false and wicked principles and in hardening them by their examples counsels and doctrines whom they have caused to wander from the way of truth and life Lastly to name no more if God permit such men to get power into their hands they do often if not alwaies persecute with extreamest rigour and remorselesse cruelty those of contrary Judgments though they be most innocent Orthodox and holy Witnesse those scarlet Theaters on which they acted in Germany which are and will be crimson monuments of their fury tyranny and impiety till time shall be no more The Church of God in St. Augustines time before his conversion used to pray Ab Augustini logica libera nos Domine And for my part I am fully perswaded that it is the Duty of Gods people heartily and fervently to joine togâ—ther in this Petition to the Lord From a toleration of an indulgence to or a connivence at all or any men that will to make themselves ministers and preachers Good Lord deliver us Because it will be high time for Religion to make her Will for the Gospell to take shipping to land in another Land and for Christians to provide an Arke to save themselves from perishing either in a deluge of superstition profanenesse Atheisme or else in a Red sea of persecution when it may be truly said of such men g When Galba came first to the Empire there was great confusion and licentiousnesse in the State whereupon a Senator said in full Senate It were better to live where nothing is lawfuâ—l then where all things are lawful Leigh Choice Observat p. 120. Quod libet id licet his c. The Jewes did highly esteem accounting barrennesse a curse and the Romanes did liberally reward those parents who had many Children h Camerar lib. 6. p. 415. And t is said that the chief reason why the Electors chose Rodolph Emperor of Germany was his plenteous off-spring So the Lord doth also both love honour and crown those spirituall fathers pious and rightly ordained Ministers that beget with the immortall seed of the word quickened by the spirit of life Sons and Daughters unto God for they shall * Dan. 12. 3. shine for ever and ever in the firmament of Glory And he doth blesse their labours But as for these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i Luther super Epist ad Galatas see also Jerem 23. 32. Nunquam fortunat Deus laborom eorum qui non sunt vocati quanquam quaedam salutaria afferunt tamen nihil aedificant saith Luther k Perphyr in â—jus vita Pythagoras when any of his Scholars deserted his Schoole in eorum usitatis sedibus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 posuisse dicitur quo significaret eos moraliter obiisse When those who have formerly professed themselves to be the Scholars and Disciples of Christ doe not only desert his School the Temple but also inveigh against and abandon both his ordinances and Ministers their spirituall teachers well may Christians set their Coffins in their seats for it 's much to be feared that they are spiritually departed and dead but however t is most certaine that they are fallen into a dangerous swoon of Apostasie I shall therefore conclude with these hearty and fervent petitions The Prayer EIther convince revive convert and reclaime all such O Lord and suffer them not is keep any longer a splint in their wounds to hinder their cure by adding l Mallâ—â— sâ—mpâ—r errarc quam semel errasse vide i. obstinacy to errouâ— perseverance in evill to ignorance impiety to iniquity or else never suffer most gracious God the wall of thy vineyard Church-Government according to the pattern in the Mount thine own Word and Will to be broken down by fraud or force for Foxes or wild Bores * Pictos agnos adorant vivos devorant Jesuits Apostates Hypocrites Persecutors seducers and temporizers to have free ingresse into it to root up the Vines therein or to pull off the Grapes thereof Nor the door of Christs Garden to be thrown off of those hinges orders and Ordination by the hands of power or policy for wild beasts Hereticks and popish Priests to enter therein to tread down thy Roses and Lillies or to crop or kill thy best fruit-trees Godly Ministers and truly gracious Christians Nor that Crystall pure sweet healing Fountain that spirituall bath and Spaw which cures all the maladies and diseases of the Soul in that Garden the Holy Scriptures to be muddyed defiled corrupted or poysoned by those nor any other unwashed diseased beleapered invenâ—â—d hands or feet till the stream of time shall fall into and lose it self in the boundlesse Ocean of Eternity m Platâ—â— Timeo And since there are two diseases of the Soul 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 madnesse and ignorance and that by wofull experience it 's found that the most of these Leaders and teachers and also their Favourites and followers do labour under and are distempered either with both or one of them be pleasâ—d blessed God who art the great and good Physitian of the Soul and dost see their waies either to heal them by giving repentance to them and making them wise to Salvation or else according to thine own * 2 Tim. 3. 9. promise let their folly be made known to all men and let them proceed no further that so the banks of truth and piety may never be broken down nor over-flowed by the furious filthy and deadly streams of error idolatry heresie and profanenesse And Lastly since Distraction is the inlet of Destruction Division of Desolation to the greatest richest most flourishing and most prosperous Nation For he that is Wisdome it self Jesus * Matth. 12. 15. Christ hath told us so and the spirit of Truth hath also assured us that their †â—ames 3. 14 â—5 Wisdome who love contention and delight in strife is earthly sensuall devilish So that carnall policy makes such men like Children to stand upon their heads and to kick with their heels against Heaven and also seriously cunningly and unweariedly both to contrive plot and endeavour their own as well as others ruine witnesse Haman Absalom and many others Let O Lord piety for this is the best yea the only reall prudence and policy sit at the Helme of that Royall and impregnable Ship thy truly catholick Church and of this sinfull shaking divided unsetled reeling and rebellious Nation in particular once a beautiful Rachel but since a blear-ey'd Leah once a fair and lovely Sarah but since a foul and leprous Miriam yet still blessed be thy Name a true member thereof Let truth and righteousnesse as her hands guide and steer her by the Compasse of thy Holy Word Let O Lord peace and unity be her sailes and let the sweet and pleasant Gales of brotherly lâ—ve tranquillity and Christian charity fill them Let whatever Jonas whatever abomination or accursed thing it is that raises the overturning Tempests of thy wrath and fury
those that are darkened with Ignorance and benighted in Superstition with the glorious Beames of saving knowledge Let it guide all those that wander in the by paths of Errour and Wickednesse into the safe way of Verity and Holinesse And let it quicken such as are dead in Trespasses and Sins that those dry bones those stinking Lazarusses may rise live and praise thee Let it O Lord convince convert humble purifie and regenerate those that are secure profane carnall and unclean that so being sanctified by the Spirit of Christ they may be comfortably assured they are justified by the Merits of Christ Let good God thy Holy Spirit excite perswade inable Christians to try discern and judge which is the true Spirit the Spirit of Truth that so they may not be deluded but infallibly directed by it to choose and to walk under the Câ—nduct thereof in the way of Holinesse that leads to happinesse And do thou O Lord who art the Father of Spirits give us all thy Holy Spirit whereby we may be inabled to cry Abba Father for thy Sons and our alone Saviours sake Jesus Christ Amen Sine Spiritu Sancto nec lux pax puritas Sanctitas nec gloria IV. Of Sinne and Sinners T is the true and fruitfull mother of miseries A Pandoras Box full of all reall deadly plagues and curses T is the poyson of the soul rack of Conscience the Bellows fewell oyle that blow kindle and continue the fiery wrath of God burning against all obstinate perpetrators thereof a Ho 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 632. Like Homers Thersites it's ugly without as well as within having like the subtile cruell Panther a deformed head as well as a destructive deadly paw Like Judas it kisses and betrayes us Like Ioab it embraces stabâ— and kills at once b Quint Curtius lib. 8. p. 154. Sin is like to the River Nilus whose streams do cause and produce a fruitfulnesse even to wonder but yet it abounds with crocodiles wickednesse is sometimes prosperous but it s always dangerous and without Repentance deadly It 's like the Caspian Sea which affords the sweetest waters but breeds the greatest Serpents The Preface of sin may be pleasure its Exordium delight but the Finis thereof will be punishment At sins table the first course may be contentment but the second will be death It may appear to our dim eyes a Dove but if we once lodge it in our bosomes or imbrace it we shall finde it a serpent that will both sting and kill us T is a Siren which allures us to our ruine a Thiefe that robs us of our chiefest treasures our choycest mercies Gods favour a saving interest in Christ pardon of sin peace of Conscience grace glory It 's the souls both Leprosie and murderer Like the stone by the river Maeander called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the sober stone which put into a mans bosome would make him mad it distracts us Like that deaf-stone which I have read is in Scotland that one standing at one end of it can not hear what another saith standing at the other end thereof it stops the ears of the Lord that our Prayers cannot find audience or acceptance with him * Esay 59. 1. 2. Behold the Lords hand is not shortned that it cannot save neither his ear heavy that it cannot hear But your iniquities have separated between you and your God and your sins have hid his face from you that he will not hear c Plutarch in ejus vitâ— What Phociâ—n the Athenian once said to the people of Athens viz. All that ever you say and do dislikes me God * Prov. 15 8 9. 26. saith and declareth to all wicked persons whose both prayers wayes and thoughts are abominable to him yea and their civill actions too †for the ploughing of the wicked is sin * Prov. 21. 4. Sin it blots out all the characters of beauty comelinesse and amabilitie which God at first engraved upon the soul it covers also the face of the soul which was most fair and lovely till sin did spoil blast and soil it with a black vail of deformity and renders it loathsome and ugly in the pure eye of God It defaces yea ruins the rarest piece of the whole Creation the Epitome of the Universe the wonder of Nature the miracle of the world Man It not only poysons the lower springs of earthly injoyments turns blessings into curses but like Pharaohs lean kine it devours consumes those sat ones riches health greatness peace plenty and all * Read Deut. 28. chapt worldly prosperity It also which is a mischief infinitely greater then the other dams up the current of those upper springs grace mercy speciall love salvation so that the soul like the mountains of Gilbea hath no celestiall showres of holinesse or reall happinesse rained upon it It turned Paradise into a wildernesse and makes the world a Pest-house when that too pregnant womb the heart hath conceived Sin by the Devill who is the true Father thereof it nourishes seeds and keeps it till it falls in travail of those cursed dreadful monstrous Twins Guilt and Misery and then it 's carried and laid down by death and judgment in a bed of fire and attended only with Devils and Reprobates without all possibility or hope of ever being delivered It grieves Heaven but makes Hell triumph It 's a tree that bears no other fruit but shame sorrow wrath and death Doe but wipe your eyes and behold the ugly face of sin in the Crystall glass of Gods word and also in those red mirrors the fearfull judgements the dreadful vengeance of the Lord upon those pillars of salt those miserable standing monuments of Gods hatred and detestation erected both in his word and in the world Impenitent transgressors And lastly in the bloudy sufferings of Jesus Christ and then if your hearts be not harder then an Adamant or like the * Job 41. 24. Leviathans as firm as a stone yea as hard as a piece of the nether milstone they will relent and you will mourn confesse forsake yea loath all sin †Numb 32. 23. It 's the souls bloud-hound which will hunt pursue overtake and as Acteon was killed by his own dogs as Haman was hanged upon his own Gibbet as Holofernes was beheaded with his own sword destroy it T is that Jonas in the ship of the soul which raises a terrible tempest of divine wrath against it whereby it will be not only restlesly tossed upon the briny bitter Billows of fear anguish dejection and perplexity but also before the stone cease unlesse it be thrown over board cast out of the heart and life by godly sorrow and unfained repentance it will most certainly and miserably be wrackt and perisht without hope or help in a boyling Sea of fire and brimstome which hath neither banks nor bottome For as d Leigh choyce observat in the Life of Claudius p. 102.
but Christ None but Christ He alone being able to quench her thirst to satisfie her hunger to grant her desires to supply her wants to cure her maladies to support her under pressures to ease her of her burdens to vanquish her enemies to resolve all her doubts to revive her in her swounings to strengthen her in her languishings to give her cordials in her faintings to secure her from her fears to comfort her in her sorrows to calm her in to sanctyfie unto her and to free her from all her troubles by confirming her faith increasing her graces multiplying her Joyes and establishing her peace in the firm assurance and cleer Evidence by his holy Spirit of his free infinite eternall unchangeable love unto her the full satisfaction given by him to the Justice of God for her and his free miraculous redemption of her from her spirituall thraldome from the curse and rigour of the Law from the raigning condemning power of sin and from Satan wrath eternal Death and Hell Thirdly Consider that these divine Treasures will afford you reall comforts in the dark cloudy showry daies of adversity yea in the saddest condition whereas all those sublâ—nary injoyments comforts and contentments which the worldly minded in their prosperity do so much admire delight and so eagerly pursue if you seek to them when you are afflicted tempted or dejected for relief deliverance or consolation will answer you as the * 2 Kings 26. 27. King of Israel did that distressed woman in the Famine of Samaria when she cryed to him as he passed by Help my Lord O King If the Lord do not help thee said he whence shall I help thee Riches will answer it is not in me to succour solace or save you Honour power pleasure c. will answer too nor in us For all we cannot make or give you an healing plaister for your hurt We cannot cure the wound which the fiery Serpent of sin hath made in your Consciences nor take out its painfull deadly sting We can neither make your peace with the Lord shield you from his mortall arrows interest you in his tender mercies procure the yearning bowels nor purchase the precious bloud of Jesus Christ to sanctifie or save to cure or comfort you Thus and no otherwise will they answer own befriend and bestead all those in the day of their visitation that have made earth their Heaven Honour their Idoll Opulency their Deity the World their God and Greatness their Happiness Fourthly Consider that you may have a Confluence of all temporall blessings and yet be both hated and Cursed of God You may have all the good things of this Life and yet be bad men You may enjoy the world and yet want Christ and so be truely eternally wretched undone ruined for all that Quid enim prodest si omnia habes eum tamen qui omnia dedit non habere 'T is not lucre but losse 't is not wealth but wants yea beggerie to have all the world from God if that God who made the World and gives us all things be not our God But if you have these spirituall treasures then you will enjoy Christ and with him all things * Rom. 8. 32. Will he who hath freely given us gold denie us clay Will he who hath bestowed pearls upon us refuse to grant pebbles to us Will he who hath cloathed us with Robes denie us Raggs will he who hath given us Diamonds denie us dust or dirt No * 1 Cor. 21. 22. 33. no do but read that great Charter of all true Christians which like the Laws of the Medes and Persians will never be altered nor repealed and there in Golden Letters you may run and read the portion priviledges and inheritance of every true beleever All is yours saith that great Apostle whether Paul or Apollo or Cephas or the World or Life or Death or things present or things to come all are yours and you are Christs and Christ is Gods So that every heavenly minded Christian as well as a holy Corinthian having a deed of Gift made to him by God written with Christs bloud sealed by his holy Spirit and witnessed by his faithful Servant pious and blessed St. Paul of such precious inestimable Riches may truly contemningly say to the World when she Courts him to imbrace covet love Idolize her and saies as the Divell did to Christ when he tempted him to worship him All these things will I give thee sugred pleasures gaudie riches glittering pomp swelling studied titles downâ—e ease rosie delights dazling Majestâ—e c. as * Dan. 5. 17. Daniel did to Belshazzer when he promised him Riches honour and promotion to interpret his Dreams Let thy gifts be to thy self and give thy Rewards to another And as †Genes 33. 9. Esau did to his Brother Jacob when he tendred his present to him I have enough keep that thou hast thy self For how can they want any thing whose Husband is not only kind loving and faithful but also both the Lord and Heir of all things and whose Father the God of truth hath promised to give to his Sons Wife every sincere Christian for a Dower or Jointure both * Psalm 84. 11 Grace Glorie and every good thing Lastly Consider that an holy greecinesse and covetousnesse after these ever enduring treasures these best gifts an indefatigable diligence to attain them a restlesse care for them and the setting of your hearts the fixing of your affections intirely upon them is both the best and surest way to provide not only for your selves but for your posteritie also For if God be your Father he will be your Childrens Guardian he will take the charge of them and care for them so that they shall neither * Psalm 37 25 want nor be wronged since the Lord is not only able but willing to protect and supply them And it 's a truth equally bright and comfortable that the Children of religious Parents who have had no other inheritance portions or legacies but their faithful prayers holy Counsells and pious Examples to settle upon them or be queath unto them to live upon and to set up withall in the World have yet prospered come to honour and been blest with both plentie and felicitie whereas the off-spring of the wicked who have been left heirs to very vast summs of money and great estates have come to a morsell of Bread by reason of Gods either secret or visible but alwaies most just curse upon what they enjoy for either their own or the sins of their fore-fathers in wickedly getting unlawfully keeping or sinfully abusing and mispending of them Male parta male et cito dilabuntur Besides Injusta lucra breves habent voluptates longos autem dolores The momentanie pleasures of unjust Gaine will be imbittered and punished with eternall pains and sorrows The Prayer O LORD so desirous art thou to save and so unwilling to destroy the miserable undone because
r. thy dele own p. 19. l 3 marg r. in Trinitate p. 12. l. 14. r. covet p. 23. l. 10. r. this p. 24. l. 12. r. all miseries p 25. l. 19. r. all whose prayers p. 27. l. 7. marg r. but. p. 35. r. storm p. 44. l. 13. r. but rebellion p 49 l. 6. r. erected p. 50. l. 25. r. pittacus p. 51. l. 24. r. eutrapelus p. 51. l. 19. marg r. Frilby p. 52. l. 22. r. juvandi p. 53. l. 22. r. is l. 36. r. patientia p. 54 l. 9. r. with Isaack p. 55. l. 7. r. quest p. 56. 10. r. dum sitiâ— sitare â—item p. 57. l. 21. r. visiting p. 61. l. 36. r. dark p. 62. l. 2. r. delight in p. 68. l. 27. r. their p. 71. l. 14. r. pleased p. 76. l. 15. r sheds l. 22 r. in the Center p. 89. l. 2. r. as l. 11. God in all things ends the parenthesis p 90. l. 5. r. clean p. 94. l. 16. r. expressions p. 95. l. 12. r. which p. 103. l. 8. r. leaden p. 104. l. 20. r. a Nathan p. 117. l. 31 del that p. 122. l. 9. r. pessimus p. 132. l. 21. r. and in the margenâ— r. and articles of the Ch. of England 23. A little Box of pils p. 13. l. 29. for Varius r. Narius p. 18 l. 23. r. down Reader thou art desired to take notice that all the Pages from 48 are false folied that instead of 49 there is 45 c but we have kept them in this â—rrata as they should be that is in order MISCELLANEA OR Serious Usefull Considerations Morall Historical Theologicall I. Of God THE nature of God who is the deepest Ocean of being cannot be measured by the short the snarled line of mans shallow dark erroneous understanding nay t is equal madness and presumption to attempt it For how can that which is narrow and finite contain or comprehend that which is infinite Deus religione intelligendus est pietate profitendus sensu vero persequendus non est sed adorandus His glorious essence so dazles the purblinde eyes of reason and naturall knowledge that the more they look on him the blinder they are We can at best but spell him in his wonderfull works of Creation Providence Preservation and his Gubernation of the world as Men as Christians we may and can read much of him and see his back parts in his Attributes Word Ordinances by his holy Spirit teaching illuminating and applying the spirituall eye-salve of heavenly wisdome and saving knowledge to our bemisted darkned benighted minds But when we are Saints in Heaven the Prospectives of Glory and Immortality being given unto us we shal then see him face to face and know him as he is Here on earth where we are but strangers guests pilgrims it is our duty to serve obey admire adore him There which is our City Heaven home it will be our both delight happinesse reward and portion to behold possess enjoy him for ever and this is the very Apex and completion of a Christians felicity Here it 's presumption danger sin to peep into the secret Cabinet the Sacred Ark of his unrevealed will there God will discover and the soul will with fresh unwearied renewed desires sweetest pleasures most refined blisse purest Joies and fullest contentment without all possibility of either sorrowing sinning losing them or being satiated with them see and possesse whatever can afford it blessedness glory or satisfaction Here errors crimes miseries and judgments are the fruits effects rewards of a busy bold curious profane inquiry into the essence of that thrice blessed incomprehensible Majestie and therefore we must be sober fearful humble modest in our search of it in our approach towards it and not dare or presume to touch that glorious Mount by any irreligious irreverent unwarrantable notions opinions or expressions of this great God blessed for ever for otherwise in stead of a discovering light to guide and comfort us we shal be sure to meet with a fire that will consume us Lâ—qui volentes de Dei profundo merst sunt in profundum It is honour comfort and happinesse enough for us to know him by a justifying faith to be our God in Christ while our souls abide in the Tents of our bodies in the Wildernesse of this world and that when death hath taken them down we shall have spiritual Mansions and a glorious inheritance in the Canaan of Heaven This Almighty yet most mercifull God is the sole Landlord of the whole world we are his Tenants at will and the Rents which he requires of us and hath obliged us to pay duly truly and not only yearly but daily unto him are obedience holinesse love praises praier and thankfulnesse This God is both omniscient omnipresent omnipotent and just and pure therefore he both knoweth all those sins that are acted though never so secretly or cunningly by the sons of men abhors them and will certainly yea severely punish them Yet he is also patient pitiful gracious and merciful therefore he is not only willing but ready yea desirous to forgive them and to be reconciled to all truly penitent transgressors a Aelius Spartianus Trajane the Emperour of Rome being on horseback to go to the Warrs he alighted again to hear the complaint of a poor Romane If the Lord of Hosts be marching against a poor soul in a way of wrath he will yet both stay to hear the Petition of an humble sorrowful sinner being that God who heareth prayers and he will also turn from his fierce wrath being that God who delighteth in shewing mercy b Thucidides Admetus Molossorum Rex ignovit Hosti suo Themistocli filiolum proprium intuens quem Themistocles supplex utraque manu complexus patri ostentabat This good God who is infinitely more compassionate then the most pitifull Prince yea then the most affectionate father and which is yet more then the most indulgent tender hearted * Esay 49. 15. Mother ever was or possibly can be to the child of her own womb wil both freely and fully pardon all those who bring his own his only son Jesus Christ in the Armes of faith and love with humility and supplication unto him for the life of their souls c Marc. Aurelius in a Letter to his friend Cornelius It was a custome amongst the Romanes after they had proclaimed open wars against an Enemy and when they had sent their Armies against them for all the Romane Senatours to go into the Temple of Jupiter and in it to swear that if those enemies against whom they were going to fight did desire to enter into a league with Rome or aske pardon for their faults that then all revenge laid aside they should grant them mercy The Lord of Hosts hath proclaimed open wars * Esay 3. 11. against all impenitent Sinners who are implacable enemies to his Majesty to the Prince of Peace Jesus Christ his son and to
into his presence injoy his Favor and live for the just shall live by his faith him God doth love and will honour but all Vashti's * Esther 1. 11. all unbelievers shall be rejected divorced from Christ though Hypocrisie Morality wealth or greatnesse may make them like her very fair to look on who is the head and Husband of his Church and people for ever Faith 't is a tree that bears those golden Apples those rare sweet pleasant precious fruits love to God and his Saints purity and humility of heart and affections peace of conscience victory over the world charity joy in the Holy Ghost courage and constancy in the confession and profession of the truth c. These are the Daughters that rise up and call their Mother blessed These are the Jewels that adorn and the Royall train which attends the Kings Daughter who is all glorious within yea and makes that Palace that heart where she resides and keeps Court all glorious too for the God of glory the Lord of glory and the Spirit of glory do all take up their abode in a beleeving Soul Faith 't is a Stephen beholding a living Christ in heaven through a thick and violent shower of stones when the body is dying upon earth 'T is a brasse wall a * Ephes 6. 16. shield wherewith a beleever both repelleth and quenches all the fiery darts of the Devill Hostem visibilem feriendo invisibilem vincis credendo Our visible enemies may be subdued by striking and fighting but our invisible Adversary the Devill cannot be conquered but by beleeving 'T is that heavenly David which overcomes that spirituall Goliah Satan and all those uncircumcised Philistins sin the world temptations our carnal hearts corrupt affections filthy lusts and our disorderly unruly passions those wild horses which carry us headlong into sin and run away with the soul towards Hell 'T is a divine Apelles that draws the Image of God defaced by sin to the life again upon the Soul 'T is the salt which maketh all our Sacrifices both savory and acceptable because * Heb. 11. 6. without faith it 's impossible to please God Justifying faith works by love and lover runs down the several Chanels †We must love God above all things Apprenativè 2 Intensivâ— 3. Adâ—quatè First of Love to God Amat enim non immerito qui amatus est sine merito Amat sine fine qui sine principio se cognovit amatum And his love to God he demonstrates by yielding a willing sincere constant and universall obedience to all his Commandements For Quicquid propter deum fit aequaliter fit True obedience doth neither deny nor dispute Gods commands but obeyeth them all both equally and cheerfully 2. Of charity to the poor because he that 's freely through grace made a member of Christ cannot but both pity and relieve Christs members The sense of Gods undeserved mercy and bounty to himself will melt his heart into Compassion and open his hand to distribute unto those that are in want 3. Of praying and sorrowing for those that are profane The wicked like those who are infected with the plague desire and delight to corrupt and destroy others incourage them to sin and accompany them in sin But those that love God do so love their Brethren in the flesh also that they both mourn for their iniquities and earnestly heartily cry to the Lord to convince convert pardon and save them 4. Of forgiving enemies freely cordially fully since no man was ever either so malitious against or injurious to another as man was to his maker and Saviour yet Christ did not only forgive him but dyed also to make an atonement for him and to reconcile God and him and therefore for Christs sake in obedience to his command and to expresse his conformity to his Redeemer he will pardon his worst greatest and most implacable adversaries yea and love even those that hate him 5. Lastly of sympathizing with afflicted Christians If one string on a musicall instrument be but touched all the rest will expresse their fellow-feeling thereof in a sound If the head ake the tongue will complain if a finger be burnt the eye will weep And all those whom God hath comforted in their own sorrows will mourn for others calamities and grieve for the afflictions of Joseph Certainly then those are but dead and rotten members which are not sensible of nor affected with the maladies and miseries of their brethren Love 't is the weight which moves all the wheeles of the soul in duty Amor meus pondus meum Eo feror quocunqne feror said holy Augustine 'T is the spring of all wel-pleasing services to God e Curtius Alexander the great had two Friends Hephestâ—onâ— and Parmento Hephesten loved Alexander Parmenio the King God hath two sorts of Friends good men and bad men A worldly wicked man loves God as a King able to protect promote honour provide for him Nam amici ficti fortunae sunt amici non sui But a true believer loves Christ as a Lord Husband Prophet with a heart not only willing but resolved to be guided commanded instructed by him and to be loyal dutifull obedient chast faithfull unto him The one follows Christ for loaves forbâ—y base low carnal ends aimes designs the other to honour serve please praise him The one because he 's great and bountifull the other because he 's good and holy the one withers shrinks repines forsakes God when he is nipt with the frost of adversitie or threatned with the storms of persecution being like a tree that seeds and loses both its fruit and leaves in the cold sharp winter of tryals dangers and like a Mushroome without root But the other like a Palm-tree is not only green in the winter of Affliction but he will also rather then he will want deny or dishonour Christ goe through flames and flouds to serve obey meet injoy him Faith and Love are like a pair of compasses whilst saith stands firmly fixed with the center which is God nam Circumferentia fidei est verbum dei Centrum fidei deus verbum Love walks the round and puts a girdle of Mercy about the loins There may be a shew of charity without faith but there can be no shew of Faith without Charitie d Rainold Orat p. 320. Cato Vticensis being asked by one Quem maxime amaret Respondit fratrem my Brother Being asked the same question a second and a third time still answered Fratrem my Brother and nothing else Aske a true Believer whom he most really intirely loves both his tongue heart and life will answer My elder Brother Jesus Christ Socrates said often he had rather have 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Kings favour then the Kings gold or silver A true beleever had rather injoy the love of God the light of his countenance and a sweet Communion with Christ then ten thousand worlds and saies with e
before all time and created the world was yet born in the fulnesse of time and became man in the world That he who fils both Heaven and earth and can neither be included nor excluded any where was shut up and confined within the narrow womb of a Virgin That he who is the Omnipotent and can do whatever pleaseth him could neither go nor stand That he who is Wisdome it self could not understand That he who is the Word could not speak That Christ was killed before he was alive and slain before he was born That he who is Almighty was held in the Arms and bound in the hands of a weak Woman That the Mother of Christ was both his Daughter Creature Spouse and a pure Virgin even after her Son was born And that if Jesus had not been slain for her from the beginning of the World Mary had not lived 3. A true beleever is both a Pebble and a Diamond a Pillar and a Troubler of the World He is both the honour and scorn the love envy and hatred of men In the Arithmetique of the wicked he standeth but for a Cypher but in the account of an holy God he is a Summe In the scales of the World he is drosse but in the Ballance of the Sanctuary Gold 4. A true Beleever is a merry mourner one cheerfully sorrowfull And as sometimes the clouds and Sun do rain and shine together So while Rivers of penitent griefe and tears spring up in his heart and run out at the floud-gates of his eyes celestiall beams of unknown joy comfort gladnesse dart upon irradiate and revive his dark troubled drooping Spirit 5. He riseth by falling Humiliation is his exaltation He goeth to Heaven by Hell And is never so high and precious in Gods eyes as when he is vilest and lowest in his own 6. A true Beleever is cured by sicknesse being never so well as when he fainteth is even ready to die of love for Christ Affliction is his physick Julip happinesse He is saved by ship-wrack landed by stormes and deeply rooted by winds and shakings 7. He beeleveth God to be most just and yet that the Lord from all eternity decreed that the innocent should be condemned and suffer to acquit the guilty And also that the greatest sinners should be saved by one should dye for sin and yet never committed any sin He beleeveth himself to be freely pardoned and yet knows that a price was paid for his redemption worth more then ten thousand Worlds He beleeves God to be most mercifull most loving and yet knows that God delivered up his own his only Son and suffered him to suffer not only the most bitter painfull and cruell but also the most shamefull Death And likewise that the Lord poured out upon him the fullest vials of his fiercest wrath and that all this was done endured and suffered for those who were both Enemies and Traytors to God and his Son 8. A true Beleever hateth all the World yet is no mans Enemy He is implacable yet without malice inexorable yet easy to be perswaded He prayeth for and heartily forgiveth his very Murderers His worst enemies are friends to him and do him good He sinneth least when he is most angry Taketh revenge on no body but himself And never pleaseth God more then when he is most offended and displeased with himself 9. A true Beleever is the most ambitious man in the World For nothing can satisfie or bound his aspiring mind but a Kingdome and Crown yet he is the most Loyall Subject and the greatest contemner of all sublunary things He wageth and maintaineth with courage resolution delight and constancy perpetuall Warrs and yet he is the greatest lover of peace lives in peace is the most quiet man and dies in peace He is victorious yea invincible yet fights without men against both men and Devills And though he be plundered beggered and lose all yet he groweth rich and great by wars without pay or pillage 10. He is born both alive and dead He dies twice and lives a threefold life of Nature Grace Glory He hath one resurrection before another after he is dead 11. He studieth with delight and diligence to know that which he is assured will both grieve and trouble him being known He is never so wise as when he knoweth himself to be a Fool. He is never so likely to get safe to shore as when he is most fearful of being cast away He is never beautifull untill he see and acknowledge himself to be ugly and deformed and the more he loaths himself the more God loves him 12. He is born of mean and base Parents and yet he is the only truly noble Man For he hath the Royallest bloud greatest alliances and relations highest titles choycest honours honourablest Attendants and the best estate of any man For God is his Father Christ is his Husband Heaven is his mansion Saints are his Brethren Angells are his Servants and Glory is his inheritance 13. A true Beleever is born both a Begger and an Heir He often lives poor yet is alwaies Rich and dies wealthy though without Lands money goods He keepeth his estate by sending it away and increaseth it by spending of it when others not only lessen but lose theirs by sparing and saving it And he taketh his treasure with him to his Grave and beyond it 14. He is never whole till he hath been broken He is never rightly throughly cured until he hath been deeply wounded He is never on earth more really happy then when he seemeth to be truly miserable Injuries are favours to him losses gain calamities mercies afflictions consolations The breaking of his bones setteth them and makes them both straight and strong 15. A true Beleever liveth in Heaven whilest he sojourns upon Earth he speaketh in company without being heard receives answers which no man can either intercept demurre or perceive enjoyes the best company though alone He walks while he lies still and is not there where men behold him 16. He hath a continuall feast without flesh and eating A Banquet without sweet meats melody without musick and Joy in the middest of sorrow He is dear beloved owned when he thinks himself despised rejected hated He beleeves he shall find pleasure in pain honey in gal life in death and doth so 17. He hath all things in the midst of his extreamest wants yet is beholding to the World for nothing for he fetcheth his meat drink clothes mercies comforts and whatever he possesseth from Heaven He sends by faithful frequent fervent prayers to Christ for them bids patience wait and appoints hope to bring him an answer which believing he shall receive it cometh indeed either according to his desires and expectation or beyond them He alwaies speeds and obtains even when his suit is denyed He hath what he will because he will have but what he may and therefore he sits down both contented and thankfull though he be crossed 18. A