Christian without a spice of this sin Ioshua is ready to envy them that seemed by their light to darken his Master Cantharides a venemous worm usually breedeth in Wheat when it is ripe the highest Christians as the greatest Favourites at Court are usually the greatest objects of envy But O t is a sign of a weak eye not to behold the sunshine of others holiness without pain The holy Apostle is enlarged in thanksgiving to God for the faith and love and patience of the Thessalonians and their grace was â— strong cordial to revive him in his sorrows and distress We give thanks to God for you all Remembring without ceasing your work of faith and labour of love and patience of hope in our Lord Iesus Christ. We were comforted over you in all our afflictions and distresse by your faith Nay he was so far from grieving at others graces that he professeth the joy of his life did very much depend upon their perseverance in piety For now we live if ye stand fast in the Lord As if he had said Our life will be but a death in regard of sorrow and grief it will be so doleful a being that it will not deserve the name of a life if ye should once be loose and wandring from the Lord 1 Thes. 1. 2 3 4. 2 Thes. 3. 6 7 8. 1 Colos. 12. Grace cannot but desire and delight in its like He that truly loves his God will rejoyce in his brothers graces because they tend to his Fathers glory and he that truly loves his brother will be glad at his grace because it tends so exceedingly to his brothers good Pedaretus when he could not be admitted to be one of the three hundred among the Spartans went home rejoycing that his Country had three hundred better men then himself Surely then Christians when they behold others sparkling with grace and shining as lights in the World should rejoyce that the blessed God hath some that can do him more service and bring him more glory then themselves Good Wish about a Christians Carriage in Good Company wherein the former heads are applied THe Father of mercies and onely wise God who hath appointed â—he way in which I should walk during the time of my Pilgrimage and understandeth the multitudes of rubs and hinderances that I shall encounter with the power and policy of those enemies which will beset me therein as also how weak I am and unable to hold out how weary I shall soon be and ready to give over if I should travail alone having out of his boundless grace and goodness called me to the communion of Saints that I might be directed by their counsel and encouraged by their company notwithstanding all opposition to run the ways of his commandements I Wish that I may esteem his precept herein as my glorious priviledge improve their society to the greatest advantage both for my own welfare and my Gods honour and delight to converse with those brethren here with whom I hope to dwell in my Fathers house for ever What an inestimable dignity doth my God invest me with in imposing on me so sweet a duty How wretchedly ungrateful should I be if his paths should not be the more pleasant to me for such companions The worth and riches of this society may well invite me to trade with them and give me hopes of profiting by them All the companions on earth of the highest Callings are but a rabbel of Cennel-rakers to this noble society The Prince of this Senate is the Heir of all things the blessed and glorious Potentate such a Soveraign whose dominion is universal from Sea to Sea whose Kingdom is eternal throughout all Generations and even the highest have gloried in being his Subjects The Charter and Priviledges of this Society are the inestimable Covenant of Grace exceeding great and precious Promises wherein pardon of sin peace of conscience new natures adoption justification the love of the blessed God and eternal life are granted to them and entailed on them for ever The Servants of this Corporation are all the creatures in their several places striving which shall do them the greatest kindness They are in league with the stones of the field and the beasts of the field though never so ravenous by nature are at peace with them The glorious Angels pitch their Tents about them and count it their honour to wait upon them both living and dying The Livery in which this company is attired is the Royal Robes of Christs righteousness which renders them without spot or wrinkle and far more beautiful and amiable then Adam in his estate of unspotted innocency Their Garments smell of Myrâ—he Aloes and Cassin and for their richness infinitely surpaâ—â— that cloathing which is of wrought gold Their food is hidden Manna such meat as endureth to eternal life the bread that came down from Heaven the flesh of the Son of God which is meat indeed and the blood of the Son of God which is drink indeed Their inheritance is a Kingdom that cannot be shaken a Crown of life Rivers of pleasures an eternal weight of glory Some Societies have boasted that Kings and Lords have been Free of their Company the King of Kings and Lord of Lords is both Freee and Head of this Society they are his Hephzibah his delight his Segullah his peculiar treasure Ah! who would not have communion with them whose communion is with the Father and Jesus Christ his Son Lord let my ambition be to be enrolled a Citizen of Sion and to walk amongst them worthy of that vocation wherewith thou hast called me since the communion of thy Saints here is some weak resemblance of Heaven where all thy chosen shall glorifie and worship thee without fault and faintness teach me to hallow thy name by doing thy will on earth as it is in heaven I Wish that the gain which I am sure to reap by joyning with Christians in their common stock may make me more diligent at this spiritual trade The greatest priviledges are granted to Corporations not to particular persons The greatest victories are obtainted by Regiments and Brigades not by Souldiers engaged singly against their enemies That Oyntment which yeilded so grateful a savour as to delight God himself was compounded of several spices Exod. 30. 23 24 25. My God hath ordained the communion of the faithful for the building up one another in their most holy faith and if I expect his blessing it must be in his own way The body thrives best when all the members concur to perform their distinct and proper offices for the good of the whole Men make the most ravishing musick when many joyn in consort The two Disciples travelling together found the blessed Jesus to make a third and to warm their hearts with the fire of his heavenly Doctrine How many vessels going in company have returned in safety richly laden with the unsearchable riches in Christ If I am in doubts
be charily lookt to or they fade away so Saints if the Spirit of God were not choyce of them and ever watchful over them would perish How lovely are flowers to the eye how pleasant to the taste how soft to the touch what ornaments to an house How amiable are the children of God to those that have eyes to see his image on them how fragrant is the smell of their Spiknard and Calamus and Cassia what a grace are they to any Family or Society Dost thou walk into thy Garden to observe how thy flowers thrive so Jesus Christ goeth into his garden to see how his plants flowrish Thou wilt not allow any weeds or barren flowers in thy Garden and Jesus Christ will not permit such wicked unprofitable ones in his Church Flowers are lovely and beautiful one day and withered and fallen off the stalk the next so man is a comely living creature one day and a deformed corps the next Thus a Saint may make every flower like the Gilly-flower cordial to him If thou walkeâ—t by a River thou mayst change the water there into spirits by meditation How fitly may thy thoughts be raised by that object to the cleansing refreshing properties of the Word of God to the water of life to the Well of salvation to the river whose streams make glad the City of God to the rivers of pleasures at Gods right hand for evermore The same water which being liquid is penetrated with an horse hair will bear the horse himself when hard frozen So those threats and judgements of God which penetrate deep into the tender consciences of the regenerate enter not at all into the hearts of carnal men hardned by custom in sin and hence thou mayst gather the reason whence the sword of the Word that in some divideth the joynts and marrow in others glanceth only or reboundeth not making the least dinâ— or impression upon their frozen adamantine hearts If thou art eating and drinking thou mayst feed thy soul as well as thy body by meditating on the meat that endureth to everlasting life on that flesh which is meat indeed and that blood which is drink indeed Thou mayst think if my outward man need food and without it cannot subsist surely spiritual food is as needful for my inward man and without it that will starve If a famine of bread and water be so dreadful that the tongues of men cleave under it to the roof of their mouths and their countenances become as black as a coal how dreadful is a famine of the Word of the Lord If natural food be so pleasant and savoury to my taste surely spiritual food is sweeter then the honey and the honey comb If all the labour of man be for his belly what labour doth the soul deserve If the ordinances of my God now are so pleasant to me that my soul is even filled as with marrow and fatness and refreshed as with Wine on the Lees well refined what a blessed day will it be when I shall eat bread in the Kingdom of Heaven and drink new wine in my Fathers Kingdom O blessed are they that are called to the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. If thou beholdest thy candle thou mayst consider how that light which makes small shew in the day yeilds a glorious lustre in the night not because the Candle hath then more light but because the Air hath then more darkness so that holiness and grace which in a day of prosperity and life seems of small worth and price in a night of adversity and death will be of infinite value Or thus I set up this candle to help and direct me about my business so God sets up the candle of my life and affords me the light of his word for me to work out my salvation not to play by them Or thus this candle is spending it self for my good so I should be willing to spend and be spent for the good of others souls Or this Candle is always consuming and will at last be quite wasted so is my life daily wearing away and ere long will be quite extinguished The great Candles whilst they burn make the greater light but when they go ouâ— leave the greater stench So ungodly men the greater they are the more they shine with glory whilst they live but when they die leave the more stinking savour behind them If thou art putting off thy cloaths thou mayst ponder thy duty to put off the old man which is corrupt according to his deceitful lusts and to put off the works of darkness as also that ere long thou shalt put off thine earthly tabernaâ—le Art thou lying down in thy bed thou mayst think of thy grave wherein thou must shortly lye down and never rise up till the morning of the resurrection Is the night dark thou mayst meditate thence on the darkness of thy mind naturally of the works of darkness of the blackness of darkness for ever Ah! what a dark dungeon is Hell where not the least spark of light appears though so much fire My night will end but sinners evening will find no morning If a bed be so refreshing to my wearied body how refreshing is a Redeemer to a wearied soul How lovingly he inviteth me Come to me all that are weary I will give you rest and how refreshing will tha God! When thou wakest in the morning thou mayst say with the Psalmist When I awake I shall be satisfied with thy likeness or When I awake I am still with thee or rouse thy self up with Awake to righteousness and sin not Awake thou that sleepest arise and call upon thy God When thou art rising thou mayst meditate on the Churches garment of needle work the fine linnen of the Saints righteousness thy putting on the new man created after God in righteousness and true holiness thy putting on that most excellent cloathing which is for warmth for ornament and defence the Lord Iesus Christ. Dost thou look on the glass to dress thy self think of the glass of Gods law how necessary it is daily to look into it for the discovery of thy spiritual spots and filth Dost thou wash thy hands O wash thy heart from wickedness and forget not that great laver of the blood of Jesus Christ. Doth thy stomach call for some food think of thy spiritual appetite and how savoury it will make the dainties of Gods house to thee They did all eat of the same spiritual meat and they did all drink the same spiritual drink they drank of that spiritual rock that followed them and that rock was Christ. Art thou to go about buying or selling or worldly bargains take some thoughts of buying that one Pearl of great price which the wise Merchant sold all he had to purchase of buying that gold of grace and fine linnen of the Saints righteousness Mat. 13. 44. Rev. 3. 18. Amongst all thy gains and gettings consider What will it profit a man to gain the
strong This Sampson of death can fetch meat out of the eater and out of the strong sweetness Deaths harbinger sickness which prepareth its way before it will make me melt like Wax before the Sun though my strength were the strength of stones and my flesh as brass Fresh Flowers are cropt in their pride and greatest beauty The Autumn of death comes ordinarily before the winter of old age Besides I am liable every day to many sudden accidents and unexpected surprisals How many die in their Shops or Fields or in the Church or Streets as well as others in their beds All men do not go out of the world at the fore door of sickness many at the back-door of a violent death When my blood frisketh merrily in my veins and light sparkleth gloriously in mine eyes when my countenance is most fresh and lovely and my senses are most quick and lively even then aâ— my best estate I am altogether vanity I may draw a long line of life because nature may afford radical moysture enough for it when death lieth in ambush like a theif in the candle and wasteth all on a sudden Should I as the rich fool reckon falsly to a million when I cannot count truly to one and promise my self many days when my soul may be required of me this night how gross is my delusion Ah how sad how fatal is that error that can never be mended The time past is gone and never never to be called back All my prayers and tears all the revenues of the world cannot regain the last moment The time to come is Gods not mine own It is not in my hands therefore I have no reason to reckon upon it I am both foolish and dishonest if I dispose of anothers goods Reversions are uncertain and he may well be poor that hath no estate but what he hath in hope or rather presumption Lord thou reckonest my life not by ages no not by years but by days thou hast told me that my days are few my time is little though my work be great I acknowledge my proneness to put far from me my dying day whereby I gratifie my grand enemy in drawing nigh to the seat of iniquity O help thy servant to live every day as if it were his last day Grant that I may live well and much though my life be little and short because there is no day of my life in which I can promise my self security from the arrest of Death let me expect it every day and every hour of every day that when ever my Lord shall come I may be found well-doing I Wish that since the eye of my God is ever on me my eye may be ever on him and I may be so pious as to carry my self all the day long as in his presence What ever I do my God observeth whatever I speak my God heareth whatever I think he knoweth I may call every place I come into Mizpeh The Lord watcheth and observeth Ah how holy should he be who hath always to do with so pure and jealous a Majesty The Iews were to dig and cover the natural excrements of their bodies because the Lord their God walked in the midst of their camp Sin is the spiritual excrement of my soul and infinitely more odious and loathsom to my God O how watchful should I be against it who walk ever in his company The Sun is said by some to be all eye because it hath a thousand beams in every place it filleth the largest windows and peepeth in at the smallest key-hole it shineth on the Princes Pallace and the Poor mans Cottage the Heavens above the Earth beneath and Air between it looks on every person with so direct a countenance as if it beheld none beside The natural Sun is darkness to the Sun of righteousness the whole world to him is a sea of glass he seeth it thorough and thorough The Watch-maker knoweth all the wheels and pins and motions in the Watch He that made me cannot be ignorant of me nor of any thing in me or done by me Whether I be in my Shop or Closet Abroad or at Home in Company or Alone the Hand of my God is with me and the Eye of my God upon me O that I could set him ever before me and set my self ever before him that I could always see him who always seeth me and like a Sun-dyal so receive this Sun in the morning as to go along with him all the day Lord thou searchest and knowest me thou knowest my down-sitting and uprising thou understandest my thoughs afar off Thou compassest my paths and lying down and art acquainted with all my ways For there is not a word in my tongue but O Lord thou knowest it altogether Whither shall I go from thy Spirit and whither shall I flee from thy presence If I ascend up to Heaven thoâ— art there If I make my bed in Hell behold thou art there If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the utmost parts of the Sea even there shall thy hand lead me and thy right hand shall hold me If I say surely the darkness shall cover me even the night shall be light about me Yea the darkness hideth not from thee but the night shineth as the day The darkness and the light are both alike to thee O teach me to walk before thee and to be upright I Wish that the end of all my days may be the beginning of every day that my first thoughts in the morning may be of him by whom alone I think The Firstling under the Law was to be the Lords and why not the first fruits of every day under the Gospel Surely the worthiness of the person deserves precedency of dispatch It is no mean incivility to let an honourable man wait our leasure what impiety is it then to let the great God stay till the dreggy flesh or world be served Ah how unworthy as well as wicked is it to put that God off who deserves all I am and have with the leavings of his slaves Besides the soul usually walks up and down all day in the same habit in which it is dressed in the morning The day is usually spent well or ill according to the morning employment If Satan get possession in the morning t will be many to one but he keeps his hold all day What youth is to age that is the morning to the day if youth be not tainted with vice age is imployed in vertue He that loves chastity will not marry her that spent her youth in whordom A man may give a shrewd guess in the morning when second causes are in working what weather will be most part of the day If I set out early in my heavenly journey I am the more likely to persevere in it all the day As some sweet Oyls poured into a Vessel first will cause whatsoever is put into it afterwards to taste and
the soul By these Hand-maids he wooeth the Mistress But the sick bed is a Book in which I may read their deceitfulness and treachery their perfidiousness and fallacies and thereby learn to avoid them Further I may read the sinfulness of sin in others sickness That Parent must needs be a deformed monster that begets such uncomely and ill-favoured children In the dreadful effects I may behold the poisonous cause Man had never known sickness in his body if he had not known sin experimentally in his soul T is the plague and stone of the heart that causeth those in the flesh When I behold the sick man labouring under his distemper how he is chastened with pain upon his bed and the multitude of his bones with strong pain so that his life abhorreth bread and his soul dainty meat How his flesh is consumed away that it cannot be seen and his bones stick out he is filled with tossings too and fro unto the dawning of the day When I behold his eyes sinking his heart panting hiâ— Wife and Children wailing and wringing their hands his friends weeping his tongue faltering his throat ratling his breath failing his strength languishing his whole body in a cold clammy sweat wrestling with his pain and disease may I not well cry out O what an evil is sin which bringeth all this upon the poor Children of men My Redeemer is therefore said to bear our sicknesses because he bare our sins in his body on the tree 1 Pet. 2. 24. Mat. 8. 17. And in all his applications for the cure of the diseased he had an eye to the root of the malady To one that was diseased he said Be of good cheer thy sins are forgiven thee To another Sin no more lest a worse thing come unto thee When the Angel was smiting Israel with a Pestilence holy Davids thoughts ran upon the procuring cause I have sinned I have done very wickedly My God teacheth Israel the grievous nature of their defilement in the greatness of those judgements which they brought upon them Speaking of his severity towards them he tells them Thy way and thy doings have procured those things unto thee this is thy wickedness because it is bitter because it reacheth unto thine heart Ier. 4. 18. Our bodies are full of natural corruption because our souls are full of moral corruption O how fitly may I therefore when I behold the evil of affliction on others abhor and bewail the evil of sin in my self Once more I may be instructed in the necessity of a timely preparation for such an hour of affliction Can I think a â—ick bed a fit place an hour of pain and grief a meet season to begin that great business of turning from sin of loathing my self for all my abominations and working out my own salvation Is it rationally to be imagined that trembling joynts dazelled eyes a fainting heart failing limbs a body full of aches and diseases a soul sympathizing with it and full of vexation and grief should be fit instruments about such a work which an angelical strength and agility and freedom is little enough for Ah What wise man would build his eternal making and welfare upon such a tottering and sandy foundation The greatest strength and longest time and most vigorous health is not in the least degree too much for this needful and weighty business and shall I put it off till my strength fails my health is gone and my time near its last sand Lord Beside all these I may learn the excellency of thine Image and thy favour Sickness cannot waste them nor death it self destroy them Where the Curtains are drawn and the windows close in the darkest chamber of the dying man the comeliness of thy likeness and the sweetness of thy love are most sparkling and glorious The want of outward comforts doth convince the unbeleiving world of the worth of eternal blessings When the flesh and world that made shew of such love to their deluded favourites turn them off in their extremity as the Jews did Judas complaining to them of his-folly and wickedness What is that to us see thou to that Thou standest by and ownest thy servants thou knowest their souls in their days of adversity and how-ever thou dealest with them in their health wilt be sure to tend and look to to be both Nurse and Physitian to thy sick children Thy grace is a reviving Cordial and thy love will make even death it self a sweet and desireable dish O help thy poor servant to gain much spiritual good by those natural evils which others suffer As others sickness speaketh these things to mine ears and their conditions make them visible to mine eyes do thou write them in my heart that all such providences of thine towards others may make sin more ugly the world more empty thy graces and favour more comely and desireable and that furthering my purity at present they may further my eternal peace hereafter Finally I Wish that the sickness of others may cause me to be the more industrious in a faithful improvement of my health and take me wholly off from priding and pampering and making provision for that flesh which is so apt to breed diseases and in its greatest beauty and strength is so near to death The goodliest structure of body is but earth a little better wrought or more curiously then usually moulded up and with an ordinary disease is mard and defaced and so calleth on me to be humble rather then lifted up The Flesh that I provide for my flesh is not more subject to corruption or more perishing then the flesh for which it is provided Within a few days I shall have an end both of food and feeding O that I might waste that body in Gods service which will ere long waste with sickness spend and he spent in his work who gives me my health and strength and hath promised a bountiful reward Sure I am I can never bring them to a better Market nor put them off at an higher price Is it not better to consume my flesh in doing good in glorifying my God then with idleness and ease or with distempers and diseases Satans servants do not grudge to give their prime and cheif their healâ—h and strength to their lusts and shall not I give mine to my Lord Ah Lord an unthankeful selfish unbeleiving heart hath too much â—indered me from and disturbed me in those excellent duties which thou callest me to O deliver me from it for thy mercies sake Strengthen me by thy good spirit both to do good to and receive good by such as thou chastenest with sickness so to consider the poor and afflicted and to visit others in my heath that thou mayst visit me with thy saving health strengthen me upon my bed of languishing and make all my bed in my sickness that my most mortal sickness may not be unto death eternal but for thy glory and my passage into endless bliss yea
man in this world The greatness of the price the blood of God doth to every rational understanding fully speak the preciousness of the pearl Now how clear and plain is it in the word of truth that the Redeemer gave himself to redeem us from all iniquity and to purifie unto himself a peculiar people zealous of goodworks Tit. 2. 14. That being delivered out of the hands of our enemies we might serve him in holiness and righteousness all our days Surely Reader that which the Son of God who thought it no robbery to be equal with God thought worthy the taking on himself the form of a servant and the suffering the spite and malice of men the wrath and rage of devils and the frowns and fury of his father to purchase for thee doth deserve to be minded and regarded by thee as thee onely thing thou followest after and setst thy self about during thy pilgrimage Alas All the pains and labour and watching and working and time and strength and lives of all the men in the world are not equivalent to one drop of the blood of Christ or the least degree of his humiliation and wilt thou deny to make that thy business for which he shed so much blood and laid down his life 6. Is not that worthy to be made thy business which is the peculiar work of the Holy Ghost and for which the Spirit is infused into the hearts of men The worth of the Father doth speak the desert of the Child Though men who pretend to honour the Father for his work of Creation and to admire the Son for his work of Redemption blasphemously deride and wretchly slight sanctification which is the work of the Spirit yet undoubtedly the work of the Spirit is no whit inferiour to either nay is the beauty and glory both of Creation and Redemption as being the end and perfection of both The Father created the world in order to the new creation by the Spirit as that choice work man ship which he resolved should bring him in the largest revenue of praise and honour T is the new heavens wherein dwelleth righteousness that doth most declare the glory of God and the Firmament of sparkling graces that sheweth forth his most choice and curious handi-work Sanctification is the travel of the Sons soul a spiritual sacred life the great end of his death The Son redeemed man from slavery to sin and Satan and unto the service of righteousness by layino down the price thereof his own most precious blood One of the Sons main works was to purchase the re-impression of Gods Image on man the actual performance of which is the peculiar office of the Spirit hence he tells us Ioh. 14. I go away that the comforter may come and again Ioh. 6. The Spirit was not yet given i. e. so plentifully and universally because Iesus was not yet glorified And therefore we read that in few days after his ascension to acquaint us what was one main end and fruit of his death and suffering he powreth down the holy Ghost in an extraordinary manner and measure So that Creation the work of the Father doth as it were provide the matter the wax Redemption the work of the Son buyeth the Image of God the Seal and Sanctification the work of the Spirit stampeth it on the soul. Now Reader doth not the Sanctification of the Soul deserve to be thy main business when it is the curious work of the holy Spirit as that which the Fathers eye was chiafly on in thy Creation and the Sons in thy Redemption Is not that worthy to be made thy business which addeth a real worth to every thing and without which nothing is of worth or value Every one will grant that what is so richly excellent as to ennoble and add an intrinsick value to whatsoever it is affixed and the lack of which maketh every thing be they in other respects never so precious low and mean must needs deserve to be our business Truely Friend such is holiness it makes the word of God a precious word more to be embraced then gold yea then much fine gold The Ordinances of God precious Ordinances the people of God a precious people the excellent of the earth What is the reason that some in the account of him who is best able to judge though they be never so rich or beautiful or high and honourable in the world are called Dross Chaff Stubble Dust Filth Vessels of dishonour and counted Dogs Swine Vermine Serpents Cockatrices but want of holiness What is the reason that some though poor and despised and mean and houseless and friendless are esteemed by him who can best discern true worth The glory of the World the glory of Christ a Royal Diadem a Royal Priesthood higher then the Kings of the earth more excellent then their Neighbours Princes in all lands such of whom the world is not worthy but because they are godly persons an holy people Why are some Angels advanced to the highest Heavens waiting always in the presence of the King of Kings honoured to be his Ministers and Deputies in the Government of this lower world when other Angels are thrown down into the lowest Hell for ever banished the Celestial Court and bound in chains of darkness as prisoners to the day of execution but holiness in the former and want of it in the latter 8. Is not that worthy to be made thy business which will and can refresh and revive thee in an hour of death and enable thee to sing and triumph at the approach of the King of terrors The Master of Moral Philosophy tells us that its worth the while for a man to be all the time he lives learning how to dye well The unerring spirit of God acquaints us that it ought to be our great work to be wise for our latter end Doubtless it must be a rich costly cordial indeed and deserves not a little time and pains and charge to prepare which can keep a man from fainting in such a day of extremity wherein our honours and treasures friends wives children nay our flesh and hearts will fail and forsake us That cannot be of mean worth which can make a man encounter his last enemy with courage and conquest at the sight of which Kings and Captains and Nobles and the greatest Warriers have trembled as leaves with the wind and their hearts melted as grease before the fire Now Reader Godliness is that wine which will cause thee to sing at the approach of this Goliah and enable thee as Leviathan to laugh at the shaking of his spear when whole hosts of others without Godliness flie like Cowards before it and would give all they are worth to avoid fighting with it Heark what a challenge the godly sends to this adversary daring it to meet him in the field O death where is thy sting O grave where is thy victory the sting of death is sin and the strength of sin is the
which is so great a friend to me Can I be so unworthy as to cause others to trample this great favourite at heavens Court under their feet Hath not the polluting thy name been the argument which I have sometimes used for the perdition of thine enemies I have cried to thee Remember this that the enemy hath reproached O Lord and that the foolish people have blasphemed thy name and shall I be guilty of that which I plead as a reason for others ruine Again My dayly prayer is Hallowed be thy name and shall my practices give my prayer the lye and prophane it Should I cheat and cozen as the men of the world my great profession would cause my sin like a Cart heavy laden to make deep furrows into which many might trip and fall How ordinary is it for Egyptians to follow the dark side of the Israelites Pillar to their perdition Foolish man that I am is not the burthen of my own sins already intolerable and shall I add to them by being partaker of other mens sins Is the River of wrath due to me so low so little that I must invite streams from every place to swell it into an Ocean O that for my own sake for the sake of other men and especially for thy sake I may order all my ways by thy word Lord preserve me by thy Spirit that I may never lay a stumbling block before the wicked nor as the unbeleiving spies by my distrust of thy providence and using indirect courses to releive my family bring an ill report upon the good Land Assist me that I may look not onely to the power of Religion but also the honour of Religion Let thy grace ever accompany me and enable me to keep a conscience void of guile before thee and a conversation so void of guilt before men that whereas they speak against me as an evil doer they may be ashamed at this day and may by my good works which they shall behold glorifie God in the day of visitation I Wish that I may look to the righteousness of my actions as well as to the righteousness of my person and never think that my house can be firm if it be built upon the rotten foundation of injustice My God hath said Wo be to him that buildeth his house by unrighteousness and his Chambers by wrong As high as my house is raised and as sure as it is seated the breath of this curse will blow it down Though my estate seem never so fair yet how easily and how speedily may this scorching curse cause it to fade and to wither in my hand as a flower Have not mine eyes beheld the ruines of some stately dwellings which have been built upon rapine Unrighteousness like Rabbits in some Countrys hath undermined the foundations and overturned the buildings and shall mine escape Whether I will believe it or no â— My God hath spoken that unjust gain will prove my own loss and he will see it accomplished Whatsoever fine terms I may call my cheating by as an Art in my Trade or the Mystery of my Calling yet my God counts it Theft and me for it but a Thief Though I may put a fair colour upon my false dealing yet he forbids it under the plain censure of stealing Thou shalt not steal And O how great a Theif am I if I be guilty of this in my ordinary dealings I wrong my Neighbours that trade with me and that most Hypocritically under the pretence of doing them right To kill a man in the field by force is wicked but to poison him at my Table by fraud is worse because in this latter I pretend friendship To rob on the High-way by open power is greivous but to rob in my Shop by this hellish policy is more odious for I wrong one that is my friend and in such a way that he hath no means to help himself The Righteous God saith My hands are full of blood not onely when I murther a mans person and take away his life but also when I injure a mans portion and take away his lively-hood Such unjust persons must expect sore punishments The Law of man punisheth Cheats in some measure but the Law of the jealous God is more severe to such Iuglers as endeavour to unglue the whole worlds frame knit together onely by commerce and contracts I rob my own family as well as my Neighbours He that is greedy of gain troubleth his own house False dealing like Fire consumes what comes near it My Children were better be left beggars then heirs of those riches which I have got by robbery What is well gotten will faâ—e the worse for the Neighbourhood of my ill gotten wealth This as a rotten sheep will infect the sound flock Whilst I am digging deep to lay the foundation of my house sure I do but lay in barrels of powder to blow it up I rob my own soul most of all by my unrighteousness How ill is that gain which causeth the loss of my God! How cheap do I sell those wares with which I buy endless and intollerable wo How dear do I buy that silver for which I sell my inestimable soul and salvation Ah what an ill Market doth he make that puts off his soul at any price If it be unprofitable to gain the whole world and lose my own soul what a fool what a mad man am I to set my soul to sale for a very small part of the world Into what a miserable Dilemma doth my deceitful dealing bring me Either I must repent and vomit it up which will tear and wrack my very heart or else I must burn for ever in hell O that I might never â—e so bereaved of my wits as to touch or meddle with such distracting wealth Lord thou hast informed me that A little which the righteous man hath is better then the possessions of many wicked that better is a little with righteousness then great revenues without right I know that the comfort of my life doth not depend upon a confluence of outward good things but upon thy love and good-will towards me Let me rather choose the greatest want then riches from Satans hands and in Hells way Be thou pleased to sparkle my little with the precious diamond of thy love and then t will be better indeed then the riches of many wicked yea more worth then all the World I Wish that in my buying and selling I might ever have an eye to the ballance of the Sanctuary My person must be tried by Scripture at the last day for my everlasting life and death and shall not my actions be squared by it at this day How sad a bargain should I make if I should buy my own bane What a dreadful trade should I drive to sell like that Son of Perdition the incomparable Saviour for a little corruptible silver Is that wealth worth getting which will make way for eternal want Though my heapes
where it ariseth and displayeth its beames dispelleth mists and clounds causeth an alteration in the face of the Air and makes the shadows to flie before it that they cry like Iacob to the Angel Let me go for the day breaketh so the light of the word scattereth that darkness which was before upon the minds of men 1. It dispelleth the darkness of error Mat. 22.29 Naked Truth conquereth Armed Error and Little David with his small stones out of the silver streams of the Sanctuary the great Goliah of Heresie With this silly women have confuted and conquered profound Doctors notwithstanding their deep and intricate arguments and have wounded them as mortally as that woman without weapons did Abimilech that great Captain with a Milstone 2. It dispelleth the darkness of ignorance The word is the key of knowledge and openeth the door that lets us into the treasures of wisdom and knowledge It is that precious eye-salve with which our blind eyes being anointed see It is sent to open the eyes of the blind and to turn men from darkness to light When the word comes the people that sat in darkness see a great light Act. 26. 18. Mat. 4. 16. 3. It dispelleth the darkness of prophaness this weapon of the word stabbeth lust under its fifth rib and letteth out the very heart blood of it The Devil puts off his rotten wares in the dark shops of Heathen and unbelieving and unchristian Christians but where the word hath arisen upon any soul it discerneth his cheat and is too wise to be cozened by him By what means may a young man cleanse his way By taking heed thereto according to thy word Psa. 119.9 The word is resembled to Rain to Water to Dew Moses tells the Israelites My Doctrine shall drop as the Rain and my speech distil as the Dew Christ calls it the water of life Joh. 6. 35. 1. Rain is from above God keeps that key under his own girdle Can any of the vanities of the Heathen cause Rain Art not thou he Jer. 14. 22. Man may speak long enough to the cloâ—ds before they will distil one drop but if God command those bottles they are presently unstopped and poure down in abundance He covereth the Heavens with Clouds and prepareth Rain for the earth Psa. 147. 8. Thus the Word of God came down from above Every of the Pen-men of it might have spoken as David The Spirit of the Lord spake by me 2. Sam. 23. 2. It did immediately inspire me what particulars to utter and in what phrases to deliver them That which is said of some of the Prophesies may be said of every Book and of every Chapter and Verse in every Book Thus saith the Lord The word of the Lord which came to Amos The mouth of the Lord hath spoken it It is all one to say The Scripture saith and God saith Compare Rom. 4. 3. and 10. 11. with Rom. 9. 25. and Heb. 4.3 and Gal. 3. 21. with Rom. 11. 32. Some observe that the word which Moses useth for Doctrine dropping like Rain signifieth received Doctrine because the Doctrine in the word is received from God not devised by men Deut. 32. 2. I received from the Lord that which I also delivered unto you 1 Cor. 11. 32. 2. Rain is mollifying and softning When the earth hath been like Brass and Iron under our feet by long drought or hard frosts a few good showres supple it and make it tender Therefore David speaking of the earth saith Thou makest it soft with showres Psa. 65. 10. So the heart of man is compared to a stone to a rock to a flint to an adamant the hardest of stones for its hardness hath been suppled and softned by the word The Jews that had imbrued their hands in the blood of Christ had certainly very hard hearts The thought of such a murder would have made a deep impression upon any conscience that were not seared with a red hot Iron yet this word preached melted them as hard mettal as they were When they heard these things they were pricked to the heart Peters Sermon like Moses rod fetcht water out of the Rock Act. 2. 37. David upon the disorder and intemperance of his soul in the matter of Vriah had an hard swelling which continued and increased upon him several moneths yet when Nathan comes and gently baths it with this Oyl of the Word it groweth soft and tender as appeareth by the title of Psa. 51. A Psalm of David when Nathan the Prophet came to him after he had gone in to Bathsheba 3. Rain maketh the earth fruitful therefore some call it the earths Husband because it helps the earth to bring forth He watereth the hills from his chambers the earth is satisfied with his works he causeth the grass to grow for the earth and hearbs for the service of man Psal. 104. 13,14 so Psal. 65.9,10,11,12 So the Word of God turns that heart which was as a barren wilderness into a fruitful meadow 1 Pet. 2. 2. 4. Rain reviveth and refresheth the earth when the earth is chopt and faint when it gaspeth and is weary a showre of rain recovers and refresheth it the Psalmist tells us that upon such droppings from above the pastures and valleys shout for joy they also sing Psa. 65.13 Thus the Christian scorcâ—ed with the apprehension of Gods wrath due to him for sin draweth all his comfort and refreshment out of those wells of salvation the promises of the word When conscience is sore and raw through the wounds sin hath made in it and the weight of guilt that lieth continually grating upon it He sendeth his word and health them Psal. 107.20 David had experience what an healing medicine the Word was In the multitude of my thoughts within me thy comforts delight my soul. When Philip had preached the word to the Eunuch he went away rejoycing That milk which runs from the breasts of the two Testaments is never sucked with the mouth of faith without abundant satisfaction that wine which which is drawn from the pipes of the promises rejoyceth the heart of man indeed These things are written that your joy may be full The Saint never sits at a fuller table of joy then when he is feasting on the dainties of the Gospel O my soul how many thoughts mightst thou spend about those several things to which the word is aptly and excellently resembled It is compared to Armour to a tree of life to a portion to milk to strong meat to pastures to seed to an ornament of grace to rest to a Crown of glory to hidden treasures to gold tried in the fire to a glass to oyl and oyntment all which as so many curious colours well laid may help thee to admire and prize more the beauty of that face which they resemble and represent Glorious things are spoken of thee O thou Word of God Many books have done vertuously have acted famously for the overthrow of sin and
Morning prayer is the key of the day which openeth the treasury of divine bounty and locketh the soul up in safety A Prayerless person goeth all day unarmed and may expect many wounds from that hellish crew that lye always in ambush to destroy him The neglect of this pass gives Satan a great advantage to take the City When Saul had left off calling at Heavens gate the next time you hear of him is knocking at a Witches at the Divels door Prayer is one of the great ordinances that batters down the strong holds of the Devil hence he sets his wits at work to divert men from it It is the Souls armour and Satans terrour he that knoweth how to use this holy spell aright need not fear but he shall fright away the Devil himself The Lord Jesus when he marcht out against the powers of darkness and was to fight with them hand to hand armed himself before-hand with prayer Luk. 3. 21 22. not onely for his own protection but also for a pattern to us Every day we walk in the midst of enemies which are both mighty and crafty and will watch all advantages to undo us and should we go amongst them without prayer we are sure to become their prey It s too late to wish for weapons when we are engaged in a Battel Caesar cashierd that Souldier who had his armour to furbish and make ready when he was called to fight The moral of the Fable is good The Boar was seen whetting his Teeth when no enemy was near to offend him and being asked the reason why he stood sharpening his weapons when none was by to hurt him he answered It will be too late to whet them when I should use them therefore I whet them before danger that I may have them ready in danger Another duty that concernes thee in secret is to read some portion of the Word of God The Work-man must not go abroad without his Tools The Scripture is the Carpenters Rule by which he must square his building the Tradesmans Scales in which he must weigh his commodities The Travellers Staff which helpeth him in his journey There is no acting safely unless we act scripturally Bind it continually upon thy heart and tie it about thy neck When thou goest it shall lead thee when thou sleepest it shall keep thee when thou wakest it shall talk with thee For the commandement is a lamp and the law is light and reproofs of instruction are the way of life Prov. 6. 21 22 23. The Lawyer hath his Littleton or Cook which he consulteth The Physitian hath his Galen or Hippocrates with which he adviseth The Scholar haâ—h his Aristotle The Souldier his Caesar And the Christian his Bible that Book of Books to which all those Books are but as a course list to a fine cloth and scarce worthy to be wast paper for the Binder to put before this to shelter it This will teach the Lawyer to plead more effectually then Cicero when undertaking the cause of Quintâ—â— Ligarius one of Caesars enemies he did by the power of his Oratory make Caesar his Soveraign to tremble and often to change colour and when he described the Battel of Pharsalia caused him to let his books fall out of his hand as if he had been without spirits and life and forced him against his will to set Ligarius at liberty this will teach him so to plead as to prevail with and overcome God himself This will teach the Physitian to work greater cures then ever AEsculapius wrought to produce more strange and rare effects then the most powerful natural causes The Weapon-salve and most extraordinary cures that ever have been wrought are nothing to the healing a vitiated nature by the spirit and a wounded conscience by the blood of Christ which have been frequently done by the Word of God It hath opened the eyes of the blind abated the dropsie of pride softned the stone in the heart stopped a bloody issue of corruption healed the falling-sickness or back-sliding and raised the dead to life He sendeth his Word and healeth them Psa. 107. 20. The waters issuing out of the Sanctuary are healing waters Ezek. 47. 9. This will teach the Scholar to know more then the greatest Naturalists or then the Delphick Oracle could enable him to though it told him his duty even to know himself It is a Glass clean and clear wherein he may plainly see the spots and dirt and deformity of his heart and life It will teach him to know the only true God and Iesus Christ whom he hath seâ—t whom to know is life eternal This will teach the Souldier how to war a good warfare how to fight the Lords Battails against the Prince of Darkness and all his adherents and over all to be more then a Conquerour There is no Guide no Counsellor no Shield no Treasure among all the Books that ever were written comparable to the Scripture It is reported that a certain Iew should have poisoned Luther but was happily prevented by his Picture which was sent to Luther with this warning from a faithful friend That he should take heed of such a man when he saw him by which Picture he knew the Murtherer and escaped his hands the Word of God discovereth the face of those lusts in their proper colours which lie ready in our callingsâ— in all companies in our goings out and comings in to defile us and which Satan would employ to destroy us By them is thy servant forewarned saith David Psa. 19. 11. By reading and applying it we may know their visage and prevent their venome by the words of thy mouth I have kept my self from the paths of the destroyer Cyprian would let no day pass without reading of Tertullian nor Alexander without reading somewhat in Homer Shall the Christian let a morning pass without an inspection into the Word of Christ As God commanded Moses to come up into the Mount early in the morning with the two Tables in his hand So Reader he commandeth thee to give him a meeting every morning with the two Testaments in thy hand After the refreshment of nature about which I have given thee directions else-where and therefore shall omit it here it will be requisite that thou shouldst call thy family together and worship the blessed God with them Our Relations namely Children and Servants have mercies bestowed on them wants to be supplied dangers to be prevented natures to be sanctified souls to be saved as well as our selves and therefore must not be neglected Some tend and feed the souls in their families on the Lords day and starve them all the week after but herein they are guilty of dishonesty and unfaithfulness They rob God of the service which is due to him from all in their house joyntly They wrong the souls in their families by not allowing them the liberty at least by not calling and causing them to hear the voice and seek the face of God
I love them how can I manifest it better then by commending them to God in prayer Should I leave them thousands of silver and gold if I were able it would not all amount to the price of one fervent prayer My riches might wrong them through the deceitfulness of their hearts and cause them to be contented short of Heaven but my prayers cannot prejudice them but may much further their eternal welfares Men whose natures are crabbed and cruel have granted the requests of their dying children when they have been contrary to their own humours How much more will God the Father of mercies whose nature is Love whose bowels are infinite satisfie the desire of his dying children when they fall in with his own design and desire If Joab had hopes to speed in his supplication for Absolom because he knew the Kings heart was more for it then his own may not I be confident to speed when I beg that he would pay my debts in spirituals with interest to those who have bestowed carnals on me for his sake when I ask that my Children and Relations may love and fear and worship his Majesty and be his workmanship created in Christ Iesus unto good works and when I intreat that he would accomplish all the great and good things which he hath promised to his Church the purchase of his Christ knowing that his heart is infinitely more for these things then mine can be Lord when I dye I shall no more put up prayers for my self or other particular persons My natural obligations to my Kindred and Relations my civil ingagements to my Friends and Benefactours besides my spiritual bonds to them and thy whole Israel may well provoke me to be fervent and instant with thy Majesty at such an hour on their behalves My Redeemer before his death wrought hard at this duty He offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears Ah how should I pray for my self and others when I am taking my leave of prayer O let thy spirit of supplication be so poured down on me that I may poure out my spirit in supplication unto theeâ— for my own and others souls through thy Son with the greatest success I Wish that the night of my death may shine gloriously with the sparkling stars of divine and heavenly graces In particular I desire that when the time of my combat with my last enemy and my last combat with any enemy shall come I may above all take the shield of Faith whereby I shall be sheltered against the sting of death and quench the fiery darts of the wicked one The wise Mariner perceiving a storm approaching makes hast to fasten his Vessel with Anchors that it may be steady and not altogether at the mercy of the winds I must expect the greatest tempest when I am entering into my eternal Haven then all the powers of darkness will conjure up their strongest winds if possible to shipwrack the vessel of my soul Ah how much doth it concern me to put forth this grace the anchor of my soul both sure and stedfast and which entereth into that within the vail and thereby to fasten on the rock of Ages If I fail in this I fall I miscarry for ever God is a severe judge to condemn all guilty Malefactours Without his Son I am cloathed with guilt and so under his boundless wrath When Adam had disrobed himself of original righteousness by disobeying the law he fled from God and dreaded the summons of offended justice There is no appearing in the Fathers sight with acceptance but in the garments of his Son None can have boldness to enter into the holy of holies but by the blood of Iesus It s Faith onely that interesteth in this blood I know that through the red Sea of this blood I pass may safely though enemies pursue me hard into the Land of promise Lord I confess through an evil heart of unbeleif I have many a time departed away from the living God yet Lord I believe help mine unbeleif O Lord of life be not far from me when Devils and death are near me Help me with thy servant Stephen to see Heaven open by faith and the Son of man at thy right hand Enable me to disclaim whatsoever duties I have performed or graces I have exercised and to rely alone on a crucified Christ for pardon and life Though thou killest me let me dye trusting and clinging on and cleaving to Iesus Christ Let this Pilgrims staff of faith be never out of my hand till I come to my joâ—rneys end Thou art the Lord of Hosts and the Captain of my salvation O help me to put on the whole armour of God grant me such skill to use it that I may be able to stand in the evil day Teach thou my hands to war and my fingers to fight that through thee I may do valiantly and through thee may tread down mine enemies Grant me so to finish my course to fight the good fight of faith that at death I may receive the crown of righteousness which the righteous judge shall give to all that love his appearing I Wish that my faith may ripen into full assurance that thereby I may depart with joy and an abundant entrance may be ministred unto me into the Kingdom of my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Moses and Simeon could sing at their own funerals The great Apostle could call to be put to Bed expecting thereby his sweetest eternal rest How many Martyrs have gone more joyfully to dye then ever Epicure did to dine and leaped when they drew near the Stake believing that they drew near their home their happiness their heaven What is it O my soul that makes thee start and flinch back at the sight of this bug-bear What is there in death that is so dreadful to thee Is it the sweetness of life or the pain of death or thy future estate after death Consider them all seriously and then judge rationally whether any of these should make the sigh so loath to depart First The love of life need not make thee so backward to obey the call of death If all thy time were made up of Holy-days death would bring thee greater advantage The Garlick and Onions of Egypt are nothing comparable to the Clusters of Canaan But alas its far otherwise thy whole life is a civil death Thou art born to sorrow as the sparks flye upward Thy days are few but full of trouble The earth to thee is a valley of tears the cross is thy daily companion which accompanieth thee where-ever thou goest The sufferings of thy flesh are neither few nor small How many diseases in thy body losses in thy estate how much disgrace ignominy slander oppression art thou liable to The sufferings of thy spirit are more and greater Thine own sins the provocations of others the dishonour of thy God the wants and weaknesses and oppression and persecution of the Church
strength to do and suffer whatsoever I am called to He carrieth the purse for me and gives out to me according to my necessities I have not a farthing of my own wherewith to buy the least morsel I can do nothâ—ng of my self but I can do all things through Christ strengthning me Man is a weak creature and so far from runing that he is not able to creep in the way of Gods commandements unless Christ strengthen him Without me ye can do nothing Joh. 13. 3. If Christ with-draw himself as the Sun he carrieth the light of holiness along with him The easiest duty is too hard and the weakest enemy too strong for us unless Christ assist us 'T is upon his wings alone that we can mount to Heaven in an Ordinance and through his power that we do improve any Providence It is not the standing Army of habitual grace that will make the Christian a Conquerour he must daily be recruted with Auxilaries from Heaven The watch-man doth not onely make the watch and set every wheel in its right place but he or some other must wind it up daily or it will stand still Exerciâ—ing grace is as requisite to our spiritual motion as habitual grace to our spiritual being The Razor though it be never so sharp or keen at first if it be used must be often at the Whetstone or it will grow dull The Wife that hath frequent occasions for money for provision for her Self and Children and Servants and for Cloaths and all Family necessaries and not a penny but what comes out of her Husbands purse and he fearing she should be prodigal lets her have money by driplets but from hand to mouth must be always going or sending to him or otherwise starve The Shopkeeper that drives a great trade in the Country must go often to London or abroad in other parts to fetch in commodities The Israelites in the Wilderness were maintained for water by the Rock They drank of the Rock that followed them and that Rock was Christ. The Rock followed them they did not only drink of it at first but had a constant mornings draught and drank of it often in the day it ran iâ— a stream after them and every day supplied them It s no marvail the Apostle commandeth us Pray continually Pray without ceasing Pray evermore when he knew all our living was got by begging that all our supplies must be from above and we must expect nothing without asking Ordinances are the food of the soul. As Cows afford us both Milk and Beef so Ordinances are Milk to Babes and Meat for strong Men. Our God is the Fountain of Spiritual as well as of natural life It s said most truly in respect of a Natural life In him meaning God we live and move and have our beings Act. 17. 28. We live Now as God hath made the heart the spring of natural life and hath drawn from thence a multitude of arteries to carry the vital spirits through the whole body and disperse life through every part of it So he hath made the Mediatour the spring of spiritual life and his Ordinances the Arteries to convey life to every part of the soul. In whom we move As God hath from the head derived manifold sinews to carry out thence the animal spirits and with them the faculty both of sense and motion over all So the Lord from Jesus Christ the Churches head through the sinews of sacred duties conveyeth spiritual sense and motion to all his members And have our being To preserve our being he hath made the Liver a fountain of blood and from thence drawn the Veins to convey it over the body to the nourishment of the whole Ordinances are those Veins which convey and disperse gracious spirits over the whole new man With him is the well of life Psa. 36. Sacred duties are as needful every day for our souls as food and raiment for our bodies The body must continually be repaired with nourishment because it is continually consumed by our natural heat Yesterdays bread will not keep the laborer to day in strength and vigor to go through with his work he must have new diet or he cannot hold out Friend I must bespeak thee as the Angel to Elijah Vp and eat for the journey is too great for thee Vp and be doing in Prayer and Scripture and holy Ordinances that thou mayst feed and receive spiritual nourishment for otherwise the business of exercising thy self to godliness the duties required of thee to be performed the graces to be exercised the temptations to be resisted the deadly enemies to be conquered will be too hard for thee the journey will be too great for thee The Amalekite by long fasting grew faint and unable to go his journey If the bringing stream be not as large as the running stream the bottom will quickly be without water The greatest stock will lesson apace if a man spend daily on it though but in a small quantity if he hath no way of getting Those that are under-kept and called to hard labour can never perform what is required of them The spirits daily are decaying and if not daily renewed by proper nourishment we perish The Vessels that are always leaking must stand constantly under the conduit to get what they lose When Ionathan through fasting became faint He tasted a little honey and his eyes were enlightened How much more said he if happily the people had eaten liberally of the spoil of their enemies which they found for had there not been now a much greater slaughter among the Philistines 1 Sam. 14. 29 30. The more a Christian mindeth Divine Ordinances in obedience to Gods precept and affiance on Gods promise the more strength he shall receive to conquer his spiritual adversaries and to discharge the several duties incumbent on him The truth is our religious life our heavenly flame is like a straw fire to mault which must constantly be tended and fed with fuel or it will go out There is noâ— more need of the Shepherds constant and daily tending his weak sheep in the summer seasonâ— then of the Saints daily regarding his precious soul. As trees being well ordered with skill and diligence they become abundantly fruitful but being left to themselves without culture and care they bring forth little or no fruit So Christians by a diligent use of means abound in the fruits of righteousness but neglecting ordinances they decline and decay The heart of man is like Reuben unstable 〈◊〉 water and is stablished with grace Heb. 10. which cannot be expected but through the means of grace The Viol that with every change of weather is apt to be out of tune must be constantly hung within sent of the fire Whilst we are in the care of this world we are full of damps and therefore need all means of quickening Our hearts are like Clocks twice a day at least the Plummets must be pulled up or their motion and
more they desire He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver nor he that loveth gold with increase Many men have too much of the world but no worldly man hath enough His voice still is like the Horse-leech Give Give Though he hath enough to destroy him yet he hath not enough to content him When the Parthians had taken Crassus the covetous Roman who had robbed the Temple they poured molted Gold into his mouth saying Drink now thy sill thou greedy wretch of that which thou hast so long thirsted after The Covetous Caliph of Babylon when taken Prisoner was set by the Great Cham of Tartary in the midst of those treasures which he had wretchedly scraped together and bidden eat his fill and satisfie himself but amongst all his heaps of silver and gold he was miserably famished The soul will starve for all the food which the whole world afâ—ordeth it A worldling is like Tantalus who had Apples at his Lips and water at his Chin yet pined for want In the midst of his sufficiency he is in straights If thou tryest the whole creation and empannellest every creature upon the Iury to enquire where satisfaction is to be had they will write Ignoramus upon the Bill If thou askest the Sea it will answer as concerning wisdom The Sea saith It is not in me And the Depth saith â—It is not in me The Earth saith It is not in me Ask every worldly blessing particularly and it will say It is not in me Thou mayst call and cry to them in thy need for comfort as eagerly and earnestly as Rachel for children and will each answer as Iacob did here Am I in Gods stead that hath with-holden thy desire from thee Or as the Angel to the women Why seek ye the living among the dead he is risen he is not here Am I a poor finite being in Gods stead to satisfie the vast desires of thy capacious soul Why seekest thou living comforts amongst dead creatures it is gone it is not here The World entertains its best guests no better then Caligula did his favourites whom he invited to a feast and when they were come set golden dishes and golden cups empty before them and told them they were welcome and he would have them feed heartily All the trees in the garden of the creation are like those trees which Solinus mentioneth in Assyria the fruit whereof seemeth as yellow as gold but being toucht is as rotten as dirt 4. The things of this world are vexatious Their sting paineth far more then their honey pleaseth They are like the Egyptian reed which will not onely fail them that trust it but also pierce them with splinters and wound them deeply sooner or later They who will be rich pierce themselves through with many sorrows 1 Tim. 6. 9. Instead of satisfaction thou wilt find vexation The things of this world are not onely wind for their vanity but also thorns for the vexation they cause As when the blood is corrupted by a poisoned Arrow it flieth to the heart thinking to find some remedy there but as soon as it toucheth the heart it findeth death where it lookt for life Thus men that are pressed with miseries run to the world as their refuge hoping to finde comfort and refreshment there but alass that doth increase their afflictions and gives them rather matter of more mourning then any abatement of their sorrows They who dive into the bottom of this Sea of the world to the hazard of their lives instead of the pearl of contentment and happiness which they take such pains for bring up nothing but their hands full of the sand and gravel of vexation and anguish All the ways of worldly delights are strowed with nettles and briars so that its greatest darlings are but like Bears robbing a Bee hive that with much labour get a little honey but are soundly stung for their pains Therefore reason much more religion may sound a retreat and call us off from our eager pursuit of these lying vanities Car on il nyâ— arâ—en a gaigner que des coups volontiers il ny vapas No man makes haste to the market where there is nothing to be bought but blows 5. Vncertain There is no constancy in outward comforts As Brooks in Winter are carried with violence and run with a mighty stream flowing over with abundance of water on every side when there is no want nor need of waters but in the heat of Summer is dried up when water is scanty and hard to be had Such is the friendship of the world t will promise us many things when we have need of nothing but when the wind turns and afflictions overtake us it is like a tree withered for want of sap and as a ditch without any water to refresh us When the sun of our prosperity is hid and coverd with a cloud these shadows vanish and disappear As leaves fall off in Autumn so doth the friendship of creatures fail men when the sap of that maintenance which commanded their company is withdrawn from them Man in honour doth not abide Psa. 49. As the rising Sun coming into our Horizon like a Giant ready to run his race appearing to us with a full and glorious countenance within an hours space is obscured with mists or darkned with clouds and however if it meet with neither of these when it arriveth at its noon-day height it declines descendeth setteth and is buried under us So the Ambitious person sheweth himself to the world as chief favourite at Court with much pomp and pride by and by his honour is eclipsed by the hate of the People or frowns of his Prince or envy of his fellow Courtiers or if not yet he dyeth and carrieth nothing away and his glory doth not descend after him The like is evident of earthly treasures they are soon gone though not soon gotten As a gallant ship well riggd trimmed tackled manned with her top and top gallant and her well spread sails putteth out of harbour to the admiration of many spectators but within a few days is split upon some dangerous rock or swallowed up of some disasterous tempest or taken by some ravenous Pyrate so are this worlds goods on a sudden taken from their owners or their owners from them There is a hole in our strongest Bags and rust in our choicest mettal The Apostle calls riches uncertain riches and honour a fancy and all the things of this world a fashion 1 Tim. 6.17 Act. 24. 1 Cor. 7. 29. We are not certain to keep these birds in our yards whilst we live for Riches make themselves wings and flie away but we are certain if they do not leave us that we shall leave them We brought nothing into this world and it is certain we shall carry nothing out of the world Reader how unwise is he who neglecteth eternal substance for fading nothings The Romans are recorded as guilty of much folly that in their fight
weep Our daily infirmities and imperfections must not be passed over Some have died of very slight wounds in their fingers or toes Small sands may sink a great ship Small drops of rain make the earth miâ—y and durty Vain thoughts spending time idly omission of doing good when a price hath been in our hands are counted by us small sinâ— but such small drops will pollute our consciences to purpose if not bewailed timely The mercies and good providences of the day deserve our acknowledgement at night If God command his loving kindness in the day time his loving kindness may well command our thanksgiving in the night season As David had his soliloquies in the day so he had his songs in the night Psa. 77. 6. All our success in our callings and undertakings is the fruit of Gods providence We may work but God onely can prosper Humane gains are from divine grace The Tables that are spread for us like Peters sheet wherein were all sorts of four footed Beasts and Fowls come down from Heaven How many perils are we protected in how many dangers are we delivered from How many evils are prevented good things bestowed every day and shall not our Sun and Shield be adorned We may well every night speak in the words of the Psalmist Blessed be the Lord who daily loadeth us with his benefits even the God of our salvation Selah Psa. 78. 19. The perils of the night call for our prayers at night If there were no fear of visible Thieves and Robbers yet there is of invisible Devils We cannot bolt our doors so fast but they will find the way in We never lye down to sleep but those roaring Lyons are waking and waiting by our bed side to devour us If God were not our guard we could not sleep a moment in quiet He that goeth to bed before he hath gone to God by humble and hearty supplication lieth down before his bed is made and may well expect to find it uneasie all night nay like a foolish Governour of a Fort beleagured with cruel and crafty enemies he takes his rest before he hath set his watch and is liable to be called up at midnight or to be kild in his bed every moment Cyril speaks of a certain people that chose to worship the Sun because he was a day God for believing that he was quenched every night in the Sea or that he had no influence on them that lighted up candles they were confident they might be Atheists all night I fear many who worship not the Sun are too much of the minds of that people in their night Atheism Though they know not but when they close their eyes they may sleep their last and never open them more yet they will rather die intestate then take the pains by fervent prayers to bequeath their souls into the hands of their dearest Redeemer Reader take heed of going prayerless to bed lest Satan take thee napping How unworthy art thou of Gods protection if thou dost not esteem it worthy a petition I have read of a Prince that would walk abroad every evening in a disguise and stand harkening and listening under his Subjects windows to understand what they said It s true enough that the great God looketh down from heaven every evening he is under thy window and in thy chamber to observe whether thou hast the manners or grace to bid him good night before thou goest to rest Believe it if thou forgettest him thou wilt find sooner or later that he will remember thee to thy cost A Good Wish about the Christians carriage on a Weekday from Morning to Night Wherein the former heads are applied THe Rock of Ages and everlasting Father to whom a thousand years are but as one day having out of his rich mercy afforded me a short time in this world not to play or toy with temporal things but to prepare my soul for my blessed eternity I Wish that I may never waste that pecious season which is given me for the working out my own salvation about needless affairs but mind the one thing necessary and pass the whole time of my sojourning here in the fear of my God Every day that I live and do not improve for my eternal good is lost If I live to eat and drink and sleep the beast liveth in me not the man I do but act a brutish part in an humane shape If I live to buy and sell and increase my heaps the Heathen liveth in me not the Christian What do I more then an Infidel Time is a silver stream gliding into the Ocean Eternity depends upon this poor pittance of time As I use time well or ill so eternity will use me The everlasting harvest will be sutable to the seed that is sown in time whether Wheat or Tares It s irrational to expect a crop of Barley if I sow Thistles or a crop of bliss for ever if I now sow to the flesh My life is given me to dress my soul in for the coming of my Bride-groom at death Whatsoever I do if it hath not relation and subserviency to my last end and chiefest good it is lost time and waste strength and though I may be so busie as to sweat about it yet Christ may sayâ—to me as to him that stood in the Market-place Why standest thou all the day idle Lord my time is not mine own but thine The day is thine the night also is thine It is thine by creation and why not thine by a religious observation It was thy favour that I was not turned out of the womb into the unquenchable fire I could Wish that as soon as ever the Sun of my life arose I had gone forth to my spiritual labour till the evening of my death that my childhood and youth had been employed in remembring my Creator but since its impossible to recal those days and years which I have spent in folly and vanity O teach me so to number my remaining days that I may apply my heart unto wisdom and live every day of my life in the fear of the Lord all the day long I Wish that the uncertainty of my life and certainty of my death may quicken me to be religious every hour of every day Every day may be my last therefore every day should be my best There is no part of my time in which I am priviledged from an arrest by the King of terrors Am I young yet I am old enough to die Death observeth no order Some drop out of the armes of their earthly Mothers into the embraces of their Mother Earth and do no sooner speak but they are sent to the place of silence My Sun may set in the morning of my age and death may tread upon the heels of life Some have experienced those words of the wise man There is a time to be born so little to live that it is not mentioned and a time to die Am I