Ephes 5.8 Ye were sometimes darkness saith the Apostle but now are ye light in the Lord walk as children of light In 1 Pet. 2.9 God hath called us out of darknesse into his marvellous light Luke 1.78 79. The day spring from on high hath visited us to give light to them that sit in darkness In Acts 26.17.18 the Apostle was sent to the Gentiles to turn them from darkness unto light In 1 John 2.8 The darkness is past and the true light saith the Apostle now shineth In Acts 17.30 The times of Heathenisme are there called the times of ignorance and it must needs be night in such souls wherein Christ the Sun of righteousness never did arise as it is never day in the world until the Sun ariseth so it is never day in the soul till Christ the Sun of righteousness ariseth with healing in his wings Now there are several useful and profitable points of doctrine which naturally flow from hence for our instruction and edification I shall onely name them and so procéed to that which I chiefly intend The first point of doctrine is this that works of darkness are works of the night night works Secondly that the times of the Gospel are times of light Thirdly that in the day of the Gospel all these works of darkness are to be cast off when the Sun shines it dispels and scatters all those mists and fogs of darkness that lie upon the earth so when Christ the Sun of Righteousness arises in the soul he dispells and scatters all those mists and fogs of sin and wickedness which naturally ariseth in the soul Fourthly in Gospel times or times of light men should live Gospel lives or walk in the light of the Gospel while ye have light walk as children of the light Walk saith our Saviour John 5.35 36. while ye have light lest darkness come upon you for he that walketh in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth While ye have light believe in the light that ye may be the children of light Fifthly that rioting and drunkenness chambering and wantonness strife and envy are not works of the day but of the night Sixthly they that would live as becomes the Gospel of Christ should cast off all those unfruitful works of darkness Seventhly that Iesus Christ is a Christians garment Eighthly that Iesus Christ is a garment to be put on Ninthly that all of Christ whole Christ is to be put on put ye on the Lord Iesus Christ as a King to rule you as a Priest to offer up himself a sacrifice for you and as a Prophet to teach and instruct you Tenthly and lastly that the putting on of the Lord Iesus Christ is accompanied with the casting off all sinful and fleshly works Now the point of doctrine that I shall chiefly insist upon shall be this namely that the Lord Iesus Christ is a garment in handling whereof I shall briefly touch upon and speak something to all the rest by way of use and application The Doctrine then to be insisted upon is this That the Lord Iesus Christ is a Christians garment in handling whereof I shall endeavour by the assistance of God to shew you first wherein the Lord Iesus Christ is or may be said to be a garment And here I shall endeavour by the assistance of God to shew you the natural agreement and resemblance that is between the Lord Iesus Christ and our natural garments First wherein they do agree and secondly wherein they do not agree and having done this in the next place God willing I shall endeavour to shew you what kinde of garment Christ is and how this garment is to be worn Thirdly and lastly to whom and for what he is a garment and then having done this I shall briefly endeavour to give you some directions by way of motives to perswade you to the putting on of this garment and so conclude all by the assistance of God in a word or two of use and application I begin with the first of these wherein the Lord Iesus Christ is or may be said to be a garment and this will appear briefly in these two things 1. considering what we are and 2. considering what Christ doth I. Christ may be said to be a garment considering what we are by nature the best of us are but as St. John saith Rev. 3.17 empty naked miserable sinners the best garments we have by nature are nothing else but rags yea filthy rotten rags as the Prophet Isaiah expresses it in Isa 64.6 We are all of us by nature poor and blinde miserable and naked till Christ appears in us thereupon the Apostle Paul in Phil. 3.8 9. desires so earnestly that he might be found in Christ not having on his own righteousness which he accounted dross and dung in comparison of Christ and his righteousness 2. Christ is a garment in regard of what he path to us he covers our nakedness by casting over us the skirts of his love as in Ezek. 16.8 And to illustrate this a little I shall here take occasion to show you wherein Christ may be said to be a garment by giving you the resemblances that are between the Lord Iesus Christ and our natural garments and what our garments are to our bodies the same and much more is Christ to our souls now the natural use of our natural garments are chiefly these thrée 1. Our natural garments are for necessity 2. For distinction 3. For ornament First for necessity our natural garments are necessary yea they are of necessity we cannot be well without them they are needful for us to cover and shelter us to cherish and preserve our weak frail naked bodies from all the dangers and incumbrances which would irresistably fall upon us without the use of them Our garments are useful to cover and preserve us from the cold blustering storms of the world how unable would our frail weak mortal bodies be to subsist and live without the natural use of our natural garments to cherish and preserve us and this and more then this doth Christ to our souls as our bodies are not able to subsist without cloaths no more are our souls able to subsist without Christ who is the life and garment of our souls as our natural garments serve to defend us from the cold blustering storms of the weather so Christ the garment of our souls preserves and shelters us from all those raging assaults of Satan which in the world we are often yea alwayes lyable unto Secondly as our natural garments serve to defend us from the cold stormes of winde and weather so likewise they serve to defend us from the violent and scorching heat of the Sun as in the blustering storms of rain and cold our garments preserves us from perishing under them so in the violent scorching heat of the Sun our garments serve to keep us from being melted and devoured by its violent and scorching heat of the like use is Christ to our souls
The Charitable CHRISTIAN OR A word of Comfort from the God of Comfort to such as are truly POOR And a word of Christian Counsel and Advice to such as are worldly Rich stirring them up to the Christian Duty and Practice of Charity With some powerful Motives and Perswasions thereunto drawn from the Word of God to convince men of the necessity of this Christian Duty with the sore Evils and Calamities which are threatned in the Word of God against unmerciful men The eighth Edition with Additions Psalm 41.1 2 3. Blessed is be that considereth the Poor the Lord will deliver him in time of trouble The Lord will preserve him and keep him alive and he shall be blessed upon the earth The Lord will strengthen him upon the bed of languishing and will make his bed in his sickness Published by a Lover of Hospitality London Printed for Elizabeth Andrews at the White Lion near Pye Corner 1662 Courteous Reader THere is lately published an excellent and profitable Sermon called Christs first Sermon on The necessity duty and practice of Repentance opened and applied Also Christs last Sermon oâ— The everlasting estate and condition of all men the world to contâ—â— Likewise the Christians blesse Choice And the Christians best Garment or Thâ— putting on of the Lord Jesus Christ Also Heavens Glory and Hells Horrour or the Parable between Dives and Lazarus opened and applied Vâ—ry godly Books and are but three pence price There are likewise seven other small Books all them very godly and very comfortable for thy soâ— One is entituled Englands Faithful Physician Tâ— second Dooms-day at hand The third the dread character of a drunkard The fourth the Father last Blessing to his children The fifth The sin Pride arraigned and condemned The sixth Thâ— Plain Mans Plain Path way to Heaven The sevent The Black Book of Conscience All very necessaâ— for these licentious times and each of them beiâ— but of two pence price They are to be sold Elizabeth Andrews at the White Lion near Py Corner The Charitable Christian 1 Tim. 6.17 18 19. Charge them that are rich in this world that they be not high minded nor trust in uncertain riches but in the living God which is giveth us richly all things we enjoy That they do good that they be rich in good works ready to distribute willing to communicate Laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come that they may lay hold on Eternal Life THe Blessed Apostle in these words layes down several arguments and perswasions to Charity which in this Age that we now live in is even almost growne out of date with most men For notwithstanding there is great noise men For notwithstanding there is 〈◊〉 great noise of Religion abroad yet is it lamentable in consider show irreligiously most men live making a great outward shew anâ— pretence of Religion but altogether deny anâ— neglect the power and practice thereof which iâ— a great measure doth consist in the practice 〈◊〉 Charity as St. James saith in his first Chapter and the last Verse Pure Religion and undefileâ— before God is this To visit the fatherless and thâ—â— widow in their distress That is by relieving their necessities There are several Arguments that should provoke us to Charity in these words of the Apostle as first the charge given to rich men He doth not charge them in the Name of anâ— King or State but in the Name of the great God of Heaven and Earth whose Ambassadouâ— he was The sum and substance of his charge is this First That they would not be high-minded that is to say lofty proud and scornful disdainâ—ing to look upon those that are poor And secondly That they would not trust in uncertain Riches but in the living God Men are apt to think themselves safe and secure if they have gotten but Estates in their hands but the Word of God saith otherwise The Apostle here calle Richee uncertain and Solomon saith of them that they are vanity of vanities moor empty noâ— thing things which we ought not to covet after for we came into the world naked without riches and it is certain we shall carry none with us out of the world Then as St. Paul saith 1 Tim. 6.8 Let us having food and raiment be there with all content But if we will not what saith the Apostle in the next Verse If men will be rich they fall into temptation and a snare and into many foolish and hurtful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition For saith he the love of money is the root of all evil And then thirdly and lastly he charges them That they do good that they be rich in good works ready to distribute willing to communicate And the reasons why we should do so are these First that we receive all we have from God he gives us all things richly to enjoy Then secondly by doing good and relieving the necessities of those that are in want we do thereby lay up in store for our selves a good foundation for eternal life God will not forget our work and labour of love towards the Poor Inasmuch as ye have done it unto them ye have done it unto me saith Christ Matth 25.40 And whatsoever we give unto the Poor we lend unto the Lord and he will certainly repay us Therefore let all those who expects mercy and favours form the Lord seriously consider and minde these following motives inducements to Charity propounded by a godly Minister a necessary Duty which divers men are very prone to neglect Dives would not give the crumbs and scraps of his table to poor Lazarus Men in a full condition are not at all affected with the wants and necessities of others See what an evil Vnmercifulness is First It is an argument of Covetousness When Christ Luke 16.9 vids them make to themselves friends of the Mammon of unrighteousness which he so calls because men sin either in the getting or in the using of them saying they could not serve God and Mammon In the 13. Verse it is said the Pharisées who were covetous derided him They thought Christ spake like an ignorant man they could serve God and kéep their wealth too and not cast it away upon poor people This shewed their covetousness and what an evil covetousness is St. Paul tells us A covetous man is an Idolater Ephes 5.5 and hath no inheritance in the Kingdom of Heaven 2. Vnmercifulness is an argument of Vnbelief and distrust of God men think if they give to the poor they must want themselves But Prov. 28.27 He that giveth to the poor shall never lack Here is the word of God for it who is Truth it self and yet men distrust God and think of other wayes to provide for themselves I will keep what I have saith the Covetous man if this be gone I know not where to have more the world is hard and it is best to keep what we have Thus
unbelief discovers it self Saith God give to the poor and thou shalt never lack saith the hard-hearted man Give to the poor and thou shalt lack and so gives God the lye Eccles 11.1 Cast thy bread upon the water and after many dayes thou shalt finde it No saith the unmerciful man I shall never see it again and so makes God a Lyar and declares himself an unbeliever 3. Unmercifulness is an argument that there is no love of God in that man 1 John 3.17 Whoso hath this worlds goods and seeth his brother hath need and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him how dwelleth the love of God in him He may think and others may think and say that he loves God but there is not one dram of Gods loves in that man for if a man loves God he would love man who is the Image of God Christ commanded us that we love one another as he hath loved us John 15.12 He testified his love by giving his life his blood for us and we will not give a little bread an old garment a little silver it is a clear demonstration that there is no love of God in us 4. Unmercifulness it hath much cruelty and unnaturalness in it Isa 58.7 saith the Lord Deal thy bread to the hungry cover the naked and hide not thy self from thine own flesh The poor are our own flew Mal. 2.10 Have not we all one Father Hath not one God created us Prov. 22.2 The rich and the poor meet together the Lord is the maker of them all Now if we hide our eys from them if we will not consider their necessities and relieve them we are cruel and unnatural if a man be naked or hungry he will seek to cloathe and feed himself he will not hate his own flesh Ephs 5.29 No man ever yet hated his own flesh but nourisheth and cherisheth it When men therefore refuse of strengthen the hand of the poor and needy they despise and hate their own flesh they are unnatural and to prevent this God hath laid a command to be merciful where the strongest reason and plea may be against it Prov. 25.21 If thine enemy hunger give him bread to eat if he be thirsty give him drink much more then to the Poor 5. Unmercifulness it brings a curse yea many curses upon men and their estates Prov. 28. 27. He that hideth his eye from the poor shall have many a curse The poor will curse him and not onely man but even God himself curseth them Psal 41.1 Blessed is he that considereth the poor If a man do it not shall he have a blessing No Depart from me ye cursed Marth 25.41 For I was hungry and ye fed me not And Prov. 3.33 The curse of the Lord is in the house of the wicked Sometimes they have not a heart to eat and take the comfort of their Estates sometimes they are perplexed with fears and ceres and for rows about their Estates sometimes they are wasted at Law sometimes by Fire or Robbery sometimes by such secret wayes that none can give any rational account of but know that the curse of God is there 6. Unmercifulness it makes men altogether unlike God who is the Father of mercy and the God of all compassions 2 Cor. 1.3 He makes his Sun to arise on the evil and the good and sendeth rain upon the just and upon the unjust Mat. 5.45 He giveth food to all flesh Psal 136.25 To each his sufficing food in due season fills every living creature with his blessing He giveth liverally and upbraideth not as St. James saith Jam. 1.5 He bears the destres of the humble and the poor Psal 10.17 He is kinde to the unthankful and to the evil Be ye therefore merciful as your heavenly father is merciful Luke 6.36 But now that man that is near pinching and miserable and doth not regard the condition of the poor to comfort their hearts and to strengthen their hands in filling their hungry vellies and cloathing their naked bodies he is unlike and contrary to God who is all love and bowels of mercy pitty and compassion and ever mindful of the poor and hath made a Law for their relief which standeth recorded in the Word of God unalterable and can never be repealed or made void Deut. 15.7.8 9 10 11 14 15. If there be among you a poor man one of thy brethren within any thy gates or the Land which the Lord thy God giveth thee thou shalt not harden thine heart nor shut thy hand from thy poor brother but thou shalt open thy hand wide unto him and shalt surely lend him sufficient for his need in that which he wanteth Beware that there be not a thought in thy wicked heart saying the seventh year the year of release is at hand and thine eye be evil against thy poor brother and thou give him nought and he cry unto the Lord against thee and it be sin unto thee Thou shalt surely give him and thine heart shall not be grieved when thou givest unto him because that for this thing the Lord thy God shall bless thee in all thy works and in all that thou puttest thy hand unto For the poor shall never cease out of the land therefore I command thee saying thou shalt open thine hand wide to thy brother to the poor and to the needy in the land Thou shalt furnish him liberally out of thy flocks and out of thy floor and out of thy wine-press of that wherewith the Lord thy God hath blessed thee thou shalt give unto him And thou shalt remember that thou was a bond-man in the land of Egypt and the Lord thy God redeemed thee Therefore I command thee this thing to day And to this very purpose is that in Levit. 25.35 36 37 38. If thy brother be waxen poor and faln to decay with thee then thou shalt relieve him yea though he be a stranger or so sorner with thee that he may live with thee thou shalt not give him thy money upon usury nor lend him thy victuals upon encrease take thou no usury of him or encrease but sear thy God that thy brother may live with thee Here is two Statute And of God himself that are of more force and greater authority then all the Acts of men or Parliaments which shall never be altered but shall be in full force and power to the end of the world yea shall be a Law to condemn the gainsayers and neglecters thereof in the day of judgement Christ saith Luke 14.13 VVhen thou makest a Feast call the poor the lame and the blind and thou shalt be blessed And Luke 14.18 God anointed Christ to preach the Gospel to the poor And in another place he saith The poor receive the Gospel And hath not God chosen the poor of this world to be rich in Faith and Heirs of the Kingdom which he hath promised to those that love him In Luke 6.20 saith Christ Blessed are ye poor