Selected quad for the lemma: soul_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
soul_n	blood_n	body_n	nourish_v	3,797	5	10.3232	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A85783	The Christian in compleat armour. Or, A treatise of the saints war against the Devil, wherein a discovery is made of that grand enemy of God and his people, in his policies, power, seat of his empire, wickednesse, and chiefe designe he hath against the saints. A magazin open'd: from whence the Christian is furnished with spiritual armes for the battel, help't on with his armour, and taught the use of his weapon, together with the happy issue of the whole warre. The first part. / By William Gurnall, Minister of the Gospel in Lavenham. Imprimatur, Edmund Calamy.	Gurnall, William, 1617-1679.	1655 (1655)	Wing G2251; Thomason E824_1; ESTC R207679	343,381	430

thee then he will come though these doors be shut and say Peace be to thee my dear childe feare not death or devils I stay to receive thy last breath and have here my Angels waiting that assoon as thy soule is breathed out of thy body they may carry and lay it in my bosome of love where I will nourish thee with those eternal joyes that my blood hath purchased and my love prepared for thee Fourthly earthly things are empty and unsatisfying We may have too much but never enough of them they oft breed loathing but never content and indeed how should they being so disproportionate to the vast desires of these immortal spirits that dwell in our bosomes A spirit hath not flesh and bones neither can it be fed with such and what hath the world but a few bones covered over with some fleshly delights to give it The lesse is blessed of the greater not the greater of the lesse These things therefore being so far inferiour to the nature of man he must look higher if he will be blessed even to God himself who is the Father of spirits God intended these things for our use not enjoyment and what folly is it to think we can squeaze that from them which God never put in them They are breasts that moderately drawn yield good milk sweet refreshing but wring them too hard and you will suck nothing but winde or blood from them We lose what they have by expecting to finde what they have not none find lesse sweetnesse and more dissatisfaction in these things then those who strive most to please themselves with them The cream of the creature floats a top and he that is not content to fleet it but thinks by drinking a deeper draught to finde yet more goes further to speed worse being sure by the disappointment he shall meet to pierce himself through with many sorrows But all these feares might happily be escaped if thou wouldest turn thy back on the creature and face about for heaven labour to get Christ and through him hopes of heaven and thou takest the right road to content thou shalt see it before thee and enjoy the prospect of it as thou goest yea finde that every step thou drawest nearer and nearer to it O what a sweet change wouldest thou finde As a sick man coming out of an impure unwholesome climate where he never was well when he gets into fresh aire or his native soile so wilt thou finde a cheering of thy spirits and reviving thy soule with unspeakable content and peace Having once closed with Christ first the guilt of all thy sinnes is gone and this spoil'd all thy mirth before all your dancing of a childe when some pin pricks it will not make it quiet or merry well now that pin is taken out which robbed thee of the joy of thy life Secondly thy nature is renewed and sanctified and when is a man at ease if not when he is in health and what is holinesse but the creature restored to his right temper in which God created him Thirdly thou becomest a childe of God and that cannot but please thee well I hope to be son or daughter to so great a King Fourthly thou hast a right to heavens glory whither thou shalt ere long be conducted to take and hold possession of that thy inheritance for ever and who can tell what that is 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 I leave it but to be sure there is such a brightnesse on the face of Christ glorified and that happinesse which in heaven Saints shall have with him as forbids us that dwell in mortal flesh to conceive of it aright much more to expresse 't is best going thither to be informed and then we shall confesse we on earth heard not halfe of what we there finde yea that our present conceptions are no more like to that vision of glory we shall there have then the Sunne in the Painters table is to the Sunne it self in the Heavens And if all this be so why then do you spend money for that which is not bread and your labour for that which satisfieth not yea for that which keeps you from that which can satisfie Earthly things are like some trash which doth not only not nourish but take away the appetite from that which would Heaven and heavenly things are not relished by a soule vitiated with these Manna though for deliciousnesse called Angels food yet but light bread to an Egyptian palate But these spiritual things depend not on thy opinion O man whoever thou art as earthly things in a great measure do that the value of them should rise or fall as the worlds exchange doth and as vain man is pleased to rate them think gold dirt and it is so for all the royal stamp on it Count the swelling titles of worldly honour that proud dust brags so in vanity and they are such but have base thoughts of Christ and he is not the worse slight heaven as much as you will it will be heaven still and when thou comest so far to thy wits with the Prodigal as to know which is best fare husks or bread where best living among hogs in the field or in thy Fathers house then thou wilt know how to iudge of these heavenly things better till then go and make the best market thou canst of the world but look not to finde this pearle of price true satisfaction to thy soul in any of the creatures shops and were it not better to take it when thou mayest have it then after thou hast wearied thy self in vaine in following the creature to come back with shame and may be misse of it here also because thou wouldest not have it when it was offered VERSE 13. Wherefore take unto you the whole Armour of God that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day and having done all to stand THe Apostle in these words re-assumes his former Exhortation mentioned verse 11. and presseth it with a new force from that more particular discovery which he gives of the enemy verse 12. where like a faithful Scout he makes a full report of Satans great power and malice and also discloseth what a dangerous design he hath upon the Saints no lesse then to despoil them of all that is heavenly from all which he gives them a second Alarm and bids them Arme arme Wherefore take unto you c. In the words consider First the exhortation with the inference Wherefore take unto you the whole Armour of God Secondly the argument with which he urgeth the exhortation and that ss double First That ye may be able to withstand in the evil

can binde and he should take no care to effect this would it not be interpreted as a sleighting of his friends kindnesse Is it a small matter that God passeth over his Almighty power by promise to us and bids us make it as sure to our selves as we can by faith and we neglect this leaving the Writings of the promises unsealed on our hearts Secondly our obedience and comfort are strong or weak as our faith is on this principle First our obedience that being a childe of faith partakes of its Parents strength or weaknesse Abraham being strong in faith what an heroick act of obedience did he perform in offering up his Son his faith being well set on the Power of God he carries that without staggering which would have laid a weak faith on the ground No act of faith more strengthens for duty then that which eyes Gods Almighty power engaged for its assistance Go in this thy might said God to Gideon have not I call'd thee as if he had said Can I not will I not carry thee through thy work Away goes Gideon in the faith of this and doth wonders This brought the righteous man from the East to Gods foot though he knew not whither he went yet he knew with whom he went God Almighty But take a soul not perswaded of this how uneven and unstable is he in his obediential course every threat from man if mighty dismayes him because his faith not fixt on the Almighty and therefore sometimes he will shift off a duty to comply with man and betray his trust into the hands of a sorry creature because he hath fleshly eyes to behold the power of man but wants a spiritual eye to see God at his back to protect him with his Almighty power which were his eyes open to see he would not be so routed in his thoughts at the approach of a weak creature Should such a man as I flee said good Nehemiah Nehem. 6.11 He was newly come from the throne of grace where he had called in the help of the Almighty verse 9. O God strengthen my hands And truly now he will rather die upon the place then disparage his God with a dishonourable retreat Secondly the Christians comfort increaseth or waines as the aspect of his faith is to the power of God Let the soule question that or his interest in it and his joy gusheth out even as blood out of a broken vein It is true a soule may scramble to heaven with much ado by a faith of recumbency relying on God as able to save without this perswasion of its interest in God but such a soule goes with a scant side-winde or like a ship whose masts are laid by the board exposed to winde and weather if others better appointed did not tow it along with them Many feares like waves ever and anon cover such a soule that it is more under water then above whereas one that sees it selfe folded in the armes of Almighty power O how such a soule goes mounting afore the winde with her sailes fill'd with joy and peace Let affliction come stormes arise this blessed soule knows where it shall land and be welcome The Name of God is his harbour where he puts in as boldly as a man steps into his own house when taken in a shower He heares God calling him into this and other his attributes as Chambers taken up for him Isa 26. Come my people enter into thy Chambers God calls them his and it were foolish modesty not to own what God gives Isa 45.24 Surely shall a man say in the Lord have I righteousnesse and strength that is I have righteousnesse in Gods righteousnesse strength in his strength so that in this respect Christ can no more say that his strength is his owne and not the believers then the husband can say my body is my own and not my wives A soule perswaded of this may sing merrily with the sharpest thorne at its breast so David Psal 57.7 My heart is fixed my heart is fixed I will sing and give praise What makes him so merry in so sad a place as the Cave where now he was he will tell you verse 1. where you have him nestling himselfe under the shadow of Gods wings and now well may he sing care and fear away A soul thus provided may lie at ease on a hard bed Do you not think they sleep as soundly who dwell on London-bridge as they who live at White-hall or Cheap-side knowing the waves that roare under them cannot hurt them Even so may the Saints rest quietly over the floods of death it selfe and feare no ill SECT 3. Vse 1 Is the Almighty power of God engaged for the Saints defence surely then they will have a hard pull the Saints enemies I mean who meddle with them that are so far above their match The devil was so cunning he would have Job out of his trench his hedge down before he would fall on but so desperate are men they will try the field with the Saints though incircled with the Almighty power of God What folly were it to attempt or sit down before such a City which cannot be block't up so as no relief can get in the way to heaven cannot In the Churches straitest siege there is a river which shall make glad this City of God with seasonable succours from heaven The Saints fresh-springs are all from God and it is as feasible for sorry man to stop the water-courses of the clouds as to dam up those streams which invisibly glide like veins of water in the earth from the fountain-head of his mercy into the bosome of his people the Egyptians thought they had Israel in a trap when they saw them march into such a nook by the sea-side They are entangled they are entangled and truly so they had been irrecoverably had not that Almighty power which led them on engaged to bring them off with honour and safety well when they are out of this danger behold they are in a wildernesse where nothing is to be had for back and belly and yet here they shall live fourty yeares without trade or tillage without begging or robbing of any of the Neighbour-nations they shall not be beholden to them for a penny in their way what cannot Almighty power do to provide for his people what can it not do to protect them against the power and wrath of their enemies Almighty power stood between the Israelites and the Egyptians so that poor creatures they could not so much as come to see their enemie God sets up a dark cloud as a blinde before their eyes and all the while his eye through the cloud is looking them into disorder and confusion And is the Almighty grown weaker now a dayes or his enemies stronger that they promise themselves better successe No neither but men are blinder then the Saints enemies of old who sometimes have fled at the appearances of God among his people crying out Let

commonly made of the Christians wood First he tempts to sin and then for it Satan is but a creature and cannot work without tooles he can indeed make much of a little but not any thing of nothing as we see in his assaulting of Christ where he troubled himself to little purpose because he came and found nothing in him Though the devil throws the stone yet 't is the mud in us which royles our comforts 'T was in vaine for the Philistines to fall on Samson till his lock was cut take heed therefore of yielding to his enticing motions these are the stumbling block at which he hopes thou'lt break thy shins and bruise thy conscience which once done let him alone to spin out the cure Indeed a Saints flesh heals not so easily as others drink not of the devils wassel there is poison in the cup his wine is a mocker look not on it as it sparkles in the temptation what thou drinkest down with sweetnesse thou wilt be sure to bring up again as gall and wormwood Above all sins take heed of presumptuous ones thou art not out of the danger of such Sad stories we have of Saints falls and what follows then Take him Jailor saith God Deliver such a one unto Satan and if a Saint be the Prisoner and the devil the Keeper you may guesse how he shall be used O how he will teare and rend thy conscience Though that dreadful Ordinance is not used as it should be in the Church yet Gods Court sits and if he excommunicate a soule from his presence he falls presently into Satans clutches Well if through his subtilty thou hast been overtaken take heed thou stayest not in the devils quarters shake the viper off thy hand ply thee to thy Chirurgeon green wounds cure best but if thou neglectest and the winde get to it thy conscience will soon fester Ahab we read was wounded in battel and was loath to yield to it it is said he was held up in his chariot but he died for it when a soule hath received a wound committed a sin Satan labours to boulster him up with flattering hopes holds him up as it were in his chariot against God what yield for this afraid for a little scratch and lose the spoile of thy future pleasure for this O take heed of listening to such counsel the sooner thou yieldest the fairer quarter thou shalt have Every step in this way sets thee further from thy peace A rent garment is catch't by every naile and the rent made wider Renew therefore thy repentance speedily whereby this breach may be made up and worse prevented which else will befall thee SECT II. 2ly study that grand Gospel-truth of a souls justification before God acquaint thy self with this in all its causes the moving cause the free mercy of God Being justified freely by his grace the meritorious which is the blood of Christ and the instrumental faith with all the sweet priviledges that flow from it An effectual door once open'd to let the soul into this truth would not only spoil the Popes market as Gardner said but the devils also when Satan coms to disquiet the Christians peace for want of a right understanding here he is soon worsted by his enemy as the silly hare which might escape the dogs in some covert or burrough that is at hand but trusting to her heels is by the print of her owne feet and sent which she leaves behinde followed till at last weary and spent she falls into the mouth of them In all that a Christian doth there is a print of sinful infirmity and a sent by which Satan is enabled to trace and pursue him over hedge and ditch this grace and that duty till the soule not able to stand before the accusation of Satan is ready to fall down in despair at his feet whereas here 's a hiding place whither the enemy durst not come the clefts of the rock the hole of the staires which this truth leads unto When Satan chargeth thee for a sinner perhaps thou interposest thy repentance and reformation but soon art beaten out of those works when thou art shewen the sinful mixtures that are in them whereas this truth would choak all his bullets that thou believest on him who hath said Not unto him that worketh but unto him that believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly his faith is imputed for righteousnesse Get therefore into this tower of the Gospel-Covenant and rowle this truth as she that stone on the head of Abimelech on the head of Satan SECT III. Thirdly be sure Christian thou keepest the Plains Take heed that Satan coop thee not up in some straits where thou canst neither well fight nor flie Such a trap the Egyptians hoped they had the Israelites in when they cried They are entangled they are entangled There are three kindes of straits wherein he labours to entrap the Christians Nice Questions obscure Scriptures and dark Providences First he labours to puzzle him with nice and scrupulous questions on purpose to retard the work and clog him in his motion that meeting with such intricacies in his Christian course which he cannot easily resolve thereby he may be made either to give over or go on heavily therefore we have particular charge not to trouble the weak heads of young Converts with doubtful disputations Sometimes Satan will be asking the soul how it knowes its election and where he findes one not so fully resolved as to dare to own the same he frames his Argument against such a ones closing with Christ and the promise as if it were presumption to assume that which is the only portion of the Elect before we know our selves of that number Now Christian keep the Plains and thou art safe 'T is plain we are not to make Election a ground for our faith but our faith and calling a medium or argument to prove our Election Election indeed is first in order of divine acting God chooseth before we beleeve yet faith is first in our acting We must believe before we can know we are elected yea by believing we know it The Husbandman knowes 't is Spring by the sprouting of the grasse though he hath no Astrology to know the Position of the Heavens thou mayest know thou art Elect as surely by a work of grace in thee as if thou hadst stood by Gods elbowe when he writ thy name in the book of life It had been presumption for David to have thought he should have been King till Samuel anointed him but then none at all when thou believest first and closest with Christ then is the Spirit of God sent to anoint thee to the Kingdom of Heaven this is that holy oyle which is poured upon none but heires of glory and 't is no presumption to reade what Gods gracious purpose was towards thee of old when he prints those his thoughts and makes them legible in thy effectual calling here thou

the world is it cannot peaceably hold the Saints and wicked together but his intent is to shew what a complicated enemy mans wrath and Satans interwoven together we have to deal with First for the first how meanly doth the Spirit of God speak of man calling him flesh and blood Man hath a Heaven-borne soule which makes him a kin to Angels yea to the God of them who is the Father of Spirits but this is passed by in silence as if God would not owne that which is tainted with sin and not the creature God at first made it or because the soul though of such noble extraction yet being so immerst in sensuality deserves no other name then flesh which part of man levels him with the beast and is here intended to expresse the weaknesse and frailty of mans nature 'T is the phrase which the Holy Ghost expresseth the weaknesse and impotency of a creature by Isa 31.3 They are men and their horses are flesh that is weak as on the contrary when he would set out the power and strength of a thing he opposeth it to flesh 2 Cor. 10.3 Our weapons are not carnal but mighty and so in the text not flesh and blood but Powers As if he should say Had you no other to feare but a weak sorry man it were not worth the providing armes or ammunition but you have enemies that neither are flesh nor are resisted with flesh so that here we see what a weak creature man is not only weaker then Angels as they are Spirit and he flesh but in some sense beneath the beasts as the flesh of man is frailer then the flesh of beasts therefore the Spirit of God compares man to the grasse which soon withers Isa 40.6 and his goodlinesse to the flower of the field Yea he is called vanity Psal 62.9 Men of low degree are vanity and men of high degree are a lie both alike vain only the rich and the great man his vanity is covered with honour wealth c. which are here called a lie because they are not what they seem and so worse then plain vanity which is known to be so and deceives not Vse 1 First Is man but fraile flesh let this humble thee O man in all thy excellency flesh is but one remove from filth and corruption thy soule is the salt that keeps thee sweet or else thou wouldest stink above ground Is it thy beauty thou pridest in flesh is grasse but beauty is the vanity of this vanity This goodlinesse is like the flower which lasts not so long as the grasse appears in its moneth and is gone yea like the beauty of the flower which fades while the flower stands How soon will times plough make furrowes in thy face yea one fit of an Ague so change thy countenance as shall make thy doting lovers afraid to look on thee Is it strength alas it is an arme of flesh which withers oft in the stretching forth ere long thy blood which is now warm will freeze in thy veines thy Spring crown'd with May-buds will tread on Decembers heel thy marrow dry in thy bones thy sinews shrink thy legs bow under the weight of thy body thy eye-strings crack thy tongue not able to call for help yea thy heart with thy fl●sh shall faile and now thou who art such a giant take a turne if thou canst in thy chamber yea raise but thy head from thy pillow if thou art able or call back thy breath which is making haste to be gone out of thy nostrils never to return more and darest thou glory in that which so soon may be prostrate Is it wisdome the same grave rhat covers thy body shall bury all that the wisdome of thy flesh I mean all thy thoughts shall perish and goodly plots come to nothing Indeed if a Christian thy thoughts as such shall ascend with thee not one holy breathing of thy soule lost Is it thy blood and birth whoever thou art thou art base-borne till borne againe the same blood runs in thy veines with the beggar in the street Asts 17.26 All Nations there we finde made of the same blood in two things all are alike we come in and go out of the world alike as one is not made of finer earth so not resolved into purer dust Vse 2 Secondly Is man flesh trust not in man Cursed be he that makes flesh his arme Not the mighty man robes may hide and garnish they cannot change flesh Psal 146. Put not your trust in Princes alas they cannot keep their crownes on their own heads their heads on their own shoulders and lookest thou for that which they cannot give themselves Not in wise men whose designes recoile oft upon themselves that they cannot performe their enterprise Amphora coepit institui currente rot â cur urceus exit Mans carnal wisdome intends one thing but God turnes the wheele and brings forth another Trust not in holy men they have flesh and so their judgement not infallible yea their way sometimes doubtful His mistake may lead thee aside and though he returns thou mayest go on and perish Trust not in any man in all men no not in thy self thou artflesh He is a fool saith the Wise man that trusts his heart Not in the best thou art or doest the garment of thy righteousnesse is spotted with the flesh all is counted by Saint Paul confidence in the flesh besides our rejoycing in Christ Phil. 3.3 Vse 3 Thirdly feare not man he is but flesh This was Davids resolv Ps 56.4 I will not fear what flesh can do unto me thou need'st not thou ought'st not to fear Thou need'st not What not such a great man not such a number of men who have the keyes of all the prisons at their girdle who can kill or save alive no not these only look they be thy enemies for Righteousnesse sake Take heed thou makest not the least childe thine enemy by offering wrong to him God will right the wicked even upon the Saint If he offends he shall finde no shelter under Gods wing for his sin This made Jerome complain that the Christians sins made the armes of those barbarous Nations which invaded Christendome victorious Nostris peccatis fortes sunt barbari But if mans wrath findes thee in Gods way and his fury take fire at thy holinesse thou needest not feare though thy life be the prey he hunts for Flesh can only wound flesh he may kill thee but not hurt thee why shouldest thou feare to be stript of that which thou hast resign'd already to Christ 't is the first lesson thou learnest if a Christian to deny thy self take up thy crosse and follow thy Master so that the enemy comes too late thou hast no life to lose because thou hast given it already to Christ nor can man take away that without Gods leave all thou hast is ensured and though God hath not promised thee immunity from suffering in this kinde yet he hath

who may lay as much claime to their care of instructing them as to their labour and industry in laying up a temporal estate for them If he should do unrighteously with his childe that should not endeavour to provide for his outward maintenance or having gathered an estate should lock it up and deny his childe necessaries then much more he that lives in ignorance of God whereby he renders himself incapable of providing for his childes soul but most of all he that having gather'd a stock of knowledge yet hides it from his childe Secondly they are unrighteous to God First in that they keep that talent in their own hands which was given to be paid out to their children When God reveal'd himself to Abraham he had respect to Abraham's children and therefore we finde God promising himself this at Abraham's hands upon which he imparts his minde to him concerning his purpose of destroying Sodom Shall I hide from Abraham saith God that thing Which I do I know that he will command his children and his houshold after him and they shall keep the way of the Lord Gen. 18.17 19. The Church began at first in a family and was preserv'd by the godly care of Parents in instructing their children and houshold in the truths of God whereby the knowledge of God was transmitted from generation to generation and though now the Church is not confined to such strait limits yet every private family is as a little nursery to the Church if the nursery be not carefully planted the Orchard will soon decay O could you be willing Christians that your children when you are laid in the dust should be turn'd into the degenerate plant of a strange vine and prove a generation that do not know God Atheisme needs not be planted you do enough to make your children such if you do not endeavour to plant Religion in their mindes The very neglect of the Gardner to sowe and dresse his garden gives advantage enough to the weeds to come up This is the difference between Religion and Atheisme Religion doth not grow without planting but will die even where it is planted without watering Atheisme irreligion and profanenesse are weeds will grow without setting but they will not die without plucking up all care and means little enough to stub them up And therefore you that are Parents and do not teach your children deale the more unrighteously with God because you neglect the best season in their whole life for planting in them the knowledge of God and plucking up the contrary weeds of atheisme and irreligion Young weeds come up with most ease simple ignorance in youth becomes wilful ignorance yea impudence in age you will not instruct them when young and they will scorne their Ministers should when they are old Secondly you deale unrighteously with God that traine not up your children in the knowledge of God because your children if you be Christian Parents are Gods children they stand in a foederal relation to him which the children of others do not and shall Gods children be nurtured with the devils education Ignorance is that which he blindes the mindes of the children of disobedience withal Shall Godschildren have no better breeding The children of a Jew God made account were borne to him Thy sons and daughters whom thou hast borne to me Ezek. 16.20 God had by the Covenant which he made with that people married them unto himself and therefore as the wife bears her children to her husband they are his children so God calls the children of the Jews his and complains of it as an horrible wickednesse in them that they should not bring them up as his but offer them up to Molech They have slain my children saith God v. 21. And are not the children of a Christian his children as well as the Jewes were hath God recall'd or altered the first Covenant and cut off the entaile and darest thou slay not only thy children but the Lords also and is not ignorance that bloody knife that doth it My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge Hosea 4.6 Do you not tremble to offer them not to Molech but the devil whom before you had given up to God when you brought them to that solemn ordinance of Baptisme and there desired before God and man that they might become Covenant-servants to the Lord and hast thou bound them to him and never teach them either who their Lord and Master is or what their duty is as his servants of thy own mouth God will condemn thee Fourthly consider you who are Parents that by not instructing your children you entitle your selves to all the sins they shall commit to their death We may sin by a proxy and make anothers fact our own Thou hast saith God by Nathan to David concerning Vriah slaine him with the sword of the children of Ammon 2 Sam. 12.9 So thou mayest pierce Christ and slay him over and over with the bloody sword of thy wicked children if thou beest not the more careful to train them up in the feare of God There might be something said for that Heathen who when the Scholar abused him fell upon the Master and struck him Indeed 't is possible he might be in the most fault When the childe breaks the Sabbath it is his sin but more the fathers if he never taught him what the command of God was And if the Parent be accessary to the sin of the childe it will be hard for him to escape a Partnership yea a Precedency in the punishment O what a sad greeting will such have of their children at the great day will they not then accuse you to be the murderers of their precious soules and lay their blood at your door cursing you to your face that taught them no better But grant that by the interposition of thy timely repentance thou securest thy soule from the judgement of that day yet God can scourge thee here for the neglect of thy duty to them How oft do we see children become heavy crosses to such Parents It is just that they should not know their duty to thee who didst not teach them their duty to God or if thou shouldest not live so long to see this yet sure thou canst not but go in sorrow to thy grave to leave children behind thee that are on their way to hell Some think that Lots lingring so long in Sodom was his loathnesse to leave his sons in law behinde him to perish in the flames No doubt good man it was very grievous to him and this might make him stay pleading with them till the Angel pull'd him away And certainly nothing makes holy Parents more loath to be gone out of this Sodomitical world then a desire to see their children out of the reach of that fire before they go that God will rain upon the heads of sinners You know not how soon the messenger may come to pluck you hence do your best while you are among

motions of them not only passing by the door of a Christian but looking in also as holy motions may be found stirring in the bosome of wicked men but I ask thee whether thou canst finde in thy heart to lodge these guests and bid them welcome 'T is like thou wouldst not be seen to walk in the street with such company not lead a whore by the hand through the Town not violently break open thy neighbours house to murder or rob him but canst thou not under thy own roofe in the withdrawing room of thy soul let thy thoughts hold up an unclean lust while thy heart commits speculative folly with it canst thou not draw thy neighbour into thy den and there rend him limb from limb by thy malice and thy heart not so much as cry murder murder In a word canst thou hide any one sinne in the vance roofe of thy heart there to save the life of it when enquired after by the Word and Spirit as Rahab hid the spies and sent the King of Jerichoes messengers to pursue them as if they had been gone Perhaps thou canst say the adulterer the murderer is not here thou hast sent these sinnes away long ago and all this while thou hidest them in the love of thy soul know it or thou shalt another day know it to thy cost thou art stark naught If there were a spark of the life of God or the love of Christ in thy bosome though thou couldst not hinder such motions in thy soul yet thou wouldst not conceale them much lesse nourish them in thy bosome when over-powered by them thou wouldst call in help from heaven against these destroyers of thy soul Vse 3 Secondly shew your loyalty O ye Saints to God by a vigorous resistance of and wrestling against these spirituals of wickednesse First consider Christian heart-sinnes are sinnes as well as any The thought of foolishnesse is sinne Prov. 24.9 Mercury is poison in the water distill'd as well as in the grosse body Uncleannesse covetousnesse murder are such in the heart as well as in the outward act every point of hell is hell Secondly consider thy spirit is the seat of the holy Spirit He takes up the whole heart for his lodging and 't is time for him to be gone when he sees his house let over his head Defile not thy spirit till thou art weary of his company Thirdly consider there may be more wickednesse in a sinne of the heart then of the hand and outward man for the aggravation of these is taken from the behaviour of the heart in the act The more of the heart and spirit is let out the more malignity is let in to any sinfull act To back-slide in heart is more then to back-slide 't is the comfort of a poor soul when tempted and troubled for his relapses that though his foot slides back yet his heart turnes not back but faceth Heaven and Christ at the same time so to erre in the heart is worse then to have an errour in the head therefore God aggravates Israels sinne with this They do alwayes erre in their heart Their hearts runne them upon the errour they liked idolatry and so were soon made to believe what pleased them best As on the contrary the more of the heart and spirit is in any holy service the more real goodnesse there is in it though it f●ll short of others in the outward expression The widowes two mites surpassed all the rest Christ himselfe being judge so in sinne though the internal acts of sinne in thoughts and affections seem light upon mans balance if compared with outward acts yet these may be so circumstanciated that they may exceed the other in Gods account Peter layes the accent of Magus his sinne on the wicked thought which his words betrayed to be in his heart Pray God if perhaps the thought of thy heart may be forgiven Act. 8.22 Sauls sinne in sparing Agag and saving the best of the sheep and oxen which he was commanded to destroy was materially a farre lesse sinne then Davids adultery and murder yet it is made equal with a greater then both even witchcraft it selfe 1 Sam. 15.23 and whence receiv'd his sinne such a dye but from the wickednesse of his heart that was worse then Davids when deepest in the temptation Fourthly if Satan get into thy spirit and defile it O how hard wilt thou finde it to stay there thou hast already sipt of his broth and now art more likely to be overcome at last to sit down and make thy full meale of that which by tasting hath vitiated thy palate already It were strange if while thou art musing and thy heart hot with the thoughts of lust the fire should not break forth at thy lips or worse Quest But what help have we against this sort of Satans temptations Answ I suppose thee a Christian that makest this question and if thou dost it in the plainnesse of thy heart it proves thee one Who besides will or can desire in earnest to be eased of these guests even when a carnal heart prayes for deliverance from them he would be loath his prayer should be heard Not yet Lord the heart of such a one cries as Austin confessed of himself Sin is as truly the off-spring of the soule as children are of our bodies and it findes as much favour in our eyes yea more for the sinner can slay a son to save a sin alive Micah 6.7 and of all sinnes none are more made on then these heart sins First because they are the first-born of the sinful heart and the chiefest strength of the soule is laid out upon them Secondly because the heart hath more scope in them then in outward acts The proud man is staked down oft to a short state and cannot ruffle it in the world and appear to others in that pomp he would but within his own bosome he can set up a stage and in his own foolish heart present himself as great a Prince as he pleaseth The malicious can kill in his desires as many in a few minutes as the Angel smote in a night of Senacheribs host Nero thus could slay all Rome on the block at once Thirdly these sins stay with the soule when the other leave it when the sinner hath cripled his body with drunkennesse and filthinesse and proves miles emeritus cannot follow the devils campany longer in those wayes then these cursed lusts will entertain the sinner with stories of his old pranks and pleasures In a word these inward lusts of the heart have nothing but the conscience of a Deity to quell them Other sins put the sinner to shame before men and as some that believed on Christ durst not confesse him openly because they loved the praise of men so there are sinners who are kept from vouching their lusts openly for the same tendernesse to their reputation but here is no feare of that if they can but forget that heaven sees

of his own unworthinesse and great unrighteousnesse tell him of a pardon alas he is so wrapt up with the thoughts of his own vilenesse that you cannot fasten it upon him What will God ever take such a toad as he is into his bosome discount so many great abominations at once and receive him into his favour that hath been so long in rebellious armes against him he cannot beleeve it no though he heares what Christ hath done and suffered for sin he refuseth to be comforted Little doth the soule think what a bitter root such thoughts spring from thou thinkest thou doest well thus to declaim against thy self and aggravate thy sins indeed thou canst not paint them black enough or entertain too low and base thoughts of thy selfe for them But what wrong hath God and Christ done thee that thou shouldest so unworthily reflect upon the mercy of the one and merit of the other Mayest thou not do this and be tender of the good Name of God also Is there no way to shew thy sense of thy sin except thou asperse thy Saviour Canst thou not charge thy self but thou must condemn God and put Christ and his blood to shame before Satan who triumphs more in this then all thy other sins In a word though thou like a wretch hast undone thy self and damned thy soule by thy sins yet art thou not willing God should have the glory of pardoning them and Christ the honour of procuring the same or art thou like him in the Gospel Luke 16.3 who could not dig and to beg was ashamed Thou canst not earne heaven by thy own righteousnesse and is thy spirit so stout that thou wilt not beg it for Christs sake yea take it at Gods hands who in the Gospel comes a begging to thee and beseecheth thee to be reconciled to him Ah soule who would ever have thought there could have lien such pride under such a modest veile and yet none like it 'T is horrible pride for a beggar to starve rather then take an alms at a rich mans hands a malefactour rather to choose his halter then a pardon from his gracious Princes hand but here is one infinitely surpassing both a soule pining and perishing in sin and yet rejecting the mercy of God and the helpng hand of Christ to save him Though Abigail did not think her self worthy to be Davids wife yet she thought David was worthy of her and therefore she humbly accepted his offer and makes haste to go with the messengers That 's the sweet frame of heart indeed to lie low in the sense of your own vilenesse yet to believe to renounce all conceit of worthinesse in our selves yet not therefore to renounce all hope of mercy but the more speedily to make haste to Christ that wooes us All the pride and unmannerlinesse lies in making Christ stay for us who bids his messengers invite poor sinners to come and tell them all things are ready But may be thou wilt say still it is not pride that keeps thee off but thou canst not believe that ever God will entertain such as thou art Truly thou mendest the matter but little with this either thou keepest some lust in thy heart which thou wilt not part with to obtain the benefit of the promise and then thou art a notorious hypocrite who under such an out-cry for thy sins canst drive a secret trade with hell at the same time or if not so thou doest discover the more pride in that thou darest stand out when thou hast nothing to oppose against the many plain and clear promises of the Gospel but thy peremptory unbelief God bids the wicked forsake his wayes and turne to him and he will abundantly pardon him but thou sayest thou canst not believe this for thy own self Now who speaks the truth One of you two must be the liar either thou must take it with shame to thy self for what thou hast said against God and his promise and that is thy best course or thou must proudly yea blasphemously cast it upon God as every unbeliever doth 1 John 5.10 Nay thou makest him forsworn for God to give poor sinners the greater security in flying for refuge to Christ who is that hope set before them Heb. 6.17 18. hath sworn they should have strong consolation O beatos quorum causâ Deus jurat O miserrimos si nec juranti credamus Tertul. de poenit O happy we for whose sake God puts himself under an oath but O miserable we who will not believe God no not when he sweares Secondly when the soul hath shot the great gulfe and got into a slate of peace and life by closing with Christ yet this mannerly pride Satan makes use of in the Christians daily course of duty and obedience to disturb him and hinder his peace and comfort O how unchearfully yea joylesly do many precious soules passe their dayes If you enquire what is the cause you shall finde all their joy runs out at the crannies of their imperfect duties and weak graces they cannot pray as they would and walk as they desire with evennesse and constancy they see how short they fall of the holy rule in the Word and the patterne which others more eminent in grace do set before them and this though it doth not make them throw the Promises away and quite renounce all hope in Christ yet it begets many sad fears and suspitions yea makes them sit at the feast Christ hath provided and not know whether they may eat or not In a word as it robs them of their joy so Christ of that glory which he should receive from their rejoycing in him I do not say Christian thou oughtest not to mourn for those defects thou findest in thy graces and duties nay thou couldest not approve thy self to be sincere if thou didst not A gracious heart seeing how far short his renewed state forthe present falls of mans primitive holinesse by Creation cannot but weep and mourn as the Jewes to behold the second Temple yet Christian even while the tears are in thy eyes for thy imperfect graces for a soule riseth with his grave-clothes on thou shouldest rejoyce yea triumph over all these thy defects by faith in Christ in whom thou art compleat Col. 1.10 while imperfect in thy selfe Christs presence in the second Temple which the first had not made it though comparatively mean more glorious then the first Hag. 2.9 how much more doth his presence in this spiritual temple of a gracious heart imputing his righteousnesse to cover all its uncomelinesse make the soule glorious above man at first This is a garment for which as Christ saith of the lilie we neither spin nor toile yet Adam in all his created royalty was not so clad as the weakest believer is with this on his soul Now Christian consider well what thou doest while thou sittest languishing under the sense of thy own weaknesses and refusest to rejoyce in Christ and live comfortably