purging the Heart from pollutions of Sinâ— e. THere is mention made of a certain King that had an Oxe-stall which had not been cleansed in many years and at last was grown so foul that it was thought all the industry of Man could not clean it in a life time The King perceiving that considered with himselfe that if he could bring the River which ran hard by his house to run through it that then it would quickly be emptied No sooner was this conceived thus in his mind but he sets upon the worke and after much expence both of labour and money brought the River to run through the Ox stall with a very swâ—ft currenâ— so that in three dayes the house was cleared and all the filth removed Thus the heart of Man like that Augaean stable is filled with rottennesse and pollution but if true repentant tears do but run through it with a forcible current they will drive down all putrefaction and uncleanness before them they are of such a purging nature that as Rain distilling from the clouds clarifies the air so they purifie the Heart insomuch that if the Men of this world were truly perswaded of the great benefit of true Repentant tears they would not by any means be hindred from weeping Scandalous and seditious Books and Pamphlets fit for the fire Agesilaus when he saw the Usurers bonds and bills set all of a light fire said Nunquam vidi ignem clariorem I never saw a brighter or a better fire in all my life And it were heartily to be wished that of all such scandalous blasphemous seditious Books and Pamphlets that are dayly vended amongst us such as are fraught full of nothing but pestilent and bitter malice and the most shamelesse desperate untruths that the Devill the father of lyes can help to invent there were a fire made of them as was of the Books of curious Arts Act. 19. the flames whereof perhaps might expiate some part of the Authors offences which otherwise would one day help to encrease their torment in Hell fire Men easily drawn by their own Naturall corruption CAlista the Strumpet thus bragged against Socrates All thy Philosophy cannot alienate one of my Lovers from me but my beauty can fetch many of thy Schollars from thee He made her this answer No wonder for thou temptest Men to the pleasing path of perdition but I perswade them to the troublesome way of virtue And it is observed that Philosophers of divers sects turned to the Epicures but never did any Epicure accept of any other sect of Philosohpy Thus it is that Men are easily drawn by their own natural corruption Men are naturally disposed to be evill to be holy and good is the difficulty We are all of us born sinners there is much ado to make us Saints For corrupt Nature to adhere unto a doctrine that holdeth out carnall liberty facilis descensus there 's no more wonder in it then for stones to fall downward or sparks to fly upward but to mortifie our Earthly members to deny our selves to forsake this present world and cleave unto God hic labor hoc opus est this goes against the hair fain we would be Saints but we are loath to be holy To be affected with the falling of others into Sin St. Bernard makes mention in one of his Homilies of an old Man who when he saw any Man to sin wept and lamented for him Being asked why he grieved so for others answered Hodie ille cras ego He fell to day I may fall to morrow Thus if Men could be but affected with the falling of others into sin it would rather draw blood then joy from their hearts not knowing how soon God may withdraw his Grace from them and suffer them to fall as foul as any other besides there is no greater sign of a Reprobate then to laugh at sinne and sinners for he that can make wickednesse his chiefest pastime and the faults of othâ—rs his grâ—atest joy is no better then the Devill that rejoyceth at the failings of Gods children The World to be contemned in regard of Heaven THe Eagle a Princely bird of a piercing sight a swift and lofty flight mounts upwards setting light by the things that are below never condescending to any of these inferiour things but when Necessity compells not when superfluity doth allure Such an Eagle was Zacheus that left his Extortion Matthew his Toll-gathering Peter all such as used this world as if they used it not wherewith to supply their necessary wants and no further O happy change when Men leave all for him that is worth more then all though Riches encrease yet they set not their hearts upon them though their Estates be changed yet they are not changed their desire is not to be rich unto this world but unto Gâ—d their bodies are be low but their hearts are above their lives here but their Conversaâ—ions in Heaven Christian Modesty commendable IT is a worthy observation what Paulinus a good Man answered to Sulpiâ—ius Severus when he wrote unto him to send him his Picture Erubesco pingere quod sum non audeo pingere quod non sum modestly dispraising his own feature I must blush said he to picture my selfe as I am and I scorn to picture my selfe as I am not Here was a modest Man and a modest disposition well met And it were heartily to be wished that the like frame of spirit were in the pâ—ffe-paste Titulado's of our times rather to confesse the unworthinesse they have then arrogantly to boast the worthinesse they have not pretending sanctity at the root of the Tree when no fruit but wickednesse is seen on the branches flattering themselves that their garments are of the holy fashion their goings of the holy pace their language of the holy style and their hair of the holy cut whilst their heart is all this while of an unholy metal Not to be daunted at Afflictions IT is related of that valiant Commander Sr. Hâ—race Vere late Baron of Tilbury that when in the Palatinate a Councell of War was called and there being debate whether they would fight or not some Dutch Lord said that the Enemy had many pieces of Ordinance planted in such a place and therefore it was dangerous to fight he replyed My Lords if you fear the mouth of a Cannon you must never come into the field Thus it is that in the service of God Men must not shrink or give back because of difficulties in the way and though it oftentimes so falleth out that Men fall into divers Temptations and those great ones too as to dispair of Gods mercies and so to lay violent hands upon themselves yet a Christian courage must not be daunted at any crosses or afflictions but endure constant to the end for God is faithfull and just and will not suffer any Man to be tempted above what he is able
in strange sins out of the road of common corruption not once coming within the compass of a rational suspition so true is it that strange sins have and ever will be attended with strange and unheard-of punishments The souls delight once set upon God hardly to be removed HE that lets down a Bucket to draw water out of a deep well as long as the bucket is under the water though it be never so full he may get it up easily but when he begins to draw the bucket clear out of the water then with all his strength he can hardly get it up yea many times when it is at the very highest breaks the Iron chain and falls violently back again After the same sort a Christian heart so long as it is in Him wherein is a well of life is filled with delight and with great joy drinketh in the water of comfort out of the fountains of salvation but being once haled and pulled from God it draweth back and as much as it can possible resisteth and is never quiet till it be in him who is the very Center of the Souls happinss The Incorrigibility of Errour IT is observable that in the time of the great sweating sickness in England the sick persons when they were beaten on the face with sprigs of Rosemary by their friends would cry out O you kill me you kill me whereas indeed they had killed them in not doing it for had they slept they had dyed So those whom the sickness of Errour hath surprised if you but go about to suppress them you shall presently hear them exclaim and say Oh you persecute us you persecute us whereas indeed it is not such a persecution as le ts out the heart-blood but such a persecution as le ts out the corrupt blood And they will one day acknowledge though now they may stifly stand it out that to be a happy violence which pulled them out of the fire blessed bonds that tyed them to Christ and comfortable fetters which kept their feet in the way of peace The sloathful contractednesse of our prayers unto God reproved POpe Boniface the Ninth at the end of each hundreth years appointed a Jubilee at Rome wherein People bringing themselves and money thither had pardon for their sins But Centenary years returned seldom Popes were old before and covetous when they came to their place few had the happinesse to fill their Coffers with Iubilee coyn Hereupon Clement the sixth reduced it to every fiftieth year Gregory the eleventh to every three and thirtieth Paul the second and Sixtus the fourth to every twenty fifth year as now it is some overtures have been to bring it lower and would have succeeded had there not been opposition Just thus we serve our prayers unto God as they their Iubilees perchance they may extend to a quarter of an hour when poured out at large but some dayes we begrutch this time as too much omittiâ—g the Preface with some passages conceived lesse materiall and running two or three Peitions into one so contracting them to halfe a quarter of an hour Not long after we fall to decontracting and abridging the abridgement of our prayers yea be it confessed to our shame and sorrow that hereafter we may amend it too often we shrink up our Prayers to a minute to a moment to a Lord have mercy on me The difficulty of returning unto God having long strayed from him JOseph and Mary left their Son at Ierusalem and went but one dayes journey from him but they sought him up and down three whole dayes and that with a great deal of sorrow too before they could â—ind him They are therefore deceived which think it an easie matter speedily to return unto God when they have long been straying from him that are gone with the Prodigall child in Regionem longinquam into a far Country far from the thought of death and consequently from the fear of God yet promise themselves a quick return unto him The Grace of God the onely Armour of proof THere was a Judge in Poland called Ictus who a long time had stood for a poor begger the Plantiffe against a very rich man the Defendant but in the end took a Fee of the Defendant a considerable sum of mony stamped according to the usuall stamp of the Country with the Image of a Man in compleat Armour and at the next Sessions in Court judged the cause in favour of the Defendant But being taxed for it by his friends in private she wed them the coyn he received and demanded of them Quis possit tot armatis resistere Who is able to stand against such an Army as this is Steel Armour is indeed Musket proof but nothing except the Grace of God is gold or silver-proof Nothing can keep a Iudge or a Magistrate from receiving a Reward in private in a colourable cause but the grace of God the eye of the Almighty who seeth the corrupt Iudge in secret and will reward him openly if not here hereafter God both powerfull and merciful GOd shewed the Israelites in the spectacle of Thunder and Lightning at the delivery of the Law what he could do and what they deserved so that what Caesar sometimes said to the Questor who would have hindred him from entring into the Treasury at Rome shaking his sword It is easier for my Power to dispatch thee then for the goodnesse of my Nature to be willing to strike thee may much more truly besaid of God his Power maketh him mercifull and his Mercy doth manage his power The Author of the Book of Wisdome openeth this at large chap. 11. The excellencies of Christ are theirs that are in him AS thew â—e communicates in her Husbands honour and wealth the branches partake of the fatnesse and sweetness of the root and the Members derive sense and motion from the head So Christ our King is not like the bramble that receiveth all good and yields none to the State but he is like the Figtree the Vine the Olive they that pertain to him are all the better for him they are conformable to him if he have any excellency they shall have it also The best improvement of worldly sorrow WHen a Man by extream bleeding at the nose is brought in danger of his life the Physâ—tian gives order to let him blood in another place as in the arm and so turns the course of the blood another way to save his life And thus must we do turn our worldly sorrows for losse of goods or friends to a godly sorrow for our offences against God Flesh and Spirit their opposition ANselm Arch-bishop of Canterbury as he was passing on the the way espyed a boy with a bird tyed in a string to a stone the bird was still taking wing to fly away but the stone kept her down the holy Man made good use of this sight and bursting
Wentworth Thomas Westfield Bristoliens S. Whaley Degothy Whear Francis White Eliens John White D. D. Thomas White Jeremiah Whitaker Ro. Willan Michael Wigmore John Williams Lincolniens Henry Wilkinson Andrew Willet M. Wincop D. D. R. Wingfield Dr. Winniffe Lincolniens I. Wilson Thomas Wood. Iohn Wodnote Thomas Worrall D. D. Edoardus Wottonus Sir Henry Wootton X. XEnophon Xyphilinus Y. IOhn Yates R. Yong. Z. HIeronymus Zanchius Hieronymus Zeiglerus Zenodotus Zeno. Zonaras Conradus Zuingerus ΚΑΙÎΑ ΚΑΙ ΠΑΛΑΙΑ THINGS NEVV AND OLD OR A large Storehouse of Similies Sentences Apologues Allegories Apophthegms Adagies Divine Morall Politicall c. with their severall Applications God to be consulted at all times but more especially in the beginning of all Publique concernments AB Iove principium was the Law of Nature the Gentiles were wont to begin from their Oracles and Oratories It was ever the style of the Civill Law to begin à Deo optimo maximo Our old Saxon Lawes had the ten great Precepts of the Decalogue prefixed in their front And it is said of Scipio Africanus that it was his custome before the day broke out to go into the Capitol in cellam Iovis and there to stay a great while as if he were advising with his god concerning the Common-wealth's good But the example of David may stand for all who in all his streights in all his undertakings went to ask counsell of the Lord of Heaven and Earth Thus it is that the children of God are to consult with God to â—uspicate all their solemn actions to preface all great consultations for the common good with some such religious Acts as shall best conduce to the glory of God making their Creator who is the Alpha and Omega of all Creatures the beginning and ending of all their actions Dreams not to be altogether sleighted IT is said of S. Cyprian that in a Dreame he saw the Proconfull give order to the Clark of Affizes to write down his Sentence which was to be beheaded which when the Clark by signes made known to S. Cyprian the good Bishop desired some delay of the Execution that he might set his house in order and the Clark answered him in his dreame That his Peâ—ition was granted and so it fell out accordingly that that day twelvemonth after he had this dreame his head was strook off Thus it hath been from the beginning that God hath been so gracious to many of his children by Dreames or otherwise to give them notice of their departure hence to some the hath made known the year to some the moneth to some the very day and hour and not onely so but the manner also of their death some per viam lacteam by the pleasant passage of Nature some per viam sanguineam the blody way of Martyrdome c. Dreames therefore as they are not with Eastern people Superstitiously to be observed so neither are they amongst us Christians totally to be neglected as idle and vaine nocturnall phantasies Sin mortified the Devill 's terrour IT is mentioned of a City strongly besieged by a potent Enemy which holding long out was brought to extream want no hope of reliefe appeared Famine and Sword the two sad concomitants of War attended the one without affrighting the other within dismaying the poor Inhabitants insomuch that they were even at their witts end and thereupon fell upon a serious consultation what was best to be done for their better safety the result whereof was this That there should be a considerable number of dead bodies of which they had great store lay starved in the streets clap'd up in Armour and set upon the Walls in the still time of the night that so next morning the Enemies upon sight thereof might be somewhat amazed which fell out accordingly for it was thereby conceived that some fresh supplies were brought in to their assistance and thereupon the Siege was raised and the City relieved This distressed City so strongly besieged is the Soul of Man the potent Enemy that lyeth before it is the Devill that great Commander in chief over all such Regiments as the World and the Flesh can possibly raise for his service And what course must the poore Soul take in such a case Surely no other but consultation first had with God by Prayer to set out it 's dead and mortified lusts and affections and then no doubt the Devill upon the sight thereof will quit the place and never for the time to come adventure his whole strength to so little purpose Worldly thoughts and distractions in the time of Prayer condemned THere is a story how that one offered to give his Horse to his fellow upon condition he would but say the Lords Prayer and think upon nothing but God The proffer was accepted and he began Our Father which art in heaven Hallowed be thy Name But I must have the Bridle too said he No nor the Horse neither said the other for thou hast lost both already And thus it is that too too many Men and Women in their both private and publick addresses unto God by prayer are by the suggestions of Sathan walking with St. Hierom in the Galleries of Rome having their hearts roving after pleasures of sin their thoughts taken up with the things of this world and their whole Man set upon vanity whereas they should rather minde that which they are about keep close to God and be so watchfull and intentive over their souls that their hearts and tongues may go comfortably together For the outward worke onely is but like the loathsome smoak of Sodome whereas the inward devotion of the heart is not unfitly compared to the pleasant perfume of the sweetest Frankincense How it is that Tyrants are usually not long liv'd AS in Nature so in Government Nothing is permanent that is violent It is therefore hard to see an old Tyrant was the saying of a Wiseman And good reason had he for so saying For though for a time he may uphold his State by force and policy yet in the end divine Justice confounds his practices and infatuates his counsells to his owne ruine and overthrow For as in that mortall warre betweene the great Elephant and poysonfull Dragon this one with his taâ—le enclaspeth that others feet making him fall and he in his fall bursteth himselfe and cursheth that other in pieces So when Ambition and Envy meet as Combatants in the heart of a Man he needes no outward force to assail him For the venemous tayle of his Envy entangleth the winged sect of his Ambition making him fall and in the fall to burst with his own weight Policy above strength THe Dolphin finding himself unable to hurt the Crocodile by reason of his hard scales which no weapon can pierce diveth under him and with his sharp fin striketh him into the belly being Soft and tender and so killeth
him Thus what Nature taught the Creature Experience hath taught Man To strike the Enemy where he may with most hurt and leave things impossible unattempted for Prudence is of force where Force prevailes not Policy goes beyond strength and contrivance before action Hence is it that direction is left to the Commander Execution to the Souldier who is not to aske Why but to do What he is commanded The state of a kingdomc or Common-wealth known best by the administration of Iustice. THe Constitution of a Man's body is best known by his pulâ—e if it stirre not at all then we know he is dead if it stirre violently then wee know him to be in a Fever if it keep an equall stroake then we know he is sound and whole In like manner we may judge of the state of a Kingdom or Common-weale by the manner of execution of Iustice therein for Iustice is the pulse of a Kingdom If Iustice be violent then the kingdome is in a Fever in a bad estate if it stirre not at all then the Kingdom is dead but if it have an equall stroake the just and ordinary course then the Kingdom is in a good condition it is sound and whole without the least corruption imaginable The prevalency of fervent Prayer SOcrates telleth that when a terrible fire in Constantinople had fastned on a great part of the City and tooke hold of the Church the Bishop thereof went to the Altar and falling downe upon his knees would not rise from thence till the fire blazing in the Windowes and flashing at every doore was vanquished and the Church preserved so that with the flouds of his devotion he slaked the fury of that raging Element And the same shall be the force of Englands prayers for Englands peace and welfare if wee be fervent therein Hereticks and Schismaticks may range Enemies conspire and the People rise up in tumults but let us trust in him that never forsaketh them that faithfully call upon his holy name God onely to be seen in Christ Iesus A Man cannot behold the Sun in the Eclipse it so dazeleth his eyes What doth he then He sets down a basin of water and seeth the image of the Sun shadowed in the Water So seeing we cannot behold the infinite God nor comprehend him we must then cast the eyes of our Faith upon his image Christ Iesus When we look into a cleare glasse it casteth no shadow to us but put steele upon the back then it casteth a reflex and sheweth the face in the glasse So when we cannot see God himselfe we must put the Manhood of our Lord Iesus Christ as it were a back to his Godhead and then we shall have a comfortable reflex of his glory Riches availe not in the day of Wrath. IT is sayd that there stands a Globe of the World at one end of the Library in Dublin and a Skeleton of a Man at the other there it is that one need not study long for a good lesson And what lesson is that Though a Man were Lord of all that he sees in the Map of the world yet he must dye and become himselfe a Map of Mortality And therefore if the Devill tempt him with a View of the glory of the World Omnia haec tibi dabo he may resist him with the words of our Saviour Sed quid proderit homini c What will it profit a Man to win the whole world and to lose his owne soul Affliction from God is for his Children's good A Tender hearted Father walking with his little Son suppose in the City when he perceives him gaze up and down and wander from him withdraws himselfe behind some pillar or hides himselfe in some corner of the street not that he means to lose him but to make him cry and seek after him and keep closer to him afterwards So doth our heavenly Father with us he correcteth every son whom he loveth he hides himselfe and as it were pulls in the beams of his Gracious favour for a time when wee are rambling about in our thoughts and 〈◊〉 in our imaginations but it is to make us cry after him the louder and to keep closer to him for the time to come and to walke more circumspectly than ever wee did before The peaceable Man's comfort IF a Man stain were found in the field and it not known who slew him God provided That the Elders of the next City should wash their hands in the blood of an Heyâ—er and say Our hands have not shed this blood neither have our eyes seen it be mercifull O Lord unto thy people Israel whom thou hast redeemed and lay not innocent blood unto thy People of Israel's charge and the blood shall be forgiven them So this one day will be a comfort to the Consciences of all well minded men that they may appeal to the great God of heaven that they have prayed heartily for peace have Petitioned humbly for peace have been contented to pay dearly for peace and to their powers have endeavoured to refraine from sins the only breakers of Peace and therefore trust that the Christian English Protestant blood which hath already been and hereafter may be shed shall never be visited on their score or layd to their charge Knowledge very useful in the matter of Reformation DAngerous was the mistake committed by Sir Francis Drake in 88. when neglecting to carry the Lanthorn as he was commanded in the dark he chased five hulks of the Dutch Merchants supposing them to have been of his Enemies the Spaniards such and worse Errors may be committed in the Reforming of a Church or Commonwealth good mistaken for bad and bad mistaken for good where the light of knowledge is wanting for direction How to know whether a Man belong to Heaven or not IT was wont to be a Tryall whether land belonged to England or Ireland by putting in Toads or Snakes or any other venemous Creature into it and if they lived there it was concluded that the land belonged to England if they died to Ireland So if venemous Lusts live in us if sin reign in our mortall bodies we belong to Hell but if they dy by Mortification if there be no life in them then shall we be sure to set up our eternall rest in Heaven and be made heires of Heaven and have full possession of those Mansions which Christ our elder brother hath prepared for us God's way the safe way to walk in IF a Man travelling in the King's highway be robbed between Sun and Sun satisfaction is recoverable upon the County where the robbery was made but if he takes his journey in the night being an unseasonable time then it is his own perill he must take what falls So if a man keep in God's wayes he shall be sure of God's
of Greece Viso Solone vidistiomnia In seeing Solon thou seest all even Athens it self and the wholy glory of the Greeks Tell me Christian Hast thou faith and assured trust in the Lord then thou hast more then all the wonders of Greece upon the point all the wonderful gifts of grace for faith is a mother vertue from which all others spring and without faith all the best of our actions are no better then sin Hypocrites in their saying well but doing ill reproved â—Ulius Caesar in his Commentaries writeth of the French Souldiers that in the beginning of the battel at the first onset they were more then Men but at the second or before the end less then Women They would talk bravely and come on couragiously but at length give off cowardly Such are the hypocritical Hotspurs of our times who have Gods word swiming in their heads but not shining in their lives such as set up the Temple with one hand and pull it down with the other like scribling School-boyes that what they write with the fore-finger they blur with the hinde-finger who if words may be received their pay is gallant but if deeds be required their money is not currant who in professing and protesting are more then Protestants but in practising and performing and persevering less then Papists Zeal in God's service made the worlds derision DOgs seldom bark at a Man that ambles a softly fair pace but if he once set spurs to his horse and fall a galloping though his errand be of importance and to the Court perhaps then they bark and flie at him and thus they do at the Moon not so much because she shines for that they alwayes see but because by reason of the clouds hurried under by the windes she seems to run faster then ordinary And thus if any Man do but pluck up his spirits in Gods service and run the wayes of his commandments it is Iehu's furious March presently and he shall meet with many a scoffe by the way that runneth with more speed then ordinary The great danger of Sacriledge IT is no Christian but a right Heathenish trick to demolish holy places or through sloth and covetousnes to suffer them to fall Nay the very Heathens would never do that to the Temples of their false Gods that we Christians do to the house of the true God for they hated and fled from all sacrilegious persons Were the Church leprous we could do no more then pluck out the stones as they did in the old Law in a leprous house nay they would not even in such a house pluck out all the stones as they do in Churches but onely such as were leprous Well let such know that next to the injury done against the Temple of mans body there can be no greater injury then that which is done against the body of the Temple and one day all such sacrilegious irreligious prophane persons may chance to feel that whip upon their conscience which sometime Celsus felt who after the robbing and prophaning of many Churches hearing one day that place of Esay read Woe unto them that join house to house that lay field to field till there be no place that they may be placed alone in the midst of the Earth cryed out immediately Vae mihi filiis meâ—s Wo then be to me and my children for ever The Hypocrites inconstancy IT is reported of the Shee-wolfe that she hath an yearly defect in procreation for at the first she beareth five young ones the second time but four the third time but three the fourth time but two the fifth time but one and then afterwards remaineth barren Thus Hypocrites forgetting the solemn vow they made to God in Baptism as also those principles of Religion wherein they seemed expert to their Catechizers as they grow upward in age they grow downward in Grace with Demes embracing this present World and with Hymeneus and Alexander making shipwrack of a good conscience verifying the by-word young Saints old Devils The laughtâ—r of the wicked is but from the teeth outwards IT is said of Paulus Emilius that having put away his wife Papinia without any cause as it seemed to others stretched forth his foot and said You see a new and neat shooe but where this shooe wringeth me not you but I alone know meaning that there were many secret jars happening between the marryed which others could not possibly perceive And certainly the most wicked men the greatest enemies to God and his Gospel the most traiterous and rebellious of a People or Nation may be so jocund and merry and shew such magnanimity in their faces that none can imagine by any outward circumstance but that they are truly cheerful and couragious in their hearts and yet in the midst of all their mirth and greatest delights even in the very ruffe of all their bravery they have secret heart-burnings and grievous vexations what God and themselves only know The Lord hath spoken it tâ—ice and therefore it must needs be plain and peremptory That there is no Peace to the wicked Their looks may be sometimes lively but their hearts are alwayes heavy Gods omnipotency AMongst all the gods of the Heathens Iupiter was in the greatest esteem as the Father and King of gods and was called lupiter quasi juvans Pater a helping Father yet as the Poets feign he wept when he could not set Sarpedon at liberty such was the imbecillity and impotency of this Master-god of the Heathen But the hand of our God is never shortned that it cannot help he is ever able to relieve us alwayes ready to deliver us Amongst all the gods there is none like unto him none can do like unto his works he is God omnipotent Prayers and tears are the Weapons of the Church THe Romans in a great distress were put so hard to it that they were fain to take the weapons out of the Temples of their gods to fight with them and so they overcame And this ought to be the course of every good Christian intimes of publique distress to flie to the weapons of the Church Prayers and Tears The Spartans walls were their spears the Christians walls are his prayers his help standeth in the name of the Lord who hath made both Heaven and Earth The gradation of Faith THe heart of every believer is like a vessel with a narrow neck which being cast into the Sea is not filled at the firstâ—asily â—asily but by reason of the strait passage receiveth water drop by drop Thus God giveth unto us even a Sea of mercy but the same on our part is apprehended and received by little and little we go from strength to strength from grace to grace and from one degree of vertue to another praying alwayes as the blessed Apostles O Lord encrease our faith that from weakness of faith and
will grow mad and then they tear their own flesh and rend themselves in pieces And it is so with the unbelieving Reprobate with all wicked men if they do but hear the noise of afflictions the very sound of sorrowes approaching how do they fret and fume and torment themselves nay by cursing and swearing how do they reâ—d the body of Christ from top to toe in pieces Malice and Envy not fit guests for God's Table ST Augustine could not endure any at his Table that should shew any malice against others in backbitings or detractings and had therefore two verses written on his Table to be as it were monitors to such as sat thereat that in such cases the Table was not for them Quisquis amat dictis absentâ—m rodere famam Hanc mensam vetitam noverit esse sibi Thus Englished He that doth love an absent friend to â—eer May hence depart no room is for him heer And how much lesse will the Lord endure any at his Table that come thither with malice and hatred against their brethren If love be required at our own Tables how much more will God require it in those that come to His Table When one man's heart swells with envy against another when a second is filled with malice and hatred this is not to eat the Lord's Supper but to eat one another this is not to sit at the Lord's Table but to be a guest at the table of devils Preparation to religious Duties must be free from worldly distractions IT was said of Sr. Wil. Cecill sometime Lord Treasurer of England that when he went to bed he would throw off his Gown and say Lye there Lord Treasurer as bidding adieu to all State-affairs that he might the more quietly repose himself So when we go to any Religious duty whether hearing or praying comming to the Lord's Table or in any other religious addresses whatsoever we should say Lie by world lie by all secular cares all houshold affairs all pleasures all traffick all thoughts of gain Lie by all adieu all We must now be as those that have nothing to do with the world for the time we must separate our hearts from all common uses that our hearts may be wholly for our God Dangerous to interpose with a divided People IT was once said to Luther when he was about interesting himself in seeking Reformation of those bad times Abi in cellam dic miserere nostri O Luther rather get you into your Cell and say Lord have mercy upon us And another being once asked why he did not write his judgment about the controversie of the time answered Cui usui Reipublicae cui bono mihi To what purpose it would not help the cause but much hazard him that should meddle And most true it is he that meddles with the divisions of the times may expect to be divided himself to have his name his repute cut assunder and thrown this way and that way It hath ever been an unthankfull work to meddle with a divided people a man may with as much safety put his hands into a nest of Hornets as to enterpose in the midst of such wild and unruly divisions as are now amongst us A good man is bettered by afflictions THe Bee is observed to suck out honey from the Thyme a most hard and dry herb So the good and faithful minded man sucketh knowledge and obedience from the bitter potion of adversity and the crosse and turneth all to the best The scouring and rubbing which frets others makes him shine the brighter the weight which crusheth others makes him like the Palm-tree grow the better the hammer which knocks others all in pieces makes him the broader and the larger In incude malleo dilatantur They are made broader on the Anvill and with the hammer although it be with the hammer yet dilatantur they are made to grow the wider The triall of faith is the enlargement of faith EXamination and tryall of a good Scholler hurts him not either in his learning or in his credit nay it advanceth him much in both his very examination rubs up his learning puts much upon him and sends him away with the approbation of others And thus in the tryall of faith there is an exercise of faith faith examined and tryed proves a faith strengthened and encreased Some things sometimes prove the worse and suffer losse by triall but the more faith is tryed the more faith is enlarged Unprofitable hearers of the Word described A Mariner when he takes his leave of his friends on thâ— shore sees them a while but when he is failed a little further then they are quite out of sight and he sees onely the houses then failing a little further he sees nothing but steeples and such high places but then sailing a little further nihil est nisi pontus aer he sees nothing but aire and water So it is with too too many unprofitable hearers of the Word it may be that when they are gon home from the Church there are some things fresh in memory but on the next day they have lost some but there are some other things that do yet present themselves before them and then they lose more and more till they have lost the sight of all no more of the Word appears then as if they had heard nothing at all All divisions are against Nature PHilosophers say Non datur vacuum there cannot be vacuity in the world the world could not stand but would be dissolved it every part were not filled because Nature subsists by being one if there were the least vacuity then all things should not be joyned in one there would not be a contiguity of one part with another This is the reason why water will ascend when the aire is drawn out of a pipe to fill it this is to prevent division in Nature O that we had but so much naturalnesse in us that when we see there is like to be any breach of union we would be willing to lay down our self-ends our self-interesâ—s and to venture our selves to be any thing in the world but sin that so we may still be joyning still uâ—iting and not rending from each other The hell of a guilty Conscience PHilo Iudaeus telleth that Flaccus plaid all the parts of cruelty that he could devise against the Iewes for their Religion's sake but afterward when the doom if Caligula fell upon him and he was banished to Andros an Island neer Greece he was so tormented with the memory of his bloody iniquities and a fear of suffering for them that if he saw any man walking softly neer to him he would say to himselfe This man is devising to work my destruction If he saw any go hastily Surely it is not for nothing he maketh speed to kill me If any man spake him fair he
suspected that he would cousen him and sought to entrap him If any talked roughly to him then he thought that he contemned him If meat were given to him in any plentifull sort This is but to fat me as a sheep or an ox to be slaughtered Thus his sin did lie upon him and ever remember him that some vengeance was to follow from God or Man or both And this is the case of all wilfull bloody presumptuous sinners that though there be some struglings and wrestlings to the contrary yet their hearts and consciences are greater than themselves and will put them in mind that nothing but destruction waiteth on them if they walk abroad sonus excitat omnis suspensum they are afraid of every leaf that wags if they stay at home nothing but horrour attends them In the day they are struck with variety of sad apprehensions and in the night they are tormented with fearfull dreams and strange apparitions Such and so great is the hell of a guilty conscience Love of Gods children is a sincere love THe Son of a poor man that hath not a penny to give or leave him yields his father obedience as chearfully as the son of a rich man that looks for a great Inheritance It is indeed love to the father not wages from the father that is the ground of a good child's obedience If there were no heaven God's children would obey him and though there were no hell yet would they do their duty So powerfully doth the love of the Father constrain them Ministers to be men of merciful dispositions THe Lord Ellesmer sometimes Lord Chancellor of England a great lover of mercy was heard to professe That if he had been a Preacher this should have been his Text A righteous man regardeth the life of his beast A merciful man and a merciful Text well met But oh the Prophetical incendiaries of the late fearful un-natural civil vvar how far were they from this sweetness of disposition how far from thoughts and bowels of mercy how far from a desire to preach mercy when it was a common course with them by Viperine glosses to eat out the bowels of a merciful Text when nothing was more usual amongst them than to alleadge the words of the Scripture against the meaning than to wrong and wring the Scripture till it bled again but they would misconstrue and misapply it one way or other to stir and incite men to such actions as little became the profession of the Gospel Election known by Sanctification IF any man would know whether the Sun shineth or not let him go no further but look upon the ground to see the reflection of the Sun-beams from thence and not upon the body of the Sun which will but the more dazle his fight The pattern is known by the Picture the cause by the effect Let no man then soar aloft to know whether he be elected or not but let him gather the knowledge of his Election from the effectualness of his calling and sanctification of his life the true and proper effects of a lively faith stamping the Image of Gods Election in his soul. Men commonly are loath to die though seemingly willing thereto IT is but Aesop's fable but the Morall of it is true A poor desolate old Man returning home from the vvood with a burthen of sticks on his back threw them down and in remembrance of the misery which he sustained called often for death to come unto him as if he would live no longer But when death came to him in earnest and asked him what he should do the old Man presently changed his mind and said That his request unto him was that he would help him up with his wood This most commonly is our case vve would find some other business to set death about if he should come to us when vainly we have wished for him we dismiss him with a Nondum venit tempus bid him call to morrow we are not yet at leisure How do men vainly wish for death and how mercifully doth the Eternal deal with them who oftentimes in his love denyeth that which they so earnestly desire and which if they should presently enjoy they would prove of all men most miserable for being removed hence it is to be feared the accounts betwixt God and their own souls would fall short of what they should be A special Sacrament-duty to bless God for Christ's death THe Jews in the celebration of the Passeover did sing the 113. Psalm with the five following Psalms which they called The great Hallelujuh it was always after that cup of wine which they called Poculum hymni or laudationis The cup of praise And thus it should be with us At all times upon all occasions in all places we should sing Hallelujahs to God and praise his holy name but at the Sacrament in that Eucharistical action we should sing a great Hallelujah No time but we should blesse God for the work of our Redemption but at the Sacrament we should have our hearts greatly inlarged in a more special manner to bless God for the benefit of Christ's death and the sweet comforts that we receive therby in the use of the Sacrament Not lawful to fight for Religion WHen Mahomet was about to establish his abomâ—nable superstition wherein he had mingled the Laws and doctrines of Heathens of Iews false Christians and Hereticks with the illusions and inventions of his own brain he gave it forth for a main Principle how God at the first in his love to mankind sent Moses after him Jesus Christ who were both of them endued with power to work miracles but men gave small heed to them Therefore he determined to send Mahomet a man without miracles a Warrior with a sword in his hand that whom miracles had not moved weapons might compell Thus they may derive their authority perhaps by a long descent from Mahomets pretended Charter but most sure it is they can find no syllable of allowance in the great assured sacred Charter of Gods word who seek to set up Religion by the sword fire and faggots are but sad Reformers The Church therefore was wont to be gathered by the mouths of Ministers not by the swords of Souldiers It was well said of one Let Religion sink to Hell rather then we should call to the devill for help to sâ—pport it The weight of sin to be seriously peized POrters and Carryers when they are called to carry a burthen on their shoulders first they look diligently upon it then they peize and lift it up to try whether they be able to undergo it and whether they shall have strength to carry it when it is once on their backs And thus should every man do that for a little pleasure hath enthralled himself to carry the burthen of sin he should first prove and assay what a weight
do not retain do not engrosse the beams of the Sun which they receive but return them back and double them by reflection Thus the sons of Men having from the Sun of Righteousnesse the bright beams of his grace and vertue not onely to warm their hearts but also to shine out in their words and actions are to reflect them back again with all praise and gloryâ—ue â—ue unto them seeing that from him alone they have received them Not to be reconciled to God before we sleep very dangerous THat man which dares go to bed with a conscience charged with the guilt of one enormous sin is much more desperate then he that dares lye unarmed with seven armed men that are his deadly foes for a sinner is lesse sure of his life than the other What a sad thing is it to sleep securely on the brink of Hell to go to bed drunk over night and find himself awake in hell the next morning He tâ—at inures not himself daily to reconcile himself unto God makes a comâ—ortlesse end for the most part and is snatched hence before he hath a thought of making his peace with his Maker No such thing as Independency in this life TRimethius in his catalogue of Ecclesiasticall Writers mentioneth what Occam the famous Schoolman said upon occasion unto Lewis the Emperour Domine Imperator desende me gladio ego te defendam calamo here was the Emperour's sword and Occam's pen standing in need of one another This shewes there is no man absolutely independent in this world nor ever shall be so long as he hath any dependency here below The head cannot say to the foot I have no need of thee The Master cannot be without his Man nor the Landlord without his Tenants nor the King without his Subjects He that taketh place before all in some things must be content to give place and come behind others in some things else The remembrance of sins past the onely way to prevent sins to come IN the Country of Arabia where almost all Trees are savoury and Frankincense and Myrrhe are even as common fire-wood Styrax is sold at a dear rate though it be a wood of unpleasant smell because experience proveth it to be a present remedy to recover their smell who before had lost it We all of us have lived in the pleasures of sin have our senses stuffed and debilitated if not overcome and the best remedy against this malady will be the smelling to Styrax the unsavoury and unpleasing smell of our former corruptions thus David's sin was ever before him and St. Augustine as Pâ—ssidonius noteth a little before his death caused the penitenâ—iall Psalmes to be written about his bed which he still looking upon out of a â—itter remembrance of his sins continually wept giving not over long before the dyed This practise will work repentance not to be repented of The not returning thanks unto God for grace received is the ready way to be gracelesse RIvers receiving their fulnesse from the Ocean pay their tribute by returning their streams unto it back again which homage if they should deny to yield their swelling waters would bear down their own banks and drown the Country So we receiving from the inâ—inite Ocean of all goodnesse whatsoever fulnesse we have of grace and vertue the praises and glory due unto them are by humble acknowledgment and thanksgiving to return to him that gave them But if we shall was unthankfull and refuse to pay the tribute due and shew our rebellion against our great Lord by encroaching upon his right thinking to grow rich by robbing of him and keeping of all to our own use These gifts thus retained will make us but to swel with pride and breaking down the banks of modesty and humility will not onely empty us of all grace and goodnesse but make all our good parts we have hurtfull and pernicious And thus it is that the not giving unto God that which is God's the not returning praise to God for grace received is the ready way to be graceless Crosses and afflictions not to be sleighted TAcitus reporteth that though the Amber-Ring amongst the Romans were of no use nor any value yet after the Emperour had began to wear it it began to be in great esteem it was the onely fashion amongst them So me-thinks sith our Lord and Saviour Christ Iesus hath born his cross and was born upon it we should make better reckoning of crosses than many of us do How nice and tenderly have many of us been brought up that we can hardly endure to see the sight of our sweet Saviour's Crosse We stick to sip of that cup which was holy David's dyet-drink and Iob and Ieremy took it all off Are we better than these holy men nay are we too good to pledge our Saviour in the cup of his Passion Nos suspiramus in cruciatibus ille expiravit in cruce Do we breathe out some sighes in our crâ—sses he sighed out his last breath in torments upon the Crosse. It certainly then behoveth every Christian to take up his Crosse and follow him In death there is no difference of persons AS in Chesse-play so long as the game is in playing all the men stand in their order and are respected according to their places first the King then the Queen then the Bishops after them the Knights and last of all the common Souldiers But when once the game is ended and the table taken away then they are all confusedly 〈◊〉 into a bag and haply the King is lowest and the pawn upmost Even so it is with us in this life the World is a huge Theatre or Stage wherein some play the parts of Kings others of Bishops some Lords many Knights other Yeâ—men But when the Lorâ— shall come with his Angells to judge the World all are alike no difference betwixt the King and the Peasant the Courtier and the Clown and if great men and mean persons are in the same sin pares culpae pares poenae they shall be sharers in the same punishment Every man to follow his own Trade IT is observable what answer Robert Grosthead Bishop of Lincoln gave unto one that solicited him on the behalf of a poor Kinsman of his that he would prefer him but being inâ—ormed that he was an Husbandman Then said he if his Plow be broken I will repair it or rather than fail bestow a new one upon him whereby he may go on his course but to dignifie him as to make him forsake his Calling and Trade wherein he was brought up I mean not to do And indeed when the members of the body are out of their proper places what readinesse is in them to do any work or service So when a man is out of his own calling in any society it is as if a member were out of joynt in the body
graces of the spirit which God hath treasured up in this little world of ours True grace is diffusive no Tree can more strive to send forth fruit then it will to shew it self in good works True Grace is accompanied with humility THe wisest of all the Philosophers made this profession Hoc scio quod nibil scio This I know that I know nothing Origen the learnedst of all the Greek Fathers made this Confession Ignorantiam meam non ignoro I am not ignorant of my own ignorance And the most judicious of all the Latine was the humblest for in his heat of contention with Hierom he acknowledgeth him his better Hyeronymus Presbyter Augustino Episcopo major est Though the dignity of a Bishop exceed that of a Priest yet Priest Ierome is a greater than Bishop Augustine David the best of a Kings was freest from pride Lord saith he I am not high minded Theodosius the noblest of all the Roman Emperors his Motto was Malo membrum esse Ecclesiae quà m caput Imperii It was greater honour to him to be a member of the Church then the head of the Empire and Paul though nothing inferior to the chief of the Apostles yet was least in his own eyes Thus it was that like the Sun in the Zenith they shewed least when they were at the highest like vessels they made the least sound when they were fullest or like the deepest waters they ran most silent In the weighing of gold the lightest pieces rise up but the weighty bear down the scale And surely they are but light that are liften up with a self-conceit but shallow waters that make a noise but empty vessels that make a sound And such are all they that are wise in their own conceits such as think they can dispute de omni scibili that they move in a circle of knowledge when as God wot they know little or nothing at all Riches are snares IT is written of one of Euripides's Tragedies that it was so acted by the Players that it made such an impression in the beholders that they went all home in a Phrensie in a strange passion pronouncing Iambicks and grew into such a vein of Tragedy-playing pacing and acting in the streets as they went with the lovely words of Perseâ—s to his 〈◊〉 that it was long ere this 〈◊〉 could be swaged again This Tragedy made the Spectators no madder than in our times we have seen worldly greatness and Riches do to many men who have gone to the Theater sober enough but when Wealth and Riches and greatness and places of preserments have presented themselves on the stage unto them and with their lovely aspect a little enchanted them there hath been nothing with them but madness and presumption Worldly things dispensed by God in Wisdom THere is no wise Physitian gives the same Physick to all Patients or in the same proportion but he fitteth it in quantity and quality to every ones need giving to one a pill to purge him to another a Cordial to restore him one must be lanched another must be healed one must have sauce to quicken his appetite another must fast it out and be cured by abstinence And thus the Lord in wisdom dealeth with the sons of men he giveth that allowance to every one which he knows most requisite for them respecting the persons of none but doing good unto all as their state and condition doth require One man is bettered by liberty another by restraint One being ingenuous by Nature is made better by benefits another of a more â—ervile disposition becomes worse and is onely mended with threats and punishments One man is fit to be rich another to be poor One for the Court another for the Cart Thus every one hath his portion every one his station allotted by God in his wisdom and goodness The sinners estate miserable WHen we see beggars Lazarâ— one without limbes another so sick that he seems to be without life One even starved with hunger another bereft of his senses when we see men any wayes afflicted we pitty them and confess them to be miserable But ô si adspici possint laniatus had we but eyes to see the spiritual wounds and sores the wants and the woes of Adulterers Drunkards Murtherers Blasphemers or any other wicked livers we would conclude them to be much more miserable then any others whatsoever Relapses in sin dangerous WE find in Scripture many desperately sick yet cured the first time by our Saviour but where do we read in all the Scripture where in all the Gospel of any blind mans eyes twice 〈◊〉 of any deaf ears twice opened of any tyed tongue twice loosened of any possessed with devils twice dispossessed of any dead twice raised No doubt but that Christ could have done it but we read not that ever he did it the reason that we should be most â—areful to avoid relapses into former sins the recovery whereof is very uncertain alwayes difficult and in some cases as the Apostle teacheth impossible Scripture-knowledge the onely necessary knowledge THe Philosopher being asked What was the cause that Philosophers attended at the gates of Rich men and rich men attended not at the gates of Philosophers He answered because Philosophers knew what they stood in need of but the Rich knew not that they had need of Philosophy So did but men know how much they stood in need of spiritual knowledge to lead them to their Creator they would tread oftner upon the threshold of the Sanctuary they would be more diligent in searching the Scriptures more laborious digging as it were for silver and they would be more chary too of those Earthen vessels by which such excellent treasure is conveyed to them Pleasures of the World counterfeit Pleasures IT is observed by the Mythologists that Pleasure went on occasion to bath her self and having strip'd off her cloaths laid them on the water-side but Sorrow having hid her self in the covert as unseen steals the cloaths away puts them on and so departs Hence it comes to pass that Multitudes in the World are at a great loss they run and ride court and woo Pleasure which they have no sooner obtained but they perceive their error and acknowledge their mistake It is nothing else but Sorrow in Pleasures cloaths the pleasures of the world are bitter-sweets at the best God onely is true happiness fons origo boni at his right hand are true pleasures for evermore God's Husbandry GOd is compar'd to an Husband-man all the World is his Farm now you know that a good Farmer that hath any parcels of ground overgrown with bryers and thorns taketh great comfort to see them grubbed up and the ground made good pasture or arable Even so God who would have all men saved and come to the knowledge of his truth is well pleased with those that are instruments
Officer to call in the Company of Brewers before him instead of them he warned in the Vintners to appear whom the Lord Maior no sooner espied in the Court but asked What they made there The Officer replyed that upon his Lordships command he had warned them in But saith the Lord Maâ—or I gave order for the Brewers True my Lord said the Officer And these be the greatest Brewers in the Kingdom or grand Impostors in corrupting the Queen of liquors as I and my â—ellows find by woful experience whereupon the Lord Maior and Aldermen approved the Officers wit and took the matter into consideration Thus the Judges are in a most special manner Patres legis the Patrons of the Law the great Masters of the Wine-cellar of Justice but if they once mix wine and water and turn judgement into Warm-wood they are then the Brewers the grand Impostors that poyson the State because they corrupt the Fountain of the peoples birth-right in making the known Laws of the Kingdom speak according to their pleasure An argument of extream folly not to be mindful of death IF a man were tyed fast to a stake at whom a most cunning Archer did shoot and wounding many about him some above and some below some beyond and some short some on this hand and some on that and the poor wretch himself so fast bound to the stake that it were not any way possible for him to escape VVould it not be deemed madnesse in him if in the mean time forgetting his misery and danger he should carelesly fall to bib and quaff to laugh and be merry as if he could not be touched at all who would not judge such a man besides himself that should not provide for his end yet such Gotamists such Bedlamites such mad men are most amongst us who knowing and understanding that the most expert Archer that ever was even God himself hath whet his sword and bent his bow and made it ready and hath also prepared for him the Instruments of death and ordained his arrows Psal. 7. 12 13. Yea that he hath already shot forth his darts and arrows of death and hath hit those that are above us Superiors and Elders such as be right against us companions and equals such as be very neer us kinred and Allyes on the right hand our friends on the left hand our Enemies yet we think to be shot-free sit still as men and women unconcerned not so much as once thinking of our latter end The sins of Blasphemy and Swearing the commonness of them IT is no wonder that in Italy vvhich is a parcell of Antichrists Kingdom Blasphemies should be darted out against God and his Christ openly being made phrases of gallantry to the Brewer and very interjections of speech to the Vulgar But in England where the Scepter of Christs Kingdom hath a long time flourished it cannot but wound the heart of such as mourn for the sins of the Land to consider hovv commonly not onely the Ruffian in the Tavern and the Rascal on the Stage but also the Labourer at his work and the Gentleman at his recreation and the very Boyes yea the Babes in the streets curse their Maker and revile their Redeemer The consideration of eternall pain to deter from the commission of sinne A Grave and chast Matron being moved to commit folly with a lewd Ruffian after long discourse and tedious solicitations she called for a pan of hot burning coles requesting him for her sake to hold his finger in them but one hour He answered that it was an unkind request To vvhom she replied That seeing he would not so much as hold his finger in a few coles for one hour she could not yeeld to do the thing for which she should be tormented body and soul in hell fire for ever And thus should all men reason with themselves when they are about to sin none will be brought to do a thing that may make so much as their finger or tooth to ake If a man be but to snuffe a candle he will spit on his finger because he cannot endure a small and tender flame What care is then requisite to leave sin whereby we bring endless torments to body and soul in hell sire to which our fire is but Ice by way of comparison Seasonable Repentance is safe Repentance A Good Husband will repair his House while the weather is fair not put off till winter a careful Pilot vvill take advantages of wine and tide and so put out to Sea not stay till a storm arise The Travailer will take his time in his journey and mend his pace when the night comes on least darkness overtake him The Smith vvill strike while the Iron is hot least it grow cool and so he â—ose his labour So we ought to make every day the day of our Repentance to make use of the present time that vvhen vve come to dye we may have nothing to do but to dye for there vvill be a time vvhen there will be no place for Repentance vvhen time vvill be no more when the Door vvill be shut vvhen there vvill be no entrance at all The godly mans desires are above his reach A Godly man cannot do that which he would Rom. 7. 18. And wherein he is like a Prisoner that is got out of the Goal vvho that he might escape the hands of the Keeper desires and strives vvith all his heart to run an hundreth miles in a day but by reason of the heavy bolts and fetters that hang at his heels cannot for his life creep past a mile or twain and that too vvith chaâ—ing his flesh and tormenting himself And thus it is that the servants of God do heartily desire and endeavour to run in the vvaies of Gods commandements as it is said of that good King Iosias to serve God with all their heart 2 King 23. 25. Yet because they are clogged vvith the bolts of the flesh they performe obedience very slowly and weakly with many slips and failings The good of Government VVHen one comforted a poor Widow which had lately lost her Husband for that he vvas an unthrift and unkind she replyed Well though he were but a bad Husband yet he was a Husband and such an one is better then none So the commodities of Government are so great that a very bad Husband to the Common-wealth is better then none at all For whereas in a corrupt Monarchy there may be one Tyrant in an Oligarchy some few Tyrants in a Democracy many Tyrants in an Anarchy they are all Tyrants Death the good Mans gain IN the Ceremonial Law Levit. 25. there was an year they accompted the year of Iubilee and this was with the poor Iews a very acceptable year because that every man that had lost or sold his Lands upon the blowing of a Trumpet returned and had possession of his estate
may not think them other then Stars in this lower firmament but if they fall from their holy station and embrace this present vvorld whether in judgement or practice renouncing the truth and power of godliness we may then conclude that they never had any true light in them and were no other then a glittering composition of Pride and Hypocrisie A vain rich Man AS a Brook with a fall of Rain-waters swells and as it were proud of his late encrease makes a noyse nay runs here and there to shew it selfe till by running it hath run out all that ever it had Even so some rich men upon some fall of wealth begin to swell as if they were little Seas then make a noyse of ostentation and because they have but one tongue of their own they get the eccho of some soothing flatterers they over-flow the lower grounds the poor and spread their names in letters of bloud in the end after some short noyse as the brook leaves nothing but dirt and mire behind so do they leave nothing at their death to themselves but confusion before God and men Reason must submit to Faith VVHen three Ambassadors were sent from Rome to appease the discord betwix Nicomedes and Prusias vvhereof one vvas troubled vvith a Megrim in his head another had the Gowt in his Toes and the third was a Fool Cato said vvittily That Ambassage had neither head nor foot nor heart So that man vvhosoeever he be shall never have a head to conceive the truth nor a foot to vvalk in the vvayes of obedience nor a heart to receive the comfortable â—ssurance of salvation that suffers his Reason Will and Affections to usurp upon his faith Qui se sibi constituiâ— slultum habet magistrum He that goes to school to his own reason hath a fool to his Schoolmaster and he that suffers his faith to be over-ruled by his Reason may have a strong Reason but a weak faith to rely upon The patience of God provoked turns to fury AS a child in the Mothers wombe the longer it is in the wombe before it comes forth the bigger the child will be and the more pain it will put the Mother unto Thus it is with God though he hath leaden feet yet he hath iron hands the longer he is before he strikes the heavier the blow will be when he strikes the longer he keeps-in his wrath and is patient toward a People or a Nation the bigger the child of wrath will be when it comes forth and the greater will be their misery and affliction Distrustfull cares reproved LOok on the Robin-red-breast pretty bird how cheerfully doth he sit and sing in the Chamber window yet knows not where he is nor where he shall make the next meal and at night must shrowd himselfe in a bush for his lodging VVhat a shame is it then for Christians that see before them such liberall provisions of their God and find themselves set warm under their roofs yet are ready to droop under a distrustful and unthankful dulness and are ready to say Can God make windows in Heaven 2 King 7. 2. Can God prepare a Table in the Wildernesse Psal. 78. 19. No harm in Humility A Man goes in at a door and he stoops the door is high enough yet he stoops you will say he needs not stoop yea but saith Bernard there is no hurt in his stooping otherwise he may catch a knock this way he is safe Thus a man may bear himselfe too high upon the favour of God having some good measure of sanctification and of assurance of eternal life it will be hard not to be proud of it Pride hath slain thousands O but spiritual pride hath slain her ten thousands Humility never yet did harm to any there is no danger in stooping It is better to be an humble servant of the Lord than a great Lord of many servants the lowest of Gods friends then the highest amongst his enemies Mortality of the sinners life to be considered and deplored IT is reported of Xerxes that having prepared 300000. men to fight with the Graecians and having mustered them up into a general Rendezvous and taken notice of their strength and the greatness of their number he fell a weeping out of the consideration that not one of them should remain alive within the space of an hundreth years Much more ought we to mourn then when we consider the abundance of people that are in England and the abundance of sin perpetrated amongst us and what shall become not onely of our bodies within these few years but what shall become of our souls to all Eternity Satan subdued by Christ's death IT is written of the Camelion that when he espies a Serpent taking shade under a Tree he climbs up the Tree and le ts down a thread breathed out of his mouth as small as a Spiders thread at the end whereof there is a little drop as clear as any Pearl which falling on the Serpents head kills him Christ is this Camelion he climbs up into the Tree of his Cross and le ts down a thread of blood issuing out of his side like Rahab's red thread hanging out at the window the least drop whereof being so prestious and so peerless falling upon the Serpents head kills him The experience of God's love is to be a motive of better obedience THere is a famous History of one Androdus the Dane dwelling in Rome that fled from his Master into the Wilderness and took shelter in a Lions den The Lion came home with a thorn in his foot and seeing the man in the den reached out his foot and the man pulled out the thorn which the Lion took so kindly that for three years he fed the man in his den After three years the man stole out of the den and returned back to Rome was apprehended by his Master and condemned to be devoured by a Lion It so happened that this very Lion was designed to devour him The Lion knows his old friend and would not hurt him The people wondred at it the man was saved and the Lion given to him which he carryed about with him in the streets of Rome from whence grew this saying Hic est homo medicus Leonis hic est Leo hospes hominis Well most true it is that the great God of Heaven hath pluckt out many many a thorn out of our feet hath delighted himself to do us good let then the experience of such love prick us on to better obedience not to bring forth thorns and bryers to him not to have our hearts barren and dryed up as the thorny ground not to kick against him with our feet whilst he is pulling out the thorn that troubles us A good Man is mindful of his latter end WE read that Daniel strewed ashes in the Temple to discover the footsteps of Bells Priests which did eat up the
not to encroach or intermeddle with that which belongs to others for the saying of that Roman Generall to the Souldier that kept the Tents when he should have been fighting in the field Non amo nimiùm diligentem will be one day used of God if he call us to one profession and we busie our selves about another if he set us on foot and we will be on horse-back if he make us subjects and we must needs be superiours God will not be pleased with such busie-bodies A Blessed thing to have God for our Lord. IT is an usual saying He cannot likely want Money that is Master of the Mint and he can never be poor that hath my Lord Mayor for his Uncle Much lesse then can that man want ought that is good who is possessed of God who is Lord of lords and King of kings the very fountain of all good In regard whereof David having prayed for many temporall blessings in the behalfe of his people that their Sons might be tall and hardy like goodly young Cedaers c. Psalm 144. At last he winds up all with this Epiphonema or conclusion Blessed be the people that are in such a case v. 15. but on the neck of it he cometh as with an Epanorthoma or a Correction of his former speech yea rather blessed are the people that have Jehovah for their God that have the Lord for their portion A good Christian to be Heavenly minded IT is noted that the Creatures which are nearest the Earth take most care to get store of provision those which are more remote are less busied but those who live next the Heavens have their hearts least upon it What hoardeth like the Emmet or Pisemire which is an earthly thing and hath its dwelling thereupon Prov. 6. 8. But the birds of the air which fly next to heaven as Christ himselfe doth teach do neither sow nor reap nor carry into barnes Math. 6. 26. Then let the meditations of every good Christian mount higher then their wings can reach that though they live with men yet their love may be with God Sursum corda was the language of the ancient Liturgies and it is well back'd by the Apostle Let your conversation be in Heaven from whence ye expect a Saviour which is Christ the Lord Phil. 3. 20. The reward of Heaven will make amends for all A Man in his journey sees afar off some great mountain so that his very eye is weary with the foresight of so great a distance yet his comfort is that time and patience will overcome it and that every step he takes sets him nearer to his journies end and being once there he shall both forget how long it then seemed and please himselfe in looking back upon the way that he hath measured It is just thus in our passage to Heaven our weak nature is ready to faint under the very conceit and length of the journey our eyes do not more guide than discourage us Many must be the steps of grace and true obedience that must insensibly bring us thither onely let us move and hope and Gods good grace will perfect our salvation And when we are once come to the top of that holy Mount meminisse juvabit all the weary steps and deep sloughs that we have past through all the pangs that we have felt all the sorrowes that we have undergone all the difficulties that we have met with in the way shall either be forgotten or contribute to our happinesse in the remembrance of them Extream folly not to be mindful of Death IF a Travailer comming into an Inne having but a penny in his purse should sit down and call for all sorts of provision and dainties till such time as the reckoning were inflamed to such a height as his slender stock could no wayes compass what would be thought of such a man Surely in the judgement of all men he would be esteemed a fool or a mad-man and such are most of us whilst we are in this world How foolish and mad is the practice of every man that liveth in his sins bathing himself in the pleasures of this world never thinking how he shall meet God at the last day of judgement and there come to an account of all his doings That which sounded alwaies in S. Hieroms ears ought to ring in the ear of every good Christian Surgite moâ—tui venite ad judicium In all thy doings remember thy end and so thou shalt never do amiss A good name once lost very hardly recovered again THere is a fable how that Reputation Love and Death made a covenant to travail all the world over but each was to take a several way when they were ready to depart a mutual enquiry was made how they might find each other again Death said they should be sure to hear of him in Battels Hospitals and in all parts where either famine or diseases were rife Love bad them hearken after him amongst the children of poor people whose Parents had left them nothing at Marriages at Feasts and amongst the professed servants of vertue the onely places for him to be in They long expected a direction from Reputation who stood silent but being urged to assign them places where they might find him He sullenly answered His nature was such that if once he departed from any Man he never came to him more And it is most true that honour or credit or a good name being once lost seldom or never returns again a crack'd credit will hardly be sodred anew and Credit is said to be a good fore-game but a bad after one very hardly and with much difficulty to be recovered The best Christian is the best Artist MAny there are that are accompted deep Schollars great Linguists profound Philosophers good Grammarians excellent Mathematitians sharp Logicians cunning Polititians fine Rhetoritians sweet Musitians c. these for the most part spend all their time to delight themselves and please others catch usually at the shadow and lose the substance they study the circumstance of these Arts but omit the pith and marrow of them whereas he is the best Grammarian that hath learnt to speak the truth from his heart the best Astronomer that hath his conversation in heaven the best Musitian that hath learnt to sing the praises of his God the best Arithemetitian that numbreth his dayes He that amendeth his life and groweth every day better and better is cunning in the Ethicks He that traineth up his Family in the fear of God is best seen in the Oeconomicks who so is wise to salvation prudent in giving and taking good counsell is the best Polititian and he is a good Linguist that speaks the Language of Canaan Thus the best Christian is the best Artist Magistrates Ministers and People to be peaceably minded IT was a good speech of Alphonsus King of Arragon That if he had lived in
and some arive at the Port of Heaven with one measure of trust some with another For as the members of the body are knit unto the head but some neerer some further off So in Christ's body all draw grace from him yet in difference of grace in difference of hope yet all have anchor-hold enough to stay by for their better support Drunkenness condemned THe use of drinking is now so taken up in England that the Germans 't is probable are like to lose their Charter There was a street in Rome called Vicus sobrius the sober street because there was never an Ale-house in it which is hard to be said of any street in England The Emperor Aurelian was ill troubled to find out one Bonosus to quaffe with the German Ambassador who yet was derided for his labour and commonly called Non homo sed dolium not a man but a Tub of swill yet our time affords store of these like the German mentioned by Pontanus who hearing a solemn Tilting at the Court applauded by the loud ecchoes of the people cryed out O valeant ludi quibus nemo bibit farewel the game where there is no drinking but let all men remember this before they pour in their mornings draught Wo be to them that are strong to drink and to such as give their companions drink that they may see their nakedness God's time the best time THe case of Monica the Mother of St. Augustine is famous she grieved that her son was spotted with the heresie of the Manichees and she prayed that the Lord would bring him to the knowledge of his truth she prayed and prayed still yet he as himself confesseth continued for nine years together so infected It fell out afterwards that he would needs go and travell out of Africa into Italy his Mother being loath to part with him being the staffe of her age earnestly prayed that God would hinder him of that purpose yet Augustine went and coming to have his ears tickled had his heart touched and got Religion in to boot with the eloquence of St. Ambrose at Millane whereupon not long after he broke out into this Confession Bone Deus c. Thou O good God deep in Counsel and hearing the substance of my Mothers desires didst not regard what she then asked that in me thou mightst do that which she ever asked Thus the Almighty God dealeth with other of his servants working all things to the best but it is at such times as he himself thinketh best for our friends and children the Lord knoweth better what is good then we our selves can desire yet we must pray and beg with this condition Thy will be done That which vve think is most dangerous turneth oft-times to our good and thence vvhence vve expect our undoing God raiseth our greatest comfort and when it is our greatest extremity then it is his best opportunity If it be in him to blesse and protect us it is in him to do it when it seemeth good to himself Truth seeks no corners LUcullus a Noble Roman being told by one that he vvould build an house for him in such a manner that none should see vvhat he did and yet he should have a good prospect out of it and see all men the ansvver vvhich Lucullus made vvas this That he had rather he could make him such a house wherein all might see what he did and so know what he was and most certain it is that Truth though naked seeks no corners vvherein to hide it self and they onely dwell in such houses mentioned by 〈◊〉 all vvhose actions being done in truth and sincerity of heart are as it vvere so many windows vvhich openly shew and make known to all the world vvhat they are indeed To beware of the lusts of the flesh WHen the Oyster openeth himself to the Sun being tickled with the warmth thereof then his enemy the Crab-fish stealeth behind him and thrusteth in his claws and will not suffer him to shut again and so devoureth him The like is written of the Crocodile that being so strong a Serpent as he is and impregnable yet when he is gaping to have his teeth picked by the little bird called â—rochil his enemy the Ichneumon creepeth into his body and ceaseth not to gnaw upon his entrails till he hath destroyed him Think upon the Urchin and the Snail whilst the Urchin keeps himself close in the bottom of an hedge he is either not espyed or contemned but when he creeps forth to suck the Cow he is dogged and chopped in So the Snail when he lies close with his house on his head is esteemed for a dead thing and not looked after but when in liquorishness to feed upon the dew that lyes upon the grass or upon the sweetness of the Rose-bush he will be pearking abroad then the Gardiner findeth and pasheth him The lesson is we must not yeeld to the sweet baiâ—s of the flesh but we must rather mortifie our members upon the earth and ever beware that we seek not our death in the error of our life otherwise if we wilfully offer our selves to be led as an Ox to the slaughter and as a sheep to the Shambles What marvel if we have our throats cut or be led away captive by Sathan at his will Ministers to cry down the sins of the time IT is observable that our Saviour never inveighed against Idolatry usury Sabbath-breaking amongst the Iews not that these were not sins but they were not practised so much in that age wherein wickedness was spun with a finer thread and therefore Christ principally bent the drift of his preaching against spiritual pride hypocrisie and traditions then predominant amongst the people Thus it ought to be with the Ministers of the Gospel in this thing they are to trace their Masters steps they are chieâ—ly to reprove the raging sins of the time and place they live in yet with this caution that in publique reproving of sin they ever whip the vice and let the person go free No Appeal from God's tribunal AMongst the Iudges of the earth upon motion made by Councell a man may have Order for a hearing and re-hearing of his Cause hearing upon hearing a first and a second hearing But with God it is not so there 's no such Rule in the Court of Heaven The Motto that is written over that Tribunal is Ampliâ—s non ero I shall be no more For we may not dye twice to amend in our second death the errors of our first life There is no reversing of Iudgement no Appeal from this Iudge to that or from one Court to another How doth it then concern us to condemn our selves before God condemn us and that we kill sin in our selves before God kill us in our sins Corrections Instructions I Had never known said Martin Luther's wife what such and such things meant
upon the guard in a posture of defence resisting the Devil quitting themselves like men who otherwise might live in all security Man to be peacable and why so MAn by nature seems to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 apeaceable Creature fitter to handle the Plow-share than the sword fitter to deal with the pruning hook than the Spear All other Creatures are naturally armed with some kind of weapon wherewith being offended they are able to right and revenge themselves The Lion hath his paws the Bull his horns The Boar his Tusks The Dog his Fangs The Cock his Spurs The little Bee his Sting habet Musca splenem There is no Creature so small so contemptible which hath not some weapon to fight withall onely Man he hath none of these he comes naked unarmed into the world whereby saith the Poet even nature it self teacheth us this lesson that it is for brute beasts that have no understanding to bite and tear and gore one another As for men they should be meek gentle helping defending comforting one another God hath given them reason and speech that they might delight to live and converse together in Cities and Families not to hunt and to worry and to kill one another Sanctification not wrought all at once and why HE that will dye a Purple in grain doth give his cloth inferior colours first and after many dippings in many preparative liquors he doth at length perfect the colour and gives it its full lustre Even so the splendor of Sanctity is not attained in the first moment of our Conversion many a line must be drawn in our souls by the spâ—rit of God before we can fully recover his Image Not that there is any inability in God so that he cannot in a moment as in the Creation make us both innocent holy but he is pleased by the difficulty on our part to make us mindful of our former unthriftiness and careful to husband Grace better when he is pleased to give it God onely wise CAnutus a King of this Land contended that the name of King was onely due to the King crucified Jesus Christ so surely the name of Wisdom is due and to be ascribed to God onely as being onely wise It is St. Pauls acknowledgement 1 Tim. 1. 17. Nay the very Heathens as arrogant as they were have acknowledged no less Laertius writes that certain young men of Ionia standing upon the Sea-shore and beholding Fisher-men making of a draught agreed with them aâ—great for their draught that what they should hale up to land in their net should be their own Now it was so by the providence of God that together with certain fish they enclosed a certain piece of Plate which no Man knew when it was sunk there and dragged the same to land in their net The same being claimed and seized on by the young men by vertue of their bargain they cast between them how to dispose of it But when they could not agree about the sharing of it they sent to the Oracle for Resolution they were returned answer to send it to the Wisest They send it therefore to Thales their Country-man a man of great note in those dayes for wisdom but when it was brought to him he disabled himself and disdained the name of VVise and sent it to such a one as being more wise then he was The second also he would none of it but sent it to a third and the third to a fourth c. And so they posted it from one to another till seven had it The seventh and last Solon by name he made no more ado but sent it to the Temple at Delphi for a present to God acknowledging him to be onely VVise A marvellous confession for Heathens to make touching the alone wisdom of God Magistrates to look to their Attendants AS it is the eye of the Master which feeds the horse so it is that also which keeps good order If Mephibosheth cannot stir because he is lame in his feet and David have other business then to examine things to the full Ziba will play his part he will abuse his Prince he will defraud his Master It is a remembrance to Magistrates and men in place that they look on such as attend them and suffer not their approaches to be ill spoken of for the behaviour of those that are about them The blind swalloweth many a Fly and he that knows his charge but by Relation doth swallow many a gogeon God's Mercy above his Iustice. A Merchant that keeps a book of Debitor and Creditor writes both what is owing him and what he oweth himself and then casteth up the whole But â—od doth not so his Mercy is triumphant over his Iustice and therefore he wipes out what we owe him and writes down that onely which he owes us by promise much like the Clouds that receive ill vapours from us yet return them to us again in sweet refreshing showers The very consideration of this may be as a full gale of wind in our â—ails to put us on to load Gods chronicle with thankfulness writing upon our selves by a real Profession of his service as Aaron did Holiness to the Lord. Surely our Iudgement is with the Lord and our work with our God Acts 10. 3. Remedy for a hard heart to cure it THere is a story of an Earl called Elzâ—arus that was much given to immoderate anger and the means he used to cure this disordered affection was by studying of Christ and of his patience in suffering the injuries and affronts that were offered unto him And he never suffered this meditation to pass from him before he found his heart transformed to the similitude of Christ Iesus Now we are all of us sick of a hard and stony heart and if we ever desire to be healed of this soul-damning disease let us have recourse to the Lord Iesus Christ and never leave meditating of his breakings and woundings for us till we find vertue coming out of him that the great heart-maker may become a great heart-breaker unto us Grace sometimes seemingly lost to a child of God MEn seek for keys sometimes when they are in their pocket And they think they have lost some Jewel when it is safe locked in their desk yea or as the Butcher looketh about or for the Candle that sticketh in his hat and he carryeth it about with him on his head and seeketh it by the light of that which he seeketh as if he had it not about him not remembring suddenly where he stuck it So the godly are oft in their own conceit at a loss when yet that they deem lost is sure and safe they miss many time God's grace in them and seek for this grace by the light of the same grace which yet they see not in themselves thinking that they are out of God's way when indeed they are in it and out of favour
books of Homer in which were his joy But surely the richest Cabinet that is is in the soul of man and that 's the memory the Ark of Heavenly knowledge where like Mary we should lay up all that we know and hear of God It is a rich Cabinet indeed and therefore the fitter for the richest Iewel the Word of God to be treasured up in The retaining of one sin spoiles a great deal of good in the soul. AS the Philosopher saith A cup or some such thing that hath a hole in it is no cup it will hold nothing and therefore cannot perform the use of a cup though it have but one hold in it So if the heart have but one hole in it if it retain the Devil but in one thing if it make choice but of any one sin to lye and wallow and tumble in it doth evacuate all the other good by the entertainment of that one evil the whole box of ointment will be spoiled by the dropping of that one flie into it By the Laws of our Kingdom a man can never have true possession till he have voided all and in the State of Grace no man can have a full interest in Christ till all sin i. e. all raigning domineering sin be rooted out Weak beginnings of Grace not to be despised THough a man have a Palsey-shaking hand yet it is a hand A sick weak man that lies crying oh oh that can scarce turn himself on his bed is a man a living man a poor child that is newly born and hath nothing that discovereth Reason almost but the shape of a man that poor child is a reasonable Creature So that faith that beginneth with weak apprehensions and faint leanings on Christ is notwithstanding a true faith and therefore to be cherished Deep godly sorrow and other parts of Repentance do begin many times to run in a slender channel yet they must not be straightned amendment of life begins sometimes at a low foundation at small sins yet there may be encrease of such small grace and a man may be blessed for all the weaknesse of them It behoves every man therefore to take comfort in a little and be thankfull for it and that is the onely way to get more How to receive benefit from the Word and Sacraments A Child may handle the Mothers breasts may play with them may kiss them but all this while the child is never the fuller Therefore the child when it would be satisfied layes its mouth to the breast gets the nipple fast and then sucks and draws with its strength and might and so fetches forth the milk out of the Mothers breast Thus the Word and Sacraments are the breasts of Consolation and they be full of very sweet milk indeed but there can be no satisfaction till there be sucking Men may come to the Sacrament and gaze upon the Elements and eat and drink them and yet not receive the sweet of the Ordinance but if they would have the milk out of his breast they must fall to sucking and drawing with all their power and strength Now it is faith actuated that sucks vertue out of the Sacrament that sucks from Christ in the Sacrament mortifying vertue to kill lusts healing vertue to cure the pollutions of the â—eart and quickning vertue to enable to duties and actions of spiritual life Faith in the time of trial needful AS a Ship without his ballast is toss'd and rock'd at Sea and cannot endure the waves so is that soul right unstable and every hour apt to perish which hath not faith in Temptation It is written of the Cranes that when they do intend in stormy and troublesome weather to flie over the Sea fearing left that by the blasts of the wind their bodies which be but light should be beaten into the Sea or be kept from the place whither they intend they swallow some sand and little stones into their bellies whereby they are so moderately piezed that they are able to resist the raging of the wind So it must be with every Christian whilst they do cross this troublesome world of sin and great temptation It is faith that must be their ballast it is faith that must keep them upright or recover them when they are a going Good Laws and good men are the Pillars of State THe Pillars of State are good Laws and good Men good Laws are the Pillars that bear up men and men being so born up by good Laws do bear up the whole State of a Land Licinius therefore the Emperor spake barbarously when as Eusebius reports he said That Iuris cognitio was Vâ—rus pestis Reipublicae And the Iews who as Ambrose observes said That Leges were Crimina spake but as Iews that is as a Rebellious people And the Anabaptists that hold Laws to be contrary to Christian liberty do but by their doctrine give us to understand the qualities of their lives which is Epicurial licentiousness but Christians must give Laws their right and repute them as they are The Pillars of the State Man's corrupt Judgement upon the bare appearance of things condemned GOd is the Lord of Hoasts he is the great Commander of Heaven and Earth he it is that directs the conflicts neither are any put to try mastery no field pitched on battel fought but by his special Order and Commission and all for the accomplishment of his glory But it befalleth us as it doth with them which stand in the same level wherein two huge Armies are ready to engage they conceive them to be a disordered multitude whom notwithstanding if they behold from a high hill they will discern that they are artificially ranged they will see how every one serveth under his own colours even so men which behold the state of the world with the eyes of flesh and blood dim by reason of the weakness of their Judgements and wickedness of their affections thinks all thing are out of order that there is nothing but confusion and disorder to see men reeling in Iudgement one against the other servants riding on horses Princes going on foot bonis malè malis benè That the worse men are the better they fare and they fare the worse the better they are But if they did but once ascend into the Sanctuary of God and judge of occurrents by Heavenly Principles then they would confess that no Army on Earth can be better marshalled then the great Army of all the Creatures of Heaven and Earth yea and of Hell too and that notwithstanding all appearances to the contrary all is well and will end well that God who is the God of Order will bring light out of darkness and Order out of the greatest confusion could they but have patience and let him alone with his own work Beginnings of Goodness to be encouraged and why CIcero maketh mention of Marcus Crassus who walking one day by the Sea-shore saw a Boy
things more commendable then his Victoryes for having vanquished the French King by force of battle he put off from himselfe the whole glory and gave it devoutly to God causing to be sung Non nobis Domine non nobis Domine Not unto us Lord not unto us Lord but unto thy name be the glory given c. Psalm 115. 1. And thus must every one do be his atchievements never so great whether private or publique let God have the glory of all for it is no less then blasphemy in Man to attribute either the strength or the glory of success unto himselfe St. Pauls omnia possum had been over presumptuous had he not added by him that strengthneth me Phil. 4. How it is that one Man censureth another THat divine Spaniard in his pleasant but useful fictions of the life of Gusman makes his Rogue wittily discourse of the unconscionableâ—â—ss of the Genowayes and their prying into and censuring of other mens lives That when they are young and go first to School they play away and lose their Consciences which their Master finding he layes them up carefully in a Christ but because he hath the keeping of so many and they mixed one with another he gives to his Schollers when they go away such Consciences as come first to hand which they take to be their own but are indeed somebodie 's else Whence it comes to pass that no man bearing his own Conscience in his own bosome every Man looks and pryes into that of another Mans The truth of this story may be questioned but the Morall is true without all question and we have need sometimes of such pleasant passages to tell us the truth that we may understand our selves the better There 's hardly the Man to be found that is not curious in other Mens faults blind in his own partial to himself never without matter against others still complayning of the badnesse of the times the decay of Trade the ripenesse of sin but will not be perswaded that he is any way the occasion of the same To be thankfull to God as well in Adversity as Prosperity THemistocles was wont to tell his ingratefull Country-men the Athenians that they used him like a shady Tree under which when a storm happened they would run and take shelter but when the storm was over they would be ready to cut it down and burn it When there were any Tumults or uproares in the Common-wealth who but Themistocles all the People would flock to Themistocles for succour but when there was a calm in the State and all things at peace through his good advice and industry then who more base Who more contemptible then poor Themistocles And is not this the case of many at this day they will pray unto God in time of Adversity but they will not praise God in time of Prosperity While the corn is growing the hedge is well fenced but when it is in'd the fields are thrown open when they stand in need of any blessings then they are all upon the spur somewhat carefull to please God but when they have caught what they fished for then they let the reyns slack are not so forward in the ways of obedience so that it is a great blessing of God that we are kept in want of one blessing or other were it otherwise he were likely to have but a little of our company The doctrine of Seducers dangerous VVE may read of a Woolfe taken in a snare which when a Man went about to kill with his hunting speare the Woolfe breathed in his face and poysoned him in such a manner that he presently began to swell all over his body and was very hardly recovered again Such is the contagion which the soul of the Hearer receives by the poysoned breath of Seducers doctrine if so be that coming near such kind of Vermine a Man do not wind them that is not draw up into his Soul the sweet breathings of the Spirit it is great odds but that he is totally infected thereby to the irreparable loss both of soul and body togeâ—her God seeketh his People more especially in his own House the Church VVHen we receive summons from any supream Authority the Messenger or Offiâ—â—â— of the Court seeks us not in idling places he pursues us not into the fields neither doth he come to our sports to warn us but to our houses and there reads his message as if we were there because we should be there and then without any further enquiry departs fastning the script or writ upon the door In like manner the Ministers of the Gospel are Gods Ambassador and Gods Messengers God supposeth every Man to be at home and so do they because at hours and times set apart for his worship they are presumed to have no houses but his house whom they shall meet no where nor more certainly find than there there it is that more especially when two or three are met together in his name he will be in the midst of them there he will teach them his wayes and there he will give them grace too to walk in his waies nor can a Sermon have any influence upon such as are not there so true is that of venerable Bede That he that comes not willingly to Church shall one day go unwillingly to Hell The sincere Preachers comfort IN a great Festivall when the expectation was not less then the concourse both very great St. Bernard having preached a very eloquent Sermon as that heavenly tongue was able beyond expectation while the People admire and applaud the Abbot walks sadly with a mind not ordinarily dejected The next day he preaches a lively Sermon full of profitable truth plain without any Rhetorical dress whereupon his meaner capacited Auditors went away very well contented but curious itching ears were unsatisfied but he walks cheerfully with a mind more then usually pleasant The people wonder why he should be sad when applauded and when not merry but he returns this answer Heri Bernardum hodiè Iesum Christum yesterday I preached Bernard but to day Iesus Christ It is the same with all Preachers of Gods word There can be no feast within when a Man is conscious to himself of dallying with God Integrity is that which furnisheth out the sweet banquet and heavenly repast of joy That Preacher shall have mâ—st comfort that preacheth most of Christ and so shall he too that lives most to Chrâ—st when a rotten-hearted Wolsey whose Conscience tells him he served the King his Master better then God his Maker shall languish away in discontent and vexation of spirit God afflicts his Children for their good IT is the observation of an excellent Preacher yet living who passing by on a dark night in the streets of London and meeting a youth who had a lighted Link in his hand who being offended thereat because it burnt so dark
in his life The telling of Truth begets batred AS the Turk taunted some Christians at Constantinople who said That they came thither to suffer for the Truth tells them That they needed not to have come so far for that for had they but told the truth at home they could not have missed suffering for it Telling truth needs not travell far for enmity enmity will encounter it at home wheresoever it be Hence is that definition that Luther made of Preaching Praedicare nihil est quà m derivare in se furorem c. That to preach and preach home as he did was nothing else but to stir up the furies of hell about their ears Mr. Dering telling Queen Elizabeth in a Sermon that it was once Tanquam ovis but now it was Indomita juvenca was never suffered to preach more at Court Tell a Polititian Papinian's truth that That 's the best reason which makes most for Religion that the best policy that makes most for piety Why this truth crossing his projects and purposes the teller may take his bill and sit down quickly and write enmity Tell a covetous man St. Pauls truth that the love of mony is the root of all evill you offer him losse you touch his freehold y' are a trespasser to his trade an enemy Tell the luxurious man that Theorem of truth that Temperance is the razor of Superfluities and the rule of necessaries and that this whole lifâ— ought to be a kind of a Quadragesimal abstinence Away with your thred-bare Scholars posies what do you bring us into the Wildernesse to starve us You are an enemy Thus let the truth-teller never dream of comfits and sweet-meats but make account to eat his Passeover with sour herbs let him never feed himself with vain expectation that the trade of truth-telling is a plausible winning welcome profession An expectas ut Quintilianus ametur Let him rather account himself to be born as Ieremy a contentious man one that striveth with the whole earth a troublesom companion an enemy Men not repairing to the Church of God reproved THe renowned Captain Huniades when he felt himself in danger of death desired to receive the Sacrament before his departure and would in any case sick as he was be carried to the Church to receive the same saying That it was not fit that the Lord should come to the house of his Servant but the servant go rather to the house of his Lord and Master Davids desire was to dwell there and Nicodemus though a Ruler did not send for Christ but go unto him Whose modesty condemns many amongst us who will not vouchsafe to come to Christ if he will be served Christ must come to them the Supper of the Lord must be brought to their table the Ministers of Christ must Church their wives at home baptize their children at home vainly imagining that they do God a great favour when they tread in his Courts and a grace to his Ambassadours when they lend their ears to an hours audience Grace seemingly lost in the Soul THe two Disciples talked with Christ yet knew him not Mary with her blubber'd eyes mistakes Christ for the Gardiner Hagar in the very midst of her distresse had a fountain of water before her yet could not see it till God was pleased to open her eyes Gen. 21. 19. Thus the least cloud of Gods displeasure may as it were an Ecliptick liâ—e seem to darken the splendour of his graces within us Christ may so hide himself from our hearts that knowledge or faith shall not be able to reach him and much of the Spirit may be so darkned that though a man have Christ in the promise O strange detention yet he shall not be able to discern him Men not to run themselves into trouble THere is mention made in the Ecclesiasticall story of a silly woman that must needs spit in the Emperour's face that so she might suffer Martyrdom And it is said of the Lion that to provoke himself to anger when there is none to hurt him he beateth himself with his own tail But thus must no good Christian do we must take heed that we do not wilfully run our selves into troubles but rather use all lawfull means to prevent them before they come and to be freed from them when they are come For he shall have sorrow that loves it and he that runs into danger shall perish in it and he that voluntarily laies a crosse upon his own shoulders when he needs not hath no promise that God will take it off It is true that we must drink of this biâ—ter cup but we must stay till God put it into our hands otherwise we cannot say that we are chastised by him but that we scourge our selves with whips of our own making How to behold our selves in the Glasse of Gods Law ONe of the Persecutors in Queen Mary's daies pursuing a poor Protestant and searching the house for him charged an old woman to shew him the Heretick She points to a great chest of linnen on the top whereof lay a fair Looking-glasse He opens the chest and asks where the heretick was She suddainly replyed Do you not see one meaning that he was the Heretick and that he might easily see himself in the glasse And thus God's Law is the glasse that shews us all our spots let us hold it right to our intellectuall eye not behind us as the wicked do they cast Gods word behind them not besides us like the rich worldling that called to Christ not to turn the back-side of the glasse towards us which is the very trick of all hypocrites nor lastly to look upon our selves in this glasse when we are muffled masked or cased for under those vails we cannot discern our own complexions But let us set the clear glasse before our face and our open face to the glasse and then we shal soon perceive that the sight of our filthinesse is the first step towards cleannesse Men of all sorts to stand up for the Truth IT was the great praise of learned Fulgentius upon young Donatus that being set upon by the Arrians though he had not the skill to defend the truth with his tongue yet he had a will to maintain the truth in his heart though he could not unloose all their cunning tricks he could yet hold fast the conclusion Truth And he that for he could neither write nor read could not clerkly subscribe his name to Truth 's confession could yet manly draw blood of himself wherewith to set his mark to it And he that for want of learning could not dispute Christ's cause could yet be content to die for it And were every hair of my head a man I would burn them all said a third rather then go from Truth Thus it is to be wished that as this was the first Nation that
what is not yet effected wary before they be wounded and prudent in seeing a danger a far off and shunning it Prov. 22. 3. The folly of late Repentance THat Carryer must needs be taken for a fool who being to go a farre and foul journey will lay the heaviest pack upon the weakest horse So that Christian cannot be held any of the wisest that layes the great load of Repentance upon his faint and feeble dotage whereas in the chiefest strength of his youth he cannot lift it easily but is ready to stagger under it Watchfulnesse of life rewarded THat famous Apollonius held in his time for an Oracle of the World coming very early in the morning to Vespasians Gate and finding him awake conjectured thereupon that he was worthy to command an Empire and said to his Companion that went along with him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 undoubtedly this Man will be Emperour because he is so watchfull Thus whosoever thou art that with David dost seek God early and with those three women that looked after Christ very early in the morning thou that remembrest thy Creator in the days of thy youth that art circumspect in walking careful of thy life and conversation diligent in thy way be assured that thou shalt stand before Princes that thou hast not laboured in vain nor spent thy strength for nought for thy judgement is with the Lord and thy work with thy God who will fully reward thee How to behave our selves in the hearing of Gods word IT were a great unmannerliness for a Man that is invited at a solemn feast to rise before the Table is taken away unless in case of sickness weakness or some important affair And it were an high contempt even to the most inferiour Iudicature that a man being lawfully summoned thither would depart without licence till the Court were risen And shall Men dare to sneak out of the Church before the Sermon be ended or make haste away after the Sermon be ended rushing out like Prisoners or School-boys when the doors are open without craving a blessing of God or attending the blessing from God by the mouth of his Minister If this be not a contempt of Gods word and Commandements let any man judge Learning and Honesty to go together FRanciscus Petrarcha that Scholarium Tetrarcha a Man famous in his time was put upon the scrutiny of Mens judgements Four Men undertook the task One had no Learning the other had a little a third not much the fourth somewhat but intricate and perplexed Good Man he was not tryed by his Peers All their opinions were sum'd up in this sentence Petrarcha sine literis vir bonus Petrarch an illiterate good Man The King stormed at this sentence the Nobles fretted his friends were vexed and almost all Men threatned revenge upon such sawcy Judges But Petrarch himselfe applauded their judgement saying O utinam non vere dixerunt c. The end of all my study was to be a good Man if Learning came in upon the by I did not refuse it but now seeing by their sentence I may without Learning have goodnesse what a comfort is this to me and thousands more of no better knowledge And most true it is that of two unhappy dis-junctions it were better to see an honest Man without Learning then a Learned Man without honesty but quam benâ— conveniunt when Learning and honesty meet together Where Learning is as the sowing of the ground and vertuous and holy life is as the Harvest Where knowledge is but for breed but being marryed to Grace brings forth a glorious issue a race of Heavenly fruits a posterity of good Works Carnall Security reproved IT is observable of the Smiths dogge that neither the noyse of hammers by him nor the sparks of fire flying about him nor some that light upon him do any whit awaken him but he snorts and sleeps on securely Saint Paul speakes of men 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 such as are past all â—eeling And Solomon brings in one so insensible that if he were striken he was not sick if beaten he felt it not Another going like a fool to the stocks not knowing of the danger that he was running into Such are they that dally and fool with dangers even spirituall dangers the harlotry of sin so that whether it be that they are besotted with carnall security or engrossed with covetous secularity or deafed with the durdam of wordly vanity Nescio quid teneros fascinat one thing or other so stupifying and deadning the faculties of their souls that they are as it were benum'd with carelesse security that they have little or no sense of any spirituall hazard at all The time of our Youth to be given up to God ALmighty God ever required in his service the first fruits Exod. 3. 19. and the first born Exod. 13. 2. The firstlings are his darlings Gen. 4. 4. the faâ—ttest lambs are fittest for his facrifice If the King of Babel would have young men well favoured without blemish and such as had great ability to stand before him Dan. 1. 4. shall the God of Israel even the King of Glory have none to stand in his Courts but the halt lame and blind such as the soul of David hated 2 Sam. 5. 18. Ye shall not see my face saith Ioseph to his brethren except you bring your younger brother with you Gen. 43. 3. And how shall we behold the face of our blessed Iesus if we do not remember him in the daies of our youth if we dedicate to the devill our lovly young years and offer unto him nothing else but the dregs of our loathed old age Time the least moment thereof cannot be assured ALexander being much taken with the witty answers of Diogenes bad him ask what he would and he should have it The Philosopher demandeth the least proportion of Immortality That 's not in my gift saies Alexander No quoth Diogenes then why doth Alexander take such pains to conquer the World when he cannot assure himself of one moment to enjoy it What the Cynick said to this great Conquerour may very well be retorted upon many in our age How do many men turmoil themselves in the pursuit after riches honours and preferments per fas nefas no matter how they come by them yet when all 's done they cannot add one cubâ—te to their stature not one minute to their live wherein he may take comfort in them Lawfull Recreation the benefit thereof THe strings of a Lute let down and remitted do sound sweeter when they are raised again to their full pitch And fields being every year sowed become at length very barren but being sometime laid fallow repay the Husbandmans patience with double encrease So our bodies and minds if they have no remission from labours will make but dull musick and if we do not sometimes let them lie
on them then they become Christs Bread and Gods Wine and the Table Gods Table too not the bread of the buttery but of the Sanctuary not the wine of the grape but of the Vine Christ Iesus sealing unto us the pardon and remission of our sins So that in the right receiving thereof we must make it a work not dentis but mentis not so much to look on the Elements what they are but what they signifie look through the bush and see God through the Sacrament and see Christ Iesus to our comfort Worldly things their suddain downfall AMongst many other significant devices some beyond the Seas have the picture of a man with a full blown bladder on his shoulders another standing by and pricking the bladder with a pin the Motto Quam subitò hinting thereby the suddain downfall of all worldly greatnesse How soon is the Courtiers glory eclipsed if his Prince do but frown upon him and how soon the Prince himself become a Peasant if God give way unto it How soon are the windy hopes of sinfull men let our upon the least touch of Gods displeasure Riches honours preferments if God be but pleased to blow upon them are suddenly reduced to nothing Magistrates called to do Justice at all times IT was a piece of good counsell that Mordecai gave unto Hester she was fearfull to go in to the King because he had made a Law That whosoever came into the inner Court without his leave should be put to death But what saies Mordecai What is it that troubles thee why dost thou shrink for fear Who knowes whether thou art come to the Kingdom for such a time as this So it may be truly said of all Magistrates of all that are in place of Government whether it be in Church or Common-wealth that they are in their places for such a time as this that occasiones Dei nutus occasions are Gods beckonings As it is said of a King of Persia that he would many times alight off his horse onely to do justice to a poor body a good coppy for Magistrates to write by to be ready to do justice and judgment at all times upon all occasions while they have time that is while they have season They may have time to live in but they may out-live the season to do good in to work for God and act for Christ to relieve the oppressed and therein not to be over-poysed by any power or byas'd by any respects whatsoever All Knowledge but in part AMong the Romans Nasica was called Corculum for his pregnancy of wit among the Grecians Democritus Abderita was called not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not Wise but Wisdom it self among the Britans Gildas was call'd Gildas sapiens Gildas the sage among the Iewes Aben Ezra was called Hechachan they said of him That if Knowledge had put out her candle at his brain she might light it again and that his head was the throne of wisdom Before him among the Israelites Achitophel was the man his counsell an Oracle Here now was a pack of wise men but why Nilus should overflow in the Summer when waters are at the lowest or why the Loadstone should draw Ironâ—o â—o it or incline to the Pole-star which of them with all their knowledge can give a reason of either And as in human so in divine knowledge the most acute and judicious have and must acknowledge their ignorance and deplore their errours in divers points We know but in part Then if he that learned his Divinity among the Angels yea to whom the holy Ghost was an immediate Tutor did know but in part it is well with us if we know but part of that part To be deliberate in our Prayers unto God IT is observable that when a man is to swim over some River having thrown himself into the water he passeth as far as he can by the strength of his first stroke and then being as it were at a stand he fetcheth another stroke and so a third and a fourth till he come to the place where he would be So in the marter of prayer in our addresses unto God we must do as that godly Martyr of Christ Mr. Iohn Bradford was said to do not to ramble from one petition to another till he had brought his heart into a perfect frame of prayer so that every passage of prayer had its full work As for instance In the Lords prayer when a man shall say Thy kingdome come and then shall be thinking with himself O but if it should now come what a case am I in that am thus unprovided Then in the midst of these thoughts say Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaver letting the tongue go on whilst the heart is on somewhat else this is an errour a green wound easie to be cured being one good thought in stead of another which is to be done by serious and deliberate attendance and carefull dwelling on one particular till another be presented Merit-mongers confuted THose of the old World to get them a name upon earth made Brick of their own devising and built them a Babel a Tower that must reach up to Heaven and when they had all done they had but brick for stone and slime for morter and the end was confusion And such there are who to get them a name and an opinion of being more holy than other men Touch me not I am of purer mold than thou art make brick of their own pure naturalls and inherent righteousnesse to build up a Babel of Merit that shall gain them the Kingdom of Heaven And when they shall have all done it is but the brick and slime of mortall corruption and they can prognosticate to themselves no fairer end than that of Babel was Confusion Humility occasioned by the consideration of our former and present condition JAcob humbles himself when his brother Esau came against him he knew himself to have been poor and in a low condition O Lord saies he I am not worthy of the least of all thy mercies and of all thy truth which thou hast shewed unto thy servant For with my staffe I passed over this Iordan and now I am become two bands And are there not many in this great City that came hither with a stick in their hands a freez-coat on their backs and a little spending mony in their purses poor servants then God wot but now they have gotten two bands wife and children mony and trading The consideration of these things how God hath dealt with them from time to time in the time of â—icknesse and sorrow in the time of health and prosperity how he hath brought them from one condition to another from a condition of want to a condition of plenty and from a condition of abundance to a condition of want again I
such occasions as this seldom fall out And certainly for women in Masks and Shewes to be apparel'd as men and men as women hath been alwaies a thing distastfull to them which are more sober minded as Tertullian condemneth it directly Nullum cultum à Deo maledictum invenio c. I find no apparell saith he cursed of God but a womans in a man according to that of Deut. 22. 5. especially in Showes and Plaies further adding out of another place Non amat fâ—lsum Author veritatis c. The God of verity loves not falsity every thing that is counterfeit before him is a kind of adultery Sorrow that is true is for the most part silent ST Bernard bewailing Gerhardus the Monk and his dearest brother saith At his death my heart failed me sed feci vim animo with much ado I dissembled my griefe lest affection should seem to overcome religion and whilst others wept abundantly Secutus ego siccis oculis invisum funus my self followed with dry eyes the happy Hearse by-standers with watry cheeks admiring whilst they did not pitty him but me that lost him Indeed whereas tears and words fail the blood leaveth the cheeks to comfort the heart and speech giveth place to amazement They are small miseries when he that hath them can presently tell the world of them Sorrow that is true is for the most part silent That observation of St. Peter is good Flevit sed tacuit he wept but was silent as if his eyes would in some sort tell what his tongue could in no sort utter The known Law of any Nation to be the rule of Obedience IT was the observation of a wise but unfortunate Peer of this Nation at the time of his Triall before an honourable Assembly That if a man should passe down the Thames in a boat and it be split upon an Anchor and a Buoy being not set as a token that there is an Anchor there that party that owes the Anchor should by the Maritime Law give satisfaction for the dammage done But if it were marked out then he must come upon his own perill And thus it is that the known Lawes of a Nation are made the rule of obedience to the People the plain Law and Letter of the Statute that tells where and what the crime is and by telling what it is and what it is not shewes how to avoid it For were it under water and not above skulking onely in the sense of some musty record and not divulged no human providence could avail or prevent destruction No true cause of Rejoycing in this world THere is a story of a certain King that was never seen to laugh or smile but in all places amongst all persons at all times he was very pensive and sad His Queen being much troubled at his melancholly requested a brother of his that he would ask him what was the cause of his continuall sadnesse He did so The King put him off till the next day for an answer and in the mean time caused a deep pit to be made commanding his servants to fill it half full with fiery coals and then causeth an old rotten board to be laid over it and over the board to hang a two edged sword by a small slender thread with the point downwards and close by the pit to set a table full of all manner of delicacies His brother comming next day for an answer was placed on the board and four men with drawn swords about him and withall the best musick that could be had to play before him Then the King called to him saying Rejoyce and be merry O my brother eat drink and laugh for here is pleasant being But he replyed and said O my Lord and King how can I be merry being in such danger on every side Then the King said Look how it is now with thee so it is alwaies with me for if I look about me I see the great and dreadfull Iudge to whom I must give an account of all my thoughts words and deeds good or evill If I look under me I see the endlesse torments of hell wherein I shall be cast if I die in my sins If I look behind me I see all the sins that ever I committed and the time which unprofitably I have spent If I look before me I see my death every day approaching nearer and nearer unto my body If I look on my right hand I see my conscience accusing me of all that I have done and left undone in this world And if I look on my left hand I see the creatures crying out for vengeance against me because they groaned under my iniquities Now then cease hence forward to wonder why I cannot rejoyce at the world or any thing in the world but continue sad and heavy Thus did but men consider their estates then would they find small cause to rejoyce at any thing which the world shall present as a thing delectable but rather employment enough for Argus his eyes yet all little enough to weep for the miserable estate wherein they stand by reason of sin and wickednesse Controversies especially in matters of Religion dangerous ON the Tomb-stone of the learned Sr. Henry Wotton late Provost of Eaton Colledge it is thus inscribed Hic jacet hujus sententiae Author Pruritus disputandi fit scabies Ecclesiae Here lies the Author of this sentence The itch of Disputation becomes the scab of the Church And very true How is Religion in a manner lost in the controversies of Religion For who is there that had not rather seem learned in the controversies of Religion then conscionable in the practice of Religion and that sets not more by a subtle head then a sanctified heart that had not rather disputare quam bene vivere dispute well than live well So that distraction in Religion becomes destruction of Religion Daily Examination of our selves the comfort of it SEneca tells of a Roman that kept his soul as clean as the best housewife keeps her house every night sweeping out the dust and washing all the vessells examining his own soul Quod malum hodie sanâsti qua parte melior es What infirmity hast thou healed what fault haste thou done and not repented in what degree art thou bettered Then would he lie down with O quà m gratus somnus quà m tranquillus With how welcome sleep and how quiet rest do I entertain the night And it were to be wished that all men would do the like to keep a day-book of all their actions and transactions in the world to commune with their own hearts and not to sum up all their words and works in the day passed with an Omnia bene as Church-wardens were wont to do when they gave up their presentments then would their nights rest be quiet and then might they lie down in safety for God himself would keep them Repentant tears
mad-man that talking with a lean meagre Cook he understood from him what dainty dishes he dressed for his guests and hearing that they were all fat and fair liking and thrived with it he asked him Why he did not feed on those meats himself that he might be fat too The Cook answered That for his part he had no stomack But the mad-man replies Take heed how thou come near Bedlam if the Corrector find you your punishment will be very sharp for certainly you are madder then ever I was Thus it is no better then madnesse for Ministers Magistrates and others in place of eminency to give light to others and walk themselves in darknesse to distribute portions of meat to the Family and starve their own souls to rescue others from the enemy and suffer themselves to be taken to forwarn others of the pit whereinto themselves run headlong to give good counsell to others and not to be guided by that counsell themselves Christ nothing but Love all over IT is the observation of Sr. Walter Rawleigh that if all the pictures and patterns of a mercilesse Prince were lost in this world they might all again be painted to the life out of the story of K. Henry the eighth But on the other side the Iewes had such an high esteem of Esdras that if mercy love and knowledge had put out their candle at his brain they might light it again Behold yet a greater then Esdras Christ Iesus himself If all our love were extinguished at his love we might easily rekindle it Not a word that he spoke not a work that he did not a passion that he suffered but was an argument a character of his love He brought love he bought love he exercised love he bequeathed love he died in love He is all love Needfull Requisites to make up a profitable Hearer of Gods Word IT is said of that Princely Iosiah King Edward the sixth that his carriage in the publick service of God was such that he constantly stood up at the hearing of Gods Word took Notes which he afterwards diligently perused and wrought the Sermon upon his affection by serious meditation Thus it is not a bare sitting under the Ordinance a meer formall hearing of the Word thinking as too many do that when the Sermon is ended all is done But there must be attention of body intention of mind and retention of memory which are indispensably required of all Wisdom's schollars and are the most needfull requisites to make up a profitable hearer of Gods Word Friendship to be made with God in Christ Iesus THe men of Tyre and Sidon two rich and antient Cities of Phoenicia on the costs of Syria when they heard that Herod was displeased with them and intended to make war upon them they made friendship with Blastus the Kings Chamberlain and sought by all means possible to get into favour with him again And why Becâ—â—se said they our lanâ—s are nourished by the lands of the King And this is our case our lands our lives our liberties and all that we have are nourished and sustained by the King of Heaven therefore when we know that he is displeased with us as justly he may for as David saith we provoke him every day then let us do as they did as they made a friend of Blastus so let us make friendship with Jesus Christ and desire him to help us into Gods favour and protection Heaven Men desirous to be there but will not take pains to come thither SAbellicus in his History brings in C. Flaminius playing upon Philoxomenes that he had pulchras manus pulchra crura sed ventrem non habuit he had goodly arms and strong thighs but he had no belly He meant that Philoxomenes had brave and valiant souldiers fair Troops of Horse and foot but wanted that which is the sinews of War he had no money to pay them It may be inverted upon us for we are all belly full of appeâ—iâ—e and desire to happinesse but we have neither hands nor feet we will neither move nor labour to attain to that happiâ—essâ— we have fat desires but lean endeavours fain we would be in Heaven but we will take no pains for it nor seek the way to it we make account to go up to Heaven in a whirlwind or as Passengers at Sea be brought to the Haven sleeping to win Heaven without working to be crowned without striving to dine with the Devill and sup with Abraham Isaac and Iacobin the Kingdom of Heaven by all means we must die the death of the righteous but by no means live the life of the godly nay if death do but offer to prefer us to Heaven we will none of it we thank him heartily we refuse him with deprecations and fortifie our selâ—es against him with antidotes and preservatives So that it may very well be put to the question Where is our desire for Heaven when we rather die necessitatis vinculo quam voluntatis obsequio instead of looking for it we look from it and then onely preâ—end a faint desire to it when we can make no other shift but that we must needs ventâ—â—e on it To be Charitable to the poor and needy THe Iewes at this day though outed their own Country and destitute of a Leviticall Priesthood yet those that will be reputed religious amongst them distribute the tenth of their increase unto the poor being perswaded that God doth blesse their encrease the more for their usuall proverb is Decima ut dives â—ias pay thy Tithes that thou maist be rich Nay saies Philo the Jew They came so willingly to give up their Tithes unto God as if they had been to have received a gratuity from men If then there be such devout Iewes that having neither house nor home Priest or Temple and without Christ in the world so charitable to the poor then how much more suitable will it be for Christians that live in Gospell-times to relieve the poor members of Iesus Christ to honour the Lord wiâ—â— their substance freely expending it in pious and charitable uses whereby their barns shall be filled and they made great gainers in the end Why God suffereth the dearest of his Children to want outward things IT is written of the Pine-tree that if the bark be pulled off it will last a long time else it rots So God sees that many a man if he had his bark 〈◊〉 him if he had the wealth of the world about him a penny in his purse and a friend at Court it would rot him corrupt him and make him worse therefore God is fain to bark him and peel him to keep him naked and bare and poor that his soâ—l may prosper the better For indeed many times it so falls out and a man shall find it so that his soul prospers best when his body prospers â—orst Men to be
apparelled So let all such as are advanced in the worlds eye such as are arrived at great estates such as heretofore not worthy to sit with the Doggs of the flock are now seated with Princes consider the simple weeds perhaps that were once upon their backs and now God hath given them change of Apparell What a small stock they had once to begin withall and how God hath conveyed unto them hidden Treasures What Minums they were once in the World and what Grandees they are now become That whilst others have poverty they have prosperity Whilst others are empty they are full whilst others have a narrower border theirs is enlarged whilst others have neither means nor meat their portion is fat and their meat plenteous When therefore they eat in plenty and are satisfied let them praise the name of the Lord their God which hath done wonderfully for them and say with David All that we enjoy cometh of thine hand and all is thine own 1 Chron. 29. 6. Sloathfulnesse and luke-warmnesse in Religion forerunners of evill to come IT is said of Alexius Comnenus that when upon the day of his Inauguration he subscribed the Creed in a slow trembling manner it was an ominous sign to all What a wicked Man he would prove and how nigh the ruine of the Empire was at had And when Philip the last King of Macedon a little before the great battle which he fought with Flaminius stepped up upon the top of a Sepulchre to make an Oration to his Souldiers it foretold a sad event of the issue of the battle Thus we which have violated the faith and are come to such a sloathfulnesse and lukewarmnesse in performance of Religious duties it doth presage that our very inwards are corrupted and the foundations of our Welfare shaking We that have trod upon the heads of so many famous Martyrs which first conveyed unto us our faith and worship it is a kind of Prediction that this at last will be fatall to our Church There is time yet to amend but how long God knows It is to be hoped that our sinnes have not yet made God to abhorre the excellencies of Iacob nor left us naked before the Lord We have yet much in our keeping all is not gone let it be our care to preserve what is left and be thankfull for what we have in the present enjoyment Mans great Vanity in proposing to himselfe long life WHen God revealed to Nehuchadnezar how little a while his Empire was to last he shewed him a statue of divers mettals the head of Gold the breast silver the belly brass the leggs iron the feet clay and a little stone descending from the Mountains dash't the Statue in pieces But instead of taking this as a fore-warning of his end and to have it still before his eyes he made another statue of Gold from top to toe which is held to be a durable and lasting mettal so that the more God fought to undeceive him the more was he deceived with his vain hopes And this is a fit resemblance of that which daily hapneth unto us for God advising us that in the midst of all our magnificent structures and costly edifices that of our body our best building is but rear'd up of a little dirt an house of clay that daily moulders away and will be ere long reduced to little or nothing yet our idle thoughts and vain hopes imagine it to be of gold to be built of strong and lasting materialls which cannot be when as mans life is so short that it is no more then to go out of one grave into another out of the womb of our particular Mother into that of the earth the common Mother of us all Dust we are and to dust we must return Gen. 2. How it is that a prudent man may lawfully comply with the Times IT is said of the Yeale a certain wild beast in Aethiopia that he hath two horns of a cubit long which he can in fight move as he list either both forward to offend or both backward to defend or the one forward and the other backward to both uses at once So should wise men apply their counsells and actions to the times and either to put forth the horns of their power or pull them in as occasion offers yet with this caution that as the Marriner changeth his course upon the change of the wind and weather but still holdeth his purpose of getting into the harbour so should all prudent men States-men especially as upon every new occasion they alter their sailes and veer another way they should still make their course to the point of the publick good and safety not once minding their own private benefit or advantage The difference betwixt a good and bad Memory AS the stomack is the storehouse of our corporall food and keeping therein our present meat the body takes from thence its sustenance whereby its life and being is maintained So the memory is the stomack and magazine of the soul and sets before our eyes the obligation wherein we stand the good which we lose and the hurt which we gain and representing thereunto the species and shapes of things past they sometimes work that effect as they would have done had they been present themselves whence is ingendred the love of God which is that good blood wherewith the soul is nourished And then again as from the disorder and disagreement of the stomack painfull diseases do arise and divers infirmities hang upon the body so from the forgetfulness of our memories rise those manifold disorders and distempers in the soul such as deaden the graces of the Spirit and flat the motions thereof bringing the soul into a labyrinth of perplexity untill God be pleased to bring such things into mind again as may relieve it Oath or Covenant-breakers not to be trusted THe Lawes divine and human have left no such bond of assurance to tie and fasten one to another as that of an Oath or Covenant which are to be taken in sincerity and kept inviolably But seeing the deprivation of our nature hath perverted these Lawes and abused this lawfull act by equivocations and mentall reservations making it like a Gipsies knot fait or loose at their pleasure or like a Tragedian buskin equally fitting each foot The Law of State prescribes us this remedy to trust no man of noted falshood and duplicity but upon good caution and good reason too For he that hath passed the bounds of modesty and made no Religion of Oath or Covenant for his proper advantage never after makes scruple in his cauteriate conscience to offend in like sort as often as like occasion shall be offered The unresolved mans inconstancy THe River Novanus in Lombardy at every Midsummer Solstice swelleth and runneth over the banks but in mid-winter Solstice is clean and dry Such is the nature of men
unresolved to several fortunes they swell in the Sun-shine of their prosperity and look big in the daies of their advancement but when storms of danger and troubles arise they are dried up with dispair and hang down their heads like a bulrush For a mind unprepared for dysasters is unfurnished to sustain it when it commeth he that soareth too high in the one forâ—une sinketh too low in the other Insolent braving and base fear are individuall and infeparable companions But the resolved man is ever the same even in the period of both fortunes The truly noble Souldier THe Getulian captive as Pliny relateth the story escaped the danger of being devoured by many Lions through her humble gesture and fair language as saying unto them That she was a silly woman a banished fugitive a sickly feeble and weak creature an humble suitor and lowly suppliant for mercy As therefore the Lion is the most noble of all the beasts of the Forrest who never shewes his force but where he finds resistance satis est prostrâsse do but yield and he is quiet Such is every truly noble souldier every generous souldier the most honourable of all other professions who holds it as great a glory to relieve the oppressed as to conquer the enemy that is in arms against him How it is that the self-conceited vain-glorious man deceives himself IT is usually so that the vain-glorious man looks upon himself through a false glasse which makes every thing seem fairer and greater then it is and this flatulous humour filleth the empty bladder of his vast thoughts with so much wind of pride that he presumes that fortune who hath once been his good Mistresse should ever be his hand-maid But let him know that the wings of self-conceit wherewith he towreth so high are but patched and pieced up of borrowed feathers and those imped too in the soft wax of uncertain hope which upon the encounter of every small heat of danger will melt and fail him at his greatest need For fortune deals with him as the eagle with the Tortoise she carries him the higher that she may break him the casier It would be therefore good advice that in the midst of his prosperity he would think of the worlds instability and that fortune is constant in nothing but incoâ—stancy How it is that Children are very bardly drawn from their naturall inclinations DO but set the eggs of divers fouls under one Hen and when they are disclosed the Kite will be ravenous the Dove harmlesse the Duck will be padling in the water and every one will be prosecuting its naturall inclination and condition Or take the youngest Woolf-whelp imploy the greatest art use the utmost skill that may be to make it gentle and loving and you shall find it but labour lost a thing altogether impossible for it will never be forced or intreated from its naturall curstnesse and cruelty Thus it cannot be denyed but that education hath a considerable power to qualifie breeding in a good family may civilize but never nullifie the proper nature of any thing or person It is therefore the duty of Parents earnestly to pray that God would be pleased to infuse such souls into their children as may be endewed with sweet and gratious inclinations if otherwise to use all fit means to temper the worst not presuming to effect an absolute extirpation thereby but by the miraculous power of him who can make from bitter fountains to deflow sweet and pleasant waters from the worst of nature the best of grace and goodnesse The different conditions of men in the matter of Society laid open DIvers and sundry are the conditions of men in society but three are most remarkable i. e. The open the concealed and the well-tempered betwixt these As for the first they are of so thin a composition that a man by a little converse may see as easily through them as if they were made of glasse for in every discourse they are ready to unbosome their thoughts and unlock the very secrets of their hearts The second sort are so tenacious so reserved and closely moulded that they seem like those coffers that are shut so fast that no discovery can be made where they may be opened so close that as they are of lesse delight for society so of lesse hazard to be trustud But the last and best composed and like some â—abinets that are not with difficulty unclosed and then discover unto you many things pleasant and profitable but yet so cunningly devised so artificially contrived that there will be some secret box that neither your eye nor wit can take notice of wherein is deposited a most proper and incommunicable treasure something that will give grace and much advantage to those that hear it Ministers to be accountable unto God for what they have received AS by the Law of Nature Redde depositum doth bind every such fiduciary engage every such Trustee not to use the pledge deposited as his own proper goods but to be accountable for it and restore it when it shall be called for if otherwise he is guilty of injustice and violating those dictamina rationis the very principles of naturall reason So it is with the Treasures of Gods truth committed to the hands of his Ministers they must acknowledge themselves to be but deposiâ—arii trusted as pledge-keepers not as proprietarii Lords and Masters of it for they are to be responsible in that great day of generall Audit how they have discharged their trust How it is that the People as to the generality are incompetent judges of the Preacher and his Doctrin IT is related of a â—ertain Bishop that a Visitation preached a very godly Sermon and withall so learned and plain that the descended to the capacity of the meanest hearers He was thereupon very much commended for his grave gesture for his distinct and sober delivery for his fatherly instructions speaking plainly and familiarly as a father to his children not so earnest and vehement and hot as many young Novices are c. For their Minister he was but a youngling and as good as no body in comparison of him and if they had but such a Preacher they would give I know not what to enjoy him This great and generall commendation was signified to the Bishop in private who to make tryall of the peoples judgment came the next year after in the attire of an ordinary and poor Minister offering himself to be their Preacher it being noysed abroad that their own was upon his remove to another place The Bishop having gained the Pulpit purposely chose another Text differing from his former in words but not in matter so that in a manner he preached the very self-same Sermon But the same persons that did so much commend him before did now as much discommend him and said That he had no good gesture but a heavy
the day-time because of the exceeding great whitenesse she hath in her eyes which so scattereth the sight that the Opticks thereof cannot perfectly discern the objects And such are all those that are self-conceited of themselves in matters of Religion that are pure in their own eyes wise and pruâ—ent in their own sight yet are not washed from their filthinesse that stink in the nostrâ—lls of all that come near them such as the Novatians of whom St. Cyprian speaketh qui aurum se pronunciant that pronounce themselves to be pure gold But if they be gold saith he it is then that gold in quo delicta populi Israelis c. in which the sinnes of the People of Israel are denoted they are but golden Calves or rather golden Asses It it better therefore to be at Sea tossed with a tempestuous storm in the ship with those that humbly professe themselves to be Sinners than on the shoare with the rabble of those that justifie themselves and are so self-conceited of their own graces that they think no one good enough to be their fellow The wrath of God to be appeased by timely Repentance SEasonably and timely came in the provision of Abigail when for her Husbands churlish behaviour David in his wrath had girded his sword upon his thigh and threatned destruction to his whole houshold she delay'd not the time but made haste and went out to meet him with Asses laden with frails of Resins bottles of wine and sheep ready dressed to appease his wrath which David took so kindly at her hands that he forgot his anger and gave order that she should be returned in peace and safety to her husband and family So it is that Davids Son according to his Humanity and Davids Lord according to his Divinity even David the King of Kings and Lord of Lords the great God of Heaven and Earth is angry with every Son of Man for his unthankful and ingratefull behaviour towards him He hath bent his bow and whetted his arrowes girded his sword on his thigh and which is much to be feared hath already drawnit out to punish us let us then by a seasonable and timely Repentance go out and humbly meet him in the way And as Abigail had her Asses laden with fruit so let us have our bodies laden with Repentance and contrition even these bodies of ours which have been too too long Porters to carry the heavy burthen of Sin and wickedness And as she had her bottles of Wine so let us have our eyes as two bottles nay rather two fountains of tears to bewail the sadnesse of our lost condition And as she had her sheep ready dressed so let us have our hearts ready prepared and addressed to serve the Lord and then the Lord will say unto us as David to Abigail Return again unto your houses in peace be of good chear your Sins are forgiven you Rash inconsiderate Service or worship of God condemned IT is observed by Physiognomists that the most couragious and discreet Men have not the speediest pace but rather a quiet decent and setled kind of gate whereas an hasty pace is looked on as a certain sign of a rash foolish and illiberall Man Thus it is that rashnesse is not altogether so hurtfull in other businesse as it is most dangerous in Gods service and the duties of Religion All rashnesse must be banished from Gods service it must not be any suddain work yea rather it is such a businesse as requireth our exactest care our greatest attention our bestwits nay wisdome it selfe to go about it the greatest care we can take is not enough Hence is that charge of the Apostle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to it have a care take heed that you walk 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 circum spectly exactly warily not as fools but as wise .i. to do the service of God advisedly to walk decently and orderly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with a comely pace and that with another caution too 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as in the day time when all Men see us that so we may not be ashamed of what we do Faith though weak yet rewarded And why so THey that did look on the brazen Serpent but with one eye yea but with half an eye were as well and as fully cured of the deadly stings of the fiery Serpents as those that beheld it with both And again suppose that a Prince be disposed to bestow on sundry and severall Malefactors a pardon of grace or some precious Iewels as signalls of his civill respects unto meer beggars Is not the one as fully acquitted from his offences and the other made as actually rich by the possession of such Jewels though but received with a palsie-shaking hand as they that receive them with one that is more strong and lusty Even so the case is here Hast thou whosoever thou be but a dimmish darkish faith a weak waterish eye of faith yet for thy comfort if it be such an one as doth look up to Christ and onely to him for Salvation such a hand as doth reach out unto Christ and the pardon of lins offered in and by him and dost clasp it about him with all thy feeble strength Make not doubt but that thou art justified in the sight of God and dost stand clearly acquitted from all thy sins and shalt be healed from the deadly stings thereof for it is the possession of the Iewell not the strong holding of it that made those beggars rich and the Kings pardon relieveth none but such as are willing to accept of it and plead to it and so it is not our strong or weak faith that is our Righteousnesse and full discharge before God but Jesus Christ and his obedience that is it that doth all This only is required on our part that we accept of Christ offered in the Gospel and relye on him for full Righteousnesse and Redemption all which a weak and feeble faith doth as truly and intirely if not more as the strongest Nay which is yet more for the comfort of such as are weak in faith and cannot yet in an express and explicite manner believe on Christ they have Christ and enjoy him unto Righteousnesse and the pardon of all their sinnes and transgressions committed All must dye THe Heathens usually compared the Sons of Adam to Counters the game at Chesse and Stages-playes because that Counters have their severall places and use for a time but in the end they are jumbled into a heap In a game at Chesse some are Kings some Bishops some Knights c. but after a while they go all into one and the same bagge On the stage one is in his raggs another in his robes One is the Master another is the Man and very busie they be but in the end the Play ends the bravery ends and each returns to his place Such and
no other is the estate of Man either weeds or flowers and both wither whether Trees good or bad both die as dyeth the wise so the fool Rich Men dye and poor too Death is unavoydable life and death take turns each of other the Man lives not that shall not see death be he a King with Saul a Prophet with Ieremy a wise Solomon a foolish Nabal a holy Isaac a prophane Esau be he of what rank soever he must dye Nay let there be a concurrence of all in one let Samuel both a good Man a good Minister a good Magistrate have as many priviledges as are incident to a Man yet can he not procure a protection against Death his Mother may begge his life but none can compound for his Death so sure it is that all must lie down in the dust and dye Why it is that we must be Charitable to all Men. IT is written of that Moses Atticissans that when he did give Alms to a poor profligate wretch his friends were much admired that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plato the great divine Philosopher would take pitty on such a wretched Miscreant but he like himself in such misty dayes as those were made answer Humanitati non homini I shew mercy on the Man not as he is wicked but as and because he is a Man of my own nature His answer was good and warrantable for if we consider our first Parents we shall find our selves bound though â— longinquo by the same obligation to do good unto all men There is neither Iew or Graecian bond nor free Male or Female but all are one in Christ Iesus neither Indian whether of the East or West neither Barbarian of Morocco nor Inhabitant of Monomotapa but all are brethren whom as we have opportunity we must embrace with Charity such as are true Saints with joy for their Sanctification those that are not such in the judgement of Charity with hearty and earnest supplications to the great God of Heaven and Earth for their true and timely conversion to the faith that is to be found onely in the Lord Iesus Not to grieve or be troubled at the worlds discourtesies And why so SUppose a Man by birth Noble and by revenues Rich that as travailing home-wards through a forraign Country he should be way-laid fall into the hands of Thieves and villains and by them be robbed of his Mony and stripped of his rich and Courtly apparell and besides that have many indignities and base unworthy affronts put upon him and yet should passe by all as little or nothing concerned in the businesse And why so but because he considers that he is not in his right Ubi he hath no long time to abide with such wretched People and that if he can but make some shift for a time till he came to his own Country and place of aboad there he should have his friends about him monies and all things necessary to supply his want and necessities The same is our case Why should any of us grieve and be troubled at the worlds discourtesies at the Reproaches and wrongs that are put upon us by the World and worldly Men For have we but so much faith as to believe it we have an Heavenly home and an eternall life by Câ—rist prepared for us at the which when we once arrive we shall be sure to meet with friends enough even God his blessed Saints and Angells who will honour us Riches and treasures inestimable that will store us joy and glory unspeakable that will for evermore refresh us To regulate our Wills by Gods Will. IF a Man lay a crooked stick upon an eeven levell ground the stick and ground ill suit together but the fault is in the stick And in such a case a Man must not strive to bring the even-ground to the crocked stick but bow the crooked stick eeven with the ground So is it between Gods will and ours there is a discrepancy and jarring betwixt them But where is the fault or rather Where is it not Not in the will of God but in our crooked and corrupt affections in which case we must not like Balaam seek to bring Gods will to ours but be contented to rectifie and order the crookednesse of our Wills by the rectitude and sanctity of the Will of God which must be the Ruler and Moderator of our wills for which cause we are to cry out with David Teach me O Lord to do thy will and with the whole Church of God in that pattern of wholsom words â—iat voluntas tua Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven never forgetting that too of Christ Iesus himself in the midst of his agony and bloody sweat Non mea sed tua siat voluntas Father Not my will but thine be done Luk. 22. 42. To appear before God in all humility how high soever our condition be IT is observable of Rebecca that all the way of her journey she was mounted on a Camell and rode amongst the Servants but when she had once set her eye upon Isaac then she lighted down from the Camell and put her self into a posture of all humble and low obeysance So must the men of this world do however it be that many of them bear up their heads on high stand upon the upper ground of riches and preferment and are therefore bold and carelesse not so much as once minding those that are below them yet when they come into the Lords presence and are to deal with the great God of heaven and earth then they are to come down from their Camells fall down and kneel before the Lord their maker and be as humble lowly and vile in their own eyes as possibly may be How it is that Faith is the first act of Repentance AS a prisoner that lies in hold for debt if a man should come unto him and promise him that he would take order to pay his debt and thereby discharge him of his imprisonment he first believes that he is both able and willing so to do it then he hopes for it and lastly he is as it were dissolved into love ravished with the thoughts of such an unexpected reliefe and therefore seeketh to do all things that may please him So is it with a repenting Convert he first believes that God will do what he hath promised that is pardon his sins and take away his iniquities then he resteth that what is so promised shall be performed and from that and for it he leaves sin forsaketh his old course of life which was displeasing and for the time to come maketh it his work to do that which is pleasing and acceptable in his sight The comfortable art of spiritualizing the severall occurrences of the world and observing God's providences therein IT is storied of Mr. Dod a painfull Preacher in his time that intending to marry but
being troubled with fears and cares how he should be able to live in that condition in regard that his Incomes were but small enough onely to maintain him as a single man looking out of the window and seeing a Hen scraping for food to cherish her numerous brood about her thought thus with himself This Hen did but live before it had the chickens and now she lives with all her little ones Upon which he added this thought also I see the fouls of the air neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns and yet my heavenly Father seeds them Thus did he and thus many of Gods servants have done before him and thus did our blessed Lord and Saviour himself who took occasion of the water fetch'd up solemnly to the Altar from the well of Shilo on the day of the great Hosanna to meditate and discourse of the water of life And so must all of us do get this sweet and comfortable art of spiritualizing the severall occurrences in the world and observing the providences of God therein drawing like the Bee sweetnesse from every flower and turning every thing that we hear or see into holy meditation the omission whereof cannot be without the neglect of God his creatures our selves The Creatures are half lost if we onely employ them not learn something of them God is wronged if his creatures be unregarded We most of all if we read this great volume of the Creatures and take out no lesson for our own instruction Men hardly drawn out of old customs and forms in Religious Worship IT is reported of the King of Morocco that he told the English Ambassadour in King Iohns time that he had lately read St. Pauls 〈◊〉 which he liked so well that were he to chuse his Religion he would embrace Christianity But saith he every one ought to die in the faith wherein he was born So it is with many amongst us they are perswaded they ought and are resolved they will live and die in those customs and waies wherein they were born and so they may do nay so they must do provided that such customs and forms whereunto they seem to be so fast glued be according to the pattern in the Mount the revealed will of God But it is to be feared that such are more addicted to Customs then Scriptures chusing rather to follow what hath been though never so absurd and irregular then consider what should be though never so orthodox and uniform The great love of Christ to he at an high esteeem and why so THere is a story of an Elephant who being fallen down and unable to help himself or get up again by reason of the inflexiblenesse of his legs a forrester comming by helped him up wherewith the Elephant a creature otherwise docible enough by the very instinct of nature was so affected that he tamely followed the man up and down would do any thing for him and never left him till his dying day Now so it is that if there be such love exprest by bruit beasts to those which have done them any good should not we much more love and prise Christ that hath done so much for us For we were fallen and could not recover or help our selves and Christ hath lifted us up and redeemed us with his own most pretious blood when we were even lost and undone Let us then think nothing too much to do too great to suffer too dear to part withall for such a Christ such a Saviour that thought nothing too much to do or too grievous to suffer that so he might accomplish the work of our Redemption He left Heaven for us let not us think much to lose Earth for him He came out of his Fathers bosom for us let not us be unwilling to leave father or mother or friends or any thing else for him He underwent sufferings reproaches afflictions persecutions yea death it self for us let not us repine at or be impatient under any trouble or misery we shall meet with here in this world for hâ—s sake but still be praising blessing and magnifying the love of God in Christ Iesus who hath done so much for us Faith to be preserved as the head of all Graces and why so IT is observed that the Serpent is of all things most carefull of his head because he well knowes though he be cut and mangled never so much in the body or any part of it yet if his head be but whole it will cure all the wounds of the other members And such wisdom ought all of us to have to labour above all things to keep our head our faith whole and sound to make sure of that whatsoever we do because if any thing else receive a wound if any other of our graces have as it were even lost their spirituall strength and vigour faith will renew them again but if this once suffer shipwrack it will cost many a sigh many a tear many a groan in the spirit before it be recovered again for without it all other graces decay and perish are as in a winter-condition of barrennesse without it yet if it do but appear there will be a spring-tide of all spirituall blessings whatsoever Troubles and vexation of spirit not to be allayed by wrong means and waies IT is said of Cain that being in trouble of mind and terrour of conscience for his bloody sin of fratricide he went to allay it by building a City Gen. 4. And there was no way to drive away Saul's melancholy but by David's tuning of his Harp Thus it is with most of people when they are under trouble of mind or vexation of spirit they use sinfull and wrong means to quiet themselves they run to merry meetings to musick to building to bargaining to buying and selling but they run not to God on the bended knees of their hearts who is the onely speedy help in such a time of need It cannot be denyed but that a merry meeting musick or the like may allay the trouble of mind for a while but it will recoil with more terrour then before A sad remedy not much unlike to a man in a seavouâ— that lets down cold drink which cools for the present but afterwards increaseth the more heat or like a man rubbing himself with Nettles to allay the sting of a Bee or not much unlike to one that hath his house a falling and takes a firebrand to uphold it whereby the building is more in danger Prosperity will discover what a man is IT is said of Pius Quintus so called because that when he was a mean man he was looked on as a good man but when he came to be a Cardinall he doubted of his salvation and when a Pope he dispaired of it So hard a thing is it for a good man to use a prosperous estate well Prosperity is that which will tell you what a man is it will
and stand still Oh Whaâ— a puddle of sin will the Heart be How rusty and uselesse will our Graces grow How unserviceable for Gods Worship how unfit for Mans by reason of the many spirituall diseases that will invade the Soul Just like Schollers that are for the most part given to a sedentary life whose bodies are more exposed to ill humours then any others whereas they whose livelihoods lye in a handicraft Trade are alwayes in motion and stirring so that the motion expells the ill humours that they cannot seize upon the body So in the Soul the lesse any Man acts in thâ— matter of its concernment the more spirituall diseases and infirmiâ—ies will grow in it whereas the more active and industrious Men are the lesse power will ill distempers have upon them The true Repentant sinners encouragement notwithstanding all his former wickedness IT is very observable in the Genealogy of Christ that there are but four women mentioned it being not usuall to mention any and the blessed Spirit of God sets a mark of infamy upon them all The first is Thamar Mat. 1. 3. She was an incestuous Woman for she lay with her Father in law Gen. 38. 38. The second is Rahab vers 5. she was an Harlot Heb. 11. 31. The third is Ruth vers 5. she came of Moab the Son of Levi by incest begotten of his own Daughter Gen. 19. 37. The fourth is Baâ—hsheba vers 6. she was guilty of Adultery And why was this so done but for the comfort of the most infamous Sinners to come in to Christ and to take notice for their better encouragement that though they have been above measure sinfull yet by their conversion to God and aversion from Sin by a serious and hearty Repentance all infamy of their â—ormer wayes is quite taken away and their names entered in the book of life and eternall Salvation Not to be troubled at the Prosperity of the Wicked And why so VVOuld it not be accounted folly in a Man that is Heir to many thouâ—ands per annum that he should envy a Stage-player cloathed in the habite of a King and yet not heir to one foot of Land Who though he have the form respect and apparel of a King or Nobleman yet he is at the same time a very begger and worth nothing Thus wicked Men though they are arrayed gorgeously and fare deliciously wanting nothing and having more then heart can wish yet they are but onely possessors the godly Christian is the Heir What good doth all their Prosperity do them It doth but hasten their ruine not their reward The Oxe that is the labouring Ox is longer lived then the Ox that is put into the pasture the very putting of him there doth but hasten his slaughter And when God puts wicked Men into fat pastures into places of Honour and power it is but to hasten their ruine Let no Man therefore fret him because of evil doers nor be envious at the Prosperity of the wicked For the Candle of the wicked shall be put out into everlasting darknesse they shall soon be cut off and wither as a green herb Psalm 37. 1 2. Godly and wicked Men their difference in the hatred of Sinne. AS it is with two Children the one forbears to touch a coal because it will black and smut his hand the other will not by any means be brought to handle it because he perceives it to be a fire-cole and will burn his fingers Thus all wicked and ungodly Men they will not touch sin because it will burn They may be and often are troubled for sin but their disquietnesse for sin ariseth more from the evill of punishment the effect of sin then from the evill that is in the Nature of sinne They are troubled for sinne but it is because sinne doth destroy the soul and not because sinne doth defile the soul because God pursueth sinne not because he hates sinne more because it is against Gods justice that is provoked then because it is against the Holinesse of God which is dishonoured because God threatens sinne not because God doth forbid sinne because of the Hell for sin not because of the Hell in sin But now on the other side all good and godly Men they hate and loath sinne because it is of a smutting and defiling nature because it is against the nature of God because God loathes and hates it more because it is a-against Gods command then because God doth punish it not because of the damning power of sin but because of the defiling power of â—in c. Custome in Sin causeth hardnesse in Sin LOok but upon a Youth when he comes first to be an Apprentice to some Artificer or Handy-craft Trade his hand is tencer and no sooner is he set to work but it blisâ—ers so that he is much pained thereby but when he hath continued some time at work then his hand hardens and he goes on without any grievance at all It is just thus with a Sinner before he be accustomed to an evill way Conscience is tender and full of Remorse like a queazy stomack ready to keck at the least thing that is offensive O but a continued Custome and making a Trâ—de of sin that 's it that makes the Conscience to be hard and brawny able to feel nothing As it is in a Smiths forge a Dogge that comes newly in cannot endure the fiery sparks to fly about his ears but being once us'd to it he sleeps securely So let wicked men be long used to the Devils Work-house to be slaves and Vassails to sinne the sparks of Hell-fire may fly about them and the fire of Hell flash upon their souls yet never trouble them never disturbe them at all and all this ariseth from a continued custome in a course of evill The more a Man is now troubled for sinne the lesse shall he be troubled hereafter And why so IT is well known that if a Land lord take a great Fine at the first coming into the house he doth take the lesse Rent for the future Thus as Land-lords deal with their Tenants so God with his people He puts them to a great Fine at the first he makes Sin cost them many a â—ear many a nights trouble many a dayes disquiet many a â—igh many a groan in the Spirit but here 's the comfort The greater the Fine the lesser the yearly Rent the more a Man is troubled for sinne at the present the lesse fear and perplexity shall be his portion hereafter for he shall have the joy and comfort of believing he shall have the more perfect peace at his death so that when he comes to dye he shall have little else to do but to lye down and dye committing his Soul into the hands of a faithfull Creator and Redeemer How it is that the singling out of one beloved Sin makes way to a full sight of all sin
VVHen Christ went about to bring the woman of Samaria to remorse and sorrow for sin he singled out one sin amongst all the rest and tâ—ld her Thou art an Harlot and the Scripture gives us this hint That the singling out of that one sinne so farre opened her eyes that she saw all other sinnes whereupon she said Loe behold the Man that hath told me all that ever I did and yet Christ told her onely of her Adultery So let every one of us take notice that the singling out of one beloved sin makes way to the full sight of all sin Let us examine then What is that Dalilah that darling sin that we play withall and hugge so much in our bosomes single but out that and the coast will be so clear the mists and fogs of darknesse so much expelled that we shall have a distinct view of all the sinnes that ever we committed not a generall and confused apprehension of sin which onely brings in a generall humiliation of sin and hath without the great mercy of God been the undoing of many a precious Soul for ever Assured Christians must be patient Christians IT is mentioned that in the time of that Marian persecution there was a woman who being convened before Bonner then Bishop of London upon the tryall of Religion He threatned her that he would take away her Husband from her saith she Christ is my Husband I will take away thy Childe Christ saith she is better to me then ten Sons I will strip thee saith he of all thy outward comforts yea but Christ is minâ— â—aith she and you cannot strip me of him The thoughts of this bore up the womans heart spoil her of all and take away all yet Christ was hers and him they could not take away Thus when the soul lives in the assurance of Gods love and of its calling to Grace and glory it cannot but make a Man very patient to endure with chearfulnesse whatsoever of opposition he shall meet with here below There is a remarkable phrase in that of the Prophet The Inhabitants of Sion shall not say I am sick the People that dwell therein shall be forgiven their iniquity A strange passage He doth not say They were not sick but the Text saith They should not say so And what 's the reason Why should the People forget their sorrowes and not remember their pains This was it that did it The Lord hath forgiven them their iniquities The sense of pardon took away the sense of pain And thus should all of us walk to shew that trouble can not daunt us nor any any way startle us but as assured Christians to be patient under all sufferings whatsoever Worldly-mindednesse a great â—inderance to the comfortable enjoyment of spirituall graces WHat the Philosophers say of the Eclipse of the Sun that it is occasioned by the intervening of the Moon between the Sun and our sight is true in this case If the World get between Christ the Sun of Righteousnesse and our sight it will darken our sight of Iesus Christ and bring Eclipses upon our comforts and Graces Again those Men that dig deep into the bowels of the Earth they are oft-times choaked and stifled by damps that come from the Earth So it is with Christians those that will be ever poring and digging about the things of this World it is a thousand to one that if from worldly things a damp doth not arise to smother their Comforts and quench their Graces Lastly A Candle though it may shine to the view of all yet put it under ground and though there be not the least puffe of wind the very damp will stifle the light of the flame so it is that Men may shine like Candles in their comforts yet bring them but under the Earth and a clod of that will stiflle their Candle will damp their spirituall comforts and bereave them of those joyes that are in themselves unspeakable God so ordereth it that few or none of his People live and dye without assurance of their Salvation IT is reported of one Mrs. Honywood a famous professor of Gods truth and one that for many years together lay under the burthen of a wounded Spirit and was much troubled in mind for the want of her Assurance as to the matter of Salvation At length there came a Minister to her who endeavoured to settle her hopes and comforts in Iesus Christ and urging Promises of the Gospell unto her she took it with a kind of indignation and anger that he should offer to present any Promises to her to whom as she thought they did not belong And having a Venice glasse in her hand she held it up and said Speak no more to me of Salvation for I shall as surely be damned as this poor brittle glass shall be broke against the wall throwing it will all her force to break it But it so pleased God that by a miraculous Providence the Glass was preserved whole The Minister seeing this made a happy use of the accident took up the Glass and said unto her Behold God must work a miracle for you before you will believe And from that day saith the story she was a woman very strong in the Assurance of Gods love and favour Thus did God indulge the infirmity of his poor dispairing servant at that time and rather than that any of his People now or heareafter shall live or dye without assurance of their salvation he will work it even by a Miracle or some unusuall extraordinary way to them altogether unknown Grace in the heart is certain though the feeling thereof be uncertain And how so AS the Aire is sometimes clear and sometimes cloudy THE Sea sometimes ebbing sometimes flowing ebbing in our comforts as well as flowing in our Graces Or as the Trees of the â—ield sometimes flowring green and growing another time naked withered and as it were even dead So are all Christians in the feeling of their Graces their apprehension of Graces is subject to much change though their Graces be not so for Grace in it selfe is certain and unchangeable All the Devils of Hell cannot pluck one Believer out of Gods hand Those whom thou hast given me I will keep saith Christ and none shall take them from me The foundation of God stands sure though our knowledge that we build upon that foundation be not sure to us The Lord knoweth who are his though we do not And hence is it that though Grace itselfe be an unshaken foundation yet our feeling of Grace is not so but subject to many alterations and changes The great danger of taking up a false perswasion of our effectuall Calling AS a Man that is in a pleasant sleep dreams that he is a King hath loyall and obedient subjects about him a large Revenue with a Treasury full of gold and silver yet when he awakes behold the Man is a
the whitest feathers yet of the blackest skin The Eagle a bird of the quickest sight and of the highest flight yet the most ravenous among birds And among Beasts the Lion the goodliest of all the woods yet the most fierce and cruel The Fox most subtle yet a Creature of the foulest smell Thus God hath ordered it even amongst the Creatures irrationall and thus it is with his own People in respect of Grace though they have many excellent endowments and guifts yet he suffers some corruptions of Nature in them to humble them So that Humiltty the best of Graces comes from the worst root our Sin And Pride the worst of sinnes comes from the best root our Grace which caused that saying of Mr. Fox the Martyrologist That his Graces hurt him more then his sins meaning That many times he was proud of his guifts but humbled by reason of his sinnes and natural infirmities Not to consult with Gods secrets but his revealed word IT was a good saying of Mr. Bradford that famous Martyr of Christ Iesus That a Man should not go to the University of Predestination untill he were well grounded in the Grammer-school of obedience and Repentance And most sure it is that we are not to consult with Gods secret decrees but with his revealed Word Secret things belong to the Lord our God but revealed things to us and our Children for ever Deut. 29. 29. We are not to look to the decrees of God and upon them either do or not do our duty but we are to look to his revealed will which bids us to be conversant in holy duties of Religion and Godlinesse We are not to search the secret Records of Heaven but the revealed will of God which is able to make us wise to salvation The consideration of Mercies formerly enjoyed an excellent means to bear up our spirits under present Afflictions THere is a story of a Man aged fifty years or there abouts who lived forty eight of that time and never knew what sicknesse was but so it was that all the two last years of his life he was sickly and impatient under it yet at last he reasoned the case thus with himself The Lord might have given me forty eight years of sicknesse and but two years of health yet he hath done the contrary I will therefore rather admire the mercy of God in giving me so long a time of health than repine and murmure at him for giving me so short a time of sicknesse And thus must all of us consider that we have had more Mercies in our life to chear us up than we have had crosses to discomfort us What though the Lord doth now visit us with sicknesse we have had more years of health then we have had of sicknesse What though this or that comfort be taken from us yet we have a great many more left us still Hence is that advice of the Wiseman In the day of Adversity consider What must we consider That God hath set the one against the other that is Though we are in Afflictions now yet he hath given us Mercies heretofore and it may be will give us Prosperity again he hath ballanced our present Afflictions with former Mercies so that if we should set the Mercies we have enjoyed against the present Afflictions we suffer we should soon find the tale of our Mercies to exceed the number of sufferings be they of what Nature or quality soever imaginable Not to mourn excessively for the losse of any worldly enjoyment whatsoever And why so IT is related of a Minister of Gods word that visiting a Neighbour whose child lay a dying he endeavoured to comfort her but she being much grieved and dejected with sorrow would by no means be comforted The Minister said unto her Woman Why do you sorrow so much pacifie your selfe If your Child should live it may be so that God might make it a scourge and vexation to you by taking wicked and sinful courses She answered that she did not care if her Child did recover though he were hanged afterward This Son of hers did recover and was afterward executed for some villany coâ—mitted Now let any one judge whether it had not been a greater mercy and a thousand times better for her to have seen him buryed before her then that he should have come to such an unhappy end Thus it is that that comfort which any of us all shall so excessively mourn for the want of it may be would have proved a greater cross and trouble should but God have continued it still unto us whether it be the lâ—sse of life or estate of a loâ—ing Wife or an onely Son as it was in Rachels case Gen. 30. 5. and in Davids that if God had given him the life of his Child it would have been but a living Monument of his shame and all that knew the Child might have said Yonder goes Davids Bastard The consideration whereof should allay and take off the edge of all excesse of sorrow for the losse of any temporall comfort any worldly enjoyment whatsoever Not to be troubled at Afflictions because God intends good by them SUppose a Man very much in debt and in such need of Money that he knew not well how to subsist without throwing himselfe upon the saâ— charity of others that might if they had but hearts possibly relieve him should go to some especiall inâ—imate friend and make known unto him the lownesse of his condition and crave relief accordingly Now if this friend of his which is somewhat strange should go presently to his Châ—st and take out a considerable bag of Mony and throw it at him and in the throwing of it breake his head or give him some slight scar Can it be imagined that he would take it unkindly No certainly Thus it is that every Affliction that God is pleased to lay upon us shall work for our good We may say as Ioseph did to his brethren Though you intended all this for my hurt yet God intended and turned it for my good and will work benefit and advantage to me by it and promote my spiritual good that as Afflictions do abound my Consolations in Christ shall abound much more Every Affliction like Ionathans rod having hony on the top and therefore let us bear them patiently How to know whether we are more grieved for sin then for worldly Sorrow and Trouble WHen a Man is brought to a low Condition and a great decay in the world so that his Trade is quite fallen and his stock spent Now if such a Man be more troubled for his sin that brought him to so low an ebbe in the World then for the Affliction and trouble it selfe then he will not commit a fin to repair and make up his losses though he did know assuredly that the committing of such a sin would make up all again As in the story
is commonly rotten in his talk And as evil words corrupt good manners so they also discover corrupt manners the foul stomach betrayes it self in a stinking breath and a wicked heart in wicked communication But where Grace is in the heart it will manifest it self in holy Heavenly and savoury speeches The Sin of Bribery condemned IT is reported of Sir Thomas More then Lord Chancellor of England that when two great silver Flaggons were sent him by a Knight that had a Suit depending in Chancery though gilded with the specious pretence of gratuity sent them back again filled with his best Wine saying If your Master likes it let him send for more And when his Lady at another time offered him a great bribe in the behalf of a suppliant he turned away with these words Gentle Eve I will none of your apple An upright Man he was in the place of Judicature And it were to be wished That all those who succeed him on the Bench were not almost but altogether like him in the matter of Iustice distributive but so it is and which is to be lamented the Rulers love to say with shame Bring ye their right hands are full of bribes they are ready to transgresse for a piece of bread they love gifts and follow after rewards and like the Horse-leeches daughter they cry Give give so that by woful experience the ballance of Equity is tited too too often on the one side and the cause of the poor out-vyed with power and greatnesse No Man free from Temptations A Countryman riding with an unknown Traveller whom he conceived honest over a dangerous Plain This place said he is infamous for robbery but for my own part though often riding over it early and late I never saw any thing worse then myself In good time replyed the other and presently demanded his purse and robbed him Thus it is that no place no Company no Age no person is Temptation-free let no Man brag that he was never tempted let him not be high-minded but fear for he may be surprised in that very instant wherein he boasteth that he was never tempted at all The Holy Scriptures to be made the rule of all our actions IT is written of Boleslaus one of the Kings of Poland that he still carried about him the picture of his Father and when he was to do any great work or set upon any design extraordinary he would look on the picture and pray That he might do nothing unworthy of such a Fathers name Thus it is that the Scriptures are the picture of Gods Will and therein drawn out to the very life before a Man enter upon or engage himself in any businesse whatsoever let him look there and read there what is to be done what to be undone and what God commands let that be done what he forbids let that be undone let the ballance of the Sanctuary weigh all the Oracles of God decide all the rule of Gods Word be the square of all and his glory the ultimate of all intendments whatsoever Charity rewarded to the full THere is a story of a certain godly and charitable Bishop of Millain who journeying with his servant was met by some poor People that begg'd an alms of him The Bishop commanded his Man to give them all the little money that he had which was three Crowns But his servant thinking to be a better husband for his Master gave them but two Crowns reserving the third for their expences at night Soon after certain Noblemen meeting the Bishop and knowing him to be a good Man and one that was liberal to the poor commanded two hundred Crowns to be delivered to the Bishop's servant for his Master's use The Man having received the money ran with great joy and told his Master of it Ah said the Bishop Si enim tres dedisses trecentas accepisses What wrong hast thou done to me and thy self For if thou hast given those three Crowns as I appointed thee thou shouldst have received three hundred And most true it is that such open-handed and such open-hearted Christians have more then once Gods Word of promise for such ample retribution Bounty is said to be the most compendious way to plenty neither is getting but giving the best way to thrift For in works of Charity our scattering is our encreasing no spending but a lending no laying out but a laying up Prov. 11. 24. Why it is that they which have the strongest Graces are subject to the strongest corruptions IT is observable in Nature That those Creatures which have the most excellency in them have something also of defect and deformity in them as if the God of Nature did it to keep them humble in a posture as it were of condiscension The Peacock hath glittering feathers and yet black feet The Swan hath white feathers but under that a black skin The Eagle hath many excellencies quick-sight and high flight but yet very ravenous The Camell and Elephant are great and stately Creatures but of a deformed shape So it is in the state of Grace God doth suffer some strong and unsubdued lusts and corruptions to remain in the dearest of his Children and that even in such who have not onely truth but strength of Grace in them the Messenger of Sathan to busset them and a thorn in the flesh to let out the impostumated matter of pride out of their hearts whereby they become more condescending to the weak lesse depending upon their own Righteousnesse and so are brought to think better of others then themselves yea to judge themselves the least of Saints and greatest of Sinners that may be Grace and goodnesse to be highly esteemed even in Men of the lowest condition THere is mention made of an ancient King who made a great Feast and invited a company of poor people which were Christians and he bade his Nobles also Now when the poor Christians were come he had them up into the Presence-Chamber but when the Nobles came he set them in the Hall Being thereupon demanded the reason he answered I do not this as I am their King here for I respect you more then them but as I am King of another World I must needs honour these as Gods dear Câ—ildren and such as though dejected now shall be Kings and Princes with me hereafter and I would have you esteem of them according to their worth and shew it And so without all doubt great is the worth of true Christians A Pearl upon a dunghill is worth stooping for and a gratious Man or Woman though outwardly cloathed with raggs worth looking after Sure it is that God looks on them as his Iewels as a chosen generation a Royal Priesthood an holy Nation a peculiar People his delight his chosen ones his dear Children and what not It much concâ—rns us then to set
ditch narrowest to be bridged shallowest to be waded over what place is not regularly fortified where he may approach with least danger and assault with most advantage So Sathan walketh about surveying all the powers of our Souls where he may most probably lay his temptations as whether our Understandings are easier corrupted with errour or our Fancies with levity or our Wills with frowardnesse or our Affections with excesse c. How it is that Soul and Body come to be both punished together IT is mentioned of two Travellers that walked together to the same City whereof the one was wise the other foolish And when they came where two wayes met the one broad and fair the other strait and foul the Fool would needs go the broader way but the Wise man told him though the narrow way seemed foul yet was it safe and would bring them to a good lodging and the other seeming fair was very dangerous and brought them to a desperate Inn yet because the Fool would not yield to any reason but believed what he saw with his eyes rather then what he heard with his ears The Wise man for companies sake was contented to go the worser way and being both robbed by thieves detayned in their company and at last apprehended with the Robbers and carried before the Magistrate these two began to accuse one another and each to excuse himself The Wiseman said he told his fellow the dangers of that broad way and therefore he onely was to be blamed because he would not yeild unto his Counsell but the Fool had so much wit to reply That he was a very silly Creature and knew neither the way nor the dangers of the way and therefore â—e was to be excused and the wise Man to be condemned because he would follow such a Fools counsell Whereupon the Judg having heard them both condemned them both the Fool because he refused to follow the Counsell of the Wise and the Wise Man because he would not forsake the Fools Company So it is that when the Soul which is the Wise man and doth know the dangerous issues of the wayes of death and Sin and the pleasant fruits of Vertue and goodnesse will notwithstanding follow the vain delights of Foolish Flesh and walk in the paths of unrighteousnesse no marvell if the righteous Judg condemn both body and Soul together A blessed thing to have Riches and a Heart to use them aright IT is credibly reported of M. Thomas Sutton the sole Founder of that eminent Hospitall commonly known by his name that he used often to repair into a private garden where he poured forth his prayers unto God and amongst other passages was frequently over-heard to use this expression Lord thou hast given me a liberall and large estate give me also a heart to make good use thereof which at last was granted to him accordingly And thus without all doubt a great blessing it is for any Man to have Riches and a heart to use them aright to be rich as well in Grace as in Gold rich in good works as great in riches not so much a Treasurer as a Steward whose praise is more to lay out well then to have received much otherwise he may have Riches not goods not blessings his burthen would be greater then his estate and he richer in sorrows then in mettals The great danger of Use in jesting at Religion and Piety WHen Iulian the Apostata had received his deaths wound he could not but confesse that the fatall arrow which shot him came from Heaven yet he confessed it in a phrase of scorn Vicisti Galilaee The day is thine O Galilean and no more not as he should have said Thou hast accomplished thy purpose O my God O my Maker O my Redeemer but in a style of contempt Vicisti Galilaee and no more And thus it is that many who have used and accustomed their mouths to Oaths and blasphemies all their lives have made it their last syllable and their last gasp to swear they shall dye And others there are too that enlarge and ungird their wits in jesting at Religion and Goodnesse but what becomes on 't they passe away at last in negligence of all spiritual assistances and scarcely find half a minute betwixt their last jest here in this life and their everlasting earnest in that which is to come Service of God perfect Freedome AS a Man that buyeth Freehold-land though he pay dear for it yet it is accompted cheaper and a far better purchase then if he had laid out his money upon that which is held by Coppy of Court-role And why so because it freeth him from many services and duties which Coppy-hold-Land is obliged unto all which the Lord of the Mannour may justly challenge according to custome So it is that the service of God is perfect freedome and will free a Man from all other services whatsoever so that be but a true servant of God whosoever thou art thou art free indeed free from the service of Sin and Sathan and free from all those domineering lusts that would fain be ruling in thy mortall body but on the contrary if thou be not a true servant of Jesus Christ thou shalt be a slave to every thing besides him Either thy belly will be thy God or thy Gold will be thy God Pleasures Profits Preferments all that is besides God will put in to make up a God And then O quam multos habet ille Dominos qui unum non habet How many Lords must that Man needs have that hath not God for his Lord and Master The excellency of Resolution in the cause of God EXcellent is the story of St. Basil who when the Emperour sent to him to subscribe to the Arrian heresy The Messenger at first gave him good language and promised him great preferment if he would turn Arrian To which Basil replied Alas these speeches are fit to catch little Children withall that look after such things but we that are nourished and taught by the Holy Scriptures are readier to suffer a thousand deaths then to suffer one syllable or tittle of the Scripture to be altered The Messenger offended with his boldnesse told him he was mad He answered Opto me in aeternum sic delirare I wish I were for ever thus mad Here was a stout resolved Christian that Luther-like opposed all the World of contradiction And such another was Nehemiah who met with so much opposition that had he not been steeled by a strong and obstinate resolution he could never have rebuilded the Temple but would have sunk in the midst of it Such a one was David that would not be hindred from fighting with Goliah though he met with many discouragements And it is heartily to be wished that God would make us all such i. e. resolved Christians to put on divine fortitude and Christian resolution which if
had a man in his Kingdome that durst deal so plainly and faithfully with him Thus did but all Men especially Ministers Preachers of the Word such as are immediately employed by God seriously take notice of his Omnipresence and continually remember how his eye is alwaies upon them O how diligent how confident how abundant would it make them in the work of the Lord how faithfull how couragious how unbyassed how above the frownes and smiles of the greatest of the Sons of Men c. The consideration of Gods omnipresence to be a disswasive from Sin IT is well known what Ahashuerus that great Monarch said concerning Haman when coming in he found him cast upon the Queens bed on which she sate What saith he will he force the Queen before me in the house There was the killing emphasis in the words before me will he force the Queen before me What will he dare to commit such a villany and I stand and look on Thus it is that to do wickedly in the sight of God is a thing that he looks upon as the greatest affront and indignity that can possibly be done unto him What saith he wilt thou be drunk before me swear blaspheme before me be unclean before me break my Laws before me this then is the killing aggravation of all sin that it is done before the face of God in the presence of God whereas the very consideration of Gods Omnipresence that he stands and looks on should be as a bar a Remora to stop the proceeding of all wicked intendments a disswasive rather from Sin then the least encouragement thereunto Courts of Iudicature to be free from all manner of Injustice IT is said of that famous Athenian Judicature where once Dionysius sate as a Judg and thereupon called The Areopogite that they did excell so much in authority that Kings laid down their Crowns when they came to sit with them that they were of such integrity that they kept their Court and gave judgment in the night and in the dark that they might not behold the persons whâ— did speak least they should be moved thereby they onely did hear what was said Here it was that the Pleader must not use any proeme nor make any Rhetoricall expression to move the affections so that the People did bear as much reverence to the sentences and decrees promulged there as they did to their sacred Oracles Such was the strictness such the Iustice of that though then Heathen Councill that it may very well serve as a miroir to look in as a pattern for the imitation and as a coppy for the most Christian Courts of Iudicature to write by For were but Causes evenly weighed in the ballance of Justice there would not be so much complaining of the often titing on the one side or the other as now there is Were men but Christian Lawyers they would not be so often looked on as Heathen Orators Were Laws but justly put in execution the sword would not so often be born in vain neither would great ones bear down those that are lesse nor mighty ones confound the mean but all would be subservient to the Supream serviceable and respectfull one to the other Ministers advised in the method of Profitable Preaching AS the Physitian himself gives not health but onely gives some helps to bring the body into a fit temperament and disposition so far as to help and strengthen Nature So the Preacher cannot be said to give knowledg but the helps and motives by which natural light being excited and helped may get knowledg And as he is the best Physitian that doth not oppresse nature with a multitude of medicines but pleasantly with a few doth help it for the recovery of health So he is the best Preacher not that knoweth how to heap up many mediums and Arguments to force the understanding rather then to entice it by the sweetnesse of light but he that by the easy and gratefull Mediums which are within reach or fitted to our light doth lead Men as by the hand unto the Truth in the beholding or sight of which Truth onely knowledg doth consist and not in use of Arguments hence is it that Arguments are called Reasons by a name of relation to Truth And why so but because they are a means for finding out of Truth and discovery of Errour Fear of Hell to be a restraint from the least Sin THe passage in Scripture is well known how Nebuchadnezzar erected a Golden Image with this terrible commination That whosoever would not fall down and worship it should be cast into the fiery Furnace This now was so terrible to every one that heard it that unlesse it were three or four there were none that did resist the very fear of a Fiery Furnace made them do any thing And shall not then the fear of those eternall flames the fear of that great day wherein God shall reveal all wrath without any mercy to the Wicked man shall not this turn him out of the wayes of Sin shall not this make him with bitternesse bewail his former lusts and to hate those bitter-sweets of pleasure which er'st he so much delighted in saying with Ionathan I have tasted a little honey and I must dye I have had a little pleasure of Sin and I must be damn'd for evermore Daily amendment of life enjoyned to the making up of the new Creature IT is said of Argo the then Royal Soveraign of the Asiatique Seas that being upon constant service she was constantly repaired and as one plank or board failed she was ever and anon supplied with another that was more serviceable insomuch that at last she became all new which caused a great dispute amongst the Philosophers of those times whether she were the same ship as before or not Thus it is that for our parts we have daily and hourly served under the commands of Sin and Sathan made provision for the flesh to fulfill the lusts thereof drawn iniquity with cords of Vanity and sin as it were with a Cartrope and daily like Ephraim increased in wickednesse insomuch that there are not onely some bruises and brushes but as it were a shipwrack of Faith and all goodnesse in the frame of our pretious Souls What then remains but that we should dye daily unto Sin and live unto Righteousnesse put in a new plank this day and another to morrow now subdue one lust and another to morrow this day conquer one Temptation and the next another be still on the mending hand and then the question needs not be put Whether we be the same or not For old things being put away all things will become new we shall be new Men new Creatures we shall have new hearts new spirits and new songs in our mouthes be made partakers of the new Covenant and at last Inheritors of the new Ierusalem Gods great patience
at first spread his glorious banner Act. 11. 26. that they might freely meet there and publiquely joyn together in the service of their God The motion he could not but know must be exceedingly unwelcome to the Emperor because he was an Arrian and so it proved For the Emperor tore his Petition and bade him ask something else but Terentius gathered up the torn pieces of the paper and said Hoc tantum desidero c. This I ask as a reward of my service and I will ask nothing else Here was a â—ree spâ—rited Man a true Christian Souldier that sum'd up all his service for the publique in an humble Petition for the Churche's good Dic mihi Musa virum Sâ—ow me such another Do men improve their Interest in great ones and make such use of opportunities as may conduce to the good of Gods cause and Religion They do not It is too too apparent that Men are too much byassed too much 〈◊〉 ended seeking quae sua non quae Christi their own things not the things of Iesus Christ preferring their own private gain and Worldly profit before the advancement of Gods true Religion Gods Omnipresence the consideration of it to be a restraint from Sin IT is the perswasion of Seneca to his Friend Lucilius for the better keeping of himself within compasse of his duty to imagine that some great Man some strict quick-sighted clear-brain'd Man such as Cato or Laelius did still look upon him And being come to more perfection would have him to fear no Mans presence more then his own nor any Mans testimony above that of his own Conscience and addes this Reason because he might flee from another but not from himself and escape another's censure but not the censure of his own Conscience Thus did but Men set God before their eyes and alwaies remember that his eyes are upon them it would be a notable bridle to pull them back and to hold them up when they are ready to fall into any Sin it would make them to watch over themselves that they did not do any wickednesse in his sight who is greater then their Consciences and so upright in his Iudgments that though Conscience may be silenced for a time and give no evidence or be a false Witnesse to the truth yet it is impossible to escape his sentence either by flight or any appeal whatsoever The holy Scriptures to be valewed above all other Writings JOsephus in his book of the Antiquities of the Iews maketh mention of one Cumà nus a Governor of Iudea that though he were but an Heathen and a Wicked Man yet he caused a Souldier to be beheaded for tearing a Copy of the Book of Moses Law which he found at the sacking of a Town And venerable in all Ages and amongst all Nations have been the books that contained the Laws either of their Belict or Politie as the Jews their Talmud the Romans the Laws of the twelve Tables the Turks their Alcoran and all Pagans the Laws of their Legislators And shall not Christians have then an high esteem of the holy Scriptures and deem them as the good old Christians did to be the Miroir of divine Grace and Mans misery the Touchstone of Truth the Shop of remedies against all evill the Hammer of Hereticks the Treasury of Virtue the Displayer of Vanities the Ballance of Equity and the most perfect Rule of all Truth and honesty Men to be forward in frequenting the Ordinances of God IT is a note of Mr. Calvin's upon that Text Seek ye my face Psal. 27. 8. That Superstitious People will go on Pilgrimage to the Image of such a Lady or such a Saint or to visite the Monument of the Sepulcher at Ierusalem and they will go over Mountains and through strange Countries and though they be used â—ardly and lose much of their estates sometimes in perils of false brethren other times in the hands of Arabian Robbers they satisfie themselves in this I have that I came for Alas What came they for the sight of a dumb Idol a meer nothing If they then will endure such hardship for the sight of a meer empty shadow How much pains should we take to see God in his Ordinances What though the way to Sion lie through the valley of Bacha Surely when God moves the hearts of Men to joyn with his People a little difficulty cannot hinder them they will be content to go through the valley of tears so as they may appear before God in Sion they will go through thick and thin rather then not go to Church at all And thus as it is prophesied of the Church of God that she should be called Sought out i. e. sought unto or sought after Esay 62. 12. It is heartily to be wished that it might be so a place had in high estimation and regard which out of respect and devotion Men would repair and resort unto encouraging others also so to do saying Come let us go up to the Mountain of the Lord that our hearts may be refreshed with the consolations of our God in the way of his Ordinances Experimental Knowledge the onely Knowledg IT is well known that the great Doctors of the World by much reading and speculation attain unto a great height of Knowledge but seldom to sound Wisdome which hath given way to that common Proverb The greatest Clerks are not alwaies the wisest Men It is not studying of the Politiques that will make a Man a wise Counsellor of Estate till his Knowledge is joyned with experience which â—eacheth where the Rules of State hold and where they fail It is not book-knowledge that will make a good General a skilfull Pilot no not so much as a cunning Artizan till that knowledge is perfected by practice and experience And so surely though a Man abound never so much in literal knowledge it will be far from making him a good Christian unlesse he bring precepts into practice and by feeling experience apply that he knowes to his own use and spirituall advantage The Church of the Gospel it 's amplitude above that under the Law THe Samaritans Inne was called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because it gave entertainment to all strangers Luk. 10. 34. In S. Peter's sheet were all sorts of Creatures four-footed Beasts and creeping things Act. 10. 11. The Net mentioned in S. Matthews Gospel caught all kind of Fish Chap. 13. 47. Ahashueru's Feast welcom'd all comers Esth. 1. 4. Such is the Church of the Gospel in its amplitude The Prophetical Gospel was hedg'd in and limited within the pale of Palestine but the Apostolical Gospel is spread over the face of the whole Earth Then it was lux modii a light under a bushell now lux mundi the light of the World Then the Prophets sang In Iudaea natus est Deus In Iury is God known his Name is great in Isâ—ael but now
neither or some kind of Monster betwixt both new devices for gain new wayes of cheating new wayes of breaking So that without all doubt God is devising some new manner of Iudgment as was said of Korah and his complices Numb 16. 29. To blesse God for all THere is a kind of Dialogue betwixt one Doctor Thaulerus and a poor Man that lay begging by the high-way side Good morrow poor Man 〈◊〉 the Doctor I never had any bad morrow said the beggar No sayes the Doctor Thou art a miserable poor Man thou art as good as naked without any cloaths on thy back no Friends nor any one to relieve thee How can it then be true that thou sayest thou never hadst any bad morrow I 'le tell you sayes the beggar Whether I am sick or in health whether it be warm or cold weather whether I be cloathed or naked rich or poor I blesse God for all O but Friend said the Doctor What if Christ should cast thee into Hell If he should sayes he I would be contented but I have two arms the one of Faith the other of Love wherewith I would lay such fast hold on him that I would have him along with me and then I am sure that Hell would be Heaven if he were there And thus it is that we should blesse God at all times in all places upon all occasions and in all conditions as well for years of Dearth as years of Plenty times of Warre as well as times of Peace for Adversity as well as Pâ—osperity in sicknesse and in health in weal and in woe in liberty and restraint whether it be that the Lord giveth or whether he taketh away still to blesse the Name of the Lord. Godlinesse a great mystery and why so THe World hath her mysteries in all Arts and Trades yea Mechanical appertaining to this life which are imparted to none but filiis scientiae Apprentices to them These have their mysteries have them nay are nothing but mysteries So they delight to stile themselves by such and such a Mystery such and such a Craft c. Now if Godlinesse be great gain and profitable unto all things a Trade of good return and in request with all good Men then to be allow'd her Mysteries At least such as all other trades have And the rather for that that there is Mysterium iniquitatis a Mystery of iniquity so that it would be somewhat hard if there were not Mysterium pietatis a Myâ—â—ery of Godlinesse to encounter it That Babylon should be allowed the name of a Mystery and Sion not that there should be profunda Satanae deep things of Satans and there should not be deep and profound things of God and Godlinesse for the Spirit to search out and dive into Apoc. 2. 24. How a Man should demean himself being fallen into bad Company IT is said of Antigonus that being invited to a great Feast where a notable Harlot was to be present he asked Counsel of Menedemus a disâ—reet Man What he should do and how he should behave himself in such Company Who bade him onely to remember this that he was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Son of a King So good Men may be invited where none of the best may â—eet Many an honest Man may fall into a Knaves company the best counsel is Keep ever in mind that they are Kings Sons Gods Children and therefore it were a base thing for them to be allured by the Wicked to do things unseemly and that they should much degenerate if they should make any sinfull compliance with such as are notoriously wicked The desperate Sinner's madnesse ST Ambrose reports of one Theotymus that being troubled with a sore disease upon his body when the Physitian told him that exâ—ept he did abstain from intemperance as drunkennesse and excesle he was like to lose his eyes his heart was so desperately set upon his sin that he said Vale lumen amicum Farewell sweet light then I must have my pleasure in that Sin I must drink though I drink out my eyes thea farewell eyes and farewell light and all O desperate madnesse for Men to venture upon Sin to the losse not onely of the light of the eye but the light of Gods loving Countenance for evermore It is to be supposed that no Man will be so far owned by his words as to say Farewell God and Christ and eternal life and all I must have my Sin yet though directly they say not so they do in effect say it They know that the Scripture saith that no Drunkard Whoremonger nor Covetous nor unclean person shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven then whosoever that knowing this goeth for all that in such a way doth as it were say Farewell God and Heaven and farewell all that God hath purchased by his bloud rather then I will lose my Sin I will lose all Christ-masse day to be held in remembrance AS Kings keep the day of their Inauguration As Cities have their Palilia when the trench is first cast up And Churche's their Encaenia's when they are first dedicate As Men their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 when they first came into the World So all good Christians celebrate the day of Christ's Nativity a day of Joy both in Heaven and on Earth In Heaven for a day of glory unto God on high On Earth for a day of Peace here below and good-will towards Men A day of joy to all People past present and to come such a day as wherein after long expectation the best return was made that ever came to the poor Sons of Men such a day as the Lord himself made let us therefore rejoyce therein How to Feast comfortably JOseph had his Tomb in his Garden to season his delight with Meditations of his death The Egyptians had a Skeleton or carcasse brought into their Feasts for the same purpose At Prester-Iohn's Table a Deaths-head is the first thing set on And Philip had not onely a Boy every Morning but a Dead-Man's skull on his Table every meal to put him in mind of his Mortality And thus ought we all to do mingle our Feasting with the meditation of our Farewell out of this wretched life when we sit at dinner to think of our dissolution and ever â—o set our own carcasse before the eyes of our mind saying within our selves Alas this feeding and Feasting is but a little repairing and propping up of a poor ruinous house that ere long will fall down to the ground and come to nothing Heaven not to be found upon Earth IT is storied of a King of Persia that he must have an imaginary Heaven and thereupon he is at the charge of a stately brave Pallace where in the top he caused the Heavens to be artificially moulded and the Sun Moon and Stars to be painted and under them the clowds that by art moved up and down distilled
Horse would needs have him foaming at the mouth but could not by any means do it Whereupon in a great rage he took the sponge wherewith he made his pensils clean and thrâ—w it at the picture intending to have utterly defared it but it so fell out that the spunge having sucked in severall sorts of colours effected that by chance which the Artist by all his industry could not compasse Thus it is with them that strive to make themselves great and eminent in the World How do they cark and care flatter lie and dissemble and all to be thought some body amongst their fearful Neighbours But all in vain this is not the way to do it for as Charles and Fifth told his sonne That Fortune was just like a Woman the more you woe her the further she flings off Let every good Christian then take up the spunge of contempt and throw it at these outward eminencies Moses did so and found to his exceeding joy that the abjection of vain glory was the acquisition of that which was true and reall The difference of good and bad Men in their preparation for Death A Wife that hath been faithfull to her Husband and waits his coming home let him knock when he will she is alwayes ready to open the door unto him but another Woman that is false to her husband and hath other Lovers in the house if her husband chance to knock at the door she does not immediately go to the door and let him in but there is a shuffling up and down in the house and she delayes the time till she have go the others out of the way Thus it is when Death knocks at the door of these Earthly Tabernacles of ours here 's the difference A good man is willing and ready to open to Death his Heart is in such an Heavenly frame that he is alwayes prepared for Death and seeing 〈…〉 Death that so he may take possession Whereas the Atheist he dares not die for fear of a Non esse that he shall be no more the prophane Person is afraid of Death because of a male esse to be made miserable and every wicked ungodly Man is loath to die for having espoused himself to the things of this World he shrinks at the very thought of Death and cryes out to his Soul as sometimes Pope Adrian did O my Soul whither goest thou thou shalâ— never be merry more Or as those ten Men Stay us not for we have Treasures in the Field of Wheat and of Barley and of Oyl and of Honey c. Jer. 41. 8. Christ to be the summe of all our Actions THere is mention made of one in the Primitive times who being asked What he was answered A Christian. What is thy name he answered Christian. What is thy Profession He answered Christian. Wâ—at are thy thoughts He answered Christian. Thy words and deeds What are they He answered Christian. What life leadest thou He answered still Christian. He had so digested Christ into his Soul by Faith that he could speak nothing but Christians And thus it is that Christ is to be made the summe and ultimate of all our actions we must labour that Christ may be made one with us and we with him that in all our Works begun continued and ended we may still conclude with that expression of the Church Through Iesus Christ our Lord. Gods Immutability A Man travelling upon the Road espies some great Castle sometimes it seems to be nigh another time afar off now on this hand anon on that now before by and by behind when all the while it standeth still unmoved So a Man that goes in a boat by water thinks the shore moveth whereas it is not the shore but the boat that passeth away Thus it is with God sometimes he seemeth to be angry with the Sons of Men another time to be well pleased now to be at hand anon at a distance now shewing the light of his Countenance by and by hiding his face in displeasure yet he is not changed at all It is we not he that is changed He is Immutable in his Nature in his Counsels and in all his Promises whereas all Creatures have and are subject to change having their dependance on some more powerfull Agent but God being onely independent is as the School-men say omninò immutabilis altogether immutable The Godly Man rejoycing in Death IT is storied of Godfrey Duke of Boloigne that when in that his expedition to the Holy Land he came within view of Ierusalem his Army seeing the high Turrets goodly Buildings and fair fronts though but as it were as so many Skeletons of far more glorious bodies being even transported with the joyfulnesse of such a sight gave a mighty showt that the Earth was verily thought to ring with the noyse thereof Such is the rejoycing of a Godly Man in death when he doth not see the Turrets and Towers of an Earthly but the spirituall building of an Heavenly Ierusalem and his Soul ready to take possession of them How doth he delight in his dissolution Especially when he sees Grace changing into Glory Hope inâ—o fruition Faith into vision and Love into perfect comprehension such and so great are the exultations of his Spirit such mighty workings and shoutings of the Heart as cannot be expressed Sin to be looked upon as the cause of all sorrow IN the course of Justice we say and say truly When a Party is put to death that the Executioner cannot be said to be the cause of his death nor the Sheriff by whose command he doth it neither yet the Iudge by whose sentence nor the twelve Men by whose verdict nor the Law it self by whose Authority it is proceeded in for God forbid that we should endite these or any of these of Murther Solum peccatum Homicidae Sin and sin onely is the cause and occasion of all sorrows It is not the looking upon any accidentals any Instrumentals of our Miseries and vexations but upon the principal the prime Agent and that 's Sin to take a wreak or holy Revenge upon that to send out an enquiry in our Souls after that and having found it to passe sentence thereupon The Good Mans comfort in matter of Worldly losse IT was a handsome conceit of a great Duke of Florence that had for his Arms a fair spread Tree having one branch onely lopped off with this Motto Uâ—o avulso non deficit alter intimating thereby that as long as the Trunk or body of the Teee was well rooted there was no fear though a branch or two were withered Thus a good Man bears up himself in the matter of temporal losse As to the matter of Government if a David be gathered to his Fathers a Solomon may succeed him in his Throne If a Iohn be cast into Prison rather then the Pulpit shall stand empty a greater then
whereof hath been a great inlet to Idlenesse negligence and ignorance in the study of Divinity Blessednesse of the Poor in spirit in the matter of Hearing Gods Word IT is fabled that when Iuno on a day had proclaimed a great Reward to him that brought her the best present there came in a Physitian a Poet a Merchant a Philosopher and a Beggar The Physitian presented a hidden secret of Nature a prescript able to make an old Man young again The Poet an Encomiastick Ode of her bird the Peacock The Merchant a rare hallow Iewell to hang at her ear The Philosopher a book of strange Mysteries The poor quaking Beggar onely a bended knee saying I have nothing that is worth acceptance Accipe meipsum Take my self Thus it is that many come unto God in the hearing of his Word with prescripts of their own they have receipts enow already they care for no more Others like the Poet come to admire Peacocks the gawdy Popinjayes and Fashionists of the time all to be dawb'd with gold and silver Feathers Others like the Merchant present Jewels but they are hallow they come with criticall or hypocritical humours like Carps to bite the net and wound the Fisher not to be taken Some like the Philosopher bring a book with them which they read without minding the Preacher saying They can find more Learning there then he can teach them But blessed are the poor in spirit that like the Beggar give themselves to God Iuno gave the reward to him and God gives the blessing to these It is a poor Reverently devoted heart that carries away the comfort Godlinesse in the humble dust of adoration that shall be lifted up by the hand of Mercy Christ to be our Example and Pattern of Imitation in life and death ST Hierome having read the life and death of Hilarion one that lived most Christianly and dyed most comfortably folded up the book saying Well Hilarion shall be the Champion that I will follow his good life shall be my Example and his godly death my President How much more then should each of us first read with diligence the life and death of Iesus Christ and then propound him to our selves as the most absolute pattern for our Imitation resolving by the Grace of God that Christ shall be the copy after which we will write the pattern which we will follow in all things that he hath left within the sphear of our Activity so also in that necessary duty of Preparation for death He did so Iob. 14. and we must do so For as in shooting there is a deliberate draught of the bow a good aym taken before the loose be given so if ever we look for comfort in death we must look at death through the preparation for it The greatest of things wrought by God without means AS when Gedeon was to fight with the Midianites pretending that his Army was but a few How many hast thou saith the Lord So many thousand They are too many The Lord will not have them all but commands them to be reduced to one half and yet there were too many the Lord would not work by them they were too strong At last he comes to make choyce of them by lapping in the water then they came to three hundred Men to fight against three hundred thousand For it is said they covered the Earth like Grashoppers And now the Lord begins to work by these Men. And how doth he work by Weapons No but with a few broken pitchers in their hands and they had the day of it the Midianites be delivered up into their hands as a prey This was a wonderful act of the great God who not tyed to means wrought out Victory by his own arm It is true that means and second causes he hath much honoured in the World and commands them to be used but when he comes to effect great things such as was the Redemption of Mankind by Christ such as shall be the Resurrection of the dead at the last day then such means and causes as seek to set him forward he rejects them and works not by them but the clean contrary The greater stench the bodies have sustained in the grave shall work it unto greater sweetnesse and the greater weaknesse it had the greater strength shall accrew unto it and wondrous puissance shall God work unto that part that lacked honour according to his blessed dispensation in all things Not to be Angry with our Brother A Railing Fellow fell very foul upon Pericles a Man of a Civil and Socraticaâ— spirit and he left him not all the day long but continued till he had brought him to his own doors in the Evening somewhat late at Night He all this while not returning one unbeseeming word commanded one of his Servants with a Torch to light the brawler home to his house Thus did he by the dim light of Nature And therefore if a brother offend us upon ignorance let us neglect it if upon infirmity forget it if upon malice forbear it upon what terms soever forgive it as we would have God to forgive us It is a saying That every Man is either a Fool or a Physitian so every Christian is either a Mad-man or a Divine A Mad-man if he give his passions the rein a Divine if he qualifie them The Natural Mans blindnesse in Spirituall things WHen Xeuxes drew his Master-piece and Nicostratus fell into admiration of the rarenesse thereof highly commending the exquisitenesse of the work there stood by a rich Ignorant who would needs know what he had discovered worthy of so great applause To whom Nicostratus made this answer My Friend couldst thou but see with my eyes thou wouldst soon see cause enough to wonder as well as I do Thus it is that the dear Children of God have inexhaustible treasure even in the midst of their poverty transcendent dignity in the midst of their disgraces heighth of tranquillity in the very depth of tribulation their pulse and Locusts relish better then all the Gluttons delicious fare their Sheep-skins Goat-skins and Camels hair wear finer then all the Purple and soft rayment the Worlds hate makes them happier then all the applauses of the Capitol Now the sensual carnal Naturalist sees none of all this he perceives not the things of the spirit neither indeed can he for they are spiritually discerned no Man knowes them but he that hath them but had he spirituall sight were but the scales fallen off from his eyes as they did from S. Paul's at the time of his Conversion then he would clearly see and say as the same S. Paul did That though we suffer tribulation in all things yet we are not distressed we are brought into perplexities yet we are not forsaken Negligent Hearing of Gods Word condemned A Servant coming from Church praiseth the Sermon to his Master He asks him What was the
God are conditional made up with Provisoes As there is a reward promised so there is a Condition premised It must be our Obedience first and then comes in Gods recompence Our devotion goes before and his Retribution followes after To be careful of Vowes and Promises made in the time of Extremity THeodoricus Archbishop of Colen when the Eâ—perour Sigismund demanded of him the directest and most compendious way how to attain to true happinesse made answer in brief thus Perform when thou art well what thou promisedst when thou wast sick David did so he made Vows in Warr and paid them in Peace And thus should all good Men do not like the cunning Devill of whom the Epigrammatist thus writeth Aegrotat Daemon Monachus tunc esse Volebat Convalâ—it Daemon Monachus tunc esse nolebat Well Englished The Devill was sick the Devill a Monk would be The Devill was well the Devill a Monk was he Nor like unto many now adayes that if Gods hand do but lie somewhat heavy upon them O what Promises what engagements are there for amendment of life How like unto Marble against rain do they seem to sweat and melt but still retain their hardnesse let but the Rod be taken off their backs or health restored then as their bodies live their Vows die all is forgotten Nay many times it so falleth out that they are far worse then ever they were before The good Christian's absolute Victory over Death WHen the Romans had made Warre upon the Carthagenians and often overcaâ—â— them yet still within eight of ten years or lesse they made head again and stirred up new Warrs so thaâ— they were in successive combustion And it hath been the same in all the Nations of the World he that was erst an underling not long afâ—er becomes the Commander in chief and the same thing that the Lord hath now made the â—ayl may be the head in time to come As for Example Cerealis gets a great Conquest over the Cymbrians and the Tutons and shortly after Sylla had the like over him And Sylla no sooner shines out to the World but is eclipsed by Pompey And Pompey the glory of his time is by the conquering hand of Caesar outed both of life and honours And Caesar in the height of all his pompous state falls by the hands of bloody Conspirators in the Senate-house Thus in the course of this World As one Man is set up another is pull'd down the Conquerour is oft-times conquered himself but in the Victory that every good Man hath over Death it is so absolute that it is without any hope or comfort on Death's part and without any fear or suffering on their part For it is so taken away as if it had never been and that which had the greatest triumph the mightiest Trophies in the World unto which all Kings and Princes have bowed their heads and laid down their Scepters as so many morselsâ—o â—o â—eed on shall by the hand of Iesus Christ be turned into nothing shall have no Name or nation and be berâ—ft of all hope of recovery 1. Cor. 15. To be alwaies prepared for Death WHen Harold King of Denmark made Warr upon Harquinus and was ready to joyn battel a dart was seen flying into the ayr hovering this way and that way as though it sought upon whom to rest when all stood wondring to know what would become of this strange Prodigy every Man fearing himself at last the dart fell upon Harquinus his head and slew him Thus Death shoots his arrowes amongst us here he hits one that is Rich there another that is poor Now he shoots over at one that is elder then our selves Anon he shoots short at one that is younger Here he hits one on the right hand our equal another on the left inferior And none of us know how soon the Arrow may â—all upon our own heads our turn will come let it be our care then we be not surprised on a sodain Religion pretended Mischief intended CElsus the Philosopheâ— upon his defence of Paganism setteth an Inscription oâ— the Word of Truth Manicheus that blasphemous Heretick taking in hand to write to the Church his damnable Paradoxes doubteth not to begin thus Manicheus Apostolus Iesu Christi c. Manicheus the Apostle of Jesus Christ The 〈◊〉 Hâ—reticks were alwayes saying Nos rectaâ—fide iâ—cedimus We waâ—k in 〈◊〉 right Faith All of them seeking the cloak and coverture of Religion It is the old Proveâ—â— In nomine Domini incipit omne malum well Englished In my name have they prophesied lies Ier. 23. Thus it was with them and is it not the â—ame â—ay worse considering the abundance of means afforded to be better with us now and but some few years ago Parsons that Arch-traytor when he was hatching misâ—hief against his Prince and Native Country set forth as if he had been wholly made up of devotion that excellent piece of Christian Resolution And now For Sioâ—s sake I will not hold my tongue sayes one c. So sayes another and so a third Sion at the tip of the tongue but Babel at the bottom of the Heart Religion preteâ—ded Mischief intended like Sons of Simon rather then children of Sion writing Pâ—â—rmaca medicines where they should write venena poysons And by this means they do sugar the brims of their intoxicated cups that Men the more grâ—edily and without suspition may suck in their venomous doctrines that are administred unto thâ—m therein Why God suffers his Children to be in a wanting condition SEverus the Emperour was wont to say of his Souldiers That the poorest were the best For when they begun to grow rich then they began to grow naught Hence is that of the Poet Martem quisquis amat C. If you will bring up a boy or young Man to be a Souldier learn him first to endure poverty to â—â—e hard and fare hard and to encounter all the hardship that Necessity can present unto him and then hee 'l deal the better with his Enemies So in the School of Christ the Lord suffers his People to be in a wanting condition not because he doth not intend to supply them not because he cannot provide for them but the reason is to bring them up in the discipline of Warre to train them up as weaned Children lest they should be taken off with the things of this World and as it were drowned in the vanities of this life and so forget God and their own Soul's health which is most of all to be regarded All Men alike in Death LUcian hath a Fable the Moral is good Menippus meeting with Mercury in the Elizian-fields would needs know of him which amongst all thâ— ghosts was Philip the great King of Macedon Mercury answers He is Philip that hath the hairlesseâ—scalp Menippus replyes Why they have all bald heads Merc. Then he with the flat
shelter in times of affliction AVicen writeth that in the Country of Chaldea there are many Rivers and that the Hart being almost hunted down makes to the River side and being not able to passe â—oeth to the first Man he seeth brayes and weeps to him for relief and so is â—aken Which let every Christian man learn to follow this example that seeing himself beet with innumerable Enemies wearied with the burthen of Sin and as it were overwhelmed with a deluge of sorrow and distresse turn to the Man Iesus who is able and willing to deliver him from all dangers imminent and incumbent who is the onely shelter in time of trouble and affliction A Rich Man pleading Poverty condemned ALexander the fifth Pope of Rome said of himself That when he was a Bishop he was Rich when a Cardinal poor and when a Pope a very beggar And plainly so it is in these strait-laced times of ours with too many wretched Rich men who the Richer they are the more wretched they are as their store is enlarged their Charity is contracted such as having a Mâ—le in their Flock sacrifice to the Lord a corrupt thing such as ride on Horses with golden chains lye on beds of Ivory eat of the fattest and cloath with the softest yet when they come to the matter of Charity to the relief of the Poor pauperrimis redduntur pauperiores they plead Poverty and make themselves more Poor then the poorest Magistrates to be active Examples of good unto others IT is said in the praise of Moses that he was a mighty Man both in word and deed not mighty in word onely as many Governors are to command strongly but mighty also in deed to do it accordingly As Tully reports of Iulius Caesar that he was never heard saying to his Souldiers Ite illuc Go ye thither as if they should go into service and he to stay behind in the Tent but venite huc Come ye hither Let us give the onset and adventure our lives together A great encouragement for the Souldier to follow when he sees his Captain march before Thus it is that if the Magistrate will perswade the People to any thing he must shew the experience of it first in himself Or if he will command the People any thing he must do it first upon and by himself otherwise if he exact one thing and do another it will be said that he is like a Water-man that rowes one way and looks another Sin the destruction of any People or Nation whatsoever SEragastio a servant in one of Plautus Comedies asking another Ut munitum tibi visum est oppidum How doth the Town seem to be sortified The answer given was this Si Incolae bene sint morati pulchâ—è munitum arbitror If the Inhabitants be well governed and good I think it to be well fortified And then reckoning up many Vices he concludeth haec nisi inde aberunt c. unlesse these be absent an hundred walls are but little enough for the preservation of it And to say truth such is the destructive Nature of Sin that it will levell the walls of the best and most polite Governments whatsoever so that it is no more the walls and Bullwarks the secret Counsels the subtile contrivements the valour of the Souldiery or the greatnesse of Commanders will be guard sufficient to a Nation or People unlesse Sin that is reigning beloved Sin be first removed Magistrates not to be guilty of that which they do forbid in others ALexander the great Conquerour took one Dyonides a Pyrate upon the Sea and asked him Quid sibi videretur ut Mare infestum faceret What he meant in that manner to trouble the Sea The Pyrate answered him boldly and truly Yea What do you rather mean to trouble the World but because I rob and steal in a small Cock-boat which you do in a great and Royaâ—â— Navy I go for a Pyrate aâ—d you for an Emperour And when it is thus with the Magistrates in a Nation or Common-weal when they punish that Sin in others whereof themselves are notoriously guilty though no Man dare speak yet every Man will matter And Socrates will laugh because he sees Magnos latrones ducentes parvos ad suspendium the great Thieves leading the little ones to the Gallows Not to be disquieted at the Prosperity of the Wicked IT is Augustine's instance of One that considering himself to be cast into Prison and there to be carefull to do the works of Righteousnesse whilest he that laid him there lay wallowing in the abundance of outward Pleasures and delights though he lived in all kind of excesse in Sin the consideration whereof caused him to vent such or the like expressions Deus quare tibi servio c. O God why do I serve thee Why do I obey thy voice I think the Wicked please thee and that thou lovest those that work Iniquity Such a Spirit as this hath from time to time possessed the best of the Sons of Men but David came off well when he said O Lord how great are thy works and thy thoughts are very deep Deep indeed so deep that no humane plummet can fathom such a bottom as that the Wicked should flourish and the Godly suffer tribulation yet by way of direction let us not suffer our selves to be seduced with the Felicity of the Wicked not to be taken with the flower of the grasse nor gaze so much upon them who are happy for a time and it may be eternally miserable The greatnesse of Motherly affection to an onely Sonne SAmuel was not in his Mothers keeping but in the custody of the high Priest much better sure then in his Mothers yet see how Motherly affection works For though he wanted neither meat nor cloaths yet lest too much wind should blow upon him she makes and brings him every year a little coat and she goes up every year to Shiloh to offer Sacrifice yea and withall to sacrifice a little to her eyes that is to see Samuel too For if the Sonne be but a little missing as out of sight Sisera's Mother looks and looks out at a Window and Why â—arry the wheels of his Chariot and why is his Chariot so long a coming If he be sick then the Shunamite sets him upon her knee But if the Son be dead and gone then a voyce is heard in Ramah Rachel weeping for her Children and will not be comforted So dear and tender is an onely Son in the sight of his Mother Men are said to abound in Reason but Women in Affection such as flaming out like Fire cannot be concealed out it must like Solomon's Mothers What my Son and what the Son of my Womb and what O Son of my desires As if she had said O thou my Son whom once I bare in my womb and whom I ever bear in my heart born of my
modii but lux mundi that light of the World in whom there is not so much as the least shadow of darknesse Small buddings of Grace in the Soul an argument of greater growth VVHen we behold Prime-Roses and Violets fairly to flourish we conclude the dead of the Winter is past though as yet no Roses or Iuly-flowers do appear which long after lye hid in their leaves or lurk in their roots but in due time will discover themselves Thus if some small buddings of Grace do but appear in the Soul it is an argument of far greater growth if some signs be but above-ground in sight others are under-ground in the heart and though the former started first the other will follow in order It being plain that such a Man is passed from death unto life by this hopeful and happy spring of some signs in the heart Magistrates Rulers c. the great comfort of good ones THe People of Rome were very jocund when they had made Galba their Emperour but he had not been long in till they began to change their note For they found by woful experience that they had met with a carelesse and cruel Goverâ—our A sad thing when it is either with Magistrates or Ministers as Pope Urban writ to a Prelate in his time very scoffingly Monacho fervido Abbatic calido Episcopo verò tepido et Archiepiscopo â—rigido still the higher in means the worse in manners But there is then good hope when Men in power and authority can say Non nobis sed populo that they aym at the publique good And happy is that People that place that Common-wealth whose Rulers think no time too long no pains too great nor no patience too much whereby they may glorifie God and seek the publique good in the appointed places of their dignity Godly Company the benefit thereof IT is observable of many houses in the City of London that they have so weak walls and are of so slender and slight building that were they set alone in the Fields probably they would not stand one hour which now ranged into streets receive support in themselves and mutually return it to others Such is the danger of solitarinesse and the great benefit of association with good and godly Company Such as want skill or boldnesse to begin or set a Psalm may competently follow tune in consort with others and such are the blessed fruits of good Society that a Man may not onely be reserved from much mischief but also be strengthened and confirmed in many godly Exercises which he could not perform of himself alone The excellency of Sonday or Lords day above other dayes WHat the Fire is amongst the Elements the Eagle among the Fowls the Whale among the Fishes the Lyon amongst the beasts Gold among the other mettals and Wheat amongst other grain the same is the Lords day above other dayes of the week differing as much from the rest as doth that wax to which a Kings great seal is put from ordinary wax Or that silver upon which the King's Arms and Image are stamped from Silver unrefined or in bullion It is a day the most holy Festival in relation to the Initiation of the World and Mans Regeneration the Queen and Princesse of dayes a Royall day a day that shines amongst other dayes as doth the Dominical letter clad in scarlet among the other letters in the Calender or as the Sun imparts light to all the other Stars so doth this day bearing the name of Sonday afford both light and life to all other dayes of the week Men to be as well industrious in their Callings as zealous in their devotions THe Inhabitants of the Bishoprick of Durham pleaded a Priviledg That King Edward the first had no power although on necessary occasion to presse them to go out of their Country because forsooth they termed themselves Haly-work-folk onely to be used in defending the holy shrine of S. Cuthbert Thus it is that many in the World are much mistaken thinking that if they be but once entred into the trade of Godlinesse they may cancell all Indentures of service and have a full dispensation to be idle in their Callings whereas the best way to make the service of God comfortable within their own Souls is to take pains without in their lawful Vocations there being ever some secret good accrewing to such who are diligent therein Variety of gifts in the Ordinance of Preaching IT is a received Aphorism amongst Physitians that the Constitutions of all Mens bodies are of a mixt nature hot dry cold and moyst and yet the Wisdom of God hath so diversly tempered these that scarce in the World are two Men to be found in every point of like temper The face of a Man is not above a span over yet let ten thousand Men be together and their countenances shall all differ So in the Church as to the variety of gifts in the matter of Preaching let divers Men take one and the same Text yet scarce two of a hundred though all soundly and to the Point are to be found that have in all things the like gift either for matter or utterance some having five talents some but two some but one some have a more excellent gift of Conference some of Prayer some of Exhortation some in opening of a Text some in application c. every one though not all alike some one way or other profitable unto Gods people to help onward the building up of the body of the Lord Iesus in the edification of those that are committed to their charge To be more strict in the holy observation of the Sabbath then heretofore and why so SOme Popish People make a superstitious Almanack of the Sonday by the fairnesse or foulnesse thereof guessing of the weather all the week after according to that old Monkish rime If it rains on Sonday before Messe It will rain all week more or lesse However it may be boldly affirmed That from our well or ill spending of the Lord day a probable conjecture may be made how the following week will be employed yea it is to be conceived that we are bound as matters now stand in England to a stricter observation of the Lords day then ever before That a time was due to Gods service no Christian in this Nation ever did deny That the same was weekly dispersed into the Lords day Holy-dayes Wednesdays Fridays and Saturdays some have earnestly maintained seeing therefore all the last are generally neglected the former must be more strictly observed It being otherwise impious that our devotion having a narrower channel should also carry a narrower stream along with it Gods gracious return of his Peoples Prayers in the time of their distresse IT is said of Martin Luther that perceiving the cause of the Gospel to be brought into a great strait he flyes unto God layes hold on him by Faith and
thoughts of God if no looking up to better things then without doubt they are unclean not legally unclean as the beasts were but really unclean in the fight of God and his â—oly Angels Wherein the true Knowledg of Christ consisteth MAry when she went in quest of her Saviour stopt not at the empty Monument but searches and follows him so far that she discovered him under the disguise of a Gardiner and then casting her sâ—lf at his feet takes possession of him with this acclamation Rabboni which is in effect as much as Thomas his congratâ—lation My Lord and my God Thus it is that true Knowledg doth not alwayes hunt objects at the view nor doth it stop at the numerous effects wrought by the Creator It is not a shallow or supersicial knowledg that God is in a general consideration the cause of all things a Creator at large but in a nearer My God my Creator So that Religion and Faith are but aery empty sounds if a Man possesse nothing of them beyond the words the fruit of either consists in their application 'T is true that Christ is the Saviour of the World so much I know but this is an uselesse truth to me if my knowledge reach no further unlesse my Faith entitle me to him and by appropriâ—ting his work be able to call him my Lord my God my Redeâ—mer c. To beware how we come into the debt of Sin A Wary discreet Traveller when he comes to his Inne calls for no more then he means to pay for though he see a great deal of good chear before him in the house yet he considers how far his purse will reach otherwise if he call in for all he sees and never take any thought of the reckoning he shall not onely run into a great deal of disgrace but of danger also So fareth it with most Men in taking up more then they are able to pay for but let every good Man howsoever hâ— sees a number of goodly things in this World which may allure him and set his desire on Fire causing expence both of time and Mony be carefull how he comes into debt especially the debt of Sin the worst of all other For though by death he may be out of the Usurers hands yet Death cannot free him from the debt of Sin neither can he escape out of the hands of a just and all-knowing God Infant-Baptism asserted A Ristotle was so precise in admitting Schollers to his Moral Lectures that he would first have them past their Wardship as thinking that their green capacities would not be mellow enough for his Ethiques till Thirty at least But Christ our Master was of another mind his Sinite parvulos Suffer little ones to come unto me and sorbid them not encouraged Parents and Supervisers of Children to enroll them in his bands his Church before they were Masters of so much tongue as to name Christ well knowing that though their narrow apprehensions could not reach the high mysteries of Faith yet in a few years their understandings being elevated with their statures would grow up to them and the accession of a little time digest those precepts which their Infancy drew in into the constant habit of a good life not â—owing themselves into any crooked postures of Error nor forgetting that streight form into which their first education brought them Grace to be communicated IF a Man had a thousand tuns of Wine stored up in a Cellar which he had no use of but should be kept up close What were any Man the better for it but if he would make a large Cistern and turn out a Conduit cock into the street that every one that passed by might be refreshed then would they commend his bounty and be very thankfull unto him So when it hath pleased God of his goodnesse to afford us the graces of his holy Spirit and we should keep them to our selves not being profitable to any in the communication of them it would be matter of rebuke and reproach untill we let the Cock run untill we tell others what God hath done for our Souls For Grace like oyl is of a diffusive nature like Mary's box of oyntment which she brought unto Christ that filled all the house with the sweet scent thereof so that God smells the savour and others receive good thereby To be patient under Afflictions because they will have an end AS an Apprentice holds out in hard labour and it may be bad usage for seven years together or more and in all that time is serviceable to his Master without any murmuring or repining because he sees that the time wears away and that his bondage will not last alwayes but he shall be set at large and made a Freeman in the conclusion Thus should every one that groaneth under the burthen of any crosse or Affliction whatsoever bridle his affections possesse his Soul in patience and cease from all murmuring and repining whatsoever considering well with himself that the rod of the Wicked shall not alwayes rest upon the lot of the Righteous that weeping may abide at Evening but joy cometh in the Morning and that troubles will have an end and not continue for ever Every Man to find out the impediments of Repentance in himself THey who have Water running home in Conduit-pipes to their houses as soon as they find a want of that which their Neighbours have in abundance by and by they search into the causes run to the Conduiâ—-head or take up the pipes to see where they be stopt or what is the defect that so they may â—e supplyed accordingly Even so must every Man do when he finds that the Grace of Repentance flowes into other Mens hearts and hath no recourse or accesse into his Soul by and by sit down and search himself what the cause should be where the Remora is that stayes the course where the rub lyes which stoppeth the grace of Repentance in him seeing they that live it may be in the same house sit at the same Table lye in the same bed they can be penitent for their sins sorry that they have offended God and so complain in bitternesse of Soul for their Sins but he that had the same means the same occasions more sins to be humbled for morâ— time to repent and more motives to draw him to the duty is not yet moved with the same nor any way affected with the sense of Sin this must needs be matter of high concernment to look about him Murmuring at Gods doings the prejudice thereof IT is reported of Caesar That having prepared a great Feast for his Nobles and Friends of all degrees it so falling out that the day was extream foul tâ—at nothing could be done to the honour of the meeting with comfort he was much displeased and so far enraged at present that he willed all them that had bowes to shoot
to play before him promised them a great Reward having plaid a long time they expected their pay but he told them they were paid already since as they had pleased him with Musical sounds so he them with windy hopes of Reward But God deals not so with his servants he feeds them not with vain hopes but sure accomplishment of his gracious promises there being a Reward for the Righteous and he Faithful that hath promised it who saith Behold I come quickly and my Reward is with me Rev. 22. 12. God onely to be served WHen the Souldiers had chosen Valentinian to be their Emperour they were consulting how they might joyn a Partner with him To whom Valentinian replyed It was in your power to give me the Empire when I had it not Now I have it it is not in your power to give me a Partner Thus if God be our God Mammon must be our slave He that is the servant of God must be Master of his Money If God be our King he must be our King onely for the Bed and the Throne brook no Rivalls God must be our God alone Aequum est Deos fingere ac Deum negare It is all one to chuse new Gods and to deny the true God No let the Heathens chuse new Gods and forsake the true God but let every good Christian say Thou O Father of Mercy and Lord of Heaven and Earth be my God and my onely God for ever and ever To be at Gods will and disposall is the best condition IT is storied of a young Virgin that at a great Princes hands had the choice of three Vessels One whereof was Gold richly wrought and set with pretious stones and on it was written Who chuseth me shall have what he deserveth The second was of silver superscrib'd thus Who chuseth me shall have what Nature desireth The third was of Lead whose Motto was this Who chuseth me shall have what God hath disposed The former pleased her eye well but not her understanding It offered what she deserved She knew that was just nothing therefore refused it The second considered offered wâ—at Nature desires She thought that could be for no solid good For Nature desires such things as please the carnall lust This she also refused The third had a coorse outside but the sentence pleased her well offering what God had disposed So the Faithfull Soul put her self upon Gods Ordinance and chose thaâ— The Virgin is Maâ—s Soul The Golden Vessel is the Worlds riches contentfull enough to an avaritious eye Too too many chuse this but being opened it was full of dead Mens bones and a Fools bable to set them down for very Ideots which cleave to the present World and at last have all their hopes rewarded with Folly The silver Vessel is the lust of the Flesh those fond and vain delights which Concupisence so much hunts after So saith the Motto It gives what Nature desireth This Vessel opened was full of wild fire and an Ironâ— whip intimating that God will scourge the lustfull with the whip of Judgments as diseases of body infamy of name overâ—hrow of estate and vexation of Conscience The leaden Vessel is as the sense and sentence declares it The blessing of God The chuser of it shall have what God hath disposed for him shall be contented with the providential penny that comes in daily And in a blessed happy condition is that Soul that makes this Election for opened it was found to be full of Gold and pretious stones every one more worth then a World the immortal graces of Gods Spirit The Virgin chose this and she was married to the Kings Son and so shall every Soul that makes the like choice No matter though it seems lead without and glister not with outward Vanities it is rich within the wealth thereof cannot be valued though all the Arithmetical Accomptants should make it their design to cast it up Neglect in the Hearing of Gods Word dangerous HErodotus hath a merry tale of a Piper how he came to the water side and piped to the fishes but they would not dance then he took his net and caught some of them and being thrown upon the land they began to leap and skip up Nay quoth the Pipeâ— I offered you Muâ—â—ck before and you would none now you shall dance without a Pipe Thus it is that most Men commonly regard the songs of Sion the preaching of Gods Word as some men do Musick heard late at midnight in the streets whilst they are in bed perhaps they will step to the window and listen to it a while and presently to bed again step from the couch of their lusts to Church hear the Sermon commend the Preacher for a good Man and then to bed again lulling themselves in their former security but let such know that if God have given them Musick and they will not dance if God have afforded Orthodoxall Preachers and they will not hear as Christ reproved the Iews they shall mourn in sadnesse for their obstinate refusall of proffered mirth and say with heavinesse of spirit There was a Prophet amongst us How Sins may be said to out-live the Sinner IT is said of a Lawyer that resolving not to be forgotten he made his Will so full of intricate quirks and quillets that his Executors if for nothing else for very vexation of Law might have cause to remember him Thus the Incloser of Commons sinneth after he is dead even so long as the poor are deprived of that benefit He that robbbeth the Church of a due and so leaves it to his heir Sins after he is dead even so long as God is made to lose his right The unjust decree of a partial Judg may out-live him even so long as the judged Inheritance remains in a wrongfull possession but eâ— contrà we say of a charitable good Man that he doth good after he is dead his alms maintain many poor Souls on Earth when his Soul is happy in heaven Heaven to be alwaies in our thoughts IT is reported of a Reverend Preacher that sitting amongst other Divines and hearing a sweet consort of Musick as if his Soul had been born up to Heaven took occasion to think and say thus What Musick may we think there is in Heaven Another taking a serious view of the great pomp and state at Court upon a Collar-day spake not without some admiration What shall we think of the glory in the Courts of the King of Heaven And thus must we do as we read the book of Nature be still translating it into the book of Grace as we plod on the great Volume of Gods works be sure to spell on the word of use of instruction of comfort to our selves the spiritualizing of Earthly things is an excellent art And that 's a happy object and well-observed that betters the Soul in grace A
feared as Knowledg accompained with Injustice armed with power Meat indigested for want of Exercise will rumble in the stomach and Knowledg not ballast with Sobriety will elevate the brain Serpentine wisdome and Dove-like innocencie must go hand in hand together or else we shall drown in our own Knowledge like a Candle that is quenched in his own Tallow Affectation of Novelty in the way of Religion reproved THere is mention made of two Men that meeting at a Tavern fell a tossing about their Religion as merrily as their cups and much drunken discourse there was about their Profession One protested himself of Dr. Martin's Religion the other swore he was of Dr. Luther's Religion whereas Martin and Luther was but one Man Thus some are for this Preacher some for that such doctrine as is begot in Thunder full of Faction and Innovation if it smell not of novelty it shall not concern them they regard not Heaven so much whence it comes as who brings it such a Man or no Man otherwise be the Doctrine never so wholesome they spew it up again as if their Conscience were so nice and delicate as that ground of Colein where some of St. Ursula's eleven thousand Virgins were buriâ—d which will cast up again in the night any that have been interred there in the day except of that company though it were a Child newly baptized Not to be over-carefull for the place of our Buriall THat of Monica the Mother of S. Augustine is worthy of remembrance She had with great care provided her a Sepulcher near unto her Husband who dyed at Tagasta in Africa and was there buried purposing to lâ—e by him but the Lord so disposed that she left her life at Ostia in Italy and being ready to depart she said unto her sonne Ponite hoc corpus Ubicâ—nque nihil vos ejus cura a conturbet Bury my body where you think good take no great care for it And being asked If it grieved her not to leave her body so far off from her own City she gave this answer Nihil longè est à Deo neque timendum est ne ille agnâ—scat in fine saeculi unde me resuscitet No place is nearer to God then other neither am I to fear lest the Lord should not as well raise me up in this place as in my own City Thus let none be troubled with the thoughts of their Burial-place What though the distance be great betwixt them and them to whom they are more especially related and that without great charge and expence they cannot be buried near together All places are alike unto God he can raise them up as well out of Country clay as out of finer City-dust and bring them and all their Kindred and Acquaintance together in a comfortable Resurrection The Christians claim to Heaven what it is OUr Common Law distinguisheth between two manner of Freeholds A Free-hold in deed when a Man hath made his Entry upon Lands and is thereof really seized A Free-hold in Law when a Man hath right to possession but hath not made his actual entry So is the Kingdome of Heaven ours not in re but in spe our's tenore juris though not yet jâ—re tenoris ours in the inheritance of the possession though not in the possession of the Inheritance habemus jus ad rem nonâ—dum in re we are heirs to it though now we be but Wards Our minority bids and binds us to be servants Gal. 4. but when we come to full years a perâ—ect growth in Godlinesse then we shall have à plenary possession How the Devill makes use of the World to destroy Man IT is reported of the Irish that they dig deep trenches in the ground and pave the surface over with green turves that their suspectlesse Enemies may think it firm ground and so fall in to their utter ruine Thus the Devill makes this World his fatall Vault which he strows over with pleasures and delights the way seems smooth but is slippery his intention is mischievous ut lapsu graviore ruaâ—t that Man may have the surer and the sooner fall then doth he laugh to see a knot of Gallants lye all a long on their backs that have ruâ— headlong at Pâ—ide a Corporation of Citizens that have run at Riches a rabble of Drunkards that ran apace to the â—avern a crew of Cheaters that posted as â—ast to the gallows all of them sinking to the bottomlesse pit of destruction Not to repine at a great charge of Children THere is a story of a certain worldly distrustfull rich Woman that being at a poor Womans labour the Child being new born and nothing to be had for the comfort of it See said she without any pitty or compassion Here is the mouth but where is the meat Not long after it so fell out that the same Woman drawing near her time was delivered of a deaâ— child which being well observed by another Woman that was then present at her labour See said she here is meat enough but where is the mouth Let none therefore grudg or repine at their issue be it never so numerous not grumble at the greatnesse of their charge God never sent a mouth but he sent meat for that mouth he can as well feed many as few make the poor Mans peâ—ny go as far as the Rich Mans pound He is the great House-keeper that giveth every living thing meat in due season and if so then those little ones that bear his Image are by no means excluded The least of Sin to be resisted THe Trees of the Forrest held a solemn Parliament wherein they consulted of the innumerable wrongs which the Axe had done them therefore made an Act that no Tree should hereafter lend the Axe an helve on pain of being cut down The Axe travels up and down the Forrest begs wood of the Cedar Oak Ash Elm even of the Poplar not one would lend him a chip At last he desired so much as would serve him to cut down the bryers and bushes alledging that such shrubs as they did but suck away the juice of the ground and hinder the growth and obscure the glory of the fair and goodly Trees Hereon they were all content to afford him so much he pretends a thorough Reformation but behold a sad deformation for when he had got his helve down went both Cedar Oak Ash Elm and all that did but stand in his way Such are the subtile reaches of Sins and Sinfull Men give but a little advantage on their fair promises to remove the troubles of the body and they will cut down the Soul also Therefore obsta principiis crush the Cockatrice in the egge refuse all iniquity at the first in what extenuation of quantity or colour of quality soever it be offered For if Sathan cannot get leave for his whole Army of lusts yet he will beg hard for his
vervells upon her leggs and a dark hood upon her head Et quare capititium quare compedes saith the Father Why is she hood-wink'd why fettered lest she should fly away he would not by any means have her out of call but that she might be alwayes within the lure Thus God deals with his children there cannot be a more evident sign of his love then when he chastiseth them nor a greater evidence of his hatred and rejection then when he gives Men over to do what they list to go on and prosper in all wicked and licentious courses When he lets Men neglect all duties without controlement he makes it manifest that his purpose is to turn them out of service and when he lets them feed at will in the pleasant pastures of Sin it is more then probable that he hath destinated them to the slaughter God not the Author of Sin AS a Man that cutteth with a dull knife is the cause of cutting but not of the ill cutting and hackling of the knife the knife is the cause of that Or if a Man strike upon an Instrument that is out of tune he is the cause of the sound but not of the jarring sound that 's the fault of the untuned strings Or as a Man riding upon a lame horse stirres him the Man is the cause of the motion but the horse himself of the halting motion Thus God is the Author of every action but not of the evill of that action that 's from Man He that makes Instruments and tools of Iron or other metal he maketh not the rust and canker which corrupteth them that 's from another cause nor doth that Heavenly Workman God Almighty bring in sin and iniquity nor can he be justly blamed if his Creatures do soyl and besmear themselves with the foulnesse of sin for he made them good Gen. 1. 10. Iâ—h 34. 11. Psalm 5. 4. The appropriation of Faith is all in all IN Gedeon's Camp every Souldier had his own Pitcher amongst Solomon's men of Valour every Man wore his own sword The five wise Virgins had every one oyl in her lamp Luther was wont to say That there lay a great deal of Divinity couched up in Pronouns as meum tuum suum mine thine his Thus Faith appropriated is all in all a bird shall assoon fly with anothers wings as thy Soul mount to Heaven by anothers Faith Whosoever will go to God whether it be in Prayer or in any Religious performances he must have a Faith of his own it must be fides tua thy Faith It is not enough to say Lord Lord but to say with David my Lord with Iob my Redeemer with the blessed Virgin my Saviour not to say Credimus but Credo not We believe but I believe in God Every Man must profesâ—e and be accomptant for his own Faith When a Man believes his own Reconciliation by the merits of Christ Iesus and strengthens this belief by a desire of pleasing God this is Fides sua the right appropriation of Faith Gods Judgment and Mans not concurrent IT is observable that when the Moon is lightest to the Earth she is darkest to Heaven And when lightest to Heaven the darkest to Earth Thus they that seem best to the World are often the worst to God they that are best to God seem worst to the World and Men most glorious to the World are obscurest to the Divine approbation others obscure to the Worlds acknowledgment are principally respected in Gods favour The Samaritans were condemned by the Iews yet nine Iews are condemned by one Samaritan The Iews thought that if but two Men were saved in the world the one should be a Scribe the other a Pharisee but Christ saith that neither of them both shall come into the Kingdom of Heaven Samuel was mistaken in Eliab Abinadab and Shammah for the Lord had chosen David Isaac preferreth Esau but God sets up Iacob All this to justifie That Gods Iudgment is not as Mans judgment his thoughts not as Mans thoughts neither are his wayes as Mans wayes Esay 55. 8. The uncharitable Christian described DIogenes a witty beggar would usually walk in a place where earthen Statues were erected in honour of some that dyed for their Country To them he would pray to them reach out his hand bow and begg being asked the Reason he answered Nihil aliud quam repulsam meditor I think of nothing but a repulse or denyal We have many such living Statues in these strait-laced times of ours meer Idols that have mouthes and speak not eyes and pity not hands and give not the Poor are sure of nothing but a repulse They are just like St. Peter's fish it had money in the mouth but not a hand to give it like Dives his doggs they can lick a poor Man with their tongues else give him no relief The Papists will rather lose a penny then a Pater-noster these will give ten Pater-nosters before one penny They give the words of Nephthali pleasant words but no meat as if the poor were like Ephraim to be fed with the wind or as if their words were Verbum Domini the Word of God that men might live by it The great danger and disgrace of lying under the guilt of one eminent Sin WHen one commended Alexander for his many noble acts another objected against him that he killed Calisthenes He was valiant and successefull in the Wars true but he killed Calisthenes He overcame the great Darius so but he killed Calisthenes His meaning was that this one unjust act poysoned all his better deeds And there was Naaman the Syrian a Man plentifully commended 2 Kings 5. 1. When he was cured and converted by Elisha First hee 's charitable offers gold and garments but he excepts bowing in the house of Rimmon he is devout and begs earth for sacrifice but excepts Rimmon he is Religious and promiseth to offer to none but the Lord yet excepts Rimmon This Rimmon like the Fly in the Alablaster-box spoyled all the good intentions Thus one spot in the Face spoyls all the beauty one Vice in the Soul disgraceth a great deal of Virtue O such a Man is an honest Man a good Man but Let every Man take heed this is that but which the Devill ayms at 'T is true we must hate all sin and every sin sowrs but to the repentant Christian it shall not be damnable Rom. 8. 2. there is in all corruption to most affliction to none damnation that are in Christ One Sin may disgrace us and sowr us but to our comfort upon true Repentance we are madâ— sweet again by the all-perfuming bloud of our Saviour The sinfulnesse of Sin THere was a great Prince intending travel into a far Country left his daughter to the tuition of a Servant Him he made chief and set under him a Controâ—â—er and five serviceable Guardians The
as do but plunge them further and deeper into such a Labyrinth of evils out of which they seldome or never get out again The great benefit of timely accompting with God A Merchant or Tradesman that at leisure times casteth up and ballanceth his Accompts and brings all to one entire summe is at any time ready if on a sodain he be called to a Reckoning though he have not time or leisure then amidst many distractions otherwise to run over Accompts or to cast up the particulars yet to tell how things stand with him it requires no more then the bare reading he needs not stand to recount it being sure it was well and truly cast up before So he that hath before-time truly examined his own estate and made up the Accompt betwixt God and his own Soul may thereby know how it standeth with him in regard of God by calling to mind onely the issue of his former Examination when by reason of disturbance and distraction through the violence of Temptation he shall have small liberty and lesse leiâ—ure to take any exact tryall or proof of it at the present Ignorance especially in the wayes of God reproved SOcrates being asked What was the most beautiful Creature in the world He answered A Man deck'd and garnished with Learning And Diogenes being demanded What burthen the Earth did bear most heavy replyed An ignorant and illiterate Man Now if these Philosophers did thus judge of the excellency of Knowledge and vilenesse of Ignorance How should Christians blush for very shame that having lived so long in the School of Christ trod so often upon the threshold of Gods Sanctuary and sate so many years under the droppings of Gospel-dispensations they should yet be found ignorant of Christ and of the wayes to everlasting happinesse All the Creatures subservient to the good Will and Pleasure of God IT is reported of the River Nilus that it makes the Land barren if in ordinary places it either flow under fifteen cubits or above seventeen And therefore that Prester-Iohn through whose Country it runneth and in which it ariseth from the Hills called The Mountains of the Moon can at his pleasure drown a greâ—t part of Egypt by letting out into the River certain vast Ponds and Sluces the receptacles of the melted snow from the Mountains Which that he may not do The Turks who are now the Lords of Egypt pay a great tribute unto him as the Princes of that Land have done time out of mind which tribute when the great Turk denyed to pay till by experience he found this to be true he was afterwards forced with a greater summe of Money to renew his peace with that Governour of the Abussines and to continue his ancient pay The truth of this Relation may be questionable but this we are all bound to believe That the great Emperour of Heaven and Earth who sits above us can at his pleasure make our Land and all the Regions of the Earth fruitful or barren by restraining or letting loose the influences of his blessings from above At his Command the winds blow and again are husht the Ayr pours down rain or sends Mildews upon the Earth and it rests in his power to make our Land barren if we continue disobedient or to fructifie it more and more if we repent He hath dams and ponds yea an Ocean of Judgments in store which he can when it seems him good let down upon us to make both the Land fruitlesse and the Soul it self accursed that rebelleth Not onely Fire or hail or lightning or Thunder or Vapours or Snow or stormy winds blasting or Mildews but even whole Volleys or Volumes of Curses more then can be numbred are prest to do his Will to afâ—lict and vex them that grieve his holy Spirit by their sins and daily prâ—vocations Heaven a place of Holinesse IT was a good Inscription which a bad Man set upon the door of his house Per me nihil intret malt Let no evil passe through me Whereupon said Diogenes Quomodo ingredietur Dominus How then shall the Master get into his own house A pertinent and ready answer How it agrees with our Mansions upon Earth let every Man look to that But most sure it is that no unclean thing can enter into Heaven whatsoever is there is holy the Angels holy the Saints holy the Patriarks holy the Confessors Martyrs all holy but the Lord himself most holy and blessed to whom all of them as it were in a divine Antheme sing and say Holy Holy Holy Lord God Almighty Heaven and Earth are full of the Majesty of the glory God a sure fast Friend IT is usuall with Men to make towards a Sun-dyall whilest onely the Sun shineth And with Women to make much of Flowers and to put them in their bosomes whilâ—st they are grâ—en and flourishing but when once withered they cast them upon the dunghill But the Almighty deals not so with his Friends yea when their danger is greatest his help is nearest And though oft-times the case is so desperate that Friends society can onely afford pity not succour they may look on they cannot take off but the presence of God is ever active and powerfull And whereas most Faithful Friends part at death this Friend will not leave us David knew he would be with him in the shadow of death and S. Paul assureth us that neither death nor life shall separate his love not onely when we walk through the pleasant meadow of Prosperity but when we go through the salt-waters of Aâ—â—liction nay when we passe Mare mortuum the Sea of death he will be with us It is the deriding question which the Saints enemies put to them in the time of Affliction Ubi Deus Where is now their God but they may return a confident answer Hic Deus Our God is here nigh unto us round about us in the midst of us It was his promise to Ioshua then and is since repeated by S. Paul as belonging to all the Faithful I will never leave thee nor forsake thee To rely upon Gods blessing notwithstanding all opposition WHen an Alderman of London was given to understand by a Courtier that the King in his displeasure against the City threatned thence to divert both Term and Parliament to Oxford he asked Whether he would turn thither the channel of the Thames or no if not said he by the grace of God we shall do well enough Thus when either Envy of meaner Men repiâ—eth or the Anger of greater persons rageth against our lawful thriving we shall do well to remember That there is a River which shall make glad the City of God a current I mean of Gods blessings which whilest he vouchsafeth to our honest labours and legal Callings no malice of Man or Devill shall be able to stop or avert For whilest this blessed River of God keeps its
will not let him in or through long contagion of Sin be not able to let him in we must of necessity dye in our Sins and the case is evident not because he doth not offer Grace but because we receive it not when it is offered Otherwise thus IN the Fourteenth Chapter of St. Matthews Gospell our Saviour walking on the Sea bade St. Peter come unto him who being not any thing acquainted with such a slippery path and seing a great storm arise his heart failed him and he began to sink but crying out for help Christ who was onely able to give it stretched forth his hand took him into the Ship and saved him This World we know by experience is a Set of trouble and misery Our Saviour as he did to Peter so he most lovingly willeth every one of us to come unto him but as we walk towards him storms and tempests do arise so that through frailty of our flesh and the weaknesse of our Faith we begin to sink Christ stretcheth forth his hand he giveth us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his Word his Sacraments the good motions of his Spirit to save us from sinning to keep us in the Ship of the Church If we refuse these means we perish we sink in our sins And why so Not because Christ doth not most kindly put forth his hand unto us but because in want and distresse we lay not hold upon him It is he that invites all Men to his great Supper but if they make excuses or willfully refuse to come he may justly pronounce None of them that were bidden shall ever tast of my Supper Luk. 14. 24. The giddy uncertain disposition of the Multitude or common People IT is said of the Roes and Hinds that they are most tender and fearful of all beasts affrighted with any noise checked with the least foyl turned out of course with the snapping of a stick presently make head another way and when they are once out of their wonted walk Erranti in via nullus est terminw they run they know not whither even to their own death Such is the natural disposition of the Multitude or Common People soon stirred up quickly awry sometimes running full head one way on a sodain turned as much another easily set a gogg delighted with novelties full of alteration and change one day crying Hosanna the next day Crucifie him Whilest the Viper is upon S. Paul's hand he is a Murtherer but no sooner off in the turning of a hand a God One while the People wept because they had no Temple and when the Temple was built again they wept as fast because the glory of the second was not like the first In the sad time of Q. Mary there was lamentation and crying out That Idolatry was set up the Church polluted and the Gospel taken away Afterwards in the time of that famous Q. Elizabeth when through the great mercy of God the Gospel was advanced and the light thereof did comfortably shine throughout the whole Kingdom then they murmured and cryed out as fast again That we had no Church no Ministery Truth was wrapp'd up in Ceremonies and all was Antichristian so giddy and uncertain nay such is the madnesse of the People Sectarian schismatical Seducers their Company to be avoided AS a Man that travelleth with a great charge of Money in a way where many Robbers haunt Or happens to be in some great Market or Fair where many Cheaters and Cutpurses resort had need look well about him be very wary and circumspect Or in times and places of the Pestilence where many be infected shut up and dye of the Plague had need be very carefull of himself in the provision of Antidotes to comfort and preserve his Spirits and corroborate the vitals So had every sober humble discreet Christian that carrieth in him a pretious immortal invaluable Soul blesse himself out of the Company and carefully avoid all contagious schismatical Seducers who truly are what Tertullus falsly said S. Paul was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pestilent Fellows Act. 24. 5. Sins Lethargy IT is said of those that are fallen into a Lethargy that their bodies are subject to a continual drowzinesse and their Memories so taken off that they do not remember any thing of what either they speak or do nay they forget the very necessary actions of life So deals Sin with the Soul of Man it drawes upon it such a deadly and fearful sleep that it makes Men to forget the most necessary thing the Unum necessarium that which in a special manner concerns them even all the wayes of God all reverent fear and obedience to his Majesty all peace of Conscience all salvation of their Souls all eternal joy and Felicity in a word all consideration of their lamentable estate and condition The glasse of the Law truly shewing Men what they are AS it is with some old foul and wrinkled Dame that is soothed up by her Parasites in an admiration of her beauty to whom no glasse is allowed but the Picturers that flatters with a smooth fair and young Image Let such a one come casually to the view of a true glasse she falls out first with that Miroir and cryes out of the false representation but after when upon stricter examination she finds the fault in her self she becomes as much out of love with her self as ever her flatterers seemed to be enamoured on her It is no otherwise with us we easily run away with the conceit of our spiritual beauty of our innocent Intergrity every things feeds us in our overweening opinion but let the glasse of the Law be brought once and set before us we shall then see the shamefull wrinkles and foul Morphews of our Souls and shall say with the Prophet We lye down in our shame and our confusion covereth us for we have sinned against the Lord our God Ier. 3. ult The great danger of cherishing wicked thoughts AS the stream in the River Iordan doth carry the Fish swimming and playing till on a sodain they fall into the dead Sea where by reason of the brimstone and other bituminous matter wherewith that Sea is infested they presently â—ye So there are many in the world that suffer themselves to be carried away so long with vitious thoughts and wicked imaginations that on a suddain the powers of the Mind be generally tainted and infected It may seem a small matter to lend the Devill an evill thought but it is very dangerous so to do For he dares not tempt any one unto murther treason or any such griâ—â—â—us sin till he hath sent an evill thought before to try whether he shall be welcome Custome in Sin not easily removed IF a Man take in the Spring three or four plants and set them altogether at one time if he come by and by or within a while after he may easily pull up one of
can the Timber that lyes in the Carpenters Yard hew and frame it self into a Ship If the living Tree cannot grow except the root communicates its sap much lesse can a dead rotten stake in the hedg which hath no root live of its own accord And thus if the Christian's strength be in the Lord as most certainly it is and not in himself then the Christlesse person must needs be a poor impotent Creature void of all strength and ability of doing any thing of it self towards its own salvation If a Christian that hath a spiritual life of Grace cannot exercise that life without strength from above then surely one void of that new life dead in Sins and trespasses can never be able to beget it in himself or any way concur to the production of it so helplesse is the state of unregeneracy so impotent the condition of every Man by Nature The state of Nature for all its specious out-side a state of Friendship with Hell AS it is with the fighting of two Fencers on the Stage you would think at first they were in earnest but observing how wary they are where they hit one another you may soon know they do not intend to kill one another And that which puts all out of doubt when the prize is done you shall see them merry together sharing what they have got from their deluded Spectators which was all they fought for Thus you shall have a carnal heart a Man in the state of unregeneracy make a great bussle against Sin by complaining of it or praying against it so that there seems to be a great scuffle betwixt Sathan and such a Soul but if you follow him off the Stage of duty where he hath gain'd the reputation of a Saint the prize he fought for you shall see the Devil and him sit as Friendly in a corner as ever The Sinner's desperate madnesse TErtullian stood as it were amazed at the folly of the Romans ambition who would endure all manner of hardship in Field and fight and run through any difficulty whatsoever and for no other thing but to obtain at last the honour to be Consull which he aptly calls Unius anni gaudium volaticum a joy that flits away at the years end Desperate then must needs be the madnesse of all wretched sinfull Men who will not endure a little hardship here but entayl on themselves the eternal wrath of God hereafter for the short Feast and running-banquet their lusts entertain them here withall which often is not gaudium unius horae a joy that lasts an hour nay so transient that it hardly feems to be at all The difference betwixt Sermons preached and Sermons printed THere is as much difference between a Sermon in a Pulpit and printed in a book as between milk in the warm breast and in a sucking bottle yet what it loseth in the lively taste is recompenced by the convenience of it The book may be had at hand when the Preacher cannot And that 's the chief end of Printing that as the bottle and spoon is used when the Mother is sick or out of the way so the book to quiet the Christian and stay his stomach in the absence of the Ordinance yet he that readeth Sermons and good books at home to save his pains of going to hear is a Thief to his Soul in a Religious habit he consults for his ease but not for his profit he eats cold meat when he may have hot He hazards the losing the benefit of both by contemning of one offering sacriledg for Sacrifice in robbing God of one duty to pay him in another The bare enjoyment of Church-priviledges doth not make up a true Christian. VVHen a Statute was made in Q. Elizabeths reign that all should come to Church upon penalty of being looked upon as in a way of Recusancy and so punishable by Law The Papists sent to Rome to know the Popes pleasure He returned them this answer Bid the Catholiques in England give me their Hearis and let the Queen take the rest And withall a dispensation was granted so that very many came to Church but it was more for fear then love more for the saving of their purses then any thought at all of saving their poor deluded Souls And thus it is that as Christ had his Saints in Nero's Court so the Devill his servants in the outward Court of his visible Church so that a Man must have something more to entitle him to Heaven then living within the pale of the Church and giving an outward conformity to the Ordinances of Christ There must be an inward conformity of the mind to the laws of God a subjection to the Scepter of Iesus Christ and a readinesse to be led by the guidance of the blessed Spirit otherwise he may be of the Church but not in the Church a Partaker of Church priviledges but no true Proprietor of the Graces and benefits thereby accrewing Acknowledgment of Mercies received the ready way to have them further enlarged IT is and usually hath been the manner of great Men such as from basenesse and beggery have ascended to Kingdomes and Empires and from sitting with the hirelings and dogs of the flock have been seated on Thrones of State and Tribunals of Justice to be delighted to speak often of their poor and mean beginnings to go and see the low roof'd Cottages where they were first entertained and had their birth and breeding yea there was one of late years that being got by desert into the Divinity chair did without superstition hang up in his Closet some part of that mean apparell wherein he first saluted his Oxford Mother A good way no doubt and being done with a good mind the ready way to have Mercies and blessings enlarged It would not be unusefull therefore for the Christian to look in at the grate to see the smoaky hole where once he lay to view the chains wherewith he was laden and to behold the snares of Sin and Sathan wherein he was once entangled but then to open his mouth with thanks unto God who will be sure to fill it with his tender and loving kindnesses The excellency of Christ Jesus IT is observeable that when some great King or Potentate draweth near unto his Royall City the Dukes Marquesses Earls Lords and others of the Nobility and Gentry ride before him Now if a stranger standing by should ask Who is this Man and who is that What power hath that Man at Court What place hath this What means hath a third It would be answered This is my Lord Duke that such an Earl the other such a great Lord such a one is the Lord Treasurer that the Lord Admirall and that other the Lord Chancellour c. but when the King comes he saith no more but onely That 's the King And why so And why no more but so because in
of the inferiour Members be cut off yet the body may live and do indifferently well but if the Head be taken off if the King be set aside actum est de Republica that Kingdome that People cannot long stand Christ the proper object of the Soul THere is no Agent that takes any rest or contentment but in its proper Object If a man had all the Musicall raptures and melodious Harmony in the whole World before him he could not hear it with his eyes because it is the proper object of the Ear If never so triumphant shews or Courtly Masques he could not see them with his Ears because they are the proper Object of the Eye So it is with the Soul of Man if it were possible that all the treasures pleasures honours preferments and delights which the World doth affect were presented and tendered to the Soul yet would they not afford unto it any true satisfaction because they be not the proper Object and Center of the Soul it is the Lord onely or as a godly Martyr said once None but Christ can compasse the Soul about with true content and comfort Sathans aim at those that have most of God and Religion in them PIrats and such as are Robbers at Sea slightly passe by smaller Vessels that are but poorly fraighted whilst ships that are richly laden and furnished with Merchantable commodities become the object of their greedy thoughts at whom they make the strongest opposition and for the gaining of whom rather then fail they will hazard their lives to the utmost of danger imaginable Thus it is that Sathan that Arch-Pirate lets poor silly ignorant Souls alone such as by their own defaults are but as so many empty Vessels floating on the Sea of this World Oh but when he spies out a rich Soul laden with the fruits of the Spirit that hath much of god Christ and Heaven in it there it is that he bends all his Forces and against such a Soul it is that he raiseth all his strength that so if possible he may bring it under his more then miserable subjection Sin to be abhorred as the cause of Christs Death AFter Iulius Caesar was treacherously murthered in the Senate-house Antonius brought forth his coat all bloudy cut and mangled and laying it open to the view of the People said Look here is your Emperours coat and as the bloudy-minded Conspirators have dealt by it so have they also with Caesars body whereupon they were all in an uproar crying out to slay those Murtherers then they took the Tables and stools that were in the place and set them on fire and ran to the houses of the Conspirators and burnt them down to the ground But behold a greater then Caesar even the Lord Iesus himself all bloudy rent and torn for the Sins of the World How then when we look on Sin as the cause of his death and seriously consider that Sin hath slain the Lord of life should our hearts be provoked to be revenged on Sin How should we loath and abhor it as having done that mischief that all the Devills in Hell could never have done the like A lesser Sin given way unto makes way for the committing of greater IT is S. Augustines story of Manicheus that being tormented with flies was of opinion that the Devill made them and not God Why then said one that stood by If the Devill made flies then the Devill made Worms True said he the Devill did make worms But said the other If the Devill did make worms then he made birds beasts and Man He granted all And thus saith the good old Father by denying God in the fly he came to deny God in Man and consequently the whole Creation And thus it is that the yeilding to lesser Sins draws the Soul to the commission of far greater as in these licentious dayes of ours is too too apparent How many have fallen First to have low thoughts of the Scripture and Ordinances of God then to slight them afterwards to make as it were a Nose of Wax of them and in conclusion to cast them quite off lifting up themselves their Christ-dishonouring and Soul-damning opinions above them so that falling from evill to evill from folly to folly and as it is in all other cases of the like Nature from being naught to be very naught and from very naught to be stark naught till God in his most just Judgment sets them at nought for ever Men to prefer suffering before Sinning IT is reported of that eminent servant of God Marcus Arethusus who in the time of Constantine had been the cause of overthrowing an Idoll-Temple but Iulian coming to be the Emperour commanded the People of that place to build it up again all were ready so to do onely the good Bishop dissented whereupon they that were his own people to whom he had formerly preached and who as in all probability any one would have thought might have learn't better things fell upon him strip't off all his cloaths then abused his naked body and gave it up to children and School-boyes to be lanched with their penknives but when all this would not do they caused him to be set in the Sun having his naked body anointed all over with honey that so he might be bitten and stung to death by Flies and Wasps and all this cruelty they exercised upon him because he would not do any thing towards the re-building of that Idol Temple Nay they came so far that if he would give but an half-penny towards the charge they would release him but he refused all though the advancing of an half-penny might have been the saving of his life and in doing thus he did but live up to that principle that most Câ—ristians talk of and few come up unto And thus it is that all of us must chuse rather to suffer the worst of torments that Men and Devills can inflict then to commit the least Sin whereby God should be dishonoured our Consciences wounded Religion reproached and our Souls endangered Discretion a main part of true Wisedome A Father that had three Sons was desirous to try their discretions which he did by giving to each of them an Apple that had some part of it rotten The first eats up his Apple rotten and all The second throws all his away because some part of it was rotten But the third picks out the rotten and eats that which was good so that he appeared the wisest Thus some in these daies for want of Discretion swallow down all that is presented rotten and sound together Others throw away all Truth because every thing delivered unto them in not Truth but surely they are the wisest and most discreet that know now to try the Spirits whether they be of God or not how to chuse the good and refuse the evill The difference betwixt true and feyned
Solomon be wise for thy self It is not enough for a Man to do good to others though he could to all if he remain an Enemy to himself He must be like a Cynamon-Tree which lets not out all its sap into leaves and fruit which will fall off but keeps the principall part of its fragrancy for the bark which stayes on like a Tree planted by the water side which though it let out much sap to the remoter boughs yet is specially carefull of the root that that be not left dry And to speak truth What profit would it be to a Man if he could heal and help all the sick Men in the World and be incurably sick himself If he could get all the Men on the Earth all the Angels in Heaven to be his Friends and have still God for his Enemy If he could save others and then lose his own Soul to be like the Ship Acts 27. broken to pieces it self though it helped others to the shore Or like those that built the Ark for Noah and were drowned themselves this is to have the cares of Martha upon him on the behalf of others and never mind that one thing of Mary the care of his own Salvation Neglect of the main duties of Christianity reproved SUppose a Master before he goes forth should charge his Servant to look to his Child and trim up the house handsomely against he comes home But when he returns will he thank this servant for sweeping his house and making it trim as he bade him if he find his child through negligence fallen into the fire and so kill'd or cripled No sure he left his child with him as his chief charge to which the other should have yielded if both could not be done Thus there hath been a great Zeal of late amongst us about some circumstantials of Gods worship but who is it that looks to the little child the main duties of Christianity Was there ever lesse love charity self-denyal Heavenly-mindednesse or the power of Godlinesse to be found then in this sad Age of ours Alas these like the child are in great danger of perishing in the fire of contention and division which a perverse Zeal in lesse things hath kindled amongst us Pleasures of Righteousnesse not discerned by unrighteous Men And how so THe Roman Souldiers when at the sacking of Ierusalem they entred the Temple and went into the Sanctum Sanctorum but seeing no Images there as they used to have in their own idolatrous Temples gave out in a jeer that the Iews worshipped the clouds And thus because the pleasures of Righteousnesse and holinesse are not so grosse as to come under the cognisance of the Worlds carnal senses as their brutish ones do therefore they laugh at the Saints as if their Ioy were but the child of Fancy and that they do but embrace a cloud instead of 〈◊〉 her self a phantastick pleasure for the true But let such know that they carry in their bosome what will help them to think the pleasures of a holy life more reall and that the power of Holinesse is so far from depriving a Man of the joy and pleasure of his life that there are incomparable delights and pleasures peculiar to the holy life which the gracious Soul finds in the wayes of Righteousnesse and no stranger intermeddles with his joy The truth is they lie inward and therefore it is that the World speaks so wildly and ignorantly of them Gods different disposal of his blessings WHen a Prince bids his Servants carry such a Man down into the Cellar and let him drink of their Beer and Wine this is a kindnesse from so great a Personage to be valued highly But for the Prince to set him at his own Table and let him drink of his own Wine this no doobt is far more Thus i◠is that God gives unto some Men bona scabelli great Estates abundance of corn and wine and oyl the comforts of the Creature yet in so doing he entertains them but in the common Cellar they have none but carnal enjoyments they do but sit with the servants and in som sensual pleasures they are but fellow-Commoners with the beasts but for his People they have the bona throni his right-hand blessings he bestowes his Graces on them beautifies them with holinesse makes them to drink of the Rivers of his pleasures and means to set them by him at his own Table with himself in Heavenly glory The encrease of Atheism amongst us at this day IT is reported to have been the saying of Mr. R. Greenham a good man in his time That he feared rather Atheism then Popery would be Englands ruine Had he lived in our dismal dayes he would have had his fears much encreased Were there ever more Atheists made and making in England since it was acquainted with the Gospel then in the compasse of some few years past There is reason to think there were not When Men shall fall so far from profession of the Gospel and be so blinded that they cannot know light from darknesse righteousness from unrighteousness Are they not far gone in Atheism This is not natural blindness for the Heathen could tell when they did good and evill and see Holiness from Sin without Scripture-light to shew them No this blindnesse is a plague of God fallen on them for rebelling against the ligh◠when they could see it And if this plague should grow more common which God forbid woe then to England Men to be willing to have their Sins reproved And why so THere was a foolish it may be said cruel Law among the Lacedemonians That none should tell his Neighbour any ill news befallen him but every one should be left in processe of time to find it out themselves And it is to be supposed that there are many amongst us that would be content if there were such a Law that might tye up Ministers mouths from scaring them with their Sins and the miseries that attend their unreconciled estate The most are more carefull to run from the discourse of their misery then to get out of the danger of it are more offended with the talk of Hell then troubled for that sinful state that shall bring them thither But alas when then shall the Ministers shew their love to the souls of Sinners When shall a loving Man have a fitting time to tell his Friend of his faults if not now in the present time And why because that hereafter there remains no more offices of Love to be done for them Hell is a Pest-house there cannot be written so much on the door of it as Lord have mercy on them that are in it Nay they who now pray for their salvation and weep over their condition must then with Christ vote for their damnation and rejoyce in it though they be their own Fathers Husbands and Wives they shall see there
tormented The great danger of not reconciling our selves unto God SIr Thomas Moor whilest he was a Prisoner in the Tower would not so much as suffer himself to be trimmed saying There was a controversie betwixt the King and him for his head and till that was at an happy end he would be at no cost about it Let us but scum off the froth of his Wit and we may make a solemn use of it For certainly all the cost we bestow upon our selves to make our lives pleasurable and joyous to us is but meer folly till it be decided what will become of the Suit betwixt God and us what will be the issue of the Controversie that God hath against us and that not for our heads but Souls whether for Heaven or Hell Were it not then the wisest course to begin with making our peace and then we may soon lead a happy life It is said He that gets out of debt growes rich Most sure it is that the pardoned soul cannot be poor For as soon as the Peace is concluded a Free Trade is opened between God and the Soul If once pardoned we may then sail to any Port that lies in Gods dominions and be welcome where all the Promises stand open with their treasure and say Here poor Soul take full lading in of all pretious things even as much as thy Faith can bear and carry away Ringleaders of Faction and Schism their condition deplorable VVHat would the Prince think of that Captain who instead of encouraging his Souldiers to fall on with united Forces as one Man against the Common enemy should make a speech to set his Souldiers together by the ears amongst themselves surely he would hang him up for a Traytor Good was Luther's prayer A Doctore glorioso à Pastore contentioso et Inutilibus quaestionibus liberet Ecclesiam Deus From a vain-glorious Doctor a contentious Pastor and nice questions the Lord deliver his Church And we in these sad times have reason to say as hearty an Amen to it as any since his age Do we not live in a time when the Church is turn'd into a Sophister's School where there is and hath been such a wrangling and jangling that the pretious truths of the Gospel are lost to many already whose eyes are put out with the dust these contentions have raised and they have at last fairly disputed themselves out of all their sober Principles as some ill husbands that light among cunning Gamesters and play away all their money out of their purses Woe then to such vile Men who have prostituted the Gospel to such Divellish ends God may have mercy on the cheated Souls to bring them back to the love of the Truth But for the cheaters such as have been the Ring-leaders into Faction and Schism they are gone too far toward Hell that we can look for their return When it is that a Man is said to thorowly forsake his Sin EVery time a Man takes a journey from home about businesse we do not say he hath forsaken his house because he meant when he went out to come to it again No but when we see a Man leave his house carry all his goods away with him lock up his doors and take up his abode in another place never to dwell there more this Man may very well be said to have forsaken his house indeed Thus it is that every one of us are to forsake sin so as to leave it without any thought of returning to it again It were strange to find a Drunkard so constant in the exercise of that Sin but sometimes you may find him sober and yet a drunkard he is as if he were then drunk Every one hath not forsaken his Trade that we see now and then in their Holy-day Suit then it is that a Man is said to forsake his Sin when he throwes it from him and bolts the door upon it with a purpose never to open any more unto it Ephraim shall say What have we to do any more with Idols Hos. 14. 8. Mortification the excellency thereof THere is mention made of one of the Cato's That in his old age he drew himself from Rome to his Country-house that he might spend his elder years free from care and trouble And the Romans as they did ride by his house used to say Iste solus scit Vivere This Man alone knowes how to live What art Cato had to disburthen himself by his retirement of the Worlds cares is altogether unknown But most sure it is that a Man may go into the Country and yet not leave the City behind him his mind may be in a crowd while his body is in the solitude of a wildernesse Alas poor Man he was a stranger to the Gospel had he been but acquainted therewith it could have shewed him a way out of the crowd of all Worldly employments even in the midst of Rome it self and that is by mortifying his heart to the World both in the pleasures and troubles thereof And then that high commendations That he alone knew how to live might have been given him without any hyperbole at all For to speak truth He onely knowes aright how to live in the world that hath learnt to die to the World such is the excellency of Mortification Consideration of the brevity of life to work the heart of Man to Contentment IF a Traveller hath but enough to bring him to his journeys end he desires no more We have but a day to live and perhaps we may be now in the twelfth hour of that day And if God give us but enough to bear our charges till night it is sufficient Let us be content If a Man had the Lease of an House or Farm but for two or three dayes and he should fall a building and planting would he not be judged very indiscreet So when we have but a short time here and Death calls us presently off the stage to thirst immoderately after the World and pull down our Souls to build up an estate were it not extream Folly Therefore as Esau said once in a prophane sense concerning his birth-right Lo I am at the point to die and what profit shall this birth-right do to me So let us all say in a Religious sense Lo I am even at the point of Death my grave is going to be made and what good will the World do me If I have but enough till Sun-setting I am content The Scripture discovering Satan and Sin in its colours IT is reported That a certain Iew should have poysoned Luther but was happily prevented by his picture which was 〈◊〉 to Luther with a warning from a Faithfull friend that he should take heed of such a Man when he saw him by which he knew the Murtherer and so escaped his hands Thus it is that the Word of God shews us the face of those lufts which