to keep the Lords day when it comes thou breakest that Commandement Thou seest many worldly men they bury themselves under the earth all the weeke and they have neither life nor leasure to come to the Congregation of Gods people on the Lords day or if they doe they sit like blocks upon benches and have more mind of the world then of the word of their pence then of their prayers So thou seest many a wanton boy and girle who would nothing but play all the weeke and when the Lords day comes they mind nothing else and so are disgraces to the Assemblies where they are These sinne against the Lords day before it comes and so mayst thou and heed it not Thou mayst also break it when it is gone by not answering the end of it The Prophet Esay Esa 2. speaking of these dayes saith That we shall encourage one another to goe up to the house of the Lord that he may teach us his wayes and we walke in his pathes This should be thy end now of keeping the Lords dayes But when God doth not teach thee his wayes and then thou dost not walke in his pathes notwithstanding all the teaching which shines about thee then thou breakest the Lords day when it is gone And thus thou now seest how thou breakest all the Commandements every day And never wonder at it seeing the Law exacts perfect obedience to justification but is weake to give it Rom. 8.3 because of the flesh Indeed the Gospel gives more strength so as by grace thou mayst keep it in desires purposes endevours with all sincerity and willingnesse for thy sanctification though not perfectly for thy justification but I enquire yet of thy naturall state and of that thy answer is given and opened by me Vse Therefore my child seriously think upon it that it may wound thy heart with the spirit of bondage so farre as to bring thee over to Jesus Christ Rom. 8. Most men are like Saul who when he saw Samuel after the destruction of Amalek said 1 Sam. 15. Blessed be thou of the Lord I have kept the commandements of God so they have kept them also they are neither whore nor thiefe they keep their Church and are good neighbours and some men say as Shadrach Dan. 3. Meshech and Abednego to Nebuchadnezzar in another case We are not carefull to answer thee in this matter or to keep thy commandement so they care not to enquire into it or know whether they keep or breake them But as thou lovest thy soul let it not be so with thee As I have asked thee carefully so feele conscionably thy answer that thou breakest them that thou mayst lye down in shame and confusion in thy selfe that thou mayst be prepared for Jesus Christ Think that thou wert in Adam when he brake the whole Law of nature Thinke how prone thy nature is to all sinnes even the worst that ever were committed Thinke how thou sinnest daily against the whole body of Justice in many petty sinnes which makes thee groane and cry daily forgive us our trespasses Thinke that though there be but one Market day in seven for provision for thy soule yet thou sinnest against it before it comes and when it is gone as well as when it is and so barrest the blessing of it from thy soule And when thou seriously thinkest of these things between God and thy own soule thinke again what will become of thee if thou die in thy sinnes and come to answer before a just God who cannot endure to behold iniquitie It may be that if God blesse thy conscience may be rowzed to hearken further concerning thy estate and never give over hearkening and enquiring till thou have found a way into Jesus Christ If thou wilt know more tell me 20. Q. What punishment is appointed for them that breake Gods commandements A. Gods curse which is the everlasting destruction both of body and soule Remember how farre thou hast gone Of Gods curse upon sinners Thou wert made to serve God thou shouldst serve him according to his laws thou breakest all these laws and for this by nature thou doest lye under this curse of God of which thou here speakest Deut. 27.26 Deut. 28. Levit. 26. Moses speaks of this Cursed is he that confirmeth not all the words of the Law to doe them and He shews the particulars of this curse upon body soule and state Gal. 3.10 Paul expounds it more clearly Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things that are written in the booke of the Law to doe them And Christ speaks of the height of it Matth. 25.41 Depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the devill and his angels It is most miserable to be in such a case yet thou art in it by nature Eph. 2. as thou art born a child of wrath an heire of hell God curseth when he doth inflict punishment Men curse when they wish ill one to another as poxe plague gallows vengeance and confusion or hurt any way to body or soule These are kinds and formes of speech savouring of the belched-up froth of carnall and devillish hearts But God curseth when he inflicteth punishments Thou wouldst thinke it a great curse to have a father mother master or mistresse who should doe nothing but beat bruise and wound thee day and night In stead of feeding thee beat thee in stead of cloathing thee beat thee in stead of refreshing thee beat thee in stead of giving thee rest and sleep beat thee so is it a farre more miserable estate to lye day and night under Gods flayles of punishments The punishment which God inflicts is eternall destruction of body and soule To be destroyed in body is a fearefull punishment to be destroyed in soule is more fearefull to be destroyed in body and soule is more fearefull yet but to be destroyed in body and soule everlastingly is most fearfull it cannot be expressed it is endlesse easelesse and remedilesse What the destruction of body and soule is This destruction is double the destruction of sin and the destruction of misery By this thou mayst know that thou hast the destruction of sinne when thou art not used to that end which God made thee for God made thee to serve him thou shouldst serve him by keeping the law thou breakest the law and hast this part of the curse the destruction of sinne If I had a piece of timber squared fawed and framed if I use it not to this end but let it lye and rot in the durt it is destroyed If thou hadst good apparell and shouldst not weare it but let it lye in the high way for horse and carriages to go over for swine to rent it is destroyed so it is with thee when the world flesh and devill abuseth thee and thou art not used to Gods end By this thou mayst know that thou hast the destruction of misery when
Thus thou hast heard what God is that he made thee to serve him that thou must serve him according to his Lawes and what these lawes are Now tell me 19. Q. Art thou able to keepe these Commandements A. No let me doe what I can yet I break them every day more then I can expresse Here thou makest a strange accusation against thy selfe Indeed Christ saith that out of the heart come evill thoughts murders adulteries fornications thefts false witnesses Mat. 15.19 blasphemies They are not sent into the heart but sent out of it and such an heart surely breaks the Commandements And Paul saith when he spake experimentally of his naturall heart I know that in me that is Rom. 7.18 19. in my flesh dwelleth no good thing for to will is present with me but how to performe that which is good I know not for the good that I would I doe not but the evill which I would not that doe I and certainly he that stands in this state cannot keepe the Commandements Yet marke that thou puttest in an heavy indictment against thy selfe I say marke this and marke it seriously Hast thou a strange God to be thy God Doest thou follow Idolatrous worship Doest thou dishonour the name of God in thought word action Doest thou neglect the Ministery of the word and profane the Lords day Doest thou rebell against Gods Ordinances for the orderly government of the world Art thou a murderer an whore or whore-master and a thiefe Art thou a lyer slanderer or backbiter Hast thou a wicked lustfull heart which boyles with discontents because it is better with thy neighbor then with thy selfe If another body should charge thee with all these things thou wouldst defie him and be ready to spit in his face yet thou sai'st openly that thou doest breake the Commandements every day I confesse it to be a truth How we do break all the Commandements every day yet must thou understand it according to the word of God or else shame and confusion will lye upon thee more then upon other men women and children know then that thou breakest all the Commandements every day three wayes First in Adam we were all in Adam when he sinned Rom. 5. and in his fall sinne went over all mankind and so over thee as well as any body else If a Carp eat of a baite and be taken and killed not onely she dies but thousands of spaunes that are in her belly so when Adam sinned in eating the forbidden fruit and died to God we that were in his loynes eate it and died in him He sinned against a Sacrament By eating the forbidden fruit he made himselfe unfit and unworthy to eat of the Tree of life In sinning against this Sacrament he sinned against the whole Covenant of Nature For thou know'st that he that tears off the labels and seales of a Bond sinneth against the vertue of the Bond and makes it of none effect so Adam sinning against that Sacrament the seale of the Covenant he made it uselesse He was neither bound to God now by vertue of that Covenant because he had made himself unable nor God to him because he had made himsefe unworthy We therefore being in Adam and sinning in Adam doe break all the Commandements in him as we are in the first Adam Secondly we breake all the Commandements in the pronenesse of our nature to breake them A Fox is chained up in the yard If he doe not kill all the Poultry about the house no thanks to him but to his wary Master who hath tied him up So no thanks to thee if thou doe not break all the Commandements but to God who hath an hook in thy nosthrils and restraines thee by his providence before he renues thee by his Spirit for thy nature is prone unto it God looks upon the pronenesse of nature and according to that doth passe censure upon men women and children Heb. 11. Abraham is said to offer up his sonne Isaac by faith though he did it not because from that principle of grace within him his nature was now prone to doe it and would have done it Gen. 22. if God had not held his hands Christ saith That he that looks upon a woman lustfully hath already committed adultery with her in his heart Matt. 5. yet the woman is very chaste and untouched because Christ looks to the pronenesse of the heart So though thou have not broken any of the Commandements but art as unrebukable concerning the letter of the Law Phil. 3. as Paul was yet so long as God sees the pronenesse of thy nature that thou hast a principle of wickednesse in thee which makes thee as ready to break the Commandements as Cain Achitophel Peter yea Judas he will adjudge thee a breaker of all the Commandements Thirdly in breaking one of the Commandements Jam. 2.10 we doe breake them all Holy James saith Whosoever shall keep the whole Law and yet offend in one point he is guilty of all and surely thou breakest some one of them every day or else thou couldst not be a sinner 1 Joh. 1. and he that saith he hath no sinne is a lyer The whole Law is one body of righteousnesse Now thou know'st that if I sinne against the least member of thy body I sin against the whole Let me cut off the least joynt of thy little finger or of thy little toe I offend thy whole body Thy eye weeps thy mouth complains thy whole body shrinks because touching is shot through thy whole body So if thou breakest the least part of Gods Commandements all will feele and call for wrath upon thee because thou sinnest against the whole body of righteousnesse There is such a linking of all the Commandements together as is betwixt ten sworn friends abuse one and all will fall upon thee Therefore Paul saith Cursed is he that continueth not in all things that are written in the Booke of the Law to doe them Gal. 3. Thou must have the Law thou must know it thou must doe it thou must doe all things in it thou must continue in doing it thou must continue in doing all things that are in it or else thou art accursed Yet one thing may seeme strange unto thee that thou confessest thy selfe a breaker of all the Commandements every day when one Commandement concerns the Sabbath of old the Lords day now which comes but once a week how then canst thou break this every day I tell thee sadly that thou mayst break it before it comes and when it is gone Before it comes by doing that upon the weeke day which makes thee unfit to keep it when it comes If I command a servant to doe some businesse for me afarre off put case he doe make himselfe drunke by the way and so be unfit to doe my businesse he sins against my command So if thou doe that upon the weeke day which makes thee unfit
understandest of what I have said Tell me Q. Who must deliver thee from the curse of the Law A. Jesus Christ onely Q. Why is he called Jesus A. Because he saves his people from their sins Q. How many wayes doth he save thee A. Three by ransome by rescue by mortification Q. How by ransome A. By laying down his life for me Q. How by rescue A. By delivering me by strong hand Q. How by mortification A. By killing of sin in me Q. What means doth he use A. The Word of God Sacraments and Prayer Q. Why is he called Christ A. Because he is anointed Q. What is his anointing A. His having the fulnesse of the Godhead dwelling in him bodily Q. Why was Christ anointed A. That he might be a Prophet Priest and King Q. Why was he a Prophet A. To reveale his Fathers will to me Q. Why was he a Priest A. To offer himselfe in sacrifice and make intercession for me Q. Why was he a King A. To rule over me and over-rule my enemies Q. How is Christ a Lord A. By possessing me as his own Q. Why was Christ a Lord A. To maintaine his right in me and to call me to accounts Q. What is this Jesus Christ our Lord A. The Sonne of God made man Q. Why must the Sonne of God be thy Saviour A. Because he might give me what I wanted Q. Why must thy Saviour be a man not a woman A. Because man is the more noble sacrifice Q. Did this God and man sonne suffer for thee A. Yes he suffered the sorrows of death for me Q. What were these sorrows A. The sight of my sinnes and the sense of his fathers wrath Remember my child how farre thou art gone Thou wast made to serve God thou shouldst serve him as he hath commanded thou breakest all the commandements and so lyest under the curse of the Law Jesus Christ came into the world to deliver thee from this curse This Jesus Christ was the Sonne of God and though he were the Sonne of God yet becoming thy surety he suffered the sorrows of death to satisfie God and discharge thee It may seeme strange that the Sonne of God who is immortall should dye Tell me therefore 24. Q. Seeing Christ was God how could he dye A. He was God and man As he was God he died not but as man he died for my sinnes and rose againe for my Justification Here thou tellest me of the natures of thy Saviour How it could be that Christ could die and of the use he made of them for thy good As to his natures he was God and man as to his uses he used his humane nature to dye for thee and his Divine nature to rise againe for thy Justification First he was God and man Man he was certainly for in his whole course and carriage Phil. 2.8 he was found in fashion as a man not in appearance onely for as is here demonstrative of the truth of his humane nature As John saith Joh. 1.14 we saw his glory as the Glory of the onely begotten Sonne of God that is his glory was the glory of the true Sonne of God so in fashion as a man that is a true man Therefore Paul saith we have one Mediatour betwixt God and man the man Christ Jesus 1 Tim. 2.5 Matth. 1.2 who is therefore often called the sonne of man the sonne of Abraham the sonne of David yea Heb. 2.16 the seed of Abraham according to the flesh He was as surely God For when he was given to us to be a Child a a Sonne his name is the mightie God Esa 9.6 Jer. 23.6 Rom. 9.5 and Jehovah our righteousnesse and over all God blessed for ever And John saith that this essentiall word of the Father who was with God was God Joh. 1.1 even from eternitie before and when God made the beginning of time Secondly As man Christ died Christ made excellent uses of these natures for thee of his Manhood he made this use to dye for thee For Christ suffered for thee in the flesh 1 Pet. 4.1 1 Pet. 2.24 and bare thy sinnes in his own body on the tree If the Sunne shine upon the body of a tree which thou hast a purpose to cut down thou canst cut the tree but thou canst not cut the shine of the Sunne that is united unto it and shines upon the gashes and dints thou makest in the bark heart sap and root So when Christ God and man was united for thee the unsuffering Divine nature could not suffer but the body of his flesh and blood that suffered and dyed for thee Man had sinned and man must dye It is not equall that another nature should suffer for man's sinne Therefore verily he tooke not on him the nature of Angels but he tooke the seed of Abraham that he might taste death Heb. 2.9 10. and be made a perfect Captaine of thy salvation through suffering Of his Godhead he made this use As God Christ rose againe Rom. 4.25 Rom. 1.4 to rise againe for thy Justification For he mightily declared himselfe to be the Sonne of God by the resurrection from the dead He was to deliver thee from a world of evil and to bring thee to a world of good things The guilt of sinne the wrath of God the power of hell the fear of death were to be wrought from thee by him The pardon of sinne the power from sinne the Inheritance of heaven were to be settled upon thee by him How could he ever have done any or all of these for thee if his Divine nature had not influence into his sufferings to bring thee the righteousnesse of God Rom. 3.25 26. Phil. 3.9 Let him have done all this for thee thou couldst never have been justified if he had not declared himselfe to be the Son of God with power by his resurrection from the dead This settles the merits of his death upon thee and assures thee that they are accepted by his father for thy discharge because death hath no more dominion over him Rom. 6. but he comes triumphantly out of the prison of the grave whither thy sins had cast him Christ bare a double person for thee the person of a suretie Heb. 7.22 1 Joh. 2.1 and the person of an advocate What he doth for thee for the discharging thy debt and for the settlement of a full satisfaction upon thee as a suretie that he doth in thy roome and it stands in the Law of God and man as a discharge of thy score what he doth as an Advocate in appearing for thee pleading for thee and satisfying all offices in thy roome that is interpreted as thy act thou must stand to it and challenge it as thy own When thou seest therfore Christ dying a satisfying death for thee and rising a discharged resurrection for thee from further imprisonment thou hast a full quietus est or assurance that
the Scriptures doe not yeeld 2 Tim. 3.16 2 Pet. 1.19 For all Scripture is given by Inspiration of God and so is a sure word to which thou must take heed as unto a light that shineth in a darke place because it hath this threefold testimony in one God which cannot faile thee Doth the Scripture give any precept make any promise denounce any threatning Rest upon it that thou must obey it Imbrace it and tremble under it as Gods truth confirmed by three witnesses which shal stand when all other witnesses shall fail Wouldst thou powre out thy devoutest prayers to God Thinke upon this one God three Persons as a fountaine to supply all thy defects Hast thou any brack or defect in the nature of thy body and soule Pray to God the Father as thy faithfull Creator that for the merits of Christ and by the working of the holy Ghost he would perfect thy parts to doe him service Hast thou sinned against thy good Maker Pray to God the Sonne as thy faithfull Redeemer that from the love of the Father for his merits and by the operation of the holy Ghost he would procure a pardon sealed to thy conscience Hast thou for want of beleeving in his name sinned against thy good Saviour Pray to God the Holy Ghost as thy faithfull Sanctifier that from the love of the Father for the holy bloud-shed of the Sonne and by his blessing worke of preparation and Insition he would apply thee to Christ and make thee one with him that thou mayst have all the benefits of his Passion Now my child remember what I have said Q. Who made thee A. God Q. What is it to make thee A. To give mee that being which I have Q. Who Redeemed thee A. Jesus Christ Q. What is it to Redeeme thee A. To buy me again when I was lost Q. How camest thou to be lost A. By the sinne of Adam Q. How did Christ buy thee again A. By laying down his life for me Q. Who sanctified thee A. The holy Ghost Q. What is it to sanctifie thee A. To make me holy Q. How doth he make me holy A. By taking away sinne and giving me grace Q. By what means doth he this A. By the Word Sacraments and Prayer Q. How many Gods are there A. Three persons for all my necessities and but one God to serve alone Thinke of these points seriously and the Lord give thee understanding in all things It may be thou canst not so clearely conceive some of these high mysteries as of three in one in a more excellent way then can be expressed or of Essence which is one Nature in three or of Persons which are the severall manners of being in the selfe same God as in respect of Creation God is the Father in respect of Redemption God is the Sonne in respect of Sanctification God is the Holy Ghost These things I say are above reasonable capacitie But it is otherwise with thee in the understanding of other things and of these mysteries In other things thou must first know and then beleeve but in these things thou must first beleeve and then know as Peter said We beleeve and are sure Joh. 6.69 that thou art that Christ the Sonne of the living God And if thou adde but this Joh. 7.17 To will to doe thy God's will thou shalt know of the doctrine whether it be of God and so rest with confidence upon these most divine mysteries to comfort thy soule Now let us goe on Tell me 5. Q. What is God A. He is that Almightie one who made and governeth all things Know my child that we cannot know God as he is in himselfe Thou canst not know God as he is for he dwels in a light that no man can attain unto And therefore we may say as that Heathen did of old when he was asked what God was By how much more I thinke by so much lesse I understand what that is which we call God Yet may we know Gods back-parts that is those works Exod. 34. and names by which he is made known unto us in the Scriptures For thus he hath manifested himselfe unto us for this end Object Obiect It may be thou mayst thinke that if God cannot be known it is unlawfull for me to enquire of thee what he is Sol. Sol. This is true if it were impossible for us to know God any wayes But Yet thou must labour to know him as he will because we may and must know him as he hath manifested himselfe unto us therefore surely it is not unlawfull to search into him so farre For otherwise it might be said of us as Christ of the Samaritanes Joh. 4. They worship they know not what Yea without this we cannot according to our measure ascribe unto him such excellencies as his nature doth deserve for we cannot say that is gold which we cannot affirme to be gold or brasse Yea without this we cannot love and desire God We cannot desire and love what we know not The love of God must not be a groundlesse love which is more in the lover then in the thing loved but a well grounded love which must proceed from the knowledge of the amiablenesse of the thing loved Of this alone we can give a true reason from the worth of God or any person or thing else which we love Vse Therefore good child know the wickednesse of all our and thy natures which care least to know God Doe but mark and you shall see your selfe ready to know every thing and yet thou takest no notice of God though thou art continually in his presence Yet I hope better things of thee and that which doth accompany thy salvation If the Heathens groped after him and rather then they would not find him Acts 17. erected an altar to the unknown God much more wilt thou who art crowned with more blessed favours of light and love But why should I presse thee to enquire after God when thou tellest me plainly what God is You tell me that God is that Almightie one that doth make and governe all things Though thou knowest him not as he is in himselfe yet thou describest him as he hath manifested himselfe to the Church If I should aske thee what the Apostle Paul was You would answer that he was an able and extraordinary Minister of the New Testament Herein you did not tell me what he is or was in himself for so he was a living creature endued with a reasonable soule but you tell me what Paul was as God did imploy him in and for the Church so in this description thou tellest me what God is with reference to the whole world Thus thou tellest me two things of God 1. His sufficiency He is that Almightie one 2. His Efficiency or how he hath manifested it in part two waies 1. By making all things 2. By governing all things First God is the Almightie thou
accept of a wicked account from thee who art made to serve him Vse 2 Therefore be perswaded as thou lovest thy soule to doe all things as serving of God We plough we sowe we serve Masters we provide for families in generall and children in speciall we obey Masters Governors Parents we eate we drinke we play we worke we rest we sleepe and ordinarily we do all this and more as to our selves and others either under or over us But my child learn thou to doe all things as serving God When thou eatest thy meat do it not so much to fill thy belly or to satisfie thy appetite as that in the strength of the creatures thou mayest be able to serve God When thou cloathest thy self doe it not so much to keepe thy selfe warme as that in the warmth of them thou mayst be able to serve God This is to observe that rule Whether you eat or drinke 1 Cor. 10. or whatsoever you doe doe all to the glory of God This will keepe thee from Gluttony Pride Drunkennesse Covetousnesse and every evill way Without this I shall tell thee of a fearfull discomfort which will be brought upon thee at last when thou art runne a long way and art come to the last houre of the day and it may be to the latter end of thy life God will awake thy conscience which will cry out unto thee O Friend Friend Friend thou art quite out of thy way Thou wast made to serve God and thou hast runne thus long in the service of the world and flesh Oh this will wound in the latter end Remember therefore that thou art made to serve God and doe it And next tell me 7. Q. How oughtest thou to serve him A. As he hath commanded in his lawes Herein thou sayest right also For God saith Deut. 12.32 Whatsoever I command thee take heed to doe it thou shalt put nothing thereto nor pull ought therefrom God would have us punctuall in performing all our service to him as he appoints Therefore as David did take notice that God had commanded to keep his precepts diligently so we must practise Psal 119.4 Remember therefore first We must seek how God must be served that thou must enquire how God must be served For naturally thou knowest not by reason of that ignorance that is in thee As a servant that comes newly to an house is a stranger to that service which will be required so art thou to the service of thy good God Yea God hath a peculiar service from all false gods and therfore Balaam said Num. 23.9 the people shall dwell by themselves and shall not be reckoned among other nations they shall have a Religion and Lawes apart Other gods will be content with service sutable to their natures but God will be serv'd above the power of nature Yea they that have performed Gods service for matter have failed in manner Esa 1. Psal 50. Esa 5. and have been cursed Experience teacheth that good meate may be marr'd in dressing and so may the service of God in performance Vse Therefore thou may'st justly lament the carelesnesse of our soules who either never or with no delight doe enquire after the service of God Most may say as those ancient Heretiques In this faith I was borne in this I will dye Most take up the service of God by tradition and custome without further enquiry But doe thou my child stand in the wayes Jer. 6.16 and behold the good old way that thou may'st learne to serve him as thou shouldest Thy soule is like water or other fluid substances which can never be at rest till it be bounded and nothing can bound it but God and his word which is thy perfect directory Marke next God must be served by his law Exod. 25.40 Heb. 8.5 that Gods service must be of Gods commanding Moses did every thing about Gods worship according to the patterne to the very pinnes and snuffers and besomes and basins And God forbids us in his worship Num. 15.39 Deut. 12.8 Ezek. 20.18 Matt. 15.9 Esa 29.13 Col. 2.23 to follow after our owne hearts and eyes or to teach his worship and fear by the precepts of men or to walk in the ordinances of our forefathers and condemns all voluntary Religion though it have a shew of wisdome and humblenesse of mind Nature teacheth this equitie that God should have that service which best pleaseth him If thou serve a Master or Mistres thou must in all of it respect their pleasures As they are best acquainted with their owne natures and dispositions so is God and because he is a Spirit he will be worshipped in spirit and truth Joh. 4. which is most sutable to his nature wherewith he onely is best acquainted Vse Therefore my child take thou heed of will-worship whether it issue from thy owne will or from the will of others Esa 1. Of this God will say Who hath required this at your hands Wilt thou leane unto mens directions They may deceive and be deceived in what is pleasing unto God Wilt thou follow good intentions The end of an action is not sufficient to make it good as thou may'st fee in Nadab Levit. 10.1 2. 1 Sam. 15.15 Judg. 8.27 Rom. 8.7 and Abihu Saul and Gedeon Wilt thou leane unto thine owne wisdome It is not onely an enemy but enmitie against God Wilt thou follow thy affections That which is done without Gods warrant is not of love for love is the fulfilling of the law Gal. 5.14 Rom. 12.9 Therefore let all thy service be reasonable that is such as whereof thou canst give a reason from Gods word then shalt thou do it of faith and with good comfort Now take a short sight of how farre we are come and to this end tell me Q. What is God A. He is that Almighty one who maketh and governeth all things Q. What doest thou meane by Almighty A. One mighty to doe all Q. Wherein doth his Almightinesse stand A. In skill in will in power Q. How in skill A. In knowing all things Q. How in will A. In willing all things that are good Q. How in power A. In doing all things according to his will Q. How hath he shewed himself to be Almighty A. By making and governing all things Q. What is it to make all things A. To give all things their being Q. What is it to governe all things A. To guide all things and actions to a good end Q. Wherefore did God make you A. To doe him service Q. What is it to serve God A. To doe his work Q. How ought you to serve God A. As he hath commanded in his lawes Q. Why must you thus serve him A. Because not we but he knows best what will please him Thus my child we have briefly summ'd the three last Questions and Answers now let us proceed Tell me therefore 8. Q. Which are these lawes of God A.
Exod. 20. Deut. 15. Those tenne words which God wrote in two Tables of stone and are set downe in Exodus and Deuteronomie Marke here two things Ten Precepts two Tables Deut. 4.13 Exod. 34.28 The number of Gods lawes and the course that God tooke to notice them to us unworthy creatures As to their Number they are tenne words or tenne Commandements and must not be made fewer by us As to Gods perpetuattng their notice unto us after the publishing of them he wrote them in two Tables of stone Had we not blotted out a great part of them and contracted hearts harder then a stone God would not have written them in stone Had any stone beene sufficient to have written them in he would not have order'd their publishing againe Exod. 20. Deut. 5. and againe in the second and fifth bookes of Moses besides all the explications of Christ Moses the Prophets and Apostles Now seeing I enquire after these lawes and thou dost characterize and marke them out by their Number tenne and by Gods perpetuating them to posterity by stones and writings doe but admire the wisdome of God who can give so large a Volume in so few words and remember to take notice of the lawes of God in generall and of all ten particulars of them Vse First We must know the laws of God thou must take speciall notice of the lawes of God and therefore I aske and thou answerest concerning them Hence the Jewes were commanded to write them upon the posts of their houses Deut. 4.6 and upon their gates and in truth they are thy wisdome out of Christ they are thy wisedome unto Christ and they are part of thy wisdome in Christ They are thy wisdome out of Christ for Moses saith Doe them Deut. 4.6 for they are your wisdome and your understanding in the sight of the people They have an excellent politicall use to order thy going in and out for the good of the common-wealth and family They are thy wisdome unto Christ for they are the best Schoolemaster Gal. 3.19.24 in thy sinfull state to bring thee unto him They are like the storme of fire and brimstone which drave Lot out of Sodome For while they require perfect personall righteousnesse to justificaion and for want of this doe reveale sinne and uncloth thee of all worth Rom. 8. Heb. 12.20 21. and by reason of sinne doe ingender the spirit of bondage by making thee feare and quake they make thee haste to Christ without whom the curse will swallow thee up in sorrow They are besides part of thy wisdome in Christ for by manifesting the reliques of sinne they will keep under thy carnall part Mic. 6. and so make thee walke humbly with thy God and they will be such an hedge of all morall duties as they will make thy faith shine in adorning thy Christian calling with good works to all well pleasing Vse Therefore my deare Child neglect not this dutie know the good lawes of thy God They are briefe for memory cleare for capacitie and so perfect that they shall not need either addition correction or repealing It may be thou mayst think that now thou art not under the Law but under Grace It is true Rom. 6. that when God hath put thee into Christ thou art delivered from the exaction malediction and irritation of the law but remember this similitude So long as an oake grows it shadows thee from the warmth of the Sunne but when thou hast cut it down thou canst make wedges out of it self to rent it in pieces and make it serve for thy severall uses so when the law doth overtop thee during thy being under the power of nature thou art deprived of the comfort of the Sunne of righteousnesse but when it is thrown down by the power of the righteousnesse of faith Rom. 7. then mayst thou make instruments out of it selfe to kill that sinne by way of repression and mortification which the law occasioned and to lay open the path of obedience wherein for the justification of thy faith thou mayst run the way of Gods commandements Psal 119. Secondly We must know every commandement thou must not onely take notice of these laws in generall but of every particular of them as which is the first second third fourth and so of the rest God hath neither swelled them into to twentie nor shrunk them into nine And for these ten Deut. 4.13 he hath given none of them in vain but hath in the least discovered a world of wisdom and goodnesse which is particularly to be noticed to thee except thou wilt dishonour thy good God Vse Therefore be thou my child sure to be diligent in this dutie When thou prayest wouldst thou know in confessing thy sinnes how to rise from lesse sins to greater till thou shake thy heart and cover thy face with confusion then know the commandements and the power of them distinctly Wouldst thou know to speake supplications to God for for thy selfe or others that he would adorne his providence by thee and them Then know the commandements distinctly Wouldst thou know how to examine thy heart and life and to referre vertues and vices to their proper heads that thou mayst make use of them accordingly Then know the commandements distinctly To help thee therefore with the milk of Babes in this particular we shall passe thorough a briefe sum of them all in order Tell me therefore 9. Q. What is the first Commandement Exod. 20.3 A. Thou shalt have no other God before me Here God requires the having of the true God onely to be thy God What God requires in the first commandement Thou must have a God thou must have the true God thou must have him onely thou must have him to be thy God Gen. 3. Thou must have a God or else thy wicked nature will be a God to thy self Adam was tempted to be so and it did undoe him and us and thou wilt be so without further temptation and be accursedly miserable Thou must have the true God for all false gods are dung hill gods and lying vanities which cannot profit thee Thou must have him onely for as marriage and Monarchy cannot endure corrivals so cannot God endure that any should be joyned with him Thou must have him to be thy God for a man is not chiefly comforted but with that which is his own A mans own house land wife children gold and silver speake best content unto him and so will God when he is thy own It may be thou wilt wonder how thou canst have God Thou canst not have him as thou hast money in thy purse How God may be had cattell in thy ground or cloathes on thy back yet mayst thou have him as an husband hath a wife or a wife an husband A man and his wife may be a thousand miles asunder and may not see one another in many yeares and yet
thou art subject to the miseries of this life and of the life to come The miseries of this life are all crosses to thy person comfort credit and state as sicknesses sorrows disgraces discomforts both within and without The miseries of the world to come are thy separation from the Lord and his Law the two principles of life for ever As when thy soul is separated from thy body a naturall death is made up so when thy person is separated from God and his word of comfort a spirituall death is made up which begins in this life and is continued for ever and ever Vse Oh my child feare and tremble under this burthen Thou art apt as all others to build up thy way to heaven with untempered morter saying to thy own soule that all is well when all is amisse This makes thee with an hard and impenitent heart to goe on in thy accursed courses But this doctrine of curses will teach thee that thou wert in danger before thou wast borne and ever since Thou mightst justly have been cast into hell before thou didst breath in this open world Thou hast all thy life been under the destruction of sinne and this hath enwrapped thee in the destruction of misery Thou feelest many paines and sicknesses which are but the light flashes of hell fire Thou art like a man condemned to a tormenting and dying death As if a man had a Caldron of boyling lead hang over his head and he starke naked under it First one drop falls upon his head another upon his shoulder another upon his arme another upon his hand another upon his backe another upon his belly another upon his legge upon his foot another which makes him start and shreeke but at the last the whole showre comes which makes him roare and tumble like a wild bull in a net So thou by this volley of curses art first nipt in one part then in another which makes thy joy to be interrupted and thy mirth many times turned into mourning But at last in death and Judgement comes an whole Sea of them which makes weeping howling and gnashing of teeth Weigh it seriously before it be too late It may be that God will leave a blessing behind to make thee search after a deliverance which is the next thing that comes to be skanned But first let me try thy profiting Thou toldest me that thou breakest all Gods commandements according to which thou shouldst serve him Tell me therefore Q. How many wayes doest thou breake them A. Three wayes Q. Which be they A. First in Adam secondly in the pronenesse of my nature thirdly in breaking one I breake them all Q. But the seventh part of time comes but once a weeke how canst thou break the commandement which concernes that every day A. I breake it before it comes and when it is gone Q. How before it comes A. By doing that upon the week day which makes me unfit to keep it when it comes Q. How when it is gone A. By not learning Gods wayes and not walking in his pathes Q. Art thou in danger of Gods curse A. Yes both in my body and in my soule Q. How doth God curse A. By inflicting of punishment Q. What punishment doth he inflict A. A destruction of my body and my soule Q. How doest thou know thy selfe to be destroyed A. When I am not used to that end that God made me for Q. What follows upon this A. A subjection to the miseries of this world and of the world to come Doe not forget how farre thou art gone God made thee thou art made to doe him service thou shouldst serve him as he commands thou breakest all his commands and therefore thou art under the curse and so a more miserable creature then a toade or any serpent if thou be not delivered Tell me then 21. Q. How shalt thou escape this curse A. Onely by Jesus Christ our Lord. Thou answerest rightly Christ is our deliverer from the curse Act. 4.12 for there is no name under heaven whereby thou canst be saved but onely the name of Jesus that is no authoritie power vertue or merit Gal. 3.13 It is he that hath redeemed thee from the curse of the law being made a curse for thee Col. 2.14 15. It is he that blotted out the hand-writing that was against thee and tooke it out of the way nayling it to his crosse and having spoyled principalities and powers made a shew of them openly triumphing over them in himselfe on the crosse and therefore when Paul groveled under the burthen of his sinne he could find no rest for his soule but in the Lord Jesus Christ Rom. 7.24 25. and thus must it be with thee therefore it behoves thee to know him If thou didst owe millions of pounds yea and satisfaction to the law by death and hadst but one friend in all the world that would and could undertake to discharge thee from all thou wouldst know him or else thou wert unworthy to have benefit by him So thou must know Christ in his names natures offices and uses by which thou hast saving good by him or else thou art unworthy of him And because this is signified in his names thou must throughly know the sense and vertue of them for thee He is called Jesus Matth. 1.21 because he saves his people from their sins He saves thee three wayes By Ransome by Rescue and by Mortification He saves thee by Ransome by laying down his life for thee Joh. 10.15 Thou shouldst have died the first and second death for ever and ever Christ died the first death and overcame the second for thee He saved thee by Rescue by delivering thee by strong hand When God was satisfied thy enemies the world the flesh and the devill would not let thee goe Luk. 1.71 74 75. Therefore Christ saved thee from thy enemies and from the hands of them that hate thee that thou being delivered from them mightst serve him without feare of them all the dayes of thy life in holinesse and righteousnesse before him He saveth thee by Mortification by killing of sinne of thee least thou be killed in sinne When thou art ransomed and delivered yet sinne sticks closer to thee then thy skinne Therefore to perfect thy salvation Christ strengthens thee with might by his spirit in the inner man Ephs 3.16 17. Rom. 8.13 and dwels in thy heart by faith that thou mayst mortifie the deeds of the flesh by the spirit He is called Christ because he is anointed Psal 2.2 Col. 2.9 This anointing is his having the fulnesse of the Godhead dwelling in him bodily He was not onely made partaker of the divine nature as we are but he was full God and full man personally united Joh. 3.34 and so he received not the spirit by measure but was anointed with the oyle of gladnesse above his fellowes Psal 45.7 The reasons why he was anointed were that
must seek the things that are above above sin grace above the world the church above earth heaven Rom. 8.1 but I am by faith grafted into the similitude of his resurrection He that is in Christ hath no condemnation which shall touch him but I am in Christ by faith because I live not after the flesh but after the spirit This faith can do wonders pacifie God with the bloud of Christ shed above a thousand six hundred years ago purifie thy heart open the windowes of heaven and triumph over death and hel Rest not therfore before thou finde it in thy soul and if thou canst not finde rest unto thy soul with the resting of a strong man yet comfort thy heart that thou doest it with the resting of a childe and labour in the use of Gods means and by experience of his love to encrease it more and more Now look back a little and let me see what thou hast profited Q. How many natures had Christ A. Two he was God and man Q. Why was he a man A. Because man had sinned and man must give satisfaction Q. Why was he a God A. Because by his sufferings he might bring in the righteousnesse which is of God Q. What use did he make of his humane nature A. To dye for my sinnes Q. What use did he make of his divine nature A. To rise again for my justification Q. Can the rising of Christ justifie thee A. Yes by certifying me that my surety hath payed all my debts Q. But who shall have the benefit of Christs death A. Those only who have a lively faith Q. Why so A. Because faith onely is the eye foot hand and mouth of the soul for enjoying of Christ Q. What then is this faith A. A resting of my soul upon Christ for salvation Q. Why must thou rest upon Christ for salvation A. Because he is Gods ordinance to keep me out of hell Thus have I led thee along my child from thy creation to thy misery and frō thy misery to thy deliverance When thou wast made thou sinnedst against thy creation when thou hadst sinned thou layest under the curse when thou layst thus miserable Christ came to save thee he came to save in the fine only beleevers and thou hast now heard what this faith is But now thou maist say Joh. 4. the well is deep and there is no body to draw I cannot tell how to reach this faith therefore tell me 27. Q. How must this faith be wrought in thee A. The Holy Ghost must work it in my heart by the preaching of the Gospel In this thou saist right also Faith is one of the fruits of the spirit Gal. 5.22 and it was the Lord Act. 16.14 who opened the heart of Lydia and made her attend to the preaching of Paul Joh. 6.44 and drawes us unto Christ and that he doth it by the preaching of the Gospell may appear to thee in what Paul saith to the Romans and to the Galathians Rom. 10.14 15. To the first he saith they cannot beleeve in him of whom they have not heard and they cannot hear without a preacher and they cannot preach now unlesse they be sent to preach the glad tydings of good things Gal. 3.2 Act. 11.14 To the second he saith that they received the spirit of the hearing of faith Hence Peter tels that God gave him a Commission to tell Cornelius words that is to preach the Gospel whereby he and his wife should be saved It is not man that can work in thy heart were he as an Angel from heaven He may tell thee the whole history of the Gospel and all the promises of salvation by Christ and thou wilt be never the nearer to powerfull believing But if the holy Ghost bring home the word of Christ to the soul he will write it there Heb. 8. and so seal it home that he will make an impression of faith upon thy soul And in truth it must be the holy Ghost that must do it For Faith is an infinite comfort against an infinite horrour of sinne Nothing should deeper wound thee then sinne and thy sins in respect of thy self are infinite in guilt and number Who can comfort against this but an infinite God who can rebuke thy unbeleeving heart Besides will it not seem contrary to thy reason that thou shouldest be made wise by another mans wisdome righteous 1 Cor. 1.30 by another mans righteousnesse holy by another mans sanctification and persevering by another mans full redemption But let the holy Ghost bring the Word to thy heart and convince thee that Christ was thy surety and so one person with thee doing and suffering in thy room and for thee then wilt thou beleeve that Christ is not another person but one with thee and so his riches are thine Agaiu thou saist that the Holy Ghost works faith in thy heart Rō 10.10 for with the heart man beleeveth unto righteousnesse This must put a difference betwixt the faith in the head and faith in the heart Wicked men and devils have the faith in the head where they know and assent to the truth of the Gospel and they are said to tremble Jam. 2. because they have no share and part in it But good people onely have faith in the heart whereby they savingly rest upon Christ as a wife upon an husband for protection provision and pleading their cause even to their perfection in the body of Christ Vse Therefore my childe depend not upon thy own strength nor upon the wisdome of flesh and bloud for the attaining of this faith neither think it an easie worke as they do that lay the weight of their salvation upon an easie possibility of believing at their latter end but submit thy self to the holy Ghost Eph. 3. who onely can strengthen thee in the inner man and work Jesus Christ to dwell in thy heart by faith This will argue a goodnesse in thy soul if when thou comest to hear the Gospel preached and so often as thou doest it then pray to God for Christs sake that the spirit of God may accompany the word according to his covenant Esa 59.21 to work faith in thy heart that Christ may be one with thee and thou with Christ And because thou maist have a faith in the head by connexion and not a faith of the heart by true conversion unto Jesus Christ pray also that by the word thou maist not onely submit to the truth of the Gospel but receive it into thy soul so as thou maist be changed into the image of Christ thy husband and be called a true Christian I remember I have read of one in the primitive Church who being examined what he was he answered a Christian What is thy name he answered Christian What is thy profession he answered Christian What life leadest thou he answered Christian What are thy thoughts words and deeds he still answered
come into the Garison unespied If the Shepheard sleep the whole flock may be overgrown with flye-blowes so may thy soul with errours if conscience be drowsie and have the spirit of slumber Then cry as to Dumah Watch-man what was in the night It cannot be told because conscience slept Thus it comes to passe that we know not our errours It may be demonstrated and we may be assured that we know not our errours three ways First by our security How we may be assured that we know not our errours Jud. 18.10 If a man live carelesly as the children of Laish it is a signe he knows not of his enemies If a man come without care bemired into company it is a signe that he knowes not his foulnesse so nor we know our errours when we live as if we cared not to get to heaven or avoid hell or to purge away any impurity which is presented with us into the sight of God and man Secondly By our pride If a man do highly prize his own reall or seeming excellencies it is a certain signe that he knowes not his own wants If a man be proud of his knowledge he knowes not that what he knowes is not the thousand part of what he is ignorant of If a man be proud of his graces and begin to point at and contemne others who do not so shine certainly he knowes not that his sinnes out-weigh his graces if they were brought to the ballance of the Sanctuary Thirdly by our hard hearts The heart of Josiah melted when the Law shewed his errours and the heart of Paul was wounded and he died when the Law came and made his errours live before him Triplex circa praecordia ferrum But we have armour of proof about our hearts They do not melt dye nor are wounded with the sight of our errours therefore we know them not Use 1 Therefore I beseech you make good use of this point for information humiliation and exhortation First let it teach us not to dream of a fulfilling of the Law in this life of our selves If a man cannot know his errours surely he shall never finde his full obedience What is unknown of his errours will have such an influence upon his conscience that he will still suspect his obedience to be but a polluted clout Papists speak of a double fulfilling of the Law the first is the travellers fulfilling it 1 Viatorum 2 Comprehensorum which is while men are militant in this life this they say is to love God above all and our neighbours as our selves The second is the possessors fulfilling of it which is when men are in Glory this they say is to love God with all our heart minde will and strength But indeed we have but one rule of righteousnesse which should bee fulfilled with all our powers and when God saith Gal. 3. Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things that are written in the book of the Law to do them it is not spoken of glorified persons We speak of a three-fold fulfilling of the Law Inchoata Imputatae Personalis Inchoate and begun by equall and sincere obedience according to grace given Imputed by the satisfaction of our surety made ours for the Law is then fulfilled when the breach of it is satisfied And personall and perfect which Paul teacheth to be impossible because of the flesh And Rom 8.3 in truth it must needs be so for personall fulfilling cannot stand with corruption in nature and sinne in life Besides our love cannot be greater then our knowledge 2 Cor. 13. which is imperfect yea and ignorance of errours cannot stand with fulfulfilling Therefore be not you in your eyes better then you deserve think not of fulfilling the Law when you know not how many breaches you make against it Use 2 Secondly be humbled under the consideration of this point A man that knows enough to condemn him before a Judge yet he knowes not all walks weakly before a Judge he hath not the confidence of an innocent So when you know enough to cast you to the nether-most hell yet not all it ought to make you as Hezekiah to walk in the bitternesse of your soul all your life yet with due remembrance of the Lord Jesus to lift up your heads with confidence Use 3 Thirdly be exhorted to stirre up your willing mindes to look into your selves to finde those errours out Ob. I know you will say that if there be no understanding there is no hope We cannot hope after that which is impossible Sol. It is true De impossibilibus non est spes if it were impossible for you to know more errours in your selves then you know yet Hee that knowes not now may know by search and the rest will be wrapped up in a generall repentance and will finde a pardon of course There are three ways by which more may be known then now How we may know our errours the knowledge of God the knowledge of our selves and humility As to the knowledge of God you see when Job had got some sight of God more then before and had not onely heard by the hearing of the ear Job 42.5 6 but his eye had seen him he saw so many errours in himself that he abhorred himself and repented in dust and ashes Esa 6.1 And the Prophet Esay when he saw God upon the throne saw such errours in himself that he cried out wo is me I am undone Esa 6.5 because I am a man of unclean lips and dwell among such a people for my eyes have seen the King the Lord of Hosts Such a sight will shew us such purity as we shall see nothing but errours in our selves Set this light before your souls and then you will cry out with Paul I was a blasphemer 1 Tim. 1.13 15. a persecuter injurious yea the chief of sinners You will see all your errours cleerly enough Gehenna sum domine You will say with that blessed Martyr I am hell Lord I am hell Oh take away my hell Hei mihi quid sum vas sterquilinii concha putredinis plenus foetore Facti sumus fugitivi a cordibus nostris Hei mihi quam contrarius sum egomet mihi ego in spiritu ego in carne and give me thy heaven and with Augustine Alas wretched man what am I A very close Stoole a shovell full of dung full of stink As to the knowledge of our selves the more we see our selves in our right lineaments and proportions the more we shall say when we are asked what we see more abominations yet The truth is that we are runagates from our own hearts Whatsoever we pretend we know not our selves as we ought to do But stand at this Bar and we shall be driven to word it as he of old Alas that I am how contrary am I to my self I in the flesh and I in the spirit Now errours
the throne a Sea of glasse Apoc. 4. such is the world to the Christian troublesome as the sea and transitory as glasse His ship that is the Church which like Noahs Ark floats upon the floud and makes him cry out as the Disciples in that storm save Master we perish His Merchandise that is true and heavenly wisdome Pro. 3.14 whose Merchandise is better then silver and whose gain is better then gold His losses that is his houses and lands Mar. 10. Matth. 16. his father mother wife children life yea and his soul too if he do not watch and pray and then what will it profit him to win the whole world if hee lose his owne soul Secondly a Merchant lends upon adventure He commits what he hath to the mercy of the sea to the unsafety of a ship which staggers up and down like a drunken man and is subject to many a storm and leak and to be indangered by Pyrats So doth a Christian If he look for comfort he casts his burthen upon the Lord and he knowes not when he shall have it If he look for faith peace joy in the Holy Ghost he casts himself upon the meanes and confidently adventures upon the truth of God If he looks for better times he casts the Anchor of hope because he hath them not and looks for new heavens 2 Pet. 3. and new earth wherein dwelleth righteousnesse If he do but a work of mercy Eccles 11. he casts his bread upon the waters hoping after many dayes he shall finde it but he knowes not when the return will come If he finde his expectation to be fruitlesse he sayes as Peter to Christ we have laboured all night and have taken nothing yet at thy command I le cast down the Net and at last findes the successe answerable Thirdly a Merchant fetcheth in the commodities of every Country to enrich himself and his country the gold of Ophir the gummes and spices of Arabia and whatsoever he findes gain and glory in So doth the Christian If any thing be heard of truly good and honest Phil. 4. and of good report he thinks upon these things to do them He knowes how to distinguish betwixt base and valuable commodities If he meet with the superstition of Spain the pride of France the lust of Italy the drunkennesse of Germany he hates them even to the garment spotted of the flesh but whatsoever he meets withall that may be an honour to God an ornament to the Gospel an edification to his neighbour a comfort to his own soul that he brings home to inrich himself and others with it Fourthly a Merchant fetcheth all he hath from far As it is said of the good housewife she is like a Merchants ship Prov. 31. she fetcheth her food from a farre She fetcheth it from the earth to the house from the house to the wheel from the wheel to lomb from the lomb to her houshold her own and her husbands back Thus doth she her husband good and not evill all the dayes of her life So doth the Christian He looks to the earth to the Sea under the earth to the ayr yea and to the Church to espie what may be serviceable to him and his but yet he goes further He dares not make use of any thing he hath or can have before he knocks at the gate of heaven He sees an open trade driven betwixt Christ and his Church and he will not have gold nor rayment Apoc. 3. nor eye-salve no nor a crust of bread before he have beg'd the comfortable use of them from the great owner of heaven Vse Therefore I beseech you Christians be perswaded that it is not so easie to be a true Christian as most men think it to be You know the conceits of too many What is it but to beleeve in Christ and what is this belief but to trust in Christ upon the rotten grounds of their own hearts Oh but a Merchants life is full of care full of fear full of depending prayers full of hazards and losses and so certainly is a Christians also They are deceived that think to stretch themselves upon beds of Ivory Am. 6.4 to drink wine in bowles to eat the calves of the stall to invent instruments of Musick like and then to go to heaven in a Sedan Coach or Chariot as Elias The Kingdom of heaven must suffer violence and the violent take it by force Thorough Sea Land and a thousand difficulties doth a Merchant passe and so must you Ob. But doth not Christ say my yoak is easie why then are we frighted with danger and difficulty Sol. It is true that in many respects Math. 11. the yoak of Christ is easie and his burthen light In comparison of the yoak of Moses exacting perfect righteousnesse to justification or else cursing This was insupportable Act. 15. neither we nor our fathers were able to bear it In comparison of the yoak of worldly Princes These have a double yoak in penall statutes and voluntary decrees and resolves We would account our selves most miserable if we should be galled with the easiest of them In comparison of Adams yoak exacting the perfecting of the law of nature Posse perseverare non actum perseverandi for which he had a power of perseverance though not the act of it Alas we cannot do it we have not this power we cannot bear In comparison of the excellent helps we have to bear it Christ puts into one hand that we may pay him with the other Thus he saith they shall not depart from me Jer. 32.40 Therefore in these respects the yoak of Christ is easie But in respect of the duties of the Gospel and our weak natures to perform them it is very hard Put your souls to repent and beleeve to deny your selves to take up Christ and beleeve not onely to beleeve but to suffer for Christ to strive unto bloud to deny ungodlinesse and worldly lusts and live holily righteously and soberly in this present world to beat down the body and bring it in subjection to mortifie the deeds of the flesh by the spirit not to care for the flesh to fulfill the lusts of it and to walk in simplicity and godly purenesse it is hard very hard therefore ye have cause to think of the life of the Merchant Yet this addes to the worth of the Gospel that this Christian Merchant trades in this Kingdome of heaven 3 What doth he trade for The commodity traded for is the Pearl Christ Pearles especially for that pearl of great price that godly pearl This represents Christ unto to you who is the Diamond heart and soul of the Gospel And in truth Christ is this pearl in five respects First in respect of rarenesse Pearls are not to be found in every ground nor Christ in every soul How many thousands are there where Christ dwels not It is as impossible not to see a