nor for all that hee was able to doe and why because they thought that Christ that God was able to doe them more hurt and more good Now take any Commander in the world when you regard not the punishment nor the reward that he is able to inflict or to give you his authority is gone Now when you set up Christ and thinke so of Christ you are ready to obey him and obey him rather than any other Therefore consider with thy selfe this and consider seriously aske thy heart the question what is that thou settest up to bee thy chiefest Commander For there are three great Cōmanders in the world that divide all mankind betweene them almost And that is wealth and estate worldly credit and honour to live in esteeme pleasures and delight Now thinke with thy selfe when any of these three great Commanders come with any command contrary to that which Christ commands thinke with thy selfe what thou wilt doe in such a case what wast thou wont to doe looke to past experience looke backe to thy former wayes see what thou wast wont to doe thinke with thy selfe when such a Command comes what thy heart reasons upon if concupiscence if a strong lust if a strong impetuous desire come and bid thee to doe something which is contrary to that which Christ would have thee to do what art thou ready to doe in such a case If thy profit the mainetenance of thy estate thy liberty thy wealth thy convenience in this world come and command thee to doe one thing and thy conscience which is Christs vicegerent come in his stead and command thee another thing what art thou ready to doe in that case So when thy credit thy honour and reputation thy vaine glory shall come and bid thee do one thing and Christ shall bid thee doe another what is thy resolution what art thou wont to doe By this thou shalt know whether thou settest up Christ as the chiefe Commander in thy heart or no whether thou givest him thy chiefe throne whether thou exaltest him for God in thy heart you know when you exalt him for God every thing then yeelds if in truth he be set up for God in thy heart Therefore consider what it is that thy heart sets highest whether thou exaltest him most whether when any of these threatning crying commands come thou canst give them an absolute denyall and say with thy selfe I will not obey you and if they threaten imprisonment or disgrace and losse of life and if I doe not obey such a lust I shall be wrung and pincht for it I shall lose such delights well I am resolved to beare all this On the other side when they shall come with faire proffers you shall have this honour and this advancement and this convenience If thy heart can say now I will have none of you for I see it is a command contrary to his that is above whom I have set up for my chiefe Commander whom I resolve to obey whom I take to be greater than all the friendship in the world than all the profits pleasures and credits in the world I say thus examine thy selfe what thy heart is toward Christ what it is to his command and let mee touch that by the way thou must also shew thy obedience to Christ in thy obedience to others My beloved there are indifferent things that are in themselves not of moment one way or other whether we doe them or not doe them and though the omission of them in themselves be nothing yet when it shall bee of contempt and neglect of those that are set in superiour place over you in such a case you ought not to doe it this is a rule and a true rule in divinity that indifferent things may be omitted except in two cases in case of scandall and in case of neglect and contempt of authority therefore when there is neglect when men shew contempt for that cause it is to be done though for the other it is not to be done This I touch but by the way that you may consider it in your particular occasion Now my beloved you see these five things by which you may know if you have tooke Christ or no yee know when a man comes to examine himselfe whether he be a fit man a man that hath any right to come to the Lords table hee must consider whether hee bee in Christ otherwise hee hath nothing to doe either with this priviledge or with any other Now to bee in Christ there must as I said goe a double act there must be one on thy owne side there must be one act on thy part to take him and there must be an act on his part there goes out a strength and a vertue from him by which hee takes thee and comprehends thee The time is past I cannot proceed further onely remember this that hath beene said to you and examine your selves by it whether you bee in the truth whether you make Christ your chiefe Excellency your chiefe Treasure your chiefe Ioy your chiefe Refuge your chiefe Commander if thou finde that thou hast done this if thou finde thy heart wrought to such an act as this to take Christ in such a manner then thou hast Christ thou art in him then thou hast a right in him and maist come with comfort but if thou have it not then I must charge every one of you in the name of Christ Iesus in whose authority we come that you meddle not with such holy mysteries My Beloved you know what I have often told you there is a necessity laid on men to come to the Sacrament you know hee that neglected the Passeover was to be cut off from the people It was a very great sinne so it is to omit the Sacrament you have diverse Sacraments every Tearme and if your businesse hinder you from one you may come to another yea there is a necessity lyes upon you to come but yet we must give you a double charge one that you omit it not and another that you come not hither unlesse you be in Christ What hast thou to doe that art a profane person thou hast nothing to doe with Christ thou that art yet a stranger to him that thou shouldest thrust in to the Lords table thou ought'st not to doe it if thou dost thou eatest and drinkest thine owne damnation in stead of thy salvation The Second Sermon AND so now wee come to the Vse and that is that there is an Act of Christ to make an union betwixt us that we may be his and he ours there is an act of his that is there is a certaine power or vertue comes from him even as there doth from the Load-stone to the iron that drawes thee to him there goes out a vertue and power from him as to the woman that touched the hemme of his garment that healed her bloody issue such a power goes out from Christ to
thou must get thy heart to a more close a more neere inward conjunction with him thou must labour to have that hardnesse that thou hast contracted as it will bee in a little continuance of time thou must labour I say to have that tooke away and removed to have thy heart softened to have the rust rubbed off thou must labour to have all these things done For thou must know this That though there be not a particular sinne committed yet as we see the outward man is subject to a wasting though there be no wounds though there be no sicknesse though a man be in perfect health and all is well with him and he observe all the rules of dyet yet I say you see the outward man is subject to wasting to fainting to weakenesse and decay and therefore there must be a renewing of dyet and of strength or else it cannot bee able to hold out So it is with the inward man though there bee no particular sinne though a man did keepe some good course in the wayes of godlinesse without running out eminently or evidently yet he is subject to a secret decay so that sometimes hee must have some speciall meate some speciall feast which the Lord hath appointed for that purpose for he doth nothing in vaine And if this Sacrament could be spared that a man might keepe the strength of the inward man without it the Lord would not have put you to this trouble but he seeth it necessary and therefore he hath appointed it to be received and that often that you might feed upon the body and blood of Christ that you might eate his flesh and drinke his blood and gather new strength from it that when there is a decay of grace in your hearts you may goe to this Fountaine and fill the Cisternes againe to recover strength For when a man comes to the Sacrament as hee ought hee gathers a new strength as a man doth from a feast his heart is cheered up as it is with Flagons of wine he is refreshed his hunger and thirst is satisfied That is the desires of his soule that long after Christ after righteousnesse and assurance are quickned and refreshed And this is the third thing Fourthly besides all this First the stirring up of the graces and the acting of the habits Secondly making thy peace and reconciliation with God and remooving of any particular offence that is betwixt God and thee Thirdly this scouring off the rust this remooving the distance betweene God and thee the softning of that hardnesse which thy heart hath contracted this recovering the strength that thou hast wasted There is besides all these a fourth thing required which is that there be an Intention a particular increase of thy will in taking Christ of thy desire to Christ and of every grace that knits thee and Christ together For there are certaine cementing graces certaine glewing graces that joyne Christ and thy soule together as Faith and Love these are the two maine graces there are a great traine of graces that follow them but these are the chiefe and these I say must bee intended For what is the end of the Sacrament Is it not to knit the knot stronger betweene Christ and us to make the union more full and perfect is it not to increase our willingnesse to take and receive Christ for you know all the acts of the soule may be intended Put the case there be a resolved act in the heart and soule of any man whereby he saith thus with himselfe I am resolved to take Christ and to serve and love him for the time of my life yet this resolution of his though it bee perfect and sincere may receive intention when a man is willing to doe any thing truly there may bee degrees added to that will when there is light in a roome when thou bringest in more candles that light may be increased so it may in this so may your faith and love by faith I meane nothing but the resolution of the heart to take Christ I meane not the beleeving part but the taking part the act of the will taking Christ or receiving him which is nothing else but the choise of the will that resolves to take him I do but touch this by the way because it is a point I have handled already at large the thing I ayme at is this I say the glewing graces are these two Faith and love wherby you thus take Christ for your Lord and Saviour Faith is like the part of the compasse that goeth about and doth the worke and love is that cementing grace wherby we are more knit unto the Lord they have both their office and their place You know love is an uniting affection therefore this is the definition of it It is a desire of union with that it loves Now when thou comest to receive the Sacrament or to pray or put up any special request when thou comest to have to do with God to make use of any priviledge thou hast in Christ thy chiefe busines is to intend this faith love at such a time to draw thee neerer to make the union perfect You will say how is this increased and how is it intended I answer Two wayes in the Sacrament one way is the very repetition the very renewing the covenant the very doing it over againe the resolution of taking him for there is a mutuall covenant you know betweene Christ and us it is confirmed to us in the Sacrament hee confirmes his and wee confirme ours as the friendship betweene Ionathan David was increased by the renewing of the covenant or else why was it repeated The very repetition of the act intends the habit the habit is increased by the repetition of the act though it were no more so the renewing of the covenant exerciseth thy faith it sets a work thy faith and thy love when thou comest to receive the Sacrament the very intention is increased but this is not all There is another thing in the Sacrament that much increaseth it and that is a thing I would have you chiefely to take notice of That is the very Sacrament it selfe the elements of bread and wine delivered to thee with the very words of the minister Take and eate this is my body that was broken for thee Take and drinke this is my blood that was shed c. For when these words are spoken to us if wee did consider well of them and thinke thus with our selves These words that the Lord himselfe hath appointed the Minister to speake for therein is the force of them that they are of the Lords owne institution therefore the strength of every Sacrament lies in the institution That is a rule in Divinity the Papists themselves who have added five other Sacraments cannot deny but that every Sacrament must have an immediate institution from Christ himselfe even from his owne mouth or else there is no strength in it so
your particular sinnes your particular actions these will worke upon you This course Peter tooke with the Iewes Act. 2. yee have crucified the Lord of life so Christ told Paul that he was a persecutor Act. 9. so Iohn 4 he told the woman of Samaria her particular sinne he that shee now lived with was not her husband so God told Adam thou hast eaten of the forbidden fruite Gen. 3. If yee are guilty of any grosse sinnes as drunkennesse covetousnesse pride ambition and the like consider them Consider your other sinnes minoris infamiâ— not minoris culpâ— as neglecting of holy duties misspending the time inordinate gaming overly performing of holy duties unprofitable hearing keeping of bad company profaning of the Sabbath and the like Consider then the terrors of God and hell know with what a God you have to deale and what a burthen sin is if God charge these on your consciences yee cannot â—eare them I desire not by this to burthen you but to unburthen you of your corruptions Now seeing this life is so excellent I will adde certaine motives to make you to desire it First it is a happy life and it must needes be so because it is the life of God and Angels it is that life which wee shall live hereafter ye may live this natural life and want happinesse This life of grace and the life of glory differ onely in degrees not in kinde the competent judges of this are the Saints who have tryed both Heb. 11.15.16 If they had beene mindfull of that countrey from which they came they had liberty to have returned but now they desire a better contrey that is an heavenly In a Heard of Swine if some stray away from the rest and returne not againe it is a signe they have found a better pasture so when men leave their companions and returne no more it is a signe they have found some better things Conceive not then of this life as many doe to be onely a privation or a melancholy thing nothing but a meere mortification this is a life which hath its comforts eating recreations and delights yee loose not your pleasures if yee live it but change them for advantage he that leades this life dies as the corne doth from a seede it growes up into many stalkes hee gaines by this bargaine Christ doth make an hard bargaine with none he that deales with him gaines a hundred fold If yee part with temporall wealth yee have spirituall treasures for it if you part with your worldly pleasures ye have joy in the holy Ghost have yee crosses yee are sanctified in that which is better loose yee this life yee have eternall life Secondly this life of grace hath that which every man seekes it hath much pleasure Prov. 3.17 All her wayes are wayes of pleasure Those who walke in the waies of God are full of pleasure this life brings a double pleasure first the reward of it secondly the comfort in performing the actions of it Every good worke as the Hebrew proverbe is hath meate in its mouth the living of this life hath a reward sufficient in its selfe as appeares by this All pleasures follow some actions and therefore men desire life because it is a continuance of action so men delight in new things because as long as they are new the intention remaines The actions of this present life are full of change and therefore of discomfort but the actions of this spirituall life are constant and perfect and those actions that are perfect there is pleasure following them as beauty followes a good constitution or as flame the fire The actions of this life are perfect actions the perfectest actions have the most perfect delight the actions of this life are most perfect actions therefore they have most perfect delight because they are the actions of the best faculty about the best object All actions have the denomination of their perfection from their objects these are actions of the soule they are occupied about God therefore they are the best and highest actions He that lives about the best object greatest content doth follow hee that lives this life lives about the best object therefore he hath greatest content all the waies of it are waies of pleasure There is more comfort and Assiduity of consolation in this life than in any other In other lives every one according to his humour hath his delights but yet they are not permanent because hee delighteth in transitory things but hee that lives the life of grace delights in things that are truly delightfull at all times other delights are but delights at some times in some places they are not alwaies so but he that lives the life of grace pitcheth on those that are alwayes so Prov. 14.15 A good conscience is a continuall feast Other comforts may faile a man may fall into affliction riches and pleasures may be taken away then the dayes are evill but a good conscience is a continuall feast that is be a mans case what it will his comfort is never interrupted All other comforts are about sence or things of this life which are subiect to alteration but this life and the comforts of it admit no change A man being sicke hee cannot doe actions of health they are restrained so one in prison is not at liberty to doe what he would but the actions of this life are assiduous they cannot be interrupted ye may pray continually rejoyce evermore yee may alwayes have communion with God Thirdly this life is a life that is least indigent of all others it needeth least Take a man that leades any other life hee needs many things Luk. 10.41.41 this is shadowed in that of Martha and Mary Martha busies her selfe about many things she wanted many but Mary had one thing that was profitable for all things that removes all evills brings all happinesse and that is Godlinesse which is profitable for all things 1 Tim. 4.8 Fourthly the comforts of this life are pure comforts Psal. 18.26 I walke purely with those that walke purely This is not onely to be understood of the consolations of grace but also of common blessings being the fruites of this life there is no sorrow with them there is a pure comfort without any mixture of sorrow God giving these blessings in mercy they are free from mixture of discomfort but being not the fruites of this life of grace being reached by sinne and sinfull meanes or God giving them in his providence not in his mercy there is sorrow in them yee may have riches honours friends and all outward things and yet they are not pure blessings because Gods blessing is not mingled with them Lastly it is a life most capacious of comforts yee may give all the faculties of the soule comfort Every creature according as his life is feeles more or lesse comfort Plants as they feele no hurt so they feele no sweetnesse beasts that have a sensible soule feele more evill
that even as it is with all things that are symbols of other things as take markes in feilds that stand for the division of severall mens rights take counters thâ—â— stand for Thousands and Hundreds the very essence of these things stands in the very institution of them So in the Sacrament except these words were from the Lords owne mouth that delivered it this very delivering of the bread and wine being a signe to you of the forgivenes of your sinnes except the Lord had thus instituted it there had beene no force in it I say consider they are words that the Minister speaks not in an ordinary course but he is appointed by the Lord himselfe to speak them and now wheÌ„ these words make a new impression upon thy heart it addes an intention to thy faith and love For example to make it a little more cleare to you that you may understand it distinctly The Lord hath said this he will forgive the sinnes of all those that come unto him hee will forgive them that forsake their sinnes and take Christ Iesus and love and feare him for the time to come The Lord might have suffered it to goe thus in generall that hee hath delivered it unto you and no more But hee thought good to goe further and say thus to mankind It s true I have said it but I will not content my selfe with that but will adde certaine seales and symbolls certaine externall signes that thou shalt see and looke on and I say to thee this covenant have I made with thee and when thou seest the bread and wine delivered by the Minister know this that the thing that thou seest is a witnesse betweene thee and me That as it was said by Laban and Iacob when they made a covenant This stone be witnesse betweene us And God said to Noah when I looke upon the rainebowe it shall bee a signe that I will destroy the earth no more after this manner when the Lord hath said it and hath appointed this outward Symboll that thine eies looke upon I remember the covenant and this as a signe betweene us this shall bind mee to it and him likewise Now when this is done anew it may be every month this is a wondrous great mercy this is a marvellous great helpe if it be rightly understood to strengthen our faith Doth it not helpe us when wee see the Rainebowe which the Lord hath appointed to put him in mind of his covenant I will remember my covenant when I looke on the Bowe in the Cloud it shall confirme me and I will not breake my covenant to destroy the world with a flood So this administration of the Sacrament when the Lord lookes upon it hee cannot but remember his promise and his covenant of pardoning our sinnes And when thou lookest on it thou art assured of it for hee hath said it it shall bee a signe and a witnesse betweene us Now I say that new impression that these words thus contrived and understood and delivered by the Minister make upon the heart intends our faith and love as indeed it is a great matter to have it spoken to us by a Minister of the Gospell sent from Christ from his owne mouth Take and eate this is my body that is broken for you and this is my blood that was shed for you and for many for the remission of sinnes This is the fourth qualification that is required that our faith and love be intended and our union increased that the will resolution and purpose of taking Christ for our Lord receive more degrees that so we may be more fast and firmely united and knit to him which I say is done partly by the repetition on both sides for the very repetition doth it and partly by a new impression that these words take eate c make on the soule Now I adde the last thing which is required still remember the maine thing wee are upon that it is not enough for thee to be in Christ but if thou wilt bee a worthy receiver thou must have these foure qualifications in thee that I have named already Thou must reconcile thy selfe anew thou must rub off the rust from thy soule which it hath gathered thou must recover the distance that is growne betweene God and thee Thou must adde an intending and an increase Thou must adde more degrees to thy faith and love and after all these Fiftly and lastly this is also required which is much for our benefit and comfort namely to put up thy request when thou comest neere to the Lord in the Sacrament Now thou must not onely do this but thou must also make some use of the covenant which the Lord hath made with thee for his part so that thou mayest think this with thy selfe When I come to receive the Sacrament I have but two workes to do one is to recovenant with the Lord to renew my repentance and to set all eaven and the other is to remember the Lords covenant You will say what is the Covenant It 's a Covenant that consists of these three things or points Iustification I will forgive thy sins Sanctification I will make you new hearts and new spirits and the third All things are ours that is I have made you heires of the world heires of all things you have all the promises belonging to you that belong to this life that which is to come this is the Covenant which the Lord hath made Now thou art bound when thou comest to receive the Sacrament not onely to remember this Covenant Doe this saith hee in remembrance of Mee and not barely of me and of my being crucified for thee of all the love that I have shewed unto thee but also in remembrance of the Covenant and of those gracious promises which are the particulars of which that Covenant is the summe and therefore thus a man is to do What hath the Lord vouchsafed mee this favour that I may come to his Table I may come and renew the nuptials and my covenant with him Surely then I will looke about and consider what I want what request I shal put up unto him for there is nothing that is wanting but it is within this Covenant and thou art to put up thy request in a speciall maner whatsoever it be be it concerning things belonging to thy soule to have a strong lust mortified to have thy hard heart softned to have some sin that lies upon thy conscience forgiven to have that forgivenes assured to thee be it any thing that concernes thy particular estate if it be to be delivered from a potent enemy or whatsoever it be put up thy request and that largely open thy mouth wide that is make thy request full feare it not Put the case againe it be somewhat that doth not concerne thee but that it concerneth the Church abroad or the Church at home it is a case that much concernes
that the righteous have more comfortable than all the revenues of the vngodly be they never so great That which hath been said of blessings the like also may bee said of crosses yee may grieve for them if yee take them as crosses but withall take heed that you account not those things crosses which indeed are no crosses Want was no crosse to Paul nor yet Imprisonment for in the one he abounded in the other hee sung It is advantage unto us many times to have outward blessings taken from us It is advantage to us to have bloud taken away in a Pleurisie it is good sometimes to lop trees that so they may bring forth more fruit so it is good many times for us to have crosses to humble us and to bring us nearer to God yet yee may sorrow for the losse of these things and take it as a crosse if yee can say this from your hearts that yee are not afflicted because ye are made poore because your wealth is taken from you but because it is Gods pleasure to take it from you either for the abuse of it or else to punish you for some other sinne So if that yee are cast into some sicknesse ye may not grieve for it as a crosse meerely as it is a sicknesse but as you conceive the hand of God in it laying it on you as a punishment for your sinne The second Let and Deceipt is the present sence and feeling that we have of the comfort that comes from aboundance Men are ready to say that they feele comfort from aboundance of outward things therefore whatsoever you say to the contrary is but speculations and fancies Men are guided by sence which cannot be deceived we find and feele comfort in these things by experience we see a reality in these things and therefore whatsoever you say to the contrary is but vaine and to no purpose To this I answer you must not judge of things according to sence for sence was never made a Iudge by God to judge of these things but judge of them according to faith and rectified reason which judgeth of things that are to come that are past present all together and so can best judge of these things as they are Now for to helpe your judgements in these things First consider what the Scripture doth say of them what it doth say of pleasure friends and riches the Scripture presents things as they are and that tels you that they are but Vanity of vanities and that all is vanity Secondly consider the Iudgements of others concerning them who have beene on the stage of afflictions and have abounded with good workes whilst they lived but are now gone Thirdly consider what yee will judge of them at the day of death then men are awaked they see these things as they are indeed and then they be foole themselves that they have spent so much time in seeking after those things which will not profit them and spent so little time in seeking after salvation Fourthly Iudge not of them as you finde them for the present but likewise as you shall finde them for the time to come judge of all together Now for Sence you must understand that there is a double sence First there is a sence and feeling of the comfort of the creature as a man that is benummed with cold is refreshed with fire or a man that is faintie and feeble in heart is refreshed with wine Secondly There is a supereminent comfort proceeding from an inward apprehension of Gods fauour towards us in giving these blessings to us There may be an inward distemper which may make our joyes to bee hollow and counterfeit there may be sadnesse of heart when as there is outward joy because there is an inward and supereminent sence which affects the heart another way and therefore Eccles. 2.2 Externall Ioy is called mad Ioy because wee minde it not It is the joy of joyes and life of comfort that is from within that proceeds from the inward man As the soule is stronger and the more it is in health so it findes more comfort both externall and supereminent comfort Graces are to the soule as health is to the body the more and greater they are the more comfort they administer But yee may object that the creature can administer its owne comfort and of its selfe To this I answer That there is an aptnesse and fitnesse in the creature for to comfort us but yet it can yeeld us no comfort without God Wherefore keepe your affections in square have so much joy and delight in the creature as the creature requires and no more if your affections hold a right proportion with their objects they are right therefore thus farre yee may joy in the creature and no further First Yee may joy in it with a remisse joy and yee may also sorrow for it with a remisse sorrow yee may joy in it as if yee ioyed not and sorrow in it as if yee sorrowed not Secondly Ye may joy in them with a loose joy and affection as they set loose to you so yee may set loose to them 1 Cor. 7.29.30.31 Brethren the time is short it remaineth therefore that those who have wives be as though they had none that those that weepe be as though they wept not that those that reioyce as though they reioyced not and those that buy as though they possessed not and they that use this world as not abusing it That is let your affections be loose to these things Take any of these outward things yee may cast your affections on them in a loose manner goe no further than this For the fashion of the world passeth away Yee may bee taken away from it and it from you therefore affect it no otherwise than a transitorie thing and with a loose and transient affection willing to depart from it whensoever it shall please GOD to take it from you Thirdly yee may love them with a dependent affection they are things of a dependent nature they have no bottome of their owne to stand on they onely depend on God and so yee may love them as depending on him eyeing the Fountaine and not the Cesterne from whence they flow take not the light from the aire onely but looke to the Sunne from whence it comes The third Deceipt is false reasoning We finde it otherwise by experience we see that a diligent hand maketh rich and bringeth comfort we see that labour bringeth learning and for the labour which we take to get it in recompence of it it makes us happy To this I answer That this chaine doth not alwayes hold God breakes it many times riches come not alwayes by labour nor comfort by riches except God bee with the labour the labour profits nothing Psal. 127.1 Except the Lord build the house they labour in vaine that build it Except the Lord keepe the Citie the Watchmen
watch but in vaine It is in vaine to rise up earely to goe to bed late to eate the bread of carefulnesse Yee shall not reape the fruit yee expect unlesse God bee with your labour If Christ bee absent the Disciples may labour all night and catch nothing but if he be present with them then their labour prospereth then they inclose a multitude of Fishes So when as wee labour and take paines and thinke to be strong in our owne strength without Gods helpe wee goe to worke with a strong key which will not open but if Gods hand bee in the businesse wee doe that with greater facilitie and ease which God hath appointed wee should doe You may see this in Ioseph God purposed to make him a great man see with what facilitie he was made the Governour of Egypt next to Pharaoh without his owne seeking and beyond his expectation So it was with Mordecai so with David God appointed to make them great and therefore they became great notwithstanding all oppositions On the contrary let man goe on in his owne strength and he shall labour without any profit at all Hence it is that many times we see a concurrencie of all causes so that we would thinke that the effect must needs follow and yet it followes not and if it doth follow we have no comfort in it First because God makes an insutablenesse a disproportion betwixt the man the blessing as betweene Iudas and his Apostleship A man may have tables well furnished Riches in aboundance a Wife fit for him and yet have no comfort in them because God puts a secret disproportion betwixt him and them Secondly though there bee a concurrencie of things yet God may hinder the effect sometimes for good sometimes for evill As Elisha his servant was ready in the nicke when the Shunamite came to beg her possessions and Land of the King 2. King 8.5.6 He was then telling the King how Elisha had restored her sonne to life which furthered her suite So on the other side Abraham When hee was to offer up his sonne Isaac in the instant God sent the Ramme tied in the Bush Gen. 22.13 So Saul when as he had purposed to kill David God calls him away to fight with the Philistims and as God hinders the effect for good so hee doth for evill Thirdly God doth it sometimes by denying successe unto the causes The battell is not alwayes to the strong when there are causes and the effect followes not it is because God doth dispose of things at his pleasure and can turne them a contrary way health and comfort joy and delight follow not outward blessings except God puts it into them The fourth Deceipt is this These things are certaine and present but other things are doubtfull and uncertaine we know not whether we shall have them or no. To this I answer it is not so Future spirituall and eternall things are not uncertaine but those things which wee enjoy here are those things which we here enjoy as also wee our selves are subject to changes and alterations we are as men on the sea having stormes as well as calmes Wealth and all outward blessings are but transitory things but faith and spirituall things are certaine and endure for ever we have an Almighty and unchangeable God an immortall incorruptible inheritance that fadeth not away reserved for us in the highest heavens In temporall things who knowes what shall bee to morrow in them thou canst not boast of to morrow but as for spirituall things they are certaine there is no ambiguity in them But the maine answer that I give is that here we must use our faith consider the grounds on which faith relies and then the conclusions and consequences that arise from them take heed to them and be not deceived If ye beleeve God to be the Rewarder of all those that trust in him as you say he is why rest you not on him Why are yee not contented with him for your portion Why thinke yee not him sufficient If the creature be God then follow it but if God be God then follow him and be satisfied with him Labour therefore for faith unfained and walke according to it If then it be vaine and sinfull to seeke helpe and comfort from any creature or from riches and to thinke that they can make us live more comfortably hence then consider the sinfulnesse of it and put it into the Catalogue of your other sinnes that formerly yee have had such thoughts Every one is guilty of this sinne more or lesse and this is a sin not small but of a high nature It is Idolatry In the times of ignorance Sathan drew many men to grosse Idolatry to worship stockes and stones but now he drawes them to another Idolatrie lesse perceptible and yet as dangerous in Gods sight as the other who is a spirit and can discerne and pry into it Let us therefore examine our hearts and consider how much wee have loved and trusted the creature let vs condemne our selues and rectifie our Iudgements and judge of things as they are Let us not thinke our selues happy for that we enjoy the creatures let us not thinke ourselves blessed in them but onely in Christ because it is not in their power to make us happy If wee have so joyed in these or loved them so as to love God lesse it is adulterous love and joy We have no better rule to judge of adulterous love than this when as our love to the creature doth lessen our love towards God Now least we bee deceived in our love to the creature I will give you these foure signes to know whether your love to it bee right or no. First see if your affections to the creature cause you to withdraw your hearts from God Ier. 17.5 Cursed bee the man that maketh flesh his arme and whose heart departeth from the LORD It is a signe wee make flesh our arme when as wee withdraw our hearts from God we make the creature our aime when as it withdrawes us from God 1 Tim. 5.5 She that is a Widdow indeed trusteth in God and continueth in supplications night and day This is a signe that they trusted in God not in the creature because they pray unto him Consider what your conversation is whether it bee in heaven or no Phil. 3.20 Our conversation is in heaven the neglecting and not minding of earthly things in the former verse shewed him not to be of an earthly conversation The more our hearts are drawne from God the more are they fixed and set on earthly things Secondly consider what choise yee make when as these things come in competition with God and spirituall things what Bils of Exchange doe you make Doe ye make yee friends of the unrighteous Mammon not caring for these things when they come in competition with a good conscience or doe yee forsake GOD and sticke to them Thirdly