24. Numb 16. 22. and the God of the Spirits of all flesh with this his Spirit in you Do not lose your Soul in looking after its Servant the Body as Shimei lost his Life in looking after 1 Kings 2. 36 37. 38 39. 40 41. 46. his but do your principal work for this principal one All that a man has will he give for his life but life and all must be Job 2. 4. given and laid out for the good of the Soul And there is good reason for it if you consider 1. That your Soul was given to you that you should take care of it and every thing else for the good of your Soul Every one has not a Child nor an Estate to look after but every one has a Soul the poorest Widow has these two Mites a Soul and a Body and the most indigent Beggar this Treasure Since then it is every ones yours as well as their possession it should be yours and every ones Redde animae quae sua sunt care to secure the happiness of it and therefore give to the soul the things that are the souls 2. Christ likes them best that are most careful of their souls Christ when on Earth lov'd them most who lov'd their souls more than his body Maries Breakfast was better to him than Martha's Dinner and much more then will he love them that love their souls more than their own bodies He that would not have you Murder your Body would much less have you Murder your Soul 3. According to the care for your Soul here so it is like to fare with your Soul and Body hereafter You are daily Travelling to the Land of Souls viz. the world of Spirits both of the just and unjust every day you take a step to it and within a little while you will be all Soul and as you live to it here so it will be with that and your Body for ever hereafter the welfar of your Body depends upon the welfare of your Soul and the eternal welfare of that upon your care in time about it and therefore as by a care for your Soul you may do two works at once viz. secure the happiness of Soul and Body so by a neglect of it will undo both for ever at the first death your Rev. 20. 14. 21. 8. Soul shall go to Hell and your Body at the second 4. The loss of the Soul is the greatest loss Christ who best knows the worth of a Soul by the price he paid for it says that the gain of a whole World if Mat. 16. 26. it could be obtain'd with the loss of a Soul would be a gain without profit a loss rather than a gain and that not the least but greatest as an irreparable and irrecoverable loss a loss that could neither be made up nor recovered All other losses even of Life it self may be made up either in kind or vertue but nothing can Habet anima mortem suam cum vitâ beatâ caret quae vera animae vita dicenda est repair or make up the loss of the Soul for in this God is lost a lost Groat may be found lost Time may be redeem'd and a lost Estate recovered by diligence but a Soul when gone into Eternity and lost will be for ever so Heaven it self salvâ justitiâ cannot redeem a Soul fròm Hell when once there Your Soul is Gods as well as 1 Cor. 6. 20. your Body that he has bought and therefore Glorifie him with it and commit the keeping of it to him in well-doing as unto a faithful Creator of Souls as well as of Bodies that at last it may 1 Pet. 4. 19. Heb. 12. 22 23. be taken up to the innumerable Company of Spirits viz. of Angels created perfect and of just Men made so Begin the work of Religion early Make it the great business of your Life Be hearty and sincere in it Be true and faithful to it to the end of your Life 1. Begin the work early 1. God commands and expects it 2. It is the best time for it 1. God commands and expects it Cain brought Fruit to God an Gen. 4. 3. 4. Offering of the Fruit of the Ground Abel brought first fruits the firstlings of his Flock and God had respect to Abel and his Offering but not to Cains and this before the special Law of Exod. 13. 2. 22. 29. 34. 26. first-fruits and first-born which were Gods in all was made to shew as is usually observ'd that it was not Ceremonial but Moral and perpetual God or the Devil will have the use and service of your Life but God has the greatest Right to it and his will is not onely for work but for Day and Time and the first of that viz. your Eccles 12. 1. Youth he calls for which shews kindness on his part in taking any into his Service before they can well work for him and should promote Obedience on yours God is the fashioner and former Psal 139. 13 14 15 16. Deut. 32. 18. Psal 71. 17. Jer. 3. 4. the teacher and preserver the guide and strength of your Youth all the parts Beauty Strength and all the other Excellencies of it come from him and ought to be employ'd for him and therefore do not give the Devil your Youth and God your Old Age him your Spring and God your Winter him your Vintage and God your Gleanings him your Flower and God your Bran him the best and God the worst but the best for he is best and deserves the best Not an old or rotten Sacrifice Mal. 1. 8 14. but the fattest and fairest must be laid upon Gods Altar 2. It is the best time for it Eccles 12. 1. The time of your Choices Primum in unoquoque generè est perfect issimum As to Ease Honour Service Comforts and Safety 1. As to Ease Old Age is the best for Advice and Counsel but Youth the best for Action both as to the Natural and Moral frame of the Body and Mind viz. the parts of one and the endowments of the other Old Age is called the Sickness of Nature but Youth is the Health and Strength of it that is called Eccles 12. 1. the evil day not onely in respect of the evil then suffered but of the indisposition from that evil to any thing that is good but this a good day as most fit and proper for work the Body being most active and vigorous the Fancy and Invention most quick the Memory most strong the Affections most smart and lively the Conscience most pure the Will most pliable and the Heart as not hardened by Custom in sin most soft and so most fit to receive the impressions of Virtue Trees are transplanted Horses broken and Cattel accustomed to the Yoke with ease when young and Youth more fit for Instruction than Old Age even then when it is scarce fit for any thing else
Psal 139. 2. Ezek. 11. 5. what they will be before you think them or what they were when you have forgotten them They are reserv'd Cases known to him onely nor can he forget them for he requires that which Eccles 3. 15. is past Thoughts shall be brought into Judgment Thoughts as well as words and actions are written in Gods Book and shall be made known Eccles 12. ult Rom. 2. 16. 1 Cor. 4. 5. when the secrets of Men shall be judged the counsel of the Heart made manifest and the hidden things of Darkness brought into light And many whose understandings spoke them Men and their words Christians when on Earth shall be found at that day by their thoughts to have been worse than Beasts Evil thoughts are sins and transgressions of Gods Law The Laws of Men reach but to words and Actions but Gods Heb. 4. 12. Prov. 6. 18. 15. 26. Prov. 24. 9. Law reaches to thoughts and forbids not onely evil words and deeds but all evil thoughts tending to them The thoughts of Foolishness is sin and therefore unless you be cleansed from them Jer. 4. 14. you cannot be saved A dumb Man may be damn'd for the sins of his thoughts There may be sin in the thoughts inward motions to it though no outward acts of it yea sin may be reiterated there when the acts of it cease and as much sin may be in the thoughts in a day as would take up the actions of a whole Life to compleat and finish There are many ways by which Men can restrain or punish the acts of sin but none either to restrain or punish the thoughts of it sinful actions are publick and open Offences sinful thoughts are more inward and secret they as the uncleanness of Absalom with 2 Sam. 16. 22. his Father's Concubines in the face of the Sun and the sight of all Israel these as the Idolatry of the Ancients of Israel in the dark in the Chambers of their Imagery Ezek. 8. 12. they the Lusts of the flesh these Spiritual wickednesses they defile the Body these more immediately defile the Soul the seat of the Spirit they may cast you out of the favour of good Men but these will hinder your Communion with God for Communion with God in a way of Duty is had by thoughts more than by words Evil thoughts make way for evil actions The two first sins committed by the Angels and Adam began in the thoughts an aversion of their will from God and they are still the Seed of Sin first evil Thoughts and then Murders Adulteries c. and therefore if you would prevent the acts of sin you must put a restraint upon your thoughts The heaviest Chains are put upon the vilest Malefactors Here sins Leprosie at first appeared and as the Leprosie when it took but a thread of a woollen or linnen Garment soon overspread the whole so these if not timely prevented will influence the whole actions of your Life and make them evil Now that they may not 1. You must set a strict watch over your Heart Thoughts are the inward motions Proles anima and innumerable Operations of the Heart proceeding as Naturally from it as beams from the Sun and streams from a Fountain Jer. 17. 9. the Heart is desperately wicked the sink of all Corruption Psal 41. 6. it gathers Iniquity to it self as an old Sore in the Body draws Prov. 4. 23. all the ill humours to it and sends it abroad upon all occasions and therefore you must keep it with all diligence that it may not you must keep the outward Senses shut those Windows Claude quinque fenestras tota lucebit domus Arab Prov. that no unclean Birds may enter in but above all your Heart for out of it proceed evil thoughts The Fountain must be kept pure and clean or else the streams will not be so 2. Let your thoughts be Phil. 4. ◠〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 well employ'd Think on the things that are true and cast out all thoughts of a Lie and Hypocrisie think on the things that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are Honest and Venerable and abhor all Vanity and Frothiness of Spirit think on the things that are just and let not a thought of fraud or deceit lodge within you think on the things that are pure and away with whatever is immodest think on the things that are lovely and hate 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all peevishness and frowardness of Spirit think on things of good Report and entertain not a thought of any thing that may tend to your dishonour Idleness is Fewel to vitious thoughts and therefore as it is an axiom in State to set active Spirits on work that they may do no mischief so here you must employ your thoughts about Noble Arguments and Blessed Objects if you would have them like the Heavenly Bodies to move orderly and become not foundations of disturbance but helps to Piety 3. Beg Gods assistance in all God has the greatest Government of your thoughts they are too many and too strong for you to rule and therefore commit your works to him that your Prov. 16. 3. thoughts may be established or when they become disorderly and irregular cry out unto him as Austin did against sinful thoughts in the words of the Psalmist Save me O God for the Psal 69. 1. waters are come in unto my Soul And there is good reason for it for such as your thoughts are such are you in Gods esteem We judge of Mens thoughts by their words and actions but God judges of the words and actions of all by their thoughts Of Evil Company Man is a sociable Creature and will not be without Company 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 good or bad but they that are wise will avoid as much as they can the society of them that are evil and how much it concerns you so to do will appear if you consider that 1. Evil Company will shew what you are 2. Evil Company will make you what you should not be 1. Evil Company will shew what you are The Lacedaemonians judg'd of the disposition of their Children by their Company and Augustus Caesar of his two Daughters Livia and Julia when he saw grave Senators conversing with one and wanton Persons with Noscitur ex socio qui non cognoscitur ex se the other and so will the World of yours for none can be so well known by themselves as by their Company The Fowls of Heaven flock together and the Beasts on Earth herd together according to their kind and so do wicked men the greater Beasts of the two like Flora who ever convers'd with ill-favour'd Women like her self and if you are frequently found among them that Inter dispares mores quae potest esse amicitia are evil or are too intimate with them you will be look'd upon as one of them They are none of
semper incipit à fine 1 Cor. 10. 31. let it be so to you mind it as your chief good the supream end and chief good are one refer all the general and particular actions of your Life to it ultimately the end makes the means lovely make all other Finis dat amabilitatem medis finis impeliit agentem finis est summe appetibilis finis ultimus dat ordinem mensuram Prov. 6. 21. Ps 63. 8. Numb 6. 14 24. Eccles 9. 10. Rom. 12. 11. 1 Tim. 5. 10. Mat. 6. 33. Psal 63. 1. things subservient to it and let this as Commander in Chief give Laws to all carry the remembrance of it always in your mind place it next to your Heart and uppermost in your thoughts be diligent in it and prosecute the Interest of it both fully and earnestly not as the last and least business of your Life but as the first and greatest viz. in order and dignity not secondarily but primarily before all other things and above them Two principal ends can never consist together Two things may encourage you to this work and in it 1. Strength is promised to it 2. A Reward attends it 1. Strength is promised to it Tripho the Jew in his Dispute against Justin Martyr tells him that those Precepts Christ left about the Duties of Religion were so harsh and burdensome that he would have but few if any Disciples and many there are that either through mistake think they find this stumbling-block in the way of Religion and cannot get over it or lay it there and will not it is true to carnal minds by reason of the contrariety of their Nature to Religion through Rom. 7. 14 22. the corruption that is in them and by reason of custom in sin which makes the contrariety stronger the work 's difficult and uneasie but to them that are renewed it is not or if so at first yet by use it becomes pleasant and delightful for Christs Yoke by constant wearing grows easie Mat. 11. 29. Grave dum tollis suave cum tuleris But if it were not so yet strength shall be given to it that will make it so In the Body where there is a vein to convey Blood there is an Artery to convey Spirits and in the Scripture Deut. 10. 16. 30. 6. Phil. 2. 12 13. where there is a Command to work there is a promise of strength to it what is a Command in one place is a Promise in another Now difficult work and easie are both alike if a sutable and proportionable strength be given Ezek. 18. 31. 36. 26. to the performance of it 2. A Reward attends it viz. Of Honour Pleasure Profit and Peace 1. Of Honour There was no way to the Temple of Honour among the Romans Psal 45. 9. 149. 9. but through the Temple of Vertue nor is there any coming to Honour now in the Prov. 13. 5. 14. 34. 1 Thes 4. 4. Rom. 6. 21. broad way of sin but in the narrow way of Religion for as the future issue of sin is Death so the present fruit is shame Indeed the Enemies of Religion who fetch their Scutcheon out of the Devils Herald-Office count sin their Honour and glory in their shame but God who is the Fountain of all true Honour Prov. 21. 21. places it in Righteousness and Holiness he is Glorious in Holiness and if it be his Honour it may well be esteemed yours this is John 5. 44. the onely true Honour and it cometh from God only and if by 1 Sam. 2. 30. this you Honour him you shall be everlastingly honoured by him a Spirit of Glory shall rest on you 1 Pet. 4. 14. here and a Crown of Glory be put upon you hereafter All seek Honour and some to Honor calcar babet the loss of their Lives and Souls but none but the Religious truly find it 2. Of Pleasure The Enemies of Religion think if once they espouse the profession of it that all Joy and Mirth must be cast out as the Minstrels were by Christ out of the Rulers House when he came to raise his Mat. 9. 23 25. Daughter to Life but they are much mistaken for Christ the increated wisdom of the Father 1 Cor. 1. 24. Prov. 3. 17. says that the ways of wisdom have pleasure in them not the end onely but the way and not some one way onely but all the ways and every step in them are not onely pleasant but pleasantness yea pleasantnesses having all pleasures that are good both as to kind and degree in it The Sheep has delights as well as the Swine though it wallows not with the Swine in the mire and the Religious their pleasures though none that are vain and sensual All look for pleasure in Life and most think there is no Life without it but the Religious only find it 3. Of Profit Religion brings gain this the Job 1. 9. 10. 1 Tim. 6. 6. Devil could not deny when he accused Job of Hypocrisie now the praise of an Enemy is as Aristotle Psal 37. 4. says a universal good Report and this God has assured Mat. 19. 28. 29. Mark 10. 29 30. to all the sincere Professors and Friends of it and that no ordinary gain neither but an increase greater than the World can promise or secure for it is a hundred fold not ten in the hundred but a hundred upon ten a hundred to one use upon use viz. either in kind or vertue in this World and in the World to come Life eternal You may lose something for Mat. 6. 33. 1 Cor. 3. 22 23. Religion but you shall never lose any thing by it for if God be yours all things are yours all things conditionally if he absolutely The Offerings of Old increased 2 Chron. 31. 9 10. their store 4. Of Peace The Enemies of Religion talk Prov. 3. 7 17. Psal 119. 165. much of their Peace but without any Reason for there is no Peace to them in that they are Enemies to the God of Peace without the Spirit of Peace and therefore without Peace the fruit of Isa 48. 22. the Spirit and Fighters against Christ the Prince of Peace who speaks Peace not to his Enemies that commit folly but to his Subjects Psal 85. 8. that return no more to it Joy as the Philosopher says is the shadow of all Vertue as inseparable perhaps from it as the shadow from the Body and the fruit of Righteousness as the Apostle says is Peace there is James 3. 18. Rom. 3. 17. no Peace without it and all true Peace in it and it is worth the having for it abides not onely in Life but at Death too The end of the upright is Peace Psal 37. 37. Peace in Life is a rare Blessing but at Death a greater and was there no other benefit in this World to be got by Religion it is
on this day than on others and an extraordinary exercise of Grace in them The whole day is his and unless works of Necessity and Mercy Mat. 127. relating either to Man or Beast intervene it must be wholly denoted to him The Duties of the day are not all of a sort but various there are all the means and ways of Communion with God on this day to take off Tediousness and promote Delight in them If you come with rejoycing Ps 122. 1. you will go away so Christ's coming in the Flesh was the fulfilling of the Law the coming down of his Spirit on this day was the fulfilling of the Gospel then he took our Nature on this we were made Partakers of his when he died he shed his Blood effectually for our Justification on this he shed abroad his Spirit abundantly for our Sanctification on this day he arose and then his Spirit quicken'd his natural Body on this day his Spirit descended and quicken'd his mystical Body when he ascended he carried our Nature up to Heaven and on this day he sent down his Spirit to us Now my Prayer for you shall be That the same Spirit that descended this day may sanctifie you that you may sanctifie this day and that you by it may be made holy that you may keep this day holy to God that made it so that keeping this day of rest here you may at last be taken up into his Rest that remains for ever hereafter Heb. 2. 9. Live to the Honour of that worthy Name in which you were baptiz'd and by which you are Jam. 2. 7. called Baptism is a sacred Flood sent not to drown but to save the World but then you must be in Christ the Ark and walk worthy 1 Thess 2. 12. of him that as you are in the Bond of the Covenant you may be also under the Blessing of it The outward Baptism of Water will avail you nothing Mat. 3. 11. without the inward Baptism of the Spirit The Sacrament of the Lords Supper was instituted by Christ and appointed as a standing Ordinance Matth. to the end of the World for the commemoration of Christs Death and his great Love in it and for the Confirmation of all those Blessings obtain'd by him to them that believe in him They only that are in the Covenant have a right to the Seal of it Some seldom receive it some never living in a wilful breach and contempt both of God's Law and Mans some are careless and negligent when they do receive But do you 1. Duely attend upon it 2. Come worthily to it 1. Duely attend upon it While you live in the neglect of it you reject not only motives but instituted means to subdue your Corruptions and strengthen your Graces question God's Wisdom as if he had ordain'd a needless and superfluous thing contemn Christ and his Love as if they were not worth the remembring and live in disobedience to a Gospel Command and thereby become liable to the Wrath of God He that came to the Feast Mat. 22. 3. 4 5 6 7 11 12 13. without a wedding-garment was destroy'd and so were they too that did not come 2. Come worthily to it The Sacrament is a Feast the Souls Exceedings if you come not to it you will starve your Soul if you come unworthily you will poison it eating Damnation as surely as you eat Bread and 1 Cor. 11. 29. drinking a Cup of Wrath instead of a Cup of Blessing and therefore do what you can to come in a worthy manner viz. With hungring and thirsting after Righteousness Unless you come empty you Mat. 5. 6. Luk. 15. 3. wil be sent away so With Faith without which Christus fide digerendus though you eat you will never be nourish'd You may touch the Body but you will receive no Vertue from it With inflamed Love to God for giving Christ to you and to Christ for offering up himself for you He is the Founder of the Feast and died to make it With a Heart deeply humbled for Sin that you may not crucifie him afresh but mourn over him Heb. 6. 6. who was crucified for you and by you A broken Saviour must be received with a broken Heart With Humility and lowliness of mind as unworthy of the Crums that fall from his Table much more as a Guest to sit there The more humble the more welcome With Praise and Thanksgiving The Feast is all of free-cost and you can do no less than take the Cup of Salvation Ps 116. 13 and bless him for it In the Sacrament Christ's death is shewn forth and in a holy Conversation his Life now when in that you have shewn forth his Death go and shew forth his Life in the Holiness of yours that it may appear you have an interest in the Power of his Cross as well as in the Merit of it Sin is an Impostor it comes of a cheating kind by the Fathers and Mothers side viz. the Devil and your Heart he is the Incubus and that the Womb. The first Sin by which you may judge of all the rest came into the World by a cheat and all whether Angels or Men that ever had any thing to do with it have been deceived by it your great wisdom Pro. 11. 18 therefore will be to understand the deceitfulness of Sin and Heb. 3. 13. to watch against it Our first Parents expected Gen. 3. 5 6 7. to be as Gods but they became as Devils Unbelief is a Sin That gave life to the first actual Sin and ever since gives life to Gen. 3. all and maintains the life of them in the Judgment as in a Castle in the Heart as in a Closet and in the Life as in a Trade All Grace acts in the strength of Faith and all Sin in the strength of Unbelief A Sin that puts God in the Devils place and the Devil in God's for By dis-believing God you believe the Devil A Sin that binds the Guilt of all other Sins fast upon you they deserve Punishment but this binds you over to it Hell seems to be prepar'd on purpose for Unbelievers and Hypocrites as the chief of Sinners I hope you have so much Faith Heb. 3. 12. Quantò magis à Deo recedimus tantò minus sumus as to believe this that you may take heed and beware of an evil Heart of Unbelief in departing from the living God By going from a living God will go to a killing Devil Pambo was thirty years as he says learning how to rule his Tongue and yet had not perfectly learn'd that Lesson and Saint James tells us the Tongue is an unruly Member not easily tamed yet an endeavour to do it is not more difficult than necessary for without it your Religion is Jam. 3. 8. 1. 26. vain The Sins of the Tongue are many but I shall here only advise you in an
Gods Friends that converse familiarly with his Enemies 2. Evil Company will make you what you should not be Dinah the Daughter of Jacob Gen. 34. 1 2. went gadding abroad to see the Maids of the Countrey till she was none her self Joseph Gen. 42. 15. by being in Pharaoh's Court learn'd to swear by the Life of Pharaoh The Israelites though Homo malus telum diaboli they hated the Egyptians yet by living among them they learned their Manners their Lusts not their Laws they that should have Converted them were as one says perverted by them and became twice their Slaves their Bodies being Conquered by their Weapons and their Souls by their Vices Solomon by conversing Neh. 13. 26. with Idolatrous Women became Idolatrous Peter whilest he warm'd himself at the fire in Luke 22. 55 56 57. Fascinus unius multorum pestis Salvian the High Priests Hall got cold and abated in his Zeal he warmed his Hands but cooled his Heart Evil Company among other things as St. Ambrose observes helped on to make the Younger Brother a Prodigal 1. His Portion 2. His Fathers Indulgence 3. His Youth 4. Evil Company St. Austin as he confesses committed some sins which he had not before to gain Credit and Esteem with his Companions and there is no good Man as Epictetus says but will either suffer evil or learn it from them that are evil Pure Streams passing by a corrupt Inficitur terrae sordibus unda fluens Aliquod malum propter vicinum malum Soil contract some of its filth rusty Metals corrupt the pure scabby Sheep rotten Grapes and sore Eyes will infect the sound and evil Men the good by conversing with them It is seldom found that the bad are made better by it but the good made worse getting a bane with Peter where they could not get a blessing It is odds to be with the Lame and not to learn to limp It is true sometimes good examples put others upon the practice of that which is good when Peter said he would not leave Mat. 26. 35. Christ all the Disciples said so too and Vespatian's Frugality gave check to the Romans Luxury but they oftner lead to that which is evil Nero's Fiddle had too many Dancers after it for all Naturally are prone to be led more by Example than Precept and by bad Examples more than good ones living not as they should Non quo eundum sed quo itur non ad rationem sed ad similitudinem Seneca de vitâ beatâ Psal 119. 115. Prov. 4. 14. Isa 6. 5. 1 Pet. 4. 3. but as they see the most do and as beasts following the drove or herd though it be to their own destruction and therefore if you would neither be nor do as they delight not to be where they are or when Charity or Necessity may oblige you to it be separated from their sins when you are not from their persons and at all times shun and avoid the works of Iniquity Eph. 5. 11. though sometimes you cannot the workers of it Their Hatred is better than Non est perfecté bonus nisi qui cum malus bonus their Company Of the Spirit The Spirit is sometimes taken for the whole Divine Nature and equally agrees with any Person of the Godhead when abstractedly considered Sometimes for the Divine Nature Heb. 9. 14. 1 Pet. 3. 18. of Christ for as flesh is sometimes taken for his Humane Nature so Spirit is for his Divine Nature Sometimes for the Holy Ghost as distinct from the Father and 1 John 5. 7. the Son with all its Gifts and Graces who Sanctifies Teaches Quickens Guides and Comforts all in whom he dwells and therefore it concerns you 1. To ask God for this Spirit 2. To do nothing when given to grieve it Enquire of your self as Paul Acts 19. 2. did of the Disciples at Ephesus whether as yet you have receiv'd the Holy Spirit with its Gifts and Graces and if upon enquiry you find you have not then 1. Ask God for it 2. Do nothing when given to grieve it 1. Ask God for the Spirit God promised at first that he Joel 2. 28. would pour out his Spirit upon all flesh viz. extensively and Isa 30. 19. 44. 3 49. 15. 55. 1. 59. 21. 65. 24. Rom. 10. 12. Eph. 3. 20. Tit. 3 6. James 1 5. intensively not upon the Jews onely to whom it was then confin'd but upon all and more of that Spirit than formerly was poured out upon them and since that he has promised to give his Spirit to them that ask it and as an encouragement to asking has assured that he will much more Luke 11. 13. give it than Earthly Parents either can or will give good Gifts to their Children They are Earthly but God is Heavenly they Fathers of the Flesh he of the Spirit they evil viz. either simply or comparatively but he infinitely good a more Rich Bountiful Faithful Cujus pâ—rticipatione sumus justi ejus comparatione sumus injusti and a more tender hearted Father than any of them and therefore both can and will much more willingly freely certainly compassionately abundantly and constantly give than they the Spirit to all that ask him for it Since then God is so willing to give his Spirit be you earnest and importunate for it there is good reason you should for it had been better you had never received Rom. 8. 9 the Spirit of a Man unless you have this Spirit of God And that you may speed in asking seek it in Christs Name Joh. 1. 16. 3. 34. who received the Spirit without measure for you and meritoriously fulfills the promise of it 2. Do nothing to grieve the Spirit when given to you There is mention made in Scripture of resisting quenching Acts 7. 51. 1 Thes 5. 19. Eph. 4. 30. and grieving the Spirit The first as usually said is proper to Impenitents the second to Apostates and the third to Saints Properly the Spirit cannot be grieved it being contrary to the Per figuram non naturam Quoad effectum non quoad affectum Nature of the Spirit either to make any sad or it self to be made so but Metaphorically it may and then it is when it appears as one grieved and then you may be said to do it when you do those things that would grieve the Spirit if the Spirit was capable of it and this two ways viz. either by sins of Omission or of Commission 1. By sins of Omission or by neglecting the good you should do viz. By idleness and slothfulness by not answering to the calls and not yielding to the motions of the Spirit by not walking in the light and strength in the fellowship and communion in the exercise of the Graces and Phil. 2. 1. in the comforts of the Spirit for it is a sin to oppose the Comforting as well as
the Sanctifying work of the Spirit 2. By sins of Commission or by doing that which you should not viz. By violating of Truth in any kind whether Natural or Moral by inordinate love to the World prizing Carnal Comfort above Spiritual by impurity of thoughts which defile the Soul the place of the Spirits Residence by causeless doubts and fears despondency under troubles both inward and outward in constancy and in stability in Religion or deadness formality and Spiritual Pride in the Duties of it They are all one way or another against the Spirit either as a Governour Guide Witness or Comforter and as such they grieve it for by them its Witness is slighted its Assistances are rejected its Influences perverted or its Comforts dis-esteem'd and counted small and therefore it concerns you to beware of them and the more in that By thus grieving the good Spirit you will please the Devil the evil Spirit and by grieving the one and pleasing the other you will grieve and displease your own Spirit at last for grieving makes way for quenching and by quenching the Spirit you may in time be left to commit that great transgression the unpardonable sin against it All sins grieve the Spirit but those that grieve the sinner Of Self-examination Examination is the Judicial proceeding of a sinner with himself or the act of Conscience enlightned comparing all his actions with the Rule and accordingly passing sentence either of Absolution or Condemnation for or against himself The Command makes it a Duty 2 Cor. 13. 5. Gal. 6. 3 4. Si sâ—aper hoc quum opâ— est facis semter facus Bernard in Cant. 58. â—eâ—m and the neglect of it a Sin A Duty at all times but more especially at some times A difficult Duty Reflex acts are by Philosophers counted most difficult and this of all the Duties of Christianity is none of the least that is so Yet must not be omitted for they that will do nothing that is difficult in Religion have no Religion The Persons concern'd in it are 1 Cor. 11. 28. A Man i. e. every man so the Old Translation reads it and so Beza translates it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quisquis Erasmus not a few onely or many but all all either as Communicants or Christians both real and nominal for none are too good or too great for it It belongs but to few to examine others but it concerns all to examine themselves The things to which it relates are almost infinite viz. every thing thought spoken and done whether good or evil Examination is as a petty Sessions to prevent or the better to prepare for a General Assize Mans Judgment to anticipate Gods and 1 Cor. 11. 31. therefore must carry a proportion to it God will judge every thing Eccles 12. 14. Morally good and evil then and so must every one now The Rule by which it is to be guided is the Word of God It is not he that others commend that is approved for they 2 Cor. 10. 18. may think better of him than he is nor he that commendeth himself for he may be better than others and better than he himself has formerly been and yet Luke 18. 11. not good or at least not so good as he should be but he whom God commendeth that is approved and therefore none must examine himself by anothers good Opinion of him nor by his own good Opinion of himself for both may be mistaken but by the Word of God by which onely the regularity or irregularity of his actions will appear God will hereafter judge you by it and therefore the best course you can take is to judge your self by it Rectum est index sui obâ—iqui now and that you may you must get a clear and right understanding of it By this light you will see light but unless you have Eyes to see it it will be of no more Advantage to you than the light of the Sun to them that are blind and cannot see A just Judge desires a clear Evidence a good Cause a fair Tryal an upright Heart a search and the better any are the more willing they will be to know the worst of themselves not to do it may add something to your security but nothing to your safety Therefore 1. Be exact in the examination of your self 2. Beg Gods Examination upon it 1. Be exact in the examination Tecum â—aâ—ua of your self It must not be superficial and slight remiss and careless but strict and exact searching every corner of your Heart and censuring every irregularity of your Life seeking that you may find what is amiss and untill you do and with good reason for as they are the worst sort of Cheats that deceive themselves so they are the worst of that sort that deceive themselves in the concerns of their Soul It is far more safe to condemn than to acquit your self without cause For by one your Peace will be lost for a time onely but by the other your Soul will be lost for ever 2. Beg Gods examination upon yours Rachel was willing to have any Gen. 31. 34 35. place searched for the Idols she had stole from Laban but that on which she sat to cover them and a Thief may be content that a blind Man that cannot see or his fellow Thief that will not should search his House and Hypocrites rest satisfied with their own Examination or of those like themselves but they that are sincere and upright are desirous that any should examine them yea with David willing that God should do it and that truth should take place though against themselves When David had examined Psal 139. 23 24. himself he appealed to God not as to one that he would have satisfied with his own Opinion of himself nor with the Opinion of others concerning him but as to one that was the searcher of Hearts and that he himself would be searched by he did not desire that his Life onely but his Heart the most suspected place might be search'd and that not superficially but throughly and that the matter might be fully travers'd and pass through all Courts of Tryal as appears by the multiplying of words search know try and see and by the extent of it viz. that not one thought or way onely but that all his ways and thoughts might be enquir'd into and that if there was any sin that he did not see or could not it might be done away And therefore when you have done all that you can in it desire God to examine you and your examination too and that if there be any sin in you that either you do not see or cannot that he would shew it to you or if there be any sin that you would not see that he would do away that sin and the Hypocrisie that would indulge it It is onely by the light of Heaven that you can see the Hell that is within you