not be perswaded nor gathered to him but reject and contemn him and take Counsel against him They bid him stand off and depart they deâ—ire Job 21. 14. not the knowledge of his ways abuse his Ambassadors Acts 26. 18. 2 Tim. 2. 26. Psal 139. 21. Job 8. 44. that are sent to treat of Peace and List themselves under the Command of Gods utter Enemy the Devil and rise up in Arms â—nd open Rebellion against him When God is for Peace they â—re for War 2. On Gods part Who as he is a just Enemy so â—ver an Enemy to all impenitent â—inners He is strange to them â—eeps at a distance and withâ—raws from them knows them afar off and is Angry Isa 57. 17. Ps 138. 6. Psal 7. 11. Ps 18. 26. Isa 1. 11. 59. 2. Psal 5. 5. 11. 5. Psal 146. 9. Psal 1. ult 2 Cor. 5. 19. Prov. 15. 8. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with them Curses their Blessings rejects their Services and counts them an Abomination hates them and walks contrary to them has a Controversie with them Proclaims his Hos 5. 6. Jer. 25. 31. 1 Pet. 5. 5. Displeasure against them and reâ—sts them in open Battel array turns their way upside-down and causes it to perish They are Outlaw'd Enemies God had no Friends among Men untill he made Friends out of Enemies He was in Christ reconciling the World unto himself 3. Darkness Adam at first was made a Son of Light the Candle of the Prov. 20. 27. Monstrum ingens cui lumen ademptum Eph. 4. 18. Lord was put into him but affecting the Tree of Knowledge above that of Life he brought Darkness upon himself and all his Posterity All that are brought out of this state are Light in the Lord they Eph. 5. 8. were blind but now they see John 9. 25. but they that are not are Darkness Rev. 16. 10. in the Devil the Prince of Darkness whose Kingdom is full of Darkness they are not onely dim of sight but stark blind Children of Darkness doing the works of Darkness which lead to Eternal Darkness 4. Poverty Adam at first was the Rich Heir Rev. 3. 17. of the World and Lord possessor of all but by sin he became a Bankrupt and then Justice seized on him as the Creditor on his Debtor and turn'd him the unjust Minimè natus at maximè dilectus Possessor out of all he was not the first-born yet had a double Portion but by losing all at one cast he fell into decay and became the first-born of the Poor Isa 14. 30. He was undone and all his Posterity had been ruin'd with him had not Christ the Jewel of the Imperial Crown been parted with to discharge the Debt All that are brought out of this Rev. 3. 18. state are Rich and have all things but they that are not are indigent Beggars without substance Isa 40. 20. or true Riches having no Oblation to offer unto God nor any thing of their own to satisfie that double Debt which they owe viz. of Obedience as Creatures and of Satisfaction as Sinners 5. Nakedness Adam at first was arrayed with Ezek. 16. 7. Rev. 3. 17. the resplendent Robe of Righteousness he wanted neither external nor internal Ornaments but sin the Mother of shame defiled them both and the Devil as a Conquerour with his Captive in War stript him of all those Ornaments and left him naked All that are brought out of this state are clothed with the Robes of Christs Righteousness Solomon in all his Glory was not arrayed Mat. 6. 29. like one of these but they that are not are in the Raggs of Nature filthy Raggs which as filthy defile and as Raggs cannot hide nor cover the shame of Rev. 3. 18. their Nakedness Sin left us and Christ found us as the Man in the Gospel Naked and out of our Wits 6. Bondage Adam at first had perfect freedom Acts 8. 23. and was in bondage to none but Sin brought him and all his Gal. 4. 4. Posterity into it a Yoak that neither he their Father was nor they his Children are able to bear All that are brought out of this state are made Free by Christ John 12. 31. the Devil is cast out and Rules not as a King though sometimes he may as a Tyrant but they that are not are Slaves not onely near to Slavery but actually in it they may say with the Jews that they were never in Bondage to any but they are and that in Soul and Body too The Moralist says if the great ones of the World were divested of their Robes it would plainly appear what Slaves they were but all both great and small high and low with all their outward Ornaments are Slaves they were so before they came out of the Prison of the Womb and greater when out of it than when there to Sin and the Devil 1. To Sin Not onely Pride but every sin else as a Chain compasses them Psal 73. 6. about for they are in the Bond of Iniquity sold under it and Bond-servants to it So many Lusts so many Masters and every one give contrary Commands 2. To the Devil John 14. 30. Acts 26. 18. Eph. 2. 2. 2 Cor. 4. 4. 2 Tim 2. ult He is the strong Man and Prince of this World that has Snares by which he takes them Captive and a Power by which he Rules over them as a Tyrant over his Vassals from whom he exacts Tribute as a Master over his Servants who are under his Command as a Conquerour over his Captives who are led by him at his will and as a Father over his Children from whom he expects Obedience they are not onely Children of the Devil but 1 John 3. 10. Slaves to him They are his by possession though Gods by right 7. Death Adam at first was alive but when the Devil the first-born of Death as Prince of Death and first Condemn'd to it devour'd Job 18. 13. 38. 17. his strength the Gates of Death viz. present and certain Death Temporal on his Body and Spiritual on his Soul were opened to him and but a step there was Rom. 5. 12. betwixt him and Eternal Death All that are brought out of this Gal. 2. 20. Eph. 2. 1. Rom. 6. 11. Ma. 8. 22. Rom. 7. 9. Rev. 3. 1. state are alive in Christ alive by him and alive to him but they that are not are dead not onely sick weak or diseased but dead They may be indeed alive as to their own Opinion so Paul for a time was and in the Opinion of others so the Church of Sardis was and may be alive as to sinful works living in them and to them but this their Life is their Death for it is not a Physical Death which is a loss of the Faculties but a Moral one which is a loss of the goodness of them Sin cast Adam and
God through Luxury and Sensuality a disregard of the promise of Life and a disbelief of Death threatned he did eat of the forbidden Fruit and by it fell from his state of Innocency and Happiness into a state of Sin and Misery 1. Of Sin In the loss of his Original Righteousness and the depravation of his Nature in all Gen. 6. 5. Job 14. 4. 15. 14. the faculties of his Soul and the members of his Body 2. Of Misery In the loss of his Communion with God in Pararadise Gen. 38. 10. 23. 1. and subjection as justly obnoxious to all the direful effects and consequents of his wrath in this World and in that to come Adam was not a private but publick Person the Representative of all Mankind and the Covenant Acts 17. 26. made with him was not for himself only but for his Posterity also that should by ordinary Generation descend from him He was the Head of the Covenant and they Parties engag'd with him by that stipulation Legally Parties in that Covenant Dum punitur aliquis pro peccato primi Parentâ— non punitur pro peccato alterius sed pro peccato suo Aquinas quaest 4. de pec orig Art 1. Rom. 3. 9 10 11 12. 23. Rom. 5. 18. 19. Rom. 7. 18 19. and as naturally in him the Head of it as streams in the Fountain and branches in the Root in his standing they stood and in his fall they fell sinning in him they fell with him and partake with him both in his sin and misery 1. In his Sin By the imputation of that particular sin committed by him and by a communication of that corruption derived from him whereby they are indispos'd to all good and inclin'd to all evil 2. In his Misery Being justly Gal. 3. 10. Col. 3. 6. Mat. 13. 42. Rom 2. 5. Rev. 19. 20. Mat. 10. 28. Mat. 5. 26. Mark 9 43 44. 2 Thes 1. 9. lyable to all the punishments of sin in this World both outward and inward on their Souls and Bodies and to those in the World to come in the sharpness universality and eternity of them The Head of Nilus is admir'd because it cannot be found out but the Spring-head from whence the misery of all by Nature arises may viz. from sin the Spring is known but how many and how bitter the streams are flowing from it cannot easily be known the River that watered the Garden of Eden branched Gen 2. 10. out into four streams onely but the streams flowing from the sin committed there are innumerable broad and deep a complex misery as to kind and degree Rom. 3. 16. 7. 24. comprehending both sin and punishment some are sins and not miseries and some are miseries and not sins of both which something may be seen in these eight following particulars viz. 1. Filthiness 2. Enmity 3. Darkness 4. Poverty 5. Nakedness 6. Bondage 7. Death 8. Wrath. 1. Filthiness Adam at first as he came out Ezek. 16. 5. of Gods hands was pure without spot or wrinkle within and without but as he came out of Mat. 12. 45. the Devils hands or when by sin that unclean Spirit entred into him he and in him all his Posterity Isa 64. 6. became as an unclean thing All that are brought out of this Ezek. 36. 25. Heb. 9. 14. 10. 22. Eph. 5. 26 27. state are sprinkled with the Blood of Christ and cleansed from all their filthiness both of Flesh and Spirit but they that are not though Noble by Birth are but as Naaman Noble Lepers tho 2 Kings 5. 1 2. Princes by Blood attainted yea though Angels for outward Beauty yet but as Devils in the sight of God in his Eyes they are unclean though not in their own and the more when they are not so Grace is the Ornament of the Psal 16. 3. 45. 11. Soul and all that are adorned with it have Christ's Beauty upon them a Beauty that God greatly desires and delights in But Sin has defiled the whole man from Head to Foot not one part only but every one inside and outside A capite ad calcem Rom. 6. 19. 3. 13. Gen. 6. 5. Isa 1. 6. 2 Cor. 7. 1. 1 Thes 5. 23. Heb. 10. 22. Tit. 1. 15. Eph. 4. 29. Flesh and Spirit Body and Soul the Faculties of one and Members of the other Mind and Conscience Thoughts and Imaginations Affections and Desires Words and Deeds All of them in general and especial are become altogether filthy by it Some sins defile the Body but all Sins defile the Soul and that with a filthiness so great that all the filth in the World should it meet in one common sink cannot Horrenda vox equallize the pollution of it 2. Enmity viz. Habitual and actual inward and outward in Affection or Action Reconciliation offer'd implies it for there can be no Reconciliation 2 Cor. â— 20 where there is no Breach nor any Peace made before the Enmity is subdu'd Adam at first was in a state of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 8. â— Friendship with God God and he were as nearly conjoyn'd as a Creator and Creature could be without sin but sin made a breach and separated these Friends All that are brought out of this state have thrown down their Weapons of Hostility are reconciled Rom. 5. â— to God and at Peace with him but they that are not are like David and Absalom in open 2 Sam. 1â— 5 6 7. 1â— Hostility against him and as Absalom made all the means he could to stir up the People in Rebellion against David so they employ their whole strength of Soul and Body against God They are Enemies to him both actively and passively Haters of God and hateful to him Haters of him and hated by him as clearly appears 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by the terms of Difference on their part and on Gods 1. On their part who gave the Offence They are Strangers to God and unacquainted with him Job 21. 21. Eph. 2. 12. â—3 19. Eph. 4. 18. they are Foreigners and alienated from the Life of God without him afar off and at distance from him they know not God nor Isa 1. 3. Job 35. 10. Mal. 2. 17. desire it for he is not in all their thoughts they acknowledge no wrong say not What have we Jer. 8. 6. done nor repent of their Wickedness they seek not after God Rom. 3. 11 Joh. 5. 40. Jer. 2. 31. Psal 14. 2. Psal 10. â—3 nor for peace with him nor are willing to come to him for it they will not accept of Overtures Parleys and tenders of Peace nor read the Articles of Agreement or Covenant of Peace but Hos 8. 12. count it a strange thing they will not hearken to God's Voice Jer. 13. ult â—… 22. 21. â—… 25. 4. Mat. 28. â—7 Psal 81. â—1 Psal 2. 2. nor regard it will
all his Posterity not into a swoon onely but a Death and they are all ever since by Nature not as Christ said of Lazarus asleep but dead John 11. 11. Luke 10. 30. in sin not as the Wounded Man in the way to Jericho half dead but altogether so under the sentence of a Natural Death under the power of a Spiritual Death and under the guilt of an Eternal Death Sons of Death for they are all Sententiâ legis Psal 102. 20. Condemned 8. Wrath. God is Love and Adam innocency 1 John 4. 8. Quoad effectum non quoad affectum found favour in his sight and was greatly beloved by him but by sin his Anger was kindled and his wrath waxed hot against him All that are brought out of this 1 Thes 1. 10. state are delivered from wrath wrath present and to come but they that are not are under wrath wrath is their Fee-simple and proper Inheritance to them it is due and to them it belongs for as Children of wrath they are Eph. 2. 3. born to it The Scripture concludes all under Rom 3. 23. Eph. 5. 6. Rom. 6. 23. sin and sin concludes all under wrath it is sins wages and God will see Justice done 2. Of Recovery out of Misery God left not miserable Man thus Luke 10. 30 31 32 33. fallen as the Priest and Levite the wounded man in his way to Jericho but with the good Samaritan had Compassion upon him and sent his Son to heal those wounds sin had made and to recover him from that state of Mal. 4. 2. Misery into which by sin he was fallen by his wounds he healed him and by dying restored him to Life Adam was the first man the Primus foederatus Natural Head of all men Christ the second man the Mystical Head of all Believers He was the Earthly man this the 1 Cor. 15. 47. Lord from Heaven The Titles given to him show as Remedies do the Disease the misery of all by sin on our part and the happiness of all Believers on his He is a Mediator and the onely Mediator an Advocate a Heb. 9. 15. 12. 24. 1 Tim. 2. 5. 1 Joh. 2. 1. Joh. 4. 42. Rom. 11. 26. Heb. 1. 3. 2 Cor. 5. 19. John 1. 12. Deliverer Healer and Purger of Sins a Reconciler Saviour and Redeemer he is all these in himself and whatever the necessities of lost and undone sinners can need or require but none of them to any unless by Faith they receive him and therefore if you expect any help from him you must by Faith go unto him and you need not fear going if you Mark 10. 49. see a present and absolute need of him for behold he calls you and this need you will find if you consider that your condition by Nature is no less than a state of Filthiness Enmity Nakedness Darkness Poverty Bondage Death and Wrath. 1. Filthiness 1. A Filthiness so deep that it is not onely extensive but intensive Jer. 2. 22. 17. 1. Isa 1. 18. Jer. 13. 23. compared to marks and brands in the Flesh which are not easily got out to colours of the deepest dye double dipt in the wool and web to the spots of a Leopard which are not by way of accidental or external but innate coherence and to the blackness of an Ethiopian which cannot be washt off the Colliers blackness may be washt off but not the Ethiopians and the Lepers spots may be taken out but not the Leopards A Filthiness so great that neither the Tears of Repentance nor the Flames of Hell-fire nor any thing but the Blood of Christ can wash or purge it away the sacred Laver cleansing Jordan and healing Bethesda set open for all that will to wash in for sin and uncleanness The Priests Zech. 13. 1. Rev. 1. 5. under the Law cleansed by the Blood of Beasts but Christ by 1 John 1. 7. his own Blood his will is that you should be clean and therefore you must by Faith apply his Blood that you may be so Christ washt his Disciples Feet with Water but their Hearts with his Blood and unless he thus wash you you can have no part in him and unless by Faith you go unto him you cannot be thus John 13. 8. washed by him 2. Enmity A degeneracy beneath the brute Beasts for none of them are at enmity with God with us they are and we may blame our selves for it for they never Rebell'd untill we Rebell'd But yet God is willing Isa 27. 5. By doubling of the Phrase Make Peace Make Peace as by doubling of the Dream to Pharaoh it appears a thing certain and establisht by him Cen 41. 32. to be at peace for he commands it prescribes a way to it and assures it to all that like the terms of it he offers it freely and sues for it earnestly and therefore it highly concerns you to make peace with him it is not convenient onely and fit to be done but necessary and that which must be and if ever it must be in his way and at his time 1. In his way viz. by Faith in Christ for the blessing of peace is the blessing of Faith in him who as Priest purchased it as Prophet preached it and as King works it in all that believe in him 2. At his time and that is the present time viz. of Life and therefore let not the Sun of your Luke 12. 58 59. Life go down upon your Enmity to God for if you do terms of peace shall neither be offered to you nor accepted from you There is no Quarter given in Hell to Enemies 3. Darkness A Darkness that implies a state of evil both sinful and penal not of the Body but Mind a Eph. 4. 18. Corruption of the most excellent Faculty yet not incurable for Christ the Sun of Righteousness Mal. 4. 2. Isa 42. 6. Luke 1. 78. 79. Luke 2. 32. the day-spring from on High was sent into the World as a Light not onely to all the Types Prophesies and dark shadows but to them that sate in the darkness Joh. 8. 12. 12. 46. Acts 26. 18. of sin and misery that from him they might receive the light of Spiritual knowledge and comfort and therefore if you are brought out of this state of darkness it concerns you as the blind Man in the Gospel did when healed by John 9. 25 27 30. Christ to appear for him against all that oppose him to cast off the works of darkness and walk Eph. 5. 8. as a Child of light but if you are not it concerns you as much Mark 10. 46. to go unto him as blind Bartimeus did for the Eyes of his Body Omnia extra Christum tenebricosa Marlorat Luke 4. 18. Rev. 3. 18. that you may receive your sight Christ is the great Oculist sent from Heaven and none but he has the Eye-salve
not up a profession of Religion to serve your worldly Interest or Advantage Sin upon no mans account whatsoever Callisthenes would not pledge Alexander to have need of Aesculapius nor be not Religious upon that score onely as Joash was for Jehoiada's sake 2 Chron. 24. 17 18. while he lived for if that be all your Religion is little worth and you may as quickly lose it as find it they that follow Christ for Nunc harum nunc illarum partium nullifidus as Tully of Ant. Loaves will leave him when they are spent and gone and they that are for any Religion because in fashion either are of none or will easily be so It is better to be of no Religion than of every one 3. Beware of the least degree of remisness in Religion either in Judgment or Affection A Gangreen goes on by degrees first one part or Member is infected and then another and so does Apostacy it begins in the Judgment and if that disesteems Religion the Affections will decline Voluntas sequitur dictamen intellectus and forsake it the Affections follow the Judgment and what that lightly approves of the other will as coldly and indifferently receive He that is careless of little slips is in danger of a fall 4. Be much in the use and exercise of the publick and private Duties of Religion These are as one says the Sphere of Grace and in these consists the life of Religion and therefore if nothing of them appear in your Life or if you live in the neglect of them or are negligent in them your pretended Religion will soon vanish and come to nothing If once you become formal in Devotion you will quickly be any thing in Conversation 5. Be established in the Faith It is true Fear is the Grace that keeps you in your standing and Prov. 28. 14. 1 Cor. 10. 12. 2 Cor. 1. ult Eph. 4. 4. Col. 2. 7. therefore if you would never fall you must ever fear but Faith is the Grace by which you stand for it unites you to Christ in whom you are preserv'd and therefore be well rooted and grounded in it If you be carried away with 2 Tim. 4. 7. 1 Pet. 1. 5. every wind of Doctrine you will at last be true and sted fast to none but if you are established in the Doctrine of Faith and grow in the Grace of Faith if you live the life of Faith and keep the Doctrine of Faith you will be safe for if you keep the Faith the Faith will keep you Of Original Sin It is an Ancient Tradition among the Jews that when Noah sent forth his Sons to people the World he gave to every one of them some Reliques of Adam but it is a more certain and ancient truth that all the Posterity of Adam have receiv'd not onely some but all the Reliques of his sinful Corruption a leaven that has overspread the whole lump of Mankind for all have corrupted their ways viz. all except Christ Psal 14. 1. and all that is done by them and all that is in them viz. all the faculties of their Souls all the Members Mat. 15. 18. of their Bodies and the Actions of each are defiled by it Tria Augustinus tribuit peccato originali quod sic peccatum poena peccati causa peccati A Toads poyson is but in one place but this is in all like a Disease that has corrupted the whole Mass of Blood By this you are indispos'd to all good for there is nothing in the World but it will either find as a hindrance to it or make it so When Paul had a will to work Gal. 5. 17. Rom. 7. 18. he wanted a power By this you are inclin'd to all evil There is not a sin in Hell but has a Root in this nor any sin so great or foul but you would commit if under the power of it and left to your self for it is virtually all sin The new Man the new Creation 2 Cor. 5. 17. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is not so much one Grace as all and the Old Man Original sin is not so much one sin as all So that here you may see 1. What cause you have to be humbled under it Plato says if Vertue could be seen with Bodily Eyes it would Ravish the Beholders and if the Corruption in all by Nature could be seen it would as the Schools say transport them to Madness David and Paul were humbled Psal 51. 5. Rom. 7. 24. under it therefore and well may you 2. Where to lay the blame when you sin Some when fallen under afflictive Evil lay all on Providence and nothing on Sin that caused it and when fallen into sin lay all on the Devil and nothing on themselves and thereby make the Devil to whom due should be given worse than he is and themselves better than indeed they are for were there no Devil to tempt to sin there is that within them that both can and would do it Since then the Devil cannot prevail unless you yield to him for his strength is within you let the time of Complaint against him be spent in resisting of him that you may not It is the Belloâ—s and fire that makes fire And since you are when drawn aside enticed by your own Lusts James 1. 14 15. the Enemies within you let all the actions of sin be laid at the door of your own Heart David though a Man after Gods Heart sometimes walk'd 1 Chron. 21. 1 17. after his own yet then he laid the blame not on the Devil but on himself 3. What little cause you have to censure any when fallen into sin Plato's Advice to his Scholars was that when they saw any irregular and exorbitant in their Lives they should not rashly censure them but reflect on themselves and consider if they were not or had not been such themselves And it is the Advice of St. Paul a greater than Plato when any are overtaken in a fault not to insult over them but to restore Gal. 6. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 them in a Spirit of Meekness to set them in Joynt and there is good reason for it for though all are not alike evil by practice yet all being by Nature so viz. Aut sumus aut suimus aut possumus esse quod hic est seminally and dispositively the same they either have done or may do so The worst mens actions shew what the best men by Nature are inclin'd to Of your own sin and of the sins of others Of your own sin IN every body there is some predominant Humour and in every one there is a sin that may properly be called their sin more than the sin of any other or than any other sin that they themselves are inclin'd to This sin is either 1. That sin you are most tempted to the Devil knows the sin that you and all are by disposition as well as
Psal 139. 2. Ezek. 11. 5. what they will be before you think them or what they were when you have forgotten them They are reserv'd Cases known to him onely nor can he forget them for he requires that which Eccles 3. 15. is past Thoughts shall be brought into Judgment Thoughts as well as words and actions are written in Gods Book and shall be made known Eccles 12. ult Rom. 2. 16. 1 Cor. 4. 5. when the secrets of Men shall be judged the counsel of the Heart made manifest and the hidden things of Darkness brought into light And many whose understandings spoke them Men and their words Christians when on Earth shall be found at that day by their thoughts to have been worse than Beasts Evil thoughts are sins and transgressions of Gods Law The Laws of Men reach but to words and Actions but Gods Heb. 4. 12. Prov. 6. 18. 15. 26. Prov. 24. 9. Law reaches to thoughts and forbids not onely evil words and deeds but all evil thoughts tending to them The thoughts of Foolishness is sin and therefore unless you be cleansed from them Jer. 4. 14. you cannot be saved A dumb Man may be damn'd for the sins of his thoughts There may be sin in the thoughts inward motions to it though no outward acts of it yea sin may be reiterated there when the acts of it cease and as much sin may be in the thoughts in a day as would take up the actions of a whole Life to compleat and finish There are many ways by which Men can restrain or punish the acts of sin but none either to restrain or punish the thoughts of it sinful actions are publick and open Offences sinful thoughts are more inward and secret they as the uncleanness of Absalom with 2 Sam. 16. 22. his Father's Concubines in the face of the Sun and the sight of all Israel these as the Idolatry of the Ancients of Israel in the dark in the Chambers of their Imagery Ezek. 8. 12. they the Lusts of the flesh these Spiritual wickednesses they defile the Body these more immediately defile the Soul the seat of the Spirit they may cast you out of the favour of good Men but these will hinder your Communion with God for Communion with God in a way of Duty is had by thoughts more than by words Evil thoughts make way for evil actions The two first sins committed by the Angels and Adam began in the thoughts an aversion of their will from God and they are still the Seed of Sin first evil Thoughts and then Murders Adulteries c. and therefore if you would prevent the acts of sin you must put a restraint upon your thoughts The heaviest Chains are put upon the vilest Malefactors Here sins Leprosie at first appeared and as the Leprosie when it took but a thread of a woollen or linnen Garment soon overspread the whole so these if not timely prevented will influence the whole actions of your Life and make them evil Now that they may not 1. You must set a strict watch over your Heart Thoughts are the inward motions Proles anima and innumerable Operations of the Heart proceeding as Naturally from it as beams from the Sun and streams from a Fountain Jer. 17. 9. the Heart is desperately wicked the sink of all Corruption Psal 41. 6. it gathers Iniquity to it self as an old Sore in the Body draws Prov. 4. 23. all the ill humours to it and sends it abroad upon all occasions and therefore you must keep it with all diligence that it may not you must keep the outward Senses shut those Windows Claude quinque fenestras tota lucebit domus Arab Prov. that no unclean Birds may enter in but above all your Heart for out of it proceed evil thoughts The Fountain must be kept pure and clean or else the streams will not be so 2. Let your thoughts be Phil. 4. ◠〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 well employ'd Think on the things that are true and cast out all thoughts of a Lie and Hypocrisie think on the things that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are Honest and Venerable and abhor all Vanity and Frothiness of Spirit think on the things that are just and let not a thought of fraud or deceit lodge within you think on the things that are pure and away with whatever is immodest think on the things that are lovely and hate 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all peevishness and frowardness of Spirit think on things of good Report and entertain not a thought of any thing that may tend to your dishonour Idleness is Fewel to vitious thoughts and therefore as it is an axiom in State to set active Spirits on work that they may do no mischief so here you must employ your thoughts about Noble Arguments and Blessed Objects if you would have them like the Heavenly Bodies to move orderly and become not foundations of disturbance but helps to Piety 3. Beg Gods assistance in all God has the greatest Government of your thoughts they are too many and too strong for you to rule and therefore commit your works to him that your Prov. 16. 3. thoughts may be established or when they become disorderly and irregular cry out unto him as Austin did against sinful thoughts in the words of the Psalmist Save me O God for the Psal 69. 1. waters are come in unto my Soul And there is good reason for it for such as your thoughts are such are you in Gods esteem We judge of Mens thoughts by their words and actions but God judges of the words and actions of all by their thoughts Of Evil Company Man is a sociable Creature and will not be without Company 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 good or bad but they that are wise will avoid as much as they can the society of them that are evil and how much it concerns you so to do will appear if you consider that 1. Evil Company will shew what you are 2. Evil Company will make you what you should not be 1. Evil Company will shew what you are The Lacedaemonians judg'd of the disposition of their Children by their Company and Augustus Caesar of his two Daughters Livia and Julia when he saw grave Senators conversing with one and wanton Persons with Noscitur ex socio qui non cognoscitur ex se the other and so will the World of yours for none can be so well known by themselves as by their Company The Fowls of Heaven flock together and the Beasts on Earth herd together according to their kind and so do wicked men the greater Beasts of the two like Flora who ever convers'd with ill-favour'd Women like her self and if you are frequently found among them that Inter dispares mores quae potest esse amicitia are evil or are too intimate with them you will be look'd upon as one of them They are none of
turn not from their Sins they shall dye in them but if they are not warned by you their Blood will be required at your hands The Jews brought a Curse upon themselves and their Posterity by crying out His Blood be upon us and our Children and so will you upon your self and Children by your neglect of them Do you think you shall not have Sins enough of your own to answer for that by your Sin bring the Guilt of theirs upon you Is there no Devil to tempt them to sin or do you think he cannot effectually do it unless you assist him in it Is it a Reproach to be the child of a Whore and is it none to be a Child of the John 8. 44. Devil Is the Birth of such infamous in the eyes of the World and should not the Life of the other be much more so in yours Is there no hand to murder them but your own nor any other way to shew your Love to them but by destroying them and your self too Are Harlots condemned by all for destroying the Bodies of their Children and should not those wicked Parents be so too who through a neglect of them murder their Souls Was it an act of Cruelty to drive Children into the Fire and Water as the Lev. 18. 21. Ezek. 16. 20 21. Jews did to Molech and the Heathen to Saturn and is it none by sacrificing them to the Devil to drive them into Hell is there no love but in going to Hell together or will it not be enough that they go thither unless you go too for company will it be any pleasure to hear them when there telling you what a bloody and cruel Father you was to them in not shewing them the evil of Sin and the misery that did attend it If now you cannot well endure to hear them cry do but think how much less able you will be to hear it in Hell for ever You may then when too late with a little Variation complain and speak truly what Lamech did scoffingly that Gen. 4. 23 24. you have slain Children to your wounding and young Children to your hurt therefore that you may not be careful to make your Family as a Nursery for Heaven Ps 127. 3. and educate your Children as God's Heritage that you may say Gen. 33. 5. with comfort at the great day Lord here am I and the Children which thou hast graciously given thy Servant It is one thing to be blessed with Children and another thing to be blessed in them THE POSTSCRIPT MAny more things I had prepar'd for you but the Book being already bigger than at first I thought it would have been I shall only here give you the Heads of some of them Life is the Crown of all earthly Blessings as Health is the fairest and brightest Jewel upon that Crown a Blessing that none but God can give Pharaoh's Magicians Ex. 8. 18. could not give Life to a Louse a Blessing that any thing will be given to secure when in danger Job 2. 4. of being lost all that a man has will he give for his Life and that all both Good and Bad Rich and Poor Young and Old sooner or later greatly value and unwillingly part with yet I would not have you with Herodotus do nothing else but attend the Health of your Body nor be so busie about the good of a natural Life as to neglect the Concerns of that which is eternal nor yet to neglect it or willingly to do any thing that may destroy it for this would be to sin against your Soul as well as your Body and to do that viz. to please the Devil at your Death which all wicked Men do in their Lives Therefore Phil. 1. 23. Nec propter vitam vivendi perdere causam neither on the one hand over-value it nor on the other hand neglect it but be thankful for it and make good use of it and this by living to the end of living Then a temporal Life is well improv'd when spent to secure the Life that is eternal There is nothing will make you more useful while you live than Learning Paul was the most learned of all the Apostles and God made most use of him and there is nothing I desire more as to this world than that you may attain to an Eminency in it and that you may you must diligently seek after it for it will not be got without much labour He that would be a good Scholar must as Isocrates says have six Properties He must be one of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 good Parts of a strong Memory a Mover of Doubts a Listner to the Sayings or Speeches of others a Delighter in his Studies and laborious in it All excellent things are fenced about with difficulty Plato is said to have brought Vtrumque jungendo perfecisse laudatur Philosophy to perfection by joyning contemplative and moral Philosophy together in which Pythagoras and Socrates excell'd and the Philosopher makes it the most necessary Head and first Principle of Philosophy to know how to use Principles and it will be your Wisdom and therefore should be your Design in all your Studies to bring them to practice that you may not be upbraided as the Athenians were by Anacharsis for using their money only to count and their Knowledge only to know Practice will be blind unless Idem est non habere non uti it see with the eyes of Knowledge and Knowledge will be useless unless it walk on the feet of Practice like his Musick that was understood by none but himself Make the Stock Learning and you may graff what you will upon it but if you will take my advice let it be Divinity When God sent his Son into the Luk. 4. 18. World he sent him to Preach and had I never so many I should esteem it my greatest Honour as well as theirs if they were qualified for that Office truly call'd to it and faithful in it Two things made Christ a Minister Isa 61. 1. Joh. 6. 27. viz. Unction and Commission and no less makes one now for None are truly call'd to it unless qualified for it nor though qualified for it are any of Christ's Ministers unless authoriz's to it Therefore 1. Before you enter upon that Office be qualified for it and called to it Gifts qualifie for it You cannot teach others unless you be first taught your self A Call commissionates to it Without a Call you will like hasty Ahimaaz run without your 2 Sam. 18. 19 20. 29. Errand 2 When you have entred upon the Office be faithful in it Do not enter upon the Office Sacerdos 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sacerdotium otium as of old the Eccho sounded as a Trade to get by nor through Idleness neglect it when you have entred upon it but out of a Zeal Mat. 5. 14. 2 Corin. 12. 15. for God and the Good of Souls be