likewise with the same mind for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin that he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lusts of men but to the will of God 3. All those are unregenerate that depend not upon God as their chiefest Benefactor and do not most carefully apply themselves to him as knowing that in his favour is life Psal 30.5 and that his loving kindness is better then life Psal 63.3 and that to his judgement we must finally stand or fall but do ambitiously seek the favour of men and call them their Benefactors Luke 22.25 Matth. 23.9 whatever become of the favour of God He is no child of God that preferreth not the Love of God before the Love of all the world He is no heir of heaven that preferreth not the fruition of God in Heaven before all worldly glory and felicity Col. 4.1 2 3. If ye be risen with Christ seek the things that are above where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God set your affection on things above not on things on the earth The Love of God is the summ of Holiness the Heart of the new creature the perfecting of it is the perfection and felicity of man 4. They are certainly unregenerate that Believe not the Gospel and take not Christ for their only Saviour and his promises of Grace and Glory as purchased by his Sacrifice and Merits for the Foundation of their hopes on which they resolve to trust their souls for pardon and for peace with God and endless Happiness Acts 4.12 Neither is there salvation in any other for there is none other Name under Heaven given among men whereby we must be saved 1 John 5.11 12. This is the record that God hath given us eternal life and this life is in his Son He that hath the Son hath life and he that hath not the Son hath not life When our Happiness was in Adams hands he lost it It is now put into safer hands and Jesus Christ the second Adam is become our Treasury He is the Head of the Body from whom each member hath quickning influence Eph. 1.22 The life of Saints is in him as the life of the tree is in the root unseen Col. 4.3 4. Holiness is a Living unto God in Christ Though we are dead with Christ to the Law and to the world and to the flesh we are alive to God So Paul describeth our case in his own Gal. 2.19 20. I through the Law am dead to the Law that I might live unto God I am crucified with Christ nevertheless I live yet not I but Christ liveth in me and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me Rom. 6.11 Likewise reckon ye also your selves to be dead indeed unto sin but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Christ is the Vine and we are the branches without him we can do nothing If you abide not in him and his words in you you are cast forth as a branch and withered which men gather and cast into the fire and they are burnt John 15.1 5 6 7. In Baptism you are married unto Christ as to the external solemnization and in spiritual Regeneration your Hearts do inwardly close with him entertain him and resign themselves unto him by Faith and Love and by a resolved Covenant become his own And therefore Baptism and the Lords Supper are called Sacraments because as Souldiers were wont by an Oath and listing their names and other engaging Ceremonies to oblige themselveâ— to their Commanders and their Vow waâ— called A Sacrament so do we engage ouâ— selves to Christ in the holy Vow or Covenanâ— entered in Baptism and renewed in the Lords Supper 5. That person is certainly unregenerate that never was convinced of a Necessity of Sanctification or never perceived an excellency and amiableness in Holiness of heart and life and loved it in others and desired it himself and never gave up himself to the Holy Ghost to be further sanctified in the use of his appointed means desiring to be perfect and willing to press forward towards the mark and to abound in grace Much less is that person renewed by the Holy Ghost that hateth Holiness and had rather be without it and would not walk in the fear and obedience of the Lord. The Spirit of Holiness is that Life by which Christ quickneth all that are his members He is no member of Christ that is without it Rom. 8.9 According to his Mercy he saveth us by the washing of Regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost Tit. 3.5 6. That person is unregenerate that is under the Dominion of his fleshly desires and mindeth the things of the flesh above the things of the Spirit and hath not mortified it so far as not to live according to it A carnal mind and a carnal life are opposite to Holiness as Sickness is tâ— Health and Darkness unto Light Rom. 8.1 to 14. There is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus that walk not after the flesh but after the spirit For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh but they that are after the spirit the things of the spirit For to be carnally minded is death but to be spiritually minded is life and peace Because the carnal mind is enmity against God for it is not subject to the Law of God neither indeed can be so then they that are in the flesh cannot please God For if ye live after the flesh ye shall die but if by the spirit ye mortifie the deeds of the body ye shall live Now the works of the flesh are manifest which are Adultery Fornication Vncleanness Lasciviousness Idolatry Witchcraft Hatred Variance Emulations Wrath Strife Seditions Heresies Envyings Murders Drunkenness revellings and such like of which I tell you before as I have also told you in time past that they which do such things shall not inherit the Kingdom of God But the fruit of the Spirit is Love Joy Peace Long-suffering Gentleness Goodness Faith Meekness Temperance against such there is no Law And they that are Christs have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts Galat. 5.18 to 25. 7. Lastly that person is certainly unregenerate that so far valueth and loveth this world or any of the carnal accommodations therein as practically to prefer them before the Love of God and the Hopes of Everlasting Glory seeking it first with highest estimation and holding it fastest so as that he will rather venture his soul upon the threatned wrath of God then his body upon the wrath of man and will be religious no further then may consist with his prosperity or safety in the world and hath something that he cannot part with for Christ and heaven because it is dearer to him then they Let this man go never so far in Religion as long
charge them and intreat them as they love your souls and as they will answer it before God that they suffer you not to sin for fear of displeasing you by plain reproofs and resolve to submit and take it well A stander by hath the great advantage of impartiality and therefore may see that in you which you observe not in your selves an object too neer the eye or too far off is not well discerned self-love doth not hinder us so much in judging of other mens cases as our own Friendly and faithful dealing in the matters of eternal consequence is the principal use and benefit of friend-ship This differenceth the communion of Saints from Beelzebubs swarme of flies and caterpillars Thus two are better then one For if they fall theâ— one will lift up his fellow But woe to him that is alone when he falleth for he hath not another to help him up Eccles 4.9 10. Much more woe to him that hath a multitude to cast him and to keep him down Hind 3. THE third extrinsecal Impediment to self-knowledge is Conversing only with such as are as bad as our selves and not with such whose lives display the spiritual endowment and excellencies which we want Among the Ethiopians it seemeth no deformity to be Black Seneca saith that no man is to be upbraided with that which is vitium humani generis the common fault of all the world or of the country where he lives for this were but to upbraid him that he is a man or that he was born in such a time or place Though Christians that know better the common disease do know that there must be common humiliation and remedie yet these indeed are the thoughts of most They know not that it is a matter of dishonour and lamentation to be no better then the most and to lie in the common corruptions of the world and to have no better hearts then they had by Nature To hear preachers talk of Holiness and a Divine Nature and a new birth and of being made new Creatures and of living in the Love of God and in the joyful Hopes of endless Glory doth seem to them but as the talk of a world in the sun or the description of an Angel which humbleth not them at all for not being such nor exciteth in them any great desires to be such As long as they see not the persons that are such they think these are but devout imaginations or the pious dreams of melancholy men and that indeed there are no such persons in the world or if there be that they are but as the Papists Saints here and there one to be admired and canonized and not upon pain of damnation to be imitated They judge of all the world or almost all by those about them And they think that God should be unmerciful if he should condemn so great a number as they see are like themselves and should save none but those few transcendent souls that they are described but hear unacquainted with It sometimes melteth my heart in pitty of many Great ones of the world to think how hard a mater it is for them to know indeed what Holiness is when they seldome hear so much as one Heavenly prayer or Discourse or any serious talke of the matters of Sanctification and communion with Christ When prophaness and inhumane wickedness dwell about them and make such as are but civil and temperate and good-natur'd persons to seem Saints When they see but few that fear the Lord and Love him unfeignedly and live by faith and those few are perhaps of the more cold and timerous and temporizing Strain that shew forth but little of the Heavenly nature and the vertues of their holy faith that dare scarce open their mouths to speak against the wickedness which they see or hear that dare not discourse like the Saints of the most High and the heirs of Heaven for fear of being made the scorn and by-word of the rest or of falling under the frowns and dislike of their superiors so that they live among others almost like common men save only that they run not with them to their excess of ryot and think it enough that by such forbearance of gross sin they are in some measure evil spoken of When they that should let their light so shine before men that they might see their good works and glorifie their heavenly Father Matth. 5.15.16 do hide their Religion and put their Light as under a bushel and not in a Candlestick that it might give light to all that are in the house and so when Religion never appeareth in its proper splendor and power and heavenly tendencie to those Great ones that have no better company what wonder if they never know themselves nor truly understand the nature necessity or excellency of Religion When they know it for the most part but by heresay yea and when they hear it more reproached then applauded it must be a miracle of mercy that must make such men to be sincerely and heartily Religious When they see so many about them worse then themselves and so sew better and those few that are better do hide it and live almost as if they were no better and when the godly whom they see not are described to them by the Serpents seed as if they were but a company of whining melancholy brainsick hypocrites who can expect that ever such men should savingly know themselves or Christ unless a wonder of mercy rescue them and bring them from this darkness and delusion into the light O how oft have I wished in compassion to many of the Great ones of the world that they had but the company which we that are their inferiors have that they did but hear the humble holy heavenly language that we have heard and hear the faithful fervent prayers that many poor Christians pour out before the Lord and saw but the humble harmless exemplary and heavenly lives of many poor Christians that are represented to them as the filth and the off-scouring of the world and perhaps no more regarded then Lazarus was at the Rich mans gate Luk. 16. Did they but see and hear and know such holy and heavenly Believers and were as well acquainted with them as we are how many of them would better know themselves and see what they want and what they must be and better discern between the righteous and the wicked between those that fear God and that fear him not Mal. 3.18 Dir. 3. IT will therefore be a great help to the Knowledge of your selves if you will converse with those that bear the Holy Image of their Creator Col. 3.10 and whose lives will tell you what it is to live by faith and what it is to walke in the spirit to mortifie the flesh and to live above all the alluring vanities of the world We can more sensibly perceive the nature of holiness when we see it in action before our eyes than when
fruits of sin and of the wrath of God and endless misery How few such true and faithful friends have they and what wonder when it is a carnal inducement that draweth men to follow them It it is their wealth and honour and their power to do men good or hurt in outward things that makes their friends They are attended by these flies and wasps because they carry the honeypot which they love And God saith to his followers Love not the world nor the things that are in the world If any man Love the world the Love of the Father is not in him 1 Joh. 2.15 And it is for Love of worldly things even the lust of the flesh the lust of the eye and pride of life c. which are not of the Father but of the world 1 Joh. 2.16 it is for these that great men have their friends and followers for the most part And therefore it is plain that the worst sort of men are ordinarilâ— their friends For those are the worâ—â— men that have not the Love of the Fatheâ— in them but are the friends of the world and therefore the enemies of God Jamâ— 4.4 And the best though fit to be theiâ— truest friends are seldom their followers as knowing that the attractive of thâ— sensual world is a shaddow unfit to deceivâ— those that are acquainted with its vanityâ— and a snare unfit to take those that havâ— observed how Satan laies and baits the trapâ— and how they have sped that have been taken in it A despised Christ that hath the words of eternal life is much more followed by men that have the heavenly relish Such gracious souls whose appetites are not corrupted by the creature and their sicknesses have more mind to flock after a spiritual and powerful messenger of Christ that talkes to them of his Kingdom and the Righteousness thereof which they first seek then to gape after the preferment and vain glory of prosperity Christ that despised the offer of all the Kingdoms and Glory of the world Mat 4.8 9. doth teach his followers to despise them Seeing then the ordinary attendants of 〈◊〉 prosperous are the worst of men that 〈◊〉 themselves and are purveying for the â—â—sh what wonder if they be flatterers â—hat have neither skill nor will to speak â—â—at unpleasing language of reproof that â—â—ould make the prosperous know themselves Oh how seldom or never do they hear â—hat the poor can hear from every mouth â—f a man of low degree be wicked or offend its enemy dare tell him of it and his friend dare tell him of it and his angry neighbour â— companion will be sure to tell him of it and they dare tell him frequently till he amend and tell him plainly and set it home But if great ones be as bad and â—â—ed more help as having more temptation yet alas they may sin and sin again and perish for any body that will deal faithfully with their souls except some faithful Minister of Christ whose plainess is taken but for a thing of course And usually even Ministers themselves are some of them so unfaithful and some so fearful and some so prudently cautelous that such persons have no such help from them to know themselves as the poorer sort of people have If we deal freely with them and set it home it will be well taken if it offend yet offence may easily be born as bringing no ill consequents to our Ministery but if we deal so with the great oneâ— of the world what outcries would it raise and by what names should we and ouâ— preaching be called If it were not for feaâ— lest some malicious hearers would misunderstand me and misapply my words aâ— spoken of those that we are bound to honour and as tending to diminish the reputation of any of our superiors which 〈◊〉 detest I should have shewed you all this in Scripture instances When Haman could not bear the omission one mans obeysance what wonder if such cannot bear to be spoken to as indeed they are Not only an Ahab hateth one faithful plain Michaiah because he prophesieth not good of him but evil 1 King 22.8 but Asa that destroyed Idolatry can imprison the Prophet that reproveth him for his sin 2 Chron. 16.10 I will not tell you of the words that were spoken to Amos by the Priest of Bethel Amos 7.10 11 12 13. or to the Prophet 2 Chron. 25.15 16. lest malice mis-interpret and mis-report me For it is none of my intent to fix on any particular persons but to tell you in general the lamentable disadvantage that the great and prosperous have as to the knowledge of themselves how little plain dealing they have and how hardly most of them can bear it though yet I doubt not but it is born and loved by those that have true grace and that if David sin he can endure to hear from Nathan Thou art the man and this shall befall thee and an Eli can bear the prophesie of Samuel and say It is the Lord let him do what seemeth him good 1 Sam. 2.27 3.17 18. and an Hezekiah can say Good is the word of the Lord which thou hast spoken 2 King 20.19 and Josiah can bear the threatnings of Huldah 2 Chron. 34. 2 King 22. And it is a double honour in persons that have so great temptations to love the plain discoveries of their sin But a Joash will slay even Zechariah the son of Jehoiadah that set him up and a Herod that hath so much religion as to fear John as knowing that he was a just man and an holy and to observe or save him and when he heard him to do many things and hear him gladly had yet so much love to his fleshly lust and so little power to resist a flatterer as that he could sell both the head of John and his own soul for so pittiful a price as this Mar. 6.20 25 27 28. So true is that of Christ himself Joh. 3.20 21. For every one that doth evil hateth the light neither cometh to the light lest his deeds should be reproved or discovered But he that doth truth cometh to the light that his deeds may be made manifest that they are wrought in God And indeed there is none that more opposeth Micaiah then Zedekiah as being concerned for the honour of his flattering prophesie to bring plain dealing into disgrace It is he that smiteth him and saith which way went the spirit of the Lord from me to speak unto thee 1 King 22.24 As Plutarch compareth the flaterer to a painter that having made a picture of Cocks which was very bad he bid his boyes be sure to keep the living Cocks out of sight lest their appearance should shew the faultiness of his picture so saith Plutarch doth the flatterer do what he can to keep away plain-dealing faithful friends lest his fraud and falshood should be detected by them But saith Solomon Prov. 28.23 He that rebuketh a man afterward