rain and made great cracks of Thunder Above that was placed a great Throne glistering with all the Art that Nature could afford This might be sufficient for an Heathen that knew no better things But how sad is the condition of a Company of drossy-spirited Men that with that Duke of Bourbon in France who if he might but have his Palace in Paris would not change it for Paradise can be content to take the things of this World for their portion If they had but this or that thing it were Heaven to them It argues they have low thoughts of an Immortal Soul and are ignorant of what an immortal Soul is capable of that can think themselves satisfied in any Creature and have loose thoughts of God as if there were no Treasures in him but onely a few temporary Earthly delights as Meat and Drink and Sports and whatsoever the vanity of this world calls delightfull Afflictions if any thing will make us seek God THe Persian Messenger though an Heathen as Aeschiles in one of his Tragedies observeth said thus When the Graecian Forces hotly pursued our host and we must needs venter over the greaâ— Water Strymon frozen then but beginning to thaw when a hundred to one we had all dyed for it with mine eyes I saw saith he many of those Gallants whom I had heard before so boldly maintain There was no God every one upon his knees and devoutly praying that the Ice might hold till they got over And Pharaoh was at high terms with God but when Extremity came upon him then he was humbled Thus it is that many Men like the Dromedary of exceeding swiftnesse the Female especially run over hill and dale take their whole swing of pleasure and snuff up the ayr of all sensual delights Age death and sicknesse are afar off Youth health and strength possesse them there 's no coming to them then no medling with them till their Month come till Winter come a day of sorrow and distress overtake them then they will seek unto God And herein is Folly condemned even of her own Children and Wisdome justified of her very Enemies That they that greedily seek sin are at last glad to be rid of it and they that merrily scorn Religion at last are glad to be sheltered under the protection thereof Deceipt and Unfaithfulnesse in Trade and Commerce condemned LYsander the Lacedemonian held for a main Principle of his Religion that Children were to be deceived with trifles as rattles and guegawes but old Men were to be gulâ—'d with oaths and held on with fair promises And it is now almost grown a Trade for Men to be so slippery in their dealings one with another that they can find loop-holes to wind out of the most cautelous contracts for advantages break faith promises bonds run away with Mens goods so that Turks and Iews are more trusty then such hollow shifting Christians And hence it is that Gods Iustice and his just revenge on all Trades at this day is such that scarce any prosper in them God having divorced his blessing from them because they have turned their Trades into crafâ—s not for the help but the overthrow one of another The great danger of living in any one known Sin THere have been Prodigalls in all Ages such as having a fair Inheritance have lost it all upon one cast of the dice A man may escape many wounds and shots in the Wars and yet may be kill'd at the last with the stab of a pen-knife or the prick of a pin or needle It is reported of Sir Francis Drake that having compassed the World and being in a Boat upon the Thames in a very rough tide said What have I escaped the violence of the Sea and must be now drown'd in a Ditch Thus many a Man that hath escaped many grosse sins may by some little secret lust be deprived of the glory of the Kingdom of Heaven Moses came within the sight of Canaan but for one Sin not sanctifying Gods Name at the water of Meribah he never set foot within it A great Affliction it was no dâ—ubt uâ—to him to be so near and yet so far off from entring And no lesse will it be to any Man that for one Sin not sanctifying the Name of God as he ought shall come short of Heaven not but that there may be some remainders of sin and yet the Heart be taken off from every Sin but if there be any secret closing with any one Sin all the profession of Godlinesse and leaving all other Sins will be to no purpose nor ever bring a Man to happinesse Rich Men to be mindfull of what they have received at Gods hand ST Gregory confesseth thus much of himself that never any sentence entred â—o deep into his Soul as that Text Fili recordare c. Son remember that â—hou in thy life-time receivedst thy pleasure or good things and likewise Lazarus pains And that as surgite mortui was ever in S. Hierom's ear and non in commessationibus not in surfetting in S. Augustine's by which he was first converted For he sitting in the See of Rome when it was grown rich and of great revenue was as he saith still afraid of this Text Whether his exalting into that chair might not be his recompence at Gods hands and all that ever he should receive from him for all his service mercedem non arrham his portion of Earth not the earnest of Heaven Thus did the good Father And would God his example herein might make a due impression and work the like fear in so many as havâ— in the eyes of all Men received the good things of this life For it is too apparent that divers that have so received and that in a measure even heaped up and running over carry themselves so without remembrance of themselves as if no such Simile were in all the Bible as that of the needles eye no such Example as that of the rich Glutton no such Memento as that of Abraham to him but that they have learned a point of Divinity such as Abraham never knew Balaam'â— divinity it is to be feared to love the wages of unrighteousnesse and yet they must needs into Abraham's bosome dye the death of the Righteous Sin unrepented of heavy upon the Soul at the time of Death A Massy piece oâ— Timber floating upon the water may be easily drawn towards the shore so long as it swimmeth any one may turn it this way or that way at pleasure but if it be once grounded not many Men can move it but with great pains and industry Thus Man's life is the water Death the shore and Sin the piece of Timber Whilest we live in strength and health born up â—y the streams of Worldly pleasure and delight Sin seems but light unto us great Sins appear as little Sins and little sins
and some arive at the Port of Heaven with one measure of trust some with another For as the members of the body are knit unto the head but some neerer some further off So in Christ's body all draw grace from him yet in difference of grace in difference of hope yet all have anchor-hold enough to stay by for their better support Drunkenness condemned THe use of drinking is now so taken up in England that the Germans 't is probable are like to lose their Charter There was a street in Rome called Vicus sobrius the sober street because there was never an Ale-house in it which is hard to be said of any street in England The Emperor Aurelian was ill troubled to find out one Bonosus to quaffe with the German Ambassador who yet was derided for his labour and commonly called Non homo sed dolium not a man but a Tub of swill yet our time affords store of these like the German mentioned by Pontanus who hearing a solemn Tilting at the Court applauded by the loud ecchoes of the people cryed out O valeant ludi quibus nemo bibit farewel the game where there is no drinking but let all men remember this before they pour in their mornings draught Wo be to them that are strong to drink and to such as give their companions drink that they may see their nakedness God's time the best time THe case of Monica the Mother of St. Augustine is famous she grieved that her son was spotted with the heresie of the Manichees and she prayed that the Lord would bring him to the knowledge of his truth she prayed and prayed still yet he as himself confesseth continued for nine years together so infected It fell out afterwards that he would needs go and travell out of Africa into Italy his Mother being loath to part with him being the staffe of her age earnestly prayed that God would hinder him of that purpose yet Augustine went and coming to have his ears tickled had his heart touched and got Religion in to boot with the eloquence of St. Ambrose at Millane whereupon not long after he broke out into this Confession Bone Deus c. Thou O good God deep in Counsel and hearing the substance of my Mothers desires didst not regard what she then asked that in me thou mightst do that which she ever asked Thus the Almighty God dealeth with other of his servants working all things to the best but it is at such times as he himself thinketh best for our friends and children the Lord knoweth better what is good then we our selves can desire yet we must pray and beg with this condition Thy will be done That which vve think is most dangerous turneth oft-times to our good and thence vvhence vve expect our undoing God raiseth our greatest comfort and when it is our greatest extremity then it is his best opportunity If it be in him to blesse and protect us it is in him to do it when it seemeth good to himself Truth seeks no corners LUcullus a Noble Roman being told by one that he vvould build an house for him in such a manner that none should see vvhat he did and yet he should have a good prospect out of it and see all men the ansvver vvhich Lucullus made vvas this That he had rather he could make him such a house wherein all might see what he did and so know what he was and most certain it is that Truth though naked seeks no corners vvherein to hide it self and they onely dwell in such houses mentioned by 〈◊〉 all vvhose actions being done in truth and sincerity of heart are as it vvere so many windows vvhich openly shew and make known to all the world vvhat they are indeed To beware of the lusts of the flesh WHen the Oyster openeth himself to the Sun being tickled with the warmth thereof then his enemy the Crab-fish stealeth behind him and thrusteth in his claws and will not suffer him to shut again and so devoureth him The like is written of the Crocodile that being so strong a Serpent as he is and impregnable yet when he is gaping to have his teeth picked by the little bird called â—rochil his enemy the Ichneumon creepeth into his body and ceaseth not to gnaw upon his entrails till he hath destroyed him Think upon the Urchin and the Snail whilst the Urchin keeps himself close in the bottom of an hedge he is either not espyed or contemned but when he creeps forth to suck the Cow he is dogged and chopped in So the Snail when he lies close with his house on his head is esteemed for a dead thing and not looked after but when in liquorishness to feed upon the dew that lyes upon the grass or upon the sweetness of the Rose-bush he will be pearking abroad then the Gardiner findeth and pasheth him The lesson is we must not yeeld to the sweet baiâ—s of the flesh but we must rather mortifie our members upon the earth and ever beware that we seek not our death in the error of our life otherwise if we wilfully offer our selves to be led as an Ox to the slaughter and as a sheep to the Shambles What marvel if we have our throats cut or be led away captive by Sathan at his will Ministers to cry down the sins of the time IT is observable that our Saviour never inveighed against Idolatry usury Sabbath-breaking amongst the Iews not that these were not sins but they were not practised so much in that age wherein wickedness was spun with a finer thread and therefore Christ principally bent the drift of his preaching against spiritual pride hypocrisie and traditions then predominant amongst the people Thus it ought to be with the Ministers of the Gospel in this thing they are to trace their Masters steps they are chieâ—ly to reprove the raging sins of the time and place they live in yet with this caution that in publique reproving of sin they ever whip the vice and let the person go free No Appeal from God's tribunal AMongst the Iudges of the earth upon motion made by Councell a man may have Order for a hearing and re-hearing of his Cause hearing upon hearing a first and a second hearing But with God it is not so there 's no such Rule in the Court of Heaven The Motto that is written over that Tribunal is Ampliâ—s non ero I shall be no more For we may not dye twice to amend in our second death the errors of our first life There is no reversing of Iudgement no Appeal from this Iudge to that or from one Court to another How doth it then concern us to condemn our selves before God condemn us and that we kill sin in our selves before God kill us in our sins Corrections Instructions I Had never known said Martin Luther's wife what such and such things meant
to endure nor lay any more upon him then what he shall be able to bear The Law bringing Mento the sight of themselves THe Swans of Thames and Po beholding with a retorted neck their goodly feathers think themselves Rarae aves interris but when their black leggs and feet are become the object of their sight then they find that they are nigris Cygnts simillimae So when Men behold their lives in what they are commendable or tolerable the Pharisee himselfe is not more proud then they when they hear of the two Tables of Gods Commandements they can carry them as easily as Sampson did the Gates of Azzah But when they look into the glass of the Law of God they find their strength to be but as other Mens then goes the hand to the breast and the word from the mouth O God be merciful to me a sinner Away then as Luther once said with those Antinomian conceits that the Law need not be taught in the times of the Gospel It is confessed That Christ is the end of the Law What end Finis perficiens non interficiens an end not consuming but consummating as himself said I came not to destroy the Law but to teach and do it Mat. 5. 17. The painfull Preachers poverty the idle Impropriators plenty BEes make the honey and drones suck the Hive It is said in Iob ch 1. v. 14. The Oxes were ploughing and the Asses feeding by them What Oxen plough the ground and Asses reap the Harvest This is somewhat preposterous yet so it is That laborious Oxen painful Preachers spend their time in plowing and preaching and lazy Asses idle Impropriators eat up all their labours being alwayes feeding Great revenues belong to the contemplative covent while the devout and active Preacher is a Mendicant the diligent Preacher lives in want of necessaries whilst the lazy Impropiator swells in all aboundance Every Man to be perswaded of his own death TWo Ships meeting on the Sea the Men in either ship think themselvs stand still and the other to be swift of sayl whereas they both sayl onwards toward the Port intended but the one faster then the other Even so Men are as Ships see we an old Man with a staffe in his hand stooping downward Alass poor old Man say we he cannot live long Hear we a Passing-bell toll There 's one going out of the world Visites we a sickâ—friend We think he can hardly live till morning Thus we think all other Men are a dying and we onely stand at stay Whereas God knows it they may go a little before and we are sure to follow after Iohn out-runs Peter to the Sepulchre but Peter is not far behind him Let every Man then be thus perswaded of himselfe that he shall and must dye None can be so sottish as to be perswaded that they shall never dye yet which is a sad thing there is none so old but thinks he may live one year longer and though in the generall he say All must die yet in the false numbring of his own particular days he thinks to live for ever The great danger of any one Sin unrepented of MAny Planks well pinn'd and calk'd make the Ship to float one and but one leak not stopped will sink it One wound strikes Goliah dead as well as three and twenty did Caesar One Dalilah will do Sampson as much spight as all the Philistins One wheel broken spoyls all the whole Clock One vein's bleeding will let out all the vitals as well as more One fly will spoil a whole box of Oyntment One bitter herb all the pottage by eating oâ—e Apple Adam lost Paradise One lick of honey endangered Ionathans life One Acâ—an was a trouble to all Israel One Ionah if faulty is lading too heavy for a whole ship Thus one sinne is enough to procure Gods anger and too much for one Man to commit And if God then take an accompt of one sin let Men have a care of all sin Curses usually fall on the Cursers own head DIogâ—â—es warned the Bastard when he saw him throwing stones at randome among the People to take heed he did not hit his own father Such is the condition of all cursing Men such whose tongues run with great speed on the Devills errand whose Maledictions are shot out of their mouths just like fools bolts not regarding where they light whereas many times they fall upon their friends their children and very often upon themselves or like ill made pieces which while Men discharge at others they recoyl in splinters upon their own faces so that if every curse should stick a visible blister on the tongue as it doth insensible ones on the Soul How many Mens tongues would be too big for their mouths and their mouth sas an open Sepulchre full of rottennesse and putrefaction To be alwayes prepared for Death IT is reported of Sir Iohn Burgh a brave Souldier and a Gentleman of a good Family who receiving a mortall wound in the Isle of Rees and being advised not to fear Death but to prepare himselfe for another world answered I thank â—od I fear not Death these thirty years together I never rose out of my bed in the morning that ever I made account to live till night A religious and Christian-like practise well worthy imitation that every day when a Man awaketh he should commend himselfe to Gods protection whether he live or dye for at the Evening none knoweth whether that nights bed shall be his grave or that nights sleep shall be his death Therefore before his eyes do sleep or his eye-lids take any slumber or the temples of his head takes rest make his peace with God for all his sinnes that whether he live or die he may live and dye to the Lord and Iesus Christ may be to him advantage The sad condition of Man falling away from God COmets and Meteors that hang in the ayr so long as they keep aloft in the firmament of Heaven they glitter and shine and make a glorious and caelestiall lustre in the eyes of all beholders but if once they decline from that pitch and fall down to the Earth as many times they do they vanish and disappeare and come to nothing Such is the case betwixt a Man and his God as long as a Man holds in good tearmes with God and sets his affections upon things above so long will God cast his favour upon him and he shall sbine as a light in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation But if once he decline from that pitch and fall down from a godly conversation into an earthly idle ungodly disposition 't is a venture but his prosperity will fall away and his latter end grow worse than his beginning The madnesse of Ministers Magistrates c. not to be guided by that Counsell they give to others IT is fabled of a
and stand still Oh Whaâ— a puddle of sin will the Heart be How rusty and uselesse will our Graces grow How unserviceable for Gods Worship how unfit for Mans by reason of the many spirituall diseases that will invade the Soul Just like Schollers that are for the most part given to a sedentary life whose bodies are more exposed to ill humours then any others whereas they whose livelihoods lye in a handicraft Trade are alwayes in motion and stirring so that the motion expells the ill humours that they cannot seize upon the body So in the Soul the lesse any Man acts in thâ— matter of its concernment the more spirituall diseases and infirmiâ—ies will grow in it whereas the more active and industrious Men are the lesse power will ill distempers have upon them The true Repentant sinners encouragement notwithstanding all his former wickedness IT is very observable in the Genealogy of Christ that there are but four women mentioned it being not usuall to mention any and the blessed Spirit of God sets a mark of infamy upon them all The first is Thamar Mat. 1. 3. She was an incestuous Woman for she lay with her Father in law Gen. 38. 38. The second is Rahab vers 5. she was an Harlot Heb. 11. 31. The third is Ruth vers 5. she came of Moab the Son of Levi by incest begotten of his own Daughter Gen. 19. 37. The fourth is Baâ—hsheba vers 6. she was guilty of Adultery And why was this so done but for the comfort of the most infamous Sinners to come in to Christ and to take notice for their better encouragement that though they have been above measure sinfull yet by their conversion to God and aversion from Sin by a serious and hearty Repentance all infamy of their â—ormer wayes is quite taken away and their names entered in the book of life and eternall Salvation Not to be troubled at the Prosperity of the Wicked And why so VVOuld it not be accounted folly in a Man that is Heir to many thouâ—ands per annum that he should envy a Stage-player cloathed in the habite of a King and yet not heir to one foot of Land Who though he have the form respect and apparel of a King or Nobleman yet he is at the same time a very begger and worth nothing Thus wicked Men though they are arrayed gorgeously and fare deliciously wanting nothing and having more then heart can wish yet they are but onely possessors the godly Christian is the Heir What good doth all their Prosperity do them It doth but hasten their ruine not their reward The Oxe that is the labouring Ox is longer lived then the Ox that is put into the pasture the very putting of him there doth but hasten his slaughter And when God puts wicked Men into fat pastures into places of Honour and power it is but to hasten their ruine Let no Man therefore fret him because of evil doers nor be envious at the Prosperity of the wicked For the Candle of the wicked shall be put out into everlasting darknesse they shall soon be cut off and wither as a green herb Psalm 37. 1 2. Godly and wicked Men their difference in the hatred of Sinne. AS it is with two Children the one forbears to touch a coal because it will black and smut his hand the other will not by any means be brought to handle it because he perceives it to be a fire-cole and will burn his fingers Thus all wicked and ungodly Men they will not touch sin because it will burn They may be and often are troubled for sin but their disquietnesse for sin ariseth more from the evill of punishment the effect of sin then from the evill that is in the Nature of sinne They are troubled for sinne but it is because sinne doth destroy the soul and not because sinne doth defile the soul because God pursueth sinne not because he hates sinne more because it is against Gods justice that is provoked then because it is against the Holinesse of God which is dishonoured because God threatens sinne not because God doth forbid sinne because of the Hell for sin not because of the Hell in sin But now on the other side all good and godly Men they hate and loath sinne because it is of a smutting and defiling nature because it is against the nature of God because God loathes and hates it more because it is a-against Gods command then because God doth punish it not because of the damning power of sin but because of the defiling power of â—in c. Custome in Sin causeth hardnesse in Sin LOok but upon a Youth when he comes first to be an Apprentice to some Artificer or Handy-craft Trade his hand is tencer and no sooner is he set to work but it blisâ—ers so that he is much pained thereby but when he hath continued some time at work then his hand hardens and he goes on without any grievance at all It is just thus with a Sinner before he be accustomed to an evill way Conscience is tender and full of Remorse like a queazy stomack ready to keck at the least thing that is offensive O but a continued Custome and making a Trâ—de of sin that 's it that makes the Conscience to be hard and brawny able to feel nothing As it is in a Smiths forge a Dogge that comes newly in cannot endure the fiery sparks to fly about his ears but being once us'd to it he sleeps securely So let wicked men be long used to the Devils Work-house to be slaves and Vassails to sinne the sparks of Hell-fire may fly about them and the fire of Hell flash upon their souls yet never trouble them never disturbe them at all and all this ariseth from a continued custome in a course of evill The more a Man is now troubled for sinne the lesse shall he be troubled hereafter And why so IT is well known that if a Land lord take a great Fine at the first coming into the house he doth take the lesse Rent for the future Thus as Land-lords deal with their Tenants so God with his people He puts them to a great Fine at the first he makes Sin cost them many a â—ear many a nights trouble many a dayes disquiet many a â—igh many a groan in the Spirit but here 's the comfort The greater the Fine the lesser the yearly Rent the more a Man is troubled for sinne at the present the lesse fear and perplexity shall be his portion hereafter for he shall have the joy and comfort of believing he shall have the more perfect peace at his death so that when he comes to dye he shall have little else to do but to lye down and dye committing his Soul into the hands of a faithfull Creator and Redeemer How it is that the singling out of one beloved Sin makes way to a full sight of all sin
therefore be a scandal to our Calling not a reproach to our own Names but let us be mindfull of our Vow and duty so oft as our Names are mentioned and as ready to answer to our Faith as to our Names Negligence in the wayes of God reproved THere is mention made of a Prince in Germany who being invaded by a more potent Enemy then himself yet from his Friends and Allies who flock't in to his help he soon had a goodly Army but had no money as he said â—o pay them but the truth is he was loath to part with it For which cause some went away in discontent others did not vigorously mind his businesse and so he was soon beaten out of his Kingdome and his coffers when his Pallace was rifled were found to be thwack't with treasure And thus was he ruin'd as some sick Men dye because unwilling to be at cost to pay the Physitian Now so it is that few or none are to be found but would be glad their Souls might be saved at last but where is the Man or Woman that makes it appear by their Vigorous endeavour that they mean in earnest What Warlike-preparation do they make against Satan who lyes between them and home Where are their Arms where their skill to use them their resolution to stand to them and conscionable care to exercise themselves daily in the use of them Thus to do is a rarity indeed if woulding and wishing would bring them to Heaven then they may likely come thither but as for this diligence in the wayes of God this circumspect walking this Wrestling and fighting this making Religion our businesse they are far from these as at last in so doing they are like to be from Heaven No way to Happinesse but by Holinesse ONe fitly compares Holinesse and Happinesse to those two sisters Leah and Rachel Happinesse like Rachel seems the fayrer even a carnal heart may fall in love with that but Holinesse like Leah is the elder and beautifull also though in this life it appears with some disadvantage her eyes being bleared with tears of Repentance and her face furrowed with the works of Mortification but this is the Law of that Heavenly Country that the younger sister must not be bestowed before the Elder We cannot enjoy fair Rachell Heaven and Happinesse except first we embrace tender-eyed Leah Holinesse with all her severe duties of Repentance and Mortification If we will have Heaven we must have Christ If Christ we must like his service as well as his Sacrifice there 's no way to Happinesse but by Holinesse Men deluded by Satan in not taking the right notion of Sin IT is with men in sinning as it is with Armies in fighting Captains beat their Drums for Voluntiers and promise all that list pay and plunder and this makes them come trowling in but few consider what the ground of the War is or for what Thus Satan enticeth Men to Sin and giveth golden promises of what they shall have in his service with which silly Souls are won but how few ask their Souls Whom do I sin against What is the Devills design in drawing me to Sin Shall I tell thee Dost thou think 't is thy pleasure or profit he desires in thy sinning Alas he means nothing lesse he hath greater plots in his head then so He hath by his Apostacy proclaimed war against God and he brings thee by sinning to espouse his quarrel and to jeopard the life of thy Soul in defence of his pride and lust which that he may do he cares no more for the damnation of thy Soul then the great Turk doth to see a company of his slaves cut off for the carrying on of his design in the time of a siege If therefore thou wilt not be deluded by him take the right notion of Sin and labour to understand the bottome of his bloudy design intended against thee Gods love to his Children in the midst of spirituall desertions And how so AS Ioseph when he spake roughly to his brethren and made them believe he would take them for spyes still his heart was toward them and he was as full of love as ever he could hold he was fain to go aside and weep And as Moses his Mother when she puâ— her child into the Ark of bul-rushes and went a little way from it yet still her eye was toward it The babe wept I and the Mother wept too So God when he goes a side as if he had forsaken his children yet he is full of sympathy and love towards them It is one thing for God to desert another thing to dis-inherit How shall I give thee up O Ephraim Hos. 8. 11. This is a Metaphor taken from a Father going about to dis-inherit his Son and while he is going to set his hand to the deed his bowels begin to melt and to yearn over him though he be a prodigall child yet he is a child I will not cut off the entail So saith God How shall I give thee up though Ephraim hath been a Rebellious Son yet he is my Son I will not dis-inherit him Gods heart may be full of love when there is a vail upon his face The Lord may change his dispensation towards his children but not his disposition So that the believer may confidently say I am adopted and let God do what he will with me let him take the rod or the staff 't is all one to me so long as he loves me The day of Death becomes the good Mans comfort And how so THe Persians had a certain day in the year which they called Vitiorum interitum wherein they used to kill all Serpents and venemous Creatures Such a day as that will the Day of Death be to a Man in Christ this day the old Serpent dyes in a believer that hath so often sâ—ung him with his Temptations this day the sins of the Godly these venemous Creatures shall all be destroyed they shall never be proud more they shall never grieve the Spirit of God more the death of the body shall quite destroy the body of death so that Sin which was the Midwife that brought Death into the World Death shall be the grave to bury sin O the priviledg and comfort of a true believer he is not taken away in his sins but he is taken away from his sins and death is made unto him advantage Heavenly happinesse not to be expressed NIcephorus tells us of one Agbarus a great Man that hearing so much of Christs fame by reason of the Miracles he wrought sent a Painter to take his picture and that the Painter when he came was not able to do it because of that radiancy and divine splendor which sate on Christs face Whether this be true or no penes sit authorem but to be sure there is such a brightnesse on the face of Christ glorified and that Happinesse which
Men take heed then how they multiply their cups as in that Feast of Ahashuerus at Shushan where every Man drank as much as he lift but content themselves with Timothy's Modicum prescribed by S. Paul One cup is enough two are too much and three too little but How may that be When a Man hath taken off three he is fit if possible for three hundred and then ab hilaritate ad ebrietatem lubricus est gradus He shall find to his sorrow that from mirth to madnesse the step is very slippery The great pains that Wicked Men take to go to Hell IT is observed of Antiochus Epiphanes one of the Kings of Syria that he was a most cruel Persecutor of the Church and undertook more troublesome journeys and went upon more hazardous designs meerly to trouble vex and oppose the Church of the Iews then ever any of his Predecessors did about any other conquest or noble enterprize that he travelled more miles to do mischief as he that compareth their journeys then any of the Saints did to do good And thereupon concludes the Story of him with this general truth concerning all wicked Men That they go with more pains to eternal death then the Saints to eternal rest that they toyl themselves more and suffer more hardship to work out their own damnation then the godly do to work out their Salvation Thus it is that a Wicked ungodly Man is said to travell with pain all the dayes of his life and wearying himself in the way to Hell doing the Devils drudgery And whereas a good Man is mercifull to his beast he is unmercifull to himself and tires himself more then a good Man will tire his beast For he that will follow Sin and serve his own lusts especially the lust of Pride and oppression serveth a hard Master one that will make him sweat for it and pay him home at last with eternal death so that the work of Sin is bad enough but as to the Sinner the wages is worse Proper Names of Men not to be so much regarded as Appellative A Poor Shepherd in Germany when divers observing the Cardinal of Colein and admiring his pomp as a Prince whereas his calling was but a Bishop O sayes the Shepherd Cum damnatus fuerit Rex quid fiet de Episcopo If the great Duke should go to Hell for pride What would become of the humble Bishop Thus as with Titles so is it with the Names of Men It is not the proper Name but the Appellative not the Nominal but the Reall that makes a good Construction in Gods grammer Abraham is a good Name but the Father of the Faithfull is a better Moses a good Name but the servant of God much better David a good Name but a Man after Gods own heart far better so it may be said of S. Iohn he had a good Name but to be the beloved Disciple of Iesus Christ was much beyond it Paul a good Name but to be a chosen vessell of the Lord much more So that Grace is not tyed to Names Theodorus Theodosius Dorotheus Theodatus Deodatus Adeodatus all signifying the gift of God may well be given to our Children but it is the Grace of God that maketh happy No Man hath the mystery of his Fortune written in his Name Names are not Propheticall much lesse Magicall yet the Civill use of them is for distinction Nomen quasi Notamen and the Religious use of them hath by good antiquity been alwaies observed in the Sacrament of Baptism Excessive drinking condemned A Nacharsis had a saying that the first draught of Wine is for thirst the second for nourishment the third for mirth the fourth for madnesse Whereupon Calisthenes being pressed to quaffe off a great Bowl of Wine which bowl they called Alexander gravely replyed That he would not for drinking of Alexander stand in need of Aesculapius i. e. he would drink no more then what should do him good And it were heartily to be wished that all Men were of his mind but so it is that now adayes a drunken health like the Conclusion in a Syllogism must not be denyed yea such and so excessive is the custom of high drinking that S. Basil makes it a wonder How the bodies of Drunkards being by Nature framed of Earth do not with so much moysture dissolve into clay and water Books of Piety and Religion testimoniall at the great day of Iudgment IT is usual in Scripture to ascribe a testimony to the more notable circumstances and accidents of humane life as to the rust of hoarded money to the solemn publications of the Gospel the dust of the Apostles feet And so downward in the Primitive times when grown persons were baptized they were wont to leave a stole or white garment in the vestry for a Testimony and witnesse of their Baptism Wherefore when one Elpidophorus had revolted from the Faith the Deacon of the Church came and told him O Elpidophorus I will keep this stole as a Monument against thee to all Eternity And thus it is that Books of Piety and devotion being publique Monuments are much of this Nature a testimony likely to be produced in the day of Iudgment not only against the Authors but the Persons into whose hands they shall happen to be perused in case on either side there be any defection in Iudgment or manners from the Truths therein expressed Atheistical Wicked Men at the hour of Death forced to confesse Gods Iudgments IT is the report of a Reverend Divine now with God concerning an Atheist in England A young Man sayes he was a Papist but soon fell into dislike of their superstition He became a Protestant but that did not please him long England could not content him he reels to Amsterdam there he fell from one sect to another till he lighted upon the Familists The first Principle they taught him was this There is no God as indeed they had need to sear up their Consciences and dam up all natural light that turn Familists hereupon he fell to a loose life committed a Robbery was convicted condemned and brought to die At the Execution he desired a little time uttering these words Say what you will surely there is a God loving to his Friends terrible to his Enemies And thus it is that the lewdest Reprobates the most wretched Atheists that spit in the face of Heaven and wade deepest in bloud are forced at the time of Death when they see the hand-writing of Gods Iudgments upon the wall to confesse there is a God who is just in all his wayes and wondrous in all his works Fleshly-lusts the danger of them IT is said of the Torpedo a kind of dangerous Sea-fish that it is of so venomous a Nature that if it chance to touch but the line of him that angles the poyson is thereby
giving himself up to God AEschines perceiving every one give Socrates something for a present said unto him Because I have nothing else to give I will give thee my self Do so saith Socrates and I will give thee back again to thy self better then when I received thee So saies God if thou wilt give thy self to me in thy prayers in thy praises in thy affections and in all thy actions I will give thy self back so much mended that thou shalt receive thy self and Me too thy self in a holy liberty to walk in the world in a calling My self in giving a blessing upon all the works of thy calling and imprinting in thee a holy desire to do all things to My glory Excellency of the Robe of Iustice. THere is a story of a certain old woman in the Low-Countries that she being neer her end required her keeper of all loves and in any case to put upon her the Cowle of a Fryer Minorite when she should be ready to give up the ghost which she had prepared for that purpose And said she if death happen to come so suddainly that thou canst not put the whole Cowle upon me yet fail not at the least to put one of my arms into it that by vertue thereof three parts of my sins may be forgiven me and the fourth expiated in Purgatory Thus Meteranus of the old wifes perswasion touching the vertue of the â—ryer's Cowle which perswasion superstition bred covetousnesse tendered and folly entertained It cannot be said so of the vertue of the Robe of Iustice of Equity and square dealing whether distributive or commutative private or publick though all very good that they should have power to forgive sins no The blood of Iesus Christ cleanseth from all sins But this may be boldly said that it is an excellent Robe and a Diadem such a one that yieldeth a sweet savour unto the nostrills of God as Esau's garment upon Iacob's back did to Isaac their father Of all the garments you can put on after Faith and Love there is none to be compared to it Courtiers may have soft cloathingâ— a garment of needle-work is onely for the Queen 's wearing garments of divers colours are suitable for King's Daughters and there was a Babylonish garment which Achan purloyned to his destruction Herod's glittering apparell mentioned by Iosephus garments of gold and silver at which Dionysius jested That they were too cold in the winter and too heavy in the summer Perfumed garments such as were the undoing of Muliasses King of Tunis as Paulus Iovius relateth These were for some persons but not for others for some certain times but not for all But Iustice is a roâ—e for all sorts of men to put on for all times of the year sweet without fulsomnesse pretious without burthensomnesse safe without dangerousnesse indifferent to all degrees to all persons common equall glorious full of majesty and full of good works Miracles why ceased A Gardiner when he transplanteth a Tree out of one ground into another before the â— ree take root he sets stayes to it he powreâ—th water at the root of it dayly but when it once taketh root he ceaseth to water it any more and pulleth away the staies that he set to uphold it and suffereth it to grow with the ordinary influence of the Heavens So the Lord in planting of Religion he put-to the help of Miracles as helps to stay it but when it was once confirmed and fastened and had taken deep rooting he took away such helps so that as St. Augustine hath it Qui expectat miraculum miraculum est He that looketh for a miracle is a miracle himselfe for if the death of Christ will not work faith all the miracles in the world will not do it Other mens harms to be our arms WHen the Lion was sick all the Beasts of the field went to visit him onely the Fox stayed behind and would not go unto him being asked the reason he answered I find the track of many going in but of none comming out and I am not so desperate as to cast my self wilfully away when I may sleep in a whole skin Thus other men's punishments ought to be our instructions nocumenta documenta their harms our arms And that man is a fool whom other men's harms cannot make to beware The â—ootsteps of the Angells that fell may minde us of pride the ashes of Sodom tell us of our filthinesse Absolâ—m's hanging by the hair forwarn us of rebellion c. Encompassed by death on all sides IN the beginning of every Almanack there is usually the picture of a naked man miserably beset on all sides the Ram pusheth at the head the Bull goareth the neck the Lion teareth the heart the Scorpion stings the privy parts another shoots at the thighes c. Every man living is but an emblem of that livelesse Anatomy one dyes of an Apoplexy in the head another of a Struma in the neck a third of a Squinancy in the throat a fourth of a Gough and Consumption of the lungs others of Obstructions Inflammations Pluriâ—ies Gouts Dropsies c. and him that escapeth the sword of Hazael him doth Iehu slay and him that escapeth the sword of Iehu doth Elisha slay Let but God arm the least of all his creatures against the strongest man it is present death and dissolution A rich man had rather part with God than his gold TAke a narrow mouthed botâ—le it will receive the wine or beer that is poured into it without any noise at all but if you turn the bottle upside down the bottom upward it will not let any thing out but with a grâ—at deal of bubling and rumbling Thus it is with every worldly man he would quietly without any noise or reluâ—tation if possible suck in the graces of God's Spirit into his heart but tell him that the bottle must first be emptyed that he must sell all that he hath and giâ—e to the poor durus est hic sermo this is a hard saying how doth he murmuâ— and repine at this choosing with that prophane wretch rather to have his part in Paris than in Paradise the pleasures of sin for a season here in this world than the pleasures which are at Gods right hand â—or evermore How sin is made the prevention of sin WHen children begin to go they use to be so well conceited of the strength of their leggs that they need not any help of their Nurse to let them see their folly the Nurse will leave them to their selves that so smarting by a â—aâ—l they may better be brought to find what need they have of their Nurse The best of us all are but babes in grace yet do we think that we can stand of our selves yea and run the waies of God too now God doth refute us by our own experience and by this
do not retain do not engrosse the beams of the Sun which they receive but return them back and double them by reflection Thus the sons of Men having from the Sun of Righteousnesse the bright beams of his grace and vertue not onely to warm their hearts but also to shine out in their words and actions are to reflect them back again with all praise and gloryâ—ue â—ue unto them seeing that from him alone they have received them Not to be reconciled to God before we sleep very dangerous THat man which dares go to bed with a conscience charged with the guilt of one enormous sin is much more desperate then he that dares lye unarmed with seven armed men that are his deadly foes for a sinner is lesse sure of his life than the other What a sad thing is it to sleep securely on the brink of Hell to go to bed drunk over night and find himself awake in hell the next morning He tâ—at inures not himself daily to reconcile himself unto God makes a comâ—ortlesse end for the most part and is snatched hence before he hath a thought of making his peace with his Maker No such thing as Independency in this life TRimethius in his catalogue of Ecclesiasticall Writers mentioneth what Occam the famous Schoolman said upon occasion unto Lewis the Emperour Domine Imperator desende me gladio ego te defendam calamo here was the Emperour's sword and Occam's pen standing in need of one another This shewes there is no man absolutely independent in this world nor ever shall be so long as he hath any dependency here below The head cannot say to the foot I have no need of thee The Master cannot be without his Man nor the Landlord without his Tenants nor the King without his Subjects He that taketh place before all in some things must be content to give place and come behind others in some things else The remembrance of sins past the onely way to prevent sins to come IN the Country of Arabia where almost all Trees are savoury and Frankincense and Myrrhe are even as common fire-wood Styrax is sold at a dear rate though it be a wood of unpleasant smell because experience proveth it to be a present remedy to recover their smell who before had lost it We all of us have lived in the pleasures of sin have our senses stuffed and debilitated if not overcome and the best remedy against this malady will be the smelling to Styrax the unsavoury and unpleasing smell of our former corruptions thus David's sin was ever before him and St. Augustine as Pâ—ssidonius noteth a little before his death caused the penitenâ—iall Psalmes to be written about his bed which he still looking upon out of a â—itter remembrance of his sins continually wept giving not over long before the dyed This practise will work repentance not to be repented of The not returning thanks unto God for grace received is the ready way to be gracelesse RIvers receiving their fulnesse from the Ocean pay their tribute by returning their streams unto it back again which homage if they should deny to yield their swelling waters would bear down their own banks and drown the Country So we receiving from the inâ—inite Ocean of all goodnesse whatsoever fulnesse we have of grace and vertue the praises and glory due unto them are by humble acknowledgment and thanksgiving to return to him that gave them But if we shall was unthankfull and refuse to pay the tribute due and shew our rebellion against our great Lord by encroaching upon his right thinking to grow rich by robbing of him and keeping of all to our own use These gifts thus retained will make us but to swel with pride and breaking down the banks of modesty and humility will not onely empty us of all grace and goodnesse but make all our good parts we have hurtfull and pernicious And thus it is that the not giving unto God that which is God's the not returning praise to God for grace received is the ready way to be graceless Crosses and afflictions not to be sleighted TAcitus reporteth that though the Amber-Ring amongst the Romans were of no use nor any value yet after the Emperour had began to wear it it began to be in great esteem it was the onely fashion amongst them So me-thinks sith our Lord and Saviour Christ Iesus hath born his cross and was born upon it we should make better reckoning of crosses than many of us do How nice and tenderly have many of us been brought up that we can hardly endure to see the sight of our sweet Saviour's Crosse We stick to sip of that cup which was holy David's dyet-drink and Iob and Ieremy took it all off Are we better than these holy men nay are we too good to pledge our Saviour in the cup of his Passion Nos suspiramus in cruciatibus ille expiravit in cruce Do we breathe out some sighes in our crâ—sses he sighed out his last breath in torments upon the Crosse. It certainly then behoveth every Christian to take up his Crosse and follow him In death there is no difference of persons AS in Chesse-play so long as the game is in playing all the men stand in their order and are respected according to their places first the King then the Queen then the Bishops after them the Knights and last of all the common Souldiers But when once the game is ended and the table taken away then they are all confusedly 〈◊〉 into a bag and haply the King is lowest and the pawn upmost Even so it is with us in this life the World is a huge Theatre or Stage wherein some play the parts of Kings others of Bishops some Lords many Knights other Yeâ—men But when the Lorâ— shall come with his Angells to judge the World all are alike no difference betwixt the King and the Peasant the Courtier and the Clown and if great men and mean persons are in the same sin pares culpae pares poenae they shall be sharers in the same punishment Every man to follow his own Trade IT is observable what answer Robert Grosthead Bishop of Lincoln gave unto one that solicited him on the behalf of a poor Kinsman of his that he would prefer him but being inâ—ormed that he was an Husbandman Then said he if his Plow be broken I will repair it or rather than fail bestow a new one upon him whereby he may go on his course but to dignifie him as to make him forsake his Calling and Trade wherein he was brought up I mean not to do And indeed when the members of the body are out of their proper places what readinesse is in them to do any work or service So when a man is out of his own calling in any society it is as if a member were out of joynt in the body
the hand the foot one usurpeth not the function of another In answerableness whereunto the Apostle telleth us That all are not Prophets all are not Apâ—stles and exhorts all men As God hath called them so to walk A good rule for these unruly times wherein the hands yea and the feet too play Rex and take up the room of the Head and every man thiâ—keth himself fit to be a Teacher both by his pen and tonguâ— whose place notwithstanding is amongst the learners Security in time of danger condemned IT is said of Archimedes that when Syracuse was taken all the people being as it were distracted the Souldier doing all manner of out-rage he was found sitting at home securely drawing circles with his compass in the dust And do not we see men now a-dayes when there is Hannibal ad portas a popular sword playing Rex within and a Royal sword enraged without even when the eternal salvation of their souls is in question handling their dust and stretching themselves to their farthest compass set upon the tenter-hooks as it were and distracted with Law-suits with money matters and wordly businesse that shall profit them nothing at the last Eternity is a thing they never think on or else very slenderly for a snatch and away as dogs are said to lap at Nilus c. An ungodly life will have an ungodly end A Philosopher asking one Which of these two he had rather be either Croesus who was one of the richest but most vicious in the world or Socrates who was one of the poorest but one of the most vertuous men in the world his answer was That in his life he would be a Croesus but in his death a Socrates So if many in these dayes were put to their choice they would be Dives in their life but Lazarus in their death they would with Balaam die the death of the righteous but live the life of the wicked but that cannot be for death is a kâ—nd of truck or Exchange here it is that the Israelites make the briâ—ks and the Egyptians dwell in the houses but hereafter St. Iohn Baptist's head will become a Crown as well as a platter and he that hath had his consolation his Heaven in this world shall at the time of death meet with torments and Hell in that which is to come A child of God is restless till he come to Heaven LOok upon a silly poor Country-lad coming to be an Apprentice in the City how doth he hone and mourn after his Father and Mother How doth he grieve because he is far from his friends and acquaintance he is never quiet till he hath been at the Carryers to hear from them and fain would he be with them again though he be at that very time in a very good service and placed with an honest loving Master And thus it is with a child of God though he have a competent measure of grace to support him in this life and the hope of Heaven in that which is to come yet he is restless till he comes to Heaven he groans and mourns because he is absent from his heavenly Father and from his friends and acquaintance the blessed Saints and Angels The use of the Creatures is conditional A Tenant that holdeth land from a Lord may not use it otherwise then according to the Covenants agreed upon if he do the Premises are forfeited Even so it is betwixt God and us the grant which he maketh to us of his Creatures is conditional we may take convenient food for our sustenance decent cloaths to shrowd us from the injury of the weather and we may bestow our money to supply our own and other folks necessities to these ends we may use Gods creatures but we may not riot with our meat and drink we may not be fantastical in our apparel neither may we with our wealth grinde the faces of the poor we have no Covenant that warrants any of these and therefore the doing of any of these is a forfeit to the Proprietary And how often might Christ re-enter upon our goods if he would take advantage of our daily abuses nay he daily doth re-enter had we but grace to see it What multitudes of Inhabitants hath drunkenness spued out of their possessions What goodly Patrimonies hath pride and oppression brought to nought It were to be wished that the World did as much take notice of it as almoste very place doth give them occasion so to do Vnpreparedness for death very dangerous IT was a good answer that one Messodamus gave one inviting him to feast the next day My friend saith he Why dost thou invite me against to morrow I could not for these many years so secure my self that I should live one day for I am in dayly expectation of the time of my departure And indeed no Man can be sufficiently armed against Death unless he be ready to entertain it VVhat rashness and folly is it then for a man to lie down in â—ase upon a Feather-bed to sleep securely â—norting and snoring and all this while to lodge an Enemy a deadly Enemy all the while Sin in his bosom sudden deaths are common How many have we heard of that went well to bed over night for ought a man could tell and have been found dead in the morning and it is much to be feared have gone impenitently to bed it may be dead-drunk and have found themselves awake in hell the next morning Unpreparedness for death must needs therefore be dangerous I. S. 1648. H. S. 1657. The wisdom of Christ above all earthly wisdom even to admiration DIonysius the Tyrant sent to Plato that he might come to see him one of his fairest Gallies with store of dainty provision and well accompanied And at the Haven where he was to land had provided a Coach with four horses to be ready to receive him that he might come in the greater pomp to his Pallace and all this honour he was willing to do him for that he was a wise man Now if such men as he shall cause admiration in the vvorld vvhat admiration then must he raise in mens minds vvho is wisdom it self and in vvhom all the treasures of God's wisdom are laid up for evermore Not to be malicious in the exercise of holy duties IT is said of the Serpent that he casts up all his poyson before he drinks It vvere to be much desired that herein vve had so much Serpentine wisdom as to disgorge our malice before vve pray to cast up all the bitterness of our spirits before vve come to the Sacrament of Reconciliation Special places of Scripture marked with Gods special Authority MOrtal Princes use not to sign Bills or Petitions the contents whereof are trivial matters many things are done by vertâ—e of their Regal authority whereunto their signature is not used Even so ordinary matters pass
Commonwealth doth prosper but no sooner doth the Subject break these bonds but a civill putrefaction enters which maketh way to the ruine of a State whoreth every mans particular interest is hazarded with the whole the remedy where of is the work of judgement but it must be attended with Justice also not the Kings affections but his Lawes must moderate his Iudgement and the medicine must be fitted to the Disease otherwise if the scales of Iustice do not firft weigh the merits of the cause the Judgement will as much disquiet the State as discontent the party judged All have not the same measure of Christ. CHrist hath the fulnesse of Grace we but every one his proportion according to our capacities even as from the Sun every man receives a beam of the same kind though not the same beam or from a tree every Man gathereth an apple though not the same apple or out of a River every Man drinketh a draught of the same water but not the same draught of water Even so all do partake of the same Christ but not in the same measure And no Man whole Christ by whole I mean totum Christi though every man doth receive him whole that is totum Christum Every man hath Christ alike intensivè though extensivè all have him not alike and yet extensivè too every Man hath his full measure as it was in Manna He that gathered more had not too much and he that gathered less had enough Ministers to teach as well the practice as the knowledge of Religion A Discreet School-master doth not only teach his Schollers Grammer rules whereby for example true Latine may be made but he teacheth them also to make true Latine according to those Rules neither doth he think his paines bestowed to any purpose till his Schollers can do that Even so a discreet Minister must teach his people not onely how to know but how to do their duty to turn their Science into Conscience so to learn Christ as to become Christians Christians in S. Paulâ— sense For certainly he is a very trewant in Christ's School whose life doth not expresse his learning that is not a doer as well as a hearer of the Word Iustice described TRavailers write Nath Chytreus by name that in Padua Iustic◠〈…〉 in a publique place between a pair of scales and a sword aâ—cording to the old manner with these two Verses proceeding from her mouth Reddo cuique suum sanctis legibus omne Concilio mortale genus ne crimine vivat The Verses are but clowter-like unworthy such an University as Padua is renowned to be but the sense is good and for the shortnesse of them they may be the better remembred I give saith Iustice to every man his own I prâ—cure and win all men to be subject unto godly Lawes left otherwise they should prove criminall that is grievous transgressors Were it otherwise Servants would be on horse-back and Masters even Princes on foot Like People like Priest Like Buyer like Seller Like Borrower like Lender as Esay again saith Nay then no buyer no seller or borrower or lender but all upon snatching and catching and rifling and plundering and rapine and wrong and blood touching blood The Minister's labour though in succesful yet rewarded by God THe Minister's labour whether it hit or miss is accepted of the Lord l For as he who perswadeth to evill be it Heresie or Treason is punished accordingly although he do not prevail because he intended it because he did labour it So he that doth his best to win Men to Heaven though he effecteth not what he desired though he hath laboured in vain and spent his slrength in vain yet he shall be accepied and his reward shall be with his God The happy meeting of Body and Soul in the Resurrection WHen we pluck down a house with intent to new build it or repair the ruines of it we warne the Inhaditants out of it least they should be soyled with the dust and rubbish or offended with the noise and so for a time provide some other place for them but when we have new trimmed and dressed up the House then we bring them back to a better habitation Thus God when he overturneth this rotten roome of our flesh calleth out the Soul for a little time and lodgeth it with himselfe in some corner of his Kingdom but repairesh the bracks of our bodies against the Resurrection and then having made them decent yea glorious and incorruptible he doth put our Soules back again into their acquainted Mansions The Popes policy to advance his Holiness ONe Psapho dwelling in the parts of Lybia desirous to be canonized a God took a sort of prating birds and secretly taught them to sing this one note Psapho is a great God and having their lesson perfectly let them fly into the woods and hills adjoyning where continuing their song other birds by imitation learned the same till all the hedge-rowes rang with nothing but Psapho's diety The Country people hearing the Birds but ignorant of this fraud thought Psapho to be a God indeed and began to worship him The same is the Popes practice desirous to effect his ambition and shew himselfe to be a God he maintaines a sort of discontented English fugitives in his Seminaries as it were in so many cages where dyeting them for the nonce he easily teaches them what tune he pleaseth and having so done takes off their bâ—lls and sends them home again where filling every hedge and outhouse with their tunes no marvail if other birds of the samefeather and as wise as themselves by conversing with them do the like The power of Faith reviving the deadly sin-sick soul. VVHen the Israelites were in burying a Man for fear of the Souldiers of the Moabites they cast him for haste into the sepulchre of Elisha Now the dead Man assoon as he was down and had touched the body of the Prophet he recovered and stood upon his feet So let a Man that is dead in sin be cast into the grave of Christ that is let him by faith but touch Christ dead and buried it will so come to passe that he shall be raised from death and bondage of sin to become a new man To sin against the mercies of God is to double our Sins HE that sins against the mercies of God fights against God with his own weapons which must needs provoke God Suppose a Man should come into a Smiths shop and take up the Smiths own Hammer and knock him on the head this were to commit a double sin not onely to kill the Smith but to kill him with his own Hammer Such a double sin are they guilty of who the more wit they have the more they plot against God and the more wealth and health and honour they have the more they despise God and his Commandements with
ordinance to encrease goodnesse as wanting both his institution and benediction Profit is the great god 〈◊〉 the World IT was the usuall demand of one of the wisest amongst the Roman Judges Cossius sirnamed the Severe in all causes of doubt in matters of fact about the person of the Delinquent Cui bono who gained by the bargain on whose side lay the advantage assuring himself that no man of understanding would put himself into any dishonest or dangerous action without hopes of reaping some fruit by it As also that there can be no enterprise so beset with difficulties and dangers which some men for apparent hope of great gain and profit would not go through with And it is very true no arguments conclude so necessarily in the opinion of the greater part of men as that which is drawn ab utili Profit is the great god of the world Haec omnia tibi dabo was the Topick place the devill made use of above all other when he tempted our Saviour Profit is a bait that all bite at Hence is that Maxim of the Parthians Nulla sides nisi prout expedit No faith or keeping touch with any thing but as it maketh for advantage Iustice and honesty religion and conscience may be pretended but that which turneth the ballance and carryeth the greatest sway in all concernments is the matter of profit and emolument The poor distressed mans comfort by his appeal unto God AS a man that in some of the Courts is over-powerd in a just cause by a strong hand yet keeps up his hope so long as he hath liberty to make his appeal to a higher Court especially if he be confident of the sincerity of the Iudge to whom he is to make his appeal So those that are here oppressed rejected distressed are not therefore to be discouraged if at mans hand they receive little or no relief Why Because they may appeal unto God and they are sure to prevail with him according to the equity of their cause with him there is no respect of persons no accepting of bribes He is one who as he will not be corrupted so he cannot be deluded And that the poor may not alwaies be forgotten nor the hope of the oppressed perish for ever hath set down a certain day wherein he will without fail and without further delay if not before hear every mans cause right every mans wrong and do justice on every wrong-doer The Charity of former times abused in these times THe first Christians after the rage of persecution was over how open-handed were they in erecting and providing for places and persons dedicated unto Christ his service And as in other Countries so the good Christians of this Island have left honourable memorialls in their magnificent foundations and munificent endowments thereof many Millions have been that way expended at the foot of which account as a Schedule thereunto annexed is a bank of a million of mony not perfectly audited but flenderly cast up by an unskilfull hand in matter of account bestowed in the City of London and the two Universities in the last Century of years setting the rest of the Kingdom aside All these followed the rule of Gods law whatsoever they offered â—â—to him was 〈◊〉 of the 〈◊〉 But by the way it may be observed That the floud of our Ancestors liberalities rose not to so high a pitch but their posteritic's sacriledge hath taken it down to as low an ebbe And a saying of William Ruâ—us a great though no good King of this Island pleaseth too many that live on the spoils of the Church Christ's bread is sweet Covetousness and Contentment inconsistent IT is one property which they say is required of those who seek for the Philosophers Stone that they must not do it with any covetous desire to be rich for otherwise they shall never find it But most true it is that whosoever would have the Iewel of contentment which turns all into Gold yea want into wealth must come with minds devested of all ambitiâ—us and covetous thoughts else are they likely never to obtain it Not to be in love with Sinne. IT is observable that Xerxes bare a strange affection to the Plane tree which he hung about with chains and deck'd with Iewels of greatest price A fond and foolish affection as being to a â—reee such a tree as is good for nothing but to shade one out of the Sun This folly of so great a Monarch very well resembleth all those who are not guided by the spirit of God into the ways of Truth and Life but are led by the spirit of errour or by the errour of their own spirits to ungodly and sinful courses the very beaten paths to Hell and Death The Tree they are in love with and adorn and spend so much cost upon is the forbidden tree of sin altogether unfruitful as that of Xerxes it hath neither fair blossoms nor sweet fruit on it only it is well grown hath large arms and broad boughes and casteth a good shade or to speak properly a shadow of good a noysome or pesâ—ilent shade making the ground barren and killing the best plants of Vertues by depriving them of the sun-shine of Gods grace yet as divers Nations in the dayes of Pliny paid Tribute to the Romans for the shade of these Trees so do these Men pay for the seeming delight and pleasure of sin being indeed but a shadow of vanity to the Devil the greatest Tribute that can be paid even the Tribute of their most prectous souls The sad effests of a wounded Conscience IF a Man be sick wear he never so stately Roabs he minds them not have he never so dainty fair he rellisheth it not lay him in never so soft a bed yet he cannot rest his diseased body feels nothing but the afflicting peccant humour Even so when the remorse of Conscience works all our giâ—â—s and parts be they never so great appear not Riches though in great abundance satisfie not Honours Preferments though never so eminent advantage not though we have them all for the present yet we have not the use of them we see we hear but we feel nothing but sin as Experience reacheth them that have been distressed in this kind Multitudes of Times-servers VVEe read of an Earl of Oxford fined by King Henry the seventh fifteen thousand Marks for having too many Retainers But how many Retainers hath Time had in all ages and Servants in all Offices and Chaplains too upon occasion doing as the Times do not because the Times do as they should do but meerly for sinister Respects and by ends to ingratiate themselves Gods spiritual blessing upon a mans employment in his Calling AS the Sonnes of the Husbandman in the Fable who being told by their Father lying on his Death-bed that he left much Gold buried under the ground in his Vineyard fell a delving and
Nec propter deum haec res coepta est nec propter deum â—inietur c. This businesse was neither begun for God nor shall be ended for him Not to serve Time but Eternity VVHen the Master of the House failes the Family is out of order and at the point of dissolution So miserable will be the condition of base Time-servers when their great Master is taken from them and the Angel hath sworn That Time shall be no longer Rev. 10. 6. It is best therefore serâ—ing of him who is Eternity a Master that can ever protect us Gods tryal of his Children by Afflictions THe manner of the Psylli which are a kind of People of that temper and constitution that no venome will hurt them is that if they suspect any child to be none of their own they set an Adder upon it to sting it and if it cry and the flesh swell they cast it away as a spurious issue but if it never so much as quatch nor be the worse for it then they account it for their own and make very much of it In like manner Almighty God tryes his children by enduring crosses and afflictions he suffereth the old Serpent to sting them and bring troubles and sorrows upon them and if they patiently endure them and make good use of them he offereth himself to them as to his own children and will make them heirs of his Kingdom but if they fall a roaring and crying and storming and fretting and can no waies abide the pain he accompteth them as bastards and no children Heb. 12. 8. Cares and Crowns inseparable THe Emblem of King Henry the seventh in all his buildings in the windows was still a Crown in a bush of Thornes wherefore or with what historicall allusion he did so is uncertain but surely it was to imply thus much That great places are not free from great cares that no man knows the weight of a Scepter but he that swayes it This made Saul hide himselfe amongst the stuffe when he should have been made a King Many a sleepless night many a restless day and many a busie shift wil their ambition cost them them that affect such places of eminency besides Aulae culmen lubricum High places are slippery and as it is easie to fall so the ruine is deep and the recovery difficult God wills not the death of a sinner SHould a prisoner led to execution hear the Iudge or Sheriff call to him and say Turn back put in sureties for thy good behaviour hereaâ—ter and live would he not suddainly leap out of his fetters embrace the condition and thank the Iudge or Sheriff upon his bare knees And what can be thought if God should send a Prophet to preach a Sermon of repentance to the devills and say Knock off your bolts shake off your fetters and turn unto the Lord and live would not Hell be soon broke loose and rid before the Prophet could make an end of his exhortation Such a Sermon the Prophet Ezekiel now maketh to all sinners As I live saith the Lord I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked but that he turn from his waies and live Turn ye turn ye from your evill waies c. Ezek. 33. 11 18 30 31. Shake off the shakles of your sins quit the company of the prisoners of death and gally-slaves of Sathan put in sureties for your good behaviour hereafter turn to the Lord your God and live yea lâ—ve gloriously live happily live eternally Married men better Common-wealths-men than Batchelers 'T Is the policy of the Londoners when they send a ship into the Levant or Mediâ—erranean sea to make every Marriner therein a Merchant each sea-man â—â—venâ—uring somewhat of his own which will make him more wary to avoid and more valiant to undergo dangers Thus married men especially if having posterity are the deeper sharers in the State wherein they live which engagetâ— their affections to the greater loyalty And though Batchelers be the strongest stakes yet married men are the best binders in the hedge of the Common-wealth One foul sin spoyleth a great deal of grace WOuld it not vex a Scrivener after he had spent many daies and taken much pains upon a large Patent or Lease to make such a blot at the last word that he should be forced to write it all over again Yet so it is that one foul and enormous crime dasheth and obliterateth the fairest copy of a vertuous life it razeth all the golden characters of divine graces printed in the soul. As one drop of ink coloureth a whole glasse of clear water so one sinfull and shamefull action staineth all the fâ—rmer good life All our fastings and prayers all our sufferings for righteousnesse all the good thoughts we ever conceived all the good words we ever uttered all the good works we ever performed are lost at the very instant of our recidivation The benefit of keeping close to good Principles HE that intends to meet with one in a great Fair and knowes not where he is may sooner find him by standing still in some eminent place there than by trâ—versing it up and down Thus having taken thy stand upon some ground in Religion and keeping thy station in a fixed posture never hunting after the times to follow them 't is a hundred to one but they will come to thee once in thy life-time Do but fear God and reverence thy Superiours stick close to the principles of obedience to the one and â—â—â—pect to the other and it is more then an â—even lay that such as are given â—aâ—rdâ— châ—nge such as have betaken themselves to new lights in the waies of God 〈…〉 dispence with their engagement to him that is set over them will come abouâ— and begin to see at the last how they have been deluded The sinner's Memento BAlthazars quaffing in the Church-plate proved a fatall draught unto him Korah Dathan and Abiram had no sooner opened their rebellious mouths against Moses but the earth opened her mouth and swallowed them up quick Ananias and Saphira had no sooner told a lie and stand to it but they are struck dead to the ground Herod had scarcely made an end of his Oration to the People and received their applause but the Angel of the Lord smote him and made an end of him On that â—iâ—ners of all sorts blasphemous swearers bloody murtherers unclean adulterers and sacrilegious Church-robbers when the devill egges them on to any impiety or villany would but cast this rub in their way and say to themselves What if God should take me in the manner and strike me in the very act and cast me into the dungeon of hell there to be tormented with the devill and his angels for evermore Do I not provoke him to it do I not dare him hath he not threatned as much hath he not done as much That which is one mans case may be any
say the consideration of these things if they have any grace is matter enough to humble them Profession to be joyn'd with Practice IT is commonly seen upon those Bells that hang out for signes upon the one side is written Fear God on the other Honour the King Aaron the high Priest had upon his vestment Bells as well as Pomgranats O that those bells might strike on both sides with an holy profession which is one stroke and an holy conversation that 's another stroke While we onely say We fear God and glorifie Christ all this while the bell doth but toul it strikes but on one side But when we come to honour the King to do good to all men which is the practise and exercise of â—oly works then the bell rings out to Gods glory if otherwise we shall be no better then dissolute Choristers that sing Gloria Patri in the Queer but chant Carmina Bacchi in the Tavern And indeed to have a good heart to God as some speak and a leud life to the world as some suppose they may And that Intus si rectâ— non laborandum if all be well within they need care for no more so they wear holinesse next their skin no matter what prophane stuffe their lives be made of This is not to joyne profession and practice together Time to be well husbanded IN the Country if a man have a thousand acres of ground he can then spare so much of it to lie waste so much for a bouling-green so much for a tennis-court so much for a court-yard and so much for his mansion-house with the appurtenances thereunto belonging But let a poor man have but an hemp-pleck a small burgage or garden-plot he cannot spare one foot of it but looks to it and husbands it to the best advantage And so ought we to make much of that little time which we have in this world Hoc est momentum Eternity rides upon the back of Time then not to squander that little time away aut male aut nihil aut aliud agendo so that the candle of our life burning low we play it like foolish children out and then go darkling to bed comfortlesse to our graves The sad condition of Church and State not to be sleighted WHen the body of slaughtered Azahel was left in the high-way side there was not a man which came by but stayed When Iacob had the sight of Iosephs bloody coat he mourned and would go down into the grave after him refusing to be comfort The shewing of Caesars bloody robe in the market-place set all the Romans in a tumult And is it possible that any true hearted Christian now living can vvith drie eyes behold the scissures and maimes which every corner both of Church and State are subject to to see the tattered rags and relicks of a wounded bleeding dying Church to see Churches made dunghills and the Temple a stable for horses Horresco referens The stories of the Antients are full of examples of this nature and which is to be lamented we were not till of late years unfurnished therewith The great comfort of a good Conscience A Prisoner standing at the Bar in the time of his tryall seemed to smile when heavy things were laid against him one that stood by asked him Why he did smile O said he it is no matter what the Evidence say so long as the Iudge saies nothing And to speak truth it is no matter what the world saies so long as Conscience is quiet no matter how crosse the wheeles go so as the Clock strikes right unspeakable is the comfort of a good Conscience unconceivable is the joy when God and a good Conscience smile upon a Man in the midst of Reproach and trouble and false Imprisonment for those cannot be scandals where a good conscience speaks fair that cannot be a Prison where a good conscience is the Keeper but that 's a sad case when there are clamours abroad and a noyse within when a Man is outwardly smitten with bitter things and inwardly tormented with a guilty conscience Active Christians the onely Christians EPhorus an ancient Historian and Scholler to Isocrates had no remarkable thing to write of his Country and yet was willing to insert the name of it in his History and therefore brings it in with a cold Parenthesis Athens did this famous thing and Sparta did that And at that time my Conntry-men the Cumins did nothing God forbid that England and English-men should be so recorded in Ecclesiasticall story as to have their names put in with a blank Such a Church did thus nobly and such a People suffered thus pittifully and at that time the Men of England did just nothing to be more particular such a Man did so much and such a Man gave so much for the glory of Christ and succour of poor Christians and at that time thou didst nothing thou gavest nothing Thou professest thy selfe to be a Christian be an active Christian There be not onely walls upon Earth but a Book in Heaven wherein the names of Christian Benefactors are written let it be thy care of find thy name there otherwise it will be no more honour for thee to be put into the Chronicle than it was for Pontius Pilate to have his name mentioned in the Creed Sin not consented unto excusable before God IN Moses Law it is provided that if a woman being in the field shall be forced by a Man against her consent if she cry out the Man shall be adjudged to deathâ— but she shall be free as having done nothing worthy of death As it was well observed upon the Rape committed by Tarquin upon Lucretia that gallant Roman dame Duo fuerunt in actu c. there were two in the act and but one in the Adultery So that sinne which a Man abhorreth from his heart and consenteth not unto but so farre forth as infirmity and weaknesse of flesh gave way cannot properly be called his sinne but the Devils sin it being the Devills Rape upon the precious Soul for being tempted he cryes out unto the Lord for help his heart smites him speedily and he fals to Repentance immediately so that it is no more He but sin that dwelleth in him that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that other Law in the Membersâ— that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that body or remaines of sin according to which he is confident that God will not judge him but according to the better and sounder part which is that of the Spirit most prevailing within him Humility advanced THat little humi repens the Grashopper the silliest of all Creatures is for all that advanced in the principal City and in a principall street of that City and a principall building of that street and in a principall place of that building as a golden object of Magnificence to be
in the blessed Trinity cannot be separated from the Father but soon as even there was a Father if it may be so spoken of Eternity there was necessity of a Son and so he is co-eternall with him 4. As a Word is not expressed till it be cloathed with Air and articulated by the Instrument of speech So the Word of God which is the second person in the â—rinity was not manifested to the Sons of Men untill he was cloathed in flesh and born of the Virgin Mary True Christians are fruitfull Christians LOok where you will in Gods Book you shall never find any lively member of Gods Church any true Christian compared to any but a fruitfull Tree Not to a tall Cypress the Emblem of unprofitable honour nor to the smooth Ash the Emblem of unprofitable Prelacy that doth nothing but bear keyes nor to a double-coloured Poplar the Emblem of Dissimulation nor to a well-shaded Plain that hath nothing else but forme nor to a hollow Maple nor to a trembling Asp nor to a prickly Thorn nor to the scratching Bramble nor to any plant whatsoever whose fruit is not usefull and beneficiall but to the fruitfull Vine the fat Olive the seasonable Sapling planted by the Rivers of waters Yet it is most true that the goodly Cedars strong Elms fast-growing Willows sappy Sycamores and all the rest of the fruitfull Trees of the Earth i. all fashionable and barren Professors whatsoever they may shoot up in heighth spreadâ—ar â—ar shew fair but what are they good for Yes they may be fit for the forrest the ditches the hedge-rowes of the world not for the true saving soil of Gods Israel that 's a soyl of use and fruit that 's a place for none but Vines for trees of righteousnesse fruitfull trees fruitfull Christians He that abideth in me bringeth forth much fruit saith our Saviour Ioh. 15. 5. Christ making himself and all that be hath over to the good of his Church and People WE read in our Chronicles that Edwardâ—irnamed â—irnamed Ironside in whom England was lost and Knute the first Danish King after many encounters and equall fights at length embraced a present agreement which was made by parting England betwixt them two and confirmed by Oath and Sacrament putting on each others apparell and arms as a ceremony to expresse the attonement of their minds as if they had made transaction of their persons each to other Knute became Edmund and Edmund Knute Even such a change as it may be said is of apparell betwixt Christ and his Church Christ and every true repentant sinner he taketh upon him their sins and putteth upon them his righteousnesse He changeth their rags into robes their stained clouts into cleaner clothing He arraies them with the righteousnesse of the Saints that two-fold righteousnesse imputed and imparted that of Iustification and the other of Sanctification that is an under-coat this is an upper that clean and pure this white and bright and both from himself who is made unto them not onely Wisdom but Righteousnesse Sanctification and Redemption Yet further He puts upon his Church his own comelinesse decks his Spouse with his own Jewells as Isaac did Rebecca cloaths her with needle-work and makes her more glorious than Hester ever was in all her beauty and bravery rejoyceth over her as the Bridegroom over his Bride yea is ravish'd in his love to her with one of her eyes lifted up to him in prayer and meditation with one chain of her neck that very chain of his own graces in her How it is that every man hath one darling sin or other IT is a Maxim in Philosophy That though all the Individualls of one kind agree in one specificall Nature yet every one hath a particular difference whereby it is distinguished from another which is called Hecciety And so it is that though Originall sin be the seed of all kind of wickednesse and there cannot be an instance given of any horid crime in the world but this would carry a man unto it Yet this poyson in every man vents it self rather in one way then another so that there may be many sins acted in common by all yet severall men have their severall particular corruptions their Dalilahs their beloved sins which like the Prince of devills command all other sins As in every mans body there is a seed and principle of death yet in some there is a pronenesse to one kind of disease more then other that may hasten death So though the root of sin and bitternesse hath spread it self over all yet every man hath his inclinations to one kind of sin rather then another and this may be called a mans proper sin his evill way which unrepented of will inevitably draw down vengeance upon his head that hath it How to make a right use of Gods Promises IT is said of Tamar that when Iudah her father in law lay with her she took as a pledge his signet bracelets and staffe and afterwards when she was in great distress and ready to be burn'd as an Harlot she then brought out her staff and signet and bracelets and said By the man whose these are am I with child and thereby she saved her life So must all of us do in the time of health study our interest in the promises of the Gospell and in time of sicknesse live upon that we have so studied Then it is that we must bring forth the staff the signet and the bracelet produce our Evidences rely and make use of the Promises as so many spirituall props and butteresses to shore us up and keep us from falling into dispair of Gods mercies and love unto us in Christ Iesus God looking upon His Church with a more speciall eye of Providence THere is much waste ground in the world that hath no owner our Globe can tell us of a great part that hath no Inhabitant no name but Terra incognita unknown But a Vineyard was never without a possessour Come we into some wild Indian Forrest all furnished with goodly Trees we know not whether ever man were there Gods hand we are sure hath been there perhaps not mans But if you come into a well dressed Vineyard or Garden there you may see the hillocks equally swelling the stakes pitched in a just heighth and distance the vines handsomely pruned the hedge-rowes cut the weeds cast out Now we are ready to conclude as the Philosopher did when he found figures Here hath been a man and a good husband too Thus it is that as Gods Israel Gods Church is a Vineyard so we may safely conclude that it is Gods vineyard Gods Church God's in a more speciall manner It is true that there is an universall providence of God over all the world but there is a more especiall hand and eye of God over his Church in it God challengeth a peculiar interest Solomon may let out
Heroicall mind in him but sooner praised then followed and as St. Bernard said in another case exemplum alterius sâ—culi an Example fitter for a lesse corrupt age than this wherein we live It is well now if nothing be given or promised before hand The Rulers love to say with shame Bring ye Hos. 4. 13. The Iudge asketh for a Reward Mich. 7. 3. Many are the Gehezies that run after Rewards Many like Samuels two Sons turn aside after lucre and takes bribes to pervert Judgment 1 Sam. 8. 3. But where is the Man that like Samuel can say Whose Oxe have I taken or whose Ass have I taken or whom have I defrauded whom have I oppressed or of whose hands have I received any bribe to blind mine eyes therewith 1 Sam. 12. 3 Commendable silence IT was the wisdom of Sulpitius Severus who being deceived by the Pelagians and acknowledging the fault of his loquacity was carefull of silence afterwards unto his death and good reason too saies St. Ierom Ut peccatum quod loquendo contraxerat tacendo penitus emendaret That the sin which he had committed by over-speaking might be amended by holding his peace ever after Thus it may be often is the infirmity of the wisest to be too hasty in speech to be somewhat too forward in their expressions it must therefore be their wisdoms to shut the doors of their lips to be wary of what they say and to be more silent and watchfull over themselves for the time to come The distemper of Sin not easily cured IT is said of Nero's Quinquennium that it was such that in the excellency thereof as to the point of Government few of his Predecessors did ever equal him yet at last that which glistered so much did not prove to be true Gold He fell into courses most exorbitant and amongst the rest so shamelesse in his bribery and extortion that he could not passe an Office but he must be well pay'd for it before the Seal was gotten and then as a Trumpet of his own basenesse cry out to the party Scis quibus sit opus Thou knowest what I have need of And thus it is that when Men are distempered with sin habituated and as it were rooted in sin they are not very easily cured It is a difficulty to be weaned from the sweet breasts where Sin hath a long time sucked or to be divorced from those criminall courses to which a Man hath once espoused his affections Vices oft-times become Usages and a practised sinner is even incorrigible Ier. 4. 14. Ezck. 13. 27. Men to stand up for the credit of their places LEwis the 11th of France desiring to thrust an Abbot injuriously out of his place commanded him Cedere to give up his Right and to yeeld up the possession to one that he should nominate the Abbot thinking the King to have no absolute power to dispose of Church-rights without some high crime or the Parties voluntary consent resolutely told him That he had been forty years learning the two first letters of the Alphabet A. B. that is how to be made an Abbot and he should be forty years longer before he should learn the two next letters C. D. by which he meant C E D E that he could not understand how to yield up an Abboâ—ship so easily Thus it is that the greater Men are the greater care ought they to have in keeping up the credit of their places be as great as their Parentage and Pedigrees Ties and Titles be as great as their great Creaâ—or hath made them to be and as God hath had the bringing of them forth let not the Devill have the bringing of them up as they tender their dignities leave them as dignities lose not a cubit of their stature embesell not their stock lose their birth-right nor be inferiour to themselves as some in these dayes are that have such a Lethargy Vertigo or palpitation of the heart that they have forgotten every thing that should be near and dear unto them and even tremble to be their own Propugnators The great mystery of the Hypostaticall union in Christ shadowed out by way of Similitude MAny are the similitudes used by both ancient and modern Writers to illustrate the mysterious Union of God and Man in one Person of Iesus Christ our Mediator As that of the Body and Soul making but one Man Of the primordiall light in the first Creation and of the body of the Sun in which that light was afterwards seated both making one Luminary Of a sword fired and enflamed Of one Man having two accidentall formes or qualities as skill in Divinity and Physick Of a Cion or branch grafted into a Tree But these and some others have been long since noted as defective in one part or other That therefore of the Misletoe in the Oak or in the Apple-tree seemeth to hold out the best For First The Apple-tree and Misletoe are two perfect and different Natures in one Tree the Misletoe wanting no integrall part that belongs to Misletoe So the God-head and Manhood are two perfect and different Natures in one Person in one Christ our Lord. Secondly The Misletoe never had a separate and distinct subsistence of its own but onely subsistâ—th in union with the Apple-tree which susteyneth and mainâ—aineth it So the humane nature of Christ never had any distinct and separate subsisience of its own but from the first conception subsisted in union with the divine subsistence Thirdly The Apple-tree and Misletoe are so one Tree that their two different Natures are neither confounded together nor changed one into another to make up a third Nature but are so individually unitea that retaining their different Natures they are but one Tree So the two Natures of Christ are without confusion or commutation united in one person and yet still retain they reall differences Fourthly The Apple-trce and Misletoe though one Tree yet having different Natures bear different fruits as Apples and berries So the God-head and Manhood of Christ though but one Person yet being different Natures perform disinct actions peculiar to each of them Lastly As we may truly say by reason of this union This Apple-tree is a Misletoe and this Misletoe is an Apple-tree and consequently This Misletoe beareth Apples and this Apple-tree beareth Berries So we may truly say by reason of the personall union in God and Man in Christ This Son of Mary is the Son of God and this Son of God is the Son of Mary the Son of God was crucified and the Son of Mary created Heaven and Earth Rich men to consider their beginnings and be thankfull IT was the saying of Chrysostome to Gaynas the Arrian Bishop Cogita quo cultu transieris Histriam quibus nunc utaris vestibus c. Bethink thy selfe in what poor attire thou didst once pass through Histria and how richly thou art now
very Begger and hath nothing Just such is a Man that takes up a false perswasion of his effectuall Calling when God knows he is not called at all Or like a Man that is asleep upon the Mast of a Ship he is in a golden dream and his thoughts are all upon Kingdomes and thousands which he seemeth to have already in possession but happily or rather unhappily in that very moment wherein he solaceth himselfe in his imaginary happinesse a storm ariseth the Ship is in danger to be overwhelmed and the Man is tumbled into the Sea and so drowned Thus it is with many Men and Women they nourish golden dreams and have very strong hopes that Heaven is theirs and Christ theirs When as alass they do extreamly befool themselves being all this while upon the very brink of Hell and so are tumbled in before they be aware Sin committed with deliberation premeditation c. greatly provoke the Spirit of God AS it is with a Friend if you give him a blow at peradventure or strike him by chance though he may be very angry and take it ill at the first yet when he shall understand that it was done against your will he is soon pacified but if he perceive that you plot contrive his death that makes him look about him and resolve that he will never come into your company any more Thus it is with the blessed Spirit of God when he sees thee fall into sinne unadvisedly and inconsiderately he will not withdraw from thee for this but if he perceive that thou dost way-lay him dost deliberate and contrive sin this highly provokes him if not for ever yet for a long departure from thee Hence it is that a deliberate will to sinne without the Act is more sinfull then the Act of sin without a deliberate Will as in the case of St. Peter That Man does worse who purposeth to deny Christ though he never do it than St. Peter that did actually deny Christ and never intended it Let every Man therefore look to his purposes and deliberations for if he sin deliberately and advisedly the Holy Ghost is highly provoked and he is upon the very next step to the sin of those against whom the Prophet prayes Lord be not mercifull to those that sin maliciously A Reprobate and Regenerate Man their different enjoyment of the motions of the holy Spirit WIcked Men sayes one partake of the Spirit as Cooks do of the meat they dresse they taste as much onely as will relish their palates but do not eat so much as will fill their bellies whereby Nature may be strengthned and refreshed But the Regenerate are as the invited guests and they not onely taste the meat prepared but also make a full meal thereof Wicked Men they have but a taste onely They are just like Men going by an Apothecaries shop they may smell the sweet scents of his Pots but it is the sick Patient that gets benefit by his Cordials Thus it is with the wicked God may and doth give them tasts of his Spirit but they have not so much as will do their Soules good thereby It is only the Godly that have the saving participations of Grace here and shall be sure of the fulnesse of Glory hereafter The motions of Gods Spirit in wicked Men tend to outward formality IT is reported of one that could fast seven days in a Monastery but not half a day in the Wildernesse and being asked the reason He gave this answer When I fast in the Monastery I feed upon vain-glory and the applause of Men but not so in the Wildernesse It is just so with many Professors The motions of Gods Spirit in them are such as tend to formality such as put them upon outward and visible good but never upon inward and secret duties as to examine their hearts to watch over their waies and to keep close communion with God in secret As it is said of the Nightingale that if it see a Man listen to her it will sing the more sweetly So they are better to Men then they are to God and devouter in the Church then they are in the Closet they are for good things done in publique not in private so as Men applaud them they care not what or who it is that disallowes them How it is to be understood That the Holy Spirit dwelleth in us THe Sun that is in the firmament we use to say is in such a part of the house or in such a window but when we say so we do not mean that the body of the Sun is there but onely that the light heat or influence of the Sun is there So though the Scripture telleth us That the Holy Ghost or Spirit dwelleth in us the meaning is not that the Essence or Person of the Holy Ghost is in us as the Familists would have it but onely the Motions and Graces of the Spirit are there guiding governing and sanctifying our Words and Works which otherwise of themselves would be but vain and foolish The meaning therefore of those two places in the Apostle Ye are the Temple of the Holy Ghost 1 Cor. 6. 19. and the Holy Ghost dwelleth in you 2 Tim 1. 14. are not literally but Metaphorically to be understood as many other expressions of the like kind in the Book of God are to be To take heed of smaller sinnes as bringing on greater THere is a story of a young Man that was tempted by the Devill and his own wicked heart to commit three sins as to kill his Father lye with his Mother and to be drunk The two former he would by no means do as being things abhorrent to Nature but thought he I will yield to the last because it was the least which was enough for being drunk he killed his Father and ravished his own Mother Here now were two horrid ugly sinnes Murther and Incest ushered in by one that was not of so deep a dye It concerns us then to take heed of falling into lesser sinnes they being as in lets to greater A little Thief put in at the window may open the doors for stronger and greater to come in A wedge small and thin in one part makes way for a greater and little sinnes will draw us on to greater our own hearts will prompt us to all sinne at first but will labour to draw us on by degrees from lesser sinnes to greater from sinnes lâ—sse obnoxious to sinnes more scandalous untill we be become abhominable therein and so without Gods mercy perish everlastingly Corruption of Nature left even in the most Regenerate Men to humble them GOd hath so ordered it in Nature that Creatures of the greatest excellency should have some manifest deformity Whether it be in Birds or Beasts Among birds the Peacock a bird of the gayest feathers yet it hath the foulest feet The Swan a bird of
a nayl in the work yet all serve for the good of the building The least starre gives light the least drops moystens the least Minister is no lesse then an Angell the least nayl in the Ministery serves for the fastning of Souls unto Christ there is some use to be made even of the lowest parts of Men the weakest Minister may help to strengthen ones Faith Though all are not Apostles all are not Evangelists all have not the same dexterous abilities in the Work yet all edifie And oftentimes so it cometh to passe that God crowns his labours and sends most Fish into his net who though he may be lesse skilfull is more faithfull and though he have lesse of the brain yet he may have more of the Heart and therefore not to be contemned The Minister and Magistrate to go hand in hand together IT is reported of Queen Elizabeth that coming her progresse into the County of Suffolk when she observed that the Gentlemen of the County who came out to meet her had every one his Minister by his side said Now I have learned why my County of Suffolk is so well governed it is because the Magistrates and Ministers go together And most true it is That they are the two leggs on which a Church and State do stand And whosoever he be that would saw off the one cannot mean well to the other An Anti-Ministerial spirit is an Antimagistratical spirit The Pulpit guards the Throne Be but once perswaded to take that away and you give the Magistrates Enemies room to fetch a full blow at them as the Duke of Somerset in King Edward the sixth's dayes by consenting to his Brother's death made way for his own by the same ax and hand The great danger in commission of little Sins WHat is lesser then a grain of â—and yet when it comes to be multiplyed What is heavier then the Sands of the Sea A little sum multiplyed riseth high So a little Sin unrepented of will damn us as one leak in the Ship if it be not well lookt to will drown us Little Sins as the World calls them but great Sins against the Majesty of God Almighty who doth accent and inhance them if not repented of One would think it no great matter to forget God yet it hath an heavy doom attending on it Psal. 50. 22. The non-improvement of Talents the non-exercising of Graces the World looks upon as a small thing yet we read of him that hid his Talent in the earth Matth. 25. 25. he had not spent it onely not trading it is senâ—enced such and so great is the danger of the least Sin whatsoever The Worldling's inordinate desires And why so THe Countryman in the Fable would needs stay till the River was run all away and then go over dry-shod but the River did run on still and he was deceived in his expectation Such are the Worldling's inordinate desires the deceitfull heart promiseth to see them run over and gone when they are attained to such a measure and then they are stronger and wider more impotent and unruly then before For a Covetous heart grasps at no lesse then the whole World would fain be Master of all and dwell alone like a Wen in the body which drawes all to it self let it have never so much it will reach after more adde house to house and field to field till there be no more place to compasse like a bladder it swells wider and wider the more of this empty World is put into it so boundlesse so endlesse so inordinate are the corrupt desires of Worldly-minded Men. To beware of masked specious Sins IT is said of Alcibiades That he embroydered a Curtain with Lyons and Eagles the most stately of Beasts and birds that he might the more closely hide the picture that was under full of Owls and Satyrs the most sadly remarkable of other Creatures Thus Satan embroyders the Curtain with the image of virtue that he may easily hide the foul picture of Sin that is under it Sin that in the eye of the World is looked on as Grace coloured and masqued over with Zeal for God good intentions c. such as hath a fine glosse put upon it that it may be the more vendible Wherein the Devill like the Spider first she weaves her Web and then hangs the Fly in it So he helps Men to weave the web of Sin with specious shews and Religious pretences and then he hangs them in the snare and sets all their Sins in order before them No true Happinesse to be found in the best of Creatures here below SOlomon having made a Critical enquiry after the excellency of all Creature-comforts gives this in as the Ultimate extraction from them all Vanity of vanities all is vanity And have not all of us great experience how loose the World hangs about us If you go to the Creature to make you happy the Earth will tell you that happinesse growes not in the â—urrows of the Field the Sea that it is not in the Treasures of the deep Cattel will say It is not on our backs Crowns will say It is too pretious a gem to be found in us we can adorn the head but we cannot satisfie the heart It is true that these Worldly earthly things can benefit the outward and the Natural Man but to look for peace of Conscience â—oy in the Holy Ghost inward and durable comfort in any thing which the World affords is to seek for treasure in a Cole-pit a thing altogether improbable to be found there How it is that Faith challengeth a superiority above other Graces TAke a piece of Wax and a piece of Gold of the same Magnitude the Wax is not valuable with the Gold but as this Wax hangs at the labell of some Will by vertue of which some great Estate is confirmed and conveyed so it may be worth many hundred pounds So Faith considered purely in it self doth challenge nothing more then other Graces nay in some sense it is inferiour it being an empty hand But as this hand receives the pretious Alms of Christ's Merits and is an Instrument or channel thorow which the blessed streams of life flow to us from him so it doth challenge a superiority over and is more excellent then all other Graces whatsoever Men not living as if they had Souls to save reproved SOcrates in his time wondred when he observed Statuaries how careful they were and how industrious to make stones like Men and Men in the mean time turning themselves into very blocks and stones The case is ours Men walk not as Men that have Souls to be saved many walk as if they had nothing but bellies to fill and backs to cloath fancies to be tickled with vanity eyes and ears to look after pleasure brains to entertain empty notions and tongues to utter them as for their Souls
a true value upon them make a true estimate of them and as much as in us lyeth to be mindfull of them comfortable to them and willing on all occasions to do them good Love Vnity and Peace the best supporters of Kingdoms Common-weals c. THere is mention made of a dispute betwixt Mars and Pallas which of them should have the honour to give the name to the City of Athens at length it was resolved That he should give the name who could find out that which might most conduce to the benefit of the City Hereupon Mars presents them with a stately horse which signified Wars Divisions Tumults c. but Pallas came in with an Olive branch the Emblem of Peace Love and Unity the City chose Pallas to be their guardian rightly apprehending That Love unity and peace would make most to their prosperity and safety And questionlesse great must needs be the happinesse of that Nation Kingdom or Common-weal where they are made supporters Love and Unity to cement all affections and Peace to compose all differences that can be found amongst them Self-seekers reproved IT is reported of one Cnidius a skilfull Architect who building a sumptuous house or Watch-tower for the King of Egypt to discover the dangerous rocks by night to the Mariners caused his own name to be engraven upon a stone in the wall in great letters and afterwards covered it with Lime and morter and upon the out-side of that wrote the name of the King of Egypt in golden letters as pretending that all was done for his honour and glory But herein was his cunning he very well knew that the dashing of the water would in a little time consume the plaistering as it did and then his name and memory should abide and continue to after-generations Just thus there are many in this Nation of ours who in their outward discourse and carriage pretend to seek onely the glory of God the good of his Church and the happinesse of the State but if there were a window to look into their hearts we should find nothing there written but self-love self-interest and self-seeking Many such would be found out who instead of loving God to the contempt of themselves love themselves to the contempt of God Many who seek their own and not the things of Jesus Christ or which is as bad if not worse who seek their own under the hypocritical pretence of seeking the things of Iesus Christ. How it is that Men are so much mistaken in the thoughts of long life IT fareth with most Mens lives as with the sand in an hypocritical hour-glasse look but upon it in outward appearance and it seemeth far more then it is because rising up upon the sides whilest the sand is empty and hollow in the midst thereof so that when it sinks down in an instant a quarter of an hour is gone in a moment Thus it is that many men are mistaken in their own accompt reckoning upon threescore and ten years the age of a Man because their bodies appear strong and lusty Alas their health may be hollow there may be some inward infirmity and imperfection unknown to them so that Death may surprize them on a sodain The generality of Men nothing mindfull of Death THere is a Bird peculiar to Ireland called The Cock of the wood remarkable for the fine flesh and folly thereof All the difficulty to kill them is to find them out otherwise a mean marks-man may easily dispatch them They fly in woods in flocks and if one of them be shot the rest remove not but to the next bough or tree at the farthest and there stand staring at the shooter till the whole covey be destroyed yet as Foolish as this bird is it is wise enough to be the Emblem of the wisest Man in the point of Mortality Death sweeps away one and one and one here one and there another and all the rest remain no whit moved or minding of it till at last a whole generation is consumed and brought to nothing Beloved Sins hardly parted withall LOok but upon a Rabbets skin how well it comes off till it come to the head and then there is haling and pulling and much ado before it stirs So it is that a Man may crucifie a great many lusts subdue abundance of imperfections and may perform many good duties and all this while come smoothly off but when it comes once to the head to the Dalilah the darling the bosome beloved Sin then there is tugging and pulling great regret loath to depart but if God have any interest interest in such a Soul he will pull the skin over his ears either break his neck or his heart before that any such Sin shall reign in his mortal body or have any dominion over him The Wicked Rich Mans sad condition at the time of Death IT is observable That a Sumpter-horse or a pack-horse which all the day long hath gone nodling with abundance of treasure hath at night all taken from him and been turn'd a grazing or put into a stable so that all the benefit he hath gain'd by it is that he hath onely felt the weight of it and probably got a gall'd back for his labour Thus many rapacious wretched rich Men such as are little better then pack-horses that all their lise long carry the things of this World lade themselves with thick clay rise early and late and eat the bread of carefulnesse to get a little pelf and a gall'd Conscience to boot are on a sudden either for ill using or ill getting their wealth turned unlesâ—e God be more mercifull into a filthy stable into Hell where their pay is everlasting torment Conscience spoils the wicked Mans mirth THere is a story of one who undertook in few daies to make a fat sheep lean and yet was to allow him a daily and large provision of Meat soft and easy loding with security from all danger that nothing should hurt him This he effected by putting him into an iron grate and placing a ravenous Woolf hard by in another alwaies howling fighting senting scratching to come at the poor sheep which affrighted with this sad sound and worse sight had little joy to eat lesse to sleep whereby his Flesh was sodainly abated And thus it is that all wicked Men have the terrours of an affrighted Conscience constantly not onely barking at them but biting of them which spoils all their mirth dis-sweetens their most delicious pleasures with the sad consideration of the Sins they have committed and punishment they must undergo when in another World they shall be called to an accompt for what they have done here in the Flesh. Sathans subtilty in laying his Temptations AN Enemy before he besiegeth a City surroundeth it at a distance to see where the wall is the weakest best to be battered lowest easiest to be scaled
ditch narrowest to be bridged shallowest to be waded over what place is not regularly fortified where he may approach with least danger and assault with most advantage So Sathan walketh about surveying all the powers of our Souls where he may most probably lay his temptations as whether our Understandings are easier corrupted with errour or our Fancies with levity or our Wills with frowardnesse or our Affections with excesse c. How it is that Soul and Body come to be both punished together IT is mentioned of two Travellers that walked together to the same City whereof the one was wise the other foolish And when they came where two wayes met the one broad and fair the other strait and foul the Fool would needs go the broader way but the Wise man told him though the narrow way seemed foul yet was it safe and would bring them to a good lodging and the other seeming fair was very dangerous and brought them to a desperate Inn yet because the Fool would not yield to any reason but believed what he saw with his eyes rather then what he heard with his ears The Wise man for companies sake was contented to go the worser way and being both robbed by thieves detayned in their company and at last apprehended with the Robbers and carried before the Magistrate these two began to accuse one another and each to excuse himself The Wiseman said he told his fellow the dangers of that broad way and therefore he onely was to be blamed because he would not yeild unto his Counsell but the Fool had so much wit to reply That he was a very silly Creature and knew neither the way nor the dangers of the way and therefore â—e was to be excused and the wise Man to be condemned because he would follow such a Fools counsell Whereupon the Judg having heard them both condemned them both the Fool because he refused to follow the Counsell of the Wise and the Wise Man because he would not forsake the Fools Company So it is that when the Soul which is the Wise man and doth know the dangerous issues of the wayes of death and Sin and the pleasant fruits of Vertue and goodnesse will notwithstanding follow the vain delights of Foolish Flesh and walk in the paths of unrighteousnesse no marvell if the righteous Judg condemn both body and Soul together A blessed thing to have Riches and a Heart to use them aright IT is credibly reported of M. Thomas Sutton the sole Founder of that eminent Hospitall commonly known by his name that he used often to repair into a private garden where he poured forth his prayers unto God and amongst other passages was frequently over-heard to use this expression Lord thou hast given me a liberall and large estate give me also a heart to make good use thereof which at last was granted to him accordingly And thus without all doubt a great blessing it is for any Man to have Riches and a heart to use them aright to be rich as well in Grace as in Gold rich in good works as great in riches not so much a Treasurer as a Steward whose praise is more to lay out well then to have received much otherwise he may have Riches not goods not blessings his burthen would be greater then his estate and he richer in sorrows then in mettals The great danger of Use in jesting at Religion and Piety WHen Iulian the Apostata had received his deaths wound he could not but confesse that the fatall arrow which shot him came from Heaven yet he confessed it in a phrase of scorn Vicisti Galilaee The day is thine O Galilean and no more not as he should have said Thou hast accomplished thy purpose O my God O my Maker O my Redeemer but in a style of contempt Vicisti Galilaee and no more And thus it is that many who have used and accustomed their mouths to Oaths and blasphemies all their lives have made it their last syllable and their last gasp to swear they shall dye And others there are too that enlarge and ungird their wits in jesting at Religion and Goodnesse but what becomes on 't they passe away at last in negligence of all spiritual assistances and scarcely find half a minute betwixt their last jest here in this life and their everlasting earnest in that which is to come Service of God perfect Freedome AS a Man that buyeth Freehold-land though he pay dear for it yet it is accompted cheaper and a far better purchase then if he had laid out his money upon that which is held by Coppy of Court-role And why so because it freeth him from many services and duties which Coppy-hold-Land is obliged unto all which the Lord of the Mannour may justly challenge according to custome So it is that the service of God is perfect freedome and will free a Man from all other services whatsoever so that be but a true servant of God whosoever thou art thou art free indeed free from the service of Sin and Sathan and free from all those domineering lusts that would fain be ruling in thy mortall body but on the contrary if thou be not a true servant of Jesus Christ thou shalt be a slave to every thing besides him Either thy belly will be thy God or thy Gold will be thy God Pleasures Profits Preferments all that is besides God will put in to make up a God And then O quam multos habet ille Dominos qui unum non habet How many Lords must that Man needs have that hath not God for his Lord and Master The excellency of Resolution in the cause of God EXcellent is the story of St. Basil who when the Emperour sent to him to subscribe to the Arrian heresy The Messenger at first gave him good language and promised him great preferment if he would turn Arrian To which Basil replied Alas these speeches are fit to catch little Children withall that look after such things but we that are nourished and taught by the Holy Scriptures are readier to suffer a thousand deaths then to suffer one syllable or tittle of the Scripture to be altered The Messenger offended with his boldnesse told him he was mad He answered Opto me in aeternum sic delirare I wish I were for ever thus mad Here was a stout resolved Christian that Luther-like opposed all the World of contradiction And such another was Nehemiah who met with so much opposition that had he not been steeled by a strong and obstinate resolution he could never have rebuilded the Temple but would have sunk in the midst of it Such a one was David that would not be hindred from fighting with Goliah though he met with many discouragements And it is heartily to be wished that God would make us all such i. e. resolved Christians to put on divine fortitude and Christian resolution which if
tormented The great danger of not reconciling our selves unto God SIr Thomas Moor whilest he was a Prisoner in the Tower would not so much as suffer himself to be trimmed saying There was a controversie betwixt the King and him for his head and till that was at an happy end he would be at no cost about it Let us but scum off the froth of his Wit and we may make a solemn use of it For certainly all the cost we bestow upon our selves to make our lives pleasurable and joyous to us is but meer folly till it be decided what will become of the Suit betwixt God and us what will be the issue of the Controversie that God hath against us and that not for our heads but Souls whether for Heaven or Hell Were it not then the wisest course to begin with making our peace and then we may soon lead a happy life It is said He that gets out of debt growes rich Most sure it is that the pardoned soul cannot be poor For as soon as the Peace is concluded a Free Trade is opened between God and the Soul If once pardoned we may then sail to any Port that lies in Gods dominions and be welcome where all the Promises stand open with their treasure and say Here poor Soul take full lading in of all pretious things even as much as thy Faith can bear and carry away Ringleaders of Faction and Schism their condition deplorable VVHat would the Prince think of that Captain who instead of encouraging his Souldiers to fall on with united Forces as one Man against the Common enemy should make a speech to set his Souldiers together by the ears amongst themselves surely he would hang him up for a Traytor Good was Luther's prayer A Doctore glorioso à Pastore contentioso et Inutilibus quaestionibus liberet Ecclesiam Deus From a vain-glorious Doctor a contentious Pastor and nice questions the Lord deliver his Church And we in these sad times have reason to say as hearty an Amen to it as any since his age Do we not live in a time when the Church is turn'd into a Sophister's School where there is and hath been such a wrangling and jangling that the pretious truths of the Gospel are lost to many already whose eyes are put out with the dust these contentions have raised and they have at last fairly disputed themselves out of all their sober Principles as some ill husbands that light among cunning Gamesters and play away all their money out of their purses Woe then to such vile Men who have prostituted the Gospel to such Divellish ends God may have mercy on the cheated Souls to bring them back to the love of the Truth But for the cheaters such as have been the Ring-leaders into Faction and Schism they are gone too far toward Hell that we can look for their return When it is that a Man is said to thorowly forsake his Sin EVery time a Man takes a journey from home about businesse we do not say he hath forsaken his house because he meant when he went out to come to it again No but when we see a Man leave his house carry all his goods away with him lock up his doors and take up his abode in another place never to dwell there more this Man may very well be said to have forsaken his house indeed Thus it is that every one of us are to forsake sin so as to leave it without any thought of returning to it again It were strange to find a Drunkard so constant in the exercise of that Sin but sometimes you may find him sober and yet a drunkard he is as if he were then drunk Every one hath not forsaken his Trade that we see now and then in their Holy-day Suit then it is that a Man is said to forsake his Sin when he throwes it from him and bolts the door upon it with a purpose never to open any more unto it Ephraim shall say What have we to do any more with Idols Hos. 14. 8. Mortification the excellency thereof THere is mention made of one of the Cato's That in his old age he drew himself from Rome to his Country-house that he might spend his elder years free from care and trouble And the Romans as they did ride by his house used to say Iste solus scit Vivere This Man alone knowes how to live What art Cato had to disburthen himself by his retirement of the Worlds cares is altogether unknown But most sure it is that a Man may go into the Country and yet not leave the City behind him his mind may be in a crowd while his body is in the solitude of a wildernesse Alas poor Man he was a stranger to the Gospel had he been but acquainted therewith it could have shewed him a way out of the crowd of all Worldly employments even in the midst of Rome it self and that is by mortifying his heart to the World both in the pleasures and troubles thereof And then that high commendations That he alone knew how to live might have been given him without any hyperbole at all For to speak truth He onely knowes aright how to live in the world that hath learnt to die to the World such is the excellency of Mortification Consideration of the brevity of life to work the heart of Man to Contentment IF a Traveller hath but enough to bring him to his journeys end he desires no more We have but a day to live and perhaps we may be now in the twelfth hour of that day And if God give us but enough to bear our charges till night it is sufficient Let us be content If a Man had the Lease of an House or Farm but for two or three dayes and he should fall a building and planting would he not be judged very indiscreet So when we have but a short time here and Death calls us presently off the stage to thirst immoderately after the World and pull down our Souls to build up an estate were it not extream Folly Therefore as Esau said once in a prophane sense concerning his birth-right Lo I am at the point to die and what profit shall this birth-right do to me So let us all say in a Religious sense Lo I am even at the point of Death my grave is going to be made and what good will the World do me If I have but enough till Sun-setting I am content The Scripture discovering Satan and Sin in its colours IT is reported That a certain Iew should have poysoned Luther but was happily prevented by his picture which was 〈◊〉 to Luther with a warning from a Faithfull friend that he should take heed of such a Man when he saw him by which he knew the Murtherer and so escaped his hands Thus it is that the Word of God shews us the face of those lufts which
the Southwind of Prosperity blowing honours riches and preferment into his lap had need of a good Pilot the special Counsel of God to lead him and the extraordinary mercies of God to support him if ever he intend to arrive at the port of eternall blisse Whereas he that sets out whilest the North-wind of Adversity and trouble beats fiercely upon him minds his way rides through the storm well knowing that the way to Heaven is by the gates of Hell and that by many tribulations he must and shall at last enter into happinesse Every Wicked Man a curse to the place he lives in BIas the Philosopher being at Sea in a great Tempest with a number of odd fellowes some of them very rake-shames and naught they began as men in such a case usually do to call upon the gods which he perceiving comes to them and saith Sirs hold your peace lest the gods take notice that you are here and so not onely you but we also suffer for your sakes And it is observed that S. Iohn leap'd out of the Bath because Cerinthus was there his reason was leâ—t the Bath should fall for his sake onely being a wretched blasphemous Heretick Thus it is that a Wicked Man though he thinks he hurt no body but himself is a Plague and a curse to the place he lives in let him be never so Noble never so Honourable potent or wealthy if he be a prophane Man a lewd loose Libertine he engageth the place of his abode to the wrath of God and hastneth his Judgments thereon The Souls restlesnesse till it be united unto Christ. A Virgin being espoused to one that is shipt for the East-Indies or some such long-winded Voyage if she do indeed faithfully and unfeignedly affect him though she joy to read a letter or to see some token from him yet it is nothing in that kind that can give her contentment Nil mihi rescribas nothing will serve her turn but his presence O how she hearkens after the Ships for his return and joyes to think of that day wherein they shall be so fast knit together that nothing shall separate them but Death Thus the Christian Soul contracted to Christ may receive many favours and love-tokens from him such as are all the blessings she enjoyeth whether spiritual or temporal yet they cannot all of them give any true contentment but help rather to enflame her aâ—â—ection towards him and make her if she sincerely love him as she professâ—th and pretendeth to do the more earnestly and ardently to long for that day wherein she shall be inseparably linked unto him and everlastingly enjoy his personal presence which above all things she most earnestly desireth Partiality of affection in hearing Sermons condemned A Scholler coming to Paul's Church-yard asked a Book-seller Whether he had Abulensis Works and the Man said No but he had Tostatus which was as good The Scholler replyed Tostatus would do him no good unlesse he had Abulensis which indeed was the same book Alphonsus Tostatus being Episcopus Abulensis Bishop of Avila in Spain Thus it is with the partiall and prejudicate opinions and fancies of many Men and Women when they rather respect quis praedicat then quid praedicatur who preacheth then what is preached For if the self-same Sermon were preached by divers Men the Sermon should never be respected according to its worth but according to the fancy opinion and affection which they hear unto the deliverer because commonly they know no other difference but the names voyces and faces of their Teachers Sure it is that Christ made the best Sermons that ever were preached and yet they were not best liked because they liked not the Preacher Every Man to confesse that his own Sin is the cause though not alwaies the occasion of punishment IT is said of Prince Henry that delitiae generis humani that darling of Mankind as it was once said of Titus Vespasianus whose death was then to this Kingdom as so much of the best blood let out of the veins of Israel When it was told him That the sins of the People caused that affliction on him O no said he I have sins enow of mine own to cause that So should we all confesse though God take occasion by another Man's sin or by the neglect of another person to fire my house yet the cause is just that it should be so and that I my self have deserved it whatsoever the occasion be God had cause against the seventy thousand that dyed of the Plague though Davids sin were the occasion yet the meritorious cause was in them therefore whensoever it pleaseth God to lay his hand of anger upon us though another may be the occasion yet Ille ego qui feci let every Man in particular acknowledge that it is he that hath sinned and so justifie God in his sayings and clear him when he is judged Ministers of the Gospel to be of godly lives and conversations AS the Iews in their preparation to the Passeover did for four hours search out all leaven out of their houses and then for two hours cast it out and lastly cursed all the Leaven that they had not seen and could not find So let all the Priests of the Lords house all the Ministers of the Gospel of Iesus Christ be carefull to search to purge and to execrate all the leaven of wilful and reigning Sin and to oppose and mortifie the least sins that so they may be Priests after Gods own heart Stars in Gods right hand such as Greg. Nazianzene of whom Basil speaks that he did thunder in his doctrine and lighten in his conversations and that having an inward principle of the light of Holinesse in them from Christ they may shine out holily unto others not onely in the Pulpit and prayer but in the whole course of their life 's also The right use of humane Learning MAgnus a Roman Orator accused S. Hierome for bringing too many uncircumcised Greeks into the Temple and by that means defiling candorem Ecclesiae sordibus Ethnicorum the unstained candor of the Church of Christ with the impure sentences of Heathen Orators But the good Father with sufficient Reason doth clear himself from those aspersions And so it is to be desired that every one may do the like and not to shew themselves to be greater disciples of Nature then Schollers of Grace or to have studied more in the School of Humanity then in the University of Divinity because humane Learning is to be used not as the means to satisfie our stomach but as the sauce to provoke our appetite not to adde strength unto the Truth but ornament to our speech being as it were Trimming to a plain suit and garnish to a good dish of meat And indeed to speak the best of it It is but a learned kind of Ignorance which yet being guided and bridled by the Spirit of
as no sins at all but at the time of our dissolution when we are ready to touch upon the brink of Death then sin appears in its colours in its true proportion small ones so great in the magnitude light ones so ponderous in the weight that the poor miserable Sinner finds them a burthen unsupportable too heavy for him to bear and looking about for help cryes out with S. Paul Miserable Man that I am Who shall deliver me c. Rom. 8. Godlinesse a very gainful Trade A Merchant that drives a rich Trade will by a bargain in one Morning get an hundred pounds or more whereas many other poor People are fain to work hard to get a shilling or eighteen pence a day Now every one would be of the gaining side It is the common voice of Nature Who will shew us any good How shall we come to be Rich Oh prize the Trade of Godlinesse then therein is great gain to be had As for the Works of Morality and common grace they are like the Trade of the poor labouring Man that earns some small matter that works hard and gets onely some outward blessings from God but Godlinesse is a full Merchants Trade that brings in hundreds and thousands at a clap and such a Trade God would have us set our hearts upon to look after great and glorious things As Cleopatra that Egyptian Princess said to Marcus Antonius It was not for him to fish for gudgeons but for Towns Forts and Castles so it is not for those that are acquainted with the wayes of Godlinesse to be trading for poor things for temporal transitory trash but for eternal life glory and Immortality Consideration of our secret Sins a motive to Compassionate others WE may read of a Iudge in the Primitive times who when he was seriously invited to the place of Judgment to passe Sentence upon another withdrew himself and at last being earnestly pressed came with a bag of sand upon his shoulders to the Iudgment Seat saying You call me to passe Iudgment upon this poor Offender How can I do it when I my self am guilty of more sins then this bag hath sands in it if the World saw them all This was not so well done as a publique Magistrate being invited to do Iustice yet as becoming a Conscionable Christian. And thus ought all good Men to do the consideration of their bosome Sins should work in them Compassion towards others saying within themselves Can I be as Judah to cry out upon Tamar Let her be burnt when I remember the Ring and the Staffe laid in pawn to her in secret How can I be extream against my weak brother when if my faults were written on my forehead I might deserve as severe a censure my self Ministers to preach the Gospel notwithstanding the discouragements of their Auditory And why so TUlly maketh mention of Antimaâ—hus a famous Poet of his time who having penn'd some excellent quaint Piece read it openly before a Iudicious Auditory but whether through disaffection to the Person or disregard of the Poem they all left him except Plato which he perceiving resolved to go on with this confidence that Plato being there alone he cared not though all the rest were absent Thus Ministers are to preach the Gospel of Christ though they 〈◊〉 with many discouragements to the work of their Ministery though the Congregation be so thin that there may seem to be more Pews and Pillars in the Church then People and they as stupid and senselesse in the matter of attention as the Seats they sit on some high-way side some thorny some rocky hearers yet for all that there may be one Plato one good grounded Hearer who may prove the Crown of all his labours and in whose conversion he shall have much cause of rejoycing before Men and Angels in Heaven The mis-giving Thoughts of a Worldly-minded Man in reference to the enjoyment of Heaven A Begger asking an Alms if a Man put his hand in his pocket and take out a penny or two pence he hath hope to have that but if he chance to pull out a piece of gold then his heart fails because it is too much Cast a bone to a dog he falls to it presently but for a joynt of meat before him well drest in a fair large dish he dares not venture upon that So for these sublunary things as Riches Honours and preferments such as God casts many times to dogs Worldly men may fall upon them and think they are for their â—ooth but when they come to the dainties and infinite treasures of God Can a Drunkard that prizeth nothing but a little swilling drink Can a swinish filthy base low-spirited Man that never minded any thing but the satisfying of his unclean lusts think that God should make it the greatest work that he hath in the World to communicate the Riches of his goodness and grace to such a one as he is He cannot but have mis-giving thoughts and think that he hath no part in them An Heavenly-minded Man looks through and beyond Afflictions TRavellers tell us that they that are on the top of the Alpes may see great showns of rain fall under them which they over look but not one drop of it comes at them And he that is on the top of some high Tower mindeth not the croking of Frogs and Toads the hissing of Serpents Adders and the like venomous Creatures they are below Thus an Heavenly-minded Man who dwells in Heaven on Earth looks through and beyond all Troubles and Afflictions rides triumphantly through the storm of disparagements nay he boldly stares Death in the Face though never so ugly disguised as Anaxarchus said to the Tyrant Tunde tunde Anaxarchum non tundis beat him and bruise him and kill him it may but he will keep up his Soul in the very ruines of his Body Deliberation to be used in all our wayes HE that is to climb up some high ladder must not think that setting his Foot upon the lowest rownd he can skip over all the rest and be at the top without evident danger to himself Such is the course of our life just like a Ladder of many rownds set up to some high place the first step is or of necessity should be the thought of God and goodnesse and the last step the full assurance of Heaven but there are in the middle many other steps as of means consideration deliberation c. how to love God above all things and our Neighbours as our selves and how to demean our selves in the midst of a crooked and froward generation which if we miss and step over no marvel if we never come to the top but perish in the mid-way to all Eternity Heavenly mindednesse of a Child of God IT is recorded of Edward the First that he had a great desire to go to the Holy-Land but being
Wise Men dying as well as Fools IT is observed concerning Paracelsus a great Physitian and a Man exceedingly well verst in Chymical experiments that he bragg'd and boasted that he had attained to such Wisdome in discerning the Constitutions of Mens bodies and studying remedies that whosoever did follow his rules and keep to his directions should never dye by any disease casually he might and of age he must but he would undertaker to secure his health against all diseases a bold undertaking But he who by his art promised to protect others to the extremity of old age from the arrest of death could not by all his art and skill make himself a protection in the prime of his youth but dyed even as one without wisdome before or when he had seen but thirty Thus it is that Wisemen many times do not onely dye as well as Fools but as Fools without Wisdome They who have most Worldly wisdome usually die with the least in not preparing wisely for death they may be said to have had Wisdome but they die as if they never had had any that is they apply not their Wisdome while they live to fit themselves for their death they die before they understand what it is to live or why they live and so dying unpreparedly they die foolishly Neglect of Restitution condemned A Great Lady in Barbary being a Widow called to her an English Merchant trading in those parts with whom she knew her husband had some commerce and asked him if there were nothing owing to him from her deceased husband He after her much importunity acknowledged what and shewed the particulars She tendered him satisfaction yea and after his many modest refusals as being greatly benefited by the dead Barbarian forced him to take the uttermost penny saying thus I would not have my husbands Soul to seek your Soul in Hell to pay his debts Here now was a Fire in a dark Vault great Zeal in blind Ignorance seeing that by the Candle-light of Nature which S. Augustine delivered long since for a doctrinal Truth Non dimittitur peccatum nisi restituatur ablatum thus in Master Latimers old English Either restitution or Hell But O the sadnesse of these grasping Times Where is the Man that restoreth what is unjustly taken away what hath been indirectly gotten The estates credits goods and good Names of Men are taken away by exactions and slanders but where is the Man that maketh Restitution Zacheus may very well rise up in Judgment against such a griping and exacting generation as this is Luke 19. 8. Wives to love their Husbands cordially IT is not without some significancy that the Church in the solemnity of Marriage ordaineth that there shall be a gold Ring of gold it must be intimating that Love should abound betwixt the Married couple Love the best of graces and round it must be to shew that Love must continue to the end besides this Ring must be put by the Man upon the fourth finger of the Woman signifying also thereby that as there is a vein in that finger which correspondeth with the Heart so she should be cordially affected to her Husband having no thought in that kind of any other man as long as he lives whom God by his Ministery hath given unto her The Wicked Mans Folly in his Worldly choyce WHen an Heir is impleaded for an Ideot the Judge commands an apple or a counter with a piece of gold to be set before him to try which he will take If he take the apple or the counter and leave the gold then he is cast for a Fool and so held by the Judgment of the Court as one that is unable to manage his estate because he knowes not the valew of things or how to make a true election of what is fittest for him in the way of subsistency This is the case of all Wicked Men thus foolish and much more When Bugles and Diamonds counters and gold are before them they leave the Diamonds and the gold and please themselves with toyes and baubles Nay when which is infinitely more sottish Heaven and Hell Life and Death are set before them they choose Hell rather then Heaven and death rather then life they take the mean transitory trifling things of the World before the favour of God the pardon of Sin a part in Iesus Christ and an Inheritance amongst the Saints in light coelestiall Custome in Sin hardly broken off THere is an Apologue how four things meeting boasted their incomparable strength The Oake a Stone Wine and Custome The Oke stood stoutly to it but a blast of wind came and made it bow the Axe felled it quite down Great is the strength of Stones yet gutta cavat a continual dropping wears them away and a hammer beats them to pieces Wine overthrowes Gyants and strong Men Senators and Wise Men et quid non pocula possunt yet sleep overcomes Wine But Custome invicta manet remains unconquered Hence it was that the Cretians when they cursed their Enemies did not wish their houses on fire not a sword at their hearts but that which in time would bring on greater woes that mala consuetudine delectentur they might be delighted with an ill Custome And to say truth Custome in Sin is hardly broken off When Vices are made manners the disease is made incurable When through long trading and Custome in Sin neither Ministery nor misery nor miracle nor Mercy can possibly reclaim a Man may very truly write on that Soul Lord have mercy on it For Custome is not another nurture but another Nature and what becomes Natural is not easily reduced It is the principall Magistrate of Mans life the guide of his actions and as we have inured our selves at the first setting out in this World so commonly we go on unlesse we be turned by Miracle and changed by that which is onely able to do it the Grace of God Wives to be subject to their Husbands WHen the Sun is down the Moon takes upon her the Government of the Heavens and out-shines the Stars yet not without borrowing her best light from the Sun but when the Sun appears she vailes her light and by degrees vanisheth out of sight So the Wife in her husbands absence shines in the Family tanquam inter ignes Luna minores like the fair Moon amongst the lesser Stars but when he comes in it will be her modesty to contract and withdraw her self by leaving the Government to him onely Cardinall Wolsey's Ego et Rex meus I and my King is insupportable in the Politiques so I and my husband is insufferable in the Oeconomicks For let but the Moon get the upper hand of the Sun the Wife over her husband the glory of that Family must needs be eclipsed The Safety of Gods people PLutarch in the relation of Alexander's Warrs saith That when he came to
besiege the Segdians a People who dwelt upon a Rock or such as had the munition of Rocks for their defence they jeered him and asked him Whether his Souldiers had wings or not Unlesse your Souldiers can fly in the ayr we fear you not Such is the safety of Gods people he can set them upon a Rock so high that no ladders can be found long enough to scale their habitations nor any Artillery or Engine strong enough to batter them down so that unlesse their Adversaries have and those more then Eagles wings to soar higher then God himself they cannot do them the least annoyance Their place of defence is the munition of the Rocks safe enough from all dangers whatsoever Not to Consent unto Sin WHen Lucretia that gallant Roman Lady was ravished by Tarquin Augustus makes this observation Duo fuerunt et unus adulterium admisit there were two persons and but one Adulterer a conjunction of bodies but a distraction of minds This is the direct condition of every Regenerate Man Sin is rather done on him then of him there will be sensus but his care is that there shall not be consensus not the least Consent unto sin Though lust yield and Sin must be bred yet he is sure to lock up the Midwife of Consent that it may prove an abortive brood be stifled in the womb and still-born And thus ought all of us to do If Sinners entice us not to consent unto them All of us have lust about us a very body of death Sathan the Father is ready Lust the Mother is willing keep away Consent the Midwife that though Sin be done upon us we may have this inward comfort that we consented not Children to submit to their Parents Correction IT is said of Aelian that after he had been long absent from his Father and being asked What he had learned answered He should know that ere long and in the mean time his Father correcting him he took it in good part and said Sir you see I have learned somewhat For I have learned to bear with your anger and patiently to endure what you please to inflict upon me Thus it is that Children should shew their obedience in quietly bearing their Parents Corrections The Rod of Correction being Monile ingenuorum such a Jewel that it makes Gods Iewels of so many as willingly submit thereunto It is the unum necessarium a most necessary lesson to be learned necessary for Parents because they are bound to do it and for Children because they are by God commanded to suffer it The different effects of the Gospel preached AS the same light of the Sun offendeth weak eyes but comforteth those that are stronger sighted And as the heat thereof hardens clay but softens wax Or as the same Starre is to some 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to others 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to some a Morning Star ushering in light and day and to others an Evening Star bringing darknesse and Night So the Gospel is preached indifferently to all manner of Persons 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to all People but it works in a different manner it hath not the like effect on all People Forasmuch as being received by the Faithfull it produceth in them life and salvation as containing all the causes thereof in its self but being rejected by unbelievers it becometh in them the occasion of a greater condemnation and makes their perdition inevitable to some it is a comfort to others a terrour the rise of one Man and the fall of another Luc. 2. 34. Content with Gods good pleasure a great blessing VVHen Aesop with the rest of his Fellow-slaves were put to carry burthens to a City One chose to carry this Merchandize another that every one had his choyce and Aesop chose to carry the Victualls Every one laught at this that he being the weakest had elected the heaviest burthen Away they went together and after some miles they went to breakfast his buâ—then was the lighter for that Then to dinner it was lighter still then to supper now it was easie the next day they had eaten up all his burthen and he went empty to the City whither they being laden could not reach Thus it is in the World the Covetous Man chooseth gold for his burthen the Proud fine cloaths the Ambitious Mountains of honour every Worldling his several luggage but a Child of God contents himself with Gods good pleasure and sets up his rest with that of S. Paul If he have food and rayment therewith to rest contented and so he goes the lighter to Heaven Children to be carefully educated by Parents IT was a saying of Alexander that he was as much beholden to Aristotle for his breeding as to Philip his Father for begetting him For the one said he gave me a being the other a well-being S. Paul was brought up at Gâ—â—naliel's feet Timothy was instructed in his youth And King Saul tells David that Goliah was a Man of Warr from his youth up All this to shew that Children should be carefully and Religiously educated by their Parents For they can never fight the Lords battels as they should that are not sworn Souldiers in their very swadling clouts What a guard lies that Man open at that wants manners and Religious education Every one espies and either jeers or pities his breeding every step he treads and word he speaks bewrayes him to a kind of Nothing in the habit of Some-body He is commonly used like a Whetstone for every one to sharpen their wit upon And if at any time he counterfeit and look big yet he may be easily discovered to be an Asse for all the Lyons skin that he stalks in God loveth a cheerfull giver IT is Pliny's observation that never any good came to a Man by offering a beast in Sacrifice renitentem et se trahentem ab aris such a one as violently drew back from the Altar and could not be brought to it but as it is said like a Bear to the stake with much force Thus it is in the matter of Charity and Liberality that which is extorted from a Man he properly giveth not Liberality implyeth liberty and Necessity and Liberty in this kind cannot well stand together God loveth a cheerfull Giver because he gives his heart first to him before he give his Alms to the poor and giving that with lightsome countenance he more refresheth the Receiver giving him hope of future bounty Bis dat qui citò dat said the Heathen He that gives quickly gives twice first to the expectation then to the necessity of his wanting brother and with such a Giver God is well pleased An uncharitable Rich Man no Heavenly-minded Man VVHen Dionysius the Syracusian Tyrant saw what heaps of gold and silver his Son had hoarded up in his Closet he asked him What he meant to let it lie there and
how much the more the malady doth affect them so much the more secure they are carelesse of any thing presumptuous in all things fearing nothing as having lost the very use of common sense by which they should judge of the Nature of things what is convenient and what is not sitting for them So it is with those that are laden with the phrenzy of Sin by how much the more they are infected with the poysonous Nature thereof so much the more are they carelesse and secure from sinning so that the greater the guilt the lesse is the sense of sin just like Agag when he was ready to be hacked in pieces concluded that the bitternesse of Death was past or pernitious Babylon that sits like a Lady in her Palace minding nothing when much of destruction was at the Threshold or the Rich Fool in the midst of his abundance Such is the carelesse heedlesse headlesse Phrenetical condition and Constitution of all Sin and Sinners The Keys of Knowledg much abused by those that keep them IT is feigned of Pope Sixtus Quintus That after his death he went to Hell but by good luck the Porter would not let him in though he had â—ighly deserved it but sent him to a place under his own command Purgatory this he long sought but could never find At last he took heart and went to Heaven fearfully knocking at the gate S. Peter asked him Why he knocked considering he had the Keys He answered Because the Wards were altered and they could not now unlock the door It were to be wished that the Morall of this fiction were not too true How are the Keys of Knowledg abused by many that have the keeping of them The Pontificians have so bruised the keys with breaking Mens heads and so furr'd them with the bloud of Innocents that they are not able to open the gates of Heaven Some let them rust in their hands for want of use Teachers that do not teach that can neither open the doors of Heaven for others nor for themselves Some alter the Wards by false and erronious doctrine Others like Gallio care not which end goes forward let the Church-Keys hang in the Town-House let who will preach all 's one to them But some there are God increase the number that keep them bright with fair and continual usage whom God blesseth in the way of their Ministery with the letting in of many Souls to himself Humility appeaseth Gods Anger IT is reported of Iulius Caesar That he never entertained hatred against any so deeply but he was willing to lay down the same upon the tender of submission As when C. Memnius put in for the Consulship he befriended him before others of the Competition notwithstanding that C. Memnius had made bitter invectives against him Thus the great God of Heaven to whom all the Caesars and Kings of the Earth are Tributaries and Homagers doth never hate so irreconcileably but that true Humiliation will work a Reconciliation satis est prostrasse let but the Sinner appear before him in a submissiâ—e posture and his anger will be soon appeased The extream Folly of Sin SUch is the foolishnesse of a Frantick Man the disease being got into the Cock-loft of Reason that when he is in greatest misery he seems to be as one that had no misery at all and when most oppressed with the strength of his malady laughing and smiling as if he were not oppressed with any disease at all So is it with him whose Soul is as it were drench't in a deluge of Sin when he is extreamly miserable and that the strength of his Sins are able to throw him down to destruction yet you shall see him like Solomon's Fool go to the correction of the Stocks full of jollity such was the state of Ierusalem not discerning the time of their Visitation that when Christ wept for them they could not do so much as throw out one sob of sorrow for themselves such too was the condition of the old World nothing but Mirth and merriment marrying and giving in Marriage till the Floud overtook them and such we may see to be the daily custome of all desperate Sinners such as walk with lifted up countenances and hugge themselves in the perpetration of their wicked designs when destruction is at the very pits brim ready to overwhelm them The Scripture to be onely rested upon AThaneus tells us that the Stoicks had an opinion that no Man could do well but a wise Man not so much as make good Lentill-broath but after his Receipt and that was so exact and curious that it prescribed the twelfth part of a Coriander seed Thus there are in the World many simple Men and more simple and more sinfull Weomen that have little besides a VVill and a Tongue yet are so conceited of doctrine that if Zeno or one of their Zanies prescribe it not the broath is naught Mors in olla death is in the pot and for every sup of broath they must run to Zeno when God knows all at the best is but a poor messe of pottage such are those humane traditions Constitutions and Impositions of Usurpers but as meer artificial Paper-walls set up against the Apostolicall Cannons such the Inventions of Men though of those pure brains that pretend most yea mainly for the Word For sometimes they prove but Lapwings that cry Here 't is here 't is when their nests are far enough off And such the Morality that drop't in verse from the pens of the Poets but not any of these nor all of these though they may be made use of in a subservient way are to be rested on but onely the Word of God God a Merciful God THe Rainbow is an Emblem of Gods mercy 't is planted in the Clouds as if Man were shooting at God and not as if God were shooting at Man The sciâ—uation of the Propitiatory or Mercy-seat was a strong Argument of his Mercy God commanded it should be planted over the Aâ—k in which was the Testimony the book of cursings that so Mercy might be near at hand to pronounce sentence of Absolution when Iustice was ready to denounce Iudgment It is Gods nature and property to have Mercy Longanimity is as Gods natural child the holy Trinity is in travell with it Even as any thing great with young doth desire to be rid of the burthen so doth God desire to pour out his Mercy Never any Nurse when her breasts were full of Milk was in greater pain for Children to suck them then God is in pain to have his Children draw Mercy from him He spins out the thred of his goodnesse to an unmeasureable length and though his Angle be in Heaven yet he lets down the line of his Love and baits it with his Mercy to try whether men will swallow that so he may save their Souls Justice cometh from him as
thoughts of God if no looking up to better things then without doubt they are unclean not legally unclean as the beasts were but really unclean in the fight of God and his â—oly Angels Wherein the true Knowledg of Christ consisteth MAry when she went in quest of her Saviour stopt not at the empty Monument but searches and follows him so far that she discovered him under the disguise of a Gardiner and then casting her sâ—lf at his feet takes possession of him with this acclamation Rabboni which is in effect as much as Thomas his congratâ—lation My Lord and my God Thus it is that true Knowledg doth not alwayes hunt objects at the view nor doth it stop at the numerous effects wrought by the Creator It is not a shallow or supersicial knowledg that God is in a general consideration the cause of all things a Creator at large but in a nearer My God my Creator So that Religion and Faith are but aery empty sounds if a Man possesse nothing of them beyond the words the fruit of either consists in their application 'T is true that Christ is the Saviour of the World so much I know but this is an uselesse truth to me if my knowledge reach no further unlesse my Faith entitle me to him and by appropriâ—ting his work be able to call him my Lord my God my Redeâ—mer c. To beware how we come into the debt of Sin A Wary discreet Traveller when he comes to his Inne calls for no more then he means to pay for though he see a great deal of good chear before him in the house yet he considers how far his purse will reach otherwise if he call in for all he sees and never take any thought of the reckoning he shall not onely run into a great deal of disgrace but of danger also So fareth it with most Men in taking up more then they are able to pay for but let every good Man howsoever hâ— sees a number of goodly things in this World which may allure him and set his desire on Fire causing expence both of time and Mony be carefull how he comes into debt especially the debt of Sin the worst of all other For though by death he may be out of the Usurers hands yet Death cannot free him from the debt of Sin neither can he escape out of the hands of a just and all-knowing God Infant-Baptism asserted A Ristotle was so precise in admitting Schollers to his Moral Lectures that he would first have them past their Wardship as thinking that their green capacities would not be mellow enough for his Ethiques till Thirty at least But Christ our Master was of another mind his Sinite parvulos Suffer little ones to come unto me and sorbid them not encouraged Parents and Supervisers of Children to enroll them in his bands his Church before they were Masters of so much tongue as to name Christ well knowing that though their narrow apprehensions could not reach the high mysteries of Faith yet in a few years their understandings being elevated with their statures would grow up to them and the accession of a little time digest those precepts which their Infancy drew in into the constant habit of a good life not â—owing themselves into any crooked postures of Error nor forgetting that streight form into which their first education brought them Grace to be communicated IF a Man had a thousand tuns of Wine stored up in a Cellar which he had no use of but should be kept up close What were any Man the better for it but if he would make a large Cistern and turn out a Conduit cock into the street that every one that passed by might be refreshed then would they commend his bounty and be very thankfull unto him So when it hath pleased God of his goodnesse to afford us the graces of his holy Spirit and we should keep them to our selves not being profitable to any in the communication of them it would be matter of rebuke and reproach untill we let the Cock run untill we tell others what God hath done for our Souls For Grace like oyl is of a diffusive nature like Mary's box of oyntment which she brought unto Christ that filled all the house with the sweet scent thereof so that God smells the savour and others receive good thereby To be patient under Afflictions because they will have an end AS an Apprentice holds out in hard labour and it may be bad usage for seven years together or more and in all that time is serviceable to his Master without any murmuring or repining because he sees that the time wears away and that his bondage will not last alwayes but he shall be set at large and made a Freeman in the conclusion Thus should every one that groaneth under the burthen of any crosse or Affliction whatsoever bridle his affections possesse his Soul in patience and cease from all murmuring and repining whatsoever considering well with himself that the rod of the Wicked shall not alwayes rest upon the lot of the Righteous that weeping may abide at Evening but joy cometh in the Morning and that troubles will have an end and not continue for ever Every Man to find out the impediments of Repentance in himself THey who have Water running home in Conduit-pipes to their houses as soon as they find a want of that which their Neighbours have in abundance by and by they search into the causes run to the Conduiâ—-head or take up the pipes to see where they be stopt or what is the defect that so they may â—e supplyed accordingly Even so must every Man do when he finds that the Grace of Repentance flowes into other Mens hearts and hath no recourse or accesse into his Soul by and by sit down and search himself what the cause should be where the Remora is that stayes the course where the rub lyes which stoppeth the grace of Repentance in him seeing they that live it may be in the same house sit at the same Table lye in the same bed they can be penitent for their sins sorry that they have offended God and so complain in bitternesse of Soul for their Sins but he that had the same means the same occasions more sins to be humbled for morâ— time to repent and more motives to draw him to the duty is not yet moved with the same nor any way affected with the sense of Sin this must needs be matter of high concernment to look about him Murmuring at Gods doings the prejudice thereof IT is reported of Caesar That having prepared a great Feast for his Nobles and Friends of all degrees it so falling out that the day was extream foul tâ—at nothing could be done to the honour of the meeting with comfort he was much displeased and so far enraged at present that he willed all them that had bowes to shoot
up their arrowes at Iupiter then their chief god as in defiance of him for that rainy weather Which when they accordingly did thâ— arrows fell short of Heaven and full upon their own heads so that many of them were very sorely wounded Even so do our muttering and murmuring words either for this or that which God sendeth they hurt not him at all but return upon our own pates and wound both deeply and dangerously Gospel-invitation to comfort A Party of the Syrian hoast as they were forraging about light upon a little Hebrew Maid they brought her to Naaman their Commander in chief he bestowes her upon his Wife the Girle perceiving that he was infected with Leprosie said unto her Mistresse Would to God my Lord were with the Prophet that is in Samaria he would soon deliver him of his Leprosie Such is the voyce of the Gospel to every unrepentant Sinner O that you would come unto Christ seek after him by a lively Faith and Repentance for your sins he would deliver you from the threatenings of the Law and release you of those impossible conditions which you are there bound unto he hath conquered Death and Hell for your sakes paid the ransome for your sins and in the end by his Redemption will bring you to life everlasting The moderate use of Worldly things PLiny maketh mention of Cranes that being about to fly over the Seas they take up stones in their feet and sand in their throat to poyse them against the wind and as they come near the Land by little and little cast them down so lightning themselves that the desired shoar seeth the last stone not â—aken away but let fall Thus it is that good Men use the World as if they used it not they take up the care of Riches as a Viaticum to serve them in this life they know that enâ—ugh is useful too much a burthen and therefore as they come nearer and nearer to their desired Râ—st they more and more disburthen themselves and cast off every thing that hindreth in their way thither The work of the Law preceding the Work of the Gospel IF a Man have a corrupt and dangerous sore in his Flesh if he will be cured or prevent the danger of a Gangrene he must prepare himself both for trouble pain and many other inconveniencies as first the lancing of it then the cutting and squeezing out the filthy and corrupt matter then corrosives to eat out the proud Flesh and lastly if need be searing and cauterizing before any healing plaister be applyed Even so in the spiritual healing of our Sins the work of the Law must precede the work of the Gospel First that of the Law to humble us then that of the Gospel to comfort us before there be any obtaining of pardon any comfort in the hope of Redemption the Law must take â—s in hand search our frailty lance our Sins squeeze out the Corruption of our Natures make us cry and roar again with the smart of our wounds And then it is that the gentle Cataplasms of the Gospel may be applyed and the comforts of Remission ministred unto us from the Physitian and Surgeon of our Souls Christ Iesus Divisions in Church and State to be prevented TAcitus in the life of Agricola his Father in Law describing the figure form fashion complexion chivalry and resolution of the Britaiâ—s in that time observeth this also that they were then drawn into petty partialities and factions and the greatest help the Romans had adversus validissimas gentes as he calls our Warlike Nation was that they had no Common-Councell they did not consâ—lt together but each City fought against their Neighbours Et ita dum singuli pugnant universi vincuntur they are his own words whilest one by one sighteth all are subdued And it is much to be feared that the Romans are again entring our Land they expect an advantagious succâ—sse by our home-bred factions and divisions so that the Pope may well be said never to have had hopes of a greater harvest in England For how can it otherwise be How shall the Church of Christ the body of Christ the houshold of Faith the Kingdome of Heaven upon earth stand if there be so many Sizers and Concisors and cutters and carvers of her Members Sorrow for Sin must be in particulars PHysitians meeting with diseased bodies when they find a generall distemperature they labour by all the art they can to draw the humour to another place and then they break it and bring out all the corruption that way All which is done for the better eâ—se of the Patient Even so must all of us do when we have a general and confused sorrow for our Sins labour as much as may be to draw them into particulars as to say In this and in this at such and such a time on such an occasion and in such a place I have sinned against my God For it is not enough for a Man to be sorrowful in the general because he is a Sinner but he must draw himself out into particulars in what manner and with what Sins he hath displeased God otherwise dolus latet in generalibus he may deceive his own Soul Perseverance in goodnesse enjoyned IT is said of Hannibal that notwithstanding the rough Rocks and craggy clifts of the Alpes he proceeded onward in his design for Italy with this resolution Viam inveniam aut faciam I will either find or make a way that is the terminus ad quem and thither I will go Thus it is that God being Alpha and Omega he will have his servants to run from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from the beginning to the end in the constant profession of the Faith They that were marked to be preserved in Ierusalem were distinguished by the character 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is the last of all the Hebrew letters teaching them that they must run their race even to the last that their Profession must be Sacramentum militare or like to that in the Covenant of Marriage Till death us depart with the Spouse in the Canticles not to leave their hold with Mary Magdalen to stand wait and stay at the Sepulcher and with the Woman of Canaan to cry and continue in crying And why because that as they have heaped Sin upon Sin and drawn the threds thereof so bigg so long till they made them cords of Vanity and after wreathed those cords till they became Cart-ropes of Iniquity so that now being called unto Sanctification there being alwaies in Christianity 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Furthermore they should encrease more and more from Faith to Faith from vertue to vertue crying out with S. Paul Nondum apprehendi I have not yet attained c. Sorrow for Sin must be proportionable HE that falleth into the midst of a deep
Faith sure from losing and his Heart from the self-procured blows of Contention and so hold for ever his dear espoused Wife the beautifull daughter of the King Gods everlasting goodness and mercy Minding of the day of Judgment an excellent means to prevent Sin IT is reported of a certain Christian King of Hongary who being on a time marvailous sad and heavy his brother that was a resolute Courtier would needs know what he ailed Oh brother quoth he I have been a great Sinner against God and I know not how I shall appear before him when he comes to Iudgment These are said his brother Melancholly fits and so makes a toy of them as Gallants use to do The King replies nothing for the present but the custome of that Country was that if the Executioner of Iustice came and sounded a Trumpet before any Mans door the Man was presently without any more ado to be had to Execution The King in the dead of the night sends for his Deaths-Man and causeth him to sound his Trumpet before his brothers dore who seeing and hearing the Messenger of Death springs in pale and trembling into his brothers presence and beseeches the King to tell him wherein he had offended him Oh Brother replies the King Thou hast loved me and never offended me and is the sight of my Executioner so dreadfull to thee And shall not so great a Sinner as I fear to be brought to the Iudgment seat of God Thus did but Men stand in S. Ieromes posture alwaies hearing the Trumpet sounding in their ears Surgite mortui venite ad judicium they would make more Conscience of their waies they would then strike upon their thigh and cry out quid faciam What shall I do And thus in all their doings remembring their latter end they would never do amisse Man and Wife to be speak one another kindly SUch was the spiritual hatred of the Iews to the Lord Iesus that they would not vouchsaâ—e to give him his name when they talked of him or with him and to shew the utter dislike they had of him they used to say Is this be Art thou be that wilt do such a thing Whither will he go that we shall not find him They would not say Is this Iesus Christ or the Son of God This now was a spitefull kind of speaking and did bewray abudance of malice that lay hidden in their hearts and so it sometimes falleth out betwixt Man and Wife contempt disdain anger and malice will not suffer the one to afford unto the other their names and titles least they should be put in mind of such duties as those names and tiâ—les require whereas the very names of Husband and Wife doth greatly help to perswade the mind and to win the affections yea the very mention of these names doth often times leave a print of duty behind in the Conscience Ioh. 7. 11. 15. 35. The experimental Christian the undaunted Christian. HE that hath been at Sea and often escaped the many dangers of wind and weather even then when both conspired to make a wrack of himself and the ship he went in is the more bolder and readier to entertain a â—ew Voyage And why because he hath by the assistance of his God made way for deliverance in times of such eminent danger such an experimentall bold Logical Christian was David when he made a Lyon his Major a Bear his Minor He that delivered me from the Lion and the Bear will also deliver me from this uncircumcised Philistine 1 Sam. 17. 34. And such are all good Christians upon whom the Cross hath layen the heaviest upon whose shoulders the persecuting plowers have made the deepest furrows whose feet have been often in the stocks and into whose Sculs the Irons have made a deep impression they having had from time to time the experience of Gods deliverance from and assistance in the time of their trouble are as bold as Lyons and ready to meet death in the face though it come in the most gastly figure or shape that may be conceived Sin the strange nature thereof IT may seem strange which is written of the Nature of Thunder and Lightning that it bruiseth the tree yet breaks not the bark it cracketh the blade yet never hurteth the scabbard melteth the money in a Mans purse yet never toucheth his Person Such a thing and of such a Nature is sin it will bruise and wound the heart but never harm the eyes or the ears or hands it will â—iâ—rce and afflict the Conscience but never hurt the outward Man it is even a Plague unto the Soul yet a pleasure to the body Gods goodnesse Mans unthankfulnesse IT is observeable that there are but three main Rivers in this Land whereof that of Thames is held the best Insomuch that when a Courtier gave it outâ— that Queen Mary being displeased with the City of London threatned to remove the Term and Parliament to Oxford An Alderman asked Whether she meant to turn the channel of Thames thither or not If not saith he by Gods grace we shall do well enough And in truth that River is such a prosperity to that Ciâ—y it is such a loving Meander that it winds it self about and shews its silver arms upon her sides ebbing slowly eight but flowing merrily four hours as if she longed to embrace her beloved City with rich presents of Mâ—rchandise But what râ—turn doth the City make what thanks for all this Love She sweeps all the dirt of her streets in her face and chokes her up with soyl and rubbish This is Man's case God crowneth him with protectethâ—im â—im with his power carries him on from Mercy to Mercy c. sed uâ—i fructus The swelling River of Gods favours by the surfet of a tide doth no sooner bring in the encrease of outward things but that encrease doth breed in his mind another swelling and in his body another surfetting he swells in Pride and surfets in Wantonness And thus Peace breeding Wealth Wealth breeds Pride and Pride makes Contention and Contention kills Peace and by this meaâ—s a Civil War is raised to the ruine both of Church and Common-wealth Popish Miracles condemned IT is recorded that at Amesbury in Wiltshire when Q. Elianor the Wife of King Henry the third lay there a Man that feigned himself to have been long blind came to her and told her that he had now his sight restored at the Tomb of the King her deceased husband The Mother easily believed it but her sonne King Edward the first knowing this Man that he had ever been a dissolute Wretch and a vile Impostor disswaded her from giving Faith unto it protesting That he knew so well the Iustice of his Father that if he were living he would sooner put out both the dissembler's eyes then restore sight to either of them So without doubt those Saints to the Virtue of whose dead bones they of
them if he stay a Fortnight or a Moneth he may pull up another but it will be somewhat harder If he stay a year or two till it have taken deep root then he may pull and pull his heart out his labour is all in vain he shall never be able to move it And thus it is that one Sin one offence if we labour to pull it up in time it may be forgiven it may be taken away And if we let that one go on to two or three yet with unfeigned Repentance with bleeding tears with uncessant out-cryes to a gracious God they may be raced out and wiped away but with greater difficulty but if a Man give up himself unto Sin accustome himself to do evill so that it take deep root in the heart and be settled in the Soul he shall never be able to pull it up nor arise from the death of Sin which hath so fast seized on him Sectarian subtilty Diabolical delusion AS common Drunkards when they get in a temperate Man upon their Ale-house-bench entice him tempt him tole him on first to taste then to pledg them then when he is well whitled and come on cup after cup this health and that health till he be fully fudled and his brains intoxicated Thus the subtile Sectarians are modest at the first and very Maiden-like they will not force upon their Proselytes a full carouse of their Circean cups but by degrees by little and little they wind into their hearts and privily bring in damnable heresies They do not violently rush but slily creep into houses and there they begin at the apronstrings with illiterate Mechanicks silly women such as are led more by aâ—â—ection then Iudgment then they let fall an apple to see if Atalanta will take it up some general received Truth but withall secretly foyst in some â—rronious opinion or poysonous principle scatter some sparks of their mild-sire to see whether they will heat or enflame And having their methods and wayes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 rules to go by they grammer and ground their deluded Followers 〈…〉 admission in general and Fundamental principles of their black art but let them not see at what they drive acquaint them not at the first dash the mystery of Iniquity the depths of Sathan Rev. 2. 24. Men not to be proud of their Lands and Livings WHen Socrates saw Alcibiades proud of his spatious Fields and wide Inheritance he calls for a Map of the World looks for Greece and finding it asks Alcibiades Whereabout his Lands lay When he answered They were not set forth in the Map Why saith Socrates are thou proud of that which is no part of the Earth And to speak truth Why should any Man bear himself high upon the greatnesse of his Revenue the largenesse of his demesnes For if the dominion of a King be but a poor spot of Earth What a nothing must the possession of a Subject be some small parcell of a Shire not worthy the name of a Chorographer And had he with Lycinius as much as a Kite could fly over yea if all the whole Globe were his six or seven foot would be enough to serve his turn in the Conclusion Repentance to be Universall IF a Ship spring three leaks and onely two be stopped the third will sink the Ship And if a Man have two grievous wounds in his body and take order to cure onely one that which is neglected will kill him Even so if we having divers lusts which fight against our Souls do mortifie but some of them 't is to no purpose If the guilt of many Sins lye upon us as in many things we sin all and we repent but of some of them it will not avail us any thing Hence is that Counsel of Solomon Let all thy wayes be ordered He that will make a true search must search all his wayes and try all his thoughts words and deeds repent of all Sin For he that favours himself in any one Sin be it never so small that Man hates no Sin perfectly what shew soever he makes to the contrary Wicked Men see the miseries but not the Joyes of Gods People AS a Man standing upon the Sea-shore sees a great heap of waters one wave riding on the back of another and hears too especially if it be in stormy weather the lowd roarings thereof but all this while though he see the waters he doth not see the wealth the gold and silver the infinite Riches that lye buried in the bottom thereof So it is that Wicked Men see the want but not the wealth of Gods People their conflicts but not their comforts they easily take notice of the miseries and troubles that usually attends upon the bodies of the Children of God but they cannot possibly discover the joyes and rejoycings of the Spirit that are in their Souls neither indeed can they For they are spiritually discerned 1 Cor. 2. 14. Magistrates and great Men not to raise themselves by the ruine of the Church IT is reported of Sabbacus a King of Ethiopia who being by dreams admonished that he could not possesse himself of the Kingdom of Egypt otherwayes then by Sacriledge and the slaying of the Priests He chose rather to lay aside his claym and advantages of Warr which he had gotten and to refer the Government of that Kingdom to twelve wife Men who erected to that Prince's piety one of the stateliest Pyramides of Egypt which yet remains How much more will it become Christians in any way of power and Magistracy not to make their way upon the spoyles nor lay the Foundations or to carry on the Fabrick of their greatnesse and dominion upon the carcasses and ruines of any much lesse of the Church and Church-men such as are able true and faithful Ministers of the true God and the Lord Iesus Christ. How it is that the sweet fruits of Grace come to grow on the bitter root of Nature IT is a question put by Plutarch How it comes to passe that the Fig-Tree being of that extream bitternesse the root the branches the leaves the stock and stem being all of them so bitter the fruit should be so sweet and pleasant to the taste The like may be proposed How it is that the sweet fruits of the Spirit should ever grow upon the bitter stock of Nature how Man by Nature being in the very gall of bitternesse should ever become a sweet smelling favour in the nostrils of his God Surely no otherwise but that by Faith an Repentance being ingrafted into the stock Christ Iesus he sucks in juicy sweetnesse from thence and so is made a Tree of Righteousnesse in Gods Garden How it is that Afflictions lye oft-times so heavy IT is said of Hagar That when her bottle of Water was spent she sate down and fell a weeping as if she had been utterly undone her provision and
of the inferiour Members be cut off yet the body may live and do indifferently well but if the Head be taken off if the King be set aside actum est de Republica that Kingdome that People cannot long stand Christ the proper object of the Soul THere is no Agent that takes any rest or contentment but in its proper Object If a man had all the Musicall raptures and melodious Harmony in the whole World before him he could not hear it with his eyes because it is the proper object of the Ear If never so triumphant shews or Courtly Masques he could not see them with his Ears because they are the proper Object of the Eye So it is with the Soul of Man if it were possible that all the treasures pleasures honours preferments and delights which the World doth affect were presented and tendered to the Soul yet would they not afford unto it any true satisfaction because they be not the proper Object and Center of the Soul it is the Lord onely or as a godly Martyr said once None but Christ can compasse the Soul about with true content and comfort Sathans aim at those that have most of God and Religion in them PIrats and such as are Robbers at Sea slightly passe by smaller Vessels that are but poorly fraighted whilst ships that are richly laden and furnished with Merchantable commodities become the object of their greedy thoughts at whom they make the strongest opposition and for the gaining of whom rather then fail they will hazard their lives to the utmost of danger imaginable Thus it is that Sathan that Arch-Pirate lets poor silly ignorant Souls alone such as by their own defaults are but as so many empty Vessels floating on the Sea of this World Oh but when he spies out a rich Soul laden with the fruits of the Spirit that hath much of god Christ and Heaven in it there it is that he bends all his Forces and against such a Soul it is that he raiseth all his strength that so if possible he may bring it under his more then miserable subjection Sin to be abhorred as the cause of Christs Death AFter Iulius Caesar was treacherously murthered in the Senate-house Antonius brought forth his coat all bloudy cut and mangled and laying it open to the view of the People said Look here is your Emperours coat and as the bloudy-minded Conspirators have dealt by it so have they also with Caesars body whereupon they were all in an uproar crying out to slay those Murtherers then they took the Tables and stools that were in the place and set them on fire and ran to the houses of the Conspirators and burnt them down to the ground But behold a greater then Caesar even the Lord Iesus himself all bloudy rent and torn for the Sins of the World How then when we look on Sin as the cause of his death and seriously consider that Sin hath slain the Lord of life should our hearts be provoked to be revenged on Sin How should we loath and abhor it as having done that mischief that all the Devills in Hell could never have done the like A lesser Sin given way unto makes way for the committing of greater IT is S. Augustines story of Manicheus that being tormented with flies was of opinion that the Devill made them and not God Why then said one that stood by If the Devill made flies then the Devill made Worms True said he the Devill did make worms But said the other If the Devill did make worms then he made birds beasts and Man He granted all And thus saith the good old Father by denying God in the fly he came to deny God in Man and consequently the whole Creation And thus it is that the yeilding to lesser Sins draws the Soul to the commission of far greater as in these licentious dayes of ours is too too apparent How many have fallen First to have low thoughts of the Scripture and Ordinances of God then to slight them afterwards to make as it were a Nose of Wax of them and in conclusion to cast them quite off lifting up themselves their Christ-dishonouring and Soul-damning opinions above them so that falling from evill to evill from folly to folly and as it is in all other cases of the like Nature from being naught to be very naught and from very naught to be stark naught till God in his most just Judgment sets them at nought for ever Men to prefer suffering before Sinning IT is reported of that eminent servant of God Marcus Arethusus who in the time of Constantine had been the cause of overthrowing an Idoll-Temple but Iulian coming to be the Emperour commanded the People of that place to build it up again all were ready so to do onely the good Bishop dissented whereupon they that were his own people to whom he had formerly preached and who as in all probability any one would have thought might have learn't better things fell upon him strip't off all his cloaths then abused his naked body and gave it up to children and School-boyes to be lanched with their penknives but when all this would not do they caused him to be set in the Sun having his naked body anointed all over with honey that so he might be bitten and stung to death by Flies and Wasps and all this cruelty they exercised upon him because he would not do any thing towards the re-building of that Idol Temple Nay they came so far that if he would give but an half-penny towards the charge they would release him but he refused all though the advancing of an half-penny might have been the saving of his life and in doing thus he did but live up to that principle that most Câ—ristians talk of and few come up unto And thus it is that all of us must chuse rather to suffer the worst of torments that Men and Devills can inflict then to commit the least Sin whereby God should be dishonoured our Consciences wounded Religion reproached and our Souls endangered Discretion a main part of true Wisedome A Father that had three Sons was desirous to try their discretions which he did by giving to each of them an Apple that had some part of it rotten The first eats up his Apple rotten and all The second throws all his away because some part of it was rotten But the third picks out the rotten and eats that which was good so that he appeared the wisest Thus some in these daies for want of Discretion swallow down all that is presented rotten and sound together Others throw away all Truth because every thing delivered unto them in not Truth but surely they are the wisest and most discreet that know now to try the Spirits whether they be of God or not how to chuse the good and refuse the evill The difference betwixt true and feyned
many Examples to teach us to suffer IT is said of Antiochus that being to fight with Iudar Captain of the host of the Iews he shewed unto his Elephants the bloud of the grapes and Mulberries to provoke them the betteâ— to fight And so the Holy Ghost hath set down unto us what injuries contumelies and torments our Saviour Christ hath born and how patiently he did bear them to encourage us to endure whatsoever calamities shall betide us during this our pilgrimage here on Earth It is well known that he came into the World without sin but he went not out without sorrow And therefore What if we suffer reproaches poverty shame death What matter of shame can it be to us seeing Christ hath suffered all for us Nay What a shame is it if we will not be ready to suâ—â—er any thing for his Names sake that hath suffered so much for our Sins that leaving us so fair an Example we should not follow his steps God hardly accepting of late service done unto him IT is observable that there were three payments of first Fruits amongst the Iews The first was primitiae spicarum the first Fruits of their ears of Corn early about Easter The second was primitiae panum the first-Fruits of their loaves and that was somewhat early too about Whitsontide And the third was primitiae Frugum the fruits of all their latter fruits in general and that was very late about the fall of the leaf in September In the two first payments which were offered early God accepted a part for himself but in the third payment which came late God would have no part at all Even so if we offer the first Fruits of our young years early unto God he will accept of them as seasonably done but if we give our best years unto Sathan sacrifice the flower of our youth unto sin serve the World and follow after the lusts of our flesh while we are young put all the burthen of duty upon our weak feeble and decrepit old age give our first years to Sathan and the last unto God sure it is that as he then refused such sacrifices under the Law he will not easily receive them now in the time of the Gospel Why it is that late service done unto God is seldome accepted IT would seem preposterous nay ridiculous that some inferiour Man should present his Prince with a Horse that were lame a Clock out of order or a Book that were torn and imperfect Yet thus all of us do Our Flesh is our beast the course of our life is our Clock and the history of our actions is our book And shall we offer then our Flesh unto God when it is lame and tyred out with excesse of Waâ—tonnesse shall we commend our lives unto him when all the whole course thereof is out of order or shall we present the story of our actions unto him when as a thousand sins of our own for which we should be sorrowfull and a thousand blessings of God for which we should be thankfull are quite defaced and rased out of our Memory Or if we should offer such unto God Why should we think it strange that he should reject them We cannot for continency abstinency temperance and such like are in old age no virtues but a disability to be vitious as to leave good Fellowship when we are sick and many other sins when we are old is not so much a leaving of Sin as Sin leaving us and surely such service will be but hardly accepted Honesty the best Policy THemistocles at a meeting of the Athenians told them That he had found out a way which would make very much for the advance of their glory and dignity but it was not fit to be published to all the People The Senate thereupon determined that it should be revealed onely to Aristides and if he approved thereof they would all receive it so Themistocles told Aristides That the burning of al the Navall stations that is all the shipping and Havendocks of the Graecians would prove a notable design to make the Athenians Masters of all Greece Aristides having his errand told the Athenians in brief Themistoclis consilio nihil esse utilius sed c. That there could not be a more profitable Counsell for them than that of Themistocles but withall there could not be a more dishonest Whereupon the People charged Themistocles that he should never speak of it any more A most excellent example of a Virtuous though Heathen People that would utterly refuse all profit that came not in by the way of Honesty hearken to no Counsel that tended to any kind of turpitude nor lend an ear to any advice that was not just And it is heartily to be wished that all such as professe themselves to be Christians would learn so much of the Heathen as not to do evill that good may come of it not to make Religion a stalking horse to Policy not to raise themselves by the ruines of others nor to make use of their weaker brother as a stirrop to mount them into the saddle of their so much desired greatnesse but to be honest to do righteous things do as they would be done by alwayes remembring that of our English Solomon Honesty will prove to be the best Policy in THE END An Alphabetical Table pointing out the whole Matter A FOr the Abuse of a thing the use is not to be taken away 47. How it is that a man may be said to abuse the lawfull comforts of this life 358. Adoption of Gods Children known by their Sanctification 155. Gods-fundamental love of Election and actual love of Adoption how to be distinguished 261. The great benefit of timely accounting with God 609. The glory of God to be the aym of all our Actions 14. Contemplation and Action requisite for every good Christian 18. To be active in the service of God 169. Every man to be active in his place 196. Active Christains the onely Christians 271. Action the very life of the Soul 349. The active Christian object of the Devil and wicked Mens malice 410. The best Christain 637. Christ to be the sum of all our action 463. Men to be active in regaining their lost Souls 607. The good of Adversity and ill of Prosperity 79. Adversity seeks God 112. Adversity rather then Prosperity is the advancer of Piety 118. Great promises in Adversity without performance in Prosperity condemned 148. In times of Prosperity to provide for Adversity 425. To be affected with the falling of others into sin 296. Our Affections to be regulated 105. A Child of God best known by his affections to God 120. Afflictions from God for his Childrens good 4. Not to be aâ—raid of Afflictions because God sends them 10. The godly Man's aâ—â—lictions corrective not destructive 43. Aâ—â—lictions the ready way to Heaven 47. The very approaches of Aâ—â—lictions
savour above all Worldly contentment to a godly Man 7. Content is a great blessing of God 29. To be Content with our present condition 41. A contented Christian is a couragious Christian 66. A contented Man no base spirited Man 105. Contentment brings in all things on a sudden 106. Contentment keeps up the Soul in the saddest of conditions 107. A contented mind suits with all conditions 2â—0 Consideration of the brevity of life to wâ—râ— the heart of Man to contentment 392. To rest contented with Gods good will and pleasure 422. Content with Gods good pleasure a great blessing 481. Men to argue themselves into a mood of Contentment 501. The quietnesse of Contentment 502. The spiritual benefit of divine Contentment 504. A little with content sufficient 519. No true content in the things of this World 564. Commandements of God the reasonablenesse of them 251. The commands of God to be obeyed not questioned 582. To compassionate others miseries 528. 301. 613. How far there may be a lawful compliance with men of other Judgments 405. The pain of a wounded Conscience greatned by the folly of the patient 563. Greatnesse of the torture of a wounded Conscience 565. Peace of Conscience not to be wrought out by Company c. 567. Not to regard what men say ill if Conscience say well 315. Conscience to be looked on as a Register of all our actions 307. To blesse God for the peace of Conscience 33. The security of a good Conscience 55. The Hell of a guilty Conscience 75. The terrours of a guilty Conscience 151. The sad effects of a wounded Conscience 199. The great comfort of a good Conscience 270. Conscience spoils the wicked Mans Mirth 376. Good Conscience a Mans best Friend at the last 415 507. The most silent Conscience will speak out at last 502. Not to consent unto Sin 480. Consideration to be had in all undertakings 169. Consideration of eternal pain to deter from the commission of Sin 122. Consideration of Gods omnipresence to be the sinners curb 128. Consideration of death will cure all distempers 134. God to be consulted with upon any great undertaking 148. Controversies especially in matters of Religion dangerous 294. Corrections Instructions 141. Correction of children and servants how to be moderated 445. No true comfort but in God 166. A godly Christian is a constant Christian 41. The danger of Conventicles 115. The hardnesse of a Rich mans Conversion 562. Conversion of Heathens to be endeavoured 36. Conversion of a Sinner wrought by degrees 188 305. The meditation of Death profitable to the Souls conversion 282. Conversion of a Sinner painfully wrought 283. Conversion of a Sinner is matter of great rejoycing 312. The serious confession of one sinner to another may be the Conversion of one the other 346. The Ministers joy in the Conversion of Souls 640. More Converts made by Preaching then by reading 545. A covetous Man good for nothing till he be dead 67. Ministers and Physitians of all Men not to be covetous 72. Covetousnesse and contentment inconsistent 199. A Covetous Man never satisfied 317. Covetousnesse in the Cleargy condemned 590. A great comfort to have a Faithfull Counsellour 54. To make God our Counsellour 229. Every thing in specie made perfect at one and the same time in the Creation 500. God to be seen in the works of the Creation 643. Man since the fall of Adam subject to the Creatures 255. No true happinesse to be found in the best of Creatures 368. Vanity of the Creatures without God 642. All Creatures subject to God pleasure 166 609. All the Creatures are at peace with good men 96. The Use of the Creatures is conditional 102. Not so much to eye the Creature as the Creator in all occurrents 170. Gods power Wisedome c. to be seen in all the Creatures 205. The Creature moves not but in and by God 59. Cares and Crowns inseperable 202. Curses usually falling on the Cursers head 298. Custome in sin makes content in sin 90. Custome of sin no excuse for the committing of sin 276. Men hardly drawn out of old customes and forms in Religious worship 344. Custome in sin causeth hardnesse in sin 350. Hard to be drawn from custome in sin 366. 479 630. D THe true Christians safety in danger 214 490. To be careful in the prevention of danger 248 That it is lawful to praise the dead 45. A Man dead in Sin is a senselesse Man 45. To speak well of the dead 206. Dead Men soon forgotten 623. Commonnesse of the death of others taking away the sense of Death 477. How it comes to passe that Death is more generally excused then accused 325. Death strips us of all outward things 33 123 Encompassed by Death on all sides 39. To look on every day as the day of Death 66. In death there is no difference of persons 84. At the time of Death to be mindfull of Heaven 103. To be mindful of the day of Death 119. An argument of extream folly not to be mindful of death 121. Death the good Mans gain 123. A good Man is mindful of his death 126. Extream folly not to be mindfull of death 137. Death is the true Christians advantage 153. How the good and the bad look upon death in a different manner 159. To be alwayes prepared for death 182 298 492. Meditation of death the benefit thereof 254. Insensibility of death reproved 255. Hoâ— it is that wicked Men are said to hasten death 260. All alike in death 261 493. Death the end of all 263. To be mindfull of death at all times 265. Whether it be lawfull to desire death 266. Every Man to be perswaded of his own death 297. The impartiality of death 301. Every day to be looked on as the day of death 324. Frequent meditations of death the great benefit thereof 369. Men not to hasten their own deaths but submit to the Will of God and why so 370. The generality of Men nothing mindfull of death 376. The day of death made the good Mans comfort 396. The day of death better then the day of life 407. The good Man's comfort in death 417. A Child of God triumphing over death 487. The good Christians absolute victory over death 492. Christians to be carefull that they may find comfort in death 508. The smallest pâ—at of ground sufficient for the greatest landed Man at the time of death 562. The generality of Men not enduring to hear of death 579. Death of the Soul mere to be lamented then the death of the body 608. The true Christians confidence and contempt of death 618. Death put off from one to another 673. Christ by his death overcame death 676. The pooâ— Debtors comfort 306. To beware how we come into the debt of sin 556. Not to admit of delayes in Religious performances 592. Deliberation to be used in all our wayes 458. God is the onely object of his childrens Delight 23. God is the onely delight
of his childre 139. The Soul's delight once set upon God hardly to be removed 183. Gods time the best time for deliveâ—ance 5. God doth not onely deliver but comfort his Children 25. In all deliverances spiritual and temporall to give God the glory 339. God raising up Instruments for the deliverance of his people 551. The workings of God in the deliverance of his people various 648. Spiritual desertions no distractions to the child of God 49. How it is that there may be partial desâ—rtions of spirituall grace in the Souls of Gods dearest children but never totall nor final ones 383. Gods love to his children in the midst of spiritual desertions 395. Gods comfortable presence in the midst of spiritual desertions 397. Not to be over-hasty in the desire of Justice for wrongs sustained 7. The godly Man's desires are above his reach 122. The true Christian's desires are all for Heaven 394. Desperation the complement of all sins 317. The desperate Sinner's madnesse 454. Dâ—struction is from our selves 164. 659. Not so much the quantity as the quality of Devotion acceptable to God 15. The great benefit of devotion at bed time 247. The Devil a deceiver deceived by Christ 30. The Devil suiting himself to all humours 48. Satan's restlesse uncessant employment 49. Satan tempteth by degrees 68. Despâ—rate Devils 85. Satan subdued by Christs death 126. His policy to defile the Soul with sin 289. The Devill rewarding his servants 500. The Devils cunning to deceive 578 637. The Devils rage and arguments of the Judgment day at hand 626. Why it is that the children of God die usually sooner then others 522. All must die 341 522. We dye daily 162. Wisemen dye as well as Fools 478. Many seem to be willing yet are loath to dye 64 76. Man alwaies in a dying condition 12. We must learn to live well before we desire to dye 65. Dâ—scretion the guid of all Religious actions 574. A main part of true Wisedome 650. Discord ill-becomes the Disciples of Christ 43. Discord in Church or Common-wealth prejudicial 58. The deepest dissembler at one time or other discovered 478. Civill Dissention attended by uncivill destruction 13. Dissention the Fore-runner of confusion 626. Distractions will prove destructions 8. Englands distractions to be Englands peaceable directions 193. Dangerous to interpose with a divided People 74. Division amongst Christians is the disgrace of Christians 44. All divisions are against Nature 75. The danger of Divisions 94 317. Divisions usher in destruction 204. The evill of Division 474. Divisions in Church and State to be prevented 559. The stuâ—y of Divinity necessary 220. The study of School-divinity not altogether necessary 241. False doctrine is treason against God 44. To do as we would be done by is praise-worthy 163. Dreams not altogether to be sleighted 1. The right use that is to be made of Dreams 237. A drunkard hardly to be reclaimed 87. Drunkennesse condâ—mned 140. Drunkennesse the shame of England 190. The encrease of drunkennesse in England 206. Drunkennesse Whoredome c. the generality of them 281. The scoffing drunkards sad condition 472. To be careful of extraordinary drinking 474. Excessive drinking condemned 475 580. Drunkennesse a great punishment of it self 483. To be carefull of our Duty of God and Man 10. Not to rest in outward performance of duty because dangerous 178. Compleat Christian duty 383. Neglect of the main duties of Christianity reproved 388. Men to be constant in performance of holy duties 396. Constancy of holy duties makes the performance of thâ—m easy 442. Holy duties call for holy preparation 469. The sins of our Religious duties corrected by Christ and then presented to his Father 633. E GOds decree of Election not to be made the proper objâ—ct of Faith 656. Mans happinesse consistech onely in Gods free Election 288. The true comfort of Election 586. How to be assured of our Election 586. Election known by Sanctification 76. Gods fundamentall love of Election and actuall love of Adoption how distinguished 261. To make our calling and Election sure 488. Eloquence if not affected an excellent gift of God 284. Eloquence not to be abused 306. Good endeavours assisted by God 157. All endeavours to be sanctified by prayer 551. The Churches Enemies in Gods hands 13. A Forreign Enemy to be prevented 34. To love our Enemies and do them good 73. How it is that we may hate our Enemies 138. 112. The great good which cometh by Enemies 112. Not to envy each others gifts and prefermenâ—s 29. The great power of Envy 173. The destructive quality of Envy 518. The incorrigibility of Errour 184. To beware of erronious doctrine 243 417. The obstinate Sinner deserving Eternity of punishment and why so 12. Eternity of punishment in Hell 97. to be considered 442. In all our doings we should have our eye uppon Eternity 103 443. Not to serve time but Eternity 202. Nothing but Eternity will satisfy the gratious Soul 438. In the midst of worldly enjoyments to mind Eternity 440. The evill of Excesse 616. A wicked Man hardly drawn to examine himself 107. Daily Examination of our selves the comfort of it 294. Gods choice of eminent persons to be Exemplary to others 13. Rulers actions Exemplary 32. A good Man will be a good Example to others 127. The dangerous Example of wicked Governours 192. The prevalency of a good Example 256. Christ to be our Example and pattern of imitation in life and death 484. Wicked men reserved for exemplary judgment 507. Magistrates and men in authority to be exemplary to others 516 531. Christ to be our example in bearing the Cross 624. The sufferings of Christ as so many Examples to teach us how to suffer 677. Experience of Gods love to be a motive unto better obedience 126. The experimented Christian the onely undaunted Christian 596. Mans extermity Gods opportunity 408. F. A Factious-spirited Man unfit for the work of the Ministery 21. Ring-leaders of Faction and Schism their condition deplorable 391. Factious hearers of the Word condemned 460. The happy succession of a Christian Family 423. Wicked persons may be in a good Family 461. The unhappinesse of a disordered Family 655. How to make tryall of Faith whether it be perfect or not 644. The great benefit of Faith truly appropriated 665. Faith and love inseperable 671. Complaint of the want of Faith an argument of true Faith 35. More comfort in a strong Faith then a weak one 435. The life of Faith the happy life 40. Faith is the Fountain of all Graces 51. The gradation of Faith 53. The tryall of Faith is the enlargement of Faith 74. Justifying Faith accompanied with good works 98. The certainty of Faith 111. Faith makes partakers of every good thing in Gods ordinances 113. Faith in the time of tryall needful 150. How Faith justifieth alone 163 151. The power of Faith reviving the deadly sin-sick Soul 177. The great power of Faith seated in the heart of Man 229. The least measure
9. N. THe Name of God to be had in reverence 285. Christians to walk worthy the Name of Christ 599. A good Name once lost very hardly to be recovered 137. Men to stand up for the good Name and credit of their places 333. The good Names of Gods people though now obscured yet hereafter will be cleared 371. The excellency of a good Name 576. Men to keep up the credit of their proper Names 394. Proper Names not to be so much regarded as Appellative 475. How the humane Nature may in some sort be said to excell the Angelical 465. Nature cannot work out peace of Conscience 566. Our own natural corruption the cause of sin 608. Nature of Man altogether sinfull 19. Sathan's policy to ensnare us by observance of our Natures 180. Men easily drawn by their Natural corruptions 295. Men by Nature desirous of things unlawfull and prohibited 490. Natural perswasions the invalidity of them in the point of true believing 536. Men by Nature looking more to their bodies then their Souls 573. Man by Nature lawlesse and ill advised 623. State of Nature an absolute state of impotency 638. For all its specious out-side a state of Friendship with Hell 638. Negligent hearing of Gods Word condemned 486. A negligent Christian no true Christian 65. Negligence in the wayes of God reproved 394. A good Neighbour a great blessing to all men especially to a Minister of God's V Vord 6. Every Man to speak truth to his Neighbour 11. In the loving our Neighbour we love God 91. Every Man to labour that he may be a New Creature 313. Daily amendment of life enjoyned to the making up of the new Creature 382. New Testament an exposition of the old 145. Neutrality in Religion enmity of Religion 81. Neutrality in Religion dangerous 221. Reproved 605. Neutrality in Church or State condemned 657. Man's Nothingnesse 618. Affectation of Novelty in the wayes of Religion reproved 591. O. Oath or Covenant-breakers not to be trusted 335. Men to be carefull how they make Oath in Judicature c. 524. Universal Obedience unto God enjoyned 551. True obedience 617. The obstinate Sinner deserving eternity of punishment And why so 12. Occasions of sin to be avoided 530. To passe by the offences of our brethren 309. Officers to be honest in their places 31. Under-Agents and Officers to be looked unto 314. Opportunity of sinning to be avoided 159. To make good use of Opportunity 233. Tyranny Oppression murther c. are not long-lived 9. Order both in Church and State commanded and commended 101. God bringing Order out of confusion 274. All out of order 361. How every good Christian is to order his life 413. Order to be in the Church of God 465. An Orthodoxal Christian hath a like esteem of all Gods Ordinances 129. To attend upon God in his Ordinances 321. Lewdnâ—sse of the Preachers life no warrant to sleight the Ordinance of preaching 418. Men to be forward in frequenting Gods ordinances 436. The true love of God will cause love to his ordinances 446. Variety of gifts in the Ordinance of preaching 540. P THe differences betwixt Papists and Protestants not so easily reconciled 186. The Papists blind Zeal discovered 189. Papists and Sectarians abusing their followers 316. Pardon of Sins the onely comfort 110. The readinesse of God to pardon poor Repentants 325. Gods pardoning other repentant sinners a great motive to perswade us that he will pardon us also 641. The relation of Parents Wife Children to be sleighted if they once appear in competition with the Commandements of God 603. Though the graces of godly Parents cannot avail for bad children yet their good example may 66. Parents care onely to enrichtheir Children reproved 179. Parents not to be over-carefull to make their children rich 252. Parents to be carefull what they say in presence of their children 279. Parents to be carefull in the education of their children 363. 533. Not to be much dejected for the death of an onely son or child 408. Parents not to be forsaken of their children though they be wicked and infidels 449. Parents to shew good examples to their children 471. How it is that the sins of Parents are visited on their children 523. Parentall counsel hath and ought to be prevalent with children 543. Parity in the Church or State not to be admitted 28. Parsimony in times of publique danger condemned 289. To wait with patience Gods leisure 119. 126. 541. 566. Patience of God provoked turns to fury 125. Gods wisdome to be attended with patience 210. To expect the event of things with patience 248. The heighth of Patience 256. To be patient under Gods afflicting hand and why so 287. 557. To be patient at the time of death and why so 560. Men or Women painting themselves condemned 604. It is Peace that sets up Religion 48. A prudential piece of State-policy for the continuance of Peace 330. The people of God to be at peace one with another 387. Peace with Men will make our peace with God 17. No Peace to the Wicked 32. Peace of the Church pretious 32. The endeavours of Christ are all for Peace 98. How it is that we must follow the things that make for peace 363. Not to be at peace with sin 416. The Saints everlasting peace 488. Men to be at peace one with another 614. Peace linking the Church and Commonwealth together 615 The true improvement of Peace 617. The Peaceable man's comfort 4. The peaceable disposition is a God-like disposition 24. Magistrates Ministers and People to be peaceably-minded 138. Man to be peaceable and why so 143. Christian perfection to be attained by degrees 443. People to love their Ministers 416. How it is that the people are no competent Judges of the preacher and his doctrine 337. People to shew love to their Ministers in vindication of their credits 388. Perjury attended by Gods Judgments 277. To be ready to suffer persecution by Christ's example 427. Perseverance is the Crown of all good actions 109. 556. To persevere in goodnesse to the end 272. Perseverance in goodnesse enjoyned 559. 672. The Pharisee and the Publican differenced 208. Philosophy to be subservient to Divinity 57. The downfall of Piety and learning to be deplored 118. Piety not promotion that makes up a godly Minister 433. Progresse in Piety to be endeavoured 515. 589. Piety and policy not inconsistent 589. Carnal pleasures to be changed into spiritual pleasures 26. How to take pleasure safely 27. The very thoughts of former pleasures add to present sorrow 86. Temporal pleasures a great hinderance to spiritual joyes 87. Pleasures of the World counterfeit pleasures 90. Pleasures here in this life usually attended with pains hereafter 94. How to take our pleasure and serve God too 127. Momentany pleasure attended by sorrow eternal 168. Pleasures of sin the misery of them 386. Plots and contrivances of the Wicked turning to the good of Gods people 553. Worldly policy not to be prejudiciall
to the honour of God 468. Not to prejudice the truth of a good Conscience 469. Not to be in any thing prejudiciall to commutative Justice 470. Policy above strength 3. Prudence and Worldly Policy uncertain 154. The Pope's policy to advance his Holinesse 177. A prudential piece of State policy for the continuance of Peace 330. Satan's policy in keeping Men off from timely Repentance 392. Honesty the best policy 679. Polititians spoyled in the height of wicked designs 380. The wicked Polititian discovered 583. The State Polititian's Religion 616. The State Polititian siding with all parties 616. Charity to the Poor to be reall not verball 8. A poor child of God comforted with the hopes of Heaven 13. Alms given to the poor are the givers gain 31. Christ the poor Mans object as well as the Rich mans 253. The persons of poor men not to be sleighted 474. The poors relief Heavens treasure 495. Rulers Magistrates c. to stand up for the cause of the poor and needy 667. Popery a meer heap of confusion 441. Popular Government popular confusion 49. Great Men not to depend upon popularity 50. The vast difference betwixt Gods and Mans power 619. How it is that God is more powerfull then all the Creatures 623. The benefit of spiritual poverty 503. How a Man may be said to pray continually 25. When it may be said to be the best time to pray 516. Men to pray for others as well as for themselves 541. Prayer and endeavour to be joyned together 578. Prayer the onely means to supply all defects 272. The danger of distracted prayer 275. God onely heareth and answereth the prayers of his people 303. Prayer turning Earth into Heaven 309. Not the length but the fervency of Prayer required 316. Sinful prayers not heard by God 322. Rash inconsiderate Prayers reproved 521. Prayer a special prevailing sword 638. Worldly thoughts in time of prayer condemned 2. Prevalency of servent prayer 3. The difference betwixt carnal and spirituall prayer 5. The blessed Trinity co-operating in the Righteous mans prayer 30. Prayers and tears are the weapons of the Church 52. Immediate-addresses unto God by prayer find acceptance 60. Prayers to be made for all Men 86. Prayers of a Sin-regarding sinner not heard of God 86. Prayers of the godly the unanimity of them 109. Prayers not prevailing at present with God how to be regulated 116. The certain prevalency of prayer 143. The great return of a faithfull prayer 178. The sloathful contractednesse of our prayers unto God reproved 184. Gods moderate answer to the prayers of his people 186. Neglect of prayer unto God condemned 202. Prayers for the dead unavailable 213. Prayers of the Wicked ineffectual 218. The great power of fervent prayer 219. The Devill most busie in time of prayer 221. Drowsinesse in prayer to be avoided 230. Preaching and prayer to go together 238. To be fervent in prayer 252. Prayers to be made unto God in Christ's Name 265. To be deliberate in our prayers to God 269. No comfortable return of prayer till sin be removed 411. How to think of God in prayer 487. Fervency in prayer the prevalency thereof 533. Gods gracious return to his Peoples prayers in time of their distresse 540. Prayers for others in the same condition with our selves prevalent with God 542. All things come from God and therefore to be praised 181. Ministers to be advised in the profitable method of Preaching 381. Men through spirituall pride preferring one Preacher before another reproved 393. Preaching and Prayer to go together 238. The sincere Preacher's courage 228. The sincere Preacher's comfort 227. Conscientious Preachers not to be sleighted 207. Rash inconsiderate Preaching condemned 117. Plain preaching is profitable 73. Preaching Tradesmen preaching-Souldiers not sent of God 77. The powerfull effect to Gods Word preached 152. 178. The great danger of not listning to the Word preached 153. The painful Preacher's poverty the idle Impropriators plenty 297. How to make a right use of the doctrine of Predestination 603. God predestinateth to the means as well as the end 627. Magistrates and Ministers not to be forward for temporal Preferment dignity c. 88. 654. Men seeking preferment not fit to be entertained therein 578. Preparation to Religious duties must be free from Worldly distractions 74. Uâ—preparednesse for death very dangerous 102. Preparation necessary before Prayer 132. Publique worship of God not to be entered upon without due Preparation 314. The difference of good and bad men in preparation for death 463. Pride the complement of all sins 107. The vanity thereof 427. 565. The folly thereof 572. A main engine of the Devill 566. The vast difference betwixt Pride and humility 567. Pride in Riches honours c. the vanity thereof 570 621. In apparrel condemned 572. The printing of Learned Mens Works instrumental to Gods glory 450. Men to be carefull of their Principles in Religion 495. Heavenly Principles tend Heavenward 48. The benefit of keeping close to good Principles 203. A Man not well principled in Religion is unstable in all his wayes 250. Profit is the Great god of this World 198. Prosperity attended by cares and fears 672. Prosperity of the Wicked destructive 31. 98. 191. 217. Prosperity divides affliction unites the hearts of Christians 81. Prosperity of the wicked a stumbling-block to the Godly 161. Unhappy prosperity of the wicked 301. Uncertain prosperity of the Wicked 302. 419. Men apt to be unthankfull in time of prosperity 323. Prosperity will discover what a Man is 345. Not to be troubled at the prosperity of the Wicked and why so 349. 428. 532. Prosperity for the most part draws envy to it 504. To promise much and perform little reproveable 240. No promise to be made but with reference to Gods will c. 320. How to make a right use fo God's promises 327. Promises of God the excellencies and comforts that are to be found in them 329. Are for the most part conditional 491. To be careful of our Vows and promises made in extremity 491. The non-performance of vows and promises c. condemned 615. Promises without ability of performance not to be regarded 468. The great danger of not standing fast in the profession of Religion 657. Worldly professors of the Gospel reproved 652. The carnal Professor described 583. Men not to be ashamed of their godly profession though the wicked speak evill of them 641. Profession without practice not acceptable 36. 194. 284. Not to be ashamed of the profession of Christ 188. Profession to be joyned with practice 270. Men easily taken off from their holy profession upon removall of Judgment condemned 386. How it is that there are so many Professors of Religion and so few practisers of Religion 397. The tryall of true and false Professors 472. Propriety in God the onely comfort 24. The onely comfort of a Christian is his propriety in God 72. Men to be provident Christians 442. To be provident in the dayes of
the matter of Society laid open 337. The sincere upright man described 604. The scarciâ—y of such 612. How to deal with sin being once committed 603. Wherein the poysonfull nature of Sin consisteth 608. Sins lethargy 629. Sin to be removed as the cause of all sorrow 636. Sinne the godly Man's hatred thereof 642. The woful gradation of Sin 659. The best of Men not free from sin in this life 470. 548. Sin of the meanest Man in a Nation may be the destruction of it 509. The extream folly of Sin 510. Sin may be excused here in this World but not hereafter 514. Insensibility of Sin the sadnesse thereof 521. Sin in its original easie to be found 582. How sins may be said to ouâ—-live the Sinner 585. Sin the strange nature thereof 596. All Sinne mâ—st be hated and why so 598. God not the author of Sin 599. How it is that the singling out of one beloved Sin makes way to a full sight of all sin 351. Sin committed with deliberation premeditation c. greatly provoketh the Holy Spirit of God 353. To take heed of smaller sins as bringing on greater 354. 649. Men covering their Sins with specious pretences reproved 361. To beware of masked specious sins 368. Beloved Sins hardly parted withall 376. When it is that a Man is said throughly to forsake his Sin 391. Men deluded by Satan in not taking the right notion of Sin 395. Every Man to confesse that his own Sin is the cause though not always the occasion of punishment 421. New inventions of Sin condemned 453. The great danger of living in any one known sin 456. Sin unrepented of heavy upon the Soul at the time of death 456. Consideration of our secret sins a motive to compassionate others 457. No Man able to free himself from Sin 240. The great danger of sleighting the least Sin 256. 597. Sin not consented unto excusable before God 271. Sins of infirmity how to be known from other sins 273. Great Sins attended by great Judgments 286. Sin of a destructive Nature 288. 531. 607. To be affected with the falling of others into Sin 296. The great danger of Sin unrepented of 298. How it is that every Man hath one darling sin or other 327. The distemper of Sin not easily cured 332. Godly and wicked Men their difference in the haâ—red of Sin 350. The more a Man is now troubled for Sin the lesse shall he be troubled hereafter and why so 350. The sad condition of adding Sinne to sinne 237. The least of Sinnes to be prevented 46. 593. Sin to be renounced as the cause of Christ's death 59. 649. Sin onely is the godly Mans terrour 132. Sins of Infirmity in the best of Gods Children 143. Sin overthrowes all 1â—7 The retaining of one Sin spoyleth a greaâ— deal of good in the Soul 149. One Sin never goes alone 172. Strange Sinnes strange punishments 183. Not to be in love with sin 199. One foul sin spoyleth a great deal of Grace 203. When sins are at the height they come to destruction 205. The great danger of little sinnes 218. 367. 659. The sense of sinne is from God onely 221. Sinne of a dangerous spreading nature 415. How it is that one Man may be said to be punished for another Maâ—â— sin 419. Sin to be looked on as the cause of all sorrow 464. The slavery of Sinne to be avoided 499. 625. Sin to be looked on as it is fierce and cruell 535. Sin and the Sinner very hardly parted 536. Some one sinfull quality or other predominant 548. The great danger and guilt of lying under the guilt of any one eminent sinne 600. The sinsulnesse of sin 601. As to beware of all sins so of beloved sins 602. The growth of Sin to be prevented 10. How Sin is made the prevention of Sinne 39. Sin trampleth on Christ 50. Little Sins if not prevented bring on greatâ—r to the ruine of the Soul 56. Sense of Sin is an entrance to the sâ—ate of Grace 56. Impossible for a Man to know all his sins 57. The difference of Sins as they are Men regenerate and unregenerate 60. The weight of Sin to be seriously peysed 77. Remembrance of sins past the onely way to prevent sins to come 83. Relapses into sin dangerous 89. Every impenitent Sinner is his own tormentor 50. A sinful Man is a senselesse Man 80. The Sinners estate miserable 89. A gracelesse Sinner will continue to be a sinner still 92. The wrath oâ— God best appeased when the Sinner appearâ—th with Christ in his arms 99. The Devils charge and the Sinners disâ—harge 131. The Sinner's Memeâ—to 204. Desperate madnesse 639. The Sinner's security 216. God's acceptance of Sinners through Christ 217. The incorrigible Sinner's stupidity 264. His desperate condition 590. The secure carelâ—sse Sinner 509. Sinners crucifying the Lord of life daily 537. The Devil 's hard dealing with the ensnared Sinner 594. How the wounded Sinner is to be cured 595. An ungrations Son not worthy to be his Fathers heir 40. The excellency of Sonday or Lords Day above other dayes 539. To be more strict in the holy observation of Sonday or Sabbath then heretofâ—re And why so 540. Sorrowes of this life not comparable to the joyes of another 162. The best improvement of Worldly sorrow 185. Sorrow that is true is for the most part silent 293. The excellency of godly sorrow for Sinne 362. For a Man to be sorry that he cannot be sorry for sin is a part of godly Sorrow for sin 519. The least proportion of godly sorrow for sin accepted by God 520. Sorrow for sinne must be in particulars 559. Must be proportionable 560. Other mens sins are the good mans sorrow 581. A meer Souldier an enemy to peace 107. The truly noble Souldier 336. The Soulâ—ier's Calling honourable 415. Whereiâ— the true valour of a Captain or Souldier in War consisteth 544. The devout Soul will admit of none but Christ 10. More care for the body then the Soul condemned 11. No quietnesse in the Soul till it come to Christ 19. If the Soul be safe all 's safe 42. The Souls comfortable Union with Christ 44. How the Soul lives in Christ onely 44. The Souls sleighting of Christ offering mercies condemned 37. The winning of a Soul unto God very acceptable unto God 153. The health of the Soul is the true health of the body 162. To be careful for the Souls good 182. To take especial care for the Souls safety 348. 458. Men living as though they had not Souls to save reproved 368. How it is that Soul and body come to be both punished together 377. 675. The captivated Soul restless till it be in Christ Jesus 415 420. The Souls comfortable enjoyment of Christ 419. The Soul of Man pretious in the sight of God 462. Excellency of the Soul of Man 502. A foul polluted Soul the object of Gods hatred 503. The high price of the Soul 503. The folly of Men in parting with their