathers Concubines in the sight of all the people and the false Steward who thought it wisdom to deceive his Master And so of Josephs brethren of Pharoah and his deep counsellors of Achitophel of Herod of the Pharisees in their project to destroy Jesus and many the like All these thought they did wisely but they were mistaken and their projects proved foolish and turned to their own ruine Sect. 44. BUt take some Instances to prove that all sorts of Naturians are Fools in comparrison of the Godly I 'le begin with those that repuâ—e themselves and are reputed by others the wisest amongst men And they are your profound Humanists and cunning Polititians wherein you shall see whether the most and greatest number are not grosly mistaken in their opinions and verdicts touching Wisdom First for profound Humanists a man would think that they were incomparably wise for none so thirst after knowledge and wisdom as they to get it they are no niggards of their labor nor do they leave any thing unstudied but themselves They know all parts and places of the created world can discourse of every thing visible and invisible divine humane and mundane whether it be meant of substances or accidents are ignorant of nothing but the way to heaven are acquainted with all Laws and customs save the Law of God and customs of Christianity they are strangers no where but in the court of their own consciences Yea they build as hard and erect as high as did the Babel-builders but all to no purpose they never come to the roof and when they die they are undone They spend all their time in seeking after wisdom as Alchimists spend all their estates to find out the Philosophers stone but never find it they never attain to that which is true wisdom indeed For as the ragged Poet told Petronius that Poetry was a kind of learning that never made any man rich so humane learning of it self never made a wise man As thus if I may be so bold what is it or what does it profit a man to have the etymologie and derivation of wisdome and knowledge without being affected with that which is true wisdom indeed to be able to decline vertue yet not love it to have the theory be able to prattle of wisdom by rote yet not
know what it is by effect and experience To have as expert a tongue and as quick a memory as Portius a perfect understanding great science profound eloquence a sweet stile To have the force of Demosthenes the depth of Thesius the perswasive art of Tully c. if withal he wants Grace and lives remissely With the Astronomer to observe the motions of the heavens while his heart is buried in the earth to search out the causeâ—f â—f many effects and let pass the consideration of the principal and most necessary With the Historian to know what others have done and how they have sped while he neglecteth the imitation of such as are gone the right way With the Law-maker to set down many Lawes in particular and not to remember the common Law of nature or Law general that all must die Or lastly with Adam to know the Nature of all the Creatures and with Solomon to be able to dispute of every thing even from the Cedar to the Hyssop or Pellitory when in the mean time he lives like Dives dyes like Nabal and after all goes to his own place with Iudas Alas many a Fool goes to hell with lesse cost less pains and far more quiet that is but raw knowledge which is not digested into practice It is not worth the name of knowledge that may be heard only and not seen Ioh. 13.17 Deut. 4.6 Good discourse is but the froth of wisdom the sweet and solid fruit of it is in well framed actions that is true knowledge that makes the knower blessed We only praise that Mariner that brings the ship safe to the haven What sayes Aristotle to be wise and happy are terms reciprocal And Socrates that learning saith he pleaseth me but a little which nothing profits the owner of it either to vertue or happiness And being demanded Who was the wisest and happiest man He Answered He that offends least He is the best schollar that learns of Christ obedience humility c. He is the best Arithmetitian that can add grace to grace he is the best learned that knows how to be saved Yea all the Arts in the world are artless Arts to this Sect. 45. THe best knowledge is about the best things and the perfection of all knowledge to know God and our selves Knowledge and learning saith Aristotle consisteth not so much in the quantity as in the quality not in the greatness but in the goodness of it A little gold we know is more worth than much dross a little diamond than a rocky mountain So one drop of wisdom guided by the fear of God one spark of spiritual experimental and saving knowledge is more worth than all humane wisdom and learning yea one scruple of holiness one dram of faith one grain of grace is more worth than many pounds of natural parts And indeed Faith and Holiness are the nerves and sinews yea the soul of saving knowledge What saith Aristotle No more than the knowledge of goodness maketh one to be named a good man no more doth the knowledge of wisdom alone cause any person properly to be called a wise man Saving knowledge of the truth works a love of the truth known yea it is a uniform consent of knowledge and action He only is wise that is wise for his own soul he whose conscience pulleth all he hears and reads to his heart and his heart to God who turneth his knowledge to faith his faith to feeling and all to walk worthy of his Redeemer He that subdues his sensual desires and appetite to the more noble faculties of reason and understanding and makes that understanding of his to serve him by whom it is and doth understand He that subdues his lusts to his will submits his will to reason his reason to faith his faith his reason his will himself to the will of God this is practical experimental and saving knowledge to which the other is but a bare name or title A competnet estate we know well husbanded is better than a vast patrimony neglected Never any meer man since the first knew so much as Solomon many that have known less have had more command of themselves Alas they are not alwayes the wisest that know most For none more wise and learned in the worlds account than the Scribes and Pharisees yet Christ calls them four times blind and twice fools in one chapter Matth. 23. And the like of Balaam 2 Pet. 2.16 who had such a prophetical knowledge that scarce any of the Prophets had a cleerer revelation of the Messiah to come And the same may be affirmed of Judas and Athitophel for many that know a great deal less are â—ar wiser Yea one poor crucified thief being converted in an hours time had more true wisdom and knowledge infused into him than had all the Rulers Scribes and Pharisees It is very observable what the High Priest told the Council as they were set to condemne Christ Ye know nothing at all he spake truer than he meant it for if we know not the Lord Iesus our knowledge is either nothing or nothing worth Rightly a man knows no more than he practiseth It is said of Christ 2 Cor. 5.21 that he knew no sin because he did no sin in which sense he knows no good that doth no good These things if ye know saith our Saviour happy are ye if ye do them Joh. 13.17 And in Deut. 4.6 Keep the commandements of God and do them for this is your wisdom and understanding before God and man What is the national sweetness of Honey to the experimental taste of it It is one thing to know what riches are and another thing to be Master of them It is not the knowing but the possessing of them that makes rich Many have a depth of knowledge and yet are not soul-wise have a liberary of divinity in their heads not so much as the least Catechisme in their consciences full brains empty hearts Yea you shall hear a flood in the tongue when you cannot see one drop in the life Insomuch that in the midst of our so much light and means of Grace there be few I fear that have the sound and saving knowledge of Jesus Christ and him crucified which was the only care and study of St. Paul 1 Cor. 2.2 Sect. 46. ANd that I am not mistaken the effect shews For if men knew either God or Christ they could not but love him and loveing him they would keep his commandments Ioh. 14.15 For hereby saith St. John It is manifest that we know him if we keep his commandments 1 Joh. 2.3 But he that sayeth I know him and yet keepeth not his commandments is a lyar and there is no truth in him ver 4. What saith our Saviour This is life eternal to know thee the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent Joh. 17.3 But how shall a man know whether he hath this knowledge Answ. St. John tells you in those last words mentioned
and so plainly that you cannot be deceived except you desire to deceive your own soul. The knowledge of God that saves us is more than a bare apprehension of him iâ— knows his power and therefore fears him knows his justice and therefore serves him knows his mercy and therefore trusts him knows his goodness and therefore loves him c. For he that hath the saving knowledge of God or of Christ hath every other Grace There is a sweet correspondence between every one where there is any one in truth As in the generation the head is not without the body nor the body without each member nor the soul without its powers and faculties so in the regeneration where there is any one grace in truth there is every one 2 Cor. 5.17 If you will see it in particulars read Psa. 9.10 Jer. 9.24 1 Joh. 4.6 Joh. 4.10 1 Joh. 4.7 8. 2.3 Joh 42.5 6. 1 Ioh. 4.7 which Scriptures shew that as feeling is inseparable to all the organs of sense the eye sees and feels the ear hears and feels the pallat tastes and feels the nostrils smell and feel so knowledge is involved in every grace Faith knows and believes Charity knows and loves Patience knows and suffers Temperance knows and abstains Humility knows and stoops Repentance knows and mourns Obedience knows and does Confidence knows and rejoyces Hope knows and expects Compassion knows and pities Yea as there is a power of water in every thing that grows it is fatness in the olive sweetness in the figg cheerfulness in the grape strength in the oak taleness in the cedar redness in the rose whiteness in the lilly c. so knowledge is in the hand obedience in the mouth benediction in the knee humility in the eye compassion in the heart charity in the whole body and soul piety Alas If men had the true knowledg of Jesus Christ it would disperse and dispel all the black clouds of their reigning sins in a moment as the Sun does no sooner shew his face but the darkness vanisheth or as Caesar did no sooner look upon his enemies but they were gone Egypt swarmed with locusts till the west wind came that left not one He cannot delight in sin nor dote upon this world that knows Christ savingly Vertue is ordained a wife for knowledg and where these two joyn there will proceed from them a noble progine a generation of good works Again as the water engendereth ice and the ice again engendereth water so knowledg begets righteousness and righteousness again begetteth knowledg It is between science and conscience as it is between the stomack and the head for as in mans body the raw stomack maketh a thumatick head and the thumatick head maketh a raw stomach so science makes our conscience good and conscience makes our science good Nor is it so much scientiae capitâ—s as conscientia cordis that knows Christ and our selves whence Solomon saith Give thine heart to wisdom Prov. 2.10 and let wisdom enter into thine heart Prov. 4.4 And when he would acquaint us 〈…〉 become wise he tells us that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom Prov. 1.7 as if the first lesson to be wise were to be 〈…〉 If it be asked Why the natural man perceiveth not the â—ings of the spirit of God Saint Paul answers he cannot know them because they are spiritually discerned 1 Cor. 2.14 and indeed iâ—â—hey 〈◊〉 spiriâ—ually discerned how should they descern them 〈…〉 spirit For though the outward man receiveâ— the eleme 〈…〉 â—udiments of Religion by breeding and education yet his 〈…〉 veth them by heavenly inspiration 1 Cor. 2.11 12 13 12.3 8 Matth 16 16 17. Deut. 29 2 3 4 Psa. 111. â—0 Luke 24 4◠〈◊〉 15 15. â—nd â—his alone is enough to prove that no wickeâ— man 〈…〉 man for if God alone be the giver of it we may be suâ—â— that 〈◊〉 will 〈◊〉 his secrets to none but such as he knows will improve their knowledge to his glory and the good of others Even as the husband man will not cast his seed but into ground that will return him a good harvest Psa. 25.14 Luke 24.45 Mark 4.34 Gen. 18.17 1 Joh. 4.7 Sect. 47. BUt would these men any one even the best of them thus improve or imploy their knowledge Or do they desire it to any such end No but to some other end as I shall in the next place acquaint you Some men desire not to know some desire only to know Or rather thus Few men in comparison desire knowledge fewer that desire divine and supernatural knowledge fewest of all that desire to be the better or that others should be the better for their knowledge More particularly a world of men desire knowledg for no other end but to remove their ignorance as Pharaoh used Moses but to remove the plagues Others again study the Scriptures and other good Books only to make gain thereof or to be the abler to dispute and discourse as boys go into the water only to play and paddle there not to wash and be clean With Eve they highly desire the tree of knowledg but regard not the tree of life As I would fain know what fruit or effect the knowledge of most men produces in them except it be to inable them to dispute and discourse to increase wit oâ—â—o increase wealth or to increase pride or perhaps to increase Athiesm and to make them the more able and cunning to argue against the truth and power of Religion Whether the utmost of their aim be not to enrich dignifie and please themselves not once casting the eye of their souls at Gods glory their neighbors good or their own salvation Whether their main drift be not purchasing of a great estate for them and theirs with out either fear of God regard of men or the discharge of their duty and calling Again whereas a godly man and a good Christian thinks himself as happy in giving light to others as in receiving it himself how many are there who as themselves are never the better I mean in regard of Grace for their great wisdom and learning so no more are others for commonly they resemble dark Lanthorns which have light but so shut up and reserved as if it were not and what is the difference betwixt concealed skill and ignorance It is the nature and praise of good to be communicative whereas if their hidden knowledge do ever look out it casts so sparing a light that it only argues it self to have an unprofitable being And for the most part these men if they may be thought great Rabbies deep and profound Schollars this is the night of their ambition though neither the Church be benefited nor God glorified by it whereas they ought the contrary for as the grace of God is the fountain from which our wisdom flows so the glory of God should be the Ocean to which it should run yea that God may be honoured with and by
But in praying for Wisdom do not pray for it without putting difference desire not so much brain-knowledg as to be Soul-wise and then you will imploy your wisdom to the glory of the giver Let thine hearts desire be to know God in Christ Christ in Faith Faith in good works to know Gods vvill that thou mayest do it and before the knowledg of all other things desire to knovv thy self in thy self not so much thy strength as thy vveakness Pray that thine heart may serve thee insteed of a commentary to help thee understand such points of Religion as are most needful and necessary and that thy Life may be an Exposition of thy invvard man that there may be a sweet harmony betwixt Gods VVord thy judgment and vvhole conversation that what the natural man knoweth by roat thou mayst double by feeling the same in thine heart and affections As indeed experimental and saving knovvledg is no less felt than knovvn and I cannot tell how comes rather out of the abundance of the heart than by extreme study or rather is sent by God unto good men like the Ram that was brought to Abraham when he would have Sacrificed his son Isaak When Christ taught in the Temple they asked Hovv knovveth this man the Scriptures seeing he never learned them So it is a wonder what learning some men have that have no learning Like Prisilla and Aquila poor Tent-makers who were able to school Apollos that great Clerk a man renovvned for his learning What can we lay to it For no other reason can be given but as Christ said Father so it pleaseth thee For as Jacob said of his venison when his Father ask'd how he came by it so suddenly Because the Lord thy God brought it suddenly to my hands So holy and righteous men do more easily understand the words of God than do the wicked because God brings the meaning suddenly to their hearts as we read Luk. 24. That Christ standing in the midst of his Apostles after he vvas risen from the dead opened their understandings that they might understand clearly the Scriptures and vvhat vvas vvritten of him in the Lavv of Moses and in the Prophets and in the Psalms vers 44.45 Lo how suddenly their knowledge came unto them But see what a general promise God in the Person of wisdom hatâ—h made to all that serve him Prov. 1. Turn you at my reproof and behold I will pour out my spirit unto you and make known my words unto you vers 23. And Psal. 25. The secrets of the Lord are revealed to them that fear him and his covenant is to give them understanding vers 14. These secrets are hid from the wicked neither hath he made any such covenant with them but the contrary As see Dan. 12.10 Unto you it is given to knovv the secrets of the Kingdom of Heaven but to othres in Parrables that they seeing should not see and hearing they should not understand Luke 8.10 Mark 3 11 Matth 13 13 Again It is not enough to pray except also it be in Christs name and accrding to his vvill believing to be heard for his sake and that it be the intercession of Gods ovvn spirit in you And being truly sensible of your sins and wants that you chiefly pray for the pardon of sinne the effusion of grace and for the assistance of Gods Spirit that you may more firmly believe more soundly repent more zealously doe more patiently suffer and more constantly persevere in the practice and profession of every duty But above all you must know that as Sampsons companions could never have found out his Riddle if they had not plowed with his heifer so no man can know the secrets of God but by the revelation of his Spirit 1 Cor. 12.8 Mat. 16.17 Yea suppose a man be not inferiour to Portius or Pythagoras who kept all things in memory that ever they had read heard or seen To Virgil of whom it is reported that if all Sciences were lost they might be found again in him To Aben Ezra of whom it was said that if Knowledge had put out her candle at his brain she might light it again and that his head was a throne of wisdome or Iosephus Scaliger who was skilled in thirty Languages Yet if he want the Spirit of God to be his teacher he is a dunce to the meanest and most illiterate believer For one excellent and necessary prerogative of the spirituall man is this he hath God for his teacher he learns the Counsels of God of that spirit which onely knoweth Gods counsels Luk. 21.15 which is no small priviledge for the scholar learns quickly when the Holy Ghost is his teacher the Eye sees distinctly when the Holy Ghost doth enlighten it With the Spirits helpe the meanes can never be too weake without never strong enough Luk. 24.44 45. Pro. 1.23 § 51. Fourthly Thou must get an humble conceit of thine own wisdome The first step to knowledge is to know our own ignorance We must become fools in our own opinion before we can be truly wise as the Apostle sets it down 1 Cor. 3.18 And indeed the opinion of our knowing enough is one of the greatest causes of our knowing so little For what we presume to have attained we seeke not after Yea the very first lesson of a Christian is humility He will teach the humble his way Psalm 25.9 Jam. 4.6 1 Pet. 5.5 And he that hath not learned the first lesson is not fit to take out a new Pride is a great let to true wisdome For God resisteth the proud and giveth grace to the humble Jam. 4.6 1 Pet. 5.5 Whence it comes to passe that few proud wits are reformed Iohn 9.39 And for this cause also did our Saviour propound his woes to the Pharisees his doctrines to the People A heart full of pride is like a vessell full of aire This self-opinion must be blown out of us before saving knowledge will be poured into us Christ will know none but the humble and none but humble souls truly know Christ. Now the way to become humble is by taking a serious view of our wants The Peacocks pride is much abated when she looks on the blacknesse of her legs and feet Now suppose we know never so much yet that which we know is far lesse then that which we are ignorant of and the more we know the more we know we want Pro. 1.5 7. Psal. 73.22 And the lesse sensible we are of our blindness sicknesse deformity c. the more blinde sick and deformed we are Fifthly Thou must labour to get a true and lively faith For as without faith we cannot please God so without faith no man can know God Faith most cleerly beholds those things which are hid both from the eye of sense and the eye of reason Iohn 12.46 Vnregenerate men that want faith are like blinde Sampson without his guide Or like Poliphemus who never had but one eye and that Vlysses
receive what-ever comes or is offered them be it bribe or other sinful bait not once thinking this is forbidden fruit and thou shalt die the death That think the vowed enemy of their souls can offer them a bait without a hook you cannot but acknowledg them stark fools though thou thy self beest one of the number Again for men to dishonour God and blaspheme his Name while he does support and relieve them to runne from him while he does call them and forget him while he does seed them To imitate the Common Protestants in Queen Maries time who laughed the Martyrs to scorn and esteemed them superstitious fools to lose their lives and fortunes for matters of Religion accounting faith holinesse immortality of the soul c. meer fopperies and illusions To be quick-sighted in other mens failings and blinde to their own Are not these so many infallible properties of a fool and yet these are the lively characters of every sensuallist In so much that if I should give you a list or Catalogue of all the fools in one City or County You would blesse your selves that there are so few Bedlam houses and yet so many out of their wits that can not perceive or discern the same And yet no wonder for as I told you-ere-while Sensual men are so be-nighted and puzled with blindnesse that they know no other way then the flesh leads them Yea many by losse of conscience become Atheists and by losse of reason Beasts Yea to any thing that is spiritually good the natural man is blinde and deafe and dead as ye may see by these ensuing Scriptures 1 Tim. 5.6 Rom. 1.21 22 25. Ephes. 5.14 Isa. 6.9 10. John 12 40. Psal. 69.23 Matth. 4.16 15.14 Ephes. 4.18 19. 5.8 1 Pet. â—9 Acts 28.27 Rom. 11.8 Matth. 23.16 17.19.24.26 27.3 4 5. 2 Pet. 2.16 Revel 3.17 Rom. 6.13 8.11 Micah 7.16 Psal. 58.4 Eph. 2.1 If our Gospel he hid it is hid to them that are lost in whom the god of this world hath blinded 2 Cor. 4â— 3 4. But it is otherwise with the godly as let Satan or the world offer a wise Christian the bait of pleasure or profit his answer shall be I will not buy repentance so dear I will not lose my soul to please my sense If affliction comes he will consider that Gods punishments for sinne calls for conversion from sin and in case God speaks to him by his Word to forsake his evill wayes and turn again to him he will amend his course lest if he heare not the word he should feel the sword Whereas nothing will confute a fool but fire and brimstone The Lord spake to Manasses and to his people but they would not regard Wherefore the Lord brought upon them the Captains of the Host of the King of Ashur that took Manasses and put him in fetters and brought him in chains and carried him to Babel 2 Chron. 33.10 11. Fools saith holy David by reason of their transgression and because of their iniquity Psal. 107.17 From which words Musculus infers that all wilfull transgressors are arrant fools And it is the saying of Cardan That dishonesty is nothing else but folly and madnesse Yea Solomon throughout all his Proverbs by a fool means the natural man and by a wise man a man sanctified O that it were rightly learned and laid to heart by all that are yet in the state of un-regeneracy for it is every one of their cases To conclude in a word Without knowledge the soul is not good Prov. 19.2 The ignorant cannot be innocent I am the light of the world sayes our Saviour John 8.12 12.46 Where light is not Christ is not for Christ is light § 59. And so according to my skill I have performed what I at first promised It remains before we leave it that some use be made thereof that so both wise and weak may learn something from what hath been spoken of this subject Wherefore in the first place If it be so that both the sensual and rational even all that are yet in their natural estate are uncapable of divine and super-natural knowledge that they are blinde touching spiritual things Then let not any carnal wretch hereafter dare to speak evill of the things actions or persons that are out of the reach of his capacity but silently suspend his judgement untill he be better informed For as it pertaineth not to the Rustick to jugde of letters So it belongeth not to natural men to judg of spiritual things Yea let those ignorant ones that have used to speak evill of the way of truth learn to kick no more against the pricks lest they bring upon themselves the same curse that their fellows did who brought up an evill report of the Holy Land Num. 13 32 33. 14.23 14. Yea put case they shall think they do God good service in it as many do in persecuting and putting to death his children and Ambassadors John 16.2 as a world of examples witnesse Yea the Iews thought they did marvellous well in crucifying the Lord of life But what says the holy Ghost Prov. 14. There is a way that seemeth right unto a man but the end thereof are the ways of death vers 12. Even the Powder-traytors thought they merited when they intended to blow up the whole State Alass Natural men are no more fit to judge of spiritual matters then blinde men are sit to judge of colours And yet none more forward then they as you may see by those blinde Sodomites that dealt so roughly and coursely with Lot and his two Angels Gen. 19.1 to 12. That they are ignorant and so unfit is evident of what is recorded of â—ichâ—l 2 Sam. 6.16 Of Nichodemus John 3.4 Of Festus Acts 26.24 And lastly of Paul before his conversion I was saith he a blasphemer a persecutor and an opposer of Christ and his members but I did it ignoâ—â—â—â—ly through unbelief 1 Tim. 1.13 It 's worth your observing too that 〈◊〉 no sooner enlightned with the saving knowledge of Iesus Christ 〈◊〉 was of a contrary judgement and preached that faith which before â—e â—â—â—demned and persecuted And this will be every one of their cases 〈…〉 if not in this life yet hereafter when Hell flames hath opened their eyes they will confesse We fools thought his life madnesse and his end to be without honour How is he now numbred with the children of God and his lot among the Saints And when they shall see it they shall be troubled with horrible fear and shall be amazed at the strangeness of his salvation so far beyond all that they looked for and groaning for anguish of spirit shall say within themselves This is he whom we once had in deâ—ision and in a proverb of reproach therefore have we erred from the way of truth we wearied our selves in the way of wickedness and destruction but as for the way of the Lord we have not known it The light of
minde as the Iewes to this day believe that his Disciples stole him out of the Sepulchre Matth. 28.15 to the hardning of many in their Atheism and Unbelief For what should hinder When Naboth was proved to be a blasphemer of God and Susanna a whore upon oath and the same recorded to posterity when Ieremiah was reported to be an enemy to the State Paul a polluter of the Temple Steven a destroyer of the Law All the Disciples deceivers and Christ himselfe a wine-bibber a Sabbath-breaker a seducer of the people a Belzebub c. So we may perhaps under-goe the like in one kind or other as the Devils servants want neither wit nor malice to devise But what need it trouble us so long as it shall add waight to our Crowns For if we any way suffer for Christ be it but rebuke for his sake happy are we here and great shall our reward be in heaven Mat. 5.11 12. VVherefore let us never be ashamed of our Masters service nor of their censures No matter what Iudas saith touching Maries ointment so long as Christ approves of it Did our Saviour Christ forbear to heal on the Sabbath day because the Scribes and Pharisees took it ill no but rather did it the more Luke 6.7 to 12. and Luke 13.31 32. VVhen Peter and Iohn were charged to speak no more in the name of Iesus their answer was We cannot but speak that which we have heard and seen Acts 4.20 VVhen Michol scoft David and called him fool for his dancing before the Arke His answer was I will be yet more vile and more lowly in mine own eyes He knew that nothing could be more heroical then this very abasement And it is our very case Every scoffing Michol for none else will do it every drunken sot derides our holy profession but with God and the gracious we shall be had in honour Yea our very malicious and scoffing adversaries shall honour us by deriding us Their dispraise is a mans honour their praise his dishonour VVherefore let us imitate St. Austin who as he feared the praise of good men so he detested that of evill and ungodly men And take our Saviours counsel seek to justifie our judgements to the children of wisdome of whom she is justified and not to fools by whom she is daily crucified Neither let any think the better of such whom they extoll for the blinde eat many a flie § 61. Thirdly are the one regenerate the other carnall the one of this world the other chosen out of it the one children of light and of the day the other blinde and in darknesse the one Christs friends the other his enemies do the one live after the flesh the other after the spirit Gal. 5.25 1 Pet. 4.2 Then look we for no love from or peace with them Different dispositions can never agree There can be no amity where there is no sympathy Athens and Sparta could never agree for that the one was addicted to serve Minerva the other Mars Yea when it was said of Phocian and Demosthenes that they could never agree it was answered No how should they when the one drinks water and the other wine Much more may it be applyed to these when the holy Ghost sayes 2 Cor. 6. What communion between light and darknesse what peace between the Believer and the Infidel or unbeliever vers 14 15. And in another place Know ye not that the amity of the world is the enmity of God And that whosoever will be a friend of the world maketh himselfe the enemy of God Jam. 4.4 And again He that is borne after the flesh will persecute him that is born after the Spirit Gal. 4.29 Yea Solomon tels us directly and in plain terms That a wicked man is abomination to the just and that he who is upright in his way is abomination to the wicked Pro. 29.27 Even our very ways which God hath commanded us to walke in are abomination to them VVhence it is that the Naturall man can agree with all that be naturall be they civill or prophane Turkes or Iewes Papists or Atheists because all these agree with him in blindnesse and darknesse But with a sincere and holy Christian a practicer of piety he can never agree because his light is contrary to the natural mans darknesse Grace in the one is a secret disgrace to the other VVherefore to be without enemies or to have such our friends we may rather wish then hope yea once to expect it were an effect of frenzy not of hope Onely let not us by our offending God or jarring amongst our selves put weapons into their hands to wound us withal and then we are sure to have Christ who is able enough to vindicate all our wrongs to assist us and prevent our Enemies § 62. Fourthly If none be truly wise but such as have pass'd the second birth and that this wisdome which makes us differ cometh downe from the Father of lights and that we cannot have it except God vouchsafe to give it us it may teach us to be humble Job 42.6 And not like the Ape that is proud of his Masters jacket And thankefull for Heavenly notions grow not in us wee spin them not out of our own breasts Nor was there any thing in us that makes us differ we slept nigh half our time in ignorance and that wee ever awakened it was onely Gods infinite goodnesse and free grace VVhat cause have we then to blesse the giver And to become suiters to our Saviour in their behalf who are not yet awake That he will be pleased to open their eyes and remove that vail which is laid over their hearts in their hearing the Gospel 2 Cor. 3.14 15 16. And in the mean-time let us condole their disastres and drop some teares in pity and compassion for their great and grievous misery Fifthly and lastly If with God one spark of spiritual experimental and saving knowledge be of more worth then all humane wisdome and learning then strive we after that knowledge that will make us for ever blessed Let us so be learned that we may be saved Let us not in our hearing reading and communication do as little children that looke onely upon the babies in a Booke without regard to the matter therein contained But like men in yeares have more respect to the pith and solidity of the matter then to the phrase and to the profit of our souls then the pleasing of our senses Yea let us so minde what we either hear or read that if any vertue be commended we practice it if any vice condemned we avoid it if any consolation be insinuated we appropriate it if any good example be propounded wee follow it Yea so minde wee what we hear or read as if it were spoke onely to each of us in particular which to do is to be for every happy Good counsell for our young Gulls who will hear no other Ministers but such as flatter sinne and flout
so important a 〈…〉 First If the Sun which is but a creature be so bright and glorious that no mortal eye can look upon the brightness of it how glorious then is the Creator himself or that light from whence it receives its light If the frame of the Heavens and globe of the Earth be so glorious which is but the lower house or rather the foot-stool of the Almighty as the Holy Ghost phraseth it Isa. 66.1 Matth. 5.35 Act. 7.49 how glorious and wonderfull is the Maker thereof and the City where he keeps his Court Or if sinners even the worst of wicked men and Gods Enemies have here in this earthly pilgrimage such variety of enjoyments to please their very senses as who can express the pleasurable variety of Objects for the sight of meats and drinks to satisfie and delight the taste of voyces and melodious sounds to recreate the hearing of sents and perfumes provided to accommodate our very smellings of recreations and sports to bewitch the whole man And the like of honour and profit which are Idols that carnal men do mightily dote upon and take pleasure in though these earthly and bodily joyes are but the body or rather the dregs of true joy what think we must be the soul thereof viz. those delights and pleasures that are reserved for the glorified Saints and Gods dearest darlings in Heaven Again Secondly If natural men find such pleasure and sweetness in secular wisdom lip-learning and brain-knowledg For even mundane knowledg hath such a shew of excellency in it that it is highly affected both by the good and bad As O the pleasure that rational men take therein It being so fair a Virgin that every clear eye is in love with her so rich a Pearl 〈◊〉 at none but Swine do despise it yea among all the Trees in the Garden none so takes with rational men as the Tree of knowledg as Satan well knew when he set upon our first Parents insomuch that Plato thinks in case wisdom could but represent it self unto the eyes it would set the heart on fire with the love of it And others affirm That there is no less difference between the Learned and the Ignorant than there is between the â—â—â—ing and the dead or between men and beasts And yet the pleasure 〈◊〉 â—atural and moral men take in secular and mundane knowledg and leaâ—â—â—g is nothing comparable to that pleasure that an experimental Christian finds in the Divine and Supernatural knowledge of Gods Word which makes David and Solomon prefer it before the honey and the honey-comb for sweetness and to value it above thousands of gold and silver yea before Pearls and all precious stones for worth How sweet then shall our knowledg in Heaven be For here we see but darkly and as it were in a glass or by moon-light but there we shall know even as we are known and see God and Christ in the face 1 Cor. 13.12 Thirdly if meer Naturians have been so taken with the love of Vertue that they thought if a vertuous soul could but be seen with corporal eyes it would ravish all men with love and admiration thereof yea if the very worst of men drunkards blasphemers and the like though they most spitefully scoff at and backbite the people of God yet when they know a man sincere upright and honest cannot choose â—â—◠〈…〉 touching Iohn and King Agrippa touching Paul Sect. 2. Or rather if Gods own people are so ravished with the graces and priviledges which they enjoy upon earth as the assurance of the pardon of sin the peace of a good conscience and joy of the Holy Ghost which is but glorification begun what will they be when they shall enjoy the perfection of glory in Heaven As see but some instances of their present enjoyments here below First if we were never to receive any reward for those small labours of love and duties we do to the glory of God and profit of others we might think our selves sufficiently recompenced in this life with the calm and quietness of a good conscience the honesty of a vertuous and holy life That we can do and suffer something for the love of Christ who hath done and suffered so much to save us That by our works the Majesty of God is magnified to whom all homage is due and all service too little For Godliness in every sickness is a Physitian in every contention an Advocate in every doubt a Schoolman in all heaviness a Preacher and a comforter unto whatsoever estate it comes making the whole life as it were a perpetual Halleluja Yea God so sheds his love abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost that we are in Heaven before we come thither Insomuch that as the fire flyeth to his Sphere the stone hastens to the center the River to the Sea as to their end and rest and are violently detained in all other places so are the hearts of Gods people without their Maker and Redeemer their last end and eternal rest and quietness never at rest like the Needle touched with the Loadstone which ever stands quivering and trembling until it enjoyes the full and direct aspect of the Northern Pole But more particularly How does the assurance of the pardon of sin alone clear and calm alâ— storms of the mind making any condition comfortable and the worst and greatest misery to be no misery To be delivered of a child is no smal joy to the mother but to be delivered from sin is a far greater joy to the soul. But to this we may add the joy of the Holy Ghost and the peace of conscience otherwise called the peace of God which passeth all understanding These are priviledges that 〈◊〉 Paul happier in his chain of Iron than Agrippa in his chain of gold 〈◊〉 Peter more merry under stripes than Caiaphas upon the Iudgment-seat and Steven the like under that shower of stones Pleasures are ours if we be Christs whence those expressions of the Holy Ghost The Lord hath done great things for us whereof we rejoyce Be glad in the Lord and rejoyce ye righteous and shout for joy all ye that are upright in heart Let all that put their trust in thee rejoyce let them even shout for joy Rejoyce evermore and again I say rejoyce rejoyce with joy unspeakable and full of glory Our rejoycing is this the testimony of our conscience Your heart shall rejoyce and your joy shall no man take from you c. So that it is a shame for the faithfull not to be joyfull and they sin if they rejoyce not whatever their condition be The Eunuch no sooner felt the pardon of sin upon his being baptized into the faith of Christ but he went on his way rejoycing Act 8.39 He then found more solid joy than ever he had done in his râ—cheâ— honours and great places under Candace Queen of the Aethiopians 〈◊〉 same time when the Disciples were persecuted they are said to be filled with
number of those that by professing themselves Protestants discredit the Protestant Religion Who because they have been Christened as Simon Magus was received the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper like Iudas and for company go to Church also as Dogs do are called Christians as we call the Heathen Images gods yea and being blinded by the Prince of darknesse 2 Cor. 4.4 think to be saved by Christ though they take up Arms against him and are no more like Christians then Michols Image of Goats hair was like David Who make the world only their god and pleasure or profit alone their Religion Who are so gracelesse that God is not in all their thoughts except to blaspheme him and to spend his daies in the Divel's service Who being Christians in name will scoffe at a Christian indeed Who honour the dead Saints in a cold profession while they worrey the living Saints in a cruel persecution Who so hate Holiness that they will hate a man for it and say of good living as Festus of great Learning It makes a man mad whose hearts will rise at the â—ight of a good man as some stomachs will rise at the sight of sweet meats Whose Religion is to oppose the power of Religion and whose knowledge of the Truth to know how to argue against the Truth Who justifie the wicked and condemne the â—ust who call Zeal madness and Religion foolishness Who love their sins so much above their souls that they will not onely mock their Admonisher scoff at the means to be saved and make themselves merry with their own damnations but even hate one to the death for shewing them the way to eternal life who will condemne all for Round-heads that have more Religion then an Heathen or knowledg of heavenly things then a childe in the womb hath of the things of this life or conscience then an Atheist or care of his soul then a Beast and are mockers of all that march not under the pay of the Divel Who with Adam will become Satans bond-slaves for an Apple and like Esau sell their Birth-right of Grace here and their Blessing of Glory hereafter for a messe of Pottage Who prefer the pleasing of their palates before the saving of their souls who have not onely cast off Religion that should make them good men but reason also that should make them men Who waste virtues faster then riches and riches faster then any virtues can â—et them Who do nothing else but sin and make others sin too who spend their time and patrimonies in Riot and upon Dice Drabs Drunkennesse who place all their felicity in a Tavern or Brothel house where Harlots and Sycophants rifle their Estates and then send them to rob Who will borrow of every one but never intend to satisfie any one Who glory in their shame and are ashamed of that which should and would be their glory Who desire not the reputation of honesty but of good fellowship Who instead of quenching their thirst drown their senses and had rather leave their wits then the wine behinde them Who place their paradise in their throats heaven in their guts and make their belly their god Who pour their Patrimonies down their throats and throw the house so long out at windows that at length their house throws them out of doors Who think every one exorbitant that walks not after their rule Who will traduce all whom they cannot seduce even condemning with their tongues what they commend in their consciences Who as they have no reason so they will hear none Who are not more blinde to their own faults then quick-sighted in other mens Who being displeased with others will flie in their Makers face and tear their Saviours Name in pieces with oaths and execrations as being worse then any mad dog that flies in his Masters face that keeps him Who swear and curse even ouâ— of custome as currs bark yea they have so sworn away all grace thar they count it a grace to swear and being reproved for swearing they will swear that they swore not Or perhaps they are covetous Cormorants greedy Gripers miserly Muck-worms all whose reaches are at riches Who make gold their god and commodity the stern of their consciences Who hold every thing lawful if it be gainful Who prefer a little base peâ—f before God and their own salvations and who being faâ—ted with Gods blessings do spurn at his precepts Who like men sleeping in a boat are carried down the stream of this World until they arrive at their graves-end Death without once waking to bethink themselves whether they are a going to Heaveu or Hell Or Ignorant and Formal Hypocrites who do as they see others do without either conscience of sin or guidance of reason Who do what is morally good more for fear of the Law then for love of the Gospel Who fear the Magistrate more then they fear God or the Divel regard more the blasts of men's breath then the fire of God's wrath will tremble more at â—â—e thought of a Bayliffe or a Prison then of Satan or Hell and everlasting perdition Who will say they love God and Christ yet hate all that any way resemble him are slint unto God wax to Satan have their ears alwaies open to the Tempter shut to their Maker and Redeemer will chuse rather to disobey God then displease great Ones fear more the Worlds scorns then His anger and rather then abridge themselves of their pleasure will incur the displeasure of God Who will do what God forbids yet confidently hope to escape what He threatens Who will do the Divels works onely and yet look for Christs wages expect that Heaven will meet them at their last hour when all their life long they have galloped in the beaten Road towards Hell Who expect to have Christ their Redeemer and Advocate when their consciences tell them that they seldom remember him but to blaspheme him and more often name him in their Oaths and Curses then in their Praiers Who will persecute Honest and Orthodox Christians and say they mean base and dissâ—â—bling Hypocrites Who think they do God service in killing his servants Joh. 10.2 Who will boast of a strong faith and yet fall short of the Divels in believing Jam. 2.19 Who turn the grace of God into wantonness as if a condemned person should head his Drum of Rebellion with his Pardon resolving to be evil because God is good Who will not believe what is written till they feel what is written and whom nothing will confute but fire and brimstone Who think their villainy is unseen because it is unpunished and therefore live like beasts because they think they shall die like beasts Considering the swarms Legions Millions of these I say and many the like which I cannot stand to repeat As also in reference to Levit. 19.17 Isa. 58.1 And out of compassion to their pretious souls there are above twenty several Books purposely composed wherein are proper remedies of
Israel that rather then he would be saved without them he desired the Lord to blot him out of the Book of life Exod. 32.32 And Paul to this purpose saith I could wish my self to be separated from Christ for my brethren that are my kinsmen according to the flesh meaning the Iews Rom. 9.3 And indeed all heavenly hearts are charitable Neither are we of the Communion of Saints if we desire not the blessednesse of others it being an inseparable adjunct or relative to grace for none but a Cain will say Am I my brother's keeper Yea where the heart is thankful and inflamed with theâ— love of God and onr neighbour this will be the principal aim As by my sins and had example I have drawn others from God so now I will all I can draw others with my self to God Saul converted will build up as fast as ever he plucked down and preach as zealously as ever he persecuted And we are no whit thankful for our own salvation if we do not look with charitie and pitie upon the gross mis-opinious and misprisions of our Brethren And what though we cannot do what we would yet we mnst labour to do what we can to win others not to merit by it but to express our thanks Besides it were very dishonorable to Christ not to do so Did you ever know that wicked men Thievs Drunkards Adulterers Persecuters false Prophets or the like would be damned alone no they mis-lead all they can as desiring to have companions Yea. the Pharisees would take great pains compass sea and land to make others two-fold more the children of hell then themselvs as our Saviour expresly witnesseth Mat. 23.15 which may cast a blush upon our cheeks who are nothing so industrious to win souls to God And what a shame is it that our God should not have as faithful servants as he hath unfaithful enemies That wicked men should be at more cost and and pains to please an ill master then we can afford to please so good a God so gracious and so loving a Father Shall they labour so hard for 〈…〉 will but inhance their damnation and shall we think any pains too much for that which will add to the weight of our eternal glory and salvation And what though their case be not onely desperate but almost hopeless as in reason that sin is past cure which strives against the cure nor would these drowning men refuse help were they noâ— wilful murtherers of their own souls yet there is a mercie due even to them And it is our duty to use the means leaving the issue to him who is able to quieken the dead and to make even of stones children to Abraham Witness Manasses in the Old Testament and Paul in the New Yea I suppose that this their sad condition calls for our more then ordinarie compassion Since they have precious souls that must everlastingly live in bliss or wo. And hence it is that the Angels are said to rejoice more at the conversion of such a sinner then for the building up of ninety and nine that are already converted Luk. 15.7 because he to whom God hath given a new heart and spiritual life will be sure to seek out for and use the means of growing in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Iesus Christ. Whereas the former are not onely dead in sin but so buried in the grave of long custome that they cannot stir the least joint no not so much as feel their deadness nor desire life but resist all means tending thereunto Insomuch that the conversion of such an one is held by Divines a greater work or Miracle then the creating of the whole World For in every New Creature are a number of Miracles A blinde man is restored to sight A deaf man to hearing A man possest with many Divels dif-possest Yea A dead man raised from the dead and in every one a stone turned into flesh in all which God meets with nothing but opposition which in the Creation he met not with Wherefore you that by calling to mind your own former blindness and bondage are able to know how it fares with them and accordingly to pity them you that fear God or have any bowels of compassion towards their precious souls use your utmost indeavour to reduce them earnestly admonish them draw them to hear some Boâ—nerges that preaches with power and authority and not as the Scribes Perswade them also to read Books that are convincing c. So shall you discharge your Duty to God shew your love to them your thankfulness to your Redeemer and not a little pleasure your selves For if you do gain them you shall shine as the stars in Heaven for ever and ever Dan. 12.3 Or in case you cannot reclaim them yet he who requires it at your hands Wil return the same into your own bosomes Isai 49.4 5. Prov. 11.18 and 25.22 But I were as good knock at a deaf mans door as press or perswade the most to this duty though thus necessary for those two Idols Discretion cursed Covetousness beare a greater sway with the common Prosessors of this Age then either their Maker or Redeemer Though confident I am others will do more then Isay Phile. 21. Melancthon having found the Word most easily to prevail with him doubted not but his Preaching should do wonders upon otheps but having tried he found and confest That old Adam was too strong for young Melancthon Many Lepers were in Israel in the time of Elizeus the Prophet but none of them was cleansed saving Naaman the Syrian Luke 4.22 to 29. Many are called but few are chosen Matth. 22.14 FINIS Printed by I. Bell and are to be sold by Iames Crumpe in Little Bartholomew Well-yard who will also shew the other Books and tell the place where 〈…〉 Of these Enchiridions a Repenting Prodigal upon occasion of his late return thinks himself bound to give ten thousand for others good and takes it for an incomparable favour that it came into his heart so to do Yielding a threefold reason thereof First because it is probable that that Medecine which hath cured one desperate Patient if it be communicated may work the same effect upon others and that those thoughts which our experience hath found comfortable and useful to our selves should with neglect of all censures be communicated to others Secondly because the retribution of his obedience may in some proportion answer his offence as was that of Pauls who as he had done more evil to the Saints then all the rest of the Apostles so he laboured more then they all in adding to the Church such as should be saved 1 Cor. 15.10 Act. 9.16 Thirdly for that as exemplary offendors leave their inventions and evil practises to posterity whereby they cease not to sin though they cease to live for when dead they are still tempting and still sin so long as they cause sin yea how should not every Turke
things that may make them every way happy as that their prosperity shall be durable and lasting That with riches they shall have credit honour and promotion with long life added That they shall be happy and prosper in all they have or do as having God their Protector who with mercy is said to compass them about on every side Psal. 32.10 That they shall be freed from all fears and dangers and obtein victory over all their enemies together with death hell and the devil That they shall be freed from the Law and likewise from sin and the penalty thereof That they shall have peace external internal eternal And joy even the joy of the holy Ghost which is both glorious and unspeakable That they shall not only persevere but also grow in grace and true wisdom Thâ—t all things whatsoever shall make for their good That both their persons and performances shall be good and acceptable which before were wicked and abominable That by the prayer of faith they shall obtein of God whatsoever they shall ask in Christs Name and according to his Word And in fine all other good things that can be named whether temporal spiritual or eternal are by the promise of God entailed upon them that love him and keep his commandements and upon their seed as I could plentifully and most easily prove were it pertinent to the matter in hand Nor is all this that God hath promised to those that serve him so great a matter comparatively as that we need wonder at it or once question the same For If he spared not his own Son but delivered him to death for us how shall he not with him freely give us all things also Rom. 8.31 32. It is the Apostles argument Great yea too great things are they for us to receive but not too great for the great and good God of Heaven and earth to give all the fear is on our part whether we be such to whom the promise is made For all Gods promises are conditional And though of these outward good things he hath promised abundance yet it is upon the condition of faith and obedience as appears by all the fore-mentioned places so that if we be not wanting in out duty and obedience to God God will not be wanting in any good thing to us Nor can we look that God should make good his promises if we make them void by not observing the condition as that we may do by our distrusting him If we will not dare to trust God upon his promise so confidently as we would a friend or some great man that is able and honest Besides the Lord hath promised that there shall be no want to them that fear him and that no good thing will he with-hold from them that walk uprightly Psal. 34.9 84.11 Where observe two things there shall be no want to such and such shall want no good thing so that he must be such an one to whom the promise is made and he must also be sure that it is good for him which is promised But oftentimes it is not good for a man to abound with earthly blessings as strong drinke is not good for weake brains Yea if any thing be wantiug to a good man he may be sure it is not good for him and then better that he doth want it then that he did enjoy it and what wise man will complain of the want of that which if he had would prove more hurtful then gainful to him as a sword to a mad man a knife to a childe drinke to them that have a Fever or the Dropsie No good thing will God with-hold c. and therefore not wants themselves which to many are also good yea very good things as I could reckon up many want sanctified is a notable means to bring to repentance to work in us amendment of life it stirs up to prayer it weans from the love of the world it keeps us always prepared for the spiritual combate discovers whether we be true believers or hypocrites prevents greater evils of sin and punishment to come It makes us humble conformable to Christ our head increaseth our faith our joy and thankfulnesse our spiritual wisdom and likewise our patience as I have largely shewen in The Benefit of Affliction To coonclude All good things were created for the good and therefore are they called goods because the good God created them for good men to do good withal Therefore as Jacob got the blessing so he gat the inheritance also to shew that as the faithful have the inward blessing so they have the outward blessing too when they will do them good and cause them to do good Yea in this case even as the sheaffs fell before Ruth so riches shall fall in our way as they did to Abraham and Lot and Iacob and Iob and Ioseph upon whom riches were cast they knew not how but as if God had onely said Be rich and they were rich straight But that this is the true and only way to wealth and happiness needs no more proof then that which is recorded of Solomon 1 Kings 3. 2 Chron. 1. where the Lord appearing to him in a dream said Ask what I shall give thee And he asking only an understanding heart to discern between good and evil that he might the better discharge that great place whereunto God had called him wherein Gods glory and the peoples good was his principal aime and end Heare what the Lords answer is Because this was in thine heart and thou hast not asked riches wealth or honour nor the life of thine enemies neither yet hast asked long life but hast asked wisdom and knowledge for thy self that thou mightest judge my people over whom I have made thee King Wisdom and knowledge is granted unto thee and I will give thee riches wealth and honour such as none of the Kings have had that have been before thee neither shall there any after thâ—â— have the like c. Yea he was so surpassing rich that he gave silver in Ierusalem as stones and gave Cedars as the wilde fig-trees that grow abundantly in the plain 1. King 10.27 2 Chron. 1.7 to 13 14 15. Lo the true way to Wealth honour and happiness is to desire grace that we may glorifie God and do good for cleering whereof I 'le give you a similitude A man spies a fair apple on a tree hath a longing desire to it whereupon he falls a shaking the tree with all his might at length it not only comes down but many other come down to him together with it And so much to prove that the way to become rich is first to become godly If any shall ask why the godly are not alwayes nor oft rich notwithstanding these promises I answer that God not seldom withholds these outward blessings from his own people in great love only affording them all things that they have need of Our heavenly Father who knows us better then