18. 4. If Rome have left us in the foundation let us leave them in the superstruction Where they are fallen from God there let us fall from them Where such worms breeds in the body of a Nation they will be sure to eat out the bowels of Religion Not to take away such traytors is to make a nest wherein to hatch their treasons That is the fifth 6. Singular thing is this To chuse the worst of sorrows before you commit the least of sins Others they chuse the greatest sin before the smallest suffering which is like the fish that leaps out of the broyling-pan into the burning flame by seeking to shun an external calamity they rush Thus Spira by labouring to preserve his outward estate indangered the loss of his immortal soul into eternal misery What is this but as if a man to save his hat should lose his head Or to sink the ship that is sailing to avoid the storm that is rising It is better to have the flesh defaced then Peccatum inter omnia mala existimare debemus maximum malum Chem Evan. har p. 878. it is to have the spirit defiled Though man be the Butt yet it is sin that is the mark at which all the arrows of divine vengeance are shot These spiders weave their own webs and then are intangled in them Our own damnation is but the product of our own transgression Wherefore doth a living man complain a man for the punishment of his sins Lam. 3. 39. When man had no evil within him man had no evil upon Peccatum omnia mala habet sibi adjuncta eorumque sons origo existit id ibid. him He began to be sorrowful when he began to be sinful When the soul shall be fully released from the guilt of its impieties the body shall be wholly delivered from the grief of its infirmities Sorrow shall never be a visitant where sin is not an inhabitant the former would be a foraigner if the latter were not a sojourner God is as far from beating his children for nothing as he is from beating his children to nothing There is no way to calm the sea but Si serpentem negligis basiliscus fiet si parvae navis foramina non abturas â—qua paulatim acrescens submerget navens Stapl. p. m. p. 443. to excommunicate Jonah from the ship Kill the root and the branches wither Diminish the spring and the streams will fail Remove but the fuel of corruption and you extinguish the fire of affliction The wages of sin is death Rom. 6. 23. The works of sin are hateful and the wages of sin are mortal The corruption of nature is the cause of the dissolution of nature The candle of our lives is blown out by the wind of our lusts that is the weed that overtops the corn the smoak that depresses the flame and the cloud that over-shadows the sun Were it not for sin death had never had a beginning and Supersint in nobis peccati reliquiae adhaerentes carni nostrae donee sâ—mus in hâc vâ—tâ at hae reliquiae mortâ— tollâ—atur â—â—use â—oc 〈◊〉 de â—em pec p. 53. were it not for death sin would never have an ending Man as a creature is a debtor to Gods Soveraignty commanding but man as a sinner is a debtor to Gods severity condemning What is so sweet a good as Christ and what is so great an evil as lust Sin hath brought many a Beleever into suffering and suffering Afflâ—ctiones sunt reâ—edia peccatorum ut peccata sunt causae afflictionum Stap. promp Mor. p. 197. hath kept many a Beleever out of sin It is better to be preserved in brine then to rot in honey The bitterest Physick is to be chosen before the sweetest poyson Sicut aurum reprobum igne consumitur probum vero igne declaratur In the same fire where the dross is consumed the gold is refined How many thousands of souls had never obtained the hopes of heaven if they had not sailed by the gates of hell As every mercy is a drop derived from the ocean of Gods goodness so every misery is a dram weighed by the wisdom of Gods providence When Eudoxia threatned Chrysostom with banishment Go tell her saith he Nil nisi peccatum timeo I fear nothing but sin And indeed nothing but sin is to be feared Before we lanch out into any undertaking it behoves us to ask our selves what is our tackling if a storm should overtake us in our voyage A bad conscience imbitters the sweetest comforts when a good conscience sweetens the bitterest crosses Et quantam in conscientia relinquent cicatricem vitia vel aetate tenerrima perpetrata He that is not afraid to do evil will be afraid to suffer evil But what need he fear a cross on the back who doth feel a Christ in Afflictio pins non constituit infaelices aut miseros uti humana judicat ratio sed contra felices aâ—beatos Lau. â—â— Ep. Iac. p 78. the heart It s the water without the ship that tosses it but it s the water within the ship that drowns it It s better to have a body consumed to ashes then a soul that shall dwell with everlasting burnings Though we cannot Diligo quidem pati sed nescio an dignus sim Ignat in Ep. ad Trall live without afflictions yet le ts live above afflictions Our Patmos is our way to Paradise Non nisi per angusta ad augusta Suppose the furnace be heated seven times hotter it is but to make us seven times better They that are here crossed for well doing shall be hereafter crowned for well-dying There is none so welcome to the spiritual Canaan as those that swim to it through the red sea of their own blood Christian when thou comest into the world thou dost but live to die again and when thou goest out of the world thou dost but dye to live again What is the grain the worse for the fan by which it is winowed or the gold for the fire by which it is purified Pendleton promised rather to fry out a fat body in flames of martyrdom then to betray his Religion but when the trial approacht he said As he came not frying into the world so he would not go flaming out of the world They who will not part with their lusts for Christ will never part with their lives for Christ But Paul and Silas they had their prison Thus that undaunted champion of Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. frumentum Dei dentibus ferarum molar ut mundus panis Dei inveniar Ign. in Ep. ad Rom songs in the midst of their prison-sufferings These caged birds sang as sweetly as those that have skie freedom I have read a story of a woman that being in travel in prison a little before her death she cried out of her sorrows The Keeper askt her how she could indure the fire that made such a
noise at the bringing forth of a child Well enough saith she for now I suffer for my sins but then I shall suffer for my Saviour There is more evill in a drop of corruption then there is in a sea of affliction In suffering the offence is done to us in finning the offence is done to God In suffering there is an infringement of mans liberty in sinning there is a violation of Gods authority The evil of suffering is transient but the evill of sin is permanent In suffering we lose the favour of men in sinning we hazard the favour of God The rose is sweeter under the Still where it drops then on the stalk where it sprouts The face of godliness is never so beautiful as when its spit upon The best corn is that which lies under the clods in snowy weather It was a brave saying of Vincentius to his persecutors Rage and do your worst you shall finde the Spirit of God more strengthening the tormented then the spirit of the devil can strengthen their tormentors Let but Professors do their best and then let persecutors â—eâ—cussâ—res nihil moraâ—amur praeseâ—tim â—um moriendum esse nobis sciamuâ— Justin 2. Defens ad Anâ—on 〈◊〉 do their worst Though you may feel their might yet you should not fear their malice Nil desperandum Christo duce auspice Christo It s storied of Hooper when he came to suffer O Sir saith one have a care of your self life is Thus the Proconsul perswaded and besought the noble German who suffered under Verus Vt quoniam admodum juâ—enis in flore esset sui ipsius misereretur Euseb Hist Eccl. cap. 15. sweet and death is bitter Ah saith he this I know but the life to come is more full of sweetness and the death to come is more full of bitterness A man may suffer without sinning but a man cannot sin without suffering When Philip asked Demosthenes If he was not afraid to lose his head No saith he for if I lose my head the Athenians will give me one immortal Do but listen to the language that drops out of the mouthes of those three children or rather of those three Vos occidere quidem potestis nocere non potestis â—ust ubi prius champions Dan. 3. 17 18. We are not careful to answer thee in this matter if it be so our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace and he will deliver us out of thy hand O King But if not be it known unto thee O King that we will not serve thy gods nor worship the golden image that thou hast set up Either they must sin fouly or they must suffer sadly Either they must bow to a golden Image or burn in a fiery furnace Yet they were as far from worshipping of his gods as he Thus Polycarpe was assaulted by Herod and Nicetes who said Quidnam mali fuerit dicere Domine Caefar sacrificareque conservari But he answered Facturus non sum quod consulitis and chose rather a flaming fire then to consent unto their fawning words Euseb ubi prius was from worshipping of theirs And Daniel chuses the den of the lions before he will forsake the cause of the Lamb. Shall not we for his sake bear the wrath of man who for our sakes did bear the wrath of God Though obedience be better then sacrifice yet sometimes to sacrifice a mans self is the best obedience He that loses a baser life for Christ shall finde a better life in Christ Chusing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God then to enjoy the pleasures of sin which are but for a season Heb. 11. 25. What is a cup of physick that takes away the disease to a cup of poyson that takes away the life They that live upon God in the use of the creature can live upon God in the loss of the creature It was a brave expression of one What I receive thankfully as a token of Gods love to me I part with all contentedly as a token of my love to him For a good man one will even dare to dye Rom. 5. 7. Will one dare to die for a good man and shall we be afraid to die for a good God And others were tortured not accepting Melius est mibi emori propter Christum Iesum quam imperare sinibus terrae Ign. ad Rom. deliverance that they might obtain a better resurrection Heb. 11. 35. Some would have used any pick-lock to have opened a passage to their liberty but they knew too much of another world to bid so high a rate for this world It is storied of Hormisdas a noble man of Persia who was degraded of all his promotion because he would not alter his professions afterward they restored them all again and sollicited him to deny Christ but he rent his purple robe and laid all his Honours at the feet of the Emperor saying Siideo me sperasti pietatem deserturam habe tibi donum tuum una cum impietate If you think to make me deny Christ for The like constancy and resolution you may read of in the noble Suenes and the zealous Benjamin both barbarously used by the same Prince Id. ibid. the obtaining of my honours take them all back again He thought that Christ without his honors was better then his honours without Christ It is storied of one of the Martyrs going to the stake a Noble man wisht him to have a care of his soul So I will saith he for I give my body to be burned to keep my soul from being defiled How many are there that had rather have sinful self satisfied then to have sinful self crucified As grace comes in at one door vice goes out at another as in a well when one bucket comes up full the other returns down empty The only way to have the house of Saul weakened is to get the house of David strengthned Those Philistims that could not stand before Sampson in his health how scornfully did they dance about him in his sickness O remember sin it is that which in this life doth debase us and it is that which in the next life doth destroy us Those whose end is damnation their damnation is without end No condition is so intolerably easeless as that condition which is unalterably changeless One seeing a woman going chearfully to prison O saith he you have not yet tasted of the bitterness of death No saith she nor never shall for Christ hath promised that they who keep his sayings shall never see death A beleever may feel the stroke of death but he shall never feel the sting of death The first death may bring his body to corruption but the second death shall never bring his soul to damnation Though the cross may be endured by them yet the curse is removed from them Though they may live a life that is dying yet they shall not dye a death that is
yet he was not a man of sins Though we cannot equalize his holiness yet we should imitate his holiness As it is the same light which shines from the body of the sun in its meridian and which breaks forth in the dawnings of the morning There 's the same water in the streams that bubbles up at the spring-head Summa religionis est 〈◊〉 eum quem colis Lactant. There should be such a conformity between the life of Christ and the life of a Christian as there is between the Counterpain and its Original As face answers to face in the water so should life answer to life in the Scripture What he was by nature that we should be by grace He that was a way to others never went out of the way himself A holy life is a chrystal glass wherein Jesus Christ beholds his own face In our Sacramental participations we shew forth the death of Christ but in our evangelical conversations we shew forth the life of Christ An excellent Christ calls for excellent Christians And why should we â—ay his yoke is heavy when he says his yoke is easie He went about doing good Acts 10. 38. As he was never ill imployed so he was never unimployed Jesus Christ submits his person to be judged by his actions If I do not the works beleeve me not If I act not like a Saviour do not take me for a Saviour Thus should it be with a Saint Never take me for a Christian if I act not like a Christian If men finde no more among Saints then they find among men they will say Here is a man and a man and not a man and a Christian Man naturally is an aspiring piece and loves to be nearest to those that are highest Now a Christ that did more then others calls on Christians to do more then others Methinks you should take as much delight in those precepts that enjoyn holiness as in those promises that assures happiness and be as willing to be ruled by Christ as you are willing to be saved by Christ To the Saints that are in the earth and to the excellent in whom is all my delight Psa 16. 3. Was it so in his time and shall iâ— not be so in our time The New Testament out-shines the Old as much as the splendor of the sun doth the brightness of the stars If you live under more glorious dispensations you should have more gracious conversations As he is so are we in this world 1 Joh. 4. 17. As he was so should we be on earth and as he is so shall we be in heaven If there be no congruity between Christ and you in holiness there will be no society between Christ and you in happiness That 's the fourth 5. The Disciples of Christ must do more then others because they are more lookt upon then others If once a man be a Professor the eyes of the whole world are placed upon him Because our profession in the world is a separation from the world Beleevers should condemn those by their lives who condemn them with their lips Teach me thy way O Lord and lead me in a plain path because of mine enemies Psal 27. 11. Heb. Because of my observers or propter insidiatores meos because of those that lye in wait for me If you walk in the unpaved road of licentious loosness the world will not go backwards like Shem and Japhet to cover your nakedness but they will march forward like cursed Cham to uncover your nakedness They make use of your weakness as a shield to defend their own wickedness Men are merciless in their censures though God hath more equitable scales and wil give grains of allowance to his own gold A true Christian though he be a Dove in Gods eyes yet he is a Raveâ— in theirs An unholy conversation pâ—lls off the jewels from the beautiful Queen of Religion Sin allowed of in a Saint it s like a slit in a piece of cloth of gold or like a crack in a silver bell The foulest spots are soonest seen in the fairest cloaths The world will sooner allow its own enormities then of your infirmities The loose walkings of Christians are the reproaches of Christ Si Christus sancta dâ—â—uisset sancta à Christianis fierent qualis secta talis sectatores Quomodo bonus magistor eujus tam pravos videmus Discipulos as Lactantius brings in the Heathens ubraiding the Nations So much malice is there lodged in sinners as to reproach the rectitude of the rule for the obliquity of their lives who swerve and vary from it Now your pure lives should hang a padlock upon their impure lips who throw the dirt of Professors upon the face of Profession One hour of the suns eclipsing attracts more eyes to view it then all its illustrious shinings Dr. Whitaker reading that fifth of Matthew breaks forth into these words Aut hoc non est Evangelium aut nos non sumus Evangelici Either this is not Gospel that we Christians profess or else we are not Christians that profess the Gospel The curelty of the Spaniards to the Indians made them cry out Quam malus Deus iste qui habet tam malos servos What an evil God is this that hath such evil servants Gods Jewels should cast a sparkling lustre in the eyes of others One scar may stain the beauty of the fairest face It was a glorious Encomium given of Zachary and Elizabeth They were both righteous before God walking in all the commandmâ—nts and ordinances of the Lord blam â—â—ss Luk. 1. 6. As they were harmless in their actings so they were blameless in their walkings Pure Religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction and to keep himself unspotted from the world Jam. 1. 2. If you would keep your selves unspotted from the world you must keep your selves unspotted in the world Christians such even threads should be spun by you as none might fasten a snarl upon you That 's the fifth 6. Ground is Because if you do no more then others it will appear that you are no more then others Vna actio non denominat fidelem It is not one action that makes a Beleever no more then its one Swallow that makes a Summer As there is none so evil but may do some good so there is none so good but may do some evil Every being nath its proper acting and where we do not finde the working we may deny the being You would be thought to be more then Publicans and Sinners what and yet act no more then Publicans and Sinners Ye shall know them by their fruits Mat. 7. 20. By the leaves the tree is seen but by the fruit the tree is known The hand of the Dyal is without in going as the wheels of the clock are within in moving Where the heart is of a good constitution the life will be of a fair complexion When the
me before Quid aliud amant hypocritae quam gloriam quâ volebantetiam post mortem tanquam vivere in ore laudantium Aug. ubi prius the people 1 Sam. 15. 30. There is little worth in outward splendor if vertue yield it not an inward lustre When this sun is in its meridian it may be masked with a cloud By climbing of too high a bough you may hang your selves upon the tree Some had rather suffer the agony of the cross then the infamy of the cross It s more to them to be dispraised then it is to be destroyed And a certain woman cast a peice of a milstone upon Abimelecks head and brake his scull then he called hastily unto the young man his Armor-bearer and said nnto him Draw thy sword and slay me that men may not say A woman slew me Judg. 9. 53 54. Behold saith one Homo moritur at superbia non moritur The man dyes but his pride dies not God may reject those as copper whom men do adore as silveâ— He is a Jew which is one inwardly and circumcision is that of the heart in the spirit whose praise is not of men but of God Rom. 2. 29. The praise of an Hypocrite is not of God but of man the praise of an Israelite is not of man but of God The one desires to seem good that he may be praised the other to be good that God may be pleased The Saints on earth are to imitate the Angels in heaven and they had the hands of a man under their wings Ezek. 1. 8. They had not their wings under their hands but their hands under their wings Their hands note their activity their wings their celerity Their having their hands under their wings the obscurity of their motions They will not have others to fall down to worship them about the Throne but fall down themselves to worship him upon the Throne Our Lord Jesus Christ that did the most excellent works that ever were done He shall not cry nor lift up nor suffer his voyce to be heard in the streets Isa 42. 2. He shall not cry that is he shall not be contentious He shall not lift up his voyce in the streets he shall not be vain-glorious The Pharisee stood and prayed with himself God I thank thee I am not as other men are extortioners unjust adulterers or even as this publican Luk. 18. 11. Hypocrites are better in O quot babet isle in saeculo imitatores qui festucam in oculo fratris vident trabeÌ„ autem in oculo suo non considerant Stel. in loc Nec quicquam jam ferre potest Caesarâ—â— priorem Pompeiusve parem Lucan shewing forth their own worth then they are in shewing forth of their wants at the displaying the banners of their perfections then at the discovering of the baseness of their transgressions I am not as other men are as if he had been such a fellow as had no fellow Ambition is so great a planet that it must have a whole orbe to itself and its impatient of a consort Because he was not so bad as the most he thought himself as good as the best A Sun-burnt-face seems fair when compared with a Blackamoor But can cyphers compleat a sum This Pharisee was as far from being religious as he was from being scandalous But upon what foundation Celavit hic Pharisaeus peccata quae confiteri debuerat bona siquae feverat patefecit Stella loc jam citato did he rear this superstruction vers 12. I fast twice aweek I give tithes of all I possess He proclaims all without doors that is done within They say of the sea it loses as much in one part of the land as it gains in another Thus what victory formalists seemingly get over one lust they lose it again by being imprisoned to another They trade not for Gods glory but for their own glory If a tear be shed or a prayer be made whatever is performed by them shall be divulged by them He that trafficks in Gods services to fraught himself with mans praises suffers shipwrack in the haven and loses his wages when he comes to receive pay for his works It s storied of Alexanders Footman that he ran so swift upon the sand that the print of his footsteps were not seen Thus should it be with Christians nothing is more pleasing unto God then a hand that is largely opened and a mouth that is straitly closed Most persons are like Themistocles that never found himself so much contented as when he heard himself praised I will not say a gracious heart never lifts up it self but I will say that grace in the heart never lifts up it self Grace in the heart ever acts like it self but a gracious heart doth not always so A Saint should be like a spire steeple minimus in summo that is smallest where it is highest or like those orient stars the higher they are seated the lesser they are viewed Usually your greatest boasters are your smallest workers Your deep rivers pay larger tribute to the sea then shallow brooks and yet empty themselves without a murmuring noise I have read a story of a harlot that offered to build up the walls of a City that Alexander had thrown down so she might set her own arms upon them O what will not an Hypocrite do so he may set his own arms upon it when it is done That is the first 2. To bring up the bottom of our lives to the top of our lights Look how far our lives are from Gods precepts to do them so far his ears are from our prayers to hear them Since the tree of knowledge hath been tasted the key of knowledge hath been rusted Man sinned away his light when he sinned against his light Adams candle aspiring to be a sun hath burnt the dimmer ever since The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God for they are foolishness to him neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned I Cor. 2. 14. Spiritual truths they oppose the wickedness of reason because they are against it therefore a natural man cannot relish them They exceed the weakness of Reason because they are above it therefore a natural man cannot perceive them It s better to be a toe in the foot and to be sound then to be an eye in the head and to be blind But grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ 2 Pet. 3. 18. Without grace there may be a knowledge that is seeming but without grace there cannot be a knowledge that is saving As the water engenders the ice and the ice the water so by knowledge is grace produced and by grace is knowledge increased If ye know these things happy are ye if you do them To obey the truth and not to know is impossible to know the truth and not to obey it is unprofitable Not every one that saith unto me Lord
For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ that though he was rich yet for your sakes he became poor that ye through his poverty might be rich 2 Cor. 8. 9. A drop of his blood is worth a sea of ours and yet he died our death that we might live his life and suffered our hell to bring us to his heaven He was conceived in the bowels of his mother that we might be received into the bosom of his Father His love began in his eternal purposes of grace and ends in our eternal possessions of glory Why was the Bread of life an hungry but to feed the hungry with the bread of life why was Rest it self weary but to give the weary rest why did he hang upon the cross in mount Calvary but that we might sit upon the throne in mount Sion His face was covered with spittle that ours might be enamelled with glory Why did this Jonah cast himself into the sea of his fathers wrath but to save the ship of his Church from drowning Christians you are not vessels in which the waters of life are lodged but pipes through which it is to be conveyed If the mountains overflow with moysture the valleys are the richer but if the head be full of ill humors the whole body is the worser Happy are those persons that God will use as besoms to sweep out the dust from his Temple that shall tug at an oar in that boat where Christ and his Church are carried For David after he had served his own Generation by the will of God fell asleep Act. 13. 36. Davids service was not swallowed up in the narrow gulf of self He did not Advertite aâ—iâ— um popusi capâ—ta atque à â—avid distite quid cor vestrum a peâ—ere deâ—eat Mâ—ndâ—â—uâ—us fallaci uâ— oâ—iâ—us inâ—iaâ—e â—â—◠〈◊〉 decet Sibel ubi supra draw al his lines to the ignoble center of his own ends Such birds are bad in the nest but worse when winged to fly abroad He served his own generation not the generation that was before him for they were dead before he was living nor the generation that was behinde him for they were living after he was dead Every gracious spirit is publick though every publick spirit is not gracious God may use the Midwifery of the Egyptians to bring forth the children of the Israelties An Iron key may open a golden treasury and leaden pipes convey pleasant waters I saw a great wonder in heaven a woman cloathed with the sun and the moon was under her feet Rev. 12. 1. Though carnal blessings may be communicated to a man that is spiritual yet spiritual blessings shall not be communicated to a man that is carnal When the Moon is waxing she hath her shut end towards the earth and her open end towards heaven but when the moon is waining she hath her open end towards earth and her shut ends toward heaven They that live most downwards they dye most upwards Meteors whilst they keep above in the firmament yield a glorious lustre but if they decline they fall to the earth and come to nothing If I do not remember thee let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth if I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy Psalm 137. 6. Old Ely mourned more for the loss of his Religion then for the loss of his relation his heart was broken before his neck was broken If the Church be lost we cannot be saved if the Church be saved we cannot be lost Augustus Caesar carried such an intire love to his Country that he called it Filiam suam his own daughter therefore refused And this he had with the consent of all Patris patriae cognomen universi repentino maximoque consensu detulerunt ei Suet. p. 101. to be called its Master but would be called its Father because he ruled it non per timorem sed per amorem Not by fear but by love The people at his expiration used this bitter lamentation Vtinam aut non nasceretur aut non moreretur Macrob. O would to God that either he had never lived or else that he had never died The worth of good Rulers is best seen in the want of good Rulers As we see more in the discomposure of a Watch then when its wheels are set together Such whose lives deserve no prayers their deaths deserve no tears A self-seeker he breaths unrespected and he dies unlamented When once a man becomes a God to himself he then becomes a devil to others and cares not who sinks in the sea so he arrive but safe at the shore Those wretches in the Acts rather then a few shrine-makers should lose their gains cared not though a whole City lost their souls It s reported of Agrippina the mother of Nero who being told that if ever her son came to be an Emperor she would find him to be her murderer she answered Peream ego modo ille imperet Let me perish so he may be Emperor There is many such who though they do not utter it with their tongues yet harbour it in their breasts Pereat Religio modo ego imperem Let Religion perish so I may flourish Now therefore let me alone that my wrath may wax hot against them and that I may consume them and I will make of thee a great Nation Exod. 32. 10. But the affection of Moses as a Ruler quencht the affections of Moses as a Father And such was the noble disposition of Joshua that he first divided Canaan into several parts and portions for the Tribes of Israel before any provision was made for his own family Give me such carvers as lay not all the meat upon their own trenchers That 's the fourth 5. Singular thing is to have the beautifullest conversations among the blackest persons A wicked man as he poysons the air in which he breaths so he pollutes the age in which he lives The putrid grape corrupts the Principis mores mirâ vi in populuÌ„ transsunduntur Stapl. pro. mor. p. 57â— sound cluster Joseph by living in the Court of Pharoah had learnt to swear by the life of Pharoah A High Priests hall will instruct a Peter how to disclaim his Master The sweet streams lose their freshness by gliding into the salt seas They which sail amongst such rocks may quickly split their own ships When vice runs in a single stream it s then a passable shallow but when many of these meet together they swell a deeper channel I will put enmity between thee and the woman and between thy seed and her seed Gen. 3. 15. There must be no harmony where the chief Musician will have a jar It s better to have the enmity of wicked men then it is to have the society of wicked men By the former they are most hateful but by the latter they are most hurtful A good man in bad company is like a green stick amongst dry ones They may sooner kindle him
He that promises to cover the sincere souls infirmities threatens to disclose the Hypocrites impieties O remember Judas who purchased nothing by his deceitful dealing but a halter in which his body was hanged and a fire in which his soul was burned that 's the tenth 11. singular thing is to be more afflicted with the Churches heaviness then we are affected with our own happiness When we suffer not from the Enemies of Christ by persecution we should suffer with the friends of Christ by compassion wherefore the King said unto me Why is thy countenance sad seeing thou art not sick Nehemiah 2. 2. Sadness is the fruit of sickness What sad when the Kings cup bearer and wine so neare the third verse informes you the reason why should not my countenance be sad when the City the place of my Fathers Sepulchres lieth wast and the gates thereof are consumed with fire Let not Sions sons be rejoycing whilst their mothers mourning are not her breaches like the Sea and there 's none to heal them though you cannot make up her breaches yet let your hearts break for her breaches Have pitty upon me have Non oportet nos laetari in malis proximorum sed compati Stel. in Luc. 1◠3. pitty upon me O me my friends for the hand of God hath touched me Job 19. 21. It s observed of the Bees that if one be sick the other will lament Christianity strips no man of humanity some observe in Swine that there is a sympathy when one is killed the rest are troubled and shall that be lost amongst men which is found amongst Swine Will you see the Church bleed to death and never ask balm to cure her wounds how can such rejoyce in her standing that do not mourn for her falling Others what they do not feel by sence that they will not feel by Sympathy Nero could be playing when Rome was burning we may Suet. in vit Ner. Thus the killing of the infants was Spectaculum Herodi jucundum quia luctuosum Bap. Ferra. Orat. 5. draw up that charge against many persons Amos 6. 4 6. They lye upon beds of Ivory and stretch themselves upon their Couches and eat the Lambs out of the flock and the Calves out of the midst of the stall that drink wine in bowls and anoint themselves with the chief oyntments but they are not grieved for the affliction of Joseph They can weep for the◠dying groanes of a child but not for the dying grones of a Church their love unto their relations transcends their love unto their Religion But he that hath a stock going in the Churches ship cannot but lament at every storme I should be jealous that thats but a silver eye in the head an Ivory tooth in the Mouth a Wooden Leg in the body that is unsensible of its sorrows I will know that the Churches Enimies though they may be Waves to toss her yet they shal never be rocks to split her It s only such fabricks as are bottomed upon the sands that are overturned by the wind he that is a well of water within her to keep her from fainting is a wall of fire about her to keep her from hurting Though he may scoure his plate and his Jewels yer ye will throw such wispes on the dunghills yet Enemies will be found pushing as far as their short hornes are reaching Sion like a bottle may be dipt in the water but she shall never be drownd in the water Many had rather see a Churches Expiration then see a Churches reformation they had rather view her as one thats nullified then view her as one that 's purified they care not how many Tares spring up amongst Gods Wheat When the Churches adversaries make long furrows upon her back we should cast in the seed of tears Saul Saul why persecutest thou me Thus the head cryes out in heaven whilst the Toe is trod upon on earth Jesus Christ though he hath altered his condition yet he hath not altered his affection Death took away his life for us but it did not take away his love from us he that loves to see the face of his Church beautiful eare long will wipe away those bloody teares that run trickling down her cheeks the prise of her redemption is already paid and the Lords will not require that debt again Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem and cry unto her that her warfare is accomplished that her iniquity is pardoned Isa 40. 2. When we see the Church pledgin her beloved in the cup of affliction we should drink to her in the cup of consolation a heavy burden is easile born by the assistance of many shoulders others they are like Galeo that care for none of those things Nay when they should be Sympat hisers with them in their miserie Temerarium judicium est quod ex levi conjecturâ levibusque signis colligitur Stapl. in Dom. 1. post Pent. they are Censurers of them for their misery they judge the golds not good because it s tryed and the grounds is naught because it s plowed It s dangerous smitting them with our tongues whom God hath smitten with his hands Christ himself because he suffered for transgressors was therefore numbred with transgressors What 's this but to give the sharpest Vinegar where we should give the sweetest wine Pour out thine indignation upon them and let thy wrathful anger take hold of them Psal 69. 24. But what 's their sin 26. verse for they persecute them whom thou hast smitten and they talk to the grief of those whom thou hast wounded Sympathy is a debt which we owe to sufferer and creature comforts will fit those seasons no better then a Silver lace would do a Mourning sute a particular loss it s but like the putting of out a candle which brings darkness to a room but a general loss is like the Eclipsing of the Sun which overshadows the whole Hemisphear Pliny tels us of two Goats meeting together on a narrow bridge when the one could not get forward nor the other go backwards the one lay down that the other might go over him How much of men were there in these beasts but how much of beasts are there in some men It s better to be in the humble posture of a mourner then in the proud gesture of a scorner Have mercy upon me O Lord thou Son of David my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil Mat. 15. 22. The childs malady was the parents misery the tortures of the daughter was the torment of the mother as if the one had been possessed till the other was dispossessed The righteous When Alexanders Army was ready to perish with thirst he himself refufed water that was proffered to him with this Heroick Ipeech Nec solus bibere sustineo nec tam ex iguum dividere omnibus possum Quin. Curt. l. ◠Sect 5. perish and no man lays it to heart Isa 57. 1. Sympathy with others makes an estate
Others they live more on their cushions then they do upon Christ more upon the prayers they make to God then upon the God to whom they make their prayers which is as if a redeemed captive should reverence the sword but not the man that hath wrought his rescue The name of God with a sling and a stone will do more then Goliah with all his armour Duties they are but dry pits in themselves though never so curiously cut out till Christ fills them I would have you neither be idle in the means nor to make an Idol of the means If a Mariner will have the help of the winds he must weigh the anchor and spread the sails The pipes can make no conveyance unless the spring yields its concurrence What 's hearing without Christ but like a cabinet without a jewel or receiving without Christ but like an empty glass without a cordial It s only that ladder whose bottom stood on earth on the staves of which we climb to heaven And be found in him not having on mine own righteousness which is of the Law but that which is through the faith of Christ the righteousness which is of God through faith Phil. 3. 9. If you be found in your own righteousness you wil be lost by your own righteousness That garment was worn to pieces on Adams back and lasted but for a days covering Duties they are good crutches to go upon but they are bad Christs to lean upon when Augustus Caesar desired the Senate of Rome to joyn some with him in the Consulship they replied They held it a great dishonor to him to have any joyned with him It s the greatest disparagement that Christians can do to Christ to put their services in equipage with his sufferings You must put off the rotten rags of the first Adam if you would put on the royal robes of the Second To mix the Virgins milk with a Redeemers blood Though the voyce may be humble Jacobs yet the hands are proud Esaus Man is a creature that 's apt to warm himself by the sparks of his own fire though he lie down in eternal flames for the kindling of them Noahs dove made use of her wings but she did rest in the Ark. Duties can never have too much of our diligence nor too little of our confidence For he that is entred into rest hath ceased from his works as God did from his Heb. 4. 10. A Beleever doth not do good works to live but a beleever he lives to do good works It was a proud saying of him Coelum gratis non accipiam He would not accept of heaven gratis But he shall have hell as a debt that Non in carnabâ— bus 〈◊〉 sâ—d in solo Chrâ—sto fiduciam â—alutâ—â— noâ—â—rae omnem â—â—llâ— aâ—iââ—m re collocaâ—â—â— Zanc in loc will not take heaven as a gift For we are the circumcision which worship God in the spirit and rejoyce in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh Phil. 3. 3. A Christian stands at as great a distance from the best of his services as he doth from the worst of his sins And makes not the greatest part of his holiness to be the smallest part of his righteousness When you have done all then say we are unprofitable servants Luk. 17. 10. When you have obeyed all the commandments from above there is one commandment above them all to be obeyed that is to rest from your obedience A bridge is made to give us a passage over a dangerous river but he that stumbles on the bridge is in danger of falling into the river In the most of our works we are abominable sinners but in the best of our works we are unprofitable servants Our duties are not like the chrystal streams of a living fountain but like the impure overflowings of an unruly torrent I will go out in Omnis alia fiducia quae in quâvis aliâ re colocari potest è cordibus nostris prorsus amputetur omnino necesse est Zanc. ubi prius the strength of the Lord and make mention of his righteousness and of his only Psal 71. 16. The righteousness of Christ is to be magnified but the righteousness of a Christian is not to be mentioned It s a hard thing for us to be nothing in our selves in the midst of our worthiness and to be all in Christ in the midst of our weakness To undertake all our duties and yet to overlook all our duties Our services they are like good wine that relishes of a bad cask The Law will not take Ninety nine for an Hundred it will neither accept of counterfeit coyn nor of clipped money The duty it exacts is as impossible to be performed as the penalty it inflicts is intolerable to be indured We sail to glory not in the salt seas of our own tears but in the red sea of Christs blood Crux Christi clavis Paradisi The gates of heaven were closly shut till the cross of Christ beat them open We owe the life of our souls to the death of our Saviour It was his going into the furnace that hath kept us from coming into the flame T is the ruddiness of his blood that takes away the redness of our guilt Man lives by death his natural life is preserved by the death of the creature his spiritual life is preserved by the death of his Redeemer Moses must lead the children of Israel through the wilderness but Joshua must bring them into Canaan Whilst we are in the wilderness of this world we must walk under the conduct of Moses but when we enter into the spiritual Canaan it must be by the merit of Jesus The same hand that hath shut the doors of hell to keep us out of perdition hath opened the gates of heaven to let us into salvation They that carry the bucket to the puddle of their own merit will never draw water out of the clear fountain of Gods mercy Luther compares the Law and the Gospel to Heaven and Earth we should walk in the earth of the Law in respect of obeying but in the heaven of the Gospel in respect of believing It was the saying of one That he would swim through a sea of brimstone so he might come to heaven at the last What would not natural men do for heaven if they might have heaven for their doings But the heat of the Sun beams wil melt such weak and waxen wings He that hath no better righteousness Omnis anima eget oleo divinae misericordiae then what is of his own providing shall meet with no higher happiness then what is of his own deserving For they being ignorant of the righteousness of God and going about to establish their own righteousness have not submitted themselves to the righteousness of God Rom. 11. 3. Others if they rest not from their duties then they rest in their duties They will sail in their own bottoms though they sink in the Ocean
the bark of a tree whist it is young grow up with it till it comes to be old though a standing pool is soon dryed up yet a fountain is always running Its trees that are unsound at their roots that soon cease from the putting forth of their fruits they who for the present are inwardly corrupt will for the future be openly prophane That 's a crazy peece of building that must be cramped with Iron bars to keep its standing false grace is always declining till it be wholy lost but true grace goes from a mornings dawning unto a Meridian shining the vvool on the sheeps back if it be shorn vvill grovv again but the vvoll on the shee skin clip that and there comes no more in its room Philosophy playes vvith this Nullum violentum est perpetuum There is nothing permanent that is violent as a stone that 's mounted upvvards vvhen it loses its impress sinks dovvnvvards but its dreadful to be cast off from God for casting off the vvays and vvork of God A finger divorced from the hand receives no influence from the head He that deserts his Colours deserves to be cashered the Camp Ah beloved it would have bin well if we had made as much conscience in our liberty as we have had liberty for our conscience but we have gone from one Religion unto all till at last we are come from all Religions unto none Every varition from unity is but a progression towards nullity be thou faithful unto death and I will give thee a crown of life Rev. 2. 10. He hath a Crown for runners but a curse for run aways God accounts not himself served at all if he be not always served Non tantum facite sed perficite t is not enough to begin our course well unless we Crown it with perseverance We live in the fall of the leaf divers Sibi ipsis indulgent ex fervidis repidi ex repidis fergidi fiunt Stapl. in Dom. 2. post Epip â—ex â— trees which did put forth fair blossoms their spring is turned into an Autumn and their fair mornings have been overcast with cloudings The Corn that promised a large harvest in the blade is blasted in the eare The light remaines no longer then the sun shines When God ceases to be gracious man ceases to be righteous The flowers of Paradise would quickly wither on earth if they were not watered with drops from heaven How have the mighty faln when the Almighty hath not stood by them The Divel would soon put out our candles if Christ did not carry them in his Lanthorn be not weary in well doing for in due season you shall reap if you faint not Gal. 6. 9. To see a ship sink in the harbor is more grievous then if it had perisht in the open Sea There goes the same power to a Saints strengthening that there goes to a sinners quickening he that doth set us up and make us holy must keep us up and make us steady How easily is a ship sailing to the shore carryed back again by a storme to the Sea O Ephraim what shall I do unto thee and Judah what shall I do unto thee why what 's the matter your goodness is as the morning cloud and as the early dew it goeth away Hosea 6. 4. Their bowls began to slug before they came to the end of the Alley Some have beat Jehues March they have driven furiously in Religion but within a few years they have knockt off there Chariot wheels After they have lifted up their hands to God they have lift up their heels against him that mans beginning was in Hypocrisie whose ending is in apostacy You look for happiness as long as God hath a being in heaven God looks for holiness as long as you have a being on earth he that endures to the end shall be saved Vestis Aaronica expraescripto Dei deorsum ad pedes habuit in circuitu quasi mala punica et tintinnabula aurea Mala punica inter omnes alios sructus sola coronae cujusdam spociem habent illa coront est virtutum perfectio consummatio finis enim coronat opus Hanc idcirco coronam Deus necia principio nec in medio sed ad pedes posuit tunicae sacerdioalis Id. ibid. He shall never be glorious in the end that is not gracious to the end That man must carry his grace within him to the dust that would have his grace carry him with it to Christ if any man draw back my soul shall have no pleasure in him Heb. 10. 38. He that draws back from profession shall be kept back from Salvation he that departs in the Faith shall be Saved but he that departs from the Faith shall be damned We praise the Mariner when he is arived at his harbour and commend the Souldiers valour when he hath obtained the victory the Chrysolite which is of a golden colour in the morning loses its splendor before the evening such are the glittering shews of Hypocrites But though blazing commets fall to the earth yet fixed stars remain in heaven That fire which is lade on Gods Altar when once it s kindled shall no more be quenched Grace may be shaken in the soul but it cannot be shaken out of the soul it may be a brused reed but it shall never be a broken reed Christ is more tender of his body mysticall then he was of his body natural A beleiver though he may fall fowly yet he shall never fall finally The gates of hell shall not prevail against the Saints of Heaven The fiery darts of the Devil that in themselves are intentionally mortal shall be to such Eventually medcinal These bees may startle thee to keep thee wakeful but they shall not sting thee to make thee woful Thy light may be Eclipsed for a time but the Sun will break forth again Under the law God had his Evening as well as his Morning Sacrifice Ther 's as much sweetness in the Sugar at the bottom of the cup as in the cream on the top of the Milk No man that puts his hand to the plough and looks back is fit for the Kingdome of God Our labours are never fulfilled till our lives are expired Religion if it be a thing that is troublesom it will be a thing that tyresome there is no thing constant but what is pleasant though a Saint may some times be weary in doing the work of the Lord yet a Saint is no time weary of doing the Lords work Habitus non amittitur licet actus intermittitur theâ—e may be an omission of grace but there cannot be an amission of grace this babe may lye upon a sick bed but it shall never lye upon a Death bed Christ is stiled the finisher of our faith as well as he is stiled the Author of our faith We have as much need of the spirit to bring up our graces as we have need of the spirit to bring forth our graces
nor of him that runs though it be never so hastily Our Crown of Glory is made by mercy Our working is not the cause of Gods grace but Ipsa salut hominis non debetur alicui per aliquam ejus voluntatem vel exteriorem operationem quae dicitur cursus sed procedit ex solâ Dei misericordiâ Aquin. in loc but Gods grace is the cause of our working Man may doe something against it but man can doe nothing without it It s ill hanging the great weight of Eternity upon the small Wiers of Activity The boundless life of felicity flowes from the bottomless love of the Deity That 's the sixth 7. Principle that you should walk by is this That there 's no obtaining what is promised but by fulfilling what 's commanded As those which were under the Law were not without a Gospel to save them so those that are under the Gospel are not without a Law to rule Lex moral is non minus ad Christianos pertinet sub novo quum ad Judae nos subvetere Testando Synops. Pur. Theol. disp 18. them What God hath put asunder let no man joyn together but what God hath joyned together let no man put asunder It 's as ill divorcing what 's united as it is uniting what 's divorced Ask and it shall be given you seek and ye shall Quasi dixisset id quo vobu opus est petite Non conceditur quod petitis Quaerite Negatur quod quaerites â— Pulsate Deus vult cogi Arrowsin Tact. sacr l. 3. cap. 1. sect 11. find knock and it shall be opened unto you Matthew 7. 7. Continued Importunity is the most learned Oratory repeated knocks soonest opens heavengates Man cannot blame God for not giving but God can blame man for not asking He that inables us to find him he enjoyns us to seek him He that hath promised us to open that we might not be doubtful hath enjoyned us to knock that we might not be sloathful He that will not heare Debet se ei viâ morum conformare in viâ justitiae charitatis et patientiae c. et haec est via Coeli non seculi Dei non Mundi Gorram in loc the voice of Christ shall never see the face of Christ He that saith He abideth in him ought to walk even as he also walk 1 John 2. 6. Then only doth the Watch of our lives move with uprightnesse when it is set by the beams of the Sun of Righteousnesse As he hath made his glory to be the pattern of our happinesse so he hath made his grace to be the pattern of our holinesse The Law condemns those persons as criminal that pretends to the Royal blood but are not of it because there 's a dependance between the blood Royal and the Crown Royal. I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews and are not but are the Synagogue of Satan Revel 2. 9. Many would be made like Christ in Blisse who would not be made like Christ in Grace They would have a promise to corroberate their assurance but would not have a precept to regulate their performance Observe the connexion The Lord is our Judge the Lord is our Law-giver the Lord is our King he will save us Isa 33. 22. Where ever Christ is a Priest for Redemption he is a Prince for Dominion Wherever he Non rebellibus sed meum credentibus et ei obedientibus est causa sufficiens salutis aeternae Gor. in loc is a Saviour there he is a Ruler And being made perfect he became the Author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him Heb. 5. 9. Jesus Christ where he is a fountain of happinesse there he is a fountain of holinesse If he be not your Refiner he will not be your Redeemer And those mine enemies which would not that I should reign over them bring hither and slay before me Luke 19. 27. It s here the voice of rebelious sinners we will not have this man to reign over us and it will hereafter be the voice of a righteous Saviour I will not have these men to reign with me As many as walk according to this rule peace be upon them Gala. 6. 16. To tread in any other path on Earth is but to mistake your way to Heaven If the Golden Chains of duty will not hold you Jussasme culsâ non negligâ—ntur sine crimine non coâ—temnanâ—ur ubique enim et neglectus culstâ—biâ—e et contemptus dâ—mnabiâ—is est Bern de praec dispens the Iron Chains of darkness shall bind you If you abuse your liberty in one world you will loose your liberty in another Blessed are they that do his Commandemenâ—s that they may have right to the tree of life Revel 22. 4. To look upon a promise without a prâ—cept is the Road way to presumption To look upon a precept without a promise is the Road way to desparation the one is like the Lead to the Net to keep it from floating the other is like the Cork to the Net to keep it from sinking Beleevers should be like the point in the compasse that 's governed not by the various winds but by the constant Heavens An obedient person when hisbody is translated from life to death his soul is translated from death to life O doe not make him to be a Quà m miserum est ex eò flore veneâ—um colligere equo alii remedium sugunt stone for stumbling that God hath made to be a stone for building The force of the fire is manifested as much in consuming the dross as in refining the Gold The strength of a Rock is seen not onely in upholding the house that 's built upon it but in breaking the ships that dashes against it The pillar of a Cloud was as wonderful in the darknesse that it cast upon the Aegyptians as in the brightnesse that it gave to the Israelites Thus doth the Lord Jesus display the greatnesse of his owne power in putting off the living to death as well as in raising of the dead to life Come unto me all ye thatlabour and are heavy laden and I will give you rest Matthew 11. 28. But what follows vers 29. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me Wherever he takes a burden from off the creatures back there he layes a yoke upon the creatures neck The Gospel it gives a pardon to the greatest sin but it doth not give a patronage to the smallest sin To be lascivious because God is gracious what 's this but to split that ship in the Sea which should Land us at the Shore To live in a holy obedience to a Heavenly Father is the liberty of Gods sons but to give lust the swinge is the licentious bondage of the Devils slaves That soule was never related to Christ that was never devoted to Christ Not every Observa quomodo Christus ponit discrimen inter judicium Dei et hominum
our life to a day Infancy is as it were the day breake youth is the Sun rising full growth is as the Sun in it's Meridian and old age is as the Sun setting by the light of the day let us doe the worke of the day O that thou hadst known in this thy day the things that doe belong to thy peace but now they are hid from thine eyes Luk. 19. 42. The dews of grace is falling whilst the day of grace is dawning O how just is it that they should misse of heaven at the last that never seek for Heaven till the last That God should deny them his grace to repent that abuse his grace to sin It 's a Maxime Omne principiatum sequitur naturam principiorum every thing hath an aptitude of returning into the Principle of its beginning as the Rivers that have their eflux from the Sea have their reflux to the Sea Out of the dust man was formed and therefore into the dust man is turned Sirs How much of your lives is gone and yet how little of your works are done You tender plants will you spend your youthfull lives in following of your youthfull lusts will you hang the most sparkling Jewells of your yeares as pendents in the Devils ears The Aegyptians sold their funerall balms in the Temple of Venus to shew that where they prayed for their nativity they might not forget their mortallity O you fresh pictures will you not be hung in Heavens gallery do you not know that the blossome is as subject to nipping as the flower to withering and the spark to extinguishing as the flame to expiring Veins brimmed full with blood may be emptied by an accident as soon as those that are leakish with old age As there 's none too old for eternity so there 's none too young for mortallity In Golgotha there are sculls of all sizes You are but green enough for reformation that are gray enough for dissolution tell me how wilt thou live when thou diest that art dead whilst thou livest every step that your bodies take it 's towards the earth O that euery step your souls take might be towards Heaven We sin as well in not doing the good commanded as in doing the evil prohibited The Vine that bringeth forth no Grapes shall be cut down as well as the Vine that bringeth forth wild Grapes There 's no countermining against the death of the body without us but by undermining of the body of death within us O how sad is it to be taken out of the world before we are taken off from the world To day if you will hear his voice harden not your hearts Heb. 3. 7. We have but a day wherein we are called to repent and therefore should repent whilest it is called to day None sings so sweetly as the Turtle upon the Churches Walls and all that he may even constram sinners unto himself He is the deafest Adder that stops his ears to the voice of the sweetest Charmer The Lord hath made a promise to late repentance but he hath not made a promise of late repentance If the Tap be not now thawed it may be for ever frozen A pardon is sometimes given to a Thief on the Gallows but he that Quòspectas quò te extendu Omnia quae ventura sunt in incertojacent Seneca ubi prius trusts to that sometimes hath a Rope for his wages Boast not of to morrow for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth Prov. 27. Man is such a pur-blind creature that he cannot unerringly see a day before him O see the ending of one day before thou gloriest in the beginning of another Many a mans dayes deceives him they passe away like a shadow by Moon-shine that then appears longest when it s nearest to an end Thou mayest not have halfe a day to live Dum floret aetas dum viget animus operemur bonum cùm enim vita ista transierit auferetur tempus operandi Arbor in cap. 6. ad Gal. ver 10. who thinks thou hast not lived out halfe thy dayes up and be doing least you be for ever undone The night cometh wherein no man can work The Grave is a Bed to rest in but not a Shop to trade in There 's no setting up under ground for those that have lost their time above ground When the soul in death takes its flight from its loving maite they shall meet no more till the general Assises 2 Cor. 6. 2. Behold now is the acceptable Vide Gor. Arboreum in loc time behold now is the day of salvation Now is the time for grace to accept of you and now is the time for you to accept of grace Opportunities they are for eternity but opportunities they are not to eternity Mercies Clock doth not strike at the sinners beck Where the means of grace is greatest there the day of grace is shortest Thou mayest be unhappy all thy dayes for the neglect of this dayes happinesse It was the sad cry of one My life is done but my work is undone O that you would imploy the small remnant you have of opportunity for the obtaining of the whole peece of felicity Make Hay whilest the Sun is shining and hoyse up Sails whilest the wind is serving Let this be thy living day the next may be thy dying day Seek the Lord whilest he may be found call upon him whilest he is near Isa 55. 6. Sirs The sufferings of eternal death are but the Issue of the slightings of eternal life Methinks the worth of such Pearls of price should sparkle in your eyes Will you let such a Sun set on earth by the beams of which you should walke to Heaven No disease is more fatal then that which doth reject Cordials What asad thing is it that such rich Mines should be opened and not a penny of this treasure fall to your share Some are gone so far in the way of sinning that there 's small hopes of their returning How much time did God bestow upon you before ever you returned any of that time to him It 's good to have an Ark prepared before a Deluge come in which you may be overwhelmed Man must do what he can and leave God to do what he will Though you cannot create the breath of the Spirit yet hang out your Sails to entertain it Though you cannot make the Pool of Bethesda healing yet lye at its mouth and wait for its stirring The longer a building goes to ruin the more cost it requires for reparation Remember that God can as easily turn you into the dust as he could take you out of the dust Delayes are numerous O but delayes are dangerous Who will look for water from a drained River Or that wealthy Grapes should grow upon a withered Vine For a man to make his best work to be his last work what 's this but as if an Husbandman should be putting in of his Plough for the sowing of his
heated in the Mid-night of adversity Afflictions are not a fire that 's consuming but a flame that 's refining they are like the prick at the Nightingales breast that awaken her and put her upon her delightful singing Many Saints are like Topps that goes best when they are lasht most For Ireckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us Romans 8. 18. These fall as far short of glory as the smallest fraction of the greatest number or as the least filings of Gold of the riches of the whole Indies If the early glimmerings of our Lord Jesus Christ shroud so much joy and strength within their own beams as over-powers the cross what will his Meridian Rayes of glory doe when they are revealed Will you cast them both into the scales of the Sanctuary 2 Cor. 4. 17. For our light affliction which is but for a moment worketh for us a more exceeding and eternal weight of glory How light is a dram of reproach to a weight of glory and how short a Minute of pains to an Eternity of pleasures He said excellently Bene fertur Calumina cúm acquiritur Corona He need not be weary of the Crosse that 's sure of the Crown After the Cup of affliction comes the cup of salvation The Wine-presse prepares for the Wine-cellar After the pangs and throws comes the child birth O clear up your interest in God A pardon may be past the Princes Seale that is not put into the Prisoners hand Things that are exceeding sharp calls for much Sugar to make them sweet Death is a thing that hath the most ungrateful taste to the creatures pallate Now Grace is baptized with a double name It 's called The first-fruits of the spirit Romans 8. 28. It 's called The earnest of the spirit 2 Cor. 1. 22. It 's a tast to shew us the sweetnesse of eternal life and it 's a pledge to shew us the sureness of eternal life Our Heavenly Physitian will keep us no longer in Physick but till we are thorowly purged Our merciful refiner will detain us no longer in the Furnace but till we are sufficiently purified Patience for sowing the seeds of sorrow on earth shall reap a golden crop of joy in Heaven We may talk of the greatnesse of our future recompence but we shall never know the weight of our Crowns till they be set on our heads nor the worth of our Robes till they be worn on our backs then the pricking Thorn shall be turned into a precious Gem. As darknesse is the absence of light when the Sun is removed from its Horizon so is death the privation of life when the soul is removed from its Prison we have here but jus ad rem there we shall have jus in re Here we have an expectation of our fruitions there we shall have the fruition of our expectations Chear up brave spirits your Wildernesse Nunc deprimuntur et calcantur electi ut olim assurgant et extollantur ad instar palmarum Drex Christian Zod. Sig. 5. p. 42. journeys will soon be periodized The cloth must be cut in peeces before it can be made up in garments The hewing of the timber is for the erecting of the structure The new corn that lives in Summer is produced from the old corn that dyed in the Winter We should willingly embrace death though we should not desperately rush upon it you will be like Civet that 's when it 's taken out of the Box leaves a sweet savour behind it Shall Christ willingly come down from Heaven to earth to dye for us and shall not we willingly go up from earth to Heaven to live with him A Saints loathnesse to expire doth not spring from this root because they judge that death is not good enough for them but it 's a sprig that grows upon this root because they judge thēselves not good enough for death But remember the edg of this keen sword is blunted since the sides of Christ was the scabbard in which it was sheathed When the Ship is in the Haven its Erras mi Christiane erras sicogitas te integrum et non bene contusum perventurum ad coelum Drex loc citat past all storms but by induring storms it at last arriveth at the Haven When we come to Glory there will be no temptations to endure but it s by enduring of temptations that we come to glory When the body and the soul shall part asunder the soul and God shall meet together The sharper your sorrows are here the sweeter will be your joyes hereafter let me allude to that Psal 68. 13. Though ye have lien among the Pots yet shall ye be as the wings of a Dove covered with silver and her feathers with yellow gold All the Grapes in Christs Vineyard must passe thorow the Wine-presse Health is most acceptable after the sharpest sicknesse and liberty most sweet after a rigorous bondage and the harbour most welcome after turbulent storms How pleasant soever a sinners beginning is his ending is dolorous how troublesome soever a Saints beginning is his ending is joyous The fresh Rivers of carnal pleasure run into a salt Sea of despairing tears when the wet seeds-time of a pious life ushers in the Sun-shiny Harvest of a peacefull death When Craesus askt Solon who he Dicique beatus ant◠obitum nemo supremaque funera debet Horat. thought happy he told him one Tellus a man that was dead Happinesse doth not goe before death but death goes before happinesse It 's storied of Adrianus that seeing many Christians put to such cruel and bitter deaths he askt some of them what it was that they suffered such cruel torments for to whom they answered Speramus illa bona quae oculus non videt auras non audivit in cor hominis non ascenderunt We hope for those things which eye hath not seen nor ear heard nor ever entred into the heart of man to conceive They who are born blind are unable to judg of that glory that dazles the very eyes of the Angels One smile in Gods face will dry up all the tears in their eyes When beleevers change earth for Heaven they do not loose their blessednesse but compleat their blessednesse as fishes dropping out of the narrow Brook into the wide Ocean do not leave their Element but are more in it then they were before A beleevers dying is resembled to a burnt-offering now in a burnt-offering when the ashes falls to the earth the flame ascends to Heaven Thus have I set twenty Diamonds in your Golden Ring And so much for the first thing Namely The erection of singular Principles I come now to the last stage for the direction of singular practises Here I shall spread but six Sails and make to the shoar 1. Would you do more then others then you must know more then others I may say of Divine
judgeth the earth Psal 58. ult There 's no work that is done in vaine but that work that is vainly done Wealth and riches shall be in his house and his righteousnesse indures for ever Psal 112. 2 3. Doe but you take care of all that belongs to God and God will take care of all that belongs to you For all other gaines whilst we live we lose them or when we dye we leave them to whom we know not but it may be to them we would not Inkeeping of thy Commandements there is great reward Psal 19. 11. There is not only a reward for keeping of them but there 's a reward in keeping of them In other services the Master hath all the profit and the servant none but in this the servant hath all the profit and the Master none 2 Sam. 6. 11. And the Arke of the Lord continued in the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite for three months and the Lord blessed Obed-Edom and all his houshold The Ark was not blessed for the sake of the houshold but the houshould was blessed for the sake of the Arke The Arke of God payes for its entertainment wheresoever it comes We say that those have decayed limbes that must be helped on with crutches Such are they that will side with resigion when they may live upon it but will shrink from Religion when it must live upon them But that maxime is still ture that Godliness with contentment is great gain 1 Tim. 6. 6. It 's only the Christian man that is the contented man and what is our enjoyments without contentment what 's abundance of possessions if linked to abundance of vexations Wicked men make this world their treasure and God makes this Fiunt instrumenta paenarum quae scilicet divitiae fuerant oblectament◠culparum Innocent world their torment When they want estates they are troubled for them when they have estates they are troubled with them when they should drink of the river God disturbs the water Sinner remember when thou diest thou wilt find godlinesse needfull and whilst thou livest thou wilt find godlinesse gainfull The purest honey is ever gathered out of the hive of holiness O that my people had hearkened unto me and Israel had walked in my wayes Psal 81. 13. But what had they got by it vers 16. He should have fed them also with the finest of the wheat and with honey out of the rock should I have satisfied thee The wayes of iniquity are the wayes of beggery It 's but equal that God should fall out with them in the course of his providence that falls off from him in the course of their obedience that they should have nothing from him in a way of bounty that will doe nothing for him in a way of duty If you make your Tabernacles leprous God will make your Tabernacles ruinous Length of dayes is in her right hand and in her left hand riches and honour Prov. 3. 16. Look to which hand you will and yet you shall find that both are full It 's storied of Synesius a Minister that living near Evagrius a philosopher This story you may read larger just after Mr. Baxter's Preface to his book called the Crucifying of the world and had often perswaded him to be a Christian O but saith the Philosopher if I become a christian either I must lose all for Christ or else I may lose all for Christ to whom the Minister replyed what you lose for him he will pay you againe O but saith the philosopher will you be bound for Christ that if he do not pay me you will Yes saith he and so became a surety for his surety and the philosopher became a Christian When this person came to lye upon his dying pillow he sent for this Minister saying here 's your bond Christ hath paid me all he hath left nothing for you to pay It was a vaine conceite of that potentate who refusing the name of Pius would be called Faelix Inward piety is the best friend to outward felicity though outward felicity be many times the worst enemy to inward piety That 's the tenth The eleventh Principle that you should walk by is this That all the time that God allows us is little enough to fulfill the task that he allots us Man that is borne of a woman is few of dayes and full of troubles Job 14. 1. The creatures life and existence is of a very short and small continuance Natures womb somtimes proves natures tombe and swallows up her own Vitae hujus principium mortis exordium est nec priùs incipit augeri aetas nostra quam minui Prosp de vocat Gen. lib. 2. c. 20 issue With many it's ebb water before the tide be at the full the lamp of their lives is wasted even as soon as it is lighted the sands of their hour-glasse are quite run out when they think it is but newly turned When men feele sicknesse arresting then they feare deaths approaching But we begin our dying as soon as ever we begin our living and how much the longer our time hath been so much the shorter our time shall be Every mans passing-bell hangs in his own steeple Take him in his four elements of Earth and Aire Fire and Water In the Earth he is like dust that 's scattering in the Aire he is like a vapour that 's vanishing in the water he is like a bubble that 's breaking in the Fire he is like smoak that 's consuming Seneca said truly Maximum vivendi Sen. de brevit vitae cap. 9. impedimentum est expectatio quae pendet in crastino the greatest hinderance of well living is the expectation of long life Therefore men so little prepare for death because they so little think on death they think not of living any better till they think not of living any longer Did you but walke by this principle though much of your time be past yet would no more of your time be lost you would this moment make sure of God because the next moment you are not sure of your selves One to-day is worth two to-morrows you know not how soone the sails of your lives may be rowled up or how nigh you are to your eternall haven O ply your Oares dilligently lest the vessell doe miscarry everlastingly What will you doe if you begin to dye naturally before you begin to live spiritually if the Tabernacle of nature be taken down before the Temple of grace be raised up if your paradise be laid wast before the Tree of life be set in it if you give up the Ghost before ever you have received the Holy Ghost if the Sun of your lives set within you before the Sun of righteousness shine upon you if the body be sit to be turned into the earth before the soul be fit to be taken into Heaven If the second birth have no place in you the second Death shall have a power over you One excellently compares