must deliver thee up when that comes Even when thy strength is firmest and thou eatest thy bread with a merry heart that very food which nourisheth thy life gives thee withal an earnest of death as it leaves those dregs in thee which will in time procure the same O how unavoidable must this evil day of death be when that very staffe knocks us down to the grave at last which our life leans on and is preserved by God owes a debt both to the first Adam and second to the first he owes the wages of his sin to the second the reward of his sufferings The place for full payment of both is the other world so that except death comes to convey man thither the wicked who are the posterity of the first Adam will misse of that full pay for their sins which the threatening makes due debt and engageth God to perform The godly also who are the seed of Christ these should not receive the whole purchase of his blood which he would never have shed but upon the credit of thar promise of eternal life which God gave him for them before the world began This is the reason why God hath made this day so sure in it he dischargeth both bonds The third branch of the point follows That it behoves every one to prepare and effectually to provide for this evil day which so unavoidably impends us And that upon a twofold account First in point of duty Secondly in point of wisdome First in point of duty First it is upon our allegiance to the great God that we provide and arme our selves against this day Suppose a subject were trusted with one of his Princes castles and this man should hear that a puissant enemy was coming to lay siege to this castle yet takes no care to lay in armes and provision for his defence and so 't is lost how could such a one be clear'd of treason doth he not basely betray the place and with it his Princes honour into the enemies hand Our souls are this castle which we are every one to keep for God We have certain intelligence that Satan hath a design upon them and the time when he intends to come with all his powers of darknesse to be that evil day Now as we would be found true to our trust we are obliged to stand upon our defence and store our selves with what may enable us to make a vigorous resistance Secondly we are obliged to provide for that day as a suitable return for and improvement of the opportunities and meanes which God affords us for this very end We cannot without shameful ingratitude to God make waste of those helps God gives us in order to this great work Every one would cry out upon him that should basely spend that money upon riot in prison which was sent him to procure his deliverance out of prison And do we not blush to bestow those talents upon our lusts and Satan which God graciously indulgeth to deliver us from them and his rage in a dying houre what have we Bibles for Ministers and preaching for if we mean not to furnish our selves by them with armour for the evil day In a word what is the intent of God in lengthening out our dayes and continuing us some while here in the land of the living was it that we might have time to revel or rather ravel out upon the pleasure of this vaine world Doth he give us our precious time to be employed in catching such butterflies as these earthly honours and riches are It cannot be Masters do not use if wise to set their servants about such work as will not pay for the candle they borne in doing it And truly nothing lesse then the glorifying of God and saving our soules at last can be worth the precious time we spend here The great God hath a greater end then most think in this dispensation If we would judge aright we should take his own interpreration of his actions and the Apostle Peter bids us count that the long-suffering of the Lord is salvation 2 Pet. 3.15 which plate he quotes out of Paul as to the sense though not in the same forme of words which in Rom. 2.4 are these Or despisest thou the riches of his goodnesse and forbearance and long-suffering not knowing that the goodnesse of God leadeth thee to repentance From both places we are taught what is the minde of God and the language he speaks to us in by every moments patience and inch of time that is granted to us It is a space given for repentance God sees as we are death and judgement could bring no good news to us we are in no case to welcome the evil day and therefore mercy stands up to plead for the poor creature in Gods bosome and begs a little time more may be added to its life that by this iudulgence it may be provoked to repent before he be called to the bar Thus we come by every day that is continually superadded to our time on earth And doth not this lay a strong obligation on us to lay out every point of this time unto the same end 't is begged for Secondly in point of wisdome The wisdom of a man appears most eminently in two things First in the matter of his choice and chief care Secondly in a due timing of this his choice and care First a wife man makes choice of that for the subject of his chief care and endeavour which is of greatest importance and consequence to him fools and children only are intent about toys and trifles They are as busie and earnest in making of a house of dirt or cards as Solomon was in making of his Temple Those poor bables are as adequate to their foolish apprehensions as great enterprises are to wise men Now such is the importance of the evil day especially that of death that it proves a man a fool or wise as he comports himself to it The end specifies every action and gives it the name of good or evil of wise or foolish The evil day of death is as the end of our dayes so to be the end of all the actions of our life Such will our life be found at last as it hath been in order to this one day If the several items of our life counsels and projects that we have pursued when they shall then be cast up will amount to a blessed death then we shall appear to be wise men indeed but if after all our goodly plots and policies for other things we be unprovided for that houre we must be content to die fooles at last And no such fool as the dying fool The Christian goes for the fool in the worlds account while he lives but when death comes the wise world will then confesse they mis-call'd him and shall take it to themselves We fooles counted his life to be madnesse and his end to be without honour But how is he now numbred among the
is most personal that corruption which David calls his own iniquity Psal 18.23 This is the skirt which Satan layes hold of observe what it is and mortifie it daily then Satan will retreat with shame when he sees the head of that enemy upon the wall which should have betrayed thee into his hands Secondly the Romane wrestlers used to anoint their bodies so do thou bathe thy soul with the frequent meditation of Christs love Satan will finde little welcome where Christs love dwells love will kindle love and that will be as a wall of fire to keep off Satan it will make thee disdain the offer of a sinne and as oile supple thy joynts and make agile to offend thy enemy Think how Christ wrestled in thy quarrel sin hell and wrath had all come full mouth upon thee had not he coped with them in the way And canst thou finde in thy heart to requite his love by betraying his glory into the hands of sin by cowardise or treachery say not thou lovest him so long as thou canst lay those sins in thy bosome which pluck't his heart out of his bosome It were strange if a childe should keep and delight to use no other knife but that wherewith his father was stabb'd Thirdly improve the advantage thou gettest at any time wisely Sometimes the Christian hath his enemy on the hip yea on the ground can set his foot on the very neck of his pride and throw away his unbelief as a thing absurd and unreasonable now as a wise wrestler fall with all thy weight upon thine enemy though man think it foule play to strike when his adversary is down yet do not thou so complement with sin as to let it breath or rise Take heed thou beest not charged of God as once Ahab for letting go this enemy now in thy hands whom God hath appointed to destruction Learne a little wisdome of the Serpents brood who when they had Christ under their foot never thought they had him sure enough no not when dead and therefore both seale and watch his grave Thus do thou to hinder the resurrection of thy sin seal it down with stronger purposes solemn covenants and watch it by a wakeful circumspect walking Vse 3 This is ground of consolation to the weak Christian who disputes against the truth of his grace from the inward conflicts and fightings he hath with his lusts and is ready to say like Gideon in regard of outward enemies If God be with me why is all this befallen me why do I finde such struglings in me provoking me to sin pulling me back from that which is good Why doest ask The Answer is soon given because thou art a Wrestler not a Conquerour Thou mistakest the state of a Châ—istian in this life when one is made a Christian he is not presently call'd to triumph over his slaine enemies but carried into the field to meet and fight them The state of grace is rhe commencing of a war against sin not the ending of it rather then thou shalt not have an enemy to wrestle with God himself will come in a disguise into the field and appear to be thine enemy Thus when Jacob was alone a man wrestled with him until breaking of the day and therefore set thy heart at rest if this be thy scruple Thy soule may rather take comfort in this that thou art a wrestler This strugling within thee if upon the right ground and to the right end doth evidence there are two Nations within thee two contrary natures the one from earth earthly and the other from heaven heavenly yea for thy further comfort know though thy corrupt nature be the elder yet it shall serve the younger Vse 4 O how should this make thee Christian long to be gone home where there is none of this stir and scuffle 'T is strange that every houre seems not a day and everyday a year till death sounds thy joyful retreat and calls thee off the field where the bullets flie so thick and thou art fighting for thy life with thy deadly enemies to come to Court where not swords but palmes are seen in the Saints hands not drums but harps not groanes of bleeding souldiers and wounded consciences but sweet and ravishing musick is heard of triumphing Victors caroling the praises of God and the Lambe through whom they have overcome Well Christians while you are below comfort your selves with these things There is a place of Rest remains for the people of God You do not beat the aire but wrestle for a Heaven that is yonder above these clouds you have your worst first the best will follow You wrestle but to win a Crown and win to wear it yea wear never to lose it which once on none shall take off or put you to the hazard of battel more Here we overcome to fight again the battel of one temptation may be over but the war remaines What peace can we have as long as devils can come abroad out of their holes or anything of sinful nature remains in our selves unmortified which will even fight upon its knees and strike with one arme while the other is cut off but when death comes the last stroak is struck this good Physician will perfectly cure thee of thy spiritual blindnesse and lamenesse as the Martyr told his fellow at the stake bloody Bonner would do their bodily What is it Christian which takes away the joy of thy life but the wrestlings and combates which this bosome-enemy puts thee to Is not this the Peninnah that vexing and disturbing thy Spirit hath kept thee off many a sweet meale thou mightest have had in communion with God and his Saints or if thou hast come hath made thee cover the Altar of God with thy teares and groans and will it not be a happy hand that cuts the knot and sets thee loose from thy deadnesse hypocrisie pride and what not wherewith thou wert yoak't 'T is life which is thy losse and death which is thy gaine Be but willing to endure the rending of this vaile of thy flesh and thou art where thou wouldest be out of the reach of sin at rest in the bosome of thy God And why should a short evil of paine affright thee more then the deliverance from a continual torment of sins evil ravish thee Some you know have chose to be cut rather then to be ground daily with the stone and yet may be their pain comes again and canst thou not quietly think of dying to be delivered from the torment of these sins never to return more And yet that is not the half that death doth for thee Peace is sweet after war ease after pain but what tongue can expresse what joy what glory must fill the creature at the first sight of God and that blessed company none but one that dwells there can tell Did we know more of that blisseful state we Ministers should finde it as hard a work to perswade Christians to be
sinners know who that God is they fight against this were enough to breed a mutiny in the devils camp Silly soules they are drawn into the field by a false report of God and his wayes and are kept there together with lies and faire tales but Christ is not afraid to shew his Saints their enemy in all his Power and Principality the Weaknesse of God being stronger then the powers of hell CHAP. I. Sheweth the Christians life here to be a continual wrestling with sin and Satan and the paucity of those who are true Wrestlers as also how the true Wrestlers should manage their combate THe words contain a lively description of a bloody and lasting war between the Christian and his implacable enemy in which we may observe First the Christians state in this life set out by this word wrestling Secondly the Assailants that appear in armes against the Christian who are described First Negatively Not flesh and blood Or rather comparatively not chiefly flesh and blood Secondly Positively but against Principalities Powers c. SECT I. First for the first the wrestling or conflicting state of a Christian in this life is rendered observable here by a threefold circumstance First the kinde of combate which the Christians state is here set out by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which though it be used sometimes for a wrestling of sport and recreation yet here to set out the sharpnesse of the Christians encounter there are two things in wrestling that render it a sharper combate then others First wrestling is not properly fighting against a multitude but when one enemy singles out another and enters the list with him each exerting their whole force and strength against one another as David and Goliah when the whole Armies stood as it were in a ring to behold the bloody issue of that duel Now this is more fierce then to fight in an army where though the battel be sharp and long the souldier is not alwayes engaged but falls off when he hath discharged and takes breath a while yea possibly may escape without hurt or stroak because there the enemies aime is not at this or that man but at the whole heap but in wrestling one cannot scape so he being the particular object of the enemies fury must needs be shaked and tried to purpose Indeed the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies such a strife as makes the body shake again quia corpus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Satan hath not only a general malice against the army of Saints but a spite against thee John thee Joane he 'll single thee out for his enemy We finde Jacob when alone a man wrestled with him As God delights to have private communion with his single Saints so the devil to try it hand to hand with the Christian when he gets him alone As we lose much comfort when we do not apply the Promise and Providence of God to our particular persons and conditions God loves me pardons me takes care of me the water at the town-conduit doth me no good if I want a pipe to empty it into my cisterne so it obstructs our care and watchfulnesse when we conceive of Satans wrath and fury as bent in general against the Saints and not against me in particular O how careful would a soule be in duty if as going to Church or Closet he had such a serious meditation as this Now Satan is at my heels to hinder me in my work if my God help me not Secondly 't is a close combate Armies fight at some distance Wrestlers grapple hand to hand An arrow shot from afar may be seen and shunn'd but when the enemy hath hold of one there is no declining but either he must resist manfully or fall shamefully at his enemies foot Satan comes close up and gets within the Christian takes his hold of his very flesh and corrupt nature and by this shakes him Secondly the universality of the combate We wrestle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which comprehends all on purpose you may perceive the Apostle changeth the pronoune 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the former verse into 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in this that he may include himself as well as them as if he had said the quarrel is with every Saint Satan neither feares to assault the Minister nor despiseth to wrestle with the meanest Saint in the Congregation great and small Minister and people all must wrestle Not one part of Christs Army in the field and the other at ease in their quarters where no enemy comes here are enemies enough to engage all at onee Thirdly the permanency or duration of this combate and that lies in the tense 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Not our wrestling was at first Conversion but now over and we past the pikes not we shall wrestle when sicknesse comes and death comes but our wrestling is the enemy is ever in sight of us yea in fight with us there is an evil of every dayes temptation which like Pauls bonds abides us wherever we become So that these particulars summ'd up will amount to this Point SECT II. The Christians life is a continual wrestling He is as Jeremy said of himself borne a man of strife or what the Prophet to Asa may be said to every Christian From hence thou shalt have wars from thy spiritual birth to thy natural death from the houre when thou first diddest set thy face to heaven till thou shalt set thy foot in heaven Israels march out of Egypt was in Gospel-sense our taking the field against sin and Satan and when had they peace not till they lodged their colours in Canaan No condition wherein the Christian is here below is quiet Is it prosperity or adversity here is work for both hands to keep pride and security down in the one faith and patience up in the other no place which the Christian can call priviledg'd ground Lot in Sodom wrestled with the wicked inhabitants thereof his righteous soule being vexed with their unclean conversation And how fares he at Zoar do not his own daughters bring a spark of Sodoms fire into his own bed whereby he is inflamed with lust Some have thought if they were but in such a family under such a Ministery out of such occasions O then they should never be tempted as now they are I confesse change of aire is a great help to weak nature and these forenamed as vantage-ground against Satan but think'st thou to flie from Satans presence thus No though thou should'st take the wings of the morning he would flie after thee these may make him change his method in tempting but not lay down his designe so long as his old friend is alive within he will be knocking at thy door without No duty can be performed without wrestling The Christian needs his sword as much as his trowel He wrestles with a body of flesh this to the Christian in duty is as the beast to the traveller he cannot go his journey
while the Saint goes in his rags Princes are not more careful to oblige their Courtiers with pensions and preferments then the devil is to gratifie his followers He hath his rewards also All this will I give thee Am not I able to promote thee saith Balak to Balaam O 't is strange and yet not strange considering the degeneracy of mans nature to see how Satan carries sinners after him with this golden hook Let him but present such a bait as honour pelfe or pleasure and their hearts skip after it as a dog would at a crust he makes them sin for a morsel of bread O the naughty heart of man loves the wages of unrighteousnesse which the devil promiseth so dearly that it feares not the dreadful wages which the great God threatens As sometimes you shall see a Spaniel so greedy of a bone that he 'll leap into the very river for it if you throw it thither and by that time he comes with much ado thither 't is sunk and he gets nothing but a mouth-full of water for his pains Thus sinners will after their desired pleasures honours and profits swimming through the very threatenings of the Word to them and sometimes they lose even what they gaped for here Thus God kept Balaam as Balak told him from honour Numb 24.11 But however they speed here they are sure to lose themselves everlastingly without repentance They that are resolved they will have these things are the men that fall into the devils snare and are led into those foolish and hurtful lusts which will drown them in destruction and perdition 1 Tim. 6.9 O poor sinners were it not wisdom before you truck with the devil to enquire what title he can give you to these goodly vanities will he settle them as a free estate upon you can he secure your bargain and keep you from suits of law or is he able to put two lives into the purchase that when you die you may not be left destitute in another world Alas poor wretches you shall ere long see what a cheat he hath put on you from whom you are like to have nought but Caveat emptor Let the buyer look to that yea this great Prince that is so brag to tell what he will give you must down himself and a sad Prince must needs make a sad Court O what howling will there then be of Satan and his vassals together O but saith the sinner the pleasures and honours sin and Satan offer are present and that which Christ promiseth we must stay for This indeed is that which takes most Demas saith Paul forsook me having loved this present world 2 Tim. 4.10 'T is present indeed sinners for you cannot say it will be yours the next moment your present felicity is going and the Saints though future is coming never to go and who for a gulpe of pottage and sensual enjoyments at present would part with a reversion of such a Kingdom except thou art of his minde who thought he had nothing but what he had swallowed down his throat Haec habeo quae edi quaeque exaturata libido Hausit which Cicero could say was more fit to be writ on an oxes grave then a mans Vile wretch that thinkest 't is not better to deale with God for time then the devil for ready pay Tertullian wonders at the folly of the Romanes ambition who would endure all manner of hardship in field and fight for no other thing but to obtain at last the honour to be Consul which he calls unius anni volaticum gaudium a joy that flies away at the years end But O what desperate madnesse is it of sinners then not to endure a little hardship here but entaile on themselves the eternal wrath of God hereafter for the short feast and running banquet their lusts entertain them here withal which often is not gaudium unius horae a joy that lasts an houre Vse 2 Secondly let this encourage thee O Christian in thy conflict with Satan the skirmish may be sharp but it cannot be long Let him tempt thee and his wicked instruments trounce thee 't is but a little while and thou shalt be rid of both their evill neighbourhoods The cloud while it drops is rolling over thy head and then comes faire weather an eternal Sunshine of glory Canst thou not watch with Christ one houre or two keep the field a few dayes if yield thou art undone for ever persevere but while the battel is over and thine enemy shall never rally more bid faith look through the Key-hole of the promise and tell thee what it sees there laid up for him that overcomes bid it listen and tell thee whether it cannot hear the shout of those crowned Saints as of those that are dividing the spoile and receiving the reward of all their services and sufferings here on earth and doest thou stand on the other side afraid to wet thy foot with those sufferings and temptations which like a little plash of water run between thee and glory SECT II. Secondly the devils Empire is confined to place as well as time he is the Ruler of this lower world not of the heavenly The highest the devil can go is the aire call'd the Prince thereof as being the utmost marches of his Empire he hath nothing to do with the upper world Heaven feares no devil and therefore its gates stand alwayes open never durst this fiend look into that holy place since he was first expell'd but rangeth to and fro here below as a vagabond creature excommunicated the presence of God doing what mischief he can to Saints in their way to heaven but is not this matter of great joy that Satan hath no power there where the Saints happinesse lies What hast thou Christian which thou needest value that is not there Thy Christ is there and if thou lovest him thy heart also which lives in the bosome of its beloved Thy friends and kindred in Christ are there or expected with whom thou shalt have a merry meeting in thy Fathers house notwithstanding the snare on Tabor the plots of Satan which lie in the way O friends get a title to that Kingdome and you are above the flight of this Kite This made Job a happy man indeed who when the devil had plundered him to his skin and worried him almost out of that too could then vouch Christ in the face of death and devils to be his Redeemer whom he should with those eyes that now stood full with brinish teares behold and that for himself as his own portion It is sad with him indeed who is robbed of all he is worth at once but this can never be said of a Saint The devil took away Jobs purse as I may say which put him into some straits but he had a God in Heaven that put him into stock again Some spending money thou hast at present in thy purse in the activity of thy faith the evidence of thy son-ship and comfort
flowing from the same enlargement in duty and the like which Satan may for a time disturb yea deprive thee of but he cannot come to the rolls to blot thy name out of the book of life he cannot null thy faith make void thy relation dry up thy comfort in the Spring though dam up the stream nor hinder thee a happy issue of thy whole war with sinne though worst thee in a private skirmish these all are kept in Heaven among Gods own Crown-Jewels who is said to keep us by his power through faith unto salvation SECT III. The third boundary of the devils Principality is in regard of his subjects and they are described here to be the darknesse of this world that is such who are in darknesse This word is used sometimes to expresse the desolate condition of a creature in some great distresse Isa 150. He that walks in darknesse and sees no light sometimes to expresse the nature of all sin so Eph. 5.1 sin is called the work of darknesse sometimes the particular sin of ignorance often set out by the darknesse of the night blindnesse of the eye all these I conceive may be mean't but chiefly the latter for though Satan makes a foule stir in the soule that is in the dark of sorrow whether it be from outward crosses or inward desertions yet if the creature be not in the darknesse of sinne at the same time though he may disturb his peace as an enemy yet cannot be said to rule as a Prince Sin only sets Satan in the Throne so that I shall take the words in the two latter Interpretations First for the darknesse of sin in general Secondly for the darknesse of ignorance in special and the sense will be that the devils rule is over those that are in a state of sin and ignorance not over those who are sinful or ignorant so he would take hold of Saints as well as others but over those who are in a state of sin which is set out by the abstract Ruler of the darknesse the more to expresse the fulnesse of the sin and ignorance that possesseth Satans slaves and the Notes will be two First Every soul in a state of sin is under the rule of Satan Secondly Ignorance above other sins enslaves a soul to Satan and therefore all sins are set out by that which chiefly expresseth this viz. darknesse Every soule in a state of sin is under the rule of Satan under which point these two things must be enquired First the reason why sin is set out by darknesse Secondly how every one in such a state appears to be under the devils rule For the first First sin may be called darknesse because the spring and common cause of sin in man is darknesse The external cause Satan who is the great promoter of it he is a cursed spirit held in chaines of darknesse The internal is the blindnesse and darknesse of the soule we may say when any one sins he doth he knowes not what as Christ said of his murtherers Did the creature know the true worth of the soul which he now sells for a song the glorious amiable nature of God and his holy wayes the matchlesse love of God in Christ the poisonfull nature of sin and all these not by a sudden beam darted into the window at a Sermon and gone again like a flash of lightning but by an abiding light this would spoile the devils market and poor creatures would not readily take this toad into their bosomes sin goes in a disguise and so is welcome Secondly it is darknesse because it brings darknesse into the soul and that naturally and judicially First Naturally There is a noxious quality in sin offensive to the understanding which is to the soule what the eye and palate are to the body It discernes of things and distinguisheth true from false as the eye white from black It tryeth words as the mouth tasteth meats Now as there are some things bad for the sight and others bad for the palate vitiating it so that it shall not know sweet from bitter so here sin besots the creature and makes it injudicious that he who could see such a practice absurd and base in others before when once he hath drunk of this inchanting cup himself as one that hath for done his understanding is mad of it himself not able now to see the evil of it or use his reason against it Thus Saul before he had debauch't his conscience thinks the Witch worthy of death but after he had trodden his conscience hard with other foule sins goes to ask counsel of one himself Again sin brings darknesse judiciously such have been threatened whose eare God hath been trying to open and instruct and have run out of Gods school into the devils by rebelling against light that they shall die without knowledge Iob 36.10 12. What should the candle burn wast when the creature hath more minde to play then work Thirdly Sinne runs into darknesse Impostors bring in their damnable Heresies privily like those who sell bad ware loath to come to the Market where the Standard tries all but put it off in secret so in moral wickednesse sinners like beasts go out in the night for their prey loath to be seen afraid to come where they should be found out Nothing more terrible to sinners then light of truth John 3.19 because their deeds are evil Felix was so netled with what Paul spake that he could not sit out the Sermon but flings away in haste and adjourns the hearing of Paul till a convenient season but he never could finde one The Sun is not more troublesome in hot Countreys then truth is to those who sit under the powerful preaching of it and therefore as those seldome come abroad in the heat of the day and when they must have their devices over their heads to skreene them from the Sun so sinners shun as much as may be the preaching of the Word but if they must go to keep in with their relations or for other carnal advantages they if possible will keep off the power of truth either by sleeping the Sermon away or prating it away with any foolish imagination which Satan sends to beare them company and chat with them at such a time or by choosing such a coole Preacher to sit under whose toothlesse discourse shall rather flatter then trouble rather tickle their fancy then prick their consciences and then their sore eyes can look upon the light Froreseentem amant veritatem qui non redarguentem they dare handle and look on the sword with delight when in a rich scabbard who would run away to see it drawn Fourthly Sinne is darknesse for its uncomfortab'enesse and that in a threefold respect First Darknesse is uncomfortable as it shuts out of all imployment What could the Egyptians do under the plague of darknesse but sit still and this to an active spirit is trouble enough Thus in a state of sinne
prisoner I cannot shake off my fetters and set my self at liberty to come unto Christ Well poor soul canst thou groan heartily under thy bondage then for thy comfort know thy deliverance is at the door he that heard the cry of Israel in Egypt will hear thine also yea come and save thee out of the hands of thy lusts He will not as some who entangle thy affections by making love to thee and then give over the suit and come at thee no more If Christ has won thy heart he 'll be true to thee and be at all the cost to bring thee out of thy prison-house also yea take the paines to come for thee himselfe and bring with him these wedding-garments in which he will carry thee from thy prison to his Fathers house with joy where thou shalt live not only as a subject under his Law but as a Bride in the bosome of his love and what can be added to thy happinesse more when thy Prince is thy husband and that such a Prince to whom all other are vassals even the Prince of the world himself and yet so gracious that his Majesty hinders not his familiar converse with thee a poor creature but addes to the condescent thereof therefore God chooseth to mixe names of greatnesse and relation together the one to sweeten the other Thy Maker is thy husband thy Redeemer the Holy One of Israel The God of the whole earth shall he be called Isa 54.5 And to usher in those promises with titles of greatest dread and terrour to the creature that hold forth the greatest condescensions of love How can God stoop lower then to come and dwell with a poor humble soule which is more then if he had said such a one should dwell with him for a beggar to live at Court is not so much as the King to dwell with him in this cottage Yet this promise is usher'd in with the most magnificent titles Thus saith the high and lofty one that inhabits eternity whose Name is holy I dwell in the high and holy place with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit Isa 57.15 and why such titles but to take away the feares which his Saints are prone to take up from them Will the high and lofty One saith the humble soule look on me a poor worme will the Holy God come near such an unclean creature saith the contrite one Isaiah himself cried he was undone at the sight of God and this attribute proclaim'd before him Isa 6. Now God prefixeth these that the creature may know his Majesty and holinesse which seems so terrible to us are no prejudice to his love yea so gracious a Prince is thy husband that he delights rather his Saints should call him by names of love then state Thou shalt call me Ishi and shalt no more call me Baali Hos 2.16 that is my Husband not my Lord. SECT IV. The second point follows Ignorance above other sins enslaves a soule to Satan a knowing man may be his slave but an ignorant one can be no other Knowledge doth not make the heart good but it is impossible that without knowledge it should be good There are some sins which an ignorant person cannot commit there are more which he cannot but commit Knowledge is the Key Luke 11.52 Christ the door John 15. Christ opens Heaven Knowledge opens Christ In three particulars the Point will appear more fully First ignorance opens a doore for sinne to enter Secondly as ignorance lets sin in so it locks it up in the soule and the soule in it Thirdly as it locks it up so it shuts all meanes of help out First Ignorance opens the door for Satan to enter in with his troops of lusts where the watch is blinde the City is soon taken an ignorant man sins and like drunken Lot he knowes not when the tempter comes nor when he goes he is like a man that walks in his sleep knowes not where he is nor what he does Father forgive them said Christ they know not what they do The Apostle 1 Cor. 15. having reproved the sensuality of some verse 32. who made the consideration of death by which others are awed from sinne a provocative to sinne Let us eat and drink for to morrow we shall die he gives an account of this absurd reasoning All have not the knowledge of God An ignorant person is a man in shape and a beast in heart There is no knowledge in the land saith the Prophet Hosea 4.2 and see what a regiment followes this blinde Captain swearing lying killing stealing and what not We reade 2 Tim. 3.5 of some laden with sins here are trees full of bitter fruit and what dung shall we finde at the root that makes them so fruitfull but ignorance silly women and such who never come to the knowledge of the truth Secondly ignorance as it lets sin in so it locks it up and the soule in it such a one lies in Satans inner dungeon where no light of conviction comes darknesse inclines to sleep a blinde minde and a drowsie conscience go together When the storme arose the mariners who were awake fell a praying to their God but the sleeper feares nothing Ignorance layes the soule asleep under the hatches of stupidity God hath planted in the beast a natural feare of that which threatens hurt to it Go to thrust a beast into a pit and it hangs back nature shewes its abhorrency Man being of a nobler nature and subject to more dangers God hath set a double guard on him as a natural feare of danger so a natural shame that covers the face at the doing of any unworthy action Now an ignorant man hath slipt from both these his Keepers he sins and blusheth not because he knowes not his guilt he wants that Magistrate within which should put him to shame neither is he afraid because he knowes not his danger and therefore he playes with his sin as the childe with the waves that by and by will swallow him up Conscience is Gods alarm to call the sinner up It doth not alwayes ring in his eare that hath knowledge being usually set by God to go off at some special houre when God is speaking in an Ordinance or striking in a Providence but in an ignorant soule this is silent The Clock cannot go when the weights are taken off Conscience is only a witnesse to what it knows Thirdly ignorance shuts out the means of recovery Friends and Ministers yea Christ himself stands without and cannot help the creature as such threatenings and promises all of no use he feares not the one he desires not the other because he knows neither Heaven-way cannot be found in the dark and therefore the first thing God doth is to spring in with a light and let the creature know where he is and what the way is to get out of his prison-house without which all attempts to escape are in vain There is some shimmering
hazard of his own life with Goliah O it is a bloody sin It is the wombe wherein a whole litter of other sins are formed Rom. 1.29 full of envy murder debate deceit malignity c. and therefore except you be resolved to bid the devil welcom and his whole train resist him in this that comes before to take up quarters for the rest CHAP. X. Of pride of Grace SEcondly pride of grace This is another way Satan assaults the Christian 'T is true grace cannot be proud yet 't is possible a Saint may be proud of his grace there is nothing the Christian hath or doth but this worme of pride will breed in it The world we live in is corruptible and all here is subject to putrefie as things kept in a rafty muggish room subject them to mould It is not the nature of grace but the salt of the Covenant keeps and preserves the purity of it in heaven indeed we shall be safe But how can a Saint be said to be proud of his grace Then a soule is proud of his grace when he trusts in his grace Trust and confidence is an incommunicable flower of Gods Crown as Soveraign Lord even among men it goes along with royalty Set up a King and as such he expects you should give him this as the undoubted Prerogative of his place and therefore to seek protection from any other is as it were to set up another King Judg. 9.15 If indeed you anoint me King over you then come and put your trust under my shadow therefore when a soule puts his trust in any thing beside God he sets up a Prince a King an Idol to which he gives Gods glory away Now it doth not make the sin lesse that it is the grace of God we crown then if it were a lust we crowned 'T is idolatry to worship a holy Angel as well as a cursed devil to make our grace a god as well as our belly our god nay rather it addes to it because that is now used to rob him of his glory which should have brought him in the greatest revenue of glory certainly the more treasure you put into your servants hands the greater wrong to you for him to run away with it I doubt not but David could have borne it better to have seen a Philistine drive him from his throne then a sonne an Absalom But how can or may a Saint be said to trust in his grace First by trusting to the strength of his grace Secondly by trusting on the worth of his grace Indeed a professed trust in grace I conceive cannot stand with grace but there is an oblique kinde of trust or that which by interpretation may savour of it Satan is slie in his assaults SECT I. First of the first to trust in the strength of grace is to be proud of grace This is opposed to that poverty of spirit so commended by our Saviour Matth. 5. by which a man lives in the continual sense of his spiritual beggery and nothingnesse and so hath his recourse to Christ as the poor to the rich mans door knowing he hath nothing at home to maintain him Such a one was Paul not able to do any thing of himself he is not ashamed to let the world know that Christ carries his purse for him Our sufficiency is of God yea after many years trading this holy man sees nothing he hath got Phil. 3.13 I count not my self to have apprehended he is still pressing forward ask him how he lives he 'll tell you who keeps house for him I live yet not I Gal. 2.20 as ask a beggar where he hath his meat cloathes c. he 'll say I thank my good Master Now Satan chiefly labours to puffe the soul up with an over-weening conceit of his own ability as the readiest means to bring him into his snare Satan knows 't is Gods method to give his children into his hands when once they grow proud and self-confident Hezekiah was left to a temptation 2 Chron. 32.31 to try him Why God had tried him to purpose a little before in an affliction what needs this O Hezekiahs heart was lift up after his affliction It was time for God to let the tempter alone a little to foile him probably now Hezekiah had high thoughts of his grace O he would never do as he had done before and God will let him see what a weak creature he is Peter makes a whip for his own back in that bravado Though all should forsake thee yet will not I. Christ now in meer mercy must set Satan on him to lay him on his back that seeing the weaknesse of his faith he might be dismounted from the height of his pride All that I shall say from this is to entâ—eat thee Christian to have a care of this kinde of pride You know what Joah said to David when he perceived his heart lift up with the strength of his Kingdom and therefore would have the people numbered The Lord God adde unto thy people how many soever they be a hundred fold but why doth my Lord the King delight in this thing 2 Sam. 24.3 The Lord adde to the strength of thy grace a hundred fold but why delightest thou in this why shouldest thou be lift up is it not grace shall the Groom be proud because he rides on his Masters horse or the mud wall because the Sun shines on it mayest thou not say of every dram of grace as the young man of his hatchet Alas Muster it is borrowed nay not only borrowed but thou canst not use it without his skill and strength that lends it thee O beware of this let not those vain thoughts lodge in thee left thou enter into temptation It is a breach a whole troop of sins may enter at yea will except speedily fill'd up First it will make thee soon grow loose and negligent in thy duty 'T is sense of insufficiency keeps a soul at work to pray and heare as want in the house and hutch holds up the market no man comes thither to buy what he hath at home Vp saith Jacob go down to Egypt for corne that we live and not die Thus saith the needy Christian Up soul to thy God thy faith is weak thy patience almost spent ply thee to the throne of grace go with thy homer to the Ordinances and get some supplies Now a soule conceited of his store hath another song Soul take thine ease thou art richly laid in for many dayes Let the doubting soule pray thy faith is strong let the weake lie at the breast thou art well grown up nay 't is well if it goes not further to a despising of Ordinances except they have some more courtly fate then ordinary such a passe were the Corinthians come to 1 Cor. 4.8 Now ye are full now ye are rich ye reign like Kings without us I pray observe how he layes the accent on the particle now now ye are rich as if
Peter who set out so valiantly at first to walk on the sea the winde doth but rise and he begins to sink now he sees there was more unbelief in his heart then he before suspected Sharp afflictions are to the soule as a driving raine to the house we know not that there are such crannies and holes in the house till we see it drop down here and there Thus we perceive not how unmortified this corruption nor how weak that grace is till we are thus search't and made more fully to know what is in our hearts by such trials This is the reason why none have such humble thoughts of themselves and such pitiful and forbearing thoughts towards others in their infirmities as those who are most acquainted with afflictions they meet with so many foiles in their conflicts as make them carry a low saile in respect of their own grace and a tender respect to their brethren more ready to pity then censure them in their weaknesses Fourthly this is the season when the evil one Satan comes to tempt What we finde call'd the time of tribulation Mat. 13.22 we finde in the same parable Luke 8.13 call'd the time of temptation Indeed they both meet seldome doth God afflict us but Satan addeth temptation to our wildernesse This is your houre saith Christ and the power of darknesse Luke 22.53 Christs sufferings from man and temptation from the devil came together Esau who hated his brother for the blessing said in his heart The dayes of mourning for my father are at hand then will I kill my brother Gen. 27.41 Times of affliction are the dayes of mourning those Satan waits for to do us amischief in Fifthly and lastly the day of affliction hath oft an evil event and issue and in this respect proves an evil day indeed All is well we say that ends well the product of afflictions on the Christian is good the rod with which they are corrected yields the peaceable fruits of righteousnesse and therefore they can call their afflictions good that is a good instrument that lets out only the bad blood It is good for me that I was afflicted saith David I have read of a holy woman who used to compare her afflictions to her children they both put her to great pain in the bearing but as she knew not which of her children to have been without for all the trouble in the bringing forth so neither which of her afflictions she could have missed notwithstanding the sorrow they put her to in the enduring But to the wicked the issue is sad first in regard of sin they leave them worse more impenitent hardened in sin and outragious in their wicked practices Every plague on Egypt added to the plague of hardnesse on Pharaohs heart he that for some while could beg prayers of Moses for himself at last comes to that passe that he threatens to kill him if he come at him any more O what a prodigious height do we see many come to in sin after some great sicknesse or other judgement Children do not more shoot up in their bodily stature after an ague then they in their lusts after afflictions O how greedy and ravenous are they after their prey when they once get off their clog and chain from their heeles when Physick works not kindly it doth not only leave the disease uncured but the poison of the Physick stays in the body also Many appear thus poisoned by their afflictions by the breaking out of their lusts afterward Secondly in regard of sorrow every affliction on a wicked person produceth another and that a greater then it self The last wedge comes the last which shall rive him fit for the fire the sinner is whip't from affliction to affliction as the vagrant from Constable to Constable till at last he comes to hell his proper place and setled abode where all sorrrows will meet in one that is endlesse The second branch of the point follows This evil day is unavoidable We may as well stop the chariot of the Sun when posting to night and chase away the shades of the evening as escape this houre of darknesse that is coming upon us all None hath power over the Spirit to retain it neither hath he power in the day of death and there is no discharge in that war Eccl. 8.8 Among men 't is possible to get off when prest for the wars by pleading priviledge of yeares estate weaknesse of body protection from the Prince and the like or if all these fail possibly the sending another in our room or a bribe given in the hand may serve the turn But in this war the presse is so strict that there is no dispensation David could willingly have gone for his son we hear him crying Would God I had died for thee O Absalom my son my son but he will not be taken that young Gallant must go himself We must in our own person come into the field and look death in the face Some indeed we finde so fond as to promise themselves immunity from this day as if they had an ensuring office in their breast They say they have made a Covenant with death and with hell they are at an agreement when the overflowing scourge shall passe through it shall not come unto them And now like debtors that have feed the Serjeant they walk abroad boldly and feare no arrest But God tells them as fast as they binde he will loose Your Covenant with death shall be disannulled and your agreement with hell shall not stand and how should it if God will not set his seal to it There is a divine Law for this evil day which came in force upon Adams first sin that laid the fatal knife to the throat of mankinde which hath opened a sluce to let out his heart-blood ever since God to prevent all escape hath sowen the seeds of death in our very constitution and nature so that we can assoon run from our selves as run from death We need no feller to come with a hand of violence and hew us down there is in the tree a worme which grows out of its own substance that will destroy it so in us those infirmities of nature that will bring us down to the dust Our death was bred when our life was first conceived and as a breeding woman cannot hinder the houre of her travel that follows in nature upon the other so neither can man hinder the bringing forth of death with which his life is big All the pains and aches man feels in his life are but so many singultus morientis naturae groans of dying nature they tell him his dissolution is at hand Beest thou a Prince sitting in all thy state and pomp death dare enter thy Palace and come through all thy guards to deliver the fatal message it hath from God to thee yea runs its dagger to thy heart wert thou compassed with a Colledge of Doctors consulting thy health Art and Nature both
if they be not worth sending this messenger to Heaven truly they are worth little Thirdly consider that although the Christian be secured from a total and final apostasy yet he may fall sadly to the bruising of his conscience enfeebling his grace and reproach of the Gospel which sure are enough to keep the Christian upon his watch and the more because ordinarily the Saints back-slidings begin in their duties As it is with tradesmen in the world they first grow carelesse of their businesse often out of their shop and then they go behinde-hand in their estates So here first remisse in a duty and then fall into a decay of their graces and comforts yea sometimes into wayes that are scandalous A stuffe loseth its glosse before it weares The Christian the lustre of his grace in the lively exercise of duty and then the strength of it Secondly take heed of abusing this doctrine unto a liberty to sin shall we sin because grace abounds grow loose because we have God fast bound in his promise God forbid none but a Devil would teach us this Logick It was a great height of sin those wretched Jewes came to who could quaffe and carouse it while death look't in upon them at the windows Let us eat and drink for tomorrow we shall die They discovered their Atheisme therein But what a prodigious stature in sin must that man be grown to that can sin under the protection of the promise and draw his encouragement to sin from the everlasting love of God Let us eat and drink for we are sure to live and be saved Grace cannot dwell in that heart which drawes such a cursed conclusion from the premisses of Gods grace The Saints have not so learn't Christ The inference the Apostle makes from the sweet priviledges we enjoy in the Covenant of grace is not to wallow in sin but having these promises to cleanse our selves from all filthinesse of flesh and spirit 2 Cor. 7.1 'T is the nature of faith the grace that trades with Promises to purifie the heart Now the more certain report faith brings of Gods love from the promise to the soule the mote it purifies the heart because love by which faith works is thereby more inflamed to God and if once this affection takes fire the room becomes too hot for sin to stay there SECT VI. The fourth note and last is That it will abundantly recompence all the hardship and trouble the Christian endures in this war against sin and Satan that he shall be able when the war is ended to stand In mans wars all do not get by them that fight in them the gaines of these are commonly put into a few pockets The common souldiers endure most of the hardship but go away with little of the profit they fight to make a few that are great yet greater and are many times themselves turn'd off at last with what will hardly pay for the cure of their wounds or keep them from starving in a poor Hospital But in this war there is none loseth but he that runs away A glorious reward there is for every faithful souldier in Christs Camp and that is wrapt up in this phrase Having done all to stand Now in this place to stand imports three things which laid together will clear the point First to stand in this place is to stand Conquerours An Army when conquered is said to fall before their enemy and the Conquerour to stand Every Christian shall at the end of the war stand a Conquerour over his vanquish't lusts and Satan that headed them Many a sweet victory the Christian hath here over Satan But alas the joy of these Conquests is again interrupted with fresh alarms from his rallied enemy One day he hath the better and may be the next he is put to the hazard of another battel much ado he hath to keep what he hath got yea his very victories are such as send him bleeding out of the field Though he repulses the temptation at last yet the wounds his conscience gets in the fight do overcast the glory of the victory 'T is seldome the Christian comes off without some sad complaint of the treachery of his own heart which had like to have lost the day and betrayed him into his enemies hand But for thy eternal comfort Know poor Christian there is a blessed day coming which shall make a full and final decision of the quarrel betwixt thee and Satan Thou shalt see this enemies Camp quite broke up not a weapon left in his hand to lift up against thee Thou shalt tread upon his high places from which he hath made so many shots at thee Thou shalt see them all dismantled and demolished till there be not left standing any one corruption in thy bosome for a devil to hide and harbour himself in Satan at whose approach thou hast so trembled shall then be subdued under thy feet he that hath so oft bid thee bow down that he might go over thy soule and trample upon all thy glory shall now have his neck laid to be trodden on by thee Were there nothing else to be expected as the fruits of our watching and praying weeping mourning severe duties of mortification and self-denial with whatever else our Christian warfare puts us upon but this our labour sure would not be in vain in the Lord. Yea blessed watching and praying happy tears and wounds we meet with in this war may they out at last end in a full and eternal victory over sin and Satan Bondage is one of the worst of evils The baser an enemy is the more abhorred by noble spirits Saul feared to fail into the hands of the uncircumcised Philistines and to be abused by their scornes and reproaches more then a bloody death Who baser then Satan what viler tyrant then sin Glorious then will the day be wherein we shall praise God for delivering us out of the hands of all our sins and from the hand of Satan But dismal to you sinners who at the same time wherein you shall see the Saints stand with crowns of victory on their heads must like fettered captives be dragg'd to hells dungeon there to have your eare bored unto an eternal bondage under your lusts And what more miserable sentence can God himself passe upon you Here sin is pleasure there it will be your torment Here a sweet bit and goes down glib but there it will stick in your throats Here you have suitable provision to entertain your lusts withal Palaces for pride to dwell and strut her self in Delicious fare for your wanton palates houses and lands with coffers of silver and gold for your covetous hearts by their self-pleasing thoughts to sit brooding upon but you will finde none of these there hell is a barren place nothing grows in that land of darknesse to solace and recreate the sinners minds You shal have your lusts but want the food they long for O what a torment must
that needs be to have a soul sharp set even to a ravenous hunger after sin but chain'd up where it can come at nothing it would have to satisfie its lost for a proud wretch that could wish he might dominere over all the world yea over God himself if he would let him to be kept down in such a dungeon as hell is O how it will cut for the malicious sinner whose heart swells with rancour against God and his Saints that he could pluck them out of Gods bosome yea God out of his throne if he had power to finde his hands so manacled that he can do nothing against them he so hates O how this will torment Speak O you Saints whose partial victory over sin at present is so sweet to you that you would choose a thousand deaths sooner then return to your old bondage under your lusts how glorious then is that day in your eye when this shall be compleated in a full and eternal Conquest never to have any thing to do more with sin or Satan Secondly to stand is here to stand justified and acquitted at the great day of judgement The phrase is frequent in Scripture which sets out the solemn discharge they shall have then by standing in judgement Psal 1.5 The wicked shall not stand in the judgement that is they shall not be justified Psal 130.3 If thou Lord shouldest mark iniquity O Lord who shall stand that is who shall be discharged The great God upon whose errand we come into the world hath appointed a day wherein he will judge the world by Jesus Christ a solemn day it will be when all that ever lived on earth high and low good and bad shall meet in one Assembly to make their personal appearance before Christ and from his mouth to receive their eternal doom who shall in his Majestick robes of glory ascend the awful seat of Judicature attended with his illustrious traine and guard of Angels about him as so many officers ready to execute and perform his pleasure according to the definitive sentence that he shall pronounce either to conduct those blessed ones whom he shall justifie into his glorious Kingdome or binde them hand and foot to be cast into hells unquenchable flames whom he shall condemn I do not wonder that Pauls Sermon on this subject did make an earth-quake in Felix his conscience but rather that any should be so far gone in a lethargy and dedolent numbnesse of conscience as the thought of this day cannot recover them to their sense and feeling O Sirs do you not vote them happy men and women that shall speed well on this day are not your thoughts enquiring who those blessed soules are which shall be acquitted by the lively voice of Christ the Judge You need not ascend to search the rolls of election in heaven here you may know they are such as fight the Lords battels on earth against Satan in the Lords Armour and that to the end of their lives These having done all shall stand in judgement And were it but at a mans bar some Court-Martial where a souldier stood upon trial for his life either to be condemned as a Traitour to his Prince or clear'd as faithful in his trust O how such a one would listen to heare how it would go with him and be overjoyed when the Judge pronounces him innocent Well may such be bid to fall down on their knees thank God and the Judge that have saved their lives how much more ravishing will the sweet voice of Christ be in the Saints eares when he shall in the face of men and Angels make publike declaration of their righteousnesse O how confounded will Satan then be who was their accuser to God and their own consciences also ever threatening them with the terrour of that day How blank will the wicked world be to see the dirt that they had throwen by their calumnies and lying reports on the Saints faces wiped off with Christs own hand they from Christs mouth to be justified as sincere whom they had call'd hypocrites will not this O ye Saints be enough for all the scorne you were laden with from the world and conflict you endured with the Prince of the world But this is not all Therefore Thirdly to stand doth here also as the complement of their reward denote the Saints standing in heavens glory Princes when they would reward any of their subjects that in their wars have done eminent service to the crown as the utmost they can do for them do prefer them to Court there to enjoy their Princely favour and stand in some place of honourable service before them continually Solomon sets it out as the greatest reward of faithful subjects to stand before Kings Heaven is the royal city where the great God keeps his Court. The happiness of glorious Angels is to stand there before God I am Gabriel that stand in the presence of God Luke 1.19 That is I am one of those heavenly spirits who wait on the great God and stand before his face as Courtiers do about their Prince Now such honour shall every faithful soul have Thus saith the Lord of hostes If thou wilt walk in my wayes and if thou wilt keep my charge I will give thee places to walk among these that stand by Zech. 3.7 He alludes to the Temple which had rooms joyning to it for the Priests that waited on the Lord in his holy service there Or to Courtiers that have stately galleries and lodgings becoming their place at Court allowed them in the Kings Palace they wait upon Thus all the Saints whose representative Joshua was shall after they have kept the Lords charge in a short lifes service on earth be called up to stand before God in heaven where with Angels they shall have their galleries and mansions of glory also O happy they who shall stand before the Lord in glory The greatest Peeres of a Realme such as Earles Marquesses and Dukes are count it greater honour to stand before their King though bare-headed and oft upon the knee then to live in the countrey where all bow and stand bare to them yea let but their Prince forbid them coming to Court and 't is not their great estates or respect they have where they live will content them 'T is better to wait in heaven then to reign on earth 'T is sweet standing before the Lord here in an Ordinance one day in the worship of God is better then many elsewhere O what then is it to stand before God in glory If the Saints spikenard sendeth forth so sweet a smell while the King sits at his table here in a Sermon or Sacrament O then what joy must needs flow from their near attendance on him as he sits at his table in heaven which when God first made it was intended by him to be that Chamber of presence in which he would present himself to be seen of and enjoyed by his Saints in
should use him more then themselves And 't is observable that the lusting for flesh broke out among the mixt multitude and baser sort of people Numb 11.4 5. but this of pride and envie took fire in the bosomes of the most eminent for place and Piety O what need then have we poor creatures to watch our hearts when we see such precious servants of God led into temptation The Spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy James 4.5 Our corrupt nature is ever putting on to this sin 'T is as hard to keep our hearts and this sin asunder as it is to hinder two lovers from meeting together Thatch is not more ready to be fired with every flash of lightening then the heart to be kindled at the shining forth of any excelling gift or grace in another It was one of the first windows that corrupt nature look't out at a sin that shed the first blood Cains envy hatcht Abels murder Now if ever thou meanest to get the mastery of this sin First call in help from heaven No sooner hath the Apostle set forth how big and teeming full the heart of man is with envy but he shews where a fountain of grace is infinitely exceeding that of lust The Spirit within us lusteth to envie but he giveth more grace v. 5. And therefore sit not down tamely under this sin it is not unconquerable God can give thee more grace then thou hast sin more humility then thou hast pride Be but so humble as cordially to beg his grace and thou shalt not be so proud as wickedly to envy his gifts or grace in others Secondly make this sin as black and ugly as thou canst possibly to thy thought that when it is presented to thee thou mayest abhor it the more Indeed there needs no more then its own face wouldest thou look wishly on it to make thee out of love with it For first this envying of others gifts casts great contempt upon God and that more wayes then one First when thou enviest the gifts of thy brethren thou takest upon thee to teach God what he shall give and to whom as if the great God should take counsel or ask leave of thee before he dispenseth his gifts and darest thou stand to thy own envious thoughts with this interpretation such a one thou findest Christ himself give Matth. 20.15 Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with my own as if Christ had said what hath any to do to cavil at my disposure of what is not theirs but mine to give Secondly thou malignest the goodnesse of God It troubles thee it seems that God hath a heart to do good to any besides thy selfe thy eye is evil because his is good Wouldest not thou have God be good you had as good speak out and say you would not have him God he can assoon cease to be God as to be good Thirdly thou art an enemy to the glory of God as thou defacest that which should set it forth Every gift is a ray of divine excellency and as all the beams declare the glory of the Sunne so all the gifts God imparts declare the glory of God Now envy labours to deface and fully the representations of God it hath ever something to disparage the excellency of another withal God shewed Miriam her sin by her punishment she went to bespatter Moses that shone so eminently with the gifts and graces of God and God spits in her sace Numb 12. yea fills her all over with a noisome scab Doest thou cordially wish well to the honour of God why then hangest thou thy head and doest not rather rejoyce to see him glorified by the gifts of others Could a Heathen take it so well when himself was passed by and others chosen to places of honour and government that he said he was glad his City could finde so many more worthy then himself and shall a Christian repine that any are found fit to honour God besides himself Secondly thou wrongest thy brother as thou sinnest against the law of love which obligeth thee to rejoyce in his good as thy owne yea to prefer him in honour before thy self Thou canst not love and envy the same person envy is as contrary to love as the hectical feavourish fire in the body is to the kindly heat of nature Charity envieth not 1 Cor. 13. How can it when it lives where it loves and when thou ceasest to love thou beginnest to hate and kill him and doest not thou tremble to be found a murderer at last Thirdly thou consultest worst of all for thy self God is out of thy reach what thou spittest against heaven thou art sure to have fall on thy own face at last and thy brother whom thou enviest God stands bound to defend him against thy envy because he is maligned for what he hath of God in him Thus did God plead Josephs cause against his envious brethren and Davids against wicked Saul Thy selfe only hast real hurt First thou deprivest thy self of what thou mightest reap from the gifts of others That old saying is true Tolle invidiam mea tua sunt tua mea What thou hast is mine and what I have thine when envy is gone Whereas now like the leach which they say draws out the worst blood thou suckest nothing but what swells thy minde with discontent and is after vomited out in strife and contention O what a sad thing is it that one should go from a precious Sermon a sweet prayer and bring nothing away but a grudge against the instrument God used as we see in the Pharisees and others at Christs preaching Secondly thou robbest thy self of the joy of thy life He that is cruel troubles his own flesh Prov. 11.17 The envious man doth it to purpose he sticks the honour and esteem of others as thornes in his own heart he cannot think of them without paine and anguish and he must needs pine that is ever in paine Thirdly thou throwest thy self into the mouth of temptation thou needest give the devil no greater advantage it is a stock any sin almost will grow upon What will not the Patriarchs do to rid their hands of Joseph whom they envied that very pride which made them disdain the thought of bowing to his sheaf made them stoop far lower even to debase themselves as low as hell and be the devils instruments to sell their dear brother into slavery which might have been worse to him if God had not provided otherwise then if they had slaâ—n him on the place What an impotent minde and cruel did Saul shew against David when once envy had envenomed his heart from that day which he heard David preferr'd in the womens Songs above himself he could never get that sound out of his head but did ever after devote this innocent man to death in his thoughts who had done him no other wrong but in being an instrument to keep the crown on his head by the