effectuall calling whether by Law or Gospel which may appeare by this that the issue of all the worke of calling is faith And faith we know is the cheefe obedience of the heart to the word both commanding and promising and tries most of all the subjection of the soule Such then as is the end such is the preparative all the whole course of God therefore in converting the soule is to yoke downe and subject the heart to himselfe 2 Cor. 10.4 by casting out all which is set up in it against it as Paul speakes All opposition all rebellion all enmity which is therein whether before the meanes revealed Note well as all naturall poison of heart such as Naaman here is full of carnall savour of his cure resting to the prop of flesh and the Prophets ability or under the meanes themselves revealed must stoop to God somewhat or other terrors or promises or both must rid the soule of each high thought strong hold and error which suffers not the Lord to enter So is it here with Naaman he comes full of carnall confidence upon the arme of flesh and his owne rewards hope of speeding and going home an whole man but the Lord intending to send him home a new man crosses him in his old and strives to subdue the savour of his flesh to the savour of divine power Object It may be objected that this prevaild not with Naaman for in the next verse he fell to rage against the Prophet Answ I answer Although this course of God tooke not effected presently yet it was not lost it lay as leaven in the meale the whiles and had the due effect in his season But for the point know it brethren and judge your selves thereby 2. Branches of use of Exhortation There is in the soule a kingdome of darkenesse and Satan ruling thereby If God meane good to the soule he will translate it Branch 1 from under the subjection of this kingdome before he translate it under the kingdome of his deare sonne Judge of our selves by this order Col. 1.13 Looke therefore to your selves well at this plat and first be not discouraged although you finde under the meanes and ordinances Word Law Gospel fasting and prayer wofull fightings of corruption and concupisence rebellion against the worke of the Law resistance of the Gospel These will be and oftimes it is better it be thus Rebellion in the regenerate tends to the greater humiliation Rom. 7.13.18 then not for if the Lord be in the worke this very rebellion against God shall turne to good and abase the soule so much the more after as before it swelled against God I meane when he shall overpower it by that Spirit which convinceth of sinne Then I say shall the sinfulnesse of the soule out of measure sinfull occasion to it selfe a deeper humbling then if it had never rebelled Be not therefore troubled at that but be sure that the worke which it leaves behinde it be sound be sure the soule revolt not to her former ignorance fleshly savour fulnesse of her owne wisedome and corrupt worldly proud peevish and prophane frame lest it grow worse then ever Branch 2 Secondly brethren to be short let Gods end be our end in the whole course of the Ministery Of exhor Rom. 14.17 Judge not his kingdome of grace peace and righteousnesse to be set up in us before the kingdome of sin and darkenesse bee pulled downe Christ and Belial two Kings two kingdomes cannot stand 2 Cor. 6.14 one throne must be set up upon the others ruines The text tells us 1 King 16.22 when Omri and Tibni stood in competition for the Crowne the followers of Omri prevailed against the other So Tibni died and Omri raigned Just so it is here Till Tibni die Omri cannot raigne The best judgement of Gods people is not by what they have but what they want The Kingdome of God cannot stand till Satans be pulled down for they are incompatible Judge not your selves then I beseech you by those fruits which make semblance of goodnesse in you as by encrease of knowledge gifts to pray much hearing good memory reforming and abstaining from some evills biting in some ill qualities which dare not breake out But judge your selves by the casting downe of your strong forts and high thoughts and stout hearts one dram of this will secure you more of a safe estate and hold out longer then a pound of the other Try whether in all your other proceedings seemings to grow in the house of God your selves grow daily lowlier meeker brokenner for all Gods gifts are seasoned with humilitie and negatives in this kinde are your surest markes not so much what you have got in knowledge but what you have lost of your owne If yee prove this latter the other will prosper alone otherwise this will be a canker to fret out the marrow of the other It is no hard thing for a man to judge what meat his appetite stands to or not Observe your owne frame after all your hearings God will not judge yee by the helpes meanes or gifts yee have but by what your selves are If then your secret consciences bear you witnesse that when all is done yet a proud heart a scornfull spirit uncharitable selfe-loving ranke for it owne ends resting upon carnall proppes angry revenging clasping to the creature as Naaman here did or the like still lurke in yee and beare the sway when ye are put to it in Gods feare doe not rest till the Word have wrought a further worke in you and cast downe this kingdome in you Seek for more working both by the terror and promise For surely till this old kingdome be down at least subdued and tributary as Sauls house under David Edom and Moab to Salomon all your hearings cannot profit you Tremble when yee meet with the old kingdome you shall soone try your selves when occasion of triall comes and be well assured that whom the Lord calls them he subdues and here he pulls up one prop there another pillar of the old throne here he subdues ignorance there a false heart there a carnall minde God subdues corruption in his by peece-meale the savour of the flesh the will of man the pride the stomacke the wordly ends till he have ruined the throne And although a subtile professor will cover all these with the mantle of Religion yet still the comparison abides because he wants an heart to be rid of it But as for others you may feele them with a glove for even in the midst of their devotions giving thankes for meat praying or hearing their hearts are with their covetousnesse and lusts and sometimes they will be quarrelling and praying talking of the world and saying grace with one breath But so much of this branch A second is this The second meditaion upib this I have noted before in Naamans crouching at Elisha his gate how that disease of his
mine eyes or bee taken lame in my hands or feet or unable to get my living or lye upon my poore husbands hand till we bee not worth a groat with a thousand such crotchets Are not these just plagues of old unbeleefe Doe not men upon their death beds cry out It is just with God thus to handle me for I never could trust him nor his word further then I saw felt and tasted him Oh God hath met with you Did he not threaten the despisers of his Law with astonishment of heart with hanging by the eye-lids an heart of heavinesse sorrow saying in the morning would God it were evening in the evening would it were morning Read Deut. 29. that roll of curses what anguish of heart fears perplexities the Lord threatens to send upon such as applauded themselves in their rotten peace and the stubbornenesse of their unbeleefe Surely we may thinke then it s juster to smite them that have abused his Gospell with spirituall penalties making a scourge of their owne cords And yet all this will not serve to drive men out of their prophanenesse and dallying with the word still they will cavill against faith and say Tush these men of the Spirit would have all men like to themselves but we cannot bee so heavenly our time is not yet come when God will it shall be and till then t is but folly for us to struggle we will doe what lies in us and put our helping hand to Gods and then hope the best Others tell the Minister they thinke it is impossible for any to know themselves happy in this life or if it be not yet it is very difficult or very unlikely Oh say they we cannot forgoe such a lust or ill custome and this faith will bereave us of all our sweet pleasures and liberties we shall never have done with it if we once beginne others come by it easilyer then we we are dull schollers poore men must doe as they may and cannot follow this learning so hard our businesse and worke hinder us and our memories are shallow we see these beleevers are as little set by among men as any a thousand of these base cavills men have But remember that these vanities will make you forsake your mercy at last Jonah 2.8 and then he that will bring you but once word to rest upon in your horrors should be as one of a thousand but then it will be too late Esay 27.11 then terrible sentences will come into your thoughts That he who made them will not save them and he who formed them will shew them no mercy And then shall that bee verefied Acts 13.40 Behold ye despisers wonder and vanish I worke a worke in your dayes which if one tell you of you will not beleeve you that wilfully stopt your eares against Gods word before shall now wish you could see the truth and beleeve it but if you would give a world for it it shall be denyed you If there bee any sparke of sense in you let this move you else you shall then catch at a word of God to comfort you but none shall be granted you So much for this first Use A second Use is Instruction to teach us the most pretious and excellent Vse 2 nature and prerogative of faith For the nature of it Instruction 1. Branch The nature of Faith is most pretious 1 Pet. 1.8 wee see this only and no other grace is allotted the soule for this end to fasten and take hold upon the Word and Promise As the Word is the only thing which beares witnesse unto us of good and his way to heaven for we see nothing as Peter speakes yet beleeve so the onely gift to cast the soule upon this word is faith And therefore it is the off-spring of God that grace which hath the birthright of all the rest and is the Reuben and strength of God such a one as if the Lord would even study how to dwell with us and in us Prov. 8.31 as wisdome saith in the Proverbs She delights to inhabit with men yea how to make us partakers of the divine nature and restore his Image in us he could not doe it by any other so excellent a grace as by this of faith Therefore Esay 57. it s called the creation of God 2 Pet. 1.2 3. I create the fruit of the lips peace if the daughter peace then much more the mother Faith its that grace which onely can say as Iob did Job 23.12 I have esteemed the words of his mouth it counts one word or promise of God as a deed done for faith is when that is done which is spoken it gives a realnesse and being to the word and promise and as you see a mould presently fashions the mettall according to it self just like it and as the seale printing upon the soft wax leaves that impression upon it which it beares it selfe even so it is with faith it fashions it selfe according to the mould of the word and beares the same stampe upon it which the seale of the word bare looke upon the one and behold the other Nay it s the instrument of the Spirit without which it workes not As Samuel said to Ishai of David send for him for wee can doe nothing till he come So till faith come into the soule to bee the organ of the Spirit to worke in us by it alas the Spirit is a stranger to our soules It s that coale from the Altar wherewith the Lord touches and inspires the soule the soule is the life of the body and faith is the soule and life of the soule causing it so much to excell it selfe as an Angel doth a man Briefly the word is a dead letter to us if faith make it not a powerfull word a word of life in us It s that which causeth out of the belly of the soule even as water from a spring to flow rivers of waters of eternall life John 7.38 even of peace through pardon and of joy unspeakable and glorious 1 Pet. 1.8 2 Pet. 1.2.3 By it as Peter saith Most great and pretious promises are given to us so that if that hand that taketh rich gifts be a pretious hand then surely so is faith which only receives the gift of Christ and all he hath and hoardeth them in the soule That Christ Eph. 3.14 may dwell in your heart by faith That you may comprehend all love even the length depth and all dimensions thereof as flesh here is able to doe as all Saints doe saith the Apostle No other grace is ordained to this end save this It was the instrument of receiving Christ into the wombe of the Virgin by which all generations should call her blessed and so it is still the same spiritually Luke 1.38 ver 48. Prov. 31.29 and therefore may say as Mary did The Almighty hath magnified me above all my fellow graces Many daughters have done well but
To teach us the price of grace which of us would ever thinke grace to be such a thing as it is which of us would not wax wanton with God and forget our former condition which of us would pâ—â—se mercy and conversion as the inestimable free gift of a gracious God who might have left us at large to the corruptions of the world and the depth of the Divell But when we see how the Lord crosseth us what blocks are in our way and how hard it is to be vessels prepared for mercy to be clensed from our evill savour which would defile the grace of God then we wonder that ever the Lord should bestow any mercy upon us at all And so we walke in the sense and savour of it more humbly and thankfully afterward we suspect our base hearts we are jealous of forgoing it earnest to pursue it glad of the least dram of it and why we know the price and worth of it In this frailty and corruption of nature we can beare no great measures of grace by good experience of that it cost us to compasse it Where is there a man who is meet to enjoy any great matter from God either outward blessing or spirituall favour without pride and swelling So that the Lord is faint alway to be much in preparing such as he intends to bestow any great matter upon How long was David in preparing by the Lord See 1 Sam. from chap. 15. to the end of the book ere he came to the kingdome Between his first anointing and his Crowning how many turn againes and pursuits had he Surely as the Merchant of the East Indies who ventures for rich wares and pretious commodities hath an hard taske of it goes through strange hazards by pirates by tempests by winds by rocks and by continuall feare both going for them and comming home with them and all to teach him the price of them that he may after enjoy them more soberly so is it here The Lord is faine to prolong the day of his mercy and pardon and to bring the soul through many adventures to teach it to enjoy mercy without wantonnesse giddinesse lightnesse and boasting A drunken man can beare strong drinke or wine with his weake braine aswell as our slight hearts can entertaine grace we wax vaine and frothy idle and empty as not knowing what we have received from God nor how sober and wise we ought to be in the use of it 2 Cor. 1.2.3 So Paul the Lord meant to betrust him with deep revelations But before that how was he faine to buffet him what bitter greetings had he of his vile heart and how was he abased in his owne feeling And why Surely to teach him to walke humbly not to swell nor disdaine others but to distinguish the excellency of Gods grace from the basenesse of his owne spirit As we see it to fall out in the disposition of seasons and weather Simil. while the winter season is in her setling and height although there be a generall coldnesse of the aire yet it is mixed with some calmnesse and moderation But when once the spring tide is approaching we see what inequality of weather there is winds raines tempests and blustering all to purge the sky and to bring down the winterly distempers of it that the coast being cleare the sweet season of the spring and summer may succeed Just so it is with the soule perhaps while it lies under the winter of her owne desolation she makes a shift and hath no great chaines upon her as being under the hatches of misery But if once the Lord cause the spring time of life and conversion to approach strange it is what tempests clouds and weather arise the heart growes full of feares corruption rebells by occasion of the Law and selfe rises up in armes by occasion of the Gospel a marvailous change appeares in the soule through terrors bondage doubtings resistings cavellings and distempers of a base heart loth to leave that hell of hers which by custome became her heaven But all this is but as it should be the Lord proceeds gradually and by steps delayes the worke of grace and all that the coast may be somewhat cleared before hand and the soule prepared to welcome the season of mercy with calmenes humblenesse and modesty To conclude the Lord is Reason 4 most wise in thus trying his owne servants before he convert them To discerne them from such as are not his owne to the end that he may discerne them from such as are not of his number For why when hypocrites once come to see the conditions of grace what attendance upon means what knowledge and sense of sin what deep convincing of conscience is required how humble hungry painfull earnest the Lord lookes the soule should be that desires grace how plain-hearted in her aimes and prising it above all liberties how willing to sell all and glad it may to buy this pearle lo their rotten carnall hearts fly off and abhorre to stoop so low upon any hopes They thought heaven might be compassed with small adoe and that they might have it and their owne wills too But when they see it will not be nay more that many a poore honest soule is faine to waite long at Gods gate till he see it a fit season to bestow his grace upon it alas poore wretches they never were either so pinched with sinne nor affected with mercy as to bestow halfe the cost for it although they might be sure of it and therefore they fall off either altogether and so turne backe to their lusts or else if light and compulsion of conscience scare them from that they still abide as they are in a saplesse fulsome and dead course But it is not so with the others Gods true Merchants of the best pearles who know the true worth of them will not be beaten off by such discouragements but but with Naaman in the verses following rather then they will forfet all their hopes and carry back their lepers skin With them See Mat. 13.44 they will put their lives in their hands or rather themselves in the Lords to deale with them as he please and whatsoever difficulties or delayes they meet with they will beare them seeing they are for the best all shall end well By waiting the Lord will appeare at last but by giving him over they are sure to perish Oh! there is great use of this course how many desperate hypocrites doth the Lord trie hereby discovering their basenesse rage and discontent and how doth he comfort his owne faithfull poore servants that have waited upon his salvation assuring them it was his owne grace that sustained them in such delayes and difficulties to hold on Vse Instruction admonition to all Novices in grace not to be dismaid for difficulties The use whereof should be instruction and admonition to all Naamans and novices in regeneration and the worke of
God beseech him to helpe thee with faithfulnesse in the search else thou wilt end as thou beganst not to spare thy self but desiring that the spears point which pierced Christ sides might let out the thoughts of thy heart in this kinde or rather that the sword of conviction may open the bowells of it and shed them to the ground doe not this work when thou art otherwise occupied and hast other businesse to doe thou shalt finde this work enough alone if not too much for thee and doe it by frequent meditation which is nothing else save making the truth of God thine owne and that which thou canst not finde thy selfe guilty of at one time or perhaps capable of or able to lay to heart to abhorre or to finde sweetnesse in the doing of goe to it another goe on where thou leftst praying God thou maiest not be new to beginne and thou shalt finde that at another time the second or the third thou shalt obtaine it Thou shalt not repent thee of thy labour in thus preventing and cutting short that enemy which would else have prevented and cut thee off from grace only resolve of this that till the Lord hath grounded thee in the truth of this doctrine a principle of practicall Catechisme it is impossible for thee to thrive in grace or use of meanes Further pressing of the triall Say therefore thus to the Lord Thou knowest the paines of thy servant in the use of meanes thou knowest how poorly I have thriven under them how little my faith my comfort my obedience is how ready I am to deceive my selfe in that I seeme to have to take up my rest therein that so I may not be molested any longer but soke my selfe in the dregges of my ease and will not to stirre one inch off my owne ground Now Lord if thou wilt be pleased to shew me whâ—t hath done me all this hurt I should infinitely blesse thee I am not so foolish I thanke thee as to trade for religion and yet crosse mine owne ends in wilfull holding any evill within my bosome which should deprive mee of my hopes I am willing to be informed and heare of the worst yea to unbottome my selfe of my old rotten mixtures and false grounds for the bettering of mine estate rather then to sleep in death and lie down with them in the dust Lord therefore now before my heart bee hardened in custome and security blesse mine examination to the true ends which it serves for Here I thought to have ended the use but there comes one objection to my minde Object Do all see this Selfe who are truly converted which must be answered For some will say You make a great discourse of this Self What think you Are there not many Christians truly converted to God who never discerned this disease as you have described it and yet are unfeigned and true converts and beleevers Answ 1 I answer you 2. or 3. wayes First hoping that their Quaere proceeds not from self-cavilling The grace of election working a greater measure of humiliation and tendernesse in some poore soules who want this knowledge supplies this want sweetly but from simplicity thus Many poor soules have through mercy obtained from the Lord a great measure of brokennesse of heart humblenesse of spirit more then the common sort of Professors either have or seek and by this means their helpes in both publique and private being few and their discouragements many the Lord beholding them in the grace of his election supplies all wants by his owne Spirit keepes them hungry abases them in the sense of their many infirmities puts in a spirit of perpetuall jealousie over themselves and works them to a marveilous plainnesse of heart to loath all falshood as they can discerne it and so perfects the work of faith in them secretly farre otherwise then in such poore creatures might bee expected of these I say that although perhaps they heare not so much discourse of the name and dangerous markes of Selfe yet they feele the realnesse of it within themselves and are better acquainted with it then many who heare more of it And these persons if it should please the Lord to bring that home in doctrine use and admonition unto them which I have spoken would be formost in acknowledging and blessing God for such truth and make better use of it then the most doe Answ 2 Secondly I answer Satan and corruption in these last daies doe conspire to withold many subtill wise and carnall worldlings from embracing the truth then ever and as all Arts so this art of Selfe serving into the truths of God by the counterfeiting and deceiving of men is grown rife and perfect Satan more prevailes with this subtill world then ever Ephes 4.14 therefore needs the more exact and carefull countermining Thirdly the Spirit of God under constant meanes workes leasurely and therefore corruption is not cast out all at once but by long discipline and discovery of it by the word and in the multitude of helpes such as Answ 3 God be thanked have beene enjoyed in sundry places much rankenesse hath growne as a canker in a faire apple in the spirits of many Professors as pride selfe-conceit and prejudice which the Lord hath justly punished as I noted in the reasons with a spirit of fulsomenesse and furfet hardnesse of heart and difficulty of perswasion so that in these daies that old tendernesse and selfe-deniall which possessed the spirits of most Christians is rare to finde Much need therefore of urging this doctrine in these our daies Much more need therefore there is of this doctrine to be urged in these dayes that such as are the Lords and yet held under this snare may be pulled out and saved and those who are not may be left therein because they would not receive the truth in the naked love of it Lastly to end this use this I adde That although the Lord should Answ 4 have called home many without any former knowledge of Selfe in any great measure yet I doubt not but when they do come to a better view of it they will both mend their former bottomes see cause to trust God and glorifie his grace in Christ more then ever before and also looke to themselves in the course of their sanctification the more watchfully lest this enemy should hurt them more in that then it did in the matter of their first conversion However I see no cause why the more cleare discovery of the will and way of God should seeme superfluous because God had his number when the light shined not so cleerly And so much for answer to this question We may discover it by these marks First by the true humbling of the soule A proud heart will have her will to die for it Because pride hath high thoughts and must be satisfied as Rabel with children or else shee dies And her daughters having lost their children by
speake one word unto them to praise the one and disgrace the other but presently their spirits rise with indignation and conceive so much the more content in the new by how much they hear the old commended Oh! they will make histories of their beloved which their heart is set upon there is elbow-roome and liberty no enemy to hurt no feare of prisons sutes pursutes at Law wrongs or discouragements no difficulties to conflict withall in comparison of the good things which they looke for The strength of the object carries them captives pulles downe all objections and subdues them under the authority of their owne desires and the excellent things there to be had As for Sea-faring by the eight or nine weeks together in danger ill diet attendance lodging and rest want of wife children old kindred and acquaintance pleasures pastimes tush all these shall make for their good and make their new English shore the more welcome to them they hope God will weane them hereby from all the superfluous liberties sensualities and carnall affections and as for the defects of the soile or of mony or other contents they will waite seeing that nothing can bee perfect at once and when they are come thither they will not returne to the Old England which they forsoke upon any tearmes which can be offered them Oh! brethren let me speake to you without offence shall a poore conjecturall fading and earthly object so possesse the soules of men that it sets them in an extasie and shall not the promise of God wash and be cleane be reconciled to God prevaile much more to ravish us and set us beyond all Selfe and selfe-love Yes surely when Christ shall thrust Selfe out of place and become Selfe and all within us and doe that and infinitely more then that for us really which Selfe promiseth us deceitfully But here a question may be asked Object What are the workes of the Spirit of grace And what meanes are there to compasse them I answer Answ 1 These that follow which I mention shortly and so finish this first generall Exhortation And least any should aske me what I meane by the Spirit of grace I answer the same which Zack Chap. 10.12 meanes to wit the Spirit and effectuall power of the Lord Jesus his satisfaction and intercession whereby the Ministery of the Gospel is inabled to perswade the hearts of the elect to beleeve and imbrace the promise of forgivenesse and life What this Spirit of Grace is This Spirit is contrary to that spirit of Selfe which resisteth grace the one from heaven pure savory and divine the other from earth carnall sensuall and divellish The first marke of the Spirit of grace is that it is against Self and that in sundry respects Markes of it 2. First Grace strives to inlarge if self to the uttermost of her graciousnesse Selfe strives to strengthen her selfe by the plentiousnesse of Grace waxes wanton through Grace so content to enlarge Grace that therewith shee will enhaunse her selfe and will get up by the stirrop of Grace into the seate of Christ aâ—d make her selfe checkmate with him as an ill Steward or Bayliffe to a great Lord will seeme to doe him great service and looke to his grounds and cattell but so as himselfe may have a stocke of cattell going upon the same grounds so that he seeks his owne and his Masters advantage both under one he cannot beteame to promote his Masters with the losse of his owne But the true sight of Grace throwes Selfe out of her owne possession and ends The fulnesse of Grace empties the soule to the bottome Aske thy selfe then hath the view of this Grace and of the truth as it is in Jesus emptied thee of all thy gifts duties and religious performances Then it is a true Spirit and destroies Selfe There is no true godly Spirit but it is the more humble lowly and vile in its owne eies by Grace Selfe gathers false courage to her selfe by the Grace which is offered growes conceited confident and full of her selfe she thinks she cannot want enough of it whereas all runnes over and leaves her barren The spirit of Grace so shewes the fulnesse of Grace that it exhaustes her owne fulnesse wholly as those sterven Egyptians beholding Iosephs store of corne were more abased for their beggery and the Queene of Sheba beholding the depth of Salmons wisedome became a foole all her owne spirit of questioning and cavilling sunke downe If thy spirit crouch and creepe to Grace and be quite battered in her selfe it is a good signe As the Spirit of grace arises from glory to glory so selfe falls from shame to shame Jer. 14.8 to set up Grace what shall I say to thee Oh thou Saviour of all flesh surely nothing be confounded and say who is a God like to our God! It is nothing but the spirit of presumption which prides and pearks up it selfe Mica ult but the Spirit of grace quailes the heart and causes it to fall low as Naaman after did even to snatch and catch at Grace as one sterven for want of it As Peter Luke 4. beholding Christs glory cried out depart from me a sinfull man There is a legall whining basenesse and unworthinesse aiming at this that she might be worthier But there is an holy sense of unworthinesse when the savor of Christs fulnesse drinks up the Spirit and leaves it empty As when a proud boy heares a good scholar talke his conceit of himselfe turnes to abasement Oh how his combe is cut what a fool and an idot he is in his own eies If the Grace ye seek doth humble ye and not puffe ye up it is as it should be I professe brethren it would make one tremble to thinke how little of this Spirit is stirring in the world I see but few poore ones among us by this plenty of the Gospel take heed the Lord let us not bloud of this pleurisie The truth is we doe but fat people by this pasture wee bring no leannesse into their soules As if Christ served for nothing save to make men their owne Saviours in part and give over his owne honour it would doe ones heart good to behold some few poore soules how humble their knowledge of Christ makes them they stand as an empty bucket by the well side but it would cut ones heart to see how many bold bog saucy ones there are instead of a few empty ones Oh! pull pull downe your peacocks feathers If Christ be a fountaine be you a channell dried up If he be a Magazine be you bare walls If he be so rich a dole come you to it as orphans bee fatherlesse and motherlesse Hos 13.3.4 that you may find mercy rest not in thy law humiliation to lose some of thy jollity onely but let fulnesse of grace cast out selfe and all to the bottome Every one cries out alas What have I to be proud of Note
encounters me let him thinke himselfe honoured that I will vouchsafe to foyle him Some are of so arrogant spirits that they scorne to receive a good turne from their inferiour But O proud foole who art thou Mayst not thou dye in thy nest for want of a meane helper As once a great woman â—id who scorning the poor at the last being in her country house smitten with the plague was forsaken of all and then cried out that God was just I observe that it is the honour of brave Souldiers that when they are beaten almost out of their Castle yet they will capitulate for their honour to goe out of their harbour with their pikes traild their match light and in array or else they will dye ere they stirre That bravery is in most men they will lose their lives ere they lose their great stomacke I confesse in civill cases there is some reason in such things Alexander is commended that being chalenged by a meane fellow to run at Tilt with him hee scorn'd it and sayd Kings must runne with none but Kings for they can get no credit by victory but lose much by being foyled But in matters of God it is otherwise Be willing to be taught reproved by any be they never so meane if there be grace be there never such infirmities and contemptiblenesse It is a good Motto which he gave Not alwayes there is good in the great but alway there is great in the good Let the honour of the grace and the pretiousnesse of a Christian cover his outwards and discerne that which is within at a narrow crevis Be not of this minde I will heare none save the greatest Doctor and learnedest man in the Countrey such or such a man of fame and note As for these ordinary Preachers I slight them Those whom thou admirest are unwilling to take the paines and those who take the paines thou art unwilling to heare and so between both a proud heart bringeth to destruction That Heathen King Eglon when as Ehud a lame man came to him and told him he had a message from God arose off his Throne Judg. 3.20 and came downe to speake with him In base and common things wee disdaine not the basest Gentlemen will be haile fellow well met with base Jesters swearing Falconers or hang-byes if for their ends and Ladies will send their children to dance or sing or to learn fashions of base peasants and not disdaine it But to learne of a good man or woman the trade of God to heare any thing from them which might rectifie either their hearts or manners they despise it exceedingly Shall not their own practice confute them wofully If Religion were any of their ends would they not do as much abase themselves as low for that as for the learning of prick-song or the like And whereas thou wilt say I will not doe so meane a fellow such honour as to subdue my spirit or put my neck under his girdle I answer thee Looke thou at God not at him but if this defeat thee of cure thank thy selfe hee is but very little hungry or thirsty who will not doe a stone or leather pot or vessell the honour to quench his thirst nor eate any meate except out of plate with a silver forke Note They that will not honour others so much as to learne of them must be content to shame themselves so much as to perish Oh young man see thy face in a glasse how is sage Salomon faine to flatter him and to say My sonne Prov. 4.1.2 heare instruction let thine eare hearken to my counsell And all because a proud heart is wonderously averse from the counsell even of our betters yea of a King speaking for God How much more hard then to harken to meane persons when we are great Alas this is growne out of the world yet Nâ—aman had been a Leper but for meane ones It were better that the Lord did abase thee very low with some great crosse to pull downe thine haughty heart then suffer thy pride to usher thy destruction When Darius was pursued hard by enemies and very dry and thirsty he saw a puddle with a little water in it and having drank it said he never tasted sweeter in all his life So should the counsell of the meanest be to thee if stung in conscience or lying upon thy death bed But if thou despise them before who knowes whether God will so farre honour thee then Thirdly let this be examination Examination and triall of thee whether in truth Vse 3 God have humbled thee or no whether ever thou couldest discern aright between the pretious and the vile and both loath the greatest if base and honour the persons of the meanest and their counsell if really good David could abase himselfe thus even to hearken after the meanest and to make them of his house Psal 101. 1 Sam. 25. And poore Abigail was pretious to him and her counsell blessed though hee were heire apparant of a Crowne Let us note this for even in Religious persons this secret tang of basenesse may lurke as wee see in St. Iames James 2.3 who brings in rich Christians despising the poorer You say to them who have rings upon their fingers Come up hither but to the other Sit at my foot-stoole A signe that this base corruption is very closely lodged in us to underprize goodnesse and counsell because it dwells meanly A poore man was forgotten though wise saith Salomon and one that delivered the Citie by his wisedome Eccles 9.15 If thou doest so highly esteeme grace as to take it out of the poorest creature with a thankfull heart for as he said of Ministers that they were goldenest when the Chalices were of Wood so I say the man may have a Pearle in his bosome when he weares but a bare coat it is a signe of some humility Lastly let it be exhortation to us to beare humble mindes and lowly spirits not to disdaine to learne of the meanest Nay let us bee thus vile Esay 1. Psa 32.8.9 and if the world thinke us so let us bee more vile let us learne of the Pismire and the Lamb and the Storke and the Swallow and the Lillies yea the grasse for we are very ignorant even as the Horse the Mule and had need to be set to School to all Masters and yet learne but little The very bird that lives in a Cage foure inches square being naturally bred to flye abroad in the open Coast should teach us self-deniall contentment she can sing and make her prison a Paradise our base hearts disdain to be content or thankfull when as we abound in all mercies have the world at will An whole Councell once condescended to the judgement of one Paphnutius a meane person speaking from God chusing rather to hearken to a mean person then to persist in their errour If so many learned Bishops sage and ancient
and Divellish But as for nourishing this naughtinesse in your selves and stifnesse in it to keep your fashions attires to speake your owne words as if no Lord should controll you Oh! how horrible is it Shall God beare your name and be as your husband but you will eate your owne bread weare your owne cloath and be at your own hand and finding as those women in Esay speak Esay 4.1 Then surely you must bee content to live upon your own wages and so lâ—e downe in sorrow Vse 3 Thirdly This is terror Terror to all openly proud scornfull and prophane persons who proclaime their sinne as Sodome whose hearts cast up mire and dirt like the raging Sea Esay 57.21 Those carry themselves aloft and live at the full height of a bigge and high heart without any sense of their danger Such as maintaine this rotten principle It is good to be some body in the view of men because as a man thinkes of himselfe Jam. 4.7 so will others thinke of us Which as it is false for God resists the proud crosses them so what if it were true Surely so long as my doctrine continues good there is no possibilitie for thee to obtaine grace and obedience while this spirit lasts Naaman was a great one Proud hearts terâ—ified by Gods resisting might as much stand upon it as thou yet till his stomack came downe the word of his cure was not beleeved hee was a Leper still so art thou and worse in Gods sight so long as thy lofty heart dwells in thee thy high thoughts of thy selfe cause mean thoughts of God contempt of his word and disdaine to bee a captive to Gods truths Nay it takes away all capablenesse judicious discerning remembring affecting applying or practising of any thing thou hearest save to pride thy selfe in thy knowledge and to strengthen thy selfe in a rotten peace Jerem. 48.11.29 Alas as the Prophet describes Moab that she was very proud shee had not beene rolled about and therefore was setled upon her dregges her sent still abode in her so is it with every proud wretch his own savour is in him still he is as he was as you leave him so you finde him a proud wretch rolling up and down upon his own hinges As for suspecting all is not well or laying any thing to heart hee is farre from it No winde shakes his corne he applauds himselfe in his owne conceit and saith I shall have peace though I walke in the stubbornesse of mine owne heart Mark how carelesse pride is But what comes of it Doth he meet with any grace in such a condition No the Lord will set himselfe against such a sturdy wretch Deut. 29.15.16 breake his iron sinew and the staffe of his pride the wrath of God shall smoke against him and resist him till his heart feele it and desist from fighting against God And surely if such finde small favour with men save from teeth outward they finde much lesse from God Should not this scare every such man out of himselfe saying The more I magnifie my selfe the more God vilifies me I see it hard to curb pride but it is harder to endure wrath and to be cast out from God who counts none pretious but such as count themselves vile Beware of it then the sin it selfe is sad but that it should be the canker that should eate out the foyson of grace and destroy all my hearings and make my devotions as odious as the cutting off a dogges neck Oh! this consequence of the sin is worse then the sinne it selfe Many sinnes are worse in their fruit then in themselves and this is one of them And to touch the particular of Naamans sinne here which was blustering at the Prophet and cavilling against his message we see here how God abased this spirit in him ere ever he could obey But when that was gone then the other succeeded And so I say to all proud cavillers The terror urged here is terror for them While cavilling lasts no grace enters Looke upon this patterne all you cavillers and see God branding you with a gracelesse heart as long as this humour lasts I have noted the end of such as have vented their pride in cavilling and picking knots with the Minister and his doctrine such as cannot receive or stand under a solid and sad truth with a meek heart and I never saw such come to good God hath betrayed them to shame and ill report Their knowledge hath puft them up They have some growne Alehouse-Keepers and haunters embraced the world fallen out with their brethren and forsaken their fellowship been foully tainted with grosse evils uncleannes the world contention censoriousnesse uncharitablenesse Some have proved Brownists Poynters Schismatickes and Libertines and lost their honour with God and his Church If there bee any drop of humility in you let this affright you lay downe the bucklers and as you have been proud so now be humble Say not with Gardiner I revolted with Peter but I have not repented with Peter but with this poore Proselyte Naaman I have been as stout and proud as he and now behold I repent and am humble as he Lord give me grace as thou gavest him Oh! the servants of Naaman had little cause to repent them of their counsell when such an effect followed Neither should I of mine if I could prevaile as they did God grant you and mee this grace The fourth and last use shall be exhortation to us all Exhortation and comfort to humble soules to embrace this Vse 4 grace of a subject humble spirit Oh! it is the messenger of mercy and mercy followes her at the heeles Selfe-deniall and an humbled soule are speciall ingredients of this receit of Mercy and faith to apply it When the soule is full of her owne it is empty of Gods hee counts all grace put into such a soule as water put into a top-full vessell The empty the bare the naked and poore soule is that wherewith he will betrust his grace Jâ—mes 4.7 be earnest for this as you would have faith herselfe 1 Cor. 25. As Paul calles death the last enemy which must be subdued ere we have glory so may I say that a proud selfe-sufficient heart is the last enemy which must be cast out ere we can come by any grace It is the last brat of the house which goes out The onely vice which keepes possession for old Adam to keep out Christ When wee see Gods tokens Simile we count the plague incurable and when mercy cannot conquer a rebellious heart it is past all remedy And contrariwise here is comfort to all such as are thus tamed by God they are brought to the bent of his bow I may say to thee as Martha to her sister Mary Thy Lord is come and calleth for thee And as our Lord Jesus himselfe said to Zacheus This day salvation is come unto thy house