is to put in a graft of another nature which wil change it and by little and little sweeten the constitution of it But you will say what is to be put in I answer goe not about it as a morall man but as a Christian get Iustification and Sanctification It is true it is profitable to bee much humbled for thy sinne and you ought to bee so yet this is not the onely way to heale it but the heart must be strengthened with the assurance of the forgivenesse of it There is a double way to get the heart turned away from sinne the one to see the loathsomnesse of that which we turne from the other the beauty of the contrary object wee turne to Spend not all your paines about the first but do something in the later the more contrition the better But it is not got all at once it is more increased by assurance and hope of pardon when a man begins to have hope he purifies himselfe So it is in all other exercises it is hope quickens our endeavours One that is not neare a kingdome goes not about it but when he comes to have hopes he begins to bestirre himself tolle spem tolle conatum therefore get and encrease the hope of the pardon of your sinnes Hence the Apostle Rom. 15. 13. prayes Now the God of hope fill you with al joy and peace through believing c. By the words following it appeares to bee to strengthen and set them right concerning al their infirmities and he points to this as one meanes to be fild with joy and peace in believing as if he had said if your hearts were full of spirituall joy through faith and assurance your hearts would be purified and therefore faith also is said to purifie the heart and besides when the bloud of Christ is applyed by faith there goes a vertue with it Heb. 9. 14. How much more shall the bloud of Christ who through the eternall spirit offered up himselfe to God purge your consciences from dead workes And adde to this sanctification set upon that work Ioh. 17. Christ hath prayed that they might be preserved from the evill of the world But how shal that be done Sanctifie them through thy truth thy word is truth that is when they shall passe through this world full of evill and corruption the way to preserve them spotlesse and untainted is to have the heart sanctified When the heart is well oyled with grace the dirt of the world falls off This is an antidote against corruption Though in your passage you meete with much bad aire and infection this will preserve you But then how should wee bee sanctified By truth The more truth you get into your hearts the more grace Grace and Truth goes together 1 Iohn and came by CHRIST who is full of both Therefore 2 Pet. 3. ult these two are joyned grow in grace and in the knowledge of Christ. By truth but what truth thy word is truth Every truth is not fit to sanctifie as all water will not take sope to scowre the word is that truth that doth it Morall truths may doe many things in the soule they may adorne it but they cannot heale or purifie it Wash in Iordan saith the Prophet to leaprous Naaman There is a speciall vertue in this Iordan to heale thee of thy seprofie that is not in the waters of Damascus You came not to the word as to a lecture of Philosophy but as to that which workes wonders the power of God goes with it For withall marke this that it is not the word of it self that doth it it doth not work as Physicke that hath a vertue in it of its owne but the LORD doth it by the word and therefore CHRIST prayes to his father to sanctifie them by the word As a man writes a letter by a pen so the Lord sanctifies by the word To consecrate the heart to GOD is to sanctifie it and divine truths alone doe consecrate the heart to God and no other Let us therefore get much grace and truth into our hearts assurance of justification and joy in the Holy Ghost that by tasting of better the heart may be taken off from the pleasures of sinfull wayes sound joy will swallow up all other joyes the joyes of sin Stirre up those graces that are in thee for when wee exhort you to goe to God to helpe you our meaning is not that you should leave all the worke some labour is required of thee I speake to those who have some beginnings of grace you must stir up those graces GOD hath given you Hence Saint Paul sayes 1 Tim. 4. 15. neglect not the gift that was given thee as if hee had said Timothy thou maiest doe much if thou consider what ability thou hast received so much spirit so much liberty so much regeneration so much free will to good So he sayes to the Church of Philadelphia Thou hast a little strength it is a Talent therefore use it Therfore also he sayes in Iude 20. build up your selves and cleanse your selves and many the like But you will say how can wee doe this seeing it is the LORD that workes in us the will and the deed and wee can doe nothing without the Spirit Though the Spirit doth it yet we in this worke are to bee agents also Rom. 8. 13. If you through the Spirit mortifie the deeds of the flesh as if hee had said though you do it by the Spirit yet do you go about it We may do something to draw the Spirit nigher us as we may doe something to grieve the Spirit and to smoke him out of the house so to please the Spirit as wee intend the flame of the Spiritby pure thoughts so we put him out by foggy thoughts But you will aske what it is to stirre up our graces Stirre up thy light examine thy selfe of thy evill wayes endeavour to see them clearely and confesse them for that is the way to forsake them Prov. 28. 13. and despise none of them with that light thou hast examine every thing what ever thou hast the least doubt search it out to the full This idle speech this jollity and vanity of conversation how little soever it seemes as dalliance in thy thoughts and eyes overly performance of duties Vse that light further to get reason against thy sinne This is to consider a mans wayes as David did to ponder the reasons Let a man take paines with his heart from day to day and consider what reasons there are by which a mans heart may be taken off from his sin as against unlawfull gain to thinke it but as stealing custome whereby a man forfeits all the rest that what is unlawfully gotten is as the coale that was carried in by the Eagle into her nest with a peece of broyled flesh which consumed her nest young and her selfe and all treaties of infirmities that
THE GOLDEN SCEPTER with The Churches Marriage And THE CHURCHES CARRIAGE In three Treatissis BY The late Learned Divine IOHN PRESTON D r. in D. Chap in Ordinary to his Ma tie M r. of Emmanuell Colledge in Cambridge And sometime Preacher of Lincolnes Inne London Printed by R. Badger for N. Bourne A. Boler R. Harford sould at y e Royall Exchange at y e Marigold in Paules Chu yard at y e Bible in Queens head Alley in Pater Noster Row 1639 THE GOLDEN SCEPTER held forth to the humble VVITH THE CHVRCHES DIGNITIE by her Marriage AND THE CHVRCHES DVTIE in her Carriage In three Treatises The former delivered in sundry Sermons in Cambridge for the weekely Fasts 1625. The two latter in Lincolnes Inne By the late learned and reverend Divine IOHN PRESTON D r. in Divinity Chaplaine in Ordinary to His Majesty M r. of Emanuel Colledge in Cambridge and somtime Preacher at Lincolnes Inne PSALM 45 6. Thy throne O GOD is for ever and ever the scepter of thy kingdome is a right scepter IER 3. 14. Returne O back-sliding children for I am married unto you HOS 2. 7. I will goe and returne unto my first husband for then it was better with me than now LONâ—ON Printed by R. Badger for N Bourne at the Royall Exchange and R. Harford at the gilt BIBLE in Queenes-head Alley in Pater-noster Row and by F. Eglesfield at the MARIGOLD in PAULS Church-yard 1638. TO THE TRVLY VERTVOVS AND RELIGIOVS Gentleman RICHARD KNIGHTLEY Esquire SIR IT hath beene our custome hitherto who were deputed by the Author to this service to inscribe or dedicate the severall tractates wee have put forth to some or other of his speciall friends as proofs of our fidelity in discharging of the trust reposed in us and speciall emblemes of the Authours great abilities For if in every triviall and small Epistle a man do exarare animam imprint upon the paper some peeces of his soule he doth it much more doubtlesse in his studied exercises wherein he cannot but conceive his memory may live and some part of himselfe be kept alive and sweet to all posterity If he could say non omnis moriar because he was a Poet and think his Poem perennius aere a monument that time it selfe would not be able to divoure how much more may he say it that drawes himselfe unto the life in an immortall Dye and writes such characters as are not subject to decay and perish For all flesh is grasse and all the glory of man as the flower of grasse the grasse withereth and the flower falleth away but the word of the Lord endureth for ever and this is the word which by the Gospell is preached unto you 1 Pet. 1. 24 25. Seeing therefore it hath pleased God to preserve these peeces yet alive and after long deferring and desiring to produce and bring them forth to publike view we have thought good in a prime and speciall manner to entitle you unto them and to send them out unto the world under the covert and shadow of your name For seeing it pleased the Authour to choose your habitation wherein to put off and lay up his then decaying and declining body why should it not bee proper and convenient to send these living and surviving peeces of his soule for to attend it considering especially how much his body heretofore had waited on his soule which otherwise in humane probabilitie might still have beene alive Neither is there any doubt but these vigorous and usefull breathings of his spirit wil find accesse and entertainment where his languid and at last his breathlesse body did Especially these which may more properly be counted his than any thing that hitherto hath seene the light and this wee dare be bold to say for these that none of them did more expresse the Authour to the life Those that did either know him in his life time or since have much and frequently perused his writings shall find these three things every where occurring The foulenesse of sinne the freenesse of grace and the fulnesse of duty which in other peeces onely scattered and sparkling here and there are here collected under proper heads and handled so professedly and clearely as nothing more concerning them can be desired In the first are the danger and deformity of sin driving the spouse to sad and low expressions of her selfe as those virgins were commanded Deut. 21. 11 12 13. Even to shave her head and pare her nailes and bewaile her father and her mother that is her naturall and inbred evils and corruptions In the second is the glorious freenesse of the grace of Christ receiving this dejected and humbled captive unto favour and with that great King Hest. 5. 2. reaching forth the Golden Scepter of his love and mercy to her not onely to the pardon and forgivenesse of all her sin but intitling also of her unto all things for all things are hers whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or things prosent or things to come all are hers because she is Christs 1 Cor. 3. 21 22. In the third the fulnesse of her duty is prest upon her for the grace of God that bringeth salvation doth no sooner appeare to any man but it teacheth to deny ungodlinesse and worldly lusts and to live soberly righteously and godly in this present world Tit. 2. 11 12. that as before Ahasuerus had the virgins purified that were to approach his bed with various and costly powders and perfumes Hest. 2. 12 c. so Christ when once the soule is faithfully espoused unto him perfumes and washes her in his most precious bloud and beautifies her with variety of graces that he may present her to himselfe a glorious Spouse not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing but that she should be holy and without blame Eph. 5. 27. And now what rests but that these Treatises crave shadow protection from you nay owne you for their Patron Doth not the low and humble posture of your mind intitle you unto the first your high opinion of free grace unto the second and your holy and spotlesse carriage to the third Having so just a title besides other ingagements by this threefold clayme 't is but justice to call your name upon it and by your acceptance of it you shall shew friendship to this Posthume and especially oblige Your already much obliged and ingaged THOMAS GOODVVIN THOMAS BALL The Contents of the first Treatise Doct. 1. GOd afflicts his owne people 3 Reas. 1. Because he loves them 4 2. That his name be not blasphemed Ibid. 3. He will be sanctified in those that draw neare him Ibid. 4. He walks among them 5 Vse 1. To feare the Lord. 6 2. Want of feare provoketh God 13 3. Gods severity to wicked men 18 4. Not to think strange that God afflicts his 19 Doct. 2. God pities his people in affliction 20 Reas. 1. He is
slow to afflâ—ct 21 2. He sustaines them in affliction Ibid. 3. He brings them through affliction 25 Vse 1. Not to be discouraged in affliction 32 2. To come to God when we have offended him 35 3. To lead us to repentance 37 4 To choose the Lord for our God 41 5. To confirme us in that choice 45 Doct 3. The Lords name is called upon his people 47 Reas. God hath chosen them 48 Vse 1. To learne obedience 49 2. To humble our selves 53 3. Not to pollute Gods name 59 4. Not to be ashamed to professe Gods name Ibid. Comfort concerning our selves and the Church 63 Doct 4. Without humiliation no mercy 66 Reas. 1. The necessity of humiliation 69 2. Els there will be no returning from sin 71 3. Els there will be no constancy 73 4. Els God should not have the praise of his mercy 74 Vse 1. Exhortation to the humble 101 2. To those that are not humbled 103 Doct. 5. The Lord is mercifull to the humble 112 Reas. 1. To give God the glory 113 2. Humility keeps a man in compasse Ibid. 3. It makes him usefull to others 114 4. It makes him obedient 114 Vse 1. Consolation to the humble 115 2. To strengthen faith 118 3. To be humble in afflictions 123 4. Exhortation to be more humble 124 5. Not to apply the promises without humiliation 131 Doct. 6. All performances nothing without seeking Gods face 132 Reas. God is holy 150 Vse 1. To examine if we seeke Gods face 153 2. To seeke the Lord and not our selves 168 3. Not to forget the Lord in the middest of his mercies 172 Doct. 7. No interest in promises without turning from evill wayes 186 Vse 1. Examination 197 2. No duties serve without turning 219 3. Good purposes alone insufficient 222 Doct. 8. Turning from our evill wayes difficult 224 Reas. 1. They are pleasant Ibid. 2. Agreeable to nature 225 3. They are backed by the law of the members Ibid. Vse To make our labour answerable to the worke 229 Doct. 9. All sinnes forgiven to the humble that forsake sinne 254 Reas. 1. From the truth of God 256 2. From his goodnesse 257 Vse 1. To exclude wicked men from mercy 263 2. To trust perfectly in Gods mercy 267 3. Exhortation to be humbled 272 Doct. 10. All calamities from sin 279 Vse 1. To looke to the root of calamities 281 2. To see sin in its own colours 283 3. How to remove crosses 284 Doct. 11. If sinne be not removed as well as the crosse it is never removed in mercy 287 Reas. 1. Because sin is worse than any crosse 288 The Lord doth nothing in vaine Ibid. Vse By the issue of our afflictions to judge of our estate and Gods love to us Ibid. Doct. 12. Take away sin and the crosse will depart 290 Reas. 1. Because crosses come from sin 290 2. God never afflicts but for our profit 291 Vse To comfort us against our feares that the crosse will alway continue Ibid. The Contents of the second Treatise Doct. THere is a match betweene Christ and his Church 1 Vse 1. To apply Christ himselfe 6 2. To perswade men to take Christ. 23 Motives to it Ibid. Impediments 38 The Contents of the third Treatise Doct. EVery one that taketh Christ ought to be subject to him and it is best for him 76 Reas. 1. He is the head 78 He is a Saviour 80 Vse Exhortation to come to Christ. 82 Doct. Christ is the Head and Saviour of his Church and every member of it 90 Vse 1. To be obedient to Christ. 91 2. To choose Christ for our Head 93 3. To draw influence from him 95 4. How to know we are in Christ. 99 Trials of our subjection to Christ. 104 5. To be the glory of Christ. 133 6. To trie our condition 137 THE GOLDEN SCEPTER â— CHRON. 7. 14. If my people which are called by my name shall humble themselves and pray and seeke my face and turne from their wicked wayes then will I heare in heaven and will bee mercifull to their sin and will heale their land THese words containe the answer GOD gave to Salomons Prayer which hee made when hee dedicated the Temple His Prayer was that when they prayed on earth hee should heare in heaven And God promiseth in the words I have read to do all that Salomon asketh which promise containes three parts First That hee would heare in heaven which phrase notes out either his power that he is able to bring to passe what he assents to doe men are said to heare on earth because they can doe little but God in heaven or else it implies that though hee seemes to be farre off from his people yea though in heaven yet he will heare at last The Second part is that he will pardon their sins and it is of all other mercies the greatest for sin hinders all good things and openeth a gap to all evills and therefore David saith Blessed is the man whose sin is forgiven of all requests it is the greatest that wee can make and of all grants the greatest that God vouchsafeth Thirdly He will heale their land and remove their affliction Now observe the order of this in that before he doth it he pardons their sin Now this promise is farther set forth by two things First the persons to whom it is made the people of Israel and Iudah notified by two attributes First they are his people Secondly called by his name or on whom his name is called as the name of the husband is called upon the wife or of the fa ther upon the sonnes and as they in Antioch and we are called Christians from CHRIST Secondly the conditions this promise is made upon for it is the Lords manner to put promises upon conditions First if they bee humbled and humble themselves Secondly if that humiliation bee not contained within the compasse of their brests onely but expressed by prayer and confession of sins Thirdly if they seeke my face seeke to bee reconciled seeke his presence as separated from all things else not seeking Corne Wine Oyle but GOD himselfe Fourthly if they part with their sins in seeking for they cannot maintaine Communion with him else for God dwels in light and he who walkes in darkenesse can have no fellowship with him And thus you have the Analysis of the words wee in handling them will not use this method but begin with the words as they lye and will observe first these three Doctrines from these words If my people called by my Name FIrst God sends sharpe afflictions on his owne people this appeares by the Coherence for in the words before the text If I send plague c. then if my people c. Secondly that yet in them the Lord is very tender and full of compassion to his people this loving compellation my people argues as much it is as if he should say I cannot
sinne not If a man stand in awe of the Lord he would be afraid of every sin he would be afraid of vaine thoughts to bee vaine in his speeches and to give way to the least wickednesse afraid of every inordinate affection hee would be afraid how hee spent the time from morning till night and how to give an account thereof afraid of recreations least he should sleepe too much or sleepe too little eate too much or eate too little as knowing all is but to whet the sithe to make him the fitter for his harvest worke and therefore would be afraid to forbeare refreshments too-much or to use them too little I beseech you therefore that are in Covenant with the Lord and nearest to him that know your selves to bee within the Covenant to consider this and learne to feare And to helpe you in this take two places of Scripture 1 Pet. 1. 7. If you call on the Father who judgeth without respect of persons according to every mans worke passe the time of your sojourning here in feare that is seeing you have such a Father that judgeth every person all his children he will certainely afflict you if you offend him Therefore feare to do it The other is Heb. 12. 28 29 Let us serve him with all reverence and godly feare for even our God is a consuming fire our God whom we worship is not made all of mercy he hath other Attributes joyned with them to you he is a consuming fire If you will not serve him with feare though not immediately to consume you utterly yet to afflict you and thereby to consume your lusts so as it is a dangerous thing to be negligent of him to meddle with him who is a consuming fire How sharply did God deale with David who was yet nearer him than any of us first he tooke away the child from him which to him was a sharpe affliction he being a tender Father and had a strong affection to his life as appeares by his fastings and the like hee had to Absolon who yet was a Rebell against him and then to have almost all the people to fall from him when he was an old King to have Concubines abused so openly and the sword never to depart from his house all these sate close to him went neare his soule besides his shame to have his sin discovered to all the world as appeares by Psal. 51. Have not wee cause then to spend oâ—r time in feare if hee dealt thus with David and doe not say that though he dealt thus with David offending of him that yet he will not doe thus with me for is he not a Father that judgeth all his sonnes and that without respect of persons as the Apostle saith Consider also what he did to Iacob and Rebecca for consulting and agreeing to get the blessing by a lye for though the thing shee went about was good and they had a warrant for it and their end was good yet they used ill meanes a lye But GOD met with them both for it Iacob was therefore put to live twenty yeares from his Mothers house whereas he should have staid Gods leisure and not have beene too hasty for the accomplishment of that promise for he that believeth doth not make haste and so God promiseth riches and all good things to his children as much as they can desire but they must not make haste that is their fault and when he was comming home againe what a feare was hee put to from Esau that lye of his being the cause of their falling out and how did Rebecca also for all that while want the comfort of a sonne shee loved and had none to live with but Esau And so Moses was dearer to God than any man upon earth hee never spake with any face to face as with him yet he would have slaine him in the Inne for not circumcising his Child and also because of that other sin at the waters of Meriba he chuseth an affliction for him wherein he most of all crossed his desires denying him to goe into the Land of Canaan it may bee some small affliction in shew as this seemed to be which yet pincheth sorely and some great affliction on the contrary in bulke to others that is not so to him that beares it And thus he also deales with Eli a zealous man would any of us were so in these dayes for when newes was brought that his sonnes were dead and many of the people slaine he was not so much troubled at that as that the Arke of the Lord was taken and this amazed him so as that he fell backward and brake his necke you see the holinesse of the man yet because he had preferred his sonnes before the Lord did not governe them well God did not onely thus take away his life and of his sonnes but the Priesthood also from his house for ever and have not wee all cause to feare then How did hee deale with the good Prophet that was slaine by a Lion his fault that he beleeved another mans word pretending that he had Gods Word when hee had Gods Word expresly given to himselfe this sinne was as the sin of Eve who beleeved the Divels word when she had Gods Word expresly and therefore let us when we have the Word of the Lord sticke close to it And so however hee deale with Gideon a worthy man reckoned up among those worthies Heb. 11. yet when he made an Ephod see what judgement fel upon his children Iudg. 9. and all his house was cut off These examples are usefull for you to consider that you might know and feare the Lord and the want of this is the cause of this remissnesse and loosnesse in our profession and that we doe not so consider our waies Saint Paul was an holy man and one that stood in neere termes with Iesus Christ yet feared exceedingly 2 Cor. 5. Wee knowing the terrour of the Lord perswade men And Iob that was very exact in his life which appeares by the 31. Chap. which Chapter is nothing else but an expression of the manner of his carriage which was very exact verse 23. he gives this as a reason the punishments of the Lord were a terrour to me and so in the 2. verse the reason why he would not give liberty to his eys to looke on a Maid was for that hee considered what portion then shall I have with the Almighty and this feare of the Lord is needfull at this time when God hath discovered himselfe to be angry with the Land which is not onely for the grosse sinnes of wicked men but the sinnes of the Saints also It is your coldnesse remissenesse and laxitude I have two grounds for it first in the Revel 2. because Ephesus was fallen from her first love therefore he would remove her Candlesticke that is the whole Church among them carry them into Captivity for I cannot see by the Candlesticke how only the Ministery should be
ment and so in the Rev. 3. because Laodicea was neither hot nor cold therefore will I spue them out of my mouth God would endure them no longer and therefore you that thinke your estates the best even you have had a hand in this plague you thinke that other mens sinnes the sinnes of wicked men are the cause of it but God he knoweth that they cannot pray and have no life in them as you have and though-their sinnes also be a cause and a maine cause as appeares by the Amorites whose sinnes when full God punished yet I say they are yours also And therefore when there is an evident signe that God hath a controversie with a Kingdome and the Churches and a signe of his wrath is proclamed from heaven then every man must doe something now feare the Lord be zealous repent and doe your first workes begin now to mend your pace to heaven and yet would onely there were a want of zeale among you yea is it not in disgrace is not a zealous man hooted at as an Owle among us this place the excellency of it is exceedingly abated and eclipsed the zeale of it is withered the Lord is departed from us learne to bee more zealous and God will returne and cause you to flourish againe for when God lookes upon a people it is with them as with the earth in spring time and when hee departs from them they are as withered trees in winter and where now is the zeale of former times the Communion of Saints the heating and whetting of one another by mutuall exhortations where is the boldnesse for the Lord Those holy prayers those former times are gone the light of those times remaine but not the heate as also if wee looke backe upon that Generation of Queene Elizabeth how are we changed they were zealous but here is another generation come in their roome that is dead and cold and yet we have their light but ignis qui in illis calidus in nobis lucidus tantum But I beseech you that you would now begin to stirre up your selves especially in these times of fasting when there must bee an extraordinary renewing of a mans covenant with God that you would not now be so cold and so dilute as you have beene and seeing you have that you would have and have desired long publike dayes of humiliation that you would labour to spend them with all care and diligence and quicknesse of spirit and to consider that the maine is to bee done at home with your selves for the end of these dayes is that you may be humbled which you will never bee till you consider your particular sinnes get up early in the morning for then your spirits are quicke and so you will have a long time before you come to the congregation and get you all that while alone and consider your particular sinnes and the holy duties you neglect and renew your repentance and enter into covenant and then when you come hither you shall finde the word to have another manner of working upon you than it hath ordinarily If God be thus ready to punish his own children and that thus sharpely it shewes the sinne of those that are fearelesse and carelesse which provoketh God exceedingly Zach. 4. 15. I am very sore displeased with the carelesse heathen the heathens had sinnes enow besides to anger the Lord yet this sinne did it above other sinnes and it is not to bee wondred at that it should for it is a rule in Philosophy and most true that of all things that which provoketh a man most is contempt in so much that Aristotle maketh it the onely cause of anger though therein he is deceived yet it is the maine we use to say non respondere pro convitio est it is a signe of contempt not to answer againe as when a man is chidden and stricken non respondere to goe by as if hee tooke no notice of it at Gods hand this is contempt And thus a Father when he is angry with his son or a Master with his servant how hainously doth hee take it And so God who now hath discovered his wrath to the whole Land and to every particular man in it this neglect of him will cause his wrath to wax hot against us but yet for the land in generall wee have cause to hope that his wrath doth not so but that God takes it well at our hands that we are thus publickly assembled but let mee say this though to every particular man though God spare the Kingdome yet if thou neglect him and bee carelesse it will goe the worse with thee however In the 50. Psalme when hee had expressed great threatnings in the former verses hee concludes with this Consider this O all yee that forget God! you that minde him not least hee teare you in peeces and there bee none to deliver you and so in the Prophet Ieremy 5 12 13 14. verses because you say that his words are but winde they shall be as fire and you as drie wood and they shall devoure you This is the great fault of men that they are ready to feare things which they should not feare the creatures poverty and discredit but are backward to feare the Lord. God sayes of the Church Rev. 2. 12. Feare not the things thou shalt suffer what all the world feares that doe not you feare feare not the things you shall suffer those things you ought not to feare but feare those things you should doe and who is afraid of them least hee should provoke God in them And so Christ saith feare not men no not those that have power of life and death if wee should feare any it should be them remember that was the commendation of Moses hee feared not the wrath of Pharaoh when you place your feare thus amisse it becomes a snare to you for it makes your hearts busie upon the creatures when they ought to be set upon the Lord but when your feare is placed upon God it doth exceedingly helpe you nothing more to give you an instance or two you shall finde David exceedingly strucke with the feare of the Lord when Ziglag was burnt no accident ever so amazed him when hee fled before Absolon hee bore it much better yet that feare helped al for it set him a worke to pray so Iehoshaphats feare did also helpe him when he heard of a great Army comming against him it set him on worke to pray and so turned away the Iudgement and therefore things that you so feare when your feare is placed on God seldome come to passe for that sets men on worke to prevent them whereas evill feare brings the thing with it Saul feared the Armies of the Philistines exceedingly that made him seeke to the Witch and this wrought his overthrow which hee feared so Ieroboam feared the losse of his Kingdome and that feare made him set up the Calves which lost him his Kingdome indeed
diversity of afflictions applyed to them and againe if God should not change afflictions thy affliction would grow familiar and as Physicke when it is made familiar to the body workes not so would not those afflictions and 2 they are also often long because some sinnes sticke close and are not easily got off the staine in some sinkes deeper and requires a great deale of scouring Dan. 11. Many shall fall by the Sword Famine c. their trialls were of many kinds and long that they might be made white into which yet they should not fall nor continue in if men would bee scoured and made white sooner I have stood longer upon this and the opening of it because either it hath or will bee of much use one day to many of us and seeing we know not what wee are reserved for it is good to treasure up these things that wee may know the wayes of God aforehand and so beare what comes the better for it is ignorance that makes afflictions so unsupportable when they come We will come to the uses Learne hence not to bee discouraged whatsoever thy case bee whether thou hast beene afflicted in name by reproaches so as thou thinkest thou shalt never get thy credit againe or in body by diseases that thou shalt never have thy health againe or in soule by doubts that thou art in such an estate that thou shalt never bee raised againe remember the exceeding great kindnesse of the Lord and know whatsoever thine afflictions bee hee is able easily to scatter them this I speake because as men in prosperitie doe thinke it will alwayes continue and tomorrow will be as to day and much more abundant so in affliction that it will never bee otherwise What unfaithfullnes is this are not all times in Gods hands as David saies Psalm 31. he that alters the weather he that turnes the Winter into Summer It is a storme now and half an houre after the Sun shines all in the weather so such alterations is God able to make in mens estates and comfort thy selfe with this it shall lie no longer on thee then there is neede the plaister shall not lie a jot longer than the sore is a healing If it were sooner healed it would fall off sooner but then it shall fall off alone though sorrow be in the evening yet joy shall come in the morning because the anger of God never lasteth but for a while and the reason is given Mica 7. 8. for mercy pleaseth him take him alwayes when he is angry with his children and there is but a short brunt of it his constant course is otherwise for mercy pleaseth him now that which a man delights in hee will bee doing long hee can hardly be taken off from it as if it grieved him to doe otherwise when therefore it is long I say it is per accidens as when thy heart is harder than ordinary for some are more stubborne than others Ah but thou wilt say this of mine is a great affliction and I know not how it should be helped unlesse the LORD should worke miracles It may be it is so and indeed when God will send an affliction all the world cannot keepe it off In Zach. 1. there were foure hornes did beset the children of Israel to afflict them so as which way soever they went and would have fled one would have met them whether to the East or to the West c. no way left to escape no evasion for when God will afflict hee will afflict and there shall be no doore to goe out at else it were not an affliction for what matter is it for a man to be in a smoaky house if he hath a doore to go out at but yet what do these hornes serve for but to push them home to the Lord and though a man cannot scape them yet there is this comfort that though those hornes bee as strong as the hornes of an Vnicorne so as all the world cannot knock them off yet when they have pushed them to the Lord then the Prophet saw 4 Carpenters and wherefore came those Carpenters to knock off every horne and to cast them out so that every nation was frayed away that was against Iudah not the Assyrian not Babylon nor none of them left so that as when God will afflict a man nothing can hinder him so also when the Lord will scatter the affliction againe and will raise a man nothing shall hinder neither he will do it be it never so great Be not discouraged then what though the storme grow great and violent one word of his mouth will allay and still both stormes and windes as in Mar. 5. one word did it so take the most grievous disease that thou hast long lyen under and which thou think oft thou shalt never recover yet one word will rebuke it take the worst and bitterest and powerfullest enemy of the Church such as Haman if God speake but a word to him as he did to Laban hurt not this man he cannot hurt thee one word of the Lord Iesus tames them all only bring faith with thee Mark 4. 40 41. In the great storme why did you feare oh you of little faith faith Christ to his Disciples when they were so exceedingly troubled as if he had said it is not the greatnesse of this storme that breeds this feare but the littlenes of your faith So when all the people murmured at the red Sea what was the reason that Moses was quiet all that while when they murmured Stay saith he a while and you shall see the salvation of God the reason of the difference was Moses believed they did not So as the trouble comes not from the greatnesse of the affliction but the littlenesse of your faith when therefore afflictions shall come be not be not discouraged lose not your selves but possesse your selves with patience keepe this as a sure conclusion against all objections that God will be mercifull to his people Iâ— the Lord then so full of pitie and bowells to his owne people Learn thou to come to the Lord when you have offended him If indeed God had so hard an heart as would never relent then when you had sinned you might goe some whither else for comfort but now come againe unto the Lord as being assured of good successe this use wee see made of it by Samuel in the like case to the people of Israel 1 Sam. 12. When the people had committed that great sinne wherein as he told them they had not onely cast away him but the Lord and God had declared his wrath against them in storms from heaven in the time of the latter harvest yet at the 20. vers saith Samuel Feare not ye have done all this wickednes yet turne not aside from following the Lord and he giveth two reasons 1. Because all other things they would go to would not profit them
heart is hard still It may be so indeed and your heart not softned but yet this I say First for thy comfort that if thou continue doing this the Lord accepteth it but if thou dost it not thy bloud shall bee upon thine own head we require that thou shouldst only labour to doe it and the Lord will accept it though thou art not able to soften thine heart And secondly know for thy comfort also that God will joyne with thee if thou labour thus with thy heart and send the spirit of humiliation on thee as the Disciples though they rowed all night yet CHRIST came at the last so though thou toilest many dayes and makest no proficiency as thou thinkest yet know that God at length will come and help thee and that because he hath commanded thee to doe this he will not suffer you to be doing that alwayes in vaine which he commandeth and therefore hee will come but that you may have the more ground for this remember that you have many promises made of Gods helpe as in Luk 11. 13. If yee then being evill know how to give good gifts unto your chil dren c. You shall never alone of your selves bee able to soften your hearts without the Holy Ghost but continue knocking and the Lord will give you the Holy Ghost though you bee but strangers So that every man may come to God and say Lord thou hast made such a promise thou canst not goe from thy word and therefore deny me not and bee earnest with God and hee cannot deny thee The woman of Canaan was not a Iew yet shee having this ground that hee was the Messias she would not bee put off therefore doe thou so and thou shalt in the end finde that thy heart is softned and the longer thou waitest the greater measure thou shalt have of the spirit and when thou hast him hee shall humble thy heart as in Zach. 12. 10. I will poure upon the house of David and upon the inhabitants of Ierusalem the spirit of grace and supplications and they shall looke upon him whom they have pierced and they shall mourne for him as one mourneth for an onely sonne The people of Israel were here exhorted to mourne and to separate themselves and to doe it every family apart The businesse was the same that you are to doe every fast-day Now sayes GOD if you seeke me aright you must have the spirit and sayes GOD I will doe my part I will poure on you the spirit of bowells for so the word may be translated The meaning of it is this that when the Spirit of God is thus upon you you will bee tenderly affected to the Lord even as a mother toward her child then saith hee they shall looke upon him whom they have pierced and they shall mourne for him as one mourneth for his only sonne and be in bitternesse for him that is you shall then remember your rebellions and the remembrance of them shal be bitter to your soules as bitter things are to your tast so it was with Iosiah the reason why his heart melted and he wept when he heard the booke of the Law read was because he had the spirit of bowells which every one of us should have So Iob Now I have seene thee I abhorre my selfe Iob 42. he was not thus before he was a holy man but this was a new worke for says he I have heard of thee by the hearing of the eare but now my eye sees thee He was enlightened anew as it were the spirit shined into his heart with a new light I have beene in a myst all this while in comparison but now mine eye hath seene thee and I have an experimentall feeling of thee now I abhor my selfe It is a hard thing to abhorre a mans selfe thus which then a man doth when Gods Spirit with a new light enableth a man to see Gods love and kindnesse and his owne unkindnesse in their colours If the Lords Name be called upon us we should learne hence to keepe his Name faire to keepe it pure and unspotted As it was said of Saint Paul he was a chosen vessell to carry Gods Name and therefore it behooves them to take heed how it bee polluted by them or they give occasion that it be blasphemed for the evill committed by you reflects vpon the Name of the Lord. A small thing is a great matter in you one fly corrupts a box of oyntment but many flies in a barrell of Pitch or Tarre are counted nothing so many sinnes in a wicked man redound not so much to the dishonour of Gods Name as one in the Saints When a Saint doth a thing that is uncomely hee polluteth the Name of the Lord not that it can be polluted in it self but it seemes so to other men Before men are regenerate their sinnes are as blots upon a table before a Picture be drawne upon it which are not regarded of any but after it is drawne the least blot is seene of every one So it is when men are but strangers to God the sinnes which they commit reflect not to the disgrace of God but when Gods Image is renewed in a man then these sinnes are more taken notice of and cause the Name of God to be blasphemed of his enemies This should teach us not to be ashamed of God and the profession of his Name for shall the Lord not be ashamed of us as he shewes he is not when he is willing to put his Name upon us and shall we be ashamed of him it is an unreasonable and an unequall thing for a child to be ashamed of his father for a wife to bee ashamed of her husband and so for us to be ashamed of the Lord whose Name we beare This is the rather to bee spoken of because it is a fault very common amongst us that we doe not take notice of But the most will say we are not ashamed of religion but wee account it rather a glory to bee accounted Christians Give mee leave to examine you by these two Questions First are you not ashamed of the strictest ways of religion There is a common course of Religion that you need not be ashamed of because all are for it and commend it but yet there are some speciall acts of Religion that men cast shame upon such was that act of David when he daunced before the Arke which seemed absurd in Michals eyes for a King to doe yet he said I will be yes more vile some of the wayes of God give a more peculiar distaste to wicked men and there is a shame cast upon the power of Religion by reason that the multitude goeth another way Now what is singular that shame is cast upon as in any thing let the multitude have never so ill favoured a fashion it is no shame whereas if a few others weare a garment farre more
had thought to have gon off sooner but that the Supper of the Lord drawes neare which time is a day of reconciliation such as was that Feast the tenth day in the seventh moneth when the people all meeting together Aaron the Priest confessed their sins over the scape Goate which fled into the wildernesse which was a type of Christ taking away all our sins and the same is done and represented when we receive the Sacrament Now one condition required of the people at that time was that they should humble themselves and every soule that did not was to be cut off Levit. 23. 27. to the 30. verse and that letting goe of the scape Goate was at the same time as appeares Levit. 16. 20. to the 31. But to come to the point the Scripture is plentifull to prove it Iames 4. 6. God giveth grace to the humble sanctifying grace and also saving knowledge Psal. 25. He shewes his secrets unto the humble yea he dwelleth in such Esay 57. 15. he hath an especiall eye to such those eyes that runne through the whole earth fixe themselves on the humble man for good Esay 62. 2. other things have my hand made yet them he regards not in comparison To him will I looke that is humble he promiseth also to fill them with good things to give them preferment and honour to exalt the humble and meeke yea hee regards it so that when evill men have humbled themselves they have not gone away without some mercy as when Ahab humbled himselfe 2 Chron. 12. God promised he would not bring the evill in his dayes and the best of Gods children when they have not humbled themselves hee hath withdrawne his favour from them as he would not looke on David till he had humbled himselfe All the world cannot keep an humble man down nor all the props in the world cannot keep a proud man up And what are the reasons why God respecteth humble men so An humble man giveth God all the glory and him that honoureth mee saith GOD I will honour Now an humble man doth as Ioab did Ioab would not take the victory to himselfe but sent for David and it was the deepest policy that ever Ioab used and so the Apostles Acts 3. know that JESUS hath made this man whole and it is the humble mans wisedome in all actions not to set themselves up but to say no matter how I be regarded so God be glorified and God will honour such therefore CHRIST in his prayer makes this a ground of being glorifyed by God Iohn 17. I have glorified thee on earth now father glorifie me And so God will deale with his Saints in a proportion Humility keepes a man within his owne compasse but pride lifts a man up above his proportion it puts all out of joynt and breeds disorder and that bringeth destruction and therefore humility was defined by some of the Ancients to bee that which out of the knowledge of GOD and a mans selfe keepes a man to his owne bottome That whereas a proud man liftes up himselfe above his measure as a member in the body that swells takes up more roome then it should and are as bubbles in the water which should bee plaine and smooth but this brings all into its place againe gives the Creator his due and sets the creature where it should be and therefore God loves it It makes a man sociable and usefull and profitable to others a man would not have a stubborne horse that will not goe in the teame with his fellowes nor such high trees as overshadow others and will not suffer them to grow by them and bring forth no fruit themselves A man will not keepe a Cow or an Oxe that is still a pushing and such an one is a proud man it is but and onely the humble man that will live profitably amongst his neighbours and will not goe beyond his owne Tedder An humble man hath such a frame of heart as the LORD delights in for hee is fearefull to offend alwayes obedient ready to doe any service and is content with any wages loves much is abundant in thankfulnesse and cleaves fast to the LORD because hee hath no bottome of his owne and keepeth under his lusts because hee knowes the bitternesse of sinne resignes up his heart to the Lord to follow him in all things hee is a man of the Lords desires so it is said of Daniel when he had humbled himselfe Dan. 9. Such an one as the Lord would have and so it makes him fit for favour and when a man is fit for favour he shall bee sure to have it for God is not streight-handed to us Hath the LORD said it and that from heaven that if a man doe humble himselfe hee will forgive him Then this is a matter of great consolation when I can say from GOD to any one here that droopes that if thou doest and wilt humble thy selfe the LORD will forgive thee consider it this is newes from heaven Put the case to compare spirituall things with things which you are more sensible of that any of you had committed high treason against the King and thou hadst forfeited thy life and goods if any one should come from the King to thee and tel thee that if thou wouldest goe to him and humble thy selfe it should be pardoned And is not our case the same We are guilty of eternall death and have forfeited life and all when therefore GOD himselfe shall say If thou wilt humble thy selfe thy sinnes shall bee forgiven what comfort is it such a word as this should not be lost A man that knowes the bitternesse of sinne would waite and waite againe to gaine such a word as this from the LORDS mouth and would keepe it as his life It was not a light thing to get such a word as this from God none but a favourite could get it nay none but his Son and hee not but by his death if CHRIST had not provided this Charter for us every man should have dyed in his sinnes Now this we can and doe say from GOD through CHRIST that though your sinnes be great and you have fallen into them many a time and committed them with the worst of circumstances yet if thou humblest thy self thou shalt be forgiven so as thou mayst say I may challenge God of his promise and put this bond in suite and he cannot deny it This is a great matter if a man shall but seriously consider what it is to have this great God the Governor of the World to bee an enemy one would thinke they should thinke this Gospell good newes But you will say I doe yet neither know distinctly what it is to humble my selfe neither can I humble my selfe there is not a harder thing then it is Therefore I will shew it you once againe that you may know it for why should wee
say sit up higher all the world cannot hold downe an humble man because the Lord setteth to his hand to raise him up neither keepe up a proud man because the Lord setteth himselfe to depresse and debase them when the wall swells it is not like to stand long when a joynt is luxated and swelled till the swelling abate it cannot be saved and set he hath respect to the low estate of his handmaiden so saith Mary the blessed Virgin Luke 1. 48. So he dealt with Naomi hee was long in humbling her and then raised her up so with Iob when hee was humbled then God doubled his estate thus God deales with the humble and that constantly he never does any great things for any men till hee hath first humbled him how much was Ioseph humbled ere he made that promise to him that the Sunne Moone and Stars should bow to him that is his father and mother and brethren should obey him and yet againe before God made good these promises to him what a doe there was to humble him further which doubtlesse made him more to prize these mercies and so more thankfull to God for them So also in his glorious appearance to Abraham Isaac and Iacob he would still before hand humble them and make them low by some affliction or other still before hee would make any gracious promises to them When Iacob was flying from the face of his brother and was in great streights and so made low in his owne eyes then did God first appeare to him when a man is humbled it is the next doore to preferment one way or other Therefore it should be our wisedome to humble our selves more and more since there is so much benefit to be gotten by it Prov. 22. 4. By humility and the feare of the Lord are riches and honours and life the rule holds constant the Lord makes it good let a man be humble and feare God too that is allow himselfe in no sinne and the Lord will make it good one way or other in his time But you will say we see the contrary proud men are advanced and humble men deprest they have riches when as the humble man is poore and as we use to say where the hedg is lowest there all the beasts goe over and tread it downe every man will be ready to trample upon the humble man I answer first The Lord gives outward gaudy things to proud men but hee gives his Iewels to those that are humble hee reveales his secret to them these are Princes though they goe on foote and the other are servants though they ride on horsebacke But this is not all my answer but secondly I say that even for the things of this life the Lord doth exalt the humble and bring downe the proud onely with this caution hee doth both in season when things are brought to maturity as the Apostle Saint Peter saith 1 Pet. 5. 6. humble your selves under the mighty hand of God that hee may exalt you in due time God doth it not on a suddaine When the proud like the corne are ripe then he puts in the sickle and cuts them downe and casts them into the fire The wall which is sweld must have a time to moulder and fall and so on the contrary there is a due time for the exaltation of the humble And therefore if thou sayest I have humbled my selfe and have not beene healed I have not beene freed from such a temptation for all my humiliation if this bee thy case then assure thy selfe thou art not humbled enough but goe thou and yet bring thy heart lower and then bee confident that this rule will hold the Lord will take off the smarting plaister as soone as it hath eaten out the proud flesh so soone as thy heart is truly humbled the Lord will helpe thee he will either remove the crosse or give thee that which is equivalent and thus the Lord hath alwayes done So he dealt with Ioseph You happily may thinke and hee might thinke it was long before he was exalted but yet that time was not too long for as soone as the LORD had truly humbled him then hee presently exalted him as you may see in Psal. 105. 18 19 20. Whose feet they hurt with fetters he was laid in iron until the time that his word came the word of the Lord tryed him then the King sent and loosed him c. And so he dealt with Iob. All that time that his friends were reasoning with him his heart would not bee brought downe but the Lord himselfe must come and reason with him and then he began to abhorh mselfe in dust and ashes and how soone after was hee restored and al he lost restored double also This being as you see Gods constant course if thou humbling thy selfe yet lyest long under a calamity thou mayest assure thy selfe there is somthing wanting in thy heart and therefore bee content with Gods dealing 2 Cor. 12. lest Saint Paul should be exalted there was given him a thorne in the flesh if Saint Paul needed humility who doth not Remember this rule that if Gods people humble themselves then he will certainely helpe them onely it will bee in due season But you will say how shall wee get downe our stubborne hearts Pride is very naturall and the hardest thing in the world to overcome Let every man consider whether he be released or no from the plague of his heart if that there be not some calamity which hangs continually on him if there be then know thou art not humbled enough the meaning is not that thou shouldest be brought to an apprehension and feare of hell but thy heart is to be brought down more thou maiest be humbled truly so as to be within the covenant and yet not enough to have thy heart wrought to this or that frame God would bring it unto And to bring your hearts lower use these meanes First consider your hearts often consider what unruly lusts you find hid there make it your daily custome to search into this We goe not a daies journey in this life but there is somewhat discovered in our hearts which may serve to humble us further as it was with them in the wildernesse Deut. 8. 2. Thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God led thee these forty yeares in the wildernesse to humble thee to prove thee and to know what was in thy heart c. There is not one day but a godly-wise man may discerne something in his heart which may be matter of humiliation to him which he saw not before vaineglorious speeches unlawfull silence cowardize in good causes thy worldly mindednesse thy unruly affections that will be still stirring and something will be discovered without in thy actions also which when thou seest such sparkes ascending remember to looke to the fire the furnace within these are but the buds
there is a deepe roote of bitternesse within these are but ebullitions consider there is a spring within search into all the corners of the house for this sower leaven So the first meanes is studying our selves for the way to humble a mans selfe is to know himselfe And secondly as you must study your selves so you must study the Scriptures that is you must consider the strictnesse the holinesse c. that is required of you therein and lay that and your hearts together apply this levell and square to your wayes and it will discover the crookednesse of them and dresse your selves by this looking glasse every morning for it will shew you the smallest spots and this will exceedingly humble us For this is a sure rule degrees of humiliation follow degrees of illumination as any Christian is enlightened more so he is humbled more hence hee that is most conversant in Scripture is most humbled And thirdly you must not only looke to increase your light but looke to your hearts and wayes to keepe your selves upright and to be constant in an holy course and all holy duties and this will bee meanes to increase your humiliation Many abstaine from holy courses and duties because say they we are not humbled enough It is true indeed wee must begin with humility yet this you must know that the setting your selves to a holy course is of it selfe a notable meanes to increase humiliation for thy watchfulnesse will increase tendernesse and tendernesse will increase thy humiliation Men that are bold in sinning their hearts grow hard and so on the contrary when men are fearefull to offend their hearts grow tender But yet adde to this diligence in your callings for as the wise man saith The stuggard is more wise in his owne conceit then ten men that can give a reason that is he is selfe conceited and proud A sluggard that hath nothing to do looks abroad to other mens matters and lookes not to his owne wayes nor his owne heart which would bee a meanes to humble him therefore diligence is a greate meanes to humble to bring downe our hearts because idlenesse is a meanes to lift them up And further it is profitable for you to remember times and sinnes that are past A man will bee ready to say I hope I am changed now what I have beene I care not for but the Lord to humble David told him what he had beene I tooke thee from the sheepe fold c. so with the Jewes Thy father was an Amorite and thy mother an Hittite and I saw thee in thy bloud Be carefull to distinguish wisely betweene grace in thee and thy selfe of thy selfe and that will bee a meanes to humble thee As Paul in 2 Cor. 12. 11. Not I but the grace of God in mee Put the case the LORD hath beautified us with many graces and gifts above others thou must not exalt thy selfe above others wee must looke upon our selves as of our selves to bee the same men still Can the wall say it hath brought forth the beames that the Sun hath cast upon it the wall is the same so if God hath shined upon thee and left others in darknesse art thou the better of thy selfe shall the pen boast it selfe because it hath written a faire Epistle who made it who put inke into it guided it the glory belongs not to the pen but to the writer What though God hath used thee in some great worke and not others the praise is his not thine Wee praise not the Trumpet but him that sounds it Non laudamus tubam sed tubicinem Paul was a better Trumpet than ten thousand others and yet hee saith I am nothing The smoake a dusky and obscure vapour climbes up into the light as if it were better than pure aire Many exalt themselves above their brethren for gifts and outward things which are but the trappings and make not the difference betweene man and man as if a man were the taller because hee stands on a hill or a man had a better body because hee had a better suit on thou art the same man still Wee are not to bee proud no not of any Graces much lesse of outward things Lastly is the Lord thus mercifull to the humble then take heed of applying those promises to thy selfe without a cause when thou art not humbled But thou wilt say I am humbled It is well if it be so But consider hath thy humiliation brought thee home perhaps it hath brought thee out of Aegypt but hath it brought thee into Canaan hath it driven thee to the City of refuge to the hornes of the Altar to thy fathers house The Prodigall changed many places ere he came home in earnest Many came out of Aegypt that never came into Canaan but died in the Wildernesse The Meteors have matter enough in the vapours themselves to carry them above the earth but not enough to unite them to the element of fire therefore they fall and returne to their first principles Art thou watchfull over all thy wayes fearefull to offend looking to every step where thou settest thy foote how thou hearest how thou prayest how every worke is done every word spoken every howre spent For this is certaine if he be humbled it will dry up the fountaine of sinne it will heale his bloudy flux and make him wary in all his wayes and fearefull to sinne Thus much for this first condition If my people that are called by my name doe humble themselves and seeke my face WE are now come to the next condition If my people seeke my face where we may observe this point That except a man seeke Gods face all his labour is lost in his humiliation and prayers and whatsoever else hee doth This is put in among those other conditions and therfore without this the promise is not made to us For the unfoulding of this point wee must first enquire What it is to seeke Gods face It is to seeke the LORD himselfe for his face in Scripture is often taken for his person so the word is used Exodus 20. 2. in the first Commandement Thou shalt have no other gods before my face that is before mee So then the meaning is we must seeke the LORD himselfe Many when they are in distresse will seeke to the Lord for deliverance in time of Famine they will seeke to him for Corne and Wine and Oyle as they in the Prophet but they seeke not the Lord himselfe nor communion and reconciliation with him they seeke to the LORD but not the LORD they seeke what he can doe for them but not his person not himselfe So those Hos. 7. 14. Ye have not cryed to me sayes God when yee howled upon your beds Yee assemble your selves for corne and wine and rebell against me They then wanted Corne and Wine c. and sought them at GODS hands but not me the LORD whom
you had lost Thou mayest seeke salvation and deliverance from hel out of the strenght of naturall wisedome because it is for thy good and also being convinced of the necessity of faith and repentance to escape hell and obtain salvation Men may thereupon go farre in the performance of many duties and be constant a while in them and yet not seeke the Lords face in all these and then the Lord regards them not Take a thiefe that is arraigned at the bar he will cry earnestly for his life but yet he seeketh not the face of the Iudge i. e. he doth it without love to the Iudge but onely out of the love of life So we may do much to escape hel and to attain the life opposite to it and yet all this while not seeke the presence of God and then GOD regards it not You find this disposition in your selves and see it in others if a man bee never so observant of any of you and performe never so many offices of friendship to you yet if a man can say he loves me not for all this hee doth not prize mee nor desire my love and favour so much for it selfe but for his owne ends in this case you care not for what hee doth So the LORD hee knowes the heart and the reines and what thine end is whether it bee communion with his person immediately or thine own welfare meerely and if so regards not thy humbling thy selfe nor thy prayers The promise you see is suspended upon it it is a distinguishing point and will separate betweene the precious and the vile it is a marke set upon Gods people alone To seeke Gods face Wee will therefore further and more particularly consider what it is to seeke Gods face or presence And there are three wayes to finde it out First by what is here joyned with it If they humble themselves and seeke my face and so by considering the connexion that these two have together find out what seeking of Gods face is Now there is a twofold humiliation wrought in men The one is for that bitternesse and punishment that sin brings with it and this never brings forth either faithfull prayers or seeking Gods face But there is another kind of humiliation which hath a further ingredient in it and that is the sight of the foulenesse of sinne when God openeth a crevise of light to looke upon sin not onely as that which brings bitternesse with it but as that which in it selfe is most filthy and abominable and by that light it is made such in his account for it is one thing to flee from the sting of the Serpent an other thing to hate the Serpent it selfe and so to take heed of the Wolfe because of his cruelty and to hate the Wolfe it selfe are differing things Other creatures may hate the properties and conditions of a Wolfe but a Lambe only hates the Wolfe it selfe Now with this latter kind of humiliation there goes and is conjunct with it an enlightning whereby God shewes to a man his owne glorious face the lustre whereof helpes him further to see the foulnesse of sinne God by the same light of the Spirit whereby he shewes a men the uglinesse of sinne discovers withal his own excellencies which makes the sinner thus humbled to seeke his face to seeke grace as well as mercy But other men either see not Gods face at all or onely see his angry countenance onely those whom the Lord calleth effectually see his gracious face Now hee to whom it is hid and sees it not seekes not Gods face for none can seeke it unlesse they have seene it and hee who sees it onely as angry flies from God but he discovers himselfe to the truly humble the secrets of the Lord are with such Psal. 25. and so Ioh. 15. 15. I call you not servants for the servant knoweth not what his Lord doeth but I have call'd you friends for all things I have heard of my Father I have made knowne to you Hee reveales himselfe to those who are already his friends or to those he is about to make his friends one of the first things he doth is to reveale his face to them With men indeed men are first made friends and then secrets are revealed but contrarily with God he reveales his secrets to us and his face that we may be made friends with him and then wee grow into further acquaintance with him and they are therefore cal'd the secrets of the Lord because only revealed to the Saints Servants indeed see what is done in the house but there are many things which their masters reveale not to them and so many come here to the house of God and heare what is spoken of GOD and CHRIST but yet there are some certaine secrets that are hid from them that are told only to the children the sonnes and daughters of God The other heare as much and see as much for the outside as Gods children do yet the secrets of things are hid from them and among others Gods face and the excellencies thereof are hid from them This he reveales as his other secrets onely to those that feare him and this revealing it is a speciall worke of the Spirit If a man would see the Sunne all the starres in heaven and torches in the earth could not helpe him to see it or shew it to him unlesse the Sunne it selfe shines and ariseth and there come a light from the Sunne it selfe you cannot come to see it and so all the Angels of heaven and wits of men on earth cannot shew you Gods face unlesse hee opens the clouds and reveales himselfe by his owne Spirit it will not bee done which is therefore called the Spirit of Revelation Ephes. 1. 17. by which God reveales his secrets to his children when he begins to call them effectually they see him and none else wee make knowne the Doctrines about GOD and CHRIST c. to all alike but the Lord makes the difference by revealing himselfe to one and not unto another that which is said especially of the Iewes 2 Cor. 3. 15 16. verses and so on is in like manner applicable to us all The Lords face shines as Moses face did verse 15. and hee gives the knowledge of his glory in the face of Iesus Christ in the ministery of the word every day but there is a vaile lies upon all mens hearts upon all but those whom the Lord calls and upon theirs also till hee calleth them as upon the Iewes hearts verse 16. Neverthelesse when they shall turne unto the Lord the vaile shall be taken away and untill then Gods face cannot bee seene as Moses face was not and who shall take away that vaile The Spirit of the Lord where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty vers 17. and when hee doth free us of that vaile then we behold the Glory of the Lord as in a
who Christ and God is consider the persons of them and so chuse them as a father and an husband to live and die with And then secondly he is to consider what he shall have with him yea to looke upon the benefits themselves but chiefly to this end and so as that they may stirre up your hearts to love him the better and not simply as benefits only so as to say in your hearts though he is most beautifull in his person and so though I had him alone I should have an exceeding great reward of himselfe yet withall when I consider that all within the compasse of this world is mine a great dowry that Paul and Apollos and all the good Ministers that ever have beene have beene for my sake that whatsoever is in this life or after death is all mine and that all these hee brings with him all which you should looke on as motives entirely to love him and not as bare benefits and say hath not hee given me al these sanctâ—fied me and redeemed me and set me at liberty when I was a bond slave of sinne and Sathan and have I not reason to love him this is to seek his presence It may be though you have done the thing yet you have not had this distinct consideration yet use it henceforth to help you say not I am in misery and there is a promise of pardon and adoption but looke first to the Lord Iesus go to him and take him To convince you further of this there is none of you but will say I cannot be saved without an holy conversation and what is that but to converse with God and Christ all converse is not with things but persons therefore in an holy course all that you have to do is with the Lord himselfe to open your hearts to him to resort to him for counsell to delight in him to converse with a man is to deale with him upon all occasions you are not only to looke unto to be dealing with duties alone and privileges for then with whom doe you converse not with the LORD but with notions with duties and your sinnes but your chiefe businesse is with the Lord in all these and with these as meanes to bring you to the LORD into his presence and unto his person this is to walke with GOD as Enoch did which still respects his person for so walking with implies Againe no man can bee saved without love to God and that love must not be amor concupiscentiae but amor amicitiae a love of friendship the one respects things the other persons your love must first be to the person and then to the commodities you have by him and the duties you are to perform to him But you will say how shall we doe to bring our heart to this this is exceeding hard It is easie to seek the benefits come by CHRIST self-love will cause most to doe so Any man that needs a thing would faine have his wants supplyed A man that is prest with a burthen would willingly have it taken off it is easie to have your desires quickened this way What therefore shall wee say to set an edg upon your affections to seeke the Lords person If wee had the tongue of men and Angells all would bee too little therefore let us beseech the Lord that he would be his owne spokes-man and reveale himselfe unto us There is no way to set our hearts a worke to seeke his face but by seeing of him and to helpe you to a sight of him is not in our power and yet he useth to do it whilst we are speaking of him in the ministery of the word It is said Psal. 9. They that know his name will trust in him and as they will trust in him so they will seeke his face What was the reason Abraham and Moses sought the Lord thus for himselfe because they had seene his face Thus of Moses it is said hee spake with him face to face There are two wayes to know a man by report or sight by heare-say or by face and this later way have all the Saints known him in some degree and have therefore sought him though Moses in a more particular manner yet all saw him Benevolentia Good will sayes Aristotle may arise from a good report but Amicitia Friendship from sight and acqâ—â—intance that is we may beare good-wil to one of whom we have only heard a good report but we doe not come to love him intirely and as friends to him till we have seene him and doe come to know him and be acquainted with him Therefore though a man have a generall knowledge of him by heare-say yet he will not seeke his face till he have seene him face to face 2 Cor. 3. ult The Lords face appeares indeed in the word as in a glasse but yet till the veile be taken away we see him not face to face therefore in the first place go to God and beseech him and say Lord shew me thy face reveale thy excellency to me by thy spirit of revelation that my heart may be stirred up to seeke thee and will the LORD deny you this request if you do so no No man knowes the Father but the Sonne and hee to whom the Sonne reveales Him sayes CHRIST Therefore goe to CHRIST and beseech him to shew you himselfe and his father The reason we see not God as we might or but by glimpses is that we forget to go thus to the Son or if we do we seeke not earnestly You know how hardly Moses did obtaine this and you must beg hard as he did and when you have obtained this know you shall see wonderfull things strange things in him which eye hath not seene There are wonderfull things to be seene in the Law if a mans eyes be opened Open my eyes sayes David Psalm 119. that I may see the wonderfull things of thy Law How much more wonderfull things are there to be seene in the Lord if if he doth but reveale himselfe and open your eys for the Law is but an expression of him such as is the expression of a man in a Letter or Epistle of which we say it is Character animi it is the portraitâ—re of a mans minde When therefore your eyes are opened to see the Lord himselfe you will see such things in him as will make you in love with him What was the reason that the Spouse in the Canticles Chapter 5. was so sicke of love that she could not containe her selfe but because the Lord had taken away the veile and shewne himselfe unto her And so if God would take any of us here into the Holy of holies and into the Presence-chamber and open himselfe to him then we would say as Thomas and Peter did Now Lord we will go with thee now Lord we will live and die with thee and when wee lose him wee would seeke him with the Spouse from
your speech bee gracious alwayes Col. 4. not only by fits So for family duties looke if there be no way of wickednesse there Ephes. 6. 4. Children and servants ought to bee brought up in the nurture of the LORD This you ought to do to your servants for when they are delivered to you you are become as parents to them Deut. 6. 7. There is a strict command to rehearse the way of God upon all occasions Those families wherein nothing is done for the bringing them up in the wayes of the Lord have a way of wickednesse in them and search it out I have insisted the longer upon particulars because it is the spreading of the net that catcheth the fish Therefore Saint Paul condescends to particulars whereas hee might have contented himselfe with generalls Rom. 1. 29. as being fild with all unrighteousnesse But hee adds a catalogue of many particulars fornication wickednesse covetousnesse maliciousnes full of envie murther debate c. So 1 Cor. 6. 9. the Apostle says Know you not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdome of God that might have beene enough in the generall yet he brings in a catalogue of many particulars Bee not deceived no fornicator nor drunkard c. shall inherit the kingdome of God as if hee should have said should I stay my selfe in these generall tearmes you would be ready to shift it off therefore I speake it of every particular course of sinning When a man is to shoote at a multitude of birds he puts not in one bullet only but haile shot so when wee are to speake to many people we are to make application of many particulars Nathan applyed his message in particular in David and if Ministers should omit it yet the people should themselves bring generals to particulars in applying the word to themselves at home and in applying these particulars let them consider the doctrine delivered that if there be any of these or any other way of wickednesse in a man hee cannot bee saved And though many will bee ready to say wee know this already it is no newes to us yet I feare that if the hearts of men were ransacked and searched it would bee found they believed it not but that they thinke they may lie in some little sinne and yet bee saved by the mercies of God in Christ for if they thought not so they would not bee so bold to lie in sin as they are therfore doth the Apostle upon this occasion still put in this Caveat be not deceived as in Ephes. 5. 6. Let no man deceive you with vain words because of these things â—ommeth the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience as if he had said every man is apt to think that notwithstanding such courses of disobedience hee may bee saved therefore take heed saies he such advertisements as these the Apostle doth often use As 1 Cor. 6. 9. it is as if one should say to a traveller asking him of the way that at such and such a place there is a by-turning if you take not heed if you marke it not you may be deceived and goe out of your way Many have lost their wayes there So bee not deceived saith the Apostle it is twenty to one you will in this particular Wee are ready to thinke God a God all of mercie and to see the greatnesse of Gods justice requires spirituall eyes therefore though you know this yet consider it there are many things which we know and do not know them we see and do not see them that is we do not consider them as wee should and the Divell is apt for to delude us saying such a small sinne may stand with salvation and therefore it is no wonder if many erre I may say of that man that is fully perswaded of this that to lie in any small sin whatsoever will condemne him a thousand to one if that man will be turned Yet take this in to explicate it that notwithstanding a little swerving a mans estate may bee good but it is continuing in it makes it a way For if you judge a man by a step or two you will judge amisse of him therefore I say it must bee a way of wickednesse the ground is because a way of wickednesse proceeds from the roote from the frame of the heart which a man will returne to againe be it good or bad for howsoever a godly man may be transported for a time yet he returnes againe to his former course On the contrary a wicked man may bee hedged in for a piece of his way by education so as hee cannot goe out So Ioash was hedged in by Iehoiada and went strait on for many yeares but consider what way you take when you come to the lanes end when you are your owne men at your owne choice And therefore because wee are upon a point of salvation and damnation wee had need distinguish exactly And that which puts us to distinguish in this point is that a regenerate man may have many relapses into wayes forsaken and wicked men may have stands in their evill wayes and sometimes turne out of them and performe many duties and goe farre in obedience to the Law The question is how shall we doe to distinguish this it will serve to unmaske the one and comfort the other Observe three rules to find the differences 1 In regard of the search made for sinne an upright hearted man if therebe any ambiguous case in his whole life he is willing to be informed to the full to referre himselfe to the word and good men for the finding out what is right when himselfe doubts hee would bee glad to bee resolved and would love him that would doe it Lord try mee saith David if therebe any way of wickednesse in me which was a signe of the uprightnesse of his heart When the heart is not sound then a man is not willing to come to try all as Iohn 3. 20. 21. whence this difference is taken Every man that doth truth that is upâ—ight hearted comes to the light but he that doth evill hates the light The one desires his deeds might bee brought to the light but the other hates it because hee would not have his deeds knowne It is spoken of the Pharisees who tooke it in scorne to have their uprightnesse questioned by our Saviour And this is sincerity 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Apostle cals it when a man is willing to have al his actions brought to the Sunne-beames as that word implyes that if there bee any flaw in them they may bee discovered and amended he desires not that they may be kept in darke shops like bad ware but brought to his view and discovery therefore the upright de lights most in the company of those that are freest from his sinne they appeare most beautifull in his eyes and hee loves a ministery that speakes to that particular every
payment God requires all this humiliation and these purposes and an act of turning beside All is lost labour unlesse there bee a divorce made from your sinnes Well therefore might Daniel say to Nebuchadnezzar Breake off thy sinnes by righteousnes and thine iniquity by shewing mercy to the poore Daniel 4. 27. Daniel doth not exhort Nebuchadnezzar to prayer onely c. though this is likewise to be done but to breake off his sinnes by righteousnesse that is whereas he was an oppressor now he must give almes and take off their burthens that is take the contrary course This is the counsell GOD gives to Ioshua Ioshua 7. 8. when he was humbling himselfe and praying Get thee up take away the accursed thing from among you c. that is this is not the way to fast though this is to be done too that which I most looke after is taking away the evill that hath provoked mee Though this bee a truth acknowledged yet looke into mens hearts there is a false conceit lurking there that hearing the word receiving the Sacrament c. is enough to save them Men would thinke their estates absolutely bad if they should performe none of these duties and wholly neglect them but if they come to Church give some almes c. then they think that all is well But know that except you actually turne from all evill wayes all these performances are in vaine And to convince you of this consider that the end of the word conference and Sacraments is to turne you from your evill wayes therefore God accepts them no further then they have this effect Thou shalt keepe my ordinances and statutes that thou mayest walke in my wayes to feare me saith the LORD that is the end of al ordinances and statutes so that though there bee never so much done yet except your lusts be mortified and victory got over those sins which are most connaturall to you al is lost Againe consider that those duties in which you trust as we are al apt so to do as reading good Bookes confessing thy sinnes if they be rightly performed they will worke a true change and if they doe not it is asigne they are but carcases not accepted without this fruit what are they but bodily exercises though happily performed with some intention of minde because they profit nothing 1 Tim. 4 8. for the Apostle calls that Bodily exercise which profiteth little therefore Rom. 2 ult there is a distinction put betwixt a Iew in spirit and in the letter and so betweene a right and a false performance of the duties of the Law the one in the letter the other in the spirit the one respects the outward part of the duty only the other the inward and if they be not inward in the spirit and so thereby effectuall to work a general change both in their hearts and lives their praise may be of men that is you your selves and others may thinke you good Christians but their praise is not of GOD saith the Apostle wee are all Gods husbandry the Ministers dâ—essers of it the ordinances are the manuring of it Now what is the end of all husbandry is it not fruit is it enough for the trees to say wee have submitted our selves to all manuring watering c. but wee are still as barren or our fruit as bad as before Mal. 3. 2. The end of CHRISTS comming is made to be as a refiner to scoure out staines which place being compared with that of the first of Esay where GOD sayes He abhorred their new moones and sacrifices because their silver was become drosse both afford this that the end of Christs comming being to purge out this drosse therefore if this be not done all performances new Moones Sacrifices c. are in vaine Conclude therefore that except there be an universall change both of the object from evill to all good and of the subject in all the faculties except this be wrought in you you shal surely die for it the LORD will not forgive you or heare in heaven when you cry though you shed never so many false teares If this bee the condition upon which mercy is suspended this also followes that good purposes and intentions will not serve the turne not but that these must bee precedent to every mans turning and when they are true they doe bring forth this effect of turning from all evill wayes whatsoever But as there is a purpose which is true and the ground of sincerity so there are false ones also the true alwayes continues and brings forth constant endeavours and fruits but the other leaves us where it findes us and quickly dies and withers There is so much in a carnall man as may breed good purposes and desires and resolutions viz. naturall conscience and desires of preservation and salvation which two put together worke serious purposes but this being all but flesh still is not able to worke so through a change as we see in moorish ground and in a rotten fenny soyle that it brings forth broad long grasse which soone withers and decayes neither is it sweet nor usefull So is it with conscience enlightned to see a mans duty and selfe-love they produce good purposes and in shew great and serious but yet such as the people there expressed Deut. 5. 29. who purposed to keepe the Law but Oh saith God that there were an heart to feare mee as if he had said the soyle the ground is not good for these purposes to grow in therefore they will surely wither there wants a heart changed to afford roote to them and to nourish them The next point is gathered from the order of the words turning from our evill wayes being put last of all these foure conditions because all the other doe but make way for this All the other prayer and humiliation are but preparatives to this As the end of all dressing and pruning of trees is the fruit and the end of plowing and sowing is the bringing forth of corne so the end of all other duties is turning from our evill wayes and the end is alwayes hardest omnis difficultas in ipsa summitate in the utmost pitch and top of the hill this being the utmost of all the other is therefore the hardest Therefore the Prophets urge this upon all occasions if you turne cease to do evill rend your hearts then will I leave a blessing behind me In that this is the pin upon which all hangs and is suspended observe thence That it is a very difficult thing to turne from a mans evill wayes That this is the difficultest duty of all else wee see plaine in the Israelites The Iewes religion was very costly they being to kill so many Sacrifices to keepe so many Feasts yet they were content to doe all this but not to turne they would not bee brought to it when yet to any thing else Whence appeares this
sinne as Evah did and so by little and little art brought to the committing of it these faint denyalls are no denyalls these pidling companions are not to be accounted fighters against sin 3 If thy deniall be more resolute consider whether it be not for a fiâ— a flâ—sh for a good mood he is but a cowardly enemy that for one volly of shott will give over Sathan and our lusts are not of that disposition 4 Consider whether thy resistance be not only against the grosse act and not against the leastâ— inctures the fringes and borders of sin that doe compasse the act These are of the same kinde with the act though not of the same degrees thou resistest it may be the greater acts but admittest the lesser some dalliance with it As the drunkard it may be resolves to runne no more into excesse yet he will sit with his old companions and be sipping till sometimes he is overtaken Balaam will go with them but not speake a word but what the Lord shall put into his mouth The Levite would not stay all day but yet he would be entreated to stay and eate his break-fast and so to stay dinner and so to stay all night Thus dalliance brings on adultery and lesser sins greater as a little thiefe let in at a window lets in the greater If therefore you faile thus in your resistance the promise is not made to you T is true it is said resist the Divell and he will fly from you but the resistance must be right and not such as hath beene spoken and that is the first answer As you may be deceived in your striving against sinne so also about the victory and that on both sides both by thinking you have the victory when you have it not and 2 by thinking thou hast it not when thou hast it First thinking thou hast not the victory when thou hast it for example when thou findest the sinne striven against bâ—sâ—ing and lusting more than at other times thou therefore concludest thou hast not nor shalt not get the victory when as now sin is dying and on the loosing hand as on the contrary when thou thinkest all at peace thou mayest be farthest off the victory Consider with thy selfe doth any man but a regenerate man complaine so bitterly as the Apostle doth Rom. 7. the good that I would do that I do not or as the same Apostle complaines 2 Corinth 12. of the thorne in the flesh doe you thinke that any but a sound hearted man can come as he did with teares to Christ that cryed out so to him Lord helpe my unbeliefe can any but a broken heart pray so earnestly as David Psal. 51. 10. for a new and a cleane heart This deepe sense of sin is an argument of our victory over it This complaining is a signe that we have the better of it for what is the reason thou complainest thus against it but because thou art striving against it We know the mud that lyes at the bottome of the water troubleth not the water but when they goe about to â—leanse the ditch then the mud riseth and defiles it yet then it is a purging When one takes a fire-brand to extinguish it by beating out the fire yet then it is the sparkes fly most about When we strive against sinne we feele it most partly because Sathan his manner is to rend and teare when he is going out and it is the nature of sin also so to doe as also because our light is encreased the more grace we have and the more we strive against it and therfore we see it more our sense of sin gowes more exquisite Againe on the other side thou maiest thinke thou hast the victory when thou hast it not The soare may be skind over when it is not healed at the bottome and then no wonder if it breake out againe Sin may lie but asleep when thou takest it for dead therfore in our turning from our evill ways we must observe a right method Let thy humiliation be sound thy faith and assurance perfect when these precedent acts are not done as they ought and yet thou thinkest thy sin mortified it may deceive thee as wee say an error in the first concoction is never amended in the second nor of the second in the third So if thy humiliation hath not beene sound thy turning from thy evill ways cannot be through To answer this objection consider that thou strivest against even a spring of sinne if it were but to empty a cisterne or to dry up a pond when the worke is once done we should heare of it no more but it is a spring of sin that runnes continually and therefore thinke not that because it returnes againe that thy former striving is in vaine As those that watch over the pumpe in a Ship though they pump out all the water to day cannot say that it will bee empty to morrow or that yet their pumping is in vaine because it fills againe for if they ceased to do it it would sinke the Ship so it is with sinne especially with some sins some are more properly called the Law of the members as being rooted in the constitution of our bodys in our naturall dispositi ons and these are ready to returne againe ever and anon There is a great difference betweene these and the temptations of Sathan temptations as blasphemous thoughts are but as weeds throwne into the garden and cast out againe but these are as weeds growing in the garden that take roote there and which though weeded out will grow againe We must not hope or thinke to dry cleane up the spring of originall sinne but the labour returnes upon us in a circle As in our houses so in our hearts we sweepe them cleane to day and againe to morrow for then they will be foule againe therefore mervaile not if you be kept in continuall labour Againe consider this that GOD suffers some lusts and infirmities to hang upon you to humble you as he dealt with Paul he sent that thorne in the flesh that he might not be exalted above measure but be kept little in his owne eyes though he cures the Ague yet hee suffers some grudgings to remaine that though wee goe in the way of his commandements yet that wee goe halting that wee may remember the worke of redemption and be sensible of his mercy in CHRIST Likewise hee suffers such lusts to haunt â—us to make us weary of this world as Saint Paul who therefore desired to be dissolved and to be with CHRIST as also that wee might learne to be mercifull and charitable unto others and to pitty them that have the like infirmities And therfore though thou fallest yet give not over striving It is Satans end to have us discouraged be importunate with God and he cannot at lenght but give thee the victory for as CHRIST sayes if you aske bread will he give you a Scorpion if you aske