may not quench this love but rather like Snuffers make this lamp to burn the brighter Beasts love them who feed them Wicked men love their friends and benefactours My very cloaths warming me are warmed by me again and shall not I love him who hath loved me and washed me in his own blood O that I could groundedly cry out with Ignatius My love was crucified and meet this Lord of Heaven as Elijah went up to Heaven in a Chariot of fire in a flame of love Repentance I desire that I may follow Christ at this Ordinance as the Women did to his Cross weeping considering that my sins were the cause of his bitter and bloody suffering and O that as Saul eyed David I might eye them all from that day forward to slay and destroy them When my soul hath been thus feasted with Marrow and fatness After the Sacrament Thankfulness Lord let my mouth praise thee with joyful lips Ah what am I and what is my Fathers house that when others eat the bread of violence and drink the wine of deceit I should eat the flesh and drink the blood of thine own Son What is man that thou art so mindful of him and the Son of man that thou dost thus visit him I wish that I may shew my thankefulness to my God and dearest Saviour for these benefits the worth of which men and Angels can never conceive by the love of my heart the praises of my lips Faithfulness and the exemplariness of my life At the Sacrament Christ gave his body and blood to me and I gave my body and soul a living Sacrifice to him and that before God Angels and Men the Sacrament was Beersheba the Well of an Oath Shall I pollute that heart which was solemnly devoted to God and prophane that Covenant which I have seriously contracted with the most High Should I like Sampson break those bands asunder and fetch that Sacrifice away from the Altar which was tyed with such strong cords of Oaths and Covenants must I not expect to bring the fire along with it O let me never start aside from my vow like a deceitful bow Lord I have sworn and will perform that I will keep through thy strength thy righteous judgements Lastly I desire that I may not onely differ from them who like the Habassiness In Prester Iohns Country will not fpit on a Sacrament day but will spue the next day deny sin at present but afterwards Deifie it that I may not onely be faithful to my Oath of Allegiance but also fruitful in obedience that as Elijah walked in the strength of one meal forty days I may walk in the strength of that Banquet serving my Saviour and my Soul all my days In a word I wish that I may ever after walk worthy of my birth having Royal Heavenly blood running in my veins worthy of my breeding being brought up in the nurture of the Lord fed at his own Table with the bread of Heaven cloathed with the Robes of his Sons Righteousness and that my present deportment may be answerable to my future preferment O that I might in all companies conditions and seasons walk worthy of him who hath called me to his Kingdom and glory Amen CHAP. XXI How to exercise our selves to godliness on a Lords Day BEcause the Lords Day is the special time for Religious Duties I shall therefore Reader give thee here some particular directions for thy Sanctification of it and Edification by it As of all actions none call for more care then holy duties so of all seasons for those actions none commandeth so much caution and Conscience as the Lords Day The first Command teacheth us the object of Worship the second the matter of Worship the third the manner of Worship the fourth the time of Worship That God is to be worshipped Time of worship is juris naturalis one of seven is juris positivi that some time must be set apart for that work is Moral Natural and written on the Tables of all our hearts but that one day of seven must be consecrated to this end is Moral Positive and written on the Tables of stone All Nations have had their seasons for Sacrifice even the Heathen who worshipped dumb Idols had their Festivals and Holy days It is reported of Alexander Severus Emperor of Rome that he would on a Sabbath Day lay aside his Wordly affairs and go into the Capitol to Worship his gods Among those that acknowledge the true God the Turks have their Stata tempora set times of devotion nay they have their Fryday Sabbath But to keep the Lords Day upon a conscientious ground and in a religious manner is peculiar to the true Christian In the primitive times the observation of this day was esteemed the principal sign of a Saint Indeed our Sanctification of it is by God himself counted a sign that he hath sanctified us Exod. 31.13 It is observable that God hath fenced this Command with more hedges then ordinary to prevent our excursions 1. It is markt with a Memento above other commands Remember the Sabbath Day to keep it holy partly because of our forgetfulness and partly because of its concernments 2. It s delivered both Negatively and Affirmatively which no other commands is to shew how strongly it bindes 3. It hath more Reasons to enforce it then any other Precept Its Equity Gods Bounty His own Pattern and the Days Benediction 4. It s put in the close of the first Est caput Religionis totum Dei cultum continet Willet in Exod. 35.1 and beginning of the second Table to note that the observation of both Tables depends much upon the Sanctification of this day It is considerable also that it is more repeated then other of the Commands Exod. 20.31 14.34 and 24.35 1.19 Levit. 3.28.30 God would have Israel know Omni tempore Sabbato debere cessare Aug. in Exod. quaest 160. in those fore-quoted places that their busiest times earing and harvest and the very building of the Tabernacle must give way to this Precept On the Lords Day we go into Gods Sanctuary and his pleasure is that we reverence his Sanctuary Levit. 19.30 The Jews indeed made a great stir about their outward reverencing the Temple Willet in loc They tell us they were not to go in with a staff nor shoes nor to spit in it nor when they went away to turn their backs upon it but go sideling Ezek. 8.16 but certainly Gods meaning is principally that we do with inward reverence and seriousness worship him in his Sanctuary Reader I desire thee to take notice that the more holy any action is the more heedful thou oughtest to be about it Upon which account the duties of this day require extraordinary diligence for they have a double die of holiness upon them they are double gilt Thy task on that day or the exercises thereof are of Divine Institution
and so is the time the day Thou hast Gods hand and seal to the duties he commands thee to pray hear sing meditate receive the Sacrament and thou hast also Gods hand and seal to the day Acts 20.7 1 Cor. 16.2 Revel 1.10 It is considerable that in the fourth Command God doth not say Remember the seventh day to keep it holy but Remember the Sabbath Day to keep it holy this Zanchy takes great notice of further the seventh or a seventh is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God so then the morality of that Command is one day of even The Jews seventh day was buried in Christs grave though its shadow walked a little while after Take heed how thou observest this day Gods eye is very much upon thy behavior in his house therefore in the Tabernacle the place of publike worship it was commanded Ne putes te in domo Dei male posse conversari occultari Oleaster Exod. 25.37 Thou shalt make seven lamps and they shall light the lamps that they may give light to teach us that nothing there escapes his sight for in his house there is always light His eye beholds all thy commission of evil and all thine omission of good there In his Sanctuary thou canst not sin in secret there are seven Lamps to discover thy miscarriages in the Lords house and therefore it behoves thee to be very pious in that place Afterwards when the Temple was built and became heir to the Tabernacle as that succeeded this in the Celebration of Gods Worship so also in Gods observation of all the works done there Mine eye saith God shall be there perpetually 1 Kings 9.3 There is a threefold eye of God present in the Assemblies of his people 1. There is the eye of observation and inspection God seeth what uprightness and seriousness there is in thy prayers and performances God eyeth and takes notice what integrity and fervency thou hast in thy services and sacrifices Mine eyes are upon all their ways Jer. 16.17 Whether thou art praying or reading or hearing or singing his eye is upon thee and whether thou performest thy duties slothfully and sluggishly or dutifully and diligently he observeth thee His eyes behold and his eye-lids try the children of men 2. There is the eye of favour and benediction Gods eye can convey a blessing as well as his hand I will set mine eyes upon them for good Amos 9.4 And Gods eye can speak his good will as well as his heart Mine eye and my heart shall be there that is in my house 2 Chron. 7.16 The affection of the breast is seen at the brows Mine eye shall be upon the faithful of the Land Psal 101.6 Gods eye is in his house to approve and bless thee if thou sanctifie him in Ordinances Friend keep the Lords Day with care and conscience perform thy duties with suitable graces and Gods eye will be upon thee thou shalt see his love in his pleasant and gracious looks Jesus Christ beholds and approves the gracious performances of his people he seems to say to them as Paul to the Colossians Though I am absent from you in the flesh yet am I present with you in the Spirit joying and beholding your order Col. 2.15 3. There is the eye of fury and indignation Gods looks will speak his anger as well as his blows His fury is visible by his frowns Mine eyes shall be upon them for evil Gods sight can wound as deeply as his Sword Job speaks of him He sharpneth his eyes upon me Job 16.9 Wilde Beasts when they fight whet their eyes as well as their teeth An Enemy enraged looks on his Antagonist as if he would look through him He sharpneth his eyes upon me as if he would stab me to the heart with a glance of his eye so an Expositor glosseth on it If thou wait on God irreverently Worship him carelesly and prophanest his Day either by Corporal labour or Spiritual idleness thou mayest not expect his eye of favour but of fury If ye will not hearken unto me to hallow the Sabbath then will I kindle a fire which shall devour the Palaces of Jerusalem and none shall quench it Jerem. 17. ult Ezek. 22.26 31. Gods severity hath been remarkable on the Prophaners of his Sabbath The first blow given the German Churches was on the Lords Day which they carelesly observed on that day Prague was lost When men disturb Gods rest God doth usually deprive them of rest The day of the Lord is like to be a dreadful day to them that despise the Lords Day Truly God is as jealous in his Courts under the Gospel as he was under the Law Christ whose eyes are as a flame of fire walks in the midst of the Golden Candlesticks throughout the World He observes how holy duties are performed and how his holy day is sanctified When two or three are gathered together in his name he is in the midst of them Mat. 18.20 He is in the midst of us to behold our inward and outward carriage in his Courts he observeth in praying what confessions are made of sin with what confusion of face and contrition of heart what petitions are put up for grace and pardon with what integrity of spirit and fervency of affection He observeth in hearing whether men hear with attention sutable to that word which is able to save their souls whether men receive the truth in the love of it whether they resolve on subjection and to give themselves up to that form of Doctrine which is given down to them or whether men hear Sermons as Children turn over books meerly for the gays that are in them He goeth down into the garden of Nuts to see the fruits of the Valley Cant. 6.11 He seeth the rotten bough of Hypocrisie the leaves of profession without the fruits of an answerable conversation He seeth all thine unripe sowre indigested duties Reader If I were to counsel thee how to spend a Market day so that thou mightest gain much wealth and treasure I doubt not but thou wouldst hearken to me I am now to advise thee how to spend the Lords day the Market day for thy soul so that thou mayst get the true treasure durable riches and righteousness I pray thee to hear and obey the directions which I have to deliver thee from the Lord for that end First Make preparation for the day There is scarce any work which admits of any considerable perfection but require some previous preparation In works of nature the ground must be dunged dressed plowed harrowed and all to prepare it for the seed In works of Art the Musitian tuneth his Viol screwing up some of his strings higher letting some down lower as occasion is and all to prepare it for his lesson and indeed without this he would make but sad Mâ—sick Truely Friend thus it is with us in matters of higher moment hearts like soil must be prepared for the seed of the Word how
Victory but not to improve a Victory Usually the Evenings are cold though the days are hot 19. As Oratours at the close of their speech use all their Art and Skill to move the affections of their Auditors so at the close of the Lords day put forth all thy grace and spiritual strength to prevail with God for a blessing Say of the Sabbath as Jacob to the Angel I will not let the go without a blessing 20. Labour to keep the influence of Lords day Ordinances warm upon thy spirit all the week after let not thy devotion pass away with the day Some Children when they put on new Shooes on a Sabbath are very careful to keep them clean are unwilling to set their feet to the ground for fear of dirt but in the week days will run up to the Ankles in Water or Mire O let not childrens play be thy earnest but endeavour that thy practices in secret and private in thy calling and in all companies on the Week days may be answerable to the great priviledges which thou didst enjoy and the grace which thou didst receive on the Lords day A good wish about the Lords day wherein the former heads are Epitomized THe first day of the Week being of divine institution The Introduction and Baptized by God himself with that Honorable name of the Lords day partly in regard of its Author This is the day which the Lords hath made partly in regard of the blessed Redeemer who rose that day and Triumphed over the Grave the Devil the Curse of the Law and Hell it being a day Sanctified for the glory of my Saviour of which I may say as of Jacob The Lord hath chosen it to himself for his peculiar Treasure Psa 135.4 and a day set apart for the spiritual and eternal good of my precious soul wherein I may enjoy communion with my God in all his Ordinances without interruption I wish in general that as the Spirit may be in me in the week days so that I may be in the Spirit on the Lords day filled therewith and enabled thereby to have my conversation all the day long in Heaven O that my care in fitting my soul for it my holy carriage at it and my sutable conversation after it may testifie that I had rather be a Door-keeper in the House of my God then to dwell in the Tents of Wickedness and that I esteem one day in his Courts better then a thousand else-where I wish in particular that I may prepare for it Preparation as for a Wedding day wherein Christ and my soul are to be espoused together and to that end before it cometh may be careful so to order my earthly affairs that they may not incroach upon this Holy ground and so open the door of my heart and adorn it with spiritual excellencies that the King of Glory may enter in and think himself a welcome Guest in my soul O that I might never give my God cause to complain of me as once of the Jews Your Sabbaths and solemn feasts I cannot away with for your hands are defiled As Nehemiah shut the Gates of the City that no burdens might be carried in on the Sabbath day so let me secure the Gate of my heart that no Worldly things may disturb me in Sabbath duties O let me not like Martha be careful and troubled about many things but on this day especially sit at Christs feet mind the one thing necessary and chuse the good part which shall never be taken from me I wish that I may long more for it then ever a Bride-groom did for his Bride that when it is come in I may bid it heartily Welcome and that as my Saviour rose early that morning to justifie me so I may rise early on this day to glorifie him I desire that this holy day may be an high day in my account both because the Lord of the Sabbath hath separated it to sacred uses and because it is the day of his resurrection whence so much good cometh to my soul Esteem the day as a priviledge By his passion he layd down the price of my redemption but by his rising again the Judge of Quick and dead sending his officer an Angel to roul away the stone open the prison door and let him out he manifesteth to the world that the debt is discharged and the law fully saatisfied O of what value should this day be to me My Redeemers humiliation indeed was like Josephs imprisonment but his delivery out of the grave like Josephs enlargement and preferment whereby he came into a capacity to advance and enrich all his relations I pray that I may look on this day as a special season to sow to the spirit in and improve it accordingly A price to get and increase grace I believe that my God will not hold him guiltless that takes his name or spends his day in vain O let me not like a foolish child play by that candle which is set up for me to work by lest I go to the bed of my grave in the dark of sin and sorrow Publique Ordiuances to be esteemed the chiefest work of the day I wish that I may not neglect either secret or family duties on this sacred day but yet that I may so perform them that they may be helps not hinderances to publique Ordinances that since God loveth the gates of Sion above all the the dwellings of Jacob I may set an high price upon and have an ardent love to the habitation of Gods house and the place where his honor dwelleth Delight in it that as a true child of my heavenly Father I may love most and like best that milk which is warm from the breasts of publick ordinances I wish that I may call the Lords day my delight it being a day wherein I enter into the suburbs of the holy City and begin that work of praysing pleasing and enjoying my God which I hope to be employed in to eternity that it may be my meat and drink to do the Will of my God O that I might so savour the things of the Spirit and so taste the Lord to be gracious that love may be the Loadston to draw me to my closet family and to Church and season every service I am called to upon the Sabbath Sanctifie the whole day Because every part of this day is of great price more worth then a whole World I desire that not the least moment of it may be squandred away but as the Disciples after the miracle of loaves I may gather up with care and conscience the smallest fragments that nothing be lost My God giveth me good measure heaped up pressed down shaken together and running over why should I be niggardly to him to my self indeed for it is my profit not his when he is so liberal so bountiful to me I wish in regard the blessed God is not onely the Master Communion
of God in Ordinances but also the Marrow of his day that no Lords day may satisfie me without the Lord of the day Alass what is the best time without the Rock of eternity what is the best day without the Ancient of days what are the Ordinances of God without the God of Ordinances what are Sabbaths Sermons Sacraments and Seasons of Grace without the dearest Saviour but as broken Cisterns glorious Dreams or guilded nothings I have read of a good soul who answered his Friend Speak to me while you will no words can satisfie except you mention Christ write to me what you will it will not satisfie except in your Letters I may read Christ O that in no Sermon I might be contented till I hear Christ and that in no Chapter I might be pleased till I can read Christ that as the Needle touched with the Load-stone never resteth till it turn to the North so my heart may be reâ—â— less in holy duties till it turneth to and hath fellowship with the Lord of Heaven The Lords day is an excellent resemblance of my future blessedness wherein I shall enjoy my Saviour fully and my God shall be all in all to me Lord let never this day pass without some taste of those celestial pleasures Meditation on the Works and Word of my God being a duty most in its prime and season on a Sabbath day I beg that what time I spare from publique private or secret performances I may imploy to this purpose that I may behold my God to be infinite in wisdom power and goodness in his foot-steps of creation and stand amazed at that rare Workmanship those curious contrivances of his which Angels look into with admiration that appear in his Master-peice that work of Redemption and for his word let my heart be able to say with David O how love I thy law it is my meditation all the day I wish that I may watch over my thoughts words Watchfulness and actions all the day long in special that as when the holy things belonging to the Sanctuary were to be removed they were covered all over lest any dust should soil them so I may cover my heart with such circumspection that no dust of sin may cleave to it O that I might be so wise and watchful that there may not be the least minute of the day wherein I may not either do or receive some good Lord let no Sabbath pass without some saving good to my precious soul I desire Finally Conclusion of the day that I may not lose the heat of the day in the cool of the Evening I mean that what good If gain from my God through his Ordinances in the day may not be lost by my negligence at night but that as a wise Commander I may then double my Guard and expect with much importunity some evening dews of comfort and grace O that I might so keep the Sabbath of my God chuse the things that please him and take hold of his Covenant that I might so turn away my foot from the Sabbath from doing my pleasure on his holy day Is 56.4 5. and 58.13 and call the Sabbath my delight the holy of the Lord that I may have with the Eunuch within the House of my God a name better then of Sons and Daughters even an everlasting name that shall not be cut off Amen A Good Wish to the Lords day HAil thou that art highly favoured of God Luk. 1.28 thou map of Heaven thou golden spot of the week thou market-Market-day of souls thou Day-break of eternal brightness thou Queen of days the Lord is with thee blessed art thou among days I may say to thee what the Angel said to Daniel Dan. 9.23 O day greatly beloved Psa 45. Thou art fairer then all the Children of time grace is poured into thy lips God even thy God hath anointed thee with the Oyl of gladness above thy fellows Of the Jewish Sabbaths and other Festivals in comparison of thee it may be spoken They perish but thou remainest and they all wax old as a Garment Heb. 1.11 12. And as a vesture hast thou folded them up and they are changed but thou shalt maugre the malice of men and Devils continue the same and thy years shall not fail As the Temple succeeded and exceeded the Tabernacle this was fleeting that was fixed so dost thou all former Sabbaths they were but morning stars to usher in thee the Sun and then to disappear Other Festivals in all their Royalty are not arrayed like unto thee All the graces triumph in thee all the Ordinances conspire to enrich thee the Father ruleth thee the Son rose upon thee the Spirit hath overshadowed thee Thus is it done to the day which the King of Heaven delighteth to honour Thou hast not onely a common blessing with other days by the law of nature but a special blessing above all other days from the love of thy Maker Let thousands mark thee for their new birth-day Exod. 12.42 be thou a day as it was said of that night to the Jews much to be Remembred much to be observed to the Lord for bringing many out of worse then Egyptian bondage Esther 8.16 be thou to them a day of light and gladness of joy and honour and a good day On thee light was created the Holy Ghost descended life hath been restored Satan subdued sin mortified souls sanctified the Grave Death and Hell conquered O how do men and women flutter up and down on the Week-days as the Dove on the waters and can find no rest for their souls till they come to thee their Ark till thou put forth thy hand and take them in O how do they sit under thy shadow with great delight and find thy fruit sweet to their taste O the mountings of mind the ravishing happiness of heart the solace of soul which on thee they enjoy in the blessed Saviour They are sorry when the days shorten for thy sake they wish for thee before thou comest they welcome thee when thou art come and they enjoy so much of heaven in thee that thence they love and look and long the more for their eternal Sabbath Go forth O thou fairest among Women and be thou fruitful in bringing forth Children to thy Maker and Husband Gen. 24.60 Be thou the Mother of thousands and of millions and let thy seed possess the Gate of them that hate them Do thou like Rachel and Leah build up the House of Israel do thou worthily in Ephratah and be thou famous in Bethlehem Gird thy sword upon thy thigh O thou mighty and gracious day and in thy Majesty ride prosperously because of meekness righteousness and truth let thy right hand teach the terrible things let thine arrows be sharp in the hearts spiritual enemies whereby the people may fall under thee Psa 132. The Lord hath chosen thee he hath desired thee for his habitation
will bring the plague along with them One scabbed sheep may wrong the whole flock one putrid grape corrupt a cluster a little Leaven Leaveneth the whole lump Lord in the choyce of inhabitants for my house let my eye be not onely upon my own welfare and their fitness for my work but chiefly on thy glory and their willingness to work the work of him that sent them into the World Ioh. 9.4 Psa 26.4 5. and 119. Let me hate the congregation of evil doers Let me not sitwith vain persons Let mine eyes be upon the faithful in the Land Let them that fear thee turn unto me and such as keep thy righteous judgements Let me dwell with them here on earth with whom I shall dwell hereafter in the house not made with hands but eternal in the Heavens I wish that that there may be a Church in my house and all the persons in it 2 Mind holy performances in thy Family both Morning and Evening at least imploved in those holy performances which my God requireth My house should be a resemblance of Heaven Above in his greatest and most glorious house my God is served without ceasing and without sinning O that though in his lower and lesser house natural and civil actions cause intermission of and the body of death causeth imperfections in holy duties yet he might be worshipped both constantly and perfectly in a Gospel and Evangelical sence I have read that amongst the worst of Turks the Moors it is a just exception against any Witness by their law Prayer that he hath not prayed four times in every natural day â— Hall Contemp. I wish that none in my Familie may be worse then Turks but that both all apart may secretly and all together may privaetly offer up the Morning and Evening Sacrifice of prayer and praise to the Lord my God Daniel would pray three times a day though he were cast to the Lions for it and shall my Family neglect prayer when the Omission of it will make them a prey to roaring Lions It is the honour and happiness of my house to exalt the Worship of my God in it his Service is the greatest freedom his work is a reward to it self why should we be our own enemies in banishing our best friends out of our family The mercies of my God are renewed upon me and mine every Morning his care and love is continued to us all the day long the dews and showrs of his compassion fall down upon us every Evening shall we be forgetful of him who is every moment so mindful of us O let my Family never be so void of grace and manners as not to bid our God Good-Morrow and Good-Night upon any pretence whatsoever I wish that the word of Christ may dwell richly in my heart and house Scripture instruction and Catechising that my whole familie may have their set meales every day of this Spiritual food How can I expect that Children or Servants who know not the God of their Fathers should serve him with perfect hearts Alas how often are their ignorant hearts like dark Cellers abounding in vermine full of sin 1 Cron. 28.9 O that I might so talk of the Word of God in my house Deut. 6.7 8. when I lye down and when I rise up that it may be written upon the Posts of my House and on my Gates that I may so often water the young plants in it that their first acquaintance may be acquaintance with God and from their childhood they may know the holy Scriptures and be wise to Salvation through faith which in Christ Jesus Though others care be to instruct their Servants onely in their own work let my care be to instruct mine in Gods Will and Word Though others labour to leave their children rich let my endeavour be to leave mine religious Lord enable me so to teach them thy Trade in their youth that they may not depart from it when they are old Prov. 22.6 that their young years well led may be like the Sweetness of a Rose whose swell remaineth in the dried leaves I wish That all the voyces in my house may tuneably sing Gods praises Singing Psalms yet that they may not like Trumpets and Pipes make a sound being filled onely with winde but have hearts fixed and prepared when they sing and give praise O that all the Viols in my house may be so in tune and their strokes so true that singing with grace in our hearts we may make melody to the Lord. Drunkards have their Songs in derision of them that are good Atheists have their Sonnets in dishonor of the blessed God Why should not the voyce of joy and rejoycing be in the Tabernacle of the righteous Psal 118.15 Though my house is a Tabernacle and all the inhabitants in it Travellers yet our work is pleasant O let us go merrily on and make Gods Statutes our Songs in this house of our pilgrimage Because my pattern of evil will do more hurt to my family 3 Set them a good example then my precepts can do good servants and children being apt to be led more by the eye then the ear I wish That I may take heed to my self weigh and watch over all my words and works not onely for my own but also for the sake of them that are committed to my charge Distillations from the head often consume and destroy the vitals My family is like a flock of sheep if the first leap through into a ditch or river the rest are ready to follow O that I might therefore be wary in all my ways and be so serious in Spiritual so sober in Natural actions so righteous towards men so religious towards my God so faithful in every relation and so holy and heavenly in every condition that I may have cause to say to my children and servants as Gideon to his Souldiers Look on me and do likewise Judg. 7.17 I wish 4 See that thy family sanctifie the Lords Day That my house may not onely spend some part of every Week day but also the whole Sabbath day in the service of my God It is a special priviledge granted me by the Lord for my families profit wherein I may be singularly helpful to my own and my housholds everlasting happiness O that not the least part of it may be lost or prophaned by any within my gate either by worldly labour pastimes or idleness but that I may be so mindeful of my charge as to take care that my children and servants do forbear what my God forbiddeth and spend that Sacred Day altogether in Sacred Duties To which purpose I desire That all my houshold both males and females if of capacity may appear before the Lord in publique and in his Temple give him praise and that in private I may whet the Word on them as the mower doth his sithe by going over it again and again according
is predestinated and created for this purpose Isa 43.1 and 7. Thou art mine I have created him for my glory I have formed him yea I have made him There is both the author and the end of our creation the author I have created him the end for my glory As man is the most exact piece on which he bestowed most pains Solâ—s homo sapientia instructus est ut religianem solus intelligat haec est hominis atque mutorum vel praecipua vel sola diâ—antia Lact. deâ—ira dei so from him he cannot but expect most praise Lactantius accounteth religion the most proper and essential difference between men and beasts The praises which Beasts give God are dumb their sacrifices are dead but the sacrifices of Men are living and their praises lively God did indeed set up the admirable house of the visible world floaring it with the earth watering it with the Ocean and ceiling it with the pearly Heavens for his own service and honor but the payment of this rent is expected from the hands of Man the inhabitant He was made and put into this house upon this very account that be might as Gods Steward gather his rents from other creatures and pay in to the great Landlord his due and deserved praise Man is made as a glass to represent the perfections that are in God A glass can receive the beams of the Sun into it and reflect them back to the Sun again The excellencies of God appear abundantly in his works man is made to be the glass where these beams of Divine glory should be united and received and also from him reflected back to God again O how absurd is it to conceive that God should work a body so curiously in the lowest parts of the Earth embroyder it with nerves veins variety and proportion of parts miracles enough saith one between head and foot to fill a Volume and then enliven it with a spark of his own fire a ray of his own light an Angelical and Heaven born soul and send this picture of his own perfections this comely creature into the World meerly to eat and drink and sleep or to buy and sell and sow and reap Surely the onely wise God had an higher end and nobler design in forming and fashioning man with so much care and cost The upright figure of mans body as the poetical Heathen could observe may mind him of looking upward to those blessedmansions above Os hominisublime dedit taelumque tueri jussit Ovid. and that fifth muscle in his eye whereby he differeth also from other creatures who have onely four one to turn downward Columb de re anat l. 1. c. 9. another to hold forwards a third to turn the eye to the right hand a fourth to turn the eye to the left but no unreasonable creature can turn the eye upward as man can may admonish him of viewing those superiour glories and exercising himself to godliness it being given him for this purpose saith the Anatomist that by the help thereof he might behold the Heavens thus the blessed God even by sensible demonstrations speaks his mind and end in making man but the nature of mans soul being a spiritual substance doth more loudly proclaim Gods pleasure that he would have it conversant about spiritual things He made it an heavenly spark that it might mount and ascend to Heaven A Philosopher may get riches Arist Polit. lib. 1. cap. ult saith Aristotle but that is not his main business a Christian may nay must follow his particular calling but that is not his main business that is not the errand for which he was sent into the World God made particular callings for men but he made men for their general callings It was a discreet answer of Anaxagoras Clazamenius to one that asked him why he came into the World Coelum mihi patria cuius cura summa est Anaxago Diogen Laert. Vt coelum contempler that I might contemplate Heaven Heaven is my Country and for that is my chiefest care May not a Christian upon better reason confess that to be the end of his creation that he might seek heaven and be serviceable to the Lord of Heaven and say as Jerom I am a miserable sinner and born onely to Repent The Jewish Talmud propounds this question Why God made man on the Sabbath-eve and gives this answer That he might presently enter upon the command of sanctifying the Sabbath and begin his life with the worship of God which was the chief reason and end why it was given him CHAP. VI. Religion is a work of the greatest weight It is Soul-work it is God-work it is Eternity-work SEcondly Godliness ought to be every mans main business because it is a work of the greatest concernment and weight Things that are of most stress call for our greatest strength Our utmost pains ought to be laid out upon that which is of highest price Mans diligence about any work must be answerable to the consequence of the work The folly of man seldom appears more then in being very busie about nothing in making a great cry where there is little Wool like that empty fellow that shewed himself to Alexander having spent much time and taken much pains at it before hand and boasted that he could throw a Pea through a little hole expecting a great reward but the King gave him onely a bushel of Pease for a recompence sutable to his diligent negligence or his busie Idleness Things that are vain and empty are unworthy of our care and industry The man that by hard labour and hazard of his life did climb up to the top of the Steeple to set an Egg an end was deservedly the object of pity and laughter We shall think him little better then mad that should make as great a fire for the rosting of an Egg as for the roasting of an Ox. On the other side the wisdom of men never presenteth it self to our view in livelier colours then in giving those affairs which are of greatest concernment precedency of time and strength Of brutes man may learn this lesson When the cart is empty or hath but little lading the Team goeth easily along they play upon the road but when the burden is heavy or the Cart stuck they pull and draw and put forth all their strength Now godliness is amongst all mans works of the greatest weight The truth is he hath no work of weight but this this is the one thing necessary and in this one thing are mans all things Our unchangeable weal or wo in the other world is wrapt up in our diligence or negligence about this our earthly business be they about food or raiment about honours or pleasures or whatsoever are but toys and trifles but bables and Butterflies to this As Candles before the sun they must all disappear and give place to this Moses a pious and tender Father when leaving them in his Swan-like
and soul was steeped in tears and his whole time from the womb to the tomb was spent in sorrows and sufferings full of tribulations And as Antichrist is called a man of sin because he is as Beza observes well Merum scelus Meer sin nothing but sin Isa 53.3 2 Thess 2.3 so the children of God should be men of holiness meer holiness made up of holiness nothing but holiness every part of them should be holy and every deed done by them should be holy holiness in their hearts should as the Lungs in the body be in continual motion and holiness in their life must run through all their words as the Woof through the whole Web. The Jews had their daily weekly monthly yearly addresses unto God to teach us that we must be always trading heavenward that there must be an unwearied commerce an uninterrupted intercourse betwixt God and our souls Saints lives are therefore compared to a walk and called a walking with God or a walking before God they must still walk as in company with him and tread every step as under his eye Gen. 5.22 and 17.1 The Planets because of their wandering nature are sometime nearer to sometime further from the earth yet always within the Zodiack the high-way of the Sun So the Christian though he be sometimes stooping to the earth in his particular calling sometime mounting up to Heaven in the immediate Worship of God yet he must always be in the path of godliness The highway of the Sun of Righteousness Be thou in the fear of the Lord all the day long saith Solomon Prov. 23.17 Whether a Christian be eating or drinking or buying or selling or plowing or sowing or riding or walking whatever he be doing or whereever he be going he must be always in the fear of the Lord Godliness must be his guide his measure and his end as the salt it must be sprinkled on every dish to make it savoury Thy life O Christian must be so led that it may be a continued serving of God The Precept is full though if a true Christian thou wilt esteem it thy priviledge that whatsoever thou dost thou art to do all to the glory of God 1 Cor. 10.31 God must be the Alpha and Omega the beginning and end of all thy actions thy duty is to pass the whole time of thy sourjourning here in fear 1 Pet. 1.17 Every moment must be devoted to God and as all seasons so all actions must be sacred There is a Prophesie that in Jerusalem in that day shall there be upon the bells of the horses Holiness to the Lord and the pots in the Lords house shall be like the bowles before the Altar yea every put in Judah and Jerusalem shall be holiness to the Lord of Hosts Zach. 14.20 21. Mark the same Inscription is to be upon the bells of horses and on every pot wich was on the High Priests mitre Holiness to the Lord to teach us That every thing though but of common use should be sanctified to Gods service Vt quicquid aggrediatnr homines sit sacrificium Calv. in loc That every ordinary enterprize saith Calvin should be a sacrifice In the prosecution of this Exhortation I shall First Speak to the nature of this duty and Manner how a Christian must exercise himself to Godliness in the whole course of his life and in every part thereof Secondly I shall lay down some Means for the accomplishing this duty Thirdly I shall annex some Motives to encourage the Reader in this holy Trade and calling First As to the Manner how a Saint may in every passage of his life follow this Trade I shall divide my Discourse into these several Heads 1. How a man may make Godliness his business in religious actions or the Worship of God in general as also in his carriage in hearing or reading in Prayer at the Lords Supper and on the Lords day in particular 2 How a Christian may make Religion his business in his natural actions of eating drinking sleeping and cloathing 3. In his Recreations 4. In his particular vocation or calling 5. In reference to his Relations and Family 6. In his dealings with all men 7. In all conditions whether of prosperity or adversity 8. In all companies whether good or bad 9. In solitariness or when he is alone 10. On a weak-day from morning to night 11. In his visiting the fick 12. Vpon a dying bed CHAP. XI How a Christian may make Religion his business in spiritual Performances and religious Actions FIrst Make Godliness thy business in religious Duties I shall put that first in order which is first in nature and excellency and truly Friend thy special care must be here thy greatest diligence will be little enough when thou comest solemnly into Gods presence Cleanly men wash their hands and brush their cloaths every day but when they are to dine with a King they will wash and scour their hands they will brush their cloaths over and over again that their hands may be if possible clean from the least dirt and their garments from the least dust The true Christian is in all company and in the whole course of his life every day careful to keep his soul clean and his conscience clear nay to encrease his Godliness but when he draweth nigh to God and he hath more special care and extraordinary caution though Tradesmen are all the year long doing somewhat at their callings either casting up their accounts or gathering in their debts or amending something in their commodities which are amiss and therefore have no time for idleness yet at some times of the year they are full of trading their shops are crowded with customers they are all the week either sending out or taking in wares now this time calls for their greatest diligence and watchfulness The time of sacred duty is a Christians market day wherein he is much imployd and therefore it calls for his greatest diligence He that leaves his Shop or loyters in it at such a time must expect that his Shop will quickly leave him The Husbandman hath his seasons to Plow and Sow in which if he be heedless and careless about that either his seed be smutty or his servant slothful he can look for but a mean and poor harvest The hours of praying and reading and hearing are the Saints opportunities and seasons of grace if he be not then careful and consciencious to Plow up the fallow ground of his heart and to sow to the Spirit his return will be very inconsiderable he will Reap but a thin crop But truely friend if thou hast no respect to thy souls good God hath to his own glory and though he stoop to thee ingiving thee leave to seek his face and hear his voice yet he will not be slighted by thee He is a glorious and jealous Majesty and esteemeth it a disparagement to him for any to wait upon him without their best attire Though Vzzah be
To thy duty at the Sacrament 3. To thy duty after the Sacrament First To thy duty before the Sacrament and herein my counsel is that thou wouldst prepare thy self solemnly for this Ordinance The Jews had their preparation for their Passover John 19.24 It was the preparation of the Passover Nay they took their Lamb the tenth day of the moneth and did not kill it till the fourteenth Exod. 12.3 and as some of their Writers observe they tied it all the while to their bed posts that in the interim they might prepare themselves for it Our Lord Jesus when he was to eat the Passoever and institute the Supper would have so much as the house in which he would do it prepared before-hand Mark 14.15 The ancient Fathers and primitive Christians used to sit up whole nights at prayer before the Lords Supper which they called their Vigiliae Reader thy care must be to trim thy lamp and make sure of oyl in the vessel now thou art going to meet the Bridegrom Samuel spake to the inhabitants of Bethlehem Sanctifie your selves and come to the Sacrifice so say I to thee Sanctifie thy soul and then come to the Sacrament 1 Sam. 16.9 Joseph prepared himself by shaving himself and changing his raiment before he went unto Pharaoh And wilt not thou prepare thy self by putting thy soul into the holiest posture thou canst when thou art to go in unto the King of Heaven and Earth He that would make a good meal even when he is to feast at anothers cost must prepare his stomack beforehand by moderate fasting or exercise God expecteth that the hands be pure but especially that the heart be prepared The good Lord saith Hezekiah pardon every one that prepareth his heart though it be not cleansed according to the purification of the Sanctuary 2 Chro. 30.18 19. the King speaketh of those who came to the Passover with some ceremonial pollution yet had moral purity and his words are to this purpose Lord though several of my people have failed in regard of external purification let it please thee to pardon them if they have minded internal preparation Friend there is no hope of remission without this heart-preparation The Devil himself would not come into an house till it was ready swept and garnished Mat. 12. And dost thou think that Jesus Christ will come into thy heart while it lieth nastily and sluttishly before the filth of sin be swept out and it be garnished with the Graces of his Spirit Surely that room had need be richly hung with the embroidery of the Spirit in which the glorious and blessed Potentate will sup and lodge Where thy expectation is great from a person there thy preparation must be great for him Dost thou not look like Herod to see some miracle done by Jesus some extraordinary thing for thy soul Therefore I say to thee as Joshua spake to the Israelites Sanctifie your selves for to morrow the Lord will do wonders amongst you Josh 3.5 O sanctifie thy self and to morrow on the sacrament-Sacrament-day the Lord will do wonders for thee he will feast thee at his own Table he will feed thee with his own flesh he will give thee that love which is better then wine he will embrace thee in his arms and kiss thee with the kisses of his mouth he will delight thine eyes with the sight of his beautiful Person ravish thine ears with the sound of his precious promises and rejoyce thine heart with the assurance of his gracious pardon O do but sanctifie thy self and to morrow the Lord will do wonders for thee This preparation consisteth in a serious examination of thy self and a sincere humiliation for thy sins Thy serious examination of thy self must be First Of the Good in thee Secondly Of the Evil done by thee Let a man examine himself and so and no otherwise let him eat of this bread and drink of this cup 1 Cor. 11.28 Examine himself 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Some take it to be a Metaphor of a Goldsmith as he trieth Gold in the fire whether it be pure or no so thy duty is to try thy graces by the fire of the Word whether they be true or not So the word is used 1 Pet. 1.7 Others take it as an allusion to Ministers who are tried whether they are fit for their office or no 1 Tim. 3.10 so thou oughtest to try thy self whether thou art fit for this Ordinance or no. This examination must be First Of the Good in thee Thy duty is to examine thy self in general concerning thy Regeneration or spiritual life The Sacrament is childrens bread and it must not be given to dogs Dogs must be without doors not within snatching the Meat from the Table Men must prove their right to the Purchase before they take Possession He must have an interest in the Covenant of grace who will finger the seal of the Covenant It is high Treason to annex the Kings broad Seal to forged Writings Thy Navel is like a round Goblet which wanteth not liquor thy belly is like an heap of Wheat set about with Lillies Cant 7.2 The words are Christs praise of his spouse for her fruitfulness in bringing Children forth and her faith fulness in bringing them up By the Navel Expositors agree that Baptism is understood by which as children by the Navel the members of the Church are nourished even then when they are so feeble that they cannot feed themselves but their whole sustenance is conveyed to them by others By the belly is meant the Lords Supper Now observe the provision how the Table is furnished and the persons which are to sit at it For the provision Thy belly is like an heap of Wheat Ainsworth on the words observeth that in those times they brought their Corn in and stackt it up in heaps so that as the belly distributeth to every part of the body its proportion of nourishment and as an heap of Wheat satisfieth the hunger of and affordeth strength to a whole Family so doth the Church by this Sacrament bestow on all her children through Christ that food which is needful for health and strength The persons which are to eat of this Wheat set about with lillies They must be Saints and are compared to Lilies First For their innocency they are Lilly-white Secondly for their glory and Nobility Mat. 6.29 Pliny telleth us that Lilies are next to the Rose for Nobility Plin. l. 22. c. 5. Christ is the Rose of Sharon the plant of most renown but his Church is next to him Thirdly for the savour Cant. 4.12 The graces of beleivers are like sweet perfumes and sented as far as Heaven The Lords Supper is a Sacrament not of Regeneration but of sustentation When the Prodigal came to himself then the fatted Calf was killed for him Luk. 15. Men must have natural life before they can eat natural meat and men must have spiritual life before they can eat spiritual meat It was an ancient
many a Sermon hath been lost because this was wanting and the Viols of our souls must be tuned to praise God or otherwise they will sound but harshly in his ears The Priests were to wash in the Laver when they went into the Tabernacle and when they came near to the Altar to Minister upon pain of death Exod. 30.19 20. Signifying that to holy performances there is required holy prepartion Sutable to which is Davids speech I will wash my hands in innocency so will I compass thine Altar Psa 26. When the Temple was to be built the stones were hewn and the timber squared and fitted before they were brought to the place where the Temple stood there was neither ax nor hammer nor any use of them in the Temple And what doth this speak but that the Christian must be pollished and prepared to be a spiritual Temple an habitation for the God of Jacob and also fitted for his worship which was then in the Temple There is no duty but requires some previous dispositi on A little break-fast quickens the appetite to a good dinner duty fits the heart for duty Consider prayer The Christian must be poor in spirit that would prevail in prayer for spiritual riches The vessel must be empty before it can be fil'd O Lord thou wilt prepare their heart thou wilt cause thine ear to hear Psa 10.17 for hearing the weeds must be pluckt up before the grain be thrown into the ground Wherefore laying aside all malice and all guile and Hypocrisies As new born born babes desire the sincere milk of the word 1 Pet. 2.1 2. In singing the lungs must be good the inwards clean before the voice will be sweet and clear O God my heart is fixed my heart is fixed I will sing and give praise Psa 57.7 So for the Lords day the Israelites had their preparation It was the preparation that is the day before the Sabbath Mark 15.42 The preparation for the Lords day consisteth partly in care so to order Worldly businesses that they may not incroach on the Sabbath Some expositours observe that the word Remember in the fourth Command enjoyneth a provident foresight and diligent dispatch of earthly affairs on the day before that nothing may remain to disquiet us in or disturb Gods day of rest There is an observable place If thou keep thy foot from my Sabbath Isa 58.13 that is from treading on my holy ground with the dirty feet of earthly affairs or affections The Jews preparation began at three of the clock in the afternoon Inritibus Pagan which the Hebrews called the Sabbath Eve The antient Fathers called Caena pura from the Heathen say some whose Religion taught them in their Sacrifices to certain of their Gods to prepare themselves by a strict kind of holiness at which time they had a Supper consisting of meats holy in their opinion The Jews were so careful in their preparation Buxtoâ—â— Syna gog Iud. c. 10. extalmâ—d that saith mine Author to further it the best and wealthiest of them even those that had many servants and were Masters of Families would chop hearbs sweep the house cleave wood kindle the fire and do such like things The marriner that intendeth a voyage putteth his Ship off from Land so truly Friend if thou woulst lanch Heaven-ward upon a Lords day there is a necessity that the Vessel of thy heart be put off from the earth When our blessed Saviour was teaching the people he was disturbed by one that told him Behold thy Mother and thy brethren standwithout desiring to speak with thee Mat. 12.47 So when thou art hearing or praying or about any Religious Ordinance what an hinderance what a disturbance will it be for thy heart to suggest to thee Man thy calling thy companions or such and such things which lye upon the spoil through thy negligence in the week-days they all stand without desiring to speak with thee If thou wouldst avoid distraction prevent the occasions As Isaiah said to Hezekiah Set thine house in order against thy deaths day So I say to thee Set thy house in order and thy heart in order against the Lords day The main preparation of the heart for a Sabbath lyeth in removing the filth of Sin Accedentiad divina mysteria deique contemplationem deponenda sunt calceamenta i.e. passiones affectiones simul rationes humanae terrenae Cor. a Lapid in Exod 3. and in quickening and awakening grace sin must be removed If the stomach be foul it must be purged before it be fed or the meat will nourish and strengthen not nature but the ill humours If a man purge himself from these It is true of evil affections as well as evil persons he shall be a Vesselunto honor sanctified and meet for the Masters use and prepared unto every good work 2 Tim. 2.21 Superfluity of naughtiness must be laid aside before we can receive the word with meekness James 1.21 When the Vessel is unclean it sowres quickly the sweetest liquors powred into it when the heart is unclean it loseth the good it might receive by the truths of God As sin must be cast out so grace must be called up Grace is like fire apt to be deadish and dull thy duty is before-hand therefore to blow it up Most people upon a Sabbath adorn their bodies with their best cloaths but Alass who almost attireth his soul as he ought on this day when he is going to meet the blessed Redeemer Reader Suppose thou wert a person of great quality and estate and the King should send thee word that he would dine with thee to morrow what preparation wouldst thou make for his entertainment would not thy first work be to cleanse thy house by causing the dust to be swept out the flores to be washt nay rubd every thing to be neat and cleanly Wouldst thou not put up thy choicest Hangings lay on thy richest Carpets bring out thy best plate adorn thy room with thy costliest furniture endeavour that all things should be in print somwhat suitable to the dignity of so great a Prince I tell thee that the great King of all the World doth give thee notice in his Word that on such a day being the Sabbath he intends to sup with thee Now friend what preparation wilt thou make to testifie thy respect to this blessed and onely Potentate Canst thou beforehand do less then sweep out the dust of sin and wash the room of thine heart clean adorn it with the best furniture the Graces the embroidery of the Holy Ghost Truly unless this be done Christ will not think himself welcome nay all thy pretended entertainment of him will be not onely infinitely unworthy of but also provoking to so jealous and glorious a Prince Believe it thy profit by a Sabbath depends not a little upon thy preparation for the Sabbath till the matter be prepared how can it receive the form Job 11.12 13. Thou hast enjoyed many Lords
worth ten thousand of us Well might the good Soul run to meet thee in the morning and salute thee with Veni Spousa mea Come my sweet Spouse thee I have loved for thee I have longed and thou art my dearest delight Take heed of counting the Sabbath thy burden and thine attendance upon that day on the Ordinances of God thy bondage It argued spirits full of froth and filth to cry out When will the new Moon be gone that we may sell our corn and the Sabbath that we may set forth wheat Amos 8.5 Count Religious duties not thy fetters but thy greatest freedom Think what the Phaenix is amongst birds the Lyon among beasts Fire among the Elements that is the Lords Day among the days Ordinary days like wax in a shop have their use are worth somewhat but this like wax to some Deeds or which hath the Kings Seal to it is worth thousands What is said of that Day of the Lord may in a gracious sense be spoken of the Lords Day There is none like it before it neither shall be after it Upon this day Christ carrieth the Soul into his Wine-cellar and his Banner over it is Love Upon other days he feeds his members upon this day he feasts them they have their ordinary every day but upon this day exceedings Upon this day he brings forth his living water his best Wine On this day he gives the sweetest bread the finest flower the true meat his own body On this day he met the two Disciples and made their hearts warm and even burn within them by the fire of his words On this day Saints that slept arose out of their beds their graves Mat. 27. On this day the Holy Ghost descended on the Apostles On this day the Lord brought forth the light of the World in Creation On this day Christ brought forth the light of his new Heavens and new Earth by his Resurrection On this day St. John had his glorious Revelation containing the Churches state to the Worlds dissolution On this day he visited his dear Apostles with grace and peace saying to them Peace be unto you behold my hands and my feet On this day he burst asunder the bands of death he broke in peices the gates of Hell he led captivity captive trampled upon Principalities and Powers and and triumphed over grave sin the curse of the law and Satan Upon this day he still rides triumphantly in the Chariot of his Ordinances conquering and to conquer casting down high thoughts and subduing sinners to himself It may be said of the Sabbath as of Sion This and that man was born in her and the highest himself shall establish her The Lord shall count when he writeth up the people that this man was born then Selah Psa 87.56 O blessed day how many thousands souls have known thee the day of their new births How willing have the people been in thee day of Gods power in the beauties of holiness from the womb of the morning thou hast the dews of thy youth Blessed art thou among days from hence forth all generations shall call thee blessed Blessed be the Father who made thee blessed be the Son who bought thee blessed be the Spirit who sanctifieth thee and blessed are all they that prize and improve thee Reader thou hast not a drop of true holiness if thou dost not bless God as is reported of the Jews at the coming in and going out of this holy and blessed day Thirdly Consider there is a present price put into thy hands to get and increase grace and therefore improve it The wisdom of a Christian consisteth in observing his seasons the High God sends man to School to the silly Ant to learn this Art and peice of good Husbandry Go to the Ant thou sluggard consider her ways and be wise which having no Guide Overseer nor Ruler provideth her food in the Summer and gathereth her meat in the Harvest Prov. 6.6 7 8. The Ants are a feeble folk but famous for their forecast and deserve saith one to be fed with the finest of the Wheat for the pattern they give to man They labour not onely all day but even by Moon-light they gather huge heaps together lay it out a drying in a warm day least it should putrifie bite off the ends of the ends of the grain least it should grow but observe the season of this care and diligence She provideth her food in the Summer and gathereth her meat in the Harvest Then that time is the Ants opportunity if she do it not then she cannot do it at all therefore she makes use of that season O that Friend thou wert but as wise for the bread which came down from Heaven as this poor Pismire is for the bread which springs out of the earth Christians are called Doves The Turtle Dove is called in the Hebrew Tor of the Original Tur and thence comes our Latin Turtur which signifieth to observe or search for so this Bird observeth her time of going and coming Jer. 8.7 for she departeth before Winter into some warm climate The Lords day is the Summer thine Harvest time Labour now for Christ and grace or thou art lost for ever The Farmer that loyters at other times will work hard and sweat in Harvest If he do not reap then he knows he can never pay his rent and feed his Family but is ruined Reader if thou dost not on a Lords day gather in grace how wilt thou do to lay out grace in the week days nay how wilt thou do to spend grace upon a dying bed when thou art to step into the other World He that gathereth in Summer is a wise son but he that sleepeth in Harvest is a son that causeth shame Prov. 10.5 The Jews might gather no Manna on the Sabbath but Gentiles must then especially get the bread of life The Water-man must observe when Wind and Tide are for his turn and then bestir himself or otherwise he must come short of his Haven It concerns thee to mind Sabbaths then the gales of the Spirit blow fair for thy voyage then the waters of Ordinances run right for the port to which thou art bound therefore do not then laze and loyter but labour for thy God thy soul and thine everlasting life Therefore shall every one that is godly seek thee in a time when thou mayst be found Psa 32.6 The Musitian must play his lesson whilst the instrument is in Tune because the weather may alter The good Husband for his soul must buy of Christ gold to inrich him and raiment to cloath him while the Fayr lasts for it will quickly be over Esau came too late and lost thereby the blessing many come too late and lose their souls by it To every thing there is a season saith God Eccles 3.1 The Lords day is thy season when grace and mercy are tendered to thee how will thou escape if thou neglectest or carest not for as
the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifieth so great Salvation Heb. 2.3 Open unto Christ when he knocketh at the door of thy heart with the finger of his Spirit Do not bid him come to morrow lest that morrow never come It s good we say to make Hay while the Sun shines for the Heavens may be cloudy It s good to embrace a present opportunity for time is bald behind thou canst not assure thy self of a second Sabbath Seasons of grace are not like Tides that a man may miss one and take another What Christ said of himself is true of Sabbaths The poor ye have always with you but me ye have not always Time thou hast always with thee while thou livest but the Sabbath thou hast not always Nay within a shorter time then thou imaginest God may deprive thee both of time and opportunity both of Week days and Lords days and if thou art now sleeping and snoring when thou should be waking and working what a cut will it be to thy heart to reflect upon the Sabbaths which thou hast had and lost enjoyed and mispent Jerusalem in the days of her affliction and of her misery remembred all her pleasant things that she had in the days of old Lam. 1.9 So Reader if thou shouldst neglect to improve Sabbaths now in the day of thy misery or rather in the everlasting night of thine affliction in hell thou wilt remember thy Sabbaths seasons of grace and all thy pleasant things which thou hadst in the days of old Good Lord what a rueful woful remembrance will it be to call to mind the means the mercies the helps which were afforded thee to have avoided Hell and attained Heaven and yet thou like a fool or rather a mad man didst dally about them and delay till the Market was done Now is the time for thee to accept of grace because now is the onely time that grace will accept of thee O that thou wouldst know in this thy day the things which concern thy peace before they be hid from thine eyes Fourrhly Esteem the publique Ordinances the chief work of the day and let thy secret and private duties be so managed that thy soul may be prepared for them and profited by them Duties in thy closet and family are of use and have their blessing but to put God off with these and neglect the publique Worship is to rob God of a greater sum to pay him a lesser The Sacrifice of the Jews on that day was double they offered Sacrifice in the Tabernacle besides their Lambs for the daily Sacrifice It is worthy our observation that the Sabbath and publique Service are by God himself joyned together and therefore let no man put them asunder Ye shall keep my Sabbaths and reverence my Sanctuary I am the Lord Lev. 19.30 They that despise Gods Sanctuary cannot observe Gods Sabbath Every thing is beautiful in its season Private duties are beautiful and in season every day but publique Ordinances are never so lovely and beautiful because never so much in their prime and season as on a Lords Day In publique Worship God receiveth the highest praises I will praise thee in the great Congregations Psal 29.9 In his Temple doth every one speak of his glory I had gone with the multitude to the House of God with the voyce of joy and praise with a multitude that kept holy day Psal 42.4 The gracious God is pleased to esteem it his glory to have many Beggars thronging at the beautiful gate of his Temple for Spiritual and Corporal alms What an honor is it to our great Landlord that multitudes of Tenants flock together to his house to pay their rent of Thanks and Worship for their All which they hold of him How loud and lovely is the noise of many golden Trumpets Good Lord what an eccho do they make in Heavens ears Deus pluris facit preces in Ecclesia quam domi factas non ob locum sed ob considerationem multitudinis fidelium Deum communi consensu invo cantium Riv. in Cath. Orth. When many skilful Musicians play in consort with well-tuned and prepared Instruments the Musick cannot but be ravishing to God himself Methinks its a notable resemblance of the sweet melody which is made by the Celestial Quire above Psal 68.26 Bless ye God in the Congregation even the Lord from the fountain of Israel for he loveth the gates of Zion above all the dwellings of Jacob Psal 87.2 As in publique God receiveth the highest praises so there he bestoweth the richest mercies Blessed is the man whom thou chusest and causest to approach unto thee that he may dwell in thy Courts We shall be satisfied with the goodness of thy House even of thy holy Temple Psal 65.4 Here is Davids Position and its proof His Position is That the Templer or Inhabitant in Gods House is an happy man Blessed is the man whom thou chusest and causest to approach unto thee that he may dwell in thy House The proof of it is from the quality and quantity of the provision which God makes for them that are of his Houshold For the quality of it it is not onely good but Goodness which word signifieth not onely the good will which God beareth to but all the good things which God bestoweth upon his people Pardon Peace Love Grace every good thing all good things are in the womb of that one word Goodness Gods provision for his people is beyond all their knowledge or apprehension There be four ordinary ways by which men come to the knowledge of good things either by hearing them immediately themselves or by hear-say from others or by the sight of the eyes or by discourse of Reason But from the beginning of the World men have not seen nor heard nor perceived by the ear nor hath it entred into the heart of man to conceive what God hath provided for them that love him 1 Cor. 2.9 Isa 64.4 The love discovered there is an unknown love the joy bestowed there is unspeakable joy All the costliest dainties prepared for Heavens Table the fulness of joy and pleasures for ever at Gods right hand are expressed by this one word Goodness Psal 31.19 So that the quality of the provision is beyond all exception it is Goodness For its quantity it is to satisfaction We shall be satisfied with the goodness of thy house even of thy Holy Temple The Saint shall have enough of this luscious fare to content him Indeed the Christians full meal is reserved for him till he comes to eat bread in the Kingdom of Heaven but here he hath enough to stay his stomach He is very well satisfied that his allowance in this World is sufficient God calls him in the other World to greater work and so will give him a greater allowance for suitable strength but God doth not in this World underkeep him He feeds proportionable to their employments nay to their satisfaction and contentment all
heart to spiritual joy and delight therein Holy alacrity and joy is not onely a crown and credit to but also a special part of Christianity The Kingdom of God consisteth not in meats and drink but in righteousness and peace and joy in the holy Ghost Rom. 14.17 Gods ways are not so bad but that the Travellers in them may be chearful His work is good wages and therefore it s no wonder that his Servants are so joyful Because beleivers have ever cause of comfort therefore they are commanded always to rejoyce Phil. 3. Whether their sins or sufferings come into their hearts they must not sorrow as they that have no hope In their saddest conditions they have the spirit of consolation There is seed of joy sown within them when it is buried under the clods and appears not above ground But there are special times when God calls for this grain to spring up They have some red letters some holy days in the Calendar of their lives wherein this joy as Wine at a Wedding is most seasonable but among all those days it never relisheth so well it never tasteth so pleasantly as on a Lords day joy sutes no person so much as a Saint and it becomes no season so well as a Sabbath Joy in God on other days is like the Birds Chirping in winter which is pleasing but joy on a Lords day is like their warbling Tunes and pretty notes in Spring when all other things look with a sutable delightful aspect This is the day which the Lord hath made he that made all days so especially of this day but what follows we will rejoyce and be glad therein Psa 118.24 In which words we have the Churches solace or joy and the season or day of it Her solace was great We will rejoyce and be glad Those expressions are not needless repetitions but shew the exeuberancy or high degree of their joy The season of it This is the day the Lord hath made Compare this place with Mat. 21.22.23 and Act. 4.11 and you will find that the precedent verses are a prophetical prediction of Christs Resurrection Sic. Arnob. and so this verse foretels the Churches joy upon that memorable and glorious day And indeed if a feast be made for laughter Eccles 10.19 Then that day wherein Christ feasteth his Saints with the choicest mercies may well command his greatest spiritual mirth A thanksgiving day hath a double precedency of a fast day On a Fast-day we eye Gods anger On a thanksgiving-Thanksgiving-day we look to God favour In the former we specially mind our own corruptions In the latter Gods compassions therefore a Fast-day calls for sorrow a Thanksgiving day for joy But the Lords day is the highest thanksgiving day and deserveth much more then the Jewish Purim to be a day of feasting and gladness and a good day On this day we enjoy the Communion of Saints and shall we not delight in those excellent ones Psa 16.3 On this day we have fellowship with the blessed Saviour and shall we not fit under his shadow with great delight Cant. 1. On this day we are partakers of the Ordinances of God and shall we not be joyful in the House of prayer Isa 56.7 On this day we have special converse with the God of Ordinances and who would not draw water with joy out of the Well of Salvation Isa 12.3 Surely whilst we are in the midst of so much Musk we must needs be perfumed Who can walk where the Sun shines so hot and not be warmed It is Gods precept as well as thy priviledge to make Gods day thy delight If thou call the Sabbath a delight the holy of the Lord Isa 58.13 Delights Tremel reads it Thy delicate things according to the Septuag Whether thou art meditating on Gods works or attending on Gods Word which are the two principal duties of the day they both call for delight and joy If on this day of rest thou considerest the work of creation and Gods rest it behoveth thee to follow Davids pattern Thou Lord hast made me glad through thy works I will triumph in the works of thy hands Psa 92.4 If thou considerest the work of Redemption and Christs rest surely out of the carcass of the Lion of the tribe of Judah thou mayst get some Honey as may delight thy soul and force thee to sing My soul doth magnifie the Lord my spirit rejoyceth in God my Saviour Luk. 1.46 47. The babe in the womb leapt for joy of him before he was born The heavenly host sung at his birth and wilt not thou at his second birth his resurrection from the dead O let the Primitive Christians salutations be thy consolation The Lord is risen If thou meditatest on glorification and thine own rest canst thou do less then rejoyce in hope of glory what Prisoner shackled with Satans temptations and fettered with his own corruptions in the dark Gaol of this World can think of the time when his Irons shall be knockt off and he enjoy the pleasant light and glorious liberty of the Sons of God and not be transported with joy What heir in his minority banisht from his kindred and country can think without comfort of his full age when he shall have the full fruition both of his estate and friends doubtless friend the Sabbaths of the holy are the Suburbs of heaven In heaven there is no buying no selling no ploughing no sowing nothing but worshiping God communion with him fruition of him and delight in him There remains a rest for the people of God There they rest from their labours If thou on a Lords day turnest thy back upon the World and goest up into the mount conversing with and rejoycing in the blessed God what dost thou less then begin thine eternal Sabbath here Such a Lords day can be no less then Heaven in a looking glass representing truly though darkly thy future eternal happiness There is no perfume so sweet to a Pilgrim as his own smoak When thou art attending on the word truely that Aquavitae that hot water may well revive thy spirit Thy testimonies are my delight saith David I have rejoyced more in thy testimonies then in all manner of riches Psa 119.24 77. The Word of God is sometimes called a treasure and what beggar would not rejoyce in a treasure sometimes fire and truly Reader thine heart is frozen to purpose if this fire do not heat it Salomon tell us As cold water to a thirsty soul so is good news from a far Country Prov. 25.25 The Word of God contains the best news that ever ears heard Peace on earth good will towards men and the glad tidings of the Gospel come from Heaven a far Country What canst thou say then why they should not be as welcome and refreshing to thee as cold water to a thirsty soul Variety of things that are excellent is not a little ground of complacency in them Variety of choice voices please the ear variety
art a good Husband for thy soul I doubt not but thou esteemest thy time in the week days at so high a rate that thou darest not sqander it away in doing nothing or in that which is worse then nothing but O what worth what price wilt thou set upon an opportunity upon a Lords day How diligent wilt thou be to improve the least peice of that day God giveth thee six whole days for thine own works do not deny to him one whole day in seven Let thy conscience be Judge Is it not unrighteousness to buy by one measure which is greater and sell by another measure which is lesser when the day is consecrated to God as the goods of Ananias it is dangerous to keep back any part of it for our own use Do thou all the day long live and walk as it were in the other World Make it a Sabbath a day of rest 1. From sin and wickedness this is thy duty every day but especially on this day Every sin on a Sabbath is double the season is a great aggravation of the sin The wicked indeed are like the raging Sea which cannot rest but every day bubble up mire and dirt Isa 57.20 2. From the World and the works of thy calling Ye shall keep the Sabbath therefore for it is holy unto you Every one that defileth it shall surely be put to death for whosoever doth any work therein that soul shall be cut off from among his people Exod. 31.14 The Jews were to rest from works of least importance as gathering sticks he that fetched in sticks was sent out of the World with stones and of greatest concernment as building the Tabernacle and though the Christian now hath more liberty yet he hath no leave at all to pollute the day by wickedness or to prophane the day by any earthly work which might have been done before the day or may be done as well after it May I not say to thee of this day as Elisha to Geehezi Is this a time to receive money and garments and sheep and oxen and men-servants and maid-servants 2 Kings 5.26 Is the Sabbath a time for civil affairs The Sabbath day is therefore called a day of restraint Deut. 16.8 because then men are forbidden all work saith Junius As none were ever losers by laying afide their own works to attend Gods Worship he took care of Israels safety whilst they were in his service that none of their Neighbours though bitter enemies should so much as desire their Cities Exod 34.24 so none I am confident were ever gainers by inching in some part of their callings unnecessarily at the end of Gods day and by setting God aside to serve themselves the very time will be a Canker to consume their estates And as they that take Crocus into their stomachs bring up not onely ill humours but that also which would prove good nourishment So some have had experience that their prophanation of Gods day to increase their estates hath forced them to vomit up the whole God hath given thee days enough for thy calling space enough to mind it in thou needst not trespass upon his holy day upon his holy ground It was no small aggravation of Adams sin that though he had choice of fruits he would eat of the forbidden fruit so it will much increase thy sin if when thou hast choice of time for thy trade thou shouldst meddle with it on a Sabbath Reader Debet totus dies festivus à Christiano expendi in operibus bonis Grostead in precept as thy duty is to rest the whole day from wickedness and worldly work so also to imploy the whole day in Gods Worship be either praying or reading or hearing or singing or meditating or discoursing with others about the Works or Word of God Be always taken up either with publique Hoc sensu loquitur propheta Sià primo mane incipimuslauda re dâ—um continuandas esse ejus laudesad ultimam noctis partem Calvin in loc private or secret duties In the 92. Psalm that Psalm for the Sabbath v. 1 and 3. we are exhorted to shew forth Gods loving kindness in the morning and his faithfulness at evening Now we know that in Scripture sense the morning and the evening are the whole day The whole day is Gods by ordination and why should not it be his by observation God hath dedicated this day wholly to hsi own Worship now every devoted thing is most holy to the Lord. Lev. 27.28 The Pope and Church of Rome have half holy days as St. Blacies day which is holy in the forenoon onely but God and the Church of Christ have no half holy days Observe how exact God is in expressing a whole natural day From evening to evening you shall keep the Sabbath Lev. 23.32 Their days were reckoned from evening to evening from the creation but ours because Christ rose in the morning from morning to morning If thou hast any sincere delight in God and esteem of the true riches I cannot but think that thou wilt be covetous of the smallest part of Gods day and wish as R. Jose Iewish Antiq. l. 3. c. 3. Ex Buxtorf Comment mas that thy portion may be to begin the Sabbath with those of Tiberias because they began it sooner then others and to end it with those of Tsepphore because they continued it longer then others If thy soul ever met God on a Sabbath thou wilt surely be ready to say with Joshua Thou Sun stand still in Gibeon Iosh 10 12. and thou Moon in the vallies of Ajalon O that the day were longer that I might have more time to fight the Lords battels against my spiritual enemies Eightly If thou wouldst make Religion thy business on a Lords day Meditate therein on the word and works of God Consider his works This is part of the work of the day David in that Psalm for the Sabbath gives thee a pattern O Lord how great are thy works and thy thoughts are very deep Psa 92.5 Is a dishonour to a workman to make excellent peices and to manifest abundance of Skill and Art and ingenuity and then not to have them taken notice of God hath done his mighty works to be remembred and wondred at It s said of Pythagoras that he lived sequestred from men in a cave for a whole year together that he might meditate on the abstruse points of Philosophy I wish thee to an easier and pleasanter task to sequester thy self some time every Lords day to ponder the infinite perfections which appear in the operations of his hand God will be both admired and magnified by his people on earth as well as in Heaven which none can do but those that seriously consider his works Men have been much wondred at for some peculiar rare works though in them a Christian should look farther even to God the Author of their skill and wisdom The very Greeks acknowledged somewhat like this that all
my meditation all the day Psa 119. The reason why some men profit so little by the word is want of meditation If a man eat his food and as soon as it is in his stomach vomit it up again it is no wonder if he get little strength by it or if he pine and consume away Truly if Sermons enter in at one ear and out at the other making no stay with thee I shall not marvail if they work no change in thee CHAP. XXII Brief Directions for the Sanctification of the Lords day from morning to night REader beside those general directions which I have largely insisted on I shall annex here some short directions how thou mayst spend a Lords day from the begining to the end of it as may be most for the honour of God and the furthering thine own everlasting good 1. Be sure thou takest some paines with thy heart the afternoon or evening at least before to prepare thy soul for the ensuing Sabbath As our whole life should be a preparation for death yet the nearer we draw to the night of our dissolution the more gloriously as the setting Sun we should shine with holiness so in the whole Week we should be preparing for the Lords day but the more the day doth approach the more our preparation must increase The bigger the Vessel is the more Water may be carried from the Fountain According to the measure of the Sacks which the Patriarchs carried to Joseph so were they filled with Corn by Joseph preparation doth not onely fit the heart for grace but also widen the heart that it may receive much of the Spirit of God Some Servants when they are to bake in the Morning put their Wood in the Oven over night and thereby it burneth both the sooner and the better Men make much the more riddance of their work who being to travail a great journey load their Carts or put up their things and lay them ready over night If thou art a Christian thy experience will tell thee that after thou hast on a Saturday called thy self to account for thy carriage on the foregoing Week bewailed thy miscarriages before the Lord in particular thy playing the Truant on former Lords days when thou shouldst have been learning those Lessons which Christ hath set thee in his Law and hast been earnest with God for pardon of thy sins and a sanctified improvement of the approaching Sabbath I say thy experience cannot but teach thee that thy profit after such preparation will make thee abundant amends for thy pains and that thou hast the best visits the sweetest kisses when thy lips thy heart are thus made clean beforehand 2. If the weakness of thy body do not hinder rise earlier on the Lords day then ordinary When the Israelites were encompassing Jericho on the seventh day they rose early in the morning and according to many Expositors it was on the Sabbath day the walls of Jericho fell down Josh 6.15 One main work which thou hast to do on a Lords day is to batter down the strong holds of sin to conquer those Canaanites which would keep thee out of the promised land do thou rise early for this end He that riseth and setteth out early goeth a considerable part of his way before others awake It s sordid to lie lazing and to turn upon thy bed as a door on the hinges and never the farther off upon any day butmost sad and sinfull on a Lords day 3. When thou first awakest turn up thy heart to God in praise for his protection the night past for the light of another day especially of his own day and in Prayer for the light of his countenance and for assistance in every duty and his direction throughout the day As thou art rising if no other more profitable Subject offer it selfe to thy thoughts Meditate how the night is spent the day is at hand it concerneth thee therefore to put off the works of darkness and to put on the armor of light When thou thinkest on the nakedness of thy body how unseemly it would be for thee to walk up and down without raiment do not forget the nakedness of thy soul by sin and how uncomely thou art in the sight of God without the robes of Christs righteousness and the graces of the Holy Ghost 4. When thou art drest let nothing hinder thee from thy secret devotion When thou art in thy closet consider of the price which God hath put into thy hand the value and worth of a Lords day the weight and concernment of the duties therein and the account thou art ere long to give for every Sabbath and season of grace These thoughts as heavy weights on a clock would make thee move more swiftly in the work of the day After some time spent in meditation in some short yet reverent and hearty petitions intreat Gods help in the present and subsequent duties of the day After which read some portion of the Scripture and pour out thy soul in prayer Get thy heart effectually possessed with this truth That God must work his own work in thee and for thee or it will never be done that as the Spirit moved on the waters at first and then the living creatures were formed so the Spirit must move upon the waters of Ordinances before they can produce or increase spirituall life Hereby thou wilt be stirred up to more fervent supplication for and more importunate expectation of help from heaven In thy prayers remember all the assemblies of the Saints that they may see Gods beauty power and glory as they have sometimes beheld them in his sanctuary Intreat God to cloath his ordinances with his own strength that they may be mighty through him for the bringing in and building up many souls In speciall when thou art at prayer think of the Preachers of the Gospel Conceive that thou hearest every one of them speaking to thee as Paul to his Romans I beseech thee for the Lord Iesus Christs sake and for the love of the spirit that you strive together with me in your prayers to God for me Rom. 15.30 Their work is of infinite weight it is God-work Soul-work Temple-work Not one of them but may say with Nehemiah on a Lords day upon much greater reason O I am doing a great work Nehem. 6.3 Their opposition is great The Devill will do what may be to hinder them the world hates them their own hearts will distub them Their strength is small their graces are weak Alas what can they do O therefore pray for them 5. After thy secret duties thou mayst if nature require refresh thy body with convenient food Thy God alloweth thee to cherish though not to overcharge thy outward man I shall speak to thy carriage about eating and drinking in the twenty third chapter and therefore omit it here Vide Family duties in Cap. 27 6. In the next place it will be fit that thou call thy family together and
enter upon family duties Namely to read the word of God to call upon the name of God and to sing to the prayse of God 7. Let as many of thy family as can convâ—â—â—enny be spared accompany thee to publick Ordinances Vide more of this in Cap. 27. Remember the command Thou thy Son thy daughter thy man-servant and maid-servant and all within thy gate Do not pamper their bodies and starve the souls of thy houshold It is Recorded of Dr. Chaterton Mr. of Emannel Colledge that he never caused any of his Servants to stay at home on a Lords day barely to dress meat be able to say with Cornelins who feared the Lord with all his house we are all here present before God 8. As thou art going to the place of publique Ordinances consider with thy self that thou art going to converse not with men but with God even with that God who searcheth the heart who will not be mocked and who is of purer eyes then to behold iniquity that thou mayst hereby be quickened unto uprightness and seriousness and to dart up some ejaculatory prayer to God for aid and assistance 9. In every part of publique worship carry thy self with reverence humility love faith and sincerity Hear sing pray receive the Sacrament as one that doth all in Gods sight as one that is working for his immortal soul and as one that within a few days shall enter the gates of death and never have a season more for such sacred duties Depart not from the Church till all be done In a Court of civil Judicature thou willt stay till the Court riseth If thou wouldst have Gods blessing with thee do not leave it behind thâ—â—â—â— As thou comest from the Church meditate on what thou hast heard chew that meat which the Minister hath put into thy mouth thereby thou mayst get much spiritual nourishment 10. When thou art come home usually let nothing hinder from prayer either in thy family or closet wherein I would advise thee to turn the heads of the Sermon and Chapters read into Petitions as also to beg pardon of thy wandrings in the Worship of God and beseech him who with his own hand wrote the Law in two Tables that he would write the word Read and Preached in the Tables of thine heart 11. At Dinner take heed of excess whereby thy body will be unfitted to serve thy soul yet do not pinch or punish thy body because the day is a day of joy and delight I would wish thee to watch thy heart and tongue all the day long but especially at meals that thou mayst not think thine own thoughts nor speak thine own words If thy self or others start any unseasonable or earthly discourse at Table give conscience leave to speak to thee as Judas to the Apostles What needeth this wast What needeth this wast of precious time of so rich a treasure as every part of this day is Let the first dish at Table be Gods I mean when a blessing is desired let presently some savory discourse be offered hereby fin may be prevented The Jews had two notable defeats on the Sabbath day because they would not defend themselves Iosephus l. 12. c. 8. l. 14 c 8 the first defeat was by Antiochus the second by Pompey the Great Reader if thou wouldst not have Satan to foil thee on a Lords day keep a strict watch over thy thoughts words and works After Dinner as time will give leave either Sing or Pray with thy family or repeat what thou hast heard or busie thy self in Godly conference chiefly about what was Read or Preached that morning 12. Neglect not afternoon Ordinances Some Persons are like some Physitians Fore-noon men they must be sought to in the morning onely if you would find them about Religious duties Friend If thy soul ever met thy Saviour in publique duties thou canst not but love and prize them at an high rate In the close of the day sometimes God sendeth in the cheif blessing of the day A Sabbath Tide hath brought in many a good draught of Fish Be present at serious in publique Ordinances As an error in the first concoction can never be mended in the second so an error or carelesness in publique cannot be mended by carefulness in private 13. When thou returnest from publique Ordinances take some time to meditate on the word or Works of God thou mayst read over the eighth particular in the twenty one Chapter to help thee therein 14. Do not lessen thy secret or private duties on that day let them rather be increased then diminished The Offerings under the Gospel were Prophesied to be greater then under the Law Under the Law one Lamb was to be offered Under the Gospel six Lambs Numb 28. Ezek. 46. 15. Call thy Children and Servants to account what they have learned that day and explain what they understand not hereby thou wilt benefit both thy self and others Chemnitius observeth that our blessed Saviour in the 4. of Mark and 14. of Luke Examen de dieb fest after he had instructed the people as a publique Preacher on the Sabbath day did examine and teach his Apostles as a private Master of a Family 16. At Evening Sing Pray and if thou canst repeat the heads at least of both the Sermons Plutarch reporteth of a River which runneth sweet in the morning and bitter at night Let it not be said of thee that thy Morning was like Nebuchadnezzars Image of Gold and thy evening like the feet of it of clay 17. Before thou goest to rest examine thy self what thou hast got or lost that day Reflect upon the carriage of thy heart in the several duties as also what welcome thou hadst at the Throne of grace what covered dishes were brought thee by the spirit from Gods own Table that accordingly thou mayst beg pardon or return praise If thou hast been melted with Gods affection obtained any strength against thy corruptions or received any degree of grace take heed of ascribing the glory to thy self In Justinians law it was decreed That no Work-man should set up his name within the body of that building which he made out of another mans cost If thou didst pray or hear or sing or read or meditate with any life or delight seriousness or sincerity in any measure agreeable to his Word and Will all was from God there was not a stone used by thee towards this spiritual building but it was taken out of his Quarrey As he is the Author so let him have the honour 18. Be watchful over thy self at the latter end of the day with all imaginable circumspection that the last part of the day may be the best part of the day Some Souldiers prevail in the day but lose all again at night because they are slothful when their Quarters are beaten up by their Enemies Some lose at night what they got in the day like Hannibal they know how to obtain a
Thou art his rest for ever in thee he will dwell for he hath desired it Let him abundantly bless thy provision and satisfie thy poor with bread let him cloath thy Priests with salvation and let thy Saints shout aloud for joy lot thine Enemies be cloathed with shame but upon thy head let the Crown flourish let Nations bow down to thee let Kingdomes fall down before thee Let all the Kingdomes of the earth become the Kindomes of thy Lord and of thy Christ be thou honoured as long as the Son and moon shall endure even throughout all Generations Thou art like Joseph a fruitful bough even a fruitful bough by a Wall whose Branches run over the Wall The Archers have sorely greived thee and shot at thee endeavouring to weaken thy morality and hated thee but thy bow abode in strength by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob from thence is the Shepherd the stone of Israel Even by the Lord of Sabbaths who shall help thee and by the Almighty who shall bless thee with blessings of Heaven above blessings of the deep that lieth under blessings of the breasts and of the womb the blessings of this day have prevailed above the blessings of all other day let them be continued and increased on the heads of this holy and honourable day and on the head of that day which is separate from it brethren Let them be ashamed and confounded that seek after thy hurt let them be turned back and put to confusion that desire thy ruine let all those that seek thee rejoyce and be glad in thee let them that love thy sanctification say continually Let the Lord be magnified who delighteth in the prosperity of his Saints and therefore hath set apart his Sabbath for their soul good Thou like Jacob hast got away the blessing from the other days yea thy God hath blessed thee and thou shalt be blessed Blessed are they that bless thee and cursed are they that curse thee In a word The Lord be gracious to thee and delight in thee and cause the light of his countenance to shine upon thee let all thine Ordinances be cloathed with power and be effectual for the conversion and salvation of millions of souls Let thy name be great from the rising of the Sun to the going down of the same Finally farewel sweet day thou cream of time thou Epitome of eternity thou heaven in a glass thou first fruits of a blessed and everlasting harvest did I say farewel A welfare I wish to thee but O let me never lose thee or take my leave of thee till I come to enjoy thee in an higher form to see the Sun of righteousness who early on thy morning rose and made a day indeed while the natural Sun was behind face to face and to know thy Maker and Master as I am known of him when I shall be a pillar in the Temple of my God and shall go out no more but serve him day and night to whom for the inestimable dignity and priviledge of his own day be Honour and Glory for ever and ever Amen Amen CHAP. XXIII How a Christian may exercise himself to Godliness in natural actions And first in eating and drinking AS thy duty is to make religion thy business in religious Secondly so also in natural actions A good Scrivener is not onely careful how he makes his first and great letters his flourishes but also the smallest letters nay his very stops and comma's A Scribe instructed for the Kingdom of heaven is heedfull not only that the weightest actions of Gods immediate worship but also that the meaner passages of his life be conformable to Gods law A wise builder will make his Kitchin as well as his Parlor according to rule A holy person turns his natural actions into spiritual and whilst he is serving his body he is serving his God It is said of a Scotch Divine That he did eat Non semper ore non semper meditor sed vestio dormio edo bi bo haee omnia si in fide fiunt tanquam recte facta divino judicio approbantur Luth. in Gen. 33. drink and sleep eternal life Luther tels us that though he did not always pray and meditate but did sometimes eat and sometimes drink and sometimes sleep yet all should further his account the latter as truly though not so abundantly as the former And indeed it is our priviledge that natural actions may be adopted into the family of religion and we may worship God as really at our tables as in his temple Saints must not like brute beasts content themselves with a natural use of the creatures but use them as chariots to mount them nearer and cords to bind them closer to God Piety or Holiness to the Lord must be written upon their pots Zac. 14.20 Whether ye eat or drink or whatsoever ye do do all to the glory of God 1 Cor. 10. â—31 Philo observeth that the ancient Jews made their feasts after sacrifice in the temple that the place might mind them of their duty to be pious at them It is a memorable expression Exod. 18.12 And Aaron came Sancti manducant et bibunt in conspectu Dei Origen in loc and all the elders of Israel to eat bread with Moses father in law before God In which words we have the greatness of their courtesie and the graciousness of their carriage For their courtesie though Jethro were a stranger and no Israelite yet the elders honored him with their company And Aaron and all the elders came to eat bread with Moses father in law But mark the graciousness of their carriage they came to eat bread with him before God that is In gloriam et honorem Dei to the honor and glory of God saith Calvin They received their sustenance as in Gods sight and caused their provision to tend to Gods praise God takes it ill when we sit down to table and leave him out Zach. 7.6 When ye did eat and when ye did drink did ye not eat for your selves and drink for your selves He sends us in all our food we live at his cost and therefore our eating may well be to his credit who is the Master of the feast The Jews according to some had officers at every feast whom they called Praefecti morum their work was the inspection of the guests that none should disorder themselves I must tell thee Gods eye is upon thee every meal he takes notice whether thy behaviour is as becometh a Saint And truly friend It behoves thee to use religion as a bridle in thy mouth to hold thee in when thou art eating and drinking Thy throat is a slippery place and sin may easily slip down It s no hard matter to sin whilst the thing thou art about is not sinfull How many feed without fear and thereby fatten themselves to the slaughter Jude ver 12. We read of some whose tables are snares in which they have been
surfeit Though Swine lye night and day in such mud do thou as the Sheep which sometimes fall into the mire but hasten out of it to the pleasant Medows Though the necessity of thy body calleth thee to thy recreations for a season yet let the necessities of thy soul and family call thee off from them in due time Let thy recreations be like a Porter whom thou mayst use for half an hour or an hour as thy occasions are and dismiss and not like an Houshold servant to dwell with thee constantly The Lacedemonians were so sparing that they are said to be even covetous of their time Secondly Look that thine end in them be right The end here will speak much to the specification of the act thy recreation must be as sauce to thy meat we eat sauce to sharpen our appetites to our food and to make us relish it the better so we must use recreations to whet our stomach to our callings and to make them the more savoury to us As musick to the Jews did stir up their minds and prepare their hearts for holy performances so lawful recreations may be used by us Gentiles to fit us for the service of God in our general and particular vocations The Saint by the comforts of his life may delight more in God the life of all his comforts He may follow these streams so long till he comes to the fountain of living waters He may conclude with himself If recreations by the creature be so sweet how sweet is communion with the Creatour The Musitian doth not leave his strings constantly wound up but sometimes lets them down and his end is that when he goeth again to use his Viol it may make the better Musick The wise Husbandman will not always cross-crop his ground but lets it sometimes lye fallow and his end is that sowing upon a Tilt he may have the greater crop So the Christian may allow his mind moderate release he may afford the ground of his outward man some rest but his end must be that when it comes again to be sowed to be employed it may be the more serviceable to God and his soul and truly so by going back a little he may have this advantage to leap the farther O how sordid a thing is it for men to use sports meerly to pass away their time hence they foolishly call them pastimes Reader art thou in haste to have some part of the thread of thy life cut off as if it were too long Wilt thou never consider that time is a silver stream running along into the Ocean of eternity and that eternity dependeth on the spending of this moment of time Dost thou not beleive that thy jovial companions now in Hell would give a whole world if they had it for one hour and that when thou thy self comest to dye and to look into the other World thou wilt say with the Roman General Sertorius in answer to his Souldiers who told him t was dishonourable to the Romans to pay tribute to the barbarous people inhabiting the Pyrenean Mountain Plut. Time is a precious commodity to be taken up at any rate Good God how much wilt thou think a Week a Day nay an hour worth For thy souls sake weigh thy time as it stands in relation to thine everlasting condition and then I am confident thou wilt aim at another end in thy recreations Though children go to school and work in hope of play yet men play to fit themselves for work Though wicked men have such sordid sinful ends in their delights do thou mind more noble and worthy designs Postotia virtus therefore oyl the wheels that thou mayst move the more chearfully and run the more swiftly in the way of Gods commandments Thirdly have an eye to the season of them Scholers have their play-hours yet if they be found playing when they should be at their books they must expect to be beaten The Master that doth not grudge his servant time to visit his friends and rejoyce with his familiars yet if he should do it when his work lieth upon the spoil he could not but take it very ill God alloweth us liberty for moderate delights but it is only when our general and particular callings will give us leave Cardinal Angelot is chronicled for a sordid person for stealing away the oats which his man had given his mare how sordid are those parents who steal their childrens food to pursue their own pleasures He that neglecteth his particular calling to follow his sports is like him that starveth his son to feed his swine And he that omits his prayers and religious duties to mind his pleasures is like him that is condemned to be hanged and hath only three days allowed him to procure his pardon in yet he spends all that time in hawking or hunting Recreations are like some fruits not always in season though at sometimes they are very wholsome yet at other times they are very hurtful The wise man tells us there is a time to weep and a time to laugh a time to mourn and a time to dance Eccles 3.2 and 5. There is a time to weep Sorrow is not always seasonable Dalilah disparaged her discretion by weeping on the day of her wedding There is a time to laugh Delights are sometime out of fashion He forfeits his credit that sports at a funeral Musick never suited with mourning In general recreations are then unseasonable when God and mens families are neglected that they may be minded when to give them water we are forced to make the Mill of our general and particular callings to stand still O what a fool is that voluptuous youngster who having no more horses then what is sufficient for his ploughing will yet take one to hunt upon and thereby cause the rest to be idle and his business to be undone But how mad is that person who Esau like is hunting and thereby misseth the blessing In particular our recreations are unseasonable on a Lords day and in times of publick calamities 1. Recreation are unseasonable on a Lords day Carnal pleasures must then vanish and spiritual pleasures must take place Our joy must be pure and heavenly on that day It is an holy day and therefore cals for holy delights God inviteth the Saint on that day to his own table provideth for him costly curious food and expecteth that he should come and not bring along with him the worlds course fare Observe the precept in the Evangelical prophet If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath from doing thy pleasure on my holy day and call the sabbath a delight the holy of the Lord honorable shal honor him not finding thine own pleasures then shalt thou delight thy self in the Lord. Is 58.13 14. Take notice from doing thy pleasure on my holy day our pleasures are such as flow from creatures now the Wine which makes glad the heart of a Saint on a Sabbath must be
this and hast thou not abundant cause to be heedful lest by thy pattern thou shouldst draw thy Children to sin and to Hell The Idolatrous Israelites drew their children to joyn with them in the Worship of false Gods Ezek. 18.2 Plutarch observeth of Cato that he was very wary not to speak an uncomely word in the presence of his Children Plut. in vit Cat. This Heathen will condemn many Christians who will curse and swear and drink and roar and that in presence of their children Reader avoid sin both for thy own and others sake As a stone thrown into the water makes but one circle at first but that one begetteth many so though the sin in thee at first be but one ye it may cause many both in thy children and servants The sin of a Master or Mistris is like an infectious Air which others breathing in are infected by it Thy servants will as readily put on thy lusts as thy livery and thy Children will be proud of such a patronage such a cloak for their villany A dark eye benights the whole body Weigh all thy words and all thy works considering how many followers thou hast he that sinneth once sinneth twice if he sin before others Be serious and diligent about the concernments of God and thy soul that others may take example by thee The biggest Stars are brightest and give light to those that are of a lesser magnitude Thou who art the greatest shouldst be the most gracious in the family if the Sun shine not on the mountains it must needs be set in the vallies If thy children and servants behold thee careful of thy language and consciencious in thy carriage when they see thee humble fervent constant and serious in holy duties they may learn by thee and write after thee such a patten may tend exceedingly to thy spiritual profit It is observed of Caesar by Cicero that he would never say to his Souldiers Ite sed Venite Go ye but Come ye marching before them himself and giving them a pattern Do thou Reader go before thy Family in Sobriety and Sanctity as their faithful Captain and they may sooner then thou expectest follow after thee Naturalists tell us of the Mulberry tree that there is nothing in it but what is Medicinal in some sort or other the fruit the root the bark the leaf all are useful Truly so it ought to be with thee All thy expressions all thy actions should be instructions to thy Inferiours Thy behaviour in private in publique towards God towards thy Wife towards thy Children towards thy Servants towards thy Neighbours should all be Lectures to teach others Religion and Righteousness that you may be able to say to your Children as Seneca to his Sister Though I can leave you no great portion yet I leave you a good pattern Besides one work required of thee as I shall shew thee before the conclusion of this Chapter is to admonish and reprove others in thy family for their faults which with what face canst thou do or with what hope of success unless thou art free thy self It was a shame to Plutarch that his Servant should say My Master writeth falsly he saith it is unbeseeming a Philosopher to be angry ipse mihi irascitur and he himself is angry with me If thou reprovest thy childe for not praying and thy servant for drunkenness and art guilty thy self though thou acquaintest them never so much with the wrath of God which will certainly seize upon Atheists and Drunkards they will never believe thee for they know thou dost not believe thy self Thy words would seem to draw the nail of sin out but thy works are such an heavy hammer that they drive it in to the very head When the rude Souldiers saw the Roman Senators sit gravely and discourse soberly they took them for gods and were awful of them but when they perceived one of them to grow waspish they took them for men and spoiled them Herod feared Johns reproof knowing that he was a just man Mark 6.20 Where there is piety in the person there is majestie and authority in the reprehension Let the Righteous smite me Psal 141.5 The Snuffers of the Sanctuary were of pure gold He that would reprove others dimness and make them shine brightly with the light of holiness had need to be irreproveable himself Reader walk unspottedly otherwise when thou threatenest thy children or servants with the judgements of God against fin thou dost like David pass a sentence of death and condemnation against thy own soul Fourthly Be careful and diligent that thy whole Family may sanctifie the Lords Day When the Israelites were to sacrifice to God in the Wilderness they went with ther little ones and all their housholds Exod. 12. When Elkanah went up to sacrifice to the Lord all his house went with him 1 Sam. 1.21 Thy duty is according to these examples to see that all thy family unless necessity should hinder serve the Lord in publique Do not suffer any of thine to be playing idly in the Churchyard when they should be praying earnestly in the Church nor to be talking vainly of the World when they should be hearkning reverently to the Word O what pity is it that they should be sucking poyson when they should be sucking milk out of the breasts of Consolation The fourth Commandment doth fully speak thy duty not onely to be careful that they forbear thy work but also that they minde Gods Worship Thou knowest not but that thy childe or servant by missing one season may miss of salvation Possibly they are wrought hard in the Week days and have very little time for their souls so that their onely time of improving their spiritual stock by trading towards Heaven is on a Sabbath Day Or it may be they are careless of their main work of providing for the other World all the Week that if thou shouldst neglect them on the Lords Day they will he left under a necessity of perishing Surely they who have but one good meal in seven days and are robbed of that are unconceiveably wronged When David came to his Brethren to the Camp Eliab said to him How camest thou down hither Where is the flock and with whom hast thou left those few sheep in the Wilderness 1 Sam. 17.28 I know the pride and the haughtiness of thy heart Give not God cause to greet thee thus at Church How camest thou hither Where is thy flock thy Family With whom hast thou left those few sheep thy Children and thy Servants I know thy pride they are not good enough to come along with thee or to be minded by thee or I know thy covetousness thou hast imployed them about earthly businesses or I know thy carelesness and Soul-cruelty thou carest not what becometh of them whether they be saved or damned for ever I tell thee Friend some Gentlemen by going abroad alone without their servants have lost their silver and
Families page 523 Mind Religious duties in their Families page 529 Prayer must be in Families page 530 The Scriptures must be read in Families page 533 Psalmes must be sung in Families page 536 Governours of Families must give a good pattern page 538 All in a Family must be imployed page 549 The Governour of a Family must take care that his whole Family sanctifie the Lords day page 542 He must set up Discipline in his Family page 545 He must maintain love in his Family page 553 Godly Fear requisite in holy duties page 120 Fervency requisite in Prayer page 172 G THe things of God are the things of the greatest weight page 53 Godliness taken two ways page 8 9 Godliness Vide Religion Godly men meet with much opposition in the way to heaven page 65 Godliness must be our principal business page 94 95 In every part of our lives page 102 103 H A Good Harvest Gods gift page 485 486 It is our duty to Hear the word page 200 Evil Frames hinder us in Hearing page 205 Prejudice against the Preacher must be laid aside by them that would profit by Hearing page 206 to 211 The Heart must be affected with the weight efficacy and excellency of the word which we Hear page 212 Prayer requisite before hearing page 216 Right ends in Hearing to be minded page 221 False ends in hearing to be avoided page 220 Worldly thoughts hinder our Hearing page 221 222 We must hear as in Gods presence page 223 We must pray after we have Heard Vide the Word God looks much after our Hearts page 17 170 Heaven not to be obtained without diligence labour page 60 to 65 Humility required in prayer page 167 168 I IDolaters are zealous and prodigal page 418 419 Idleness the evils of it page 552 Intemperance a great sin page 417 The mischeifs of Intemperance page 418 419 Joy in God seasonable on a Lords day page 364 L LOrds day of divine institution page 337 338 God takes special notice how we keep the Lords day page 339 Preparation needful for a Lords day page 342 Wherein preparation to a Lords day consisteth page 343 to 346 Lords day a great priviledge page 348 Lords day a spicial season to get and increase grace in page 353 Publique Ordonances chiefly to be minded on the Lords day page 356 to 362 The whole Lords day to be sanctified page 372 Brief Directions for the Sanctification of the whole Lords day page 381 to 391 A good Wish about the sanctification of the Lords day page 391 A good Wish to the Lords day page 396 Lords day Vide Families and Meditation Love of Christ Vide Christs Love to Christians tried page 273 Love a help to Godliness page 553 M. MAn created for Religion Vide Epistles and page 39 Good Counsel about Marriage page 425 Meekness requisite in a Wife page 562 Meditation needful before prayer page 138 Meditation a duty on a Lords day page 377 Ministers must be godly page 6 and 498 A Minister must be industrious page 6 7. 502 People must pray for their Minister page 219 220 Ministers must act from right principles and for right ends page 499 500 Ministers must be able 501. Compassionate 504. Faithful 501 Full of courage 505. Ministers must Preach plainly purely prudently and powerfully page 507 to 510 Ministers must pray for their people page 510 Administer Sacraments 511. Chatechise 510. Visit people page 512 Ministers must be exceeding tende what example they give their people ib. Ministers must not be discouraged if their labours be not successful page 513 Ministers must give the glory of their success to God page 514 N HOw a Christian in Natural Actions may make Religion his business page 400 A good wish about Natural Actions page 441 O OBedience required page 322 341 Obedience must be in heart and life page 17 18 Obedience must be Canonical page 19 Ordinances their ends and use page 130 131 Ordinances Vide duties and Lords day P GOd hath an extrodinary respect for a Penitent soul page 277 278 Perseverance required page 35 Perseverance in prayer page 189 Pleasures Vide Recreations The excellency of Prayer page 137 138 The Prevalency of Prayer page 141 142 Prayer hath a twofold Preheminence above all other duties page 138 The Nature of Prayer page 140 The Antecedents to Prayer page 147 Meditation an help to Prayer page 148 Meditation of our sins wants and miseries needful before Prayer page 149 to 155 Meditation of God helpful to Prayer page 155 Quickening and stirring up of grace needful to Prayer page 157 Sin hindreth Prayer page 159 160 Anger hindreth Prayer page 161 Worldly Distractions hinder Prayer page 162 Gods Word must be the rule for the matter of our Prayers page 163 The Person Praying must be holy page 165 Prayer must be Vpright 170. Humble 167. Fervent 172 Constant page 178 What it is to Pray Continually page 180 A Caution about fervency in Prayer page 176 Its an ill sign to be Prayerless page 184 185 After Prayer wait for an Answer page 186 Means must be used for the obtaining our Prayers page 191 Preparation to Religious duties needful page 343 Preparation to Hearing Vide Hearing Preparation to the Lords day Vide Lords day R REcreations are lawful 446. they must not be our occupation 450 they must be used for good ends 454. In due season page 456 Recreations are unseasonable on a Lords day page 457 458 and in times of the Churches sufferings page 461 A good wish about Recreations page 462 Religion must be our business page 10 What Religion is page 13 14 The several derivations of the word Religion page 13 What it is to make it ones business 21. It implieth to give it precedency 22. To pursue it with industry 26. To persevere with constancy page 35 Why Religion must be made our business page 39 Religion is the end of mans creation page 40 Religion is a work of the greatest weight 45 to 49. It is Soul-work 49. It is God-work 52. It is Eternity-work page 57 The necessity of making Religion our business page 60 to 70 Religion much neglected page 72 The neglect of Religion bewailed page 73 79 Our greatest care must be about Religious duties page 108 Vide Godliness and Duties Repentance consisteth in mourning for sin and turning from sin page 276 280 S SAints called Lillies why page 268 Saints shamed by sinners page 88 89 92 93 Scripture a great mercy page 198 Vide Hearing and the Word Sacrament of the Lords Supper a seal of the Covenant page 251 The Sacrament a resemblance of Christs death 252. An evidence of his love 253. A great Supper in four respects page 253. The excellency of the Sacrament page 255 Much care about the Supper page 255 256 The danger of receiving the Supper unworthily page 256 to 262 Christ takes notice how men prepare for the Sacrament page 257 Preparation requisite before it 264 265. Wherein preparation for it consisteth page 266 to 279 Our dependance must be on Christ for assistance after our greatest preparation for the Sacrament page 282 Subjects to be meditated on at a Sacrament 285. Christs sufferings 286 to 293. Christs love 293 to 300. Our own sins ib. Graces to be exercised at the Sacrament 300. Faith in its threefold act 303 to 310. Love 312. Repentance page 315 What a Christian should do after a Sacrament page 319 320 Men to be very careful in the choice of Servants page 526 527 Sinners very zealous for sin page 87 88 89 Sobriety vide Temperance Sleep how to be ordered page 437. Its ends 440. Quantity page 437 Season page 439 Soul-work weighty page 49 The welfare of the body dependeth on the Soul page 51 The Souls excellency page 50 T. TEmperance commended page 416 Vide Natural Actions and Eating Thankfulness enjoyned 413 415. For the Word 236. For the Sacrament page 319 U. VNgodliness brancheth it self into Atheism and superstition page 1 2 Uprightness acceptable to God page 171 Unthankfulness page 408 W GOod Counsel about the Choice of a Wife page 525 526 Word why called the grace of God page 203 Gods power alone can make the Word effectual page 217 218 When the Word cometh with power then it profiteth page 229 Its woful to live under the Word and not to be changed by it page 231 We must bless God for his Word page 237 The Word must be obeyed page 240 241 242 Word Vide Hearing Worldlings eager for the World page 74 to 78 Our Worship of God must be inward and outward page 14 to 19 Man made for the Worship of God Vide Man God is very choice in his Worship page 109 110 Gods Worship must be according to his Word page 19 20 God alone the object of Worship page 16 Its ill to dally with Gods Worship page 112 Much Watchfulness required in the Worship of God page 113 Y YOuth Vide Family instruction FINIS
and proficency is your work Heavenly mindedness and Humility which are the greatest glory of our English Gentry are excellent helps to growth in grace Children that feed on ashes cannot thrive Silly Pismires that continually busie themselves about their hoards and heaps of earth never grow bigger Indeed great persons are liable to great temptations Flies will strive to fasten upon the sweetest Conserves The longest robes are aptest to contract most dirt Satan as some write of the Irish to take their enemies digeth trenches in the earth as it were and covereth the surface of it with the green turfs of carnal comforts and contentments which men treading upon and taking to be firm ground fall in to their ruine But your sight of the glory to be revealed by the Prospective glass of faith will help you to wink more on these withering vanities Ah what a muckheap to that is all the wealth of this lower world Naturalists tell us that the Loadstone will noâ— draw in the presence of the Diamond Sure am the world notwithstanding all its pomp and pride glory and gallantry hath but little influence upon Christians when they behold their undefiled inheritance Humility is also helpful to proficiency in holiness The lofty mountains are barren when the low valleys abound in corn As the Spleen swelleth the whole body consumeth as pride groweth the new man decayeth This high wind raiseth strange tempests in the soul He giveth grace to the humble 1 Pet. 5.6 God layeth these richest mines in â—ge lowest parts of the earth Trees even in time of drought whose roots are deep in the ground bear fruit when corn and grass wither Christians like the Sun in the Zenith must shew least when at the highest and as branches fully laden bend the more downward Why should the mudâ— wall swell because the Sun shineth on it We may say of every mercy and excellency we enjoy as the Prophet of his hatchet Alas Master for it is borrowed 2 Kings 6.5 If ye please also to peruse the ensuing Tractate possibly it may be some small furtherance to you in your course of Christianity The intent of it is to discover and direct how Religion the great end for which we are born and the great errand upon which we are sent into the World may be made our principal business and how our Natural and Civil Actions and all oâ—r seeming diversions may be so managed that they may like an elegant Parenthesis not at all spoil but rather adorn the sense of Religion I hope the worth of the matter handled notwithstanding my weakness in the manner of handling it will make it acceptable to you I could wish the face of the Discourse were clean I may safely say it is far from being painted and pardon me if I suffer the stream now to run in two Channels Such as it is I humbly tender Sir to your favourable eye whose happiness it is to inherit your Ancestors graces as well as their riches It was counted a great honor to the Family of the Curio's that there were three excellent Orators in it one after another and to the Family of the Fabii Plutarch that there were in it three Presidents of the Senate successively It is your glory to descend not onely of a Father who walked with God and of a Grandfather who it is hoped dyed in the faith but also of a great Grandfather who was famous for serving the will of God in his generation The holy Apostle speaketh to the glory of Timothy concerning his unfeigned faith which dwelt first in his Grandmother Lois and his Mother Eunice 2 Tim. 1.5 To the glory of free-grace I mention it Holiness in your house did not run onely in the masculine race your tender Mother was like Dorcas full of good works and a dutiful Daughter to the Father of mercies and your Honoured Grandmother yet alive is an old Disciple of the holy Jesus O how much are you bound to the Lord that grace should thus run in a blood Boleslaus King of Poland when he was to speak or do any thing of concernment would take out a little picture of his Fathers that he carried about him and kissing it would say I wish I may speak or do nothing at this time unworthy thy name Sir it is your priviledge to reap the benefit of their Precious Prayers and your piety more and more to imitate their Gracious patterns How exactly should you walk having such lights so near to direct you And how Accurately should you write in every line of your life having such fair copies before your eyes It is no small advantage likewise * Daughter to the right Honorable the Lord Pagit Madam to your fair hands who are a branch of a Noble and Honorable stock but your birth from above is your present greatest credit and will be your future chiefest comfort Alexander must derive his Pedigree from the gods or else he thinketh himself ignobly born To be born of God to have heavenly blood running in your veins to be the Spouse of the dearest Saviour to have your name written in the Book of Life will stand you instead and as many figures amount to millions in an hour of death and dreadful day of judgement when civil and natural priviledges though now favours will stand for cyphers and signifie nothing The Jews indeed tell us that women are of an inferiour creation and therefore suffer them not to enter their Synagogues but appoint them galleries without but they speak more truly and wisely who call women the second edition of the epitome of the world Souls have no Sexes in Christ there is neither male nor female Persevere honored Lady in your pious course to confute those painted carcasses who spend all their time in priding and pleasing their brittle flesh and neglect their immortal spirits to publish to the World that greatness goodness are not inconsistent O 't is a rare and lovely sight to behold Honor and Holiness matched and married lodging and livlng together As a Diamond well set in a golden Ring is most sparkling and as light in Stars of the greatest magnitude is most glorious and shining so Grace is often most amiable in persons that are most Honorable The Exceeding Advantage your Ladyship hath this way of doing God much service is an awakening argument to endeavours after much sanctity It is a farther encouragement that you are joyned to a loving Yoke-fellow who will draw equally with you in the road to Canaan That you may both walk in the day of your lives like Zachariah and Elizabeth that Peerless Pair as one calleth them in all the Commandments of the Lord blameless that when the night of death shall overtake you you may expire like the Arabian Phoenix in a bed of sweet Spices the graces and comforts of the Spirit leaving a sweet savour behinde you that your children may be heirs to your Spiritual riches and see the eternal felicity of
thy soul delight it self in fatness If Religion were thy business God would not serve thee as the World doth its servants God is such a Master that ten thousand Worlds to him are as nothing yea less then nothing and vanity He is a Master without exceptions because he is an ocean of all and nothing but infinite perfections His Worship must needs be the best work because it is it self a reward Thou canst not deny but the work of Saints and Angels in Heaven is the best work by a thousand degrees that Creatures are capable of or can possibly be exercised in Truly their work and reward is the same to worship and enjoy the blessed God They who make Religion their business have a taste beforehand of their future blessedness Religion also bringeth in the greatest profit The World payeth her servants in Cyphers and Counters aery honors a brutish pleasure and fading riches which are worth nothing but Religion here in Figures and Pearls which are worth thousands the precious blood of Christ the inestimable Covenant of Grace and Eternal immediate communion with the Infinite God Reader if profit be the bait at which thou wilt bite I will tell thee in a few words how much Religion will he worth to thee Truly two Worlds not a farthing less Exercise thy self unto Godliness Godliness hath the promise of this life and that which is to come 1 Tim. 4.7 8. Ah who would not work for thee O King of Nations when in doing of thy commands there is such great reward Friend who would not cast his net into the waters of the Sanctuary when he may be confident of such an excellent draught Once more If none of these things move thee Quest 4 I shall ask thee one question more and then leave thee to thy choice What wilt thou do in a dying hour I say again Reader if Religion be not thy business now What wilt thou do when thou comest to dye Now possibly thou bearest thy self up with the streams of carnal comforts but what will become of thee when all these waters shall be dryed up and nothing of them seen but the mud of those sins which thou hast been guilty of in the use or rather abuse of them Now thou canst do well enough thou thinkest without God and his Worship but ah what wilt thou do when thou comest to look into the other World Alas then thy brightest Sun of bodily delights will be clouded thy freshest flowers will be withered and thy greatest candles extinguished and leave onely a stink behinde them Believe it death will search thee to the quick and try to purpose what mettal thou art made of When thou comest to lie upon thy sick bed and thy wealth and honors relations and flesh and heart shall fail thee what will become of thee if God be not the strength of thy heart and thy portion for ever What will he do to look death in the face upon whom the jealous God shall frown We read in Epiphanius of a Bird called Charadius that being brought into the room where one lieth sick if he look on the sick person with a fixed eye he recovereth but if he turn away his eyes from him he dyeth Friend what a miserable condition will thy poor soul be in when all thy friends and riches shall leave thee and the blessed God himself shall not vouchsafe thee a good look but turn away his face from thee Surely thy disease will be unto death eternal Thy friends may carry thy body to its grave for a time but frightful Devils will carry thy soul to hell to remain there for ever and ever Religion indeed is like the stone Chrysolampis which will shine brightest in the dark of death The truly Religious may launch into the Ocean of Eternity and sail to their everlasting harbor as the Alexandrian ship came into the Roman haven with top and top gallant with true comfort and undaunted courage Let death come when it will he can bid it welcome Death is never sudden to a Saint no guest comes unawares to him who keepeth a constant table But as when the day dawns to us in Europe the shadows of the evening are stretched on Asia so the day of their Redemption will be a long night of destruction to thee That Jaylor who knocketh off their fetters and setteth them at perfect liberty will binde thee in chains of darkness and hale thee to that dungeon of horror whence thou shalt never come forth O Reader these are no jesting matters I am confident as lightly now as thou thinkest of a Religious man as if he were onely some singular and affected person it may be thou canst hardly look on him but with a squint eye or speak of him but with a jeer yet when thou comest to dye thou wouldst give a thousand Worlds if thou hadst them to give for the least drop of his holiness or the least crum of his happiness Ponder these four forementioned particulars and thou canst not but think them weighty Questions Do not O do not dally or jest with them for be confident thou wilt finde them one day to be edged tools Possibly Reader thou art one of them that hast heard these Sermons preached and belongest to that Parish where Providence hath cast me And then as I have a special relation to thee I must beg of thee as upon my bended knees for the Lords sake and as thou wouldst not have them brought in against thee at the dreadful day of judgement that thou put the will of the Lord discovered therein immediately into practice My hearts desire and prayer to God for thee is that thou mightest be saved O that I knew what to do for thee which might be effectual for that end If thou wilt believe the blessed God the way to the happiness in Heaven is to exercise thy self to godliness on Earth there is no going into life but through the strait gate The Devil putteth old mens spectacles on young and old mens eyes which cause them to think that the way to Heaven is broad and large when God himself hath told us that it is narrow and few go in it I have acquainted thee in this Treatise what is the price not natural but pactional of Salvation there must be striving labouring fighting using violence a working it out with fear and trembling and God is resolved he will not abate the least mite O that I could therefore prevail with thee to set upon it in good earnest I do not plead with thee for my self but for thy own profit that thou mayest be happy for ever and shall I lose my labour Neighbour surely thou believest that these things are not toys and trifles but matters of infinite concernment and wilt thou slight them Alas to be frying in Hell or living in Heaven for ever are of greater consequence then thy understanding can possibly conceive The weight of these things hath so overburthened several persons
be hurtful but helpful to our General Callings I conclude the Book with Government of Families wherein thou mayst learn that thy house must be dedicated to God Religion in thy house must of necessity be minded or the whole Family is cursed The Naturalists observe of the Eagle that building her nest on high she is much maligned by a venemous Serpent called Parias which because it cannot reach to the nest maketh to the windward and breathes out its poison that so the air being infected the Eagles young may be destroyed but by way of prevention the Eagle by a natural instinct keepeth a kind of Agath-stone in her nest Plin. Hist lib. 3. cap. 10. which being placed against the wind preserveth her young Satan the crooked Serpent is ever busie to poison the Air in thine house and thereby to destroy thy self servants and whole houshold the only stone for prevention is to set up Religion Neighbor I have many a time pressed this duty upon thee and I do again in the name of the blessed God charge thee as thou wilt answer it at the Bar of Christ that thou immediately set up the worship of God in thy Family Thou knowest how many Sermons I preached from Josh 24.15 on this subject all which ere long thou shalt give an account of how inexcusable wilt thou be if after all those warnings thy Family be found in the number of them that call not on God! Good Lord how dreadful will it be for thee to sink into hell with thy whole house on thy back And now Reader whoever thou art out of affection to thy precious soul and eternal salvation let me prevail with thee not to use Religion as men do perfumes refresh themselves with them whilst they have them but they can well enough be without them but to make it thy chief and main and principal business What shall I say to thee Assure thy self Religion will be thy best friend at last O if thou hadst but the same apprehensions of it now which thou wilt have on a dying bed and day of Judgement thou wouldst make it thine only business them Religion will be Religion indeed of infinitely more worth to thee then millions of worlds All other things will then like leaves in Autumn fall from thee but though all thy most loving friends will part with thee Religion will walk with thee in the valley of the shadow of death it will direct and refresh thee in the pleasant waters of life and it will protect and comfort thee in those salt waters of sickness and when thou passest the Mare mortuum the Sea of death When the world in thy extremity will serve thee as the herd do a Deer that is shot push thee out of their company When thy wife and children will like Orpah to Naomi kiss thee and take their leave of thee Religion will like Ruth stick closs to thee where thou goest it will go where thou lodgest it will lodge death it self shall not part thee and it As the noble Grecian answered Philip when he asked him Whether he was not afraid to die No saith he for the Athenians will give me a life that is immortal Thou shouldst not need to fear death for Religion will give thee a life that is immortal As the old grave Counsellors told Rehoboham Be thou a servant to this people this day and they will be thy servants for ever So say I to thee Be thou but a faithful servant to Religion in this short day of thy life and Religion will be thy servant to all eternity If thou art resolved to give thy self up to the service of this noble Mistris possibly this Treatise may do thee some little service by acquainting thee with her will and directing thee in her work If in the perusal of it thou receive any profit let God alone have the praise and remember him in thy prayers who is Thine in the Lord George Swinnock THE The Contents of the Chapters CHAP. I. THe Preface and Coherence of the Text page 1 Chap. II. The opening of the Text and the Doctrine page 7 Chap. III. What Religion or Godliness is page 12 Chap. IV. What it is to make Religion ones business or to exercise ones self to Godliness page 21 Chap. V. The first Reason of the Doctrine wherein is shewed that Religion is the great end of mans creation page 39 Chap. VI. The second Reason of the Doctrine wherein is discovered that Religion is a work of the greatest weight it is soul-work it is God-work it is eternity-work page 45 Chap. VII The third Reason of the Doctrine wherein is discovered the necessity of making Religion ones business in regard of Gods Precept the opposition a Christian meeteth with in the way to Heaven and the multiplicity of business which lieth upon him page 60 Chap. VIII The first Vse by way of complaint that this trade is so dead and the worlds trade so quick page 71 Chap. IX The same complaint continued that this trade is neglected and superstition and sin should be embraced page 82 Chap. X. The second Vse by way of advice to make Godliness our main business in the whole course of our lives page 94 Chap. XI How a Christian may make Religion his business in religions duties or the worship of God in general as also a good wish about it wherein the former heads are epitomized page 106 Chap. XII How a Christian may make Religion his business in Prayer and 1. Of prayer in general and the Antecedents to it page 136 Chap. XIII Of the concomitants of prayer wherein the matter of our petitions the qualification of the Petitioner and the properties of our prayers are handled page 163 Chap. XIV The subsequent duties after prayer as also a good wish about prayer wherein the several heads in the antecedents concomitants and subsequents of prayer are epitomized page 185 Chap. XV. How a Christian may make Religion his business in hearing and reading the VVord and of preparation for hearing page 197 Chap. XVI Of the Christians duty in hearing page 223 Chap. XVII Of the Christians duty after hearing as also a good wish about hearing wherein the former heads are all epitomized page 234 Chap. XVIII How a Christian may make Religion his business in receiving the Lords Supper wherein arguments to and the nature of preparation for it is discovered page 250 Chap. XIX How a Christian may make Religion his business at the Table when he is receiving page 284 Chap. XX. VVhat a Christian ought to do after a Sacrament as also a good wish wherein all the former heads are epitomized page 318 Chap. XXI How a Christian may make Religion his business on a Lords day page 335 Chap. XXII Brief directions for the sanctification of the Lords day from morning to night as also a good wish about the Lords day wherein the former heads are epitomized and a good wish to the Lords Day page 381 Chap.
some part but all the day Whether the actions he be about be natural or civil he makes them sacred whether the Company he be in be good or bad he will mind his holy calling whether he be riding or walking whether he be at home or abroad whether he be buying or selling eating or drinking whatsoever he be doing or wheresoever he be going still he hath an eye to further godliness Anima est tota in toto tota in qualibet parte because he makes that his business What the Philosopher said of the soul in relation to the body The soul is whole in the whole body and whole in every part of it is true of godliness in reference to the life of a Christian godliness is whole in his whole conversation and whole in every part of it As the constitution of mans body is known by his pulse if it beat not at all he is dead if it beat and keep a constant stroke it s a sign the body is sound Godliness is the pulse of the soul if it beat not at all the soul is void of spiritual life if it beat equally and constantly it speaks the soul to be in an excellent plight It was the practice of our Saviour who left us a blessed pattern therein to be always furthering godliness when bread was mentioned to him upon it he diswaded his Disciples from the leaven of the Pharisees Mat. 16.5.6 When water was denyed him by the Samaritan woman he forgets his thirst and seeks to draw her to the Well-spring of happiness John 4.10 When people came to him for bodily cures how constantly doth he mind the safety of their souls Thou art made whole go sin no more or thy sins are forgiven thee He went about doing good in the day time working Miracles and Preaching in the night time he often gave himself to meditation and prayer He that minds Religion by the by doth otherwise he can Proteus like turn himself into any shape which is in fashion Purch Pilgr Vol. 1. p. 416. As the Carbuncle a Beast amongst the Blackamores which is seen onely by night having a stone in his Fore-head which shineth incredibly and giveth him light whereby to feed but when he heareth the least noise he presently lets fall over it a skin which he hath as a natural covering least its splendor should betray him So the half Christian shines with the light of holiness by fits and starts every fright makes him hold in and hide it The mark of Antichrist was in his followers hands which they can cover or discover at their pleasure but the mark of Christs Disciples was in in their Foreheads visible at all times Thirdly To exercise our selves to godliness implyeth to persevere in it with constancy to our dissolution Men follow their Trades and open their Shops till death shut their eyes and gives them a writ of ease men pursue their earthly works till death sound a retreat and command their appearance in the other World Many a one hath breathed out his last in the midst of his labour His life and his labour have ended together Let every man abide in the calling whereto he is called saith the Apostle 1 Cor. 7.24 They who make Religion their business are constant immoveable and do always abound in the work of the Lord. Their day of life is their day of labour the sun ariseth and man goeth to his labour until the Evening Psa 104.23 Death onely is their night of resting when they die in the Lord then and not till then they rest from their labours Saints are compared to Palm Trees because they flourish soon to Cedars because they continue long True Saints in youth always prove Angels in age B. Hall med ti cent â— they often set out with the first but always hold on to the last The Philosopher being asked in his old age why he did not give over his studies answered When a man is to run a race of forty furlongs he will not sit down at the thirty ninth and lose the price The pious soul is faithful unto death and injoyeth a Crown of life As Cesar he is always marching forward and thinks nothing done whilst any thing remains undone Nil actumc edens si quid su per sset agendâ—m iâ—uâ—an As they are fervent in their work so they are constant at their work The Church of Ephesus had Letters Testimonial from Heaven for my names sake thou hast laboured and hast not fainted Rev. 2.3 Water in the Baths is always warm As long as there is Water there is heat not so our ordinary water though this may be warmed by the fire at present yet if taken off it returnes to its former coldness nay it is colder then before because the spirits which kept it from the extremity of cold are by the fire boyld out of it The reason is plain the heat of the Baths is from an inward principle and therefore is permanent the heat of the latter is from an external cause and therefore is inconstant That warmth of piety which proceeds from an inward principle of a purified conscience is accompanied with perseverance but that profession which floweth from an outward motive wheremen as Chamelions take their colour from that which stands next them their Religion from those they have their dependence upon is of short duration A man that minds Religion by the by is like Nebuchadnezzars Image he hath an head of gold but feet of clay His beginning may be like Nero's first five years full of hope and encouragement but afterwards as a carcass he is more filthy and unsavory every day then other His insincerity causeth his inconstancy Trees unsound at the root will quickly cease their putting forth of fruit Such men if godliness enjoy a summer of prosperity may like a Serpent creep on the ground and stretch themselves at length to receive the warmth of the Sun but if Winter come he will creep into some Ditch or Dunghil least he should take cold Travellers that go to Sea meerly to be Sea-sick or in sport if there arise a black cloud or storm their voyage is at an end they hasten to the harbour they came not to be Weather beaten or to hazard themselves amongst the boistrous Billowes but onely for pleasure But the Merchant that is bound for a voyage whose calling and business it is is not daunâ—ed at every Wave and Wind but drives through all with resolution He that onely pretends towards Religion if a storm meet him in the way to Heaven he leaves it and takes shelter in the earth as a Snail he puts out his head to see what Weather is abroad what countenance Religion â—ath at Court whether great men do smile or frown upon the Ways of God and if the Heavens be lowring he shrinks into his shell esteeming that his onely safety But they that make godliness their business do not steer their course by such cards
his Ordinances God is greatly to be feared in the Assembly of his Saints and had in reverence of all them that are round about him Psa 89.7 When God intended to give the Law to Israel Exod. 19.11 12 14. the Jews must sanctifie themselves three days beforehand and when God came on the third day to deliver his pleasure to the people with what pomp and terror was proclamation made He descends in his Royal robes with a noble Retinue of Saints and Angels and with the dreadful ensigns of his Power Majesty and Jealousie Deut. 33.2 The Lord came from Sinai and rose from Seir he shined forth from mount Paran and he came with ten thousand of Saints from his right hand went a flery law for them Exo. 19.16 18 Then were there thunders and lightnings and a thick cloud upon the mount and the voyce of the Trumpet exceeding loud so that all the people that were in the camp trembled And mount Sinai was altogether in a smoke because the Lord descended upon it in fire and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace and the whole mount quaked greatly and why is all this Why doth the Mighty possessour of Heaven and earth appear at that time in such state and royalty and magnificence with such a rich Train of Heavenly Courtiers with such Thundring Vallies of Shot with the Mountain Smoking under him and Trumpets sounding before him but to assure us that he is not so contemptible as to be slighted by any that he is not impotent but able to revenge himself on all that affront him nay to teach us that he will be feared and reverenced in all them that draw nigh to him Therefore he will make even Moses whom he knew face to face Heb. 12 21. at such a time exceedingly to quake and fear Civil or natural difference amongst us here below commandeth proportionable reverence the Subject must fear his Soveraign 1 Pet. 2.17 The Servant must obey his Master with fear and trembling Ephes 6.5 the Wife must see that she reverence her Husband Ephes 5. ult If there be such reverence due from one creature to another when they were all made of the same course earthly mold and must all be buried in the bowels of their common Mother when there is no essential but onely an extrinsecal difference between them what reverence is due from poor dust and ashes to the God of the Spirit of all flesh the King of Kings and Lord of Lords between whom and his creatures there is an infinite distance It behoveth us The worship of God is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a partic 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 valde pavere 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quâ—d est more canis ad pedes alicujus tanqua m domini totum sese prostâ—rnere subjectionis gratia â—anch said Bernard to enter into the celestial Court at prayer time where the King of Heaven sits on his Starry stately throne environed with an innumerable company of glorious Angels and crowned Saints with great reverence and fear Ah with what humility should a poisonous poluted Toad creep and crawl out of a Ditch into the presence of so glorious and dreadful a Majesty The holy Servants of God were antiently called Nephalim from Nephal to fall down Prostrates or fallers because in the Worship of God thy usually fell on the earth The Elders of Israel trembled at the coming of Samuel 1 Sam. 16.4 and shall not we tremble when the great God cometh to us in his Ordinances Every Relation in which men stand to God calls for awfulness and dread of him If I be a Father where is mine honour If I be your Master where is my fear Mal. 1.6 but especially in the Saints approaches to him they must stand in aw of him When God appeared to Jacob at Bethel where he saw nothing but Visions of love he cryeth out This is none other but the House of God How dreadful is this place Gen. 28.17 The great Turk when he goeth into his Temple layeth aside all his state and hath none to attend him but a professour of the Law Therefore Reader Deut. 28.58 be perswaded to fear that glorious and fearful Name the Lord thy God That Name which is the greatest prop of thine affiance commandeth thy fear and reverence When thou hearest In the fear of God give audience to his word Act. 13.16 Poor peasants must be trembling when this Prince is speaking With meekness receive that word which will damn or save thy soul Alass with what fear should a condemned Prisoner attend to his King when every word he speaks is life or death It becomes the greatest Persons â—o be awful in Gods presence Constantine the Great when hearing a Sermon Euseb de vâ—t Constant. l. 3. c 17. would start out of his Chair of State being ravished with the word and stand up for a long time and being minded by his Courtiers that such a posture was unbecoming his high place he would not hearken to them Eglon though a fat unweildy man as soon as Ehud told him that he had a Message from God to him rose up to hear it Judg. 3.20 Abraham who had the honour and favour to be Gods friend yet when God spake to him fell on his face Gen. 17.3 Moses though high in the heart of God yet is hunâ—ble when he hears from God He boweth his head to wards the Earth and Worships Exod 34.8 When thou prayest put up thy petitions to him with awful apprehensions of him The vulg Lat. read that Psa 84.11 abjectus in domo Dei mei to be cast upon the Earth to lie prostrate in the House of God The Eastern Christians when they called on God threw themselves on the ground Luther prayed with confidence as to a Father but with reverence as to a God Remember when thou takest upon thee to speak unto the Lord yet thou art but dust and ashes Gen. 18.27 Thou art at best but a Beggar and a proud heart will not suit a Beggars purse The poor must use intreaties Prov. 18.23 The twenty four Elders fell on their faces and worshipped Rev. 4.16 So did Jesus Christ himself in prayer Mat. 26.39 O come let us Worship and bow down let us kneel before the Lord our Maker Psa 95.6 The Elephant that could not bow nor kneel was no fit Beast for a Sacrifice Go to the Sacrament Mat. 28.8 that representation of Christs suffering as the Disciples went from his Sepulchre with fear and great joy The Fathers call it misterium tremendum the nearer we draw to God in any Ordinance the greater must be our reverence In a Sermon we draw nigh to him as Pupils to their Tutor In prayer as Children to their Father but at a Sacrament we talk with God face to face We Sup with him and he with us If Angels vail their faces in his presence much more cause have
not their hearts touched They hear and do not vers 33. Such go to Church just as they who go to a noise of Musitions onely for the pleasant sound for nothing but to hear Reader take heed of these and other finful ends least God answer thee according to the Idols of thine heart Children go to Fayrs for babies and rattles but men go for some serviceable commodities for the supply of their own and their Relations necessities Though foolish men go to Church to quarrel with the Person teaching or to admire at some fine cadencies or allusions in the Doctrine taught do thou go to the word for the releif of thy spiritual wants As a new born babe defire the sincere milk of the word that thou mayst grow thereby 1 Pet. 2.2 Here is a good end of a good action not to gaze upon the people or Pastor but to grow by his Preaching Some men go to Gardens to gather Gilly-flowers or Roses meerly to smell to them or look on them and in a short time throw them away when a good house-wife goeth to her garden for a better end she gathereth them to make a precious conserve or syrrup of them which she keeps constantly by her to comfort her in a time of sickness Though too many go to a Sermon meerly to look on the gaudiness of its dress or to sente the wit and fancy of the preacher which sight and sente are quickly gone do thou gather those flowers which grow in Eden the garden of the Lord that thou mayst by faith make such a cordial of them as may be ever ready at hand to revive thy spirit in each fainting fit whether of death or any civil or spiritual danger whilst thou livest Lastly If thou would prepare thy self to hear or read the word rightly leave thy Worldly thoughts behind thee It is written of Bernard that when he came to the Church-door he would say Stay there all my earthly thoughts Say to the cares of this life when thou art about reading or hearing as Abraham to his Servant Abide you here and I will go yonder and Worship Gen. 22.5 If thou shouldst suffer those weeds they would hinder the springing up of the good seed the word They are like Theeves never dogging thee at this duty but to do thee a mischief either to steal thy comforts or to wound thy conscience Christ sharply reproveth the Jews for turning his Fathers house which should be called an house of prayer into a Den of Theeves but how did they do this By buying and selling and changing Mony in the Temple If thou Reader shouldst in thine heart be buying in thy provision or selling out thy commodities or hankering after thine hoards and heaps of Corn or Wares or Money when thou art in Gods House thou turnest the House of prayer into a Den of Theeves therefore thy best way is to keep them out and if they come in afterwards as Christ did to whip them out When men hear with their Harvest ears meditating and musing on their flocks or shops or fields no wonder if the word be ineffectual to them If the wits of men be a wool-gathering the Word of God will be like water spilt on the ground which cannot be gathered up again Some Garden Seeds are mingled with Ashes when they are sown and thereby they spring up the better but this Seed must not be mixt with Dust and Ashes if it be it will not spring up at all It is reported of one of Englands Lord Treasurers some say Cecil others say Burleigh that though by reason of his Office he was crouded with business all day yet when he was going to rest at Night he would throw off his Gown and say Lie there Lord Treasurer What he did going to Bed we must do when we go to this heavenly Banquet though the concernments of our families and callings throng us at other times yet when we go to hear or read the uncomparable word we must lay them by with Lye here all my thoughts of this lower beggerly World Thus I have dispatched the first particular Preparation for the Word CHAP. XVI Of the Christians duty in hearing SEcondly I come now to the second which is thy carriage at the word in reference to which I shall commend to thee these three things 1. When thou art hearing or reading set thy self seriously as in the presence of God God setteth before thee in his word and offereth to thee life or death blessing or cursing his infinite favour or fury Heaven or Hell and friend are these things to be jested with Imitate Cornelius in his carriage when he was to hear Peter We are all here present before God to hear all things that are commanded thee of God Act. 10.33 The piety of this Centurion appeareth in the ground and motive of his hearing he came not to hear men but God to hear all things which are commanded thee of God 2. In the gracious manner of his hearing he doth not say we are all here present before thee but we are all here present before God When the heart is awed with the apprehension of a Divine presence the iron gates of the ears will fly open of their own accord and give the Word a free passage The Creature dares not but hearken diligently to the speech of that God on whose breath depends his life and death when he seeth him immediately before his eyes I can speak it by experience saith Erasmus that there is little good to be got by the Scriptures if a man read or hear it cursorily and carelesly but if a man do it out of conscience and as in Gods presence he shall finde such an efficacy in it as is not to be found in any other Book This setting thy self seriously as in Gods presence is like the Masters eye to his servant which will make him ply his work whether he would or not or rather like the fire to the Smiths bar of iron which doth so mollifie it that he striking whilst it is hot may beat it into what form and mould he pleaseth This temper of soul in the Thessalonicans was so great a favour that Paul thought he could never praise the Author of it sufficiently For this cause thank we God without ceasing that when ye heard the word of God ye heard it not as the word of man but as it is indeed the word of God 1 Thess 2.13 The Apostle knew his children could not but thrive when they received their meat in such a manner as the Word of God It is the speech of Seniclaeus concerning Diarius the Martyr Methought when I heard him speak I heard the Holy Ghost himself preaching to me Truly the want of this is one main cause why the Word of God doth so little good The Devil is very diligent at duties he is every Lords Day the first at Church The Children of God never gather together but Satan is amongst them His great design is to
render this Engine of the Word fruitless whereby the Strong-holds of his Kingdom have been battered and broken down Therefore as a Jaylor will sometimes let his prisoners have their hands and feet at liberty so long as the doors of the Prison are barred and bolted that they cannot run away So he will let thee have thy hand at liberty for some acts of charity and thy feet at liberty to walk in some path of civility so long as he can but have the doors of thine ear and heart lockt fast that thou canst not get from him He knoweth Christ waiteth at the outward door of the ear that he might thereby come to the inward door of thy heart and deliver thee a poor Captive out of his hands For this cause if it be possible he will keep the street door shut he will hinder thee from hearing as in Gods presence he will finde thee other work to do then to hear it may be he will get thee to play and toy as he doth many great ones or if not to be talking to thy pew-fellows or to be reading possibly somewhat finful at least somewhat unseasonable or to have thy heart in thine own house whilest thy body is in Gods house or as a childe though thou art at thy book he will make thee look off if but a Butter-fly come by he will set thee about some business or other unless thou art serious as in Gods sight that thou shalt never have so much leisure as to hear even when thou art in the Church It is reported of Henry the third King of France that in a solemn Procession at Paris hecould not be without his Jester who walking between the King and the Cardinal made mirth to them both in the mean time there was brave devotion Alas they that hear in jest will finde Hell to be hot in earnest Were not men Indians and Infidels in English habits did they but believe the invaluable worth of their souls the consequence and weight of their unchangeable estates what a searching trying time the hour of death will be and what dreadful terrible things will be seen at the day of Judgement Good Lord how would they hear The Minister need not call to them to attend to the Word of God they would of themselves give it their ears and mindes and hearts and think all too little for it 2. Apply the Word to thine own soul The Word is a salve of soveraign vertue Some talk of the Weapon-salve that it heals at a distance but the Word will not it must be applied to the sore or it will never cure The Word is seed preaching is the sowing of this soed application of it to thy heart is the harrowing of this seed into the earth If the seed be thrown on the ground and not harrowed in we can expect no harvest A good hearer is said to eat the Word Thy words were found by me and I did eat them Jer. 15.16 Eat of my bread and drink of the wine which I have mingled Prov. 9.5 It is not the bread in the cupboard of the Bible or on the table of a Sermon which will nourish thy soul unless it be by application of it to thy self eaten and taken down into thy stomack The glass of wine in thine hand will not make thy heart glad the precious promises in thine ears will not rejoyce thee they must by application be drunk down then they will refresh and comfort thy Conscience Faith is both the mouth to receive in and the stomack to digest this spiritual food It is worthy thy observation how frequently the Holy Ghost attributeth the famous effects and heroick acts of the Word to this Commander in chief under whose couragious and wise conduct it warreth The Word fighteth boldly and worketh miraculously under Faiths banner The Gospel of Christ is the power of God to salvation to them that believe Rom. 1.16 It pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe 1 Cor. 1.21 so also 2 Tim. 3.15 Application is the life both of preaching and hearing If the Threatnings and Curses of the Law are preached faith is to them as the powder to the bullet causing them to make grievous havock and to do great execution upon the lusts of a man Faith turneth those stones as I may speak into bread and helpeth the Christian like Sampson to fetch meat out of the eater If the Precepts and Commands of the Law are preached Faith is the eye to see the Equity in them and the Excellency of them and Faith is the hand to put them into practice If the Promises and Comforts of the Gospel are preached Faith is to them as Induction to a Minister it gives him actual possession of them it makes them his own Faith in the Threatnings causeth Humiliation Faith in the Precepts causeth Subjection and Faith in the Promises worketh Consolation If at any time thou goest from hearing dead and undone thou mayest say to Faith as Martha to Christ If thou hadst been here my soul had not dyed The unbeliever like a man in a swoon shuts his mouth against those life-recalling Cordials which are before him in the Gospel Other sins wound the soul but Unbelief like Joab strikes under the fifth rib and kills outright Unbelief spoileth all An Unbeliever is dead he cannot hear Christ in his Word he is blind he cannot see God in the Gospel like Hagar though a Fountain be before him he beholdeth it not Unbelief makes the Word like rain upon Rocks wholly useless and fruitless What is said of the Essential Word is true of the Revealed Word It can do no mighty works because of their unbelief Unbelief is a Bulwark whereby sin secureth it self against all the darts and shot which the Word dischargeth at it What was the reason that the Word was not helpful to the Jews Heb. 4.2 The word preached did not profit them not being mixed with faith in them that heard it Unbelief was the crack in the Glass through which this inestimable Water of Life did leak out and so was lost Nay What made the Word hurtful to them This leaven of Unbelief sowred all 1 Pet. 2.8 That Rock on which Faith builds an house which reacheth up to Heaven Unbelief stumbleth at and tumbleth the soul into Hell 3. Let the Word come with Authority and Power to thy Conscience This is one of the chiefest ingredients that goeth to the composition of a Preacher that he speak as Paul did in demonstration of the Spirit and of power 1 Cor. 2.4 By this force wherewith he spake and execution which he did that incomparable pattern of Preachers the Captain of our Salvation was distinguished from the Pharisees who in discharge of this holy Ordinance onely made false fire He taught as one having Authority and not as the Scribes And the people were astonished at his Doctrine Matth. 7.2 ult ver He is the best Souldier who in this Warfare makes
famine How many starve for want of the bread of life Thou sittest it may be at a full Table but couldst thou conceive what millions famish for lack of this spiritual food thou wouldst pray to God earnestly to pity such places and praise him heartily for providing so plentifully for thee Their misery is sometimes set forth by darkness and the shadow of death Darkness is dreadful though but external T was one of the greatest plagues which befel the Egyptians When Job would curse his day with a witness what is his wish Let darkness and the shadow of death stain it let a cloud dwell upon it let the blackness of the day terrifie it Job 4.4 It was sad when Paul and his companions saw neither Sun nor Stars in many days but O how sad is it when men see not the Sun of righteousness shining in the Heavens of the Gospel all their days Such may enjoy the light of Gods providence but they enjoy not the light of his countenance How can they work that want the light of the word to direct them or how can they walk surely they that walk in the dark stumble the dark corners of the earth are full of the habitations of cruelty and fall even into Hell Where no vision is the people perish O Reader what infinite cause hast thou to bless the Lord that thou art not in their condition If thou hast any compassion for the poor dark dead souls be instant with the Lord pray O send out thy light and thy truth that thy ways may be known upon earth and thy saving health unto all Generations If thou hast any affection to thy own soul praise God for his Law Blessed be the Lord who hath shown us light Procopius reporteth that nigh to the Pole where the night endureth for many Months together the Inhabitants in the end of their long night get up to the top of the Mountains striving who shall have the first sight of the Sun and as soon as they see it they embace and hug each other crying out Ecce Sol apparet Behold Lo the Sun the Sun appeareth This poor Island had a long night of darkness when the people in it served dumb Idols and Devils blessed for ever be the unsearchable goodness of God the Sun of the Gospel hath appeared amongst us Nay as it s said of Rhodes it may be said of England The Sun always shines on it What shall we render to the Lord for this benefit On the town house of Geneva is writen upon a Marble Table in letters of gold Post tenebrass Lux. After darkness light In remembrance of and thankfulness for their deliverance from the pride power tyranny and abominations of the Pope Anno. 1535. I doubt not but we in these parts of the World have as much cause to set up a Monument of praise and thanks to the blessed God for bestowing upon us the light of his glorious Gospel and freeing us from the power of that man of pride who exalteth himself above all that is called God Reader Is it not a priviledge for thee to sit by the fire of the word when many poor souls are freezing in the cold for thee to walk in the light of the word when many sit in darkness and the shadow of death for thee to be clothed out of the rich Wardrobe of the word when many have their nakedness appearing to their eternal shame nay what an advantage hast thou that when thousands and millions have none to give them bread but starve and famish thou hast a Table fairly spread and fully furnished with all sorts of food both for necessity and delight yea and if sickness hinder thee from coming down to Dine or Sup with thy brethren and sisters upon that day of exceedings the Lords day thy God is so tender of thee that he sendeth thee somewhat up to thy chamber alloweth thee his Bible and blessing at home for thy nourishment and comfort O that men would praise the Lord for his goodness and his wonderful works to the children of men 2. Practice when the Preacher hath done in the Pulpit the Hearer must begin in his practice He heareth a Sermon best who practiseth it most what one saith of Psa 119. I may say of the whole Scriptures They are verba vivenda non legenda words to be loved more then to be read or heard A Christians life should be a legible comment on Gods Law The strokes in Musick must answer to the notes and rules set down in the Lesson It is observable that the blood was to be sprinkled on Aarons right ear right thumb and great toe of his right foot Exod. 29.20 the first did note his right hearing the Word the second and third his working according to it and walking in it The doing not the hearing or reading Christian goeth away with the blessing And he said yea rather blessed are they that hear the Word of God and keep it Luke 11.28 The occasion of the expression is confiderable one of Christs hearers having tasted was so taken with the lusciousness of his Doctrine that she could not before all the company forbear commending the tree for the fruits sake Blessed is the womb that bare thee and the paps which thou hast sucked Yea rather saith Christ Blessed are they that hear the Word of God and keep it In which words he doth not deny her assertion but her inference or the foundation of it Mary though happy yet was not so happy in bearing the essential as in keeping the Written Word of God She was rather blessed in having Christ formed in her then in having him formed of her It was her greater honour and happiness to be a member of Christ then to be the Mother of Christ The Porter is not so rich by carrying a bag of Gold as the Merchant that oweth it The Christian onely that keepeth the word of Christ is truely related to Christ the Word Matth. 12. ult It is reported of the Nobles of Polonia that when the Gospel is read they lay their hands upon their Swords and begin to draw them intimating thereby that they will defend it with the hazard of their lives Saints must be ready to die for the Gospel but a Christian may defend it as truely by an holy life as by a bloody death A scandalous conversation is an offence to Religion and openeth the mouths of its enemies but as fire is a good defence to a man in a Wilderness against the fury of ravenous beasts so the heat of grace flaming and the light of holiness shining in the lives of professors defendeth the word against its opposers A Sermon practiced is a Sermon in print and by it the hearer teacheth all the Week long The Romans were commended for obeying from the heart 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the form of Doctrine delivered to them Rom. 6.17 In the Original it is whereunto they were delivered A good hearer as I said before
the hand of thy body to take the bread and wine do thou put forth the hand of faith to receive the body and blood of Christ This is one principal act of Faith like Joseph of Arimathea to take Jesus down from his Cross and lay him in the new Tomb of thine heart Like Thomas put thy finger of faith into his side and cry out My Lord and my God Be not discour aged O penitent soul Are thy sins many His mercy is free Are thy sins weighty His merits are full Thou comest for bread and will thy Saviour give thee a stone He took notice of thy ferious preparation for this Ordinance and will he frustrate thine expectation at it Did he ever send hungry soul empty away The law of man provides for the poor in purse and will not the Gospel of Christ provide for the poor in spirit Is not his commission to bind up the broken hearted and can he be unfaithful Why shouldst thou mistrust truth it self Let me say to thee as the Disciples to the blind man Be of good chear he calleth for thee See how he casteth his eyes upon thee with a look of love as once upon Peter Observe he stretcheth out his Armes wide to embrace thee He boweth down his head to kiss thee He cryeth to thee as to Zacheus I must abide at thy house in thy heart to day O make haste to receive him and make him a feast by opening the doors of thy soul that the King of Glory may enter in Say to Christ Lord though I am unworthy that thou shouldst come under my roof yet thou art so gracious as to knock at the door of my heart and to promise if I open that thou wilt come in and sup with me and then call to him as Laban to Abrahams Steward Come in thou blessed of the Lord why standest thou without I have prepared lodging for thee Gen. 24. Truly Reader shouldst thou having mourned unfeignedly for thy sins now by unbeleif hang off from thy Saviour thou woulst much dishonour him and disadvantage thy self Christs greater things are for them that beleive If thou wilt now beleive thou shalt see the glory of God I am very consident if thou hadst been by the Cross broken heart when thy Saviour suffered and shouldst have kneeled down before him and said Dearest Saviour Why art thou now wrastling with the wrath of Heaven and rage of Hell He would have answered To satisfie poor soul for thy sins Again Why dost thou dye such a cursed death He would have said To take the curse of the law from thy back that so thou mightest inherit the blessing Once more Let not my Lord be angry and I will speak this once Blessed Redeemer Why didst thou cry out I thirst and drink Gall and Vinegar Thou mightest have heard such a reply To assure thee Thirsty sinner that I am sensible of thy thirst being scorched with that fury which is due to thy sins and that thou mightest drink of that love which is better then Wine But stay O weary thirsty soul but a while and by and by thou shalt see this side opened and blood issuing out to quench thy thirst O put the mouth of faith to that wound and what thou shalt suck thence shall do thee good for ever Reader I have read that the Souldier who peirced Christs side was blind and that the blood flying out upon him recovered his sight Sure I am that this blood sprinkled on thy conscience will purge it from dead works to serve the living God O therefore bathe thy soul in this blood when thou art at the Sacrament say to God as the Eunuch to Philip Here is water what hindereth but I may be Baptized Lord here is blood here is a fountain what hindereth but I may wash in it Rom. 3.24 1 Joh. 1.7 Heb. 9.14 Gal. 6.14 Heb. 12.13 True Lord my person is unrighteous but thy blood is justifying blood My heart is polluted but O Christ thy blood is sanctifying blood My lusts are many and strong but thy blood is mortifying blood My soul is lost but sweetest Saviour thy blood is saving blood This Justifying Sanctifying Saving blood I drink I apply for these ends O let this blood be upon me and my children for ever AWay despair my gracious Lord doth hear Though Winds and Wave assault my keel He doth preserve it Herbert the bag he doth steer Ev'n when the Boat seems most to reel Storms are the Triumph of his Art Well may he close his eyes but not his heart Hast thou not heard what my Lord Jesus did Then let me tell thee a strange story The God of power as he did ride In his Majestick robes of glory Resolv'd to light and so one day He did descend undressing all the way The Stars his tire of light and rings obtain'd The Clouds his bow the fire his spear The Skie his Azure mantle gain'd And when they ask'd what he would wear He smil'd and said as he did go He had new cloaths a making here below When he was come as travellers are wont He did repair unto an Inn Both then and after many a brunt He did endure to cancel sin And having giv'n the rest before Here he gave up his life to pay our score But as he was returning there came one Who ran upon him with a Spear He who came hither all alone Bringing no man nor armes nor fear Recio'd the blow upon his side And straight he turn'd and to his Brethren cryd If ye have any thing to send or write I have no bag but here is room Vnto my Fathers hands and sight Beleive me it shall safely come That I shall mind what you impart Look you may lay it very near my heart Or if hereafter any of my friends Will use me in this kind the door Shall still be open what he sends I will present and somewhat more Not to his hurt sighs will convey Any thing to me Heart-despair away 2. The second Grace to be called forth is love And truly if thou hast acted thy faith in his Passion for and affection to thy soul I shall not in the least doubt but thy love to him will play its part The Creatures some tell us follow the Panther being drawn after her by her sweet odours When Jesus Christ out of infinite love offered up himself a Sacrifice for thy sins surely the sweet savour thereof may draw thy heart after him Because of the savour of thy good oyntments therefore the Virgins love thee Cant. 1.4 There is nothing in Christ but what may well command thy love He is the fairest of ten thousand He is altogether lovely But his bloody sufferings for thee and his blessed love to thee one would think are such Loadstones that if thou wert as cold and hard as steel would draw thy soul both to desire him and to delight in him Meditate a little more on his love to thee Publicans and
So God giveth others outward portions some of the good things of this life but to thee O Christian he giveth a Benjamins mess his image his spirit his son himself a worthy portion a goodly heritage because he loveth thee Others have a little meat and drink and wages but thou hast the inheritance Others like Jehosaphats younger Sons have some Cities some small matters given them but thou like the first born hast the Kingdom the Crown of glory others feed on bare elements thou hast the Sacrament others stand without doors and thou art admitted into the presence Chamber others must fry eternally in Hell flames and thou must enjoy falness of joy for evermore O give thanks unto the Lord for he is good for his mercy endureth for ever To him that chose thee before the foundation of the World for his mercy endureth for ever To him that called thee by the word of his grace for his mercy c. To him that gave his onely Son to dye for thy sins for his mercy c. To him that entred into a Covenant of grace with thee for his mercy endureth for ever To him that hath provided for thee an exceeding and eternal weight of glory for his mercy endureth for ever O give thanks unto the Lord for he is good for his mercy endureth for ever Remember the poor on that day Gods bounty to thee in spirituals may well provoke thy mercy to others in carnals The Jews at their Passover released a Prisoner in remembrance of their deliverance from Egyptian bondage Surely at the Lords Supper when thy heart is warmed with Gods compassion to thee thy hand should be enlarged in contribution to the poor in remembrance of thy redemption out of slavery to sin and Satan The Primitive Christians had their collections for the poor and the Lords Supper both on a day On the first day of the week Because the Saints like the wall being then heated by the Sun should reflect that heat on the passengers on others Acts 20.7 2 Cor. 16.1 Thy cup runneth over O let others drink with thee Thy Charity may make thy Coffer lighter but it will make thy crown heavier It was a notable expression of one who having given much away was like to want and asked what she would do I repent not of my charity for what I have lost in one World I have gained in another 2. Faithfulness The Sacrament is a strong engagement to sanctity Sacramentum est juramentum At the Lords Supper thou takest a new Oath of Allegiance to the King of Saints whereby every wilful iniquity after it becomes perjury 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Septuam a Hedge The Greek word for an Oath cometh from a word signisieth an Hedge to shew that an Oath should keep men in and prevent their wandering out of the field of Gods word It is the character of an Harlot She forgetteth the Covenant of her God Prov. 2.17 I know that the Devil will come to sit with thee after Supper Flies love to settle on the sweetest perfumes When Israel had drunk of the Rock which followed them which Rock was Christ then Amalek fought them When Jesus Christ had received the Sacrament of Baptism then the Devil pursued him with his fierce assaults When thou hast been at the Table expect the Tempter That subtle theif will hear of the new treasure of grace which is brought into thy house thy heart and will use all his pollicy and power to rob thee of it thy care must be by stronger Bolts and Locks then ordinary by greater diligence and watchfulness then before to secure it Surely Reader If thou didst but find the Saviour in the Sacrament thou canst not but fear sin after the Sacrament Thou hast seen what sin cost Christ didst thou not at the Table see the Lord Jesus hanging on the Cross Didst thou not thus bespeak thy soul Look O my soul who hangeth there Alass it is thy dearest Redeemer See his bloody head bloody hands bloody back belly his body all over bloody But O his bleeding soul Dost thou not hear his lamentation My God My God why hast thou forsaken me What thinkest thou is the cause of all this Ah t is thy sins which is the source of all these sorrows And canst thou joyn with them or love those lusts that hate the Lord Canst thou wound him whom God hath wounded and crucifie the Lord Jesus afresh Hath not thy Saviour suffered enough already O here is a Medicine instar omnium instead of all to kill those diseases of thy soul It is said of the Souldiers of Pompey that though he could not keep them in the Camp by any perswasion yet when Pompey threw himself upon the ground and told them If ye will go ye shall trample upon your General Then saith Plutarch in the life of Pompey they were overcome Truely if nothing will disswade thee from sin yet this consideration that it is a trampling upon thy blessed Saviour should prevail with thee Though thou shouldst be marching never so furiously yet as Joabs Souldiers when they saw the dead body of Amasa stay'd their march and stood still when thou seest the mangled wounded peirced crucified body of thy Saviour thou shouldst stop proceed no further How many arguments mayst thou find in this ordinance to be close in thy obedience The greatness of Christs love calleth for graciousness in thy life The love of Christ constraineth 2 Cor. 5.14 Other Motives may perswade but this compelleth If deliverance from the yoke of Pharoah were such a bond to obedience what is deliverance from sin wrath hell mayst not thou Reader say with the Jews After such a deliverance as this should I again break thy Commandements woulst thou not be angry with me till thou hast consumed me Ezr. 9.13 They that receive such courtesies if any men the World sell their liberty and ought to be Christs servants 〈…〉 Friend hath God wiped off the old score wilt thou run again in debt did Christ speak peace to thee at the Table and wilt thou turn again to folly O Reader when thou art tempted to sin say with the Spouse I have washed my feet how shall I defile them I have washed my soul how shall I pollute it with sin I have given my self wholly to God before Angels men and how can I do this great wickednes sin against my God against my Saviour against my Covenant There is a beast some write which if she be feeding doth but turn her head about forgeteth what she was doing O do not thou after thou hast fed on the bread of life forget what thou wast doing but as at the Sacrament thou hast remembred Christs death so do it after by dying to sin all the days of thy life O do not use this ordinance as Papists do the Popes Indulgences to purchase a new licence to sin Judas went from the Supper to betray his Master Absolom
as arrant a dissembler as he was pretended to hate such ingratitude Is this thy kindness to thy friend saith he to Hushai why hast thou left him when thou art by any finister carriage departing from Christ give conscience leave to ask thee Is this thy kindness to thy friend Ah why dost thou leave him serve him thus thy sins will be more sinful because God is more merciful to thee then to others The children of Israel have onely the Seventy read done evil from their youth up Jer. 32.30 As if there had been no sinners in the world but they their priviledges being greater then others their provocations were more grievous The unkindness of a friend hath much of an enemy in it David was not much troubled at Shimei's rayling but Absoloms rebellion pierced his very soul My son that came out of my bowels hath lifted up his hands against me Wilt thou give thy Saviour cause to complain He that did eat bread with me hath lift up his heels against me Psal 41.3 He that did eat at my table nay eat of my flesh and drink of my blood he hath lift up his heart and his hand and his heel against me It was an aggravation of Sauls fall he fell as though he had not been anointed 2 Sam. 1. And it will be a sad aggravation of thy fall if thou shouldst fin as if thou hadst not been at a Sacrament It is reported of an Elephant that being faln down and by reason of the inflexibleness of his legs unable to rise a Forrester came by and helped him up with which kindness the Elephant was so taken that he followed the man up and down did him much service and never left him till his dying day Reader the moral is plain thou wast faln and never able to rise of thy self The Lord Jesus Christ forsook his Father in Heaven and his Mother on Earth suffered unconceivable sorrows to help thee up what love shouldst thou have to him what service shouldst thou do for him Thou canst not do less since he hath redeemed thee out of the hands of thine enemies then serve him in holiness and righteousness all thy days As the Hop in its growing follows the course of the Sun from East to West and will rather break then do otherwise So shouldst thou in all thy actions follow the course of the Sun of Righteousness and rather dye then deny him When Moses came from the Mount where he had been conversing with God his face shined Exod. 34.30 When thou goest from the Table where thou hast had sweet communion with thy God The face of thy conversation must shine so with holiness that others may take notice of it It s said of the High Priest and Elders that observing the language and carriage of Peter and John They marvelled and they took knowledge of them that they had been with Jesus Acts 4.13 So thy words should be so gracious and thy works so exemplary after a Sacrament that all those with whom thou hast to do may marvel and take knowledge that thou hast bâ—en with Jesus that at the Table thou didst sup with Christ and Christ with thee I shall onely answer a doubt or two from a troubled Conscience and conclude this Ordinance Object 1. But possbly thou wilt say O penitent Soul I have been at the Sacrament and found little joy what shall I do Answ Though thou didst not finde any ravishing comfort at the Table yet it may be thou mightst receive more grace from Christ When thou didst not spring upward in Joy thou mightst root thy self more downward in Humility Here is no loss Heaven is the proper place for comfort Earth for Grace I expect my reward in another World if I can but do my work well here I shall be satisfied A serious Christian may well be contented with solid peace without extasies Therefore be not discouraged Object 2. But I finde no peace no calmness of spirit I fear my heart was so dead and dull that I did neither act grace in the ordinance nor receive grace through the ordinance for I saw never a smile in Gods face all the while Answ Didst thou not go in thine own strength if so no wonder that thou art disheartned Jacob told his Wives I perceive that your Fathers countenance is not towards me as at other times but what was the matter This Jacob say Labans sons hath taken away all that was our Fathers he hath got his riches The glory of God as I may say is his Wealth his Treasure The riches of his glory Rom. 9.23 Now if thou didst rob God of any part of his treasure by thy self-confidence it is no marvil that thy fathers countenance was not so pleasant towards thee as at other times In brief I would wish thee to reflect both upon thy preparation for and carriage at the Ordinance and if thou findest thy self faulty confess and bewail it hereby thou mayst yet attain the efficacy of the Ordinance When Physick is taken down and doth not work Physitians often give their Patients something to quicken it and it proves exceeding instrumental for the diseased persons good A sincere lamentation of thy negligence before or carelesness at the Table supposing that thy heart be right with God will much help forward the operation of the Sacrament If thou findest that thou wast faithful in the discharge of thy duty then by no means despond but wait Food doth not nourish as soon as it is taken into the body there must be time allowed for concoction The strongest meats are longest in digesting but they give the most and the best nourishment Faith and Prayer will at last like skilful Midwives deliver the promises safely of those blessings which did stick for a time in the birth It is good that thy soul should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of God There is light sown for thee O thou child of light who walkest in darkness and be confident it will spring up A good Wish about the Lords Supper wherein the sormer Heads are Epitomized THe Lords Supper being one of the greatest mysteries of the Christian Religion The Introduction a lively representation of my dearest Saviours bleeding passion and blessed affection and a real taste of that eternal Banquet which I shall hereafter eat of in my Fathers house at his own Table I wish in general that I may never distaste the person of my best friend by abusing his picture that I may not go to the Lords Table as Swine to their trough in my sin and pollution but may receive those holy elements into a clean heart Motives to preparation Christs inspection O that my lamp might be flaming and my vessel filled with oyl when ever I go to meet the Bridegroom I wish in particular that my soul may be so throughly affected with Christs special presence at this sacred Ordinance that I may both prepare for it and proceed at it
that are in his inferior family His children have till they leave But Reader Where is the place of this good this great provision is it not in Gods House in his holy Temple in the publique Worship Great Princes bestow their Largesses and shew their Bounty Glory and Magnifience before much people If thou wouldst know where Believers have seen their best sights where they have heard their most ravishing sounds where they have made their most delightful meals it was in the House of God They have seen thy goings O God in the Sanctuary Psal 68.24 They have heard the joyful sound of thy Word They have been abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy House Do but consider Davids tears and grief for want of and his fervent prayers for the fruition of publike Ordinances even then when he had opportunities for private performances and surely thou wilt esteem the Ministery of the Word no mean mercy See his sorrow when he was driven from Gods Sanctuary When I remember these things my soul is poured out for I had gone with the multitude I went with them to the House of God Psal 42.3 4. My soul is poured out that is I am overwhelmed with grief and even ready to dye when I compare my present condition with my former happiness in the fruition of Religious Assemblies There is an Elegancy in the phrase Poured out the word is applyed to water or any liquid thing and in Scripture signifieth abundance Joel 2.28 My life is ready to be poured out as water upon the ground which cannot be gathered up again when I remember my former mercies and consider my present misery How bitterly and passionately doth he plead with Saul If the Lord hath stirred thee up against me let him accept an Offering but if they be the children of men cursed be they before the Lord for they have driven me out this day from the Inheritance of the Lord 1 Sam. 26. 19. How pathetically doth he bemoan it to his own soul Wo is me for I dwell in Meshech and my habitations are in the Tents of Kedar The loss of his Father Mother Wives Children Lands Liberty nay of his very Life would not have gone so near his heart as the loss of publique Ordinances As his sorow was great for the want so was his suit most earnest for the enjoyment of them How many a prayer doth he put up for the liberty of the Tabernacle Psal 43.3 4. 27.4 It is the one thing the principal special request which he begs of God One thing have I desired of the Lord that will I seek after that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life and verse 8. how hard doth he pray for this priviledge Thou saidst Seek ye my face my heart said unto thee Thy face Lord will I seek To seek the face of God in a general sense is taken for the substance of Religion or to seek God Psal 24.6 but by the face of God in a strict sense is meant the Ark of God and place of his residence Now David at this time being deprived of this inestimable benefit in the ardency of his zeal presseth God with all the arguments he could devise to restore him to that happiness among the rest he urged God with his own words Thou hast commanded me to worship thee in thy Tabernacle to appear before thee that is my desire and delight my heart would seek and see thy face there Thus he presseth God for performance on his side that he might be enabled to obey Gods precept Where God denyeth publique Ordinances there he himself will be a little Sanctuary to his chosen Ezek. 11.16 But where he affords them he expects that they should be attended Christ himself went often into the Synagogues Peter and John went up into the Temple at the hour of prayer Acts 3.1 On the Sabbath we went out of the City by a rivers side where prayer was wont to be made Acts 13.23 and Paul reasoned in the Synagogue every Sabbath Acts 18.4 Those that by their practices contemn publique Worship have neither Christ nor his Apostles for their pattern One of the Jewish Rabbies hath a saying He that dwells in a City where there is a Synagogue and cometh not to Prayers Merito dicitur vicinus malus is deservedly stiled a bad neighbour Beader if thou forsakest the Assemblies of the Saints how useful soever thou mayest be to others bodies yet thou art a bad neigbour in neglecting soul-service The Lord Jesus Christ as he was faithful as a Son in his own house took special care to provide and prepare such publique servants as might give every one their meat in due season The Ministers of the word are his publique Officers appointed by himself to have the oversight of his Saints They are both Fathers to beget and Tutours to bring up his Sons and Daughters They are his Stewarts to dispense publiquely the mysteries of the Gospel of peace But little do they think who set light by publique Ordinances what a price Christ paid that he might enable and qualifie them for his Churches profit The gifts he bestoweth on Pastors are not the least sign of his good will to his people Wherefore he saith When he ascended up on high he gave gifts to men And he gave some Apostles and some Profits and some Evangelists and some Pastours and some Teachers For the perfecting of the Saints for the work of the Ministry for the edifying of the body of Christ till we all come in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God unto a perfect man unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ Ephes 4.8 11.12 13. As Kings on the day of their Coronation usually appear in all their Majesty and magnificence and do some famous act as of a general pardon or the like which may speak their love and respect to their Subjects So Jesus Christ when he rode Triumphantly in the Chariot of his ascension into Heavens glorious City to sit and reign there at the right hand of the Majesty on High gave abilities to Ministers endowed them with answerable gifts and graces that they might dispense the Ordinances of God powerfully and profitably as a special fruit of his passion for and a singular testimony of his affection to his Church I would wish thee therefore to be present at and to continue to the end of publique Ordinances David would be a Door-keeper in the House of God Because a Door-keeper is first in and last out Friend if thou wert feasting some Noble person thou wouldst not rise from Table unless necessity forced thee before all were taken away and thanks returned I must tell thee that when thou art feeding with the blessed Potentate it is much below good manners to turn thy back upon him without his leave and blessing Fifthly If thou wouldst make Religion thy business on a Lords day Tune thine
of curious colours delight the eyes variety of dainties are acceptable to the taste Nero promises rewards to them that invented new pleasures God hath for that purpose disht out his worship into several and various duties that it might be more pleasant to us Sometimes we speak to God sometimes we hear from God sometimes we are praying for supply of our necessities sometimes we are praysing him for his infinite excellencies sometimes our mouthes are open to sing sometimes our ears are open to hear the Sermon sometimes our eyes are open to see the Sacrament The same meat is drest several ways to make it the more welcome and so the more strengthning to us Hippocrates observes that that food which nature receives with delight though not so good in it self affords better nourishment then that which is more wholesome against which nature hath a reluctancy Reader thy delight and pleasure in the sacred Ordinances of the Lords day will help to make them more profitable to thee Some colours which do delight do also strengthen the sight Sixthly if thou wouldst make godliness thy business on a Lords day Let no duty satisfie without communion with God in it Ordinances are the Galleries and Gardens and for that end appointed wherein God and thy soul may walk together For this cause they are called a glass because therein the Christian beholds the glory of the Lord 2 Cor. 3.18 As Zacheus climbed up to the Sycamore Tree to see Jesus and when he once had a sight of him he came down joyfully so go thou up into the Trees of duties for this purpose that thou mayst see God in Christ and unless this be granted thee come down sorrowfully When men go to meet a friend at a certain place and they miss him how discontentedly do they go away Alas what are the Ordinances without God but as a Table without meat from which a living soul must needs depart thirsty and hungry David loved the habitation of Gods house but it was because it was the place where Gods honour dwelt Psa 27. David longed for the courts of God more then for his Crown relations or possessions or any outward comforts but it was because God afforded there his gracious presence Gods glorious presence is in his Church Triumphant but he is graciously present in his Church Militant My soul longeth yea even fainteth for the Courts of the Lord my heart and my flesh eryeth out for the living God Psa 84.2 His desire was as eager and earnest as of a longing woman with child who is ready to faint away and dye if she be not satisfied Sometimes he compares his desire to thirst of which creatures are more impatient then hunger Psa 63.1 Sometimes to the thirst of an Hart after the water-brooks which creature being naturally hot and dry in a very great degree is exceeding thirsty but the object of his desire of his thirst was God My soul thirsteth for God for the living God O when shall I come and appear before him Psa 42.1 2. To see thy beauty and glory as I have seen thee in the Sanctuary It was communion with God in his life and love in his graces and comforts which the Psalmist so much longed for The sweet smiles of Gods face the honey dews of his Spirit were Davids Paradise of pleasure his heaven upon earth They that come to duty meerly for duty know not what it meanes to meet with God and therefore though they neither see his face nor hear his voice yet are contented like those that were born in some dark Dungeon and never yet saw the Sun they are well enough satisfied without it but those who have seen it and know that that light is pleasant if they look up to the heaven of Ordinances see not the Sun of righteousness it s no longer day with them The true Disciples met together the first day of the week and enjoying Jesus among them rejoyced indeed but they are onely glad in duties when they had seen the Lord John 20.20 They were glad when they had seen the Lord. Reader when thou goest to the Ordinances of God go to meet God in the Ordinances As Moses go up into the Mount of duties to converse with thy Maker Go to view the beauty of his face when thou enquirest into his holy Temple When thou goest to prayer let it be in hope to get thy heart nearer to heaven When thou goest to hear mind communion with him that speaks from heaven and then onely rejoyce in the word when as the star to the wise men leads thee to the place where Christ is It is God in the Word which causeth efficacy it is God in prayer who causeth prevalency it is God in the Sacrament who causeth alacrity it is God in a Sabbath who causeth complacency When thou goest to the waters of the Sanctuary say as Elisha at the waters of Jordan Where is the Lord God of Elijah Where is the God and Father of my Lord Jesus Christ Why is thy Chariot O Son of righteousness so long a comming Why tarry what clogs the wheels of thy Chariot O when wilt thou come unto me Psa 101.2 When thou comest from the Ordinances and hast not met God in them though thou hast shewed never so great parts or gifts or outward devotion say as Absolom All this avails me nothing so long as I may not see the Kings face 1 Sam. 28 15. Saul himself was sad and sorrowful when he enquired of the Lord and the Lord answered him not and canst thou O Saint be joyful when thy beloved hath withdrawn himself Look upon performances as boats to ferry thy soul over and give it a passage to God and take heed of going contentedly from God without God Psa 43.3 4. let thy prayer be O send out thy light and thy truth let them lead me let them bring me to thy holy hill to thy Tabernacle then will I go unto the Altar of God unto God my exceeding joy Seventhly Sanctifie the whole day to Gods service Be early up in the morning and as late as thy body will permit at night The Israelites when they were to batter down the strong holds of Jericho rose up early in the morning Judg. 6.15 Upon the Lords day thy work must be to batter down the strong holds of sin rise early lose no time Do not lose the least moment if it be possible of this sacred day The very filings of Gold are of worth The smallest part of this holy day is of great price The word Shamur to keep the Sabbath Lev. 19.30 signifieth to keep with care and diligence as a great treasure of which a man would lose none When men beat Ginger they will if good Husbands be careful that little fly out of the Mortar but if they beat pearl they are extraordinary watchful that not the least of that be lost because a little of that is of great value Reader if thou
glory Fourthly On the Kingdom of the house of David his annointed Fifthly That he would send Elias the Prophet Sixthly That he would make them worthy of the days of the Messiah and of the life of the World to come After this prayer the Guests with soft and low voices said unto themselves Fear ye the Lord all ye his holy ones because there is no want to them that fear him The young Lions want and suffer hunger but they that seek the Lord shall want no good thing Alas alass how few Gentiles spend half that time in devotion at their Tables which the pious among the Jews did Many go from their food as the Cow from her fodder taking no notice of the Author of it and like the Idolatrous Israelites they sit down to eat and drink and rise up to play Exod. 32.6 They sit down to Eat and Drink and rise up to play the Beast to play the Atheist Remember every creature of God is good if it be received with thanksgiving 1 Tim. 4.4 but this thanksgiving must not be onely in thy words but also in thy works thy unblameable conversation and thy charitable contribution must speak thy thankfulness When the Master hath fed the Servant he expects that he should go about his business and do the work appointed him That strength which thou receivest from God must be improved for God It s good to bless God with thy lips but best of all to bless him with thy hands and in thy life God will judge of thy thankfulness by thy conversation Think thus with thy self This is the God that feedeth me that satisfieth me with good things how sweet how comfortable are his mercies What sweet refreshment have I had from the creatures when some better then my self want food Others have it but their lives abhor bread and their souls dainty meat Job 3.20 Why should I not love fear and trust and serve this God! I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living O be ashamed to live at Gods cost and to do Satans work Be not like the young Mulets which when they have sucked their fill turn up their heels and kick at their Dam. Further thy duty is to manifest thy thank fulness by supplying the wants of the needy Job would not eat his morsels alone but the Fatherless had a share with him Job 31.16 17. The forementioned Author observes that the Heathen were not forgetful when they were feeding of their absent friends Gods hand is open to thee why should thy heart and hands be shut against the hungry bellies and naked backs Thy goods extend not to Gods Person therefore they must to Gods poor Psa 16.2 Have a Monitor within thee to call upon thee when at meals Remember the poor Remember the poor Remember poor Christ and hungry Christ and naked Christ by this test he will try thee for thine eternal estate and upon the neglect of this he will sentence thee to the eternal fire Mat. 25.41 If thou art a rich person do thou frequently mind this duty Great House-keepers must be Good House keepers All must contribute according to their abilities to the poors necessities but where God gives much he requires much he expecteth an harvest sutable to the seed he soweth It is credibly reported of Mr. Sutton Founder of Suttons Hospital that he used often to repair into a private garden Fullers Church Hist of Brit. where he poured forth his prayers unto God and amongst other passages was overheard frequently to use this expression Lord thou hast given me a liberal and large estate give me also an heart to make a good use it I am confident an heart to use wealth aright is a greater mercy then the greatest heap of wealth I had rather have a little with an heart to improve it for God then much then millions without such an heart Make thee friends of the unrighteous Mammon that when that failes thee thou mayst be received into the Celestial habitation Iustin lib. 51. When Dionysius the Syracusian Tyrant saw what heapes of gold and silver his Son had hoarded up in his closet he asked him what he meant to let it lie there and not to make friends with it to get the Kingdom after his death O Son saith he thou hast not a spirit capable of a Kingdom The rust of many a rich mans wealâ—h will eat his heart with pain and torment in the other World and the Apostle calls upon such to weep and houl for the miseries that are coming upon them James 5.1 2 3 4. God findeth fault with them that could fare on the finest bread and fattest flesh themselves and yet forget the afflictions of others Amos 6.5 How many riotous rich men are there that though they cannot eat and drink all with sobriety will rather spoil it by gluttony and drunkenness then let the poor have part with them like Children who will rather crumble away their food then impart any to their fellows O how justly was the rich man denyed a drop in the other world when he denyed a crum in this world Willet Hexap in Levit. How many covetous Muck-worms like Hogs are nourished onely to be destroyed they are good for nothing whilst they are alive the Hog is neither good to draw as the Ox nor to bear as the Horse nor to cloath us as the Sheep nor to give milk as the Cow nor to keep the House as the Dog but good onely to be kild Such are these scraping wretches good for nothing till they come to the Knife Like barren trees they do but cumber the ground and serve for no use till they are cut down for the unquenchable fire And truely their hearts will never bewail him dead whose bowels did not bless him alive His life did not deserve a prayer nor his death a tear who laid out that to serve his pride which God laid in to serve the poor Reader if God have dealt thee a considerable portion of outward good things consider that thou art but Gods Factor he is the Merchant The Factor knoweth that the goods transported to him are his Masters goods and he must dispose them according to directions from his Master All thine estate is Gods thou art but his servant his Factor he gives thee order in his word to dispose it thus and thus to such poor members of Christ so much to one and so much to another and he will shortly reckon with thee how thou obeyest his directions and if thou forbearest charity now thou wilt then be counted and found as real a theif before the whole world as ever servant was that put hundreds into his own purse which his Master appointed him to pay to other persons Withhold not thy goods from the owners thereof Pro. 3.27 from them to whom it is due either by the law of justice or by the law of love Rom. 13.8 And truly Charity is the best way to plenty He gets
drawn from another Pipe That which runs from the World is too flat low and full of dregs to be served in to the great King When Aristotle was asked what he thought of Musick he answered Jovem nec canere nec citharam pulsare that Jupiter cared not either for singing or fidling he was for higher and more refined exercises The infinite God doth always overlook our puddle-water more especially on his own day when he alloweth us to drink of his own richest Wines They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house and thou shalt make them drink of the River of thy pleasures Psa 36.8 Mark 1. The excellency of the provision fatness of thy house the River of thy pleasures The fattest is esteemed the fairest and the most excellent food therefore the Saint was enjoyned to offer the fat in Sacrifice under the law As God expects the best from us so he gives the best to us this made David when he had feasted so curiously to sing so chearfully Fatness here is the top the cream of all spiritual delicacies My soul is filled as with marrow and fatness and my mouth shall praise thee with joyful lips Psa 63.5 But though God keep so noble an house to satisfie his peoples hunger what special care doth he take to quench their thirst Thou shalt make them drink of the Rivers of thy pleasures O he drinks to them and they pledge him in his own cup. Hath the Child then any cause when his father keeps so rare and costly a Table to leave such dainties and go a begging up and down the Country for scraps and fragments O how much do these disgrace their Parents provision and their own discretion But mark Reader 2. the plenty as well as the excellency of this provision Here is fatness in the abstract a river of pleasures and so much as that they who enjoy it shall be satisfied and abundantly satisfied A River is overflowing and everflowing it communicates its water and yet is never empty It is fed with Springs and Fountains and therefore it s no wonder if it always be full They that are at such a Well need not complain of want but here is not onely Rivers and fatness for some have much and yet cannot feed but of Gods people it s said they shall be abundantly satisfied in the Original it is inebriated they shall have not onely a sufficiency but a redundancy of spiritual delights the Vessels of their souls shall be filled to the brim out of that River whose streams make glad the City of God Surely then they that may have bread in such abundance enough and to spare in their Fathers House made of the Kidneys of the Wheat of the finest Flower need not hanker after the Worlds homely fare Our Heavenly Father doth not keep so starveling an house that the Worlds scraps should go down with us Besides how abominable is it to disturb Gods rest with our sports Some work hard on the week day and play on the Lords day No melody so delightful to them as Temple Musick no draughts so sweet as in Temple Vessels Amos 6.5 Dan. 5.2 No time so fit for their foolish Triumphs as Gods time The Heathen Philistines when they offered a great Sacrifice to their god Dagon call for Sampson to make them sport These uncircumcised persons mingle their Sacrifices to the true and living God with sports and carnal nay sinful pleasures Week days like ordinary Virgins are excused and the Lords Day the Queen of days must be deflowred Reader If thou art guilty of this fin know that to steal time from thy Family or Master on a week day is theft but to steal time from thy Maker and Redeemer on this day is Sacriledge Hast thou no Mettal to disfigure and embezle but that which hath the Kings stamp on it Hast thou no time to sleep in thy Cabin or play on the Deck but just when the wind blows fair for the Vessel of thy Soul to lanch forward towards Heaven I must tell thee that God calls thee on this day to be wholly taken up in working out thy salvation and not at all in minding thy recreations It were better as Austin saith though that were very bad to plough all day Melius toto die ararent quam toto dâ—eâ—altarem Aug. in tit Psal 92. Iustin lib. 1. then to play all day But as Cyrus dealt with the Lydians when he had conquered them in Battel he allowed them liberty for all sports and pastimes and thereby subdued them in such a manner that they became his servants for ever So Satan dealeth with the children of men when they are his already in part by Sabbath bath day pastimes he makes them his sure and settled servants altogether and so they become his for ever Secondly Recreations are unseasonable in times of publique calamities The Son is very undutiful who laughs under the rod and that Daughter very unnatural who is sporting when her Mother is dying A Sword a Sword is sharpned and also furbished it is sharpned to make a sore slaughter it is surbished that it may glitter Should we then make mirth Ezek. 21.9 10. Should we then make mirth as if he had said Such Seasons call for sighing not for singing for mourning not for mirth The Jews tells us the very beasts abstained from copulation in time of the Deluge Plin. lib. 11. cap. 17. Naturalists tell us of the Bees that when one is sick the rest in the Hive are all sad Experience tells us that the very birds who in Summer sing division prettily with divers tunes and variation of their pleasant voyces in Winter forbear their notes and seem to sympathize with the season And shall not we humble our hearts when Gods hand is lifted up How much is he displeased when his chastenings are despised Amos 6.5 6 7. In that day did the Lord God call to weeping and mourning and to baldness and to girding with sackcloth And behold joy and gladness slaying oxen and killing sheep And it was revealed in mine ears by the Lord of Hosts Surely this iniquity shall not be purged away till ye dye saith the Lord of Hosts Isa 22.12 13. In that day When the Persians invaded Gods people then they minded their pleasures The unseasonableness of their laughter provoked God to anger Solace in the day of Jacobs troubles is like Winter fruits harsh and sowre Jer. 9.1 The Church may speak to such as they did to the Philosopher Aul. Cell who in a great tempest at Sea was asking many trifling questions Are we perishing and dost thou trifle Our duty is to sympathize with our fellow members in their sufferings Weep with them that weep Rom. 12.15 Now if we give our selves then to take our ease we shall hardly feel our Brethrens hard cords through our soft beds Alexander Q. Curt. though in exteme thirst when his Army was ready to famish for want of water
refused the cup of water presented to him with this excuse I cannot drink alone and here is not enough for every one of my Souldiers to wet their lips Surely Christianity layeth a stronger obligation upon us when the Church is like her Husband carrying her Cross to cut our selves short in regard of worldly comforts Reader Is thy Mother sick and art not thou sorrowful Is thy God thy Father pierced and dishonored by sin and canst thou take thy pleasures Are thy Brethren and Sisters in great affliction and hast thou no fellow-feeling affections When David asked Vriah why he went not to his house after his journey He answered him The Ark and Israel and Judah abide in Tents and my Lord Joab and the Servants of my Lord are in the open fields Shall I then go into mine house and eat and drink and lie with my wife as thou livest and as thy soul liveth I will not do this thing 2 Sam. 11.10 11. Truely if thy flesh should tempt thee to carnal mirth in aday of Zions tribulations do thou repell it as he did The beautiful Spouse of Jesus Christ the blessed members of his body are in great affliction they water their couches with tearts and they mingle their drink with weeping and shall I mind my play and sports and earthly delights through the Lords help I will not do it No by the Rivers of Babylon let me sit down and weep when I remember Sion Alas how foolish is that man who can laugh and jest and be merry in his private Cabin as if he were safe and secure when the ship of the Church in which he sayleth is in a boystrous and dangerous storm Thus I have dispatched the third particular wherein a Christian must exercise himself to Godliness namely Recreations A good Wish about Recreations REcreation being the intermission of my labour The Introduction and spending of some time in delightful exercise for the refreshing of my body and mind which by working much are apt to tire and grow weary I wish in general that I may never abuse this favour which my Master affordeth me as some drunken servants to make me unfit for his work but may be so consciencious in observing those cautions about it which his law prescribeth that my vigour and strength being thereby repaired I may after it follow his business with the more alacrity and ability In particular I wish that my teeth may never water after forbidden fruit For the kind it must be lawful that I may not be so prodigal as to lay my precious inestimable soul at stake by any sinful pleasure My God hath told me how I may be merry and not have the Devil for my Play-fellow O let me never defile my Spirit whilst I am delighting the flesh but let my sport for the kind of it be like Cesars wife without the least suspicion of fault I desire that my carriage at it may be wholly free from passion and covetousness and to this end that I may never venture what I esteem at any value my mind hereby would be dist urbed not refreshed and so the end of recreation altogether frustrated Moderation about them I wish that such delights may be used as my medicine onely now and then when nature requireth them not as my meat constantly every day let my God of all consolation lye as a Wife in the bed of my heart in my bosom be the delight of my eyes whom I would by no means have out of my sight but let these low pleasures as my servants always remain in an outward room and go or come as occasion shall require and Religion direct I wish that I may never mind recreations for those foolish sinful ends The end to be good of passing away the time or pleasing the flesh but as Elijah called for a Minstrel that his mind being thereby calmed and cheared he might be the more fitted to prophesie so I may refresh my body for this very end that it may be the more serviceable to my soul and both of them thereby to my dearest Saviour I wish that my earthly delights may not be unsavoury Seasonable because as fish at some times of the year they are unseasonable that when my general or particular occupatition require my presence In general they are unseasonable when particular or general callings are neglected for them I may not be absent at recreations Why should I like the rich fool be talking of taking my bodily ease when my soul is in danger of endless pain or like prophane Esau be following my carnal pleasures to the loss of my spiritual priviledge Finally I desire that I may not as Nero when Rome was oâ— fire be singing when the people of God are sighing but moderate or deny my mirth In special In a time of the Churches troubles when the members of Christ are mourning O let me prefer Jerusalem before my chief joy In a word I wish that I may not disparage my God by medling with drossie comforts when he calleth me to golden Cordials that I may not disobey his law by minding my pleasure on his holy day but may delight my self On a Lords day on that day of the Lord in the Lord of that day O let me gather 1. from recreations with the Holy Father If ordinary glass be at such a price how precious is a true Diamond If the Worlds trash drain such joy what joy will flow from the true treasure Lord let my cheifest and constant recreations be to walk with my beloved in the Garden of thy word to refresh my spiritual sente and sight with the fair and fragrant flowers of thy promises and precepts to do the work which thou hast given me to do and to enjoy fellowship with thy self in Ordinances till I come to that place where bodies are above such dreggie delights and souls above all mediate communion and thou thy self art all in all Amen CHAP. XXVI How to exercise our selves to Godliness in our Partiular Callings AS Religion must be our business in our Spiritual and Natural Fourthly so also in our Civil Actions and particular Callings The Heavenly Bodies have an influence not onely on men and women but also on trees and plants The holiness of a Saint must be operative not onely in his more nobler exercises the Ordinances of God but likewise in his earthly and inferior employments Thy duty is Reader to minde thy general in thy particular calling and to drive a trade in Heaven whilest thou art following thy trade on Earth When thou art called to the Lord thou art not called from thy labour nay as thou art a servant of Christ thou art bound to be serviceable to thy Countrey in some mental or manual Calling but thy diligence therein must proceed from Conscience not from Covetousness from subjection to Gods Word not from affection to thy wealth As thy particular Calling is the Zodiack through which
purpose Sins is a subtle Sophister it will bring Arguments and Reasons for all it doth as is plain in Sauls sparing Agag and the best of the flock The beasts were to be Sacrificed to God and in Jeroboams Calves they were set up to save the Jews those tiresome journeys to Jerusalem but take heed that thy heart be not hardened through the delightfulness of sin Remember Piety is the best path to outward prosperity Aristotle though a blind heathen 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Arist Poli. lib. 7. cap. 8. could see and say Make Religion thy first and chief care that thou mayst prosper The Mahometans are so sensible of this that what occasion soever they have they will pray five times a day Because the Jews suffered Gods house to lie wast therefore God blew upon their heaps and wasted their wealth He that stealeth away time from his general for his particular calling like a thief in the Candle wasteth all our work on earth is done best when our work in heaven is done first Religious duties in reference to our Worldly occasions is like sharpening the tools which helpeth our work forward with more speed and ease Mass and Meat hinder no mans thirst was a truth visible in the dark night of Popery He that neglecteth the service of his God for the following his trade may put what he getteth into his eye as our proverb is and never see the worse nay like the gold of Tholouse or the Vineyard of Naboth to Ahab the profit will be the perdition and ruine of the possessor They who want time to do Gods Work must want an eternity to receive Gods reward If men are so busie as not to attend their souls God will be so busie as not to bestow salvation I know Farmes and Oxen and Wives do hinder many from holiness and I know also that they will hinder many from Heaven Luk. 14.24 Mat. 22.5 That German Prince who would not part with his silver to pay his Souldiers lost thereby his Empire and treasure too He that will not spare time from his present business for his future blessedness is like to lose both How much time dost thou squander away in long meales in vain sports inidle discourse in superfluous sleep and yet hast thou the face to tell God that thou hast no time in a whole day to seek his favour and to mind thine eternal felicity The truth is thou dost not so much want time as waste time Do not think that it will be a sufficient excuse at the last day to tell God that thy devotion was neglected because thy earthly occasions abounded and pressed upon thee If thy servant should tell thee when he hath neglected thy business of concernment that he could not help it because he had business of his own to look after a Friend called him to the Ale-house wouldst thou think that a sufficient plea Beleive it thy defence is far worse when thou omittest the service of God for thy particular calling The Philosopher could say Aristippus apud Plot. de tranq a nimae that he would rather neglect his means then his mind and his farm then his soul The very Turks though they work their Slaves hard will yet allow them time every day for food and rest Wilt thou Reader deal worse with thy precious soul then the Turks do with their Gally-slaves For shame man be not so cruel to thy best part A Good Christian if business crowd in upon him so much that he cannot wait on them and Worship God daily in his Closet and Family as he ought will rather like a wise Marriner when the ship is overburdened cast some overboard then endanger the loss of all and himself too Times of earing and harvest were very busie times with the Israelites yet then God would not allow them to make bold with him Exod. 32.21 He that is a faithful and wise Steward will give every one their portion their meat in due season as he will give his body and his family their portion every day so he will give his God and his soul their portion every day surely he is not faithful who atteneth the lacquey all day and neglecteth his Lord much worse is he who feedeth his flesh and starveth his spirit Reader take notice that there is a time for all things as there are plowing times so there are praying times every day as there is daily time for thy shop so also for thy Closet When the Jewish daily sacrifice was intermitted as in the days of Antiochus it was the abomination of desolation I am the larger in this particular as observing that professours are exceeding faulty in suffering the Canker of their particular callings to devour and eat up the gold and silver of their general callings Sometimes they will wholly omit family duties because the world will not permit them to be at leisure but too too often when they perform them they turn them off with a short cut in a hudling manner as a Physitian his poor patients though their business with him concern their lives when rich men stand without expecting to be called in because the World stayeth at their doors to speak with them Friend as a special help against this soul-hinerance let me perswade thee to be early in the morning at thy Religious duties Some men must be spoke to betimes in the morning or not at all their publique affairs take up the whole day and would if it were twice as long The Devil hath a thousand divices to make him an Athiest all day who neglecteth morning duties Be not so hasty about thy calling in the morning as to forget to take God along with thee Remember this one note If the World gets the start of Religion in the morning religion seldom overtaketh it all day Something warm in the morning before men go to work is very wholesom A warm prayer warm communion with the blessed God in meditating or reading will help thee to work with more comfort and courage and may prevent infections from ill fumes and vapours in the day time Job had a large family much Cattel he had besides his domestical much civil business for he was a Magistrate Job 1.5 yet Job rose up early in the morning to offer up Sacrifice and thus did Job continually In the day time also or at evening let nothing put by the concernments of thy God and thine everlasting estate what company soever thou art in say as a devout soul I have read of when his hour of prayer was come you must excuse me I must be gone a friend meaning his God stayeth to speake with me Cato repented of three things one of which was Plut. in vit That he had spent a whole day idly Truely friend if thou neglectest thy general calling how busie soever thou hast been all day long about thy particular I must tell thee though an hour cannot be bought with the revenues of
nearly to exalt godliness in thy house as well as in thy heart nay I will be bold to tell thee if there be in thee the truth of Religion thou wilt propagate it amongst thy Relations Thou wilt not be like the Whirpool to suck all into thy self but be diffusive for the good of others A good Christian is like a needle touched with the Loadstone which being drawn it self will draw others along with it When Christ had drawn Philip he presently draweth Nathaniel 1 John 43.45 The Bird hath no sooner found an heap of corn but she chirpeth and calleth her fellows and will be sure to carry some home to her nest A Saint should endeavour the conversion of his neighbours that they may eat of the bread of life with him but he should have a special regard to his own family that all in it may feed on Christ by faith and live Nature hath taught the Bevers to help one another in swiming and the Cranes flying over the Mountain Taurus when the foremost is weary in beating the ayr that the next should succeed and so in order every one to labour for the safety of them all Christians are taught from other creatures to be helpful one to another but the Master of the family like the Sun must outshine all in respect of publique influence Plutarch saith of the neighbour Villages about Rome in Numa's time That sucking in the ayr of that City Niceph. they breathed righteousness Thy Family ought to be a wholesome ayr for others to breathe in It is reported of Andronicus the elder that he was Mr. of such a Family as was the shop of Vertue Enar. in Hos Prael and therefore it was called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Sun of the Earth Tremellius who for a time sojourned in Bishop Cranmers Family telleth us that it was Schola vel Palaestra Pietatis Literarum The School or Nursery of Piety and Learning The houses of the primitive Christians were little Churches in regard of the Worship and Service of God To the Church that is in thine house Philem. v. 2. Rom. 16.5 1 Cor. 16.9 Colos 4.15 Though many a mans house is so far from being Gods Church and Temple that its the Devils stye and kennel that God may say to the Master of the Family as in Rev. 2.13 I know where thou dwelleft even where Satans Throne is Nay though they are civil abroad then they will have some rags to cover their naughtiness they are sordid at home and discover there all their nakedness and nastiness David on the contrary whatever steps he might take awry and whatsoever slips he might meet with in his publique walking would be sure to look to his feet in his private dwelling I will walk in the midst of my house with a perfect heart until thou come unto me Psal 101.2 David was no Hypocrite he did not put on his best cloathes when he went out and put them off when he came in but Purity was his livery as abroad so at home Imitate that pious Governor who though he had the burthen of all the Israelites Civil and Military affairs lying upon his shoulders yet could say I and my house will serve the Lord. Reader I shall offer two thoughts to quicken thee to this necessary duty and then give thee directions for the management of it 1. Consider that Religion in a Family is the way to procure Gods blessing on thy Family The holy family alone is the happy family The Lord blessed the house of Obed-Edom for the Arks sake 2 Sam. 6.11 If the Ark be in the house that is Religion God is there for the Ark was a type of Gods presence and canst thou need any comforts when thou hast Gods Company The Philosopher could say Though he had few goods in his house yet he had the Gods in his house Though thou hast a poor dwelling yet if Godliness be there thou shalt have Gods blessing His presence will make the habitation of thy righteousness prosperous Job 8.6 Thou mayst say of thy house as Jacob of Bethel The Lord is in this place this is none other but the House of God Basil speaketh that in some Countries they draw other Pigeons to their Dove-houses by anointing one of their Pigeons wings with sweet Ointment If thy house be anointed with the Oyl of godliness it will allure the blessed God to it and then what evil needst thou fear or what good canst thou want It is observed of the Palladium in Troy that whilst that remained amongst them their City was safe The onely way to have a destroying Angel pass by thy house is to have the door-posts sprinkled with the blood of Jesus Christ Through wisdom is an house builded and by understanding it is established And by knowledge shall the chambers be filled with all pleasant and precious riches Pro. 24.3 4. Here is true wealth and the right way to injoy it 1. The true wealth thy chambers shall be filled with all pleasant and precious riches Righteousness is the best way to riches 2. The way to this by wisdom an house is builded and it is established by understanding By wisdom and understanding Godliness is understood And unto man he said Behold the fear of the Lord that is wisdom and to depart from evil is understanding Job 28. ult This wisdom is the best foundation for any house to stand upon When Religion layeth the foundation raiseth the walls and covereth the roof such a house is built upon a Rock and will stand against all the Winds and Waves wrath and rage of men and devils Some Families had lasted longer saith Luther if they had been holier Religion will bring a blessing on thy estate Job 1.10 Blessed is he that feareth the Lord that delighteth greatly in his Commandements For thou shalt eat the labour of thy hands happy shalt thou be and it shall be well with thee Psa 128.1 2. It will bring a blessing on thy Children God will be a God to thee and to thy seed after thee Gen. 17.7 Pro. 20.7 The branches will fare the better for the sap of grace which is in the root It will bring a blessing on thy name Pro. 10.7 Holiness will make thy house truely honorable It will bring a blessing on all thine affairs In a word that day in which Religion is set up in thy house I may say to thee as Christ to Zacheus This day Salvation is come to thy house 2. Consider A Family without Religion is a cursed family That house which is not Bethel an House of God but Bethaven an house of vanity is Bethany an house of sorrow and misery The curse of the Lord is in the house of the wicked Pro. 3.33 Whatsoever Cordials or comfors dishes or dainties are there the curse◠of God like the wild gourd which the sons of the Prophets put into their pottage will spoil and poison all As a little Leven a little of this curse of
to the precept Lord Deut. 6.6 7. let my house on thy day be like thy house employed wholly in thy Worship and let thy gracious presence so assist us in every Ordinance that the glory of the Lord may fill the house I wish 5 Discipline in a Family That I may manifest my love to the Souls in my family by manifesting my anger against their sins My God hath told me Thou shalt not hate thy brother Thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy neighbour and not suffer sin upon him Lev. 19.17 If it be my duty not to bear with the corruptions of neighbours much less of my servants and children Should I suffer them in unholiness I should bring them up for Hell Those deepest purple sins many times are those which are died the Wool of youth O the sad aches which many have when they are old by falls which they received when they were young Let me never like Eli honor my sons or servants above my God lest my God judge my house for ever for the iniquities which I know because my children or servants make themselves vile and I restrain them not Lord let me never be so fand and foolish as to kill any in my family with Soul-damning kindness but let my house be as thine Ark wherein there may be not onely the golden pot of Manna seasonable and profitable instructions but also Aarons Red suitable and proper reprehension and correction I wish 6 See that all be well employed That I may never expose my family to the suggestions of Satan by allowing any in laziness but may be busie my self in my particular vocasion and see that others be diligent in their distinct stations The lazy Drone is quickly caught in the honeyed glass and kild when the busie Bee avoideth that snare and danger O that I and mine might always be so employed in the work of our God that we may have no leisure to hearken to the wicked one Adams store-house was his work-house Paradise was his place of labour Lord since thou hast intrusted every one in my house with one talent or other wherewith he must trade cause me and mine to labour and work in this and to look after rest in the other World I wish 7 Peace and love must be maintained in the family for the furthering of holiness and purity in my house That I may be careful to keep it in peace Our bodies will thrive as much in Feavers as our Souls in the flames of strife Satan by the Granado's of Contention will hope in time to take the Garrison Where strife is there is confusion and every evil work Jam. 3.16 O that love which is the new Commandment the old Commandment and indeed all the Commandments might be the livery of all in my family That there might be no contention there but who should be most holy and go before each other in the path which leadeth to eternal pleasures Because marriage is a fellewship of the nearest union and dearest communion in this World and because the fruits of Religion will thrive much the better if cherished by the sweet breath and warm gale of love in this relation Lord let my wife be to me as the loving Hinde and pleasant Roe let me be ravished always with her love Let there be no provocation but to love and to good works Let our onely strife be who shall be most serviceable to thy Majesty in furthering one anothers eternal felicity Enable us to bear one anothers burthens and so fulfil the Law of Christ and to dwell together as fellow-heirs of the Grace of life that our prayers be not hindred In a word I wish That I may like Cornelius Conclusion fear the Lord with all my house So govern it according to Gods Law that all in it may be under the influence of his love and heirs of everlasting life Lord be thou pleased so to assist and prosper me in the management of this great and weighty trust that my house may be thy house my servants thy servants my children thy children and my wife belong to the Spouse of thy dear Son that so when death shall give a bill of divorce and break up our family we may change our place but not our company be all preferred from thy lower house of prayer to thine upper house of praise where is neither marrying nor giving in marriage but all are as Angels ever pleasing worshipping and enjoying thy blessed self of whom the the whole family in heaven and earth is named to whom be glory hearty and universal obedience for ever and ever Amen FINIS AN Alphabetical Table of the principal Heads contained in this Treatise A HOly affections requisite in Prayer page 172 173 A Christian should be Holy in his Apparel page 427 The ends of Apparel are four page 428 Sins about Apparel page 430 The Vertues to be exercised in Apparel page 435 Natural Actions vide Natural Two helps against Apostacy page 4 5 No Atheists in Principles page 2 B REligion bringeth a blessing along with it page 520 C A Christians duty to be godly in his particular Callings page 466 Men must be diligent in their Callings page 467 Righteous in their Callings page 474 Particular Callings must not incroach upon our general ib. To steal away the heart 476 Or time page 478 God must be sought to for a blessing on our particular Callings page 484 God must have the glory of success in our particular Callings page 487 Men must be Contented how ever God dealeth with them in their Callings page 490 A good Wish about a particular Calling page 493 A good Wish about a Ministers Calling 497 A threefold Care page 470 Charity to be minded 322 412 413 414. Christs great love to mankind 493 to 499. Christs sufferings largely described page 285 to 293 Constancy required in prayer page 178 D DRunkenness abouding 417 Its Mischiefs page 418 Holy Dutys require much Diligence page 106 Grace must be acted in Dutys page 117 118 Dutys are considerable in a twofold respect and must accordingly be minded for a two-fold end page 128 to 135 A good Wish about Religious Dutys page 136 No Duty should satisfie without Communion with God page 369 Vide Lords Day E A Christian must be holy in Eating and Drinking page 401 402 Christians must Eat and Drink Sacredly 403 to 415 Soberly 315 Seasonably page 425 Affairs of Eternity of great weight page 57 Self Examination a duty page 266 F FAith specially requisite in holy duties page 120 125 Faith necessary in hearing page 226 Faith necessary at a Sacrament page 271 Faith hath a three-fold act 303 Faith tried page 272 Religion must be set up in Families page 515 Irreligious Families do much hurt page 517 Irreligious Families are cursed page 521 Religious Families are blessed page 520 Those that would make Religion their business as they are Governours of Families must be careful whom they take into their