may break your bones and it may cost you both much pain and much pains before the Lord make you to hear of joy and gladness that the bones which are broken by your fall may rejoice Psal 51. 8. 3. Of the Exercise of Spiritual life 1. Walk close with God in your general and particular calling and be careful that the one do not justle out the other as there is a time for all things so there is a time for both those your general calling must not thrust out your particular that is but a temptation and not a duty neither must your particular calling thrust out your general for that is to love the world more than God and to serve your self altogether and not the Lord Christ at all It was the sin of Cain that he did not divide aright for God the duties of your general calling faithfully performed must sanctifie all the duties of your particular calling 2. Be oft at home communing with your own heart Psal 4. 4. and propounding questions to it such as these 1. Whose am I am I one that belongs to God or do I belong to Satan 2. Whom serve I do I serve Christ or do I serve Sin The blessed Apostle could answer both those questions Act. 27. 23. There stood by me this night the Angel of God whose I am and whom I serve And 3. What am I am I a vessel of wrath or am I a vessel of mercy am I a child of God or am I a child of the devil 4. Where am I Adam where art thou as God said so to Adam so you must say so to your own soul Where art thou soul art thou in the broad way that leads to death and damnation or art thou in the narrow way that leads to life and salvation and if at any time you find your spirit loose and extravagant in broad ways of the world then cry to your self as God to Elijah What dost thou here Elijah 1 King 19. 13. so gird up the loyns of your mind again Luk. 12. 35. 3. Know that your heart will be backward to this communing work Fugitivi sumus acordibus nostris saith Augustine we flee from our own hearts and our own hearts flee as fast and as far from us 'T is pity we should carry hearts about with us in our bosoms for twenty thirty forty or fifty years some more if some less and yet be such strangers to them and they to us account it therefore your great loss that you know your own heart no better that you commune with it no oftner alas we know not our own hearts Am I a dog saith Hazael that I should do so and so 2 King 8. 13. Yet such a dog was he in wickedness when he came to his opportunity you must tremble to be left in the hands of your own counsel as Hezekiah was left to himself to try him not the strength of his grace as Abraham was Gen. 22. 1 but his frailty and proneness to sin and to let him know all that was in his heart 2 Chron. 32. 31. When Satans Temptation hath an opportunity to draw out your corruption then and there is your most eminent danger 4. Seeing your heart will not stand to parley do you bind it to good behaviour and lay Gods charge upon it that it stir not in this parleying work till you have made some work of your work and brought it to some blessed issue know that never did the Sacrifice under the Law stand more in need of binding with cords to the horns of the Altar Psal 118.27 than your loose slippery heart doth with all obligations and all little enough unto holy duties hence is it that self-examination is so hard a duty no sooner are we in it but ere ever we be aware we are out of it again 5. When ye have through grace fixed your heart and are able to say with David My heart is fixed O God my heart is fixed Psal 57. 7 which undoubtedly is as hard to fix to good as quick-silver is that hath a principle of motion in it but not of rest then fall upon Consideration-work which is the excellency of a man above the beast then consider and better consider the four questions aforesaid and the tendency of all your ways Ponder the path of thy feet Prov. 4.26 to wit by the weights of the Word of God do you oft poize them Consideration is the stay of our thoughts which are as swift as any ship Consideration is as an Anchor to them God bids his people Consider their ways twice over Hag. 1. 5 7 do it once and again 6. You may know where you are if you seriously and throughly consider the frame of your own spirit the way to hell is a broad way and he that is all for elbow-room and for a wide way to be extravagant in and likes not the strict way of Religion which is so called from its strict binding up our hearts from loosness a religando is a broad way man that says with Jeroboam 't is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem 1 King 12. 28 't is too much for you to be so precise and so strait-laced Let us break those bands asunder and cast away those cords from us Psal 2. 3. Medice vivere est misere vivere to live strictly by a Rule is to live miserably both for soul and body Spiritus Religiosus est spiritus melancholicus Let us eat and drink for to morrow we shall die Isa 22. 12 14. 1 Cor. 15. 32. 7. You have this exemplified in Noah's Raven and Dove Gen. 8.7 9 11. you may not be as the Raven that was accustom'd to live at large becomes weary of being caged up in the Ark and likes not such strait limits any longer therefore she flutters about the Ark but went not in as not willing to be confined to the ark either for diet or lodging any more but chuses rather to fly abroad and to feed upon the carcases of the drowned 8. You must be like the Dove which did not dislike her consinement nor the diet and lodging of the ark and therefore returns to it as the place of her rest and best repose not finding better repast any where else Thus those are unclean Ravens that are all for fleshly liberty and licentiousness and can feed upon stinking carrion of wickedness but you must be Christs Dove Cant. 2. 14 that can find no rest for the soles of your feet but in him you must with others flock to the windows of the Temple Isa 60. 8. Christ your Noah your Comforter will put forth his hand to take you in and there think his service your wages as well as your work and not your weariness 9. Thus must you be serious in inquiring of your self whose you are and whom you serve yea and what you are as well as where whether in the broad or narrow way If consideration be needful in all our undertakings how
till your Vessel be cleansed and till you have some sense that your sin is pardoned you will not go to bed with a bone out of joint but it must be set right with expedition 't is pity that the soul disjointed with sin should be so long neglected 5. 'T is a blessed frame of spirit to nourish in you both the sense of your own sin and the fear of Gods wrath for your sin The heavier that your sins are to you the lighter will your afflictons be on you 't is wind and rain coming both together that makes the storm upon our bodies So 't is sin and affliction joining both together that makes the storm in our souls when your sin is your burden 't is then repented of and so pardoned this will make your affliction a far lighter burden 6. Take heed of putting holiness upon you as a loose garment to cast off or on at pleasure according to your differing companies and occasions but be sure that you gird it close to you with the golden girdle of truth Ephes 6. 14 that in all places you may be what you seem to be that you be to God what you seem to be to man and that you be to God at all times what you seem to be to man at any time 7. Take heed of grieving the good Spirit of God wherewith you are sealed to the day of Redemption Ephes 4. 30 and which is a delicate thing as some reads Psal 143. 10 res delicata est spiritus tuus and therefore loves to live in a clean house in a clean heart 'T is a foul fault to grieve an earthly father but 't is far greater to grieve this holy Spirit If you grieve the Holy Ghost how can you expect that he should comfort you When you are grieved you cannot do your work as you are wont and neither can the Holy Spirit do his work in and for you a guest that is grieved may leave the house that grieves him so this delicate thing the Spirit of God may leave your house desolate when grieved with your sins Mat 23. 38 and then wo to you if God and his good spirit depart from you Hos 9. 12. 8. But above all take heed of quenching the spirit 1 Thes 5. 19 to wit in his motions and graces If God have kindled from heaven the holy fire upon the altar of your heart be careful that it be kept burning there continually in your love to Christ and zeal for him it must never go out Lev. 6. 12 13. You must stir up this fire as the Apostle counselleth 2 Tim. 1.6 and not despise Prophecying for the Priests lips blows it up into a flame it may be quenched either by withdrawing of fuel to wit neglect of Ordinances or by casting on water to wit by falling into foul courses you must beware of both 9. Be not ashamed to become a fool for Christ 1 Cor. 3. 18. Self-conceit self-will and self-love like Noahs three Sons hath spread themselves over the whole World you must deny your own self-conceit and carnal wisdom you must account your self more brutish than any man with Agur Prov. 30. 2 3 when you come to Ithiel and Vcal which is Christ both goodness and power to be instructed in Christs school Act. 4. 13. Remember it was the Devil that spoke in the subtile Serpent Gen. 3. 4 and it was God that spake in the silly Ass Numb 22. 28. Remember also how it was an Ass that carried Christ to Jerusalem Mat. 21.5 10. Yet though you must be as silly as Doves you must also be as wise as Serpents Mat. 10. 16. You must have the silliness and the meekness of wisdom Jam. 3. 13. As you must be wise to salvation so you may be wise to safety in Gods way and not cast your self upon needless dangers Christianity allows you as much of the Serpent as of the Dove the Dove without the Ser is easily entangled and the Serpent without the Dove is venomously hurtful the head of the Serpent and the heart of the Dove makes up the best and the most blessed composition piety without policy is too simple to be safe and policy without piety is too subtile to be good 11. You must chuse any suffering rather than the east sinning you must not chuse iniquity rather than affliction Job 36. 21 for there is more evil in the least sin than in the greatest suffering in as much as Moral evil is far worse and greater than that which is meerly Natural Quas non ergo oportet mortes praeeligere saith Zuinglius therefore what deaths ought not a man rather to make choice of what torments not rather undergo yea into what deepest gulf of Hell it self not rather enter than wittingly and willingly to sin the least sin against God The ancient Martyrs would not accept of deliverance upon ignoble and the sinful terms Hebrews 11. 35. They would not throw so much as one grain of frankincense to the Idol though it would have saved their own lives hence Daniel chose rather to be cast to the Lions than to violate his Conscience and so to have a lion roaring in his bosome he knew that in an angry Conscience he might feel the unbearable strokes of an angry God and a man had better anger all the Witches in the world yea and all the Devils in hell than anger God 12. You may not do the least evil no not for the procuring of the greatest good Rom. 3. 8 do no evil that good may come If a lie would save your life you may not tell it Gods people are children that will not lie as their father is a God that cannot lie Isa 63. 8 they will rather die than lie Non ideo negare volo ne peream sed ideo mentiri nolo ne peocem I will not therefore deny least I perish but therefore will I not lie least I sin said the good woman upon the Rack of whom St. Jerome writeth And Austin saith That a man ought not to tell a lie though he might save the whole World from Hell thereby for there is more evil in one lie than there is good saith he in the salvation of all the World and he would chuse Hell rather than sin if set before him for choice Thus the Primitive Christians cried Ad Leones potius quam ad Lenones Throw us to your Lions rather than to your Harlotry though this would save our lives yet would it destroy our souls The Armenian Mouse will die some write rather than be defiled with filth insomuch that if her hole be besmeared with dirt she rather chuses to be taken than polluted Such ought all the servants of God to be 13. Examine your call from God for every action you undertake be oft crying Quo warranto what warrant have I for this or that from the Lord whom I ought to obey in all things and for this end mind those four voices 1. Of Providence how it
prayer as they have often used yet their hearts are roving all the time about other things God requires the strength of your affections in his service every offering must be made by fire if of a sweet favour to the Lord Levit. 1.9 13 17. yea your self as well as your sacrifice must be salted with fire Mark 6.49 David prayed and cryed with his whole heart Psal 119. 58 145. Sampson bows himself with all his might at the pillars of Dagons Temple Judg. 16. 30. and have not you the strong-holds of sin in you to be pull'd down by prayer You must go to prayer as the Sun in its strength Judg. 5.31 and come to God as a Prince Job 31. 37. the Sun in his might doth disperse clouds that would darken it and a princely spirit to wrestle with God as Jacob hath power with God and prevaileth for the blessing to put off God with cold formal devotion is the epidemical disease of all Christendom 5. Be not regardless about the returns of your prayers nor careless of the event and issue of them be not like those Archers that shoot not at a mark but at rovers at random never observing where their arrows fall Spiritual prayers are the arrows of Gods deliverance 2 King 13. 16 17. Prayer is like the bow of Ionathan 2 Sam. 1.22 it never returns empty If you dare be careless in asking how can you wonder that God is careless in answering 6. Be clothed with Humility while you are in prayer to God he that resists the proud gives grace to the humble In order hereto get the majesty of the great God with whom you have to do therein wrought kindly upon your heart till you know aright your distance not only your natural distance 'twixt God and you as you are a creature but especially your moral distance 'twixt God and you as you are a sinner In the third place I shall add but one Religious Action more to wit 1. the Observation of the Sabbath which yet is instar omnium wherein all religious actions be summarily comprehended You must look upon the Sabbath as the Epitome and Compendium of all Religion having all the priviledges that commend the most substantial precepts in Scripture to us as 1. its frequent mentioning almost in every book of the Bible 2. Gods interest after a special manner in it 't is frequently call'd His Sabbath And 3ly 't is called a special gift and favour of God to his people Exod. 16. 29. Ezek. 20. 12. Neh. 9. 14. 'T is a great favour of God that it is given to you 2. Therefore you must remember to keep it holy Exod. 20. 8. it may be read thus Remember to keep holy a day of rest unto me six days shalt thou labour but a seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God The very Preface Remember which none of the other Commands have instructs you how weighty and necessary this duty is which you are prone to forget 3. That you may keep it holy you must in the first place have an high and holy estimation of it the phrase is He that esteemeth a day and he that regardeth a day Rom. 14. 5 6. You must have an high regard for it and esteem it honourable Isa 58. 13. as the day which the Lord hath made Psal 118. 12. this Christ applys to the day of his Resurrection Mat. 21. 24. How can it but be an honourable day to you which the Lord your God hath sanctified for you 2ly As you must have an holy estimation of it so you must make an holy preparation for it you must prepare to meet your God Amos 4. 12 as the Bride prepares her self to meet her bride-groom how did Ruth wash her self and anoint her and put on her best raiment that she might become amiable and acceptable to Boaz Ruth 3. 3. how much more should you be purified for the King of Kings and Lord of Lords The Jews had a preparation for the Passeover Joh. 19.42 you must make preparation for the Sabbath the want of which may hinder your souls of a Sabbath-blessing as no doubt it has done 3ly You must keep it holy by an holy observation of it in using all holy means and doing all holy duties both private and publick all the whole day 4. Be sure it be a desirable day to you as well as holy and honourable it should be the desire of days You should cry with that good man to it in the morning of the Sabbath Come my bride of days thou art welcome and with David say Oh when shall I come and appear before my God Psal 42.2 where are your pantings and palpitations of heart after an enjoyment of Gods Sabbath You have six days to provide for the worser part and but one for the better how careful are you all the six days for the beast in you Oh be not careless upon that one day for the Angel in you 5. Let not your hold go of any one precious Sabbath without some sweet refreshment to your soul as well as rest to your body 't is said Exod. 31. 17. the Lord rested and was refreshed is it so with you do you find any rest for your wandring thoughts and any refreshing for your feeble spirit account it a very great loss to lose one Sabbath-day without some advantage and growth Oh what a God-blessing heart should you have that God should give you such a day and call upon you also and that often to observe that day and that not for any advantage to himself for your goodness extends not to God Psal 16. 3. though his doth to you but all for your own good This obliges you to be careful and conscientious in the improvement of the day and honouring the Son with his day under the Gospel as they honor'd the Father with